when the second wind started to hit was around 1996 1997.. Back then Dracula x was going for 185 consistently and Macross 2036 75 bucks and sapphire 500-600 with Circus lido in the 400s. Any pcs title would get bids on eBay then, even games like rom rom stadium. To me back then the prices across all were higher, bit the us versions were lower.
These price fluctuations aren't natural ups and downs because there were a completely different set of factors driving prices back then. First, the internet was really taking off in the mid-to-late Nineties. For the first time, gamers were a Yahoo search away from ebay and TZD; no longer did they have to comb the pages of EGM and call the handful of import specialists like Die Hard. Hence, import prices were high for the same reason new consoles command a premium at launch - it was the PCE's introduction to the North American market.
Admittedly, the TG was still an unpopular niche console and demand was fairly low for both TG and PCE games, but the supply of imports was even lower. Dracula X didn't drop in price because gamers are any less obsessed with, it dropped because the number of Japanese sellers on ebay increased and after ten years everyone finally realized that it's a common game. Circus Lido didn't drop because collectors thinned out, it dropped because a pallet of unopened copies was discovered. And a genuine Sapphire still sells for hundreds of dollars.
Don't get me wrong, I paid $60 for ACD Fatal Fury in 1997 and it sucked, but what we have now is worse. The only price drops we've seen have been because of increased supply and distribution. Demand has done nothing but increase. Unless someone finds untapped markets or more lost pallets, nothing is going to change.
