May be so but when the NES game is like up around a thousand, even as annoying as it is, the Famicom game is a wallet saver. Though sometimes there are other weird cases against the US game that go in other directions. Bubble Bobble 2 on the famicom is nearly as rotten as the US version, but the same value US Bonk game you can pick off for like $20-30 on the famicom which is so illogical.

I've followed this thread in silence for a time too even after signing up finally, but I have to say I'm impressed with a 1000 game commitment to a system that came out in Japan as that just makes it all the most nasty to try and wrangle it all. I'm glad I don't do that, but I do have some similar issues as I buy PC Engine HuCard releases and I'm not picky if they HuCard or complete. It's more a price and desire thing along with being patient for the right deals. He appears to have been very patient and snapped up a lot of solid values on those games. I do have a very small selection of famicom stuff (10-20 range) picked up slowly over some years and there really are some fantastic releases we got denied so worth having around.

I feel the exact same way I was able to get a boxed bonk for famicom for around $30 which I was happy as a clam to get plus the yellow cart is trick,both bomberman games for $15 shipped and Jackie Chan for $6. All in all after soley focusing on famicom for a year I was able to get close to a 100 games without really breaking the bank.  I think the only premimum I've paid were for The New Ghostbuster 2 CIB and Holy Diver because of the holidays and had Ebay giftcards to burn and didn't show restraint. I love famicom collecting I am in no way going for a fullset more or less a few subsets, I already got the pulse line, rockman and 17/18 of the Namco releases.

Wow! Super jealous. Especially on your cheap Gimmick, but that Lickle seems pretty cheap, too?
I've paid triple digits for several Famicom games so far (and let's not talk about AI4 or Recca :S), and I don't have even close to as many as you. Maybe 150-200 or so?

Actually curious that Battle Formula usually goes so expensive, when the NES version is pretty cheap.

I've been keeping track of the most expensive games sold on Ebay for years (since August 2010). In all that time, there's only been 29 different Famicom games to sell for over $100 shipped, cart only. And several of those only happened once. I already have 13 out of those 29. Not gonna post the list here because I don't want to cause prices to go up.

Someone on here gave me a good deal on Lickle. It's pretty good compared to Ebay prices, although I saw one go for right around that a couple months ago. Gimmick was also bought here on NA, but that was 7 years ago. Even then it was probably worth twice that, though. Most of my games are just bought from Ebay, although I've gotten a couple lots from Yahoo Auctions.

Still need Recca... I should probably get that out of the way sooner rather than later.
 

Recca at least has been relatively stable for a while, unlike the insane price hikes we have seen everywhere else. It has always been really expensive...

Unlike NES titles I think there are still plenty of deals to be made in regards to Famicom titles. I'm sure if you're patient you'll find a decent or stable price on those remaining items. Recca hasn't gone up much since I got my copy two years ago.

29 titles for over $100? That's around twice as many as I would have thought or have spent so far for my collection. Am curious to know how many of them are for weird peripherals like the Datach...I know Yu Yu Hakushou goes for a fair amount.

Definitely I've picked up quite a few deals in the last 5 years or so now. Just in the last 6 mo or so I picked up Panic Restaurant on FC for I think like $30. So what if the little pointless menu is in Japanese? Game plays the same. The more crazy stuff would be Lickle, Recca, Moon Crystal, Bubble Bobble 2, (FC version of) Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa, and a few others. Some have been on the rise like Crisis Force and Holy Diver over fanboy and flipper trolling.

That is still really cheap for that game! Just last year I managed to pick up a copy for $99 from a friend who was selling it, and I thought that was a fairly good deal! (eBay prices are lower, but with shipping and customs, I still saved a bit)

I felt I may have been off on that as I was in a rush when I posted that needing to go and do stuff before it got even later.  I just checked my ebay history as that's where I got it and it was actually a year ago last March and it was 44 shipped from Japan and the game itself is clean with a very beautiful shiny label to it.  Around that same time also picked up Taiyou no Yusha Fighbird for $18 which was decent too.  I guess I haven't picked up anything NES/FC related in a year now.  I've been off the Nintendo bandwagon for awhile having gone with kits but staying in the east I've been loading up on HuCards instead either complete or just loose.

