Brief history:  As a child, I collected NES games during the late 80s / early 90s and I still have great memories of those days.  Who doesn't, right?  Sadly, I sold nearly all of my NES games in 1997 for roughly $1 a piece.  It was a huge mistake.  I needed some quick money, and I guess I was bored of my NES collection.  I’ve regretted that day ever since. 

So, for the past several years, I have been re-collecting NES games.  Luckily, I've been able to retrieve most of the games I had in my youth.  I had like 150 titles in 1997...nothing extreme.  But it's annoying that I've spent lots of time & money re-collecting the games I once had. 

In any event, My goal is NOT to accumulate the entire NES library.  I simply want to obtain all of the BEST games.  A few years ago, I made a list of 200 games that I would like to own.  Actually, that list has expanded over the years.  It seems like each year I discover “hidden gems” that I didn’t know existed before.  Now the list is up to 257. 

I’m pretty far along.  I only need 23 more games to complete my NES list.  Once I complete this list, I will stop.  At that point, I will have all of the games I desire, and I will be content with my collection (or so I hope).

The problem is, I can’t find some of these games.  As you can imagine, I saved all of the rare & expensive games for the end.  Take a look at my list below.  Nothing but really expensive games!  Arg!  I always feared this day would come.  I miss the days when I could buy 25 games for $50.  Buying cheap games can be so rewarding!  I bought most of my games online (JJgames, LukieGames, DKoldies, GameWerks).  I found some great titles for less than $5 like Batman, Shatterhand, Journey to Silius, Bad Dudes, Iron Sword, and many more.

I can’t wait to complete my list.  I have 234 right now.  Here’s a quick look at my final 23 (in case your interested).  I’ve put them in order of most rare to least rare.  Let me know if I’m wrong:

Mr. Gimmick
Little Samson
Bubble Bobble 2
Fire n Ice
Rescue Rangers 2
RC Pro AM 2
Mighty Final Fight
TMNT: Tournament Fighters
Power Blade 2
Contra Force
Panic Restaurant
Duck Tales 2
Bomberman 2
Gargoyle’s Quest 2
Gun-Nac
Adventure Island 3
Uninvited
Bucky O’Hare
G.I.Joe A Real American Hero
Sword Master
Dragon Fighter
Alien 3
Rockin’ Katz

My question is:  Will I be able to find the first ten I have listed here?  Particularly the first three.  I’m sure I’ll be able to buy the bottom 15 without much trouble, but how many copies of Little Samson and Mr. Gimmick are out there?  Will I have trouble buying titles like these?  I fully understand that World Championship and Stadium Events are extremely rare, but I don’t want those.  I just want games like Mr. Gimmick, Little Samson, and Fire n Ice.  Is that something I can expect to achieve? 

Lastly, I never owned any of these rare games before.  I've literally never played them or seen them. 

Mr Gimmick is a PAL game, so if you are in North America you will never see that game in the wild.

The next 4 games are incredibly hard to find.  I've personally never seen any of those 4 in the wild, other than at game conventions or video game stores.

Many of the rest will show up frequently.   Alien 3 is only tough to find because it has a label without gloss that is easily damaged.  I think Gargoyles is probably the easiest on your list.

If your goal is to get these games without breaking the bank, the key will be to find boxes and manuals and trade those for what you need.   Some common games have valuable boxes for CIB collectors (black box and hangtab boxes in particular).   Original gameboy boxes are also quite valuable.

Thanks, I greatly appreciate the advice.  I have several boxes that i would gladly trade for some of those rare games.  I have the gameboy version of Duck Tales in complete form.  I also have Super C, Double Dragon 2, Maniac Mansion, Bases Loaded, World Cup, RBI Baseball 3, Super Spike V-ball, and Metal Gear.  Looks like I have a lot of exploring to do.  I don't even know where trades take place. 

Just an update - in case anyone cares:

I am down to my last 9 games, which means I've acquired 14 of the above titles that I was searching for (including Rescue Rangers 2, TMNT Tournament Fighters, Sword Master, Mighty Final Fight, Gun-Nac, and well...you can just check the list).

Here are the only games left I need to find:

Little Samson
Mr. Gimmick (I'll probably just buy a reproduction cart)
Bubble Bobble 2
Panic Restaurant
Power Blade 2
Duck Tales 2
Fire N Ice
Dragon Fighter (why is this game so hard to find???)
Contra Force

Wish me luck!  I'll probably never get Little Samson.  Hopefully my list will keep shrinking!

You just need to fish a little longer, I remember I was like that for awhile. Get the best of the best, now I just want something to play on my game systems, without tearing a hole in my wallet.

Best of luck on finishing off your NES collection with the harder-to-find games. Out of all the games you listed on your first post, I own Bubble Bobble Part 2, Fire 'n Ice, RC Pro AM 2, and Bomberman II. I have to admit, most of the later released Taito NES titles and Hudson Soft NES titles are challenging to find.

Also, just keep hunting down all the used game and nerd collectible stores and flea markets while you can. Don't expect elusive NES games to appear easily.

I'd still like to find some of those games you listed the next time I visit the flea market...

tonyseven wrote on 24. Apr 2012 at 12:13:

Just an update - in case anyone cares: Wish me luck!  I'll probably never get Little Samson.  Hopefully my list will keep shrinking!

Hmm... may be able to solve a problem for you.  Great quality copy of Little Sampson in my collection!  I am beginning to sell off some of my collection (rare NES/SNES/PS2 among others).  Newborn baby so have to start parting with some of my game collection (unfortuntely... the selling of games that is not the baby!).  I haven't been on NES world in a couple years, but logged on as I missed Martin and the gang as I was going through my collection.

I am very interested in owning a copy of Little Samson!  I just recently picked up Fire 'N Ice, Duck Tales 2, and Contra Force...so my final list of games is still shrinking.  However, (for me) Little Samson is the game I desire most.  Feel free to email me at topdogg501@yahoo.com with more details about this sale.

My NES collection is near complete.  I only need 4 more games:  Power Blade 2, Dragon Fighter, Bubble Bobble 2, and Panic Restaurant. 

It's funny that I chose to collect some games, but not others.  Right now, I have exactly 303 games.  I neglected to buy the Dragon Warrior series because I'm not really into RPGs.  I also excluded Snow Brothers, Flintstones, and Tetris (Tengen).  I guess it all comes down to personal preference.  Sometimes I ask myself, "Why do I want Dragon Fighter?"  What's the appeal for that game?

When I made my original list, with over 200 games, I was watching a lot of gameplay videos and somehow Dragon Fighter got thrown in there.  It certainly wasn't one of my top choices.  The only reason why Dragon Fighter is still lingering is because I haven't seen it yet.  I guess I could buy it on ebay or something, but I don't really care enough.   

Other games were much more important to me, such as Duck Tales 2, Fire 'N Ice, and of course Little Samson.  I am so happy to finally own a copy of Little Samson!  Because of this, I've decided to post a few pictures from my NES collection.  This is not my entire collection obvioiusly, but it's most of the good games (?)  I don't know.  At the very least, it's most of the titles that I'm proud to own. 

pic 1

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pic 2

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pic 3

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Nice.
A lot of fun titles there.
Al

Oh my goodness Tonyseven, that's quite the collection right here. I only have a few of those titles shown in my current NES Collection.