Guide to Super Nintendo Blockbuster Exclusives

Blockbuster exclusive games are an interesting concept and these limited releases are now sought-after gems in the game collecting community. This article will be taking a closer look at all those hard-to-find Blockbuster exclusive titles for the SNES.
It is nearly impossible to get solid proof that a title was an exclusive. Some of these titles may have been an exclusive for only a short while, then put out for sale at other retailers. This list is the titles are the gaming community generally agrees were Blockbuster exclusive at one point in time.

ClayFighter: Tournament Edition
This SNES only game served largely as a fix to the original ClayFighter. It included all the same characters and fixed a lot of the glitches present in the original. They also changed a lot of the level backgrounds and added more versus modes. Despite how limited this release is, it is incredibly easy to find and cheap as well. A fun game, worth collecting, but usually overlooked.
Average Price: $8.25

Eek! The Cat
Developed by Ocean as a rental only game based off of the TV show by the same name, this awful game is a good example of your average licensed game. Sealed copies surface time to time and are worth a fair amount of money. Unsealed copies are often covered in Blockbuster stickers and always sell for cheap.
Average Price: $6.99

Mr. Nutz
Another Ocean developed rental only title. This game sported great graphics and good control. It was also really strange. It was outshined by other bigger and better mascot platformer games of the era. It was also only 6 levels long and has been ported to several other consoles. Still, the SNES version still fetches a reasonably high price for such an old game.
Average Price: $23.77

The Adventures of Kid Kleets
This title falls under the strange grouping of rare but worthless. Many websites rank this title, known as Soccer Kid in other regions, as at least an 8/10 on their rarity scale but it is still undervalued, underappreciated, and collectible.
Average Price: $9.99

The Ren & Stimpy Show Fire Dogs
Rental exclusive only, man! That’s what the box art says at least. This game is plagued with awful gameplay, shoddy controls, and overall poor quality. It only one of the several Ren & Stimpy titles for the SNES and it isn’t even the most valuable one, despite it being a rental exclusive.
Average Price: $10.00

Final Fight Guy
This game plays identical to Final Fight on the SNES, except that you can no longer play as Cody, only Guy and Haggar. This was a poor attempt to pacify fans of the arcade version, which was horribly butchered in order to fit on the limited space of the SNES cart. The SNES port cut out whole levels and the games third character, Guy the ninja. Another interesting tidbit about this game is that there are confirmed to be two different box arts. There is the “orange” version, pictured above, and a “black” version. It is unconfirmed where the “black” version of the box art came from and it is worth more than the “orange” version.
Average Price: $74.99

Hagane: The Final Conflict
This game has seen a recent rise in price unlike anything else I’ve ever seen. Two years ago, you could find a copy of this game for around $50 dollars, now that price has quintupled. A good, fun, and interesting game, there is a reason why it is sought out. Recently, evidence has started to mount undermining the “myth” that it really was a Blockbuster exclusive title. Some store managers have come forward saying that they sold it new in Electronic Boutiques stores. I don’t think we’ll ever conclusively know the truth about this game but for now, we can only sit back and watch the price skyrocket.
Average Price: $263.00

Starfox Super Weekend
Starfox is a Blockbuster exclusive but was never rented, it was available as part of a competition. An ingame timer stopped the game at a certain point. You would then take a picture of your score and submit it on a card that came with the game. High scores earned you jackets, pins, and other prizes. This interesting little piece of history has recently been enjoying a spike in prices as of late as SNES collecting is on the rise. It also interesting to note that there is a PAL region version of this game under the title Starwing Competition. It is worth less than the NTSC version but is most likely more rare than it.
Average Price: $500.00

Donkey Kong Country Competition Cartridge
Another competition cartridge worth a lot of money. After the competition was over, the Blockbuster stores had to ship them back to Nintendo. Not all stores did. The ones that did get shipped back were then sold through mail order through Nintendo Power magazine. This is one of, if not the, most expensive games for the SNES console. Finding it with the green case and insert intact increases the value but buyer beware, reproductions are becoming more and more common.
Average Price $1,000

There you have it, a huge list of rare and semi-rare games to go out and collect. Good luck finding the boxes and manuals. Most stores threw them away or they were so beat up from kids picking them up, opening them, and throwing around that they are tattered to pieces. The real challenge in collecting these titles is to find complete copies. Good luck hunting.