/vr/ - Retro Games

retrogaming collecting in general is becoming more and more wide and popular as time goes by.

I remember back in 2002 or so, going to old stores and snag up great games (some of them rare) in perfect conditions for dirty cheap, I miss those days. People thought old games were crap nobody wanted.

>>481287
Yeah. Thinking they'd always be plentiful and cheaply available for all to enjoy, I did the same, only to give away the ones I finished. I've owned, played through, and given away so many of the carts and discs that are trading for insane prices today.

Don't want to be that whiner, but there are a lot of games on collectors' shelves today that will go unplayed by people who really should play them.

Holy shit Burning Rangers was $80 CIB like 6 months ago and now it's $200.

Seriously what the fuck is going on

All it takes is one douchebag overpricing it on eBay and then everyone thinks that's the average price and it's okay to bid that much.

>>481387

This. This feels like a really unnatural rise.

>>481387
reddit.com/r/gamecollecting

It's disgusting. All of it. And it's probably never going to go back to the way it was.

Not sure if I have the exact sub name right, but it's something to that effect.

Is this a bubble, or just the way it's going to be from now on? It seems like it's mostly just centered around the 4th and 5th gen, NES games and before don't seem particularly inflated, but I could be wrong.

>>481354

also don't forget games today will also become rare one day. I already hold my copy of Tatsunoko vs Capcom dearly bcause I know that shit will be sought after.

But this gen is probably the last one we're going to have this kind of thing, since games are becoming all digital downloads and/or shitty physical presentation.

>>481429
It's not unlike Magic cards; when they're around for two years, they get rotated out of the standard format most people play, then fall in price. But, as wider interest in formats where you can play older cards grew, so did the price of cards; I remember my collection jumping thousands of dollars in value overnight. Hell, this bad boy costed 30 at his lowest, now he's 100-130.

In conclusion, it comes down to supply versus demand; old games get thrown out/relegated to someone's basement, and suddenly a group of people want them again; availability becomes an issue, especially on a console that not a lot of people bought, and subsequently not bought a lot of games for. I'm glad I got my Sega Saturn and copies of Nights into dreams and Panzer Dragoon Saga years ago. Nowadays, I can't get Saturn Bomberman for less than 100.

Atleast it doesn't affect the Japanese market for now.

>>481429
It's not unlike Magic cards; when they're around for two years, they get rotated out of the standard format most people play, then fall in price. But, as wider interest in formats where you can play older cards grew, so did the price of cards; I remember my collection jumping thousands of dollars in value overnight. Hell, this bad boy costed 30 at his lowest, now he's 100-130.

In conclusion, it comes down to supply versus demand; old games get thrown out/relegated to someone's basement, and suddenly a group of people want them again; availability becomes an issue, especially on a console that not a lot of people bought, and subsequently not bought a lot of games for. I'm glad I got my Sega Saturn and copies of Nights into dreams and Panzer Dragoon Saga years ago. Nowadays, I can't get Saturn Bomberman for less than 100.

Pretty much the only way a retro game will go down in price is.

A) a large uncirculated shipment is discovered
or
B) The game is released digitally on modern consoles.

And that's not even a guarantee.

Basically if you like collecting games you're fucked. The price of literally every game I've been tracking has TRIPLED in the last 6 months alone. This is the end.

Saturn is the worst because most of it's best games are rare to an extent.

I don't think it sold well at all in my area. I very rarely see any games at all, let alone ones that aren't sports titles.

>>481489
>Go to Ebay.

Force of Will not below 40 bucks. lel. I should sell my cards. I could buy a retro game for each of my forces alone.

>>481489
>inb4 shitposts about how older formats don't exist

but yes, the markets are very similar. ebay is usually the best place to see what things are truly going for.

>>481506
>The price of literally every game I've been tracking has TRIPLED in the last 6 months alone. This is the end.

Jesus god why

It shouldn't take long, I give it another 2-3 years

Why are Japanese Saturn games even going for hundreds. The Saturn did way better in Japan than here, you would think there are more copies of some games.

