Jaguar New-Old-Stock Just About Gone

[Rick Dangerous]

When I got into Jaguar, in 2013 or so; Best, B&C and various other sources still had Jag's and Jag CD's at somewhat sane prices and many games new and sealed as well. I was able to acquire a good chunk of my library as NOS. New Jags are now listed for $700 and Jag CD's are long gone.

 

Well it's been a few years since i've really looked. I've mostly been buying new games, home-brews, ports and such. Looking again at these sites and eBay, it appears we are really scraping the bottom of the barrel as far as Jaguar New Old Stock is concerned. There are some copies of the worst titles left sealed, but that's about it.

 

Interesting that it took the better part of 25 years to get here, but worth noting. Am i just imagining this; or anyone else noticed?

[+madman]

There's obviously only a finite amount of these things available, so I'm not surprised. Also there's been a huge retro boom in the last few years which probably sped up the sales. I've also noticed NOS Lynx systems have more than doubled from Best, I was considering getting a Lynx I but not at $300. I don't blame the sellers for cashing in, if the systems sell at this price, go for it. And with all the collectors, likely a lot of the NOS items are sitting around sealed. But if you think about it, having this much NOS still around in 2019 for a mid-90's system is pretty amazing. Other than the 3do, I don't know of any system that still has this level of new games available.

[+xucaen]

[+LS650]

Not surprising. I bought a pair of used consoles back around 2005 for $35 US each, including cables, controllers, and some commons.

You sure can't find prices like that anymore.

[+madman]

I don't really keep tabs on prices of things, but it seems to me the Jag has increased the most in the last 5-10 years. The only system that seems to have remained stagnant is the 3do, other than a few rares, most games are extremely cheap to acquire. Even the 32x has blown up, I got most of my games for $10 or less long ago. I really do not understand people who are just getting into retro gaming today for collection purposes...just get a flash cart and be done with it. Although I'm glad people are just getting into collecting as it makes it easier to sell all the stuff I have.

[Knud]

I don't really keep tabs on prices of things, but it seems to me the Jag has increased the most in the last 5-10 years. The only system that seems to have remained stagnant is the 3do, other than a few rares, most games are extremely cheap to acquire. Even the 32x has blown up, I got most of my games for $10 or less long ago. I really do not understand people who are just getting into retro gaming today for collection purposes...just get a flash cart and be done with it. Although I'm glad people are just getting into collecting as it makes it easier to sell all the stuff I have.

 

 

If i talk from my point of view, it is lovely to have a flash cart. But collecting to me is not only playing the games, it is organising it neatly, being on the hunt for something in particular.

 

One flash cartridge on the shelf i would not call collecting but definitely a practical solution. The act of putting a physical copy in the machine and turn it on is just something else

[+davidcalgary29]

I don't really keep tabs on prices of things, but it seems to me the Jag has increased the most in the last 5-10 years. The only system that seems to have remained stagnant is the 3do, other than a few rares, most games are extremely cheap to acquire. Even the 32x has blown up, I got most of my games for $10 or less long ago. I really do not understand people who are just getting into retro gaming today for collection purposes...just get a flash cart and be done with it. Although I'm glad people are just getting into collecting as it makes it easier to sell all the stuff I have.

I think this is actually true of most Atari systems. Lynx prices have matched this same trajectory, and it sold 20 times more units. The common Lynx titles used to sell for five bucks each, but those times are gone . And take a look at prices for A8 software: outrageous! ST users better stock up now, because I see a similar trend there. The only prices that are still reasonable are for the Portfolio, as you can still buy lots of good rare stuff from Germany and France...and there does not seem to be a demand for it outside of Europe.

[+Starwander]

Yea the prices for retro stuff in general are quite crazy now. Atari had the advantage or disadvantage depending on viewpoint of having a large back stock available. With that drying up prices will continue to climb especially for later stuff like the Jaguar.

[Greenious]

Yes, it's sad seeing the sometimes crazy prices some jag stuff sells for today, effectively turning them into unobtanium. Still, some titles still sell for less than the cost of making repro's, ie, it's cheaper to recycle a working cart than making a new one, which is kinda... bizarr.

