After looking at this I wanna start collecting! Brings back so many good memories. Too bad most of the old stuff has been thrown out. I think the N64 is the only one that survived. Have to check it out next time I visit my mom
Metal Jesus made me catch the bug, and it is seriously fun. It can get a bit out of hand at times, though. More than once my wife has had a seething look on her face as she brings me three shipped packages that just arrived at the door. Fortunately, most of the old stuff I pick up off eBay or Amazon are cheapie cartridges at anywhere from $2 to $6 a pop, plus shipping.
Also, you'd be surprised what's still out there. If you live in an area where folks do lots of yard sales, take advantage of it. Go on to craigslist and try doing searches that winnow down the field and give you the best chance of finding some good retrogaming stuff. My stand-by searches are always "yard sale games", "garage sale games", "yard sale nintendo", "garage sale nintendo", etc.. Of course, not every yard sale is listed on craigslist, so it can be profitable to just drive around and do quick hits on every yard sale you see. If they have something you're looking for, awesome! If not, don't be shy to ask the yard sale host if they might have any old games systems they'd be interested in selling. You might be surprised at how often people tilt their head back, think for a second, and then say, "Yeah, you know, there's an old NES in the closet we haven't touched in years. How much will you give me for it?"
Just remember: always know the baseline prices for general stuff, and NEVER overpay (this is easy to do when you get carried away during an eBay auction). A good place to baseline is eBay. Those prices are high, but fairly representative of collector value. Another good place to baseline (and quite often to buy) is the AtariAge.com Marketplace forum. Lots of hardcore collectors there who trade amongst themselves, but also welcome newbies and outsiders (although you can obviously do better deals if you have a rapport with the regulars).
Oh, and stay away from ShopGoodwill.com for videogames in general. That place has turned into reseller hell.
Again, your best buys are almost always going to be found at yard sales. Plus, there's just a visceral joy that comes from finding something that's valuable to you on a personal level hidden away in some box at an out of the way rummage sale down some forgotten gravel road. Thrill of the hunt, my friend! Thrill of the hunt. Prey most rare is prize most fair.
Metal Jesus made me catch the bug, and it is seriously fun. It can get a bit out of hand at times, though. More than once my wife has had a seething look on her face as she brings me three shipped packages that just arrived at the door. Fortunately, most of the old stuff I pick up off eBay or Amazon are cheapie cartridges at anywhere from $2 to $6 a pop, plus shipping.
Also, you'd be surprised what's still out there. If you live in an area where folks do lots of yard sales, take advantage of it. Go on to craigslist and try doing searches that winnow down the field and give you the best chance of finding some good retrogaming stuff. My stand-by searches are always "yard sale games", "garage sale games", "yard sale nintendo", "garage sale nintendo", etc.. Of course, not every yard sale is listed on craigslist, so it can be profitable to just drive around and do quick hits on every yard sale you see. If they have something you're looking for, awesome! If not, don't be shy to ask the yard sale host if they might have any old games systems they'd be interested in selling. You might be surprised at how often people tilt their head back, think for a second, and then say, "Yeah, you know, there's an old NES in the closet we haven't touched in years. How much will you give me for it?"
Just remember: always know the baseline prices for general stuff, and NEVER overpay (this is easy to do when you get carried away during an eBay auction). A good place to baseline is eBay. Those prices are high, but fairly representative of collector value. Another good place to baseline (and quite often to buy) is the AtariAge.com Marketplace forum. Lots of hardcore collectors there who trade amongst themselves, but also welcome newbies and outsiders (although you can obviously do better deals if you have a rapport with the regulars).
Oh, and stay away from ShopGoodwill.com for videogames in general. That place has turned into reseller hell.
Again, your best buys are almost always going to be found at yard sales. Plus, there's just a visceral joy that comes from finding something that's valuable to you on a personal level hidden away in some box at an out of the way rummage sale down some forgotten gravel road. Thrill of the hunt, my friend! Thrill of the hunt. Prey most rare is prize most fair.
