Is it getting harder to be a retro gamer?

[Menegrothx]

That sort of thing is still possible, you just have to move up a few generations.

Or buy stuff that no one wants I'm talking online though. Odyssey 2, CDi and that kind of stuff is most of the time very cheap because very few collectors are intrested in them.

[Gunstar Green]

I first got my N64 about 6 years ago. The bulk of my collection was bought in the first two years I owned it, for the very same reason. My game store had very reasonable prices, but now they are the same as Ebay's or higher. I bought OoT for $10 back then, now they want $25.

Yeah, me too. I was never interested in N64 before because I have no nostalgic attachment to it and I'm not a fan of the awkward early-3D era. But about five or six years ago the game store in my college town had an N64 for about fifteen bucks and lots of the classic titles for a few bucks a piece so I figured I had little to lose by giving it a shot.

I've noticed the same phenomena as you, the N64 prices have really ballooned lately and I'm glad I rounded out the collection of games I wanted for the console when I did. I'm guessing the kids that grew up on the N64 are starting to come of age now and interest in it is rising.

[bretthorror]

I think with emulation and being able to get adapters to use original controllers on your PC, it's gotten way easier to be a retro gamer. A retro collector is getting to be pretty tough. In theory, I barely play the stuff I have (I'm hoping to change this soon by revamping my gameroom, accessories and acquiring better devices and whatnot to perfectly accentuate anything I might want to do), but I only buy what I would want to play. So I don't buy anything just because it's rare.

Still, I managed to acquire most all old consoles before I figured out how to emulate at all, so I have a ton of original hardware and games to go along with it. Now I'm focusing on getting a lot of accessories to best accentuate the games and have fun just trying things out.

But where I found out how expensive it was to be a collector was when I started building my handheld collection like old tabletop mini arcade games and LCD stuff. Even the Tiger LCD games no one really wanted when I was growing up command an all right figure for even the most common ones. So I spent a lot of money getting a cool handheld/tabletop collection, but it was still worth it.

[retrosportsgamer]

After attending the Too Many Games convention this weekend and then a large flea market today I think I can add a couple observations - especially around NES games.

The market for NES games is not a buyer's one for retrogamers right now. I think the rise in geek culture has also heightened the awareness around retro systems and retro games. There were a *lot* of younger people scouring through bins of NES games. I think the glut of Storage Wars and other shows has made a lot of people think old = worth money. AVGN has certainly added something to this as well as part of the geek thing.

Now, the effect of all this new interested money is that sellers will raise their prices. I saw a number of people with retron3 systems and bags of overpriced games. I saw sellers today at a yardsale that looked like they should be selling VHS tapes telling me how all their SNES sports games worked great - and were $5-8 a piece (while NES games are normally $8 +).

I think the best buyer's market right now is original xbox and ps1 and ps2.

Your best bet will always been one-off garage sales where people don't know what they have. I'm even comfortable paying eBay prices for something I really want - and then you go to some markets and they are 2 or 3x more than eBay. I had some guy bullshitting me about how he sold Powerstone on eBay this morning for $80. Then again, his Super Mario Bros/Duck Hunt games were $10 - which is a pretty good litmus test for how bad pricing will be.

[bretthorror]

I think the best buyer's market right now is original xbox and ps1 and ps2.

Truer words have never been spoken. I have tried to avoid too many of these games because I don't play my classic, much shorter games and will never be able to finish a ton of lengthy, random modern games. I'm not much of a traveler (and when I say that, I mean 99% of the time I'm in my hometown), but every year when I hit a city where there are so pawn shops and what not, I check out the games and last year Xbox/PS2 were insanely cheap. They're gonna be even cheaper this year and saying no on Ebay is one thing, but saying no in person is another. I'm probably gonna end up walking out of there with a bag full of Xbox/PS2 shit this year, but it'll be cheap and that's just fine with me.

I don't have any PS1 games, I'd really like to find some of them in a nice lot with quality titles I'd actually play at some point, but there aren't many kicking around, even when I hit the second hand stores. It's strange, but I attest it to kids of that era really ruining discs. PS2 stuff I've gotten is usually in good condition, but that era was a mess from my experience.

[Gunstar Green]

That's always the case, the previous generation will always have the best deals because the games are still around in retail stores and are too old to be sold for much money but not old enough to have gotten rare or able to get a ride on the nostalgia bus to high-price-ville.

[BurningDoom]

Saturn games. I just recently went shopping online with birthday money and dang, have they shot up in price from what they were just a couple years ago. I ended up not getting any Saturn games, actually. It makes me discouraged in my Saturn game collecting, since they're next to impossible to find in the wild where I'm at.

[MyNameIsVince]

If I'm staring at a stack of Madden and NBA Live games for the SNES, there is only one phrase that should be used for pricing:

"I'd buy that for a dollar!"

Thank you Robocop/Smash TV

[J_Wil]

I think the idea of "collecting" is so much more common than it used to be. Less folks are selling off their stuff and more are gobbling up the coveted items when they're available.

Sites like eBay make finding stuff easier but of course that comes with a price. That premium seems to have an effect on the market price for local outlets too. Where it used to be pretty commonplace to find great games a generation or 2 back for cheap, it’s now harder because local mom & pop shops will base prices off online auction sites making the older game market more expensive to get into.

As others have mentioned, the last generation is the best buyers market right now. This is certainly the time to get the best deals. The older current gen games are remarkably affordable as well as this gen it’s nearing its end. I have missed out on PS3 gaming and have found catching up to be relatively cheap, which is great.

Additionally, I have found that if you time your purchases right you can get current stuff for a steal. New game prices drop 40-50% or more within a year of release due to stores clearing shelf space or the inevitable “game of the year” rereleases. Eventually the current gen will be retro. I think the best way to stay up on collecting older games is to buy cheap while they’re still semi-current.