Old School games too damned expensive?

[Anthony1]

Is it just me, or are old school games too damned expensive?

Just in the last couple of months, I've become a total retro gamer. I've been looking for old systems and old games. The systems haven't been too ridiculously expensive, but the games seem to cost more than I would expect. When I decided to get into Retro Gaming, I thought that I would be getting my games for maybe a couple of bucks each or even less.

Instead I'm paying $7.99 and $9.99 and $14.99 for games that I thought would cost maybe 2 or 3 bucks.

Maybe it's just a case of me being impatient and not looking hard enough for the best deals.

So far I've bought games at GameStop and GameCrazy (the Hollywood Video game store). I've also bought some off Ebay.

I guess I need to really hit up the garage sales to get the cheap deals. Or maybe try the flea markets.

Also, I have no interest in trying to acquire mint games, I'm just trying to get the cartridge or CD, so I can play the game.

These are the systems that I'm looking for games for now and the prices I've seen for the games:

Sega Genesis - This is actually the best system in terms of inexpensive games. I've been able to find old Sega Genesis carts for around $1.99 or so, and some for less than a dollar. (mostly old sports games) But the good news is that most of the Genesis games are well below 7 bucks per cart.

Super Nintendo - Super Nintendo games can still be quite pricey. I still haven't gotten Zelda or Mario Kart or Castlevania IV or Mario RPG, because they are going for 20 something bucks. Even the average games are going for 6 to 10 bucks a cart. It seems that only outdated sports games go for cheaper than $4.99

Turbo Grafx 16 - Turbo games are very hard to find. At least for me. So it appears that Ebay is my only hope. I have found some Hu cards for around 6 or 7 bucks with shipping. Of course this is usually for just the loose Hu card. Which is fine by me cause I'm not a collector. Of course the Japanesse games and the hard to find games can get down right outrageous.

Sega Saturn - All the game stores that I've been to don't really carry old Saturn games. They aren't too bad on Ebay. You can usually get the game for around 7 bucks shipped, as long as it isn't one of the rare japanesse games, or hard to find US games.

Nintendo 64 - Ok, these games are still way too freaking expensive. I was amazed to see a number of N64 games still going for amounts like $34.99 and $39.99. There are alot going for $29.99 and $24.99 too. I have been able to find some pretty good N64 games for $7.99 and $9.99, but they seem to be few and far between.

Playstation - I don't have an old Playstation yet, but I plan to get one, but the prices of the games are still pretty high. 10 bucks and 15 bucks and stuff for the classic PSone games.

Atari Jaguar - I don't have a old Jag yet, but I'm also trying to get one. The two games that I really want for my Jag are Aliens vs. Predator and DOOM. They both seem to be quite pricey.

Once again, alot of these prices are from video game stores that charge an extra markup on top, but even the Ebay prices can get kinda bad when you add the shipping in to it.

Like I said earlier, I haven't been to the swap meets or flea markets or the pawn shops or Goodwill's and stuff like that. So maybe that's where I need to go.

[Sega Hitman]

Retro gaming is only expensive if you're not patient My advice is:

1.) Stay away from places like Gamestop or Game Crazy unless you abosolutely NEED a certain game. If you go to enough garage sales, flea markets, and video stores, you will eventually find that game you're looking for. For example, you may really want Super Mario RPG. Buying it at Gamestop will set you back $30. I found it with the box and the manual at a flea market for $5. It looks brand new, you'll never find it in that kind of condition at Gamestop. The point is, I really wanted Super Mairo RPG, but I used a little bit of patience, and eventually got in much cheaper.

2.) Don't go out in search of specific items. Buy whatever you see cheap. For example, I went to garage sales this weekend. The majority of what I bought was cheap Gameboy games. I don't even really like Gameboy, but I only spent $10 on the games, and could probably sell them for $30 on eBay. Don't pass on cheap games, because even if you don't want them, somebody else does.

