What is the state of retro game collecting in 2019? We discuss where the hobby is at and where it could be headed. ✅Listen to us @cupodcast.podbe... ✅More info @
Well, I'm still playing Mario, Castlevania, and Turtles in Time every few weeks or months. Nothing has changed. Nothing left to buy worth playing either.
I jumped on board super super late. Started with the Famicom and now I have 3sh systems I enjoy collecting for (Famicom,neo geo cd, turbo grafx) I think maybe the nostalgia will eventually just give out for curiousty and people going out of the nintendo/Sony/Sega bubble
I think one big factor I didn't hear mentioned is how the collecting craze pretty much killed off traditional game collecting i.e. finding the stuff at flea markets and thift stores. That's not a new factor to all this, that started happening in the early part of the decade, but I think it's the longest-lasting one. Some of the biggest enjoyment I got out of the hobby was discovering random games and especially gems out in the wild. Nostalgia is what got most people into the hobby, but I think it was interest in game hunting that really fueled the fire. I'll never forget finding a blank genesis case in a local Goodwill that just happened to contain a copy of MUSHA with the manual for $5 or finding an absolutely pristine copy of Power Blade 2 in the same store for $3. I found 20 sealed Sega CD games in a bin priced at $4 a piece in 2006 and this included stuff like Robo Aleste, Vay, Popful Mail and both Lunar games. Any given day, you could go into one and find an NES system, often complete for $10 or less. You pretty much couldn't give away N64s and they, along with the games littered shelves and garage sales. Unfortunately, this just doesn't happen anymore. Grifters and resellers hoovered up every single thing even remotely game-related and ended up pricing a ton of people out of the hobby. That's not even mentioning a major chain like Goodwill where a lot of people like me found this stuff eventually caught on and never put it out on the shelves anymore and instead slaps them up on their auction site for absurd amounts of money. I fell out of this hobby for years because I realized after the thrill of the hunt was gone, I just didn't care that much. Without that rush of discovery, the only people left in the hobby are the hardcores who squabble with each other over how high the price should go for their shitty multi-cart that only they want.
You're no different or more special than anyone else who entered the hobby. Nostalgia and the thrill of the hunt is pretty much the story for everyone. The only difference between the time you got in it and they did was there are more people doing it now.
media is responsible for mainstreaming the game hunting craze, where as the only people that might play them are people who have nostalgia, versus those that are into it purely as an investment, rising values game.
Speaking from a mid-20's age demographic, things seem to be more series/franchise focuses when it comes to collecting. People want to own every entry for Castlevania / Zelda / Pokemon etc.
I'm 18 and have been into game collecting since I was like 8. My collection is still fairly small but I am still gonna keep collecting for the foreseeable future
@@jacobyne That's a interesting question. For me personally I find stuff like stuff before the 6th generation appealing mainly because of retro gaming channels on RUclips. The problem with young people not collecting those consoles is the price and how hard it is to find those games out in the wild. Look at the prices for ps2 and the original Xbox and how dirt cheap the games are and how easy it is to find in the wild. With stuff like the snes, nes and ps1 those consoles are fairly expensive to collect for, especially when you consider the income if most kids and teenagers
I think getting my Everdrives really opened my eyes to how I really already had the carts I wanted to own and that such a vast amount of games are just a waste of space and money
Yep, would I rather have a room full of boxes and cartridges, or a nice big Wega KV-36FV310 and some modded systems and Everdrives? I know my little one won't care about carts, that's only for me.
@@kevinmiller8111 It's all based on our individual nostalgia so much, it's interesting. For some reason, Xbox 360 is still a newish system in my head even though it's reaching 15 years old. Just like I'll use the year 2000 as a reference point for how many years ago even though it's pointless, the 360 is just one of those things that will be permanently modern in my head for some reason. Now the OG Xbox? Waaay different story. Being a part of the softmodding community and the early days of modding Halo 2 online floooods me with nostalgia that i could never replace.
Well the 7th gen was the start of HD graphics. Eh for me it's not nostalgia for my cutoff point. The 7th gen of consoles was the last one without excessive microtransactions, dlc, and day 1 patches. Everything afterward I only bother picking up platform exclusives that don't require massive patches (since at that point it's basically a digital copy anyway). I find the 7th gen and older consoles have tons of games that are unlikely to be ported to PC or other digital distribution with each passing gen since I'm finding less and less of a reason to bother collecting for it. The PS4 will be the last home console I'm collecting for (only exclusives I want + a handful of other games I want a physical copy for) and the Switch might very well be the last handheld one, it's not the same anymore.
I'm glad the hype died down cause I was never collecting for posterity I was collecting just so I could get my hands on old games I played as a kid and even some I may have missed because I didn't have income to buy all the greats so to me this is a blessing
@@justinwilliam4644 Emulation is nice. I emulate most retro games that I already own, because lets be real, controls and graphics of most of these games are kinda shitty now, specially N64, and stuff like framemeister and RGB/HD mods for consoles, cables and converters are just ludicrously priced and distributed. I'm pro Emulation but I also like knowing that I own an original physical copy of the game. I recently beat Majora's Mask on my PC with a Texture pack, it looks gorgeous and it feels great on a Dualshock 4, but I proudly own my golden cart complete with its box, so for some of us emulation is not enough, we need to own the thing.
I've never understood collecting just to collect. They are video games, I've always collected on the mindset like "hey this game looks cool and interesting I want to try it out." I've only ever sold parts of my small collection because I was low on money not because I wanted to make a profit. I loved collecting for Genesis years back because it was so much cheaper than collecting for SNES and you could find tons of interesting bargain bin titles.
for me I've realized that going for complete is an impossible task, better to focus on the games I want to play, have a moderate but worthwhile collection
Until they start selling Original Xbox, PS2, PS1, Dreamcast, Gamecube, Sega Saturn. Then the hobby is not going anywhere. The 3rd and 4th Generation isn't the only reason why retro collecting is a thing.
As an NES collector I now have a personal rule that I don't buy any other games until I beat the ones I have. The insane prices keep me from grabbing anything new.
This has always been true. Problem is that just reinforces are materialistic nature. I wish I had let go of more stuff growing up. Now I am a slave to my stuff.,
"Don't want to deal with it when I'm 60"... I'm 54 and just bought the systems I wanted when I was young but couldn't afford them back then. I'm not after a complete collection of anything, but I want to have fun with those system.
@@Kourumeme But the ability to PLAY what you wanted with a natural feeling controller meant the curious do not need to fight the market. Another bubble may come, I don't see it coming for the NES. Atari saw its time and didn't really retake the fever. Without the generational rose-tinted glasses, the market will be between collectors and no real new, impulsive interest
I've been a video game retailer for the past 5-6 years. When I started with games, NES/SNES were hot and we sold so many original, Hyperkin and other clone consoles and so many games for those two systems. The past two years NES/SNES has completely faded out, part of that is RetroPie and others are these Nintendo made NES/SNES consoles and the ability to play a lot of it on the Switch. It's also the generation of games changing, the Gamecube/N64/Dreamcast/Saturn fans are really blowing up those markets. N64 has cooled but Gamecube is still hot and will continue to be as people want controllers and Smash Bros for it. Dreamcast/Saturn are hot because the good games are hard to find. Dreamcast especially, so many great RPGs for that system and they are not common. As the group of gamers get older, the collectibles market always shifts to the group that is around 24-30, they get their first real jobs/paychecks, they have extra cash and they want the things they had as a kid that they can now afford or that "mom" sold at a garage sale.
DC RPGs? We had arou d 10, even including Shemue (which really isn't one). Skies Grandia Evolution 1 & 2 Evo 7th Cross Time Stalkers Sega Collection (Phantasy Star 2) Phantasy Star Online (kinda) E.G.G. Silver Lodoss War Then a few Japanese ones Umm... Maybe L.O.L.?? Wow... Not a great list. I mean Skies and Grandia are great... Then it kinda drags out.
I do think it's a bit ridiculous how much prices for retro games have skyrocketed. I remember buying certain games for a fraction of the price they are not even 10 years ago. I really hope that prices start falling again soon as the craze dies down.
