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My Most Valuable GameCube Games
I believe the GameCube was the first system I really started “collecting” for. After being out of gaming for a while, and the interest recently renewed by the Dreamcast, I got a job at Funcoland (now GameStop) right before the GameCube came out. A new Nintendo console made me nostalgic for the days of the original Nintendo, Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64 and all of the Nintendo franchises. As I worked at the store, I got to see or know about all of the games coming out for all of the systems (XBox and Playstation 2 also) but the GameCube was the one I was most fond of, and I pre-ordered, purchased or used the employee rental program on almost anything that even slightly interested me. I have a little over 200 GameCube games at this point, and I would guess that 185+ of them were purchased in 2001 – 2005, so these are not recent finds.
I’ve watched the value on these games continue to climb over the past 15+ years, and it has amazed me. This is my favorite game library that I have in my collection, and I wanted to take a look at the 5 most valuable games I have in it.
Cubivore: Survival of the Fittest
$567.50
$571.93
I purchased Cubivore back when it released in November 2002. I was an employee at Funcoland/GameStop and the GameCube was my favorite system, I pre-ordered everything because I was interested in everything and it also helped boost my sales numbers. This game was developed by Intelligent Systems (Advance Wars, Fire Emblem, Paper Mario) and published by Nintendo in Japan, so this was a game I had to get. At the time, Funcoland/GameStop had a 7 day return policy on new games, even if they were opened, so I always figured in a worst case scenario I could return a game if I didn’t like it. Fortunately, I enjoyed Cubivore a lot and played it with friends often after it came out. The game is weird and unique, and if you press the Z button, you take a crap. The value on this keeps going up, and I doubt we will ever seen any kind of re-release, sequel or remaster, so this game is likely forever buried on the GameCube. Since is really a Nintendo title, MAYBE we will see it if Nintendo’s Online Service ever includes GameCube games.
Why is it valuable?: It’s published by Atlus, and almost everything they release is small print and desirable, but this game is also co-developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo in Japan. Originally planned as a 64DD game, this is an odd Nintendo game that made it to the West because of Atlus, a great combination for a niche, desirable and valuable game.
Mega Man made me a huge fan of Capcom at an early age, most of their games had the kind of gameplay or artwork that I enjoyed. Gotcha Force looked like my kind of game and the potential for another Capcom classic. I pre-ordered it while I worked at Funcoland/GameStop and got it at launch, but I never really played much of it. From what I remember, I may have played this game once or twice for an hour or so each time. It seemed interesting/fun, but I used to jump around from game to game so quickly back at this time, I barely spent enough time to share any kind of opinion on it (ah imagine if I had kept it sealed!). Capcom sometimes will do random re-releases, but this game reviewed poorly and I think it’s only really sought after because of value, I doubt we will ever see a re-release but I wouldn’t rule Capcom out.
Why is it valuable?: I’m assuming this game flopped at released and there weren’t many copies made in it’s initial run. Nintendo released a similar game a few months later called Custom Robo. Custom Robo didn’t sell that great either, and it had better marketing and better review scores. Still, Gotcha Force is by Capcom, which has a pretty dedicated fanbase, so it keeps this game desirable.
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