The Game Boy came barreling into the '90s gaming market, creating quite a splash. Each year brought a progressively larger margin of new companies and games that were stored on cute, collectible cartridges. Granted, nobody could quite guess just how much these games would grow or depreciate in price moving forward.
There are, of course, a few mainstay classics, such as Pokémon, Super Mario Land, and Tetris. Despite their popularity and high demand, they always have cartridges in circulation. Looking at some of the most common and rarest Game Boy games today, we'll be using Price Charting to get the average price and the average amount sold, and frequency being sold. When it comes to commonality, another factor we're going to keep in mind is how likely you are to see it in a local game store (This list includes complete in-box pricing when applicable).
10 Rarest: Spud's Adventure ($229-$3500)
A game about a potato: so simple, yet so coveted. Back when Atlus was unfocused on demons and projections, they created a game about a vegetable. Ordinarily, something of such a rollicking nature would never have a chance to become so expensive.
Spud's Adventure, however, did. It is now going for prices like $500 (and that is just for a loose copy). Though, among rarities, it is a bit of an oddity. While you're never going to find the cartridge in any brick and mortar store, there are at least 8 different listings on eBay that are, at the very least, from reputable sellers. Some are repos, but the descriptions usually make that clear.
9 Most Common: Kirby's Dream Land ($10-$88)
The puffball comes onto the scene with his very first game, Kirby’s Dream Land. Kirby was a bit different from your average platformer, being that you can inflate and copy enemies at your own discretion. This followed for the next two games in the series albeit with a few additions.
It honestly depends, but you’re bound to find at least the first game for around $12-25 loose on eBay or listed on an online marketplace. It rarely goes out of stock, because it made the most of any game in Kirby’s history.
8 Rarest: Chikyu Kaiho Gun ZAS ($250-2180)
Drawing some earlier influences from popular shoot 'em ups before it, Chikyu Kaiho Gun Zas adjusted nicely on the Game Boy. While not being too formulaic nor too progressive, Chikyu makes use of the handheld’s specs, employing the use of a difficulty selector, and competing with a select few other shmups on the system.
Nicely enough, the original Game Boy is region free, which means this game is not inaccessible to American audiences. Due to its Japan-only release, you can only find about five listings currently on eBay.
7 Most Common: Golf (3.50-49.99)
Golf is mainly about golf, and that’s about the size of it. Except for maybe the fact that you play as Mario, or at least a Mario-looking character, and your golf ball whizzes to a cacophony through which no human ear should have to suffer. Since this is only a recreation of Golf for the NES and is at least in the top 30 best selling Game Boy games of all time, it is very ordinary.
On Price Charting, it is bought at a frequency of 1 or 2 copies over a period of 1 or 2 days. That is only loose. At most, even its complete in-box version only went for approximately $50. That is a very fine price, considering some would lose an arm or a leg to bring back the spirits of all the Game Boy boxes they disposed of back in the day.
6 Rarest: Bandai Fish Finder Pocket Sonar ($250-365)
This fishing device is not really a full game. It is an accessory that uses sonar technology to find fish, which wasn't a very revolutionary technology at the time. The Gaming Historian showed that it was indeed a fully functioning device with a few extra features. On the basis that fishing is recreational, that there is a fully impressive fish encyclopedia in-game (before we started collecting them in Animal Crossing), and an added fishing minigame, we would consider this a video game.
There are about 5 listings on eBay currently, all in the range of $250-$365. If you absolutely must have everything ever released for the Game Boy, then this might prove a flippant one to wrangle in.
5 Most Common: Tetris ($10-80)
Infectious tunes and falling blocks are how many chose to concentrate several (or more) hours into this addictive lifestyle. It was more than a game; it was pleasure and joy made simple. There were no complex mechanics and no bad guys. There was just a screen, the player, and tons of fun.
Though Tetris is famous and has spawned various sequels and adjunctions to its core, the original release is quite common. It was a bundle game for the original Game Boy. Amazon has staked it up to $37.99, and a complete in box set can go for $80, but even that is hardly a price tag for collectors.
4 Rarest: Wayne's World ($20-655)
In a universe where licensed games can fetch a price from anywhere from $3 to $600 dollars, Wayne's World brings "Party on! Excellent!" to a whole new level. Though this might not have the highest price out of the entries of our list, there are lapses of at least a few months between loose listings of this game on eBay.
There is one such listing currently, going for $341.14, but that is likely to change within a week or so. Major online game retailers, such as Lukie Games and eStarland, both show that it is sold out indefinitely. For its elusiveness alone, it deserves a top spot on this list.
3 Most Common: Super Mario Land ($10-80)
Understandably, the red plumber had to make his appearance on Nintendo’s handheld somehow. The details didn’t very much matter, as long as he was there. The Super Mario Land series is sort of surreal but sort of charming too. This is a land where the Starman Theme is the Can-Can and Koopas explode. It is one of the shortest Mario games in existence.
Like Golf, there is a copy being bought almost every day. Unlike Golf, being it is a mascot-oriented game, the complete in-box price is higher.
2 Rarest: Bamse (Somewhere Between $100 And $400)
One's quest to find Bamse is likely to be a Draconian one. Being a Swedish exclusive, searching the web for this game yields very baseline information about what it's about. A few generous souls have at least uploaded images of its cover to Google, and there are a couple of Let's Play videos on YouTube.
This entry is probably the most drastic exception to the rule, as there is really no one price to settle on. It can go for $140 or so, but that is certainly not the norm. Most of these rarities are just bidding games in themselves.
1 Most Common: Pokémon Red/Blue ($25-300)
You'd be hard-pressed to find a single local or corporate video game store that doesn't have at least one or two copies of the original Pokémon games. Though their price has steadily remained in the $25-50 range, that is easily manageable compared to what we've seen.
Almost everyone has at least played these games in some shape or form, whether it's the original game or respective FireRed and LeafGreen versions. You can buy the original Pokémon games on a virtual console as well, a luxury not afforded to any of the rare entries on this list.