What are the rarest games for nes.

[ThadMyster | 3]

Hey guys i have been doing a lot of research on nes games. I know games like DuckTales 2, chip and dale 2, snow brothers, panic rest, power blade 2 etc are rare games. Not including world championship or stadium events what are the top 10 rarest games. I am not talking about price alone. I want to know what games are actually rare. Little Samson is most expensive but is it rarest? Every article and video i watch it's the same list but the articles are very old and so are the videos. I'm here now asking the professional collectors for help on this topic thank you!!

Edit - sorry meant to ask about official licensed games. 

Edited April 29, 2021 by ThadMyster

[the_wizard_666 | 1,325]

Myriad 6-in-1 is definitely the number 2, but it is often disregarded as a variant of the far more common Caltron version (which is still fairly high up), but for those of us who count it, its at least number two after Stadium Events for retail releases (and is arguably RARER than SE).  From there it's a matter of opinion, but I'd say Peek-A-Boo Poker, then Hot Slots.  Those are the clear top 5.  After that it's a crapshoot.  Bubble Bath Babes and Caltron were considered top rares as well, but BBB is far more frequently available than Little Samson is, and Caltron has had a few warehouse finds that probably push it out of the top 10 now (it was once considered as high as #7).  Flintstones 2 was long thought to be the #2 licensed rare, but it appears to have been overtaken by Little Samson.  For what it's worth, F2 comes up for sale far more frequently, and while still rare, is likely less so than Samson.  So I'd probably go with LS at 6,  then F2, BBB, and then who knows what.

[ThadMyster | 3]

I appreciate the info I'm just soaking up everything I can! How rare are games like duck tales 2 or snow brothers? Are these actually "rare"

[Strikezone1 | 154]

There's a blog thread on this site that ranks the rarity of the NES library:

Excluding Stadium Events which is the only 10, there are 15 licensed titles that were given a 9 for rarity. So choose any 10 of those 15.

[DefaultGen | 5,401]

Hong Kong Mah Jong baby. It’s so rare, you’ll say it doesn’t count  There are a couple ridiculous PAL games like Phantom Air Mission too. None of these will get you as many social media likes as a Stadium Events though, gotta get the games that get you clout, not just the rarest of course.

Edited April 29, 2021 by DefaultGen

[docile tapeworm | 4,198]

palamedes

[Hammerfestus | 3,833]

I’ve never actually dug that deeply into what’s really rare on NES but I know enough to know that it’s pretty much like any system you’d collect for.  There’s what I like to think of as pop rares, games that are widely held up to the casual collector as the rare games of the System.  NES these are your Samsons and Panic Restaurants and Ducktales 2s.   These games aren’t necessarily the scarcest games on the system but they all could be considered very uncommon to rare by most collectors.  Then there’s the actual scarcest games on a system which like 9 times out of 10 is gonna be some crappy sports title or something that is rare because no ones ever cared about it except for people who care that no ones ever cared.

[Code Monkey | 2,006]

Can you find one on eBay right now? Then it isn't rare. Ducktales 2, Snow Brothers, not rare, I've seen multiple sealed copies.

My list would be like this:

1. Nintendo Campus Challenge
2. Q Sound
3. Mah Jong
4. Ducktales silver
5. Myriad 6-In-1
6. Hot Slots
7. Peek-A-Boo Poker
8. Nintendo World Championships
9. Stadium Events
10. first print Athletic World

[JamesRobot | 5,798]

1 hour ago, docile tapeworm said:

palamedes

I got yer Palamedes right here!

Spoiler

 

[Sumez | 2,941]

3 hours ago, ThadMyster said:

I appreciate the info I'm just soaking up everything I can! How rare are games like duck tales 2 or snow brothers? Are these actually "rare"

Not really, just coveted/expensive in some variants. They aren't as common as something like Zelda of course, but I tend to see tons of copies on eBay usually, and they were both released in all three major regions.

[Tanooki | 4,932]

Should I be the one to ask, are we talking expensive rare, or actually rare.   Investors vs collectors would not exactly have the same list.

