Retro Video Game Stores

[Anonymous No.10939998]

How does /vr/ feel about these? One just opened up in my town and has another location about 45 minutes away, so they know what they are doing to a degree.

[Anonymous No.10940002]

games are free on the internet and coomlecting is cringe

[Anonymous No.10940026]

>>10940002
its just not the same and its not even about building a collection to be honest

[Anonymous No.10940060]

I like that they exist, and I like ones which are willing to house meetups or host other gaming events. As far as being a store, though, I don't really see the point. Their prices are generally going to be too high for me, and if they wind up with anything really rare or unique, they'll probably just toss on ebay. I assume that the days of people regularly unloading stuff at a retrogame store have probably passed, because most people who would think to do that will probably just sell directly on ebay, or if they were partiuclarly clueless as to the value of old games to the point that they're willing to sell them off as a cheap lot, they'd probably be the type to just dump them all at Goodwill.
This is an American POV, though, because Japan still seems to have a lot more clueless game owners looking to unload for pennies. Seriously, used game shops in Japan still have people who will sell them rare arcade PCBs, minty used games, and even extremely hard to find shit like prototypes.

[Anonymous No.10940065]

>>10940060
i indulge in retro stores and other nonsensical businesses because it makes me feel like im living in an alternate world where things are actually nice and you can go to the store and buy things you want instead of sitting at home all fucking day with your emulation machine and no human contact whatsoever getting food deliveries from amazon

[Anonymous No.10940092]

>>10940060
>Their prices are generally going to be too high for me
IMO this is the main problem with them.
Twenty years ago used game stores were great for bargain hunters.
Now you'll only find ebay prices.
Which begs the question: why don't I just buy it from ebay?
And that's if you're even willing to pay the price.

[Anonymous No.10940108]

>>10939998
I work at one, the community that gravitate towards it is great. Emulator guys are insufferable in person.

[Anonymous No.10940110]

>>10940092
I'm not even sure how most stores would go about getting enough inventory to line their shelves, unless they mostly stock 7th gen, since you can probably get people willing to trade in or sell off stacks of those. Other than that, I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of them are buying inventory from ebay, either breaking up lots or finding the rare undervalued Buy It Now listing.
Probably part of the reason for the surge of interest in Japanese games, because resellers can still buy big bulk lots of old games from Japan. I remember ~5-10 years ago you'd see convention vendors who just had huge plastic tubs of Japanese games. I remember one had an underpriced Japanese copy of the Super Famicom Power Rangers game, which I probably should've bought.

[Anonymous No.10940119]

>>10939998
Mine shut down recently...

[Anonymous No.10940121]

>>10940108
emulator guys are type A spergs. they are not the cool laid back type B. they're the type A who would wear atheist shirts and loudly scoff at anyone who shows interest in anything that isnt a STEM field while trying to seriously debate with you over video game lore

[Anonymous No.10940125]

Why would I walk into one of those in current year when i know it’s just been set up to fleece me for all I’ve got

[Anonymous No.10940135]

>>10940125
better than staying home

[Anonymous No.10940139]

I LOVE them

[Anonymous No.10940141]

>>10939998
>Look at all those games that rarely sold off at those bullshit Ebay prices

Do fucking hipsters even really pay that much for their own fake prices?

[Anonymous No.10940150]

>>10940139
people on this website really are miserable in a self-reinforcing way, huh

[Anonymous No.10940153]

They're cool to check out and peruse because sometimes they do have cool rare stuff, and the staff are generally pretty knowledgable so it makes for decent conversation, but the prices are pretty ridiculous. I've seen literal junk games with price tag s the equivalent of a modern "AAA" titles. I'm not a collector or enthusiast though so i'm just there to look around and see if there is anything cool.

[Anonymous No.10940165]

I'd like to have one local, since I make repros and need cheap donor carts. Turning a NFL 95 into Chrono Trigger is my jam.

[Anonymous No.10940168]

Oh boy. Another thread about retro stores soon to dissolve into complaining about collectors and artificial price gouging.
How original. Never see these threads before hardly ever.

[Anonymous No.10940172]

>>10939998
>How does /vr/ feel about these?
i don't feel anything about grifters that use ebay as a price guide while trying to charge $50+ for a cartridge without any box/manual that was $2 only 10-15 years prior.
>One just opened up in my town and has another location about 45 minutes away
i give them a year before they're broke and the store is gone.

>>10940092
>Twenty years ago used game stores were great for bargain hunters.
exactly right, anon. i bought up all my favourite stuff within that time only to see prices go unjustifiably crazy.

>>10940108
>>10940121
> things that never happened

>>10940141
yeah, they do. they're not the brightest but they also don't know what things were like manyt years previously. they don't know they're getting screwed.

[Anonymous No.10940175]

>>10940168
people like me bought everything before the artificially inflated bubble expanded that was created by grifters and retards, and i'm still going to shit on people like you that have lost a fortune and are still trying to collect shit at exorbitant prices. cope harder.

[Anonymous No.10940178]

>>10940165
>Turning a NFL 95 into Chrono Trigger is my jam.
absolute chad. making use of literal trash. i used to find so many sports games that nobody wanted to touch. it's nice to see someone making use of them.

[Anonymous No.10940206]

>>10940065
this

[Anonymous No.10940207]

>>10940060
>eBay prices but you can check condition and confirm authenticity

Yeah, sounds horrible.

[Anonymous No.10940213]

>10940175
I'm sensing some projection.

[Anonymous No.10940238]

>>10939998
Makes sense if you want a disc cleaning, a console repair, or something bigger you don't want to pay shipping for
Doesn't make much sense for anything else outside getting ideas for later

[Anonymous No.10940273]

>>10940172
>i give them a year before they're broke and the store is gone.
How do these stores manage to stay afloat? We have one in my town (pic related) and I can’t help but wonder what kind of business they can actually manage to get.

[Anonymous No.10940281]

>>10940273
I see you are in Houston too. My store in Katy shut down recently, but I can't blame them since shit is tight plus they were expensive. They apparently had a 50% on everything, so I'm a bit pissed I missed it.