Time to update after 4 months!

#906 - Cycle Race Roadman: Gekisou!! Nihon Isshuu 4000km
#907 - Hillsfar, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons
#908 - Masuzoe Youichi: Asa Made Famicom
#909 - Ripple Island
#910 - Momotarou Densetsu Gaiden
#911 - Insector X
#912 - Ultraman Club: Kaijuu Dai Kessen!!
#913 - Battle Storm
#914 - Exciting Rally: World Rally Championship
#915 - Plasma Ball
#916 - Jackie Chan
#917 - Jigoku Gokuraku Maru
#918 - Ninja Cop Saizou
#919 - Guardic Gaiden
#920 - Nakayoshi to Issho
#921 - Taito Chase H.Q.
#922 - Puzznic
#923 - RPG Jinsei Game
#924 - Captain Saver
#925 - DATACH - Ultraman Club: Supokon Fight!!
#926 - Aoki Ookami to Shiroki Mejika: Genchou Hishi
#927 - Maniac Mansion
#928 - Paris-Dakar Rally Special
#929 - Tsuru Pika Hagemaru: Mezase! Tsuru Seko no Akashi
#930 - Bard's Tale II: The Destiny Knight
#931 - Spot
#932 - Ushio to Tora: Shinen no Daiyou
#933 - Western Kids


A few new "most expensive" entries this time. The biggest acquisition wasn't on that list, though, or on the full list of normal releases:



Exed Exes Silver Members Sticker - $5 for that (link), priced the same as a normal one. Tokuma had a contest for that game (and Lot Lot as well) where you could submit your scores, and they would send you a sticker for your cart. There were reportedly 2,000 silver winners, 500 gold, 100 platinum, and 10 royal. It looks like an unused sticker sold for around $100 last week (link). It's a really cool piece of Famicom history to have in my collection.

I'll keep an eye out for a Lot Lot sticker, but those seem to be a lot rarer and I can't recall ever seeing one on Ebay. This page (link)suggests that they may not have even given out the full allotment - that guy got the 4th gold sticker out of 500 a few months after release. He also says that if you applied for a Exed Exes silver sticker after 3 days, they were already gone. I know Exed Exes is a much more common cart that Lot Lot so that makes sense.



Other than that, Captain Saver (aka Power Blade 2) was the biggest acquisition since the last update. Some of the graphics were glitchy no matter how much I cleaned it, and it took me a while to get it working flawlessly. It finally did, although I still suspect it might be damaged. My stupid Bard's Tale 2 cart that I got yesterday is the same way, with a few lines on the screen. I couldn't fix that one, so I opened it up and it seems like the pins are damaged. I don't really care about that game, but I don't want to risk opening the Captain Saver since it's expensive. That's what I get for buying dirty carts from Yamatoku, I guess.

Speaking of Yamatoku, have you guys been following them on Ebay this year? I have no clue what they're doing. They switched to all BINs, then they switched to all free shipping (with discounts for multiple purchases), then they opened a second account (their old one) for only auctions with normal shipping. Now they seem to have abandoned most of their changes and have gone back to the one account with no more free shipping. Fascinating stuff, although they have had some good deals for sure. I saw complete copies of Kung Fu and Igo Meikan go for $20-30 recently. I missed both of those, but I did get this back in January (link). It has the manual too which I didn't even realize. There are still some amazing deals to be had on Ebay...


A few more interesting games to note that I added this time:

-I got my second DATACH game, the Ultraman one. Of course I can't play it since you need the cards that come with the much more expensive complete copies (the DATACH add on is like a barcode battler-style accessory)

-Insector X, a cute shmup which I beat for the NES completions thread. I wouldn't recommend it, but play it if you want to hear some absolutely terrible music.

-Nakayoshi to Issho, which was a late release (Dec 1993) and the only NES game to have Sailor Moon in it. I've never watched Sailor Moon, but given that I enjoy cute slice of life anime like Comic Girls, I feel like I should...

-Momotarou Densetsu Gaiden, another late release and the fourth and final Momotarou game for the system. Don't see this one too often.

