Why is Little Samson So Much More Expensive?

[CIB_Wholesale | 418]

why dont they lickle up the dollars and rerelease it as a switch title

[AirVillain | 489]

On 8/8/2023 at 1:42 PM, CIB_Wholesale said:

why dont they lickle up the dollars and rerelease it as a switch title

This post hits me right in the feels because "Lickle" is how I initially knew of the game. 

I had an old NES emulator in University and Samson was called "Lickle"... I have no idea where I got the game files, but I was just trying games. I tried to find the cart on eBay but couldn't. Then was too stubborn when I learned it's real name and it was $60. Then all of a sudden it was $500... so I was done. 

Easily my biggest gaming regret. Not even from a financial standpoint.... mostly because I want to play the game and now too stubborn to just pay for it. Trying to find a beat up copy, haha. 

Edited August 10, 2023 by AirVillain

[Tulpa | 3,501]

4 hours ago, AirVillain said:

Then was too stubborn when I learned it's real name and it was $60. Then all of a sudden it was $500... so I was done.

I think that was a lot of people's experience. It was $60 when most carts were $6 or less. "Oh, I'll just wait. Maybe it'll go down, but if not, I'll plunk down the $60 when I only need four games to complete the HOLY SHIT IT'S $300 NOW FUCK THAT NOISE!"

[Tulpa | 3,501]

And even the Lickle carts are $300.

[docile tapeworm | 4,198]

51 minutes ago, Tulpa said:

I think that was a lot of people's experience. It was $60 when most carts were $6 or less. "Oh, I'll just wait. Maybe it'll go down, but if not, I'll plunk down the $60 when I only need four games to complete the HOLY SHIT IT'S $300 NOW FUCK THAT NOISE!"

Looking back on it know why we’re so many of us that ignorant to the idea that prices would only rise forever. Even five ten years in there were “bubbles gonna burst” threads.

[Code Monkey | 2,010]

2 hours ago, Tulpa said:

I think that was a lot of people's experience. It was $60 when most carts were $6 or less. "Oh, I'll just wait. Maybe it'll go down, but if not, I'll plunk down the $60 when I only need four games to complete the HOLY SHIT IT'S $300 NOW FUCK THAT NOISE!"

I remember both Little Samson and Surprise At Dinosaur Peak were $400 each on eBay and I figured I would hold out until the prices came down. Then a few years later there were posts about how amazed people were that Surprise At Dinosaur Peak was $900, surpassing Little Samson at $800, nobody knew which was going to come out as the most expensive game in the long run. Now we know, although I still think Surprise At Dinosaur Peak is less common.

[Foochie776 | 1,052]

On 8/6/2023 at 1:59 PM, DefaultGen said:

Phleo's supply demand quantum theory visualized

 

[Foochie776 | 1,052]

14 hours ago, Code Monkey said:

I remember both Little Samson and Surprise At Dinosaur Peak were $400 each on eBay and I figured I would hold out until the prices came down. Then a few years later there were posts about how amazed people were that Surprise At Dinosaur Peak was $900, surpassing Little Samson at $800, nobody knew which was going to come out as the most expensive game in the long run. Now we know, although I still think Surprise At Dinosaur Peak is less common.

I have personally seen more Flintstones Dino Peak’s in my travels than little Samson’s. 

[AirVillain | 489]

20 hours ago, Tulpa said:

I think that was a lot of people's experience. It was $60 when most carts were $6 or less. "Oh, I'll just wait. Maybe it'll go down, but if not, I'll plunk down the $60 when I only need four games to complete the HOLY SHIT IT'S $300 NOW FUCK THAT NOISE!"

Well... at least I feel a little bit better knowing it wasn't just me. 

But that is LITERALLY exactly what happened. 

I specifically recall when/where I was when I looked it up and saw it for the UNBELIEVABLE $60.

And again passing on it for $500 from an NA member. But... at the time I was spending $465, which to me was INSANE, on 4 games so I thought that was unbelievable in itself. So, once again, to Spend $500 on ONE game was preposterous to me.... 

 

19 hours ago, docile tapeworm said:

Looking back on it know why we’re so many of us that ignorant to the idea that prices would only rise forever. Even five ten years in there were “bubbles gonna burst” threads.

True... but... we're still pretty early in this curve.