[Anonymous No.10940294]

>>10940139
huh
I know this location because it's just down the street.

[Anonymous No.10940298]

>>10940273
Small staff, knowing when to just get rid of shit online and keeping frequent sellers in stock and decent social media presence.

[Anonymous No.10940301]

>>10940273
>How do these stores manage to stay afloat?
they usually don't stay afloat for too long unless they're also selling new software too.
> I can’t help but wonder what kind of business they can actually manage to get.
yeah it's hard for me to imagine nowadays.

[Anonymous No.10940312]

>>10940281
The one in Webster was selling assorted demo discs from magazines and such I went there 10 or so years ago. I asked them about how they got past the giant NOT FOR RESALE printed on the discs, and one of the employees flat out told me that since most of those don’t exist anymore, there’s basically no one to legally enforce it. Makes sense, I guess.

Only business I had over there otherwise was getting discs rebuffed. Whatever they were using always worked like a charm.

[Anonymous No.10940314]

>>10940312
>most of those don’t exist anymore
Most or those *companies don’t exist anymore, I meant.

[Anonymous No.10940315]

>>10940065

[Anonymous No.10940318]

>>10940273
I imagine they all have an online presence as well as their shop front.
>>10940110
People sell their collections in bulk for cheap to retailers for the convenience. Working people with kids don't have time to be fucking around on eBay. Standard purchase price is 1/3 what they would sell for. Same deal in comic book stores, record stores, etc.

[Anonymous No.10940321]

>>10940312
>I asked them about how they got past the giant NOT FOR RESALE printed on the discs
That's about the faggiest thing I've ever read.

[Anonymous No.10940324]

>>10939998
Arcade is more affordable and probably a better social outlet.

[Anonymous No.10940327]

>>10940315
Fuck kff normie

[Anonymous No.10940328]

>>10940321
Lol jeeze, if that’s the faggiest thing you’ve ever read then you should try reading more often.

I have a ton of demo discs and I always noticed that label on them and wondered what it meant when I was a kid. Seeing them show up in a store in spite of the large warning was something I was curious about.

[Anonymous No.10940343]

>>10940328
It meant you weren't supposed to sell them seperate to the magazine like some dodgy Arab newsagent. I'm just playing though. I think it's cute that you thought the words could do anything to stop them.

[Anonymous No.10940358]

>>10940312
>The one in Webster was selling assorted demo discs from magazines
that's scummy to the extreme.
>I asked them about how they got past the giant NOT FOR RESALE printed on the discs
cringe. and because they can - basically. still scummy to sell cover disks without the magazines.

>>10940343
>It meant you weren't supposed to sell them seperate to the magazine like some dodgy Arab newsagent
mostly this.

[Anonymous No.10940363]

>>10939998
I have a retro store near me that sells counterfeit GBA games like translated Mother 3 for $20. How they were not shut down, I have no idea.

[Anonymous No.10940369]

>>10940324
>Arcade is more affordable and probably a better social outlet.
arcades are expensive. electricity ,the machines, the costs of maintaining machines, new machines that cost as much as cars and rent for a place to hold it all. absolute money pit in current year.

[Anonymous No.10940379]

>>10940363
>I have a retro store near me that sells counterfeit GBA games
$20? lmao. i know i would say to them
>"yeah, they're bootlegs. probably cost $2 to make. i'll give you $5 for it."
i'm sure some will barter very quickly because it's not quite legal and never was to sell bootlegs.

[Anonymous No.10940383]

>>10939998
There are some good ones out there but more often than not the selection is garbage and anything above 20 bucks is behind glass. Also the prices are always at or above ebay so there's no point anymore.

[Anonymous No.10940386]

I've gone to small towns and stolen games from them. Its kind of shocking how invincible you feel once you have good cardio.

[Anonymous No.10940393]

>>10940363
I guess kind of like the demo disc thing, only a major busybody would give 2 actual shits about reporting it. Who would you even report it to? The cops? Kek

I wouldn’t mind paying a fair price for a bootleg. $20 is a bit high, but it’s not insanely exorbitant like the average rates on most *genuine* retro games these days.

[Anonymous No.10940395]

>>10940379
I know, it's crazy. I'm pretty sure they bought them from Alibaba or Aliexpress, because I saw them mention on Facebook they got an entire shipment of it coming into the store. It's not like they accidentally bought it from someone either.

[Anonymous No.10940406]

>>10940395
> I'm pretty sure they bought them from Alibaba or Aliexpress
most likely, anon.
>because I saw them mention on Facebook they got an entire shipment of it coming into the store.
these people aren't very bright. why would they leave evidence on the internet? it's just a lawsuit waiting to happen. and nintendo loves paying lawyers to dance in all kinds of ways to extract money out of people. idiots.

[Anonymous No.10940413]

>>10940358
>that's scummy to the extreme.
How is it scummy if they're second hand?

[Anonymous No.10940498]

>>10940413
If you rationalize it, really there’s nothing scummy about it. Back then they didn’t sell for more than $5-10 or so, which isn’t any unreasonable price for a novelty. It’s definitely not realistic to expect them to always come with the magazines precisely because, as you pointed out, they’re secondhand.

I guess it’s just because they were never meant to be sold on their own (hence the NOT FOR RESALE label) that makes the resale of them seem kinda shady.

[Anonymous No.10940536]

>>10940060
>Their prices are generally going to be too high for me
Do you not have a job?

[Anonymous No.10940538]

>>10940092
>Which begs the question: why don't I just buy it from ebay?
Because you don't need to pay for shipping, and get the item immediately while also supporting a local business.

[Anonymous No.10940540]

>>10939998
we have a retro game store thats great cuz it sells modern games, and has a much larger selection than gamestop cuz it also has all the LRG and bundle editions
plus large selections of 7th 6th gen and 5th gen

but the retro selection while large is full of low quality stuff and imports are limited

[Anonymous No.10940542]

>>10940536
Read the rest of his post

[Anonymous No.10940545]

>>10940172
>why doesn't a game cost the same from 20 years ago?
>all prices should be the same.
Anon you are living in the past. You are like a guy in 1980 complaining why a 1960 classic muscle car doesn't cost the same anymore.

