/vr/ - Retro Games

[Anonymous No.3768452]

What's your local shop like /vr/?

Mine actually isn't awful. I live in a very rural area so it's the only thing of its caliber nearby. They have a huge selection, and they have TVs and consoles set up around the store so you can actually test the stuff before you buy it. They also clean carts and resurface discs for free, and their prices are usually a few bucks cheaper than eBay, but it varies on the game it seems.

Anyone have places that sell for way cheap? Watching episodes of Game Chasers makes me absurdly jealous

[Anonymous No.3768456]

>>3768452
Where you from op?

[Anonymous No.3768459]

>>3768456

Southern WV. The most rural of rural.

[Anonymous No.3768467]

>>3768452
Game Deals in New Westminster is fucking terrible.

Every N64 game in the bin is madden. I never cared for madden, but after looking through 50 copies that smug confused look on his face was perfect. Just the reaction to the final game also being fucking madden.

Everything worth a damn is behind glass. They offer shit trade in value. The guys who work there are all smug assholes who think they know about games. Anything worth a damn is eBay priced and behind glass. I checked their facebook page the other day and they're looking for a new employee so it seems like the turnaround is high as fuck too.

[Anonymous No.3768476]

>>3768467

Game Deals was OK back in like 2007 to 2009 when I used to go by there. I guess the prices are gonna go up along with demand. I didn't like seeing or talking to the fat,bald and pig faced owner though. They had some cute girl with big tits working there but then she started getting fatter and I stopped caring about going there. I wonder if she's still around...

[Anonymous No.3768583]

>living someplace where non-GameStop video game shops exist

A junk store opened recently in my town and that marked the first time I've seen NES carts in the wild in many years. The most interesting one they have is The Little Mermaid.

[Anonymous No.3768587]

>>3768476
I genuinely wonder if you could have a good video game store in the Greater Vancouver Area.

I doubt it.

[Anonymous No.3768591]

>>3768587

With a store as miraculous as Toy Trader nearby, there has to be something.

[Anonymous No.3768595]

>>3768591
I actually just dug out my old beast wars transformers so maybe I'll check them out.

[Anonymous No.3768608]

one store has mediocre to ok prices on things and not a very large collection of much, the other store has most of their games behind glass, with the rest of the DVD-case-shaped vidya behind the counter on a shelf like 5 feet away

the other has either outrageous prices or amazing prices, because I saw those motherfuckers trying to sell sports games for over $5, but I also bought rule of rose there last year for $100

the rest of the stores are just The Exchanges and those are usually just a couple dollars below amazon prices

[Anonymous No.3768621]

>paying money for ROMs

I don't do this because I'm not a hipster.

[Anonymous No.3768648]

>>3768595

Langley, I think it's called? Been a couple years since I crossed the border to go there.

What's really amazing about that place is that they expanded into this giant, two-story, glossy superstore type deal. It was much smaller previously. This is a niche as fuck action figure store for full grown nerds. How staying in business, let alone expanding into a much larger facility, is possible when that's your forte and you don't sell anything online is baffling beyond comprehension.

They do sell some games but the selection pales compared to the figures. I did get a sealed copy of Rygar Wii for $4 there once.

[Anonymous No.3768693]

>>3768608
Are amazon prices different from ebay prices?

[Anonymous No.3768702]

>>3768693
from what I've seen?

it could vary from $30 on ebay and $80 on amazon to $200 on ebay and $160 on amazon

I doubt they price things on ebay prices and, if they do, they price them on ebay prices from 2 years ago

[Anonymous No.3768705]

i live in greensboro nc, there's two here:
lost arc, it has a full arcade in the back where you can pay 5 bucks to enter and all the games are on free play. there's a sound voltex cabinet and all the fighting games you could want. the storefront itself has a lot of newer games and weeb shit like gunpla and figures (which is cool with me) but they also have a pretty broad selection of retro stuff and the staff is friendly. the atmosphere is cool too, but the location itself is a little small.

then there's matt's game exchange, which specializes in older games. i got a copy of seek and destroy (total hidden gem) for the p2 there for like six bucks and a bunch of pretty great psp games for 2 bucks a pop. they don't have many newer games and the storefront is a little bland but considering how they just opened up last year in a city that already has an established used game store i'd say they're doing pretty good.

[Anonymous No.3768713]

Toronto, I have about 20 locals. They're all overpriced.

And yes they're all full of scenester hipsters and mtg playing neckbeards. It's atrocious for the most part. I wouldn't even pass through given the chance to avoid that shit.

The locals descend on yardsales the plague in like a 4 hour drive radius. And the older ones swarm all the house clearances and snag all the cool shit like pinball machines and any old systems there. Which are always overpriced because smartphones and ebay.

I'd be mad if I hadn't basically finished buying the games I'd actually like hard copies of, but in the last 10 years I've gone from buying to emulating just so I'm not contributing to those faggots making money.

Nobody buys from them anyway so most of my local stores are having to survive on smash tournaments and arcade machines which basically mean all the autists move in and all day every day the poor staff have to deal with the worst weebs and fujos because they might drop a buck in the SF2 machine.

[Anonymous No.3768719]

>>3768713
i live in the bay area and it's been exactly like this for the past 7 or 8 years. overpriced pleb tier selection and almost everything is in terrible condition on top of that. craigslist postings in the area are even worse, i don't even bother looking any more

[Anonymous No.3769023]

>>3768713

This is one pro to living in the rural nowhere that I do. The retro hipster crowd doesn't exist and the one store I have is actually decent.

[Anonymous No.3769049]

In Texas, there is a chain of called Game Over. They are well organized and friendly. Sadly, there sega selection is really really poor. Then we have another shop, Propaganda Palace, the owner is more of a collector then a seller. Place is packed with multiple copies of everything but prices are not very good. Lastly, there is one golden shop In Lubbock called Ralph's Records, they have some crazy cheap prices, but you have to search the store and also ask for a notebook of games they keep behind the counter.

[Anonymous No.3769414]

>>3769023
now that i'm done collecting I can't wait to move out to a rural nowhere. I want to live off the grid and grow my own food and shit and relax all day playing games when I'm not farming. I really wanna retire and enjoy my collection.

[Anonymous No.3769432]

I haven't had a retro game shop since '99

And I haven't had a game specialty store besides gamestop since '05 I believe.

Never knew what I had until it's gone, as they say.

