I love retro games, I always have. Despite my childhood being the 2010’s, I grew up with a gameboy color, and I would emulate GBA, GB, and even N64 games on my crappy android I had at the time.
Because of the power of emulation I was able to grow up with classics like Silent Hill, Megaman Zero, Pokemon Crystal, Metal Gear, so on and so forth. But when I turned 16, and I was able to get my first job, I became especially interested in collecting games, games that I actually like to play. But now that i’m older and I actually have financial responsibilities, and don’t even get me started on how the retro gaming market just continues to inflate, its getting to a point where its just not feasible for me to continue collecting.
Silent Hill 3 is literally my favorite horror game ever, and I will never be able to afford a copy, or even if I did have the money to spare I could never justify the absurd price. I will never own a legitimate copy of Megaman Legends, Pokemon Platinum, Rule of Rose, or so many of these games that I really do care about and want to be able to experience on authentic hardware.
But whats even more frustrating about it all to me are the types of collectors that want something specifically because it is rare. The type of people to buy a game and shove it in a plastic box on a shelf where it will collect dust and never be played or appreciated beyond it’s box art. It is so frustrating to me because collectors of games, as opposed to people who actually want to play and appreciate these games and make memories off them and share those experiences with their friends, are driving up the market values of games to unaffordability.
Anyways I think I am going to give up collecting games. I still have a large collection of PS2, Gameboy, Gameboy Advance, MSDOS, and PS1 games, but I am done trying to get more. I might occasionally shell out a little bit on the occasional cheaper game that catches my eye, but trying to get a lot of my favorite titles is a sisiphusian endeavor.
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Welcome to being responsible and not just feeding hype wagons.
I bought an N64 with 4 controllers and 5 games for $5.00 about 10 years ago…the same setup is like $200 minimum now.
Hype on ‘retro gaming’ literally ruined it. I only emulate now. Currently building an arcade cabinet because it’s actually cheaper then caring about the look and for something to sit on a shelf and slowly collect dust.
I bought an N64 with 4 controllers and 5 games for $5.00 about 10 years ago…the same setup is like $200 minimum now.
Sounds like you got an absolutely incredible deal; I don’t think $5 was a normal price point for that kind of hardware even 10 years ago. I sold my N64 with 2 controllers and maybe 4 game cartridges for ~$100 around 17 years ago and the guy I sold it to didn’t even haggle.
I bought an N64 and some games for $25 like 15 years ago, and that was an insane deal back then too
I did actually. It was a thrift store ran by old ladies and it was half off day, I ACTUALLY paid 2.50 but ya know.
Yeah I bought my N64 when GameStop was liquidating their stock to make room for the next gen stuff. It was like $50 for a refurb console, two controllers, and a few games. Plus games and peripherals were only like $3 each because they were trying to clear their inventory.
I walked in with like $150, and walked out with a fully fleshed out console (four controllers, memory expansion pack, memory cards, etc) and a full library of games.
I’ll play devil’s advocate here and say that collectors have just as much of a right to these games as anyone else does.
You say they only want them to look pretty, for the box art etc. but this ignores the same sentimental value that you yourself are looking for when you want to play the original games on the original hardware. You can emulate everything right down to the bugs and glitches of the original systems, but it doesn’t have the same feel to it as playing on the actual systems themselves, so you want some original hardware to achieve that. Nothing wrong here.
Similarly, someone that wants to appreciate the look and feel of the original games can easily print out a photo or poster of the covers, make replicas of the consoles etc that look exactly the same as the originals - but they aren’t the originals, it doesn’t feel the same looking at a picture of cover as it does looking at the real thing, so they want some original hardware to achieve it. Don’t see anything wrong here either.
Not trying to say I can’t appreciate your frustration. I’m down to a single Guitar Hero guitar for my 360, and if it breaks or starts to die, it’s gonna be at least $100 to get a new one, and for something I pick up once or twice a month when the urge kicks in, it’d be hard to justify it. But I can’t be mad at the fact that there’s probably someone who has 3 of them permanently afixed to their wall as an art piece, because they’re getting as much “use” out of it as I am, maybe more since they can look at and appreciate it every day vs my routine of using it for 3 days then burying it in the entertainment center.
It should also be noted that playing on authentic hardware is an inherently destructive action. Parts wear out–especially on hardware with disc drives or fans–discs get scratched, cartridge contacts corrode, etc. On top of all this, goods get destroyed or lost in transit all the time even in the collector market. All of this is driving prices up.
If one wants to have an authentic experience, they still can, but they had better be prepared to pay a premium for it. People are already compromising on displays since CRTs are rare and/or cumbersome, and there are other compromise options like MiSTers and repro carts that aren’t just emulating on your home PC.
I agree to an extent but people who own like 6 3ds consoles annoy the hell outta me because I had to cough up like $250 for one
And the fucking home button and microphone stopped working. Fml
One who wants original hardware could also get a flash cart.
