PC Genjin 3 Theory

[SignOfZeta]

At this point it seems pretty obvious to me that the idiots driving up the price of US  Magical Chase on eBay have also driven up the price of the JP version by association. I'm pretty sure that if the US MC had never come out that the JP version would just be another $20 shooter.

So, for this very reason (hype by association) I decided that, even though I don't like Bonk all that much, it was time to buy PC Genjin 3. Right now you can get it for $30, easy, but people are selling BIN Bonk 3s for $200. Hell, there is even a guy with just the manual listed at several hundred. I felt that I should buy the game now before its too late.

Undertsand that I'm not "investing", I'm just getting it while I can. PC Genjin isn't worth $100, but if this stupid eBay/TG-16 bullshit doesn't stop, it might very well go for that much in the near future.

Thoughts?

[futurematt]

My opinion which is guaranteed to annoy some on this site (not my intention) is that every copy of a game that we own that we don't play and that we are only holding for prestige, is of course depriving someone else of the game to play and driving up the price. That is why I have resisted buying multiple copies of the likes of Winds of Thunder, Gate of Thunder etc which are still very affordable.

I know it's a free market and a free world at that, but I'm doing my bit. As for advice, you should hang on, as if you think it's a rip off you won't enjoy buying it quite as much.

[SignOfZeta]

So if I sold off my entire Momotaro collection that series would be worth even less? Not sure if that's possible.

FWIW, I have every intention of playing this game, I'm just saying that...its no Yoshi's Island or Sonic 2 or anything, so I'm never going to pay more than $30 for it, so I'm buying it now while I can.

I'm not sure why anyone would buy mutiple copies of the exact same thing unless they were something you could link (like a Gameboy game).

[lord_cack]

Since my intentions were merely playing Bonk 3 (because I had played a bit of the rom and didn't enjoy it all that much), I just purchased it on Virtual Console.

Like the Virtual Console or not, this is what its actually quite nice for. I have been using it to play some of the games I don't want to physically own either because the price is rediculous or because the game just isn't something I see myself enjoying enough (Which Bonk 3 falls neatly into both of those categories). Did the same with Blazing Lazers. Blazing Lazers is a great game but, I just suck something awfull at it and would fully be wasting my money buying a hard copy of it.

So if people who aren't collectors or a person who would enjoy owning the game, would simply pass on buying games they would neither open or enjoy the market would settle. But, the likelihood of that happening is LOW.

[Arkhan]

The problem is to most of the world, Turbo Grafx/PCE stuff is "rare"/"uncommon".  Even Keith Courage is an oddball to some groups of "game collectors".......

so when you get enough of those goons together and give them eBay they just make up pricing.

and then all of us here who know better get to go       

It's a shame there isn't an easier way to inform the masses about reasonable pricing of stuff.

[JapanTokei]

This is an interesting discussion.  Like many other members on this forum, I fall into both the nostalgic player + the semi-nutty collector categories.  If you look at PC Genjin 3, even in Japan now the local store prices are not that cheap.  Do a quick look on Yahoo JP auction, and you'll also see the game is not that easy to find.  Combine the fact it is actually a pretty entertaining game (in my opinion better than Bonk 1 or Bonk 2), if you can grab it for $30, by all means get it.  You have nothing to lose except $30 greenbacks, which is worth less and less by the day as JP Yen is now kicking our ass at 87 yen to $1 USD!  (when I worked in Tokyo back in 2006, and getting paid in yen, it was costing me freakin 120 yen to get $1 USD!  I shoulda bought more PCE games back then.. . ) 

My general rule of thumb is to get the best version of the games I want to play/collect... and if there are huge price differences but little to no gameplay variations (i.e. Bonk 3 US v.s. PC Genjin 3), than getting the latter is a no brainer.

Magical Chase PCE version is very rare by itself, with or without the US effect... so I can't really draw parallels to that. 

Flip-flopped, SplatterHouse PCE version is clearly much more desirable/harder to get these days compared to the TG version.  That's what makes life fun... we have choices...  now I need to go on debating whether or not to drop $2000 for US version of Magical Chase or be happy with my hard-to-find PCE Fan version of th ePCE Magical Chase.. (just kidding, I'm perfectly content.. haha)