Starting a new collecting quest for 2016

[KalessinDB]

If I were only down to about 10 games, and they were all $200+, then I would probably just say screw it, close enough lol

I would in that case probably burn the discs myself (and maybe print the manual and covers).
Then get real ones if they pop up cheap.

That's my intention with my NES set. Anything above $200 will get repro'd via INL until such time as I either find it cheap by a miracle or I can stop buying for other collections long enough to save the money.

[N64 Guy]

Knocked another three off the list for $27 shipped.

[segamer]

So, I have to warn you about something in regards to collecting Saturn Games. Unlike most CD based games, Saturn games have very little paint on top of the disc. In most cases, the graphical image on top of a disc will protect the foil. However, on Saturn games, the foil is exposed in most cases. One out of every 5 saturn games I've gotten on Ebay had disc rot/foil damage. You can really only see this damage by looking at your games under a light.

Here's an extreme example:



I paid over $200 for a copy of Saturn Bomberman only to find foil damage. It's just a few dots but I sent it back. I purchased Mega Man 8 on Saturn 3 times before I acquired a copy without disc rot.

[N64 Guy]

Knocked another four off the list brings my total to 53.

[tiktektak]

So, I have to warn you about something in regards to collecting Saturn Games. Unlike most CD based games, Saturn games have very little paint on top of the disc. In most cases, the graphical image on top of a disc will protect the foil. However, on Saturn games, the foil is exposed in most cases. One out of every 5 saturn games I've gotten on Ebay had disc rot/foil damage. You can really only see this damage by looking at your games under a light.

Here's an extreme example:



I paid over $200 for a copy of Saturn Bomberman only to find foil damage. It's just a few dots but I sent it back. I purchased Mega Man 8 on Saturn 3 times before I acquired a copy without disc rot.

I think that problem is prone on most first generation CD based consoles. Especially Sega-Mega CD / Saturn / CD-i. On the other hand Pc Engine Cds which are the oldest cd based medias are pretty sturdy. PS1 games are also hard to kill maybe because of their special pressing style.

[Rx_79]

So, I have to warn you about something in regards to collecting Saturn Games. Unlike most CD based games, Saturn games have very little paint on top of the disc. In most cases, the graphical image on top of a disc will protect the foil. However, on Saturn games, the foil is exposed in most cases. One out of every 5 saturn games I've gotten on Ebay had disc rot/foil damage. You can really only see this damage by looking at your games under a light.

Here's an extreme example:



I paid over $200 for a copy of Saturn Bomberman only to find foil damage. It's just a few dots but I sent it back. I purchased Mega Man 8 on Saturn 3 times before I acquired a copy without disc rot.

I had a Mario Sunshine do something like this onetime.

[amiga1200]

faaaak!
that's nasty, heads rolling tackle right there.  
it's a sad fact of optical medias.
well, anything really, thermal dynamics and entropy at it's finest.  
...
all the diseased joints i infest, this subject occasionally crops up, and the best solution would be to:
1, dump the disk image and verify it.
2, and create a 1/1 backup for a spoofed console.
(cloneCD and the tosec/redump/trurip dat tables to check shit against. dumping methods can vary, not a science, but an art.)
my saturn is just stored away til it gets an ODE.
there's RHEA, but out of my resource range atm, and i'll be waiting for a usb/sata version, which will eventually...  
[edit]
typo.

[cynicalmatt]

I don't collect complete sets of any console (seems like a waste of money when so many games for any given system aren't worth it), but I do have a nice Saturn collection.  About seven years ago I started collecting for it in earnest and I picked up the majority of rare titles before the prices went insane.

I got Panzer Dragoon Saga AND Dragon Force together for $225. 
Burning Rangers was $90.
Shining Force III was $80.
Magic Knight Rayearth was $90.
House of the Dead was $115.

I don't remember what I paid for stuff like Shining Wisdom, Shining the Holy Ark, or Shinobi Legions, but I know it was all considerably less than they sell for these days.  I still had a lot of games from their original retail life too, like NiGHTS, Guardian Heroes, and VF2.

Saturn Bomberman was my greatest accomplishment.  I paid $90 for it last year, and that was a great price.  Three weeks later, the case and manual got ruined in a flood.  The disc still worked, but the manual was all waterlogged and hideous.  A local shop got in a copy priced at $80!  I took my crappy copy up there, figuring maybe I'd get $40 in trade just based on the rarity of the game, condition notwithstanding.  They gave me $115 in trade.  In essence, they PAID ME to take a better quality copy of the same game.  My old copy still sits in their shelf, priced at $189.99. 

I wish you luck in your endeavor.  It's gonna cost you, but the Saturn is such a great, under-appreciated system.

Boy does this age me. I bought all of those games when they were available new.