As someone who sells on eBay, I think a huge part of the stagnation in prices is due to bootlegs (DVDs and games). While real collectors will see through them, they are getting harder to pinpoint, and the overabundance of them flood the aftermarket. People who are quickly looking for a copy of game will most likely buy them. Why buy a used copy of Conker's with a beat up label for $35 when you can get a pristine copy for $20?
Not sure if I should laugh or cry watching this a year later. Prices went absolutely crazy with the pandemic and they are higher than ever for almost everything.
Stumbled on to this channel by accident. Watched from oldest to newest video. Love the gaming passion from Pat. Ian seems to have this "I know it all therefore your opinions are wrong" vibe. Anyone else feel this vibe?
I sold my collection in 2016 to JJgames (about 35% off retail price) Cause I moved to collect the rights of video games. So far 150+ different old school video game IPs acquired.
This is actually good news. When I first tried getting into retro gaming, that was back around 2015, when prices were crazy. It was very discouraging, but now it seems that collecting will be more doable.
Truth be told, I LOVE collecting (not just having and playing the games, but also the thrill of the hunt), but I'm headed to TooManyGames in a few weeks, and my list of things I want is essentially nothing. I'm WAY more excited to see friends and hang out.
And it was awesome for me. SNES Classic "upgraded" is about everything I wanted since my Super Scope won't work on a Roku TV, I am fine just playing what I want
I recently sold my SNES collection for over $8000.00. I only had about 1/2 the set, although I did have most of the rarer titles. I didn't lose any money on any of it with the exception of a few titles. I've noticed that there are some obscure SNES games that people don't really want. I would say It really depends on which game you are talking about like you guys said. Overall, the market hasn't fallen that much, though.
I started collecting a year ago and you guys described my collecting pattern exactly. I started out with NES games, getting odd ones just to try to collect them all. Realized it would cost too much so shifted to just the ones I really enjoyed. This made me start collecting old PS2 games I loved, and SNES, Genesis, Master System, N64 and even 360.
I am happy that I started collecting NES games 10 years ago. I have around 660 individual NES games now. The prices on those spiked and now it is just not worth the money to collect for. The original XBox is also a good system to collect for. They are easy to find in the wild and they are cheap.
The virtual boy has skyrocketed in price recently. A working unit could be bought for around 80 dollars a few years ago. A broken unit can not be touched for less than 100 now and a working unit could easily go for 200-300.
@@Oceanandskylinevidss yep, it really sucks. I'm glad i got earthbound and many other rare games before 2020, but there are still many more games i want but their prices have petty much tripled
I feel that once the PS5 and and Series X are regularly in-stock and easy to buy, people will dump all of their pandemic retro games. People are playing these because they don't have access to current gen consoles.
@@gmti486 This is a really interesting theory. I’ll be very curious if this holds true. One piece of evidence to support your theory is that used PS4’s and Xbox One’s continue to hold their price (if not increased). I have never seen that before when a new generation of systems are released. Ever.
What I never hear about in any of these talks on any channel, is the people like me that don't resell, not starting a musuem or a store, rarely trade, but just collect for the enjoyment of the hobby and only look at the value as how hard it is to replace and will still collect if the market crashes and won't cry about the loss of value, I think most people got into it for the wrong reasons or just to turn a profit.
I've noticed a price drop in the common retro games especially SNES and NES. Genesis prices have always been reasonable from what I've seen. I don't know about PS1 and PS2 since I haven't collected for those systems heavily for the past 3 years.
@@videogameobsession I usually find decent deals on Amazon and EBay. I mean the prices aren't where they were two years ago. I just look through what's on the market at any given time rather than jump on a game that's selling on the first page or wait for a seller that has it at the right price for me. Would be great if retro games could be had at the prices eighteen or even twenty years ago.
Just a thought. You mentioned how Mario kart has gone from 47 to 33 bucks a Cart. Which I agree the price has gone down. However a lot of the prices on price chart are a little off because they are also including sales of "repro" games. Which makes it look lower the it actually might be.
I have a google doc spreadsheet for games that I want for each system. Unless it's among the rarest for each system, I'm look up the reviews, and watch gameplay online to make sure that it's something I'm going to play.
Maybe it comes down to emulation as well, I doubt a lot of people would still want to buy the 8/16 bit era game when they are so simple to emulate and are fairly accurate. When it comes to later gen consoles they are harder to emulate or can still be played on modern consoles via backwards compatibility, they may fair a little bit better later on for collecting as there is no other way to play them. The fact that Ian mentions saturn is starting to rise in cost (my thoughts) is mostly due to no simple decent running emulator or backwards compatible console like there is for the psone so people tend to grab original games due to lack of another option. My 2 cents anyhow.
I scaled down my collection to just a few essentials. Nes, snes, N64, and PS1. I also still have my genesis but I don't collect for it. I had to stop the hobby a couple of years ago and take a break because I just couldn't fight the prices of the games I wanted. I am not going for complete sets, but I do want some of the hard to find games for those systems. Anyway I knew that eventually the bubble would burst. It seems to be very close now.
Great conversation guys. Pretty much everything you mentioned I have noticed as well. One trend I've noticed in more recent years is Nintendo stuff going down a little bit in price and a lot of Sega stuff going up (Dreamcast, Saturn and now Genesis which I think is being caused by the Analogue Mega SG's recent release).
I think part of the reason it has not carried over to "buy everything for a system" is we have so many Nintendo consoles behind us now and the rate of games coming out has just been cranking up so much that many people just rather spread out among a number of platforms getting favorites rather than centering on a single collection.
As an avid collector this is one of those times when you realize how much Pat knows his stuff. I've been noticing the softening of prices for the last couple of years and he perfectly explains it here
You have to comb through the sold listings on eBay to filter out the numerous, numerous repros that have impacted the average selling prices of popular and collectible games. You would be surprised how many games have retained their value once you remove repros from the mix.
really? that's kind of a low availability but low demand system, the cheapest games for me have always been genesis, ps1, ps2 since they're as common as dust.
I’m 21, I got into collecting when I was 16. I live on a small island on the east coast of Canada, so the market was never very good, but when the market peaked it 2016 it pretty much just killed it. I started a Facebook group to help people buy and sell their games and when collecting became the hot thing all the resellers flocked to it. Now the scene around me is so dead that the only people who have games to sell are resellers, and they aren’t moving them
There will people people in the years/generations to come to be just as if not more excited about collecting SNES/retro games than we are now. There will always be a desire.
I collect for PS1, 2, 3 and 4 because PlayStation is awesome and the majority of the best games are still dirt cheap. Seems only Nintendo is the expensive stuff. I have a SNES classic so I don’t feel much need to seek out expensive original SNES games.
True some JRPG's are pricey but most of the best games like MGS 2 and 3, the Ratchet and Clank games, the Jak series, Shadow of the colossus, Ico, Burnout series, Onimusha series, SSX, Ace Combat series.....All dirt cheap. If the prices are rising then i'm glad to already have them i guess.
I had over 800 PsOne games (mint & many sealed) as it is my fav system of all time. Only console I considered getting a complete set. However in recent months I've pretty much sold off my entire collection of over 7,000 games 40+ consoles & a ton of collectibles (Funko POP, many vintage toys, all my Vinyl LPs, autographed copies etc.) Besides some games I've yet to sell I've sold most of it & not gonna stop till every single game is gone. 20 years or collecting & it's almost like it never happened at all.
So Pat, do you think video game collecting is heading back to being a underground scene again? Being that game collecting has been mainstream the last decade almost
I've been going heavy in SNES games, recently started collecting about 3 weeks ago. In about $970 on many good games. At 90 games today, price charting has the value at $1,350 currently. I think that's a good buffer, got a lot for buy 2 get 1 free. Even if values tank, I have about a 30% buffer. Will definitely throttle back... I think you guys are dead on with future kids not giving a crap about retro games.
sketchesofpayne I have a store I got to about a hour from me that sells PS2 games as low as $0.88 and it’s not sports games. Highest priced PS2 game I have saw there was $33 for Silent Hill Shattered Memories a very uncommon game for the system. Recently the store got a ton of sealed PS2 games in ranging from common to rare. They were priced really well. Right now collecting for PS2/PS3 is really cheap.
