The original PlayStation had a ton of releases. After all, it has sold over 100 million units in its lifetime, and publishers have released thousands of games on the platform. With such numbers, it’s only natural that most of these games lost their value with time. However, not all the games did. In fact, some games have actually increased in value over time. There are usually a number of reasons for this, like a game releasing with extremely few copies, or if a game was too expensive for most gamers when it first came out.
These are the games most diehard games would pay an arm and a leg for; and, as it happens, that’s just what they’ve been doing. They are nearly impossible to find, and when a gamer finally finds one, their prices are through the roof. Most gamers will never be able to justify spending hundreds (or thousands) of dollars on a game that shows its age and might not even be that good anymore. But these games are for the collectors. Here are 10 of the hardest to find PS1 games, along with what they're worth.
10 ISS Pro Evolution: Over $110
Released on June 6, 2000, ISS Pro Evolution was a football video game that came out exclusively on the PlayStation One. Konami boasted that it had new visuals and player movements, and it included several national teams. The game even allowed players to save some parts of the game to their Memory Cards, like the trophies they earned and their replays.
ISS Pro Evolution got positive reviews. However, it hardly received any attention because of the release of the PlayStation 2—which was the same year. Most players were excited for the new console, and they lost their focus on PSOne games like this one. If you can get your hands on ISS Pro Evolution, it should set you back over $110.
9 Suikoden II: $130
Another Konami game, Suikoden II came out in 1999. It is a tactical role-playing game that lets you control a group of characters as they face off against enemies in a fantasy setting. One of the things which made the game stand out was the massive character roster: you could recruit over a hundred characters.
Critics received the game well. However, this did not translate to sales. The game not only made a loss, but it forced Konami to stop printing any further copies of the game. This means that only the people who bought it when it came out still have it. If you want your own copy, Suikoden II will cost you around $130.
8 Klonoa: Door to Phantomile: Over $120
In the '90s, platforming games were all the rage. Klonoa: Door to Phantomile was a 2.5D platformer by Namco, released as a sequel to Klonoa 2: Lunatea’s Veil. The game sold pretty well in Japan. However, it failed to achieve the same level of success in the rest of the world. If you live in the United States, this is one of the rarest games you can get your hands on, in the English-language PlayStation version.
The game costs over $120, if you can find it. If that’s too much, you can find its remake on the Nintendo Wii.
7 Tail Concerto: $140
Developed by CyberConnect, Tail Concerto is a platformer heavy on action and adventure. It’s set in a unique world that blends steampunk with fantasy. This was a fun game for kids, who played an officer trying to prevent a gang from stealing magical crystals. The game wasn’t badly received. However, it sold extremely few copies.
The developers tried to make a sequel a few years later, but they never finished it. If you’re interested in getting your hands on this extremely rare game, you will need two things: at least $140, and an owner who is willing to sell their copy.
6 Team Buddies: $140
Team Buddies was a strange game. It was bright, colorful and more than a little cartoonish. However, despite its cute aesthetics, it was not made for kids. Team Buddies was a tactical shooter where the inhabitants discover weapons and become corrupted by them. The game had adult humor and plenty of foul language. Perhaps because of how contradictory it was, marketing-wise, Midway Games only published a few copies of Team Buddies. It didn’t sell well, and they soon scrapped it.
Team Buddies will cost you around $140 if you can find one of the few buyers willing to sell it.
5 Valkyrie Profile: $140
Many gamers know the Valkyrie video game franchise. Valkyrie Profile was the first game, coming out in August 2000. Based on Norse Mythology, it followed a Valkyrie called Lenneth who was on a quest to learn about her initial human existence.
The game was critically well-received, and it sold well in many parts of the world. However, the United States was not among them. In the country, sales of Valkyrie Profile were underwhelming—probably because of the imminent PS2 release. To get your hands on this game, you need at least $140.
4 Revelations: Persona: $150
The Persona franchise is among the bestselling and most critically-acclaimed video game franchises on PlayStation consoles. However, this wasn't always the case. In fact, one of the Persona games is among the rarest games you can find today. Revelations: Persona was the first game in the franchise, and like its successors, the game pitted teenagers against supernatural threats.
Atlus didn't expect the game to be a hit, so they didn't print many copies of it. Thanks to that, Persona diehards need a lot of patience and money (nothing less than $150) if they want a copy of this rare first game.
3 The Misadventures of Tron Bonne: $200
Capcom released The Misadventures of Tron Bonne as a prequel to their bestselling Mega Man Legends games. The game is a third-person shooter with plenty of adventure. Like the other games on this list, critics loved it, but many fans either didn’t like or didn’t even know it existed until long after it was out of print. Coincidentally, it also came out in 2000, when most PlayStation gamers were giving most of their attention to the PS2.
The game is one of the most valuable of any platform you can find today, with its value no less than $200.
2 LSD: Dream Emulator: $300
This is one of the strangest video games ever released. LSD: Dream Emulator is not so much a traditional video game as an artistic experience. It is basically a first-person game with outlandish characters and locations, and players can explore anywhere they want and encounter objects that can transport them to another world. The game is heavily influenced by the dream diary of one of the employees.
Because of how strange the game was, it steadily grew a cult following. With the growing demand and the limited copies which were sold, the game is easily worth over $300.
1 Elemental Gearbolt Assassin Case Edition: $2,000
Here it is: the rarest PlayStation game you can ever find and one of the rarest games of all time. It was a light gun shooter which had some elements of role-playing games. The game was not sold, but was instead given away during E3 1998 to a handful of people; fifty, to be exact. The set includes the Elemental Geabolt game, a gold GunCon, a briefcase, and a memory card.
Because of its exclusivity, the Elemental Gearbolt Assassin Case Edition easily fetches $2,000 or more. But that hasn’t stopped thousands of collectors from trying to get their hands on it.