Crappy things about the classic gaming hobby.

[hellraiser]

I wanted to make a personal rant thread. Not just "overpriced eBay auctions" or "marker all over games" but personal experiences.

Allow me to share...

I have 3 copy's of revenge of Shinobi and none of them have batman.

I have 2 copy's of moonwalker and neither have thriller. (I paid more then I should have for both too)

My copy of street fighter alpha 2 for snes works when it feels like it.

Ive got a feeling my copy of super metroid is a bootleg. I bought it when I first got back into older games for 25 bucks. Now looking at it the label looks "off" somehow.

And that's just for starters...

So let's hear what you got!!!

[substantial_snake]

Finding proper compatible X'eye/CDX power adapters was fun. (though I think some site is selling compatible ones now at least)

Also I can't wait to spend 20 bucks or more for a Super Mario RPG instructions booklet.

[o.pwuaioc]

Ive got a feeling my copy of super metroid is a bootleg. I bought it when I first got back into older games for 25 bucks. Now looking at it the label looks "off" somehow.
Pics?

[SpaceHarrier]

Mysterious brown liquid that hides inside a NES cartridge only to leak out 6 years after I bought it.

Having to compete with dopey resellers while hunting at swapmeets and thrift stores. You know, the ones that buy common stuff and don't know the value but jack the price up anyway because if it's old it must be rare, right? Right?!

[Gameguy]

Buying broken stuff. Recently buying a spare video cable only for it to be defective, and today buying a Merlin handheld that won't power on. I don't have problems like this with books, you can look those over before buying them.

[The 1 2 P]

Trying to get a complete collection(even when limiting it to certain titles) can be a pain in the ass considering how many people threw out their Nes, Sms, Genesis, Snes, Gameboy, GBA and N64 boxes/manuals.

[markusman64ds]

Trying to get the best unmodded video out of my consoles on my HDTV. Everything works fine so far except for the Intellivision, with an RF connection. Not a bad picture but is extremely shaky, which is weird because my 2600 works fine with RF. Plus because of how expensive RGB will be, I can't get that either.

And if I did mod them, I would probably mess it up. I've already gone through 3 NES systems because I cut the wrong pin on the 10NES chip.

[wiggyx]

Changing out batteries on old carts. Boo.


Buying broken stuff. Recently buying a spare video cable only for it to be defective, and today buying a Merlin handheld that won't power on. I don't have problems like this with books, you can look those over before buying them.

This can be a plus, but that's only if you purposefully buy broken stuff. I've picked up at least a dozen "broken" GBA/GBA SP/GB micro/SNES/etc consoles this past month on eBay. People on eBay so often don't know how to just clean a cart port or change a battery.

[Graham Mitchell]

Arcade collecting can be especially shitty. I broke the monitor in a Tetris cocktail tab and had to pay $150 to replace. (It was kind of worth it, though cuz the new monitor is gorgeous !)

Soldering can be a pain in the ass. Flux on your hands never comes off, and I'm sure all the lead I'm inhaling from the smoke is making me a little dumber. I burnt myself a few times with it, too.

Also, I've been trying for months to get a proper gun wiring harness for my Nintendo VS system. I finally bought one which was advertised as the proper harness on Ebay, but doesn't actually connect to anything in my cabinet when it arrived.

Not to mention this stuff takes up so much space. I have some nice Sony PVM monitors for CRT gaming. They're awesome but they're huge, and heavy as hell. Sometimes I wish this stuff just worked well on a flatscreen TV. They're so much more convenient. I ended up buying an XRGB upscaer (not cheap) to make my old consoles look decent on newer sets.

[8bitgamer]

My broken XE, 32X, TI99, and Vectrex (the latter recently replaced).

[SparTonberry]

Also I can't wait to spend 20 bucks or more for a Super Mario RPG instructions booklet.
I'd guess you'd want it for collection purposes?
For informational purpose use, I just ordered a reprint for like $1.25 from Nintendo. While it is on nice thick paper, it's clearly from a scanned source.

[frogofdeath]

Trying to get a complete collection(even when limiting it to certain titles) can be a pain in the ass considering how many people threw out their Nes, Sms, Genesis, Snes, Gameboy, GBA and N64 boxes/manuals.
This. Two reasons: 1) finding N64 games with boxes and manuals in good condition, as I guess my standards seem to be a little higher than average-joe-seller & 2) trying to find just boxes for GameBoy games is quite difficult and my younger self tossed all my original GameBoy boxes.

Also, recently finding out my copy of Sonic Spinball is not the original release.

[o.pwuaioc]

The lack of basic information like release dates for early games, as well as the loss of the original code. :(

[wiggyx]

Soldering can be a pain in the ass. Flux on your hands never comes off, and I'm sure all the lead I'm inhaling from the smoke is making me a little dumber. I burnt myself a few times with it, too.

Most modern solder doesn't have lead. If yours does, you may want to make a trip to Radioshack to fix that ;)

[Graham Mitchell]

Most modern solder doesn't have lead. If yours does, you may want to make a trip to Radioshack to fix that ;)

I've been told unleaded solder is really tough to work with. I should give it a shot once though. Thankfully I don't have to solder too often (unless I need to make a bunch of Jamma adapters) so it may work okay.


