The "R" Word

DarkTone

Since joining these forums I noticed the word "rare" is used a lot. NOT on an ebay level, but by real collectors who know their stuff. However there are some users who question what is really a rare game, even on a R7/8 scale. Others who hate that word with a passion make themselves heard too.



Just wanted your thoughts on what really defies it, and is it over used by users/ebay sellers?

RASK1904

7/8's are rare. When you find one in the wild your happy. Even if there are 15 on ebay with bin's of 100$. It's still rare.

MAIL_BAG

I think "obscure" should be used more. I like the sound of that.

Informationator

The 'eBay level' is just a complete misapplication of the word. There's nothing ***RARE*** about Secret of Mana or Final Fantasy III.



Regarding items that are actually tricky to find, I've yet to see a huge controversy myself, but I'd consider any game with ~5,000 or fewer copies made rare. Maybe even 10,000 or less... I don't know... I don't need other people to define what rare means for me. If I can't find a good copy (or any copy) on eBay over the course of months, well, that's almost certainly rare.

PowerPlayers

Rare is relative.



To me rare is something that shows up once a year. So I only consider things like NWC Gold or a CIB Stadium Events rare.



To others, stuff like Dino Peak, Little Samson and Panic Restaurant is rare.



To others, stuff like Duck Tales 2, Rescue Rangers 2 and Bubble Bobble 2 is rare.





Just remember that Rare does not mean Scarce.



Color A Dinosaur is "rare", while Earthbound is scarce. Learn the difference and you're good as gold.

palutz59

The thing about something being rare has to be taken into context of the world we live in. I don't do much store to store hunting because I have more important things to do but occasionally I will stop in a retro store to see if something good (rare) is available. Most of the time all I see is overpriced garbage that I wouldn't spend a $1 on. Same crap over and over that just sits on the shelves. Now flip that to the Internet and pretty much anything can be bought if the wallet allows it. The R word no longer applies because EVERYTHING is available to purchase. The Internet has changed everything for the good and some things for the worse. Rarely will you find a game on the net way underpriced unless the seller is the other R word. So that's my take on it. Games that can easily be purchased online become rare locally.  BTW rare/ scarce ...the wallet doesn't know the difference. 

0xero0

I thought rare just meant popular?

Godot

I think the term "scarce" should be used to describe 95% of the games that are labelled as "rare" nowadays. Perhaps in between "uncommon" and something that is actually "rare"

Fahrenheit

The problem is, you can't just say that R7/8s are rare, because an R7/8 is different for each systems games. I see a game that is labeled R9 in the NA database that currently has 3 brand new copies and 2 used copies available. That certainly doesn't sound like an R9 to me. Regardless of it being hard to find it locally, being able to buy it online so easily should definitely impact a games rarity.

final fight cd

Originally posted by: JosephLeo



Rare is relative.



To me rare is something that shows up once a year. So I only consider things like NWC Gold or a CIB Stadium Events rare.

 

amen to that, brother.



"rare" and "video games" is now forever synonymous with each other. even to the point of speculating what wii titles will be "rare" in the future.   yet these games are probably massed produced in the 10,000s. 



loose carts are not rare.

SteveOh

Rare is probably the most common term on ebay. It's so frustrating to see it used on nearly every auction.

abrahamh2

Why not combine the 2 Rare and Scarce = Rarescarce. Works for me

mrmovieprop

In my opinion only a few nintendo games are really rare. The Nintendo world championship gold cart is rare. Still there are 26 of them originally made and very few probably were destroyed as its a cartridge game and won in a special contest people went out of there way to participate in.

Even stadium events you are looking at 200 or so made.

Generally if you know of the item and is on a nice neat check list to get then the item probably is not rare as people know of it.



