How much would you pay for your favorite game?

[T-Pac 7,064]

Most people's favorite games are easy to come by and inexpensive for a "player's copy".

But imagine your personal favorite game is a heavy hitter - what is the most you'd be willing to shell-out for a loose copy (or CIB if that's your thing)?

[GPX 1,290]

I can’t really give an answer on this particular topic, because I mainly play games on modern retro collections or Xbox Live on 360 for my retro fix. Actual retro purchases are strictly for me to have a visual and tactile pleasure out of them. Yes, I’m kinky.

[Bearcat-Doug 5,041]

I guess it depends if that was the only way to play it or not. I probably wouldn't pay over $100 if I was able to play it on an Everdrive or something. If a physical cart was the only way to play it, I'd probably go 2-3 times that.

[croagunk 798]

My best guess is around $100-$150.

[Link 2,452]

The most I’ve paid for a game is $157 for Mega Man, C/I/B in “Very Good” or maybe “Fine” condition. I’m not interested in spending that much on anything again. 

[DefaultGen 5,122]

I'd probably pay anything to have a CIB OOT. I'd feel dumb collecting all this other garbage instead of just saving up or selling off lesser stuff to have my favorite game. I'm just happy we don't live in a world where there are like 40 copies of a book from the 1930s, basically any CIB game is reasonable if it's really a priority and not just something that will get lost on a shelf.

[Hammerfestus 3,672]

My favorite game is Suikoden II.  It’s at a pretty Oof level any more.  If I didn’t have it I would probably sell what it took to get a copy but I would definitely whine about it to you guys.

[Andy_Bogomil 793]

Kinda odd not to own your favourite game. Hypothetically, in this climate, probably about 1K for the game and 2K for a CIB.

[DarkTone 951]

About £50 for it. 

[twiztor 751]

18 hours ago, CasualCart said:

But imagine your personal favorite game is a heavy hitter - what is the most you'd be willing to shell-out for a loose copy (or CIB if that's your thing)?

i can't imagine. a couple hundred, tops?

that's just a haphazard guess. the games that are my favorites are all games i owned as a kid and grew up with. if i hadn't owned them, i wouldn't have loved them.

[Tanooki 4,892]

I could see north of 100, probably triple or so in trade value, would depend.  Thing is, most of this stuff can be made into 1:1 external fakes now, or you could just use a dopey flash kit or some ghetto android/pi (or PC) emulator box so paying out the nose is just stupid.

[tidaldreams 654]

21 hours ago, Hammerfestus said:

My favorite game is Suikoden II.  It’s at a pretty Oof level any more.  If I didn’t have it I would probably sell what it took to get a copy but I would definitely whine about it to you guys.

This type of game has always been expensive though. I can't remember the last time it was below $150. COVID caused it to only double in price, unlike some others like pokemon that have gone up 10x. 

[DoctorEncore 3,688]

That's a tough one. Since I don't do emulation, I would need to own a game for it to become my favorite in the first place, so it's tough to imagine a scenario where I'd be hunting for it.

But from a purely hypothetical standpoint, I guess I'd be willing to pay the going rate, be it $100 or $1000 or maybe even more. There is an upper limit though; I've pretty much decided I'm not gonna buy a CIB Stadium Events or some of the most expensive NeoGeo games. I can't justify that kind of expenditure on collectables that I have no intention to sell. I'd rather use that money to travel the world or retire a year early or literally anything else.

Edited August 1, 2021 by DoctorEncore

[guitarzombie 789]

Fair market price, unless it was ridiculous like over a grand.  Hard to guess though because my fav game is pretty cheap.  Although my other favorite games I spent $700 on, but there was no way I was getting it cheap, nor was it a game I grew up with.

[T-Pac 7,064]

On 7/31/2021 at 7:41 PM, GPX said:

I can’t really give an answer on this particular topic, because I mainly play games on modern retro collections or Xbox Live on 360 for my retro fix. 

 

On 7/31/2021 at 7:44 PM, Bearcat-Doug said:

I guess it depends if that was the only way to play it or not. I probably wouldn't pay over $100 if I was able to play it on an Everdrive or something. If a physical cart was the only way to play it, I'd probably go 2-3 times that.

 

On 8/1/2021 at 2:28 PM, twiztor said:

the games that are my favorites are all games i owned as a kid and grew up with. if i hadn't owned them, i wouldn't have loved them.

