Introduction
Have you ever looked at the paper in your wallet and thought to yourself, god what if this was plastic on a shelf? Well, wonder no longer! You can achieve this dream yourself by becoming a video game collector. I know, I know. You’re thinking to yourself, “I don’t need to collect video games, I’m not mentally ill,” but trust me, there is a lot of fun and purpose in collecting video games. Even though I’ve written for this blog quite a bit, I’ve never actually talked about the collection, how I collect, my collection goals, and the crap that’s in it. So why not do some of that now? After all, it's not like the cashier at the local Stop and Shop will want to hear me talk about how they built the Xbox 360 wrong for that much longer. This is my hobby, and I would like to put into words how my game collection journey has been not only throughout my life but especially in the past few years. Additionally, I’d like to give some tricks of the trade for collecting games. Maybe it’ll even help you too if you want to become a game collector.
From Humble Beginnings
I started liking video games, good video games, and old video games, pretty young. It probably started around the fourth grade with Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask. It was my first “old” game that I played all the way to the end on the Wii virtual console and I loved it. Over the few years that followed I asked my parents to get me a Nintendo 64 and a Nintendo Gamecube. The reason being is that I watched a lot of YouTubers back in the day, who have since all been cancelled for being perverts, but they talked a lot about their love for older games and it inspired me. Soon enough I got a Nintendo 64 and a Gamecube and got games I couldn’t play anywhere else like Banjo-Kazooie, Conker’s Bad Fur Day, Paper Mario the Thousand Year Door, Luigi’s Mansion, etc. I also went rummaging around the homes of my grandparents and was able to find a yellowed but still completely working Super Nintendo, some games, and a Gameboy Advance.
The idea of selling the games I owned for some cash to get more games was never really a thing I did. For a lot of kids and adults it was and is a way of life, but I was a stupid kid. All of what I've heard online is that any money you would have gotten from GameStop would be pennies and even if that wasn’t true, I didn’t finish a lot of games as a kid so I would feel like I would want to go back to these games. Hence why I never sold them. (I’ve gone back and finished most of my childhood games by the way). That said, I never really kept the games in anything but a bin, because I didn’t have the space. All my cartridge games were put in an old lunch box and the disc games in a disc binder. Now, if I could go back and kill younger me for throwing out all the manuals and game cases knowing what I have now become, I would. But I really did not have the space to hold tons of game cases unless I put them in a big bin in my basement.
Speaking of basement, my basement was unfinished until 2020. During the COVID pandemic, I hated that there was an unfinished part of my house with old carpet so I decided to clean it and redo a lot of it. While I hadn’t intended it for it to be anything but clean, my family gave me money to finish the space and one of the things I put in there was a shelf for the game collection. Now, 5 years later, I have spent some of my money from working on these games and have a pretty decent collection. But how did I get all these games?
On Finding Games
I spent money. But there are good ways to go about game collecting to fill out your collection in three general categories, besides the simple having them as a kid or buying them when they come out. These categories are dumpster diving, the dedicated game store, and Ebay.
The first is dumpster diving. Thrift stores, flea markets, yard sales, even the GameStop retro shelf may have some good games at below market value prices. These places can be both extremely pleasing and extremely frustrating. Whether or not a thrift store has any video game at all is a complete crap shoot. And even if they do, you probably won’t find anything other than Madden/NHL Blitz/NBA 2K on Xbox 360. But you hear the stories where people find the illustrious working copy of Earthbound at a yard sale so you keep checking. And in truth I have found some alright stuff at thrift stores, flea markets, and yard sales. I even recently went to an estate sale from a game collector. I’ve never found anything exciting or crazy but stuff I wanted nonetheless and usually for cheap. The downside, of course, is that if you do eventually find a yard sale or flea market or thrift store with retro games, them working is up in the air. In my collection there are a few games that don’t work, and I can say they all came from flea markets or thrift stores. Not that they can’t be fixed but getting something from dumpster diving means you might just be buying trash.
The GameStop shelf is the middle ground between the dumpster diving section and the game store section. Whether or not a GameStop has a retro game shelf is up in the air, and what it has is also up in the air. I recently went to all the GameStops across the southern shore of Long Island, New York and found only two of the five stores had places for retro games instead of FunkoPops. But those shelves had games you could give a shit about. Mario Party 2 on Nintendo 64, Resident Evil 0 on Gamecube, We Love Katamari on Playstation 2 were just some of the games I saw. So, something you would certainly want in your collection, and the prices were a little below market value to boot. Not majorly though. Maybe 5-10 bucks across the board, but hey every little bit counts. But again the size of this is limited. I’m also not 100% trusting that the things I buy at GameStop work. I don’t know if I have ever bought something from a GameStop that flat out didn’t work, but I’m not comfortable that there is a guarantee.