Compared to original comic book art, movie props, and prototype items; games really are not rare in most instances. Now where are the original manual artwork for the classic games or box proofs. you don't see much of that. Video game collectors are also not clamoring or even looking for movie props from video game themed movies. No game collector is really searching for the original mortal kombat arcade game wardrobe items either. Now stuff like that is rare to me, and possibly lost for all practical purposes.



How can cheetaman 2 with 1500 copies produced be worth so much. Seems baffling to me. But for those wanting to complete a collection it makes sense. its a well known prototype that was not sold commercially initially and people know of and it has some history behind it. Lots of other prototype nintendo cartridges which most assuredly were made in some concept stages do not make peoples list of things to discuss as they are not known yet. now those when they turn up or mock boxes or what not those are hard to value and rare.

Bubbasizer

Rare to me, depends on how many were made for the most part, and not the value. And also how many were made compared to how many people want to own that certain game. It's a tough call I would say. I don't know, say there are 500 copies of a certain game is that rare? well that depends on how many people are looking for that game I guess. Only 500 copies and there are 7 billion people in the world, seems rare to me. But you have to remember that maybe only a few million or less IDK of those 7 billion people collect games. Supply and demand comes to mind when you think of this kind of question.

mb7241

As for me, my interpretation of rare pertains to items generally being unusually difficult to find (i.e. R9 or greater). Prototypes by definition are rare. Only a very small number of retail released games from the classic era (starting with the NES) forward qualify. I've heard a lot of newer collectors say things like Panic Restaurant/Little Samson/Clayfighter Sculptor's Cut/(insert other R5-R8 title here) are rare...while they're certainly not growing on trees (at least around here), I have to disagree, as there are simply too many out there. Of course, from a value standpoint, rarity has very little to do directly with value, as this hobby is driven almost entirely by the simple mechanics of supply and demand. The difference between most true rare games and the semi-rare games is that demand on true rares is simply from knowing it's needed. Demand on semi-rare games is much more hype-driven (of which the hype is derived from such sources as video reviews on YouTube and specific game rarity questions at forums such as this one).

Deathgaze

'Rare' means absolutely nothing to me. Half of the Mario/DH auctions/BINs have "***RARE***" in their title.

NostalgicMachine

Shit, all you have to do is release somewhat of an "official" game for the NES, and people will consider it part of the official collection, and clammer over to you with their wallets open (in reference to Cheetah Man).



I swear, (some) collectors can be extremely naive sometimes, lol.

DarkTone

Also, can ebay determine rarity on an unknown item? If there is no knowledge on an item but it shows up on ebay once a year, can it be considered rare?

Enternal

Ebay and online trading and collective hoarding influence our collector perspective.



With a world wide network of trading we are pulling in copies of the SA Flintstones 2. And while that is not increasing the actual amount of copies in the world. It shows that accessibility of previous hard to find items is becoming easier.



A counter effect are the copies being held by collectors and on other occasions some people are sitting on multiple copies and may not care/need to list the item.



With these two effects it's probably more accurate to say something like Cowboy Kid Rare in the wild find.



You can also see this described in other hobbies. Such as this Civil War gun is rare to find outside of collector trading.



But ultimately you will see Rare applied an any such way, you might as well ignore its value, and access it's existance value yourself.

Fahrenheit

I've been working on using the word scarce, more often than the word "rare" these days. Seeing as how I collect for the DS, there's nearly nothing on it that I can legitimately call rare, so the word scarce suits most hard to find DS games. I do however use the word when comparing the rarity of one DS game to another, situation depending, or more so when I'm using the isolated rarity scale of the DS and not the rarity scale of all of the consoles across the board.



For instance, my factory sealed copy of Nancy Drew and the Clue Bender Society + Nancy Drew Volume 4 Combo pack, is rare by DS standards. It is however nowhere near as rare as something like Bubble Bath Babes, or even the Big Box GBA games. Sort of like how some CIB/factory sealed Game Boy games make many CIB/factory sealed NES games look like a walk in the park to obtain.

