Enjoying niche games shouldn’t come at a premium price. Our passion for games may be great, but everyone has a limited budget to some degree and no shortage of games to spend on. That’s why we’re here to help. In this feature we’re trying out at oprainfall, we’ll scour the Internet looking for the best prices for the games you like.
If you’re looking for deals on mainstream FPS games and sports titles, this might not be the place to look. RPGs, indie games, adventure games, retro games, and Japanese-developed and published games are our main targets. In addition to advertised sales, we’ll also track used and new prices for physical copies of games on sites such as eBay and Amazon. Want to see more? Let us know the kinds of games you think should get covered, and we’ll try to find the lowest price.
Active Sales
Dark Souls: Prepare To Die Edition
$14.99 USD—63% off at Amazon.com PC Game Downloads (Windows) Expired
Console standard editions
Average Used Price: $11.25 USD–$13.15 USD (PS3, Xbox 360)
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
$44.99 USD—25% off at Amazon.com (Xbox 360)
Both versions are $39.99 USD at Newegg, but knowing that site, they’ll likely both be sold out about 5 seconds from now. Yes, right now.
Average Used Price: $31.90–$34.62 USD (Xbox 360, PS3)
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner—Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army
$28.26 USD—43% off at Amazon.com (PS2)
Average Used Price: $56.00 USD
Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2—Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon
$28.25 USD—39% off at Amazon.com (PS2)
Average Used Price: $41.00 USD
Ragnarok Tactics
$19.99 USD—33% off at Amazon.com (PSP)
Average Used Price: $23.99 USD
Saint Seiya Sanctuary Battle (EU)
£19.98—£25.01 off at Zavvi (PS3)
Mugen Souls
$24.99 USD at Gamefly (PS3)
Average Used Price: $33.44 USD
Modern 16 Bit RPG Bundle
$6.00 USD at Shiny Loot (Windows) Expired
Includes Shadow of the Game, Aztaka, Laxius Force, and Hero’s Tale Enhanced Edition
Odin Sphere
$4.99 USD on the PlayStation Store as a PS2 Classic (PS3) Now $9.99 USD
Average Used Price: $16.74 USD (PS2)
Street Fighter 25th Anniversary Collector’s Set
$97.48 USD—28% off at Amazon.com (Xbox 360)
PixelJunk series
$4.99 USD each on PSN (PS3) Now $9.99 USD each
Prince of Persia Complete Pack
$14.98 USD—75% off on Steam—Today Only Expired
Five games from the modern Prince of Persia series are included. It actually costs $12.45 to buy them individually instead of as a bundle.
Average Used Price: $0.50–$5.68 USD (for each game individually)
This week’s Humble Bundle sale includes games from Tripwire on Steam. If you pay $1 or more you get Red Orchestra and Red Orchestra 2 with the soundtracks from both games. If you pay more than the average (currently $2.91 USD), then you get Killing Floor with its soundtrack and all the DLC expansion packs.
Significantly updated prices in bold (changing by over a dollar). Updated April 10, 2013
Free on PlayStation Plus
Demon’s Souls (PS3)
Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention (Vita)
Gravity Rush (Vita)
Joe Danger 2: The Movie (PS3)
LittleBigPlanet 2 (PS3)
Mega Man 9 & 10 Combo Pack (PS3)
Mega Man Maverick Hunter X (PSP, Vita)
Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One (PS3)
Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition (PS3)
Tekken 6 (PSP, Vita)
WipEout 2048 (Vita)
Reported Earlier
Demon’s Souls (PS3)—Free on PlayStation Plus
BIT.TRIP Saga (3DS) and BIT.TRIP Complete (Wii)—$9.78–$9.99 USD
Zone of the Enders HD Collection (PS3, Xbox 360)—$24.79–$24.95 USD
Xbox LIVE Spring Sale—Expired
European PlayStation Store Spring Sale—A Spec Ops and Duke Nukem Forever bundle costing €24.99/£19.99 is the currently active offer until noon (time zone unclear) tomorrow. The offer changes every two days.
