Finding games locally that you need when your want list is so small!

[Jumpman Jr.]

Hey,
Last night I was bored, so I decided to go hunting around some of my local game stores. I rarely go out looking for games in my city anymore, because I just have too much stuff, and the odds of me finding something that I need (at a decent price), just isn't worth the time. However, as I said, I was bored last night, so I decided I might as well head out.
I went to a few stores and found nothing that I needed. At my last stop, I saw 2 CIB N64 games that I needed for my collection: Madden 2002 and Bust a Move 2. Madden, yeah, its a stupid Madden sports title, but I still needed it for some reason. I was very pleased with Bust a Move, though.

So, here's what I'm trying to say. I constantly buy my games online now (through forums like DP), because it is a lot easier to find games that I need that way. I need about 40 more games to have every N64 game, and I couldn't have been happier with the fact that I just knocked 2 games off of my list just like that.

So, my question is, how happy do you get (or what feeling do you get) when you find something you need locally, and what you needed was very specific.

[Kid Ice]

At this point I only collect VCS, 3DO, and Dreamcast. So as you might imagine this stuff is pretty hard to find locally, and I'm likely *much* better off than most since Drexel923's store is about ten minutes away.

There are somewhat common games on all three lists that I just never got around to getting. A couple weeks ago I was reviewing my list and found that I still didn't have M-Network International Soccer. I couldn't believe I was missing such a common game and figured I'd pick it up next time I was at the DP store.

So I'm in the local used CD store, "Tunes", and for some reason I start looking through the $1 junk pile. Mostly loose VHS tapes, bad music, tacky CD cases, etc. In the pile I find a single loose M Network cartridge...yep, it's International Soccer! That was the strangest thing. Of course it would have been better if it was one of those other missing games on my list, like River Patrol, but still it was an amazing out-of-the-blue find...the place doesn't even sell Atari cartridges (although they do have used current gen games and a smattering of Genny carts).

[xtremegamer]

I buy most of my games locally because they are so much cheaper than online. Right now I am 52 games from the N64 collection myself. Just last night I purchased my 16th N64 system this year just to get the games that came with it.

[DefaultGen]

.....

[Steven]

Other than a handful of Game Crazy/flea market trips Feb-June 2006, I've got most of my collection via the good ole internet, and probably 3/4 of it from eBay. More power to ya if you love the hunt and stay away from buying games online. Looking at my collection I don't know where I'd be without the internet. Definitely a lot richer, lol

[xtremegamer]

I have only purchased 1/8th of my collection online, and that was sometime this year, before then, all locally. I only have a video game collection of 900+ games, but then again, I usually tend to only buy locally. I have some really good pawn shops that keep well stocked and always have new games coming in.

[bangtango]

When shopping locally, I usually find games I never thought about getting but am glad to pick up.

As for stuff on my actual want list, I don't have that much trouble finding some of the stuff I am after. So what's the problem? Fate seems to be working against me. Almost every time I find stuff locally that is on an actual want list of mine, it is always a little overpriced. By overpriced, I mean anywhere from $2 to about $10. More often than not, I suck it up and buy the item just to get it off my want list. Otherwise, I have to compete against people to get the same item on Ebay and wait for an auction to end, the item to ship, etc. Then you have shipping charges. So if I am shopping locally, I tend to overpay a little if that is the best price I can get at that point in time. Plus, I like the idea of being able to bring a game home and play it that same day.

[snes_collector]

The problem for me is that I live in an area where the closest "big" city is an hour away. I wouldn't say I'm in the boonies, as there is a decent sized city about 10 mins away but still we don't have 1 gamestore, let alone eight some cities have.

So all my classic finds mainly come from GoodWill, thrift stores, and the flea markets 20 mins. away across the state line in North Carolina.

[PapaStu]

When I had a good indy store near me I tended to buy alot there, but alas, its been a long time since they croaked, and when I was in Chicagoland, Sean Kelly's store was just far enough out of the way that it needed to be a trip for something special for me to really have a desire to go get. Which in my current collecting state, has been pretty infrequent because most of what i'm buying right now is current gen stuff and not older games.

I've bought online for a long time, however its almost always been bits and pieces. I'm buying a PS game, or this DS game kinda thing, usually focusing on the really off the wall stuff, or the really rare stuff. Otherwise i've still got that semi ok likelyhood of bumping into it somewhere.

The only time i've really bought enmasse online has been NGPC lots and a few Dreamcast lots (when I was still working on those collections) and that was truly the way to go. More stuff at once, and it was cheaper overall. Not to mention that every NGPC lot that I bought off ebay I was able to resell everything that I didn't need for the price that I had initally paid for the lot making my personal purchases free. Yes you get some doubles but if you get some decent stuff in those lots and price them a little cheaper, you'll move all the junk you don't need back out (usually) and cover your costs pretty well to boot.

Online in todays market is becoming an inevatible beast, but one that can be pretty good if you bide your time with it, and use it within reason.

[MachineGex]

The only way I find stuff locally is if I "expand" what I have on my want list. I just did that this week and found 5 nes carts with the famicom convertors in them. I am just getting around to converting some famicom games to NTSC carts(Gradius 2, etc.). I have never been so happy to shell out $15 for 3 Gyromites & 2 Duckhunts, plus the clerk was happy to sell them to me.

[ssjlance]

I might have purchased 3% of my collection online. Most of my stuff is found semi-locally.

[Moo Cow]

I don't know, but I can describe the feeling of passing up 6 copies of Snow Brothers for five a piece when a little voice in the back of your head is telling you "Ya know, I think that's worth something."

[Three-P]

If you got a fat wallet*, try amazon.com, because you'll find damn near every game ever made on that site.

*-Some of the older ones can crunch the fuck out of your cash. I've seen PSX games go for triple digits. I was lucky to find Legend of Dragoon at under $10, though.

[Chainsaw_Charlie]

Tell me about

All i am collecting right now are sega cd games and various current gen games