Another Example, (GB) Spud's Adventure 8/9/9 rarity -(Versus)- (GBC) Rhino Rumble 7/7/7 rarity. First off, Rhino Rumble should trump Spud's Adventure's rarity by a long shot. I haven't seen a single CIB Rhino Rumble in years, but I have seen a few CIB Spud's Adventure/Amazing Tater's. It's like comparing tomatoes to oranges though.



I'm sure that not comparing an (R7) GB game to a (R7) SNES game is already common knowledge though, so now I'm just sort of ranting I guess. Lol



I think I lost my point in that jumbled mess. Simply put, some games are rare by that specific consoles standards, but not necessarily by the NES or Game Boy standards. So that's how I justify using the term "rare", when I do.

PowerPlayers

Originally posted by: Deathmore



I've been working on using the word scarce, more often than the word "rare" these days. Seeing as how I collect for the DS, there's nearly nothing on it that I can legitimately call rare, so the word scarce suits most hard to find DS games. I do however use the word when comparing the rarity of one DS game to another, situation depending, or more so when I'm using the isolated rarity scale of the DS and not the rarity scale of all of the consoles across the board.



For instance, my factory sealed copy of Nancy Drew and the Clue Bender Society + Nancy Drew Volume 4 Combo pack, is rare by DS standards. It is however nowhere near as rare as something like Bubble Bath Babes, or even the Big Box GBA games. Sort of like how some CIB/factory sealed Game Boy games make many CIB/factory sealed NES games look like a walk in the park to obtain.

Another Example, (GB) Spud's Adventure 8/9/9 rarity -(Versus)- (GBC) Rhino Rumble 7/7/7 rarity. First off, Rhino Rumble should trump Spud's Adventure's rarity by a long shot. I haven't seen a single CIB Rhino Rumble in years, but I have seen a few CIB Spud's Adventure/Amazing Tater's. It's like comparing tomatoes to oranges though.



I'm sure that not comparing an (R7) GB game to a (R7) SNES game is already common knowledge though, so now I'm just sort of ranting I guess. Lol



I think I lost my point in that jumbled mess. Simply put, some games are rare by that specific consoles standards, but not necessarily by the NES or Game Boy standards. So that's how I justify using the term "rare", when I do.

Scarce is simply the definition of something that can not keep up with the demand.



For example, Stadium Events is Rare and Scarce...but Earthbound is Uncommon and Scarce.

Fahrenheit

Originally posted by: JosephLeo

Originally posted by: Deathmore



I've been working on using the word scarce, more often than the word "rare" these days. Seeing as how I collect for the DS, there's nearly nothing on it that I can legitimately call rare, so the word scarce suits most hard to find DS games. I do however use the word when comparing the rarity of one DS game to another, situation depending, or more so when I'm using the isolated rarity scale of the DS and not the rarity scale of all of the consoles across the board.



For instance, my factory sealed copy of Nancy Drew and the Clue Bender Society + Nancy Drew Volume 4 Combo pack, is rare by DS standards. It is however nowhere near as rare as something like Bubble Bath Babes, or even the Big Box GBA games. Sort of like how some CIB/factory sealed Game Boy games make many CIB/factory sealed NES games look like a walk in the park to obtain.

Another Example, (GB) Spud's Adventure 8/9/9 rarity -(Versus)- (GBC) Rhino Rumble 7/7/7 rarity. First off, Rhino Rumble should trump Spud's Adventure's rarity by a long shot. I haven't seen a single CIB Rhino Rumble in years, but I have seen a few CIB Spud's Adventure/Amazing Tater's. It's like comparing tomatoes to oranges though.



I'm sure that not comparing an (R7) GB game to a (R7) SNES game is already common knowledge though, so now I'm just sort of ranting I guess. Lol



I think I lost my point in that jumbled mess. Simply put, some games are rare by that specific consoles standards, but not necessarily by the NES or Game Boy standards. So that's how I justify using the term "rare", when I do.