Phoenix Wright series (DS)—$19.99 USD each at Amazon
Price Tracking
Let’s face it, many of the games we like best are very, very expensive. Many new and highly rated niche games are produced and shipped in limited quantities, which means very high prices for dedicated consumers. Popular retro games from years past are long since out of print, and lucky owners are holding onto their copies. This isn’t about sales of the day—finding the best prices for these games is more about having the right timing than anything else. If there are any games or genres you’d like us to investigate, let us know in the comments, and we’ll try to find the lowest price and provide a history of its performance on the grey market.
Xenoblade Chronicles
Announced as an exclusive for GameStop stores, you’ll need a lot of luck finding copies there now. It’s no longer available online, and it’s very rare to find it new in stores. After a quick search of GameStop stores, there is some degree of availability for Xenoblade Chronicles as a pre-owned game. Areas that show promise are metro areas along the East and West Coasts of the United States and in Texas, but there’s almost nothing to be found in the Midwest.
As rare as Xenoblade is, it’s holding steady under $100 USD for pre-owned copies for now, and prices have even leveled off since February. GameStop is still the best place to buy, even with the inflated used price of $59.99 USD they list on their website, but local availability has certainly gone down in 2013. I bought a copy myself in early January in Chicago, where multiple copies were available. There’s nothing within 100 miles as of now. It should be noted that you can get the European version much cheaper on eBay than the North American version.
Lowest recent completed listing on eBay.com: $40.00 USD
The Last Story
As oprainfall campaign games go, prices for The Last Story have been much more consumer-friendly. In fact, prices are continuing to fall for the XSEED-published game. Xenoblade, however, also fell in price on the grey market for five months after its North American release. The Last Story has been faring better after over seven months, but may go up in price after they gradually lower the quantity being printed for retail. The game should be okay for at least a few more months.
Lowest recent completed listing on eBay.com: $21.00 USD
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
If you’re like me and you’re new to the Fire Emblem series but have been absolutely loving Fire Emblem: Awakening, you likely have a compelling urge to experience everything in the series you’ve been missing in this staple of the tactical RPG genre. Time has not been good to prices of the console games, however. They’re not Xenoblade-outrageous, but still over the initial retail price. Radiant Dawn averages $61.36 USD used, and Path of Radiance averages $58.77 USD used. The portable games are more reasonable, but still pricey for the typical listings of other used games.
Lowest recent completed listing on eBay.com: $34.99 USD
EarthBound
If you think you can get this game “new” in mint condition…just stop. Early this year, the game breached the $200 USD barrier for the average price of pre-owned copies. Mother 2, by comparison, is available at much friendlier prices if you’re okay with owning the Japanese version.
Lowest recent completed listing on eBay.com: $80.00 USD
Chrono Trigger
Like EarthBound, Chrono Trigger is listed for much lower prices if you’re willing to purchase the Japanese version instead. Many games from the 1990s and earlier see price inflation simply from being out of print for so long.
Lowest recent completed listing on eBay.com: $45.00 USD
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
This game has been out for a short time, but you can already get it cheap if you’re willing to buy used.
Lowest recent completed listings on eBay.com: $20.00 USD (Xbox 360), $21.00 USD (PS3)
Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate
This game is very new, so no charts are really available. But the average used price for the Wii U version is $49.99 USD, and the average used price for the 3DS version is $32.99 USD.
Lowest recent completed listing on eBay.com: $39.00 USD (Wii U), $20.00 USD (3DS)
We’ll update this article as sales expire. Have you taken advantage of any of these deals? Have you found any deals we missed? Want us to research prices for more games? Let us know in the comments.
SOURCES:
PriceCharting.com
Cheap Ass Gamer
GamerDeals
Steam
Amazon.com
eBay.com
GameStop