Hi Pat! I been watching your videos for a long time and started a small collection of NES games in 2002’. Very recently I got the itch to collect more just for the nostalgia. There’s so many games I never got to play as a kid so I found myself just buying any game just for the sake of having it. I downloaded your app as well to help me which btw I think is amazing! After going crazy buying a bunch of games though, I ended up having buyers remorse because I don’t have room for all these games and thought maybe I should of just bought an emulator. And I think that’s also affected the drop in people’s interest of physically collecting these games. As I’m already feeling the same way. It’s just a haste for me to have all this stuff everywhere and it’s not convenient. Personally I think I’m still gonna keep collecting though but I am feeling very indifferent about it.
@@spiderjerusalem100 It's a mental thing certain types of collectors have. They feel they must have everything, even if it's shitty, or else it's incomplete. I have friends who are addicted to Pop figures and have run out of room for them on their walls and shelves, but they'll keep buying them if they see a set they don't have. It's crazy.
@@mielthesquid6536 I am all for the value of retro video games to plummet providing the otherside of the hobby's coin isn't hurt too badly. If interest in our hobby died away too much we might see cool aftermarket tech dry up and people simply throwing away their old games rather than bothering to get a few measly bucks selling them.
I collect mainly for my nintendo 64, I really don't care if the value plummets I collect the games in boxes because I want to play them and also I like how they look on my shelf. I love the nintendo 64 boxes, and it is also the first console I ever played.
Owning physical media for old systems goes up and down. People want to physically experience them how they were originally intended. Real system real controller real game no online emulating.
The only retro games I buy are the ones I want to play, not to complete any set for a system. If a game is too expensive, I’d look for any official rerelease of the game (The SNES Classic was how I was able to experience Earthbound, if the real Earthbound cart does come down in price, I’m taking advantage of it) if no rerelease exists, emulation via a rom from the Internet is my last resort. I collect for many systems (All Nintendo home consoles, PlayStation home consoles, 360 and X1), I like having all these systems in my game room and learning more about their history and capabilities. I also buy all carts loose and store them in cases, not concerned about the box whatsoever, the case gives me the artwork and will protect the game better than a box would.
As someone who has been buying games for a while, even when the prices were at their total peak for nes, snes and genesis, I’ve had limits, which is why I have a pretty small collection, but I can say that being patient really helps in getting What you want for a reasonable price
I agree, due to prices and not having internet, I could never collect the way I wanted nor did I know values, I bought what Icould afford. Nowadays, I still collect and try to get a good mixture of rare, memorable, and good deal games, but Im glad prices have dropped because what is still a fun hobby to me, really took a backsear due to high prices and the craze. Friends wanting their childhood games found it difficult to get them due to price and availability and that sucked because what they were looking for never should have been that hard and pricey to track down. Glad it is shifting to make things easier and cheaper to find for those of us who want memories and preservation not get rich quick schemes.
Collecting for Master System/Mark III/SG-1000 mainly. Also some Gamecube, N64, Saturn, Dreamcast, and Genesis. Price has always got to be right though. 60 bucks is the limit for any game and then it needs to be a game I want to play.
Im one of this Sealed Collectors, collecting them for Collecting sake. I do not care about this VGA rated BS that only get used to make a already expensive Game even more expensive. And i still play most Games, because at the same time i buy used Games if the prices fall. So i have a Sealed copy for the collection and a used cartridge to play.
Sealed and slabbed video games are the most retarded thing ever. They aren't old fragile baseball cards, or old brittle comic books. They don't need to be sealed or slabbed in plastic. Video games should be played, not displayed.
I feel the market will always be there but popularity certainly peaked. I got into retro collecting and bought system I owned as a kid back in 2009 when I discovered Pete Dorr and right before All Gen Gamers podcast started, I wanted to buy anything and everything. I ended up selling everything with just a few exceptions. I only sold because they weren't complete and I want to eventually rebuy the games and systems I owned as a kid CIB, I just haven't gotten around to it, I am busy buying Blurays and XBox360 games to beef up my collection of them. But peoples interest in retro video games is still there, interest will be decent for decades to come. Some peoples interest in collecting will come and go and come again, others will be more steady. Even though I do not collect retro currently I have steadily maintained interest in the RUclips gaming community for over 10 years and that is what is important, an interest. I am just waiting for a time I feel is good to hit up some game cons and start buying again. If an interest is there so will buyers and collectors, buying anything and everything is just not going to be so much of a thing like it was at it's peak.
I found some N64 sports games for $3 (Canadian) each, and I bought them. Pretty sad how even retro sports games are hard to find for 1 or 2 bucks anymore (in Ontario, Canada anyway). I guess I need to look more thoroughly.
I used to buy all n64 sports games I'd come across for their backs now that stores here are trying to sell them for $10+ (might be my fault I'll admit) i don't. Oh, I'd buy their backs and put them on jp games so I didn't have to buy a jp64
Also same thing happened with JP books here. They used to be $.50 now I see book stores with rows of jp books for $30+ because import. Again, I'd clean house when they were cheap. I used to go in and buy shelves because 20 books for$10. Even if they were bad it helped with my studies and I could give them to friends in Japan. It's a shame they're doing it with Chinese books now, as I just started to learn Mandarin. I just buy my books on eBay or have my jp friends mail me some. Oh and those shelves of jp books go untouched. I've seen the same books for a year now.
It depends where you are In Canada Retro collecting is huge. I think you guys are underrating the market. I think its become just as popular or more. I know a ton of retro collectors and I will go into the retro stores and they tell me how much games they sell and collections they buy for inventory on a regular bases. So I don't think its dying at all.
Here's an example to what you're talking about, which I mentioned years ago last time you made a video on this: Eliminate Down on the Japanese mega drive, which used to be $200, and then exploded to fucking $1200 out of nowhere, is now like $1,600 across the book, since it's considered a very good ShMUP. Verytex which has more of a meh reputation peaked at like $200 boxed and is now going for as little as $60 loose
Games are made to be played. If you want to play Earthbound for example, why would you pay all that money when you can just buy it on the eshop or get a rom etc.
PS2 is where it's at right now, at least in my area. Tons of incredible games for cheap all the time. These prices are incredibly likely to increase in the future as well (especially for things like Atlus rpg's), but I'm not really in it for that - PS2 into PS3 era is where my nostalgia lies and most of my peers agree.
I remember buying a few sealed copies of N64 games back in 2003 for like $30 each, among other boxed copies of SNES games. Mario Kart was really common at that time so I was like; "Meh, later" and then boom prices went up. I hope that what these guys say is true so I can finally complete my N64 collection.
I feel this is true. I was an avid shopper at my local retro game store 8 years ago. I probably frequent that store 2 to 3 time a week seeing if any rare game came through the door to buy. I have not shopped at any Retro Store or even gone to any Video Game Swaps in at least 3 years now. Maybe because the prices are stupid high now for certain games or maybe I'm just happy with the games I own right now.
same here, recently purchased yakuza 3/4, lego hobbit and lord of the rings, and uncharted 1,2,3. 35 USD total! trough a local pawn webshop. feels like a steal to me.
Same here. I had to pay nearly £50 for Yakuza 3 and 4 but other than that the best games are dirt cheap. Same for the PS2, there’s so many great cheap games.
I kinda collect, but I only buy stuff I want to play. That's why I really don't want to sell anything because I still use all my consoles. Some more regular than others, but every year i'm in a sega saturn kick and play that for awhile. I know I will miss it if it goes.
I think people are not that interested in retro hardware as much as before because nowadays there are lots of other options to revive retro games. From Virtual Console to NES and SNES classic (which are really easy to hack and add whichever game you want). Also emulation in general, in a PC, with a Raspberry Pi or other microPC connecting to your modern TV via HDMI without an upscaler, and so on. Old hardware is now more hardcore than ever, just for collector and super purist people.
I think that the next big systems that will be collected by young people will be stuff from the 00’s. I can definitely see GameCude, DS, Wii, PS2/3, and the Xbox/360 being big sellers in the next 10-15 years. Especially the Nintendo systems, now is definitely the time to collect DS/3DS games.