---
I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=33.906300,-118.392469

[Loremaster]

Most modern solder doesn't have lead. If yours does, you may want to make a trip to Radioshack to fix that ;)

Not to pick nits, but the fumes from solder are flux fumes, not lead. Lead doesn't boil at soldering temperatures. Still nasty to inhale though.

Lead-free can damage soldering iron tips not designed for it, and you'll run into tin-whiskers problem later on down the road. Just don't lick your hands while soldering. It is also more difficult for inexperienced solderers to get a good, lasting connection with lead-free. A cold joint will mean another repair job down the road, possibly within a year even.

I guess that is a bit of a pet peeve of mine. You see all these people who do mods or repros, and some of them quite clearly don't know what they're doing electronically. If you don't know what you're doing, maybe don't destroy classic hardware trying to learn? Some of those repro carts can be the worst. I'd bet that if you accidentally dropped one, you'd have a decent chance of breaking an electrical connection.

[wiggyx]

I've been told unleaded solder is really tough to work with. I should give it a shot once though. Thankfully I don't have to solder too often (unless I need to make a bunch of Jamma adapters) so it may work okay.


---
I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=33.906300,-118.392469

I only use it and I don't have any issues at all. The only time it may be hard to work with is with anything 30g or smaller. It takes a bit more work to heat up, and as you may know, spending time with a hot iron on something that small isn't exactly what you want to do.

Still, I use it for some pretty tiny joints (SMD LEDs, mod chips, etc) and I haven't run into any serious issues.


Not to pick nits, but the fumes from solder are flux fumes, not lead. Lead doesn't boil at soldering temperatures. Still nasty to inhale though.

Lead-free can damage soldering iron tips not designed for it, and you'll run into tin-whiskers problem later on down the road. Just don't lick your hands while soldering. It is also more difficult for inexperienced solderers to get a good, lasting connection with lead-free. A cold joint will mean another repair job down the road, possibly within a year even.

I guess that is a bit of a pet peeve of mine. You see all these people who do mods or repros, and some of them quite clearly don't know what they're doing electronically. If you don't know what you're doing, maybe don't destroy classic hardware trying to learn? Some of those repro carts can be the worst. I'd bet that if you accidentally dropped one, you'd have a decent chance of breaking an electrical connection.

The fumes from the flux are indeed nasty and not so good for ya (and the nastiness will vary depending on the flux that you use), BUT the lead does burn off too in the form of lead oxide. Nasty, nasty stuff.

Tips are cheap, so I rarely even worry about them. I tin 'em when needed and clean 'em as best I can when I'm done. I've found that lead-free is a tad harder to work with when not using a flux besides what may be in the solder itself. But, when used with an external flux, things go just as smoothly as they do with leaded.

I'm 110% with you on people leaving it to the pros instead. The same goes for the automotive world. I've been building "tuner" cars since the late 90's and the shit that comes out of what I think of as reputable shops can often be a disaster. The old twist-and-tape is my ultimate peev along with butt connectors. Those things are useless and I wouldn't even hook up something as non-vital as a head unit with 'em.

I think the problem, at least a good chunk of the time, is that people think that they're doing a good job. I.e. They don't know that they aren't doing it correctly :(

[XYXZYZ]

I've been told unleaded solder is really tough to work with. I should give it a shot once though. Thankfully I don't have to solder too often (unless I need to make a bunch of Jamma adapters) so it may work okay.

The problem with lead free solder is that the iron must be much hotter to get the same flow as leaded solder. And that wears out your iron faster, so you end up soldering with this chunky oxidized mess of a tip before you know it. It's the condition of your tip that makes lead free soldering difficult. The key to working with lead free solder is to keep that tip tinned all the time. I mean every time you put the iron back in the holder, coat the tip with solder. And as wiggyx said, flux makes a big difference as well.

At work we had some really nice Hakko soldering irons, and they replaced them all with cheaper Oki irons. They're supposedly designed for lead free solder, but they wore out much faster; I mean after a couple of hours that tip was completely useless, the lead free solder would not wet to it at all. I found a solution- I keep a jar of lead free solder paste to tin my iron tip... I give that sucker a solder/flux bath after every use, and now I can go for months on that same tip. And the lead free solder flows just as easily as the old leaded stuff now. I can't tell the difference.


By the way, apologies to Hellraiser for turning this into a soldering thread.

[hellraiser]

By the way, apologies to Hellraiser for turning this into a soldering thread.

No worrys....


Pics?

Sorry can't take a good enough one to show what I'm talking about. The colors just don't seem right.


Back on subject I forgot this gem...

My copy of Mario all stars won't hold a save for more then a day or two. I had to find this out the worst way possible. To this day I've never attempted to beat super Mario world again.

