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Thread: Are the pre-crash games just not as collectable anymore?

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    ServBot (Level 11) ShinobiMan's Avatar
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    Default Are the pre-crash games just not as collectable anymore?

    Forgive me if this has been discussed. I've hovered around the roundtable for over 10 years now, but my presence is nowhere near as prominent as it was from 2001-2004. I've come to noti that in those days, most of the old schoolers here were late 20 - early 30 - somethings who grew up with the Atari, Coleco etc.... and that's what they mainly collected. Discussion was high on these systems and games, and most of the collecting "scene", as it were, was centered around pre-crash gaming.

    I was considered one of the young collectors in those days. I believe I was 14 when I made my first posts here (back in the EZboard days!) Now that I'm 25 going on 26, I notice that not only has the demographic changed, but the focus on collecting as well. Has collecting in general shifted it's focus to NES games and on? It seems that most people these days call the 8-bit / 16-bit era the GOLDEN AGE, where as years ago the golden age was always considered the Atari days.

    Have the older gamers vacated the thrown? Passed the torch to a new generation? Or are the number of gamers from the 8bit / 16bit era vastly greater and they're just now coming around to that "nostalgia" age?

    I just remember a time when there was a such a focus on the old school, but now the old school seems to have become the REALLY old school. Someone (I think Arcade Antics) mentioned in another thread that the demand is just not there anymore. That's a shame. And it will probably happen to the 8bit 16bit era too.
    Last edited by ShinobiMan; 01-25-2012 at 09:26 AM.

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    Interesting question...

    I think that the demand for a lot of the "8-bit / 16-bit generations" as you call them will remain. Why? Because Nintendo is the main collectible system, and Nintendo is still big out there. Sega, which is also decently collectible, still has Sonic everywhere. So, both of these have a LOT of people that see them as a link to what is currently out there.

    Atari lived / lives on nostalgia alone, basically. While the Flashback systems have reminded people of those games, there wasn't much in the way of character-driven games back then, and the games that were character driven (Pac-Man, Pitfall, etc) either don't have a great ability to translate to huge, sprawling 3D worlds (Pac-Man, those 3D games are fun, but not mind blowingly so) or have transferred very poorly (Pitfall). The Atari generation doesn't have any Marios or Sonics, and it makes the games not as intrinsically interesting for a lot of people.

    The only exception to this rule seems to be the Turbografx consoles, as those seem to be living based on the love that people had for them. But, consoles like the CD-i, 3DO and stuff like that have never been overly collectible.
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    Kirby (Level 13) Griking's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ShinobiMan View Post
    . Has collecting in general shifted it's focus to NES games and on? It seems that most people these days call the 8-bit / 16-bit era the GOLDEN AGE, where as years ago the golden age was always considered the Atari days.
    Unfortunately the hobby has grown up and there's now more buzzards out there collecting for profit then there are people collecting because of love or nostalgia. As long as the people in the antique shops and flea markets continue to see games like Stadium Events listed on eBay (they don't even have to sell) for thousands of dollars the NES will always be considered a collectable.

    That being said, it does seem like over the past few years pricing for uncommon and rare (though not insanely rare) Atari games have been going down as the buzzards have moved on to the NES, SNES and PS1.

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    It's about age and technology. I'm one of those older collectors who focuses on Pre-crash, and things just change. It will happen to the later generations. I still like what I've collected, but Multicarts make collecting so much more easier in a way, and when you get older, priorities shift. Most of any remaining verve and interest I have in game collecting has mutated into helping run and promote SC3 (see .sig below) whenever we do it. I'm of the mind that I just want to AV hack and muticart all my pre-crash systems and just kinda ride off into the sunset, knowing I've fought the good fight.

    But I do still thrift and flea from time to time, just out of habit; and I do like to keep abreast of any Proto discoveries for pre-crash systems.
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    Quote Originally Posted by ShinobiMan View Post
    Forgive me if this has been discussed. I've hovered around the roundtable for over 10 years now, but my presence is nowhere near as prominent as it was from 2001-2004. I've come to noti that in those days, most of the old schoolers here were late 20 - early 30 - somethings who grew up with the Atari, Coleco etc.... and that's what they mainly collected. Discussion was high on these systems and games, and most of the collecting "scene", as it were, was centered around pre-crash gaming.

    I was considered one of the young collectors in those days. I believe I was 14 when I made my first posts here (back in the EZboard days!) Now that I'm 25 going on 26, I notice that not only has the demographic changed, but the focus on collecting as well. Has collecting in general shifted it's focus to NES games and on? It seems that most people these days call the 8-bit / 16-bit era the GOLDEN AGE, where as years ago the golden age was always considered the Atari days.

