Sega Genesis: Best bang for the buck?

[Technosis]

I've always been a big fan of the 16 bit era systems. In my area, anything SNES tends to be quite expensive, while games for the Genesis are quite cheap in comparison. (eg. just yesterday I picked up extras of the game M.U.S.H.A. and Gaiares, and other rarish ones for $4 ea.......) Also, there seems to be more of a selection of Genesis games, whereas the same SNES ones keep popping up all the time.

Have you noticed this too? Does this make the Genesis a great and affordable system, especially for the people just starting to collect?

[Steven]

I've always been a big fan of the 16 bit era systems. In my area, anything SNES tends to be quite expensive, while games for the Genesis are quite cheap in comparison. (eg. just yesterday I picked up extras of the game M.U.S.H.A. and Gaiares, and other rarish ones for $4 ea.......) Also, there seems to be more of a selection of Genesis games, whereas the same SNES ones keep popping up all the time.

Have you noticed this too? Does this make the Genesis a great and affordable system, especially for the people just starting to collect?

1. You're right IMO about Genesis being quite cheap in comparison to SNES. Well, at least at my local flea market. One vendor treats all SNES games like gold. Charging $12 for the likes of the most common SNES game. But he treats his Genesis titles like they're crap. I think they're usually sold at $5 or so, except the rarer titles.

2. Have you seen sega-16.com? Best Genesis site out there.

3. IMO, the SNES is just as great a system for people to start collecting for, if not better. Sure some key titles run up to the $40 mark cart only, but an amazing amount can be had for $4-$7 shipped online. It just depends on your tastes. Personally I think the SNES is superior, but many GEN fans out there will disagree with me. It's all good. Both systems are great for gamers and collectors.

[bangtango]

Good observation and a fairly nice topic that could branch out to other systems. You're right about that.

Actually, both the Sega Genesis and the Playstation 1 could easily be labelled the most affordable systems that have a great library. You can find either system for around $10 or less and get it in good, working condition with all of the hook-ups. Sure, some pawn shops and game stores will sell a PS1 for $30-40 but that doesn't mean they are priced that high everywhere else.

Aside from the common sports games, I never see the same Genesis or PS1 games all that often in a thrift store. Every time I see Genesis/PS1 stuff on a rack, it is usually different games than I saw on my last visit. I wouldn't say the actual games are always the cheapest around, compared to other systems, but they usually are. At least where I buy them locally and online.

When you find both the Genesis and Super NES version of the same game, the Genesis one will almost always be cheaper. Same thing when you find both a PS1 and Dreamcast version of the same title, the PS1 version will be cheaper the majority of the time. In the case of the former, that might be because there is more demand and the graphics on the SNES were probably better. When referring to the latter, the DC version probably saw fewer copies and stayed on the shelf for a shorter period of time.

Meanwhile, other Sega systems tend to either cost a little more, have a more limited library or both. Sure, people can find a Master System, Game Gear, Saturn or Dreamcast for cheap but not as often as a Genesis. Obviously, the Genesis sold more systems and is more common. The Master System library isn't as good as the Genesis one, unless you really like the SMS or have nostalgia for it. Neither is the Game Gear library, any way you slice it. Some will tell you the Saturn or Dreamcast libraries have Sega's best lineup for any system and I won't argue with them here but you can't consistently get those two systems as cheap as you can the Genesis.

Nintendo product tends to be priced higher, across the board. With the exception of the Game Boy Color (and the original GB brick) or loose N64 consoles, all of those systems will run more than a Genesis. Classic systems from the Atari/Colecovision era aren't going to be found all over the place for the same price as a Genesis system either (around $10, give or take). Either they are few and far between these days, in a thrift store, or carry an inflated price tag.

Oh, just so you know, I am one of the GEN fans Steven refers to above But both systems (Super NES and Genesis) rock. So does PS1.

[evil_genius]

Genesis is an easy system to collect for. It's easy to find complete games.

[j_factor]

Another point about this is that SNES games are almost always cart only, whereas Genesis games can often easily be found complete. Most people say it's because of the plastic boxes, but even the Genesis games that came in a cardboard box are usually pretty easy to get complete. It's not uncommon for a complete Genesis game to be cheaper than a cart-only SNES version of the same game, even when the Genesis version is superior.

Although, if you think SNES is bad, just try Turbografx.