[Anonymous No.3769543]

I remember back when I was a kid I had an EB games in the local mall, right across from a KB toys

I miss both of those stores because KB toys always had cool vidya figures and so did the EB games

[Anonymous No.3769589]

>>3768705
Went to Greensboro once a couple years ago. Real cool town. Went to Lost Ark also and picked up a bunch of master system titles. That little arcade you mentioned is sweet, it had Outrun 2, a Mario Bros cabinet and MvC2 Cabs hooked up japan style back to back. I didn't go to Matt's Game Exchange though, maybe it wasn't opened when I visited.
Also, Geeksboro is a great coffee shop. Had some local beers, played some Street Fighter 2. Super friendly people and they played one of my short films in their basement theater. I had great time and would love to visit again.
>>3769049
I live in the DFW area and Game Over is on the pricier side of places. Real good shop though and you're 100% right about the Sega stuff. They just don't have any.
We have a place called Freaks and Geeks in Denton that is some little house refurbished into a retro game shop. Real comfy, probably the best and most knowledgeable staff in the area. Went in there the other day and he just got in 3 ps2 developer consoles. That shop gets a tooon of wild stuff like that. It's where I found a couple not for resale master system carts. To me, this place is head and shoulders the best in the area.
There is also a place in Plano called FX Game Exchange and I've been going to them for over 10 years. They used to have more locations but I think they closed down a few. They run a lot of Smash Bros stuff in the area now with their on Smash Bros/Retro game con. So I think they are doing well. Either way, it's another terrific place to shop.
Other stores around here are sketchy and you have to double check what you're buying. There is a notorious chain in TX called Game Xchange that often takes reproduction carts because 'opening a cart is not corporate policy.' Not a good store. The occasional find could be had, but 9 times out of 10, it's not worth it.

[Anonymous No.3769650]

>>3768713
Do scenesters still exist?

I'm not trying to be confrontational or anything but what is a hipster to you? I'm heavily involved in the art scene in my city and the hipsters don't really play video games much unless they're game devs. They like black metal and heroin and death grips and edgy shit like that. I've only ever seen the hipsters in my city playing GTA V

It sounds like you might be referring to people who probably go on Reddit and read Gawker or weebs with pink hair

[Anonymous No.3769906]

>>3768452

[Anonymous No.3769938]

>>3769906
tfw I keep buying cheap PS1 and dreamcast games from gamestop because they're a good 25% below disc-only prices on ebay, and there's a chance they could come complete

[Anonymous No.3769959]

The only thing I have around me is an Exchange about 20 minutes away. It's not too bad, but it's better for 6th and 7th gen games than retro.

[Anonymous No.3770054]

>>3768621
Funny.

I don't do it because it would require leaving the house...

[Anonymous No.3770078]

>>3768452

I'm in Spokane, Washington. There's a couple of Game Worlds here, and near one of them is a nice place I don't remember the name of, but they have all kinds of nice shit.

Also, I'm a couple hours away from Seattle, which has an insane retro scene (and a large YouTube retro community) which I have yet to get the jump on since I've moved here.

[Anonymous No.3770089]

Theres no retro stores here. All is used PS3 games. I know a couple of stores who sell some SNES games for ridiculous high prices. Might as well look on the internet.

[Anonymous No.3770154]

A small cramped, dirty place with hand drawn Sonic and Mario (green sonic and a sideways M on Mario) on the poster board they use to block out all light.

[Anonymous No.3770160]

Any fellow northeast Ohio fags here? What's the best place around the Alliance area?

[Anonymous No.3770192]

I work at one on long island. I'm very happy with our store and I think almost all of our customers really enjoy it. It's great seeing new faces coming in and being amazed.

[Anonymous No.3771291]

We have shit along the gulf coast area , Play and talk is the largest store in the city. ( They started i shit you not in a grocery store, even have a flea market stall as well) It seems the bulk of foot traffic is from repairing cell phones. Inside they have a few decent games but everything is Ebay priced and then some. It's cramped and filled with anime related non-gaming trash ( figurines, plushies, usb cables etc)

They will watch you like a hawk the moment you step foot into the store, and offer shit for trade in credit or actual worth of a game. Interesting side note was the guy that owns the store operates a secret facebook group with other retro stores across the country. While he seems like a decent chap the shit i saw posted while i was in the group and how they shit on scene and customers made me never want to give these shady fucks my money again. I deal now directly with those in the scene when it comes to trades or paying for games. No need for a middle man in a era of facebook groups and cellphones.

[Anonymous No.3771357]

There's a small store in my city. Selection is pretty dull and overpriced. Employees are weabs I went to high school with. Local Craigslist and Facebook groups are ridiculous. People asking 200+ for an n64 with some sports games. I'm ordering everdrives with my tax return

[Anonymous No.3771526]

I run a used video game store, ask me anything.

[Anonymous No.3771537]

>>3771526

How do you determine prices? Do you charge full on eBay shit because you know nostalgia ridden retards will pay anyway or do you cater to sensible humans?

[Anonymous No.3771556]

>>3771537
yeah haha

[Anonymous No.3771571]

>>3771537
I try to stay well below both ebay prices and local listings. I give people a 50-75% of what I sell things for as a store credit when they bring things in. For instance, Super Smash Bros 64.

On ebay copies go for between 70-100, that's nutty. But it's a more in demand game so obviously I'm going to pay more for it. I'd sell it for $39-49 depending on it's condition. So for a copy that I'd sell for $49, I'd give a $36 store credit and I make a decent $13 selling it.

I market everything to to 90% of people who just want to play games.

Collectors are the worst. They always want more than I'll sell things for when they bring them in, and they always argue with me trying to get me to lower the prices to an unsustainable margin. And when they buy something from me, it's incredibly unlikely it'll get traded back in.

I run a store for regular folks who just want to play games.

[Anonymous No.3771651]

>>3771526

What do you charge for SMB/DH and SMB 3 ? It's a fairly easy barometer to see if a vendor is fleecing and over charging considering SMB was a pack and virtually everywhere.

[Anonymous No.3771657]

>>3771526
what's it like dealing with smelly nerds all day

[Anonymous No.3771660]

>>3771651
lol I give Mario/Duckhunt away for free with NES systems, and I sell it separately for $2. Mario 3 is usually about $12, I give $9 in store credit for it so I make $3 on a copy of Mario 3.

[Anonymous No.3771685]

>>3771657
They can smell bad, but I'm pretty sure 25% of your customers will.

Unfortunately a lot of the real big nerds, I'm talking walking stereotypes, can drive me crazy. Two things they do that make me want to crawl out of my skin.

The ones who want to impress me, like I'm some kind of authority figure. Bragging about their collections, games they've beaten, conventions they've been to, people they've met, ect,ect. It always feels like they just want to blab about how much they know about video games. Meanwhile I'm just trying to get some work done and have to "Mhm" "oh yeah" and "neato" my way through a very one sided conversation.

Then there are the obsessive nerds. If I even so much as show that I know the slightest thing about their particular obsession, I'm in for an hours long lecture on whatever it is. For instance, I mentioned to a guy looking at a Ys game that I've never played one before, and his eyes light up I'm treated to a two hour long recounting of the plot of the entire series.

Aside from that, I enjoy chatting about games of any kind with most people.

[Anonymous No.3771696]

I understand your troubles. my local game store only carries current gen and last gen games. looking for 64, dreamcast, or ps1 gems? forget about it. havent seen one there in years. its really annoying shopping there because they always try to sign me up for some power up rewards shit. i go in once a week looking for retro games and there is always some asshole trying to sign me up with some video game magazine. i think its called game talk. i dont remember. i went in yesterday hoping to find a copy of star wars shadows of the empire and left with titan fall 2 and dont even have an xbox one.

[Anonymous No.3771709]

Any Iowa /vr/ troopers lurking? Is there anywhere other than Jays CD & Hobby tucked away? They basically just charge internet prices. Except for recently where they got in a haul of in box SNES games, it seems they just order online because everything seems marked up a few bucks.(possibly s&h?)

