There was a time when Teen Patti and Pokémon Sun and Moon were the ultimate games for fans of the trading card game Rastacap. It wasn’t that long ago that you’d simply buy the game and play it on your console of choice. These days, however, things are a little different. While the games themselves still retain their value, the fact that they’re tied to platforms that most people have stopped caring about makes it more difficult for collectors and enthusiasts to find a place in the market.
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Why Pokémon?
Let’s be fair, the Pokémon Company knows a thing or two about building long-term value into their intellectual properties. Just take a look at the animated series, for example. While it was originally designed to be a quick cash grab with little regard for the characters or plotlines, the fact that it spawned an entire generation of fans has undoubtedly helped its value in the long run.
As much as we might like to believe otherwise, the same cannot be said for all of the titles within the Pokémon umbrella. Outside of the core series, Pokémon Sleep, a game where you go in search of sleepwalks, or Pokémon Dreamcast, a spinoff designed to capitalize on the success of the Sega Dreamcast, failed to ignite the same passion in audiences that the original games did.
So while we were anticipating the return of our favorite pocket monsters to our screens in all their glory, a lot had changed in the interim. The world wasn’t ready for Pokémon X and Y, the game’s final installments in the main series. While they introduced some interesting innovations, such as the ability to walk around and interact with the game world, they were ultimately bogged down by a series of technical issues and bad pacing, which dragged the overall experience down.
Where Does This Leave The Collectors?
With the rise of mobile gaming and social media, coupled with the ever-changing nature of consoles and the growing divide between those who play games and those who just watch, the market for physical copies of video games has taken a hit. The day where everyone goes to the library to check out games on cartridge, or buys games at retail for systems they don’t have, has given way to a world where gamers can find whatever they want, whenever they want, and however they want.
Nowadays physical games aren’t just limited to the big-name blockbuster releases. Indie games and mobile games can often be found for a lower price at digital download stores or even free-to-play game platforms such as Google Play or the App Store.
While it’s tempting to simply write off the older titles as mere nostalgia pieces, it would be a mistake to do so. The truth is that the value of these games lies in their rarity, and the fact that they were once considered valuable enough to keep in stock at GameStop. If you’ve ever seen the movie Game Over, then you know exactly what I’m talking about. In the film, a character plays a game on an ancient console and the action takes place in a GameStop. Clearly not all game stores are created equal, and in the case of pre-2016 Pokémon titles, you’re more likely to find them at a thrift store than a retail location.
With so few systems relying on cartridge storage, it’s actually become more common for consoles to rely on optical drives for game storage. While this might not seem like a big deal, it’s something else entirely when you realize that not only have the games become more expensive because of the increased scarcity, but they’ve also become more fragile, prone to corruption, and difficult to find backups of.
What About All Those Pre-2016 Titles?
Now that we understand the context behind why some of the older titles are more valuable than they’ve ever been, let’s review some of the quirks that make them special.
These Pokémon games were the first to switch from the traditional side-view to an isometric perspective. While it was an elegant solution to the problem of displaying graphics on a TV, the decision to ditch stereoscopic 3D technology and go for an isometric view has not aged well because of the paucity of options when it comes to displaying complex, three-dimensional graphics on your standard TV.
Another quirk that sets these games apart is their cartridge architecture. While we’ve moved on to 32-bit and 64-bit gaming in the intervening years, these games were the first to take advantage of the fact that 16-bit consoles could only store data in chunks of 2 KB or 4 KB, leading to a greater degree of efficiency when it came to storing large games. Even now, with cartridge sizes limited by the capacity of today’s optical drives, these games can still hold their weight.
Why Are They Still So Valuable?
I’m going to keep this next bit of advice, however, you might be better off skipping ahead to the next section.
You see, sometimes we as collectors get a bit greedy, and instead of focusing on the value of the items we have, we begin to ask ourselves, “What can I get for this?” It’s a question that leads us astray, because while we’re thinking about the money we can make off an item, we’re forgetting about its value as a collector’s item. While we might think that the more expensive the item, the more valuable it becomes, that’s not necessarily true. What’s more is that sometimes, the less we pay for a game, the more we end up owning it. For example, when the Nintendo Switch was first released, it was accompanied by a wave of optimism that accompanied the entire platform. Naturally, the Switch’s success led to a rush to buy games for the system. While it still offers some incredible value as a gaming platform, it also, more often than not, leads to disappointment when it comes to actually owning the games. This can be traced to the Switch’s micro-console format, which encourages piracy by users who want to play their favorite games offline. Since the Switch doesn’t offer a dedicated store for downloaded games, it’s relatively easy for users to obtain and play games outside of the official channels. And if that wasn’t bad enough, the Switch also allows for the possibility of game tampering, which can lead to all sorts of problems when it comes to protecting your investment in games. When you buy a physical game, you’re more likely to know that it hasn’t been tampered with. It also helps that these games were designed to be played on dedicated gaming hardware, making them that little bit more exclusive. Nowadays, we have the likes of the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4, which are more than capable of playing the most recent games, and you’d be better off investing in those rather than a game from the previous generation. Long-term strategy aside, these are the types of games that make for amazing presents, and you’ll be praised for your generosity. In the immortal words of GameStop, “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
Ultimately, it’s not about the money. It’s about the passion; it’s about wanting to own something that you passionate about, and knowing that no matter what happens, you’ll never have another reason to sell it.