-Hitman-

[Anthony1]

Thanks for the advice. That's a good point in terms of not looking for specific games, just super great deals.

The only thing about going to garage sales, is that I would imagine that I could go to 10 different garage sales and not find a single video game. So that would seem like a huge waste of time to me.

[Sega Hitman]

Garage sales can get pretty depressing sometimes. You may go to 20 different houses and find nothing but an old lady's dishes and christmas decorations. A couple pieces of advice to help you with garage sales:

1.) Don't go to garage sales in very wealthy areas. You won't find as much stuff. If you head to places that aren't so high class, you'll see a lot more video games.

2.) Have more interests than just video games. That may sound a little strange, but bear with me. At garage sales, I look for all kinds of things besides video games. I collect action figures, dvd's, and i know what to look for as far as old record albums and such. If you have more interests than just games, you'll have a lot more fun.

3.) Don't be afraid to ask somebody if they have video games. You'd be surprised how many people have a box of stuff in their basement, and they didn't put it out because they thought nobody would want it. If you can tell by the stuff they're selling that they have kids, or they had kids that moved out already, definitely ask. You'd be surprised how many NES's are being ignored in people's houses.

-Hitman-

[chadtower]

1.) Don't go to garage sales in very wealthy areas. You won't find as much stuff. If you head to places that aren't so high class, you'll see a lot more video games.

Most of my best finds are at expensive houses... the people who don't really care if they make the most $ possible and would rather sell you that whole box of Atari/games at once than sell them off at $3 each or price everything according to ebay. Those are also the places where you find the best nongaming items. I recently picked up a 486 laptop with three batteries, all accessories and a leather carrying case that alone is worth about $100... all for $15 because "the screen flickers". Took me ten minutes to fix.

[Sega Hitman]

I've seen plenty of old computer stuff in rich areas. Thats for sure. I have seen video games before too, I bought a Vectrex at a $500,000+ house before. I'm not saying it's impossible. For the most part though, you'll have better luck in a less expensive area. From my experience, people in rich areas are older people. Older people tend to have more antiques and Lawrence Welk albums, and ugly christmas decorations, where as families are usually the ones with the games. Thats some wicked generalization there, but I call it like I see it.

-Hitman-

[chadtower]

That must be in your area. Where I live there aren't as many houses under 300k as there are houses above it, and most of the people in the 450k+ houses are younger than the people in the less valuable properties, 30somethings with kids who seem to have money to burn. The older folks here live in the smaller houses that were all bought before the current real estate boom hit in this part of Massachusetts and their kids would have all been gone before Atari.

[YoshiM]

I agree that Retro game collecting is kinda expensive (depending on title, platform, location, etc). This is in part thanks to the Internet and Ebay for instilling the idea that anything has a monetary value and that value is usually high. Now that retro games have been given the label of "collector's item" the common folk think that means that a Combat cartridge, for example, may be worth many times more than it really is. At least this has been my experience with people and stores over the last few years.

Like others have said, if you want things quickly you will probably have to pay some hefty prices. It's best to be patient and try different avenues:

* Donation-type stores: it's probably good to find out when they restock the floor. Some places may be every day, others once or twice a week. Try to get there on the stock days as there may be a collector or two in your area (maybe even someone working at that store) so you may get a better chance of getting "the good stuff".

*Trade Bait and sellables: Like Hitman said, buy some of the cheap game stuff you may run across. With communities like Digital Press, you may find someone who will trade for what was cheap and useless to your collection. If you can't find anyone to trade for that item, try selling it on the Bay if you don't want to hang onto it anymore. Or just hang onto it.

*Garage sales: ask the sellers if they have any "Atari/Nintendo tapes" or something like that. They may have some that they never thought of selling and may sell to you at a good price.