Get two of you want to simulate switching cartridges! Lol
I like to look at my games on the shelf too. When I pick up my copy of ruby, I renember the first time I beat the Pokémon league back in elementary school. When I pick up my copy of Megaman Zero, I renember how many tries it took me just to beat the first boss and how proud I was when I finally did. The difference to me however, is that I beleive that video games deserve to be played, that they are made to be played. For as long as our consoles still run, for as long as disks can escape the slow inevitability of disk rot, they should be enjoyed and appreciated. The original experience won’t exist forever. So we should just enjoy it for as long as it is there. My PS2 just broke recently, and I’m buying the part to make that repair to it because I could just not fix it and leave it as a paperweight on my shelf, but I actually care about playing these games.
When you shove sealed games inside a plastic display case never to be opened again, you aren’t getting the same value as someone that will play that game, because playing a game doesn’t preclude you from admiring it on your shelf.
The gaming collection scene isn’t quite what it used to be. Now it’s people trying to flex how big their wallets are, show how many titles they can hoard like a dragon. Scarcity and the decay of old tech will inevitably lead to prices rising, but now it’s all hype and very bad speculative investments. It’s not about the actual games and being able to re-experience that anymore and I think that’s sad.
Funny… I’m retro gaming for the cool cost of free by emulating them.
Doesn’t sound like it’s the retro gaming that’s an issue, but the physically collecting old games that are rarer and of course expensive as all get out.
I’d love to own a physical copy of Chrono Trigger but fuck if that’ll ever happen. That game is super rare, and easily can sell for THOUSANDS of dollars.
Near mint original copies sell for ~$2000. If you just want to legally play the game without emulating, go pick up the DS version for like $80. It’s pretty widely regarded as the best/most definitive version anyways.
I only emulate. Its way more convenient. Load my shit up into my network, and I always have it on a main drive or a backup. It just makes no financial sense to own the physical ones when I can download it for free and just use my existing equipment. Yeah, it got ruined hard and nobody could preserve it in a way for everyone to enjoy because someone’s taint will hurt if someone else posts 30 year old abandonware.
The physical hardware, including cartridges and disks, degrade over time. That’s why collectors won’t use them and why people who want to play retro games should always emulate. There’s no reason not to other than potential legalities within your country.
As a Silent Hill fan myself, just wait until you find out how much people are demanding for games like Kuon and Panzer Dragoon Saga (USA).
100% just emulate them. Used sales do not give the original developers or publishers money anyway, so they couldn’t argue about “lost sales” (stupid term BTW) anyways.
Plus, disks succumb to disk rot eventually, people are starting to see it happening with laser disks. Cartridges go bad, etc. It can be nice to have a physical copy, but only get them for ones that are affordable and need the physical as part of the experience. Steel Battalion, for example, requires the 40 button, 3 joystick, 3 footpedal controller as part of the experience.
Perfectly fine reason to pirate, just enjoy your childhood games! If you want authenticity then get OG hardware with mods/flashcarts or an FPGA based platform. Game copies are still 1:1 and you can print manuals if needed.
It’s the unfortunate reality of collectible things. Cars are like that too but at least you can emulate games for free but you can’t build a kit car replica for free
New 3DS XL/Wii U + custom firmware hacks, which are extremely easy these days if you follow the main guides, are the only way to play a collection for Nintendo.
Myrient for all other games for custom emulation / compilation.
Divorce yourself from the physical act of collecting. It is unrelated to the real joy IMO, each in is the preservation and play.
lol my 3DS has been home brewed since middle school
I guess I don’t get the point of this post then. Rare games have always been expensive. Unwanted games are still cheap. Piracy and emulation are better than ever.
Yes, but the 3ds has fallen victim to the same hype train as retro games, arguably moreso because of the homebrew capabilities
Silent Hill 3 is literally my favorite horror game ever, and I will never be able to afford a copy, or even if I did have the money to spare I could never justify the absurd price. I will never own a legitimate copy of Megaman Legends, Pokemon Platinum, Rule of Rose, or so many of these games that I really do care about and want to be able to experience on authentic hardware.
Believe it or not I see this as a good thing. It means that gaming has arrived to a point of a undeniably maturity as art.
I certainly can’t afford a Picasso or Degas to hang on my wall. They are far too rare and too valuable for me to afford. Their value is established because of their rarity and quality for what they are.
The rest of us can buy cheaper lithographs to hang on our walls, just as we can still play the games…in copies in flash cartridges or in emulation.
Video games have taken the final step to arrive as art.
I think that scarcity of art is a rather bourgeois thing, that the more available art is to everyone the better. Video games were always art the moment someone figured out how to make two pixels move across a screen. We don’t need to prove that to anyone.
I think that scarcity of art is a rather bourgeois thing,
Scarcity isn’t a bourgeois construct. There are a finite amount of originals in both famous Renaissance paintings and original releases of video games. Its a macroeconomic function. When there are fewer of an item that is in higher demand, the price rises.
that the more available art is to everyone the better.
I own zero Monet originals, but I have lithographs of them I quite enjoy. The fact that the original painting hangs at the Art Institute in Chicago doesn’t prevent me from enjoying the copy of it on my wall. Video games are even better as copies are perfect copies, always, and every time. The only thing you don’t get to have (without parting with the money) is the original ROM IC etched in 1996 or the original disc pressed in 1997.