Scarce is simply the definition of something that can not keep up with the demand.



For example, Stadium Events is Rare and Scarce...but Earthbound is Uncommon and Scarce.

Ah, yes. Perhaps I should have been more specific on that. Though I wouldn't agree with Earthbound being uncommon and scarce, there seems to be plenty of them to go around. Perhaps not in the wild, but certainly over the net. Even if the price is less than ideal. At least to me, it doesn't seem like demand outweighs supply.

VGS_foochie776

Originally posted by: JosephLeo

Rare is relative.



To me rare is something that shows up once a year. So I only consider things like NWC Gold or a CIB Stadium Events rare.



To others, stuff like Dino Peak, Little Samson and Panic Restaurant is rare.



To others, stuff like Duck Tales 2, Rescue Rangers 2 and Bubble Bobble 2 is rare.





Just remember that Rare does not mean Scarce.



Color A Dinosaur is "rare", while Earthbound is scarce. Learn the difference and you're good as gold.

You always post the most true stuff. Funny thing is I was just thinking about this whole debate earlier today. Talk about déjà vu.

Guntz

This stills remains the dumbest complaint on NintendoAge. How do you guys get so hung up on a word? Who cares if rare is overused.



A bigger problem is the complete misuse of the word Retro. Nobody gives a shit about that!

marvelus10

Nothing is really rare if you have the right amount of money.

CompleteSNES

Originally posted by: Godot



I think the term "scarce" should be used to describe 95% of the games that are labelled as "rare" nowadays. Perhaps in between "uncommon" and something that is actually "rare"

+1

K3VBOT

I am

PowerPlayers

Originally posted by: CompleteSNES

Originally posted by: Godot



I think the term "scarce" should be used to describe 95% of the games that are labelled as "rare" nowadays. Perhaps in between "uncommon" and something that is actually "rare"

+1

I've been working on a rarity scale for a LONG time now and I found it the easiest to classify things like this.



Widespread

Nearly guaranteed to find in a lot of a few games

NFL Football, Super Mario Bros. Duck Hunt, Tetris



Common

Found at your local vintage game store, but you may have to visit multiple stores.

1942, Adventures of Lolo, Jaws



Uncommon

Can be found at your local vintage game store if you're lucky, but may not happen often at all.

Silver Surfer, Double Dragon III, Dragon Warrior III



Infrequent

Usually never found at your local vintage game store, these show up relatively frequently on auction sites

Battletoads Double Dragon, L'Empereur, Gun Nac



Rare

Practically impossible to find in the wild or your local game store, these show up infrequently online except when hyped.

Dinosaur Peak, Little Samson, Bonk's Adventure



Very Rare

These rarely show up, even on online auction sites.

Stadium Events, NWC Grey



Nearly Unique

These are practically impossible to find and only a select few collectors will ever own, they rarely show up once every few years.

NWC Gold



Unique

A one of a kind item.

Campus Challenge '91



Mythical

Theorized, or shown to exist. Zero known copies exist.

Minnesota State Lotto Cartridge, Famil Fun Fitness: Dance Aerobics

Jerbilly

Originally posted by: Foochie776



You always post the most true stuff. Funny thing is I was just thinking about this whole debate earlier today. Talk about déjà vu.

But... I didn't post anything.

VGS_foochie776

Originally posted by: deathrock83

Originally posted by: Foochie776



You always post the most true stuff. Funny thing is I was just thinking about this whole debate earlier today. Talk about déjà vu.

But... I didn't post anything.

Your words are too insightful to even be out into text!

Beliskner

Originally posted by: Foochie776

Originally posted by: deathrock83

Originally posted by: Foochie776



You always post the most true stuff. Funny thing is I was just thinking about this whole debate earlier today. Talk about déjà vu.

But... I didn't post anything.

 

Your words are too insightful to even be out into text!

If Jeremy would write down what he really thinks the universe would probably collapse within seconds.