-Aoki Ookami to Shiroki Mejika: Genchou Hishi. This is the sequel to Genghis Khan which was Japan only. I jumped on this for $9 because it seems to easily be the rarest Koei game on the system. Looks like it was also on Super Famicom where it's much more common.

-Western Kids (Cowboy Kid), the Goemon ripoff which is 10% of the price of the US version. One of those titles where I wonder why they bothered to bring it overseas, like Circus Caper and Ghost Lion.

I have a few more interesting games coming soon, so I'll update again in the near future.

I've had the same graphics issue with a few of my Famicom carts. Ended up selling off a copy of Devil's World to a used store and bought a copy of Captain Tsubasa 2 to change out the ROM on a copy of Samurai Pizza Cats I had. Opening up carts without breaking the tabs is a pain.

Used to buy from Yamatoku bi-weekly for about two years straight. I've had mixed results from them on occasion, but they were fantastic if you wanted to buy in bulk as their combined shipping prices were great and lots were always worth looking at. Their BIN prices as of late have been either above or below eBay prices with no in-between.

Wow! Some great finds!! Jealous of the Exed Exes, I never found one. Glad to see you are still going at it. You must be very patient to seek out deals on all the rarities!
Those Datach games are a pain to get a deal on. Some rarities slip under the radar if you are lucky. I bought many lots from Japan that had 1-2 rarities, just to finish the collection
and not overpay.

I've been able to repair a few poor condition carts with corroded traces. I would check every pin for continuity and the repair the damaged traces.
Sometimes the program is corrupted, but I've had surprisingly few dead carts. I recall having a few copies of Duck Hunt that were bad...
I believe all of them were glop tops. If cared for these carts should last and last.

Yamatoku was amazing for a number of years. Fantastic selection and huge variety all the time. I even found a Gradius Archimendes for just a few $!!
They would refund the excess shipping charge or combine when requested to a fair accurate amount. Then one time I asked for a refund on excess shipping, they
denied me! I responded back about how they used to refund the excess and never heard back... Then they blocked me!! I was buying constantly from them!
I was able to have them unblock me, but it was a pain and I had to rebid on the items. They started combining shipping again and automatically updating
the invoice, but I was getting overcharged every box. I would usually use EMS shipping and the postage value is printed on the label. It was at least $50-150 over the cost
for them to ship for every box and I was getting a number of boxes each month! I complained about the difference and got blocked again from buying from them... and had
to beg to get unblocked, despite not being in the wrong. It seems the management changed at some point and greed took over. I stopped buying when they switched to BIN.
I should have quit with them long before on principal (not to mention the shill bidding), but I couldn't bear to miss out if something came up I needed for the collection.
Sorry for the rant, I had to get it out.

I've been going for 9 years already, so I can wait a few more to finish the set if need be. Do you have a full set of carts? If so, you should post the last 10 or carts that you needed just for fun.

#934 - Cobra Command
#935 - Fuzzical Fighter
#936 - Keroppi to Keroriinu no Splash Bomb!
#937 - Kyouryuu Sentai Juuranger
#938 - Ninja-kun: Ashura no Shou
#939 - RAF World
#940 - T2: Terminator 2: Judgment Day
#941 - Tiny Toon Adventures
#942 - Utsurun Desu
#943 - Igo Meikan
#944 - Kyoro-chan Land

11 carts added since last week, and there's a few big ones. The biggest of which is probably one you've never heard of, unless you're going for a full set: Igo Meikan. It's one of many obscure games from Hect, the publisher of Moon Crystal and countless Igo/Shogi titles. I saw a post last year on Reddit by someone who got a full set (of normal-shaped carts, anyway), and he said Igo Meikan was the hardest one to find. It's nice to get that out of the way.

It's funny, searching through some Japanese Famicom sites I see people joking about every collector has a "Wall of Igo." I still need Igo Shinan & Igo Shinan 94 for my wall to be complete!

