There's a lot of misinformation about what SNES games are and are not rare. Some games, like the Final Fantasies or the two sequels to Mega Man X are thought by many to be rare, while many unspeakably bad games are actually quite rare. So, originally very loosely based on a similar list in Tips and Tricks magazine, along with help from the Retrogaming Roundtable (www.digitpress.com/forum) and a review of old copies of Nintendo Power for game info, I give you an As-Comprehensive-As-Possible list of rare, non-prototype SNES games. (All of these refer to the American NTSC versions. A PAL rare list would be much longer, as many games were released in limited quantities in Europe.)
(The format is "Name - Publisher - Reason for rarity/interesting facts)
- The Adventures of Kid Kleets - Ocean
- Aero Fighters - McO'River
- Aerobiz Supersonic - Koei - Koei is known for their quirky simulation titles, but this sequel to Aerobiz went completely unnoticed in the US.
- Air Cavalry - Cybersoft
- An American Tail: Fievel Goes West - Hudson Soft
- Ardy Lightfoot - Titus - Another character platformer that sank in a glut of the games, this is actually something of a cult classic.
- Bazooka Blitzkrieg - Bandai - One of the lesser-known Super Scope 6 titles.
- Bebe's Kids - Mandingo Entertainment
- The Brainies - Titus
- Brandish - Koei - This is quite possibly one of the worst RPGs ever made.
- Breakthru! - Spectrum Holobyte
- Bronkie the Bronchiasaurus - Raya Systems - Raya Systems made a number of games with a chronic disease theme. They were all equally terrible.
- Cannondale Cup - American Softworks
- Capcom's Soccer Shootout - Capcom
- Casper - Natsume
- Castlevania Dracula X - Konami - This is an inferior port of Dracula X: Rondo of Blood for the TurboDuo.
- Chavez - American Softworks
- Chavez II - American Softworks
- Donkey Kong Country: Competition Weekend Version - Nintendo - One of Nintendo's competition games, available only through mail order.
- Dragon View - Kemco
- Dream T.V. - Triffix
- E.V.O.: Search for Eden - Enix
- Eek! the Cat - Ocean - This game was exclusive to Blockbuster Video, who, at the time, made a practice of licensing games for release only to the rental market. Most of these games were licensed properties, based on television shows.
- Exertainment: Mountain Bike Rally - Life Fitness
- Exertainment: Mountain Bike Rally/Speed Racer - Life Fitness
- Final Fight Guy - Capcom - This was a Blockbuster exclusive, and is one of the better-known rare titles.
- Firestriker - DTMC
- First Samurai - Kemco
- The Flintstones: The Treasure of Sierra Madrock - Titus
- Frantic Flea - GameTek
- Fun 'n Games - Tradewest
- Ghoul Patrol - JVC
- Hagane: The Final Conflict - Hudson Soft
- Harvest Moon - Natsume - Harvest Moon is a cult classic, and has spawned a host of sequels. This has the potential to become the most valuable SNES cartridge in a few years.
- Head-On Soccer - U.S. Gold
- Home Improvement - Absolute - Conflicting claims exist as to whether or not this was a Blockbuster exclusive.
- Hurricanes - U.S. Gold
- Imperium - Vic Tokai
- Incantation - Titus
- King Arthur and the Knights of Justice - Enix - This debacle was one of the games that helped bring down Enix of America.
- Magic Boy - JVC
- Math Blaster: Episode 1 - Davidson - There would be no Episode 2.
- Metal Marines - Namco
- Metal Warriors - Konami - Not that you care, but I have this game. It's fantastic.
- Might and Magic III: Isles of Terra - FCI - A straight port of the PC game of the same title.
- The Miracle Piano Teaching System - Software Toolworks - While this game used a fairly interesting custom MIDI interface to hook up to a special piano keyboard, a total lack of interest in using the SNES for piano tutoring damned the game to obscurity.
- Mohawk and Headphone Jack - T*HQ - This forgettable game was an attempt to capitalize on the success of Toe Jam and Earl.
- Mr. Nutz - Ocean
- Ninja Gaiden Trilogy - Tecmo - This is a compilation of straight ports of the first three games in the Ninja Gaiden series.
- No Escape - Sony Imagesoft
- Ogre Battle - Nintendo - The rarity of this game is slightly allieviated by a Playstation version, which is also fairly rare.
