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

[Sunnyvale]

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.

Here's where the dedicated collector and the dedicated player diverge. Look at Harley Davidson's. Many of the most expensive are all but unusable. Same with collectible guns, cars, reel to reel tapes...
It's a psychological thing. When my nephews come over, one always wants to play whatever GBA or DS games I have he doesn't. His younger brother (6 years old) wants to play the "oldest Gameboy you have, please". He'll want an Atari, if he collects when he's in his 20's, while his brother will not. Some people like cutting edge, some want nostalgia, and some like the history of it. That's why I think Atari stuff will do well in the long run. It really was the start of the home console craze.

[Gameguy]

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.

I'm basically the same way, aside from a few silent films I'd rather be watching better made films from the 30's. 1939 was considered to be Hollywood's greatest year and there were so many great films made during that general time period.

With games, the main problem with pre-NES games is that the best games were arcade titles that only got subpar ports on the Atari 2600. I still love playing Pong, Breakout, Asteroids, Battlezone and so many others but the Atari ports just fall short for most of them. I'd rather play those older arcade games on other compilations on newer systems or on the PC. I still have a system but there aren't many games I find to be worth playing. The best NES games weren't ports and those games are why people still collect for the system, there are also good ports which make the system even better. I'm saying this as someone who never played an NES system until after the PS2 was released.

I do remember around 2000/2001 that Atari stuff was really popular, that's when I was starting to get into older games. After playing that stuff for awhile I mostly lost interest in games that old. I keep an eye out for rare games but I don't get excited about commons anymore.

[PapaStu]

Basic gist is that those who've got the $$ now (in theory, forget the shit economy) are getting what they previously had, or what they never could have, or are just plain getting it all from the times they were 'growing' up. That group? The '8-bit era' kids. The Atari and other early systems have hit and lost peak demand because those who really cared either have it, or did get it again and have moved on to bigger/better/other things. Life does have that funny way of messing up what we think we'll do forever. The whole procreation, house, life thing really puts a damper on those little boxes of silicon and memory chips that we swore we'd collect forever and never let go.

Additionally so many games of the last decade (actually 15 years) have been treated to collections of older stuff that the need or desire to have another system and 30 games instead of one PSOne disc that has 30+ Activision or Intellivision classic games sure gets hard to justify.

[G-Boobie]

I was going to reply, but PapaStu said everything I was going to. Very eloquently, I might add.

I'll add this, though: the best people in the collecting community are the ones that don't take it so seriously that it distorts their perspective on life. It's just "stuff": the best part about collecting games are the sweet people you meet. Which is basically Digital Press in a nutshell. You should come around more often, Shinobiman. Even if we're talking about Sega Saturn.

[jupitersj]

I grew up with the NES; I believe I was 5 or 6 when it launched in North America. As much as I love videogames, I have never had the urge to collect or even try Atari generation games outside of a few times a system has been hooked up in a store.

I had great memories with my NES but I still do not collect for it either to this day. I can't explain why....I just have no urge for it. Snes/Genesis/Saturn/PS1/PS2 is 99% of my collection as well as handhelds. I guess it is the RPG gamer in me, but I love these systems and their technology. Saturn and PS2 rock my world and I'm past the big 30, yet I pretty much loathe current gen consoles. So many people proclaim we are in the golden age of gaming but this gen feels too much like cookie cutter bean-counter driven I am not happy with the direction the industry has been taking these past few years.

OK, I'm done rambling.....

[tom]

Atari Inty Coleco Vectrex A8 C64 collecting is still alive and well and growing, it's just shifted from DP to AA.

Whereas here the main focus is now NES and after, the pre-crash collecting scene is growing, but games are getting more and more valuable/expensive too.

80s VCS games like Star Wars The Arcade Game, Wing War, once common titles, demand a pretty penny nowadays, cib. The supply is getting less. Try getting a cheap Odyssey (72) now.

Boulder Dash a new 2012 title for the VCS is already in the top 10 of homebrews, Coleco collecting is rising, and the computer scene, eg games for A8 from SSI, Infocom are very sought after.

NES, on ebay US, still seeing many titles for $1 or 2, maybe that's why people buying them up quickly, because you never know, a common title now is not necessary a common title in 10 years from now.

On the other hand, Atari was old school 10 years ago, NES SMS 16bit is old school now, that's just the way it goes.

But fear not, pre-crash collecting is happening and growing.