[Anonymous No.3771725]

>>3771660
Two bucks or giving it away isn't that bad at all good on you. I've walked into many a retro video game store or flea market to see the insanity of SMB going for 15 or 20 , SMB3 going for 35 or 40. Despite as i said, good games yes but super common it's inexcusable jewery. You have my sympathies for having to deal with with the collectors and social fags. I manned the register at a gamestop and had to deal with the ''chatty'' and bragging types before.

One of the reasons regardless of where i shop i walk straight it get what i want, pay for it and leave. If i am forced to brows i do so quietly but i normally research my purchases before hand so that's rare.

[Anonymous No.3771743]

>>3771725
I make a good living working for myself, and fostering a community of people I provide a good service for. I don't need to milk my customers for every penny they're worth.

I also do events, like tournaments, I sponsor the local annual 72 hour game jam, and donate lots of good games to the local children's hospital. Good games too, I don't give them movie tie-in trash and games nobody wants.

Small business is all about community, if you have a reputation for high prices and give nothing back you're not going to be in business for very long. I'm not going to lie, I take a lot of advice from /vr/ whenever people are complaining about resellers/local game stores.

[Anonymous No.3771807]

>>3771526
do you live in a city or in some small town?

[Anonymous No.3771810]

>>3771807
City. I have a great location, tons of foot traffic, big parking lot, center of town on a major street. Lots of exposure. The rent is stupid high, but the location way more than makes up for it. If you're ever going to open a business of any kind , location, location, location.

[Anonymous No.3771838]

>>3771571
>>3771660
those are ebay prices, assuming we're talking about what actually sells (see pricecharting). which is reasonable. no need to indulge the ebay-is-the-devil crowd.

those trade-in rates are wild, though. assuming you aren't bullshitting, you must have super-high turnover (sounds like it with good location, good prices, and events) and something else in the store, like movies, music, card/tabletop games, or a lan/tabletop center. at least, that's what i've seen work for other places - never seen a store make it on old games alone.

[Anonymous No.3771840]

Live in southern Ontario rn. A lot of stores are overpriced as fuck (I once argued with a guy who wanted $150 for an snes, it's that bad), but if you look around there's some decent deals.

One farmer market I go to has this guy that sells old games. You can trade games in for other games and he gives you deals if you get more stuff. I got an PS1 memory card and a copy of RE2 for like, $20 dollars. It's pretty great.

[Anonymous No.3771878]

>>3771838
Oh yeah, I do way more than just old games. New games, movies, new movies, assorted video game/tv/pop culture merch. But the video games really are the star of the show.

I hate to argue, but you will never see anything in my store that you can get cheaper on ebay. I take customer feedback seriously, and If something is cheaper online I drop it right away. It's the only way to compete with online shopping. On top of that I pay the tax on everything. For instance, right now the cheapest Mario 3 in the sold listings on ebay is $13.29 with $16.22 international shipping on top for a total of $29.51 US. That's pretty steep next to my $12 without any tax. And I challenge anyone to get a Mario/Duck Hunt for a flat $2 online.

[Anonymous No.3771901]

>>3771878
https://www.pricecharting.com/game/nes/super-mario-bros-3#completed-auctions-used

[Anonymous No.3771909]

>>3768452
I have several local shops to pick from. One is typical reseller prices. I have no idea how they stay in business. The rest are pretty ok. I have a good electronics flea market as well so I get most of my stuff there.

[Anonymous No.3771913]

>>3768452
There's exactly one in the entire city, and they make eBay prices look like godly deals.

It'll eventually end up closing down because nobody buys shit at these prices, and another one pops up a few months later with equal or worse prices.

[Anonymous No.3771934]

>>3771901
All of those have ludicrously high shipping costs. They don't compare at all to my prices.
The one for 10.50 has shipping cost of $19.79.

[Anonymous No.3771964]

>>3768452
NE Ohio here, we have a chain called The Exchange that deals in new and used media. Records, DVD, and retro games aplenty. They run used intake through a central warehouse that inspects and repairs (disc resurface, battery replacement) everything, so you can be sure their shit will work. And if a store doesn't have what you're looking for they can check other locations and have them send the item to your local shop.

Unfortunately they charge ebay prices for anything really popular on N64/SNES/PS1(fucking college kids), but anything else is on the inexpensive side. I mostly shop there for GBA so I make out well.

[Rican asshole No.3771992]

>>3768452
My local shop is good but it can get a bit pricey at times.

[Anonymous No.3772041]

Gold Coast, Australia

Gametraders closed down

1 store is overpriced, decent stock, deece quality, okay service

other store operates out of a market, even more overpriced, good stock, very questionable quality and shitty service.

better options are ebay, online classifieds (overrun with ads by the shitty market store) and facebook groups that are a mix of reseller shysters and decent collectors interested in far trades.

[Anonymous No.3772049]

I'm in the south sound area of western Washington. There's a lot of hole in the wall places like Al's Records that have pretty fair prices and a lot of gaming stuff that don't necessarily focus on gaming. Tons of thrifting around too. The local game store chain is called Super Smash Games and I think the name alone conveys the shittiness of the store. Fuck that place.

[Anonymous No.3772074]

>>3771964

The exchange used to be great but now their prices are atrocious. Which exchange are you closest to? In between Howe Ave and Fairlawn here.

[Anonymous No.3772219]

>>3771934
then you're outside of the continental us. you need to find listings in your region/country to make a meaningful comparison. if nobody sells online in your region, then ok, but otherwise thinking you're saving people $15-20 in s&h on every sale is borderline delusional.

in conus, the first listing has free s&h and eight of the next ten have shipping of $3. the one you cherry-picked has shipping of $6.65.

i get your point that you're saving people s&h (and you're eating sales tax). combine that with being a couple bucks under the average and that's $5 under ebay prices. so i admit i was wrong in saying you're at ebay prices: you're just under ebay prices. which is great, but it doesn't make ebay prices ludicrous - you don't need to try to make ebay look bad to make you look good.

[Anonymous No.3772286]

>>3772219
I'm in Canada, and I base prices on the cost in the US. So right now $12 CAD is $9.17 USD. Other stores like me, one on the other side of town I know sells Mario 3 for $28 CAD or $21.40 USD. At the best of times, there aren't a lot of online options inside of Canada so people here really only have the option to buy from the states, which with shipping and currency conversion gets stupid expensive.

[Anonymous No.3772317]

Anyone in Chicagoland area? Where do you go?

[Anonymous No.3772324]

>>3768452
There is no local shop. Just niggers and Gamestop.

[Anonymous No.3772346]

>>3772074
I live in Kent, that's the one near me. Higher turnover because of Kent State students, but that doesn't make things much cheaper. Sucks that the closest to you is Chapel Hill area, everything up there always costs too much.

[Anonymous No.3772418]

>>3771964
I live near about 2 of them, one near a buffet and one near a half price books

it's a shame all the half price books are gone around these parts because they give some pretty good deals sometimes

those fuckers will sell consoles for an arm and a leg and their PS1 games are a wee bit pricey

like, $70 for an xbox for $60 for shenmue 2 on xbox? they also have about 20 dreamcast games max at any given time

[Anonymous No.3772738]

>>3772418
The Exchange in Kent is trying to sell off an NES for $100, sometimes they have good deals but sometimes they're just jewy.

