Nintendo 1990 World Championship Cart For $0.50

The comic collecting bubble was all about investment speculation, production numbers and money. Creativity, or the perceived lack there of didn't have as much of an effect on the back market prices of comics during that time period. People were simply paying too much on the back market for books that were being produced in record numbers. All with the thought that they'd be worth thousands in the near future. Most of these people were not real comic collectors (i.e. not collecting because they loved the medium), but simply people looking for the next thing to make them lots of money. Eventually, the back market reached its saturation point and the prices crashed dramatically. This ended up hurting the publishers as there was no longer as great of a demand for the books they were publishing/had published in great numbers and they now had thousands of books that they couldn't sell. Marvel was hurt even more as they had set up their own distributor during the high period, and could now no longer afford to keep it going, causing them to declare bankruptcy. This stuff comes from the mouths of Paul Levitz (then the President of DC) and Stan Lee (who at the time was still on the board at Marvel).
Comic book publishers have known since WWII that they were selling a product mostly read by adults rather than children. It was censorship in the 50's in the form of Congressional hearings and then the Comic Book Code where pressure from outside the comic book reading and writing world transformed comics into something just for kids. Coming back to what it once was during the late 80's brought back the adults, but if anything it has actually increased the creative quality not decreased it.

 

I don't think games and comics can be easily categorised together with the same future history.

Although I agree that there will be a dramatic rise over the next decade for retro games, I believe it will continue to rise after then (unlike this bubble mentioned).

Where comics are involved, we are talking from anywhere between the 40s to late 90s. Finding the rare ones wouldnt have been easy, the price tags will have reflected that because it wasn't as simple as typing in what you want into eBay.

Secondly, comics are so often reprinted and now scanned in for reading/archiving. Most of those who just wanted to read these, no matter the cost, have a new alternative removing alot of demand from the market.

Games on the other hand have had all of this early on. Emulators, eBay and re-releases. However despite the accessibility, there is still something special playing on the original hardware. Comics though, it must be worrying holding brittle paper from half a century ago (unless *shudder* slabbed)

 

How can you say that reading a comic that has been scanned and placed online as a PDF is the same as reading an original. That's basically like saying that playing a game on an emulator is the same as tracking down an original and playing it on the intended hardware.

There are always going to be those who are content with playing things on an emulator, just as there will always be those who are willing to read a comic scan just to fill in the story gaps, but neither of these are going to COMPLETELY demolish the market for first run originals.

*edit

Honestly bit rot is going to set in and destroy an old game well before a back boarded and poly bagged comic book will fall apart.

 

Very interesting point... what is the shelf life of (say..) a neo-geo cartridge?

 

Honestly,if you listen to cartridges manufacturers in 80s,they say it'd last 20 years...30 years have passed,and they still work!
For CDs,they said XX years, and truth is it can be considerably less if they're not treated well,and MAYBE way more if treated with care (i own 25 years old audio CDs,and they're fine)

 

with the right care i think 50 years are possible. provided you store them at the right temperature and humidity etc.

 

Sure,but it is too soon to be confirmed.
Kept with care,maybe it can be 60,70..maybe 100?
Or only 40..We can't know for sure...yet. ;-)

But cartridges manufacturers provided wrong time frames anyway, they probably wanted to be sure we won't complain if the carts don't work after a certain amount of time (i remember them speaking about 20 years).
Well, some parts like lithium batteries did die sooner though. (and Capcom CPS1 boards owners loved it

 

That's pretty funny. No one would dare infringe on copyrights. Certainly not on the Internet.

I don't know much about this Kizuna Encounter or Ultimate 11, but if you pay $55,000 for these two games (which are in the MAME romset btw) you are quite possibly one of the most retarded human beings. $55,000 isn't what it used to be but still $55,000 for two NeoGeo games? Seriously? For that much money you could have had the chinese pump out bootleg versions that you could sell to other chumps for a bunch of money or something. I feel the same way about the NWC carts. I'm glad reproductions of it exist.

Things like unreleased/beta games are a different story. But clearly these two games are no mystery. Everyone and their mom can play them with the internet and 10 minutes with google.

 

Even better: The Neo Geo chips hold ALL VERSIONS of the game, only the BIOS determines which version will be played. So you can take a "cheap" japanese kizuna, set the BIOS to euro et voilà: EURO KIZUNA!

The Cartridge data is exactly the same for every region! Collectors pay the thousands of dollars simply for the insert and booklet... insane.

 

Not to flame or anything, but what did $55,000 'used to be'?

 

He's talking about inflation combined with the worldwide devaluation of the dollar.

20 years ago the purchasing power of $55,000 was a lot more than it is today.

-hl718

 

Neo Geo won't have the lasting power of Nintendo who still churn out new systems. Kids growing up today don't know what a Neo Geo Gold system is but they still know what an NES is. Neo Geo has a smaller pool of collectors. With the death of the system a shrinking pool at that. Prices on many of the rare games have dropped as the number of collectors looking for the games have fallen.

Even if the 2 NEO GEO games sale is legit one might still argue that the NWC is the most desired game in the hobby. Most outside the Neo Geo community have never heard of either title. The 2 neogeo carts might always be rare and expensive but there aren't enough of them out there to continue to break records. You NEED 50 or so of an item to maintain a high price.

You guys seem to like comics so this is as good an example as any.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_Picture_Funnies_Weekly

The issue was rare. SUPER rare! With only 7 or 8 copies known it was instantly one of the top 10 most expensive copies when it was discovered. It also contained history with the 1st appearance of Sub-Marnier which pre-dated the famous Marvel comics #1. When the nicest known copy graded 9.0 sold in 2005 it sold for $43,125.00 short of the $100,000 estimate and far less than the other more common comics it once competed with for most valuable comic.

http://comics.ha.com/common/view_item.php?Sale_No=818&Lot_No=2020&type=prte-pr091305a&ic=

The problem was there were not enough of them to go around. They found ways into collections and just stayed there. The price of the comic was updated yearly in price guides but was based on the last known sale. With no new sales it stayed put year after year while other comics gained 20% 30% 50% on the year. They did this year after year and the Motion Pictures Funny book dropped from the 10 most valuable books.

The NWC is a juggernaut. The demand and public awareness rises year after year and the price increases with most every sale. With more copies there will be more sales and with more sales more increases. The 55k sale if true is shocking but it is an isolated case. How can it double or triple from there if no one buys or sells? The NWC with time will catch up and surpass all other videogames. No other rare game is as well known or as synonymous with the words "Holy Grail" than the NWC.

 

I used to own one but sold it.

 

A couple more questions:

When did this Kizuna Encounter (PAL) cart surface?

Theoretically, if we go by the manufacturers estimation of 20 years -- then the NWC1990 carts are due to expire anytime now?

And how old is the oldest cart you own (that works!) ?

 

It came out in 1996 (8th November for japanese one),maybe first months of 1997 at latest for European one.

for oldest carts that works,you should ask Odyssey owners.. more than 30 years now

 

If that were true, we'd be going through a Mario/Duck Hunt crisis already.

 

Correct. The estimation was probably bogus,just to be sure we wouldn't complain back in 80s,that's it.

 

Odyssey 1 carts contain no data whatsoever. They just connect circuits in the Odyssesy which tell it what game to play. So Odyssey carts will never go bad.

 

Wouldn't a few dip switches etc. be an awesome Odyssey mod?

No carts, just switch to the game you want.

 

NWC carts are EPROM though, right? Much higher risk of corruption over time if so.