[Anonymous No.10940548]

>>10940092
It's really self-defeating, the price was literally part of the reason we collected retro games. Now that everything exceeds the price of modern games, what's even the point

If you already own a modern console, you'd actually do a bit of good by just buying a proper physical compilation

[Anonymous No.10940549]

>>10940545
>GIVE US YOUR DAMN MONEEEY

[Anonymous No.10940561]

>>10940548
Or just emulating.

The fact that these stores have not gone under entirely in spite of emulation providing a near 1:1 experience in 99% of cases is the most baffling aspect of the retro market.

[Anonymous No.10940565]

>>10940549
>30 year old thing isn't the same price anymore
What's next? Complaining that the price of gas isn't 90 cents like it was in the early 1990s?

[Anonymous No.10940571]

>>10940561
Well I mean, the appeal is similar to that of collecting old vinyl records, trading cards, jerseys etc. The difference is some of us actually want to play the games

[Anonymous No.10940574]

>>10940571
Yeah, I guess that’s a fair point.

[Anonymous No.10940587]

>>10940108
a hobby of mine is going to these stores, looking at the shelves, and loudly proclaiming which emulator I already beat each game on

[Anonymous No.10940598]

>>10940273
Buy games for cheap. Sell them higher. Store is pretty much a display cabinet while they sell everything else online.
The one round my area also sells boardgames/ttrpg shit and video game shirts.

[Anonymous No.10940616]

>>10940587
Based

You should apply for a job there.

[Anonymous No.10940620]

>>10940538
I never pay for shipping on ebay

[Anonymous No.10940629]

>>10940498
>I guess it’s just because they were never meant to be sold on their own (hence the NOT FOR RESALE label) that makes the resale of them seem kinda shady.

I think those labels are meant mostly as a disincentive for store owners to scam their customers by selling them as an individual product, like when I buy a packet of mints from an Asian grocery that says NOT FOR INDIVIDUAL SALE meaning it came from a larger packet that was meant to be sold as a whole. Because they're an Asian grocery I don't expect any better from them and they don't give a fuck what I think anyway.
As a collectible the writing is irrelevant and only has historical value. What should they do, throw them in the trash? No one's getting scammed.

[Anonymous No.10940636]

>>10940545
>>all prices should be the same.
never said that. but when prices for trash are 400% more than what it was 10-15 years ago that not only defies inflation, value of currency but also logic.

>>10940565
> comparing a natural resource to video games
it's like you have down syndrome or you're one of those obese people on ebay trying to sell a sonic the hedgehog cart with out box and manual for $50? lmao. no amount of seething and false equivalency is going to change the fact of how this pathetic industry is full of grifters living in fantasy land. people like myself are very thankful to have bought everything when it was being literally thrown way while you're still paying huge markups and trying to justify in the most retarded ways possible.

[Anonymous No.10940637]

>>10940571
I like to listen to vinyl records too.

[Anonymous No.10940645]

>>10940538
Anon, I almost never need to pay for shipping from ebay.
In the few cases you do, it's usually reflected in a lower sell price.

[Anonymous No.10940648]

>>10939998
When I buy hardware, I go to the retro store. They're decent in that, if there are any issues with what you buy, they take it back, no questions - you don't have to hope it'll turn up ok in the mail. You also usually get some decent chat (when they're not clearly stressing about overheads or how much money they've made that day).

Software's pointless, though. You know that they know know that you know it's all overpriced by X, which sucks the fun out of talking about the games. You occasionally hear them dealing with phone customers, having to go through the same haggling conversation that they're clearly sick of. I guess the worst thing about retro stores is you know the folk who run them just aren't enjoying it - it's just a way to justify an addiction that's grown way out of hand.

[Anonymous No.10940657]

>>10940636
>but when prices for trash
As long as people are willing to pay for it, then it isn't trash. That's how the market works. You aren't some wise enlightened sage because you don't partake in buying hard to find video games. You are just a normal dude who isn't interested in using your money to get into that specific hobby.

[Anonymous No.10940679]

>>10940636
>but when prices for trash are 400% more than what it was 10-15 years ago that not only defies inflation, value of currency but also logic.
Dwindling supply due to breakdown and forever collectors swallowing up supply + multiple new waves of hobbyists entering the market over the last decade and a half + massive inflation = very large price spikes. There's nothing illogical about it. Good for you that you got in early, but that doesn't make you any less of a fucking idiot today.

There exists no other hobby which is full of people who insist that the things they claim to enjoy are valueless. This is a peculiar sickness that only gamers seem to be afflicted by. Personally, I think it's cool when people use their money to pursue their passions. Crazy, I know.

[Anonymous No.10940685]

>>10940571
I still load my 5 screw super mario bros cart into my toaster; get fucked

[Anonymous No.10940703]

>>10940657
>That's how the market works
that's how grifting works.

>>10940679
>There exists no other hobby which is full of people who insist that the things they claim to enjoy are valueless
except this one. which is why stores don't last very long. it's like you haven't been reading this thread? if people were interested in buying games (that sold millions of copies of just 1 title) for an overinflated price - knowing how many copies actually exist - then yeah, you go broke. no amount of mental gymnastics about "collecting" changes anything.

>massive inflation
i'm sorry, retard. places like usa and other western nations haven't suffered from argentia levels of inflation to justify these price increases over the last few years. try harder.

[Anonymous No.10940713]

>>10940685
Well yeah, it's Super Mario Bros. Same cannot be said of people who collect games like Little Samson or Stadium Events

[Anonymous No.10940719]

>>10940026
>its just not the same
yes it is the same, vidya wise, many cases it's even better.
The only difference is that you are not feeding scalpers, yeah emulator guys are insufferable but it's between that and contributing to greed.

[Anonymous No.10940732]

>>10940703
>except this one
Right. That's why I said "there exists no other hobby..." emphasis on the word 'other' (implying other than the one we're currently discussing, that being video games), before going on to explicitly talk about how this issue is localized to video games.