Video games were always art the moment someone figured out how to make two pixels move across a screen.
Your view was not universally held with others in the early days of video games.
We don’t need to prove that to anyone.
Its not an effort one undertakes, its a measurable metric of acceptance in society. You can choose to ignore its significance, but not its consequence. Originals will be more expensive, especially the groundbreaking titles from decade ago.
I don’t think you understand the principle of what I’m saying at all.
What I’m taking from your posts is that you don’t like that people are liking and buying what you like, which is driving up the price. Additionally, a part of the people that are buying what you like, you don’t like the reasons they’re buying them.
I can’t figure out what you want done though.
What is different from in my post from what you’re trying to communicate?
I do not believe that failure rests with them. Their comment was a coherent and thoughtful reply.
games that I really do care about and want to be able to experience on authentic hardware.
Crack the console then, ps2s have software cracks by now, and sideloading cartridges exist for a fair few portable consoles.
Basically the only one where you can’t really do it is the cartridge era stuff but those can be approximated with a decent emulator, a controller adapter and a CRT screen, if you’re willing to tolerate a bit of latency with output converters.
Games are fundamentally software, the hardware gives the experience but the cartridges/disks, with some exceptional cases aside, are literally just a delivery system and a means to maintain ownership.
It’s nice to have them for that feeling of tangible presence but realistically that’s never going to be more affordable the further we move from when they were made, but that doesn’t mean you can’t at least approximate playing on the hardware or straight up just do it.
Flash carts are available for every major cartridge based console and handheld at this point, and for a good amount of the non-major ones as well.
Crack the console then, ps2s have software cracks by now, and sideloading cartridges exist for a fair few portable consoles.
That’s what I do, I don’t find value in the physical discs, but the consoles themselves are where it’s at IMO
The following console gens and below are wide open:
Sony: PS4 and PS Vita (for portables) Microsoft: Xbox 360 Nintendo: Switch and 3DS (for portables)
It’s a shame that people like you don’t have a way to enjoy the classics as we did back in those days. I wish there was an answer for you, but aside from emulators there really isn’t.
Emulators are the answer. Collecting is becoming completely divorced from playing, and for some platforms it’s not a matter of becoming – it already is.
I have a pretty sizable retro game collection myself, both consoles and games to play on them, but I take it as a point of pride that everything I have is playable and sometimes I do play it. Nothing I own is just there to hang on the wall. Some of it is theoretically valuable, although I certainly don’t have anything sealed or graded, nor do I want to.
I think there is a particular kind of value in something that can actually be used. I feel the same about some of the other crap I collect, in particular pens and knives.
Flash carts? Or, for disc-based consoles, any of the ways of loading games onto those consoles. (ODEs, hard drives, expansion ports, memory card slots…)
Lots of exciting things in the emulation scene these days!
But whats even more frustrating about it all to me are the types of collectors that want something specifically because it is rare. The type of people to buy a game and shove it in a plastic box on a shelf where it will collect dust and never be played or appreciated beyond it’s box art.
Totally get what you mean, mate.
If you prize your health, do not look up the rare prototype/demo hoarders, they’ll really make your blood boil. 🫠I love retro gaming on real hardware, but the prices for turn-of-the-millenium software are outrageous. whatever was popular 20 years ago tends to suddenly become very expensive, but after a certain point the price does go down again. I used to collect NES games, when they got too expensive I moved to big box pc games, and now I’m building a Wii and Atari 2600 collection. The 2600 is so old that most of the people who are nostalgic for it aren’t actively collecting it. meanwhile, the Wii is still comparatively new (though that will likely change in a few years).
so, I guess my advice is: buy whatever’s cheap. I had never played the 2600 before but I ended up developing a genuine appreciation for the console. similarly, I’m picking up Wii games because I love the Wii and I want to make sure I have all the essentials before they get really expensive.
Another alternative is to just buy a console and then use a flashcart/softmod. or use an FPGA system, which will get you a native-like experience.
it sucks that a thing I like so much has become a festival of unrestricted capitalism, but I think it’s still possible to carve out a niche and enjoy yourself.
Lately I’ve been picking up old PC games from like DOS/95/98 era because those are cheap as hell considering most people consider them to be literal trash and don’t have computers to run them. I play them on a compaq laptop running windows 98 that I bought for gaming.
Still waiting for someone to release a dual screen emulating console so I don’t have to spend $300 on a 3ds
I have an old surface pro I use in portrait mode for DS, 3DS. Works like a champ
For what it’s worth, emulation on the Steam Deck works really really well. And it’s a touch screen, so the touchscreen controls work flawlessly. The only real potential issue is that you can’t close a hinge, which breaks one particular Zelda game with a puzzle that requires closing the DS.
Tbh I just really like the dual screen format. Playing a game that was made with it in mind on something else just doesn’t feel the same.
I have a 3ds I got for like ~$200 a while back, but the home button and microphone don’t seem to work, and my dumbass broke the microSD card before I had the chance to backup everything on it, so I have CFW installed but none of the apps necessary to use it.
I’ll get around to working on it one of these days, I’m sure.
