While the Commodore 64 would live on in the hearts of many, it is fair to say that the Amiga was perhaps the most successful home computer produced by Commodore. It’s home to some of the best original games of the 90s, such as The Chaos Engine and It Came From the Desert, along with some fine ports as well. But what’s the resell market like for Amiga games today? Here are the top 10 rarest Amiga games that are worth a fortune.
Rarest Amiga Games
Naturally, the Amiga has a share of rare and expensive titles, with prices that vary depending not only on the number of copies available but also on the desirability of the title itself. All listed prices are courtesy of PriceCharting. All used prices are based on the “Loose Price” listing, while new prices are based on the “New Price” listing. Additionally, entries will be listed from lowest to highest in order of their respective “new” price.
10. Space Quest II: Volhaul’s Revenge
$300 New | $125 Used
This is the first of several Sierra adventure games that could potentially be on the list. The several point-and-click adventures developed by the company during the 80s and 90s are still highly sought after by collectors, not only for the quality of the stories and graphics, but also because Sierras’s releases were always filled with nice-looking manuals and extras.
As a sequel to the first Space Quest, this adventure features the comeback of beloved and unlucky space janitor Roger Wilco in another zany trip through space, meeting many quirky characters and, of course, dying in a variety of terribly unpredictable ways.
While the Sierra games are not often well renowned on the Amiga, as the PC releases are usually graphically superior, this makes the games even more rare and thus more expensive than their PC counterparts. Better be ready to fork over quite a few bucks if you plan to collect them all.
9. Knightmare
$449 New | $99 Used
Knightmare is one of those rare tie-in titles that was exclusive to the UK, which might explain its rarity, at least in the United Kingdom. Knightmare was originally a television show, airing from 1987 to 1994, where a group of four children would compete to finish quests in computer-generated realms.
In the game, developed by legendary programmer Tony Crowther (Realms of the Haunting, Burnout Paradise), the player competes in similarly 3D worlds, trying to beat several quests in order to finally face off against Lord Fear, the final boss of the show. Thanks to solid gameplay and level design, Knightmare was definitely superior to the average tie-in of the time.
It was quite well-reviewed at the time, with the game including a manual with full-on color pictures of the cast from the show.
8. Shadow of the Beast III
$450 New | $100 Used
This is the final title in the classic Shadow of the Beast series, which was originally launched by Psygnosis in 1989. While the first title received ports for basically any other computer and console available, the third title came out in 1992 and wasn’t as well received, along with selling quite less compared to the first two. Perhaps the fact that it was an Amiga exclusive did not help.
The third title also failed to address the most common complaints of the series, mainly that while featuring the best graphics and sound money could buy at the time, the gameplay was not up to snuff. In fact, the development of Beast 3 prioritized the graphics and lacked work on the puzzles, with the game not even featuring a save system.
The original box for Shadow of the Beast III, as opposed to the first two, did not include a t-shirt, but instead a badge with the game’s logo. The inclusion of the badge of course makes the box complete and, thus, much more valuable.
7. Mind Walker
$600 New | $113 Used
As opposed to other titles on the list, Mind Walker’s rarity comes from being one of the first titles that Commodore started developing exclusively for the Amiga 1000 in 1986. It is, thus, the oldest on the list. Despite this, the game does run on all different iterations of the computer with no problems. This is probably why Commodore held back on releasing other versions of Mind Walker.
The player is immersed inside a human brain and must cure a psychosis that is threatening the patient’s well-being. The enemies and power-ups, along with other gameplay features, all play on this psychological theme. It is definitely the weirdest game on the list as well, as each level features slightly different gameplay mechanics.
The reviews were a bit mixed, but many praised the uniqueness of the title as being a different take on the Marble Madness style of gameplay. If you want to take home this unique computer title today, you’d better be ready to fork out several hundred dollars.
6. King’s Quest VI – Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow
$670 New | $149 Used
Here is Sierra back again in this list, this time with the classic sixth title in the King’s Quest series, published in 1993. It would also be the final King’s Quest title developed for Amiga, since King’s Quest VII would go in quite a different direction, using higher production value that would require a CD-ROM reader for players to enjoy.
But as opposed to VII, Heir Today is a classic point-and-click adventure in the typical style of Sierra. With their classic humor, zany puzzles, and random deaths that come in the most unexpected moments, this is perhaps Sierra’s adventure formula at its best. It is fair to say, love it or hate it.
As with other Sierra games, King’s Quest VII also comes in a very pretty-looking box, complete with several manuals that also serve as copy protection. So, if you plan on buying the game to play it, you’d better make sure that it comes complete!