THAT BUBBLE GONNA POP BAAAAAAYYYYYBAAAAAYYYY!!!! 

This is sarcasm, but it begs the very real and serious question of "What's going to happen to prices in the LONG term (our lifetime (hopefully 40-60 years)"?

That's a thread in itself.

Edited August 11, 2023 by AirVillain

[Tulpa | 3,501]

In five years, you'll wish you jumped on it today for the low, low price of...

*checks eBay*

$2800

 

[AirVillain | 489]

12 minutes ago, Tulpa said:

In five years, you'll wish you jumped on it today for the low, low price of...

*checks eBay*

$2800

 

Well I do have my eye out for one, but my "budget" (aka what I am willing to begrudgingly spend) is still much MUCH lower than $2,800, fuck. Will this search ever actually happen? Who knows... of course you always hope for the "basement"/attic score, but more realistically I'm thinking it'll have to be one that's got a label that is beat to shit. 

Maybe....? I'm also willing to trade some stuff to get the price down.  Might have to part with some other heavy hitters. Or one box. 

FUCK.... my brain will FOREVER be like "You had it for $60 you CHEAP BASTARD!" While I was buying stupid T-shirts and other random games on eBay. 

But it'll all be okay when I'm chilling and playing it and having it hanging on the wall when not in use. ONE DAY. 

Got an empty spot just WAITING FOR IT....

Edited August 11, 2023 by AirVillain

[Tulpa | 3,501]

That $2800 was for cart only, too. Didn't even want to look at CIB prices. Though I did catch a glimpse of a graded (~8.0) copy for $15,000.

There was an obvious fake one, not even close to being correct, with $50 AliExpress repros with more authentic looking labels just above and below it. Jerkwad was asking $1800. That guy can go drown in a sea of dicks.

 

[phart010 | 1,707]

Some day people won’t care about NES games anymore. Probably when a lot of people in our age range start dying off. That’s what happens.

My dad is a huge antique radio collector. Some of his radios were worth tens of thousands of dollars. As I was growing up, he would show them off to me, give a little history lesson and always tell me about how they were appreciating in value each year. 

He’s finally gotten to the age that he wants to clean up house, and he was shocked to find that over the past 5-10 years, the antique radio market has declined tremendously. He thought he’d reach out to some of his old contacts in the antique radio club he used to be in and a lot of them are now dead and their collections have been picked over by other collectors. Nobody wants to pay anything for these old radios anymore, so he says he’s just gonna hold onto them until he dies

[Tulpa | 3,501]

There's the solution. Just outlive everyone, Airvillain!

[Nintegageo | 582]

@phart010 even though I agree with you, I can see NES being the exception as well. Nintendo's 1st and all that jazz. 

[final fight cd | 186]

48 minutes ago, phart010 said:

Some day people won’t care about NES games anymore. Probably when a lot of people in our age range start dying off. That’s what happens.

My dad is a huge antique radio collector. Some of his radios were worth tens of thousands of dollars. As I was growing up, he would show them off to me, give a little history lesson and always tell me about how they were appreciating in value each year. 

He’s finally gotten to the age that he wants to clean up house, and he was shocked to find that over the past 5-10 years, the antique radio market has declined tremendously. He thought he’d reach out to some of his old contacts in the antique radio club he used to be in and a lot of them are now dead and their collections have been picked over by other collectors. Nobody wants to pay anything for these old radios anymore, so he says he’s just gonna hold onto them until he dies

I 100% agree with this. 
 

people actually think loose nes carts will always be relevant, because “Nintendo!!11!”.  Like, in 10 years ain’t nobody giving an F about a gray plastic item. Even me, who grew up on the NES and is a current game collector, wants nothing to do with carts.  They surely will not appeal to future generations.  How could they?  If anything is going to retain value it is going to be mint CIB and sealed games. 
 

Of course this is just my opinion and I could be 100% wrong. 

[a3quit4s | 4,099]

12 minutes ago, final fight cd said:

I 100% agree with this. 
 

people actually think loose nes carts will always be relevant, because “Nintendo!!11!”.  Like, in 10 years ain’t nobody giving an F about a gray plastic item. Even me, who grew up on the NES and is a current game collector, wants nothing to do with carts.  They surely will not appeal to future generations.  How could they?  If anything is going to retain value it is going to be mint CIB and sealed games. 
 