[final fight cd | 186]

4 hours ago, Code Monkey said:

Can you find one on eBay right now? Then it isn't rare. Ducktales 2, Snow Brothers, not rare, I've seen multiple sealed copies.

My list would be like this:

1. Nintendo Campus Challenge
2. Q Sound
3. Mah Jong
4. Ducktales silver
5. Myriad 6-In-1
6. Hot Slots
7. Peek-A-Boo Poker
8. Nintendo World Championships
9. Stadium Events
10. first print Athletic World

I 100% agree. If copies are on eBay 7/365 then they are FAR from rare, regardless of price.  Even if they pop up for sale once per month I wouldn’t call that rare. 

These games were made in the 1000s, likely 10,000s, yet everybody feels the need to link a video game with a rarity.  Why? Does this all stem from etler’s nes rarity list from the mid to late 90s?

[ThadMyster | 3]

6 hours ago, Strikezone1 said:

There's a blog thread on this site that ranks the rarity of the NES library:

Excluding Stadium Events which is the only 10, there are 15 licensed titles that were given a 9 for rarity. So choose any 10 of those 15.

Snowbrothers a 9! Hmmmmmmm I see one at my local shop.

[Sumez | 2,941]

1 hour ago, final fight cd said:

These games were made in the 1000s, likely 10,000s, yet everybody feels the need to link a video game with a rarity.  Why? Does this all stem from etler’s nes rarity list from the mid to late 90s?

It's all relative. If only 10,000 copies of a Zelda game were made, it would be incredibly rare. If 10,000 copies of an arcade game exists, it's ridiculously common.

[final fight cd | 186]

34 minutes ago, Sumez said:

It's all relative. If only 10,000 copies of a Zelda game were made, it would be incredibly rare. If 10,000 copies of an arcade game exists, it's ridiculously common.

I don’t see the difference between your two examples. 10k is still 10k. 

[a3quit4s | 4,096]

You just need the Mike Etler guide! Aladdin Deck Enhancer games!

[MrWunderful | 2,927]

5- screw Jaws

[sp1nz | 611]

34 minutes ago, final fight cd said:

I don’t see the difference between your two examples. 10k is still 10k. 

Print amount is "absolute rarity" but how much of that will survive sealed, complete in box, boxed or cart/disc only and in what condition? Demand affects the survival rate a lot but for modern games the survival rate will be extremely high anyway. How many are for sale is "supply rarity". There are great differences in demand, survival rate etc. between games that were printed in same quantities, so the current rarities and values don't stem from print run sizes alone.

Edited April 30, 2021 by sp1nz

[PII | 1,884]

A proper answer to your question depends heavily on whether you're including variants or not.

[final fight cd | 186]

18 minutes ago, sp1nz said:

Print amount is "absolute rarity" but how many survive sealed, complete in box, boxed or cart/disc only etc. - also demand affects the survival rate too. How many are for sale is supply rarity. There are great differences between games that were printed in same quantities, even when the off the press absolute rarity is equal.

What are some examples of games printed in the same quantity but there is a noticeable difference in perceived rarity?
 

Every single rarity 9 I can buy RIGHT now on eBay.  I’m sure that is the case most days of the year.  I just don’t see how that can be called rare.  
 

If that’s rare, what would you call a game that somebody has been looking for for 10 years?  

 

 

Edited April 30, 2021 by final fight cd

[sp1nz | 611]

6 hours ago, final fight cd said:

Every single rarity 9 I can buy RIGHT now on eBay.  I’m sure that is the case most days of the year.  I just don’t see how that can be called rare.  

If that’s rare, what would you call a game that somebody has been looking for for 10 years?  

I argued your "10k is still 10k." -point. Someone's rarity list and terminology doesn't necessarily offer much insight into anything. Some people and circles use the word rare exclusively for things that exist in quantity of 10 or less in modern times, some use it for something they can't ever see locally, it's all semantics. With definition of rare being "it's not on eBay right now or even once in a year", then that's fine, it'll make 99% of most systems' libraries not rare - which can be true in global marketplaces.

