 This is one of the rarest games on the Nintendo DS. It's called Dragon Quest V. It's a really good game that has sadly become a victim of the recent price gouging of retro titles in the West. Video game collecting has gotten so ridiculous lately, especially if you click Nintendo games. So many DS games have started going for absurd prices on eBay, and in recent years this one game has risen above all others, Dragon Quest V. Back in 2019, which now feels like an eternity ago, I spent 50 bucks on a brand new sealed copy, the one you see right here. Today, the game sells for upwards of $300 online. This actually came to my attention just the other day when I went to a local comic show in my hometown where there was a guy at a booth selling video games, which included a copy of Dragon Quest V. However, his copy had all his water damage on the box. It was basically completely ruined, and he was asking for $150. This thing was really bad, it looked like it was submerged in the Mariana trench. When I said, hey, this has water damage, he said, what? No, that's not water damage, it's moisture damage. You're actually getting a steal for this price. And I was just in disbelief. What the hell is moisture damage? Why are people charging so much for this game? I literally spent 50 bucks on it just a few years ago. Now look, this is a really great game. It's one of my all time favorites as a matter of fact. Last year, Japan actually voted it as their second favorite game of all time, right behind Zelda Breath of the Wild. It's a really engaging, emotional roller coaster of a game with a really great story, and it is the best DS game in my opinion. If you like role playing and adventure games, you absolutely have to play it. It's an essential title. But is it worth $300? Hell no, it's a DS game. These games used to sell for 35 bucks back in the day. They were a total steal. You used to be able to get all these amazing games for a cheap price on an affordable console, and it was great. So what happened? Well obviously during and after the lockdown, pretty much all used games shot up in value, especially Nintendo games. Some SNES games go for over $200 for just a cartridge alone. The fact is, people got bored being stuck in their houses all day, and the demand for retro games shot up. So of course, people took advantage of the situation by charging more for some games, which is basically ruined game collecting for everyone. And the most critically acclaimed games ended up having their prices jacked up to astronomical amounts. So games like Pokemon Soul Silver, which I clearly remember spending $35 on at launch, goes for hundreds of dollars now. Every Dragon Quest game on the DS is more expensive now, but DQ5 is widely considered the best of the old school Dragon Quest games, so it has become way more desirable and it didn't sell a whole lot when it came out originally, so complete copies are harder to come by. All of this combined has resulted in a game that might be one of the most expensive games on the system. And yeah, there are a few DS games that sell for more than DQ5, like Shepherds Crossing 2, but not a lot of people even know that that game exists. I mean, nobody has ever gone like, hey, you want to come over and play Shepherds Crossing 2 later on. That's not a conversation anyone has ever had. It's expensive for the sake of being expensive. DQ5, on the other hand, is a really desirable game because people want to play it or fill in their Dragon Quest collection with it. I just find the whole situation ridiculous, to be honest. This is a really good game, and because of the market and these absurd prices, a lot of people can't even experience it because it is only available on the Nintendo DS. Well, I mean, there is a mobile port that you can play on iOS and Android, but mobile gaming is really not ideal. What we want is to be able to play this on our gaming systems, like the Switch or PC. Square Enix could honestly solve this issue and make the game more accessible to new fans of the series by porting it to modern consoles. However, I'm not so sure that's ever gonna happen. Man, if only there was some other convenient way to play this game. Well, I guess not. I hope you enjoyed the video. Do you have a rare game in your collection? Let me know in the comments. Thanks for watching, and I'll see you next time.