Anyone who’s tried to buy or collect Nintendo games pre-owned will no doubt be aware that those things do not lose their value at all. You’re still going to be spending about $50 for the most common GameCube games ever released, so what about the rarest GameCube titles out there? What kind of ridiculous prices can they reach? Well, let’s find out.
10. Cubivore: Survival of the Fittest
CIB Price: $456
When we’re starting a list with a game that has a “complete-in-box” price of over $450, you know we’re going to get incredibly expensive very quickly. In fairness though, at least Cubivore: Survival of the Fittest is understandably expensive, considering it’s one of the most obscure GameCube games ever made. Trying to find a copy of this game at launch was pretty difficult anyway, but now that the GameCube is considered a retro console, you’ll be paying way over the odds just to get your hands on a copy. Loose copies tend to go for just under $300 though, if that extra $150 is really going to be a dealbreaker for you on this one.
We’ve spoken about Cubivore in the past, as its weird and unique ideas would make it an ideal candidate for a remake, even if doing so would likely put a huge dent in the GameCube’s retro sellers market. As you’d expect from the portmanteau of “cube” and “carnivore”, you control a block-shaped beast as it hunts and consumes other cubes in order to mutate and reproduce, ultimately becoming stronger and stronger as you move from generation to generation. Cubivore didn’t exactly review well at the time, which makes its highly sought after nature these days all the more baffling, but again, with a seemingly limited print run, people just can’t help wanting the rarest commodities.
9. Super Monkey Ball 2-Pack
CIB Price: $465
Not to signpost the rest of this list at all, but double pack releases for the Nintendo GameCube are orders of magnitude more expensive than the majority of the console’s library. The reason is pretty simple, as publishers would throw together two excellent games towards the end of the console’s lifecycle, but often in limited quantities, so not only are they rare, but many people had moved on to the Xbox 360 or the Nintendo Wii by the time these packs had been released. One such pack, Super Monkey Ball 2-Pack, which included SMB 1+2 in one pack, doesn’t really offer anything special. No hidden DLC or extra content, no art books or anything like, it’s just a box that contains two excellent games.
Because of this, you can buy both games as “loose” copies for $25 together, which is pretty cheap, but if you want the rare collector’s item, the CIB version of the Super Monkey Ball 2-Pack will set you back around $465. Really, the near 2000% mark-up in price comes down to the 2-Pack’s cardboard package that the two games come in. It’s basically a $430 piece of card that has a picture of some monkeys on it, so if you happen to have this double pack somewhere at home, make sure you look after that piece of cardboard. Or don’t, we’re not your mum. Lose out on all that money, see if we care.
8. Go! Go! Hypergrind
CIB Price: $499
ATLUS weren’t exactly known for publishing video games on the GameCube, so it’s not surprising that the few games that they did bring to Nintendo’s six-sided box of dreams have become some of the rarest titles in the console’s library. Go! Go! Hypergrind, which was developed by Team Poponchi within ATLUS, was only released in North America in November of 2003, which automatically makes the game more rare than most GameCube titles. Despite its extremely limited print run though, Go! Go! Hypergrind’s premise sounded fun, as it’s a skateboarding game that saw you controlling cartoon characters designed in part by the team behind Ren & Stimpy as they tried to cause as many mishaps as possible.
Reviews at the time hovered around average at best, once again proving that quality and rarity is often a venn diagram of two separate circles, but we still reckon the game’s cel-shaded graphics and character design makes it one of the most timeless games on the platform. Go! Go! Hypergrind has become one of the rarest single games for the Nintendo GameCube ever. CIB copies of the game tend to go for just under $500, while loose copies of Go! Go! Hypergrind sells for about $250+. For prices like that, it’s no wonder why people tend to resort to piracy instead of saving up a small fortune.
7. Metroid Prime & The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker Combo
CIB Price: $737
Another double pack, and far from the last one on this list, you might be wondering why Metroid Prime and The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker have been bundled together, as the only thing these two games have in common is that they’re developed and published by Nintendo. Both games are two shining examples of what the GameCube was capable of at its very best, but you can buy both games for about $80 together, all told. Naturally, The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker takes up the lion’s share of that price, with that price increasing massively if you’re looking for the limited release version that includes Ocarina of Time + Master Quest. However, those prices pale in comparison to this combo package.