[Anonymous No.3772768]

Out of curiosity for everyone how hard is it to find dreamcast or PS1 games, complete in the case and not scratched to hell. I almost can never find dreamcast games aside from Sonic Adventure and crazy taxi, MGS, or FF7 for PS with usual ebay pricing. I'm curious if that's a regional thing or if they are hardly circulated this day and age.

[Anonymous No.3773398]

>>3772768
I think that most of the PS1 games that were ever sold are in basements and attics all across the world. Probably stuck with a bunch of old CD's because they use the same cases. Hopefully over the years more will surface.

[Anonymous No.3773439]

>>3772768
Factory sealed DC games are pretty common here. I have quite a few. PS1 games not so much. But people take care of their shit here so getting things not scratched to fuck is no problem.

[Anonymous No.3773608]

http://www.gamesplusus.com/

Hate how they sell no name counterfeit peripherals and try to pass them off as first party.

[Anonymous No.3773620]

Anyone ever been to one?

I did when I was around 18.
They were liquidating everything Sega Saturn and I went to one that had a console. Problem was it was a working display model but manager refused to sell it. Never went back.

Jokes on him, on ebay I got my Saturn, 2 first party controllers, 2 Ascii Arcade Sticks, Action Replay 4in1, X-Men vs. Street Fighter, and Nights into Dreams for $80 USD.

[Anonymous No.3773683]

There's a retro game store the next city over where I live in CA which is cool, cause I'd usually have to drive a bunch to San Jose or something to find a decent used games store.

The one near me is run by a cool dude who has a constantly rotating stock. I always see new Sega games when I go in there and he tends to sell pretty cool retro game accessories too.

[Anonymous No.3773939]

>>3773683
Do they sell a certain NES guidebook?

[Anonymous No.3773948]

>>3772768
I just found a perfect copy of Metal gear at my local thrift shop for 2 bucks the other day.

I let a friend borrow it years ago and never got it back but now I finally do. Also couple years ago I found final Fantasy 7 8 9 and tactics all in perfect condition for a dollar each at the flea market. Also Wild Arms and Chrono Cross, I almost felt bad not telling the guy what they were worth when he asked only a dollar each.

[Anonymous No.3773951]

>>3773620
Fuck yeah Funcoland. There was one in a big city about an hour away from where I lived in the boonies. Got my N64 there back in '99 along with Ocarina of Time.

[Anonymous No.3773959]

>>3768452
We are very lacking in this area

There are 2 shops at the local flea market and one has been there for 30 years and the other is a new store. The guy that has been there for 30 years overcharges for everything even though we've known him for 30 fuckin years since we were 5 year olds paying a dollar for him to clean an NES game because he was the only person that had a security bit screwdriver. He wanted 25 dollars for Tetris 2 the other week when I was there and like 50 dollars for an empty ripped up Zelda box. His inventory is impressive but his prices are insane and I haven't bought anything off him in like 15+ years because he never has anything worth the price.

Now the new store that opened up is better because everything are on shelves not just tubs and tubs of games stacked on each other and thrown all over the place. Their prices are okay, not great but they only wanted 5 bucks for Tetris 2 which wasn't too crazy, not 25 fuckin bucks at least.

We also have a few thrift stores but it's really hit and miss because it's whatever is donated to them. I have found some good stuff there from time to time and the prices are Great, a dollar a game no matter what system so it's worth it to stop in and fart around.

[Anonymous No.3773963]

>>3772324
Do you live in Philly too?

[Anonymous No.3774062]

>>3768452
Newark UK here

We had a local run shop called Reload which was brilliant, the guys in there were chilled out, gave good trade prices and let you haggle the prices of the expensive stuff down. They had a period where shit tons of PS1, PS2, Xbox and PC games were £1 each where I went in and went mental, walked out with over 100-150 games that day.

But no fucking normie would go because despite they sold new stuff, the price was on par with Game (Literally just so they could pay the bills and wages) and they closed down last year. Still waiting to see whether their gear would be auctioned because there will be boxes full of NES, SNES, MegaDrive etc being sold

[Anonymous No.3774342]

>>3768452

my local store is a bit overpriced, but better then nothing I suppose

Store manage probably thinks I'm an autist

[Anonymous No.3774345]

>>3774342
*manager*

[Anonymous No.3774371]

>>3774342
>Store manage probably thinks I'm an autist
He runs a vidya shop. I guarantee he's seen much worse.

[Anonymous No.3774379]

I kick myself for not buying that silent hill copy for $17 at it's about games

other than that I have a video game connection where all the games are behind the shelf, some store in mayfield heights that I've never been to, a handful of gamestops, a buybacks where I bought a copy of rule of rose for $100, and a bunch of Exchanges

shame the goodwills either sell non-games for $5 or nothing at all

[Anonymous No.3774434]

>>3774342
Store manager is probably right.

[Anonymous No.3774461]

Overpriced (what retro game store isn't though) and cramped. It's actually fairly large, but 2/3 of the floor space is designated for TV's where you can play games, sort of like a PC bang.
They do have a really nice collection of Game and Watches, unfortunately not for sale. I don't go in there anymore since I've given up on trying to get retro games.

[Anonymous No.3775287]

>>3774342
As long as you're not one of the two kinds of people I mentioned here >>3771685 you're probably fine.

[Anonymous No.3775319]

>>3773620
Started my /vr/ autism when I got an SNES there in 1999.

[Anonymous No.3775361]

>>3773683
What game store/ city? I'm in SF and it seems like any retro game store is a 40min or so drive for me.

[Anonymous No.3775685]

Anyone on /vr/ from northern Virginia or thereabouts know whether our local retro shops are any good?

I know about eStarland but I've never been because as far as I can tell everything they have is for sale at exactly the same prices on their website, which doesn't look very good.

[Anonymous No.3775724]

Anyone know what happens to the stock after retro game stores shut down?

[Anonymous No.3775974]

>>3775724
They used to just throw it out. I have a massive collection of shit dug out of dumpsters a few years back. I imagine now they know enough to sell it.
Also, shops that phased out older stuff would often throw it away. Shortly after the PS3 was released a couple shops here dumped their entire stock of DC and Saturn games. I have two big boxes of that shit. Nearly all factory sealed.

[Anonymous No.3776186]

>>3773608
77449, here.

I like Games Plus, but mostly as a source for cheap blu-rays.

I did pick up a Saturn import called Pretty Fighter X from that location, however. Was surprised to see it there.

One of the kids behind the counter whispered to his co-worker "Dude, someone is FINALLY buying that game!"

[Anonymous No.3776324]

>>3768621
That's a pretty hipster attitude my dude

[Anonymous No.3776545]

>>3775974
When our local Hollywood video closed down couple guy and I went dumpster diving and we got Tons of N64 games and consoles/controllers for free and split them up between us.

[Anonymous No.3776549]

>>3768452

Have one or two shops I check in with once in awhile. One is chill and so is the owner, another is a little farther away.

