The Future Rarity Of The Cube

jkam

jkam

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I recently started to beef up my Cube collection. It has quickly become my all-time favorite console. I even started to buying some of the games I had for the PS2 for my Cube and getting rid of the PS2 versions. After some hunting around something dawned on me....It's a lot harder to find Gamecube games than PS2 games.

So I'm wondering if anyone else has noticed this? Also do you think that down the road this will add to the collectibility of the system and the games? I'm not saying that this stuff will be rare in any sense but I think this stuff is going to be harder to find down the line than the PS2 stuff.

Thoughts?
 
[quote name='jkam']I recently started to beef up my Cube collection. It has quickly become my all-time favorite console. I even started to buying some of the games I had for the PS2 for my Cube and getting rid of the PS2 versions. After some hunting around something dawned on me....It's a lot harder to find Gamecube games than PS2 games.

So I'm wondering if anyone else has noticed this? Also do you think that down the road this will add to the collectibility of the system and the games? I'm not saying that this stuff will be rare in any sense but I think this stuff is going to be harder to find down the line than the PS2 stuff.

Thoughts?[/QUOTE]


I have to agree. The reality is will it be appreciated later on? The nes just had its hey day and it will probably bounce around for a few years. The "Value" on them have dropped considerably over the last year though.

So on to the cube. There are much less quantities available of the released games but when it comes to multiplatform 5-10 years from now the online versions wont make a difference as it most likely wont be supported.. So the extra characters, levels or whatever will be sought after possibly.
 
I think Gamecube versions probably have less of a print run since they're in less demand. I remember when NFSU first came out, we would get 60 or 70 to a case each of PS2 and XBox, but only three or four on Gamecube. It was weird.
 
I would tend to think that of all the current gen consoles, the cube has the highest "collectibility" primarily because it's the most manageable in terms of numbers. Likewise, I see more people collecting the cube now than I do the other 2 consoles and that number can only increase in the future.
 
Also, like the Dreamcast, I think trying to collect all the major release 'Cube games is a realistic possibility. Whereas, it would be a pretty major cash investment to collect all the PS2 games.
 
[quote name='BigHow']Also, like the Dreamcast, I think trying to collect all the major release 'Cube games is a realistic possibility. Whereas, it would be a pretty major cash investment to collect all the PS2 games.[/QUOTE]

Actually it might be pretty even. Gamecube games seem to cost a bit more where as PS2 games can be had super cheap. A game like XIII can be had on the PS2 for anywhere from free-$5....on the cube it is a least $9.99.
 
If the games do become rare later on, I probably won't have any of the rare ones. I only have the popular games since I'm not much of a Cube fan.
 
When scouring the bargain bins, you can definitely tell there are few Cube games to Xbox and PS2. And yeah, I think in a few years, people will want the games that had "extras" that weren't found in the other versions. (Mortal Kombat, Fight Night, etc.)
 
It's a tradeoff. The lesser popularity in its active life will make for fewer seeking it out down the road. The major bits of IP will re-enter circulation on later platforms, with Mario Sunshine and Wind Waker coming around again on a handheld in 2012 or as bonus items to the latest console entries to those franchises.

I meet a lot of people who speak of collecting in a way that just amounts to rebuilding their childhood library and getting those items they admired but could buy as a kid. They often fail to seek out those things that they didn't know about long ago or found unfashionable then. So I see a lot of NES collectors but few Sega Master System collectors. The SMS stuff is rarer but not especially hard to obtain with so many fewer seeking it. The Neo-Geo console stuff is rarer still but completely off the radar for so many.

I expect we'll see the same thing down the road. A lot of PS2 collectors but far fewer GameCube collectors because they'll keep exercising the same choices a decade or more later rather than seeking out that which would offer something new to their experience.

The blowouts on GC stuff may be less drastic but the prices for most of it are still quite low. More importantly, the list of truly hard to find items like Cubivore is pretty short. Of the 50-odd GC games I own, nearly all are (or were) unique to the platform but Cubivore is still one of the gaps. Depending on how future releases happen for th eGC I expect my collection will be complete with another 30-40 items. There are certain things I'm just never going to buy, such as Pokemon/Pokemon knockoffs and mainstream sports titles. The closest I've got to a sports game is Beach Spikers because it was nearly free and comparing the animation to similar titles was interesting. Not just for prurient reasons but because scantily clad humans are difficult to do without all sorts of flaws in joints and other areas. If someone gave me Pokemon Channel and there wasn't any good trade-in offer to apply to I might keep it but I'll never pay for it. A lot of unwanted items turn up free if you're a sucker for filling out a collection for its own sake.
 
Keep in mind the GC version is often the only verison that's not online. Than again there are not many many people online unless it is halo2.