Of course this is just my opinion and I could be 100% wrong. 

I dunno, I’m sure people said when SNES came out that no one was going to give a shit about NES carts and the average price for a cart is still what $30-$40? And that was 30 years ago. I don’t know that we are getting any new blood into the hobby but as we grow older we will likely only have more money to spend on this nonsense lol

You are probably right about sealed and graded since people will always need to launder money

[final fight cd | 186]

26 minutes ago, a3quit4s said:

I dunno, I’m sure people said when SNES came out that no one was going to give a shit about NES carts and the average price for a cart is still what $30-$40? And that was 30 years ago. I don’t know that we are getting any new blood into the hobby but as we grow older we will likely only have more money to spend on this nonsense lol

You are probably right about sealed and graded since people will always need to launder money

the average price of NES games is still 30-40 dollars because there are many people in their 30s-50s (and probably older) who grew up with the system still collecting.   once this generation gets out do you think new generations will continue to keep carts relevant? i can understand there are going to be some carts, like stadium events and NWCs, that will likely continue to be relevant because of their notoriety, but i just don't see a world where little samson or panic restaurant cart will continue to drop panties when our generation of collectors is gone.  especially since little samson and panic restaurant have zero relevancy to any current game or pop culture.  also, these games are way too simplistic and crude to keep the current gamer engaged and enamored. 

*this is pertaining to loose carts.  Mint CIB and sealed panic restaurants and little samsons will always have relevancy.

in my first original post i probably should have used the term relevancy instead of value.  

 

Edited August 11, 2023 by final fight cd

[a3quit4s | 4,099]

14 minutes ago, final fight cd said:

the average price of NES games is still 30-40 dollars because there are many people in their 30s-50s (and probably older) who grew up with the system still collecting.   once this generation gets out do you think new generations will continue to keep carts relevant? i can understand there are going to be some carts, like stadium events and NWCs, that will likely continue to be relevant because of their notoriety, but i just don't see a world where little samson or panic restaurant cart will continue to drop panties when our generation of collectors is gone.  especially since little samson and panic restaurant have zero relevancy to any current game or pop culture.  also, these games are way too simplistic and crude to keep the current gamer engaged and enamored. 

*this is pertaining to loose carts.  Mint CIB and sealed panic restaurants and little samsons will always have relevancy.

in my first original post i probably should have used the term relevancy instead of value.  

 

I guess the jury will be out if we are going to go the coins/comic route or the model trains route for the next ~20 years 

[Brickman | 3,986]

50 minutes ago, final fight cd said:

the average price of NES games is still 30-40 dollars because there are many people in their 30s-50s (and probably older) who grew up with the system still collecting.   once this generation gets out do you think new generations will continue to keep carts relevant? i can understand there are going to be some carts, like stadium events and NWCs, that will likely continue to be relevant because of their notoriety, but i just don't see a world where little samson or panic restaurant cart will continue to drop panties when our generation of collectors is gone.  especially since little samson and panic restaurant have zero relevancy to any current game or pop culture.  also, these games are way too simplistic and crude to keep the current gamer engaged and enamored. 

*this is pertaining to loose carts.  Mint CIB and sealed panic restaurants and little samsons will always have relevancy.

in my first original post i probably should have used the term relevancy instead of value.  

 

I generally agree with you but I think it might be a little longer than 10 years. Inflation will eventually eat away at nes cart prices. So they probably won’t drop to an average of $5 but will stay at $30-40 for a long time and $40 will be basically like $5-10 today.

I don’t collect NES but do collect Famicom and I would say that system has well and truly hit its peak and now inflation is eating away at cart prices, so it will probably happen to NES at some stage.

It is possible that the younger generations get into it like comics or vinyl but I think it will just be key items like you said. A lot of NES games look really ugly now so I can’t imagine what people think in 20+ years. 

[final fight cd | 186]

57 minutes ago, Brickman said:

It is possible that the younger generations get into it like comics or vinyl but I think it will just be key items like you said. A lot of NES games look really ugly now so I can’t imagine what people think in 20+ years. 

i feel like i got suckered into the vinyl collecting.  when vinyl started taking off all i heard was how "vinyl sounds better."  bullshit.  i know my setup is garbage, but i have well over a grand into it and i can say with absolute certainty and confidence that viny sounds worse. and then i would hear things like, "well, you need better cables" or "your speakers aren't good enough", etc, etc.  i actually spent over 100 dollars on cables and "high end" speaker wire because i am a sucker.   but with all that said, i did keep collecting because i like the large artwork.  