Here's a pic of some of the recent additions:



Raf World is Journey to Silius (Raf is a butchering of the word rough). Kyoro is Castelian with a different sprite. You can see the unique shape of the Captain Saver cart, which is interesting. I always thought it was bigger until I had it in my hands, more like the larger Jaleco/Namco carts. But nope, about the same size as normal, just more rounded. I believe only Bubble Bobble 2 and Jetsons also use that style.

Splash Bomb was the last Character Soft (Sanrio) game I needed out of 9. It seems to be a Bomberman clone which looks better than the other Keroppi titles, at least. They already had one game which is a Balloon Fight ripoff, so why not Bomberman as well? Anyway, with only 9 games, Character Soft falls just short of my standards for taking a pic of all their carts. I've been posting those for all publishers with 10+ games. I'm still at 7/33 completed, the last of which was Tokyo Shoseki in March, game #906. There's seven companies that are one game away, however, so that list should expand soon...
 

#945 - 1999 Hore, Mitakotoka! Seikimatsu
#946 - Seiryaku Simulation: Inbou no Wakusei: Shancara
#947 - Ninja Ryukenden III: Yomi no Hakobune
#948 - Kyuukyoku Tiger
#949 - Predator
#950 - A Ressha de Ikou
#951 - Aa Yakyuu Jinsei Icchokusen
#952 - Daikoukai Jidai
#953 - Family Trainer 7: Famitre Daiundoukai

Got a few more games in the last month, nothing major, but I wanted to post because now I have exactly 100 left. At this point, I should probably post whenever I get anything as we're getting closer to the end.

With the addition of Daiundoukai (Super Team Games), I now own all the Family Trainer (Power Pad) carts. I'd say that one and Manhattan Police seem to be the least common, although I don't think any are rare. We got 5/10 in the US. The most interesting Famicom exclusive looks to be Meiro Daisakusen, where you're going through a dungeon rpg style labyrinth, avoiding monsters. There's also a pair of games based on the Takeshi's Castle show (which means that there's a total of 4 Takeshi games on the system overall).

Here's a photo of the set. You'll notice my Running Stadium cart is held together with tape, still works though:



 

Also, I wanted to post this video I found on Youtube. It's the best one I've seen for showing how to open a Famicom cart. You might damage it slightly, but you shouldn't break off any of the plastic tabs. When putting it back together, you really need to push down hard to re-close the bottom part.

New additions:



#954 - Crazy Climber
#955 - Heavy Barrel
#956 - Parasol Henbee
#957 - Peepar Time
#958 - De-Block
#959 - Sweet Home
#960 - Airwolf
#961 - Don Doko Don
#962 - Dragons of Flame, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons
#963 - Gorby no Pipeline Daisakusen
#964 - Space Shadow
#965 - Royal Blood
#966 - Tashiro Masashi no Princess ga Ippai
#967 - Choujin Sentai: Jetman
#968 - Gun-Dec
#969 - Wily & Light no Rockboard: That's Paradise

The countdown of the final 100 begins with 16 more games, which means only 84 left. Gun Dec is kinda messed up, but it was cheap, so whatever.

Dragons of Flame was the last AD&D game needed (out of 4), and I learned something new: it's not the same game as Dragonstrike, but rather a totally different game which was Famicom only (Dragonstrike was NES only). I assumed that since there were only 4 games on both that they were the same 4, but nope.

Finally got Rockboard to finish all the Rockman games (the others were all in the first 50 acquired). It's a 1993 board game spinoff where you can play as Wily, Light, Roll, Cossack, and Kalinka. Not too exciting, but it seems like a typically well made Capcom 8-bit game.

Jetman is a fun game that's very similar to Shatterhand/Solbrain (also developed by Natsume).