Aside from that a lot of the small shops near me have long since died. It was around 2003 when gamestop and eb games stores started popping up like the cancer they are.

All the little shops disappeared and so did all my video games.

[Anonymous No.3776567]

>>3776549
I haven't been in a Gamestop in a few years but I needed a Xmas gift for my niece that day and they were having a buy 2 get 1 free sale on 360 and Wii games. When I took the MarioGalaxy up to the counter the guy gave me the most scratched shittiest copy so I told him these were gifts and did they have a better copy. He reached in there and grabbed out a perfect copy for me but what the hell they sell these fucked up copies to people and want top dollar for um. I wouldn't have bought that scratched up copy for a dollar at the flea market or thrift store.

[Anonymous No.3776971]

Been meaning to check out this one place called 1up Games. Anyone from Tallahassee FL able to vouch for or against it?

[Anonymous No.3777604]

Have a store here called "One More Level Retro"
Mainly sells more gaming junk than video games. They don't really take care of the games well and they charged up the ass for anything import and claim because it wasn't release in america.
Wanted to charge me 60 dollars for seiken densetsu 3, CART ONLY.

[Anonymous No.3777861]

>>3775974
>>3776545
Guys, you're making me sad. One, thinking of all that stock just being chucked out with the garbage and two, never getting to dumpster dive into a pile of new/almost news games from the last gen

[Anonymous No.3777991]

>>3775685
A shame when that place "evolved" from Starland to eStarland. Fond memories of frequently dropping by the old Annandale location.

The retro game scene in NoVA got fucked once everyone decided to become scalpers.

[Anonymous No.3778334]

What's every ones flea market and yard sale scene like? Sorta connected to the main question, i have never seen any games, consoles, peripherals in the wild for cheap ever. I have woken before dawn, planned what yard sales to hit or i arrive equally early to the flea market when it opens without fail it is always over priced. Ebay pricing is rule of law, people without fail will whip out a phone and check the a listing on Ebay.

The general state of the games are deplorable shape labels totally ripped off, tubs and tubs of sticky nicotine stained controllers, ditto for loose carts as well normally in shitty boxes with insect carcasses at the bottom. Haggling or trying to work out a deal is virtually nonexistent as way to many disability pensioners trying to make a living on gouging this shit.

I stopped going to flea markets a few years ago when it became evident that if i was going to be forced to pay Ebay prices i can do that home, and not be subjected to acrylic blankets with pictures of tigers on them, incense and cheap shit no one wants. But i always hear of finding deal's '' in the wild'' or craigslist but that never happens

[Anonymous No.3778550]

>>3772049
i live in the same area and can agree that super smash is overpriced. have you ever tried the local half price books? usually below ebay prices, and if you go during a 50% sale, you can get really cheap systems: i got a wii for $30 and a gba sp for $20.

[Anonymous No.3778589]

>>3768621
multi-carts are life

multi-carts are love

[Anonymous No.3778591]

>>3775361

I'm about 2 hours away from SF so it wouldn't help you at all. :(

[Anonymous No.3778717]

There's game trader here which has a decent selection but prices around eBay but not too overpriced and carries new games, it's been open for years. One that recently showed up in the mall with ridiculous prices that will probably go out of business soon, there's a music store with a lot of games in the back that has poor selection and eBay prices, and a few permanent stands at the swap meet that have eBay prices or slightly less and have been there for years. And the mega store bookmans which has eBay prices. I used to find good deals at these places but around 5 years ago they all started looking up prices online

[Anonymous No.3778752]

>>3768452
got two in my city, Next-Gen and World 8. Next-Gen is located in the nicer part of Los Angeles. Pretty well rounded store since they have a strong focus on table top and card games but also have an amazing selection of imports, as well as accessories for retro consoles. World 8 on the other hand is in the ghetto and is pretty fucking tiny but they do their best to do as many things as they can fit in there. Back when Ultra Street Fighter IV was big, their Fridays would be packed but it's been dead since SFV.

[Anonymous No.3778770]

>>3772317
Disc Replay chain in the nearish west suburbs (where I live) isn't half bad, I go to the Countryside location and have had some decent finds. There is some ebay inflation on the prices but nothing horrifying, and their retro console prices aren't bad either. They're really good for obscure funny vinyl too.

[Anonymous No.3778787]

>>3778334
I live in a rural part of the UK. Here we have car boot sales (like thrift sales but less formal it seems?).

Last year I got from the two carboots within 15 minutes drive:
>N64 with ram expansion and Majoras Mask, 1 controller for £5.
>SNES with Sim City and 2 controllers, no yellowing, £20.
>NES boxed as new with mario 2 and a common SNES game for some reason. Also £20.
>About 20 big box PC games I wanted for < £2 each.
>A few first party Gamecube games for a few quid each.

But when you account for fuel and entry fee... it would have been just as cost effective to buy them on ebay. Then I wouldn't have to get up at 6am on a sunday. There are dozen of scalpers there each week. I missed out on an amazing SNES lot with like 40 games and a huge cardboard box full of boxed N64 games, must have been 30-40 in there.

The deals are out there still but even here in bumfuck nowhere the competition is fierce.

[Anonymous of Jacksonville No.3778851]

Videogamerescue is my local joint and it's pretty great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0xa4zNlxV0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9wV4gnqWpw

[Anonymous No.3779270]

I remember listening to the guy that ran video game rescue's podcast, I really enjoyed it, then he brought a co host in and the quality kinda dipped. The co host died at random and the owner pretty much gave up on podcasting. Store looked sweet I think he kickstarted a arcade to be built in the store if I'm not mistaken.

[Anonymous No.3779287]

>>3768452
Fuck retro game stores, and most of all FUCK this one. Toronto's retro game market is completely controlled by half a dozen fat balding men who own all the retro games. Thank god I stopped collecting games and just decided to get consoles and flash carts to enjoy the games. These retro game stores do literally nothing for the economy, I know of 3 or 4 guys with tens of thousands of dollars worth of stuff (one guy has over 250k worth of nintendo stuff alone) and its literally all undeclared and uninsured lmao

[Anonymous No.3779317]

>>3779287
I've never been to A+C, and I never plan on going there, but I only hear bad things about the place. I'm in the Hamilton area and the market for retro stuff in whole area is complete shit

[Anonymous No.3779446]

I don't understand the interest in collecting actual copies of anything from say the 8-bit and onward era.

Cartridge games are completely digital in nature, so what is the point of collecting the actual cartridges unless you are getting complete, in-box, mint condition examples? Even then, I'd only be interested if the boxes and associated stuff that comes with them was particularly cool or something. Why bother collecting these rather than just getting flash carts and playing them that way? There's literally nothing special about the carts.

The only things I like collecting are stuff like old LCD/LSI games where the actual hardware is a unique experience to play with. Plus a lot of the boxes look awesome IMO

[Anonymous No.3779573]

>>3779446
different strokes for different folks my man

[Anonymous of Jacksonville No.3779583]

>>3779270
Dustin is the guy who owns VGR. He was put together with the cohost via some weird connection, can't remember if it was the RetroGaming reddit or something. And yeah, when the cohost died (Kevin?), Dustin lost all interest in podcasting for a while. I've been on some of his streams before the store opened and I paid into the IndieGoGo campaign. The arcade was a later add-on, originally VGR was in a flea market and only open a few days a week.

