More than four decades have now passed since Electronic Arts was founded by Trip Hawkins, an Apple employee who wanted to focus on software and video game publishing. The company worked to bring games from independent developers to the market, and after a few years, started to buy developers so that it could keep everything under its own umbrella.

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Thanks to the company's early start and the consistent performance of its sports games, EA has been a major player in the video game industry since the early 90s. This has given the company the chance to publish some major milestones in gaming history, and collectors will pay surprising amounts for complete boxes of the rarest EA games.

6 Magic Candle 2: The Four and Forty ($164)

During the late 80s and early 90s, there was something of a rivalry between Origin Systems, the developers of the Ultima series, and EA. This is because of the Magic Candle series, which came out between 1989 and 1993. The Magic Candle games had a lot in common with the Ultima games that came out around that time, but Magic Candle 2 did a few things differently like allowing players to import their character from the first game.

The Magic Candle games would ultimately be eclipsed by other RPG series, including Ultima at the time and, later on, games like Baldur's Gate and The Elder Scrolls. However, the game still has its fans among retro RPG players. Because of that, and because of how hard it is to find a copy of this forgotten classic, it's no wonder that collectors are willing to pay a premium for a complete box.

5 John Madden Football ($166)

It's the video game that launched an empire. Trip Hawkins wanted to create a football game as soon as he founded Electronic Arts, but he had trouble finding someone in the industry to endorse it. He then ran into issues with contracts after he farmed out some of the development to Bethesda. However, despite all these problems, EA would release John Madden Football in 1988 for the Apple II and then for MS-DOS and the Commodore 64 in 1989.

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Unlike its competitors, John Madden Football uses a full team of 11 players and keeps track of simulation details like player fatigue and injuries. EA would later publish a football game on the Sega Genesis (also called John Madden Football) that would rocket the series to prominence and start the yearly cycle of EA Sports football games, but the original Apple II version is where it all began. Between its importance as a company milestone and how relatively hard copies are to find, it's no wonder that this game is a hot commodity for collectors.

4 Fountain of Dreams ($170)

Back before there was any Fallout, there was Wasteland. Developed by Interplay and published by Electronic Arts, Wasteland is an RPG that takes place in a post-apocalyptic version of the United States. Specifically, it focuses on the southwestern states since Interplay's headquarters were in southern California. However, some legal issues with EA caused Interplay to develop a new game with a new name, Fallout, while EA tried to recreate the magic of Wasteland in-house with the game Fountain of Dreams.

Not a single person who developed Wasteland would work on Fountain of Dreams, but EA did its best to recreate the game engine and experience while moving the setting to a post-nuclear Florida. Like the later Fallout series, much of the game's setting parodies modern America, but the story and game mechanics leave a lot to be desired. Still, this curiosity surrounding computer RPG history is worth a fair amount to collectors, especially since it didn't sell well when it came out.

3 Wasteland: Adventure in Post-Nuclear America ($187)

Fountain of Dreams may be a curiosity, but Wasteland: Adventure in Post-Nuclear America is the real origin of the whole Fallout franchise. While most computer RPGs of the time focused on fantasy settings and the occasional science fiction outing, Wasteland struck out on its own by taking place in a post-apocalyptic world where humanity is recovering from a nuclear war. Love of the game has also led to two modern sequels released in 2014 and 2020.

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Wasteland broke a lot of ground when it came out, and not just because of the setting. The game features party members who don't always obey the player's orders, a persistent world where player choices have a permanent impact, and locations based on real-world geography. It also has a detailed story written out in an accompanying manual and paragraph book since disk space was at a premium in the 80s, which is why the complete box is worth much more than a loose copy.

2 Ultima 7 Part 2: Serpent Isle: The Silver Seed ($342)

The rivalry between EA and Origin would come to an end in 1992, which is when EA bought the Ultima developer. So, while Ultima 7: The Black Gate features several subtle digs at EA, Ultima 7 Part 2: Serpent Isle would be an EA publication. Serpent Isle would also be the only "Part 2" of any Ultima game to come out, and its rushed development cycle meant that the game's story and length were much shorter than its creators had intended.

A few months later, EA and Origin released The Silver Seed, an expansion for Serpent Isle. The expansion was also rushed out the door, so the story doesn't make too much sense, but the developers still packed it full of overpowered weapons, items, and artifacts. EA would soon come out with a complete edition that packaged both Ultima 7 games and their expansions together, which is why a complete box of The Silver Seed expansion on its own is now one of the rarest EA games.

1 Ultima Online Charter Edition ($681)

Ultima Online wasn't the first MMORPG ever created, but its minimal interface and promise of player freedom made it extremely popular during the early years of online gaming. It also helped that it came out two years before EverQuest, the first big 3D MMO. Unlike other retro EA games, Ultima Online is still being updated, and the developer in charge is currently a company called Broadsword. Even with all the updates though, the game maintains a retro feel and 2D graphics.

Plenty of expansions and editions of Ultima Online have come out over the years, but none of them are as coveted by collectors as the Charter Edition. This was an intentionally limited edition of the game that was only available as a pre-order package in 1997, and EA only printed 10,000 copies. It even has a certificate of authenticity. Collector's Edition stunts are fairly common within the gaming community, but this is one occasion where the stunt has truly paid off.

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