Looking at the games with dc and ps2 version the dc version is harder to find. Most store still have copies of unreal and fur figther for ps2, but not often for dc. The games section for ps2 is usually larger than the gamecube and xbox section combin. If you look at PSone and saturn, you can easily find resident evil and mega man x4 in just about any where, but you have to look hard to find it for saturn.
 
I recently got a GC and I'm trying to find non exclusive games for Cube mainly. Something about getting a new system and getting games for it is more fun that getting games for my PS2 that I've had since launch. Also the GC graphics are simply superior to the PS2. I don't even consider Xbox a console and I don't ever plan to own anything thats a gaming device from Micrsoft :)
 
Off the top of my head the following will be hard to come by:

Cubivore
NCAA College Bball 2K3
Ikaruga (it will)
Summoner: A Goddess Reborn
WWE Crush Hour
Shrek Super Party
Cubix Robots
Zoids Battle
Rave Master
All of the Disney Sports titles
Beyond Good and Evil
Alien Hominid
Virtua Striker 2002
Drome Racer
City Racer
Pro Rally
Bust Groovz (whatever its called)
Buffy: Chaos Bleeds

a bunch others too

This isn't to say they'll be expensive (most won't) but they will be very hard to come by.
 
More people have a PS2, more people buy PS2 games so more PS2 games are sold.

The games for the GC will not become rare, there are still thousands and thousands.

The reason why Cubiovre is rare is because they didn't make that many to begin with. Beyond Good and Evil is not rare and will not be rare either. The rest of the games on that list are shit. Shit games don't sell so shit games don't get thta many copies.
 
I would have to say that I have seen demand for N64 games rise lately. I see alot of parents out there looking for games for their kid's N64 and can't find them anywhere. This lack of supply seems to make people want the games more when they can't get them. Playstation games are still everywhere but you will find few N64 games for sale (especially new) by comparison. And don't get me started on hard to find accessories like the expansion pack!
 
[quote name='jkam']Actually it might be pretty even. Gamecube games seem to cost a bit more where as PS2 games can be had super cheap. A game like XIII can be had on the PS2 for anywhere from free-$5....on the cube it is a least $9.99.[/QUOTE]

Latest stats I could find..

DC - 329 games
GCN - 505 games
Xbox - 851 games
PS2 - 1,318 games

Even if you averaged double price for GCN over PS2 titles, it would still be cheaper. That said, I can't imagine averaging less than $10 per title (probably higer).. therefore even a comple GCN collection would cost over $5,000.
 
I think people may look back on this generation and realize how great the CUBE really is. Obviously this is just a guess but I'm thinking it may be the last system to support old gameboy and gameboy color games via the gameboy player. Like I said I could be wrong. I built up my gamecube and gba collection though because it offers me a nice well rounded collection with games from 8-bit all the way up until the current generation all on 1 system.

The PS2 will probably have a lot of collector's because it has way more RPG's which seems to be what a lot of collector's go after as we have seen with the PS1. Not to say that people don't hold onto their copy of Metal Gear or Spider-Man but it at least seems to be a smaller number.

If people actually look back though the gamecube would be the way to go because most of the current online titles will not be supported down the road and after the initial launch games the cube constantly puts out better visuals than the PS2. As everyone mentioned the "extras" would also be nice to have.

I think I also want to collect and keep my Gamecube collection because I'm wondering what exactly the Revolution will be. Then again Nintendo could wipe out the competetion if they went online and made a box that supported all their game cartridges + discs from the Nintendo 8-Bit until the Gamecube. It's nice to dream.
 
[quote name='David85']More people have a PS2, more people buy PS2 games so more PS2 games are sold.

The games for the GC will not become rare, there are still thousands and thousands.

The reason why Cubiovre is rare is because they didn't make that many to begin with. Beyond Good and Evil is not rare and will not be rare either. The rest of the games on that list are shit. Shit games don't sell so shit games don't get thta many copies.[/QUOTE]

Not true. Many lousy game are published with high expectations and high numbers to go with those expectations. They fill the bargain bins for years afterward.

Many well regarded games come from small publishers that by economic necessity produce small orders. Giving more marketing capital those games might merit larger production runs but without advertising most games, no matter how good, are of limited sales potential.
 
[quote name='JAMMR']Out of curiosity, Cornfedwb, where did you get those stats?[/QUOTE]

It must include Japan-only titles. The count I get for US GameCube releases has about 70 fewer items. I'm only counting unique games, not combo packages like Darkened Skye/Outlaw golf.
 
[quote name='jkam']I think people may look back on this generation and realize how great the CUBE really is. Obviously this is just a guess but I'm thinking it may be the last system to support old gameboy and gameboy color games via the gameboy player. Like I said I could be wrong. I built up my gamecube and gba collection though because it offers me a nice well rounded collection with games from 8-bit all the way up until the current generation all on 1 system.

