Retro Games rising in price. How much is too much?

[Gypsy]

Yeah the big problem there is the amount of copies made for those flops is disproportionate to the demand now. Of course lots of common games (like say some of the N64 games I got today) are still worth more than they should be imo.

[KrownKlown]

Are we talking about things like Pier solar, ie "old" game made recently, or just the value of old games. If its the former, than yeah some of the prices are getting ridiculous especially if you count kickstarter and physical editions, where some can hit a 100 just for a regular copy.

[Gypsy]

I'm pretty sure he is talking about retro games going up in price due to the increased demand.

[ErickRPG]

Of the games I used to own. Even many of the N64 games I can get for "original retail" price. I got Banjo Tooie complete and absolute mint for like $68 so that wasn't much above retail. It's just that some of those "big" games are insane. Like Conker for $150+, Rayearth for $150+, many of the SNES RPGs like Secret of Mana for $120+, Earthbound for $500+. As someone else here said, I don't mind paying original retail for a complete mint game. I guess others are used to flea markets and garage sales. I mean I always either bought brand new in local stores or at used specialty shops. The cheapest I used to get games is used complete at funcoland. Games like Secret of Mana based on vague memories I probably paid $35 something for it back in the day.

Most of the PS2 and PSX games I want to buy can be had for $30 or less with only a few reaching or going above original retail. So it's not too bad. In fact I'm buying now because it might get worse.

[banditwolf]

Blame the internets.

[Missile!]

Of the games I used to own. Even many of the N64 games I can get for "original retail" price. I got Banjo Tooie complete and absolute mint for like $68 so that wasn't much above retail. It's just that some of those "big" games are insane. Like Conker for $150+, Rayearth for $150+, many of the SNES RPGs like Secret of Mana for $120+, Earthbound for $500+. As someone else here said, I don't mind paying original retail for a complete mint game. I guess others are used to flea markets and garage sales. I mean I always either bought brand new in local stores or at used specialty shops. The cheapest I used to get games is used complete at funcoland. Games like Secret of Mana based on vague memories I probably paid $35 something for it back in the day.

Most of the PS2 and PSX games I want to buy can be had for $30 or less with only a few reaching or going above original retail. So it's not too bad. In fact I'm buying now because it might get worse.

Conker even more so, i remember wal-mart was practically giving those things away for 5 bucks at one point. Nobody could've cared less. PS1 games used to be much worse off as well, with things like a complete black label FF7 going for well over retail.

[Gypsy]

Yeah lots of the times the games that balloon up were games in low demand that had to be clearanced. I got quite a few sealed copies of Tales of the Abyss before the reprint on clearance and sold them quickly. Heard stories about PDS clearance as well as loads of copies of Radiant Dawn at Sears. Someone I know bought 20 for practically nothing, can't remember the exact amount but it was less than 10 a pop. Good foresight.

[ErickRPG]

How many copies were put into circulation have a part too. At one point Distributors were getting rid of sealed copies of Perfect Dark for $5 each. You could sell it for $8 new if you were lucky. Now of course it has gone up. But Perfect Dark was probably printed way more than Conker. The cheapest I remember Conker being at wholesale was $40. This this was when N64 was one generation old.

[xelement5x]

In other news, water is wet.

I have my own beliefs that the new influx of collectors in the last 5 years or so has just exacerbated prices along with a couple other factors. Not much one can do except either sit out the market, save up to buy, or focus on trading instead.

But it boggles my mind that you can in almost any case buy a moderately valuable game, sit on it at 6 months, then sell it for a profit. There is clearly a bubble of some sort happening, but how it deflates will be interesting to see.

If it's something like Don Quixote for the laseractive I'll make an exception but for games that had tens of thousands (or more!) copies printed that's my limit. I can't see myself getting more than 100 worth of enjoyment out of a game and I never sell games out of my collection so the monetary worth doesn't factor in.

Props to you for a little LaserActive love, not a lot of us out here

[ErickRPG]

you're not the only one, I love those types of games from that ERA. I don't own a laser active but I love all these cheesy animation and FMV games on the PC and 3DO.