The Rarest & Most Valuable Nintendo Gamecube Games
Nintendo game libraries are always filled with all sorts of collectibles. Between the cult following of the corporate brand and the fact the platforms have played underdogs at times (especially the Gamecube), it’s not a surprise that there are some treasures to be found in the Nintendo library. The Gamecube hasn’t been dead for long, but here is a relatively early look at what games are tricky to find for collectors. I will probably revise this one more often than those of older consoles as the resale values haven’t settled quite as much just yet.
In stark contrast to the Cheapest Games series, this Rare & Valuable series by JJ Hendricks and I will round up the rarest and most valuable games for a given console or handheld so you’ll know what to look for whether you are buying or selling. JJ owns the video game pricing website, VideoGamePriceCharts.com and writes a Video Game Pricing Blog which analyzes video game prices, pricing trends, and charts historic video game prices. He used his pricing statistics to find both the average selling price and the highest selling price for each game over the last three months. Below you will see two prices beside each title. The first is the average daily selling price, which is typically the going rate for the game by itself. The second price is the highest price in the past three months which is usually the price for the new/sealed game. The list is ordered by the balance of the two prices. Note that some of these games are not rare in the sense that there are not many available, but rare relative to demand, which makes the games expensive.
Treasured Standard USA Releases
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Dance Dance Revolution Mario Mix - $56 - $140 DDR Mario Mix is a regular DDR game with Mario characters, music, and art. It is the only US released DDR game on the Gamecube. Nintendo released the game in limited quantities for the 2005 Christmas season and it quickly sold out. In early 2006 Nintendo restocked shelves but quietly discontinued the game soon after. It should be noted that games with prices below $70 don’t usually include the Dance Mat. Check for Dance Dance Revolution Mario Mix on Amazon Check for Dance Dance Revolution Mario Mix on eBay |
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Phantasy Star Online 1 & 2 Plus: $55 - $130 Phantasy Star Online Plus is a re-release that fixed a few bugs in the intial release and added a few extra areas. The game primarily sold poorly since the Gamecube’s online community was so poor and most dedicated fans bought the original release. Check for Phantasy Star Online Plus on Amazon Check for Phantasy Star Online Plus on eBay |
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Phantasy Star Online Eps 1 & 2: $50 - $85 Here’s the original version of the Gamecube port. Most opened copies sell for just under the price of the “Plus” version. I don’t think most people even note the difference on eBay. It doesn’t get the premium sealed price that the “Plus” version receieves, however. Check for Phantasy Star Online 1 & 2 on Amazon Check for Phantasy Star Online 1 & 2 on eBay |
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NCAA College Basketball 2K3 - $40 - $100 The rarest game for the Gamecube. NCAA Basketball 2K3 is a college basketball game on the Gamecube so it wasn’t destined to sell very well. Sega helped seal the deal when they cancelled all 2K series games on the Gamecube and stopped this game in the middle of production. This is one of the few sports games to become rare and valuable on any system. The collectability of the game was hyped quite a bit, but prices have been gradually falling as that has cooled down. Check for NCAA Basketball 2K3 on Amazon Check for NCAA Basketball 2K3 on eBay |
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Resident Evil Code: Veronica X: $37 - $60 This was one of the four Resident Evil games Capcom re-released on Gamecube. Code Veronica and Resident Evil 2 received limited production runs after the Gamecube’s poor sales. After Resident Evil 4 released on the Gamecube prices spiked for all four RE games but only Code Veronica’s prices remained high enough to make this list. Check for Resident Evil: Code Veronica on Amazon Check for Resident Evil: Code Veronica on eBay |
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Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes: $39 - $61 Twin Snakes is a remake of the original Metal Gear Solid for PS1 and was co-developed by Silicon Knights and Konami. Development was overseen by Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima and Shigeru Miyamoto. Critics loved the game and gave it an 85 average on Metacritic but the remake didn’t sell as well as the original. Check for Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes on Amazon Check for Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes on eBay |
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Pikmin 2: $42 - $100 This is one I easily kick myself over. I really wanted to get this one after playing the first installment in Shigeru Miyamoto’s wonderful take on the real-time strategy genre, but I figured I’d wait for the game to get cheaper. That day never came. It’s a bit of a cult classic and we’ll probably won’t see the price drop until a sequel or remake comes out on the Wii. Check for Pikmin 2 on Amazon Check for Pikmin 2 on eBay |
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Ikaruga: $34 - $70 Ikaruga is a shooter originally released for Arcade and Dreamcast. In general, the shooter genre doesn’t sell very well and Ikaruga was no exception. If you have read the Rare and Valuable Saturn games list, you’re probably well aware of Radiant Silvergun and its strong following and inflated resale values. Ikaruga is Silvergun’s follow-up of sorts, but it never quite reached the collectability level — even on the Dreamcast. Values have also dipped down a bit after the release of the very affordable XBox Live version that is in infinate supply. Check for Ikaruga on Amazon Check for Ikaruga on eBay |