[Atarileaf]

With games, the main problem with pre-NES games is that the best games were arcade titles that only got subpar ports on the Atari 2600.

Not necessarily. There are 2600 ports which I actually PREFER over the arcade game. Space Invaders is a prime example.

[tom]

And Gyruss, Kangaroo, many Atari coin-ups actually, Frogger, Super Cobra etc.....

[Sunnyvale]

I still love playing Pong, Breakout, Asteroids, Battlezone and so many others but the Atari ports just fall short for most of them.

Wow, I never thought I'd hear someone say Battlezone got a bad port. It's a lot more playable then the coin op, imo.

[NeoZeedeater]

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.

I like movies and games from all generations. Video games evolved at a faster rate than movies in the early days. I would say the '60s and early '70s would be more analogous to the silent film era. The early '80s/Atari heyday was much more advanced in design. Video games had come a long way in a short time. Not everyone likes "play for score" games but that era excelled in them and many games have aged quite well. I think that game era probably has wider appeal than the early years of movies but the younger generations doesn't get much exposure to it. It doesn't help that mainstream media sites act like nothing outside of Nintendo existed in the past.

[chrisbid]

NES and 16 bit era collecting has already passed its peak. N64 is now becoming the hot system for game collecting.

[Slate]

Forgive me if this has been discussed already, I didn't bother reading past the first reply, But I thought I'd throw this in: When I first joined here in 2005 loose copies of Stadium Events could be bought for $900. I'm not sure what they go for now but I know the prices have gone up a lot.

Austin

[Kiddo]

NES and 16 bit era collecting has already passed its peak. N64 is now becoming the hot system for game collecting.

I'll only believe this if I ever see any one game sell for as much as a 64DD normally does on eBay.

The N64 didn't have nearly the market success as the NES, SNES and Genesis did. It also has a library in which pretty much most of the titles worth grabbing have more or less the same degree of rarity. Even the games that -are- more rare like Bomberman 64: The Second Attack didn't approach the price ranges of Earthbound - or even a few Sega Saturn titles, for that matter.

And on top of that all there's still too much undocumented Satellaview material to even make a claim that anyone's SFC Collection is "complete".

[Bojay1997]

Atari Inty Coleco Vectrex A8 C64 collecting is still alive and well and growing, it's just shifted from DP to AA.

Whereas here the main focus is now NES and after, the pre-crash collecting scene is growing, but games are getting more and more valuable/expensive too.

80s VCS games like Star Wars The Arcade Game, Wing War, once common titles, demand a pretty penny nowadays, cib. The supply is getting less. Try getting a cheap Odyssey (72) now.

Boulder Dash a new 2012 title for the VCS is already in the top 10 of homebrews, Coleco collecting is rising, and the computer scene, eg games for A8 from SSI, Infocom are very sought after.

NES, on ebay US, still seeing many titles for $1 or 2, maybe that's why people buying them up quickly, because you never know, a common title now is not necessary a common title in 10 years from now.

On the other hand, Atari was old school 10 years ago, NES SMS 16bit is old school now, that's just the way it goes.

But fear not, pre-crash collecting is happening and growing.

I disagree. While truly rare and in demand items have continued to go up in price, the vast majority of pre-crash stuff can be had for a fraction of what it was selling for 5-7 years old when it was really at its peak. Indeed, some of the prices for sealed NES stuff, including dirt common stuff, eclipse anything I have ever seen for pre-crash games with the exception of those few holy grails that rarely appear. I also disagree that collecting is growing for pre-crash stuff. I am seeing and meeting fewer and fewer pre-crash collectors and many of the folks who used to frequent here and AA have sold their collections or just slowed down considerably. On the other hand, I am meeting more and more NES and later collectors as that is where the growth is happening right now. Heck, even many of the old school collectors I know from the early days have started to focus on post-crash stuff, myself included, possibly because they already have most of what they wanted from the early era.

[Atarileaf]

NES and 16 bit era collecting has already passed its peak. N64 is now becoming the hot system for game collecting.

Thats how I know I'm out of the collecting loop. I tried to like it, I really tried but I just can't stand that system.

[old_skoolin_jim]

NES and 16 bit era collecting has already passed its peak. N64 is now becoming the hot system for game collecting.

