Which systems/games/peripherals are difficult to collect for in your neck of the woods, either because the thrift employees are all keeping the good stuff for themselves or local yard sales are lame? You may vote for more than one category.
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Which systems/games/peripherals are difficult to collect for in your neck of the woods, either because the thrift employees are all keeping the good stuff for themselves or local yard sales are lame? You may vote for more than one category.
I haven't found any rare games around here in a long time, but when I did, it was usually NES games. I found "Chiller" at a second hand store. I found "Fire N Ice" at a video store, but sadly I no longer have the game, I think someone stole it, but at least I still have the box and manual.
I also found "Mighty Final Fight" at a video store years ago, but I traded it to a friend for another game.
In the Cincinnati area I can find plenty for every system listed except for the PCE and the 32x. In the past I have found a number of decent 32x games, but over the past year or so, all I ever see in the wild are the 3 or 4 most common games (Doom, Virtua Fighter, Virtua Racing, etc). As far as the PCE goes though, I think I've only seen maybe 15-20 games total over the past 5 years of game hunting in the wild. Fortunately I don't collect for that system.
I can find just about everything except TG-16 stuff. I have NEVER come across it in the wild, save for my local classic video game store, and what they have is sparse.
Where I live, Sega Saturn and TurboGrafx games seem pretty much impossible to find anywhere near me. Have to go into Vancouver, or Seattle for those :D
If I'm going for rare, I never look in the wild. I go straight to sites like Assembler. It's very easy to find rare stuff on communities like that, you just have to ask around.
In my case, that poll needs an "all of the above" option. :(
definitely TurboGrafx-16 / PC Engine games since i've never seen one in any of the local shops, after that 3DO & Jaguar & Master System are tied as i've seen games for them a few times here & there a few times still rarely though.
Atari 7800. It's like trying to find a specific needle in a stack of needles.
In my area I'd say the PC-Engine/TurboGrafx-16. I've never seen one in the wild, nor have I seen a single game or accessory for it. The 32X, is pretty scarce too. Though some stuff does pop up from time to time. I'd include the Saturn and Sega CD as well, unless you are looking for the most common games and sports titles that is.
I've got to go with SMS and TG-16 for this, simply because those are the ones I haven't run across anything for.
In all my yard sale and flea market travels, I don't recall ever seeing a single TG-16 item. All of the others, I've seen at least once. The only place I've ever seen TG-16 stuff is in a dedicated gaming store like Play-N-Trade -- no one I knew had one BITD, though I certainly saw ads and reviews.
Any T-16 and Neo Geo stuff
God what I give just to see a Neo Geo AES at a thrift Store, just once.
Same with me, though I can find NES, SNES and Genesis stuff in my area. Everything else is never available.Quote:
Originally Posted by Melf
The oldest machine I can find games for is the PS1, everything else is mostly PS2, XB1, PC, XB360, PSP, DS, Wii or PS3. If I ever do get "lucky" and find something for say, the Mega Drive, it's always sports titles. EDIT: Yeah, the rarist is the TG-16.
Seen as I live in the UK its definately TG16!!!
This poll has no contest. The TG-16 is ultra rare in every neck of the United States. Compared to the rest in the list, it is virtually non-existent.
I can easily find some games for all these systems where I live. But, finding good games can be hard. If I find a TG16 game, it's probably a more common title I already own like China Warrior; anything rarer like Air Zonk or Soldier Blade will sit in the game store with a friggin' $80 price tag. Saturn finds are usually sports games or text-heavy Japanese imports that few people want. Sega CD finds are usually FMV games.
It's easy to find Turbo stuff if you look for it. Almost all my 50+ Turbo games were local finds on craigslist. You just have to be quick to pick them up because the resellers are also combing the listings so they can flip them on ebay and rip us all off.
I have a shop near me that offers Pc-Engine AND Turbo Grafx games. Even the system.
Cool! What are the prices there like?Quote:
Originally Posted by Curryman123
I don't know. Pretty much what you would pay on Ebay. I saw Pc-Engine version of "parasol stars" for $80.Quote:
Originally Posted by eddiespruce
But I lucked out few years ago, when I bought a Turbo Grafx with the Turbo Booster for 40 bucks at my local flea market.
Sold it on ebay for $130 later.
I thought Puerto Rico translated as "Port of Riches". Evidently not rich in gaming stuff though. Man, that must stink.Quote:
Originally Posted by Melf
What city are you in, Curryman? I'm wondering if you're talking about Gamedeals in New Westminster BC.
I believe that is the place. I go there sometimes in order to find cheap deals on Genesis/Nes/Snes games.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeoZeedeater
Do you any other retro game shops in Vancouver or Surrey?
I've had no problems finding NES and SNES stuff, but other than one batch of SMS games I haven't found any more. Gameboy titles have been a major pain to find as well as Genesis beyond sports titles (I have picked up some over the years, but the same Genesis games keep popping up over and over now other than something out of the blue at times).
I've seen a few TG-16 titles, but that has dried up as well. I knew one person BITD who owned one with Bonk's Adventure.