[Edmond Dantes]

Early CD-ROM games (Sega CD especially). Too often I get a damaged disc, or a broken case, and the only thing you can do is cannibalize a perfectly good game (I try to mitigate this by cannibalizing games that have good cases, but are missing the manuals, or have torn ones). Worst is when there's just ONE SCRATCH that causes audio skipping or whatever. I've heard that burns will play fine in a Sega CD, but I have never EVER seen this to be true--every burn I've ever played either has weird glitches or just plain locks up after awhile. I can see the Sega CD library completely disappearing one day.

[substantial_snake]

I'd guess you'd want it for collection purposes?
For informational purpose use, I just ordered a reprint for like $1.25 from Nintendo. While it is on nice thick paper, it's clearly from a scanned source.

I didn't know Nintendo offered this and now that I do I'll probably just go this route. Is it just a forum or something that you fill out?


Another retro-gaming peeve of mine are freaking Sega CD and Saturn US boxes. They break way too easily, never seem to hold the disc in place, and are more often covered in grime and crap then any other game "shell" I've seen. These things suck so hard that they often just end up bouncing the disc around in the case with an inattentive user, both scratching the surface or cracking the disc itself. I guess they were trying to make them stand out on shelves by being bigger..but it was a terrible idea and the JPN standard CD jewel cases were just better in every way.

I know someone on these boards posted that another site was making a DVD-like case alternative that would fit the enormous Instruction booklets but I've lost the link.

Edit: Just realized my post largely mirrored the one above mine, lol sorry

[Edmond Dantes]

Naw man, it feels good that I'm not the only one.

[djshok]

Sega CD boxes... 'nuff said

[kedawa]

My biggest issue at the moment is not having any way to get Amiga games from my PC onto a DD floppy disk that will run in my Amiga 500.
I've had no luck using the serial link, and I can't afford a catweasel or a drive emulator.

[xelement5x]

I <3 longboxes, but hate getting them from people online. They almost always wind up getting cracked or damaged in shipping unless I request for them to be packed better, and even then people normally ignore me and they wind up broken anyway :(

[treismac]

Worrying about how long my CRTs have before they buy the farm and Duck Hunt becomes a distant memory keeps me up at night sometimes.

Rolling the dice when you buy controllers online is lame.

At times the nostalgia connected to retro gaming inflames my melancholic desire to return to childhood in a painful way.

Not having friends who are enthusiastic about playing 8 & 16-bit systems like I did when I was a kid can be a bummer.

The SPACE that my collection consumes is a bit ridiculous.

Wanting something that you know you won't enjoy that much, if at all but, still wanting it because you are a brain-dead compulsive collector/Nintendo fanboy. Curse you, R.O.B. the Robot.

Seeing arcades wither and die is horrible. Knowing I will never set foot into a Showbiz Pizza again is perhaps even more horrible. Curse you, Chuckie, you damn rat.

Almost buying a game you've been meaning to check out, only to realize that you already have it in you collection collecting fresh dust. Curse you, Rad Racer II, for not being more memorable.

All of this whining aside, my younger incarnation would flip out to see how many video games I have. ;)

[wiggyx]

Almost buying a game you've been meaning to check out, only to realize that you already have it in you collection collecting fresh dust. Curse you, Rad Racer II, for not being more memorable.


LOL, that is the WORST!

The sort of thing that makes me take pause and reconsider my hobby. I need to do more playing than collecting...































fuck it, I like collecting better at this point. I'll play when I'm dead.

[o.pwuaioc]

The sort of thing that makes me take pause and reconsider my hobby. I need to do more playing than collecting...
I keep telling myself that. I will get to it before I'm dead.

[BydoEmpire]

Really the only thing I don't like is when I buy carts that don't work. Fortunately, it's been pretty rare. Even NES carts that were flaky initially just required a good cleaning and a bit of the right touch to get them going.

Yeah, and buying carts I already own. It's happened a couple times, sadly.

[InsaneDavid]

My copy of Mario all stars won't hold a save for more then a day or two. I had to find this out the worst way possible. To this day I've never attempted to beat super Mario world again.

Take a look inside. The last copy of Super Mario All-Stars I replaced a battery in actually had a battery retainer, so it was just pop out and pop in. Dunno how many games Nintendo did this with but it was the first I had ever come across as most have the connection tabs tacked onto the battery (which I replace with an equivalent part).

Now what I hate about the hobby: Smug asses that think all of us in the retrogaming realm are loaded with cash because we're "adults" and should be well able to spend big cash for old games, rarities, reproductions and the like. Almost like retrogaming is a boutique hobby for those who have excess income. I don't know about most but the only time in my life I had tons of disposable income was right after high school when I had a full time job and not a care in the world. Also I didn't quit playing old video games when they became old. They were fun when I first started in 1983 and many of those same games are still fun today - that's why I still have them.

[wiggyx]

They didn't do that with ANY SNES games. Someone must have done that before you purchased it. Pretty typical mod for NES/SNES games.

[Dr. BaconStein]

There's still no efficient way to play all of my favorite 5th generation games on the go. The Linux handhelds can't handle it, the N64/PS1 emulators on Android are rubbish (sorry, they really are), the handmades are ugly and overpriced, and there's no sign of a proper clone akin to the FC-16 Go or SupaBoy anytime soon. I just got a JXD S5110 so I could play some Glover and use the online apps, and so far neither of those things are working out for me. I regret ever wanting it.

