The Super Nintendo Entertain System, or SNES, was released on August 23, 1991 in North America; a full four years before the NES was discontinued. If we consider games released in 1993 and 1994 to have been released at the end of the NES’s lifespan, then games released in 1991 and 1992 were certainly released in the fading twilight of the system and can still easily be considered late in the console’s generation. After the SNES was released in 1991 through the end of 1992, there were 152 licensed games released for the console and seven of them were Taito’s. If you look back up at those prices, it starts to make sense.

The Flintstones: The Rescue of Dino & Hoppy (December, 1991)

Toki (December, 1991)

Kick Master (January, 1992)

Panic Restaurant (August, 1992)

Power Blade 2 (October, 1992)

Little Samson (November, 1992)

The Jetson’s: Cogswell’s Caper (December, 1992)

All except the first game listed, The Flinstones: The Rescue of Dino & Hoppy, are considered rare and valuable. Games released late in the NES cycle by Taito are more valuable likely due in part to limited production for those games. That’s not true for every developer, however. Several games released between 1991 and 1994 are fairly common and won’t empty your pockets.

Then what else contributes to these games being so pricey?

Low Production

A late release date often coincides with limited production numbers for a game but not always. Sometimes games can be rental only which makes finding them nowadays very difficult, especially if you want the box and manual to be present and in good shape. The Flintstones: Surprise at Dino Peak is a prime example as it was primarily a Blockbuster rental and reportedly there were less than 10,000 copies made which makes it likely the rarest of the Taito library and among the rarest of all NES games ever produced.

By several accounts including articles and website rating systems, I’ve compiled a rarity list of Taito games from rarest to most common. Of course, Flintstones: Surprise at Dino Peak would be the ultimate #1, here is a list of the next ten.

Little Samson

Bubble Bobble Part 2

Power Blade 2

Panic Restaurant

The Jetson’s: Cogswell’s Caper

Toki

Rainbow Islands

Kiwi Kraze

Kick Master

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Source: NintendoAge.com, blog.pricecharting.com, 11points.com, rarityguide.com

You might not exactly agree with that order but it’s pretty close to common opinion. It’s easy to realize if you’re an experienced collector that there’s a large gap between the rarities at the top to the rarities at the bottom of the list. I was unable to find actual production numbers for this list but it does lend credibility to the fact that late releases (from 1991 to 1994) by Taito are harder to find and are more expensive.

Another reason for limited copies and increased rarity is due to lack of platform crossover by Taito. Many games released late in the NES’s cycle, like Wario’s Woods for example, were also released on the Super Nintendo giving more consumers a chance to get it and play it. None of Taito’s games crossed over to the new platform despite being released even a year or two after the Super Nintendo’s launch. These games were impressive feats on the NES considering their quality and Taito was likely proud of that fact. That’s perhaps not the only reason Taito chose to stick with one platform at a time but the decision possibly affected perception of the game as its audience became limited due to low production numbers and less exposure to those who had moved on to the Nintendo’s newest hardware.

High Quality Goodness

We have all played some stinkers for the NES. There were 822 games so of course there will be more than just a handful that should have never been made. But was Taito guilty of any bad games? Looking through their catalog, I say “not really” but we all have our own likes and dislikes. I’m not a big Bubble Bobble fan but I recognize it as a classic on the platform. Some of Taito’s games were “Just okay, bro” but still better than over half of the entire NES library most would argue.

That said, the more valuable Taito games we’ve been discussing so far have generally received good reviews.