Four Games Under $25 That Belong Behind Glass

Every game in our shop gets a rarity tag. Common, uncommon, rare, grail.

That tag is math. It comes straight off the comp. Under $25 is common, $75 and up is rare, $200 and up is a grail. No feelings involved.

And that's the problem.

Because some of the best games we've ever handled comp like a pack of gum. The price tag says "common." Anyone who actually played them knows better.

So this week we started calling it out.

What a Banger Is

A Banger is a game we picked by hand. It's not rare by the numbers. It's a game that's just flat-out good, and it deserves a spot in The Case next to the expensive stuff.

Two rules:

It has to be CIB. Case, disc, manual, all of it. A loose disc isn't going behind glass, no matter how good the game is.

It has to be one we'd actually play. Not "technically a classic." A game that makes somebody here stop what they're doing when a copy shows up in a trade.

That's it. Rarity is the comp talking. Banger is us talking.

You'll see a pink Banger badge on these in the shop now. Here are the first four.

The Godfather — PS2

People forget how ambitious this game was.

It's a crime sandbox where you work your way up the Corleone family while the movie's story plays out around you. You shake down shop owners, you take over businesses, you build your own little empire block by block. In 2006, on a PS2, that was a lot of game.

Our copy is complete: original case, artwork, and manual. The manual has a bend (it's in the photos), and the disc has light surface wear. Played and tested. It works.

$24.99. See it here.

NBA Street — PS2

Three-on-three streetball. Ridiculous dunks. Gamebreakers.

NBA Street is the kind of arcade sports game they basically stopped making. No season mode grind, no microtransactions, no online required. Just put the disc in and go.

This one's the Greatest Hits release, and it's clean. Case, artwork, manual, and a disc with minimal wear. Tested and working.

$18.99. See it here.

Grand Theft Auto III — PS2

This is the one that changed everything.

GTA III took the series into 3D and dropped you into Liberty City with no real instructions. Pretty much every open-world game that came after owes it something. If you played it in 2001, you probably still remember the first time you realized you could just... go anywhere.

It sold so many copies that a disc comps for almost nothing today. A complete copy with the map still in the box is a different story. That's what this one is: case, artwork, manual, and the map. Packaging looks clean, and the disc was played and tested.

$12.99. See it here.

MechAssault 2: Lone Wolf, Limited Edition — Xbox

This one's personal.

If you read our 50 games list, you already know it made the top 10. The reaction when one comes through a trade is always the same.

Big stompy mechs on the original Xbox. Nothing else felt like it.

And this isn't just any copy. It's the Limited Edition: holographic case, the game disc AND the bonus disc, the manual, and even the unused Xbox Live trial card. Both discs are pristine. Honestly, it's about as clean as these come.

$14.99. See it here.

Why Bother Labeling This Stuff?

Because a price tag isn't a review.

Great games comp low because great games sold a lot of copies, and all those copies are still out there. That doesn't make them worse games. It just makes them cheap ones.

The Banger badge is how we point at the cheap ones worth grabbing.

Every listing here is 1 of 1. When one of these sells, it's gone. The next Banger is whatever comes through the door next.

You can see every Banger in one place with the Bangers only filter in the shop, or browse the rest of The Case.

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Think we're missing one? Got a CIB copy of something that deserves the badge? trades@cart-a-vision.com. We'll hear you out.