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Your old Sonic the Hedgehog games could be worth hundreds

Discussion in 'General Sonic Discussion' started by Agobue, Feb 6, 2020.

  1. Agobue

    Agobue

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    https://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk...edgehog-games-could-be-worth-hundreds-1387611
    By Finlay Greig
    Thursday, 6th February 2020, 1:36 pm

    Twenty-nine years on from Sonic the Hedgehog's first appearance as a 2-dimensional Sega mascot, the blue anthropomorphic hedgehog is spinning his way onto the big screen.

    Starring Jim Carrey and James Marsden, the Sonic the Hedgehog film will likely see a resurgence in the popularity of the iconic video game character.

    Here's how much your dusty Sega Mega drive cartridges could be worth.

    SEGA 32X Knuckles Chaotix, £550
    Knuckles the Echidna was introduced to the Sonic franchise in 1994 proving an instant hit with his breakneck speed and power-punching.

    The Knuckles Chaotix themed Sega 32X, an expansion to the Mega Drive console, has sold on two occasions in recent months for hundreds of pounds, fetching £550 in November 2019.

    Sega Mega Drive 48 games master system, £310
    Avid collectors of Sega Mega drive games could enjoy a surprise windfall if they sell their cartridges as one package.

    A Sega Mega Drive paired with a 48 game bundle recently sold for £310.

    Games including Sonic 1, Sonic 2, Sonic and Knuckles and Sonic Spinball were part of the bundle, as were Sega Mega Drive classics Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter 2.

    Tails Adventure, £120
    Tails the Fox, the best friend of Sonic the Hedgehog, was another hugely popular addition to the Sega franchise franchise, earning his own title Tails Adventure in 1995.

    Despite being slow-paced compared to previous Sonic games, Tails Adventure still proved a hit with gamers and original editions of the game can auction for as much as £120 online.

    Sonic Adventure 2 (Dreamcast), £92.71
    It's not just Sega Mega Drive editions of the game that can fetch a high price - Dreamcast adaptations of the game can also earn sellers close to £100.

    A mint condition copy of Sonic Adventure 2 - which features Shadow the Hedgehog - sold for £92.71 in recent months

    Sonic The Hedgehog classic collection, £80
    A bundle of Sonic the Hedgehog classics for the handheld Nintendo DS recently sold for £80.

    Released in 2010 the classic collection features adapted versions of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic the Hedgehog 3, and Sonic & Knuckles.

    Sonic the Hedgehog Triple Trouble, £69.99
    Sequels to the original Sonics came thick and fast in the early 90s with Sonic the Hedgehog Triple Trouble the sixth release in just three years.

    The game was widely praised for its graphics when released in 1994 and still proves popular today with good conditions selling for £69.99 in recent weeks.
     
  2. The Joebro64

    The Joebro64

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    Shit. I lost my copy of Classic Collection. I have the case, not the card.
     
  3. nesboy43

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    These prices are so ridiculous. Reminds me of all the articles about Disney VHS tapes being worth thousands (they aren't).
     
  4. Pengi

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    You can buy it complete with box and manual on eBay for £10.

    This article is ridiculous.
     
  5. Prototype

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    This seems ridiculous. Firstly, the release of the movie would have zero impact on game prices, and secondly it seems like a bizarrely specific list of Sonic games that have been priced. While I could see Chaotix reaching high prices, I wouldn't be surprised if whoever wrote the article is about to throw those games up on eBay and wanted to stir up fake demand to make an extra buck.
     
  6. Chibisteven

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    I wouldn't sell my Sonic games if they were worth trillions of dollars. Let the people in my family decide what to do with them when I'm dead.
     
  7. D.A. Garden

    D.A. Garden

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    Yeah, this article is a bit stretched when it comes to actual value. You can get Knuckles Chaotix in CiB condition for about £150, not £550. Plus, no mention of the PAL version of Sonic Blast on the Game Gear. When in CiB condition, it has sold successfully as of a few months ago between £280 and £420, but has sold higher depending on condition of the box, as it's cardboard.

    And don't even get me started on a CiB conditon copy of a PAL Sonic '2 in 1' for the Game Gear. Been looking for years, and only seen the box once, let alone had the opportunity to buy it.
     
  8. Blue Blood

    Blue Blood

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    This article comes from the Peterborough Telegraph; a small, local paper in England that routinely runs stories about the best fish and chips in the area or the state of residents parking in streets surrounding the city hospital. I should know, because I live in Peterborough, enjoy fish and chips and am affected by the state of residents parking in the streets surrounding the city hospital. They're not an authority on video game collectors, least of all one as nuanced as Sonic. It's just an easy headline because public interest in Sonic is relatively right now because of the movie.
     
    Last edited: Feb 7, 2020
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  9. Wafer

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    There is talk going around that lots of old comic collectors are converting their "investments" to games, and it's definitely the case that prices have been jumping up over the last few years. I think lots of comic collectors are betting that the movie-comic buzz has peaked following Endgame and are looking for the next big windfall, but even then this article still seems premature.

    I say, don't ever pay over the odds for any game. Comic investor-collectors are trying to introduce their own stupid standards like spotting "first pressings" based on the cover art, but I don't think we should give them the satisfaction of us falling for their tactics.

