I'm new to retro gaming, got any tips?

studerc thought this was worth mentioning said Thu, Dec 18th 2014 at 8:40pm ET

Recently, I've been on this kick of re-acquiring old gaming systems from my childhood. I like many, grew up with the classics in my household, the original nintendo, super nintendo, sega genesis, N64 and I am hoping to re-kindle that past. Unfortunately, I've run into a bit of a problem, these things are both difficult to find and acquire at reasonable prices.

I've been checking around locally at pawn stores, craigslist, goodwill, but there really isn't anything around. I was able to acquire a SNES off ebay at an ok price but it came with no games. Same thing happened with an N64 I recently got from a local shop, no games.

These games on ebay and online retailers are quite expensive and I'm hoping that someone might have another way or some ideas where I can pick up hardware such as...
-consoles
-controllers

...and good games at reasonable prices.

Who knows, maybe a Mehrican has some old console/gaming stuff they are looking to sell.

12 comments, 7 replies
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dashcloud said Thu, Dec 18th 2014 at 10:17pm ET:

I got a lot of mine from flea markets, garage sales, and Amazon.
You could try ebid.net, Goodwill's online site: shopgoodwill.com, and Amazon.
Also, send me an email- I might have some items you'd be interested in.
The really big name stuff is pricey, but if you just need to play the game, many of them have been re-released on other platforms, which should make it easier to acquire them.

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capguncowboy said Thu, Dec 18th 2014 at 11:21pm ET:

Avoid eBay for the bigger stuff unless you want to pay retail prices. I put an ad on my local Craigslist. You can get old NES and SNES games for really cheap. I have a really extensive collection that will one day be given to my son, including every major system from the Atari 2600 to the PS3 and over 500 games.

If you have qualms about meeting people from Craigslist, and you should at least have some, then you can check yard sales and second hand stores such as Goodwill or the like.

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PurplePawprints said Thu, Dec 18th 2014 at 11:27pm ET:

If you're on Facebook, see if there are any yard sale type sites for your area. I'm in a couple of those groups for my local area and see old game systems and games fairly often.

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lichme said Fri, Dec 19th 2014 at 12:04am ET:

I'm lazy and cheap. I just use console emulators and roms and play them on my PC/Wii/Xbox

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editorkid said Fri, Dec 19th 2014 at 12:30am ET:

Yeah, go for the emulators. Especially if your computer has an HDMI output.

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The_Baron said Fri, Dec 19th 2014 at 12:34am ET:

Depends on your city, but there have been retro gaming stores popping up. Like this one in Boston (Allston) Replay'd. Another group of stores called Game Play USA in Ma and Ct.
I just side-loaded some emulators with roms on my Fire TV, works with most controllers.

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- @The_Baron this one in Camarillo CA http://www.yelp.com/biz/mero-games-camarillo
  
  connorbush said Mon, Nov 9th 2015 at 10:06pm ET
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LazyZombie said Fri, Dec 19th 2014 at 1:06am ET:

I'm not going to lie. You are entering the retro gaming scene during a huge boom period and games are inflated as heck.

I'd recommend going to http://videogames.pricecharting.com/
to get an idea of what things usually go for as well as trends.

Some retail mom and pop stores will haggle if you are buying in bulk.
Your best bet is to either buy or exchange from a fellow collector at a Retro Gaming Expo or waking up early and trying to find that elusive holy grail of yard sales. (You sadly missed out when Gamestop bought out the competition and you basically could raid their dumpsters/clearance racks for games that sell for 30-60 bucks a pop now.)

Ebay isn't completely awful if you can find a bulk auction that is up for bid. But sometimes you can get into a bidding war and end up paying way more then you intended to. Always set a budget, and stick to it. There are plenty of copies of games out there.

Goodwills figured out the Retro gaming craze so it's not very good anymore.

One thing people do is buy a Everdrive Flash cart. Where you have a cartridge with a flash card that you fill with Roms so you can play a Rom on the original hardware.

Controllers are the worst imo but most can be cleaned with rubbing alcohol and elbow grease. So many knockoffs that break in days so be weary of things that look cheap, they usually are.