Really happy to see you doing an updated video on this topic. Your old video about the state of retro game collecting was actually the first video I saw from you. As for selling off collections I have seen this and heard about this quite a lot actually. People either don't care anymore, need the money for something else (mostly their new family), someone dies or they reduce their collection to the absolute minimum, usually the games that they're most passionate or nostalgic about. I have also heard quite a lot of people say that they do not want to have a bunch of consoles at home or a CRT. So they just get a Retropie etc. It will be really interesting to see what retro game collecting will turn into in the next few years. I am also curious whether this will have an effect on online message boards, subreddits or even RUclips channels. If the interest declines will some channels go down under or will they adapt? E.g. James Rolfe now frequently reviews PS1/Dreamcast etc. games. This would probably have been unthinkable 5 years ago.
Modern retro gaming scene owes a lot to streamers who do variety shows and gong pits, people who watch videos or streams of people playing old games trying to play each game and give it a fair shake or squeeze joy from a bad game, like I remember a game that wasn't fun made me laugh and therefore I have good memories of it.
Speaking as someone who is collecting a complete PAL PS2 set at the moment, I can honestly say you’re likely to be very right about the more modern consoles regarding collectors. Very few people are going to look at the PS2’s 2200+ library and think “yes, I want to own all of that and I have the space to store it”. The moment gaming became mainstream and the number of titles rocketed, the likelihood of someone wanting to complete set a console tanked.
Oh yeah that's why I kinda stopped collecting for PS2. Once I really thought about all the sports games and rhythm games I just couldn't justify it to myself anymore
@@cress_albane I absolutely get where you're coming from there. Sometimes I wonder what I'm doing this for too... but then I find a weird title I didn't know existed and it re-kindles my love of collecting for this behemoth of a system.
*2009-2012:* extreme game collecting rampage *2013-2014:* okay this is starting to get shit *2014-2016:* kept on buying terrible bargain bin PS1/PS2/genesis games I didn't need nor will ever play since that was the only thing LESS than 10 bucks. I would spend like 30 minutes in a retro game store taking things off the shelves and putting them back just to walk out with one game. Then if I even put it in the console I would get bored of it immediately. At some point I just realized that was completely idiotic, there's no reason to just buy it for the sake of it. *2017-present:* buying games FAR more selectively, mostly sticking to thrift stores, and just enjoying what I have.
I'm one of those collectors that really only wants stuff that I'm going to play, or at least plan it. It's interesting to see some of these wacky prices but I pretty much agree with y'all.
The investors hit Magic the Gathering pretty hard, making the game largely unaffordable. Those same folks were bound to find the game collecting market as well. But I think the investors are going to be punished in the videogame market because demand in this market is highly price sensitive (as opposed to Magic the Gathering where demand will always be there even if the price is very high). You have to understand the market.
Bought a PSP and ds lite to emulate. Cheap, easy and convenient. I was waiting for Nintendo to release a fully fledged switch virtual console and I was ready to pay plenty but the switch eshop is an abomination and I got tired of waiting
I don't completely agree with you on a personal level because, as a collector, I don't feel like I am done with my collection at all. There are still NES, SNES, GameCube, Wii games I want, not to mention PSO, PS2, and PS3 games. Then the Switch and PS4 are current. I have handheld systems too, GB, GBC, GBA, DS, 3DS... My fiance just moved in and has a 360 but hardly any games, so I have a new collection to go for on that. My next two systems I want are Genesis and Dreamcast. Yeah, I know I don't have a lot of exotic systems (my rarest is definitely my Sega Pico, I buy games for it whenever I see one) but I'm having fun. I only have around 600 games so I'm definitely always on the lookout for more. I feel like I'm just getting into it even though I've been collecting for 21 years (only seriously since about 2011 though). We don't all have tons of disposable income to put out on this hobby so I do the best I can with what I've got. I'll be doing a game room tour soon. That said, I also clearly see where you're coming from. My dad collects books - he's 80 years old and has been collecting since 1950. He has over 30,000 books. I'm trying to downsize them now and it's been hard just knowing where to start. Because of him I love to read and I'm a huge science fiction fan, but I buy most of my books digitally and I'm interested in completely different eras and authors than he is. I think I see my future in him. I doubt I will ever amass so many games, but I am sure I will instill a love of gaming in my own children. However, they will likely not like the same games I like and again, like me with books, prefer a digital format.
@jvalex18 Jesus, why collect anything then? It's all for 'emotional reasons" when you get down to it, and it's all "burning money.' Might as well go live in a monastery. You're a fun person.
I imagine that the SNES doesn't have as many people going for complete sets because they observed how complete NES collections required ridiculously expensive stuff like Stadium Events. So they realized that getting a complete collection of any system is not affordable for the average person and thus there is no point in attempting. Why buy titles that aren't worth playing if you're not going for 100%? Having 90% of a system's library, including tons of filler, really isn't that interesting. You either want 100% or you want just the good stuff which is probably the top 10% of a library.
I've never felt the need to have every game on a console to feel "complete". I always focused on having everything from a series, for example - all the Need For Speed games for PS1,2,3, and 4. All the Tony Hawk games. All the Rockstar games. All the 2D shooters on PS, etc. Why spend so much money on games you aren't interested in?
I started sharing a room with my girlfriend in an apartment with 3 other people and I downsized everything. It made me take a really hard look at my collection and ask myself "what do I actually like here?"
Where do you think the hobby of retro game collecting is in 2019? Are you still collecting? What system(s)?
Everything peaked in 2016.
Well, I'm still playing Mario, Castlevania, and Turtles in Time every few weeks or months. Nothing has changed. Nothing left to buy worth playing either.
i still collect but have mostly been pushed out of the market about 8 or so years ago, i switched to more obscure stuff to still get bargains.
I jumped on board super super late. Started with the Famicom and now I have 3sh systems I enjoy collecting for (Famicom,neo geo cd, turbo grafx)
I think maybe the nostalgia will eventually just give out for curiousty and people going out of the nintendo/Sony/Sega bubble
@@ninjamaster3453 Peaked in 2016... when I bought most of my collection. Boy I know how to pick the wrong time to enter a market.
I think one big factor I didn't hear mentioned is how the collecting craze pretty much killed off traditional game collecting i.e. finding the stuff at flea markets and thift stores. That's not a new factor to all this, that started happening in the early part of the decade, but I think it's the longest-lasting one. Some of the biggest enjoyment I got out of the hobby was discovering random games and especially gems out in the wild. Nostalgia is what got most people into the hobby, but I think it was interest in game hunting that really fueled the fire.
I'll never forget finding a blank genesis case in a local Goodwill that just happened to contain a copy of MUSHA with the manual for $5 or finding an absolutely pristine copy of Power Blade 2 in the same store for $3. I found 20 sealed Sega CD games in a bin priced at $4 a piece in 2006 and this included stuff like Robo Aleste, Vay, Popful Mail and both Lunar games. Any given day, you could go into one and find an NES system, often complete for $10 or less. You pretty much couldn't give away N64s and they, along with the games littered shelves and garage sales. Unfortunately, this just doesn't happen anymore.
Grifters and resellers hoovered up every single thing even remotely game-related and ended up pricing a ton of people out of the hobby. That's not even mentioning a major chain like Goodwill where a lot of people like me found this stuff eventually caught on and never put it out on the shelves anymore and instead slaps them up on their auction site for absurd amounts of money. I fell out of this hobby for years because I realized after the thrill of the hunt was gone, I just didn't care that much. Without that rush of discovery, the only people left in the hobby are the hardcores who squabble with each other over how high the price should go for their shitty multi-cart that only they want.
You're no different or more special than anyone else who entered the hobby. Nostalgia and the thrill of the hunt is pretty much the story for everyone. The only difference between the time you got in it and they did was there are more people doing it now.
@@gamewizardks Uh, I'm pretty sure I didn't say I was special or different. I'm not really sure what you're trying to get across here.
media is responsible for mainstreaming the game hunting craze, where as the only people that might play them are people who have nostalgia, versus those that are into it purely as an investment, rising values game.
Speaking from a mid-20's age demographic, things seem to be more series/franchise focuses when it comes to collecting. People want to own every entry for Castlevania / Zelda / Pokemon etc.
I'm 18 and have been into game collecting since I was like 8. My collection is still fairly small but I am still gonna keep collecting for the foreseeable future
How do people your age look at retrocollecting, especially nes, snes, ps1, saturn?
Are you gonna concentrate on consoles like gba, psp or ds?