The PS2 will probably have a lot of collector's because it has way more RPG's which seems to be what a lot of collector's go after as we have seen with the PS1. Not to say that people don't hold onto their copy of Metal Gear or Spider-Man but it at least seems to be a smaller number.

If people actually look back though the gamecube would be the way to go because most of the current online titles will not be supported down the road and after the initial launch games the cube constantly puts out better visuals than the PS2. As everyone mentioned the "extras" would also be nice to have.

I think I also want to collect and keep my Gamecube collection because I'm wondering what exactly the Revolution will be. Then again Nintendo could wipe out the competetion if they went online and made a box that supported all their game cartridges + discs from the Nintendo 8-Bit until the Gamecube. It's nice to dream.[/QUOTE]

Do you realize how desparate for vindication this sounds? Get over it. It just creates lingering resentment that serves no useful purpose in life. (It also leads to the dark side, so beware.) I went through this with the Atari and Amiga computers. Someday people were going to realize what they were missing but people happily went ahead and ignored it while getting thing done on inferior platforms. I won't play that game any more. Producing a better platform is only the first step in having a successful product. I'm no longer going to become emotionally entangled in companies that cannot get their act together to cover all the bases as needed.

To feel nostalgic for something you have to have some memory of it. Interest in collecting an item will be in proportion to the interst the item attracted when it was actively marketed.

I wouldn't write off online support down the road. It's just a question of the protocols for those games being released into the public domain. In a world where people hack their own portables from old consoles it doesn't seem unlikely that someone will set up a server for discontinued online games. All that is needed is a DNS proxy to spoof the address in the same fashion as the Wipeout Pure browser on PSP.

How much are you willing to pay for that plays everything nintendo ever made box? The SNES gave up backward compatibility because NCL realized it would be primarily used for existing cart rather than newly produced ones and thus offered no software revenue. In the same fashion Nintendo would have to make a good profit on the box itself since the software side would be a loss. They much rather port the games to their current platforms and make some money.

You can buy devices to connect old NES and SNES carts to a PC for emulators that stay clear of Nintendo's primary legal complaint. Setting up a SFF PC with a bank of cart connectors would probably be easier than convincing Nintendo they should produce such a box. Even better, if you aren't terribly hard up for money for new games, why not just keep the stuff you have instead of planning to purchase it all over years later when you're feeling sentimental? Isn't it odd to speak in terms of future collecting of stuff you already mostly own?
 
[quote name='62t']Keep in mind the GC version is often the only verison that's not online. Than again there are not many many people online unless it is halo2.[/QUOTE]

Keep also in mind, however, that after a few years at most the servers for current online games will mostly if not entirely be shut down in favor of new online games, so that component won't be worth jack anyway...whereas the extra MK:Deception characters or NBA Street 3 team will be desirable for players and collectors.
 
I think MS intend for xbox live to go even after xbox 360 is out, but like i sadi before there isnt that many people on live even now.
 
I think some games may be sought after, especially since the Revolution is backwards compatible. If the Revolution somehow, miraculously, gets to be the system with the largest fan base, media, and third party support, then people who never had a Gamecube will probably try and get some of the more high profile games like Zelda and Smash Bros. However, I just don't see it become some sort of collector's item thats worth alot. I picture the Gamecube being $19.99 used at the local gamestore with used games going for around $5-$15 on average.
 
Anything that retains its trade in value is anything with the word Mario in it, the only exception is Super Mario Sunshine. Mario Party games still get a decent trade in value even though 5 is a year old. Any other titles I can think of are PNo3, the Zelda Collectors disc, and Pokemon Box (which is only available from Pokemon.com)
 
I don't think it'll be that hard to find GC games especially with online trading places like this one or auction place like ebay. There will always be people buying and selling GC games.
 
[quote name='epobirs']It must include Japan-only titles. The count I get for US GameCube releases has about 70 fewer items. I'm only counting unique games, not combo packages like Darkened Skye/Outlaw golf.[/QUOTE]


Not only that, his Dreamcast list is off as well.
I believe it is around 250 games released for Dreamcast in NA.
 
[quote name='David85']More people have a PS2, more people buy PS2 games so more PS2 games are sold.

The games for the GC will not become rare, there are still thousands and thousands.

The reason why Cubiovre is rare is because they didn't make that many to begin with. Beyond Good and Evil is not rare and will not be rare either. The rest of the games on that list are shit. Shit games don't sell so shit games don't get thta many copies.[/QUOTE]

So if a game is 'shit', it won;t be rare and worth money? So if they maybe a 'Barney plays Golf' game and sells only 5 copies, it won't be rare, right?
 
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