>if people were interested in buying games (that sold millions of copies of just 1 title)
Not only are there very few games that sold several million copies, most of them are still quite cheap. Most expensive games have sub-100k print runs. You would know this if you weren't lying about your involvement in the hobby.

>places like usa and other western nations haven't suffered from argentia levels of inflation to justify these price increases over the last few years.
Right. It's a good thing I listed that as one one several compounding factors in the post you're replying to

Again, you're just a fucking idiot.

[Anonymous No.10940734]

>>10940703
>that sold millions of copies of just 1 title
>knowing how many copies actually exist
Except millions don't exist today. Over 25 YEARS, the copies have been damaged, lost, destroyed, thrown out, etc. The number has gone down. Never up.

[Anonymous No.10940738]

>>10940648
>I guess the worst thing about retro stores is you know the folk who run them just aren't enjoying it
God, that’s a depressing thought.

The pure buying, trading, and selling aspect of running a retro vidya store definitely sounds like it blows and could burn a person out pretty rapidly. Turning your store into a place that hosts events or has an “arcade” that features paying to play on retro consoles for an allotted time sounds like a better way to turn it into something fun (and profitable, assuming people show up). Being able to see people actually enjoy the goods you’re dealing in may help reduce fatigue from the shittier aspects of running the business.

[Anonymous No.10940760]

>>10940092
he is right, anon. one is free and the other one is overpriced.

[Anonymous No.10940772]

I went to one in my area. The people who ran it were very friendly and nice. They welcomed me in warmly, asked if I was looking for anything in particular to which i just said I'd like to browse a bit and as I did we chatted some about different games and I would have happily bought a few things from him, but as perhaps expected his prices were simply too high. I don't think there was anything in the store under 60 bucks without books or cases. I attempted to haggle a bit, but he was quite firm in his pricing, and I did not care to push it so I wished him well and went on my way. Few months later I was back in the area and it was turned into a sandwich shop. I did not stop in to sample it.

[Anonymous No.10940773]

>>10940536
Well, for one, I've primarily collected Japanese games for around 20 years at this point, so unless they have Japanese games, or US games for sub-ebay pricing, they're probably going to be at a price point above what I'm willing to pay.
>>10940312
That NFR label was mostly relevant back when they were current, to try to prevent scummy retailers from milking extra money out of what was either a pack-in or a promotional item. Nowadays anybody looking to buy them wants them for collecting or nostalgia purposes and understands that they're paying for something which wasn't intended to be sold on its own, and the originally intended promotional purpose of the item is entirely irrelevant, so the distributor doesn't care either.

[Anonymous No.10941213]

>>10940386
Funniest comment on this thread

[Anonymous No.10941218]

>>10941213
Wasn't worth the bump post in this thread.

[Anonymous No.10941248]

>>10940002
>coomlecting
I feel like that term should specifically be reserved for hentai games, figures, and old hentai DVDs and VHS.

[Anonymous No.10941253]

>>10941248
Idk, I've unironically coomed on some of my games before.

[Anonymous No.10941257]

>>10940773
>Well, for one, I've primarily collected Japanese games for around 20 years at this point, so unless they have Japanese games, or US games for sub-ebay pricing, they're probably going to be at a price point above what I'm willing to pay.

Eh...Are you mentally accounting for inflation and that 20 years have occurred? How much are those old prices you used to pay giving you a bias? Remember those old prices you used pay were only when game factories were still in operation and making copies

I used to work in an arcade. We had boomers occasionally come in, and get royally upset when they saw our arcade machines don't cost a 25 cents anymore. Then come and complain to me that the machines were too expensive, and we're ripping them off like I was the one who chose the price of the machines. These Boomers don't realize it's not the 1980s anymore. But they are stuck in the past.

[Anonymous No.10941265]

>>10941253
based

[Anonymous No.10941278]

>>10941265
How come weebs are the only genus of heterosexual male capable of displaying things on a shelf in an aesthetically pleasing fashion?

[Anonymous No.10941289]

>>10941278
probably mostly in the lighting

[Anonymous No.10941293]

>>10939998

[Anonymous No.10941310]

>>10941289
I'm sure that helps, but that's also just a very pleasing arrangement of items. A lot of shelves I see, all of the games are pushed all the way to the back in solid rows with maybe a few figs haphazardly thrown in tbe foreground. This, on the other hand, looks very welcoming and plays with depth nicely (the Dreamcast shelf, for instance). There's also no wasted vertical space, and the way each cube has a totally different display structure keeps the whole thing visually interesting.

I can't believe I wrote this.

[Anonymous No.10941341]

>>10941257
I meant that in the sense of "I focus on collecting Japanese imports, so if they don't have a decent selection of Japanese import games, they probably don't have anything I'd want to buy."

[Anonymous No.10941374]

>>10939998
the prices are always just eBay prices, so what is the point of going into one?

[Anonymous No.10941394]

>>10940175
small titty attitude

[Anonymous No.10941424]

>>10940587
you sound mad awkward to be around. they prolly weren't offended that you said that, and just felt secondhand embarrassment

[Anonymous No.10941458]

>>10940587
Based

[Anonymous No.10941468]

>>10940587
You only make yourself look like a sperg. Don't you realize that EVERYONE has access to the emulator and roms? That's not the point of going to a game store.

[Anonymous No.10941490]

>>10941468
He's obviously shitposting, but I do find it funny when people in their early 20s think they're besting collectors when they point out that they use emulators for free, when most collectors started fucking around with emulators when Gen Z were still in the womb.

[Anonymous No.10941502]

>>10941257
I'm still not going to walk into a used game store and pay ebay prices

[Anonymous No.10941505]

>>10941490
I'm not a collector in honesty (but I see why people love it and there are worse hobbies) but I downloaded Zsnes onto a floppy from my schools computer lab at 14 circa 2000.

[Anonymous No.10941508]

>>10941490
You're telling me you don't piss and shit every time you see someone in their sophomore year of college who works a part time, minimum wage job post "laughs in emulation", or whatever?

