Are you recently new to retro collecting?

killerkobra

Just curious to see how many NAers are new to retro collecting within the past year or so. If you are, how has it been going? Hard? Frustrating? Pure fun? Too expensive?



This question came up between myself another NAer when talking about house fires and flooding, basically if we would restart our collection if we lost everything... (Heaven forbid)

Beabull

While I do not fall into the new within the last year, I have noticed within the last year in my area at least it has become much more difficult. Especially with the ease of Facebook Market place, at least you used to have to search for good sales groups and take the time to read through all the postings within each group. Now it is all centralized on there and very easy to find what you are looking for. Also, I believe people are more aware of the cost and desirability of older video games, that speaks for itself in terms of difficulty finding deal. Due to my schedule, generally by the time I see a post it is too late, or the seller won't negotiate price. I don't blame them on the price negotiation though, as I sell most myself high as well. Also, aside from gamestop, there are no other stores in my area. The one store remaining, after they ran the competition out of town, have raised their prices to or above market. In that case, if I really want a game at market value I will buy it online from someone who has a clean copy vs one with stickers, residue, and grunge on the case/game. I used to be able to find good deals there consistently until the price hike, now it's few and far. Part of the collecting fun for me is finding a good deal, not just obtaining something, whatever the cost to add to it. But, I imagine as far as the awareness and price increase goes, many of you probably felt the same way years ago when I myself had just started collecting.

Gloves

I may as well be, yeah.



Would I restart if I lost everything? Probably, yeah.

MuNKeY

Would I restart? No, probably not.

rockyyaknow

I probably wouldn't restart either. Too much time searching for the stuff I have and spent some good money on a lot of it. I may just get my favorites back, but not a lot of the other stuff.

SwiftFrost

I haven't bought anything towards my collection, or anything vintage for that matter, in close to five years. If I lost everything I wouldn't restart at all. C'est la vie.

NesQuest

I've been at it for a few years, and find it frustrating now with the prices of some NES games.



If I lost everything, would I start over? Yup!!!! But I would take it much slower next go round. I've also built a couple good friendships since joining the hobby.



This is also the most fun I've ever had with a hobby.

spman

I don't see how it's even possible to enter into this hobby cold as a new collector in 2019, we're in the eBay era of collecting where the only real resource left is online where you collect through brute force and spending. Retro gaming is a rich mans game now, and it will likely be that way going forward.

VGS_OptOut

Originally posted by: spman

I don't see how it's even possible to enter into this hobby cold as a new collector in 2019, we're in the eBay era of collecting where the only real resource left is online where you collect through brute force and spending. Retro gaming is a rich mans game now, and it will likely be that way going forward.

This is a ridiculous statement, frankly! To be a collector or a retro gamer doesn't mean you have to have everything, and it doesn't mean you need to collect the rarest of the rare or have everything in perfect condition. You can build a working collection of awesome retro games and the hardware necessary to play them for the cost of a PS4 pro.

This mentality of all or nothing in the collecting scene is very confusing to a guy like me who just loves playing and owning old games.

Richardhead

Originally posted by: OptOut

 

Originally posted by: spman



I don't see how it's even possible to enter into this hobby cold as a new collector in 2019, we're in the eBay era of collecting where the only real resource left is online where you collect through brute force and spending. Retro gaming is a rich mans game now, and it will likely be that way going forward.

This is a ridiculous statement, frankly! To be a collector or a retro gamer doesn't mean you have to have everything, and it doesn't mean you need to collect the rarest of the rare or have everything in perfect condition. You can build a working collection of awesome retro games and the hardware necessary to play them for the cost of a PS4 pro. This mentality of all or nothing in the collecting scene is very confusing to a guy like me who just loves playing and owning old games.

I agree with opt here. I collected for a really long time. When you could get steals at garage sales,  local game stores and friends that didn’t give a shit. Those were great times to be collecting for sure. 

I unfortunately had to sell 90% of my collection 4 years ago to pay off my ex-wife. I kept only games that were gifted to me by good friends. 

Fast forward to a few months ago and here I am, collecting again. Am I getting the stellar deals I did 10 to 25 years ago? Nope. I have however been getting pretty good deals from other collectors/sellers here on good ol’ NA. 

I have also made deals locally that have worked out fairly well and inexpensive. 

Im just really excited to collect again. I also know what I want and what not to do more than I did back in the day. 





