January 2013 pickups

[madrocsz]

Was a bit out of the way yesterday and checking google checked out this place called 'GameWare", looks like former gamestop which ironically is in the same strip mall as a gamestop but they deal with retro as well as new.
As per typical, most of the retro stuff was picked over and rather pricey. But let me lead up to my story

I wanted to buy something, simply because I went out of my way to go here, found Valis: The Fantasm Soldier for Genesis for 4.99 (not a bad deal considering its 2-3x that elseware) however I checked the glass cases before checking out and saw Super Mario World/Super Mario All Stars for SNES priced at $69.99. Given, this was crazy but they had some OK prices on other, more rare snes games.

I asked the cashier why that was so high, he flat out told me "because stupid people see mario and buy it, so we raised the price"

My response was tossing the game I had in hand on the counter, telling him they were wrong for that and "happy fucking new year"

So, no pickups for me lately lol

[wiggy]

^^^ I never get why that sort of thing bugs people so much.  I would do the same if I were a retailer. It's worth what it's worth. If people will pay 70 for Mario, then there's absolutely no reason to not price it as such, no latter how common it actually is.  I definitely wouldn't let it keep me from buying something that is actually a good deal. Why take it so personally?


Picked this uo for 8 bucks. Description said broken, but it seems that he just didn't have a charger. Charged it up and works great




Plus a few more "broken" GBAs that are totally not broken and will soon join the backlit AGB-001 family

[madrocsz]

I completely understand the business mentality behind that reasoning, what I disliked is how he said it like such. Given, I may look like a gamer and know a bit about such, but suppose I was not and maybe one of the "stupid people"

That and a morality comes into play, even if I sell extras I don't try and jack up prices simply because I can, unfortunately I have a conscious.  I understand a certain retail value but I wouldn't want to be that retailer that prices things as such as it could potentially alienate my customer base and instill a lack of distrust.

To your point of it's worth what it's worth, considering you can find it cheaper online it really goes to show they are preying on those more uniformed customers and someone has to speak up for the little guy . 

[mojoeskateco]

^^^ I never get why that sort of thing bugs people so much.  I would do the same if I were a retailer. It's worth what it's worth. If people will pay 70 for Mario, then there's absolutely no reason to not price it as such, no latter how common it actually is. 


Picked this uo for 8 bucks. Description said broken, but it seems that he just didn't have a charger. Charged it up and works great




Plus a few more "broken" GBAs that are totally not broken and will soon join the backlit AGB-001 family

Agree here.  If people are stupid enough to pay a price then that's their problem.

I actually like places like this because you can trade them a bunch of Mario titles and then find a good / rare / expensive game that they didn't bother to research for cheap.

[sheep2001]

^^ How many people do you think are into retro gaming, and not aware of online pricing?

I agree the guy was a dick saying people are stupid so they jack up the price,  but anything they have over priced won't sell. Simple.  And if it does, then more power to them,  it's up to 'the stupid people' to research before they part with their cash.

[mojoeskateco]

I completely understand the business mentality behind that reasoning, what I disliked is how he said it like such. Given, I may look like a gamer and know a bit about such, but suppose I was not and maybe one of the "stupid people"

That and a morality comes into play, even if I sell extras I don't try and jack up prices simply because I can, unfortunately I have a conscious.  I understand a certain retail value but I wouldn't want to be that retailer that prices things as such as it could potentially alienate my customer base and instill a lack of distrust.

To your point of it's worth what it's worth, considering you can find it cheaper online it really goes to show they are preying on those more uniformed customers and someone has to speak up for the little guy .  

Also agree.  When I resell things online locally I don't overprice them.  I try and look at ebay completed auctions and charge at or lower than that price and will usually take about 80% of market value depending on the volume I'm selling and if I acquired the items for cheap.

[madrocsz]

Agree here.  If people are stupid enough to pay a price then that's their problem.

I actually like places like this because you can trade them a bunch of Mario titles and then find a good / rare / expensive game that they didn't bother to research for cheap.

Yeah, but thats the kicker, I called back later and asked what the trade in value was for it, 3$ credit for 1.50 cash. l o l

[mojoeskateco]

Agree here.  If people are stupid enough to pay a price then that's their problem.

I actually like places like this because you can trade them a bunch of Mario titles and then find a good / rare / expensive game that they didn't bother to research for cheap.

