Dracula X isn't worth $200.

[VenomMacbeth]

Burned it, tried it out.  It's fun enough...but it's still just castlevania.  It's got some excellent graphics and sound at times, but I just don't think the game should go for much more than, say, Symphony of the Night.  Discuss.

[Elder]

Rondo of Blood is my favorite non-Metroidvania Castlevania game.  Symphony of the Night is my favorite Metroidvania game, so perhaps I'm biased.  I absolutely loved the replay factor with the branching paths in Rondo of Blood, the second playable character, the music, the graphics, everything.  It's the one game that my friends hated me for having back in the day.  Now as for paying $200 for the game, well that's something else.  I'm one of these people that really thinks games are worth whatever you're willing to pay.  I have clearly played this game enough time to say that yeah I would be comfortable paying $200 for it, but if I had never played it I really don't know. 

[CrackTiger]

The collectible flipping price and the quality of a game are separate things and a reseller's asking price should not influence your opinion of a game if you genuinely appreciate games as games.

I was paying up to $200 or more for import 16 and 32-bit games during the 90's. I oaid $150 for Drac X, but I don't temember if that was in Canadian dollars or if it included shipping. Games like Drac X are cheaper today than when they were new, especially for people like me who worked part time off and on as a teen vs what I can afford today.

When you factor in the thousands of games that would have cost $70 - $150 bitd, but you can buy now for $5 - $10, paying as much as $200 for a handful of games like Drac X is still tens of thousands of dollars cheaper. And unlike bitd, you can play everything for free through emulation.

Dracula X is also officially available in many formats now, even translated into English and they do not cost $200.

People just don't realize how spoiled they've become.


SotN/NitM keeps getting worse with age for me. At its height of enjoyment for me, it still didn't compare to Drac X though.


Why start a thread about Drac X consistently holding a strong price over the past 20 years and not selling for much more than it ever has, when Turbo games are selling for 5 to 10 times as much?

[wildfruit]

I'd be willing to go up to £100 / $150 so I guess I'll never own a copy.
O well I have it on virtual console

[NecroPhile]

It regularly sells for less than $200, so I have to agree it's not worth that much.

A fun game is a fun game, so equating the quality of a game with its price is just dumb anyway.  Even the $200 price tag isn't that scary, seeing as I'd enjoy it way more than three or four CoD/Madden/etc. crap fests, and those games will be nigh worthless in a couple years to boot.

[VenomMacbeth]

Why start a thread about Drac X consistently holding a strong price over the past 20 years and not selling for much more than it ever has, when Turbo games are selling for 5 to 10 times as much?

1. Because fuck you? ;)

2. Because I believe there are already numerous threads where the rising costs of unworthy turbobs have been discussed, just like how Drac X's merits and cost have also.

3. Because, maybe for once, I'd like to read some criticisms of the game?  It's great, and it shows off the capabilities of the console...but I feel Castlevania Bloodlines did that for the MD & while it's a high-dollar game, it's not commanding nearly as much dough.  I know there are several other factors contributing to that difference, but...

*sigh*

The point is, I burned the game, I played the game & now I'm seriously reconsidering eventually dropping money on a real copy.  It's not at all that I don't like it.  I think it's a fantastic game...but the things that make it fantastic, I've experienced before in the four other Castlevania games I own. 

And just to give you some perspective, maybe the game was more expensive when it was new as you said, but when I discovered the PCE (when the game was new to me) it was close to being a $100 game.  The price has since doubled & it's not been that long.

I would have been kind of disappointed if I'd spent $200 on it without having played it first, honestly. 

It regularly sells for less than $200, so I have to agree it's not worth that much.

A fun game is a fun game, so equating the quality of a game with its price is just dumb anyway.  Even the $200 price tag isn't that scary, seeing as I'd enjoy it way more than three or four CoD/Madden/etc. crap fests, and those games will be nigh worthless in a couple years to boot.

I agree, and I wouldn't spend that money on that newfangled tomfoolery anyway.  But consider this...you could likely get Castlevania SotN, Chronicles, and Bloodlines for the price of Rondo.  That's a good bit more Castlevania fun to be had with $200, I think.

But this is fighting street, and I'm begging to be proven wrong as part of me still wants to own this game...I just think I'd rather save $100 more & get Hyper Duel.