 

While I am in one way happy that our atari's are being valued again, and no longer found on the streets waiting for the garbage truck, I'm also worried about prices getting out of reach for those who usually brings the most to the platform. So far the jaguar isn't more expensive than a last generation console, and with a much better resell potential at that, and the Falcon isn't more expensive than a good gaming PC, again, with a much better resell value. But still, if prices keep rising at this rate, it will hurt the platform, the same way gentrification kills neighbourhoods when the wannabe-hip rich ppl move in and displace the people and businesses that made the place hip to begin with.

 

With that said, I find it interesting to watch the retro market, which consoles that in the end attracts the collectors interest.

 

And generally, by looking at the market, cd-based consoles are so far getting the cold shoulder. I wonder if it is a generational thing, the would be collectors aren't old enough, or if it is that collecting is a middle-age man thing, and cds/dvds/bluray just doesn't appeal to us... With more and more games being online-based and digital downloads, will todays kids even have the opportunity to get nostalgic... will there be anything to collect at all from their youth? and while I do meet many young people very much into retrogaming, most of them are quite happy playing them on emulators, completely indifferent to the actual hardware.

 

I don't think many of us foresaw that our childhood "toys" one day would be collectibles, atleast I didn't, not even while I was busy saving all the ataris I could from the garbage truck.

 

Today I see many actually assumes their stuff will one day be collectibles, buying "collector editions" that's produced in thousands at outrageous prices. The future collectors market will definately be interesting to see. Will these "limited edition" ps4's, wii's, mario's etc really become valuable, or not...

 

I've also seen collectables more or less being killed by technology. Before landlines became obsolete, some particular models of telephones could sell for thousands of dollars. today those same telephones are in the low hundreds.

[Spider-Dan]

I really do not understand people who are just getting into retro gaming today for collection purposes...just get a flash cart and be done with it. Although I'm glad people are just getting into collecting as it makes it easier to sell all the stuff I have.

Retro gaming is really no different than collecting expensive paintings or vinyl records at this point.

 

If it were just about the experience of playing the game (or having the art on your wall, or listening to the music), emulation/flash carts are widely available, you can get a print of many paintings, and most music is available in some sort of digital form.

 

It seems to be more about the satisfaction of owning the original hardware than the gameplay experience. And that's not to say that I haven't spent money on my retro gaming... but for me personally, it's more about restoring/polishing the collection of games I already have rather than adding to it, so I've spent most of my money on stuff like the HD upscalers & RGB cables, or the Lynx screen replacement. For the most part, I kept my childhood games/systems, and I've never really had an interest in collecting a bunch of cartridges I won't play. But to each their own!

 

The part that somewhat worries me is if the retro gaming market will collapse like the comic book market did in the '90s. I'd hate to see people putting tons of money into "rare" game systems only to have that value go up in smoke when everyone remembers why those systems were rare in the first place...

[+madman]

And generally, by looking at the market, cd-based consoles are so far getting the cold shoulder. I wonder if it is a generational thing, the would be collectors aren't old enough, or if it is that collecting is a middle-age man thing, and cds/dvds/bluray just doesn't appeal to us...

I think the PS2/DC really marked the end of the "retro" gaming era. There are many PCE CD games that command high prices, some select rarer Sega CD titles and I'd say in the last 5 years the Neo Geo CD prices have skyrocketed. In the Neo Geo world, the CD was a bit of a laughing stock and games were available for next to nothing. Now even the commons (sans fighting games) have gone up considerably. Import Saturn games have a strong following as well and the US versions are generally higher priced because they sold fewer copies.

 

Retro gaming is really no different than collecting expensive paintings or vinyl records at this point.

I have to strongly disagree there. Expensive paintings weren't produced in the quantities that video games were and nobody is buying a horrible LP just to have it on their shelf. People are buying horrible NES games just to add them to their collections. So, not apples to apples in my opinion. I understand your point about wanting the original item, though. But at today's prices for many retro games I can't see being 22 and just starting to collect.

 

Obviously to each their own, I'm not telling anyone how to spend their money. As I get older, less is more to me. I personally don't see the sense of keeping copies of games around that I haven't played in over a decade.

Edited February 21, 2019 by madman

[Kal]

Telegames in the U.K. still has a good amount of new titles in stock. Towers 2 is there for way cheaper than it is on EBay.

[+Sargon]

Telegames in the U.K. still has a good amount of new titles in stock. Towers 2 is there for way cheaper than it is on EBay.

 

Is that really New Old Stock though? Don't they basically manufacture the Telegames releases on demand?