@@jacobyne That's a interesting question. For me personally I find stuff like stuff before the 6th generation appealing mainly because of retro gaming channels on RUclips. The problem with young people not collecting those consoles is the price and how hard it is to find those games out in the wild. Look at the prices for ps2 and the original Xbox and how dirt cheap the games are and how easy it is to find in the wild. With stuff like the snes, nes and ps1 those consoles are fairly expensive to collect for, especially when you consider the income if most kids and teenagers
@@jacobyne to answer the second part, I probably would concentrate on day just because how common it is
I think getting my Everdrives really opened my eyes to how I really already had the carts I wanted to own and that such a vast amount of games are just a waste of space and money
Yep, would I rather have a room full of boxes and cartridges, or a nice big Wega KV-36FV310 and some modded systems and Everdrives? I know my little one won't care about carts, that's only for me.
Everdrives got me to give up on collecting Gen 3, 4 and N64 games. Still collecting PS1-PS4, OG Xbox and 360 and later Nintendo consoles though.
@@kevinmiller8111 It's all based on our individual nostalgia so much, it's interesting. For some reason, Xbox 360 is still a newish system in my head even though it's reaching 15 years old. Just like I'll use the year 2000 as a reference point for how many years ago even though it's pointless, the 360 is just one of those things that will be permanently modern in my head for some reason.
Now the OG Xbox? Waaay different story. Being a part of the softmodding community and the early days of modding Halo 2 online floooods me with nostalgia that i could never replace.
Well the 7th gen was the start of HD graphics. Eh for me it's not nostalgia for my cutoff point. The 7th gen of consoles was the last one without excessive microtransactions, dlc, and day 1 patches. Everything afterward I only bother picking up platform exclusives that don't require massive patches (since at that point it's basically a digital copy anyway). I find the 7th gen and older consoles have tons of games that are unlikely to be ported to PC or other digital distribution with each passing gen since I'm finding less and less of a reason to bother collecting for it.
The PS4 will be the last home console I'm collecting for (only exclusives I want + a handful of other games I want a physical copy for)
and the Switch might very well be the last handheld one, it's not the same anymore.
I'm glad the hype died down cause I was never collecting for posterity I was collecting just so I could get my hands on old games I played as a kid and even some I may have missed because I didn't have income to buy all the greats so to me this is a blessing
Why don't U just emulator them
@@justinwilliam4644 Emulation is nice. I emulate most retro games that I already own, because lets be real, controls and graphics of most of these games are kinda shitty now, specially N64, and stuff like framemeister and RGB/HD mods for consoles, cables and converters are just ludicrously priced and distributed. I'm pro Emulation but I also like knowing that I own an original physical copy of the game. I recently beat Majora's Mask on my PC with a Texture pack, it looks gorgeous and it feels great on a Dualshock 4, but I proudly own my golden cart complete with its box, so for some of us emulation is not enough, we need to own the thing.
Feel like I've been waiting for this topic a long time, excited to hear this.
I've never understood collecting just to collect. They are video games, I've always collected on the mindset like "hey this game looks cool and interesting I want to try it out." I've only ever sold parts of my small collection because I was low on money not because I wanted to make a profit. I loved collecting for Genesis years back because it was so much cheaper than collecting for SNES and you could find tons of interesting bargain bin titles.
for me I've realized that going for complete is an impossible task, better to focus on the games I want to play, have a moderate but worthwhile collection
Emulators and Arcade Cabinets are in your local Walmarts. The retro experience has become modern. Prices will continue to fall.
Yay?
Until they start selling Original Xbox, PS2, PS1, Dreamcast, Gamecube, Sega Saturn. Then the hobby is not going anywhere. The 3rd and 4th Generation isn't the only reason why retro collecting is a thing.
As an NES collector I now have a personal rule that I don't buy any other games until I beat the ones I have. The insane prices keep me from grabbing anything new.
You probably wrote word for word what I do. I think it’s the best way to go.
I need to apply this rule
That was also my rule way back in the NES days. Nowadays I'm just happy to play a game for a few levels and call it a great day.
I am telling young people today to save the things they love you will love it more later
This has always been true. Problem is that just reinforces are materialistic nature. I wish I had let go of more stuff growing up. Now I am a slave to my stuff.,
I think the SNES classic and upcoming Sega classic, are a godsend
I legit feel like we are finding more than ever lately. Pretty hyped ✊
@MY CATS COOL well thank you ♥️
Pixel Game Squad excellent
Because all the bandwagon people are selling off their collections now since they were just into it for the dick showing.
RetroHabit82 😆😆😆😆🙏🤘
Not me. For the last year or so if I find anything even remotely decent it's at eBay price anyway. Even at Goodwill. Plenty of sports games though.
"Don't want to deal with it when I'm 60"... I'm 54 and just bought the systems I wanted when I was young but couldn't afford them back then. I'm not after a complete collection of anything, but I want to have fun with those system.
Definitely noticed a decrease in NES & SNES games wanted, most likely because of the NES & SNES Classics being released.
Kaiser499 then the idea of a retro mini console is going to get stale. Plus collecting Is going to boost back up again due to it
@@Kourumeme
But the ability to PLAY what you wanted with a natural feeling controller meant the curious do not need to fight the market.
Another bubble may come, I don't see it coming for the NES. Atari saw its time and didn't really retake the fever.
Without the generational rose-tinted glasses, the market will be between collectors and no real new, impulsive interest
I've been a video game retailer for the past 5-6 years. When I started with games, NES/SNES were hot and we sold so many original, Hyperkin and other clone consoles and so many games for those two systems. The past two years NES/SNES has completely faded out, part of that is RetroPie and others are these Nintendo made NES/SNES consoles and the ability to play a lot of it on the Switch.
It's also the generation of games changing, the Gamecube/N64/Dreamcast/Saturn fans are really blowing up those markets. N64 has cooled but Gamecube is still hot and will continue to be as people want controllers and Smash Bros for it. Dreamcast/Saturn are hot because the good games are hard to find. Dreamcast especially, so many great RPGs for that system and they are not common.
As the group of gamers get older, the collectibles market always shifts to the group that is around 24-30, they get their first real jobs/paychecks, they have extra cash and they want the things they had as a kid that they can now afford or that "mom" sold at a garage sale.
DC RPGs? We had arou d 10, even including Shemue (which really isn't one).
Skies
Grandia
Evolution 1 & 2
Evo 7th Cross
Time Stalkers
Sega Collection (Phantasy Star 2)
Phantasy Star Online (kinda)
E.G.G.
Silver
Lodoss War
Then a few Japanese ones
Umm... Maybe L.O.L.??
Wow... Not a great list. I mean Skies and Grandia are great... Then it kinda drags out.
I do think it's a bit ridiculous how much prices for retro games have skyrocketed. I remember buying certain games for a fraction of the price they are not even 10 years ago. I really hope that prices start falling again soon as the craze dies down.
Yup, I did a review for Snatcher in 2009 and prices were around £60-100. Now people want £300-400. Its ridiculous.
As someone who sells on eBay, I think a huge part of the stagnation in prices is due to bootlegs (DVDs and games). While real collectors will see through them, they are getting harder to pinpoint, and the overabundance of them flood the aftermarket. People who are quickly looking for a copy of game will most likely buy them. Why buy a used copy of Conker's with a beat up label for $35 when you can get a pristine copy for $20?
...bootlegs you say? Do they work the same as the legit copies?
Not sure if I should laugh or cry watching this a year later. Prices went absolutely crazy with the pandemic and they are higher than ever for almost everything.
Stumbled on to this channel by accident. Watched from oldest to newest video. Love the gaming passion from Pat. Ian seems to have this "I know it all therefore your opinions are wrong" vibe. Anyone else feel this vibe?
I started buying records in 2009. You'd pay at the most $20-$30 for a rare side. Now the prices have shot up to $50-$100 for a used album.
I sold my collection in 2016 to JJgames (about 35% off retail price) Cause I moved to collect the rights of video games. So far 150+ different old school video game IPs acquired.
As one of your Kickstarter backers, I appreciate your efforts in getting 40 Winks a proper release.
16:20 Pat: “We have the stuff we want”. Says the man with a full NES collection.
That's because he wasn't dumb n didn't wait
They never thought the prices would go up back then. They were worthless and abundant when they collected.