The next subject is the dedicated retro game store. On Long Island, this so happens to be the multiple location Video Game Trading Post, but there are other options as well. These stores will usually, in my experience, have a decent selection. Maybe not every game you could ever want but if I wanted something from these stores I could probably find it. Plus, at five locations for the VGTP there is a lot of that inventory spread out. And the prices for a lot of stuff is about market value or a little above. Some game stores can really fucking gouge you, so make sure if you do go to a game store, you have something to keep track of the game’s prices. I use the app GameEye but PriceCharting.com also works really well. The VGTP, I have found, to be pretty fair considering its a brick and mortar store.
But to me, the big benefit of going to a game store you can trust like the VGTP is that everything I buy fucking works. They give you a free 2 month warranty without having to be a member or pay a premium, they can test it there, and they have machines to sand down discs and resurface them so they are good as new. Plus most games I’ve bought there that originally come in plastic cases inexplicably have all their inserts and the box is in good condition. So if you want something and you’re willing to pay a little extra for the inserts, and to make sure they work, game stores are your best bet.
I have been to odder retro game stores. Recently I went to a place in a guy’s house which was claustrophobic but had a good selection, even if it was a little expensive. Some stores are more toy stores than video game stores but have them on a shelf. So, the quality of these can vary. Sometimes the prices won’t be as good, or the selection not great, or the weirdest guy from behind the counter wants to start a conversation with you. But still, it's the guarantee that the thing you’re buying works and is in good condition is the qualifier for me.
The final place to get retro games is of course Ebay. The best of all worlds but also the worst. There’s variety in everything on buying off of ebay. There’s probably the least amount of work in finding something off of Ebay because you can just search for the game you want. You can get the lowest prices on some stuff if you look and wait long enough. But you may not get the game with the case and inserts unless you pay a lot more, and there’s still no guarantee really that the thing you’ll buy works. Though, that said, buying a game on Ebay that’s just the loose disc can be nice if you just are going to put them in a binder, print the case yourself, or buy a reproduction case. It’ll even be cheaper. For example, a copy of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, is about 200 dollars if it comes with the original case and manual. But buy the game loose in a spare CD case then it's 80 bucks, and you can buy a reproduction case off of Etsy for 15 dollars. So you can be smart with your money if you know how to be.
On Collecting Games on Different Consoles and Reproductions
The last thing I want to say on buying games off Ebay is that it should depend on the games you collect. In my collection are original Xbox and Atari 2600 games. These games, when I've found them in person, are dirt cheap. I once went to a retro game store and picked up five Atari games for a dollar each. Come to think of it, I've never paid more than 3 dollars for an Atari game. But on Ebay that price is usually higher both just because of shipping and also Ebay gets a cut and at some point it's not worth the effort listing something for a dollar. I bought Pitfall! for the Atari for a dollar at the VGTP, and you can find it on Ebay for 15 bucks. Original Xbox games follow the same format. Tons of games are dirt cheap and will be cheaper in retro game stores looking to move inventory. Not that there aren’t expensive games for the original Xbox but multi-platform titles like GTA3, Silent Hill 4, etc. are cheaper on Xbox. Reason being is that while the Original Xbox was popular, there has never really been a large wave of people nostalgic for that era with a desire to collect.
It’s important when you want to collect games to follow the trends of what people are nostalgic for. A lot of old Atari games, NES and even Super Nintendo nostalgia waves have died down because they had their wave and now tons of companies cater to them. Every game on my NES wishlist is on the Switch in some form or other, so it’s not difficult to just play those games somewhere else without having to finick with a machine from the 80’s. But Gamecube games have skyrocketed because I know people in real life who are in their mid to late 20’s like I am and have a wave of nostalgia for the consoles they grew up on.
I would also like to add that reproduction cartridges are an option. In most cases, I’ve had good experiences with them. If you’re not a stickler for the games you own being the official real deal Nintendo cartridge then you can pay 15-30 dollars for a copy of Chrono Trigger on Super Nintendo instead of its current value on price charting sights of around 270 dollars. Seems like a good deal, especially when the cartridge works in your old Super Nintendo just the same as a real one. Only you would know the difference. Though, the label may not look as high quality as the original but you can always buy a replacement off of Etsy if it pisses you off.