The Metroid Prime & The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker Combo package will set you back an average of $730, with the price fluctuating wildly above and below that number. The reason why this version of the game is so rare is twofold, as not only was the combo edition only released in North America, it was allegedly only available as part of a Nintendo GameCube console bundle that launched during the Christmas rush of 2005, the very end of the console’s lifespan.
The Nintendo Wii was right around the corner, and both Wind Waker and Metroid Prime had been available for years before that point, so this bundle was an attempt to attract those who’d never owned a GameCube. Considering that the GameCube’s sales numbers didn’t meet expectations, clearly this bundle wasn’t all that successful, but hey: at least this combo pack is now worth like three times as much as the console was.
6. Sonic Adventure 2-Pack
CIB Price: $804
Another SEGA twofer, another case of the cardboard sleeve the two games are kept in are the reason why this combo is extortionately expensive. Sonic Adventure 2-Pack is exactly what it says on the tin, or more accurately, the laminated card sleeve, as it includes the GameCube remakes of both Sonic Adventure titles: Sonic Adventure DX and Sonic Adventure 2 Battle. Both games are awesome, and helped to define Sonic going into the third dimension, but paying $800+ dollars for two games you can often buy on Steam or another console’s storefront for a couple of dollars tops seems like overkill. The collector’s market is wild, is what we’re saying.
Anyway, while prices for the Sonic Adventure 2-Pack can fluctuate both up and down, ranging from around $200 to nearly $2000, it’s still an incredibly expensive GameCube purchase no matter what, and once again, it all comes down to that fancy cardboard sleeve. Even if you own both Sonic Adventure games individually, and you’re looking to purchase the sleeve by itself just to increase the price of your games, it’s still going to cost around $500. Sure, you’re still looking at a $300 profit if you already own both games, but that’s still one incredibly valuable and stupidly flimsy piece of card.
Then again, half of the owners probably ripped the card trying to get the games out, so no wonder they’ve become so valuable.
5. Pokémon Colosseum [Pre-Order]
CIB Price: $905
A case of a rare, promotional copy which has now far outweighed the value of the original release, the pre-order version of Pokémon Colosseum was available in February 2004 from a variety of stores across the US and Canada, according to someone on the Digital Press forum who spoke to a Nintendo representative anyway. What made the pre-order version of Pokémon Colosseum so special is the fact that it came with a separate bonus disc, which included a special download for the Pokémon Jirachi, who would become available in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire provided you owned a Link Cable. Or, you know, either of those games on the GBA. That would also be helpful.
Also included on this bonus disc is “an insider’s preview of Pokémon Colosseum”, which we assume is a special behind the scenes peek at the game’s development, along with a trailer for the film “Pokémon: Jirachi Wish Maker”. Functionally, this pre-order version of Pokémon Colosseum is no different to the regular retail release, which you can snap up for just a fraction of the price, but something about the combination of bonus disc, special cover and the disc variant number itself have coalesced to turn this one version of Pokémon Colosseum into one of the rarest GameCube games of all time.
4. Disney Sports Basketball
CIB Price: $1,079
The most expensive “single” GameCube game we could find, complete in box versions of Disney Sports Basketball will regularly sell for around $1000+, and if you manage to find a factory sealed version somehow, you’re looking at double that. Or quintuple that, as one recent listing on eBay is going for. Despite being both a Disney game and a sports game, a genre of licensed game that was extremely popular in the early to mid-2000s, it seems like very few copies of Disney Sports Basketball were ever produced, making it one of the rarest games you can find for the Nintendo GameCube. Any time a listing for one of these games pops up online, it becomes like a gold rush, except all the prospectors are now people who flip or collect retro games for a living.
