Nocturne and Digital Devil Saga Not So Collectible Anymore

Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne and Digital Devil Saga have been two of the most sought after Playstation 2 games for RPG fans and video game collectors. Atlus quietly reprinted these two games and made them available to a few retailers this April. The prices quickly plummeted almost 50% for both games in the resale market.

Digital Devil Saga Price Before and After Reprint
Retailers started selling DDS reprints at the very end of April, around the 26th. The prices quickly dropped 43% from a $75 average price in April to $44 in May.

Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne Price Before and After Reprint
Nocturne was reprinted earlier in April than DDS (around the 17th) so the average prices started dropping in April and continued into May. In March Nocturne was selling for $97 on average and now in May the average price is $46, a drop of 53%.


This reprint is great news for gamers who want to play these fantastic JRPG's but didn't want to pay $70-100 for a used game. Unfortunately it looks like Amazon has already sold out of the re-released DDS, but if you hurry you can still buy Nocturne on Amazon while it is still available for $40.

There are probably quite a few gamers who are upset that they bought one of these games two months ago for almost $100. That is a risk video game collectors make especially if you are buying games for a console that is still supported. Collectors and gamers are now wondering if the prices will stay at these lower prices or will they increase again in a few months?

Thanks to our reader Alex for this article idea.

GTA IV Raises Classic GTA Prices on Xbox & PS2

Most of the world has heard by now that Grand Theft Auto IV came out April 29th and it was just announced that in the first week the game sold 6 million copies worldwide. The number of games sold for the 360 and PS3 hasn't been announced yet but so far Xbox 360 owners have been buying more of the classic GTA games than Playstation 3 owners. Prices for Grand Theft Auto San Andreas, GTA Double Pak, and GTA Trilogy have increased more on Xbox than Playstation 2.


Buying all three older Grand Theft Auto games released on Xbox would cost $76 now instead of $64 in March, an 18% increase. Buying the same Playstation 2 GTA games would cost $33 now and were $30 in March, which is an 10% increase. If you look at all the PS2 GTA games, including the ones that were not released on the Xbox, you see only a 3% increase from March to May. During this time of year video game prices usually go down.

This difference is either caused by increased demand, limited supply, or a combination of the two.

On the supply side the Xbox game supply is limited while the PS2 supply can increase. The Playstation 2 is still around and retailers are continuing to sell new games. You could find many of these PS2 GTA games brand new at stores. This stops the used prices from increasing very much because the supply can increase too. Xbox games on the other hand are not as easy to find new. Many retailers stopped selling them so the supply of these games is static.

In terms of demand, the Xbox 360 has sold more consoles than the Playstation 3. Assuming the game sells the same proportionally on both systems there are more GTA IV 360 owners. Which means there are more 360 owners who are looking to play the classic GTA games.

Below are the side by side price comparisons for each Grand Theft Auto game on Xbox and PS2. Click the charts to see the most recent prices.

Grand Theft Auto San Andreas Comparison

Grand Theft Auto Double Pak Comparison

Grand Theft Auto Trilogy Comparison

The Xbox prices are more expensive than the PS2 for every Grand Theft Auto game. And Xbox Trilogy for Xbox is somewhat of a rare game now, selling for more than the initial retail price.

Playstation 2 Grand Theft Auto Games Not Released on Xbox

How To Make Money Collecting PS2 Games

The Playstation 2 will have been on the market for 8 years this October. Two of those years the PS2 has shared the market with the Playstation 3 and though the Playstation 2 is selling fairly well now, it is approaching its final years. Developer support is already drying up. In 2007, 153 games were released and so far about 90 games are announced or rumored to be released in 2008. So now is the time to buy Playstation 2 games and potentially make some money.

Let me explain what I mean. The later in a console's life cycle a game is released, the more likely it is to become rare and very expensive. Of the 60 most expensive NES, SNES, and N64 games, 32 of them were released in the last two years of the console, 53%. This is even more amazing when you consider there are not many games published in the last two years of a console. The NES, SNES, and N64 had a total of 1,947 games. 20% of them, 388 games, came out in the last two years. So the last two years of a console represent 20% of the total games, but 53% of the most expensive games.