You know how it's next to impossible to find a used Pokemon game on eBay that isn't a bootleg?

Yeah, soon that's gonna be every game.

Segata Sanshiro.

>>481521
You missed the boat on that, they were up to 80-100 at one point.

I need the expertise of more experienced collectors.

I am damn determined to own a copy of Panzer Dragoon Saga. Do I drop everything and buy a copy now for $300-$400 because it's only going to keep climbing, or am I being part of the problem if I do so?

>>481613
Don't doubt it. I don't follow Magic though. I just happen to still have all my old cards in boxes in a closet. I doubt anything individually is worth more than the forces, though.

As for games, it'll drop a bit once the phase of idiots trying to sell their old stuff for outrageous prices ends, but this stuff will never be bargain bin $1 material again.

>>481645
You can probably do better. I was very determined to pick up Snatcher recently. That is commonly listed at the same prices. I checked listings daily and waited until I saw an offer for 200 bucks, and grabbed it immediately.

>>481645
Hunt until you find it for less. Don't fleece yourself because that is feeding into the circlejerk of insanity.

>>481645
There are two on ebay right now for 250 and one for 100. I am sure a bid war will break out though at some point.

The sad thing is, I think with most old games people are just reselling an just want to make back what they paid plus more now. People that got Panzer Dragoon Saga two years ago want the 100-200 back plus another 100-200.

>>481667
>>481706

Allright, I'll wait. I'm just panicked with all this doomsday talk that the game's going to be $1,000 in a few years or something.

>>481713
I wouldn't worry about that, there's going to be a point where it becomes unsustainable, and people stop paying that much.

I hope.

>>481725
I'm sure that point will come. Right now I think it's partially a fad, this whole collecting thing. That, and people looking to get into it new WILL be discouraged by the prices of more desirable items. After a while, demand will die back down, and we can go back to getting our games.

>>481713
Keep in mind, very few of these games commanding insane premiums are genuinely scarce. Demand is high, but supply is also fairly high in most of these cases. With Saturn stuff, supply is generally lower than with other systems, but even so, it's not like there were only triple digits of these games manufactured.

>>481651
Look them up, you'd be surprised.

If you played Tempest-era, Wastelands are uncommons that are worth tons.

I sold most of my game collection a few years ago to pay for other things. So many Saturn games. Practically every SNES and PS1 game worth owning. So much of my life spent collecting those games, and then they were gone. And now that i want to buy them back, all of those games have triple in price. Sometimes I want to shoot myself.

>>481793

And you're telling us this so we can call you a retard?

>>481803
Yes. Please beat the shit out of me so I don't make the same mistake twice.

>>481245

I really don't know. I didn't have a Saturn, (no one I knew did) just N64 and PS1 way back when so around 2008 I got in to Saturn collecting since it was almost like visiting a part of my childhood I missed and I like those early 3D games

I picked up a copy of Saga for 120$
Aside from that maybe about 5-25$ for the rest of my small collection. The only other things I want are burning rangers and maybe Virtua Cop

I think more idiots and bandwaggoners have just joined in to collecting and have messed up prices

Same reason Misadventures of Tron Bonne and Earthbound are so high

Eventually prices will dip down when sellers realize no one wants to pay that much

pic related. My Saturn collection

only thing missing is Christmas Nights, White case US Saturn (bought a jap model 2 white case on ebay and swapped it on to US model 2 guts) my action replay 4 in for region free and my memory card

>>481808
I feel the same way with some of my Magic cards, don't worry.

>>481792
I spoke too soon on the forces being the most valuable. Those 3rd edition Savannah prices. Oh lawd. Its too bad most of my collection is Ice Age, Fallen Empires and 4e. I can't imagine any of that shit being worth anything.

If the Magic the Gathering bubble never burst, I'm not so sure about retro games.