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Fire Emblem Path of Radiance: $34 - $77 This challenging strategy series finally made its way out of Japan on the GBA and Gamecube and built a small but loyal following in the States. The second Gamecube installment was released in rather small quantities as the Gamecube was on its final legs. Check for Fire Emblem Path of Radiance on Amazon Check for Fire Emblem Path of Radiance on eBay |
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Pokemon Box - $40 - $65 Pokemon Box isn’t a game but allows players to store and sort Pokemon from the Gameboy Advance Pokemon games. In the US the game was only sold at the Nintendo World store and online, which limited the sales. The European version was never sold in stores but available through the Nintendo of Europe loyalty program. Check for Pokemon Box on Amazon Check for Pokemon Box on eBay |
Additional Gamecube Games of Value
- Skies of Arcadia Legends: $27 - $63
- Digimon Rumble Arena 2: $28 - $60
- Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time / Master Quest: $30 - $55
- Tales of Symphonia - $30 - $54
- Cubivore: $30 - $47
- Resident Evil 2: $28 - $53
- Legend of Zelda 4 Game Collection: $31 - $40
- Bust-A-Move 3000: $25 - $54
- Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess: $29 - $40
- Eternal Darkness: $23 - $43
- Super Smash Bros Melee - $23 - $50
- Resident Evil 3L $24 - $40
- Star Wars: Jedi Outcast: $23 - $33
Rarest Games At Affordable Prices
Each of these games are quite hard to find, but routinely sell for $20 or less. If you are an collector and see a mint copy of any of these on eBay for a low price, you might want to snatch them up — you might not see them often and they could be a higher profile target down the line.
- Baten Kaitos Origins: $20 - $30
- Killer 7: $10 - $25
- Goblin Commander: $11 - $17
- Gotcha Force: $10- $23
- Rave Master: $11 - $14
- Chaos Field: $7 - $13
- Spirts & Spells: $12 - $14
- Worms 3D: $10 - $13
Credits: Gamecube game prices provided by VGPC.com. Used prices are the average price between August 4th, 2008 and December 14th, 2008. New prices are the highest price a sealed version of the game sold for during this same time period.
Related Posts:
The Rarest & Most Valuable NES Games
The Best Undiscovered Gamecube Games
The Best Wii Games Under $20
The Best XBox 360 Games Under $10
21 Comments:
i thought pokemon box was selling for a lot more, i would say the problem with the gc’s rarity list is that, none of the game are actually that hard to find, ncaa is the only one i have never actually seen aside from pokemon box
It may have gone for more in the past, but the past 30 days of eBay shows $60 or so is the max
http://tinyurl.com/5xvvsw
Glad I made that investment for Pinkman 2 for $12 over at GameStop - Even though I dislike the game
yeah i think i remember it being insanely high at like 200 a few years back
Resident Evil Code: Veronica X: $37 - $60
I happened to pick this up at a local store for £5 or so. pffft i say! there were a few copies as well. I only picked it up because my dreamcast disks had died (is it just me or do dreamcast disks just not last…)
It’s telling how few of those are actual Gamecube exclusives.
Damn I have a lot of those!
This reminds me how many games I never finished up on the Gamecube.
I played Phantasy Star Online 1 & 2 Plus for awhile and invested some time in Fire Emblem.
Get Pikmin 2 for $19.99 (Awesome game!)
http://www.buy.com/prod/pikmin-2/q/loc/108/50014450.html
buy.com shows “out of stock”
Hi. I got linked to this website from http://www.n4g.com and as I was reading some of your articles, I thought they were ALL EXCELLENT. Right now, I am actually composing a list of rare games I want to collect for my systems, and your articles are doing a perfect job in helping me out! Thanks!
Hey thanks! They’ve been good to me over at N4G.
Glad you’ve found the stuff so useful — hope to see you around!
I know for a fact that at the gamestop i work at we got just about all those games listed the only ones im not sure are the pso ones and i know we dont got the pokemon box.Their deffinaly not hard to find at all.
Well right now will proabably be one of the easiest times to find used Gamecube games in places like Gamestop. The first year or two after the console is dead. Of course the Wii’s backwards compatibility helps that a bit. But as the intro says, “The list is ordered by the balance of the two prices. Note that some of these games are not rare in the sense that there are not many available, but rare relative to demand, which makes the games expensive.”
AWWWW MAN i thought about buying phantasy star online for gamecube it was only 25 dollars and now its 55-140 5 years later =_= man tht suks
The only game I have that is on that list is Metal Gear Solid the Twin Snakes.
not a very big rarity list…I think with time you will see this list expand to include some of the undiscovered games in the coming years.
It really sucks that you didn’t managed to get your hands on Pikmin 2; I enjoyed it even more than the original.
*manage*
I have three of the featured games, and I used to own Phantasy Star Online; I currently make it a point NOT to part with my games.
Eternal Darkness is pretty cheap on Australian eBay if anyone’s looking for a copy.
Hey, just thought i’d add that if you live in PAL territories, the PAL version of chibi robo is damned rare, and already sells for than its original price second hand often. normally see it go for £50, which is 15 pounds more than its original 35 pound price tag.
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