[coreys429]

My goodwill in town doesn't know how to price anything Sega and I think it's funny. They will have a Sega Genesis 1 and a Sega Genesis 2 priced differently by $10 bucks or so. I go up to the manager and I tell them it's the same system over and over. Then when they get a Sega CD they mark it up $10 more then any other system. Most the time when I find complete games is sport games...Just like the SNES they are marked though like they are gold.

[wallydawg]

My goodwill in town doesn't know how to price anything Sega and I think it's funny. They will have a Sega Genesis 1 and a Sega Genesis 2 priced differently by $10 bucks or so. I go up to the manager and I tell them it's the same system over and over. Then when they get a Sega CD they mark it up $10 more then any other system. Most the time when I find complete games is sport games...Just like the SNES they are marked though like they are gold.

I'm lucking out at a local goodwill. About 85% of my Genesis collection came from said store, priced at 99 cents to $1.99. Best find from there was complete copies of Streets of Rage 1, 2, and 3 for 99 cents each.

They usually have good prices, but once I saw a bare bones ps1 there for $49.99...

[Trebuken]

The Atari 2600 might be a better bang for the buck. It is much tougher to achieve a complete collection but so many of the games are dirt cheap...

[MarioMania]

Yeah, Goodwill has good prices, I got all 3 Tecmo Super Bowl Games for the Super NES there for $1.99 Cart Only, a week before that I got Final Fight 3 for the SNES at the goodwill for $1.99 Cart Only & that game is priced high online

[PentiumMMX]

Genesis is an easy system to collect for. It's easy to find complete games.

Not where I live. It's hard to find CIB Genesis games (Not as hard as anything that isn't a PlayStation sports game, though)

[coreys429]

I'm lucking out at a local goodwill. About 85% of my Genesis collection came from said store, priced at 99 cents to $1.99. Best find from there was complete copies of Streets of Rage 1, 2, and 3 for 99 cents each.

They usually have good prices, but once I saw a bare bones ps1 there for $49.99...

Not at my goodwill $3 to 4 for Atari 2600, Sega Genesis is $2-3 for most sports then after that is $3-4, Super $4-5,. Anytime I see a sticker kinda peeling yeah, that tag is gone. Sorry but I rather have them ask questions among themselves and see a good game sell for $1-2 instead of $3-4. I saw a few games unmarked and then I was getting some games marked, I placed the marked ones on the bottom and the unmarked half way up. So when I place them on the counter, they will go half way or so and note that all unmarked so I get the games for $2 a game.

[boatofcar]

The Atari 2600 might be a better bang for the buck. It is much tougher to achieve a complete collection but so many of the games are dirt cheap...

It depends on how you want to collect. You can get a ton of 2600 games for cheap, but you won't want to play most of them. The genesis, however, can be collected for cheap and at the end of the day you have a library of games that you'll want to devote some time playing.

Don't get me wrong, I love the 2600, but there are only about 10 games I can really spend more than five minutes playing.

[DefaultGen]

.....

[DKTheArcadeRat]

I've always been a big fan of the 16 bit era systems. In my area, anything SNES tends to be quite expensive, while games for the Genesis are quite cheap in comparison. (eg. just yesterday I picked up extras of the game M.U.S.H.A. and Gaiares, and other rarish ones for $4 ea.......) Also, there seems to be more of a selection of Genesis games, whereas the same SNES ones keep popping up all the time.

Have you noticed this too? Does this make the Genesis a great and affordable system, especially for the people just starting to collect?

Well, if you have an extra of M.U.S.H.A. , would you be willing to help out an aspiring Genesis collector(about 150 games so far, not much)..?

And yeah, i find it to be quite easy to collect for, one of the reasons I decided to collect for it. That, and the games are cheap and easy to find CIB. And that i love the games on it. You just can't beat em in my opinion.

Dave

[DigitalSpace]

Genesis games are indeed pretty cheap. Loose non-sports games are usually run between $2-5 around here, and complete and boxed games usually run between $3-7.

Prices tend to vary at the thrifts. One Goodwill will price games between $2-4, while one will want around $5. Not too long ago, one Goodwill was trying to charge $10 for complete copies of Ecco The Dolphin and Michael Jackson's Moonwalker. Someone finally bought them when their price tags were half off, and I think they got the message because the next time I saw Genny games there, they were $5 each. On another note, I see Genesis stuff at every thrift around here 99% of the time, though usually it's either a 3-button controller, a third party controller, an overpriced sports game, and/or a loose console (usually the model 2)

I currently own 81 Genesis games, and most of them cost me around $2-3 on average.

Also, when buying the console, make sure it has all the right hookups. They can be tough to track down later on.