The tier 2 NES rarities!
There's sooo many threads, discussions, and talk about the the rarest carts on NES such as Little Samson, Panic Restaurant, Flintstones 2, Snow Brothers, Bonk's Adventure, Chip and Dale 2, Duck Tales 2, Power Blade 2, Zombie Nation, Jetsons, and Bubble Bobble 2. Then there's the few carts that are easy to find but the boxes are extremely rare: Best of the Best, Pro Sport Hockey, Chubby Cherub, Sqoon, Stack Up, DK Math, Clu Clu Land, and FFF Athletic World. Then there's the up and coming pains in the asses such as Wayne's World, Dragon Fighter, Hillsfar, and Sword Master.
But whatabout that handful of games we all need or needed in the final 25 or 50 games that just seemed to be a pain in the ass to locate! Games that not much conversation takes place about.. games that aren't rated too high on rarity, yet involve lots of searching and patience!
I will name a few that it happened to me with, that I have seen on several other people's last 25-50 lists:
Bases Loaded 4
Conan
Cool World
Defenders of Dynatron City
Frankenstein
Godzilla 2
Jimmy Connors Tennis
Kid Klown
Last Action Hero
Little Ninja Brothers
Might & Magic
S.C.A.T.
Swamp Thing
Those are the ones I see on final lists the most, the ones I had a lot of trouble finding (cart only or boxed) that was completely unexpected. Games like Conan where only 2-3 are up on eBay at a time, almost never boxed. That's a world's difference from something like 20, 30, or 40 copies at any given time as is common for most NES games. Or howabout S.C.A.T. !!! Not a damn single copy of the game is on eBay right now!!!!!!!!!!! That's what I call rare. In general, these are titles that fewer than 5-10 at a time are on eBay. Obviously not impossible, but definitely scarcer than 95% of the games on NES.
But whatabout that handful of games we all need or needed in the final 25 or 50 games that just seemed to be a pain in the ass to locate! Games that not much conversation takes place about.. games that aren't rated too high on rarity, yet involve lots of searching and patience!
I will name a few that it happened to me with, that I have seen on several other people's last 25-50 lists:
Bases Loaded 4
Conan
Cool World
Defenders of Dynatron City
Frankenstein
Godzilla 2
Jimmy Connors Tennis
Kid Klown
Last Action Hero
Little Ninja Brothers
Might & Magic
S.C.A.T.
Swamp Thing
Those are the ones I see on final lists the most, the ones I had a lot of trouble finding (cart only or boxed) that was completely unexpected. Games like Conan where only 2-3 are up on eBay at a time, almost never boxed. That's a world's difference from something like 20, 30, or 40 copies at any given time as is common for most NES games. Or howabout S.C.A.T. !!! Not a damn single copy of the game is on eBay right now!!!!!!!!!!! That's what I call rare. In general, these are titles that fewer than 5-10 at a time are on eBay. Obviously not impossible, but definitely scarcer than 95% of the games on NES.
Comments
I always thought Toki and Race America were a bit of a pain as well.
Edit: Just noticed that you mentioned the SCAT phenomenon already.
Gun Nac perhaps?
Also, wouldn't Felix The Cat fall into this category?
Originally posted by: JNovo79
I plan on doing just that as soon as I get done studying.
Also, wouldn't Felix The Cat fall into this category?
I was about to post Felix too.
Yes that is a very obscure title and a fun one at that.
Another one that evaded me for awhile was World Champ by Romstar.
Alex DeMeo's Race America
Bases Loaded 4
Blades of Steel (Konami Classics variant)
Casino Kid II
Cliffhanger
Cool World
Destiny of an Emperor
Faria: A World of Mystery & Danger!
