Help researching a YouTube video on the 7800

[teknohed]

Hi. I am making a series of videos on the value of classic video game libraries over the last 20 years.. 

 

I have already completed 3 and I have received some feedback from forum members that some of my data was not as accurate as it could have been. In the interest of improving this I wanted to share my current numbers here and get feedback from the collectors on the Atari 7800 Forum. My numbers are based on the Price Guide included in Billy Galaxy's book Collecting Classic video games. It was my belief that using these as my source of truth would avoid anyone arguing over the validity of these numbers, but that has not been the case. So, I'd like for you to take a look at what I have so far and, if you're interested, give me some feedback BEFORE I spend 20 hours making an 7800 video. Here are the numbers.  This list is ranked by the games that had the largest change in value over time. It is not sorted by rarity. I want to include rarity for context, but it is not a list of "most rare games":

 

Title	CIB Price 2002	CIB Price August 2022	Percentage increase	System	Publisher
Alien Brigade	15	113	653.33%	7800	Atari
Scrapyard Dog	9	60	566.67%	7800	Atari
Basketbrawl	15	74	393.33%	7800	Atari
Midnight Mutants	25	123	392.00%	7800	Atari
Ninja Golf	25	116	364.00%	7800	Atari
Summer Games	15	52	246.67%	7800	Atari
Ikari Warriors	39	135	246.15%	7800	Atari
Fatal Run	25	82	228.00%	7800	Atari
Commando	25	75	200.00%	7800	Atari
Xenophobe	15	35	133.33%	7800	Atari
Mean 18 Ultimate Golf	39	90	130.77%	7800	Atari
Motor Psycho	25	57	128.00%	7800	Atari
Planet Smashers	30	59	96.67%	7800	Atari
Rampage	30	57	90.00%	7800	Activision
Tank Command	98	182	85.71%	7800	Froggo
Double Dragon	30	55	83.33%	7800	Activision
Mario Bros.	15	24	60.00%	7800	Atari
Sentinel	50	73	46.00%	7800	Atari
Impossible Mission	25	31	24.00%	7800	Atari
Super Skateboardin'	35	39	11.43%	7800	Absolute
Water Ski	90	76	-15.56%	7800	Froggo
Pete Rose Baseball	35	27	-22.86%	7800	Absolute
F-18 Hornet	35	17	-51.43%	7800	Absolute
Tomcat F-14 Flight Simulator	35	15	-57.14%	7800	Absolute
Kung-Fu Master	35	14	-60.00%	7800	Activision

 

Here is a link to a google sheet with these numbers. If you're interested please leave me comments on any errors, discrepancies or inaccuracies and I will take that into consideration when working on the video. 

 

Thank you. 

[Cousin Vinnie]

Those…. Do not look accurate to me. The only game that has dropped in price during that time period is Water Ski. 
 

pete rose sells for 100 plus, tomcat is way up there, super skateboarding’ too

[+Muddyfunster]

The prices in your "August 2022" column, seem lower than the prices listed currently on pricecharting.

 

For example, you have Kung Fu Master CIB at $14. CIB price is currently showing at $216

[+slx]

A bit OT but to be meaningful such price comparisons should include information on changes relative to CPI. Not taking into account general price increases will exaggerate the perceived appreciation of video games. 

[Cousin Vinnie]

Looking at this further, I saw a Tank Command CIB sell for over 400$ about 7-8 months ago. So yeah.... I think the list's games are undervalued as a whole. 

[+GoldenWheels]

49 minutes ago, Cousin Vinnie said:

Looking at this further, I saw a Tank Command CIB sell for over 400$ about 7-8 months ago. So yeah.... I think the list's games are undervalued as a whole. 

I was about to say...anyone wants to sell me one for 182, hit your boy up! Xenophobe, Mario Bros, Kung Fu Master, Impossible Mission, all look undervalued to me too.

 

Thing with Tank Command IMO is it is one of those ones that is SO infrequently listed (at all) that every sale is semi-unique. Whereas all the others are fairly common occurrences throughout a year, even Mean 18 and Ikari.

 

I feel like some people are buying PAL copies without realizing it too (as the collector type never intends to play them anyway, just slab them or whatever). That throws a weird x factor in there of "bad" sales IMO.

 

 

[teknohed]

Hi everyone thanks so much for all this feedback. I will go back through the titles mentions and update the prices as needed. @sixwould it be enough to list the 2002 prices adjusted for inflation? or is there something i would need to do on the 2022 column as well? I am not an economist. 

[teknohed]

5 hours ago, GoldenWheels said:

I was about to say...anyone wants to sell me one for 182, hit your boy up! Xenophobe, Mario Bros, Kung Fu Master, Impossible Mission, all look undervalued to me too.

 

Thing with Tank Command IMO is it is one of those ones that is SO infrequently listed (at all) that every sale is semi-unique. Whereas all the others are fairly common occurrences throughout a year, even Mean 18 and Ikari.

