Featured Image Credit: NWAnowadays/ Reddit / 8bitbeyond
The market for retro games has absolutely exploded in the last few years - collecting was once a niche hobby, but now it can be an absolute goldmine.
While the word 'retro' summons visions of pixel sprites from the NES era, the reality is that the PlayStation 2 came out nearly 24 years ago, so even though it might be painful to admit, it's firmly in the retro section now.
So, it shouldn't come as any real surprise that rare PS2 games are now starting to fetch prices that would have been completely ridiculous just half a decade ago - with a recent Reddit post summing things up perfectly.
From user NWAnowadays, it's a quick photo of three price labels for PS2 games, headlined by the ironically-titled Obscure, priced at a massive $285 (£225) - with a missing manual and not exactly in museum-ready quality, either.
That's a simply huge price, and it's sparked a whole bunch of amusing responses in the comments, including many, many plays on the fact that the game is obscure in both title and rarity
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Arranged behind it, you can also see Xenosaga Episode III at $210 (£165) and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories at a staggering $300 (£235), proving that Obscure's label isn't just a one-off.
And people can't believe these prices, with one Redditor commenting: "You telling me I can sell my old Silent Hill copy for $200?!"
But many other Redditors noted that this is now a market with absolutely no supply, and steadily increasing demand from a generation of gamers who are now able to spend disposable income on nostalgic collector's items from their youth.
That's driving the prices up over time, although it helps that these three games were all relatively rare to begin with, with limited printings when they first came out, compared to something far more mainstream like an annual Pro Evolution Soccer game (since FIFA was in second place back then).
Frankly, they're likely to get even more expensive over time, too - and with a new remake of Silent Hill 2 coming out this year on PS5, Shattered Memories could get even more interest pretty soon.
This all shows there's a generation of people now regretting trading in, giving away or selling their old gaming gear, from Pokémon card collections to Game Boy Advance carts, all of which are now skyrocketing in price.