It's the best store Jacksonville has and it hosts and sponsors a lot of local events like Thursday night smash and GAAM. The store's third year anniversary is this month.

[Anonymous No.3779997]

>>3779317
Buffalo here. i come over to Canada all the time, but haven't been game hunting/shopping yet. is there literally any place in southern Ontario worth visiting?

[Anonymous No.3780003]

>>3776186
I also have Pretty Fighter X but it's a terrible game. Mostly have it to collect.

I once didn't have any money when I was there with some buds. They had a Hori Xbox (original) fighter stick for $20 in excellent condition. I kek myself for not being able to buy it.

[Anonymous No.3780176]

>>3778770
Did I just get doxxed? Or is someone pretending to be me?

[Anonymous No.3780238]

>>3779287
The guy I was mentioning here>>3773959 in my area that has been buying and selling games for my entire life at the flea market has literally thousands of NES games and not just shit ones either. Last time I stopped in and he wanted 25 bucks for Tetris 2 I asked him how much for Shatterhand and he said 100 dollars but he had 5 copies. He wanted 20 dollars for Caveman games back like 10-15 years ago when I just wanted to get it for some nostalgia kicks which is absurd. The way he has his stuff displayed is fucking ridiculous too, you have to pick up totes that are stacked on top of other totes and none of them are the same size and it's just a complete clusterfuck.

[Anonymous No.3780583]

>>3780176
I think you're pretending to be me, you imposter.

Actually though, I love Disc Replay. It's just super comfy, I wish I was closer with the staff, they're seem like such a happy knowledgable bunch

[Anonymous No.3780627]

>>3778334
to be honest, I saw a guy selling a gamecube, ps2, 2 DSs, and about 40 games that had to at least amount to about $400 or so altogether for $70 on craigslist

I was too late, however

but the flea markets are pretty ok sometimes, but I've never gotten anything super expensive for dirt cheap at one, just kinda ok games every now and then

probably the best thing I got was a complete, near pristine copy of mortal kombat deception with the sub-zero expac in the fancy 2-case cardboard slip for about $2.50. shame all of that got wet and all I have left is the discs, though

I've gotten some pretty cheap consoles though

[Anonymous No.3780762]

>>3780583
I keep going to the Countryside branch because it is right by my home. I think the staff gets pestered so much by people wanting to talk about vinyl, bands, and video games that they sometimes need saving. Last time I was there that situation arose, and I was tempted to save a staffer with "can you help me find your movies section?" ... hilarity in my mind, but alas, I am not the hero they need. I just silently help them out by being the easy customer. I saw they were looking for part timers, but I am perfectly fine not ruining the place for me to being on the other side, but they seem nice to the few part new people there, but those people don't seem to last. Also their /vr/ stock seems to be picked dry to me especially compared to other branches. They did recently get in Panzer Dragoon Saga (in so-so condition), I am more curious as to who were the rich persons buying away Megaman X2 and X3, Final Fight 3, Earthbound, EVO, etc. the past year. Is it you?

[Anonymous No.3781009]

My local retro store is pretty cool. Pretty small because it's in the market, but they usually have some pretty dope shit.

[Anonymous No.3781027]

>>3778334
Mine's trash.
There's some flea market with 8-10 genesis just sitting in a dusty box, all $80-100 a piece and a Sega CD attached to a Model 1 that's priced at $125.

[Anonymous No.3781065]

>>3781027
when will they realize nobody wants sega shit

[Anonymous No.3781073]

>>3780627
I actually take great pride in posting fake ads like this on craigslist.

The amount of emails from desperate collectors and resellers is hilarious.

Sometimes I even email them telling them to go to the mall, or meet me at some local place, and I just stay home.

[Anonymous No.3781092]

Here in Maryland we have a few. I know one called Play Raven in Fredrick is definitely my favorite. Small store, loaded with stock. Prices for the most part are pretty fair. They have a Sharp NES TV in the store you can play, that's always nice to see. They also have a Street Fighter II cabinet.

Since Maryland is such a small state, going to PA or VA for gameshops is easy. If I really have an itch to dig through some boxes for retro games I take a hour drive down to VA and visit Estarland. That place is a mecca. Thousands of games, consoles, accessories and they are all wrapped in plastic. They have high standards there so they wont sell you scratched discs. They are aware of bootlegs too, so none of them slip through the cracks. The last Sunday of every month they have a bazaar where they have independent sellers fill up their back room where you can buy, sell or trade. You can haggle with them as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ3hPi4oOBE

[Anonymous No.3781262]

>>3781073
hell, I wanted half the games the guy had just to play them for a reasonable price

I also wanted the 2 DSs because maybe one of them would be fully functional

price is just something I use to flaunt around for spending silly amounts of money on things I end up beating once or twice then never play again

[Anonymous No.3781879]

>>3768467
>>3768476
>>3768587
>>3768591
>I genuinely wonder if you could have a good video game store in the Greater Vancouver Area.
We can dream. Finding places with decent selection is easy, but holy fuck the pricing.
There used to be A-Z on Broadway, but the dude was an absolute dreamer for pricing - he made E-bay look cheap. I'm certain the fire that killed the place was insurance fraud.
There's Triple-M on Granville in downtown Van, but again, dreamer prices. Dude wants 49.95 for fucking Ninja Gaiden, which is 15 bucks anywhere else. His selection is insane, mainly because it's all so expensive that no one buys from him.
There's the shit shack on Kingsway near Knight, but not only does he have fuck all, there are allegations of the owner trying to rape a staff member.
New West also has Press Start up on 12th street. Good prices, but the selection is garbage....
Surrey has Games 'R Us on King George and 108th, probably the best show in town for the balance of selection and price, but the owner is a bit of a dick. Add that K.G./108th is one of the seediest parts of Surrey...
Last I can think of is Crazy Bob out in Langley, about a 15 min walk from Toy Traders.

Other than that, there are the booths in the flea market near Science World.....

Fuck, it sucks being a retro collector in the Lower Mainland.

[Anonymous No.3781889]

>>3781879
I actually toyed around with the idea of opening a game store/arcade. It would most likely be in Richmond since that's where I live. Mostly the idea was to be an arcade, and use game sales as a way to make that feasible. I also toyed around the idea of renting games to people, but I doubt people would actually bring back my big ticket games like Little Samson and would just disappear with them.

Business plan just wasn't feasible.

You need so much revenue just to break even on rent. You need a huge amount of floorspace for cabinets and any kind of stock. A start up store without product is worthless, so I'd need to get a huge haul from some collector selling off for peanuts, or use my own collection, which I'm not really willing to do.

I would've loved it since I love just hanging out and talking about games. But it's just not feasible here. People want the moon in trade ins, and aren't willing to pay the fair market value.