[hellraiser]

Take a look inside. The last copy of Super Mario All-Stars I replaced a battery in actually had a battery retainer, so it was just pop out and pop in. Dunno how many games Nintendo did this with but it was the first I had ever come across as most have the connection tabs tacked onto the battery (which I replace with an equivalent part).


Yeah I been meaning to get in there just haven't got around to it.

What's odd is my copy of link on Nes still saves perfect. Makes me wonder if that battery got swapped at one point.

[hellraiser]

Rolling the dice when you buy controllers online is lame.
This is so frustrating! I've had to rip apart so many controllers they said worked great. They may work but I can't stand sticky buttons.




Not having friends who are enthusiastic about playing 8 & 16-bit systems like I did when I was a kid can be a bummer. Dude... I feel bad for you. While I'm the only friend collecting I do know alot of people who like to play.
Streets of rage was meant to be played 2 player!



Seeing arcades wither and die is horrible.
Truer words have never been spoken. At least we have a nickle city!



Almost buying a game you've been meaning to check out, only to realize that you already have it in you collection collecting fresh dust. Curse you, Rad Racer II, for not being more memorable.

I've actually purchased a game I already had. T&C surf designs. Not the most expensive mistake but still annoying.

[swlovinist]

Now what I hate about the hobby: Smug asses that think all of us in the retrogaming realm are loaded with cash because we're "adults" and should be well able to spend big cash for old games, rarities, reproductions and the like. Almost like retrogaming is a boutique hobby for those who have excess income. I don't know about most but the only time in my life I had tons of disposable income was right after high school when I had a full time job and not a care in the world. Also I didn't quit playing old video games when they became old. They were fun when I first started in 1983 and many of those same games are still fun today - that's why I still have them.

Completely agree with this. I am not rich, and get it all the time that I must be. The truth of the matter is that I am a very savy second hand buyer that is tight with the money. I now have a family and my time and resources are limited.

I am very blessed to live in an area that has expos and retrogame stores within driving distance. The downside of that is finding stuff in the wild now has gotten very tough.

[ifkz]

Retro game stores that seem to exist only to rip off the classic gamer.

Auction sellers that give a "complete" game a low BIN, and when the game arrives, the manual is just the cover page.

Scam auctions where the seller is the only person bidding against you.

Stores that keep the game cases as display only so you can't buy them. Funcoland was the worst offender back in the day.

Any game that came in a paper box.

Sega CD games that have some sort of pinhole damage to the disc. It has always been very hard to find good copies, not to mention the game cases.

Lack of people wanting to play co-op on your old games.

Stores that keep system boxes for display.

Finding a game at the thrift store that is missing the cart or disc once opened.

Thrift stores that save the game stuff for online auctions.

Sunfade to an otherwise nice game and/or case.

Disc Doctor machines. Spend the few bucks per disc and get it professionally resurfaced.

Rental stickers on game labels.

CD stick on protectors.

[MarioMania]

Looking for SNES/NES games in the wild.....

[SparTonberry]

I didn't know Nintendo offered this and now that I do I'll probably just go this route. Is it just a forum or something that you fill out?



The only offer some first-party games. You can try store.nintendo.com to see if they have any available.

[InsaneDavid]

They didn't do that with ANY SNES games. Someone must have done that before you purchased it. Pretty typical mod for NES/SNES games.

I know what wave soldering looks like, it was factory.

[wiggyx]

I know what wave soldering looks like, it was factory.

Can we see pics? I've NEVER seen a cart like that from the factory.

[SpaceHarrier]

Those damn silver stickers some rental places (like Blockbuster) put on PS1 games. They are so tough to get off, I am often worried I will rip the top layer right off the cd. And when you do get it off (in little pieces), enjoy the super-sticky residue left behind. Also, these were often placed off-center to one side, with nothing to counter-balance the disc on the other side.

wobble wobble wobble wobble

[101011]

Rental stickers and price tags on labels. That's a burn. On hard plastic cases too. Dont use a hair dryer to get those off.

[MattK]

The fact that I have to pester people to make sure they're going to package expensive items properly. Especially annoying when you've arranged it, paid them extra and they ignore it. The postman who insists on jamming things in the mail slot, despite the fact that it's clearly too small for anything that's not a letter

People who list BIN auctions at prices that will never sell. Stores that price their inventory based on these BIN auctions that never sell.

The weight of our CRT television. That bastard is heavy.

[Stringfellow]

trying to find a multi input coax switch at radio shack and the clerk tries to sell me an av selector.

overpriced retro game stores (Super Mario/Duck Hunt $18)

No one that wants to play two player with me (combat is collecting some nice dust)

advertised as working when it doesn't

The list goes on and on.

[Bazoo]

People on craigslist. I'll find some great deals every once in a while, such that I still look but like...

