Famicom Disk System price guide?

[fredJ]

I've been searching high and low for a price guide on Famicom Disk System games. Any ideas? I found a great price guide for Famicom games on the risingstuff.com forum, but there were no FDS games in there.

[fredJ]

Ok, if I put it this way:

What are FDS games worth? Any price estimation on any game, complete or loose, is welcome.

Thanks.

[manuel]

That's really hard to say, but you should expect to pay at least 5$ for the cheapest disks. 

[fredJ]

Oh, that much?

Is there a difference between Disk Writer games and "original"?

Are there any particular games that are more expensive than others, or are rare?

[manuel]

Of course in Japan you can find some disks cheaper if you look in the right places.
In my area, normal common games like SMB2, Metroid etc. are priced between 1000 and 2000 Yen (12-24$).
Due to the delicate nature of the disks, copies in acceptable conditions just cost their price. And 5$ is not really that much in my opinion.

Right off the top of my head I can only think of one really expensive game, which is All Night Nippon Super Mario Bros. It's expensive, because it wasn't commercially available.

[fredJ]

Well, the special version of Zelda is expensive too.

Could you perhaps clarify what you mean with "copies in acceptable conditions just cost their price"? Maybe I don't understand English so good.

Thanks for the prices for the games. Is that for loose games (no manual, no box)? How much would it be for complete games?

I am also curious what the price would be for Castlevania II, if you know...

Thanks!

[manuel]

Well, you said that 5$ is much, but disks aren't as sturdy and common as carts and thus you should expect to pay slightly higher prices.
Loose games of course are priced lower in most cases, but some shops I've seen put the same price on loose and boxed copies of the same game. Doesn't make sense to me, but... 
I've never seen a Castlevania disk in a store yet, so I can't name any price, sorry. Maybe someone else knows.

[fredJ]

Ah, okay I understand now.

My last question is: do you know if there is a significant price difference for games that are original and games that are disk writer games (with a white front cover)?
Maybe disk writer games are always cheap, because they are not original?

[Xious]

Boxed copies of 'Dracula/Castlevania II' (Rarity 5) are an generally expensive. For example, JGS had them for around US$60 per set (plus postage), without the promo card. In clean condition with the card, they can fetch $75-200 (depending on the card, as some are rarer than others- Rarity 6 to Rarity-7 + condition). Loose disks are generally $25-40, when they aren't as Manuel said,, the same price. Sealed...forget it. I've seen one sealed sell in the last five years...that's it.

I's an uncommon game and also very desirable. Both together = higher priced than other games in ts rarity category. Game boutiques generally use rarity to set prices, but factor demand in to increase prices. (Not the other way around; lack of demand doesn't lower prices at the boutique dealers.)

The original game (Akumajou Dracula/Castlevania) is more common (Rarity 3.5/4.0), except as a cartridge, which is rare (Rarity 7).

Actually some of the most expensive titles are Disk-Writer games. A white label just means that the store ran out of the pre-printed labels and used a generic one that Nintendo provided ; White labels can be mixed with printed manuals; likewise it can also be a photocopy manual and an original sticker. Sometimes a D-W game had a white sticker and a photocopied manual: This is normal, and they came packaged like this from the store, when the owner ran out of the manuals.

'Clu Clu Land' is one of the rarest disks for the FDS--in fact, amongst the rarest titles on the system-- and definitely the rarest game you could buy in stores (Rarity-10+): More-so than 'ANN:SMB' and the Charumera  (Ramen promo) 'Zelda no Densetsu' game; an unusual Disk-Writer only release that is nearly impossible to find, and was a standard release.

I think 'Volleyball' is the most common of all FDS games mostly as a Disk-Writer release; some games re more common this way, some are less, and some are only Disk-Writer releases. Disk-Writer games with the fold-out manuals are far harder to find, and frankly that's usually the only way to prove the heritage of the game, save for single-sided titles (e.g. disks with two games, one on each side). Some of the Bandai titles are also prolific as dirt, or so it seems. Or, maybe people just hate them and flooded the market trying to dispose of all the horrible Bandai titles at once.

Anyhow, for loose disks, expect as Manuel said to start around $12 and go upwards from there. As I mentioned in another thread, my cost on importing nonworking disks in bulk is over $5 apiece.