>>481506

yeah I was looking to pick up radiant silvergun when it came out on xbla but that prices didn't drop at all, not like they did with Marvel vs Capcom 2

>think I'm sitting on a goldmine
>check clockwork knight on ebay
>99p unsold
fuck you collectors, that was a great game.

>>481865
brb geting on that

>>481829
Those dual lands are all worth money. I just feel lucky that I picked up my 40 duals before the dual-land boom, and won my underground seas in a tournament.

>>481894

Not if I get there first nigga

>>481951
too late faget
I need an NTSC copy anyways

>>481972

I really just want a copy of burning rangers

I like Sonic Team's side stuff and that one seems like the craziest

>>482004

Have you played Feel the Magic/Rub Rabbits?

Really amusing games.

Boys, what's a good place to get import Saturn games other than eBay?

Good games to import?

Anyone?

>>482253

I don't actually know, but I really want a copy of Sexy Parodius.

>>482253
There's always Amazon, and Play-Asia sells Saturn games as well. Can't speak to their prices, though.

It really does suck. I wonder how bad it would be if we didn't have emulators and piracy. More and more people that grew up in the 90s now have jobs and are taking up collecting as a hobby. Games are getting harder and harder to find out in the wild as collectors (and, due to insane collectors, resellers) hunt them down.

Two idiots paid $400 for a used copy of Keio Flying Squadron so far this month. I remember when it was $125. Working Designs games seem to have jumped the highest.

Is it a bubble? I sure hope so. Games, like baseball cards and most collectibles, are intrinsically worthless, and are driven in a large part by speculators. But, the supply is ever-shrinking. It all comes down to demand. How far will people go just to own a copy of a game? People are paying $80 for a complete used copy of Mad Dog II on the Sega CD, a horrendously shitty FMV game, no doubt for the sole purpose of completing their collection. At what point are people going to say, "fuck it, it's not worth it"? If I had to guess, the prices will stay inflated for a while, then drop throughout the 2020s - most of the current collectors will have moved on, and most kids that didn't grew up in the 2000s will have no interest in collecting old games.

You can help by not buying at inflated prices, unless it's something you really want. I've bought a few games at market value, but for the most part, I only buy something if it's at a significant discount from the market average.

On the bright side, our expensive hobby has proven to be an excellent investment.

>>482458
>most kids that didn't grew up

*most kids that grew up

>>482458
Yeah I hope to god it's a bubble and it bursts. We wouldn't even have this issue but apparently some collectors out there are just so filthy rich they're willing to throw whatever money is being asked for a game without caring if they're getting ripped off or not.

The price war is so bad that I've gone straight to ROMs despite my heavy preference for actually owning the game. I just don't have the financial resources to pay the prices that people are asking these days.

>>482458
>Working Designs games seem to have jumped the highest.

Dear god this. And I love those, so I'm a little distraught.

It may be like the MGS3S limited edition. There was one point where they were going for like 150-300 dollars but after a few years they dropped to around 60-120. With all these retro game reviewers on the internet lately collecting older games seems to have become a fad.

I just started looking through Saturn game listings on eBay and some guy is selling MK Trilogy for sixty five dollars.

In general I tend to avoid paying the vastly inflated prices ebay sellers want. As long as people keep paying the prices they want, they will keep on selling at that price, so if people actually looked for good deals we wouldn't be in this eternal spiral of inflating prices.

>>484670

BUT I WANT THINGS

What do?

>>484685
Build a vast pirate library, then over time, replace the copies with legitimate discs.

Then when no one will buy Saturn games, everyone will dump them on the cheap (except the delusional basement-dweller buttergolems).

>I bought Magic Knight Rayearth off of Amazon for $25

I'm assuming that was loose. Magic Knight Rayearth's always been expensive. Granted, yeah, not nearly as much as the $120 it demands now but I'd say it was about $60-70 back around 2008 or so.

Stuff is always cheap during the generation afterward.

Three generations afterward, shit is expensive as fuck.

