The Changes of Retro Gaming Collecting

The state of retro video game collecting has changed to a nightmare. We went from cheap finds at thrift shops and yard sales to Big retail store leaving the market. Goodwill’s stores would price them to move I remember buying super Nintendo systems for 3.99, Nintendo 64 for 10 dollars, carts were 99 cents 3 dollars at the most and they were everywhere.

But as the years pass by I started to see a slow increase in price and also the decline in stock. With the growth from eBay and Amazon the cash option of selling them now instead of giving them to goodwill’s. Changed the collector market and entered the reseller’s fad of individuals who go out looking for video games to resell online or at a flea market stand. Not only them but Goodwill’s also jumped in the game with auctions and online shops via eBay and Amazon. The video gaming items that do make it to the sales floor are now priced as if they were selling on eBay. So now every retro Nintendo item is price like it’s worth its weight in gold. Your most common game cart is 5 to 10 dollars or they put them in the in store auction and try to set a high buy it now price this Goodwill not eBay.

Long gone are the days retro games were a nerdy or geeky thing it is now main stream and the in thing to do. So much so that we now have brick and mortar specialty shops dedicated to retro video games. I will say some are a great to shop for games and some are in it for the money only. Some of these shop will play you for your games and system just like GameStop some are going to give you pennies in the dollar some will pay you fairly those are more of your mom and pop’s store. I know I go to one shop just to see if I can catch them slipping as we say in the collecting world. Just to find every cart from any system starting at 10 dollars. Funny thing is some carts you can get off Amazon for a few dollars and 4 dollars to ship comes out cheaper than the retro shops. Only down side is you don’t get to see the cart and inspect it. Big retail giant Game Stop came back in to the market with buying retro games and systems again with online sales for retro games. If that don’t tell you it’s hip again I don’t know what will. Now when I go hunting for games in the wild if I score a retro game fewer than five dollars that’s a win in my book.

Don’t get me wrong the deals and price slips are still there just there so few and far between. I had a Nintendo 64 cart score a few month back for some high dollar carts like Super Smash Bros and Mario Kart 64 and a few others for 2.99, I was in shock to find them and at that price a young man came up to the counter a few seconds after me. I heard him talking with a woman with him saying I hope he don’t buy them all. He saw the titles I was pulling out and asked if I was buying them. Told yes I was that those were the first n64 carts I found since started collecting again. He said “A few seconds to late” I said to him it happens to us all while game hunting.

This Post Has 3 Comments

  1. Tyler Meredith

    It’s interesting that collecting retro games has become more and more common over the years. I didn’t realize that it used to be something that enthusiasts did when now it’s something people do to remember their childhood. I’ll have to keep this in mind when looking to improve my man cave because I want some retro video games in there to remind me of my childhood and buying them sooner rather than later could be good.

    1. Dblock

      Retro games will make a great any man cave better. If you come a cross them get them cause it may be a while before you come a cross them again. Thanks for checking out the article. (Dblock)

  2. Brenden Clancey

    I love the cheap prices on the Nintendo 64 games in the photo. I wish you could still buy those Mario games for $3. I ended up buying Smash Bros for myself on eBay for around $50 ouch….

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