[Kal]

I dont know- they have other titles that arent their own. Ive picked up quite a few from them in the last year.

[+LS650]

I've seen claims by Telegames that an item is 'out of stock', only to reappear a few months later. It is clear that they produce these carts in small batches as needed.

[+davidcalgary29]

I've seen claims by Telegames that an item is 'out of stock', only to reappear a few months later. It is clear that they produce these carts in small batches as needed.

 

It's still kind of complicated, though. The carts are now new (for the most part), but they've also been using up some of their old packaging for some releases, such as Lynx Krazy Ace.

[tripled79]

I just bought Brutal Sports Football and Fever Pitch Soccer from Telegames UK. They were in shrink-wrap. But as some have pointed out, they may have been made recently by Telegames so who knows...

If only there were sealed Jag Duos floating around at reasonable prices. he he.

[Austin]

It's hard to say one way or the other, but I'd lean more towards BSF and FP being actual NOS.

[PeterG]

I just bought Brutal Sports Football and Fever Pitch Soccer from Telegames UK. They were in shrink-wrap. But as some have pointed out, they may have been made recently by Telegames so who knows...

If only there were sealed Jag Duos floating around at reasonable prices. he he.

Actually I never thought about it, but when people talk about this I was always thinking about the later releases like WTR or IS2 and so on. I have a hard time imagining that they do new prints of Brutal Sports. There are plenty around I suppose. Edited February 22, 2019 by PeterG

[Greenious]

I just bought Brutal Sports Football and Fever Pitch Soccer from Telegames UK. They were in shrink-wrap. But as some have pointed out, they may have been made recently by Telegames so who knows...

If only there were sealed Jag Duos floating around at reasonable prices. he he.

 

Telegames does make batches of their own releases. Afaik they are not making reproductions of other releases.

Also, the Telegames releases I have bought from them have not been shrinkwrapped, I think it's pretty safe to assume that what you bought were NOS.

[+slx]

I don't really keep tabs on prices of things, but it seems to me the Jag has increased the most in the last 5-10 years.

I told you honey, it's not junk, it's an investment

 

Best still has some more common (or maybe less desired) titles NOS (or at least that's what I assume they are when they're not listed as loose).

 

I think we have to be very grateful tho the few faithful vendors who trucked all this surplus stuff from Atari to their warehouses and paid for 30 years of storage so we can still buy shrink-wrapped Atari parts in 2019. I can get spares or even consumable stuff like thermal paper for my Atari computers while it's impossible to get parts for some appliances less than 5 years old....

 

I got most of my Jaguar stuff more than 10 years ago but when searching my mail for what I paid for Tempest 2000 I noticed I could have gotten one for less than what a fake box costs these days from a seller I bought something else from. Didn't care to spend the 5 pounds (maybe 7 USD) as I had a copy anyway.....never cared for "mint in box" though, I would only get a boxed item if it was nearly as cheap as a loose one. (We're also spoiled with most manuals just a click away on AtariAge. No such thing for many other vintage machines.)

 

 

[ColecoGamer]

Ive noticed a decline in Jaguar NOS titles as well. What is still available is now going for exorbitant amounts of money.

 

It was just a matter of time before this happened, though. The same could also be said for NOS Neo-Geo CD games. Less than 5 years ago, you could buy just about any title for less than $50 (with rare titles like Sengoku 2, Ninja Masters, Metal Slug, etc., being the exception).

 

Now you cant buy a game without spending at least $100. Its just the nature of the beast, so to speak.

 

Thank goodness we have talented developers releasing new content! Otherwise, we wouldnt have anything new to play on our favorite console(s).

Edited March 2, 2019 by ColecoGamer

[+davidcalgary29]

I imagine that we’ll see something of a correction once SainT releases the JagSD cart. It’s really helped stabilize Lynx game prices for the Atari titles.

[+madman]

I imagine that we’ll see something of a correction once SainT releases the JagSD cart. It’s really helped stabilize Lynx game prices for the Atari titles.

Hard to say, Everdrives didn't really do much to affect the collectors markets for other consoles. With the Neo Geo prices have only gone up since the release of the SD cart. I do expect console prices to go up though.

[+davidcalgary29]

But it does take some people who just want to play the games out of the market. Right now, every Jag player has to be a collector, and thats bad for the system (and your wallet).