Condition of games is more important in the hobby too. Rarer titles in great condition are commanding better prices than they were a few years ago.
Whatever happened to the "Ask Frank" videos?
You'll have to ask Pat, but I believe Pat moved and Frank is no longer his neighbor. They did a farewell ask Frank.
Frank has other planets to save.
@@Channel9001 I heard he's just busy with work because of the weather.
Yeah franks in Mexico man. Changed his name to Frankfurt .
This is actually good news. When I first tried getting into retro gaming, that was back around 2015, when prices were crazy. It was very discouraging, but now it seems that collecting will be more doable.
It was YOU! YOU jinxed it!
Truth be told, I LOVE collecting (not just having and playing the games, but also the thrill of the hunt), but I'm headed to TooManyGames in a few weeks, and my list of things I want is essentially nothing. I'm WAY more excited to see friends and hang out.
The mini consoles killed a lot of the collecting of snes and nes games. The same will happen to the n64 if they release a mini version of that.
And it was awesome for me. SNES Classic "upgraded" is about everything I wanted since my Super Scope won't work on a Roku TV, I am fine just playing what I want
Everything looked so hopeful in 2019, it all seemed to be cooling down. 2020 really did a number on this hobby.
I recently sold my SNES collection for over $8000.00. I only had about 1/2 the set, although I did have most of the rarer titles. I didn't lose any money on any of it with the exception of a few titles. I've noticed that there are some obscure SNES games that people don't really want. I would say It really depends on which game you are talking about like you guys said. Overall, the market hasn't fallen that much, though.
I started collecting a year ago and you guys described my collecting pattern exactly. I started out with NES games, getting odd ones just to try to collect them all. Realized it would cost too much so shifted to just the ones I really enjoyed. This made me start collecting old PS2 games I loved, and SNES, Genesis, Master System, N64 and even 360.
I am happy that I started collecting NES games 10 years ago. I have around 660 individual NES games now. The prices on those spiked and now it is just not worth the money to collect for. The original XBox is also a good system to collect for. They are easy to find in the wild and they are cheap.
The virtual boy has skyrocketed in price recently. A working unit could be bought for around 80 dollars a few years ago. A broken unit can not be touched for less than 100 now and a working unit could easily go for 200-300.
little did these guys know the year 2020 was right around the corner. all retro prices skyrocketed in 2020
I would have loved to pay for earthbound for $130 dollars, Its $300 Now. lol
@@Oceanandskylinevidss yep, it really sucks. I'm glad i got earthbound and many other rare games before 2020, but there are still many more games i want but their prices have petty much tripled
@@RideRedRacer well I hope you find what you're looking for my dude. Someone told me to start looking at estate sales online.
I feel that once the PS5 and and Series X are regularly in-stock and easy to buy, people will dump all of their pandemic retro games. People are playing these because they don't have access to current gen consoles.
@@gmti486 This is a really interesting theory. I’ll be very curious if this holds true. One piece of evidence to support your theory is that used PS4’s and Xbox One’s continue to hold their price (if not increased). I have never seen that before when a new generation of systems are released. Ever.
Still collecting
What I never hear about in any of these talks on any channel, is the people like me that don't resell, not starting a musuem or a store, rarely trade, but just collect for the enjoyment of the hobby and only look at the value as how hard it is to replace and will still collect if the market crashes and won't cry about the loss of value, I think most people got into it for the wrong reasons or just to turn a profit.
I started to try to collect for retro systems, but then the Switch came out. Since then I’ve gone all in on it and am trying to collect for that.
I've noticed a price drop in the common retro games especially SNES and NES. Genesis prices have always been reasonable from what I've seen. I don't know about PS1 and PS2 since I haven't collected for those systems heavily for the past 3 years.
@@videogameobsession I usually find decent deals on Amazon and EBay. I mean the prices aren't where they were two years ago. I just look through what's on the market at any given time rather than jump on a game that's selling on the first page or wait for a seller that has it at the right price for me. Would be great if retro games could be had at the prices eighteen or even twenty years ago.
Just a thought. You mentioned how Mario kart has gone from 47 to 33 bucks a Cart. Which I agree the price has gone down. However a lot of the prices on price chart are a little off because they are also including sales of "repro" games. Which makes it look lower the it actually might be.
I have a google doc spreadsheet for games that I want for each system. Unless it's among the rarest for each system, I'm look up the reviews, and watch gameplay online to make sure that it's something I'm going to play.
Maybe it comes down to emulation as well, I doubt a lot of people would still want to buy the 8/16 bit era game when they are so simple to emulate and are fairly accurate.
When it comes to later gen consoles they are harder to emulate or can still be played on modern consoles via backwards compatibility, they may fair a little bit better later on for collecting as there is no other way to play them.
The fact that Ian mentions saturn is starting to rise in cost (my thoughts) is mostly due to no simple decent running emulator or backwards compatible console like there is for the psone so people tend to grab original games due to lack of another option.
My 2 cents anyhow.
I scaled down my collection to just a few essentials. Nes, snes, N64, and PS1. I also still have my genesis but I don't collect for it.
I had to stop the hobby a couple of years ago and take a break because I just couldn't fight the prices of the games I wanted. I am not going for complete sets, but I do want some of the hard to find games for those systems. Anyway I knew that eventually the bubble would burst. It seems to be very close now.
Great conversation guys. Pretty much everything you mentioned I have noticed as well. One trend I've noticed in more recent years is Nintendo stuff going down a little bit in price and a lot of Sega stuff going up (Dreamcast, Saturn and now Genesis which I think is being caused by the Analogue Mega SG's recent release).
I think part of the reason it has not carried over to "buy everything for a system" is we have so many Nintendo consoles behind us now and the rate of games coming out has just been cranking up so much that many people just rather spread out among a number of platforms getting favorites rather than centering on a single collection.
As an avid collector this is one of those times when you realize how much Pat knows his stuff. I've been noticing the softening of prices for the last couple of years and he perfectly explains it here
You have to comb through the sold listings on eBay to filter out the numerous, numerous repros that have impacted the average selling prices of popular and collectible games. You would be surprised how many games have retained their value once you remove repros from the mix.
These days I collect for the master system nothing else. I find for me it's the cheapest option.
really? that's kind of a low availability but low demand system, the cheapest games for me have always been genesis, ps1, ps2 since they're as common as dust.
I’m 21, I got into collecting when I was 16. I live on a small island on the east coast of Canada, so the market was never very good, but when the market peaked it 2016 it pretty much just killed it. I started a Facebook group to help people buy and sell their games and when collecting became the hot thing all the resellers flocked to it. Now the scene around me is so dead that the only people who have games to sell are resellers, and they aren’t moving them
There will people people in the years/generations to come to be just as if not more excited about collecting SNES/retro games than we are now. There will always be a desire.
I collect for PS1, 2, 3 and 4 because PlayStation is awesome and the majority of the best games are still dirt cheap. Seems only Nintendo is the expensive stuff. I have a SNES classic so I don’t feel much need to seek out expensive original SNES games.
True some JRPG's are pricey but most of the best games like MGS 2 and 3, the Ratchet and Clank games, the Jak series, Shadow of the colossus, Ico, Burnout series, Onimusha series, SSX, Ace Combat series.....All dirt cheap. If the prices are rising then i'm glad to already have them i guess.
@@spiderjerusalem100 Consider yourself lucky cause they are not cheap anymore.
I had over 800 PsOne games (mint & many sealed) as it is my fav system of all time. Only console I considered getting a complete set. However in recent months I've pretty much sold off my entire collection of over 7,000 games 40+ consoles & a ton of collectibles (Funko POP, many vintage toys, all my Vinyl LPs, autographed copies etc.) Besides some games I've yet to sell I've sold most of it & not gonna stop till every single game is gone. 20 years or collecting & it's almost like it never happened at all.
So Pat, do you think video game collecting is heading back to being a underground scene again? Being that game collecting has been mainstream the last decade almost
I've been going heavy in SNES games, recently started collecting about 3 weeks ago. In about $970 on many good games. At 90 games today, price charting has the value at $1,350 currently. I think that's a good buffer, got a lot for buy 2 get 1 free. Even if values tank, I have about a 30% buffer. Will definitely throttle back... I think you guys are dead on with future kids not giving a crap about retro games.
