Retro Game Prices

One of the great things about living in Japan is just how easy it is to find retro gaming stores.  Within about 15 minutes from my house there are 5 shops that stock retro games and 4 of those 5 stores are specialist shops that have insane collections available for sale that one could browse for days.

However, I like most people do not have access to unlimited money so after a while you become very sensitive to pricing.  The good thing about having so many stores close by is that I'm able to shop around and get insane deals on certain titles.  For example, Megman 2 usually sells in one of the specialist stores for about 2000 yen but I managed to luck out and pick it up for 250 at my local Book Off.  At lot of the time it feels like patience is key when it comes to retro game collecting.  Sure, you COULD splash out for a certain title but it never seems not worth it to wait a little longer and have it pop up somewhere weird with a slashed price.

So while I'm browsing the internet a few days ago I came across a page on E-Bay for a game system collection that was being sold for £69,000.  Here's the link if you care http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/272037894133

Now granted almost everything in that particular link was boxed and there was a few arcade cabinets in there but £69k? Really?  To be fair to this particular guy, everything is boxed and looks like it's in great condition but even then the price seems WAYYYY too high.   Typically, a boxed retro system in Japan will set you back around 20,000 yen (£106 at time of writing) and he's selling 163 systems.  That's £17,278 and give or take a bit because there might be some collectors shit but it still wouldn't go much north of 50k.  Peripherals generally don't cost all that much either so unless those arcade cabinets are INSANELY valuable I have no idea where £69,000 came from for all that, it seems like a rip off.

But I'm being overly critical of that one guy, that collection is huge, boxed and generally pretty cool and there is some shit in the photos on that link I'm not quite sure that value of so maybe he does have a case.  But what REALLY pisses me off with retro game prices is when some fuck jacks up the price of a Super Nintendo console or some shit, labels it with "RARE" on E-Bay and is just flat out trying to rip some poor sod off.  Here's a great example

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Super-Nintendo-SNES-Games-Bundle-X11-/301797947865?hash=item46448f39d9:g:cbkAAOSwEgVWRZT9

This guy wants £55 for these 11 games but just look at these titles.  6 out of the 11 games are sports games and where I'm from those things sell for about 60p.  I even remember when I used to live in the UK and I'd occasionally find some SNES or Mega Drive games and sports games for those systems were worth fuck all even in a country where finding old shit is hard as fuck.  One thing I love about that link in particular is the Kid Clown game.  I managed to find that shit in one of the specialist shops BOXED, pristine condition for like 500 yen.  That whole stack is worth about £20 if you're being generous and it's this kind of insane pricing that upsets me.

Still though, I don't want to believe the person is an asshole trying to scam people who aren't as familiar with retro game collecting as I am. I want to believe that he or she is just as ignorant as the person who may pay that much for that stack and their just under the misguided impression that those games are worth more than they actually are.  However there are A LOT of people out there who are just out to rip you off and this is doubly so if you're buying online.

It's a shame that one has to tread so carefully but if you are looking to start building a retro gaming collection then what I said before I feel is pretty important.  It's a game of patience, no need to drop a large sum of money on that rare thing that popped up somewhere straight away because it probably will pop up again cheaper somewhere else.

Be careful and happy collecting.