thinking of buying an nes... *story inside*

[ThunderPrince]

So a while ago a buddy of mine got a Dreamcast from this resale shop just a few miles from where I live for $20!
I was in town so I decided to visit, the man there was intimidating and had a totally rad mustache but was pretty helpful and I looked in the glass case and what did I see?
They had a PS1 for $10, no controllers though. A Gamecube for $20 with a wavebird! and the most attractive item was a front loading NES, with 2 controllers, the zapper, the advantage, and 3 games- Mario/duck hunt, some karate game by data east and Mrs. Pac-man. How much? $65.
Im posting this to ask just how much would all this be worth? is it a ripoff? is it fair or is it a steal and should BUY IT NOW?

[Tercoil]

personally i'd take that up, games are fairly cheap, and the fact you get the zapper and the advantage would make it well worth it for me

[Anayo]

Test before you buy. The front loading NES is horrifically unreliable.

[Spoiler Duck]

From a collection standpoint, I'd say go for it, seems like a sweet deal.

As a gamer, I'd advise simply buying the games via the Wii Shopping channel or using emulation. Your eyes will thank you.

Or go the hybrid root, purchase the console and then use emulation. Less likely to break and ruin your day, and your retinas will be saved.

[Hatta]

You can always replace the 72 pin header if you need to. Still $65 seems like a bit much, IMO. It's probably a fair price, but I prefer to cruise garage sales and pick up deals. One of my neighbors had a garage sale last year and I picked up a big box of NES stuff, including an R.O.B. for like $40. That is a steal, this package is probably a reasonable market price.

The real question is whether it's worth it to you. Are you going to regret spending the $65 in a few months. You seem pretty enthusiastic so I'm inclined to think you'll enjoy it enough. Just get some more & better games.

BTW, original hardware always beats emulation. Always.

[MrPopo]

Agreed. I always go original hardware when possible.

Owning an NES is a little more difficult than other retro cart systems. The front loading system has a fatal design flaw that is guarenteed to make it not work after a while. The solution is to replace the 72 pin connector on the system once every so often. The original 72 pin connector starts off very loose, so you'd have to replace that one fairly quickly. Replacement ones are much better constructed; mine's been going for five years now with no problems. There's a guide on this site on how to replace it (that's how I found this place). You also have to be more dilligent about cleaning your contacts when you first get a used game.

[Doc]

Regarding the Gamecube, I would gladly pay $20 for just the Wavebird. They're out of production as well so if I were you I would snatch that up since I get the feeling they'll be worth a lot more in the future.

But more NES related, if you're not into collecting I wouldn't advise it, since NES games can be emulated very easily and very well these days. If you are a collector, see if you can test the thing out first, and learn how to replace the 72 pin connector since you're going to be doing it at some point.

[racketboy]

Yes, GC is excellent deal with Wavebird. Wavebirds are still very useful for Wiis.

And the NES is really only a good deal if its especially clean and loads games easily (test first).

[V3rtigo]

my frontload nes is still on its first 72-pin and its coming up on 25 years old. what were you guys doing to yours? stuffing rocks in them?

[ott0bot]

I think NES is way over priced. I wouldn't pay more than 30 bucks for a working NES, and I've even sold a boxed NES for around 50 on ebay. I would shop around. I find working systems at thrift stores all the time. Just bring a game and ask to test it. 90% of the time they will let you, and if they wont, i wouldn't shop there. If it takes some cart wrangling to boot the games you can replace the 72 pin. Goodwill's will also give you store credit if it doesn't work.