    Have the older gamers vacated the thrown? Passed the torch to a new generation? Or are the number of gamers from the 8bit / 16bit era vastly greater and they're just now coming around to that "nostalgia" age?

    I just remember a time when there was a such a focus on the old school, but now the old school seems to have become the REALLY old school. Someone (I think Arcade Antics) mentioned in another thread that the demand is just not there anymore. That's a shame. And it will probably happen to the 8bit 16bit era too.
    This same cycle happens in every kind of collecting. The vast majority of people collect what they grew up with or have nostalgic feelings about and while there are some people who can grow a strong sentimental attachment to items that were long before their childhood, it's not super common among rank and file collectors. Right now the NES is very hot because those collectors were kids when the NES was in its prime. In another decade, you might have a big burst of Playstation collecting. Ultimately, if you can ride out the cycles and you do actually like all generations of stuff, you can get some great bargains as people move on to other hobbies. I would also echo what others have said about priorities changing. At some point you get married and have kids and start to focus on your career more and trust me, your time and what's important changes substantially.

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    just wait until all of those nintendo collectors grow up, they'll be saying the same thing when people are collecting "old school" PS3s, 360s, and WIIs....

    collecting video game gear is still a very new hobby and this is just the first jump to be seen. There will be more jumps for generation to generation.... until we get to the point prob 15-25 years from now when all of the original atari collectors have died off and a new group will start collecting, but not collecting for nostalgia... it'll be more for the reasons that people collect ww2 stuff or civil war stuff...

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bojay1997 View Post
    This same cycle happens in every kind of collecting. The vast majority of people collect what they grew up with or have nostalgic feelings about and while there are some people who can grow a strong sentimental attachment to items that were long before their childhood, it's not super common among rank and file collectors. Right now the NES is very hot because those collectors were kids when the NES was in its prime. In another decade, you might have a big burst of Playstation collecting. Ultimately, if you can ride out the cycles and you do actually like all generations of stuff, you can get some great bargains as people move on to other hobbies. I would also echo what others have said about priorities changing. At some point you get married and have kids and start to focus on your career more and trust me, your time and what's important changes substantially.
    damnit! you beat me to the point!... jerk...

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    Quote Originally Posted by Griking View Post
    Unfortunately the hobby has grown up and there's now more buzzards out there collecting for profit then there are people collecting because of love or nostalgia. As long as the people in the antique shops and flea markets continue to see games like Stadium Events listed on eBay (they don't even have to sell) for thousands of dollars the NES will always be considered a collectable.

    That being said, it does seem like over the past few years pricing for uncommon and rare (though not insanely rare) Atari games have been going down as the buzzards have moved on to the NES, SNES and PS1.
    Perhaps I'm the exception to the rule, but I was/am a 'buzzard', and flipping games required testing them, and...
    The 5 year old in me woke up and yelled "Quit selling these, if you don't have it!!!" I don't quite to hold everything, but for myself, I would rather find a crappy Arcadia game in the wild then Contra Force. Cause I'm old.

    Also, 'buzzards' don't drive the price up as much as you'd think. We tend to never pay top dollar for anything. Most don't sit on their stuff. They flip it now. Or, if someone is solid video game seller on Ebay, they most likely have some love for it, or why would they specialize?

    OK, point blank: I don't like being called a buzzard
    If not for guys like me, the prices could be much higher, as less would be floating around for sale. I'm not picking shreds of meat off a bone, I'm finding things we treasure that the current owner does not. Much of this will be destined for a trashcan if not for guys like me. And if I make a profit... do I not deserve it?

    As for why the shift has occured, I think it's younger people getting in, and they want the 'Historical' system, and the NES has that in spades. Unless you're old. Then you know it's the 2600. Personally, I am of the opinion prices will climb again, at least on the Atari 2600 stuff. But only time will tell there.

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    Post I think what you're seeing is...

    I think what you're seeing is the NES/SMS/Genesis/SNES generation are becoming nostalgic. While I still think that people will always be collecting pre-crash games, the current popular is what you're seeing. I can't help but compare game collecting to other types of collecting, for instance people that like cars. I think the pre-crash games are like the Model-T people and NES is like Honda.

    I currently collect NES and Genesis but, I would love to find a copy of crazy climber for 2600 to play on my 7800.

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    You also have to remember as things get older there's less of them found in the attic, garage, basement, etc. A lot of pre-crash stuff that people may have uncovered has either been tossed out or changed hands already. That's not to say that collecting tastes don't change or that different generations will become hot as their original young audience comes into money.

