We all know that peculiar joy of finding a forgotten £10 stuffed in a jeans pocket or hidden behind the sofa. Well how about discovering that the abandoned collection of video games you’ve had in the attic for the past 20 years could fetch you enough for a trip to the Bahamas? As the world of video games continues to evolve, many collectors are turning their attention back to the early days of the Sega 32X, Nintendo 64 and co, and are willing to pay a premium for the rarer games on those platforms. With buyers spending no less than £500 per game for those listed in the top 10, find out whether you might have a treasure trove of vintage video games in your loft with our list of the most valuable video games you might just own.
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The Adventures of Batman and Robin
Console: Sega Mega CD
Price: £550
Released between 1994 and 1995, The Adventures of Batman and Robin enjoyed the renewed popularity in Batman after Batman Returns before the not-so-successful Batman Forever came out in 1995. The Sega Mega CD version of the game, in which all the voice actors from the animated series reprised their roles, is the most sought-after edition and should fetch you a reasonable £550 from collectors.
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Fatal Fury Special Edition
Console: Sega Mega CD
Price: £550
This follow-up to Fatal Fury 2 was a fighting arcade game developed by SNK for the Neo Geo arcade and home platforms. This Special Edition offered faster, smoother graphics compared with its predecessor with additional moves for a number of characters.
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Cool World
Price: £550
Loosely based on Ralph Bakshi’s 1992 film of the same name, Cool World was an action video game that played more like an adventure story game than its siblings on PC, Game Boy and NES. Despite only receiving two stars out of five in Allgame magazine, the game continues to command a fair price on the collectible games market today.
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Stadium Events
Console: Nintendo NES
Price: £600
An ‘80s predecessor to the Nintendo Wii and Xbox Kinect, Stadium Events allowed players to compete in four Olympic events: 100m dash, 110m hurdles, long jump and triple jump. The game was used with the Family Fun Fitness mat and although the game fetches an average of £600, there have been reports that one edition of the game was recently sold for over $35,000.
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Viewpoint
Console: Neo Geo AES
Price: £750
Critically acclaimed and award-winning isometric shooter game Viewpoint was originally released for the Neo-Geo Multi Video System in winter 1992. Eventually released for Sega Genesis, Sony PlayStation and the Sharp X68000, Viewpoint was supposed to be followed up with a sequel—Viewpoint 2064—on Nintendo 64 in 1998, however publisher issues forced the game to be abandoned.
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T-Mek
Console: Sega 32X
Price: £800
Typically a popular two-player, sit-down fighting arcade game, T-Mek was brought to the Sega 32X in 1995 by Bits Corporation. With a dystopian storyline, the game allowed you to take control of a floating tank and the game was similar in gameplay to the popular Battlezone.
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X-Zone
Console: Super Nintendo
Price: £850
One of the few games to support the Nintendo Scope gun, X-Zone was another dystopian first-player game in which the player assumed the role of a soldier in a flying power-armour assigned to destroy an army of robots. It is today one of the rarest and the most collectible SNES game available.
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Primal Rage
Price: £1000
Initially released by Atari to arcades in 1994 before being rolled out to most consoles including the Sega 32X in 1996, Primal Rage saw users take charge of one of seven large beasts and do battle to determine the future of the planet. Similar to fighting games such as Mortal Combat of the same period, Primal Rage included special moves and finishing techniques for the different characters. Surprising in the 21st century, despite the game’s portrayal of gory realities and the live devouring of human beings, at the time Primal Rage was only given a rather tame rating of “T” for Teen by the Entertainment Software Rating Board upon its release. How things have changed…
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Darxide
Console: Sega 32X
Price: £1200
Pronounced “Dark Side” but spelt differently due to copyright reasons, Darxide was an extremely rare, exclusive game for the Sega 32X released in Europe in 1996. A space-based shoot ‘em up published by Frontier Developments, the game didn’t draw too many plaudits but the rarity of the game makes it one of the most sought-after and the most expensive video game to purchase for collectors today.
Data courtesy of Loveantiques.
