The struggle to not cash in on Neo Geo AES consoles and games..

ULTRA 4TH GEN

Armored Scrum Object
Joined
Jul 8, 2016
Posts
266
Do you ever miss the box art and carts hanging around?

Many times I have asked myself that same question.

I started buying 16BIT games again, on Christmas 2007. It had been many years (since 1998) that I had forgotten that generation of video games.
Since then, I have never stopped collecting this material (especially MEGA DRIVE, SUPER NINTENDO and NEO-GEO)
I have sold many times and I got rid of many things during these past 12 years, I have earned a lot of money with it and I do not regret anything. But there are always a handful of games (the most beloved) that I buy again. I always have that need to re-possess the material that I personally like best about each console.

Sooner or later, I always remember my favorites again. Therefore, I never recommend selling those most beloved games, even if they are only a handful of cartridges. If you liked having them at home for a time, you will always remember them. I am speaking from the point of view of a collector.

However, if the only thing that interests you about all those old games is to play them, I think it is best to sell everything. Today there are many ways to access those games, it is not necessary to collect.
In my case, physically possessing these games is like owning certain memories of 1992 and my childhood. I don't care if when this dies, nothing happens, I will have enjoyed it.
 

Heinz

Parteizeit
15 Year Member
Joined
Feb 13, 2005
Posts
22,330
Note to self, never part ways with an object I formed memories around.
 

Mikekim

n00b
Joined
May 14, 2016
Posts
41
I sold off 90% of my gaming stuff earlier on in the year.
I Just kept my Super NT(+SD2SNES), Mega SG (+Mega SD), Custom Neo Geo MV-1b Mini Cab (+Neo SD) Custom Retrocade Cab (PC running Hyperspin) and Custom Digital Pinball Table (PC running Hyperpin).

All of the other stuff was just taking up space in my Loft (in 14x 84L really useful boxes) i probably played them about once a year, so got a good price for the whole collection.
don't miss them and i can still play all of the games i did before (just not on original hardware)
 
Last edited:

RAZO

Mayor of Southtown
15 Year Member
Joined
Dec 2, 2006
Posts
8,788
What did you guys do with your profits once you sold off?

For me, it's mostly been going towards my house. Remodeling, repairs, new appliances, furniture can be very pricey and every little bit helps. I've been selling my stuff off for the last few years before purchasing my home so It was all going to go anyways. I want to live as minimal as possible. Not be surrounded by stuff. Keep a few things just to scratch the itch.
 

oliverclaude

General Morden's Aide
Joined
Feb 3, 2013
Posts
7,688
It takes space, collects dust, is useless on most occasion etc., but at least it's stuff you can actually cash in again. Digital stuff demands only digital space, but otherwise features the same useless characteristics. People pay to download the same game for each of their multiple platforms, have digital piles of shame of games they didn't even start to play, not to mention finish, and won't see a penny back of the cash they let go, little digital sums, which sum up pretty quickly.

Sell your stuff, buy it again... your cash isn't lost or made, it's simply transferred. A fool and his money are lucky to get together on those occasions, which is not the case if you just stack up your drive. The latter seems like paying rent, the former more like owning a place.
 

donluca

Ninja Combat Warrior
Joined
Aug 19, 2015
Posts
529
It hasn't been until I've got into arcade gaming that I've understood a fundamental thing: when you're hoarding, you're hurting the community by inflating the prices and depriving people who really want to play that game.

Hoarding isn't necessarily due to greed or resell value: you might have some emotional link to a certain game or console you've bought, but in the end, if it's just collecting dust in a drawer and you never take it out to play it from time to time, what's the point?
When I realized this, I decided that I'd be happier knowing there's someone else out there who's enjoying the game/console/arcade board I've been keeping away getting dusty rather than have it because I'm somehow emotionally attached to it.

So in the latest years I've been selling all the MVS games, arcade boards and consoles/console games that I haven't been playing for lots of time and didn't regret it, I just hoped that they didn't fall into the hands of someone reselling them for a profit.
 

bulbousbeard

Iconic Romhacker Analinguist
Joined
Jul 31, 2013
Posts
481
If someone just wants to play the game, there are literally dozens of ways to do it between console re-releases or PC emulation.

Physical media and hardware literally has no value beyond collecting for 99% of games.

There's like 3 games left that aren't emulated now and aren't shit like Gamshara. And just because I said that it'll probably be fixed in MAME tomorrow.

 

GohanX

Horrible Goose
20 Year Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2001
Posts
12,490
What did you guys do with your profits once you sold off? Anyone get a couple of high end porn star hookers or buy a car? I was thinking I would put it towards my first house or a trip to Europe, if I ever sold every game and system I owned.

I bought a car last year mostly from selling Saturn, Sega CD, and a few NES games. The only thing I regret selling was my NES Contra, which I rebought on ebay.
 

donluca

Ninja Combat Warrior
Joined
Aug 19, 2015
Posts
529
@bulbousbeard: Let me tell you one thing, although this is in clear contradiction with my previous post.

When my grandpa passed away, my father gave me lots of Disney weekly comics he had which I still own and take care of and I'm proud of them as they are not only something I genuinely enjoy reading from time to time, but also a very nice memory of someone who's not here anymore.

8 years ago (or so) I had just finished clearing up my iTunes music library, adding all the pictures and meta tags properly and was looking at it and was really satisfied.
When I walked back to the living room, I couldn't help noticing all the CDs my father left me when he and my mother divorced and I started going through them and recognized lots of them just from their spines and a thought struck me: what am I leaving behind?

I couldn't help thinking about a movie-like scene with me handing a hard disk to my son saying "here, take this. It has all the music I've listened in my life and hopefully, when I won't be here anymore, I'll still live through those". It felt wrong. Completely wrong. It was absolutely fucked up, beyond any reasoning.