Yeah, but thats the kicker, I called back later and asked what the trade in value was for it, 3$ credit for 1.50 cash. l o l

Well then yeah ... that's terrible.  I wonder if they would do that if you had just walked in, saw it for $65 or whatever if they would offer $3 on trade. 

I like finding places that just over value the popular games altogether and don't price check everything.

I picked up Pocky and Rocky 2 for SNES for $40 this summer and the guy was selling Super Mario World at $30.

I traded him Super C, Castlevania 1 & 2 and a some mario games which were cheap finds for me so it worked out great.

[mojoeskateco]

Picked these up at the post office today.

3 more off the NES hit list

[madrocsz]

Good pickups, I remember in my giant craigslist purchase last year I had a boxed jetsons which I sold and spend 1/3rd of that back to get the cart only lol.

The capcom/hanna barbera/disney games have been getting retardedly expensive lately, glad I got them when I did

Might final fight was one of my pickups last year too, pretty fun game and its only increasing in value and of course, can never go wrong with MM5, looks awesome to see 1-6 on my shelf in their UGC's

Whats left for your NES list? I *say* i finished mine but keep looking and may end up breaking that lol

[wiggy]

Agree here.  If people are stupid enough to pay a price then that's their problem.

I actually like places like this because you can trade them a bunch of Mario titles and then find a good / rare / expensive game that they didn't bother to research for cheap.

Yeah, but thats the kicker, I called back later and asked what the trade in value was for it, 3$ credit for 1.50 cash. l o l

WOW!  That is a mountain of horse shit right there. I definitely woulda become pretty vocal at that point.

[mojoeskateco]

Good pickups, I remember in my giant craigslist purchase last year I had a boxed jetsons which I sold and spend 1/3rd of that back to get the cart only lol.

The capcom/hanna barbera/disney games have been getting retardedly expensive lately, glad I got them when I did

Might final fight was one of my pickups last year too, pretty fun game and its only increasing in value and of course, can never go wrong with MM5, looks awesome to see 1-6 on my shelf in their UGC's

Whats left for your NES list? I *say* i finished mine but keep looking and may end up breaking that lol

Still contemplating going for a full set, however it's getting discouraging as, like you said, prices of games are just going insane.

I like your approach of listing the games you want and then sticking to that.  I'm doing that for all the other systems except for NES.

With Mega Man 5 and Mighty Final Fight I now have all the games I want to play for the NES.

[madrocsz]

Cool, glad ya got the ones ya wanted done (nes wise)

I thought about collecting whole sets for systems but to me it just didnt make sense after a few considerations. Hence why I made the list, mainly games I grew up playing, games friends had or those that come highly recommended that others have mentioned. For instance, I have little samson because its a great game, but I could care less about flintstones since it's pretty meh and inflated price lol.

considerations to collecting a complete set

- Price per game, for example the NES has 700+ carts (depending on how many variations etc you consider). While 80% of them are junk games that should only be worth a 1$ or so, finding each and every one will prove quite costly, especially considering for me the used retro game market is pretty non-existent where I live. Buy games 1 by 1 online and expect to pay 5x that after shipping. Sure, can buy in bulk but end up with lots and lost of duplicates.

- UGC's , I personally love the UCG and the artwork from this site, ever since I flat out refuse to display a cart by its lonesome, the loose ones I have sit in a drawer until they get artwork made for them. It cleans things up, protects the cart and is overall a better display piece. My wife as well as many of my friends found it tacky/"nerdy" to have game carts stacked everywhere but since I have transitioned to UGC they seemingly respect my collection more and it to them is now a library of sorts.

- Space , See above, I already have my collection wrapping around two entire walls of a room

- Fact that I still play and collect current generation stuff. This directly affects my spending and space parimeters

For the most part I am 99% done with my older systems collecting, and while I am sure if I go back and start looking for more to add to the collection I might add a bit more. The plus side being, instead of having massive lists I really done have any, so as soon as a game pops into my "i want that" category I am only hunting for 1 at a time. If anything I am more so considering collecting for an entirely new system. (sega master system with their ugly cases or TG16 which is flat out expensive)

[Bear78]

Picked this up off of Craigslist today for $200.  CIB and the discs look like they were hardly used.  Guy said he never played it as it wasn't really his thing, just had it for his Saturn collection.

[segamer]

Picked this up off of Craigslist today for $200.  CIB and the discs look like they were hardly used.  Guy said he never played it as it wasn't really his thing, just had it for his Saturn collection.

Pricy but Awesome!