Nice article. Collecting for mainstream systems is only going to become more and more like how collecting MVS has been since the 90s, unfortunately, where you just have to accept the reality of opening up every game you buy to confirm that it's legit and occasionally having to return a bootleg and/or file a PayPal claim. Or like with GBA games, I don't care how convincing the outside looks, I always check the board for the Nintendo logo whenever I get a new one (although GBA is nice in that you can see the logo without actually opening a cart up).

As for NES, I've been getting the feeling for a while that we're on the cusp of a downturn. I just get a general sense that the collecting scene at large is losing interest, with a lot of gamers regarding it as "too old" to be worth caring about or playing. Heck, even with myself, I've barely bought any NES games in years (though part of that is less access and higher prices compared to 10+ years ago), and I've also barely been playing NES games in recent years. Maybe my own nostalgia has died down a little too. Whatever the case, I don't see a downturn doing much for the expensive rarities, but it'd be nice to see a drop in prices on the common stuff that has garnered higher prices purely because of demand and people's desire to play them. I expect this nostalgia bell curve to play out with every system, but it seems that a lot of collectors are resistant to accepting the pattern, even though the proof is right there with pre-NES systems already. Maybe it's a little cynical of me, but I think a lot of people are convinced that retro game prices will only go up and up and up forever because they hate the idea of the games they already own losing value (even more so if the values drop below what they paid for them).