GAME HUNTING TIPS?!?!

[Bloodreign]

I got a majority of my stuff over the last decade plus (while a lot of stuff that is expensive now, wasn't expensive), if I had to start over, I wouldn't. The joy of collecting is still within me, but prices have brought me back down to earth on what I could realistically buy. I've almost 1,250 games, there's still stuff to get that isn't too expensive, but I've written off stuff for the 16 bit consoles, the Saturn, and the PS1 (the Gameboy is still a cheap handheld to buy games for, for now at least) that is incredibly pricey (like that one PS1 Goemon game where the entire joke of the game is recycling), or some of Capcom's beat em ups for the SNES (Knights of the Round, and the mediocre Captain Commando port), or stuff for the Mega Drive that is quirky (Dahna, Devil Hunter Yohko, Sailor Moon, Twinkle Tale, and the Shin Chan game).

[Team Andromeda]

I'm really kicking myself for not picking up a Quantum3D Obsidian2 several years ago when there was some seller from Canada selling them (with medusa cables) for $100 a pop. I kept putting it off, and then they were gone. Now apparently I can expect to pay over $500. A boxed one apparently sold last month for $700.

Guess I'll have to stick with the pair of Voodoo 2's I already have. At least I got those when they were cheap.

I gave away my other 3DFX card and I see it can go for over £200 now. My biggest mistake and regret. I once saw a local shop selling complete Wing Commander collection (including the film can version of Part III) for £20 and I never picked it up .

[gamevet]

Last December, I saw a big box Ultima IV for the Amiga. Half-Price-Books was selling it for $34. I was going on vacation the next day and didn’t want to run short on gas money, so I didn’t buy. It turned out that I was going to have plenty of $$ left over for the trip home, and when I dropped by the HPB the next week, it was gone.

This game demands a high asking price.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fro...tmima+IV+Amiga

[Mad Moham]

Given the current state of the market, if I did have any 'GAME HUNTING TIPS?!?!' I definitely wouldn't help the current generation of resellers and ebay chancers by sharing my methods on an open forum.

[needler420]

Given the current state of the market, if I did have any 'GAME HUNTING TIPS?!?!' I definitely wouldn't help the current generation of resellers and ebay chancers by sharing my methods on an open forum.

tou·ché

[MrMatthews]

Given the current state of the market, if I did have any 'GAME HUNTING TIPS?!?!' I definitely wouldn't help the current generation of resellers and ebay chancers by sharing my methods on an open forum.

Good lord you ARE bitter, aren’t you? Does this entire topic just chafe your butthole or what?

[Raijin Z]

When you go on a dozen hundred-mile trips in a row and still find nothing even tangentially-related to games and tech, you may become embittered as well.

[profholt82]

Good lord you ARE bitter, aren’t you? Does this entire topic just chafe your butthole or what?

There's an excellent ointment for that called Pinxav. Whenever any of my babies have gotten bad diaper rash over the years, that stuff has cleared it right up.

[MrMatthews]

When you go on a dozen hundred-mile trips in a row and still find nothing even tangentially-related to games and tech, you may become embittered as well.

...or you might not. I don’t really have any sympathy for the half-empty crew in here. Peace out, Moham.

[Da_Shocker]

It really does depend on your location though. I would for the most part run into sports games a lot for the Genesis and SNES. Any other game that I would find I already own it and it wasn't an in demand title. The absolute best time to snag up all these games was probably back in the late 90s. I did snag a Model 1 Saturn and a Virtual Boy at an estate sale back in 2013. The best tip I can give you is if you can get a good paying job and have a ton of disposable cash then you can really look past prices. I was at the point where I could realistically buy Taromaru and Daytona Net-Link. But not anymore

[MrMatthews]

All anyone has to do is glance over the Haul thread and it’s pretty clear that game hunting is far from dead. You either want to still do it, or you don’t.

I was just doing a bit of casual research to see what the most common answers were. I naively figured it would be a fun & productive conversation, but clearly I underestimated the pessimism and negativity around here.

[Leynos]

Most of what is in the haul thread is buying online.

[gamevet]

Most of what I post in the haul thread was found at brick and mortar. Needler posted a huge haul that he got while out and about.

[DrBackhands]

I'd like to jump in with some weak notes of positivity, with the caveat that I only really collect hardware. I think so long as you have some repair know-how, buying broken is, as Anakin Skywalker once said, "a neat trick." I bought my Panasonic Q, Model 1 Sega CD, and Sega Saturn all broken and on the cheap, and all in 2017 (though it seems prices have risen still since then). Turns out they all worked just fine when they arrived, which is usually my luck... but even if they were broken, console repair is a neat hobby in itself! Some probably find it pretty tedious, but then again, so is game hunting in 2019.

Outside of that, about a year ago (and the hobby's probably changed since then), I used to buy full-on lots from Japan and have them shipped. This requires some logistical smarts because you'll have to weigh shipping against the cost of the items and that usually makes it so you're not saving any money, but I've picked up a few poorly photographed lots off of Japanese Yahoo auctions that had some sweet stuff hidden among the less-exciting items and ultimately saved money doing so. That said, unless you read Japanese this nullifies the option of game purchases, but it can be a good deal if you're just after hardware.

My other "technique" is probably not possible for most Western collectors, but I also check a lot of Chinese sites as well. The sitch in China is that consoles were never legally sold there, so everything is imported, and that makes the game collecting market quite niche. In terms of price, it translates to things being way overpriced or nicely underpriced, with only the most common items (e.g. Sega Saturn) having any standard cost. I picked up a Sega CD Karaoke unit (without the mic ) for $100. Granted, someone on this forum got one for $10 in 2015, but by 2017 those things already started selling for $500-$600, so it wasn't such a bad deal. I believe I paid $50 for my Mega Modem and $25 for an authentic Smash Bros. 64 cart as well. Contrary to what people say, I find it's not hard to spot a fake online; when Chinese sell to other Chinese collectors, they usually mark if something is authentic or not.

Outside of that, you could get a job that puts you in more contact with games (although this will effect your income, which might leave you at an economic deceit as a collector...). I know this sounds coy, but I worked retail for a major game publisher two years ago and that boosted my collection big time, though mostly for more modern stuff. Not only did I make friends with other video game enthusiasts who had connections who had connections etc., but the publisher in question would have a big sale for employees only once/twice a year to clean out inventory. I joined too late to make any mind-blowingly retro purchases, but even in 2017, the prices games and hardware were going for made it looked like a garage sale in the '90s. If that doesn't work, make friends with someone who does work for a gaming company/retailer. Heck, even having a friend who works at GameStop doesn't hurt.

With all of the above in mind... the sad truth is the only "trick" that's foolproof in 2019 is patience and prioritizing, know what you want most and wait...; the market isn't good, and unlike some people, I don't think it ever will be again. The average collector in 2019 just isn't going to look like a collector in 2014 (when I started noticing a boom) and certainly not one from 2000... Even the aforementioned garage sale was apparently weak this year, and that's in-house with no competition! I also haven't picked up anything from China in a while... and even broken consoles are starting to go up in price. But anyway, the above is how I usually get down. It's not a dead hobby for sure, prices wouldn't be so high if it was, but without breaking into houses, you'll never collect like it's 1999...

[MrMatthews]

Most of what is in the haul thread is buying online.

Hardly most of it, probably more like 50/50. Also, we aren’t really talking about NEW game purchases, where the only difference between buying on Amazon or in Wal-Mart is convenience.

In my household, we do most of our grocery shopping online, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t plenty of food at the local farmers markets.