Is NES collecting even a realistic option these days?

[HDRchampion]

Once i got the everdrive i stop buying NES, SNES, & Genesis games. My first goal was to buy arcade pcbs that i enjoyed as a child. I only ventured out on a few other systems like the Atomiswave, Polygame Master, & Naomi that i really didn't need but wanted to experience.

For people who want to collect, i really dont see a problem with it. Metal Jesus seems like he has passion for what he does & he seem happy with it.

 

[neo_mao]

I think "collecturd" is more appropriate and more politically correct than "collectard" so we can all feel good about using the term. Carry on!

Also, can we all just agree that this is a thing of absolute beauty!

Spoiler:

 

[Pasky]

iknorite, it's like looking in the mirror. I hate reality checks.

 

[Takumaji]

So much collecting hate, especially from people who freely admit to collecting. Way I see it, either collect or don't collect, everyone has their own idea of what is a reasonable level of money or time to spend on all this (can we all agree absolutely pointless) shit, just leave people to get on with it.

Well, yeah, you got a point there. Then again, there are collectors and "collectors", the latter were bitten by the retro bug and now try to amass a sizeable collection in a short period of time. They pay outta their arse even for quite common titles which drives up prices way beyond sane levels and also brings out fakers, scammers and other human garbage who cash in on the madness.

In the end, normal people who just want to have a bit of fun can't afford buying that stuff anymore while in another part of the world, the games they want rot away behind glass doors, sealed in plastic bags and treated like they were precious jewels or something, only to be sold a few years later for obscene prices when the retro guys realise how stupid they were to shell out big time for a bunch of video games and find out that you can't recreate the golden years of your youth, no matter how many old toys you pile up.

 

[Jon]

There's definitely a huge difference between people who have been collecting since the mid-ninetees, like myself, and those that have just started. The guys that started 15-20 years ago were, maybe, buying around 20-50 games a year. That adds up over the years and, pretty soon, you have 500-1000+ games in your collection.

The hipsters and people who are just now starting have to have it now...right now. They don't care how much they pay, they just have to have it to emulate Youtube celebrities and people on Nintendo Age.

The worst of the worst are the people who can't even fit their stuff at home anymore. They have to buy multiple storage lockers to store it.

I'm not against collecting, as I do it myself but, at least play what you have, even if it's just once. That way it'll have served some purpose.

Jon

 

[Colorado Rockie]

I think "collecturd" is more appropriate and more politically correct than "collectard" so we can all feel good about using the term. Carry on!

Also, can we all just agree that this is a thing of absolute beauty!

Spoiler:

View attachment 32908

Beautiful indeed... but this is sexier

 

[terry.330]

That is the perfect example. Good game no one gave a fuck about until some youtube douche reviewed it a year or two ago.

Loose carts went from $5 to $30 overnight.

 

[smokehouse]

In the end, normal people who just want to have a bit of fun can't afford buying that stuff anymore while in another part of the world, the games they want rot away behind glass doors, sealed in plastic bags and treated like they were precious jewels or something, only to be sold a few years later for obscene prices when the retro guys realise how stupid they were to shell out big time for a bunch of video games and find out that you can't recreate the golden years of your youth, no matter how many old toys you pile up.

This is my beef with "collectors"...they have needlessly driven up the price of things. I don't consider myself a "collector", I consider myself a hobbyist. At this point, I have the games that I have because either I play them, or because I've had them for years (and I mean YEARS, some titles I've had for over 20 years). I actually need to sell a few more, but in all honesty, I don't want to mess with it.

We now live in the era of hype, everything is flash in the pan, panic buy driven horseshit. When you have people on ebay gouging for bullshit like Twinkies...you know we've jumped the shark.

Thankfully, there's ROM carts. Where gaming newbs may not be able to afford an original cart, they can still afford the original hardware and a ROM cart. Once they have that, they can play all the rare titles as much as they like.

 

[BanishingFlatsAC]

This is my beef with "collectors"...they have needlessly driven up the price of things. I don't consider myself a "collector", I consider myself a hobbyist. At this point, I have the games that I have because either I play them, or because I've had them for years (and I mean YEARS, some titles I've had for over 20 years). I actually need to sell a few more, but in all honesty, I don't want to mess with it.

We now live in the era of hype, everything is flash in the pan, panic buy driven horseshit. When you have people on ebay gouging for bullshit like Twinkies...you know we've jumped the shark.

Thankfully, there's ROM carts. Where gaming newbs may not be able to afford an original cart, they can still afford the original hardware and a ROM cart. Once they have that, they can play all the rare titles as much as they like.

Hobbyist...I dig that.

 

[StevenK]

This is my beef with "collectors"...they have needlessly driven up the price of things. I don't consider myself a "collector", I consider myself a hobbyist. At this point, I have the games that I have because either I play them, or because I've had them for years (and I mean YEARS, some titles I've had for over 20 years). I actually need to sell a few more, but in all honesty, I don't want to mess with it.

We now live in the era of hype, everything is flash in the pan, panic buy driven horseshit. When you have people on ebay gouging for bullshit like Twinkies...you know we've jumped the shark.

Thankfully, there's ROM carts. Where gaming newbs may not be able to afford an original cart, they can still afford the original hardware and a ROM cart. Once they have that, they can play all the rare titles as much as they like.

Price rises aren't a symptom of collectors, it's a symptom of more people in the hobby. The economics of it are no different to any other finite commodity.

Plus, it seems that no matter how many games people have, no matter their display pieces, mountains of pcbs, rooms full of cabs, stacks of consoles and mountains of old magazines, nobody seems to consider themselves one of these dreaded collectors.

Which is odd.

 

[smokehouse]

Hobbyist...I dig that.

