Any rare PC games?

[tom]

The FF games are going for quite a bit sometimes on ebay, also: Man Enough, Afterlife, Alter Ego, Lula The Empire cums back, the Spellcasting series (any Legend title really), the Star Saga series, Tsunami games, Panik in the Park, and Atari Action Packs perhaps?
and of course, this, super rare and expensive:



these are getting kinda rare now:

[j_factor]

I'd imagine there are lots of obscure PC games that only had a few thousand copies printed, if not much less.

[Haoie]

Unlike almost all modern console games, PC games can still have a very limited distribution.

[Raging Prawn]

Keep in mind that there was a time where these games were made at home and sold in ziploc bags - and there's plenty of desirable stuff in that category including the aformentioned Akalebeth, the first Ultima (which I had, and - believe it or not - lost), Mystery House etc... (those are all Apple 2 games, not x86 -I lump them all together). These titles all command top dollar because they truly are insanely scarce.

On the other hand, there are games that are unbelieveably rare on PC that you couldn't sell for $5. It all comes down to historical significance and desirbility in my opionion. Games that command both categories fetch the really big $$$. I have seen many games on my want list go for hundreds of dollars. I swear you can have a giant bidding war break out on the most random titles in the PC world just because you and some other guy in Cleveland are the only two that remember Datamost and you've both been waiting 3 years for that boxed copy of Zorro.

AFAIK there's no NWC gold cart equivilant in the PC world, but I wouldn't be surprised if one of the ultra rare classics starts to get there eventually. There are only so many copies of the original Zork left... and it's a real piece of gaming history.

[tom]

Quarterstaff always demands quite a penny on ebay, Mac only title

[Torx]

dunno how rare but... BLOOD for DOS.
supar fantastico!

[FantasiaWHT]

MAC-only Sierra games.
I got $90 for a sealed copy of one of the X-wing games; I knew it was a legit seal because it still had a coupon for a free offer of some kind on it.

[kaedesdisciple]

That last Quest for Glory collection always seems to go for quite a bit as it was never re-released again after that print. I still kick myself in the ass for not keeping better tabs on that disc, and I remember throwing the box out thinking to myself, "this won't be worth anything." Jackass.

[Poofta!]

I swear you can have a giant bidding war break out on the most random titles in the PC world just because you and some other guy in Cleveland are the only two that remember Datamost and you've both been waiting 3 years for that boxed copy of Zorro.

been there, done that. got into a crazy bidding war with one guy for a very rare collection of Interplay games (ultimate RPG archives, i believe). its rare as is, boxed copy is even rarer. (it came with a 900 page manual). we bid it well over 100$. i won. it was years since ive seen it on ebay, before or after winning that one.

I second the creation of said list. I've bought so many PC games thinking that if I didn't like them/couldn't run them, I could sell them with ease. This is just not true.

such a list would be pointless since there are a lot more games like that. its like trying to make a list of ALL valuable games across all platforms! plus as mentioned before, sometimes the price of a single rare (normally cheap game) can go three figures instantly because only 2 collectors out there want a copy and have the means to procure it. although its normally a handful of people, like 10 or so that want it, and once they get it the game may drop to 20$ again.

[Ryaan1234]

been there, done that. got into a crazy bidding war with one guy for a very rare collection of Interplay games (ultimate RPG archives, i believe). its rare as is, boxed copy is even rarer. (it came with a 900 page manual). we bid it well over 100$. i won. it was years since ive seen it on ebay, before or after winning that one.

Ummmm.... I'm not trying to be nitpicky or anything but I've got the Ultimate RPG archives sitting on a table in my room right now. It's not boxed but it has the manual with it. The manual is actually 510 pages :P

[Poofta!]

Find me a copy cheap plz.

its rare just not very pricey. i believe i got mine for around 40$ about a year or so ago. maybe a bit more than a year.

Ummmm.... I'm not trying to be nitpicky or anything but I've got the Ultimate RPG archives sitting on a table in my room right now. It's not boxed but it has the manual with it. The manual is actually 510 pages :P

yeah i was exaggerating lol. bottom line is its BIG. its not hard to find w/ manual, but the price really gains a multiplier when we're talking COMPLETE. same goes for pretty much all pc games. its an interesting market.

[Poofta!]

while im here, if ANYONE has Icewind Dale II Collector's Edition for PC, I will buy it. it came with spiral-bound manual, a full-color cloth map, four player cards, a set of dice, a bonus disc, a Black Isle Studios notepad, and Black Isle and Icewind Dale stickers.

[Gameguy]

Find me a copy cheap plz.

I found one for cheap, it was in a lot of 11 PC games that I only bought for Grim Fandango. I didn't even know it was the Dragon Edition until I met with the seller. Another game in the lot was a boxed copy of Fallout 2, which I also didn't know about until after I bought everything and did some research. I only wanted to keep Grim Fandango so I sold off the rest(some I still have, waiting for a buyer).

its rare just not very pricey. i believe i got mine for around 40$ about a year or so ago. maybe a bit more than a year.

I'm happy to hear that, I sold mine off cheap since I found it for cheap.

[Kitsune Sniper]

The FF games are going for quite a bit sometimes on ebay, also: Man Enough, Afterlife, Alter Ego, Lula The Empire cums back, the Spellcasting series (any Legend title really), the Star Saga series, Tsunami games, Panik in the Park, and Atari Action Packs perhaps?

Wait, what? I couldn't sell a -sealed copy- of Panic In The Park for $10. Or Afterlife (though that was a sealed CD with manual) for $5.

[tom]

Typically, when I was after Afterlife (boxed), a bidding frenzy occured

[Therealqtip]

I'm sure for it to be rare it'd have to be really old, since you can just torrent/emulate it up.

[roushimsx]

The PC collecting market is so silly weird. You know something is amiss when junk like Duke Nukem: Nuclear Winter moves for $50/disc only while gold like Duke Caribbean is lucky to hit that much complete.

Lots of neat little odds and ends that cost a pretty penny, though. I'd love to get my dick beaters on a complete copy of One Unit Whole Blood sometime. That's like, the ultimate Blood pack.

It's always kind of bummed me out that Looking Glass' best games get as ignored by collectors as they did by consumers back when they came out. You can pick up new/sealed copies of Terra Nova for as little as $10; it was easily their biggest flop (and a major reason why the studio died) and yet it's one of my favorite games from them. Incredibly innovative and the controls still work great.

[swlovinist]

PC games is almost the only given when I shop in thrift stores now. I have sold many PC games(C64 to present) to fund my console collection.

[norkusa]

Not really rare but the strangest ones I've seen are MVP 2005 Baseball and NASCAR 2003. Who would think 5 year old sports games would sell for $75+?

[phreakindee]

Ahh one of my few areas of expertise.

Most valuable pc games are valuable because they are well known but older. Sierra, Origin, Infocom all those go for large amount when complete boxed. Most cartridge games or booter disks from the 80s are rather "rare" but tend not to sell very high due to not being known.

Some notable games in demand:

FF
Blood expansions
Duke 3D boxes
Id software games
Sierra titles
Infocom complete sets
Old bethesda games

Some very hard to find games are those that were simply not big sellers, obviously. Some particularly elusive ones:

Boxed Commander Keen games full version
Maxis game expansions (Simcity expansions, etc)
SimHealth
Boxed b&n Epic Megagames games
Any handmade/ziplock bag games from the author/or mail order titles

So very very many games from the shareware days are nearly impossible to find full versions of, since they were not sold in stores... Probably thousands with only hundreds of copies made officially (piracy made full games even more rare, quite common to find bootlegs)