That's when I decided to get back into vinyl and I just buy the albums which I really like or have a special meaning for me.
It felt right again, I felt I was actually owning something personal, and not just a stream of bytes with hundred thousands song cramped into a small piece of metal.
Right now I have ~30 vinyl which I really care of and feel like are somehow part of me.

Same goes for all the Sonic games I have (GG, Master System, Mega Drive, etc...): those are special to me and will be passed on. No matter what will happen to them after that, it won't be my business anymore, but I'll be happy I've done so.

This is something very personal and I respect others' point of views on this matter because emulators and digital media as a whole have revolutionized the way we access and use them and have enabled us to play games and listen to music which would have otherwise be impossible, but physical media has still a place in this world and I'd rather lend a CD to a friend than share a Spotify playlist.

Sorry for this wall of text stream of consciousness (and somewhat offtopic as well).
 

Neo Alec

Ned's Ninja Academy Dropout
20 Year Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2000
Posts
11,923
Even if I get tired of the games, I just love the Neo Geo hardware too much. These plastic shells hold too much sentimental value. The meaning they have from when I was a kid desiring them seems like it will never fully fade. The Neo Geo stuff makes me happy every time I go down to the game room and see it.
 

awbacon

Kyokughen Trainee
10 Year Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2009
Posts
4,220
The day I need to drop money on a down payment on a house is the day I bail on my AES collection and buy a flash cart. Until then I don't need the cash thankfully.

When I think about selling things, I think "what do I want more than X", and if I can't think of anything worthwhile that I need extra expendable money for, I shut the idea down. But a downpayment on a sweet house is definitely worth more to me than my AES shit, so I'd definitely sell off at that point in time to cut down on the money that would be coming out of our act
 

snes_collector

NAM-75 Vet
10 Year Member
Joined
Mar 9, 2012
Posts
1,010
I’m not to the point of selling my collection or anything, but I’m trying the approach of something comes in, something comes out. Im also trying to look at games I have not played in forever and if I don’t see myself playing them any time soon they can go. I’ve thankfully slowed way down on buying, other than picking up interesting switch games.
 

BlackaneseNiNjA

The Fatal Fury Disciple
15 Year Member
Joined
Aug 30, 2016
Posts
2,453
As we all age it makes sense to question the game stuff we accumulated, especially if it isn’t being used in favor of alternative means of play (emulation, fpga, sd carts, etc). New priorities and shifts in available free-time also take their toll.

Roms, modern ports, and the like are all fair game. Gameplay is all that matters and more power to anyone who games however they like.

Personally, I only bought and retained the games that I actively play so I never felt the urge to sell off anything regardless of changing prices or what-not. SNK fandom aside, keeping my favorite games that happen to remain exclusive to a given console has helped me keep the game count for each system reasonable and ensures that the old consoles that I still have see monthly use since I can’t play those titles on anything else in my home/via a modern collection or port.
 

MetalSlugVet

Another Striker
10 Year Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2012
Posts
323
I sold my American AES this morning for 650! Maybe I’ll miss it someday but the genesis and turbografx are what I play 95% of the time.
 

Neo Alec

Ned's Ninja Academy Dropout
20 Year Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2000
Posts
11,923
I don't know how you can get rid of such a cool piece of hardware, even if you never use it. I even went back to NGCD because it was cheap and I felt too far removed from something I used to use all the time as a teenager. Then again, I don't have too many big ticket games. If I were sitting on something that can be sold for a house payment, that might influence my actions.
 

Dr Shroom

made it in japan
15 Year Member
Joined
Dec 19, 2005
Posts
23,226
What did you guys do with your profits once you sold off? Anyone get a couple of high end porn star hookers or buy a car? I was thinking I would put it towards my first house or a trip to Europe, if I ever sold every game and system I owned.

I bought a dishwasher.
 

Massive Urethra Chode

Disciple Of Orochi
Joined
Aug 27, 2013
Posts
3,264
I wouldn’t sell original hardware... However i could justify selling original games and using the money to buy NEOSD and everdrives for other systems.
 

suicidekiller

Host for Orochi,
Joined
Feb 3, 2003
Posts
1,595
One thing I noticed for me in the last couple of years is that the thrill to hunt down a particular game is more entertaining than the game itself. I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing as I still play every game I get. But the appreciation for a single game is eventually much much lower than decades ago.

I'm contemplating about selling my collection from time to time and I've trimmed it down a lot in the last couple of months/years. But I'm not at a point (yet) to pull it off completely. Might have also to do with the miserable rate of interest which somehow forces you to invest your money to not lose any.
 

radiantsvgun

They call him Mr. Windy
15 Year Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2007
Posts
1,687
I sold a ton of nes/snes shit and put that towards a house. Sold Saturn and bought cabs. Keep what I want/play/enjoy. Whenever I've gotten the max enjoyment out of something, off it goes.
 
Joined
Oct 11, 2019
Posts
26
Nothing wrong with that, it still rules. Get yourself a copy FF Special and Sam Sho 2 if you want something for the shelf. NeoSD the rest

Thank you , slowly and slowly, I am getting there. Just bought Fatal Fury 1 and 2. Tak told me to get some games and have patience, but he also said to take your time. So FF Special and Sam Sho, and then NeoSD.
 

Pinball

Kula's Candy
Joined
May 7, 2012
Posts
294
This is an interesting thread. I'm still in the younger 'accrual phase' of my collecting, but there is an issue of succession planning. Do you sell, leave as an inheritance to uninterested family members, or is there a third option- set up a not for profit museum or somesuch? I have a large collection of pinballs and other stuff, and would like it to stay intact even after I cark it. But how to achieve this? Hmmm...
 
Top