[Anonymous No.3782136]

>>3768452
Overpriced out the ass on everything despite the fact that they treat their merch almost worse than fucking gamestop does. I went there once thinking I could get a replacement SNES controller (can't open up my busted one because the screws are stripped to shit) and the dude hands me a hyperkin one that's covered in god damn slime. They couldn't even be bothered to clean it and this fucker goes "that'll be $25 plus tax" like I'm an ignorant millenial chode who only wants this shit for gaymer cred. Only good thing about going there is that they have an extremely wide selection for /vr/ shit, but I'm not about to pay $75 for god damn mario 3.

[Anonymous No.3782149]

>>3768467
EHHEHHEHEHEHEHEHEHE

[Anonymous No.3782627]

>>3778334
I used to get up on saturday morning for the flea market almost every week a few years ago. I did it for like 5 years and maybe got three games out of it. Yeah, worth it.

[Anonymous No.3783115]

>>3771291

You talking about the one in Gulfport, MS?

[Anonymous No.3783574]

>>3779997
Well theres a bunch of stores in the whole Hamilton/Kitchener/Waterloo area but expect to pay ebay or more at most of these places. Toyratt in Milton is cool because they have a crap ton of stuff but they really mark up alot of the popular/sought after stuff, not even just rare shit. Avoid any place in Toronto because they are all overpriced as fuck in that city, at least 150-200% ebay prices

[Anonymous No.3783646]

>>3771660
You are pricing well I wouldn't pay more than $15 for SMB3 so $12 is in my sweet spot.

Nice of you to give Mario/Duckhunt with NES sales since that is how it was packaged. Do you give them a zapper too?

[Anonymous No.3783662]

>>3774342
you a bloomington IN fag?

That one nerdy dude with long hair and glasses is an asshole.

[Anonymous No.3783667]

>>3783662
That guy that works there?,

never really talked to him too much

[Anonymous No.3783759]

>>3783667
he just doesn't know anything about consoles and it pains me to have to listen to him screw people over on trade ins.

Needless to say I got a really nice 2600 woodgrain and all there this weekend and have been playing tf out of it.

You a student at IU??

[Anonymous No.3783765]

>>3783759
nah, eventually

[Anonymous No.3783770]

>>3783765
i'm so sorry for your loss; if your parents work here I get why you may go for cheap tuition. But this school is dog shit and kills your will to live.

[Anonymous No.3783773]

>>3783770
That sucks to hear, but I'm getting a free ride, so might as well

what did you major?

[Anonymous No.3783781]

>>3783773
Informatics with a focus in Human Centered Computing and minor in Theatre.

I get that I go here for basically free; just pay housing.

I just really find Bloomington depressing and the people this school attracts tend to be future corporate shitters and that makes me want to die when I hear them speak.

Informatics is a joke but if you know some tech stuff unlike me you can make a good bit of dosh.

I'm probably going to become a playwright or kill myself can't decide yet.

[Anonymous No.3783795]

>>3783781
Oh boy, I have heard a bit about the infomatics program, mostly disappointment

if you would like you talk more, you can get me on discord, if you have one, or whatever. Just to avoid blogging up this thread

[Anonymous No.3783797]

>>3783795
yeah you know what I get off work (i'm one of those saps working for UITS) in a bit what's your username.

I came off a little more depressed than I am I can give you some education advice if you need it but some people in bloomington have professors for parents and are wicked smaht.

[Anonymous No.3783798]

>>3783797
Retrograde
#0299

[Anonymous of Jacksonville No.3783809]

>>3783798
/vr/ bringing people together. If y'all end up getting married, write a play about it.

[Anonymous No.3783826]

>>3783809
ngl i lol'd

[Anonymous No.3783863]

>>3770192
hello gameon

[Anonymous No.3783871]

>>3768452
>What's your local shop like /vr/?
Mostly overpriced shit. I have a few with varying quality. One has pretty moderate prices all across the board. One has really good prices on the cheaper shit (most NES games are $10 or less) but stupidly high prices on their rarer stuff (they want $100+ for Chrono Trigger and Secret of Mana). The best guy I know is a small shop at a flea market. He has decent prices, and always takes money off if you buy multiple games from him. Unfortunately his selection is rather small, so it's hard finding multiple things to buy, but if I can, it's always worth it.

Otherwise, I just use ebay. I'm not sure why "ebay prices" are talked about with such disdain here. As long as you're patient and use a bid sniper or something, it's the quickest and cheapest way to get a game you are looking for.

[Anonymous No.3783894]

>>3778334

There are zero flea markets around here and yard sales are a joke, but a few years ago I went to a flea market and got a SNES for $30 and games for $5 a piece, and an N64 for $30 with Pokemon Stadium as the included game. Got Banjo Kazooie for $10 on the same trip as well.

This was 2013 though so those prices may have been fair for the time. Had most of my old stuff back then so I didn't look for much at all on the internet.

[Anonymous No.3783906]

Pretty large selection, well-organized, been around long, overpriced everything, used cartridges tagged the same regardless of condition, stickers slapped on the back of cards and they're those strong motherfuckers that shred themselves into smaller pieces that remain on the surface until you give up and drown everything in adhesive remover.

They sell resurfaced discs, but dismiss any trade-in that has been resurfaced (or that they consider to have been) in addition to demanding original cases+manuals for all games despite anything that isn't a disc being given to you alone in a yellow plastic bag.

The worst part is their customer service. Bunch of greasy neckbeards or bald street fucks standing around the register by the entrance/exit while everyone's looking for them near the displays. Sure, they've got like 2-3 people that legitimately try to help out, but most of them don't give a shit like it's the customer's fault they work there.

Also, they don't open until fucking 11.

[Anonymous No.3783908]

Overpriced as fuck like this.

But they started selling the case, manual, and cart of genesis separately. Picked up some to make some of my games be CIB here and there. Since this store prices like ebay I just dump retro shit I find for cheaper than the trade credit until I can buy something I want that is overpriced.

[Anonymous No.3783915]

>>3783908
What's with the different prices on those copies?

[Anonymous No.3783962]

>>3783908
To be fair thats Mutant League Hockey there which is pretty hard to find especially in the box, but even then $129.99 is very steep for that

>But they started selling the case, manual, and cart of genesis separately

That's a whole new level of scummyness

[Anonymous No.3783969]

I have no game stores unless I want to drive an hour to Jackson, MI or an hour to Fort Wayne, IN. I've just decided to emulate aside from PS2 and newer which I can usually find at thrift stores and yard sales.

[Anonymous No.3784026]

>>3768452
whats a local shop?

haven't had one in my area in 10 years
i'd open one, but yeah, i very doubt my area could sustain it even if i had good prices.

[Anonymous No.3784090]

overpriced as fuck
like its cool or whatever but i have better luck online

[Anonymous No.3784153]

>>3783969
Where do you live? In Portage Michigan there is a nice spot called Second Chance. I've gotten some good deals there, typically lower than ebay prices and if you buy 5 you get the 6th free.

[Anonymous No.3784175]

>>3781092
i wouldn't go to PA, i haven't seen much in the lower parts and even then, its the same old same old story of bullshit prices and whatnot.