I think the dividing line with some of this stuff is when the game can’t be played on a normal console if it's a reproduction. Cool that you can get a Pokemon game for cheap on the DS and it just works but that can’t be said for any game that came on a disc (apparently besides Dreamcast games). Some consoles have reproduction markets for disc based consoles but its not worth the effort. A perfect example is the Playstation 1. Technically, reproduction PS1 games exist but for them to work on an actual console you either have to solder a chip into the motherboard, or use an exploit by swapping the discs really fast. That’s too much work. I don’t know how to solder and I am worried I’d mess it up and the disc swapping trick is both too much work and embarrassing. Imagine you invite friends over to play PaRappa the Rapper and you spend 30 minutes trying the disc swap trick because the timing is too strict. I would just rather keep hunting for the original games in those cases.
Some people might also be intrigued by fake consoles, like the stuff Analogue makes. I can’t vouch for them since I’ve never owned them but they promise the ability to play real cartridges from your old systems in 4K, in a sleek new design, supporting wireless controls, and I've never heard a bad thing from them. Problem is these consoles are fucking expensive if you wanna find a good one. The Analogue version of a Super Nintendo, the Super NT, is on Ebay from anywhere from 750 to a thousand dollars. Considering you can find consoles that work in a gamestore for under 200 you’re better off saving your cash and repairing the console when you need. Though, the Hyperkin consoles might do you some good for cheap. They play NES, Super NES, Genesis games in one console for like 80 bucks. I might even pick up the 40 dollar variant for the NES at some point and may leave a review for it here.
Why Collect?
But all this assumes you want to collect any of the games for the consoles I’ve mentioned above. Of course, there is no right console to collect for. You want to collect Gamecube games because they’re what you remember? Go for it. You want to collect for the Xbox 360 because its dirt cheap? You’re still collecting the right way. Because there really is no wrong way to collect and enjoy video games. You shouldn’t just collect things because they’re valuable or because they’re important but because you enjoy those things.
My advice for collecting video games is that it should be like collecting records for the most part. You wouldn’t purchase Beatles albums just because The Beatles are a historically significant group when you don’t like their music. No. You buy the albums you’ll listen to. And you’ll be rewarded because there is a vibe to listening to music on vinyl. The sound is richer, the vibe is better, and most importantly you’ll own what you buy. The same can be said for video games, at least in my experience. I’ve never been crazy about some games when I’ve played them on modern platforms but there is a new found appreciation for those games when you play them on old hardware. I kinda like some of the old Atari games when playing them on that wooden piece of shit, but I wouldn’t feel that way if I just played a collection of them on the Switch. Point is, you get a newfound perspective for the limits of the hardware, and the moment in gaming history those experiences took place in. And it’s not just nostalgia, by the time I was playing video games, the Atari 2600 was already 30 years old. Furthermore, you buy what you own physically. Not only does that look freaking sick on a shelf, but video games are more volatile than most other artforms.
Want to watch an old movie from 1950’s Japan? It’s on streaming. Want to listen to an album from the 60’s? It’s on Spotify. Obviously, I know not every movie or every album is on streaming, but video games often do not get ported to modern consoles. The first four Silent Hill games can’t be played on PS4, PS5, Switch 2 (switch to what?), or Xbox. New Super Mario Bros. on the DS? Not on the Switch. What about the games from my childhood? Like Nicktoons: Attack of the Toybots or MySims Agents? Fuck you, still only on the Wii. Keeping these games running and in good condition is genuine preservation work and the only way to enjoy some of these games. I try my best to share these experiences with friends by playing with them or loaning games out to friends and family because everybody should get a chance to enjoy an artform I have a lot of affinity for.
What games do I collect?
For the stated reason of loaning games out, as well as my own personal special interest in video game history, my collecting is very purposeful. Back in 2016, Nintendo released the NES Classic. It was a plug and play console with 30 games pre-loaded on it. For Nintendo, these were the 30 essential games you remember and loved from the NES. And their selection wasn’t bad, it had a wide variety of titles that sold well, spawned franchises, and people remembered. So my collection aims to collect that 30 game list from every console I’m interested in. This allows me to get a comprehensive view of a console’s lifetime and its place in history, and play some pretty good games to boot. Makes me feel like an experienced video game player in the same way some people go back and watch the Oscar nominees from previous years. Now of course this means a lot of ingenuity on my part. Nintendo may have listed 30 games I find mostly agreeable, but figuring out what are the 30 essential games for every other console is no small feat. I’ll describe more of how I came to my current list in a future blog post, but for now, I am doing pretty well with my collection.
I’m happy with what I have, though I am always looking for more stuff to round out the collection and I am not strictly bound by the list. I do purchase other games I’m just flat out interested in. Finally, I do intend to play everything on this shelf, despite how impossible of a task that might seem. So, in the interest of playing more games that will inspire more blog posts, I’m going to end this post here and get back to it.