It seems like PS2 prices have bottomed out. I've been picking up all the titles I was interested in but never got around to buying.
I've seen that I've noticed good game collections of ps2 being sold.
sketchesofpayne I have a store I got to about a hour from me that sells PS2 games as low as $0.88 and it’s not sports games. Highest priced PS2 game I have saw there was $33 for Silent Hill Shattered Memories a very uncommon game for the system. Recently the store got a ton of sealed PS2 games in ranging from common to rare. They were priced really well. Right now collecting for PS2/PS3 is really cheap.
@@LakesideAmusementPro Lucky
Hi Pat! I been watching your videos for a long time and started a small collection of NES games in 2002’. Very recently I got the itch to collect more just for the nostalgia. There’s so many games I never got to play as a kid so I found myself just buying any game just for the sake of having it. I downloaded your app as well to help me which btw I think is amazing! After going crazy buying a bunch of games though, I ended up having buyers remorse because I don’t have room for all these games and thought maybe I should of just bought an emulator. And I think that’s also affected the drop in people’s interest of physically collecting these games. As I’m already feeling the same way. It’s just a haste for me to have all this stuff everywhere and it’s not convenient. Personally I think I’m still gonna keep collecting though but I am feeling very indifferent about it.
It's finally time to get my Pogs slabbed and graded.
I collect for every system from Atari forward. Passing it all on to my son one day who is only 6 but LOVES to play ALL of them, old NES to modern PS4.
Personally I collect to play, not necessarily just to have a rare game.
Same here i collect for all PlayStation systems but i don't buy games which i know are shitty. I don't see the point.
@@spiderjerusalem100 YEah same. If I'm not gonna play it then why have it on my shelf?
Same here.
@@spiderjerusalem100 It's a mental thing certain types of collectors have. They feel they must have everything, even if it's shitty, or else it's incomplete. I have friends who are addicted to Pop figures and have run out of room for them on their walls and shelves, but they'll keep buying them if they see a set they don't have. It's crazy.
@@AlyxxTheRat There are some PS2 games which are rare and expensive but look up reviews and they are total shit games so why bother?
If people are selling off their collections it also means people are buying them. Am I missing something here? How is this not an equivalent exchange?
@@mielthesquid6536 I am all for the value of retro video games to plummet providing the otherside of the hobby's coin isn't hurt too badly. If interest in our hobby died away too much we might see cool aftermarket tech dry up and people simply throwing away their old games rather than bothering to get a few measly bucks selling them.
I collect mainly for my nintendo 64, I really don't care if the value plummets I collect the games in boxes because I want to play them and also I like how they look on my shelf. I love the nintendo 64 boxes, and it is also the first console I ever played.
I still find deals at garage sales for NES, and SNES. Twice a year for Atari vcs too.
Owning physical media for old systems goes up and down. People want to physically experience them how they were originally intended. Real system real controller real game no online emulating.
The only retro games I buy are the ones I want to play, not to complete any set for a system. If a game is too expensive, I’d look for any official rerelease of the game (The SNES Classic was how I was able to experience Earthbound, if the real Earthbound cart does come down in price, I’m taking advantage of it) if no rerelease exists, emulation via a rom from the Internet is my last resort. I collect for many systems (All Nintendo home consoles, PlayStation home consoles, 360 and X1), I like having all these systems in my game room and learning more about their history and capabilities. I also buy all carts loose and store them in cases, not concerned about the box whatsoever, the case gives me the artwork and will protect the game better than a box would.
Yea I went for complete sets. Of roms. My name is The immortal rom Hancock
As someone who has been buying games for a while, even when the prices were at their total peak for nes, snes and genesis, I’ve had limits, which is why I have a pretty small collection, but I can say that being patient really helps in getting What you want for a reasonable price
I agree, due to prices and not having internet, I could never collect the way I wanted nor did I know values, I bought what Icould afford. Nowadays, I still collect and try to get a good mixture of rare, memorable, and good deal games, but Im glad prices have dropped because what is still a fun hobby to me, really took a backsear due to high prices and the craze. Friends wanting their childhood games found it difficult to get them due to price and availability and that sucked because what they were looking for never should have been that hard and pricey to track down. Glad it is shifting to make things easier and cheaper to find for those of us who want memories and preservation not get rich quick schemes.
quality over quantity exactly
Collecting for Master System/Mark III/SG-1000 mainly. Also some Gamecube, N64, Saturn, Dreamcast, and Genesis. Price has always got to be right though. 60 bucks is the limit for any game and then it needs to be a game I want to play.
Im one of this Sealed Collectors, collecting them for Collecting sake. I do not care about this VGA rated BS that only get used to make a already expensive Game even more expensive.
And i still play most Games, because at the same time i buy used Games if the prices fall.
So i have a Sealed copy for the collection and a used cartridge to play.
Sealed and slabbed video games are the most retarded thing ever. They aren't old fragile baseball cards, or old brittle comic books. They don't need to be sealed or slabbed in plastic. Video games should be played, not displayed.
@jvalex18 no it's a fact.
I feel the market will always be there but popularity certainly peaked. I got into retro collecting and bought system I owned as a kid back in 2009 when I discovered Pete Dorr and right before All Gen Gamers podcast started, I wanted to buy anything and everything. I ended up selling everything with just a few exceptions. I only sold because they weren't complete and I want to eventually rebuy the games and systems I owned as a kid CIB, I just haven't gotten around to it, I am busy buying Blurays and XBox360 games to beef up my collection of them. But peoples interest in retro video games is still there, interest will be decent for decades to come. Some peoples interest in collecting will come and go and come again, others will be more steady. Even though I do not collect retro currently I have steadily maintained interest in the RUclips gaming community for over 10 years and that is what is important, an interest. I am just waiting for a time I feel is good to hit up some game cons and start buying again. If an interest is there so will buyers and collectors, buying anything and everything is just not going to be so much of a thing like it was at it's peak.
Complete Snatcher is like $650 based on the last few auctions, not $400
Snatcher for $400...lol🤣🤣🤣
Collecting has become way too expensive I only buy games I had as a kid to relive the memories
Hoo boy. In 2021 just the opposite has happened. Game prices are going to the moon. Covid had a major impact to collecting for sure.
I found some N64 sports games for $3 (Canadian) each, and I bought them. Pretty sad how even retro sports games are hard to find for 1 or 2 bucks anymore (in Ontario, Canada anyway). I guess I need to look more thoroughly.
It's probably because they paid a dollar for them
I used to buy all n64 sports games I'd come across for their backs now that stores here are trying to sell them for $10+ (might be my fault I'll admit) i don't.
Oh, I'd buy their backs and put them on jp games so I didn't have to buy a jp64
Also same thing happened with JP books here. They used to be $.50 now I see book stores with rows of jp books for $30+ because import. Again, I'd clean house when they were cheap. I used to go in and buy shelves because 20 books for$10. Even if they were bad it helped with my studies and I could give them to friends in Japan. It's a shame they're doing it with Chinese books now, as I just started to learn Mandarin. I just buy my books on eBay or have my jp friends mail me some.
Oh and those shelves of jp books go untouched. I've seen the same books for a year now.
It depends where you are In Canada Retro collecting is huge. I think you guys are underrating the market. I think its become just as popular or more. I know a ton of retro collectors and I will go into the retro stores and they tell me how much games they sell and collections they buy for inventory on a regular bases. So I don't think its dying at all.
Here's an example to what you're talking about, which I mentioned years ago last time you made a video on this: Eliminate Down on the Japanese mega drive, which used to be $200, and then exploded to fucking $1200 out of nowhere, is now like $1,600 across the book, since it's considered a very good ShMUP. Verytex which has more of a meh reputation peaked at like $200 boxed and is now going for as little as $60 loose
Games are made to be played. If you want to play Earthbound for example, why would you pay all that money when you can just buy it on the eshop or get a rom etc.
PS2 is where it's at right now, at least in my area. Tons of incredible games for cheap all the time. These prices are incredibly likely to increase in the future as well (especially for things like Atlus rpg's), but I'm not really in it for that - PS2 into PS3 era is where my nostalgia lies and most of my peers agree.
