Post from the Pepsiman thread: And here's my question: why some people rise the price of an old game after it get some hype althought the game is not so rare as most people believe? Is it because the demand is huge but the game hasn't so much copies for sale in order to satisfy everyone and so the sellers are taking advantage of this situation? It's like these games didn't released many copies when they first came out at the market. For example, as I can remember Panzer Dragoon Saga was one of the most popular games for Saturn like Nights into Dreams and Sega Rally when it first came so you would expect to find it easily and cheap years after. Yet it's considered as a holy grail for collectors while on the other hand you can find Nights into Dreams for a few dollars only. So what does it make it a holy grail? And which conditions make a game to be called holy grail? Moreover, I have noticed this: some games even thought they are higly acclaimed weren't so much popular when they first released so they didn't sold well. So you would expect to find many unsold copies to buy one for a low price. Yet when this game get its attention it deserved years later the price rise like it was something rare. An example like that is Shantae for Gameboy Color. And speaking for rare, I hate when some sellers put the tag "very rare" even if it's not in order to sell them expensive.
A game requires interested people to have much value. True obscurities border on worthless, as few know they exist. Say the American retail PC version of Sonic Adventure DX.
It usually comes down to print numbers. Panzer Dragoon Saga might be one of the standout titles for the Saturn but it was also released at the systems very end. No matter how great a game or well reviewed it was Sega wasn't going to print a large number of copies for what was essentially a dead system. In the other instance you mentioned you are somewhat assuming that there is a large enough initial print run for a lot of copies to hit the bargin bin. While sometimes true that is most often not the case. Most publishers are smart enough to have an idea of what a game will sell and hedge thier bets accordingly. Afterall it is much easier to print more copies for a surprise hit than it is to get rid of unwanted stock.
Print numbers don't always matter that much, for example, Radiant Silvergun isn't that rare, but people are still willing to pay a lot of money for it because of its hype. IMO, the true "rare" titles that are hard to find usually: 1. have a low number of copies printed and 2. have nobody hyping them up, either because they're crap or the types of games that nobody cares that much about (like old sports games).
I was about to post what 7Force said. Stuff like the bluebox-Version of MD World European Soccer 2 or EMIT Value Set for the Sega Saturn. What I referred to in case of Pepsiman is hype. Sometimes, a once unknown game is subject of a discussion on a big game forum, or several at a time even due to multi-posting members. Then some people try to hunt it down at a time, bidding wars start and suddenly professional sellers feel encouraged to set a higher price when they're offering the game in future. Pepsiman is not worth more than about 30-40$. Another example of this development would be the ridiculously priced game "Rendering Ranger" für Super Famicom. This was never worth more than 100-150$ until about 4 or 5 years ago. I still remember an auction for a supposedly brand-new copy and everybody went totally nuts when it hit 180 Euros. "Too much! LOL!" "the buyer is a retard!" Today it goes for 300 Euro minimum in sunbleached condition. Some copies even went for more than 450 Euros.
I think sometimes though the opposite is true. For example, I think systems like 3DO or Bandai Playdia are not talked about very much, and when they are items just get labeled as cheep or not collectable, but when you look at recent past sales games sold over $1,000. Though no one seems to mention them at all.
