Do you think NEO GEO home carts will lose their value in the future?

This question has been brought up before many times. Many people think the value of NEO GEO home carts will bottom out in the future. What do you think the prices will be like in five years? Ten years? Do you think you can pick up games like Samurai Shodown 2 for pennies on the dollar? How about Metal Slug or more obscure titles like Twinkle Star Sprites?

I have a slightly different opinion regarding this topic. I think there will always be a collector market for the home carts. There will be fewer people who actually want to play these games though. Consequently, the common cheap games like Art of Fighting, Fatal Fury, etc. will drop to even lower prices. However, I predict the truely rare games like Twinkle Star Sprites, Magical Drop 2, etc. will become even harder to find and consequently more expensive.

What do you think?

At the current inflated prices I would say yes, before too long I would expect some of the big ones to lose some of their momentum.

I doubt that these high prices are sustainable. The prices will drop. Probably a steady decline to counter the current j curve effect.

Collectors better pray that they don't have another beanie babies on their hands!

[ June 28, 2001: Message edited by: robertdc ]

Price might drop.......who knows

The prices WILL brop (on all neo games)
because people will become sick of the prices and because the actual content of the games will get old for many people.

The prices will drop...These are not baseball cards.

But as long as there is demand there will always be a high price for the rarer titles...

Prices will drop... this is a tech based hobby we're into... how many old technology things can you think of that are really expensive 10-15 years after they are released? <other than the pxl-2000, the fisher price camera...>

prices will come down... I'd hate to be holding a game i paid too much for when they do..

=R=

As long as these carts continue to get into the hands of the irresponsible who destroy their carts by damaging the box,directions,etc. the price will GO down because I picked up a Home Cart that was said to be for a collecter in 'GOOD CONDITION' and when I got this sucker the case was damaged(flap broken to the point it collapses in,the manuals were either ripped apart,magic marker writing in or wrinkled(well handled) there is a residue or film all over plastic diplay area,the cart is greasy(somebody eating while playing),the contactare filthy....
This is 'GOOD CONDITION'? NO WAY!!
Alot of home carts condition have gone to SHIT! not to mention -NGF- creative touches to carts..
collecters really have to be careful what they bid on these days...A deal ain't always a deal!!
Also the MVS carts available these days are of such a HUGE quantity!! Everybody is bringimng the cab to their home...An arcade cab in your home is like a home system now.
What do I know ?? <IMG SRC="smilies/tickled.gif" border="0">
-BB

Pez dispensers can sell for thousands of dollars, which is not some new fad like Pokemon.
$3,450.00 Pez Dispenser
The dispenser is obsolete, the candy is petrified, the print is faded and the box shows wear. Will this same Pez Dispenser sell for more 10 yrs from now? 20 yrs from now? Yes, you can bet on it.

The Neo-Geo system and games are an obsolete technology and have been for many years. Imagine this. In the future, advances in technology allow for the production of a home cart that contains all neo-geo games, and at a price of $100. Does this make home carts less valuable/collectible? Answer: Absolutely not. Why? Because you can already play neo games via emulation for free, arcade perfect.

Trust me, the person paying $1000 for Chibi Quiz Deluxe is not buying this cart just for its play value or cutting edge graphics. Neo games continue to become scarcer, new buyers continue to surface. It’s not to say the neo market will not experiences bumps or dips in response to a weak economy. Neo carts are usually purchased through disposable income. If a neo owner needs money, the carts are the first thing to go. And how many times have you seen people sell off their carts, just to buy them back later?

Let’s look at the fundamentals. Collectibles such as Beanie Babies & Plates are purchased by the female gender. We all know that a larger percentage of males purchase video games when compared to females. Men tend to wear the pants in the family, make more money, and have the final say. Unless the human races evolves to the point of equal testosterone count in men & women, more money will be spent on video games instead of stuffed animals and dishes.

I have collected stamps, coins, currency, paintings, toys, comics, garbage pail kids (4th-5th grade), baseball cards, & magic cards, but nothing compares to the enjoyment I have experienced with neo carts. Of all the cartridge-based systems, the neo is generally considered the most prestigious in any video game collection. It’s safe to say that 20, or even 50 years from now, there will be plenty of people interested in owning a piece of gaming history.