 

I feel like some people are buying PAL copies without realizing it too (as the collector type never intends to play them anyway, just slab them or whatever). That throws a weird x factor in there of "bad" sales IMO.

 

 

your comment about pal is interesting I ran into that on intellivision too. my book does not break out the game prices by region. If it isn’t too much trouble could you tell me which titles this might apply to in particular? i would want to note that when i discuss those games.  think that would be good information. 

[fiddlepaddle]

At the Classic Games Expo I went to in 2002 there were a bunch of 7800 games being sold shrink wrapped for $1 by several different vendors due to the large number of games that never sold at retail. New in box 7800 systems were like $80, I think.

[+Trebor]

Circa '97, O'Shea had these titles brand new at 80 cents each:

 

-Asteroids
-Ballblazer
-Barnyard Blaster
-Centipede
-Dark Chambers
-Dig Dug
-Donkey Kong
-Donkey Kong Jr
-Galaga
-Hat Trick
-Jinks
-Joust
-Mat Mania Challenge
-Meltdown
-Ms. Pac-Man
-Ninja Golf

-One-On-One Basketball
-Pole Position II
-RealSports Baseball
-Scrapyard Dog
-Tower Toppler
-Winter Games
-Xevious
 

[teknohed]

5 hours ago, Trebor said:

Circa '97, O'Shea had these titles brand new at 80 cents each:

 

-Asteroids
-Ballblazer
-Barnyard Blaster
-Basketball
-Centipede
-Dark Chambers
-Dig Dug
-Donkey Kong
-Donkey Kong Jr
-Galaga
-Hat Tricks
-Jinks
-Joust
-Mat Mania Challenge
-Meltdown
-Ms. Pac-Man
-Ninja Golf
-Pole Position
-RealSports Baseball
-Scrapyard Dog
-Tower Toppler
-Winter Games
-Xevious
 

holy crap. what a time to be alive,  this is great thank you! 

[+GoldenWheels]

15 hours ago, teknohed said:

your comment about pal is interesting I ran into that on intellivision too. my book does not break out the game prices by region. If it isn’t too much trouble could you tell me which titles this might apply to in particular? i would want to note that when i discuss those games.  think that would be good information. 

Problem is (I believe) there are PAL versions which are unrecognizable from NTSC games for MOST games in the library, at least most of the silver box ones if I recall correctly.

 

Some games like F-14 and Super Skateboarding's PAL releases came in unique soft cases, easy to spot from US releases. But for almost everything else in a silver box, from Mean 18 on down, the PAL versions, I believe, look exactly the same, no marking differences (fellas correct  me if I am wrong here). Only way I know of to tell is to open the game and see if the screen rolls on your NTSC machine.

[+GoldenWheels]

10 hours ago, Trebor said:

 

So I can get one copy of Ninja Golf for .80...or three Salem Fanny Packs for .75...game set match, Salem! I know how to invest in collectibles, baby!

 

[+Trebor]

7 hours ago, teknohed said:

holy crap. what a time to be alive,  this is great thank you! 

You're welcome!  You can read more about it from an article published back in 2001.  At that time, the price was up to a 'whopping' $2.00 for a brand new game. 

 

By the mid 2000's, the cost went up to $5.00 each.  There were some additional games listed (Desert Falcon, Robotron: 2084, Super Huey) on their website, but I recall they were present with the 90's inventory as well.  It just wasn't the most sophisticated or precise inventory listing on their page back in '97.   From the capture posted earlier, it mentions having 50 games for sale between the Atari 2600 & 7800, but only 41 are listed.  They went to an order form, which did accurately list the present inventory and sold out inventory, when games went to $2.00 a piece.

 

Sometime during the early 2010's is when they emptied the remainder of their stock for sale.

 

When I placed my order back in '97, I spoke with Bill.  I was skeptical, even then, at that price and hindsight is 20/20... only one copy of each was ordered by me.  When the mid-size parcel arrived, I was in awe; fifty brand new games and the invoice showing (with shipping) a cost of less than $50.

[+-^CrossBow^-]

If only we knew how in demand the need for Pokeys would have been back then. Imagine buying up their entire stock of BB carts at a $1 each back then. Everyone would think you were nuts at the time for doing so. And then in as little as 15 years later, you would be the one laughing as you sit on your throne of pokey chips!

 

 

[Mikebloke]

If anyone wants to sell me those Absolute games at those listed August 2022 CIB I'll pay right now! 😜

[teknohed]

On 8/26/2022 at 8:23 PM, Cousin Vinnie said:

Those…. Do not look accurate to me. The only game that has dropped in price during that time period is Water Ski. 
 

pete rose sells for 100 plus, tomcat is way up there, super skateboarding’ too

Pete Rose and Tom Cat are both listed at around 58 on Price charting. Looking at the recent ebay that seems to be correct:

 

The only Pete Rose I could find that was completed listing that actually sold was Wata graded (not that that should matter) and it only went or 58.77:

Do you have a source for higher priced sales? 