[PukeSter]

There's no reason to "prove you wrong". There are many ways to Obey.

It's Rondo. An amazing game. But if it's available for $9 on a Wii, just get it on there. Hell, you already beat it for free.

And it's also not financially smart to blow $200 on one CD. I could buy 15 meals at Chipotle with that money. Regardless whether or not you like Chipotle, think about it.

This isn't a collection of old baseball cards or paintings, it's goddamn video games. Just have fun with it.

[Opethian]

because you're worth it

[grolt]

For me that price is tough to justify considering there's a great English-patched version readily available online that plays a lot better for us English-speaking folk.  Look at Panzer Dragoon Saga on the Saturn - in the $300s for the English-subtitled US copy, in the $20s for the JP Azel release.  And the Saturn is much harder to play burned games on without a mod.  Add to the fact that there have been some great ports of the game (like on the PSP) that go for dirt cheap, and it doesn't seem worth it.

[NecroPhile]

3. Because, maybe for once, I'd like to read some criticisms of the game?

But criticizing the price isn't a criticism of the game at all.

I would have been kind of disappointed if I'd spent $200 on it without having played it first, honestly. 

Your expectations are flawed.  If you go in to any game expecting to get $200 worth of enjoyment in a single play, you're gonna be disappointed, guaranteed.

I agree, and I wouldn't spend that money on that newfangled tomfoolery anyway.  But consider this...you could likely get Castlevania SotN, Chronicles, and Bloodlines for the price of Rondo.  That's a good bit more Castlevania fun to be had with $200, I think.

But this is fighting street, and I'm begging to be proven wrong as part of me still wants to own this game...I just think I'd rather save $100 more & get Hyper Duel.

Stupid logic is stupid.  Nobody can 'prove' to you that ANY game can provide $200 worth of fun, especially not after you've already decided that it does nothing better than other Castlevania games.

But consider this.... you could get Gate of Thunder, Winds of Thunder, Dead Moon, Mr. Heli, R-Type, Galaga '88, Final Soldier, Gunhed, and PC Denjin for the price of Hyper Duel.  That's a good bit more shewty fun to be had with $300, I think. 

[crazydean]

The great thing about the internet, is that we can emulate the PCE. If your only concern with the console is playing the games, you can do that, and it's free. If you want a more complete experience, just buy a console and burn the game. That's still a much cheaper alternative than paying $200 for a single game.

I wouldn't pay $200 for any game, but that's because I don't enjoy the physical copy. To me, a game isn't interesting until after the console is powered on. The most expensive game I bought was Earthbound about 10 years ago. At the time it was about $70. I really wanted to play this game and my only option (at the time) was to bite the bullet and buy it off ebay. However, after a few months and a couple playthroughs, I sold the game on ebay. This was the plan all along. I got to play a great game and I didn't have to spend any money.

I don't understand why anyone would pay more than about $50 for any game, especially when you can get it for free. If you think a game that you already have a burned copy of is worth $150+ and you have nothing better to spend that money on, buy it.

[VenomMacbeth]

I wasn't looking for the price to be criticized.  I was hoping peeps could quantify what exactly in the game makes it worth (or not worth) $200, other than the fact that it's Castlevania & it's renowned as the best game on the system.

And of those games you listed, I already have GoT, and only want R-Type (kinda), Dead Moon, and maybe Final Soldier.  But just to indulge you...you're right.  For $300, I could probably get Battle Garegga, Assault Suit Leynos II, and maybe Night Striker S (though that one's been climbing close to $100 lately too).  Those are all games that I want, but Hyper Duel just happens to appeal to me more, and it's not getting any cheaper. 

Mostly, I'm just disappointed that *the* best game on the PCE is a game that I feel like I've already played before, and its cost is so much more hefty than others in the series.  There are so many unique, wonderful games on the system that I think are more deserving of a higher price point than Castlevania.

[CrackTiger]

Venom, Bloodlines has increased in reseller price by ten times or more  in the last year or two. The Japanese version has always been pricey as well and resellers want $500 for it. Consider this, you can get 3 copies of the Japanese 16-bit version of Drac X for the price of a single copy of the Japanese 16-bit version of Bloodlines. If you were serious about Castlevania fun to be had for the most value with official releases, you'd just buy these games from Konami for <$10 instead of lining the pockets of resellers, while a chorus of Castlevania fand cry in the background because Konami is abandoning the console business.