As much as I didn't want to admit it to myself, this does seem to be the way things are now. Why this is so is beyond me (IMO most of its games don't hold up that well, especially visually, and many can be D/Led via the Wii VC, but I digress)... I think it's gotta be the previously noted "nostalgia" factor. Kids born in the 90s are now becoming the older teens & 20-somethings with disposable incomes that once sat in front of their TVs and played Glover and BattleTanx 'til the cows came home. More power to 'em for essentially doing what we (or at least I) did at their age.

[drthielegood]

I don't entirely agree that pre-crash systems are losing popularity.
Do they hold up as well to a new generation of collectors? Well....no, but this happens to be, as mentioned before, due to the generation of buyers that are driving the market these days.
It is true that many collectors actually HAVE their classic stuff in their collections and this may explain why the market has dried up somewhat. In addition to this, most attics have been cleaned of their pre-crash stuff. I actually pulled 3 different 2600 consoles and pong system out of my parent's attic. Whats left up there now? A PS1 and a N64. The number of treasures to be found has dwindled over the years but that hasn't stopped the growth of the pre-crash collectors market.
We mustn't forget the non-Atari systems of the pre-crash era. As was mentioned, Coleco-stuff has been doing very well lately. Don't get me started on Vectrex, as that stuff has been doing very well in recent months and years.
Also, while I don't begrudge anyone trying to make a living, the reseller/ebay market has slowed the growth of the market somewhat. As the hobby grows, regardless of the generation, the prices of items will go up. Rising prices will put off many and the popularity of a system will seem to go down. To this end, I wouldn't be surprised if the market shifts its focus to the late 80's/early 90's era, that the prices of those games and systems drive collectors back to the classics.
There will always be a market for pre-crash games and consoles. A car collector, even if they focused on the 50's-60's autos, would ABSOLUTELY make a run at a Model-T if given the chance. As collectors of classic games, we are purveyors of pop culture history, whether consciously or sub-consciously, and pre-crash consoles and games actually transcend the nostalgia...to an extent. They turn game rooms into gaming museums and collectors into historians.


Bob

[Bojay1997]

I don't entirely agree that pre-crash systems are losing popularity.
Do they hold up as well to a new generation of collectors? Well....no, but this happens to be, as mentioned before, due to the generation of buyers that are driving the market these days.
It is true that many collectors actually HAVE their classic stuff in their collections and this may explain why the market has dried up somewhat. In addition to this, most attics have been cleaned of their pre-crash stuff. I actually pulled 3 different 2600 consoles and pong system out of my parent's attic. Whats left up there now? A PS1 and a N64. The number of treasures to be found has dwindled over the years but that hasn't stopped the growth of the pre-crash collectors market.
We mustn't forget the non-Atari systems of the pre-crash era. As was mentioned, Coleco-stuff has been doing very well lately. Don't get me started on Vectrex, as that stuff has been doing very well in recent months and years.
Also, while I don't begrudge anyone trying to make a living, the reseller/ebay market has slowed the growth of the market somewhat. As the hobby grows, regardless of the generation, the prices of items will go up. Rising prices will put off many and the popularity of a system will seem to go down. To this end, I wouldn't be surprised if the market shifts its focus to the late 80's/early 90's era, that the prices of those games and systems drive collectors back to the classics.
There will always be a market for pre-crash games and consoles. A car collector, even if they focused on the 50's-60's autos, would ABSOLUTELY make a run at a Model-T if given the chance. As collectors of classic games, we are purveyors of pop culture history, whether consciously or sub-consciously, and pre-crash consoles and games actually transcend the nostalgia...to an extent. They turn game rooms into gaming museums and collectors into historians.


Bob

Strongly disagree with your point about car collectors. Model Ts actually aren't that rare and most car collectors I know don't collect cars from different periods. They tend to focus on a particular make or type (muscle cars, exotics, hot rods, early models, etc..). It's hard enough to keep older cars going without having to worry about the even broader knowledge needed to maintain cars from multiple eras. Not saying video game collectors don't tend to cross over more, but I know a good amount who have zero interest in pre-crash stuff and probably never will care much about it.

[Jack7]

I was born in 1987 and grew up a nintendo kid with my earliest VG memory being mario/duck hunt for the NES. but i find all the pre-crash systems fascinating, and depending on game, just as fun.

[Gamevet]

I think a lot of it has to do with expendable cash. The people that grew up with the pre-crash systems are starting to think about saving for their retirement, and while they may still have an interest in collecting those games of old, the amount of cash they are willing to spend isn't like that of someone in their late 20's.