[teknohed]

On 8/28/2022 at 8:37 AM, -^CrossBow^- said:

If only we knew how in demand the need for Pokeys would have been back then. Imagine buying up their entire stock of BB carts at a $1 each back then. Everyone would think you were nuts at the time for doing so. And then in as little as 15 years later, you would be the one laughing as you sit on your throne of pokey chips!

 

 

That is a very interesting point. I wouldn't have thought about the value of the components of these games being something that might have a factor on their value today. 

[teknohed]

On 8/27/2022 at 7:41 AM, Cousin Vinnie said:

Looking at this further, I saw a Tank Command CIB sell for over 400$ about 7-8 months ago. So yeah.... I think the list's games are undervalued as a whole. 

I couldn't find any CIB in recent sales on ebay, but i saw two loose carts both for about 230, so I think you are probably right. I will update the price to reflect that (i'll make it 460, twice teh loose price) . 

Edited August 31, 2022 by teknohed

[teknohed]

On 8/27/2022 at 7:48 PM, Trebor said:

 

 

 

 

I will site this and use this screenshot in the video (if that's ok with you) doing so will put Ninja Golf and Scrapyard dog at the top of the list for sure. 

Edited August 31, 2022 by teknohed

[teknohed]

OK dudes. After taking everyone's comments and suggestions into account, here is the updated list I have added a column for the rarity guide rating. However, it should be noted that this video is not intending to be about the most "rare" games, it is instead focused on the change in value over the last 20 years. I want to include rarity as it might be a factor in a games value :

 

 

Title	CIB Price 2002	CIB 2002 Adjusted for Inflation	CIB Price August 2022	Percentage increase	Publisher	RarityGuide Rarity
Ninja Golf	1	2	158	7800.00%	Atari	47
Scrapyard Dog	1	2	81	3950.00%	Atari	50
Alien Brigade	15	25	144	476.00%	Atari	90
Mario Bros.	15	25	98	292.00%	Atari	62
Rampage	30	50	195	290.00%	Activision	88
Midnight Mutants	25	42	160	280.95%	Atari	68
Kung-Fu Master	35	58	216	272.41%	Activision	68
Fatal Run	25	42	143	240.48%	Atari	88
Basketbrawl	15	25	80	220.00%	Atari	86
Tank Command	98	162	460	183.95%	Froggo	86
Summer Games	15	25	65	160.00%	Atari	44
Commando	25	42	108	157.14%	Atari	81
Double Dragon	30	50	127	154.00%	Activision	77
Ikari Warriors	39	65	161	147.69%	Atari	80
Xenophobe	15	25	60	140.00%	Atari	55
Planet Smashers	30	50	100	100.00%	Atari	74
Sentinel	50	83	161	93.98%	Atari	n/a
Motor Psycho	25	42	78	85.71%	Atari	72
Mean 18 Ultimate Golf	39	65	111	70.77%	Atari	81
Pete Rose Baseball	35	58	95	63.79%	Absolute	48
Super Skateboardin'	35	58	81	39.66%	Absolute	51
Impossible Mission	25	42	50	19.05%	Atari	89
F-18 Hornet	35	58	50	-13.79%	Absolute	83
Tomcat F-14 Flight Simulator	35	58	43	-25.86%	Absolute	48
Water Ski	90	149	82	-44.97%	Froggo	82

[CommodoreCEO]

I'm sorry to hijack this thread, but it's tangentially related... does anyone have a PAL HES/Salu copy of Baseball for Atari 7800?

 

I've been trying to find a copy for years to complete my PAL collection but I can't find it! 😭

[+Mitch]

12 hours ago, CommodoreCEO said:

I'm sorry to hijack this thread, but it's tangentially related... does anyone have a PAL HES/Salu copy of Baseball for Atari 7800?

 

I've been trying to find a copy for years to complete my PAL collection but I can't find it! 😭

How much are you offering? I think I have a spare.

 

Mitch

[Cousin Vinnie]

On 8/30/2022 at 8:08 PM, teknohed said:

Pete Rose and Tom Cat are both listed at around 58 on Price charting. Looking at the recent ebay that seems to be correct:

 

The only Pete Rose I could find that was completed listing that actually sold was Wata graded (not that that should matter) and it only went or 58.77:

Do you have a source for higher priced sales? 

 

That's a 2600 version of Pete Rose, dawg. Big diff

Edited September 2, 2022 by Cousin Vinnie

[teknohed]

4 hours ago, Cousin Vinnie said:

 

That's a 2600 version of Pete Rose, dawg. Big diff

Ah. well. I can’t seem to find a recent boxed sale. (as you can see) 

 

I will keep an eye out.