    Further reading: https://kotaku.com/deep-pocketed-collectors-are-fueling-a-retro-game-gold-1837073847
     
    Last edited: Feb 7, 2020
  10. Sid Starkiller

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    Unfortunately, depending on how many of them show up, it could easily become a self-fulfilling prophecy: collectors showing up because they think they'll make big money, and pricing going up because collectors are showing up. I would just hope the bubble bursts quickly so that people who collect for the love of the media don't get screwed by profit seekers.
     
  11. Wafer

    Wafer

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    I absolutely share your concerns, but maybe gamers can at least take a bit of the wind out of their sails.
     
  12. Nova

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    Pat and Ian have been discussing this the last few months on the CUPodcast and it's a worrying trend for sure.

    Articles like this irk me but they've been happening for years. Arguably when eBay and Yahoo started running articles about Stadium Events, the NWC cart, etc, people started cottoning on to the fact that video games may be worth something and it's gone downhill since then. Can't go to a boot sale anymore without seeing one or two people going around scooping up all the cheap games, or a seller looking up a price on their phone on eBay.

    It's a shame that not long after I really started getting into retro collecting, the bubble really started to grow exponentially.
     
  13. Yash

    Yash

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    Exactly what came to mind for me when I read this.

    The average price I'm seeing on eBay for Chaotix and Tails Adventure are a little absurd (about $100 and $50, respectively), but the prices for SA2, Classic Collection and Triple Trouble are all fairly reasonable. Seems like they're just going with the highest price and acting like that's a reasonable expectation for how much it could sell for.

    Those Disney VHS tapes that sell for thousands are fronts for drug operations and I'll never be convinced otherwise.
     
  14. Sid Starkiller

    Sid Starkiller

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    Most likely. Just because people ask for insane amounts doesn't mean it's worth that much, but clickbait writers will always claim otherwise. I remember when the PS3 was new, I was looking on Ebay just to laugh at the prices. One auction asked for a starting bid of $125k, or a Buy It Now price $1 MILLION. I'm absolutely not joking. No sane person would've said it was worth that much, but these writers would have.
     
  15. I wouldn't say SA2's prices are reasonable. I see a lot of SA2 copies going for over 100 USD.
     
  16. Yash

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    Most of the complete copies I'm pulling up on eBay are around $50. It's a bit steeper than it was a few years ago, but if you don't care about the packaging, a loose copy seems like it'd only run you $30.

    I do see a few for $100 but like, any jackass can say it's rare and charge a premium for it, and maybe some sucker will fall for it, that doesn't mean your copy of the game is worth $100 (a point that articles like these tend to miss).
     
  17. Overlord

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    Man, my games collection must be worth a fucking fortune according to these guys.

    >_>
    <_<

    Nah, the boot sale market for cheap games has been out of reach for YEARS now. Darran from Retro Gamer summed it up best in a tweet from years back: "The best time to start collecting retro games is 18 months ago."
     
  18. TheWrongCentury

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    When I worked in a post office 6 years ago, a woman came in sending a package out of country to her friend's son. I had to ask what was inside it for Customs Declaration purposes, and she told me that it was a bunch of N64, Genesis, NES, SNES, GBA, and Gamecube games that her oldest son no longer wanted. She then went on to say that her friend's son had told her what games he wanted, and she just put the rest outside in a box with a note saying to take them or else they were going in the garbage on garbage day. I told her that some of them might be worth something, and she said she just wanted them gone so she didn't care enough to bring the box back inside.

    No idea what games she just left on the side of the road, or what the actual value of what she was sending was worth (everyone just says the default $100 that's included as insurance).

    Obviously, I took down a mental note of her address to look for this box when I was done work, but it was nowhere to be found. Shocks me that you can run into people who are literally throwing their working copies of these games away, and then people who are charging a small fortune for them. Kind of makes you wonder what they're actually worth, you know?
     
  19. Holy clickbait title, Batman! I thought we were better than that here.

    I gave my collection of like 50 Genesis games to a friend a few years back. I packed them up when I moved then after not opening the box for like two years I figured it's better that they go to someone that will actually play them.
     
  20. Vangar

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    It's been really hard for me to decide if these prices are unreasonable or not. On one hand, they are old games that had lots of copies made at the time. On the other hand, there is only a finite copies of these left, and we aren't getting any more made ever. A lot of people have thrown them out, or the carts have been damaged.

    So, I dunno. Some people are theorizing that the market for retro games will bust. On the other hand, video games are cherished today by more current generations of people. Mix that with the fact that anything newer than Atari 2600 games are still quite playable and fun today for a lot of people, and you've got a solid market for these prices.

    My theory is that popular games will continue to have high prices, even more so as copies start failing and replacements become scarce. And rare games will always be more expensive as they will be hunted to complete people's collections. Buy any popular titles you really want now while they are kind-of prohibitive, before they become extremely prohibitive. And just pirate any 'rare' titles that aren't that fun to play, unless you want to complete a wall for a system.

    Remember to remove or replace your batteries in carts and systems.

    Don't be like this dummy from the article - DKC has a battery that will eventually leak. Having a sealed copy of DKC is stupid because eventually that acid will work its way all over the board, it might even make it's way out into the box. I only just got a copy of Mario All-stars the other day with a battery that leaked all the way down to the edge connector pins.
     
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