[Anonymous No.10941595]

>>10940587
Based

[Anonymous No.10941652]

Are thrift stores still viable options for good deals? I don't think any around me carry video games anymore. Haven't had any luck at garage sales either but maybe I don't go enough or just live in a ghetto.

[Anonymous No.10941659]

>>10941652

[Anonymous No.10941660]

>>10941659

[Anonymous No.10941668]

>>10940119
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQ1fyTOHdtY

Saw this video months ago. It is worth a watch. I wish I had the money and space to endlessly collect games but its the one benefit I can definitely understand with the people that prefer digital. The amount of space you will save especially if you like to buy/play tons of games would make the digital option a lot more appealing. And I guess for the especially lazy its easier to switch games since you don't have to pick your lazy ass up to switch games each time.
>>10939998
>How does /vr/ feel about these?
I was able to get a handful of games I wanted recently. We need these kind of stores especially to counter the scalper faggots driving prices too high.

[Anonymous No.10941738]

>>10941659
God I hate boomers and resellers so much. Thrift stores now a days are only good for buying 7th gen cheap license games and 7th gen consoles.

[Anonymous No.10941785]

>>10940273

gamedude in so cal has told me they make all of their money on new games and just have the retro games to get people in the door. the way they described it was that locals came there because they were close and not gamestop. people come from a bit further to pick up some retro stuff sometimes and would end up picking up new stuff also.

[Anonymous No.10941793]

>>10941659
>>10941660
what shittubers are these?

[Anonymous No.10941883]

when it comes to pc games, retro stores don't tend to be good. i'll still look inside of them but these places tend to be console-centric.

[Anonymous No.10941902]

>>10941883
Our physical media started dying way before console though. I remember buying a few games in 2014 from the local Game opening it to see codes inside. I knew then that it was over and sure enough that was the last time I bought anything PC software related from a store.

The big box stuff is collectable but it's just so rare to see in the wild I totally agree.

[Anonymous No.10941932]

>>10941793
I don't even remember, just some random boomer collectors on Youtube. The one at the yard sale owns a pawn shop, I guess the their daughter went to college and told them to just sell of her stuff.

[Anonymous No.10941939]

>>10939998
I love these places

But at the same time they're somewhat of a letdown because it makes me realize how many games I don't actually wanna play and it's only about 1/5 or so that I want to play or buy for the cover art

[Anonymous No.10942219]

>>10941374
The major point is verifiability and not having to pay shipping.

If I walk into a retro game store, I can see the game I'm buying, confirm that it's legit and confirm any damage to it. If I buy from ebay, there's a reasonable chance that it's either a repro, has hidden damage or is missing stuff. The risk goes up the cheaper you go.

It's also different to actually eyeball what's on shelves and find stuff you didn't know you wanted. It's like asking a record collector why they bother going to record stores, and the answer usually is because you know what you want, but you don't know what you might want.

[Anonymous No.10942221]

>>10939998
The beat game stores are the ones that put arcade cabinets inside, and host events for gaming or board games .

[Anonymous No.10942231]

>>10941293
This is sick. Reminds me of the early days of GameStop/EB Games/KB Toys before everything became modern

[Anonymous No.10942389]

>>10940719
>completely different hardware
>relying on inaccurate emulation
>needless freedom of settings to say fuck off to the intended style
>reddit emulation nerds constantly hypocritically shitting on collectors while storing multiple $70+ hard drives worth of games
>"invest in le $1500 pc bro, it's worth it!"
>brand new custom built PC goes outdated to same nerds within 4 months and you get bullied out of gay internet subcommunities for saying you don't want to constantly invest $700 to play games you could be playing on your childhood consoles (or whatever new slightly outdated console is available to play modern games on)
>"yeah sorry [anon], i just have a really big backlog i downloaded from Vimm's last week."
>doesnt know his garbage shaders look nothing like a real CRT
>still no genuinely stable release of PCSX2
need i go on?

[Anonymous No.10942414]

>>10941738
Anon, that boomer is selling all of that for $1 each

[Anonymous No.10942423]

>>10939998
If anyone here is familiar with the KW region, man the vintage game store craze that was here was insane.
>only three real game stores
>big one for a while was this place called "KW Vintage"
>run by an Indian, no organization just piles of vertically stacked games everywhere, shelves are overloaded, probably had at least ten thousand games in store alone (in addition to this massive warehouse he'd drag ecelebs to, basically the size of a convenience store and filled with more game shit)
>guy is straight up crazy, ran another vintage game store guy out of town by secretly buying up all of his PSX stock (and he didn't have to since, again, his PSX stock was already absurd)
>nobody knows where he gets his money from
>covid happens
>KW Vintage owner drops off the face of the planet
>gets a ton of shit for selling people broken stuff for hundreds, fake graded games, the works
>comes back on facebook three years later to "Clear up any issues"
>is never seen publicly again
>despite it all, his store remained in the same lot with all the shit still inside (again, like ten thousand games alone in there) for five years despite never opening in that time
>nobody knows where his massive games warehouse is
>nobody knows where he disappeared to
It's not much of a loss since his shit was overpriced anyways, and he was a massive piece of shit, but I genuinely want to know where he got all the money for this shit.

[Anonymous No.10942516]

>>10939998
We had a cafe that also doubled as a retro gaming cafe but it shut down due to competition

[Anonymous No.10942524]

>>10939998
I often go check one in Ikebukuro since it's close to my home but I never buy anything. I just get inspired and then return home to download roms. I like that it's there though.

[Anonymous No.10942550]

You trolls need to material. We ALL have access to roms and emulators. This isn't something you can brag about, or hold over our heads. Guess what? Have emulators killed the retro market? Lmao. No. It's even hotter than it ever was before.

[Anonymous No.10942578]

>>10939998
I love them. Invariably run by low skill faggots, even if they aren't bandwagoners like yours. I get a lot of business from them repairing shit. And get the stuff they consider not worth repairing for free or a buck a box. A lot of people in the business are douchebags, but there are plenty of nice guys. Regardless we're all joined by our mutual detestment of bandwagoning scum.

