Nintendo’s first jump into the world of 3D gaming, the Nintendo 64 had its share of issues in the transition. Nevertheless, it’s home to some of the most revolutionary games of all time, like Super Mario 64 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, which changed the way we think about gaming.
What it also has is a fine share of some extremely rare and expensive titles. Even more so than the rarest games on other Nintendo platforms, acquiring copies of these games in any capacity — new or used — will take a massive amount of funds out of your wallet. Here are 12 of the rarest and most expensive Nintendo 64 games that will set you back a few bucks to get.
All listed prices are courtesy of PriceCharting. All used prices are based on the “Loose Price” listing, while also new prices are based on the “New Price” listing. Additionally, entries will be listed from lowest to highest in order of their respective “new” price.
12. Conker’s Bad Fur Day
$589 New | $118 Used
Known as much for its quality as its financial bombing, the development story of Conker’s Bad Fur Day is widely known. Once another 3D platformer intended for a young audience along the lines of Banjo-Kazooie, Rare decided to change it into an adult-skewing platformer to help it stand out from the crowd. It worked for the game’s overall quality, but not for its finances.
Nintendo certainly got colorful with its marketing campaign (they even did promotions with Maxim and Playboy, of all things), but in doing so, went through every avenue possible to ensure the game was only purchased by older audiences. Nintendo Power wasn’t allowed to talk about it, Nintendo of Europe wouldn’t even publish it, and KB Toys (remember them?) refused to sell it. The game box boldly emphasized that it was only for gamers 17 and older, as did the official strategy guides, which were even sold in black polybags.
Couple this with a release just months before the GameCube in 2001, a time when most older Nintendo audiences had moved on to the PlayStation 2, and Conker was bound to flop. Still, its status as a cult gem and one of the Nintendo 64’s best games made it a hot commodity, something that it still happens to be despite readily available re-releases.
A used cartridge could land you around $118, while a new copy asks you for $589 right off the bat. That’s a stunningly steep price to pay if you’re looking for an authentic experience. It would probably be best to grab the Xbox remaster, Conker: Live & Reloaded (which is backward compatible with modern Xbox consoles), or to play the original version through the Rare Replay compilation.
11. Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber
$665 New | $118 Used
Another game released late in the lifespan of the Nintendo 64, Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber was a tactical RPG that received an American localization a year after its initial Japanese release. Lost amidst a wave of other big Nintendo 64 titles, like The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, it didn’t receive a huge promotional campaign and shipped in limited qualities, causing it to fall by the wayside.
Much like Conker, though, it didn’t seem its American publisher, Atlus, realized the kind of quality it had with this game. Ogre Battle 64 proved to be a positively received game, more than enough to reach hidden gem status on the Nintendo 64. As a result, prices shot up for players looking to acquire one of the small number of copies of this old-school RPG.
A used copy alone puts you down $118, but if you’re looking for a new copy, you’ll have to pop $665 on that. The game was re-issued on the Wii U eShop in 2017, meaning gamers did have a way to play the game without needing the original cartridge. Ironically, that very eShop is now itself a thing of the past, putting us back in no man’s land for availability.
10. Goemon’s Great Adventure
$1,195 New | $98 Used
Konami’s Goemon series is a cult franchise, and Goemon’s Great Adventure was another title that sold well within its niche but didn’t land too far past that. It may have also been a victim of releasing at the wrong time in the gaming landscape, given its intentionally old-school platforming design on a console with a lot of boundary-pushing experiences.
When it was released in 1999, Goemon’s Great Adventure’s standing as a 2.5D platformer made it a bit less adventurous to some than titles like Super Mario 64 and Banjo-Kazooie. With those games adding new dimensions and innovation to gaming, a side-scrolling platformer was not nearly as glamorous as it had been in the 16-bit era. Nevertheless, Goemon’s Great Adventure became a bit of a hidden gem, leading to a massive increase in price.
While a used copy lands at $98, a new one will go for as much as $1,195. That’s an incredibly hefty price for this cult-classic platformer. Still, if you can find it for a reasonable price, it might be worth getting your hands on. After all, it doesn’t seem like Konami is doing much with Goemon these days (outside of letting him cameo in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate).
9. Daikatana
$1,650 New | $79 Used
It’s fair to say that with Daikatana, John Romero did not make anyone his bitch. Following the success of influential first-person shooters like Wolfenstein 3D, DOOM, and Quake, Daikatana was Romero’s first game announced after leaving id Software. It suffered a protracted development cycle, earned a lot of negative reception for its promotional cycle (that part about John Romero making you his bitch? Yeah, it was on a poster for the game), and lives in the annals of gaming as one of the biggest disasters of all time.
