Game Boy Cartridge Prices

[Technosis]

I've noticed that of all the classic games sold in my area, Game Boy games seemed to have always had the most consistent prices. Interestingly enough, even the original Game Boy titles have had a fairly steady resale value, usually around $5 -$15 on average. I suspect this is because the Game Boy has had such a long run in all its formats.....

Anyone else notice this?

[mills]

Definitely. Even on ebay a good lot of gameboy games can get a really good price. THeres something about those little carts, just so easy to pick up and play for a quick fun game session.

[cyberfluxor]

I've seen the prices drop a bit on most of the GB games, like a lot of the ones I use to see for $12 are now $5-8. It's good for GB gamers because there's so many titles, but also a ton of them are horrible. You really need to weed through the mess and sometimes the choices are limited in local stores.

[udisi]

they hold their price because every little kid has a Gameboy of some type, and mom's buy these cheaper games for their kids all the time. I'm talking the pre-teen kids.

[swlovinist]

Also, even though the SP is being phased out, it is still in stores new. This is a new product that plays these old carts very very well. Working at a Gamestop in the past during the holidays I saw many of these carts bought to go with a shiny new SP. Some classics never die, they just evolve....

[MrRoboto19XX]

Also, even though the SP is being phased out, it is still in stores new. This is a new product that plays these old carts very very well. Working at a Gamestop in the past during the holidays I saw many of these carts bought to go with a shiny new SP. Some classics never die, they just evolve....

True enough, and there are a good few of still buried gems for the little system that still can. I could probably name 5 off the top of my head that are solid, yet relatively unknown to the typical gamer-type.

[Pantechnicon]

Yep. GB/GBC carts hold their value sumthin' fierce. Prices have lowered quite a bit Gamestop/EB but the selection is minimal. Howeverat the last few local shops I've been in GB resale is a brisk business. It's quite common in my experiences to see Tetris (a pack-in game, mind you) or Dr Mario going for $15 to $20 and people are still willing to pay that. That's been the going rate for at least five years.

[Sniderman]

The reason the original GameBoy carts (and the GBC carts) have held their value so well can be summed up in two words:

"Backwards compatibility"

Every GB system released after the grey brick B&W versions can play all of the games released for the GBs released before them. So, if you have a GB, GBA, GBA DS, etc., you can play the earlier games for them.

Ergo, they have not yet become obsolete, so why SHOULD the prices go down? They still play with no probs on currently-released systems.

[Pantechnicon]

Sniderman's right on the compatibility thing. What I see in a lot of cases is that people will trade in their old GB hardware but not necessarily the games along with it. So even though a pack-in game like Tetris was distributed with 50 gazillion Gameboys back in 1989 that doesn't mean you'll necessarily find a Sonic 2-sized pile of them at the shops. Instead you'll see one or two, tops. That sort of consistent longevity in pricing is really unique.

[Ran]

The reason the original GameBoy carts (and the GBC carts) have held their value so well can be summed up in two words:

"Backwards compatibility"

Every GB system released after the grey brick B&W versions can play all of the games released for the GBs released before them. So, if you have a GB, GBA, GBA DS, etc., you can play the earlier games for them.

Ergo, they have not yet become obsolete, so why SHOULD the prices go down? They still play with no probs on currently-released systems.

Well, the DS can only play DS and GBA games, not GBC/GB games.
And the Gameboy Micro can only play GBA games, so they're not entirely backward compatible. It's a little bit sad i think. Why couldn't the DS just emulate the gameboy roms? It has no problems of emulating NES or even SNES roms, then why not b/w gameboy

[Windy Miller]

I get a real buzz when a mint GB/GBC game comes through the post. I've had a couple in the past two weeks from the US, which were sealed & in brand new condition. I think I might've done a small dance around my bedroom...

[Frica89]

i know what you mean...i hadn't bought a B&W gameboy in quite some time, but got the urge to buy Kirby's Dream Land 2 after reading about it recently. I walk into game stop with $15 bucks in my pocket, thinking it was plenty of money because the game had been around for ages and had sold millions, earning player's choice status. So I find the game, and the guy tells me its like $25..........that was a WTF moment for me.

[scooterb23]

as one of several around here to be actively working on a Game Boy collection...I know that prices have come down a little bit recently. Probably because of the DS not having backwards compatability and more carts iinto the stream. Still, I average paying $7 a cart when I find them in the wild. That is down from averaging about $9 a few months ago.