It's simple really. Collector's usually have one of two things: time or money. If you have money, you go on ebay and click buy. If you have time, you scour garage sales / thrift shops / flea markets / craigslist / etc. If you don't have time or money, should you really be collecting video games in the first place?

Maybe I'm being a bit of conspiracy theorist here, but the sudden, massive spike in prices lately seems to coincide with the start of a certain YouTube program about retro games...

>>485114
In reality, it's probably because GameStop is buying up all of the older games and has been for some years causing a short supply in the wild. Thus, jacking up the prices. Then, when GameStop puts them in stores, they will be at a more reasonabe price than others online, yet higher than GS paid for them insuring profit. It's time consuming, but a very worthy investment and assurance you'll have buyers when your plan unfolds.

my shitty speculation

>>485141
But Gamestop only buys current generation and PS2 games. Shops that deal in retro titles are much less prevalent.

>>485154
I remember reading in another thread, some guy who works at Gamestop said they're planning to start selling retro games as well. I have no idea if that's bullshit or not, but I could see it happening.

>>485154
They buy those from the PUBLIC. What are they buying in private that consumers may not know about. There was an article about how Gamestop is in possession of the worlds largest cache of pre 1999 titles, with plans to put them on shelves in the near future. A brilliant move on their part. Who knows how much they have, or how long they've been hoarding. They could have been doing this for a decade, getting so many great titles for a fraction of what they're worth now. People who assume GS just threw away hundreds of thousands if not millions of old cartridge games could be wrong. Sure, maybe some bit the dust, but more likely, the smart move on their part would be to just store them for pennies a day in a container somewhere. There is no reason for them NOT to do that.

>>485178
This is really asking a lot of Gamestop, however, as massive a company they are in the physical games market, it seems more than reasonable.

I've been in shops that sell retro titles before. One thing that I noticed is that they're nearly always console games and almost never computer stuff.

>>485141
>Gamestop said they're planning to start selling retro games
"Super Mario World and a used third party controller?
That'll be 48.73"

>>485178
>>485161
I guess that's the only way they can stay fucking relevant with digital distribution.

>>485201
It seems to me that if anything, they would try and undercut any other retro stores in the area and the online market, especially if they do have a massive stockpile of games. Sure you could probably pull in some idiot hipster who are going to pay 40 bucks for Duck Hunt, but that's not going to net you a lot in the long run.

>>485227
I wonder, it seems current retro game stores use eBay to make their pricelists anyway, because 90% of the time a game is priced at the average eBay price rounded up.

>>485240
They usually do, so if Gamestop does the same, it doesn't give people much incentive to buy from them over anyone else. If they come in and start pricing games below market value, they're going to pull in more customers and either drive down prices or put everyone else out of business, kind of like Walmart. At least, that's what it seems like would happen, but I'm no economist.

>>485240
Imagine if Gamestop started up with retro sales, and did 20% less because they could afford to.

>>485258
They would have an edge over existing retro stores just because they are far more numerous and well-known among non-gamers, they don't have to undercut

>>485258
As much as I'd love to see prices go down, I'd hate to see my local shops go out of business.

>>485279
Well sure, but their main demographic now is the Call of Duty dumb kid crowd, they're not going to have many 15 year olds coming in to buy SNES games. The majority of people who would buy old games are people who are already in the market for them, and know what they go for. I mean, would you go to Gamestop over any other store with the same prices, just because it's Gamestop?

>>485285
I feel the same, it's kind of a bittersweet proposition.

>>485295
>I mean, would you go to Gamestop over any other store with the same prices, just because it's Gamestop?

If they had a larger selection and more games that I am interested in buying, yes.

>>485295
>they're not going to have many 15 year olds coming in to buy SNES games

Ah I get it. Because they're going through the edgy teen phase and have to hate anything old

>>485187
It's a lot harder to sell PC games

>>485315
err, right

Just for kicks I looked up the prices of retro games I've bought in the last year alone.