[Anonymous No.10942630]

>>10941738
The games from a given generation usually dip in value for a couple of generations afterward, until nostalgia kicks in and people want to start buying their childhood games again and younger generations get interested and prices go up. That pattern held for 6th and will probably apply to 7th/8th gen.

[Anonymous No.10942652]

>>10939998
if they're sold at about market price: i'm fine with them
if they're overcharging: screw em

[Anonymous No.10942908]

>>10941278
A complete lack of self-awareness as to how normalfags will perceive their hobby means they can go all-in on the aesthetics.

[Anonymous No.10942956]

>>10941278
>>10942908
>>10941310
Like that anon says, it's aesthetics over function. Most men don't care how they stuff looks if no one else will see them. If others will see them, they will make sure it increases their status and not lowers it. A typical masculine male room will look like a map ripped out of an early 3D shooter. A man would not display $8.99 figurines. Imagine how time consuming it would be to clean the dust of all those shelves. Too much stuff.

[Anonymous No.10943289]

>>10942423
Yeah, the guy was a scammer.
He was one of those "full set" autists, the store was a weird front to sell triples he had of various games.
He managed to fund all of it through disability and welfare money.

[Anonymous No.10943321]

>>10942423
He might have been an actual hoarder (or somebody with foresight, take your pick) who bought stuff in bulk, in the time period when it was cheap old junk. There's confirmed cases of this, like that Tim Atwood guy who would buy up new cases of old games back in the day and just left them unopened until he decided to start selling some in the 2010s. There was also that guy in Dallas, Texas who owned a store called Computer Reset, which was a massive warehouse filled with old electronics, accumulated because the guy was an honest to God hoarder who would accumulate mountains of old computer shit, to the point that his "store" was basically a giant unkempt fire hazard, with so much shit that it took months to sort through everything. While a lot of it was junk (and almost all of it was junk when he obtained it), he wound up with a bunch of desirable NOS items and even some prototype hardware.

[Anonymous No.10943379]

>>10939998
1. They are all very expensive. This could be forgiven except
2. The owner is ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS a huge fucking CONDESCENDING DICK that doesn't even know much about video games.

[Anonymous No.10943389]

>>10940273
>>10940119
This is a video of the guy that closed his store near me talking about why he closed it.
https://youtu.be/h8H7pE4yb4c

[Anonymous No.10943396]

>>10940312
>I asked them about how they got past the giant NOT FOR RESALE printed on the discs
That's not enforceable. They can print any bullshit they like on the disc, but it's your property and you can sell it if you like.

[Anonymous No.10943438]

>>10941738
Don't put this on us. This whole mess only got out of hand because you wannabe retro posers keep falling for every youtube video where someone says CRAP GAME 4 is a MUST HAVE or HIDDEN GEM every collection absolutely needs.

[Anonymous No.10943441]

>>10941659
>kid goes to college
>sells everything that was theirs for $1
im annoyed

[Anonymous No.10943463]

>>10940645
… so you’re paying for shipping

[Anonymous No.10943515]

>go into a store
>see a game I’ve always wanted to have
>check its price on Ebay
>it’s much lower including shipping
>order on Ebay and leave

[Anonymous No.10943554]

>>10943515
If I had a video game store, I would make sure the windows are covered in faraday cage to make sure you can't look up the prices.

[Anonymous No.10943574]

>>10943554
*memorizes the prices*
>nothing personnel, retro merchant

[Surgery Recovery No.10943578]

>>10941659
Goddamn, It's the insufferable Karen midwestern phenotype

[Anonymous No.10943617]

>>10941659
I hate the inflated prices of retro stores and ebay, but this isn't any better.
Talk about selling off your childhood for chump change.
Whoever bought the lot easily made their money back at least ten fold, probably more like fifty.

[Anonymous No.10943790]

>>10941659
>>10941660
Kek I saw this one today
>Literally has thousands in games there, some are $100-$200 games each
>Literally $1 each
>Jew actually still tries to haggle her to pay $20 for all of that knowing this
Hope to god this was staged

[Anonymous No.10943810]

>>10941652
Where I live we have citywide garage sales and I always put out my video games at pricecharting prices -$5-10 and just say that my brother wanted me to put them out for him he'll be here tomorrow if you want to try to haggle but I can't haggle on his behalf and usually if they show interest they'll end up purchasing it at the price I list it for, I never put the games out the second day and say that someone came and bought them all if anyone comes back.

[Anonymous No.10943826]

>>10941652
You'd be surprised, you can still get really great deals at them if you time things right.
One I go to mostly sells furniture and any individual game sells for $3, no matter what game it is. Others can be on the more pricey end but also something might sneak past them
This year I've gotten very cheap Gamecube, Dreamcast, NES, SNES games among others. And I only go once a week.

[Anonymous No.10944124]

>>10942389
>uses a modded console and/or flash cart
>still doesn't pay the scalpers
Really makes me think.

[Anonymous No.10944230]

>>10943617
The problem is you are obsessed with money.

I only buy games I personally care about or have a connection with. I have no expectation of making money on them years later.

[Anonymous No.10944265]

>>10943790
Could very well be staged, but you'd be surprised on the haggling thing. Either it's a point of pride to "win" or the buyers are just as dumb as the sellers. I know on one marketplace with public comments, I saw somebody trying to haggle a ~$20 price reduction on a ~$200 listing for a set of games, which were horrifically underpriced (I'm talking that the games were worth literally ~$6,000). I don't think that person bought them, and the person who did has already partially resold and made around $2k.

[Anonymous No.10944312]

>>10942389
I've never been into emulation subreddits, are they really that hardline?

[Anonymous No.10944364]

>>10942389
I assume this is exaggerated, but emulation fanboys definitely seem like they're trying to cope with something. And I don't mean people who just emulate, but the people who feel a constant need to brag about emulating games, as though they've discovered some special secret that's filtered the coomlectors.

