We've linked to rare game auction crazies Gamesniped.com before, but a recent feature from them rounds up 'The World's Most Expensive Video Games' in relatively reasonable, accurate form - and is therefore well worth checking out.

As is explained in the intro: "Keep in mind however, that there are more rare items than what is on this list. Prototypes and Betas are by nature, one of a kind. However, the demand aren’t there for them like the games on this list. This list is a combination of rarity, price and demand." So they've tried to keep to actual production copies of games - which is a good way to do it.

Mind you, some of the production numbers are stupidly tiny - the top game listed, '1990 Nintendo World Championships: Gold Edition', has a known run of just 26 copies, and it's revealed that "...there’s at least six of these in collectors hands that I can confirm." Personally, I like 'Ultima: Escape from Mt. Drash' on the VIC-20, because it's on cassette tape, which is adorably old school - and it has an interesting history, being published in obscurity without Richard Garriott's permission back in 1983 or so.

[UPDATE: Shih Tzu's comment is so interesting that it deserves an update to include it: "The most interesting one I ever came across was a shop in Akihabara selling a special edition of Seaman on the Dreamcast for 100,000 yen (roughly $900 or so). The shopkeeper's note read: "Limited to 300 copies and distributed only within the company, this was created to commemorate the 74th birthday of late Sega president Isao Okawa." (Note: Okawa died in March of 2001 at the age of 74.) "Not only is Seaman's voice that of Mr. Okawa himself, but Seaman's responses to questions reflect the president's own feelings." Sadly, Mr. Okawa's feelings will likely remain forever veiled to me, because I happen to like money."]