Here's the breakdown by release year for games remaining:
 

	Total	Have	Left	Pct
1983	9	9		100%
1984	20	20		100%
1985	69	69		100%
1986	86	85	1	98.8%
1987	118	115	3	97.5%
1988	142	137	5	96.5%
1989	147	142	5	96.6%
1990	157	144	13	91.7%
1991	151	127	24	84.1%
1992	95	84	11	88.4%
1993	52	32	20	61.5%
1994	7	5	2	71.4%
	1053	969	84	92.0%

#970 - Igo Shinan
#971 - Casino Derby
#972 - Business Wars
#973 - Game Party
#974 - Magic Candle
#975 - Karaoke Studio Senyou Cassette Top Hit 20 Vol. 1
#976 - Rokudenashi Blues

7 new games added since last month, mostly obscure rarer stuff, although not expensive. Carts like Business Wars and Casino Derby and Igo Shinan, I've hardly ever seen loose in years of Ebaying. Two of those are from Hect, whose games are all obscure (18/20 for that publisher, thank god). Casino Derby is the last one needed from Party Room 21, whose five games seem to be hard to find as well.

Top Hit 20 Vol. 1 is the biggest get here - I now have all three Karaoke Studio games (the original and the two add on carts). I got the second Top Hit game a few years ago which seems backwards, because this one is more common. Glad to have them all; now to work on those stupid Datach carts.

Rokudenashi Blues is the other notable title - $15 for that one which is nice. It's a later release (1993) and had a SFC version, so that's probably why it's not a easy one to get (unlike the rest of Bandai's regular sized carts). I believe it's the one game on that Shonen Jump Famicom Classic that is not super common and cheap.

 

With the addition of Game Party, I've also completed the 8th of 33 publisher sets (only counting those with 10+ games). Here's a pic of all the Coconuts carts:



Ok, this isn't a very exciting bunch of games, unless you love Pachinko. Coconuts was known for their Pachinko games, including the Pachio-kun, Pachislot Adventure, and Pachinko Daisakusen series, which make up over half of the pic. Most of the others involve mini-games or sports, so there's nothing I would want to actually play here. The most interesting game seems to be American Dream, the Pachinko-themed quasi-rpg set in the USA. And unfortunately, 1999 is totally unrelated to the Capcom 1940s series of shooters.

The rarest one here is probably Pachi Slot Adventure 3, one of the last 1994 releases (the games are pictured in order of release date, so it's the last one). Asa Made Famicom is another uncommon one.

I still have 25 publisher sets to complete, despite only needing 77 games overall. There's 13 publishers which are one game away from completion, so any of them could be next. Here's how the completed ones stack up so far:
 

		Avg	Games	Total	Completed	#	Last Game	Most Expensive Game	Price
1	Coconuts	3.58	18	64.35	2019-02-11	973	Game Party	Pachi Slot Adventure 3	9.16
2	Tokyo Shoseki	3.55	15	53.31	2018-03-30	906	Cycle Race Roadman	Gun Nac	6.66
3	Nintendo	2.47	51	126.14	2017-10-19	874	Zelda no Densetsu	Family BASIC v3.0	19.19
4	Toei	2.30	14	32.14	2017-09-11	857	Fighting Road	Fighting Road	4.90
5	KAC	2.23	11	24.50	2017-08-12	846	Datsugoku	Baken Hisshou Gaku: Gate In	5.01
6	Square	1.85	11	20.33	2015-04-07	567	JJ	Final Fantasy I & II	3.50
7	Namco	1.84	84	154.79	2017-06-30	833	Splatterhouse: Wanpaku Graffiti	Ki no Bouken	5.43
8	ASCII	1.68	20	33.55	2017-06-12	810	Best Play Pro Yakyuu: Shin Data	Fleet Commander	3.06

Coconuts is the most expensive so far, but it won't be anywhere near the top when this is over. Right now, the top three most expensive sets are Hect-Sunsoft-Taito in that order, although I suspect Bandai may be number one by the end.


 

Awesome reading thru this thread. Best of luck with the rest of your quest!

Very Nice!  Inching ever closer!  I do have a full cart set and a large amount of them are boxed.  Adult responsibilities and other expensive hobbies are keeping me from going for full boxed. 
Crazy how expensive boxed Double Dragon or Snow Bros go for.  It's been too long for me to remember the last 10 and I didn't document everything like you unfortunately. 
I recall some of the obscure Igo games and rare Datach games being amoung the last.  I collected most of the best and english friendly games early on.

