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Cheap game collecting in 2023

o1s1n

I know the title is by it's very nature contradictory in this day and age, but are there any older consoles folks can think of that are still affordable to collect games for?

By 'affordable' I mean right at the bottom end of pricing, so 10-15 euro for a game.

The Megadrive was always my go to for many years, however after being away from it for a while and going back, it's not quite that way anymore.

Staying with Sega, something I've never collected and I don't think really gets much love is the Gamegear. Looking at pricing, it still seems relatively affordable - I suppose the only downside really being that a lot of the games are shite!

Any other suggestions? I think the NES has reached it's peak and is potentially dropping?

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Steve X2

Famicom and Super Famicom if buying common games from Japan via eBay etc. You can also still get good bulk/wholesale buys on them, but only common games.

dav09

Anything they made tonnes and tonnes of are still cheap, as Steve X2 said there's lots of good deals in Japan on different consoles on the likes of Yahoo Auctions and other sites.

2600 is one that comes to mind here, I bought a bulk of like 50 carts for very cheap a few years back and can't imagine they've increased in value.

o1s1n

Still bargains to be had in Japan? That's good to hear. I used to hoover up Super Famicom games from the likes of Hit-Japan but they'd seemed to have gone up in price a bit since I last looked on ebay.

Any PAL region games you can think of? Atari 2600 is definitely a good shout, didn't occur to me at all. I did rather annoyingly sell all my 2600 stuff last year 😂

I was thinking a complete cart only Gamgear set might be interesting given the relatively low cost, low volume of them (I think it's sub 200 games) low space commitment and the fact I've a lovely recapped Gamegear crying out to be used!

Retr0gamer

Chris Kohler was saying he noticed at conventions that 8 and 16 bit games there was near zero interest in all games other than the usual big nintendo games and the rarities. He expects prices to normalise.

I used to chase the dragon a lot with expensive games and it ended up that I was missing out on the lesser often ignored games. Most of these would be stone cold classics as well. I learned the joy of spending 100 euros on a big box on NES games from Lukie Games and getting 20 carts out of it.

Master System would be a good one to go after.

I think Jeremy Parish and the analogue pocket have made gameboy a lot more attractive and it's hard to find good deals there.

tonyotonyo

There's never been a better time to get into arcade cabinets and jamma pcbs. Like below!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/314301939557?hash=item492ddaff65:g:22oAAOSwXpRjs01W

Game gear is a good one though. Shinobi alone is worth it

MEGA BRO WOLF 5000

I'm collecting Wii games now... Easiest to collect for and tonnes of bundles going on adverts/Facebook for peanuts. My SNES collection grew to just under 400 games about 5 of 6 years ago and now I can't justify paying anything between 50-200 to get a single game for the collection so that's pretty much dead. I've maybe gotten 5 games since then for it... Plus a lot of my stuff was coming from the UK which is now a real problem playing customs roulette.

Quigs Snr

I added 3000 or so games to the collection in the last 18 months for all consoles.

I concur with a lot of what is said here:

Cheap(ish): Master System (Starting to rise a bit), Gamegear (unboxed), Wii (exceptions apply), Wii U, 3DS (sorta), Xbox, Xbox 360, PS3, PSP, Atari Lynx, 2600

Outrageous: Anything with a cardboard box that says Nintendo on it, Gamecube, Jaguar, Non-shovelware SNES, 32x, mega cd, 3do, cd32, Neo Geo. Saturn is also getting a bit out of hand, so much so that along with gamecube (and excluding low volume machines like Vectrex, N-Gage etc..) its easily the smallest part of my collection.

... I did miss the Wii the first time. Surprised how much I enjoy it. When you disregard the shovelware it's got some stone cold classics on there. Like MEGA BRO WOLF, I picked up big bundles in local ads.. and basically traded my way up to a collection of about 170 of the best games for it, essentially for free. If anyone has Fragile Dreams, Rhythm Paradise, Muramasa or Lost in Shadow going, that will more or less complete my wanted list for Wii.

o1s1n

3000 games in 18 months? holy moly, that's incredible. Did you buy a few big lots in there?

Retr0gamer

I honestly think the Wii is one of the best consoles. There's so much good stuff and lots of weird games on there from third parties. Plenty of them are exclusive. People just focus on the shovelware but every popular console has a catalogue of shovelware. The DS and PS2 are two of the best consoles ever and have far more shovelware than the Wii.

o1s1n

I find in general my collecting interests stop at the fifth generation of games. I do have a fairly substatial PS2 collection and about 60-70 Wii games as they are just so easy to pick up, but no real interest in collecting them actively. Actually gave away a load of 360 games during my last house move.