A. "NES Games Great Coondition $75!!"
B. "PS2 GAMES LOT $50 FOR MADDEN 2005, 2006, GTAIII!!"

Then like, sometimes I even make a deal and people are ridiculous. I text someone about an N64 + Games they're selling for $20, ask if it's still available and say thank you etc. He said yeah it is, and I asked him if it came with all cords and yeah. I say I'd really like that, but ask if he could he wait until the following day (it was early evening), and where does he live, and he said yes and told me a general location but not a specific address. I text him the next day and asking what would be a good time. The conversation went like this:

"Who is this?"
"The guy who wanted the N64 on craigslist lol."
"I'm sorry. That's been sold."
"Didn't you just say that it was available yesterday for me? And we agreed? Seriously I'll live but that is really bad PR..."
No response.

I get that cash to a person quickly is important, but he agreed to the following day and then acted like I didn't exist after someone else offered. Who does that?

[Compute]

This thread is chock-full of pet peeves I also feel about. Touching off the post above mine, I find it difficult to make friends locally who are into the hobby. Sure, just about everyone I know has a SNES or something, but they're just not as passionate. I get spoiled participating in online communities where everyone who throws in on a thread has been collecting for years. It gets worse with arcade stuff. As much as I love all of it, I feel like my passion for the hobby leads to alienating myself from those who aren't obsessed. My cousin jokes around with me about finding him a 1942 machine, and I think he gets a kick out of when I begin to explain the advantages of using a 60-in-1 instead of a true dedicated cab.

[old_skoolin_jim]

Having to compete with dopey resellers while hunting at swapmeets and thrift stores. You know, the ones that buy common stuff and don't know the value but jack the price up anyway because if it's old it must be rare, right? Right?!

Good lord I've had the unfortunate experience of being totally scammed by a reseller the first time I went to sell at a local flea maybe 5 years ago now. He ended up totally lowballing me on a bunch of (good) CIB GBA games, Super Mario RPG (even though the box & label were in terrible ex-rental shape) and a sealed Ocarina of Time / Master Quest. I was still setting up, so I was like, "yeah, ok, i guess..." and later on I walked around and saw him selling all the stuff I sold him for at least 3x more. Cue rageface.


Early CD-ROM games (Sega CD especially). Too often I get a damaged disc, or a broken case, and the only thing you can do is cannibalize a perfectly good game (I try to mitigate this by cannibalizing games that have good cases, but are missing the manuals, or have torn ones). Worst is when there's just ONE SCRATCH that causes audio skipping or whatever. I've heard that burns will play fine in a Sega CD, but I have never EVER seen this to be true--every burn I've ever played either has weird glitches or just plain locks up after awhile. I can see the Sega CD library completely disappearing one day.
This is also a cause for concern to me too. My burns seem to work OK, but I think Sonic Megamix corrupted my ram cartridge somehow, because the SCD system menu hangs up when I try to delete the save file. After that, my Lunar 2 saves were incredibly glitched. I'm talking "game save loads in Zophar's lair with only 3 people in your party and save menu text is jibberish" glitched. I really don't want to format my RAM cart because of that, but it seems I may have to.

My complaint? My PS1 longboxes' labels are all curling off because the glue is wearing off. Boo hoo. They're all black plastic box formats for Return Fire, Jumping Flash!, and Darkstalkers. Also, I think the Chase the Chuck Wagon I paid $50 for is a repro (or at least has a fake-looking reprinted label that doesn't match Spectravideo's typical shiny style).

[Esquire Fox]

Yellowing plastic on consoles.

This includes, but probably is not limited to NES, SNES, Famicom, Super Famicom, Dreamcast, and pretty much any console that has a gray plastic casing rather than a black one. I absolutely can't stand this about older consoles. I am always paranoid that all my consoles are slowly yellowing on me. I'll find a console that I think is absolutely perfect, then I'll find another, compare the two, and notice that the first is ever so slightly yellowed. Did it start yellowing after I got it? Was it always like that and I didn't notice it until I had another to compare it with? Drives me bonkers.

The same can be said for sun fading on games. My collection is facing a big window. The curtain is always closed in that room.

[wiggyx]

Yellowing plastic on consoles.

This includes, but probably is not limited to NES, SNES, Famicom, Super Famicom, Dreamcast, and pretty much any console that has a gray plastic casing rather than a black one. I absolutely can't stand this about older consoles. I am always paranoid that all my consoles are slowly yellowing on me. I'll find a console that I think is absolutely perfect, then I'll find another, compare the two, and notice that the first is ever so slightly yellowed. Did it start yellowing after I got it? Was it always like that and I didn't notice it until I had another to compare it with? Drives me bonkers.

The same can be said for sun fading on games. My collection is facing a big window. The curtain is always closed in that room.

Yellowing JP Saturns is the saddest to me for some reason :(

If you want to help preserve them, then you may just want to give them a clear top coat, whether it be glossy or flat, the issue is oxidization. Plastic rust. It doesn't require 5 coats of PPG clear or anything like that, just something that will keep the plastic from exposure to the air around it.