Also what would I call something you can't see in 10 years, well it's just "extremely rare" or "ultra rare" or "rare", doesn't really matter, use what word you want to use - but if something sells once in a blue moon and suddenly there's insane amount of supply after 10 years, it will be perceived as more common, but after the potentially limited supply dries out again, it might not appear again for ages, or maybe it will be permanently common due to some new old stock discovery, speculators dumping their wares or the attention to sales pulling out extra copies.

There are games made in the 100s that are on eBay many times a year, so they're low print but not "rare", cause people are willing to sell (or that they bought only to sell) or they're not items people yearn after, it's all relative like Sumez said. You can see some game year in and year out sitting on eBay but, if they price is not right then it's likely not getting sold, even if it's the only copy knocking around for ages, doesn't make it non-rare even though it's "available". On the other hand something that never appears could still be quite numerous in collectors hands or is exchanged in places you can't access or don't know about.

Edited April 30, 2021 by sp1nz

[ThePhleo | 2,184]

Plenty of "One of a Kind" items out there, so I don't think they count just because of the sheer level of exclusivity...here are some though, along with some other hyper rares.

Competition

• Nintendo Campus Challenge 1991 (Nintendo - USA)
• Nintendo World Championships Gold (Nintendo Power - USA)
• Nintendo World Championships Grey (Nintendo - USA)

Licensed

• Mah Jong (Nintendo - Hong Kong)
• Family Fun Fitness: Stadium Events (Nintendo - USA)
• Phantom Air Mission (Activision - Spain)
• Snowboard Challenge (Activision - Spain)

Unlicensed

• Comando de Lobos (Gluk - Spain)
• Padillon Gals (Sachen)
• Vindicators (HES - Austrlia)
• Supergun 3-in-1 (MicroGenius - Italy)
• Comando de Lobos (Gluk - Spain)
• Six In One (Myriad - USA)
• Wally Bear and the No! Gang (AGCI - USA)
• Chiller (Sharedata - USA)

 

There are probably a ton of others I can't think of off the top of my head, but I'm pretty sure this is a good chunk of them.

[Dr. Morbis | 2,088]

1 hour ago, MrWunderful said:

5- screw Jaws

Gotcha shows up far less frequently (as does Star Force and a few others, but I'm just comparing LJN brothers over here).

18 hours ago, the_wizard_666 said:

Myriad 6-in-1 is definitely the number 2, but it is often disregarded as a variant of the far more common Caltron version (which is still fairly high up), but for those of us who count it, its at least number two after Stadium Events for retail releases (and is arguably RARER than SE).

Myriad is significantly more rare than SE; just about every Myriad known to exist in collectors hands today can be traced back to the small sealed batch found at a thrift shop in Texas in the late 90's.

ThePhleo's blog has probably the best NES rarity list I've seen in the last 20+ years, and I've seen a lot of rarity lists.  So OP should go with that...

[Dr. Morbis | 2,088]

1 minute ago, ThePhleo said:

Plenty of "One of a Kind" items out there, so I don't think they count just because of the sheer level of exclusivity...here are some though, along with some other hyper rares.

• Wally Bear and the No! Gang (AGCI - USA)
• Chiller (Sharedata - USA)

These are definitely "one of a kinds" but if the OP is looking for retail US releases, these don't really count any more than a final version prototype would...

[ThePhleo | 2,184]

4 minutes ago, Dr. Morbis said:

ThePhleo's blog has probably the best NES rarity list I've seen in the last 20+ years, and I've seen a lot of rarity lists.  So OP should go with that...

 

Thanks for the shout out. Just a word to the wise: there's a clear error with my methodology on the higher end of the spectrum for some "cheap but rare" games that are not so rare when they're loose cartridges.

Sqoon and Chubby Cherub are calculated as R8's, and DK Math is calculated as an R7.

V2.0 of that list will be uploaded eventually when I can figure out a way to make those R9's without actually manually doing so.

Edited April 30, 2021 by ThePhleo