So what is it that makes Disney Sports Basketball so special, especially compared to other GameCube games? Honestly, we couldn’t tell you. Other than the fact that it seemed to receive a limited amount of printed copies, there’s no real discernible reason why people are paying ludicrous levels of cash to own this one piece of tat. The only theory we’ve got is that reviews for the game were absolutely abysmal, so now the game is being passed around by a few morbid curiosity collectors who want to see just how bad it is. Let’s hope no one tells them what emulation is, because they might have a nervous breakdown.
3. Pokémon Box + Big Box
CIB Price: $1,827+
If you thought that $900+ for a special copy of Pokémon Colosseum was egregious, make sure you have your heart medication nearby for this next one, as people out there are paying nearly two grand for Pokémon Box. If you’re not sure what Pokémon Box is, it’s basically a storage system that lets you organize your Pokémon from Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, FireRed and LeafGreen, store up to 1500 Pokémon from across all five games, while also allowing players to play Ruby and Sapphire on their TV instead of via their Game Boy Advance. Essentially, people are paying over $1800 in 2024 for a companion app, and you can’t even find it on the Google Play Store. Nintendo are miles ahead of their time, clearly.
What makes Pokémon Box such a prized collector’s item is the nature of how it was released, as outside of Japan, you could only obtain this “game” through one of two means, depending on if you lived in Europe or the US. North Americans could only buy Pokémon Box through either the Pokémon Center website, or by turning up in person to the Pokémon Center in New York, while Europeans had Pokémon Box bundled as part of a Pokémon Colosseum Mega Pak, which included Colosseum and a Link Cable. It’s that limited distribution which led to Pokémon Box becoming so expensive over 20 years later, and that’s without mentioning the Big Box variant. Yeah, there’s a rarer version of an already rare game, and it sells for around $3000.
2. Animal Crossing “Pioneer” Disc
CIB Price: $3,116
Normal versions of Animal Crossing will only cost around $70+, which isn’t too bad considering some of the other prices we’ve already talked about on this list, but there’s a special variant of Animal Crossing that Nintendo created as part of a promotional campaign called Animal Crossing Pioneers. Essentially, Nintendo Of America held a contest where 125 teams of two were selected to receive advance copies of Animal Crossing, by submitting a 50 words or less letter on why they should be considered. Those who won received the game a whole month early, along with a special letter from the team, a 2002-2003 calendar and a new memory card. They were even given entry into a forum where they could provide feedback on the game, though whether any of that feedback made it into the sequels is anyone’s guess.
When you’ve only got 250 copies of something, you just know those prices are going to skyrocket eventually, though the fact they’re now selling for $3000+ according to PriceCharting is a little ridiculous. The disc as part of this bundle is marked with a “Promotional Use Only Not For Resale” tag, which means that even if they’re loose, you’re still looking at paying around $2000+ just for one disc. Because there’s only 250 copies out in the wild, and they’re such personal items given to those who’d won a competition and become part of a shared, collective experience among a limited group of people, listings of this version of Animal Crossing are extremely rare.
1. Sonic Heroes & Super Monkey Ball Duo Pack
CIB Price: $4,350+
We’ve already established how much money a piece of cardboard is worth if you’re buying some SEGA duo packs, but this one doesn’t so much take the cake as it does “consume it all in one go, with its jaw unhinging like a snake”. $4350 for a double pack of Sonic Heroes and Super Monkey Ball is just ridiculous, but that’s reportedly the price someone paid for this rare find on eBay back in 2022. Of course, that’s just for the closed in box price, as in 2024, new and sealed copies of this duo pack have been sold for up to $10,000. Seriously, if you’ve got $10,000 lying around to blow on a double pack of games you could buy together for about $50, can you please head over to Cultured Vultures on YouTube and become a member? Thanks.
What’s perhaps most baffling of all about this bundle/package/reason to remortgage the house is that it’s also available on the original Xbox, but CIB copies of that regularly sell for around $25 on average. They’re the same games on both platforms, only the value of the Xbox version is less than 1% of what the GameCube version is worth, and the only difference between the two is that the GameCube version comes in that special cardboard sleeve.
So, let this be a lesson to you: if you’ve bought any physical games in a card sleeve over the years, make sure you look after them. They could end up being the most valuable item in your house.
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