[Jorpho]

I thought that the Yellowing Plastic thing was a thoroughly solved problem at this point.
http://retr0bright.wikispaces.com/

[wiggyx]

I thought that the Yellowing Plastic thing was a thoroughly solved problem at this point.
http://retr0bright.wikispaces.com/


They "solved" a single piece of the puzzle (I use quotes because you cannot reverse the effects, only mask the problem). The plastic is still breaking down on the molecular level, and there's nothing you can do about the damage that's already done. Also, take a look a this. It seems far more applicable to our hobby than that of the Retrobright folks.

http://www.vintagecomputing.com/index.php/archives/189

This is why I suggested a sealant of some sort. Light isn't the issue with many of our beloved consoles so much as the other triggers mentioned in that article. Again, the plastic is breaking down when it starts to yellow, and if you've ever dealt with severely yellowed consoles, you'll know that the plastic can become EXTREMELY brittle as a result. Nothing will undo that, your only hope is to try and prevent further break down.

[Esquire Fox]

Another downside to classic game collecting is the ever looming threat of decay. The various storage mediums of our games will not last forever. Compact Discs will inevitably break down as small pinholes start to form. EPROMs and Flash Memory will decay as the electrical charge within starts to leak out. Magnetic tape based games for older computer systems will lose their electric charge over time as well. Inevitably, most storage mediums will suffer from bit rot in some form and become entirely unplayable.

Another nuisance, though not permanent, is the coin battery dying in cartridge-based games. It is especially annoying if it happens while you are in the middle of playing through a game. The fix is cheap and quick, but eventually every single save-enabled cartridge game out there will require a new coin battery. On the plus side, if you are a good negotiator, you can get a seller to knock the price down considerably if their game won't save. They might think it is permanent but you know better.

[Gamevet]

My SNES stopped displaying Mode-7 effects. Games like Super Mario Kart and Super Tennis only show the sprites of the characters, but anything that is Mode-7 is just a black screen. At first it showed an occasional black line or 2 and then one day it just completly stopped showing anything that was Mode-7. :(

[Robocop2]

Another downside to classic game collecting is the ever looming threat of decay. The various storage mediums of our games will not last forever. Compact Discs will inevitably break down as small pinholes start to form. EPROMs and Flash Memory will decay as the electrical charge within starts to leak out. Magnetic tape based games for older computer systems will lose their electric charge over time as well. Inevitably, most storage mediums will suffer from bit rot in some form and become entirely unplayable.

Another nuisance, though not permanent, is the coin battery dying in cartridge-based games. It is especially annoying if it happens while you are in the middle of playing through a game. The fix is cheap and quick, but eventually every single save-enabled cartridge game out there will require a new coin battery. On the plus side, if you are a good negotiator, you can get a seller to knock the price down considerably if their game won't save. They might think it is permanent but you know better.

This is precisely why emulation is the future of the medium. Someday everything wil be useless sadly. Will the people around when the inevitable happens? Probably not but still a piece of history will be gone. It may be comparatively soulless but it beats never being able to play a game you love again... Plus it allows one to try out things they never would have had exposure too. But of course I consider myself more interested in playing older games vs. collecting them solely

[SpaceHarrier]

Good lord I've had the unfortunate experience of being totally scammed by a reseller the first time I went to sell at a local flea maybe 5 years ago now. He ended up totally lowballing me on a bunch of (good) CIB GBA games, Super Mario RPG (even though the box & label were in terrible ex-rental shape) and a sealed Ocarina of Time / Master Quest. I was still setting up, so I was like, "yeah, ok, i guess..." and later on I walked around and saw him selling all the stuff I sold him for at least 3x more. Cue rageface.


I was looking through some games (someone had mixed in with other junk) at a swapmeet not too long ago and some random guy was pestering me asking me if I was "going to buy that." Found out quickly enough that he was a reseller from just a couple spots further up the aisle from where I was. I stopped by there just to see what he had and heard the outrageous prices he was quoting on dirt common stuff. Barf.

[staxx]

1) Resellers at the Flea Market who sends out his/her peon to scow for cheap bargain games at the same market, buy them up and just resell them at their store for a much higher profit.

2) Sellers who say well the price on ebay is $XX.XX (using a high buy it now price), I will sell it to you at $5 to $10 off.

3) Sellers who think any Mario, Final Fantasy, Pokemon is super rare and prices them high.

4) Taking apart systems, controllers, cart etc, you remove all but 1 screw. That 1 screw is either rusted or just won't budge and you start stripping it (the worst).

5) Sellers (mainly craigslist) say system is complete, but it's missing the box, styrofoam and instructions.

6) Not having enough time to fully sit down and play all your games (especially when you have a full time job)

More modern games (side topic):

1) Amazon - shipping any collector/limited edition games in bubble mailers....the worst

[The 1 2 P]

2) Sellers who say well the price on ebay is $XX.XX (using a high buy it now price), I will sell it to you at $5 to $10 off.

