With the digital age of video games, it seems that games are more accessible than ever. Many hard-to-find videogames on long out-of-production consoles are now easily available on the latest generation of consoles and PCs through digital marketplaces. For games that haven't been digitized and updated, online shops can also provide a way to access a physical copy of the game — for a price.
That brings the discussion to the rare games. These are games that haven't been put on electronic marketplaces, and the physical copies are near-impossible to find. Horror games, in particular, suffer from this. They are a niche genre and aren't usually expected to sell like the big franchises, so they aren't as mass-produced. This can make rarer titles quite expensive to buy today.
10 Nightmare On Elm Street (NES) - $80-$150
First up is Nightmare on Elm Street for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was developed by future 3D platformer darlings Rare and released in 1989. This game is about a teenager trying to gather the remains of Freddy Kreuger and throwing them in a furnace. Strangely enough, this one is actually a brawler, as several creatures will attack the protagonist throughout the game.
This game actually received some decent praise in its initial release, and retrospectives have been kind to it. It also has a cooperative mode where up to four players can take on Freddy Kreuger. According to a Nintendo Power from around the time, there was a possible earlier version of this game where the player actually gets to take the role of Freddy Kreuger, but the plug was pulled on this for an unknown reason. In any case, this NES gem can run collectors from about $80-$150.
9 Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem (GameCube) - $100-$150
This one is considered to be an all-time great horror game and one of the best games on the Nintendo GameCube. Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem. Its gameplay is fairly similar to that of Resident Evil, but it tells a story that spans millennia, as separate individuals hunt down artifacts relating to a trio of Ancients and the Corpse God known as Montorok. It's very Lovecraftian, and, as such, uses a sanity meter.
This game's critical reception and posthumous popularity have made it a hot commodity, and it can run around $100-$150 to snag these days.
8 Enemy Zero (Sega Saturn) - $100-$200
Enemy Zero is a Sega Saturn game that, like many Sega Saturn titles, is hard to track down these days. It's a sci-fi/horror game with a unique twist: enemies are invisible and must be echolocated. This is largely done with a sonic weapon that must be charged to the right frequency to hurt the monsters.
Having a functional Sega Saturn at this point is a pretty impressive feat on its own. If one does and wants to check out Enemy Zero, it will cost them about $100-$200.
7 Silent Hill 2 (PS2) - $100-$200
Silent Hill may not have been the first of the major horror franchises, but it is often considered to be the best. Many consider Silent Hill 2 to be the single greatest horror videogame of all time. It's a survival horror game that finds James Sunderland exploring the town of Silent Hill in the hopes of finding his wife.
However, something is immediately amiss, and the evil that inhabits Silent Hill begins toying with James' psyche and the schisms that have separated himself and his wife. This PlayStation 2 classic will likely run collectors about $100-$200.
6 Resident Evil: Gaiden (Gameboy Color) - $150-$200
Resident Evil: Gaiden is an oft-forgotten spin-off title that was on, of all systems, the Nintendo Gameboy Color. It focuses on Barry Burton and Leon S. Kennedy as they explore a passenger ship that has undergone an outbreak of the T-Virus. The game has a fairly creative idea given the hardware constraints.
It's largely a top-down exploration game, but it goes into first-person whenever the player approaches a zombie. There is a wavering targeting reticle, and the player has to fire their weapon when the reticle moves over a zombie.
This one was mostly overlooked in its day, and it consequently runs about $150-$200 these days.
5 Chiller (NES) - $150-$200
Chiller is a comically edgy NES game, though it was originally an arcade game, that has the player taking the role of a torturer who has to mutilate their victims in a limited amount of time. Later, the player has to fight supernatural monsters in an FPS section.
This gory chop-em-up game didn't sell well when it came out, and it hasn't been easy to track down since. It can run a prospective buyer anywhere in the range of $150-$200.
4 Clock Tower (PS1) - $250
Clock Tower for the original Playstation was technically the second entry, with the original coming out for the Super Famicom. However, this was the first Clock Tower game to come out in the States. The game is a point-and-click adventure game that revolves around the player character trying to kill the murderous Scissorman for good.
This was one of the earliest Playstation horror games and has reached a level of legend in the horror gaming scene. Clock Tower for the PS1 can be expected to run collectors about $250.
3 Haunting Ground (PS2) - $200-$500
Haunting Ground is another PS2 horror title that has since ascended to legend. It focuses on the character, Fiona, who becomes the bearer of a legendary alchemical agent called Azoth. She must avoid a series of stalker-type villains who want her. She has the help of a dog named Hewie. It wasn't well-received upon release, but its unique and somewhat indirect controls have since been celebrated.
Given the wavering reception and interpretations of the game, it makes a weird amount of sense that its price fluctuates wildly. It can run someone a price in the range of $200-$500.
2 Silent Hills PT (PS4) - $300-$500
The would-be sequel to Silent Hill that was later morphed into Death Stranding is one of the more legendary sagas in recent gaming history. The PT or Playable Teaser was a demo that dropped onto the Playstation Store in 2014. Over time, the secrets of PT were unraveled by players, and it was ultimately revealed to be a teaser for Silent Hills starring Walking Dead star Norman Reedus by directors Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Torro.
However, there was a falling out between game director Hideo Kojima, PT was pulled, and Silent Hills was canceled. Now, the Silent Hills PT can only be obtained by purchasing a Playstation 4 that still has the game downloaded, as it is no longer possible to download PT from the Playstation Store. Getting one such PS4 will run a player about $300-$500.
1 Rule Of Rose (PS2) - $700-$800
Finally, there is Rule of Rose, originally published by Sony in Japan and later Atlus in America and 505 Games in Europe. It follows a young woman named Jennifer as she relives her childhood memories and is later inducted into a sadistic cult of young girls called the Red Crayon Aristocrats. Jennifer must survive and escape the cult.
Atlus games don't tend to be mass-produced in the first place, but matters get worse when the European release sparked a moral panic because of the involvement of child characters in this horror tale. This game is incredibly hard to find and can easily run collectors somewhere in the range of $700-$800.