I could have done the same.  I was in my late teens at the time of their original release and had just started working.  But by that time, I had also moved on from my Saturn and never really bought games for it anymore.

But when you're a dumb teenager, you don't really think, "Oh hey, this game may cost me $400 some day..." 

[N64 Guy]

Another two off the list and the Sega rally net link edition for $10 I'll take it!!

Total 55 + 1 net link edition

[wiggy]

The rotting issue is because of an inadequate layer of lacquer on the top surface. The screened-on graphic isn't intended to provide any protection to the aluminum data layer.  Some really early audio CDs have this defect as well. Like the extra flame retardant in the SNES plastic parts, it's just a manufacturing flaw, not a defect in the design of the actual parts.  Not that this info makes it suck any less when it happens

[wiggy]

I don't collect complete sets of any console (seems like a waste of money when so many games for any given system aren't worth it), but I do have a nice Saturn collection.  About seven years ago I started collecting for it in earnest and I picked up the majority of rare titles before the prices went insane.

I got Panzer Dragoon Saga AND Dragon Force together for $225. 
Burning Rangers was $90.
Shining Force III was $80.
Magic Knight Rayearth was $90.
House of the Dead was $115.

I don't remember what I paid for stuff like Shining Wisdom, Shining the Holy Ark, or Shinobi Legions, but I know it was all considerably less than they sell for these days.  I still had a lot of games from their original retail life too, like NiGHTS, Guardian Heroes, and VF2.

Saturn Bomberman was my greatest accomplishment.  I paid $90 for it last year, and that was a great price.  Three weeks later, the case and manual got ruined in a flood.  The disc still worked, but the manual was all waterlogged and hideous.  A local shop got in a copy priced at $80!  I took my crappy copy up there, figuring maybe I'd get $40 in trade just based on the rarity of the game, condition notwithstanding.  They gave me $115 in trade.  In essence, they PAID ME to take a better quality copy of the same game.  My old copy still sits in their shelf, priced at $189.99. 

I wish you luck in your endeavor.  It's gonna cost you, but the Saturn is such a great, under-appreciated system.

Boy does this age me. I bought all of those games when they were available new.

I could have done the same.  I was in my late teens at the time of their original release and had just started working.  But by that time, I had also moved on from my Saturn and never really bought games for it anymore.

But when you're a dumb teenager, you don't really think, "Oh hey, this game may cost me $400 some day..." 

To be fair, NOBODY back then was thinking that their game collection would be valuable at some point. I can't tell you how many copies of SMW I threw away while working used retail in the late 90's/early 00's. We had dozens priced at $.25-.50 and they didn't move. Ever.  People would come in with bags of games and we'd tell them that we have no use for those sorts of seemingly infinitely available games, and when we'd give them back to them, 99% of the time they'd ask "where's the trash?" 

[larryinc64]

I kinda feel like the days of that are gone, with people looking for the next thing that will be worth a pile of money, like the Devil's Third being scalped and no one wants it, or people buying 2 sets of amiibos, one open and one to keep sealed. sealed amiibos are going to be worth nothing in the future with how many collectors are keeping them in box. I hear the same thing happened with comics in the 90s.

It's only valuable because no one thought it was going to be.

[Arseen]

I kinda feel like the days of that are gone, with people looking for the next thing that will be worth a pile of money, like the Devil's Third being scalped and no one wants it, or people buying 2 sets of amiibos, one open and one to keep sealed. sealed amiibos are going to be worth nothing in the future with how many collectors are keeping them in box. I hear the same thing happened with comics in the 90s.

It's only valuable because no one thought it was going to be.

I have the seconds as decoration and in case that one breaks.

[TDIRunner]

It's only valuable because no one thought it was going to be.

This^^^

I've been saying this for a while.  When I was a kid I loved comics and I used to follow the values in whatever magazine tracked that stuff.  I used to see comics that my Dad owned as a kid that wee worth a fortune and ask him about them.  He said that they used to throw that stuff away after they read them as kids.  So myself and anyone else who read comics as a kid kept all of their stuff assuming it would make them rich in the future.  Now the future is here, and everyone still owns their stuff and it's super common and cheap.

The same thing will happen with current gen video games.  No one is making the mistake of throwing that stuff out anymore.  

[Polygon]

HAHAHAHA!
yeah, good luck with that!  (need more than ca$to get the equal to tosec ss db on retail, even for a single region.
worth keeping in mind: a fucktonne of exclusive titles are JPN only.)
the shelf looks good. 

Just what I was thinking. Saturn games are low on my priority list right now. A lot of uncommon games and a lot of very expensive games. Most of the good stuff need to be imported. I'm holding out for the eventual drop of the market when I believe prices will settle down some. Until then I'm sticking with the less expensive and easy to find games on my list.