This always annoys me. People do not look on craigs list or shop at yard sales/flea markets to pay ebay/amazon prices. We shop on craigs list and yard sales/flea markets to get good deals. I'm not saying everything has to be dirt cheap but listing a boxed Snes on craigs list for $600 because you saw one sold on ebay for that amount is never a good idea. If you really want that much than go try selling your item on ebay. Thats what I tell people at flea markets who try to explain why they are selling Super Smash Brothers for $30. I'm like "thats nice and all but this isn't ebay, it's a flea market".

[Tupin]

This always annoys me. People do not look on craigs list or shop at yard sales/flea markets to pay ebay/amazon prices. We shop on craigs list and yard sales/flea markets to get good deals. I'm not saying everything has to be dirt cheap but listing a boxed Snes on craigs list for $600 because you saw one sold on ebay for that amount is never a good idea. If you really want that much than go try selling your item on ebay. Thats what I tell people at flea markets who try to explain why they are selling Super Smash Brothers for $30. I'm like "thats nice and all but this isn't ebay, it's a flea market".
And what do they say?

I don't like how hard it is to find consoles sometimes. Tons of games everywhere, but no consoles.

[Edmond Dantes]

On a different note....

... I don't like how a lot of games I get into are part of long-running franchises. At times, seeing the sheer quantity of games in a franchise can be daunting, especially if its still running, because I almost feel like I have to get "caught up" with it. Which can be time-consuming and expensive. I tend to avoid long and still-running franchises for this reason, or just limit myself to certain parts and eras (IE Mega Man up until Legends 2, acknowledging Street Fighter III but not IV, so on and so forth...)

Relatedly, when a series that's bitten me with the "Gotta catch 'em all" bug has one PARTICULARLY obscure entry in it that I MUST have (Resident Evil Gaiden being a recent example)

[The 1 2 P]

And what do they say?

Normally nothing, they just get this dumb founded look on their face. But once one of them went into a speech about how if it's worth that much online than he should be able to get that much for it at a flea market. People like that will never understand what I'm talking about until they notice they still have the same items at their tables a year later and nobody is interested in them after looking at their prices.

[Cloud121]

For me personally, it's not enough space for all my stuff. Moving out on my own for the first time, without a roommate, I realize that it's really nice to have an uncluttered place to live. No need to have walls and walls of games on display. That's why I decided to put away all the stuff I can emulate (All things Sega pre-Saturn, and things Nintendo pre-N64, etc.), and only hook up and display the consoles I can't emulate (Jaguar, 3DO, Saturn) on my PC.

At the same time, it's now a case of where do I put all this stuff? As of right now I've decided to just through everything in boxes and just put it in the closet. If I really need to get it out, I can dig it out.

[tom]

98% of young (or nowadays) people getting the (real) history wrong.

for example the first 'mat' was in 1983 on VCS with the games Video Jogger and Video Reflex, not 1988 with the NES mat:
http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/oo12/Alison123456789/jogger.jpg
You think I can make these stupid people on Wikipedia to understand this? No way, they keep changing it back to the Nintendo mat. Morons.

another example is that VCS had with some retail games a very small run. you think people understand this today? they keep insisting they're not retail, no matter what.

and the NES boys, bending the history to their liking, no matter how wrong.

[ccovell]

98% of young (or nowadays) people getting the (real) history wrong.

for example the first 'mat' was in 1983 on VCS with the games Video Jogger and Video Reflex, not 1988 with the NES mat:
http://i357.photobucket.com/albums/oo12/Alison123456789/jogger.jpg
You think I can make these stupid people on Wikipedia to understand this? No way, they keep changing it back to the Nintendo mat. Morons.

another example is that VCS had with some retail games a very small run. you think people understand this today? they keep insisting they're not retail, no matter what.

and the NES boys, bending the history to their liking, no matter how wrong.

I'm an NES boy, but the truth is the truth, no matter how obscure. Try to supply the Wikipedia cabal with a scan of a page from a specific Atari magazine page that mentions the jogger, its price, or release date. An ad would be even better. That's usually the only way they'd accept the truth; from a published source.

[JSoup]

You think I can make these stupid people on Wikipedia to understand this? No way, they keep changing it back to the Nintendo mat. Morons.

If you can prove that thoroughly enough there are some very simple ways to get it to stick in the article.

[tom]

Exactly so much shit on Wiki without any proof it's beyond belief.

With Atari people OWN the stuff, it's in their hands, collections etc

[Nz17]

My peeve: missing Dreamcast VMU caps. Much like paper game boxes, it seems practically everyone threw away their VMU caps! For a collector such as myself which wants to have things be complete when I first acquire them so I don't have to track down difficult-to-find bits later, it is very annoying trying to amass a complete collection of VMUs just to have so many without their dang caps!

[o.pwuaioc]

How about liars or misleading ads?

http://contact.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ShowAllQuestions&ShowASQAlways=1&frm=284&iid=160831904717&ssPageName=PageAskSellerQuestion_VI&redirect=0&requested=bondu1

"I just wanted to ask about Earthbound. Last time I had bought a game off ebay that said "just the cartridge", I literally got nothing but the cartridge. As in, it had the plastic with the game's chip removed. Needless to say, I'm a little more cautious about things like this beforehand now. Can I slap this in my snes and start playing?"

