He wasn’t the buyer, but I bet he wishes he was.

If you happen to be a connoisseur of RPGs, you know Chrono Trigger is widely considered to be the Pièce de résistance of the Super Nintendo era. Memorable characters, a cool time-traveling hook and a smorgasbord of endings made Chrono Trigger the pinnacle of 2D sprite RPGs.

It also happens that like many masterpieces, this one is worth a hefty sum. The game lists for around $60 in many used games stores, assuming you can find a copy. The internet has some listed for more than $100.

But for the discerning palate it’s worth the cost, as evidenced by the recent sale of a factory sealed copy of Chrono Trigger for a healthy $1,217.

After seeing such a hefty sum being paid for a Super Nintendo game, the good folks at Video Game Price Charts decided to ask the tough questions. Namely, how does investing in such a game compare to investing in a company such as, say, Microsoft?

Based on the sale on eBay for $1,217, and a starting price of $69.99, resisting the urge to rip the plastic off would net a 25.7% annual return. Not bad, eh?

The same economically minded gamer who discovered this also went on to compare the annual return for one share of Apple stock and one share of Microsoft stock. The result? A 22.0% return with Apple and 13.6% return with Microsoft. Don’t ask me about the math, I’m no economics major. Check out the site if you want to know how the value of stock gets broken down. All I know is I’m wishing I had saved a second copy of the game for a rainy day.

So forget those old baseball cards, and start digging up those old games. That is, if you can put a value on nostalgia.

• Chrono Trigger DS Will Feature a New Ending
• Chrono Trigger fan mod receives Cease-and-Desist letter from Square Enix
• DS Game Cribs Music From Chrono Trigger, Gundam
• Confirmed: Chrono Trigger DS!
• Dude Hacks Chrono Trigger for Proposal
• Square Enix Announces E3 Line-Up – Chrono Trigger DS Playable
• Chrono Trigger DS Releases in North America on November 25th
• Chrono Trigger DS Teaser Trailer Surfaces

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