10 rarest NES games?

[kennercanada]

I've been collecting for a whole six weeks now but all my research would leave me to believe that QIX, the Namco Pac-Mans, Tengen Tetris are some of the toughest but I don't think I agree. Am I wrong? Or is their other much tougher Games? I read in a reply to another thread that Jungle Book and a Finstones game were among the toughest?

 

Jim

[Tempest]

Bah not even close. Tengen Tetris is so overated in terms of rarity...

 

Action 52

Cheetaman II

6 in1 (both versions)

Any Aladdin cart

Some of the Color Dreams and AVE carts

 

 

Tempest

[JerseyDevil]

I've been collecting for a whole six weeks now but all my research would leave me to believe that QIX, the Namco Pac-Mans, Tengen Tetris are some of the toughest but I don't think I agree.  Am I wrong? Or is their other much tougher Games?  I read in a reply to another thread that Jungle Book and a Finstones game were among the toughest?

 

Jim

 

The 3 Panesian games, Bubble Bath Babes, Hot Slots and Peek a Boo Poker are the 3 rarest NES games. They usually go for $400-$700 when they come up on E-Bay.

[Tempest]

Ahh the Panesians. I knew I was forgetting something.

 

Tempest

[Atarifever]

Is Action 52 rare for the Ginny too? There's one near here for $3.99 without a box or instructions.

[JerseyDevil]

Bah not even close.  Tengen Tetris is so overated in terms of rarity...

 

Action 52

Cheetaman II

6 in1 (both versions)

Any Aladdin cart

Some of the Color Dreams and AVE carts

 

 

Tempest

 

I agree on the Tengen Tetris, it as a good stoy behind it, thats why its so popular. People heard it was pulled off the shelves and they want it.

 

Tha Aladdin carts are rare and you probably will never find them in the wild, but the whole set can be had on E-bay for about $75. And there are tons there. They were not popular at all, it is much harder to find them used than new.

[Bruce Tomlin]

I agree on the Tengen Tetris, it as a good stoy behind it, thats why its so popular. People heard it was pulled off the shelves and they want it.

It's also a better version than the regular one. It's one thing for a game to be rare, but to be rare and good drives up the desirability. Most rare games aren't very good, which is part of the reason they're so rare.

[Dr. Morbis]

This is how I'd rank the top 10 (in terms of rarity only):

 

10.Flintstones: Surprise at Dinosaur Peak

9. Caltron 6 in 1

8.Cheetahmen II

7.Bubble Bath Babes

6.Peak-A-Boo Poker

5.Hot Slots

4.Stadium Events

3.Myriad 6 in 1

2.NWC '90 Gray cart

1.NWC '90 Gold cart

[wrldstrman]

I would say the nintendo world championship carts are the rarest..I belive I saw somewhere there was only 10 of the gold ones...

[wrldstrman]

As far as prices bubble bobble 2 and dragon warrior4 get pretty expensive..Another game thats hard to get is secret scout.Actually a few of us over at gamerz universe have been keeping track of some of the rarer nes games..waynes world for one isnt seen very often.

[J.Max]

I was going to mention the NWC carts too. There are only four of the gold ones I believe...

[pseudonymr]

the myriad 6-1 is probably the rarest production cart released. stadium events isn't far behind it though. i don't think flintstones 2 is that rare, some of ave and color dreams games are rarer (ie: secret scout, menace beach, maxi-15, solitaire, and blackjack).

[sku_u]

Bah not even close.  Tengen Tetris is so overated in terms of rarity...

 

Action 52

Cheetaman II

6 in1 (both versions)

Any Aladdin cart

Some of the Color Dreams and AVE carts

 

 

Tempest

 

None of these titles are particularly rare. I've managed to find all of those in the wild.

[MegaManFan]

The NWC's clearly eclipse them all. I paid $100 for a sealed Cheetahmen II and $250 for a loose Hot Slots, but if you offer someone $3000 for an NWC they just laugh.

[christianscott27]

its easily the 3rd party pirate carts, i think people cherry pick em out of lots just cause they look different. nothing goes faster than those pastel color dreams games. i remember the DP guide had all these sanchen games listed as rare US releases and then it got into a dispute if sanchen games had ever actually been retailed in the US.

 

i kinda put the NWC carts in another league because they were never commerical releases, more like lab loaner if you will. i've been collecting NES hardcore for about 4 years now and the final 100 or so to go are really a grab-bag of rares and games people assume are easy to find. for me it seems to be numbered series games that are hardest to find, dragon warrior, mega man etc. i've found tengen tetris 3 times.

[sku_u]

IMHO these are the rarest:

 

Bubble Bath Babes

Flintstones Surprise at Dino Peak

Hot Slots

Secret Scout

Solitaire

Maxi 15

Nintendo World Championships

Peek A Boo Poker

Stadium Events

Most of the Test Carts

Any Unreleased NES Prototype

 

Cheethamen II is rare, but easy to come by if you look around.