There is a set number of Castlevania fans. Drac X was a Japanese only release for the PC Engine. SotN/NitM is for one of the most successful consoles of all time, which sold over 100 million units. SotN was successful enough as a Playstation game to receive a Greatest Hits release as well, which seems to be even more plentiful. Not only should Drac X go for more than SotN, it should be even more of a difference than it already is.

You've said that if you bought Drac X without playing it first, you would have been disappointed. That's why many of us suggest playing a cdr or emulate games before buying.

But you've already admitted that your opening post was facetious and what you really wanted is to hear people criticize a game that you don't like people liking. A more constructive approach would be to start a thread stating why you think that the game is not so special and see if anyone joins you.

I'd gladly pay $1000 for Drac X if it was my only way to play it. It's one of my favorite games and has been for over 20 years now. But we live in the world now where there are at least a dozen releases, an English translation, a 3D remake and it is currently retailing for <$10.

Even if you didn't want honest logical answers to the question you actually asked, you've got them. There's no point in selectively changing the variables after the fact.

[deubeul]

I don't understand why anyone would pay more than about $50 for any game, especially when you can get it for free. If you think a game that you already have a burned copy of is worth $150+ and you have nothing better to spend that money on, buy it.

Because burned cds dont give me a boner.
I need real games on real hardware to feel excitement.

Emulation killed my videogames the same way mp3 killed my music

[VenomMacbeth]

Venom, Bloodlines has increased in reseller price by ten times or more  in the last year or two. The Japanese version has always been pricey as well and resellers want $500 for it. Consider this, you can get 3 copies of the Japanese 16-bit version of Drac X for the price of a single copy of the Japanese 16-bit version of Bloodlines. If you were serious about Castlevania fun to be had for the most value with official releases, you'd just buy these games from Konami for <$10 instead of lining the pockets of resellers, while a chorus of Castlevania fand cry in the background because Konami is abandoning the console business.

There is a set number of Castlevania fans. Drac X was a Japanese only release for the PC Engine. SotN/NitM is for one of the most successful consoles of all time, which sold over 100 million units. SotN was successful enough as a Playstation game to receive a Greatest Hits release as well, which seems to be even more plentiful. Not only should Drac X go for more than SotN, it should be even more of a difference than it already is.

You've said that if you bought Drac X without playing it first, you would have been disappointed. That's why many of us suggest playing a cdr or emulate games before buying.

But you've already admitted that your opening post was facetious and what you really wanted is to hear people criticize a game that you don't like people liking. A more constructive approach would be to start a thread stating why you think that the game is not so special and see if anyone joins you.

I'd gladly pay $1000 for Drac X if it was my only way to play it. It's one of my favorite games and has been for over 20 years now. But we live in the world now where there are at least a dozen releases, an English translation, a 3D remake and it is currently retailing for <$10.

Even if you didn't want honest logical answers to the question you actually asked, you've got them. There's no point in selectively changing the variables after the fact.

If I was referring to the Japanese version, I probably would have said "Vampire Killer".  I imagine the U.S. Version is still going for about $70 CIB?  That's the figure I had in mind. 

And it's not at all that I didn't want logical answers...I just wasn't really expecting them in fighting street, especially regarding a game as highly revered as Drac X. 

Honestly I was just hoping someone would call me a bastard for blaspheming it.  Instead, I actually learned some stuff (like all that about SotN).  I sometimes fail to look at games' success retrospectively, only taking into account why games are successful now.  It just baffles me that Drac X didn't get the same re-release love treatment.  Was it released towards the end of the console's lifespan, or was it fall prey to Bloodlines & Super Castlevania IV?

[deubeul]

Mostly, I'm just disappointed that *the* best game on the PCE is a game that I feel like I've already played before, and its cost is so much more hefty than others in the series.  There are so many unique, wonderful games on the system that I think are more deserving of a higher price point than Castlevania.

Have you cleared the game ?

[Dicer]

$200 is my upper limit for any game, that said if I couldn't find it cheaper I'd shell out the $200 as it is the pinnacle of the Castlevania classics IMHO.