- Operation Thunderbolt - Taito
- Oscar - Titus
- Pac-In-Time - Namco
- Packy and Marlon - Raya Systems
- Paladin's Quest - Enix
- Pieces - Atlus
- Pocky and Rocky 2 - Natsume
- Power Instinct - Atlus
- Power Piggs of the Dark Age - Titus
- Prehistorik Man - Titus
- Prince of Persia 2 - Titus
- Pushover - Ocean
- Radical Rex - Activision
- Realm - Titus
- Redline F-1 Racer - Absolute
- Relief Pitcher - Left Field - While I've never heard of this game either, isn't the publisher somehow appropriate?
- Ren and Stimpy Buckeroo$! - T*HQ - This was a Blockbuster exclusive.
- Ren and Stimpy Fire Dogs - T*HQ - Another Blockbuster exclusive.
- Rex Ronan: Experimental Surgeon - Raya Systems
- Rise of the Phoenix - Koei
- Run Saber - Atlus
- S.O.S.: Sink or Swim - Titus
- SeaQuest DSV - Malibu/T*HQ
- Tecmo Secret of the Stars - Tecmo - Known as "Tecmo Super RPG" in production, this soulless game is considered by many to be the worst RPG ever.
- Shien's Revenge - Vic Tokai
- Snow White in Happily Ever After - American Softworks
- Sonic Blast Man II - Taito
- Space Megaforce - Toho
- StarFox: Competition Weekend Version - Nintendo - This was a mail order exclusive, as part of a national competition.
- Steel Talons - Left Field
- Super 3D Noah's Ark - Wisdom Tree - This game uses the Wolfenstein 3D engine, frighteningly enough, for a horrible Bible-based game.
- Super Troll Islands - American Softworks
- Super Turrican 2 - Ocean
- SWAT Kats - Hudson Soft
- The Duel: Test Drive II - Ballistic/Accolade
- The Twisted Tales of Spike McFang - Bullet Proof
- Uncharted Waters: New Horizons - Koei - Not to be confused with Uncharted Waters, a straight port of the prequel to this game.
- War 2410 - Advanced Productions
- War 3010 - Advanced Productions
- Whizz - Titus
- Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel - Sunsoft
While the above list isn't exclusive, as there may very well be rare SNES games unlisted, here's a few games that, contrary to popular belief and confused eBay bidders, are not rare. Rather, these games are simply scarce. There are plenty of working copies, with and without accompanying manuals and packaging; these copies are mostly in collections, and out of distribution. As SNES consoles inevitably fail, these games should eventually become less and less valuable, as their value is inherant, rather than becase of their rarity. That said, before paying $50 or more for one of these games, bear in mind that you can always find another copy somewhere else.
- Breath of Fire 2 - Capcom - Fan interest has driven up the value of this game, even though Capcom tended to release games in large numbers.
- Chrono Trigger - Square - As this is one of the best-selling RPGs in the US ever (pre-PSX, anyway), it's by no means scarce.
- Earthbound - Nintendo - Nintendo's hope for good sales on this game lead to a large number of copies being dumped in clearance. The game is valuable, however, with packaging intact.
- Final Fantasy II - Square - The Playstation rerelease has driven down demand on this title somewhat.
- Final Fantasy III - Square - This was the best-selling RPG in the US before the PSX and Final Fantasy VII.
- Lufia and the Fortress of Doom - Taito
- Mega Man 7 - Capcom - Between an active Mega Man fan community and actually rare Game Boy games, this is due to high demand and confusion.
- Mega Man X2 and Mega Man X3 - Capcom - These games were expensive initially because of the C-4 chip, and this chip makes them both difficult to emulate. That said, it's high demand, not low supply.
- Secret of Mana - Square
- Super Mario RPG - Nintendo - Massive demand, not low supply. A convergence of three different fanbases all find this game desireable.
- Super Metroid - Nintendo - This game was produced in massive quantities, and even got a rerelease as an SNES bestseller. That said, the PAL version of this game is geniunely rare, so European gamers are out of luck.
Standard disclaimer - This info is all dated as of November 5, 2002, although I doubt that any of this info will change in the near future.
Thanks to yerricde, Domin, disillusioned, and Servo5678 for updates and info.
Due to the number of totally unplayable games on this list, this is part of the node the worst games ever project.