What's the best way to collect? how do you collect?

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cynicalmatt:

--- Quote from: madrocsz on January 03, 2015, 03:27:25 PM ---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

--- End quote ---

THIS! Right here.

I've been collecting in earnest for a long time, and several years ago I started working on my Saturn collection. Naturally, one of the hardest games to get is Panzer Dragoon Saga, but I found a pristine, complete copy on eBay, WITH a pristine, complete copy of Dragon Force included, for $225! Saga alone sells for more than that! Granted, this was in 2008, but the point is if I had just jumped the gun and bought it immediately, I'd have paid way more.

Same goes for The House of the Dead. Again, I found a copy of eBay for about $40 less than the normal going rate, and this was just in 2014!

Patience is the biggest virtue when collecting. Look at it this way: we all get bitten by that bug where we decide we just HAVE to have a specific game, but how necessary is it to own AT THAT MOMENT? I cracked 1,000 games last year. I think I have more than enough to play for a while, which makes it easier for me to be patient.

All of the resources people have listed are good options. Retro stores are good for common games, but the rarer titles will generally cost you. I've personally had the most success with eBay, and I've gotten some decent pick-ups on the Amazon Marketplace too. Craigslist will even come through at times. Last summer I got a Saturn with 14 CIB games, the 3D control pad, and a Virtua Stunner lightgun, for $100.

As for garage sales, the only way you'll have much luck is if you arrive RIGHT when the sale starts because scalpers pick them clean, at least in my area.

Lastly, when it comes to the expense of collecting, it helps if you look at it as an average. Sure, you spent $180 on that copy of Earthbound, but you've also spent $3 each for a bunch of NES carts. It tends to even out. If you had bought everything at original retail price when it was first released and held onto it, it would be WAY more expensive than what you're paying now (on average). I'd have saved on Panzer Saga...but I'd also have paid $50 for Deadly Towers.

tiamaxwell:
I have had a lot of luck at Goodwills lately. In November I went in and found 9 NES carts I didn't have in decent condition. All ~$2 each.

I also made a list of games I'm interested in and researched the current going prices so I know when I have found a decent price or a good haggle point. Otherwise I just look for good deals. I use Craigslist, amazon, eBay, game shops. The shopping around is fun for me. The only game store here is gamestop so we have to go to the bigger cities to find the small stores. It's a fun adventure and talking to other people or the shop owners is fun. I also like finding things That look interesting but aren't in my list price them out and adding them to the list. Lately I have been questioning whether I should keep shopping at gamestop. They have discontinued a lot of their older games and I'm tired of stickers. I just don't find them valuable anymore because I can pre-order online, usually cheaper, have it at my home after work and have no stickers on my game.

wiggy:
Honestly there is no best way. I use whatever method works best for the particular item/items I'm after. Sometimes ebay/amazon, often local shops, forum sales/trades, occasionally big box stores (when they have good sales), garage sales, etc.

We have like ZERO Goodwill shops in the vicinity, and the few that there are, don't have a damned thing game-wise. Flea markets around here have insane prices, and aren't plentiful anyway. Garage sales are sometimes fruitful, but you have to spend a lot of time hunting, and you may very well come up empty handed. Plus there are a LOT of other collectors/resellers in my area, so you MUST be the fist person to the sale. Game stuff gets wiped out instantly at garage/estate sales around here.

Doom:

--- Quote from: Einhander on January 04, 2015, 04:12:07 AM ---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,
--- End quote ---
I used to enjoy making and printing covers much more. The expense of the hobby and my increased experience with emulation and the Virtual Console has made me like collecting less. A file on a Wii U or an actual cartridge - it makes no difference to me.

--- Quote ---but then you are saying that practical collecting is for fools even though it may be cheaper.
--- End quote ---
Practical collecting is buying a game because you want to play it. That's buying Smash Bros. Melee for $55 used because you want to play it, or EarthBound for $160 used because you want to play it. But EB is on the Wii U for a mere $10, and I'm hoping that Melee gets remade in some way within the next 10 years. Melee is in the minority - most good games are like EarthBound and available in many places.

Among my favorite games, most are available as digital downloads, or in remakes. (Ocarina of Time can be substituted for OoT 3D for example [and I think OoT 3D is a better game too].)

And these remakes and ports aren't really going away. If anything, more games will be released in this manner. Sure, Panzer Dragoon Saga is around $360 used, but it looks like the reason it hasn't been re-released is mostly because of the difficulty of writing a Sega Saturn emulator, rather than any licensing issues. So give it 10 or 15 years and it should be possible to buy that game once again for a reasonable price. Ikaruga was a very expensive Dreamcast / GameCube release, but then it came to Xbox 360 and later Steam for $10.

wiggy:

--- Quote from: Doom on January 04, 2015, 02:20:52 PM ---
--- Quote from: Einhander on January 04, 2015, 04:12:07 AM ---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,
--- End quote ---
I used to enjoy making and printing covers much more. The expense of the hobby and my increased experience with emulation and the Virtual Console has made me like collecting less. A file on a Wii U or an actual cartridge - it makes no difference to me.

--- Quote ---but then you are saying that practical collecting is for fools even though it may be cheaper.
--- End quote ---
Practical collecting is buying a game because you want to play it. That's buying Smash Bros. Melee for $55 used because you want to play it, or EarthBound for $160 used because you want to play it. But EB is on the Wii U for a mere $10, and I'm hoping that Melee gets remade in some way within the next 10 years. Melee is in the minority - most good games are like EarthBound and available in many places.

Among my favorite games, most are available as digital downloads, or in remakes. (Ocarina of Time can be substituted for OoT 3D for example [and I think OoT 3D is a better game too].)

And these remakes and ports aren't really going away. If anything, more games will be released in this manner. Sure, Panzer Dragoon Saga is around $360 used, but it looks like the reason it hasn't been re-released is mostly because of the difficulty of writing a Sega Saturn emulator, rather than any licensing issues. So give it 10 or 15 years and it should be possible to buy that game once again for a reasonable price. Ikaruga was a very expensive Dreamcast / GameCube release, but then it came to Xbox 360 and later Steam for $10.

--- End quote ---

Actually Sega claims that the source code was lost at some point, so the game would have to be rebuilt from scratch :(

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