Sega Rally Championship (GBA, ESRB), otherwise something I used to consider mythical.

[goldenpp72 | 1,235]

This is a topic I was curious to make mostly because of the fact there are so many Nintendo experts here. Awhile ago I began my quest to complete the Sega based titles for the GBA, which is a relatively simple set to achieve for the most part composed of maybe 30 titles I think. As my GBA collecting began to reach its wind down point (at around 12 games left to find at this point for my personal set* I don't do full sets) it became clear this particular title may elude my grasp forever despite initially assuming it would be some 15 dollar bargain bin find. I wasn't stopped because it's expensive, or because it's hard to find it in nice shape, but because it was simply never available nor ever mentioned anywhere. I was able to find one article on Racketboy that referenced it as something that is hard to find, but even finding actual images of the box was very difficult due to the mix of scarcity combined with I presume a lack of interest. I suspected that the only people who really cared to get this one were full set collectors and based on a few responses I got elsewhere that has been correct. I never buy these super scarce titles or ever end up going against the full set collectors, so all of this was nerve wracking to say the least, I'm sure the person I dealt with had a lot of people trying to swipe it from him ultimately. 

I figured maybe someone here might have some background on it, why do so few seem to circulate? The obvious answer is usually just 'it sold bad' but this one is so uncommon that even just the cart is not particularly easy to find, it wasn't a super late release or anything either. I never collect sealed titles so I do hope my seal is legitimate as I don't intend to open it, now it will need to be hidden from society like the rest of the copies out there, if anyone has any input or thoughts, or wants to be a pal and look it over to see if everything looks good, well then respond  I figure with all the talk of the Little Samson's of the world, this is a fun one to discover.

[bowser | 600]

Incredible find! Reminds me of David Beckham Soccer ESRB release on the GBA. The cart itself barely ever shows up for sale let alone the box and manual.

[goldenpp72 | 1,235]

18 minutes ago, bowser said:

Incredible find! Reminds me of David Beckham Soccer ESRB release on the GBA. The cart itself barely ever shows up for sale let alone the box and manual.

 The GBA seems to have a few of these in comparison to other portables, I wonder why?

[AlternatorDelux | 61]

I used to have this!  I think I bought it complete on a site I can't remember in 2005.  I was going after Sega games on the system.  I sold it to eStarland in 2010 when I narrowed my collection before a move.  I don't remember what I paid or what I got for it.

[goldenpp72 | 1,235]

19 minutes ago, AlternatorDelux said:

I used to have this!  I think I bought it complete on a site I can't remember in 2005.  I was going after Sega games on the system.  I sold it to eStarland in 2010 when I narrowed my collection before a move.  I don't remember what I paid or what I got for it.

I haven't heard eStarland in a loooong time, lol.

[RegularGuyGamer | 2,018]

@coffeewithmrsaturnmight have some insight. I remember he's really big into all things GBA

[Naked Warrior | 288]

Your seal looks 100% legit, so that is great!  I would also like to know why it is so rare (if there is an explanation other than "sold poorly")...I am down to under 20 games left for a GBA CIB collection, and this is still on my need list...I have to say I've been hunting GBA games on eBay/Amazon almost daily for 5 years now, and I've only had a shot at buying this twice - both times were NIB, and both times were out of my price range...including this one from just a couple weeks ago!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Brand-New-Sealed-Sega-Rally-For-GameBoy-Advance-Original-/133656418437?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&nma=true&si=aIbWKF99McchAr9r%2BTDfZ3SuAyw%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Congrats on obtaining it! I know you have a great "little" GBA collection! 

[goldenpp72 | 1,235]

3 minutes ago, Naked Warrior said:

Your seal looks 100% legit, so that is great!  I would also like to know why it is so rare (if there is an explanation other than "sold poorly")...I am down to under 20 games left for a GBA CIB collection, and this is still on my need list...I have to say I've been hunting GBA games on eBay/Amazon almost daily for 5 years now, and I've only had a shot at buying this twice - both times were NIB, and both times were out of my price range...including this one from just a couple weeks ago!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Brand-New-Sealed-Sega-Rally-For-GameBoy-Advance-Original-/133656418437?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&nma=true&si=aIbWKF99McchAr9r%2BTDfZ3SuAyw%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Congrats on obtaining it! I know you have a great "little" GBA collection! 