    Really though, you're more likely to find someone with a Super Nintendo collecting dust in a box somewhere than a Super Pong these days.

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    Quote Originally Posted by VertigoProcess View Post
    just wait until all of those nintendo collectors grow up, they'll be saying the same thing when people are collecting "old school" PS3s, 360s, and WIIs....
    And they'll likely be the last generation of collectors since everything after that will likely be downloadable titles.

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    Collecting talk these days always reminds me of this.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Sunnyvale View Post
    OK, point blank: I don't like being called a buzzard

    If not for guys like me, the prices could be much higher, as less would be floating around for sale. I'm not picking shreds of meat off a bone, I'm finding things we treasure that the current owner does not. Much of this will be destined for a trashcan if not for guys like me. And if I make a profit... do I not deserve it?
    If you visit your local Goodwill, thrift stores or even tag sales looking to purchase games with the sole purpose of turning them over on eBay for a profit then how are you saving someone money? There's nothing wrong with being a reseller but I find it hard to believe that they some how help keep the prices down. Think of it this way, you're the middle man. Cutting out the middleman will almost always save you money.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Griking View Post
    If you visit your local Goodwill, thrift stores or even tag sales looking to purchase games with the sole purpose of turning them over on eBay for a profit then how are you saving someone money? There's nothing wrong with being a reseller but I find it hard to believe that they some how help keep the prices down. Think of it this way, you're the middle man. Cutting out the middleman will almost always save you money.
    I would agree with your evaluation of middle men keeping prices high, except there's a big difference here: This isn't an in-production item most the time. Guys like me reduce rarity in the collector's realm by pulling these out of the bins. If there was as many copies of Earthbound floating around as there are people that want them, the price drops. But that's not the case. However, if a case of em ever shows up all at once, odds are it's a 'buzzard' that found it. And the price would go down.
    Yeah, I make it more expensive for the guys in my town to get Mike Tyson's Punch Out cheap, but I help the gems pop up.
    Example: I own that copy of Custer's Revenge Kitsune 'scavenged' from the wild. One more copy around now, thanks to him. It existed before, but like gold 20 miles down, for practical purposes, it did not. And I am happy as pie he made a healthy profit on it. He deserves it.
    Last edited by Sunnyvale; 01-25-2012 at 06:22 PM.

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    I can only speak for myself personally as anyone that knows me, I'm primarily an Atari collector as well as other precrash games and systems and for those of us who've been doing it for many many years, our collections are, for the most part, completed.

    Also, as has been mentioned, when you become and old fart like me with a job, family, and other responsibilities, you don't have the time and inclination to go hunting all day for video games. I used to love it but the thrill of the hunt has kind of waned on me and if I do want something I buy it online (ebay is a last resort though).

    But yes, there's a definite shift in collecting choices and the meaty part of the curve seems to be in the NES/SNES/N64/Genesis/PS1 era as opposed to my old favorites - 2600/7800/Atari-8bit/Colecovision/TandyCoco (ok that last one has a very small following) but I'm still very interested in the hobby as a whole and still visit Atariage daily and here (less frequently) to read and discuss everything retro gaming.

    I think Atari will always be collectible but its just not the prominent focus for a majority of gaming collectors.

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    How many of you like films from the late 1800's and early 1900's? Probably not one of you.
    It's kind of like that for Atari. I'm 29 and while I played Atari back then it just does not hold up well at all.
    It's just to well some may hate this word but primitive for me. My fave era of gaming is 1987-1999.

    I only collect games and systems I love and want to play. Many of those are from the 16-32 bit era.



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    It definitely has to do with people getting older and having other priorities in life. People in their 20s and early 30s generally have the most disposable income, and are most apt to want to get things they wanted when they were kids. The people who grew up with the Atari 2600 are in their late 30s and early 40s now.
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    The audience is still there, they've just completed their mission. The supply has met the demand.
    Selling collection, Atari through XBox. Send a PM with whatever games you're looking for.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Ryudo View Post
    How many of you like films from the late 1800's and early 1900's? Probably not one of you.
    While not quite that old, I do enjoy many movies made well before I was born. One of my favorites was just on the other day - 12 Angry Men - the much better original version with Henry Fonda. I also enjoy music that is well before my time too. A lot of great Jazz and Blues was created long before I was born.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Atarileaf View Post
    While not quite that old, I do enjoy many movies made well before I was born. One of my favorites was just on the other day - 12 Angry Men - the much better original version with Henry Fonda. I also enjoy music that is well before my time too. A lot of great Jazz and Blues was created long before I was born.
    As do I and films as far as the 30's but never silent films. The point was to me and why many don't is just it's like the silent era. A select few will always love it but most will not.



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