[Otaking]

This is the one of the very, very few games that would be worth every cent of $200, heck it'd be worth a $1000 if that was it was selling for.
Dracula X was one of the only games back in the day I predicted would be worth a fortune in the future. I figured once peeps clocked on to it's insane level of greatness coupled with what I guessed would have been a relatively low print run, I thought the price would rocket.
I was wrong the price never went up until very recently, this is because it appears they did a surprisingly large print run, so there's always been plenty to meet demand.

The game is perfect in every way and completely essential to own if you own a PC Engine.

[johnnykonami]

I went to Monstermania Con this weekend here in Maryland, it's a horror movie themed convention.  There are lots of vendors, most of whom are selling horror movie DVDs and other related merchandise.  I did see one video game there, though, and it had a little note on it that just rubbed me the wrong way.  It was Contra: Hard Corps for the Genesis, it at least had it's outer box, probably had the manual but I didn't investigate past the sticky note on the front which read "$65 firm - CHECK EBAY."  Ugh.

I am also into board games - there was a dude there selling Dark Tower for $275.  He said he sold another one for $350 with a better box.  This game has been on AVGN and I believe is in part responsible for the increase in price.  Shame really that so many of these games are getting sat on and not played.  He also had an interesting game there I never heard of called "Arcade Mania" which came with a little LED device to play mini arcade games on (not real licensed ones, but little made up ones) which was sorta cool, but not $60 cool.  The problem with some of the 80's board games like those is that they are for kids, and have limited playabilty for an adult.  It's just a cool novelty.  Not as outrageously priced as Dark Tower, though.

[DildoKKKobold]

And it's also not financially smart to blow $200 on one CD. I could buy 15 meals at Chipotle with that money. Regardless whether or not you like Chipotle, think about it.

Or one meal at Masa in New York City. Here's the crazy thing about asking whether or not something is worth $200- to people on minimum wage, $200 is nearly 30 hours of work. To another person, like a lawyer or doctor, it could be one hour or less.

[Gentlegamer]

If Rondo was the only Castlevania game, perhaps it would merit where the collectards have taken it price wise. But you're right, there are several other Castlevania games available for better prices, including Castlevania III, which is my favorite.

[PukeSter]

And it's also not financially smart to blow $200 on one CD. I could buy 15 meals at Chipotle with that money. Regardless whether or not you like Chipotle, think about it.

Or one meal at Masa in New York City. Here's the crazy thing about asking whether or not something is worth $200- to people on minimum wage, $200 is nearly 30 hours of work. To another person, like a lawyer or doctor, it could be one hour or less.

Good point, but I don't know what Venom's job or life is. You are right though. And honestly if he is making minimum wage, he shouldn't spend that $200. But if he is Richie Rich, then go ahead haha.

[o.pwuaioc]

$100+ I would (and did) pay, but $200 is just too much. Same with PDS. I just can't justify paying for it when a mod + burned disc + JP disc for the shelves is all combined less than a quarter of the US price.

[Gentlegamer]

Good point, but I don't know what Venom's job or life is. You are right though. And honestly if he is making minimum wage, he shouldn't spend that $200. But if he is Richie Rich, then go ahead haha.

That's what the yuppy instant collectards have done and why everything is inflated, and why counterfeiters are coming out of the wood work.

[DildoKKKobold]

Good point, but I don't know what Venom's job or life is. You are right though. And honestly if he is making minimum wage, he shouldn't spend that $200. But if he is Richie Rich, then go ahead haha.

That's what the yuppy instant collectards have done and why everything is inflated, and why counterfeiters are coming out of the wood work.

Yes, someone being able to afford something they want is A) Hurting the market and B) Makes them a yuppy and a collectard. Got it.

[esteban]

Q: 200?
A: Fuck yeah, dipshit. It's worth more.

[Otaking]

On pcedaisakusen http://www.pcedaisakusen.net/2/35/stats.htm

It's the first most viewed game, the second most cleared game, the third highest rated game and the forth most collected game.

[wildfruit]

Good point, but I don't know what Venom's job or life is. You are right though. And honestly if he is making minimum wage, he shouldn't spend that $200. But if he is Richie Rich, then go ahead haha.

That's what the yuppy instant collectards have done and why everything is inflated, and why counterfeiters are coming out of the wood work.