System	Total Games	Last 2 Years	% of Games
NES	810	139	17.2%
SNES	750	173	23.1%
N64	387	76	19.6%

You see the trend and now you want to know how much some of those expensive games are actually worth. Many of them sell for about $30-40 used which is less than the original price. But when kept sealed some of the games are worth a ton. Chrono Trigger recently sold for $1,217, Zelda II for NES (not a rare game) sold for $799, and Super Mario RPG sold for $315. Even easy to find NES games are expensive if they are sealed. This ad shows a company is willing to pay $250 for Zelda and $200 for Excitebike.

So which Playstation 2 Games should you buy if you want to increase the chance they will be collector's items? RPG and Fighting games keep their value longer than other genres' so buying RPG and Fighting games gives you the best odds of buying the next Chrono Trigger. Here are my recommendations for some games that I think might be good choices:

Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis

This is a niche RPG published by NIS America. They are also the developers of Disgaea Hour of Darkness, one of the more expensive PS2 games already released.

Arcana Heart

A 2D Fighter developed by Atlus. 2D Fighting games are not as popular as they used to be back in the Street Fighter heyday so don't look for this one to sell many copies. Plus, Atlus is notorious for small printings of their games.

Baroque

Baroque is another Atlus game, this time an RPG though. As a publisher, Atlus games keep their value better than any other publisher. Buying their games is just another way of increasing the odds a game becomes valuable.

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES

The last Atlus game on the list. I hope I'm not putting too many of my eggs in one basket but Atlus is the publisher of the Ogre Battle series which places a game in the most expensive list for N64, SNES, and PS1. And the other games in the Persona series are expensive too.

Chaos Wars

Chaos Wars is a fantasy, turn based strategy game. That is about as niche as you can get. The game is developed by Idea Factory who has released games only in Japan up to this point. They are virtually an unknown in the US.

King of Fighters Collection: The Orochi Saga

A collection of the SNK King of Fighters games. It is a 2D fighting series with a decent following, but will probably not sell that well. Compilation games can be worth quite a bit too. The Spyro and GTA Trilogy collections prove this.

Samurai Shodown Anthology

Another collection of 2D fighting games, this time from the Samurai Shodown series. Not as popular as the King of Fighters series, but some of the games so far have kept their value well.

Keep in mind many of the PS2 games coming out in the next two years have not even been announced so this list is in no way conclusive. And I could be completely wrong about them too. The above games might be worthless in a couple of years but based upon this information; I'm going to pre-order a few of these, set them aside, and wait.

Below is the table of the most expensive games on each console and the year they were released. The bolded titles are the ones released in the last two years.

Expensive Nintendo NES Games	Release Year
Bubble Bobble Part 2	1993
Little Samson	1992
Dragon Warrior IV	1992
Snow Brothers	1991
Fire 'N Ice	1993
Dusty Diamond All-Star Softball	1990
California Raisins	1991
Bandit Kings of Ancient China	1989
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighters	1993
Duck Tales 2	1993
Bonk's Adventure	1993
Contra Force	1992
RC Pro-AM II	1992
Mario Time Machine	1993
L'Empereur	1991
Ultima Warriors of Destiny	1993
Bomberman II	1991
Faria	1989
Dragon Warrior III	1988
Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom	1988
Expensive Super Nintendo Games	Release Year
Earthbound	1994
Ogre Battle The March of the Black Queen	1994
Ninja Gaiden Trilogy	1995
Castlevania Dracula X	1995
Harvest Moon	1996
EVO the Search for Eden	1993
Chrono Trigger	1995
Mega Man X	1993
Aero Fighters	1993
Super Mario RPG	1996
Lufia and the Fortress of Doom	1993
Lufia and The Rise of Sinistrals	1996
Secret of Mana	1993
Metal Marines	1993
Final Fantasy III	1994
Final Fight 3	1995
Metal Warriors	1995
Mega Man 7	1995
Uncharted Waters: New Horizons	1994
Boogerman A Pick and Flick Adventure	1995
Expensive Nintendo 64 Games	Release Year
Worms Armageddon	2000
Clay Fighter 63 1/3 Sculptor's Cut	1998
Ogre Battle	1999
Harvest Moon	1999
Mario Party 3	2000
Bomberman 64 The Second Attack	2000
Conker's Bad Fur Day	2001
Super Smash Bros.	1999
Starcraft	2000
Super Bowling	2000
Castlevania Legacy of Darkness	1999
Mario Kart 64	1996
Mario Party 2	1999
Mario Party	1998
Space Station Silicon Valley	1998
Ms. PacMan Maze Madness	2000
Dr. Mario	2001
Paper Mario	2000
Tom and Jerry	2000
Beast Wars	2000