[Technosis]

Yeah, I've also noticed that boxed games really get a premium with the Game Boy as well. Are the existing rarity lists for the Game Boy as accurate as console games? There just seems to be so many obscure titles

[scooterb23]

Yeah, I don't touch boxed games because...let's face it...who kept em?

I know I didn't.

Because I couldn't fit the boxes in my travel case

As far as obscure titles. I haven't noticed many that obscure. Maybe Wisdom Trees and Sachen carts (which I have never seen). See the thing was with Game Boy. Everyone had the same core of 5-10 games, but everyone always also had 5-10 other random titles. I know at least 5 friends from school who had Gameboys, and except for a core of 5 games, we didn't have a single duplicate cart in our collections. So I see a wide distribution of all kinds of titles in my travels.

As far as the rarity list on DP. I tend to think it's a good indication of rarity.
Although in my area, I tend to see a flatter rarity grade...R3 and R4 carts are just as likely to be seen as an R1. A few of the R5 and R6 games strangely enough may as well be 8s or 9s. I just never see those.

One thing I do want to note is that I really don't see a correlation between rarity and prices like you do with other systems. Except for maybe the Wisdom Tree, Tetris, and Sachen (if you ever see these) carts everything around me gets pretty flat pricing. An R1? $5, an R5? $5. etc. etc. Tetris? $15. Every time.

[PentiumMMX]

Well, the DS can only play DS and GBA games, not GBC/GB games.
And the Gameboy Micro can only play GBA games, so they're not entirely backward compatible. It's a little bit sad i think. Why couldn't the DS just emulate the gameboy roms? It has no problems of emulating NES or even SNES roms, then why not b/w gameboy

Good point. Guess they don't want people to play Zelda: Link's Awakening and Pokemon Crystal anymore...

[Mad Gear]

I finally managed to get a complete copy of Kirby's Dream Land 2 the other day off ebay. There's always cart only one's on there but i only go for boxed/complete stuff. Got it for under $20 which was due to the seller only accepting bank transfer or cash. Just waiting for it to arrive <hurry up>

[Technosis]

As far as obscure titles. I haven't noticed many that obscure. Maybe Wisdom Trees and Sachen carts (which I have never seen). See the thing was with Game Boy. Everyone had the same core of 5-10 games, but everyone always also had 5-10 other random titles. I know at least 5 friends from school who had Gameboys, and except for a core of 5 games, we didn't have a single duplicate cart in our collections. So I see a wide distribution of all kinds of titles in my travels

This is an interesting point. This is a great thing for collecting, as it ensures an excellent variety. Does anyone know what the official US release count for the GB, GBC, and GBA is? It must be staggeringly high!

[Sweater Fish Deluxe]

The reason the original GameBoy carts (and the GBC carts) have held their value so well can be summed up in two words:

"Backwards compatibility"

It can't be all down to backwards compatibility. The Playstation 2 and 3 are baackwards compatible, too, but most PS1 games can be picked up for dirt cheap.

Something different about the markets.

I never cease to be surprised that Tetris despite being the original pack in and--according some statistics I've seen--one of the five most common video games in the world, still costs $15 most places.

As for why Nintendo didn't include Gameboy/Color emulation in the DS. One problem is that Gameboy and GBC carts require +5v while the DS operates entirely at +3.3v, so emulation alone wouldn't have been able to make original Gameboy carts playable, some hardware changes would have been necessary. It still would have been possible, but 1) it owuld have drained the battery pretty fast and 2) Nintendo were obviously trying to distance the DS from the Gameboy line to a certain extent. Though they hedged on that last point a bit by including GBA compatibility, of course. I'm glad they did and I sure wish they'd included original Gameboy support as well, but at least I can play most B&W Gameboy games on my DS using Goomba.


...word is bondage...

[Sniderman]

It can't be all down to backwards compatibility. The Playstation 2 and 3 are baackwards compatible, too, but most PS1 games can be picked up for dirt cheap.

A good point. But many PS1 titles are starting to climb up in price, even those that were manufactured in Greatest Hits-like numbers (Silent Hill and RE2 come to mind.) I still feel that the Backwards Compatibility is the biggest piece of the "still high price" appearance. But add to that:
- Portability. You can play all of the older GB games anyplace as long as you have the hardware in-pocket. So Johnny in the back seat on a long car trip; Suzy hidden in the back row of a college lecture; and Raul on a coffee break at the office can all play Super Mario Land at anytime even with the new hardware they just bought at Target yesterday.
- Exclusivities - There were several Mario/Zelda/Metroid titles that can only be found on GB carts, so the fans of those series need to grab the GB carts when they find 'em.