JJ over at Video Game Price Charts has put up an interesting (albeit self-explanatory) post based on an idea that I submitted to them — to track Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne and Digital Devil Saga’s price crash after the recent Atlus reprints.

Here’s what Nocturne looks like, and it ain’t pretty:

For the record, I don’t think Amazon ever got the reprints of Digital Devil Saga — only Gamestop did. And to make matters more interesting, Gamestop is only selling the game as gutted and used, a process that they called “newsed” — new product converted to used. This means you can buy a new sealed Nocturne but NOT DDS; I believe means something interesting is going to happen in the long term: Sealed copies of DDS will keep a very high price while Nocturne’s is not as high, because new/sealed copies of DDS are generally not available, even now.

If you’ve read my previous posts, I still think Nocturne’s price will go up once the reprinted copies have evaporated. There’s a precedent for this — both Disgaea and Persona 2 have seen slow price growth even after reprints.

Ah, ’tis the year of RPG reprints. One of the last high-valued RPGs on the PS2, Ar Tonelico, is getting a reprint later this month — a preorder page is now available on Rosenqueen, NIS America’s online shop.

Just a few months ago, Atlus reissued the obscenely rare Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne and Digital Devil Saga 1. Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne is available from both Play-Asia and Amazon (where it goes in and out of stock).

Until today, original prints of Ar Tonelico had been pushing around $70 on eBay without the box and around $80 with.

If the past is any indication, even the reprints may turn out to be good investments. Atlus reprinted Persona 2 and Rhapsody in 2005 and sent out massive numbers of copies to Gamestops around the country, priced at $29.99 each. Rhapsody’s price has slid to around $20, but Persona 2 has shot back up to $50-$70 on the used market, most likely due to the ongoing popularity of the series.

In other news, Ar Tonelico’s reprint might point to an upcoming US release of Ar Tonelico 2. Thelonepig on Cheapass Gamer emailed NIS’s customer serivce to ask about Ar Tonelico 2 coming stateside, to which they responded, “that they couldn’t make any formal comments, but that ‘you won’t be disappointed.’”