General Category > General Discussion
What's the best way to collect? how do you collect?
Einhander:
I have to admit, most of my purchases for retro's have been from Ebay. At first it was pretty cheap, but now that I'm getting more specific with my title selections, it's getting more expensive. I have also went to retro game stores, but sometimes they are much more expensive than Ebay. I have got lucky a couple of times though when the guy thought my game was worth 60 and it really was only 20, but that's far and few. I have been to flea markets, but everything seems to be so jacked up in price. Now I am also a collector of shmup imports, so for those I'd think it'd be hard to get out in the wild. I have been to Goodwill several of times as well, but have never had any kind of luck.
Do any of you go to garage neighborhood sales? If so, how often do you find retro video games? Is it uncommon to find NES titles? What kind of games do you usually see? I'm interested in collecting for NES, SNES, and Genesis. What do you think is the best way?
SegaNomadman:
Honestly, it seems that nowadays ebay and flea markets/yard sales are the way to go unless you find a good deal at retro stores. Ebay is good for specific items (like the import shmups you talked about) but when I'm just out to find something interesting I just haggle my heart out at yardsales. There's some neat stuff out there and if you know how to talk someone down you can get it for a great price! ;D
madrocsz:
Its tough these days, had I not started collecting years ago, there is no way I would start now. It's not just the price being crazy but also the sheer amount of interest in the market making it near impossible to find any "deals". Used to be craigslist, flea markets, garage sales you could scoop up tons for a great price, now its picked over or over priced.
However, there are still deals to be found just wont come as easy.
- ebay is still an option, sometimes can snag a game for solid price due to it ending at a wrong time or being listed incorrectly etc
- friends/family You would be surprised how many people still have stuff laying around and could care less
- trade sites are still OK, when Goozex was in it's hayday I scooped up tons of games , same with 99 gamers
The one thing I cannot stress enough is patience. If you set a price you want to pay for it, stick to it, you may have to wait a bit but trust me it always pays off
Doom:
IMO: Best way to collect is not to do it, or to really evaluate why you want to collect.
My game collection has been mostly static these past few years, as I got into PC (Steam) gaming, which is all digital downloads. And I don't have a good place to display the games I have, which makes it not very fun to buy old games. They just sit in random piles or disorganized on some shelf.
But, once my house is a little cleaner, I'd like to reduce my collection to a small number of games that I adore, and have nice shelves (or maybe shrines :)) for them. I really like Endless Ocean on the Wii - so I thought about getting JPN and EUR copies of the game to compliment my NA copy, plus maybe a sealed copy too. Notice how this serves very little practical purpose. Practical collecting is a fool's game, IMO. Companies are getting very good about re-releasing games. The good games that aren't available for a reasonable price are few and far between - EarthBound may be an expensive SNES cart but it's $10 on the Wii U.
For me, game collecting is about showing appreciation for genres, series, games, systems, and companies you like. And to me, there's more value in a small collection of things you're passionate about than a collection of 1000 games you don't even like playing. (Nobody is out there playing their copy of Stadium Events or The Flintstones: The Surprise at Dinosaur Peak.) Sometimes that appreciation can be shown through merchandise, posters, and fanart prints rather than the games themselves. I own the fan-made Mother 3 handbook because I think that's a cool game, and the book is cool too.
I hate how arbitrary collecting is. I don't like the waves that each generation goes through - once the people who were 10 years old when X system came out graduate college and have jobs of their own, the prices of the games on those old systems go up. Looks like N64 games have almost hit their (temporary?) peak, and my guess is GameCube will follow in a few years. Super Smash Bros. Melee on GameCube was the bestselling game on the system, with 7 million+ copies sold. Somehow it's worth over $50 used. EarthBound isn't a rare game either, but so few people are willing to sell their copies that the game is worth a lot.
They're all just plastic, cardboard, and paper. I'm pretty sure most of them won't be worth anything in 50 years, because future generations won't care. Our generation isn't going around shopping for trinkets from 1964. It's difficult to argue that something with 7 million identical copies is inherently valuable.
Einhander:
--- Quote from: Doom on January 04, 2015, 01:07:46 AM ---IMO: Best way to collect is not to do it, or to really evaluate why you want to collect.
My game collection has been mostly static these past few years, as I got into PC (Steam) gaming, which is all digital downloads. And I don't have a good place to display the games I have, which makes it not very fun to buy old games. They just sit in random piles or disorganized on some shelf.
But, once my house is a little cleaner, I'd like to reduce my collection to a small number of games that I adore, and have nice shelves (or maybe shrines :)) for them. I really like Endless Ocean on the Wii - so I thought about getting JPN and EUR copies of the game to compliment my NA copy, plus maybe a sealed copy too. Notice how this serves very little practical purpose. Practical collecting is a fool's game, IMO. Companies are getting very good about re-releasing games. The good games that aren't available for a reasonable price are few and far between - EarthBound may be an expensive SNES cart but it's $10 on the Wii U.
For me, game collecting is about showing appreciation for genres, series, games, systems, and companies you like. And to me, there's more value in a small collection of things you're passionate about than a collection of 1000 games you don't even like playing. (Nobody is out there playing their copy of Stadium Events or The Flintstones: The Surprise at Dinosaur Peak.) Sometimes that appreciation can be shown through merchandise, posters, and fanart prints rather than the games themselves. I own the fan-made Mother 3 handbook because I think that's a cool game, and the book is cool too.
I hate how arbitrary collecting is. I don't like the waves that each generation goes through - once the people who were 10 years old when X system came out graduate college and have jobs of they're own, the prices of the games on those old systems go up. Looks like N64 games have almost hit their (temporary?) peak, and my guess is GameCube will follow in a few years. Super Smash Bros. Melee on GameCube was the bestselling game on the system, with 7 million+ copies sold. Somehow it's worth over $50 used. EarthBound isn't a rare game either, but so few people are willing to sell their copies that the game is worth a lot.
They're all just plastic, cardboard, and paper. I'm pretty sure most of them won't be worth anything in 50 years, because future generations won't care. Our generation isn't going around shopping for trinkets from 1964. It's difficult to argue that something with 7 million identical copies is inherently valuable.
--- End quote ---
I enjoyed your post. But I'm a little confused. This site is for collectors but You are saying that the best way to collect is not to collect, but then you are saying that practical collecting is for fools even though it may be cheaper.