Market Report: Giga Wing 2
I have owned my Dreamcast since it was released in 1999. But at the time it was released, money was tight and I did not have many games for the system. I remember buying a copy of NFL Blitz 2000 used from a grocery store video department and buying a copy of Sega Smash Pack from GameStop. While I longed for a copy of Marvel vs Capcom 2, that game was pretty valuable even back in the early to mid 2000's. So it was not to be.
I only became seriously interested in collecting for the system about two years ago. By then, MvC2's price had come way down thanks the the game's XBL and PSN release. I started perusing eBay and I remember thinking that Project Justice was the Dreamcast's grail game at that time. It was fetching over $100 regularly, which I found stunning. Videos and articles from around that time suggest that it was considered the rarest and most valuable game back then.
But things to have changed. It seems pretty clear that yet another Capcom title, Giga Wing 2, has now taken the mantle as Dreamcast's most valuable regular release game.
If you just look at CIB eBay listings, it becomes apparent just how rare Giga Wing 2 is. Currently, there are three CIB listings on eBay. One of these listings shows a manual with pretty rough water damage (still $230) and one other is asking over $300. There is also one listing for both Giga Wing and Giga Wing 2 together for an asking price of $400.
Recent sold listings of Giga Wing 2 seem to fall in the $160-$240 range. I regularly scout these eBay listings and it's pretty rare to see more than 3-4 CIB copies listed at one time. For comparison's sake, I just counted 10 CIB copies of Project Justice listed on eBay right now and 15 listings for CIB copies of Marvel vs Capcom 2. Even Cannon Spike, another game that has really shot up in price in recent years has 11 CIB listings at the time of this writing.
The question becomes, how much more room does Giga Wing 2 have to increase in value? It seems to check off many of the collectibility boxes: the game is made by Capcom; it was released late in the system's life; it is a shmup; and it is very rare. It has the added benefit of not being released anywhere outside of the arcade and Dreamcast. It seems like it has potential to retain the Dreamcast's grail position and possibly increase in value even more from here. If you can exercise some patience and wait for the right auction style listing, it might be worth picking up a copy now if you can grab one for under $200.