[wiggyx]

My peeve: missing Dreamcast VMU caps. Much like paper game boxes, it seems practically everyone threw away their VMU caps! For a collector such as myself which wants to have things be complete when I first acquire them so I don't have to track down difficult-to-find bits later, it is very annoying trying to amass a complete collection of VMUs just to have so many without their dang caps!

Lost is more likely. Little items that aren't tethered to larger things often just get lost, especially in the hands of the careless or children. I'm with ya though. I have about 10 VMUs and 2 don't have caps. It makes me nuts, but I got them for free, so I can't complain too much.


How about liars or misleading ads?

http://contact.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ShowAllQuestions&ShowASQAlways=1&frm=284&iid=160831904717&ssPageName=PageAskSellerQuestion_VI&redirect=0&requested=bondu1

"I just wanted to ask about Earthbound. Last time I had bought a game off ebay that said "just the cartridge", I literally got nothing but the cartridge. As in, it had the plastic with the game's chip removed. Needless to say, I'm a little more cautious about things like this beforehand now. Can I slap this in my snes and start playing?"

Dear god!

[xelement5x]

How about liars or misleading ads?

http://contact.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ShowAllQuestions&ShowASQAlways=1&frm=284&iid=160831904717&ssPageName=PageAskSellerQuestion_VI&redirect=0&requested=bondu1

"I just wanted to ask about Earthbound. Last time I had bought a game off ebay that said "just the cartridge", I literally got nothing but the cartridge. As in, it had the plastic with the game's chip removed. Needless to say, I'm a little more cautious about things like this beforehand now. Can I slap this in my snes and start playing?"

I am just aghast at that. On one hand I can't believe someone would do that, but then I think about it and I'm not too surprised since it's Earthbound after all...

[Esquire Fox]

How about liars or misleading ads?

http://contact.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ShowAllQuestions&ShowASQAlways=1&frm=284&iid=160831904717&ssPageName=PageAskSellerQuestion_VI&redirect=0&requested=bondu1

"I just wanted to ask about Earthbound. Last time I had bought a game off ebay that said "just the cartridge", I literally got nothing but the cartridge. As in, it had the plastic with the game's chip removed. Needless to say, I'm a little more cautious about things like this beforehand now. Can I slap this in my snes and start playing?"

The seller honestly thought they would get away with that? I could see something like that being sell-able though, but they'd need to be absolutely clear.

"Original Earthbound Cartridge Shell and Label for sale! *Does NOT include the game PCB inside!!* Got a beat up copy of Earthbound with a torn label? Get it looking good as new with this replacement pulled from a nonworking copy of the game!"

Something like that would have been an entirely acceptable way to sell the cartridge shell. They probably could have made a good $20-30 dollars that way.

[sloan]

Milton Bradley Microvision handhelds and their proclivity for screen rot.

Colecovision steering wheels and their horribly weak serial optical sensors.

Sega CD consoles and their seeming inability to stay working.

Neo Geo systems and their stupidly expensive prices.

Dreamcast consoles and their overly sensitive controller port fuse.

SNES RPG's and their obscenely high prices.

ebay and its trend of driving prices upward through BIN auctions.

[sheath]

Aside from the Playstations and the Japanese PCE DUO I haven't had any hardware problems. My main gripe is the utter lack of well marketed retro game shops with prices that aren't based on ebay buy it now "standards". When I do find retro shops I end up picking up games I never wanted just because I don't have them and they're only a buck or three. I have to search for months online for the games I actually want, and they are usually triple what I would be willing to pay for them.

[frogofdeath]

How about liars or misleading ads?

http://contact.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ShowAllQuestions&ShowASQAlways=1&frm=284&iid=160831904717&ssPageName=PageAskSellerQuestion_VI&redirect=0&requested=bondu1

"I just wanted to ask about Earthbound. Last time I had bought a game off ebay that said "just the cartridge", I literally got nothing but the cartridge. As in, it had the plastic with the game's chip removed. Needless to say, I'm a little more cautious about things like this beforehand now. Can I slap this in my snes and start playing?"
I've had something similar happen to me, though not nearly at the same level as Earthbound. I paid $6 for a "complete in box" N64 game. Well the game showed up with the box, but that was all: a game and the outer box! Somehow that qualified as "complete". Once again, not nearly on the same cost level as Earthbound, but I think some people are intentionally vague so they can claim they are being honest.

[Informationator]

Trying to get a complete collection(even when limiting it to certain titles) can be a pain in the ass considering how many people threw out their Nes, Sms, Genesis, Snes, Gameboy, GBA and N64 boxes/manuals.

Going to second this. I'm going for a complete cart and manual collection for SNES and finding some of these rares in good condition (let alone AT ALL) can be excruciating. You get to the point where you're just worn out, wishing day-after-day that a decent copy would pop up on eBay, then when it finally does you have to pay through the nose to win it. I'm 100% done with R8s (minus Aero Fighters manual...), about 75% done with R7s and about 50% done with R6s and have over 400 uniques, but I still wonder if I'm "halfway done" at points.