Quote Originally Posted by celerystalker View Post
Back in the early 2000s... I think 2004, I passed on the only copy I've seen in person at $75, as it seemed a little steep, and I picked up Cotton 2 for Saturn and Fatal Fury 3 for AES instead for a total of about $70. In hindsight, it would have been a good pickup, but I wouldn't have played it nearly as much as those two.

I agree about how nuts the Turbo and Neo Geo markets have become. I have quite a few games for both, but I didn't pay anywhere near what people are paying now... if I was looking at starting now, I'd just walk away. I rarely buy for either now, but what I did, I'm glad I did a long time ago.
Yeah... When I was 6 years old we got a TurboGrafx the year it came out. We had spend the entire year asking for an NES, and then we got to play Keith Courage... That sting went away as soon as we cracked open Blazing Lazers, but you see what I mean. Point is, I got in on the ground floor, and that's really where most of my collection has come from. As soon as the console was on the ropes, I was picking up games like Bloody Wolf and Devil's Crush, complete, for $11 at the local Video Game Exchange, and an Express for $80 (my original was stolen when our house got robbed). We also picked up Bonk 3, Soldier Blade, and Bomberman '93 on Turbo Zone Direct, where I considered buying Magical Chase for $40... And didn't :/.

I can't see starting to collect for this system today. It's so prohibitively expensive and it's difficult to pinpoint exactly why. I know part of it is the recent "main stream" popularity of retro gaming creating more demand for technology that hasn't seen production for 20+ years, but I wonder how much of it is due to hoarding as well. Regardless, I think this pricing was bound to happen. Nobody's going to spend $100K on Magical Chase, but I've seen people drop $500 on Bonk 3, $600 on Super Air Zonk, and well over $250 on Bomberman '93 and Saturn Bomberman. I guess it comes down to what people are willing to pay to obtain their "white whales". My wife spent $175 on Panzer Dragoon Saga for my birthday 7 years ago, and that price tag has soared to over $300 over the past few years. Like other antiques, there are fewer originals to go around every year, and everyone is clamoring to complete their collections. Just a sad reminder that nothing can last forever.

But on the plus side... It's Friday, and I've got a rainy weekend to enjoy what I do have . You all should do the same.