[Anonymous No.10944496]

>>10944364
It's pretty simple, emulationfags who "brag" about it are just coping they got priced out.
Some were too young, some are too poor, some had to sell for real life means, but the reality is that they missed when games were cheap and can't put in the effort to search for them, nor pay for the expense fee they are now, so they go on about how they know this cool piracy (everyone knows you can do so) and how everyone else is coomlectors to seethe over the fact they aren't the ones who own this stuff, nor are they rich enough to buy it up now. And all they can do is pirate it if they ever want to play.
They missed the boat and this is their cope being locked out of having a solid game collection

[Anonymous No.10944550]

>>10940719
Even better now that we have proper USB and Bluetooth controllers for every console + TV sticks like picrel

[Anonymous No.10944646]

>>10943810
>if you want to try to haggle but I can't haggle on his behalf and usually if they show interest they'll end up purchasing it at the price I list it for, I never put the games out the second day and say that someone came and bought them all if anyone comes back.

BASED.

If the price is already very reasonable then I see NO point in trying to haggle. In my experience, I noticed it just pisses off the sellers even more if someone tries to bring the price down even more on a cheap item. If I see an Item I really want for a good deal, then I buy it.

I've gone to flea markets and generally pay the asking price (if it's reasonable). I notice I can get far better results and generate longer lasting relationships with sellers that way. Sometimes the sellers are even willing to go back to their storage and offer me items they haven't put out for sale. Especially if they know I'm serious and won't try to haggle them to death.

One time my friend wanted this one rare game and kept looking at it behind the display case, and asked me if he should get it. It was a reasonable price and I told him yes just get it now. He hesitated and wanted to think about it. The owner saw him looking at the game repeatedly over and over. My friend didn't buy it right away. We came back the next day, and the owner raised the old sale price of the game by $30 dollars. My friend was pissed.

I chuckled.

[Anonymous No.10944686]

>go into "retro game store"
>look around
>point out multiple cartridges to the manager that are clearly reproductions
>get banned

[Anonymous No.10944746]

Been checking out retro stores and cons quite a bit in the past year. I'll just dump my observations:
Prices are usually higher than ebay.
Lots of business is done with non-retro consoles and other merch (plushies and such).
Most people frequenting these stores are extremely entry-level. The type that get excited just seeing a mario or mortal kombat cartridge. Explains why the price of common-but-popular games stay high at these places despite it being baffling to us.

[Anonymous No.10944808]

They suck and are filled with kikes

[Anonymous No.10945934]

>>10939998
I have one near me thats really nice. Prices are reasonable and they carry a lot of rare stuff. It's a nice place to drop by every once in a while and see what they're carrying. I'm also 99% sure the cashier browses /vr/. I know you're here buddy

[Anonymous No.10946382]

Retro game stores would work infinitely better if they housed games you never heard of, like Captain Novolin or Hatris. Chances are you wouldn't find those on eBay because you wouldn't think of searching for them in the first place. Of course, the business would not turn profit but not everything is about money.

[Anonymous No.10946517]

>>10944646
Yeah I realized that people usually like to Go to garage sales for the experience and trying to find something that's rare, when you propose something that's marginally better than market price and fear of missing out starts to settle in they always fold, that being said some people are just pricks. I had a top loader that I had listed for $150, some guy came by and laughed at the price and offered me $20 and I flat out said no and he basically trashed talked me and said there were scratches etc and whatever else and that I was lucky to get an offer at all. Then he offered $40 and I still said no and he left super pissed. Later that day another guy was clearly interested but only offered me $100, I told him the whole story about how it's not mine it's my brother's (it not) but I told him I'd throw in the shitty little 9" tv (which I said was mine) if he bought it and a few games. He ended up paying $200 for the top loader and 5 screws variants of SMB and Castlevania and I threw in a Orion 9" CRT with a built in DVD player that I had out just to show the console worked. The first guy came back later that day and asked if I still had the NES for sale and I was happy to tell him no for the 3rd time. You have to run garage sales.

[Anonymous No.10946540]

>>10944686
Saying "repro cartridge" in a retro game shop is like saying "jury nullification" in a court room

[Anonymous No.10946628]

>>10944646
>If the price is already very reasonable then I see NO point in trying to haggle.
I imagine you see the "I must haggle even though I realize I'm already getting a great deal which I can easily afford" mindset from people who are either resellers or people who view getting a bargain as a matter of personal pride. If they just pay what the seller asks, they're giving the seller the upper hand/winning position in the transaction, so they feel like they have to get the seller to come down to their offer, just so they have the final say on the price; either that, or they think it makes for an even better story than simply getting a good deal.

[Anonymous No.10946725]

>>10946628
I've knowingly sold shit to flippers before just to get rid of it and they always pay asking from what I've experienced.

[Anonymous No.10946736]

>>10946628
I will price stuff I’m selling at above market just so I can get some haggler to make me an offer that I can counter at the price I originally wanted. Usually works

[Anonymous No.10946781]

>>10939998
Fuck em.

I used to have the most fun going to flea markets and garage sales looking for games and systems. It's nice until you get faggots trying to monetize it. Now you can't got to flea markets and the like because those dirty jews have already been there and bought up everything for next to nothing and resell it at retail prices, and top fucking dollar at that.

I went back to emulation.

[Anonymous No.10946792]

>>10940587
Same but I also like to loudly mention that I used savestates

[Anonymous No.10946814]

>>10946781
I did that too man, the last physical games i bought were on Ebay and i was able to get them at half Ebay price, NO, not trying to start shit or weasel out of something, i just got lucky, but this was in 2013-2014, and at least two games ended up being Remourse Purchases but not syaing which ones, the rest i enjoy.

This was the last vidya shit i bought physical, since them i switched to emulation, but keeping the games i bought for cheap and NOT selling them, because here's the thing, Hispters, Speculators AND resellers, DO NOT buy from poor saps like us for the bullshit prices they sell to suckers, they wanna buy your shit for peanuts, and then JERK EM OUT to their extortion prices to other hipsters or their own kind, so those games will never land of hands of real gamers but instead millenial hipsters, the generation that conzooms but do not appreaciates the past and things being pass on them, but instead are likely to destroy them.