Yes, someone being able to afford something they want is A) Hurting the market and B) Makes them a yuppy and a collectard. Got it.

Well yes. The exact same theory could be applied to cities, I expect, the world over. Even the "slums" are too expensive for the average local person when their time comes. Rich outsiders and greedy buy to let landlords take over.

[WoodyXP]

Discuss.

Rondo is worth just under $5K, IMO.  Now that people are paying $500 for the bootleg I can justify the price.

[PukeSter]

Good point, but I don't know what Venom's job or life is. You are right though. And honestly if he is making minimum wage, he shouldn't spend that $200. But if he is Richie Rich, then go ahead haha.

That's what the yuppy instant collectards have done and why everything is inflated, and why counterfeiters are coming out of the wood work.

Yes, someone being able to afford something they want is A) Hurting the market and B) Makes them a yuppy and a collectard. Got it.

Well yes. The exact same theory could be applied to cities, I expect, the world over. Even the "slums" are too expensive for the average local person when their time comes. Rich outsiders and greedy buy to let landlords take over.

I'm not really sure how you can compare a livelihood for millions of people, to a hobby that only thousands of people participate in.

It's video games. My god. At least you can still own the exact same game in a separate format. These people that live in sub-par conditions will almost never get to experience a higher standard of living.

[NightWolve]

Good point, but I don't know what Venom's job or life is. You are right though. And honestly if he is making minimum wage, he shouldn't spend that $200. But if he is Richie Rich, then go ahead haha.

That's what the yuppy instant collectards have done and why everything is inflated, and why counterfeiters are coming out of the wood work.

Yes, someone being able to afford something they want is A) Hurting the market and B) Makes them a yuppy and a collectard. Got it.

Well yes. The exact same theory could be applied to cities, I expect, the world over. Even the "slums" are too expensive for the average local person when their time comes. Rich outsiders and greedy buy to let landlords take over.

I'm not really sure how you can compare a livelihood for millions of people, to a hobby that only thousands of people participate in.

It's video games. My god. At least you can still own the exact same game in a separate format. These people that live in sub-par conditions will almost never get to experience a higher standard of living.

fuck you. I live in the nicest refrigerator box under the overpass. Big ballin' shot callin'

Just wanted to get in on the mass quoting. Also, Dracula X was hovering at $100 last I checked a year ago... Looks like Japanese sellers have been affected by recent big spenders, that's not good. :/ It's been available forever though, it was always a plenty-in-stock item, I figured most diehard PCE fans would've owned it by now.

[NecroPhile]

I'm not really sure how you can compare a livelihood for millions of people, to a hobby that only thousands of people participate in.

It's video games. My god. At least you can still own the exact same game in a separate format. These people that live in sub-par conditions will almost never get to experience a higher standard of living.

He wasn't comparing the plight of gamers to that of poor peeps, ya tool.

[SignOfZeta]

If your opinion is that NO PCE game is worth $200, I can understand that. But if any PCE game is worth $200 then it's this one.

Of course, for the most part, only people who waited literally DECADES after its release paid that much, and even then probably the impatient ones. I never heard of this game being worth more than $120 max until a few years ago.

I traded a copy of Motor Toon Grand Prix for mine, which at the time was worth maybe $35. While that might seems nuts to people, it's not. The world we live in today is far more nuts, games wise.

[ClodBusted]

I'm glad that I'm able to play Rondo on the Wii virtual console at a very affordable price tag. That's what I do with some other games where I can't justify spending top dollar for a physical copy.

Sometimes, that plan backfires as I am then trying to get my hands on a real disc as well (e.g. Gradius II and SotN).

Oh and was Chronicles mentioned? I love that game so I waited for the perfect moment when it was sold in a fair priced bundle along with Symphony.

[CrackTiger]

Castlevania Chronicles is another cherry picked example, as the X68000 version "goes" for $300+.

[Gentlegamer]

Castlevania Chronicles is another cherry picked example, as the X68000 version "goes" for $300+.

Ouch. I've wondered how X68k stuff fared in the collector market.

Fortunately, there's emulation, that's how I first discovered it years ago.

[VenomMacbeth]

Castlevania Chronicles is another cherry picked example, as the X68000 version "goes" for $300+.

