I need some advise!

[YukonCornelius]

After years of collecting and finding a cool thing or two, I've come across the absolute rarest items I'll probably ever see - 2 NES prototypes.  One is Tecmo Baseball and the other is Star Force.  I posted pictures in the May Pickups thread and over at Nintendo Age.  They've both been confirmed as prototypes and I already have people offering me large sums for them.

Here's my dilemma: I have games that are worth large amounts of money, but I have them because I want to play them (Earthbound, Chrono Trigger, Golden Axe Warrior, ect.).  These games, on the other hand, are not good games.  The only attachment I have to them is that I found them with my friend.  It's a great story, but a story that could end in a good amount of money.  Should I sell?  Where should I sell?

[JakeHC]

How much are we talking here, 100s? 1000s? Depends what it means to you, I'd personally keep it. You didn't spend a large sum from the pick up thread, and there's a cool story along with it. If anything goes south financially in the future you can always sell those instead of your collection.

[mojoeskateco]

I'd keep them for sure.

Only way I'd sell them is if I was going to use the cash to acquire other games that are rare / expensive but are really worth playing.

[Nacho3]

You should sell them, the reason I scour thrift stores 3-4 times a week is to find something that's worth more than I am paying for it. If I happen to find a game I want to keep for my collection great, if I don't want it then I sell it on ebay and get what I want. I never understood why people would keep something just because someone else thinks it's valuable.

[Velmeran]

Depends on what type of collection you are trying to build.


If it was me, I'd probably sell them and use the profits to get more items I actually truly wanted into my collection.

[Arseen]

If the protos don't have anything special over normal versions, then sell if you get good price.

[YukonCornelius]

Thank you all for your input.  I'm thinking I will sell them to buy one of the more expensive NES games.  I mainly collect NES, SNES, and Master System so if I can spin these for a Bubble Bobble 2 or Panic Restaurant that's still a pretty good story to me.

Where should I sell it?  I'd hate to have all the fees of eBay but I've never used GameGavel.  Are there any other options?

[BadChad]

Somewhere like NintendoAge might be your best bet. Just sit on them for a bit and let the offers come in before you settle.

In all honesty it would be really awesome to see these protos get dumped if these haven't been already before, but I understand from a buyers standpoint, that hurts the value to these proto collectors. I just hate it when a proto ends up in the hands of someone who only intends to keep it locked away for themselves. My view is that these are lost artifacts that should be shared with the world when found, otherwise they can be lost forever. But I understand not everyone sees it that way. Personally, if I ever stumbled across a proto, I'd probably have it dumped. Sell the cart and sit on the rom for a year or two and then release it.

[YukonCornelius]

Thanks BadChad.  If I had the means to dump it, I would. 

I'm taking offers over at NintendoAge.  You can check out how it goes, if you'd like.

http://www.nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=6&threadid=126594

[Arseen]

Thanks BadChad.  If I had the means to dump it, I would. 

I'm taking offers over at NintendoAge.  You can check out how it goes, if you'd like.

http://www.nintendoage.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=6&threadid=126594

Can Redrode be adapted to do that?

Doesn't it work by dumping SNES and Genesis roms from carts to PC?

[Nacho3]

Somewhere like NintendoAge might be your best bet. Just sit on them for a bit and let the offers come in before you settle.

You are probably right about that being the best place for him to get a good offer for these but I just hate to see them go to somebody there. I quit going there years ago because there are so many arrogant assholes who do nothing but bash on anyone with low post counts and don't care about any games but the most high dollar ones. Granted, not all members there are that way but it seemed like the most devoted members were. Complete opposite of this site, that's why I like coming here.

[Ozzy_98]

I highly doubt it's not been dumped, it's looking like both of these were pretty common prototypes (Seeing how there's already known pictures).

There's a Star Force (U) (Prototype) [!] listed in GoodNes, but I'm not seeing one for Baseball.  So the baseball one might not be dumped yet, OR, the one in the cart is the same as the retail rom.  Did you happen to play them yet, and did you notice any differences?

As to Nacho3's comments, worst part is, they seem to be one of the better forums too. Some of the others I've seen are much worse.

[YukonCornelius]

I highly doubt it's not been dumped, it's looking like both of these were pretty common prototypes (Seeing how there's already known pictures).

There's a Star Force (U) (Prototype) [!] listed in GoodNes, but I'm not seeing one for Baseball.  So the baseball one might not be dumped yet, OR, the one in the cart is the same as the retail rom.  Did you happen to play them yet, and did you notice any differences?

As to Nacho3's comments, worst part is, they seem to be one of the better forums too. Some of the others I've seen are much worse.

I've played both games and compared them to their retail equivalents.  I cannot find any differences between either.

[Ozzy_98]

I wouldn't worry, chances are if there are any differences no one would notice.  I'd sell it so you don't start down the path of prototype collecting.  Take pictures of them, lots of pictures, but do not get too attached to them.  Then use the money for something else memorable.  Like a rare game, a new rare system, or something else (A whole bunch of games for example).  You will regret selling them to pay bills, I know that.

[FritzWhite]

I've considered dumping my collection and just getting one of those all in one carts (I forget what they're called, but you can play like practically every super nintendo game on them). I guess I'm paranoid about it because at this point my Nintendo games are probably over a couple thousand in value so I just feel weird about it. I like having the games, but I hardly ever play (no time and my free time is spent on other interests; when I do actually play it's usually just Super Mario World with gf).

Thoughts of dumping off a collection might be heresy around here and some motherfucker's going to come in and say I'm collecting for all the wrong reasons, but that's not it. I truly do like having all the games in their cases with the covers, but space is a bit of an issue, I don't play much though I would like to have the option to play if I so desire so I would definitely have to get one of those carts that plays all the games, and I'm just paranoid about something happening to the collection because, to me, it's worth enough that the thought of it being damaged or stolen stresses me out a little bit.

I don't know maybe I'm just being crazy. Sorry to divert the thread, it just made me think about my own situation.