*Area (mult family) garage sales: I list this separate as I usually score more games with these. Multiple family sales, Newspaper sponsored sales, community sales, etc. usually yield SOMETHING game related. Usually these are annual events and people will comb their basements and storage shed to sell anything that they don't want or is taking up space as they know people will come. Community/newspaper sponsored events (like the "city garage sale" my home city had about a month ago in the local ice arena) will usually bring out the "collector sellers"-the people who have a 20 foot table filled with Beanie Babies and such. Someone will usually have games, though prices will vary and may be expensive.

That's my 2 zenny on this.

[maxlords]

I disagree that retrogaming is really expensive on the average. I find that it's still an affordable hobby unless you want the very high profile games or some of the more obscure imports. As for finding stuff cheap, everyone has the right ideas. What I do is go to all the yard sales and flea markets and pawn shops that I can. I buy ANYTHING that I think I can turn a profit on easily, and then I sell that on eBay or to other stores for money to buy the games I want :) Helps cover the costs of buying when the only place I can find stuff is EB. And maybe one in every 20+ yard sales you'll find something that makes up for hte last 20 crappy yard sales! Make sure you learn what you can resell....branch out into other collectibles (toys, board games, books, etc) so you know what's WORTH buying to resell.

For yard sales, the things I notice are:
Family yard sales are more likely to have games. If you see kids toys or other kid-related items at a yard sale, ASK if they have any games to get rid of. Often times they'll go "oh....you're looking for those? I have some lying around in the back..hang on."

The bigger the set of yard sales, the better the chances you have. Usually, if there are only a few yard sales on a given day, they get picked clean by about 8 or 8:30 AM at the latest, but when there's a BUNCH (like 10-15 or more) then a lot of people save their money and look ONLY for the stuff they really want and you have better chances.

People WILL haggle on their prices. If the stuff has been sitting there and they're asking too much (like $20 for a genesis with games) offer them $5, then work your way up to what they'll agree to. I got 2 SNES systems and a stack of games for $7 when they had it all marked for $20, just cause I told the guy I only had $7 on me (which is all I had). But never flash money at em....carry a stack of $5 bills instead of twenties and then pay em in fives so it's easier to haggle :)

I've also noticed that thrift stores are starting to REALLY mark up gaming stuff as collectiblle (at least in Ontario). I'm seeing stuff like SMB3 for $10 at the Salvation Army, and other ridiculous prices (loose NES for $10, no hookups, etc). They're claiming they're "collectible" and marking hte stuff up. Kinda sucks, but there's nothing you can do. If you call em on it, they bitch that they're collectible and that you're just trying to scam the poor donation store to make money on eBay...it's a lose lose situation.

The best scores I usually get are at pawn shops. I hit a LOT of pawn shops and for retro stuff, IF they carry it, it's DIRT cheap. Cause they sell the new stuff for money and sell the retro stuff for like $3-5 a cart or whatever just to move it. Back home in Oregon, I had them buy anything that came thru that was weird and cheap, and had them hold it for me. So I'd get a box of random stuff for $10-20 every few weeks from em..stuff they'd picked up and held just for me, and occasionally it'd be REALLY good stuff, like a CDX for $40 or a boxed Odyssey 2 with boxed games for $20, or other nifty things :) If you have a pawn shop that you can make friends with the people that run it, they'll hook you up, cause a lot of them just say "no one would want that old stuff" when people bring it in, but if they know YOU want it, they'll buy it just for you ;)

Anyway, hope that helps! I find if you're patient, you can get NEARLY anything cheap, and the stuff you can't, you can fund the cost of with the stuff you DO get cheap...buy everything that's cheap! Someone will want it!

[Ed Oscuro]

Why am I not surprised that this is coming from Anthony?

I would agree that Retrogaming is pretty darn expensive at times, but on the other hand it isn't even CLOSE to what it'll eventually be like. You can pick up beta carts for $200-$2000 with few exceptions...I find THAT exceptional.

Most everything in my collection has been picked up for around $30-$60, and only the more rare games have been more than that (my most expensive game's been $233, and I found a better copy later for $200).