Tonma used to be on ebay quite a bit 3 years ago. A loosy only ran you 28.00. No idea why its considered so rare.
Perceived rarity is probably more important than actual rarity. I have this theory that when Gamestop, stopped carrying used NES and SNES games that it had a profound effect on the collecting market. Knowing that you could walk in to such a large chain store and purchase these old games meant that you didn't need to. They would be there if you wanted them. 10 years, or so, later and they're not setting there like they used to be, the first place people look is Ebay. Couple that with nostalgia and the increased buying power of our generation and you've got a bubble. I've seen a couple of articles where Gamestop is talking abou getting back into retro games, and I think that if they do the market will crash. If you can walk in and buy something anytime, you'll be in less of a hurry to buy it.
I don't know if the whole walk into a store and buy a game makes it any cheaper idea makes seanse
As it is based on availability and consumerism that steamers from ease of access.
Because if you are hanging your hat on that idea then it already exist. It's called eBay/amazon.
Also I hope GameStop does not go into retro game selling. They attempted this with a piss poor selection of games you could get with gamer points and they wanted someone like 25,000 points for a Mario/Duckhunt game.
And to get 25,000 gamer points you basically have to spend I store something like $1,000 bucks.
My number might be way off as this whole retro game thing they tried was like a fart in the wind and QUICKLY abandoned.