Why are SHMUPS so dang expensive?

[GameOverYeah]

I don't have a single SHMUP, either for my Dreamcast or my Saturn.

I know it seems crazy, but all of them are friggin expensive. I haven't seen a single one under 80 dollars.

For the sake of comparison, I bought Virtua Fighter 3tb for 5 dollars including shipping (from friggin OSAKA). Same price for Sonic Adventure. I got Shenmue 1 & 2 LIMITED EDITIONS for 60 dollars combined. So why are SHMUPS so expensive? There are at least a million shooters on both the Saturn and the Dreamcast.

Can a more knowledgeable member please help me and introduce me to a shooter that isn't crazy expensive? My DC is region-free so I don't care if it's Japanese or US release or even PAL. And I have an action replay cart for my Saturn.

Thanks

[Wombat]

Most shump's are timeless and come in lower print then let's say a Sonic Adventure or Shenmue. Also seeing these type of games are usually in high demand, causes the prices to stay at the MSRP or even higher.

[GameOverYeah]

^ But there are sooooo many different titles. Why are ALL of them so steeply priced?

[Wombat]

Mainly because the majority got released after the Dreamcast got discontinued and thus not massed produced. Also in general shumps are in high demand regardless of the platform.

[Tachikoma]

They're highly collectable, and most of them were released in short supply in Europe and the US, whilst Japanese versions have been imported to the point where they're scarce to find, even in Japanese these days.

As for cheap games; Layer Section for the Saturn shouldn't break the bank. I've a JP copy I can sell to you for about £6, but the manual isn't in the best condition. A JP copy of Darius Gaiden can be found pretty cheap also.

For the Saturn, Gigawing doesn't fetch for too much money, and I think Gunbird isn't too expensive either. Both of them are pretty solid.

And, if you're in the US, there's also Gigawing 2 and Mars Matrix.

[Neohound]

Yes, they are expensive but there are one or two cheapish games around. I suppose games like Gunbird 2 and Gigawing would be good places to start and then get ready to warn the bank manager ! There are some mightily good games there in the stratospheric price band. Games like Mars Matrix, ikuruga, Under Defeat, Karous etc etc

One game that seems to have gone down in price is Rez. At one time Rez was going for around £100 but I saw a Japanese copy for £25 recently which, considering how great it is, is something of a bargain.

At least the rest of the DC's library is full of bargain bucket prices. dark was saying the other day how Le Mans 24hr, an all time classic, goes for a few bucks and games such as Sonic Adventure, Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, 2k series are available for £2 or so. Just thought I'd make that clear

Finally, there's the alternative way of obtaining any game for nowt/cheaply, that of downloading. But I won't go into that.

[GameOverYeah]

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. And as always, excuse my ignorance.

At least the rest of the DC's library is full of bargain bucket prices. dark was saying the other day how Le Mans 24hr, an all time classic, goes for a few bucks and games such as Sonic Adventure, Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, 2k series are available for £2 or so. Just thought I'd make that clear

This is the awesome thing about having a Dreamcast in this day and age. Most of the games in your collection will be found for dirt cheap. Most of the games I have, I got for 7 US dollars or less.

[Tachikoma]

By the way, I actually specialise in buying and selling Japanese Saturn and Dreamcast shmups. If anyone is wanting anything in particular, give me a shout. I have a very good track record in the Shmups.com forum trade section. I currently have Japanese copies of Ikaruga, Gunbird 2, and Gigawing 1 & 2 for sale.

[everynewday84]

Simply put, it's supply and demand. Supply is low; therefore, demand (price) is higher. Shoot em ups appeal to a minority of gamers and are in shorter supply than many other games, genres.

[Tachikoma]

That's not the only reason. Part of it is to do with ebay seller tactics. It's been known for some ebay sellers to buy multiple copies of a game and then run a monopoly on prices.

Radiant Silvergun is probably the most famous title to do this. It's not a rare game by any stretch. I've been in shops in Osaka and seen them have no less than 7 copies of this game!

It's sellers deliberately upping the price, giving people the idea that the game is difficult to find, and highly sought after.

There are plenty of expensive games out there that don't sell (usually really crap titles). It's not just because the prices are high. It's because demand is low, and nobody wants to shell out £100+ for a game that's either crap and / or they're never going to play (here's looking at you Moho).