Now keep in mind, I try to get good deals but what I paid usually reflects the average at the time.

>Parappa the Rapper 2 (PS2)
I paid $7
Currently going for $20-$25

>Gotcha Force (GCN)
I paid $10
Currently going for around $50.

>Burning Rangers (saturn)
I paid $80
Currently going for $300 (!!)

This spikes all happened within the last year.
Not all the game I've bought are going up this rapidly but SOMETHING is happening and it's happening right now.

>>485240

I know a shop around here does. In their earlier days when you asked them for a price if something didn't have a sticker, they'd check Ebay.

>>485327
you'd think people could buy them and set the thing up in DOSBox

>>485397
You obviously know nothing about PC games, do you?

Don't saturn discs suffer from a much higher rate of bit-rot than any other console media form?

>>485365
>>Burning Rangers (saturn)
>I paid $80
>Currently going for $300 (!!)

I'll bet Sonic and All Stars Racing Transformed has something to do with this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUabQiXermY

Stupid new kids with too much money ruining it for the rest of us.

PC games are too technical for most people which is why retro game stores don't sell them.

>>485492
Physical PC games wither are unplayable due to one-time use registration codes, or simply can't run on current hardware.

>>485515
but see >>485397

>>485515
>one-time use registration codes
This is /vr/, remember? One use online codes didn't start popping up till the late 00's

>>485426
Bit rot?

>>485426
No, I've never heard this. The only media that I can think suffer from bitrot badly is laserdisc.

>>485583
Game discs going bad due to age.

>>485612
Ah.

>>485612
I've read about this. I know that's why some CDs are laced with actual gold. Any idea as to the cause of it?

It only seems to be R1 games?

I looked up a bunch of my favorite import-only Saturn games (Langrisser IV, Dragon Force 2, Wachenroder, Terra Phantastica...) they all go for $30

>>485665
Yeah for some reason Japan hasn't been hit too hard by the retro game boom.

>>485610
I have plenty of discs with black spots along the edges of the data section, ruining them. No damage to the printed side. CDs rot, and CDRs doe it even faster.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disc_rot
Fuck... I never.

>>485713
And cd-rw even more so.

>>481425
So we CAN blame leddit for this!

>>485741
Yeah it sucks for an OCD collector to know that what you collect are essentially temporary vehicles for something digital and intangible.

At some point everything in my collection will just be for display while I'm actually playing the games on an emulator.

>>481824
>panzer dragoon saga on bottom of stack
that shit is gonna get fucked up, nigger

>>485767
This is why I rip every game I own, if it's not too damaged to rip. Thank goodness for mod chips and emulators.

>>481425
Holy fuck.
http://burlington.craigslist.org/tag/3593734282.html

>>485741

I wish I had never seen this article

>>485804
Where the hell do people even get prices like that? I never heard of a Genesis selling for that much ever.

>>485802
I know I can just download the actual game on the net, but what kind of equipment to I need to back up saves for GBA carts and memory cards and stuff?

>>485836
>but what kind of equipment to I need to back up saves for GBA carts
A DS/DSlite, a slot 1 flashcard, and a certain homebrew that I can not remember the name of right now.

You may also need a slot 2 card like the EZ 3in1, but I'm not positive of that.

>>481245
>the disc has Fuu on it

Someone at Working Designs has god tier taste.

>>486360

There are actually three different discs, one with each of the girls on them.

>>485804
Seriously, what the FUCK.

>>485814
Well, the Genesis is a discontinued uncensored console with banned content, including pornographic games, and the one depicted in craigslist is brand new, what can you expect?

>>485515

>what is a keygen/crack

Back in 2000 I bought a Saturn analog controller from EB for a penny. A PENNY.

>>485804
>http://burlington.craigslist.org/tag/3593734282.html
Is that VA?
...wow

>>485804
Did somebody forget a decimal point?

>>485804

HO HO HO LY SHIT

All it would have taken was a short trip to the internet to see how overpriced that is, why would that guy try to sell that?