[frax]

Stadium Events

 

Is the PAL version worth anything? I think I have it lying around somewhere.

 

/frax

[JerseyDevil]

The NWC were not normal release carts, they would be nice to have, but I don't really consider them part of the complete NES set.

 

Stadium Events was only sold through Woolworths. I was hoping that when Woolworths went out of business, someone would find a warehouse full of these, but they must have destroyed the unsold stock. I remember seeing shelves of Stadium Events in the Woolworth store by my house when it came out.

[Ze_ro]

The NWC were not normal release carts, they would be nice to have, but I don't really consider them part of the complete NES set.

Agreed. I'm surprised people even group this game in with "normal" games since it wasn't readily available to anyone really. It may as well be a prototype. Add in the fact that you can easily get it's "component" games for a tiny fraction of the cost, and I certainly don't feel any pressing need to get one.

 

--Zero

[MattG/Snyper2099]

Menace beach was one that wasn't liscensed that wasn't mentioned. It's certainly in the top 20 rares (right there with secret scout). As far as regular released liscensed games go (no recalls or any of that crap), Bubble bobble part II is the hardest one to find complete for sure. Stadium events is rarer but, is similar to lochjaw if you thunk about it. Not desired by every collector.

 

Tengen tetris, bah! I've had two of those over the years and the complete on I pieced together for under $30. Paid 5-10 ea. for instructions, cart, and box IIRC.

[nester]

It's nice to see Solitaire on the list. I actually have one of those. I got it in Harrison Arkansas for three dollars. Of course, the rare games are often quite cheep because nobody really cares about them.

 

Right now I have 7 AVE games in my collection. Captain Comic is my only Color Dreams game and it just makes my screen blink. I think Color Dreams games are much harder to find than AVE.

 

Also, Nintendo doesn't really have the holy grail style rarity with their games. Everything seems to be either common, expensive rare, or unlicensed. Of course, that makes trips to video game stores much easier, but I am starting to see more games under the display case these days.

 

Anyway, sorry that I'm rambling again!

[Dr. Morbis]

Cheethamen II is rare, but easy to come by if you look around.

So is Maxi 15 and the other AVE games on your list. There's a difference between rarity and availability. You could be searching the wild hardcore for 20 years and never see an ADE or any of the Aladdin games. Yet if you've got approx. $80, you can buy one just about any day of the week on eBay.

I'm surprised people even group this game in with "normal" games since it wasn't readily available to anyone really. It may as well be a prototype.

I think the reason that these games are so rare is because they weren't "readily avialable" to most people. By that logic, Stadium Events shouldn't count as an official release for anyone living outside of New York State.

 

Here's my opinion of the rarest licensed retail releases (not to be confused with availability):

 

-Stack Up (if complete)

-Flinstones Surprise...

-Stadium Events

-Bonk's Adventure

[Buyatari]

Agreed. I'm surprised people even group this game in with "normal" games since it wasn't readily available to anyone really. It may as well be a prototype. Add in the fact that you can easily get it's "component" games for a tiny fraction of the cost, and I certainly don't feel any pressing need to get one.  

 

--Zero

 

When you do a search in the AA database for 2600 games rated 10 doesn't Atlantis 2 show up? Same thing if ask me.

 

I think any game which was made available to the public should count. Now if that public is 200 or less who were a select group and part of a contest, as was the case with Atlantis 2 and NWCs it should still count. Swordquest competetion carts shouldn't if they ever turned up because they were not available to the players in the contest.

 

Adam

[sku_u]

Cheethamen II is rare, but easy to come by if you look around.

So is Maxi 15 and the other AVE games on your list. There's a difference between rarity and availability. You could be searching the wild hardcore for 20 years and never see an ADE or any of the Aladdin games. Yet if you've got approx. $80, you can buy one just about any day of the week on eBay.

 

I bought an ADE + one of each of the Aladdin games sealed for $60 from someone who had a whole warehouse full of them (he literally had 1000s of them and it was not through any online source). They are NOT rare.

 

I found Maxi 15 and all of the AVE games at Gamestop for $5 each. I tracked NES rarities on Ebay, yahoo auctions and goodwill auctions for almost 2 years. With the exception of NWC and a select few others, all NES titles are available out there for a reasonable price.

[nester]

There ain't no way I would put NWC in the official count of games. I wouldn't put Atlantis 2 in there either, but Atari does operate a little bit differently.

 

The reason is that Stadium Events was actually released in a way that a regular person could get one. NWC was just a special cart given out to certain people. I'll make a column for special cases on my list, but as of now it stands at 771 which NWC doesn't belong to.