Some games are now worth a small fortune: tiny print runs, complete editions in mint condition, regional rarities. This Top 100 lists the retro titles with the highest values in the RomWize catalogue. For each, its re-evaluated score, its versions, their rarity and their estimated collector price, from loose to sealed.
"Capcom's NES sequel whose European PAL version reaches towering prices, far above the NTSC release. Launched late in 1992 as attention shifted to the Super Nintendo, Gargoyle's Quest II saw a tiny PAL distribution, making a complete European copy one of the hardest in Capcom's eight-bit library. Desirability blends extreme PAL scarcity with the prestige of the Ghosts'n Goblins lineage and Firebrand's spin-off status."
"The North American NTSC NES edition of the Capcom-Disney sequel, the flagship market where the NES took hold. More widespread than the PAL cart, it is still a late-cycle title with a contained US print, which meaningfully lifts clean CIB in a non-warped cardboard box and graded sealed copies. Desirability rests on the DuckTales aura and reference Capcom platformer status, more than on loose scarcity, which stays moderate."
"Released only in Brazil by Tec Toy long after the West abandoned the console, this Disney educational puzzle is one of the priciest Master System titles on the market. Its striking value comes not from its content, slight and aimed at young children, but from a tiny, late local print run. Sought by completists for raw scarcity rather than play, it is a Tec Toy catalogue piece."
"A 1992 Naxat Soft Famicom shooter, Japan-exclusive, designed for the yearly Summer Carnival competition. The cart is famous for pushing the Famicom hardware past its supposed limits, with unprecedented on-screen bullet density and extreme sound design. The initial print was very short, dedicated to tournament participants. Intact boxed CIB is one of the most expensive Famicom shmups in the world, an absolute grail for Japanese shmup collectors."
"Super-deformed reimagining of Final Fight by Capcom, out in 1993 in the US, condensing the arcade beat-them-up into a chibi style proper to the NES version. Its very late release, amid the shift to 16-bit, gave it a modest print run that contrasts with its solid reputation among Capcom fans. Its collecting interest rests on this end-of-generation scarcity and on its status as the culmination of the in-house beat-them-up on the 8-bit."
"Limited Run Games reissue on a freshly produced GBC cartridge, manufactured as a numbered run with dedicated sleeves and collector edition extras. It does not faithfully reproduce the 2002 Capcom cartridge but addresses a different audience: not period-original buyers but collectors of recent pressings guaranteed sealed. The printed serial number remains the dominant pricing data point on the LRG secondary market."
"This North American edition of a Magic Bytes arcade soccer title ranks among the late, very-low-print NTSC releases from the SNES twilight. That minimal distribution makes it a genuine American scarcity, well beyond mere sports-curiosity status. End-of-catalog US collectors treat it as a tough complete-in-box find, cardboard case and manual included, with the aura resting on the object's real rarity rather than the gameplay itself."
"The final Ren & Stimpy outing on SNES, dumped by THQ in late 1995 as 32-bit systems were already eclipsing the console: a short NTSC print, late distribution and scarce survival in a clean cardboard box. It's the hardest of the US line to assemble complete, making it the sought piece for cartoon-license completists and hunters of SNES catalog tail-ends. Graded sealed copies climb hard; even loose it holds a traction the other episodes lack, carried by the show's aura."
"An adaptation of the film Toys, this muddled action game left no mark and remains a B-tier tie-in typical of the early SNES. On the PAL parc the European edition is uncommon complete, yet demand stays low: any value is a sealed-copy artefact rather than genuine appeal. One for the collector of obscure movie adaptations or the PAL completist filling a little-contested gap in the set."
"Irem's offbeat undersea shooter, in its 1986 North American NES version adapted from a Famicom revision, where a flying submarine melts icebergs to rescue humans. Its strange concept and small US run make it one of the priciest Irem NES titles to complete, with the original box staying scarce. CIB and sealed prices climb sharply, driven by the hunt for early black box releases and gameplay curiosities within Irem's catalogue, a magnet for completist collectors."
"Mega Man The Wily Wars PAL is the European edition of Capcom's game bundling remastered Mega Man 1, 2 and 3 on Megadrive. Exceptional collector value: the game never officially released in box in the US (only via Sega Channel)."
"Mega Man, the sole portable appearance of Capcom's blue hero on Game Gear, published by U.S. Gold. This title compiles and rearranges Robot Masters from several NES entries into a formula of its own on the console. Its desirability lies in its singularity as the machine's only Mega Man, its North American run more restricted than the Sega hits and demand from franchise collectors beyond its usual platforms."
"Sonic Blast, a pseudo-3D Sonic platformer on Game Gear, released in a World pressing at the console's end of life. A late attempt to give the hedgehog's sprites depth, this title divides opinion on its technique but stays a curiosity of the portable line. Its collecting interest lies in its place as a twilight entry and the loyalty of Sonic fans seeking to gather all his Game Gear releases."
"Published by Taito, this giant-boss brawler is the original Super Famicom release. The first entry hid a physical-impact mini-game dropped here, but the niche Taito-series aura still draws collectors. As the most affordable source of the title, its SFC cardboard box and spine card make the difference: complete and clean, the object holds real presence against the loose carts that stay common."
"A 1996 Enix Super Famicom RPG, Japan-exclusive, spiritual sequel to 'EVO - Search for Eden' known in the West on SNES. The Japanese cart is more narrative and preserves the original Japanese texts that were never officially translated. Boxed CIB with cardboard sleeve and illustrated manual is valued by completionist Enix Super Famicom collectors, and the cote climbs steadily, sustained by foreign curiosity for the unlocalised EVO companion."
"The 1991 American NES release, late and printed in tiny numbers, ranks Dragon Fighter among the hardest NES ports to complete. The year-long gap behind the Famicom version and the slim distribution drive a loose and sealed valuation utterly out of proportion with the Japanese edition. Desirability here rests on raw American-market scarcity rather than the title's standing as a game."
"The American SNES NTSC version of Nintendo EAD's Super Mario World, bundled with the console at the 1991 North American launch, which makes it ubiquitous. Several revisions circulate and the hunt for the first print drives the US market. The cart is anything but rare: value concentrates almost entirely on high-grade sealed and flawless CIB, where the US version serves as the price benchmark for this absolute pillar of the SNES catalogue."
"A modern Limited Run Games reissue of the NTSC version, produced as an official limited run on an SNES-compatible cart. Its interest lies not in the original game but in the new collectible object: a short run, careful packaging and, depending on the variant, numbered or collector's editions that shape secondary-market demand. Sealed and intact it is the piece official-reproduction fans target; opened, it loses most of its argument, since this reissue lives above all on its factory-fresh status."
"Sunsoft's sequel, this PAL edition of Aero 2 is the genuine rarity of the batch: a late-1994 release with a very limited European run makes it markedly harder to find than the first game, especially complete and clean. The multilingual manual and an intact PAL box are sought after. A more accessible platformer than its predecessor, its desirability rests chiefly on real scarcity in the European market, where good complete copies are contested."
"The North American SNES NTSC version of Wild Guns, Natsume 1994. A late release at the end of the SNES cycle with a small US print makes it a sought target for NTSC rarity hunters, where complete CIB and sealed reach peaks. Desirability draws on this real scarcity of the American pressing and on the game's resurgence via Wild Guns Reloaded, which broadened its North American collector base."