 

Quaze

Started *ahem* "seriously" collecting in 2012, though always kept a small (~100-game), ever-rotating collection through every generation of console. It was only 7 years ago that I said F that, I'm gonna keep them from now on lol. Would I start over? Not with this same scale and scope of collecting, no. I'd probably go back to having a bunch of games for the Switch, and that'd be it.

romiked2689

Not new to collecting but would also keep collecting regardless if a fire or whatever happened. Would def be heartbroken and a little crispy from trying to run in and save stuff from a fire.



P.s I would not buy more arcades probably tho

AstralSoul13

I'm not new, I've been collecting since 2002ish, when I started buying SNES and N64 games because I never got to play that much when SNES was current. But I've only identified as a collector since 2011 when I actively sought out games and old systems. I think now I'm much more of a gamer than collector, since money is tighter and I can't buy as much. But getting to the "if you ever had a fire and lost all your stuff" thing... no way would I try and accumulate everything all over again. What I have is an accumulation of 20+ years, I did not buy 500 games overnight. If I lost *everything* I'd probably rebuy a Switch, SNES and N64 and that's probably it honestly. I'd buy my favorite games or games I never got to play, maybe 100 games total and not all at once. No way would I try and rebuy everything I once had. If I were a new collector and wanted to start now I would not buy nearly as much as what I have now. Only reason I have as much as I do is because of years and years of just holding onto stuff and just buying stuff I never got around to getting.

Beabull

Anybody got their stuff insured?

Bronty

Originally posted by: spman



I don't see how it's even possible to enter into this hobby cold as a new collector in 2019, we're in the eBay era of collecting where the only real resource left is online where you collect through brute force and spending. Retro gaming is a rich mans game now, and it will likely be that way going forward.

Its getting more expensive but its still cheap.  The 'omg' type stuff is 50k, 100k.   Those types of items are seven figures in more established hobbies.



 

LAMRN15

Been collecting since the mid-2000s, though I don't get much these days. I've got most of what I could reasonable want.



If I lost it all, I'd be heartbroken, reacquire most of the systems, along with some of the favorites, and just use flash carts for the rest. No way would I want to spend the money to replace everything, given how expensive it's gotten these days.

D2K

Not new by any stretch but I'm a gamer first, collector second. I wouldn't try to rebuy everything I have, just concentrate on PSP or PS1.

StuOhQ

Yeah, I have never had enough disposable income to be a collector, and only recently have started to think of games in that way. I was always a "if I don't have time to beat this right now, no buy" kinda guy.

Regulus99

If I lost all of my stuff I'd give up collecting. The majority of my collection I bought years ago. No way could I afford to start over. My passion is the SNES and games are just too expensive now a days.



I live 2 blocks north of Detroit the home break in capital of the US. Two of my neighbors got wiped out and burglarized. I almost caught someone in my house. I missed them within minutes and they didn't have time to take anything. I'm sure rumors in the hood are that I have gold bars stacked under my bed. I can not leave my house alone. I have make sure someone is here at all times.

WATA GRADED WEBSITE

Nah i wouldn't replace it. I bought 90% of it pre 2009 so I would never pay current prices. I'd RE purchase my everdrives and a few consoles but that's about it. Or I'd just mod a snes classic. Realistically I don't play a wide array of vintage games.

Baddieboy Holden

I'd say if anything the past year I've been slowly getting out of collecting. I've developed a mentality of finishing games before getting new games for a console. For example, I only have 10 Switch games and before I buy a new game the backlog needs to be less than 5 for the system. Really fun buying stuff that way, doing it for every system I own. It'd be a bit of a reach to say that's collecting now, but I'm still slowly curating systems through this method.

If something happened, I probably wouldn't actively look to replace it. I'd be bloody devastated, but I need the money on more important things. I'd get Nintendo consoles/handhelds and a PS2 again, but that'd be about it. Would only repurchase games I really like. Started collecting in 2013, and only get about a game a month now. 

VmprHntrD

I've been at it for a very long time, but I am new well returning new to one format and right now it's grating my nerves a bit. You have to basically clock watch the hell out of stuff like ebay, facebook and the rest to try and find the games which pop up lesser as it is, but then to get the deals you need to have no life and be there within minutes or it's gone. I mean sure I could pay the loser BIN prices and highball starters the ebay and amazon trolls do, but I feel like my time in not giving them their way is worth the wait. Right now it's a biding my time situation for a lot of goodies to show up where the average is in a favorable level to pull the trigger.