I don't understand why you keep throwing out these niche examples.  Maybe Vampire Killer is more relevant to Dracula X, being a normal-release Japanese MD game, but I can probably count the number of X68K owners on this forum on one hand. 

By that logic, yeah, I should just get the PSP version.  But maybe I want to play it on an actual TV?  On a PCE console?  I don't consider the PSP release a viable alternative to that, especially since I can download the UMD for free & it won't damage my PSP as CDRs damage a Duo.

[ClodBusted]

Regarding Chronicles, I was talking about the PlayStation release which includes both the PS1 remix as well as the original X68000 version.

I've heard somewhere (might be NFG?) that the PSP release of Rondo has botched graphics due to the screen not being able to render it at pixel-perfect resolution?

[CrackTiger]

Regarding Chronicles, I was talking about the PlayStation release which includes both the PS1 remix as well as the original X68000 version.

I've heard somewhere (might be NFG?) that the PSP release of Rondo has botched graphics due to the screen not being able to render it at pixel-perfect resolution?

Venom grouped the PSX Chronicles set with other cheap versions of games earlier. Dracula X Chronicles has Drac X PCE, a new remake and SotN. Either all the cheap versions and compilations count or none of them do. Either way Dracula X is on the cheap end.

Most platforms emulating old hardware aren't super accurate. Particularly when it comes to resolution. Some don't even do progressive scan. The Castlevania Chronicles X68000 port is supposed to be noticeably different from the original. The remake is just something more different still.

[CGQuarterly]

<---------------

[GohanX]

Clod, it's not pixel perfect, but it's a portable so who cares? It's otherwise a nice port. The Wii VC version is pixel perfect if the system if hooked to a sdtv.

[CGQuarterly]

I paid something like $100-120 for mine, and have never regretted it.  It's an awesome game.  Is it "worth" $200?  Here's the thing: it doesn't really matter what it costs to buy it if you can sell it for around what you paid for it.  Buy Rondo for $200, play the fuck out of it and sell it for $150 a year later, and you are still better off than someone who bought Madden 16 for $60 and tried to sell it a year later.  Or don't be a dolt, wait for a reasonably-priced copy to come along, and you can buy it for a price that you can re-sell it for down the road, allowing you to effectively rent the game so that you can play it on original hardware. 

This sounds just like the people who bitch about the price of NG:Dev's Neo-Geo carts.  But they always AT LEAST hold their value.  That means that you can always pre-order them, play them for a while, and EASILY sell them for what you paid.  So what's the problem?

[DildoKKKobold]

Is it "worth" $200?  Here's the thing: it doesn't really matter what it costs to buy it if you can sell it for around what you paid for it.  Buy Rondo for $200, play the fuck out of it and sell it for $150 a year later, and you are still better off than someone who bought Madden 16 for $60 and tried to sell it a year later.  Or don't be a dolt, wait for a reasonably-priced copy to come along, and you can buy it for a price that you can re-sell it for down the road, allowing you to effectively rent the game so that you can play it on original hardware. 

Note, I am not disagreeing with you, at all. I just think this mentality is the reason for the collector market being the way it is. If we switch a few words around...

Is it "worth" $1000?  Here's the thing: it doesn't really matter what it costs to buy it if you can sell it for around what you paid for it.  Buy Little Samson, keep it on your shelf and complete your NES set, then sell it when it reaches $1200 and you are still better off than someone who bought Madden 16 for $60 and tried to sell it a year later.  Or don't be a dolt, wait for a reasonably-priced copy to come along, and you can buy it for a price that you can re-sell it for even more down the road, allowing you to effectively profit off the game so that you can have an NES full set until the novelty wears off, and then the next person gets in line. 

While you'll probably disagree that these are the same, and they aren't... the backbone is all there. Prices seem stable for now, so is an investment of $200 now to play (or just own) really wasting money?

If the bubble bursts, the resounding answer will be yes.

[jtucci31]

<---------------

Well put.

[CGQuarterly]

Is it "worth" $200?  Here's the thing: it doesn't really matter what it costs to buy it if you can sell it for around what you paid for it.  Buy Rondo for $200, play the fuck out of it and sell it for $150 a year later, and you are still better off than someone who bought Madden 16 for $60 and tried to sell it a year later.  Or don't be a dolt, wait for a reasonably-priced copy to come along, and you can buy it for a price that you can re-sell it for down the road, allowing you to effectively rent the game so that you can play it on original hardware. 