But the low quality of the game doesn’t make it any less rare. After all, the Nintendo 64 was the only console it saw a release for (a PlayStation version was scrapped), meaning it was your only option if you weren’t a PC player. However, between the PC version being a commercial failure and a release at the tail-end of the Nintendo 64’s life, it’s easy to see why it didn’t move units.
That rarity, though, has helped jack up its price today, going for $79 used and $1,650 new. Not only would you be paying top-dollar for a bad game, but you’re paying that much for the worse version of it. If you’re that curious, you can grab it on Steam for $7… or just find a better first-person shooter to play.
8. Rat Attack
$2,124 New | $75 Used
Sometimes, the list of rare and expensive video games brings you to some… interesting territory. What in the world is Rat Attack? Well, apparently it was a puzzle game where Scratch Cats are attempting to stop an invasion of genius lab rats bent on world domination. If that sounds strange to you…I mean, hey, it’s not unlike Nintendo to allow some truly strange games on its systems.
This game lingered in development hell for a long time, and by the time it was finally available, gamers seemed to not care. Its aged gameplay didn’t feel that special, and it didn’t help that it was released late in 1999 up against flashier titles like Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, Crash Team Racing, and Pac-Man World. Even on the Nintendo 64, games like Jet Force Gemini and Rayman 2: The Great Escape took up more time from Nintendo fans.
As a result, it got lost in the pack and probably didn’t fly off of shelves. This may have added to its mystique, as while a used copy will already set you back $75, a new-in-box copy goes all the way up to $2,124. Ultimately, it may not be worth hedging your bets on such a dated puzzler, even if its quirky concept sounds pretty hilarious.
7. Bomberman 64: The Second Attack!
$2,573 New | $243 Used
The Bomberman franchise didn’t make the smoothest transition into 3D, though while Bomberman 64 seemed to be fine enough, Bomberman 64: The Second Attack! didn’t fare nearly as well. Much like many other games on this list, The Second Attack! came out in 2000, near the end of the console’s lifespan, and Hudson Soft did little to advertise it. It would be fair to think that some players didn’t even know of its existence, and given that the reception was fairly mediocre, maybe some players didn’t want to know.
Still, that all added to the mystique and curiosity of the game, hence why its cartridges went way up in price. A used copy sells for about $243, while a new copy lands at as high as $2,573. That’s a pretty hefty fee for a mediocre Bomberman game. Perhaps your time and effort are better put into one of the more modern games, like Super Bomberman R or its sequel, Super Bomberman R 2.
6. F1 Racing Championship
$2,973 New | $297 Used
You might see a racing game on a Nintendo platform and attribute any commercial failings to the game being trampled by the behemoth that is Mario Kart. To be fair, though, F1 Racing Championship’s higher price on the Nintendo 64 was not the result of its quality, as the game seemed to be pretty decent. No, it appears the issue here relates to the release strategy from Ubi Soft (yeah, remember when Ubisoft’s name was two separate words?)
While F1 Racing Championship was released across a bevy of platforms, American gamers never received the Nintendo 64 version. At launch, this version was exclusive to European regions, while the Americas received the game on the PlayStation, Game Boy Color, and eventually the PlayStation 2 and PC. Between its release near the end of the Nintendo 64’s life (in 2000) and its inevitable next-generation release, it’s hard to imagine it would’ve made a huge dent had it gotten a stateside release.
Still, that makes it a pretty rare (and expensive) collector’s item. A used copy alone will run you about $297, while a new copy will go over 10 times the price of that at $2,973. You’d probably be better served sticking to Mario Kart… or finding the game on a different console… or just playing a modern F1 game if you really need your fix.
5. Worms Armageddon
$3,090 New | $250 Used
Often cited as the best in the franchise, Worms Armageddon can be found in abundance on other platforms. The PlayStation version was added to the PlayStation Plus Premium library on PlayStation 4 and 5 not too long ago. The PC version even continues to get updates to this day; it seems like it’s just the Nintendo 64 version not getting enough love, even if production on it was not exactly “limited.”
A used copy of the game will sell for $250, but a new copy is where the price really goes up, landing at about $3,090. It’s peculiar that a game like this has such extreme pricing on the Nintendo 64 alone, given that it doesn’t land much higher than $35 on other platforms.
The good news, though, is that the Nintendo 64 iteration is a strong version of the game in its own right. If you feel the need to blow a lot of money on this particular release, you can at least find comfort in knowing that you’re paying for a strong version of a great game.
4. Rampage 2: Universal Tour [Big Box]
$4,650 New | No Used Price Listed
It would’ve felt wrong to get through this entire list without mentioning some kind of Limited Edition. They’re called “Limited” for a reason; very few copies are produced, and once those supplies are gone, good luck trying to find another one. Rampage 2: Universal Tour had a Limited Edition of its own, and it’s become one of the rarest finds on the system.
