What are your "rules" for buying a game?

[rhetoric]

I think the two rules I mostly use are that it must be complete and it cannot be a greatest hit / players choice, whatever you want to call it. Original release only.

Currently, I have less than 20 cartridge only / incomplete games so that needs to be fixed.

[NESaholic]

Well i am a completist and i always try to buy 'm like this, if not sealed.
When a game is really hard to get i will buy the cart first and later on i'll try to get it complete.those are my rules, nothing special but works fine for me.

[THXII38]

SEGA boxed

Nintendo loose (I hate cardboard)

Atari 2600 loose or mint boxed, no inbetweens

PS1 in jewlled case, cracks loose lids okay
ditto Dreamcast

all handheld game carts, loose only


my main focus is on boxed PAL Megadrive games at the moment. I have 184 right now.

[jdc]

For NES.....loose carts are okay. Completes are a bonus.

For Genny.....carts with boxes. With instructions are a bonus. No loose carts since completes are so easy to find.

For N64.....completes. Box/cart without instructions in rare instances. Loose cart only if the game is hard to find in the wild as a complete.

Playstation, PS2, Cube......MUST be complete AND absolutely mint, no questions. I rarely buy used for these systems. I detest scratches, scuffs and fingerprints. Can't stand shabby outer cases either.

Dreamcast......having said the above, 2 days ago I purchased a Dreamcast. (when the Dreamcast went "down" I dumped everything I had. Silly me, I know). Anyways, I am now collecting Dreamcast again and since finding mint discs is going to be tougher than hell, I am going to take scratched discs....and have them resurfaced if needed. I won't be picky with this system due to the difficulty of acquiring software in this area. If anyone can direct me as to where to go on the net to "acquire" ROMs, please PM me.

With my PS2 games, I take the disc out of the cases and store them in regular thin CD cases. Less chance of "fumbling" a disc when removing it. My Cube games stay in their normal cases.

[max 330 mega]

sega: must be complete if sega cd, dreamcast, if saturn must be complete flawless, can be box and game only if SMS or genesis.
nintendo: nes, snes, loose great condition, if n64, virtual boy and gamecube must be complete.
neo geo: must be flawless and complete.
turbografx-16: loose, but preferred in jewel case at least.

gameboy, watara supervision, atari lynx, and gamegear can all be loose.
neogeo pocket, since i have too many loose games im trying for mostly complete copies now.


another criteria for me, is the games i usually buy are rare, or atleast something ive never come across before. since i dont have alot of money to be throwing around (it all goes towards my neo geo addiction) i try and pick out the hard to get titles first whenever im looking around somewhere, even if i know ill never play it. this has been buggin me lately, because recently i noticed i didnt have really enough actually good games that appealed to me, so starting this weekend im gonna start trying to pick up fun games too.

[Speedy]

Saturn games must have at least their boxes, other CD games must be complete (except if i want the game to play, not to collect).
Megadrive/SMS games must have their box, with manual is better

NES/SNES can be loose, but then it must be cheap (NES must be cheap in anyway imho ), N64 must be complete, or it has to be so cheap that you can't let them go

Hardware has to be boxed, i can't stand loose hardware. The only things i have loose are a Saturn and a Dreamcast gun, but that is only because i needed them to play some great games. I'm still looking for boxed one's.

[dreamcaster]

I have what could be considered a rationale for my game collecting in terms of condition.

Atari 2600: Must be complete.
Atari Lynx: Complete.
Game Boy Advance: Complete.
Game Boy Color: Complete.
Microsoft Xbox: Complete.
Nintendo Entertainment System: Any condition.
Nintendo 64: PAL must be complete. NTSC - any condition.
Nintendo GameCube: Complete.
Sega 32X: Any condition.
Sega Dreamcast: Complete.
Sega Game Gear: Any condition.
Sega Master System: Any condition.
Sega Mega CD: Complete.
Sega Mega Drive: Any condition.
Sega Saturn: PAL must be boxed/cased. NTSC must be complete.
SNK Neo Geo Pocket Color: Any condition.
Sony PlayStation: Complete.
Sony PlayStation 2: Complete.
Super NES/Super Famicom: Any condition.

[stuffedmonkey]

One more I thought to add - I only get first party accessories. Sometimes I will pick up a cool controller if it has a new feature, but no third party memory cards, ac adapters, ram expansions, link cables. I hate the bad quality stuff.

[LongDillon1@aol.com]

For me.I must have either mint or new disc based games.I hate scratches!
For my classics,all must be boxed.But I will buy the cart and hunt the box and instructions down.I usually do it in that order.I also hate 3rd party accessories.

[om3ga]

Im not aloud to buy a game until I beat one I already have.

Shit I just won a 90 game + lot on ebay ... I got alot of game playing to do.

[autobotracing]

This is a good topic.



As far as cd games go the must be in good shape and be complete unless its a really rare game then I will take it loose if the disk looks good.



As far as carts go Im still a cheapo with atari titles I wont pay more than .50 for a common title.


All other carts the main rule I have is the lable and casing must be in good shape.I would prefer them to be complete but that kinda hard with older stuff.


Sports games I wont pay alot for usually $10 or less for current titles.

I use to be the "launch day" gamer and I would go out and get stuff as soon as it was availible.Untill the day the n64 was released I went to walmart and bought a system a nintendo brand rf and super mario 64 and I didnt put it down for days.

I was burned on that system because the value just dropped and I felt ripped off.

Same with games , When vice city came out I said no to it and a month later I got it at the pawn for $10 same with wind waker I ended up getting some sealed ones for $10 each .


When it comes to buying used systems I will buy them in any condition as long as the price is right and I dont have a mountain of them at home.

[Howie6925]

price and condition

same here but i have to add complete

[Rogmeister]

Of course, once in awhile a rule must be broken. For just the 2nd time since I made this rule to myself, I just spent more than $30 on a game...$31 to be exact The game...Dead Or Alive Ultimate.