08/26/2003

Collecting sports cards, Transformers or any other "collectible" item has it's many unique guidelines when it comes to rarity and how we base it's value.

For the past few years, the SNK Playmore and Capcom gaming fans have started a new form of collecting games...games in the arcade form, that is. It's obvious that many gaming collectors out there buy games for the home consoles for many reasons: 1) It's readily available; 2) It's inexpensive; 3) It's in high demand most of the time; 4) It can be easily played...if need be and so forth.

Today, what we've seen is a big growth in arcade game collecting. To be exact, we're talking about collecting SNK Playmore MVS and Capcom Kits.

Now, what exactly is a "kit?" A "kit" is the most complete form that you can get a game in. A "kit" for both NEO GEO MVS and Capcom games contain different contents.

Neo Geo MVS Kit Contents (Usual, but does not necessarily contain all the listed items):

-Game Box (with serial numbers that match the cartridge)
-Game Cartridge (with serial numbers that match the box)
-Mini Marquee (Normally made out of thick plastic, later versions were paper)
-Mini Arcade Flyers (Normally 2 of them)
-Bezel Move Stickers
-Dip Sheet

Capcom CPS-2/Naomi Kit Contents (Usual, but not definite):

-Game Box (with serial numbers that match the board)
-Game Cartridge (with serial numbers that match the box)
-Large Marquee (either plastic, hard plexi, soft plastic)
-Instructions Manual (Operating Instructions)
-Control Panel Overlay (Generic Grey Capcom Overlay)
-Bezel Move Stickers
-Capcom Logo Stickers (2 come in a kit)
-A + B board clips (If it's a CPS2 Kit)
-Hardware (For Naomi System Only, unless it's a FULL CPS "B" Kit, then the "A" Board comes with it)

Now the question arises, why in the world would collectors want everything with an arcade game? Wouldn't the game itself be good enough? The answer is simple. Collectors want everything in the purest, most complete form. These "standards" were created not by one person, but collectively by the gaming community, slowly going through the evolution process of setting the guidelines of why and what gives a kit gives it's value.

Like most valuable items, the harder it is to find, the more someone wants it and normally, the higher demand, hence the item price is increased. Neo MVS and Capcom Kits are no different. Furthermore, arcade kits were made for the arcade market and most distributors/arcade operators would dispose of the "extras" and salvage just the cart and marquee. Because of this, kits are harder to come by, especially the older titles when collectors did not view arcade kits as that, collectable.

Because of the handling and treatment MVS Kits get rarity of most kits are common. Unlike the AES market, where titles can be easily found (you just have to have a ton of cash), the MVS Kit market is unique in that, even if you have money, some titles just cannot be found (as a complete kit). This makes MVS Kit collecting, we'd say easily ten times harder to complete in full than that of it's AES counterpart. Anyone who doesn't believe this, try to find just one person that has the full MVS Kit collection vs. the many known people that have completed their AES collection. Really not a surprising fact, if you sit down and think about it. AES titles were readily available at local game shops for sale, while the MVS Kit market didn't focus on the collector, hence distribution was more scattered.

While some kits are extremely rare, not all of them are in high demand, hence some titles can be bought for an affordable price.

Some kits, such as Last Blade 2 has an interesting history. Last Blade 2 was produced plentifully for the U.S. market, but today, it is extremely difficult to find as a full kit. Now why is that? For the simple reason that during this time, SNK USA was going through bankruptcy and simply disposed of the kits, because no one at that time thought they were desirable. Suckers!! Vendors, Distributors, collectors all went after Hyper 64, and Neo Geo AES during this period and pretty much neglected to obtain Neo Geo MVS titles. So there you have it. The reason why LB2 MVS Kit is almost like finding gold. It's a great game, complemented by it's rarity, makes this kit the most sought after kit by collectors among all the MVS titles out there.

Toughest MVS Puzzle Kit to find:

Other titles are simply near impossible to find because of it's low production numbers and it's age. Riding Hero is a perfect example of this title:

League Bowling MVS Kit (w/link instructions):

Other uncommon, hard to find MVS Kits:

World Heroes Perfect

Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer

Capcom CPS2/Naomi Kits

Following the tradition of SNK Playmore's MVS Kits, Capcom fans/collector's have come to appreciate CPS2 kits in the past few years. CPS2 kits, while not being nearly as compact and space saving as MVS Kits, it's contents are at times more intriguing and definitely harder to find than it's MVS counterpart.

Of all the CPS2 Kits, one of the rarest and the highest in demand kit is no other than Pro Gear no Arashi:

Pro Gear was developed by Cave for Capcom and remains as one of the best shooters out there. Another reason why collectors as well as gamers seek this game is because hackers have not been able to dump this game, and possibly they never will. Unlike A vs. P, which is available on ROMs, Pro Gear no Arashi can only be found on CPS2 and unfortunately, since the arcade market has been slow the past few years, Capcom decided not to mass produce this title.

Other titles were not simply meant to be made for the arcade market, and would possibly be a bigger hit on the home consoles:

Condition

Like any collectable item, it's condition is of the utmost importance. Box, label, artwork and the condition of any of the contents inside the box are critical to the kit's value besides it's rarity and demand.

Version

Every collector has a preference as to what language/format the title is in. To a certain extent, the language/format of the title does impact the price. For the most part, the more valuable NEO GEO MVS and Capcom CPS2 Kits seem to be in the English form, however, some titles that are in the Japanese format only, still hold an incredibly high value.

Is there a collector in you?

I would consider myself more of a gamer than a collector, but I can't deny there is a desire I have to buy games that are complete, rather than loose.

My advice to anyone who plans to buy kits of any sort to first ask yourself where you're going to go with the hobby. When I first bought MVS Kits, I told myself I would only buy the titles I wanted to play, but shortly, I was bitten by the bug and found myself trying to complete the whole NEO GEO MVS Collection. To my satisfaction, I managed to complete not 1, but 2 sets of MVS Kits all of SNK titles(I normally bought 2 titles of each game, 1 to play, 1 for back-up). Once I was done, however, I asked myself, "Uh, what now?" Thousands of dollars later, with my Kits collecting dust, I decided to sell a good chunk of my collection and keep the ones I really wanted to play, which I've done. What this did for me is it gave me the cash to travel and start what I consider a goal of mine....develop this website.

What this means for everyone else is, if you're going to buy a game, please, for goodness sakes, play it. It's cool to collect Kits, but letting it sit on the shelf without ever experiencing the hours spent by the programmers to expose their gaming ideas is simply ludicrous.

Games isn't art folks, it's a game. Play and enjoy it...even if the game is bad.