How to Determine Jaguar Rarity?

[Albert]

Now that we've put the Jaguar Rarity Guide online, we'd like to solicit feedback on making it reflect reality just a bit better than it does now. Presently, we've set nearly all of the games at a rarity of 1 since they're easily obtainable through several online dealers, such as Best Electronics, B&C Computervisions and Telegames. So right now this guide is more of an Availability Guide than a Rarity Guide.

 

The problem is, what is the difference between the two? How does one define Rarity for games that one can still purchase new in the box relatively easily from an online store? We all know that Cybermorph is much more common than Worms, even if you can still purchase Worms from Telegames' website. In reality, we can only speculate how many copies were actually produced. Since Cybermorph was the Jaguar pack-in title, it's easily the most common game out there and we can assume that more copies of it exist than of any other game. But if you want a copy of Worms, all you have to do is pay your $69.95 (plus shipping) to Telegames and it'll be delivered to your door. It may even be easier to get Worms in this fashion than getting Cybermorph alone, since you'd probably have to buy an entire Jaguar system to get Cybermorph.

 

Therefore, rarity probably shouldn't reflect the ease with which someone can purchase the game online. After all, thanks to auction sites like eBay, one can buy just about any rare game online, given enough patience and, more importantly, cash. Before the onset of the web, rarity represented the likelihood of finding a game out in the wild, say at a flea market, thrift store or garage sale. The Internet has made it much easier for collectors to hook up with one another for trades, as well as providing viable forums for selling rare games that would otherwise be difficult to offer to other collectors. But even with all these new avenues, the thrill of the hunt is part of what makes collecting so much fun. Sure, you can pay $100 on eBay for a copy of Swordquest: Waterworld, but it's much more satisfying to find a copy for a buck at the local pawn shop, buried underneath a pile of Sega Genesis carts.

 

I'm posting this message to get feedback on what others feel about this issue. We've already gotten flamed a bit on the Jaguar Interactive II board about the fact that we assigned a rarity of 1 to most Jaguar games. I personally am responsible for this, as I went from having zero Jaguar games a few short months ago to having a nearly complete Jaguar collection today. It was quite easy to acquire all these games, although some of the titles were on the pricey side. Therefore my rationale was that if I could build up a complete Jaguar collection so easily (with many titles purchased new), then others could as well. However, in hindsight that was a flawed justification for assigning 1 to all those titles.

 

So my questions to everyone are:

 

1) How would you define a Rarity Guide?

2) Should the age of a system have any reflection on the rarity of games?

3) How would you rate specific Jaguar games, on a scale of 1-10 (10 being rarest)? Obviously there are some Jaguar games that are extremely rare, such as BattleSphere%20and%20Air%20Cars.%20%20But%20what%20about%20all%20the%20"middle-of-the-road" target="_blank">Atari Karts and Rayman? What about games produced only by Telegames and Songbird Productions?

 

I look forward to reading everyone's insight.

 

..Al

[Tempest]

It's really hard to rate the rarity of Jag games since most of them can still be purchased at discounted prices from most major game dealers. The only real hard ones to find are: Aircars, Battlesphere, Primal Rage, Brain Dead 13, and Atari Karts. Games like AVP may be expensive but are still pretty easy to find. Attack of the Mutant Penguins is getting pretty hard to find too.

 

Tempest

[Alex]

The question is, what sources are measured for the rarity guide? If it's only counting flea markets, thrift stores, and ebay, you'll get one set of values. If you include online retailers like Best, B&C, Telegames, etc., you get something more like what we have done. FYI, Atari Karts and AMP is available from Telegames for anyone who wants them.

 

In the past, online retailers have been counted. For example, the Oshea's/AtariClassics games have been given a low rarity even though they may be hard to find in the wild. But if we say they're rare, then people can just call up Oshea's and order a bunch of "rare" games. Should we do it differently for the Jaguar? Perhaps Jaguar should not reflect online retailers, and be more of a thrift/flea/ebay guide?

[The Helper]

I would take these 3 factors into account

 

1.) How available is the game? Is it regularly available through multiple online dealers or just 1. How often does the title show up on eBay.

 

2.) eBay price of a game. Though not always a rarity indicator it could be a valid percentage factor in some sort of formula calculation. Usually price is an indicator of a games popularity but it is also a factor in obtaining a game if the game is only available on eBay.

 

3.) Number of copies produced. Though almost impossible to know this about all games there are a number of titles that are known to have more copies than others. Example - post Atari Telegames releases - these were not produced in the numbers that were typical for an Atari produced game. Battlesphere, very limited quantities, Aircars, very limited quanitities. Space War 2000, made to order (they build them to order). Space Ace - limited quantities produced (though regularly available because the game sucked so bad), International Sensible Soccer - mainly distributed in Europe.

 

I would use the above as factors in determining the rarity of the game beyond just how readily available they are currently. Its my opinion that if applied they will give you a more accurate rating that will not only be a better rarity indicator, but I believe the ratings will hold up better over time.

[Alex]

Thanks for the input. I've actually been tracking Jag games on Ebay for a while, so I have a fairly good idea of how often games show up there. I place much more value on the frequency of a game rather than price for reasons you mentioned like popularity. Price (on the open market) can be a helpful indicator for rarity, but not something I would rely on. I'll write Telegames and see if they have any actual production numbers that might be helpful. I do in fact have another rarity guide based on Ebay frequency that we didn't use because of the online retailers, but perhaps it will come into play.

 

Anyone else care to comment.