 

22 hours ago, DoctorEncore said:

That's a tough one. Since I don't do emulation, I would need to own a game for it to become my favorite in the first place, so it's tough to imagine a scenario where I'd be hunting for it.

Yeah - I guess I was thinking of a scenario where you did initially own the game so you know it's your favorite, but you've lost it or something and now the market value is the peak of what you're willing to pay to get another copy.

I also forget that a lot of people are cool with pirating games or otherwise don't mind owning them exclusively in compilations.

I was hoping more of you would say what your favorite game is haha. It's neat to put your price-range in context against the actual value.

-CasualCart

[T-Pac 7,064]

My favorite game is Abadox. I think I paid $7 or $8 for my copy, but I could see myself paying $300 for it if that was the going rate. Maybe even slightly more, but I'd be wincing pretty hard at that.

-CasualCart

[twiztor 751]

26 minutes ago, CasualCart said:

Yeah - I guess I was thinking of a scenario where you did initially own the game so you know it's your favorite, but you've lost it or something and now the market value is the peak of what you're willing to pay to get another copy.

I also forget that a lot of people are cool with pirating games or otherwise don't mind owning them exclusively in compilations.

I was hoping more of you would say what your favorite game is haha. It's neat to put your price-range in context against the actual value.

-CasualCart

my favorite game is the Legend of Zelda. i own three copies of the NES game- my copy from childhood, another copy that came from ??, and a CIB version on display. I also have the Zelda collection for GameCube and i have it downloaded on my Wii-U.

In your hypothetical world, i would still prefer to own an original copy (option 1). But anything over $200-300 would really be pushing it. i would likely fall back on either the GBA rerelease (option 3), the GameCube collection (option 2), or a legally downloaded version, like the one on my Wii-U (option 4). If all of that fails, i would resort to the pirate lifestyle.

[DoctorEncore 3,688]

2 hours ago, CasualCart said:

 

 

 

Yeah - I guess I was thinking of a scenario where you did initially own the game so you know it's your favorite, but you've lost it or something and now the market value is the peak of what you're willing to pay to get another copy.

I also forget that a lot of people are cool with pirating games or otherwise don't mind owning them exclusively in compilations.

I was hoping more of you would say what your favorite game is haha. It's neat to put your price-range in context against the actual value.

-CasualCart

Chrono Trigger. The answer is Chrono Trigger. And I'd pay a lot.

[BortLicensePlate 652]

Pocky and Rocky is one of my top ten favourite games, also the most I’ve spent on a game at about 400 CAD (320 usd) for a complete copy with the poster. My favourite game is Super Mario World, which I spent just under 200 for a complete copy. I think that range would be the ceiling for me. 
 

edit: Paper Mario for N64 is another top ten game that’s several hundred now for a CIB I would pay up for that one if I didn’t have it already

[Andy_Bogomil 793]

I'd say Super Metroid is my favourite game of all time and would pay current retail price for a CIB copy and definitely spend the relatively cheap amount for a cart only copy. 

Even though it's my favourite game, I pieced together my copy and I'm satisfied with the condition so I haven't felt the urge to upgrade. Sealed copies are just so far out of touch, there's so much other stuff I'd rather be spending that kind of money on. 

Edited August 3, 2021 by Andy_Bogomil

[a3quit4s 3,794]

Luckily none of the Zelda series games are crazy expensive (save maybe CD-i and special editions). I mean I've spent thousands of dollars on games I'm meh about. I spent $1,300 or so on Samson and that should still be the most I've spent on a single game so somewhere around there for a game changing Zelda game I guess Ocarina, Link to the past, original Zelda, Breath of the wild. 

[Bearcat-Doug 5,041]

20 hours ago, CasualCart said:

 

 

 

Yeah - I guess I was thinking of a scenario where you did initially own the game so you know it's your favorite, but you've lost it or something and now the market value is the peak of what you're willing to pay to get another copy.

I also forget that a lot of people are cool with pirating games or otherwise don't mind owning them exclusively in compilations.

I was hoping more of you would say what your favorite game is haha. It's neat to put your price-range in context against the actual value.

-CasualCart

My favorite game is probably Super Mario Bros. I got my SMB/Duck Hunt combo cart for free, but I'll stick with my original answer that I'd probably pay $200-300 if that was the going rate.

[Driftwood 209]

A long time ago I set a personal limit of 1000$

on any one individual piece

(excluding pinball machines)

only ever hit the ceiling once,

that was a cib ketsui pcb