Shawn, you gotta tell us how exactly you stumbled on the Pez auction! I can see it now... www.pez&neo-geo.com !

Brent

shawn, do you collect soaps? <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">

Funny you mention Garbage Pail Kids, Shawn. I still have series 1 - 13 complete in three binders, along with all triplets and wrapper variations =) Threw the chewing gum out though.

Any type of collectable will rise in value as a fad, and drop in value later on, only to rise again.

The Neo Geo scene is SOOOOO over priced right now it's not even funny, wait a couple years till the fad dies out, and prices will drop. The same thing happened to the Turbo Duo/PCEngine scene around 97, things got WAAAAY over priced, mainley thanks to eBay.

Now prices have died down again, and you can get a brand new duo or express for 199, I remember when used duos would go for 200+ easily.

Same thing goes on with basketball cards, in 92 when Shaq had his rookie year, I remember the Shaq Beam Team was worth over 375 bucks in becket. Now the card has a book value of about 30 bucks, just goes to show you dont believe the hype. And the patient people get the best deals in the end.

If your a spur of the moment buyer, your just asking to get ripped off by high price. It's funny shawn replies to this post, since IMO he is only adding to the hype with some of the outragious prices in his store, that is not a cut down, but by many peoples accounts fact.

Shawn does have some good deals though, like his NGPC sonic bundle, thats a nice price. But some of his other stuff should be lowered, but seeing as I see it all in stock everytime I check, when it doesnt sell he'll come around.

I got to agree with Shawn. Before I got into NeoGeo 8 months ago, I was playing with NeoGeoRage. It was free and I can play almost every game. But something was missing..., so I started collecting. Therefore, I am one of those later NeoGeo fans that wanted a piece of video game history. My collection, so far, is 136 NeoGeo homecarts, and growing. I believe the prices will never go down because there will alway be new NeoGeo addicts like me entering the market.

I really can't say either way. I've seen homecarts like Metal Slug 3 drop slightly in price. Last time I was on Ebay, the average price for Slug 3 was around $430.00. Two months ago you couldn't think of getting one for less than $500. This could have something to do with a "possible" re-release of MS3. But nevertheless, homecarts are trinkling down in price. But don't hope to get a US Metal Slug 1 for $289 when it was released several years ago.

I have a funny prediction for the next 6 months or so. It's all dependent on !Arcade!'s release of the the AES 2, the Neo Geo 2, MVS Arcade, or whatever the heck it's gonna be called.

If the AES 2 lived up to the hype and performance (Debug, Digital audio, real control sticks, MVS/AES compatibility), two things will happen.

1) MVS carts will increase in price but not to the point of AES carts, because of the AES2's ability to play MVS carts. Since MVS carts are cheaper than homecarts, the demand will go up and so will the prices. For example a nice, complete Metal Slug 1 kit that costs $75 could spike to double the price or more. Yet it's still cheaper than forking out $1000-$1500 for the homecart.
New releases like NITD and Sengoku 3 will stay at a stable price.

2) Homecart prices will drastically go down because the demand for ready-to-play MVS carts will go up. Collectors will still have to pay above average prices for nice homecarts but not like the premium prices that exist now. Perhaps a 10-25% price drop (just a guess).

This dynamic is wholly depedent upon the initial pricepoint for the AES 2 if/when it is released. If the new system is resonably priced, say $399-$499 (because the converter is already $299), then we should see many of us snatching these up. Neoaddicts with small home collections or are on a limited budget will horde MVS carts because they are cheap, thus driving up the demand/price and lessening the avaiability. Those with cash and/or large homecart collections will either not care about the AES2 or buy it because it's the latest toy to try out. People new to the Neo scene will either buy an AES 2 to start off or go traditional with the original Neo. We all have a choice.

As for me. I won't be an alpha-purchaser when the AES2 comes out. I'm happy with my Super Neo and my Japanese cart collection, with occasional MVS carts. Perhaps later, when I find out the initial reaction about the new system, I will pass judgement on the value of the AES 2.

My two cents on cart prices (and then some). Jesus, this is a long post.