Hate to say that was me, and the bid I put in was far higher than that, I was ready to basically not be able to collect for the rest of 2021 to try since I thought it might be a long time before another pops up. I kind of put in a 'if I can't win with this bid I'll make someone else pay a buttload' mentality with this one lol.

I contacted the seller when he put it up to ask him to please give me a chance to win and assured him I would because I suspected many were trying to get him to take it off eBay, so I felt I had to put my money where my mouth was but it stung badly, it's the most I ever spent on a game easily. When he removed the game to relist it my heart broke but I did end up getting it, I was surprised how supportive my fiancee was here but she knows I'm a big Sega guy.

[croagunk | 798]

Glad you got your hands on a copy!

[GPX | 1,374]

@goldenpp72, I was involved in the auction involving this item and a few other nice stuff, around a few weeks ago. Thankfully, I don’t collect for NTSC, so I didn’t bid on this game. I honestly can’t believe how much it went up to in the bidding!

I agree it’s kinda odd why this Sega Rally would be rare. It’s a classic arcade racer, so why would Sega bother to produce it on the GBA and only in small numbers? 

[GetTheGreg | 105]

Pfft, doesn't everyone have one of these!?  Jokes aside, glad to see this one getting the respect it deserves.  Definitely a tough one in the GBA library!

[goldenpp72 | 1,235]

10 hours ago, Maertens29 said:

Pfft, doesn't everyone have one of these!?  Jokes aside, glad to see this one getting the respect it deserves.  Definitely a tough one in the GBA library!

I certainly wish I could have found a CIB rather than new so, believe it or not I'm still jealous

[Tanooki | 4,952]

So I'm a little confused here.

Are we saying this is a hard game to find, or it's hard to get with the ESRB rating as I'm seeing two box variants here.

 

I had this back in the 2000s, probably really the worst rally racer on the system which saddened me so much as I loved the PC/Saturn one and the Dreamcast sequel.  It was the only time I ever realized when someone made a racing engine, it works visually opposite of normal.  When you turn the car, it doesn't turn, the scenery does so it pivots opposite to what you'd expect which was jarring to say the least.  Normally a car is on a preset path and you turn your car around the course you drive on, but SR does it backwards to that.

[goldenpp72 | 1,235]

1 hour ago, Tanooki said:

So I'm a little confused here.

Are we saying this is a hard game to find, or it's hard to get with the ESRB rating as I'm seeing two box variants here.

 

I had this back in the 2000s, probably really the worst rally racer on the system which saddened me so much as I loved the PC/Saturn one and the Dreamcast sequel.  It was the only time I ever realized when someone made a racing engine, it works visually opposite of normal.  When you turn the car, it doesn't turn, the scenery does so it pivots opposite to what you'd expect which was jarring to say the least.  Normally a car is on a preset path and you turn your car around the course you drive on, but SR does it backwards to that.

The ESRB version is the one that is tough as nails to find, though the other versions aren't plentiful, but are far more so.

[RalliArtEvo | 44]

Assuming this was the same one (which is very likely given it' rarity) I just missed out on this. I bid what i thought would be a "safe" amount but boy was i way off! haha

 

It's been in my ebay searches for years and it's definitely a rarity. There's another racing title that's similar that I won't be discussing until i can track my own box/manual down. 

[MiamiSlice | 3,100]

I don't think anyone knows for sure why certain GBA games are so hard to find now but my theory is that it's the classic case of you have a popular system, lots and lots of games being released for it, and certain ones just never get much attention. Racing games didn't fare too well on GBA, aside from the Nintendo stuff like Mario Kart Super Circuit. I mean if you were a racing game aficionado, why would you want to play a game on the GBA that was very limited in the level of realism you could get, instead of say playing it on PlayStation / Sega Dreamcast where you'd be getting a faithful arcade conversion and you could probably use a steering wheel too. So I imagine some of these games sold very poorly and the publisher didn't bother trying to push them any further if they had other games that were bringing in more money, like in the case of SEGA, they had the Sonic Advance series and plenty other games to push instead. 