Edited August 11, 2023 by final fight cd

[fcgamer | 4,723]

1 hour ago, Brickman said:

I generally agree with you but I think it might be a little longer than 10 years. Inflation will eventually eat away at nes cart prices. So they probably won’t drop to an average of $5 but will stay at $30-40 for a long time and $40 will be basically like $5-10 today.

I don’t collect NES but do collect Famicom and I would say that system has well and truly hit its peak and now inflation is eating away at cart prices, so it will probably happen to NES at some stage.

It is possible that the younger generations get into it like comics or vinyl but I think it will just be key items like you said. A lot of NES games look really ugly now so I can’t imagine what people think in 20+ years. 

I can't really speak about Famicom itself (though I personally think it is still growing, there's a lot of new blood coming into the market as Taiwanese are starting to feel nostalgic for a product they never owned) but Famiclone market is going up, and is nowhere near the peak. People are finally starting to realize that there are fun and interesting games in that set, and it's been driving prices up.

[AirVillain | 489]

1 hour ago, final fight cd said:

i feel like i got suckered into the vinyl collecting.  when vinyl started taking off all i heard was how "vinyl sounds better."  bullshit.  i know my setup is garbage, but i have well over a grand into it and i can say with absolute certainty and confidence that viny sounds worse. and then i would hear things like, "well, you need better cables" or "your speakers aren't good enough", etc, etc.  i actually spent over 100 dollars on cables and "high end" speaker wire because i am a sucker.   but with all that said, i did keep collecting because i like the large artwork.  

Well... knowing absolutely nothing about cables, etc. I respectfully disagree.

Vinyl sounds great. Sounds like you're live with the artist actually IN the room. I have some new rap records and they fucking BUMP too. I dunno... my ex took care of the amp, but she just had some old speakers and regular speaker wire.... and a record player we bought from a thrift store. 

It sounded decidedly better than the MP3 player we also had hooked up to the amp/speakers. 

My style would be to start that route before trying to buy an expensive "set-up.".  I mean... I don't know, but I wouldn't hook up a record player to a NEW set of speakers, or new amp. Give me that 70's/80's shit!!! Those speakers fucking BUMP!

 

4 hours ago, phart010 said:

Some day people won’t care about NES games anymore. Probably when a lot of people in our age range start dying off. That’s what happens.

My dad is a huge antique radio collector. Some of his radios were worth tens of thousands of dollars. As I was growing up, he would show them off to me, give a little history lesson and always tell me about how they were appreciating in value each year. 

He’s finally gotten to the age that he wants to clean up house, and he was shocked to find that over the past 5-10 years, the antique radio market has declined tremendously. He thought he’d reach out to some of his old contacts in the antique radio club he used to be in and a lot of them are now dead and their collections have been picked over by other collectors. Nobody wants to pay anything for these old radios anymore, so he says he’s just gonna hold onto them until he dies

Rough.

I agree this is likely the same type of situation. Same thing has happend in may "collectibles" markets. Fine china, signage, etc. etc.? 

One of the biggest differences is, hopefully, though... Is that the younger generation can actually use these.

There are only so many radio's a kid can use. But a kid still can get enjoyment from NES games. It's going to be a far less number, so of course things will decline, but the hope is that they (NES/"vintage" games) will still be useful to SOME people and will at least see a little bit of a cushion from complete and utter crash/decline. 

If that happens, though, it just means MORE ppl will buy them, at yard sales/thrift shops again... and maybe more/different ppl will start playing/collecting them again? 

Like.... in 20 years when someone of these (our) collections start opening up maybe some kid will be like "holy shit, imma buy these for pennies, but I will LOVE them" and the cycle continues.... 

For example... I'm hoping to blow my nephew's little mind with my collection (he's only 1.5 now) when he's old enough and give it all to him when I die. Hopefully the great memories he has with the game room (and his family, haha) will help "pass it on" to the next generation. 
 

