are the days of finding anything collectible in the wild long gone?

DevilRedeemed

teh
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at least locally, a combination of older shops that could stock interesting bits closing down, and how it has become common knowledge that collectiblz=moni - well, it's pointless to even keep an eye open for such things.
It used to be a lot of fun finding stuff out there in the wild long ago. we are so beyond this that perfectly made repros are what you will come across these days instead.
it's sad really. flippers and hoarders defining how the world turns, with regards to anything deemed collectible - be it old or just released. back in the 90s when you lived in the west so to get your hands on import goods it would mean going the extra mile, paying up and what have you, it made a lot more sense.
 

smokehouse

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I gave up hunting a very long time ago. In the late 90s, The hunting was superb. I would go to garage sales and pawn shops weekly, great finds were around every corner. Not long after the birth of EBay, I noticed more places either taking the "good stuff" and putting it online, or listing things as "internet pricing". What was once a NES section of $5/game and SNES section of $10/game became varied and often way overpriced items. Even those disappeared in time.

Now it's an ocean of PS2 era or nwever disc games and the occasional 4x overpriced non-rare NES/SNES title sitting up on a shelf behind glass as if it's the crowned jewels.
 

fake

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You can find cool stuff in the wild. But the shop owner has checked the value on eBay and has priced it based on that information. An example would be a a PS1 Net Yaroze I found in the wild a few weeks ago. $999.
 

DevilRedeemed

teh
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You can find cool stuff in the wild. But the shop owner has checked the value on eBay and has priced it based on that information. An example would be a a PS1 Net Yaroze I found in the wild a few weeks ago. $999.

fuck
which kind of makes it not a find in the wild, to the extent that it exists within the internet sphere - only difference between seeing it physically and finding it listed online is distance.
everything is predictable these days no? back when we where the only ones under paying and over paying because it satisfied a personal appetite for all this crap, one could co habit with people who didn't know and didn't care. now everyone knows, and no one really cares. just shares in some silly stock market
 

joala

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I remember buying a brand new jap Outrun for MD for $4 from a game shop closing down and a brand new Batman Returns for pal Mega CD for $10. Ebay salad tossers would charge $100 now for the same thing.

Really seems like they just stick a finger to the wind to get their prices.

Jap MD 6B arcade stick for between $400-$700 WTF??
 
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fake

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While I felt like I was overspending on games after I got out of college, I'm glad I got those games when I did. I've definitely cut back on buying games since the prices have risen. Luckily Famicom carts are still pretty cheap. But getting that sexy Mega Drive artwork isn't cheap anymore.
 

eek

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You can find cool stuff in the wild. But the shop owner has checked the value on eBay and has priced it based on that information. An example would be a a PS1 Net Yaroze I found in the wild a few weeks ago. $999.

Was it complete with serial cable, access card, and discs? I recall ncsx had used box ones for $600 or so.
 

fake

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Was it complete with serial cable, access card, and discs? I recall ncsx had used box ones for $600 or so.

I deleted the photo I took of it, but IIRC, it was just the console (some scratches), matching controller, and power / AV cables.
 

ChuChu Flamingo

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I would say yes but you can still find stuff if you are a tryhard and search religiously.

I would say for me the time to find good stuff ended around 2012-2013, pretty much right around the big boom of smartphones. You used to be able to walk into goodwill and find some pretty decent stuff. Probably my best find was a untested toploader loose for $3. Nowadays they list all their good shit on their shopgoodwill site and have "experts" price anything remotely video game related to retarded levels.

Same with craigslist. All the ads I usually see are ebay++ price or ISO checks for video game collections from fagger resellers. Don't even get me started with people calling garage sales for video games and picking them up before it even officially opens/camping out before the place even opens.

In any case most of my fun came from not knowing what you would find, kinda like opening a mystery box every day. Nowadays you will barely see anything and if you do it is common shit for asinine prices.
 
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madman

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I have a hard time believing anything in a Goodwill was in ChuChu condition. Lots of unstable air in those thrifts.
 

Thierry Henry

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In this neck of the woods not completely, but getting that way.

You can still get the odd decent find here and there. I'd say more Sega stuff than Nintendo. The latter has mostly dried out.
And all manner of crazy bootlegs/clones were a big thing here once. But you can still track a few of those down.
 

NeoSneth

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depends. You trying to buy old levi's and videogames? Then, no , you wont find deals in the wild.

Big Box PC games? yeah, they are still cheap and random in the wild.

You just gotta find the stuff before it becomes some sub culture.
 

Dochartaigh

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Video game stuff I never find at flea markets anymore, or very rarely (and if I do it's expensive and usually beat-up...can find it for cheaper and in nicer condition on eBay). Video game related things like Sony PVM/BVM monitors, which people say are extremely rare in many parts of the USA, seem to be a fairy easily found by me still (but even that has dried up from what it was maybe 6 months ago...or I'm simply in a dry spell of finding them lately).
 

Jibbajaba

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It really depends on what you're looking for. I still find cool shit that is collectible *to me* (which should be all that matters), like stuff I remember fondly from my childhood. But if you think you're gonna walk into a Salvation Army and find a CIB copy of MUSHA, then yeah, you're gonna walk out disappointed.
 

ChopstickSamurai

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The key is to look for and collect other things you like besides video games. Otherwise thrifting and garage sales would be depressing and no longer fun.
 

wyo

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It depends how much time and energy you're willing to invest. I am no longer willing to invest much of either. Most of us probably already have far more games than we could become competent at in a lifetime.
 

madman

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Most of us probably already have far more games than we could become competent at in a lifetime.
For you that would be two games.

Spoiler:
BURN!
 

DevilRedeemed

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depends. You trying to buy old levi's and videogames? Then, no , you wont find deals in the wild.

Big Box PC games? yeah, they are still cheap and random in the wild.

You just gotta find the stuff before it becomes some sub culture.

tru. big box pc games - a few years ago I wouldn't have really bothered, but these days I find them enticing. the attention to detail with regards to many of the games and the packaging.
 

eek

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I deleted the photo I took of it, but IIRC, it was just the console (some scratches), matching controller, and power / AV cables.

Yeah that's way over priced. I just checked and ncsx still has one left at $750 and that's complete and boxed, but manuals are all in japanese. $999 is how much i paid for mine straight from Sony back in the day.

I got one off the forums here years ago that was console plus serial cable (which is useless without the access card and boot disc). But that came with a busted laser. $130 or so.

if you intend to write games, you need the serial cable, access card, boot disc, and the library files cd.
 

Heinz

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The plight of collectards. What a first world problem you fucks.
 

LoneSage

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Thrift store hauls are out.

Know what's cool? Finding a home with a moved out son and then becoming friends with the mom and then have her giving you all the games of the son just because you helped move some stuff around.
 
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