racketboy.com

So normally, I like to get the original releases of games instead of their "Greatest Hits" versions. I have a few different "Sega All Stars" releases on the Dreamcast: Virtua Tennis, Crazy Taxi, and Power Stone. I bought them all a while ago, and I've been meaning to buy the original versions of each. I was pricing the Power Stone release on eBay and noticed there haven't been any of these Sega All Stars version showing up. Just lots of white case releases for $35 to $60 each.

So, is the Sega All Star version a lot harder to find? I'm not really expecting a premium price necessarily as it takes demand to drive the price up -- Dreamcast collecting would probably have to heat up a lot for this to matter too much (unless this is super rare).

Can anyone give some insight? Have you seen many of these in the wild?
I know I've seen a lot of Sonic, Crazy Taxi, and Virtua Tennis as Sega All Stars, but I'm trying to think of others...

Powerstone tends to be pricey, maybe because of the exclusive to home console besides the PSP? Watch for other unique quirky titles such as Flogian Bros to also shoot up as the market gains a rediscover of Dreamcast forgotten exclusives. Alien Front Online already jumping up there.

The Greatest Hits or Sega All Stars usually come out after a huge number of the initial release are sold. Depending on the sales, the newest greatest hits could have less total production; actually the more rare copy. Most want the original release due to greater value because of the collector trend pushing the market.

I prefer the greatest hits version due to sometimes having add on levels and or bug fixes.

I think it depends on the game though. Many times they are games that are early towards the launch and then go to budget pricing and, in some cases, the greatest hits outsells the original.

I'm almost positive with games like Metal Gear Solid 2, I see more of the Greatest Hits than the "Black Box" copies up for sale.

I really like collecting variants, and while I don't know the first thing about Dreamcast variants, I have done a lot of research on Atari, NES, and PlayStation variants. The Atari and PlayStation libraries, in particular, are great for variants, and some variants can be drastically rarer (and more expensive) than their more common counterparts. (Two examples are the black-label, jewel case versions, of Doom and Mortal Kombat 3.). Please let me know if you are ever interested in putting together an article on variants. I would be happy to contribute to it.

prfsnl_gmr wrote:I really like collecting variants, and while I don't know the first thing about Dreamcast variants, I have done a lot of research on Atari, NES, and PlayStation variants. The Atari and PlayStation libraries, in particular, are great for variants, and some variants can be drastically rarer (and more expensive) than their more common counterparts. (Two examples are the black-label, jewel case versions, of Doom and Mortal Kombat 3.). Please let me know if you are ever interested in putting together an article on variants. I would be happy to contribute to it.

I think that would be a very cool article. We could do something interesting that wouldn't have to be exhaustive right off the bat (could always revisit and expand later)
Do you want to start an outline on Google Docs or something?
Or if you just want to run with it, go for it!

This makes me think of The Original Legend of Zelda for NES where the gold cartridge is actually much more common than the grey cartridge, but buyers still pay more money for the gold cartridge.

racketboy wrote:I think it depends on the game though. Many times they are games that are early towards the launch and then go to budget pricing and, in some cases, the greatest hits outsells the original.

I'm almost positive with games like Metal Gear Solid 2, I see more of the Greatest Hits than the "Black Box" copies up for sale.

Racketboy, you might be on to something with regards to the greatest hits version of Metal Gear Solid 2. I never gave it much thought, but now that you mention it, I believe you're right. I see greatest hits version of mgs2 all over the place.

I think the difference here is shelf life. After Metal Gear Solid 2 was re-released as a greatest hits edition, the Playstation 2 continued to shift units for another decade. MGS2 had plenty of time to sell more copies. Once Sega released their $20 All Stars games in November 2000, the Dreamcast was already floundering. Retailers were quick to pull Dreamcast games off the shelves and re-purpose that shelf space for better-selling PS2 games and the brand-spanking-new Gamecube and XBOX games that were launching in 2002.

A cursory google search turns up this old thread from digital press:
https://forum.digitpress.com/forum/show ... Stars-quot

I'd disagree with the notion that these are easy to find, try to find MvC and Power Stone Sega All-Star version, impossible, yes I've seen them back in 2001 but never thought of picking them up as I never liked Sega All-Star version, but that was another story. Next impossible to find is Hydro Thunder, yup, K-Mart has it in 2001 and again, never thought about the rarity.