3 hours ago, final fight cd said:

I 100% agree with this. 
 

people actually think loose nes carts will always be relevant, because “Nintendo!!11!”.  Like, in 10 years ain’t nobody giving an F about a gray plastic item. Even me, who grew up on the NES and is a current game collector, wants nothing to do with carts.  They surely will not appeal to future generations.  How could they?  If anything is going to retain value it is going to be mint CIB and sealed games. 
 

Of course this is just my opinion and I could be 100% wrong. 

Please see above.... but regarding the actual carts:

I see it from both perspectives. On one hand it's unnecessary/impractical to have any physical game this day in age, but on the other hand these games were created BEFORE that was possible, and thus we are simply using them as created. 

Also, I personally enjoy the artwork and design of the carts and having to actually take the time to (carefully) put them into the system to play the game you want, and of course the simplicity and nostalgia of it is a huge factor. 

In terms of a NEW system, then there's no need to have physical games and I will do my best not to have any physical games in the future... but for now, certainly for the carts I own, I don't think I'll ever WANT to get ride of them. I mean, there's some "pairing down" and curating to do, but some games I don't EVER want to get rid of. 

I did a HUGE (hundred+  NES games, etc.) cull of my collection a few years back and I did it simply... I kept 1) Games I loved 2) games that were strictly nostalgic but not necessarily good and 3) games that were rare/expensive. 

Basically got rid of the 80% filler that is the NES collection like Castelian and shit. 

I wanted to be able to PLAY the games I loved and figured why would I get rid of the rare games I picked up along the way? 

Edited August 11, 2023 by AirVillain

[Brickman | 3,986]

48 minutes ago, final fight cd said:

i feel like i got suckered into the vinyl collecting.  when vinyl started taking off all i heard was how "vinyl sounds better."  bullshit.  i know my setup is garbage, but i have well over a grand into it and i can say with absolute certainty and confidence that viny sounds worse. and then i would hear things like, "well, you need better cables" or "your speakers aren't good enough", etc, etc.  i actually spent over 100 dollars on cables and "high end" speaker wire because i am a sucker.   but with all that said, i did keep collecting because i like the large artwork.  

Wires are BS marketing, cartridges can make a difference but no need to go too crazy, speakers really do make a difference until you get to a certain price point then I think there is diminishing returns. A pair of $100 speakers sound a lot different to a $800 pair of speakers. 

In terms of vinyl sound, well it all depends on the master and which CD you compare it too. A lot of newer vinyl sounds no different because they’re lazy and trying to cash in on the hype but older vinyl vs the CD can sound very different and then you also have the mono vs stereo releases. Also some of it is just subjective. Just ignore those people who always says vinyl is the best way to listen.

 

41 minutes ago, fcgamer said:

I can't really speak about Famicom itself (though I personally think it is still growing, there's a lot of new blood coming into the market as Taiwanese are starting to feel nostalgic for a product they never owned) but Famiclone market is going up, and is nowhere near the peak. People are finally starting to realize that there are fun and interesting games in that set, and it's been driving prices up.

That’s interesting. I’m not personally into the famiclone stuff but it sounds like people must be catching onto it now which is seeing the prices rise.

In terms of Famicom stuff, I’m just talking about carts. Key CIB games could be rising or rare items. But as a general overall I think a lot of games have either stood still or only increased slightly.

I really couldn’t imagine Famicom having massive gains from here but some key title’s definitely could see a rise that are in nice CIB shape.

[DefaultGen | 5,405]

1 hour ago, final fight cd said:

i feel like i got suckered into the vinyl collecting.  when vinyl started taking off all i heard was how "vinyl sounds better."  bullshit.  i know my setup is garbage, but i have well over a grand into it and i can say with absolute certainty and confidence that viny sounds worse. and then i would hear things like, "well, you need better cables" or "your speakers aren't good enough", etc, etc.  i actually spent over 100 dollars on cables and "high end" speaker wire because i am a sucker.   but with all that said, i did keep collecting because i like the large artwork.  

Bro you have to play these shitty old Nintendo games. The low res pixels on the videostage make it feel like you're actually in the mushroom kingdom. The blur from the CRT is just so warm. The degradation of the analog video signal in between the console and the TV is what gives it personality. You can't recreate that pure analog that with harsh 1s and 0s. Anyone who says this doesn't look better than 4k 120FPS is not a videophile and has no idea what they're talking about.

Edited August 11, 2023 by DefaultGen