<Game Title> is (going) out of print/has a low print run.

[Port]

The best person here to ask about this topic is D_N_G. He has saved me so much goddamn money in buying titles at release, and watch them become OMFGR@RE.

And you can try the Digital Press forums. This is a regular topic of discussion over there.

[Zerodash]

is the original steel battalion worth picking up used for ~$100?

Yes.

[kingoffighters]

Blood Will Tell PS2 is another Sega game (like Spikeout) that seemed to get a low print run. *-neo

Picked it up for $10 at a flea market, they have a ton of them, all brand new. That's not to say that you can walk into any EB/GS and buy one of course.

It is a decent game to boot, although it does get monotonous after a couple of hours.

[Bacon McShig]

And I think it's fairly easy to recognize which games will become rarities and which games will not. Just look at the kind of market you have around you and you should figure it out. Usually obscure Eastern made games get left out of the cut (unless it's Final Fantasy).

Yeah seriously. If you couldn't guess that a quirky Japanese game about lawyering wouldn't get a big print run, there's just no helping you.

General rules of thumb:
-Niche titles will generally only get one or two printings in their lifetime. If they're generating a healthy buzz on forums, they're already well on their way to being sold out.

-Japanese games will generally see less reprints, because the company has less cost to recoup on a translation than they would on a game made for our market. They made back their development money in the Japanese market, anything here is pretty much icing. If it sells out, that's likely to be well enough for the publisher; reprinting would reintroduce the possibility of a bunch of unsold copies.

-If a title is on a handheld, add 20% likelihood of rarity.

-If a title has a Japanese release that is playable with little knowledge of Japanese, it's only really as rare as the sum of both territories' copies.

Hope that helps.

[Yoshi]

Can any retail workers comment on the availability of Mario DDR? I have yet to see it in a store (I never looked when it was new). I am somewhat interested in a car accident kind of way.

[Port]

It was pulled due to hardware problems, or so I heard.

[RedCoKid]

But I still see TONS of copies of Trauma Center and Trace Memory everywhere.

Those 2 games had a larger print run and/or less consumer demand.

[lordsnarf]

Can any retail workers comment on the availability of Mario DDR? I have yet to see it in a store (I never looked when it was new). I am somewhat interested in a car accident kind of way.

Can't speak for every region, but it's been impossible to find since shortly after release here (Southern NJ). It's actually kind of fun, if just a wee bit wacky. My favorite level is the one were they are paddling down a river on a raft and they lose their oars so they have to start dancing. It's not as "good" as a real DDR game, but it is a lot of anyway.

[sleeve]

Can any retail workers comment on the availability of Mario DDR? I have yet to see it in a store (I never looked when it was new). I am somewhat interested in a car accident kind of way.

Go to Best Buy.

[Beefy Hits]

I don't think Trama Center will be rare; I see it at Wal*Mart and Best Buy all the time.

Handheld games are worth $$? Why is it nobody ever talks about rare Gameboy games? Alot of GBA games will surprise you; Double Dragon, River City Ransom EX, and Lunar can be had for cheap.