Rarest and Most Expensive NES Games

As more and more steam is added to the retro gaming train, fueled by nostalgia driving prices to astronomical prices it's become suddenly lucrative to be a retro game collector. It's no surprise that the NES library offers a high price tag for some of the more uncommon games. Was it because kids born in the 1980's and 1990's have more dispensable income to spare? Was it because of the mom or dad that put your beloved NES in a box and shipped it over to the local thrift shop with the rest of your vintage toys?

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The NES wasn't the first game console by any means. It was however one that offered a legendary console library and captured the hearts of many. From Zelda to Mario, there are no shortage of NES classics to choose from.

But which NES games are the rarest and most expensive of them all? A few of them wouldn't shock you but you wouldn't believe how much some people are willing to pay to put that piece of plastic on their shelves.

#12 DuckTales 2

Ducktales 2 offers the same great gameplay and music that captured the hearts of NES fans. Uncle Scrooge is back and better than ever in DuckTales 2. While most Nintendo fans might have more nostalgia for the first game in the series, DuckTales 2 is the superior game.

Unfortunately DuckTales 2 has become one of the most expensive NES games to Date. Setting owners back $225 - $703 in the process, making it an extremely rare game.

#11 Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers 2

The first Chip and Dale was a commercial success, selling over a million copies worldwide. A fantastic platformer that allowed you to play as either Chip or Dale in a one player or two player co-op setting.

Little did many know that a second release with the same great gameplay mechanics was released later in the NES lifecycle. Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers 2 is one of the rarest games on the NES, setting owners looking for a copy back $285 - $1150.

#10 Bonk's Adventure

The Bonk series was notoriously famous for being on the TurboGrafx-16 but little did Nintendo fans know of a port of Bonk's Adventure for the NES. The game was released in 1993 and gamers had moved onto the Super Nintendo at this point. Finding a copy in the wild will set you back  $915 - $1615 for a copy, depending on it's condition.

#9 Panic Restaurant

Panic Restaurant is a 2D platformer where you take on lead character Chef Cookie who has been set out to explore his restaurant that has been cursed by rival chef Ohdove. Panic Restaurant has become somewhat of a cult classic Nintendo game over the years. Panic Restaurant will set you back $980 for a loose copy to $2100 for a CIB copy.

#8 Flintstones Surprise at Dinosaur Peak

Yabba Dabba Doo! This Taito Release was another one released well into the Super Nintendo lifespan in 1993. If you were wondering how you missed out on this NES platformer, it's believed to not be sold in stored but rather an exclusive blockbuster release as rental only. Finding a copy today will set you back a whopping $1525 to $3820, Yikes!

#7 Little Sampson

Little Sampson is a fantastic 2D platformer released by Taito in 1992. You get to select between 4 playable characters throughout the game. It follows the same mechanics as Mega Man and is a great experience overall and is rated
#93 on IGN's Top 100 NES Games

Picking up a copy won't come cheap as it will set you back $2300 for a loose copy alone. Take that inflation!

#6 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighters

TMNT Tournament Fighters was also fairly popular on the SNES and Sega Genesis, however the NES release was so incredibly rare because not many people actually purchased the game!

TMNT Tournament Fighters was a Konami fighter and was one of the few actual fighting games released to date on the NES. Unfortunately, it suffered from being a late release in the NES lifecycle in 1994. A copy today will set you back a whopping $200 - $830!

#5 Mighty Final Fight

Did you know there was a Final Fight game released on the NES? This wasn't one of the many ports of the Arcade classic but rather an entirely new game. Mighty Final Fight introduced elements from other popular beat 'em ups where an experience system allowed the character to level up.

Mighty Final Fight didn't receive a great marketing push from Nintendo and was released extremely late in the NES lifespan, thus making Mighty Final Fight incredibly expensive today. Setting you back between $285 - $900 in the process.

#4 Zombie Nation

Zombie Nation is an oddity in the list.  It's the game with the samurai head floating around vomiting fire around buildings? Sound weird? Yes but it's actually a pretty well designed shmup.

Considering how weird the game actually is, it's no wonder why Zombie Nation is considered to be one of the more rare games on the NES. A copy of Zombie Nation will set you back $615 - $1000.

#3 Power Blade 2

Power Blade 2 is heavily inspired by Mega Man giving the player the ability to defeat an enemy that has a power you can use. I'm surprised that not many people were fans of the original two games on the NES, considering Power Blade featured on Nintendo Power Magazine.

Unfortunately Power Blade 2 was always a rarity and pushed the envelope with how expensive it is to find with collectors. Power Blade 2 will set you back between $860 - $2000.

#2 Stadium Events

Stadium Events was released in 1986 by Bandai Namco in effort to push their Family Fun Fitness workout mat for the Nintendo Entertainment System. As Nintendo caught on to this opportunity to push exercising onto parents to help sell consoles, Nintendo purchased the rights from Bandai and rebranded the game to World Class Track and Meet in order to promote their own Power Pad accessory.

Since that transaction took place, Stadium Events is an extremely rare game on the NES. Every now and then, it might popup in a $100 game lot on eBay. Keep your eyes peeled for this one as it's one of the most expensive NES games to date. Setting owners back $19,000 - $55,000 in the process.

#1 Nintendo World Championship

In 1990, Nintendo held a competition around the USA to find the best NES gamers. Kids growing up in the late 80's would dream about making it to the Nintendo World Championships and proving their superiority. The event finalists of the tournament received a grey cartridge (90 were produced). While those grey copies are some of the most expensive NES games, they are nothing to the 26 gold copies handed out at a Nintendo Power contest.

Considering the lack of copies available and lack of exchanging hands, the next time a Nintendo World Championship cart is made available, it could see a price tag of $1,000,000