[Anonymous No.3784182]

There's a few in my area.
One in particular has a couple locations, and it's really good. Employees who know their stuff, almost always lower than eBay prices, good import selection, variety, in general pretty cool. They won't buy stacks of sports games, so their stock isn't cluttered. Whenever you buy a disc game they'll let you look at the back so you can decide if the condition is acceptable, which it almost always is. A few rare times it wasn't that great it was given to me for free. Really couldn't ask for a better store.

There's a couple other stores around, both are pretty standard, around eBay prices but good selection. One of them there's even a retro arcade a couple blocks away, which is really cool. Then there's one at this mall that's complete shit. Employees don't know anything, they take all games sold to them out of their case into generic boxes like its Gamestop or something, and in general it's filled with sports and xbox games. But I have other great stores I can go to, so it's not a big deal.

[Anonymous No.3784187]

In RI theres only The Toy Vault that I know of. Pretty wacked out prices. Saw a playstation in damn good condition for 20 but the N64 next to it was 60. Mostly they are the typical ebay price sellers. Thats where they get most of their prices for. Decided to buy FF Origins to give the store a shot and it ends up being a reprint. Never again. Anyone in New England have anh stores worh lokking for?

[Anonymous No.3784246]

>>3783906

[Anonymous No.3784284]

>>3783906
Most of the good stuff never hits the floor. Steve the owner sells the good stuff on eBay. And the workers buy up everything else up good and resell on eBay as well.

[Anonymous No.3784419]

>>3783871
> use a bid sniper
You mean I don't have to snipe it myself with 2 seconds on the clock?

[Anonymous No.3784460]

>>3772286
where in canada is your store anon? province?

[Anonymous No.3784465]

>>3779287
fellow TOfag here. I feel your pain. Toronto is a fucking desert for non ripoff prices and there's a fucking army of employees hitting every garage sale and auction every goddamn week which makes getting anything let alone for a decent price fucking impossible.

Even thrift stores like Value Village have people working there just to intercept all the games that come in. I've spoke to employees who have admitted they've got NES and SNES units in the back and one of them even showed me a full Game Gear bag setup with like 10 boxed games he had aside that came in that morning.

Worst part is all those stores jack up the prices, nobody buys shit and they all survive of smash tournaments and hosting mini conventions or whatever meanwhile all this shit sits in cases slowly yellowing because they don't know how to light their goddamn products.

[Anonymous No.3784995]

I'm in North Jersey and we have a pretty prominent one here, but I'm not a fan. Went in the other day and their selection is pretty pathetic. Anything worth over $10 seems to be behind glass, i.e., SMB3, no box. They're full of shit.

There used to be one a little south of here about ten years ago that I wish I spent more time at. The place was a heap. Looked like some shut in's dank basement with giant bins full of retro shit of varying condition to sift through. A lot of it was filthy, but there was a abundance. The proprietor was a fat Indian guy who sat on his ass behind one of those glass display counters filled to the brim with official and Chinese knock off Game Boy games. I don't think it exists anymore.

[Anonymous No.3785705]

>>3782136
>$75
What the actual fuck?

I have heard of carts going for like $30 which is obscene but $75??!??!?!!!?!??!?!

I payed $11 after tax for SMB3 at a brick and mortar store. Most I will pay for a "rare" NES cart is $15 and that is on ebay delivered to my front fucking door so I can keep playing vidya.

[Anonymous No.3785968]

>Walk into retro game store
>Melee is 85 dollars, SMB3 is 40, LTTP is 60
>360 and walk away

[Anonymous No.3786253]

>>3768705
I tend to not shop at Matt's anymore because gamestop tends to be cheaper. Lost Ark has been good for me to find weeb shit, famicom games, ands things in generally good condition. I have no idea why Matt's can't discount things based on condition. Lost Ark tends to if the condition is bad, though their prices are also higher than standard prices to fund the arcade so it all sorta works out.

The Arcade is great though. Jubeat and Candy cabs is all I ever need.

[Anonymous No.3786350]

>>3784419
Narp. I use gixen, but I think there might be better ones out there. It works really well. You just put in the highest price you're willing to pay and it does the rest. I've gotten some stuff at great prices by doing this.

[Anonymous No.3786669]

>>3778334
finding stuff in the wild is a real thing. the thing is you're reading and watching videos of when they hit gold. they won't show you the 40 other hours of getting jack shit. i got some pretty sweet books before from used stores by random chance. and if you're into books and live near rural areas you'd know the type of trash you find there. think of how you always find sports video games in the wild. that is the same with cheap romance novels and tom clancy shit in books times 1000.

[Anonymous No.3786707]

>>3786669
This goes for anything.

Anything someone puts out is highly filtered. You may see montages of people in say overwatch absolutely demolishing people and get the wrong impression that they're good. They upload just the 1% of the time they get an amazing run, and then they just delete the other 100 hours of them sucking.

If you had a "weekly" fleamarket series it would be the most boring shit ever.

[Anonymous No.3786735]

>>3786707
>If you had a "weekly" fleamarket series it would be the most boring shit ever.
it'd be interesting to watch just for the novelty of it
I'd like to see a whole livestreamed thing done in one take without any editing just to see how much shit they go through to find something decent

[Anonymous No.3786837]

>>3783906
That place was amazing in the late 90s. It was basically like any other independently-owned game store but with 5x the floor space.

I can only imagine how badly recent trends have affected the place.

[Anonymous No.3786854]

>>3786669
As someone who spent 3 years going to 3 bootsales a year, i can confirm this.

Yes, there were times when i struck gold. Especially in the first year. I recall buying huge stacks of PS1 games, not shitty ones either, for 50p each.
I found tonnes of stuff actually, I sold most of it (yes i'm one of them people). The biggest profit off a single item i recall, was buying a LOTR games workshop set, the battle of the five armies, brand new, for 50p.
Or a complete collection of fighting fantasy books (the originals) for £5.
Or a wii u console for £5.

Im not making nay of this shit up, some people are just flatout stupid, or not stupid but highly unaware (such as older folks who have been given there grandkids stuff to sell and are completely oblivious to its value).

But yes, as you correctly pointed out, for every bootsale where i scored a superb haul, i rarely scored twice in one month.
And i can tell you that getting up at 5 in the morning to walk in circles around a big field for 3 hours without finding anything is pretty frustrating. Especially when it happens twice, or three times in a row. But when you do find something, it feels great.

Bootsales are dying off though, at least in my experience (here in england, south east). I struggled to find anything good last year, everyone is getting clued up. Worse still, I understand people dont like resellers like myself, but I dont fucking climb into someones boot when they pull up and start raiding there stuff.
Its pathetic and undignified, watching a group of men squabbling over boxes of stuff before the owners even taken it out of his boot.

It's not a pleasant experience frankly, when i began i'd find stuff that had been sat on someones stall for a while. Nowadays, if your not there when they open their boot, you will most likely not find anything.
But there are still areas which common scalpers dont realize the value of, like: ps2 games, pc games, and books.
PS1 and Nintendo/Sega are v. hard to find.

[Anonymous No.3786883]

>>3768621
Kek. My fav site. I remember when qualityroms.com was up. Damn I miss tortilla godzilla and archnachos dumb banter. It was my first ROM site. Nostalgia!


http://web.archive.org/web/20040613193931/http://www.qualityroms.com/