In all seriousness, this is a term I've used for a long time. When there is an item that can actively be used and/or collected...I split things out from collector and hobbyist. Take firearms for example, I actively shoot...I have my firearms for the purpose of shooting them. I consider myself to be a firearm hobbyist. I know of many others that simply collect firearms, and never shoot them. I consider them to be collectors.

Price rises aren't a symptom of collectors, it's a symptom of more people in the hobby. The economics of it are no different to any other finite commodity.

Plus, it seems that no matter how many games people have, no matter their display pieces, mountains of pcbs, rooms full of cabs, stacks of consoles and mountains of old magazines, nobody seems to consider themselves one of these dreaded collectors.

Which is odd.

"Collectability" will always drives prices...it always has. At the moment, hype/ignorance is driving prices. Many of these people paying artificial prices for games wren't even around for them when they were current. I won't deny that having more buyers will drive prices but in the case of old video games, I feel the reasons go much deeper than that.

Also, don't confuse the actual, usable items with memorabilia. I have a framed 1st issue of Nintendo Power hanging on my office wall. It has zip to do with actual video gaming, it's memorabilia. The point of this topic (as of this moment) is people hoarding actual games, not store displays, or magazines, or other assorted items.

 

[ballzdeepx]

I think a few of us have witnessed the impacts of aggressive collecting. I fondly remember OMFG, he was joyful, a new kid on the way - things on the up and up.
After his collection of games reached VGA graded status it became customary practice to adorn a robe and slippers before entering his game vault. Once seated in front of the marble pedestal, wine was poured & games was brought out one at a time with the intention that conversations would spark up based on things such as inserts, box wear, and limited runs.
Needless to say we haven't seen him in quite some time here, and I feel that it was this type of collecting that drove a man to madness. We can blame YouTube megastars, we can blame ebay, but really we should all blame the French.

 

[Electric Grave]

@ BD, I blame that blob from that website (Arcade Hunters? I think his handle is moonjump), he corrupted him, he tarnished my dear old Pedro, I miss him...


@Jon (Le Deuche) I have a storage, you could prolly fit 2 cars in there but I have it 'cause I move a lot, I like to keep it all there so I can move on the fly. It's not just games and cabs, I have projects I made, bicycles, tools, it's perfect for my needs and it beats having it all on top of you at home, if I settle maybe I'll have a shop at home and then I won't need a storage any longer.

You know who gave me the idea to have a storage? Duncan Fucking Macleod, as an immortal he leads different paths but he always has his stash of things that matter to him, he can't always get to them but his dedication is second to none.

The Highlander

 

[Jon]

Pedro's a good guy, I've met him at two previous Midwest Gaming Classic shows. IIRC, he recently had a child, which was the reason he wasn't at last year's show. He's not the first and, certainly won't be the last from recusing himself from future meetups based on family commitments.

Moonjump, AKA Nick, is a good guy, too. I'm not sure what his story is. Last time I saw him, in person, was that Too Many Games show where Twin Galaxies had that Guitar Hero world record challenge.

Jon

 

[Jon]

Fuck, nevermind... that was too mean spirited, even for me.

Jon

 

[Electric Grave]

lol, please tell me again...right at the end...that it was you who made that post...lol, Jon...Le Douche, always ready to douche some more...

 

[GohanX]

EG is my favorite poster today.

 

[LoneSage]

I know right? Inspired by goddamn Highlander to get a storage unit. That's gold, mate. How much are storage units going for per year anyway

 

[Takumaji]

Price rises aren't a symptom of collectors

Is this your first day in the Neo community?

 

[StevenK]

Is this your first day in the Neo community?

What I mean is the price will rise if more people want the same number of games, regardless of whether they plan to collect them, play them, snort them or use them as tiny surfboards.

 

[Tripredacus]

I love collectards. I hope they never go away.

 

[Takumaji]

What I mean is the price will rise if more people want the same number of games, regardless of whether they plan to collect them, play them, snort them or use them as tiny surfboards.

If people would buy games only to play them and pay reasonable prices for used shit of the 80s and 90s, prices would probably rise a bit due to high demand for certain great titles but definitely wouldn't be as obscene as they are today. In a perfect world like that, noone would be stupid enough to pay 20k+ for games of questionable authenticity or shell out lotsa money for incredibly shitty bs games only to close the gap in his collection.

But alas, we're in the real world where quite a few people see games as an investment or silently profit from the current high prices, thus the cycle goes on and on, ad infinitum.

 

[ballzdeepx]

I was in a goodwill looking for a CRT and saw a woman scanning every cd they had against an app that price checked ebay and beeped once her criteria was met.

That's how fucking low these shitstains get, never mind her ass was so big she had shitstains on her collar.

 

[Tripredacus]

I was in a goodwill looking for a CRT and saw a woman scanning every cd they had against an app that price checked ebay and beeped once her criteria was met.

That's how fucking low these shitstains get, never mind her ass was so big she had shitstains on her collar.

That's not even anything new. I've met people who have made a living off flipping thrift store items for over 30 years.

 

[smokehouse]

The problem is the price soaring for common titles.

A factory sealed game that has survived that way for 20 years? A truly "rare" title that was either low production of a one-off? Fine, it's expensive. A Gold NWC cart, although nothing I'd ever want, is literally the definition of "rare". I can see why it would fetch huge $$. A lose Super Metroid cart going for $50+, a lose NES Contra cart going for $40+? No fucking way. These items aren't "rare"...if there's hundreds of them constantly on ebay, they aren't rare.

Again, I'd gladly tell any retro gaming newb that they are buying fools gold with these carts. Get teh romz and a flash cart, save yourself thousands. Had this been an option back in 1999, I wound't have even thought about actual carts.