My physical collection aint big anyways, its small, so i will keep it, and yes, i got super lucky of getting Mid to less then average on availabity titles like Shatter Hand and Kick Master on NES and Super Adventure Island 4 on SNES.

[Anonymous No.10946825]

>>10944686
Actually, i went back to a Flea Market i have not went for years before the pandemic, and i found new management on the place i was able to buy some decent titles in the past for dirt cheap, and of course now all the prices are JERKED UP, the cheapest games were fucking 350 Mexican Pesos, (20 bucks) but for shitty games, and he good ones were around 600- 900 pesos, (28-50$) for games like Zelda A link to the Past and the like, and i looked at the NES games and they all looked like brand new, cart loose...................but it was kinda suspicious were did he got those, i highly doubt someone was THAT dumb to sell actual legit NES games for cheap in a bulk, and the truth is, i did find out some repros along with some obvious bootlegs.

[Anonymous No.10946865]

>>10941374
prices are at or above ebay because these dumb assholes are siphoning off ebay 95%+ of the time. The games don't come out of thin air.

[Anonymous No.10947003]

>>10946781
For this reason, in 2016 I sold most of my collection off and bought Everdrives with the money.

Since then I've actually re-bought some of the games I sold, but for the most part I think it was the right decision. I still have a collection, most of which is technically redundant with the flashcarts, the difference is the physical games I own now are games I cared about enough to track down rather than just whatever I could get my hands on. (The exception is SNES/SFC games with expansion chips, still collect those since they aren't compatible with the Everdrive, but at this point I own all the ones I care about)

I do miss when this hobby was less mainstream. I've been thinking a lot lately how I often used to enjoy the thrill of the hunt more than actually playing the games. Like how elated I was to find a cheap old pong console at an estate sale 10 years ago, even though I've barely used it since, it was such a satisfying thing to find. I'm glad I got to experience the tail end of that era before it all went to shit.

Oh well. Still have all the games available at a moment's notice. The difficulty now is finding the motivation to actually play them.

[Anonymous No.10947016]

I love retro stores but as an AVID physical collector you will always get a lower price on ebay due to the lack of overhead.

Every store I go to games are minimum 20% more expensive and the guys that run them are usually scammers and giant tools.There was a time where I thought about opening up one as a side hustle but due to the above combined with emulation and zoomers having no interest in physical plus modern physical dying there's not a place I can imagine opening up one and just breaking even. That's all I would want is to break even.

[Anonymous No.10947124]

>>10946517
>The first guy came back later that day and asked if I still had the NES for sale and I was happy to tell him no for the 3rd time. You have to run garage sales.

Super based post. Did the guy who came back later ask how much you sold it for? I imagine he was fuming that he lost the item.

I would imagine he's either super cheap and trying to rip you off.

OR he's a genuine out of touch boomer that doesn't realize it's not 2001 anymore. I almost feel sorry for those people. They missed out on the cheap era of consoles and are coming to way too late to collect.

[Anonymous No.10947130]

I’ll go into them from time to time just to browse and see if they have anything if Ike to collect at a decent price, but I hardly ever actually buy anything because the prices and condition are fucked. It’s even harder after going to Japan a few times and seeing how well Japs take care of their shit and how little they’re selling it for— once you’ve seen how good things could be if people here weren’t so fucking retarded it’s hard to justify support it.
That being said, if a store has a good selection, the staff are friendly, and they seem like they’re actually interested in working with you on the price then I’ll always come back. If I hear anything about fluctuating prices to keep up with market value, muh inflation, or bragging about how they bought something for dirt cheap and are now selling it for a ridiculous price I will never return.

[Anonymous No.10947475]

>>10947130
Gets better, jap prices are going up thanks to Gringos not selling the games they bought there back, and modern /vr/ will try to both deny it and / or excusw it.

[Anonymous No.10947521]

>>10944265
Maybe it's just that I have an actual career and not just relying on people's second hand junk to resell for a cash flow so I don't quite get the mentality of haggling further. But if that is their business they might have to jew out every cent they can get
If I saw Twilight Princess for $1, $5, $10, I'm buying and not "haggling" as someone might swoop in and buy it under me. And because it's going in personal collection I won't be buying every single game unless that's the more practical option, I'd ignore systems I don't collect for unless the game is too high value to ignore and pick and choose what I want
Guess that's the difference between a collector and a reseller. Reseller would buy up everything

[Anonymous No.10947914]

>>10940587
>worker just replies "if u didnt beat it unless its on original hardware fgt"

[Anonymous No.10948662]

>>10947475
The Jap price hysteria are severely overrated. They have a shit economy and yen compared to the dollar is weak so the Japanese are trying to exploit that overcharge with high online resale prices that are higher then even western resellers of Japanese games. But outside the tourist trap areas prices are about the same they are a decade ago even with games being exported out of the country
Seriously outside Akihabara and prices are normal. They risen slightly but go to a bookoff and you are still paying that insanely cheap rate of $2-5 for a game, including if boxed

[Anonymous No.10948691]

>>10947130
I agree they can be cheap, but
>seeing how well Japs take care of their shit
lol
lmao

[Anonymous No.10948823]

>>10941265

I recognize that room - based fellow Iczer-1 collector

[Anonymous No.10949525]

>>10948662
>>10948662
>The Jap price hysteria are severely overrated

Yeah, and the localization thing isnt a problem lately, stop deflecting >>/vr/thread/10850791#p10856120

[Anonymous No.10949581]

>>10949525

[Anonymous No.10949693]

>>10947124
Yeah he did ask that and I lied and told him I sold it for $50 and he told me it was worth about $150, probably trying to get me to feel stupid but I just turned it back on him and asked why he only offered $40. I knew he knew the value right away because it was looking at it for a while and going on his phone (probably eBay or pricecharting or whatever).

[Anonymous No.10949708]

>>10948691
Yeah, you're probably more likely to find decent shape CIB copies of stuff from Japan, but there's certainly still mountains and mountains of beat to hell shit

[Anonymous No.10949956]

>>10949693
Based. I love these garage sale stories. Got any others? Always enjoyable hearing about resellers getting owned.