Fisher-Price: Firehouse Rescue
Fisher-Price: I Can Remember
Fisher-Price: Perfect Fit
Frankenstein: The Monster Returns
Galaxy 5000: Racing in the 21st Century
Golf Grand Slam
Jimmy Connors Tennis
King's Quest V
Last Action Hero
Last Ninja, The
Little Ninja Brothers
Lone Ranger, The
Might & Magic: Secret of the Inner Sanctum
Monster Truck Rally
Motor City Patrol
Nigel Mansell's World Championship Racing
Ninja Crusaders
Palamedes
Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom
Puzznic
RoboCop 3
Rockin' Kats
Rollerblade Racer
Sesame Street: ABC / 123
Silver Surfer
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Street Cop
Super Cars
Tecmo Cup: Soccer Game
Times of Lore
Toki
Tombs & Treasure
Ultima: Warriors of Destiny
Widget
Wizardry Master Series II: Knight of Diamonds
Bases Loaded 4 = 17
Conan = 7 (all cart only)
Cool World = 8 (all cart only)
Defenders of Dynatron City = 12
Frankenstein = 5 (2 boxed, 3 cart only)
Godzilla 2 = 9 (all cart only)
Jimmy Connors Tennis = 6 (2 boxed, 4 cart only)
Kid Klown = 3 (all cart only)
Last Action Hero = 9 (6 cart only, 3 boxed)
Little Ninja Brothers = 7 (6 cart only, 1 boxed)
Might & Magic = 11
S.C.A.T. = 0
Swamp Thing = 6
Die Hard = 0 on eBay
Felix = 5 (all cart only)
Race America = 4 (3 cart only, 1 boxed)
Wacky Races = 4 (all cart only)
Galaxy 5000 = 10 (8 cart only, 2 boxed)
Cliffhanger = 6 (somehow 5 of them are CIB)
Gun Nac = 6 (4 cart only, 2 boxed, 1 empty box also)
Young Indiana Jones = 9 (7 cart only, 2 boxed)
A few others I thought of:
Faria = 7
Fire N Ice = 1
Bomberman 2 = 7
Tournament Fighters = 3
Mighty Final Fight = 4
Battletoads/Double Dragon = 10
RC Pro AM 2 = 8
Romance of the Three Kingdoms 2 = 3
Shadow of the Ninja = 10
For me personally, when I see 5 or fewer of a game, that's my sign that it's worthy of being a tier 2 rarity!! But the best way is to document this stuff over time, as every game has it's droughts.
Been looking for a copy of SCAT for a while now. Finally got ahold of a manual, now the game itself has up and disappeared. You can thank Cinemassacre Mike for that. Thankfully I only need three (SCAT and two others) that were mentioned in the OP, but if you guys could just shut right up for now that'd be swell.
Indiana Jones (UBIsoft)
Both harder to find variants
Originally posted by: MrMark0673
Although many others deserve to be mentioned, I would certainly put Die Hard on that list. It was the very last licensed NES game I personally needed to complete my set.
It's impossible to find a box and manual for. I've never seen them listed on ebay, just cart only. I actually lucked out on the box when I bought a copy pretty cheap on Amazon of all places. Certainly a tough game to come across.
Maybe not so uncommon, I dunno, it took me a long ass time to find Nightmare on Elm Street.
I'm not sure I agree with Dynatron City but everything else is spot on.
Originally posted by: WolfAlmighty
*Cringes every time a game that I don't have is mentioned in an 'NES rarities' thread
Been looking for a copy of SCAT for a while now. Finally got ahold of a manual, now the game itself has up and disappeared. You can thank Cinemassacre Mike for that. Thankfully I only need three (SCAT and two others) that were mentioned in the OP, but if you guys could just shut right up for now that'd be swell.
Haha - yeah, I bought the game because of Motherfucker Mike. Still haven't played it, though.
Originally posted by: jonebone
Haha, awesome thread. SCAT has been undervalued for far too long, and the run on SCAT carts happened sometime over the past week or two. No carts on eBay or Amazon. It appears on almost everyone's last 25-30 games when going for a full set, it's obviously rarer than the price indicates.
I always thought Toki and Race America were a bit of a pain as well.
Edit: Just noticed that you mentioned the SCAT phenomenon already.
You wouldn't happen to be selling a SCAT right now would you?
Originally posted by: WolfAlmighty
You can thank Cinemassacre Mike for that.
The same guy who did that awful Elmo in Grouchland commentary. The mind boggles.
Gargoyles ii
Conan
Jackie chan
Arkista
Frankenstein