Note, I am not disagreeing with you, at all. I just think this mentality is the reason for the collector market being the way it is. If we switch a few words around...

Is it "worth" $1000?  Here's the thing: it doesn't really matter what it costs to buy it if you can sell it for around what you paid for it.  Buy Little Samson, keep it on your shelf and complete your NES set, then sell it when it reaches $1200 and you are still better off than someone who bought Madden 16 for $60 and tried to sell it a year later.  Or don't be a dolt, wait for a reasonably-priced copy to come along, and you can buy it for a price that you can re-sell it for even more down the road, allowing you to effectively profit off the game so that you can have an NES full set until the novelty wears off, and then the next person gets in line. 

While you'll probably disagree that these are the same, and they aren't... the backbone is all there. Prices seem stable for now, so is an investment of $200 now to play (or just own) really wasting money?

If the bubble bursts, the resounding answer will be yes.

Well, anything that reinforces the rising of prices is contributing to the collector market being the way it is. 

I bought 95% of my games when my treasure was another man's trash.  The other 5% I had to pay some real money for.  But with the exception of one game, they were all still cheaper (adjusted for inflation) than they would have been new.  If the market "crashes" and average values fall by even 50%, I could still sell the vast majority my games for well more than I paid for them.  I know that sounds like collectard bullshit, but I don't mean it that way.  I'm also not talking about flippin' for profits; I'm just talking about the value of retrogames being more stable than the value of other forms of entertainment.

My point is that retrogames are unique (not quite, but at least "rare") in that they are a form of entertainment that holds long-term value, so that if you are buying them for entertainment, then once you are done being entertained by them, you can recoup a substantial fraction of your money if you choose to do so.  The same can not be said for most modern games, movies, or books.  The fact that they are now collectible means that they are no longer a consumer good with diminishing value.  Of course that means that their value is dictated by a different kind of market, which does of course have the potential to "crash", but I would argue that no crash of the retrogaming market would ever compare to the value lost when buying modern games.  That's not to say that I am looking at games as an investment (because I'm not) but rather as a form of entertainment that actually has a pretty low operational cost as long as you're able to put collectardism aside and actually sell games once you're done playing them.  I don't actually know what the going rate for Drac X is right now, but if it's $200, then fine.  Buy it for $200, play through it until you've had your fill, and sell it.  Take that money and go buy something else.  I know that whoever started this shitshow of a thread was just trying to start an argument, but saying that "game X is not worth $200" is a statement that doesn't really hold water unless you intend to buy the game and never sell it, at which point you'd be buying the game not only to play, but to collect.  The experience of playing through Drac X is of course not worth $200, which is why it's $9 on the Virtual Console.

[technozombie]

It's probably not as applicable here but I always tried to look at the value of a game in terms of entertainment hours. For example a DVD movie would have cost about $20 for a 2 hour movie that you would most likely only watch 2-3 times. That's at most 6 hours of entertainment for $20. So a game offering 30 hours of entertainment is easily worth the $50 that new games used to cost. Also the PSP has TV out so technically RoB can be played on a TV that way although I'm not sure how well it plays technically speaking. Besides the the amount of entertainment value one gets from playing burned games is incredible when compared to the cost of a replacement lens.

[seieienbu]

It's probably not as applicable here but I always tried to look at the value of a game in terms of entertainment hours. For example a DVD movie would have cost about $20 for a 2 hour movie that you would most likely only watch 2-3 times. That's at most 6 hours of entertainment for $20. So a game offering 30 hours of entertainment is easily worth the $50 that new games used to cost. Also the PSP has TV out so technically RoB can be played on a TV that way although I'm not sure how well it plays technically speaking. Besides the the amount of entertainment value one gets from playing burned games is incredible when compared to the cost of a replacement lens.

I've had the exact same thought process and that's specifically why I don't mind paying more for a video game than I would a book or a movie.

[esteban]

A:  yes

[GohanX]

I beg to differ. She only charges $50 but $200 would still be a bargain. She got skillz.

[tbone3969]

I'd say a Mint Drac X with spine is worth $150.  From what I understand that is about what it cost to import it when it came out.  It's one of the best Castlevanais ever.  Well worth the $150 IMO.