Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Various pet peeves about Retro gaming/collecting...

As a game collector, there are certain things that drive me nuts. Here are a few of them...

1.) Claiming a game is rare when it's not, just because you know it's popular and want to drive up the price...

I'm not paying $50 or more for a loose copy of a Zelda game on the NES. No, I don't give a shit if it's the gold cartridge. Nintendo sold AT LEAST 4 MILLION of those in the 1980's. They are very popular but, they sure as shit are NOT rare. The 'Classic Series' re-issues from 1993 in the grey cartridge are probably worth more just because Nintendo didn't make as many of them.

PRO-TIP: I'm not paying much for those, either. I have them already and don't need any back-ups or duplicates right now, thank you very much.

2.) Consoles without cables/controllers/essential accessories...

Unless it's used for spare parts or given to me for free, I want the damned AV and power cables, guy! No, it doesn't matter if I already have 3 other consoles just like it or not! I may need all of them to be up and running at the same time. What if I want to set up a tournament with a game on that system? (Ex. Mario Kart tournaments on N64.)

3.) Stickers on the case, the back of the cartridge and/or the cartridge label...

Fucking price tags all over the damned box and/or cartridge! Fuck YOU, Goodwill! I don't want your damned price tags on the back of my Game Boy games and PS2 cases! I really hate that shit!

4.) Carts with missing or damaged labels

This is a big problem for old Atari 2600 cartridges. The same can be said about it's competition from the Intellivision and Colecovision. Ditto for the Atari 7800.

Surprisingly enough, it doesn't seem to be a problem with cartridges for the Atari 5200. That is probably the ONLY thing that no one has a problem with on the Atari 5200 too. [/Snap]

I rarely have that problem with any of Nintendo and SEGA's cartridge-based consoles.

Still, don't try to charge me much for a game with a missing or damaged label. Just because the goods are secondhand doesn't mean that I will accept them looking like complete shit.

5.) Games at thrift stores that are missing the manual, covers and/or original cases.

I can understand old Nintendo cartridges from NES/SNES/N64, the GameBoy line and all the Atari consoles missing their box and instruction manuals. Most kids threw them away and the boxes were just cheap cardboard that probably wouldn't last over time.

However, some games had hard plastic shells that were made specifically to protect them. So, why do so many SMS/Genesis cartridges and PS1/PS2/Dreamcast/XBOX/GCN games NOT have their jewel/DVD-style cases anymore? WTF?

I have 3 GCN games that are using old PS2 or DVD cases right now instead of their original cases. I do have covers for them, thanks to the Cover Project. However, I want GCN cases for them instead. GameCube games do NOT belong in PS2 cases. Especially good titles like Geist, Gun and Mega Man X Collection.

6.) Game discs in a CD spindle, forcing me to go through the whole spindle to try and find what I want... If anything...

That is a real time waster. It's also probably not very good for the games, either.

7.) Sports games clogging up the bin at second-hand stores flea markets and garage sales.

No one wants an old Madden game for the NES. No one even wants last year's Madden game for one of the current consoles. Quit taking them in, people. They aren't really worth a shit when they are new, let alone from 20 years ago.

There are very few exceptions to this rule. (NBA Jam, Mario sports titles, Wii Sports titles)

- Lord Publius

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