#977 - Exciting Boxing
#978 - DATACH - SD Gundam: Gundam Wars
#979 - Aces: Iron Eagle III


I've only added 3 games since the last update, but I wanted to post a photo of the 9th finished publisher set, Pack-in Video:



They published mostly western movie games, as well as the Japanese version of Kabuki Quantum Fighter. Looks like they eventually merged with Victor and became part of the company that is now Marvelous. The last I needed here was Aces (aka Ultimate Air Combat). The second half of their releases seem to be mostly uncommon (as always, these publisher photos have the games arranged in order of release).

I also got my third Datach game out of seven: SD Gundam Wars. It goes on the top 25 most expensive games list;, although for $19 with the cards, that was a good deal. I don't have any use for the cards since I'm probably never going to actually play it, but it was fun to try out. I learned that you have to scan the cards reasonably slowly to get them to read. I didn't any cards with the previous two Datach games I've bought.


 

#980 - Fushigi no Umi no Nadia
#981 - Nantettatte!! Baseball
#982 - Mickey Mouse III: Yume Fuusen

3 more carts, and the 10th publisher set is completed, which is Kemco:




Kemco is still around today, continuing to release low budget, terrible-looking rpgs. Have they ever released anything great in their entire history? I did beat Ghost Lion, which was just ok.

The most interesting games here are probably the Macventure ports (Deja Vu, Shadowgate, Uninvited). Seems like those games didn't get as much attention in Japan as they did in the west, since there were so many other adventure games released over there. They all have great soundtracks, so that's something we can credit Kemco for, I guess. Oh, and the consistent blue color for the cart shells is cool too.

Space Hunter is similar to Metroid, except everything is bad. I notice that they didn't try to hide their choice of a female hero, though.

Sabaku no Kitsune (Desert Commander) is notable for being the other Famicom game with a swastika on the cart. If you're reading this, I'm sure you already know about how the Japanese version of Bionic Commando has them too.

Almost all of these carts are easy to find and common, with the exceptions of North & South and Dragon Wars. Those two seem to be more uncommon. Mickey Mouse 3 is the only game here that you'd be unlikely to find under $10.

#983 - Double Dragon
#984 - Takahashi Meijin no Boukenjima IV

Another update right after the last one, and for a good reason. Today I received a copy of the fourth, Japan-only Adventure Island game for an amazing price ($13). All that constant Ebay checking paid off, I guess, since that's a game that normally goes for $100+. The seller seems to be someone who's main focus isn't video games, and he lists his games all at the same price. He's also the guy I bought Jetman, Gun-Dec, and Rockboard from at the beginning of the year. Funny story about that - I bought those games and a few choice doubles from him for $7 each, but several of them came damaged. You can see the photo of my Gun-Dec cart a few posts back. I'm not sure exactly what happened to it, but looking at his feedback, he got a neutral that mentioned "Games covered in/damaged by an oily fluid."  So apparently I wasn't the only one with that issue. However, rather than complain, I just accepted it. I knew I already got a great deal and I didn't want to piss off a seller that could potentially post more cheap stuff in the future. Looks like I made the right choice!

Getting that cart allowed me to finish off the Hudson Soft subset, so here it is:




Mostly very common stuff. Lode Runner, Bomberman, Star Soldier, and Adventure Island were all huge hits in the early days of the Famicom. Seems like they fell off after that, probably due to focusing on the PC Engine/Turbografx 16. There's a lot of well-known classics here, although I wouldn't put any of these in my top 25. Hudson's average game was pretty good compared to most other publishers, but I just think they were missing a truly great title. Still, these are some of the games that everyone thinks of when they think Famicom. Maybe not so much on the NES here in the west, though.

#985 - Ishin no Arashi

Only one new game to add, but this is the last Koei game I needed:



I just love it when a group of games has one inconsistently-shaped cart, don't you? That would be Mahjong Taikai, which is the only non-historical simulation game that they published. Although amusingly enough, it still lets you play as historical characters while you're playing mahjong. This is Koei, after all.

The last cart, Genchou Hishi, is the sequel to Genghis Kahn. It's the only one here that's hard to find, as it was released on 16 bit systems at the same time late in the Famicom lifespan in 1993.

I'm just noticing now how many of their carts have left-facing characters. Seems a bit unique.