Well, I live in Denmark, so not gonna order from US homepages, too expensive shipping
But I already started checking out when there's yardsales in my area. So will see if I can get lucky, hehe. If I do I will make sure to post it here.
Found these old 80s adventure games yesterday at a dusty used record shop. Perfect condition and only cost $1.99
Those boxes are pristine! And given that these games probably saw rather limited distribution, I wouldn't be surprised if these turned out to be very valuable some many years down the road.
Take care of those, MJ. You may need them to replace what used to be your 401k as a retirement plan once the economy re-implodes.
(Apologies in advance for the poor picture quality; took these quickie shots with my iPod Touch.)
Atari Lynx! Okay, actually it's just a case I picked up super cheap--no handheld, no games... YET. But now I'm motivated to work on fixing that.
HUZZAH! 3 Coleco Vision expansions down, 1 to go.
The styrofoam in this one is just a bit damaged...
But the module itself is in perfect condition. And yes, I realize that it's ludicrous to buy a VCS player module for a CV when I have three perfectly functional Atari 2600s (one original VCS and 2 2600jr's). But if you're thinking that, then you obviously just don't "get it".
And finally...
As seen on AVGN, the VictorMaxx StuntMaster VR headset. I remembered seeing these in Babbages back in the day and thinking that they looked sooooooo awesome. So when I had the chance to pick one up for $40, I just had to do it.
It was not elegantly packed.
I have to admit--it looks promising when you first get it out and start looking at it.
READY TO AWESOME!
Sadly, its performance is disappointing. Despite the promise of "virtual reality", all you really get is a small LCD screen magnified by a cheap plastic view screen. Plus, the unit sits really heavy on the front of your head and eventually ends up resting a hard, plastic crevice along the ridge of your nose. And all this for a very poor, washed out display. I will admit that the audio is quite good, far better than I expected. But overall, it's just a fun piece of retrogaming kitsch to own and not so much use.
Currently working on obtaining the following:
- Atari Lynx (Model 1 or 2)
- TG-16 console & more games
- Coleco Vision Super Action Controller (boxed, preferably)
- Any other mainline consoles I don't yet have: Odyssey, Odyssey 2, Intellivision II, etc..
I think the funnest part of collecting this old stuff is just being opportunistic and having such a broad range of items to seek out that it makes almost anything you find exciting in its own way. Run across an old Atari lot? AWESOME! Find an Apple IIe in someone's garage that they're about to throw out? SWEET! Go digging through your own attic and find an old Pong clone you'd forgotten about for 25 years? HELLA COOL!
Now if only I can find where I stashed all my old mini arcade cabinets from back in the day. I had a Pacman, Galaxian, Donkey Kong, and I'm pretty sure a Q-bert. Time for a deep-dig expedition in the barn.
Picked up another box of old NES stuff off Craigslist for nice and cheap yesterday (guy cleaning out his garage). Just a run of the mill shipping crate that held 2 toaster-style NES's, with zappers, controllers, adapters, etc., and a bunch of games. But one thing I thought was pretty cool that I hadn't seen before was this fancy Nintendo-branded NES game carrying case:
Spiffy!
Best part is, I'll be able to clean up and sell the two toasters along with some of my dupe games and keep all the ones I didn't already have (4 or 5), which should net me far more than I spent on the box. Granted, there's a solid couple hours of cleaning and potentially fixing I'm going to have to do to get the consoles ready to sell, but I kind of enjoy doing that anyway at this point. Gives me something to do to keep me awake during all the long, dry conference calls I have to dial in to each day.
Wait... am I turning into a reseller? HOLY CRAP! I HAVE BECOME WHAT I DESPISE!!!!! ARGH!!!!!
Btw, anyone know of a way to get the yellow bits clean, if possible?
In most cases the yellowing is not related to smoke/dirt. It was a chemical additive of the plastic that would change color when heated up/exposed to light. Some original NES and SNESs had the additive but was later changed in the newer models.
If it is indeed the chemical process rather than dirt you can't restore it. Not that I recommend it, but you can scrape the plastic and see the discoloration goes all the way through the material as opposed to surface discoloration from smoke.