PriceCharting does not mark down a “used” version of the game (understandably, as that may not include all of the Big Box’s content), but a new copy goes for as much as $4,650. So what made this edition so special and so expensive? It came with a Rampage plush keychain… yeah, all that money for a keychain. Granted, there were only about 10 or so plush keychains made, so that might jack up the price, but just know that’s all you’re getting.
It’s also not like you’re getting a high-quality game in this package, either. While the Nintendo 64 is not the worst way to play this, the game itself is not nearly memorable enough to be worth your time. Unless that keychain looks like something you absolutely can’t resist, think twice before paying over four figures to buy this Big Box release.
3. Super Bowling
$6,231 New | $640 Used
Now for the fun part; getting into the games most have probably never heard of. Super Bowling for the Nintendo 64 was… just that: bowling. It’s a fun activity, but it makes for little more than a novelty in a video game (unless it’s Wii Sports, of course). Initially a Super NES game back in 1992, the Nintendo 64 version wouldn’t hit North American store shelves until 2001.
What else came out in 2001 again? Oh right, the GameCube. By that point, as Conker proved, few were really investing in Nintendo 64 systems, especially when it came to third-party titles. Gamers had just gotten their hands on the PlayStation 2 and weren’t really caring about non-exclusive games on Nintendo’s console. As a result, few copies were produced, and finding one now puts you down a heavy penny.
Even a used copy lands at $640, while a new copy flies in at a whopping $6,231. All this for a game involving bowling, an activity you can go out and do with your family and friends for significantly less money (or, if you need your bowling video game fix, Wii Sports and Nintendo Switch Sports are viable options). You’d think this is the most expensive it could get for the system, but we’re just getting started.
2. Stunt Racer 64
$7,146 New | $335 Used
Wow, the Nintendo 64 was unsympathetic to racing games that weren’t first-party titles, wasn’t it? Truthfully, Stunt Racer 64 had an extremely circuitous road to profitability, one that had little to do with Nintendo’s flagship racer. Instead, its lack of success had to do with retailer exclusivity more than anything.
Stunt Racer 64 was exclusively released to the granddaddy of nostalgic 1990s/early 2000s stores, Blockbuster. And not only was it released for rental there, but it was also a fully purchasable game only at Blockbuster. So if this little-known racer was something you desperately craved back in 2000, Blockbuster Video was your only opportunity.
It’s not clear whether this exclusivity was a strategic plan based on the success of Blockbuster at the time or the result of a publisher having its hands tied and needing to make back some kind of cash on a potential flop. Regardless, being a video rental store, not every copy of the game was sold complete in the box; often, the boxes would be used as displays on the shelf, with consumers only receiving the cartridges. Thus, finding such an obscure game is already hard, and it’s even harder to find a complete copy given that many of its boxes may be gone.
A used copy of the game will already set you back $335, while a new copy will jump all the way up to $7,146. That’s a lot to pay for what actually seems to be a pretty solid game. Who knows? Maybe the last remaining Blockbuster out in Bend, Oregon has a copy of it lying around somewhere.
1. ClayFighter: Sculptor’s Cut
$16,120 New | $1,000 Used
Keep Stunt Racer 64’s story in your mind for a minute, please; we have something similar here. ClayFighter: Sculptor’s Cut was an updated re-release of the Nintendo 64 title ClayFighter 63 1/3. Much like Stunt Racer 64, this was exclusively available at Blockbuster, though perhaps the wildest part is that it was exclusively available to rent. Unlike Stunt Racer 64, you could not go into a Blockbuster and purchase the game, as the only way to own a copy was to win it in an online contest. Wow, what a difference.
Once again, much of the rarity comes from it being a video rental exclusive, one that consumers were not able to “own” (outside of the online contest). With retail boxes serving more as a display than anything, many of the boxes and manuals were trashed at some point and became even rarer than the cartridges themselves.
A used copy of the game already runs at $1,000, while a new copy will go for… get this… $16,120. Get ready to pop your yearly salary (if that) if you want a complete copy of this rare game. The only reason to invest in it would be its rarity, though: Clayfighter 63 1/3 was not a very good game, and the Sculptor’s Cut hardly makes it any better. If you’re that enamored with nostalgia, just play Super Smash Bros. instead. Or book a trip to Bend, Oregon to visit the last Blockbuster; you can make it a Blockbuster night one more time for old-time’s sake.
That’s just a small window into the world of rare, expensive, and valuable Nintendo 64 games. What are some other titles that would cost a fortune? Let us know in the comments.
Check out the best N64 games of all time, ranked on Destructoid.
Published: Feb 7, 2024 05:34 am