Basically just try to have fun with it, and try to keep your buying slow so you can spend time with everygame you find. Had many friends burnout from buying 100's of games in months.

Also if you are interested in storing your games and having them look good on your shelves. http://www.thecoverproject.net/ Has a bunch of scanned and printable covers that mimic the old snes/nes/turbografx16/most system boxes that can be used in universal media cases. They look spiffy imo!

Sorry for the wall of text and scattershot presentation. Just typing what pops up in my head.

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jsh139 said Fri, Dec 19th 2014 at 10:22am ET:

If you're in the PA, NY, or MA area I highly recommend Jay St. Video Games. They have a huge selection and their prices are pretty damn good.

https://www.jaystvideogames.com/

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medz said Fri, Dec 19th 2014 at 11:42am ET:

I have an original NES controller in its original box. Boom. Those things were the worst when they got really worn-in because you had to press really hard on the buttons. (I've got blisters on me fingers!)
I think my siblings have the NES and the Sega Genesis somewhere... I also have my N64 and original Xbox with tons of games all boxed up waiting until the time is right to sell at outrageous prices. My wife has her SNES with some games too. It's gonna be really hard to let go some day, but it'll be worth it. I only wish I had kept a lot of the toys from the 80's that are "retro" now.

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sohmageek said Sat, Apr 25th 2015 at 2:35pm ET:

@studerc how goes the hunt? I know you have had a few things more important to be doing. But just curious on how the finding is going? How is the collection coming?

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dashcloud said Sat, Apr 25th 2015 at 5:58pm ET:

Great news for retro gaming enthusiasts (SNES & Sega Genesis/Master System anyway)- the Retrode 2 is back in production and available again, with the cartridge plugins slowly being made available again.
Why is this good news?
You can use your original cartridges and controllers with a Retrode, and turn just about any device with a USB port into a retro gaming machine. You can also generally access saves on the cartridges, and write back to the cartridge as well.
More information about the device:
https://www.retrode.com/

Where to buy it:
https://www.dragonbox.de/en/retrode/71-retrode-2-1.html

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- @dashcloud any places that you know of from the U.S.? That would be awesome to legally get my own Roma from my carts. I haven't looked for something like that in ages.
  
  I've started showcasing my old games. I'll have to take a picture at some point. It's not a real big collection yet. Mostly just what I've had from when I was a kid. Also trying to modify the universal game cases is a pain in the ass...
  
  sohmageek said Sun, Apr 26th 2015 at 7:55am ET
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- @sohmageek There's some super-over priced stuff on Ebay, but that place is your best bet currently- the original guy just licenses out the design now. If you have a favorite retro vendor, have them inquire about stocking Retrodes and adapters.
  
  dashcloud said Sun, Apr 26th 2015 at 2:32pm ET
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- @dashcloud I don't know if I should be thanking you o r upset that I am having such a hard time finding/buying one for a decent price. (I'm tempted to just buy from the place that you listed... it looks like they are manufacturing them now also. ) I've spent quite some time now looking at them... and I thought the whole universal case project was a lot of work... How about thank you @dashcloud and I'll blame the issues on the goat.. @carl669 :P
  
  sohmageek said Sun, Apr 26th 2015 at 9:08pm ET
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- @sohmageek There should eventually be N64, GB/GBA, and SMS adapters available. DIY adapters are available for virtually every cartridge-based system around.
  
  dashcloud said Sun, Apr 26th 2015 at 10:23pm ET
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- @dashcloud You've made me look into this again for the next Extra-Life... I don't know if I should be thanking you or blaming you yet... ;)
  
  sohmageek said Mon, Nov 9th 2015 at 9:10pm ET
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- @sohmageek The good news is that all of the adapters are available, and if you're handy with a soldering iron, practically every cartridge-based system ever is an option (provided you've got the required parts). Retrode & cartridge adapters
  
  dashcloud said Mon, Nov 9th 2015 at 10:04pm ET
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dashcloud said Mon, Nov 9th 2015 at 10:05pm ET:

@studerc How goes the retro gaming collection/ playing of them?

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