Help shape these rankings by voting on this list of 15 SNES Games That Are Worth An Insane Amount Now
The NES concluded its life cycle as the 16-bit era began, and for Nintendo, that transition took the form of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, or SNES for short. The system blasted onto the scene, and while it had some serious competition with the SEGA Genesis and TurboGrafx 16, nothing slowed it down. The system dominated the market (mainly due to the simple fact that it had an amazing library of games). Some of those games are hard to find today, and an even smaller amount of rare SNES games are extremely collectible and valuable.
These days, there are certain SNES games that are so hard to find that they can sell for hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars. Random eBay auctions routinely pop up with versions of games that were either never opened or are incredibly hard to find, and collectors are often chomping at the bit to outbid one another in a mad dash to finish their collection. Though not all classic SNES games are worth a ton of cash, these ones stand as the rarest, most sought after, and most valuable SNES games ever produced. Note that the games listed here don't include factory-graded editions (which typically bring in more money). Instead, we've listed games that tend to sell for ridiculous prices either complete, unopened, or sometimes both.
Check out how much these rare Super Nintendo games are worth today, and try not to kick yourself for trading all your old games for store credit at GameStop back in the day.
Hagane: The Final Conflict was an incredibly well-designed side-scroller that released on the system in North America in 1995. The game managed to blend traditional side-scrolling elements with Japanese aesthetics in a way that pushed the medium forward, and the game was well-received upon release. As a result, it's a popular collectible these days, and a loose copy can net as much as $800 on eBay.
Of course, like any game people collect in the 21st century, finding a copy that's complete or new will be far more valuable. A complete copy with everything will net around $1,800, while a new copy that's still in the shrink wrap is typically valued at around $4,500, but these rarely show up on eBay, so their value is only trending higher and higher over time.
Earthbound is one of those SNES games every kid wanted when it came out, and those kids still want it now that they are adults. The game can sell for as much as $275 loose, which is a pretty high amount for a game that wasn't short on sales back when it first came out for the system.
Collectors are typically looking for a complete copy, which can bring in around $1,200, like one sold in late-May 2020 on eBay. New, unopened copies of Earthbound are almost never found in online auctions, but when they do show up, they tend to bring in only slightly more money, with some sales reaching around $1,600.
The Mega Man franchise was well represented on the SNES, so it would seem counterintuitive that any game from the franchise was worth much money these days. There were millions of them made, and selling them wasn't an issue, but there are a couple of titles that still bring in a lot of money in online sales with Mega Man X3 being the most sought after by collectors.
The game was one of only two that featured the Cx4 graphics chip, which gave it some of the best graphics available on the system. That, coupled with the fact that they are still hard to find, makes them particularly valuable. A loose copy can sell for as much as $200 or more on eBay, but an unopened copy is worth so much more. Finding one of these online is rare, and when you find one, it's going to wind up costing around $3,700.
Back when it was first released, Harvest Moon managed to introduce new mechanics, even going so far as to establish a whole new genre. The game sold like crazy, and as a result, it has become incredibly popular. The game didn't do poorly in sales, but it's still fairly rare today, so a loose copy can make as much as $250 in an online auction.
A complete copy with everything will often sell for twice as much, and when a copy shows up that's never been opened, the price skyrockets. While most complete listings sell from more than $1000, one sold in mid-May 2020 for $1,700 on eBay, which was not only the winning bid — it was the only bid, which just goes to show how much a collector will pay for a high-quality game in amazing condition.
The first sequel to Pocky & Rocky managed to score big points with critics when it arrived on the SNES in 1994, but despite being a fun and well-designed title, not many were produced and sold. That makes for a rare collectible people tend to pay big bucks for. A loose copy of the game is worth around $375 while a complete copy can net between $600 and $1,100 on eBay, depending on its condition.
If a new, sealed copy ever turns up somewhere, that's where the big money is, though this is extremely hard to find. A new copy of Pocky & Rocky 2 can fetch as much as $6,600, so if you received one of these on your birthday in 1994 and forgot to open it, you may want to dig through your attack or basement and find it -- it's worth an insane amount of cash.
Final Fight Guy was released on the SNES in 1991, and several versions were ported to the American and Japanese systems. There were Gold versions released, and various mods as well, but the value of each is about the same. Despite whichever version a person might have sitting in their storage unit somewhere, a loose copy is worth around $200.
New, unsealed copies of Final Fight Guy are hard to find, so a complete copy is worth a ton of money in comparison to a loose cart. A complete copy of Final Fight Guy sold on July 4th, 2020, for an impressive $1,576 after a whopping 42 bids on eBay.