5. Maniac Mansion
$800 New | $132 Used
Naturally, along with Sierra adventures, we were bound to also find their biggest competitor: Lucasarts. It is just a matter of preference if you like the more experimental Sierra games or the less difficult Lucasarts adventures, but one thing is for sure: both companies have many highly sought-after titles for collectors.
Maniac Mansion is a classic that needs no introduction. It’s the game that would debut the SCUMM “verb” system developed by a small team, with Ron Gilbert being the main writer. The system, of course, would then be used to great success in other classic adventures such as The Secret of Monkey Island and the more experimental Loom.
In Maniac Mansion, you control a team of young kids who are trapped in a house filled with strange and dangerous characters. While it would be one of the few games by Lucasarts where you could die, the humor and strange puzzles, typical of the company, were already right there from the start.
4. Moonstone: A Hard Days’ Knight
$937 New | $213 Used
Originally developed by solo Canadian developer Rob Anderson only for Amiga in 1991, Moonstone would also be published for DOS the following year. Along with its quite humorous title, Moonstone also would easily feature in lists of the weirdest titles released for Amiga.
The gameplay in Moonstone mixes several genres, being a basic turn-based game with real-time combat for any encounters. The game’s objective is to find the lair that holds one of the four keys. The player who gathers together all four keys (either by finding them or by stealing them from rivals) will have access to the Valley of the Gods at the center of the map, to fight the Guardian.
Perhaps it was because of its status as one of the goriest games released in the early 90s, but the game would become quite rapidly a cult title, along with it being banned in Germany. Inspired by the intense sword fighting of Barbarian, Moonstone does feature particularly bloody fight and death scenes.
3. Starush
$1277 New | $290 Used
When one talks about the best-looking games on the original OCS/ECS Amiga, Starush often comes up in the top three. Developed by Ubisoft when it was still a smaller company intent on publishing some quite peculiar titles, Starush is a classic shoot-em-up, developed by a small two-person team.
Drive your spaceship through 2D sidescrolling levels, defeat all the enemies on screen, and try not to die. It doesn’t get any simpler than that, at least on paper. Starush is indeed one of the most unforgiving shoot-em-ups on the Amiga, featuring no continues either. Once your lives are gone, it’s time to start over from the beginning.
Unfortunately, despite still being one of the prettiest games released in the early 90s, along with featuring what still is one of the best intros to come out of France at the time (and that’s quite a tall order!), Starush is just a simple sci-fi shoot-em-up. Still, that did not hold the title back from being one of the most expensive ones to get on the system, probably because of its limited sales when it was released.
2. The Great Giana Sisters
$3470 New | $481 Used
The infamous Giana Sisters are going after that pesky Italian plumber’s money! Indeed, The Great Giana Sisters was supposed to be the 2D side-scrolling platformer killer on home computers, along with being one of the first female heroines of the gaming world.
But its release would not go very smoothly, since Nintendo would notice too many similarities so that it forced German developer Rainbow Arts to stop selling copies. Nintendo would also, in the following years, ban Rainbow Arts from releasing games on their 16-bit console as well. Nintendo does not forget nor forgive, it seems.
That’s why the game commands quite high prices, especially if one is looking for one of the very first release copies. While, naturally, The Great Giana Sisters would not ever reach the popularity of Nintendo’s plumber, they do remain in the hearts of many. That’s why we can also explain the 2012 reboot, which unfortunately failed to relaunch the series.
1. Castlevania
$6000 New | $1360 Used
This one doesn’t need much of a description, does it? One of the most famous horror series ever, originally developed by Konami, Castlevania did arrive on the Amiga. It was just one single time, with the conversion of the first title from the NES. Developed by Novotrade International, this conversion was released in 1990, with the same story of having to help Simon Belmont defeat Dracula once and for all (really?).
We can safely say that this game is not at the top of the list because of its playability. Unfortunately, Castlevania on Amiga was not a great conversion. Despite looking solid and sounding good (as with most ports), the playability took quite the hit. The controls in Castlevania Amiga are unresponsive and it quickly becomes a nightmare to play. If you’re looking for a challenge, it is fair to say that this version will test your patience for sure.
That does it for the top ten rarest Amiga games worth a fortune. Interestingly, this list boasts, overall, smaller price points than our other ones on the Nintendo 64, Sega Genesis, and others. With a few exceptions, Amiga games are not – as of yet – in quite as high demand on the collector market, as opposed to the Sega Genesis, which commands over $1,000 for all of the top four priciest games. Check out our other lists and come back for reviews and guides here on Twinfinite!
