Going back to the days of the SNES and looking at its rarest games is very exciting. If you look at the rarest games on modern consoles like the PS4, they're mostly online store exclusives that sold out in less than an hour. However, in the mid-90s, the rarest games were so wild that there will likely never be another.
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As the best-selling handheld console of all time, a ton of games have been created for the DS, some of which have become very hard to find.
You've got competition cartridges, US Army games, simulator games, and more. Not surprisingly, none of these rare games cost less than a thousand dollars. Yes, they are that rare.
All values are based on full PriceCharting pricing at time of writing. If the full price is not available, the loose price will be used instead.
10 Zombies Ate My Neighbors Box Option $2,448
Boxes are also valuable
One downside of the SNES compared to the Genesis was the packaging. Like the NES, they were very disposable, which dramatically drove up the price of complete bundled SNES games today. Even worse are the boxed versions, the rarest of which is the LucasArts classic Zombies Ate My Neighbors.
The box art you're probably familiar with is edgy 60s B-movie art, while this alternate version is more 90s with a kid with a big head shooting zombies with a water uzi. Not much is known about this variant other than that it is extremely rare and appeared after the first edition. Legend has it that only a thousand were made, but this has never been confirmed.
9 Star Fox Super Weekend Competition – $2,500
The first of many competitive cartridges
Nowadays eSports are almost always for multiplayer games like Counter-Strike, Street Fighter or League of Legends. However, at the time, there were many single-player competitions that challenged players to score as many points as possible and try to become number one. One was the Star Fox Super Weekend Competition, an event that took place about a month after the game's release in 1993.
If you score big points, you will get different prizes. However, none of them were patrons themselves. These were giveaways in Nintendo Power magazine, making this cartridge extremely rare. It is important to note that more rounds were probably made than are available to the public, given that this was a full-scale event. Many must be hiding in Nintendo's hallowed vault.
8 Exertainment Mountain Bikerally and Speed Racer Combo Set – $2,552
A combo pack with a fascinating backstory
Video game combo packs still exist today, but none are quite as amazing as Exertainment Mountain Bikerally and Speed Racer. The original SNES has a port on the bottom that was supposed to be for a CD add-on that was never released but found a use for it. Such a use was the Exertainment Bike, a full-sized pedal exerciser.
These devices themselves are ridiculously expensive, but what about the games? Only two were released: Exertainment Mountain Bikerally and Speed Racer. Individually, they cost nearly $100 as a set, but an extremely rare combo pack costs more than $2,500. History, amazing character and true rarity make this product so expensive.
7 Hagane: The Final Conflict – $2,657
An unknown gem
For every system, there's always that one game that's so good, but so rare. They often gain recognition many years after release, so not many people pick them up when they're available. Little Samson for the NES is a great example, as is Hagane: The Final Conflict.
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An action platformer where you play as a cyborg ninja, the game is similar to Genesis Shinobi, but more challenging and, frankly, better. It's a blast from start to finish, but the fact that it costs over $2,500 is a little surprising. Most rare games with hidden gems don't cost much, which is usually a sign of a small print run.
6 Aero Fighters – $2,950
Godless is rare
At first, Aero Fighters might seem like another rare game with hidden gems. The arcade version of Aero Fighters is a highly regarded shooter, but the SNES version was pretty poor compared to the many downgrades. There are probably three main reasons why the game is so rare.
It almost certainly had a small print run, and considering it's almost three thousand, it probably had low sales as well. Back in 1994, hardcore gamers, who were probably Aero Fighters' target audience, were aware of the poor reviews of the SNES port, so they probably skipped it altogether.
5 Spider-Man And Venom: Maximum Carnage Collector's Edition – $3,050
A real blast from the past
Nothing gives you the feel of days gone by like the QVC Shopping Channel. A relic of a bygone era that surprisingly still exists today, this live channel was set up to sell you various goods. Back in 1994, one of these was the critically acclaimed Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage 16-bit comic book collector's edition.
Available for both SNES and Genesis, inside you'll get a Carnage comic, some pins, and a certificate of authenticity. A big fat hairy deal you'd think watching live in '94, but those who ordered it could sell it for three grand today. That's for the SNES version, by the way, as the Genesis collector's edition costs, surprisingly, much less, almost seven times as much.
4 Nintendo Campus Challenge 1992 – $4,000
At the moment, the copies are unambiguous
After the legendary Nintendo World Championship in 1990, you hosted the Nintendo Campus Challenge in 1991 and 1992. The 1992 event, which took place on US campuses, used the SNES instead of the NES as in 1991. You've played Super Mario World, F-Zero, and Pilotwings to get the best score.
All of Nintendo's competition carts are extremely rare, and Campus Challenge 1992 is no different. There is only one sale of the cartridge in 2006 on PriceCharting. It's wild. Only three cartridges are believed to exist, but more than three carts were produced for this great event. Whether those that remained were destroyed, used for spare parts, or simply abandoned to await discovery remains to be seen.
3 Macs Moving Target Simulator – $4999
Shooting on the SNES has never felt so real
Video games and the military have a pretty deep connection. A common activity for soldiers during downtime, a video of the US military destroying an Xbox 360 due to the Red Ring of Death shows the popularity of single-player games. Not surprisingly, several games were developed specifically for the US military, and one of them was Macs Moving Target Simulator.
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If you own any of these Xbox 360 games, you may want to consider selling them. If you are going to buy them, prepare for a headache.
The game is exactly what you think: a virtual small arms shooting range. The light gun, in particular, is much more realistic due to its heavy weight, which prepares the soldier for actual use of the weapon. Since it was made exclusively for the military, examples are, as you can imagine, extremely rare.
2 Donkey Kong Country Competition – $10,176
A rare cartridge that you can actually win
In 1995, Blockbuster held its second and final video game competition, the Blockbuster World Video Game Championship 2. There were two competitions, as you could play either the Genesis or the SNES, both using different games. On the SNES, you played one game of Donkey Kong Country and you had to collect as many bananas as you could.
Unlike the Genesis contest, the cartridges here were given away as bundled prizes. While the Genesis carts are less common, the DKC commands a higher price purely because there is a complete boxed option that is more than twice the price of a single cartridge.
1 Nintendo PowerFest 1994 – $17,550
Rarest SNES Competition Cart
Nintendo's last competition for a long time was Nintendo PowerFest 1994. Once again, players compete across the country in three games for the best score: Super Mario Bros. The Lost Levels, Super Mario Kart and Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball.
33 cartridges were produced, of which only two were in the wild in private hands. Supposedly, the remaining cartridges went to spare parts, but apparently this is not true. Knowing Nintendo and how they operate, they probably kept a couple of cartridges intact and locked them up.
Next
The 20 Rarest Wii Games and How Much They Cost
These expensive games will really cost you a pretty penny if you ever want to own them. That is, if you can find them.