All release dates information provided by digitpress and mobygames

Madden Prices Fall Fast on Playstation 2

Every every EA Sports releases their Madden football franchise to coincide with the new NFL season starting and every year it consistently sells millions of copies. The only thing more consistent is the price drop for the Madden games after their release. From the first day the game goes on sale, the prices start dropping every single month. Its very evident with the price chart for Madden 2008 above. The video game was released in August at $49.99 and by the end of the month was selling for $36, and for $29 by November. Will this price drop continue you ask?

Madden 2007 dropped in price every single month in 2007 except for a small increase in August when people wanted to get their football fix for cheap by buying Madden 07 instead of 08. This same pattern is seen with Madden 2006, and Madden 2005 to a lesser extent because it is almost worthless, selling for $0.39.

Madden football is very consistent in its sales every year, but also consistent in the fact that it will go on sale. Wait a couple of months or even until playoffs start and you can buy the game for half the original price and still enjoy the game in the height of the current football season.

Video game price data provided by VideoGamePriceCharts.com

Playstation 2 vs Gamecube vs Xbox - Used Game Prices

Fanboys love to debate the merits of their favorite systems. Everything from graphics, online play, total sales, third-party game selection, and overall game selection are argued about. I’m adding another coal to the fire: Which games keep their value better? PS2, Gamecube, or Xbox?

Below is a table of the average release price and today’s price for each system.

System	# of Games	Avg. Release Price	Avg. Used Price	% of Original Price
PS2	855	$41.21	$9.23	22.4%
Gamecube	455	$41.71	$10.72	25.7%
Xbox	565	$41.29	$5.83	14.1%

The average release price is pretty much the exact same for each system, but the average used game price today is much different. Gamecube games have kept 26 percent of their value, slightly ahead of the Playstation 2 at 22 percent. The Xbox is substantially lower at 14 percent.

I don’t know for sure why these differences exist, but I imagine the Xbox prices are lower partially because bootlegging games on the system is easier (and more popular) on the Xbox than the PS2 or Cube. If a person can copy their friend’s games to their modded system they have no need to pay for the used games.

Below is a graph of the average prices for each system’s games on a daily basis through 2007.

Playstation 2’s prices have stayed much higher in the past seven months than the other two systems. PS2 games lost about 17 percent of their value from Jan 1 to July 13, while Gamecube and Xbox both lost about 30 percent.

This is because the Playstation 2 is still alive and ticking and hasn’t been completely kicked to the curb by Sony, like Nintendo and Microsoft did with their systems. The buyers of those nearly 200,000 PS2's that sold last month have to buy something to play on it. And some of them inevitably buy used games, keeping the prices quite a bit higher.

For now, the Gamecube fanboys can rejoice. The Cube reigns supreme as the system with the games that keep their value the best. But I think the trends in the graph will continue and PS2 prices will eventually pass the Cube's and PS2 fanboys will have the last laugh. Sorry Xbots, your system doesn’t win this round.

(Side Note: I only used games released before 2007 for this analysis so the PS2 doesn't get any unfair advantage by having more newer games in the data)

Video game price data provided by VideoGamePriceCharts.com