GameCube and Dreamcast stuff is going up.
I don't get dream cast collecting. Outside of5 games all can be pirated on the system
@jvalex18 get high quality CDs and it doesn't burn out fast
2007 to 2015/2016ish saw such craziness it was bound to go down. Thank god
I remember buying a few sealed copies of N64 games back in 2003 for like $30 each, among other boxed copies of SNES games. Mario Kart was really common at that time so I was like; "Meh, later" and then boom prices went up. I hope that what these guys say is true so I can finally complete my N64 collection.
im still collecting stuff that i can get cheap
Same.
I feel this is true. I was an avid shopper at my local retro game store 8 years ago. I probably frequent that store 2 to 3 time a week seeing if any rare game came through the door to buy. I have not shopped at any Retro Store or even gone to any Video Game Swaps in at least 3 years now. Maybe because the prices are stupid high now for certain games or maybe I'm just happy with the games I own right now.
I'd say things have shifted HARD to the nostalgia of the sixth generation -- GameCube prices are ridiculous right now.
Game or comic collecting just for the money doesn't pay off. Invest in a safe stock, it will pay better in the long run.
I collect ps3 games right now there dirt cheap
same here, recently purchased yakuza 3/4, lego hobbit and lord of the rings, and uncharted 1,2,3. 35 USD total! trough a local pawn webshop. feels like a steal to me.
Same here. I had to pay nearly £50 for Yakuza 3 and 4 but other than that the best games are dirt cheap. Same for the PS2, there’s so many great cheap games.
I'm not collecting 360 games, but they are super cheap as well.
Same for me with 360 games.
@@spiderjerusalem100 allthough i was lucky with my purchase, still yakuza's are worth your price in fun as well!
The CIB market seems to resist market fluctuation better than loose too.
I kinda collect, but I only buy stuff I want to play. That's why I really don't want to sell anything because I still use all my consoles. Some more regular than others, but every year i'm in a sega saturn kick and play that for awhile. I know I will miss it if it goes.
I think people are not that interested in retro hardware as much as before because nowadays there are lots of other options to revive retro games. From Virtual Console to NES and SNES classic (which are really easy to hack and add whichever game you want). Also emulation in general, in a PC, with a Raspberry Pi or other microPC connecting to your modern TV via HDMI without an upscaler, and so on.
Old hardware is now more hardcore than ever, just for collector and super purist people.
I think that the next big systems that will be collected by young people will be stuff from the 00’s. I can definitely see GameCude, DS, Wii, PS2/3, and the Xbox/360 being big sellers in the next 10-15 years. Especially the Nintendo systems, now is definitely the time to collect DS/3DS games.
Really happy to see you doing an updated video on this topic. Your old video about the state of retro game collecting was actually the first video I saw from you.
As for selling off collections I have seen this and heard about this quite a lot actually. People either don't care anymore, need the money for something else (mostly their new family), someone dies or they reduce their collection to the absolute minimum, usually the games that they're most passionate or nostalgic about. I have also heard quite a lot of people say that they do not want to have a bunch of consoles at home or a CRT. So they just get a Retropie etc.
It will be really interesting to see what retro game collecting will turn into in the next few years. I am also curious whether this will have an effect on online message boards, subreddits or even RUclips channels. If the interest declines will some channels go down under or will they adapt? E.g. James Rolfe now frequently reviews PS1/Dreamcast etc. games. This would probably have been unthinkable 5 years ago.
Modern retro gaming scene owes a lot to streamers who do variety shows and gong pits, people who watch videos or streams of people playing old games trying to play each game and give it a fair shake or squeeze joy from a bad game, like I remember a game that wasn't fun made me laugh and therefore I have good memories of it.
If we have extra copies of the same game then we should sell them on ebay and other places. That way the prices will calm down.
Speaking as someone who is collecting a complete PAL PS2 set at the moment, I can honestly say you’re likely to be very right about the more modern consoles regarding collectors. Very few people are going to look at the PS2’s 2200+ library and think “yes, I want to own all of that and I have the space to store it”. The moment gaming became mainstream and the number of titles rocketed, the likelihood of someone wanting to complete set a console tanked.
Oh yeah that's why I kinda stopped collecting for PS2. Once I really thought about all the sports games and rhythm games I just couldn't justify it to myself anymore
@@cress_albane I absolutely get where you're coming from there. Sometimes I wonder what I'm doing this for too... but then I find a weird title I didn't know existed and it re-kindles my love of collecting for this behemoth of a system.
@@GameHammerCG oh yeah it is definitely a great system, no doubt about that
*2009-2012:* extreme game collecting rampage
*2013-2014:* okay this is starting to get shit
*2014-2016:* kept on buying terrible bargain bin PS1/PS2/genesis games I didn't need nor will ever play since that was the only thing LESS than 10 bucks. I would spend like 30 minutes in a retro game store taking things off the shelves and putting them back just to walk out with one game. Then if I even put it in the console I would get bored of it immediately. At some point I just realized that was completely idiotic, there's no reason to just buy it for the sake of it.
*2017-present:* buying games FAR more selectively, mostly sticking to thrift stores, and just enjoying what I have.
I'm one of those collectors that really only wants stuff that I'm going to play, or at least plan it. It's interesting to see some of these wacky prices but I pretty much agree with y'all.
The investors hit Magic the Gathering pretty hard, making the game largely unaffordable. Those same folks were bound to find the game collecting market as well. But I think the investors are going to be punished in the videogame market because demand in this market is highly price sensitive (as opposed to Magic the Gathering where demand will always be there even if the price is very high). You have to understand the market.
Bought a PSP and ds lite to emulate. Cheap, easy and convenient.
I was waiting for Nintendo to release a fully fledged switch virtual console and I was ready to pay plenty but the switch eshop is an abomination and I got tired of waiting
I don't completely agree with you on a personal level because, as a collector, I don't feel like I am done with my collection at all. There are still NES, SNES, GameCube, Wii games I want, not to mention PSO, PS2, and PS3 games. Then the Switch and PS4 are current. I have handheld systems too, GB, GBC, GBA, DS, 3DS... My fiance just moved in and has a 360 but hardly any games, so I have a new collection to go for on that. My next two systems I want are Genesis and Dreamcast. Yeah, I know I don't have a lot of exotic systems (my rarest is definitely my Sega Pico, I buy games for it whenever I see one) but I'm having fun. I only have around 600 games so I'm definitely always on the lookout for more. I feel like I'm just getting into it even though I've been collecting for 21 years (only seriously since about 2011 though). We don't all have tons of disposable income to put out on this hobby so I do the best I can with what I've got. I'll be doing a game room tour soon.
That said, I also clearly see where you're coming from. My dad collects books - he's 80 years old and has been collecting since 1950. He has over 30,000 books. I'm trying to downsize them now and it's been hard just knowing where to start. Because of him I love to read and I'm a huge science fiction fan, but I buy most of my books digitally and I'm interested in completely different eras and authors than he is. I think I see my future in him. I doubt I will ever amass so many games, but I am sure I will instill a love of gaming in my own children. However, they will likely not like the same games I like and again, like me with books, prefer a digital format.
@jvalex18 Jesus, why collect anything then? It's all for 'emotional reasons" when you get down to it, and it's all "burning money.' Might as well go live in a monastery. You're a fun person.
I imagine that the SNES doesn't have as many people going for complete sets because they observed how complete NES collections required ridiculously expensive stuff like Stadium Events. So they realized that getting a complete collection of any system is not affordable for the average person and thus there is no point in attempting. Why buy titles that aren't worth playing if you're not going for 100%? Having 90% of a system's library, including tons of filler, really isn't that interesting. You either want 100% or you want just the good stuff which is probably the top 10% of a library.
I've never felt the need to have every game on a console to feel "complete". I always focused on having everything from a series, for example - all the Need For Speed games for PS1,2,3, and 4. All the Tony Hawk games. All the Rockstar games. All the 2D shooters on PS, etc. Why spend so much money on games you aren't interested in?
I started sharing a room with my girlfriend in an apartment with 3 other people and I downsized everything. It made me take a really hard look at my collection and ask myself "what do I actually like here?"
hey I'm 25 and i love to keep the old systems alive just got myself an atari 2600 recently always collecting also working on a gameboy collection