I can't think of any but I rarely go into Surrey. The Gastown Gamedeals closed down. There's Press Start in New West which has some obscure stuff.Quote:
Originally Posted by Curryman123
Going to the Goodwill or pawn shops is worthless in my area. The rarest thing I came up there were like 4 or 5 CIB master systems games. I was thinking about buying them but alas they didn't even have a MS there. Sometimes I can find good priced uncommon games at a local comic book shop called Great Escape. There is an actual game shop that has just about everything, including a Jag, TG16 and even a Neo-Geo the guy also has a copy of PDS. But yeah his shit is high as fuck 9.99 seemed to be the minimum price for every Genesis game including Sonic 2.
With TG-16 taking top honors in this poll so far, the bigger question is why. Is it that TG-16 owners hang onto their stuff and it never gets to the charity thrifts and pawn shops, or more a case of just no TG-16 games and/or systems in certain geographic regions?
Even when all these systems were new, I found that the TG-16 was sold in less stores than the others. And yeah, region makes sense. I imagine Turbo stuff is even harder to find in Europe.
Another thing that may or may not be worth noting is that for non-gaming specific stores, I have seen TG16 games tucked away in the music CD sections making them harder to spot than games for other old-school systems. And if you're ever looking for an Intellivision, it doesn't hurt check the telephone section of a thrift store. ;)
Most common things round 'ere are GB games / consoles, closely followed by MD / SMS (usually sports). Also the occasional DC / Saturn game (again, usually crappy sports games).
SNES games are rare, NES far rarer. I have seen PCE games once, in a dedicated retro games shop (same one I got loose Chaotix for £15).
Mostly there isn't much of anything to be had, though. Of course I expect it's just that everyone else gets the stuff before I do :P
When Gamedeals happens to have a few TG-16 games, it's usually the cheapest commons that people on pcefx just giveaway. They usually ask $15 - $30 for them loose/incomplete.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeoZeedeater
The worst resellers of the Lower Mainland who spam craigslist and used to sell out of the Cloverdale fleamarket, opened a store in Surrey where they are giving XYZ games a run for the 'most ridiculously overpriced games' title. The last time I bothered to check it out, the had the dirtiest, most worn FFV cart I have ever seen. They wanted $125 for it. They had a good selection of TG-16 games, for at least double the average selling prices on eBay.
If this question was asked 2 years ago, I would have said the SEGA Dreamcast. But lately, I've been finding them without any problem. Today, I would say that Turbo Grafx-16 games are hard to spot. Not impossible mind you. If memory serves me right, alot of the game stores in the early 90s dedicated entire shelf to the Turbo Grafx-16 game library. So I would not say that the either the system or games are rare. The games are out there. They are just hard to spot. Your dealing with a game that was packed in a card board box, in a plastic case that was not as sturdy as a SEGA Genesis one, and a game that was a little bigger than a credit card. Over time, I can see kids tossing the cardboard box in favor if easily displaying the CD like cases on their shelves.
Ive found some raritys myself, NES and PS1 games are real easy to get where I live, Genesis games on the other hand are hard to get yet easier than other console games...
Also, there are 2 NES options on the poll.
My bad. Typo, as one was supposed to say, "SNES". I tried to edit the poll, but cannot see how to do it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Blitzkrieg
sega stuff in general over here, the systems and accessories are easy to find but the games are not. sega games used to be very easy to find over here but one of the retro shops I used to go to closed years ago.
and the other shop well... the owner has become very greedy and keeps all the sega games for himself and thinks ebay is the ultimate price guide so most of the games at that store are now vastly over priced. the same store used to have great deals on sega games but after the owner started browsing ebay and thinking every game in his store is rare the good deals ended.
Maybe one of the mods would be so kind as to edit the second "NES" entry, just above "Game Gear" in the poll, changing it to "SNES"? That was my original intent.
The most common stuff I find is anything Nintendo. NES, SNES, N64 etc. Sadly, most people think every game is worth at least $10 so I pass unless I find them in a thrift.
SMS, Genesis and Saturn are uncommon near me, Dreamcast is relatively plentiful, but 32X and SegaCD are super rare. I've only found them locally at a couple retro game stores and a handful of times on Craigslist. When I do find something I jump on it as fast as I can and sometimes it has paid off. Genesis+32X and a bunch of games plus wireless controllers for $50, sure :D
By and far Turbo is rare near me. I've only had two instances ever appear on Craigslist, and never in the while. One was for a TG16 and Bonk which I snapped up, for the other the guy had a huge collection and wanted a huge price (~$750) for it. I've never, EVER, seen PCE locally though. Pretty obscure even for retro gaming.
When I saw this thread though, I thought it was going to be about the rarest item you have found in the wild though, not the console/games that's hardest for you to locate :p
Funnily enough that was my copy of Parasol Stars. I sold them all of those PC-Engine games, which I picked up at Value Village in Richmond for $70. I did a trade deal and took all of their good Genesis games and a Sega CD 2 a year or two ago. Those games have been sitting in the display case there ever since.Quote:
Originally Posted by Curryman123
This thread is making the world seem small to me. I'm not used to encountering so many gamers from my area at the same place online. :)