I think I'd happily emulate most things that came in a DVD style box really. Find it rather interesting to see that Gamecube games are starting to pick up, must be the first console in those generic style cases to do so.

I'll keep an eye out for some Gamegear cart only lots and see what the market is like. Just saw that Gunstar Heroes was given a release on that console, didn't know that at all! (I'm sure it's shite haha)

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120243299#Comment_120243299

It's actually a really competent port. well worth playing. Made by M2 of all teams. Sound is the only let down. Dynamite Headdy is also a decent port.

Inviere

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120243299#Comment_120243299

I'm the same....I kinda skipped the "PS2" era due to growing up/girls/friends as you do....and while I can appreciate many of the games being great...I've little to no connection with them. Same goes for anything from that generation on really.

Retr0gamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120243868#Comment_120243868

I inhaled games during that era. The consoles came out while I was in college and living at home so I inhaled games as there were no girls chasing me :D

o1s1n

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120244395#Comment_120244395

Plenty of ladies of the night to be chasing in Vice City.

MEGA BRO WOLF 5000

So a bit of a rant. Wanted to see if I could pick up smash brother brawl Wii for this weekend as some of the lads are coming over and it's a great game to have a few cans with.

Found a copy online, and then another, and another... All overpriced and all from the same seller. Click his profile and he's gotta have 20+ Wii and WiiU bundles for sale and games at INDIVIDUAL prices for same consoles. Absolutely disgusting. A cûnt of a reseller literally living 5 mins away from me. That's me absolutely goosed so when it comes to collecting Wii. Absolutely boils my piss that type of thing.

Jack burton

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120254247#Comment_120254247

And that's one of the biggest problems with everything worth collecting.

Videogames seemed to avoid it for a long enough time I think bits it's rife now

Colonel Panic

I mostly stick to collecting Nintendo stuff and there isn’t much left I want. I was browsing an eBay seller’s lists there last week needing some retail therapy and there was nothing I wanted.

I’ve got a pile of other games from different gens but like Oisin, I gave away a tonne of 360 games.

For more modern consoles, I try to buy physical so I can trade them when I’m done.

o1s1n

With Nintendo charging more on their online store for digital downloads than Smyths do for physical copies, it's a bit of a no brainer alright. We've also a few Switches in the house, so it's nice to be able to share games between consoles.

I do quite like the look of Switch game cases too, they're pleasing to the eye on a shelf. Definitely have more of a collectability feel to them. (Which I am sure is that way by design!)

RobbingBandit

Probably too late now but CeX has Smash Bros for €28 for Wii not too high a price imo

RobbingBandit

Nintendo sales every three or four months are usually only 33% max discount on the own brand AAA titles where as the indie games can be 90% in some cases but shops very rarely have Mario Zelda Animal Crossing or Pokemon games reduced if and when they do I shop till I drop.

Argos and Smyths were best prices hands down on most Nintendo titles I'm definitely gonna miss Argos, GameStop and their trade in list had some interesting deals in the past but that's all gone now unfortunately.

MEGA BRO WOLF 5000

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120322263#Comment_120322263

I'm used to picking up a bundle of 6 or 7 games on the Wii for that price, including premium titles. I'm fairly sickened over the whole thing. I'm gonna dump 200 Nintendo games on ebay over the next week or so. It's gone too expensive to collect.

CathalDublin

Nes collecting still isn’t bad, I only pickup a handful of games/year though and buy anything at all, I’m not fussy🤣

Quigs Snr

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120334393#Comment_120334393

…well do let us know what they are before you do !

MEGA BRO WOLF 5000

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120337912#Comment_120337912

I'll post pics of doubles tomorrow. There's a few boxed SNES consoles and 2 boxed super famicoms and a heap of loose carts, most are filler but some nice things too.

Tom Mann Centuria

FIFA, Pro Evo and Tiger Woods games on PS3....... Sorry.

If you're talking about collecting for the sake of collecting (rather than looking for the best versions of a title) broadening the search outside of consoles, 8-bit computers have thousands of games and a lot (I'd say at least 90%) are still cheap to pick up and way less than the 10 to 15 ballpark.

Colonel Panic

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120343482#Comment_120343482

Always interested in SNES games so definitely post in the trading folder here.