[ June 29, 2001: Message edited by: Yagyu Jubei ]

I think we will see the wave effect that has been seen in other hobbies. Right now, there are people that are buying games because they couldn't get them way back when and once they get bored of them they will sell them and dissappear from the scene. When this starts happening expect to see some prices go down dramatically. The other person we have is the true collector and these people will only increase in number as the neo scene increases they truly appreciate the neo and will be here till the end. Then eventually as time goes by prices will only go up because the only people collecting it then will be the true collectors.

There is one more thing I forgot to mention. There is one thing that makes the Neo Geo very unique which increases its value dramatically. The Neo Geo is an elite system. It was never intended for the masses. This is unlike any other system on the market. If you couldn't afford it, too bad, the Neo was a premium system and thats how it was sold. So a lot of games have low print runs and low when considered to many other systems. Remember these were some expensive carts to make unlike some cd games which only cost pennies to be made.

Today there are a lot of games on other system that are considered to have low print runs because they only made 20,000 or 30,000 copies. Now on the Neo Geo there are not that many games that had a print run that big or larger. So one can say a lot of games on the Neo had very low print runs.

jbeedham,
Very good point concerning the low print runs. The limited supply makes all the difference in the world.

This will also depend on the games, the values of home carts will polarize, which rarer titles will be even more expensive, while the more common fighters will go down on prices. I disagree with some of the opinions on MVS carts value going up with exception of a few like Pop'n Bounce, Super Didgeball, many would prefer an cart with artwork, inserts, manual, if not, no one would be interested in buying Strikers 1945 home carts from Arcade!

Besides Neo-Geo, I also collect LaserActive, some of the games are also available on other platform (most are LaserActive exclusive), same principal applies, I'm going crazy over the artwork of the laserdisc games, plus the fact that it's the only game system using LD (well, forget about MSX Palcom) and versatility.

Its an aqquired taste like wine or cheese so as long as there are people willing to pay it will never go down. Hope not it was expensive.

Of course a big factor in wether the prices rise or fall is going to be that of custom carts from !Arcade! and NGF(cough, spit).
If the market for Neo-Geo's grows steadily (which could happen as its gamers mature and get better paid jobs) this may lead to more custom carts being produced. The more you can make and sell, the less each individual cart costs to make (basic economics). This may well drive the cost and value of carts down. However, there is the question of wether people are going to be happy with something that isnt genuine SNK. I'm sure some (probably a lot) of people would rather pay over the odds than buy a NGF cart. So perhaps custom carts may loose a lot of value in favour of their MVS counterparts or genuine SNK productions.

After all, it it turns out that the Strikers 1945 plus cart is - effectively - a pirate copy, this could destroy its value. (Mind you, thats a 'mabye'. I'm fairly new to this market.)

Ultimately, I think the prices of 'rare' carts will go up so long as they remain rare. I can imagine that some of us feel pretty gutted at paying $450 for Metal Slug 3 only to find out that SNK may be re-manufacturing them again (TonK - dont' start).

For now I guess we should all sit tight with the official SNK stuff we have, and only buy custom carts if we want the game - not the resale value. Well thats my opinion anyway - make of it what you will.

I hope the value of Neo Geo and Neo Geo carts don't drop too soon. I just got into old school Neo Geo recently because I wanted to play all my old favorites that I played at the arcade when I was a kid, and for the novelty and collectablity of the games.

All these new systems like PS2, Xbox, and the Cube don't impress me at all. They're all eye candy and lack the fun gameplay that Neo Geo has always been about. <IMG SRC="smilies/glee.gif" border="0">

PEOPLE determine how much they are going to pay for things. Same thing goes for the neo geo scene. Here is an example. You see someone selling a Metal Slug 3 for $450 and it sells. Then you think, Oh it is worth $450. Then the next guy gets the idea what the cart is worth and sells it for $450 or even $475. Next person comes along finds a Metal Slug 3 for $350 and thinks, wow what a great deal! Who determines the prices? We do. As long as there is always people willing to pay that price, the value will not decrease. Just keep the games at the prices they are WORTH and the prices won't increase. It is when people get too greedy and overprice their home carts that prices start to increase. Just my .02....

I agree Akidadus. It all has to do with what people are willing to pay. Market value of anything be it Real Estate, Cars, Collectables, etc. is really just a way to base the value of a product, but you can throw all that out the window if no one is will to pay for it. If you are into Neo for the investment potential, I think you should try you luck in the stock market.