Never thought they were rare. Never saw a Power Stone though...

This site shows promotions for $19.99 dreamcast games from Christmas Season 2000, but doesn't list power stone specifically.
http://www.shinforce.com/dreamcast/Promotions.htm

I could understand if Power Stone wouldn't get the cut on an add over the likes of Sonic, Crazy Taxi, and the sports titles, but Sega Bass Fishing?

And I kinda forgot about the MvC one! I think I've seen it, but not very often. I don't think I've ever seen a Hydro Thunder one. I might have to do deeper research!

Thanks for the share though -- that's very interesting!

Maybe I'll start to collect some of these!

Now I'm kinda regretting selling my F-Zero GX Player's Choice when I got the original release

samsonlonghair wrote:Racketboy, you might be on to something with regards to the greatest hits version of Metal Gear Solid 2. I never gave it much thought, but now that you mention it, I believe you're right. I see greatest hits version of mgs2 all over the place.

I think the difference here is shelf life. After Metal Gear Solid 2 was re-released as a greatest hits edition, the Playstation 2 continued to shift units for another decade. MGS2 had plenty of time to sell more copies. Once Sega released their $20 All Stars games in November 2000, the Dreamcast was already floundering. Retailers were quick to pull Dreamcast games off the shelves and re-purpose that shelf space for better-selling PS2 games and the brand-spanking-new Gamecube and XBOX games that were launching in 2002.

Some very good points concerning shelf life! The Greatest Hits and All Stars come out only after a huge amount of initial release sold. Makes sense due to the Dreamcast short shelf life that many of the All Star re-releases (especially the more obscure titles) have less of a production run. On the other hand, I can see Metal Gear Greatest Hits (especially the PS1 version) being the common find due to its popularity and as you mentioned, the Playstation longevity in the market.

A published article on the different releases a great idea. Not only market value, but a mention of additional features, levels (PS2 Silent Hill 2) or even levels removed (PS2 Grand Theft Auto San Andreas <Hot Coffee>) on the Greatest Hits versions. I think PS2 Silent Hill 2 is the one Greatest Hits title known only in some markets as the most valuable?

There is also the game manual differences. Though not a "Greatest Hits" manual, I noticed color copies went black and white or even thinner paper (really noticeable when comparing side by side) on later pressings.

Posted list of PS2 Special Editions and mentioned Greatest Hits disparity (Virtua Fighter Evolution comes to mind) of collectors:

PS2 Special Edition Games List Guide - http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=398591#p398591

racketboy wrote:So, is the Sega All Star version a lot harder to find? I'm not really expecting a premium price necessarily as it takes demand to drive the price up -- Dreamcast collecting would probably have to heat up a lot for this to matter too much (unless this is super rare).

Can anyone give some insight? Have you seen many of these in the wild?
I know I've seen a lot of Sonic, Crazy Taxi, and Virtua Tennis as Sega All Stars, but I'm trying to think of others...

There were 17 individual SAS releases. 18 if you count the 2 variant SAS Sonic Adventure release.
SAS Power Stone is indeed alot more uncommon than its standard version and easily one of the hardest to find in the SAS catalog. That and MvC1 are are the most elusive. After that it's perhaps Hydro Thunder or Blitz 2000. Hope this helps.

CD AGES wrote:

racketboy wrote:So, is the Sega All Star version a lot harder to find? I'm not really expecting a premium price necessarily as it takes demand to drive the price up -- Dreamcast collecting would probably have to heat up a lot for this to matter too much (unless this is super rare).

Can anyone give some insight? Have you seen many of these in the wild?
I know I've seen a lot of Sonic, Crazy Taxi, and Virtua Tennis as Sega All Stars, but I'm trying to think of others...

There were 17 individual SAS releases. 18 if you count the 2 variant SAS Sonic Adventure release.
SAS Power Stone is indeed alot more uncommon than its standard version and easily one of the hardest to find in the SAS catalog. That and MvC1 are are the most elusive. After that it's perhaps Hydro Thunder or Blitz 2000. Hope this helps.

Thanks! I just scored a copy of MvC SAS, so it seems that I have the 2 toughest ones now! From my eBay watching, it seems that Ready 2 Rumble is more uncommon than Hydro Thunder. And for what it's worth, Power Stone seems to show up significantly less common than even MvC.