Then add that even people who bought these games would often throw away the packaging. 

IMO this game deserves that $1k price tag far more than most of the sealed NES / SNES games that are fetching those prices now. Great pickup @goldenpp72

[goldenpp72 | 1,235]

42 minutes ago, RalliArtEvo said:

Assuming this was the same one (which is very likely given it' rarity) I just missed out on this. I bid what i thought would be a "safe" amount but boy was i way off! haha

 

It's been in my ebay searches for years and it's definitely a rarity. There's another racing title that's similar that I won't be discussing until i can track my own box/manual down. 

I think I could guess

[OptOut | 8,892]

3 minutes ago, goldenpp72 said:

I think I could guess

Ha ha ha, stick the knife in dude!

Put in another muti-thousand dollar bid on whatever it is, lol!

You snooze you loose @RalliArtEvo

[guitarzombie | 927]

Can anyone let me know when and why did the price of this loose skyrocket?

[MiamiSlice | 3,100]

12 minutes ago, guitarzombie said:

Can anyone let me know when and why did the price of this loose skyrocket?

a year ago. COVID-mania. 

1 hour ago, goldenpp72 said:

I think I could guess

@RalliArtEvo already said too much 

[guitarzombie | 927]

I think I got it for like 3 or 4 bucks a couple of years ago but I think I remember hearing rumblings about it being rare.  But its price seems to be exorbitant.  

[GPX | 1,374]

6 hours ago, MiamiSlice said:

I don't think anyone knows for sure why certain GBA games are so hard to find now but my theory is that it's the classic case of you have a popular system, lots and lots of games being released for it, and certain ones just never get much attention. Racing games didn't fare too well on GBA, aside from the Nintendo stuff like Mario Kart Super Circuit. I mean if you were a racing game aficionado, why would you want to play a game on the GBA that was very limited in the level of realism you could get, instead of say playing it on PlayStation / Sega Dreamcast where you'd be getting a faithful arcade conversion and you could probably use a steering wheel too. So I imagine some of these games sold very poorly and the publisher didn't bother trying to push them any further if they had other games that were bringing in more money, like in the case of SEGA, they had the Sonic Advance series and plenty other games to push instead. 

Then add that even people who bought these games would often throw away the packaging. 

IMO this game deserves that $1k price tag far more than most of the sealed NES / SNES games that are fetching those prices now. Great pickup @goldenpp72

I can see some logic in your post. The kids back then probably preferred Mario Kart, and the mature gamers then probably preferred to play Sega Rally on the Saturn/Dreamcast. Also, I can imagine that as a Sega fan, and there being not many Sega-produced GBA games, this is one that buyers may have a stronger attachment to or harder to sell or let go..?

[goldenpp72 | 1,235]

6 hours ago, OptOut said:

Ha ha ha, stick the knife in dude!

Put in another muti-thousand dollar bid on whatever it is, lol!

You snooze you loose @RalliArtEvo

 

[Tanooki | 4,952]

As far as I can recall, the commentary about racing games is kind of on point on the GBA, but there was an exception to the rule, the V3D engine Atari had peddled which put out V-Rally and Stuntman, later non-racing but a gTA clone and a 3rd person platformer in the uK only (Asterix.)  That one put out a 3D modeled world...car body, terrain...in 3D in a software rendering mode eerily similar to the Saturn comparing rally games side by side (V-Rally, Sega Rally) it's obvious.  They did fine, as they kept using the engine and even pumped out more than one car game with it.  Million seller like mario, not a chance, but profitable.  Those were geared towards the teen/adult group with handhelds too, they went with an audience that would appreciate that style.

[AlternatorDelux | 61]

21 hours ago, GPX said:

Also, I can imagine that as a Sega fan, and there being not many Sega-produced GBA games, this is one that buyers may have a stronger attachment to or harder to sell or let go..?

Offhand, I can think of at least 14 of them, and most were fairly easy to come by.  This and Pinball of the Dead are the exceptions.

The type of game doesn't seem like it would be the main factor; GBA was was pretty much the only system where all the pinball games were released at the time, and it's arguably the only system that can truly claim to have multiple proper F-Zeros.  But there's stronger case that the themes of these two particular games wouldn't find a large audience on the system.