The popular and extremely competitive nature of retro video game collecting makes it hard for collectors to effectively add to their collections. But it can be easier with the aid of these helpful tips.
Here’s my tips on collecting retro video games in San Jose and the surrounding Bay Area.
Tip 1: practice networking
Networking can be the difference between scoring that rare video game for your collection or losing out. In other words, if you have a retro gaming store in your area, develop a friendly relationship with the owner.
After all, video game store owners are people too. On top of it being a nice gesture, this can also work in your favor.
If you develop a relationship with store owners, they’re more likely to hold a product for you when it comes in.
You can even inform them about what you like to collect and oftentimes, they can keep an eye out for those items, according to MetalJesusRocks in a Sept. 24, 2021 YouTube video.
MetalJesusRocks is a respected YouTube content creator within the retro gaming community.
When developing a relationship with store owners, it’s good to follow the shop’s
social media.
More often than not, they’ll create social media accounts for their business and post about different items in the shop.
Most big name shops in the immediate area like Gamehop Downstairs, The Retro Fix, Retro Rewind and Cartridge Cartel all have Instagram accounts.
It also really helps to join groups like Killer Games Swap on Facebook and other social media sites. Gamers can get information on video games and acquire certain titles from other fans, who are often more than happy to help.
Tip 2: when everyone is going left, try going right
Don’t just look for what’s popular, even if you’re a big fan of these titles.
Chances are, if something is popular in the retro video game community, it’ll be expensive and hard to find.
This is especially true with Nintendo titles, including just about any video game in the Pokémon franchise.
To combat this, collectors should go after video games that are easier to find because they are on a less popular system.
Instead of hunting for video games on the Super Nintendo, try searching for ones you may want on the PlayStation 2 or
original Xbox.
There are times you can easily find cheaper retro video games for other, less popular consoles according to the same MetalJesusRocks YouTube video.
Going against the status quo is a good way of not only acquiring video games at a great price, but also improving your experience with video game collecting as a whole.
Tip 3: be selective
Retro video game collectors should be very selective over what systems and video games they’re collecting.
It’s never good to blindly purchase a bunch of video games just to try them, no matter how tempting this might be. Trust me, I’ve been guilty of doing this.
Speaking from experience, things can get out of hand pretty quickly if you don’t limit video game related purchases for your collection to what you really want to or enjoy to play.
Being selective about what you buy will help refine your video game library and save precious shelf space.
If you don’t have discipline and a selective attitude about the video games you’re buying, you’ll have way more than what you realistically know what to
do with.
Tip 4: trade in toward big ticket items you want
As many hardcore gamers know, there are several places that will give you trade-in credit for old video games and systems you don’t want anymore.
Any potential collector should take full advantage
of this.
Why not trade unwanted video games in for the ones that you actually want? Stores can either offer trade-in credit or cash for your video games.
Many stores give more in-store credit than cash, allowing more bang for
your buck.
You can sell your retro video games back to not only most retro video game stores, but also at GameStop. The company has started taking select retro video games in its stores, according to an April 15, 2015 article by GameSpot.
These businesses need to make money too at the end of the day, which means trading in video games will come at the cost of not getting the full market value.
Trading in towards big ticket items you want versus buying them at full price can help contain the size of your collection. It will also help you get rid of old, unplayed video games, allowing you to acquire big money titles for what seems like a steal.
Tip 5: improve the quality of your collection, instead of always increasing its quantity
I would recommend investing in protecting your collection, especially anyone collecting on a budget or with limited space.
Instead of buying that new video game you’ve been eyeing, hold off and buy plastic video game protectors for rare titles or even replacement cases for ones that have damages.
Many video games on the secondary market have cases that aren’t in the best condition. Moreover, you’re going to want to protect video games that are in good condition or have cases that are close to mint condition.
Gamers can purchase plastic video game protectors on Amazon that’ll help protect their video games from scratches and major damage if they’re dropped or mishandled.
Protectors can be purchased on Amazon for NES, Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64 or GameBoy video games and many other retro video game systems on the secondary market.
These consoles’ video games all originally came in cardboard boxes, making them more vulnerable to damage.
Gamers should also invest in getting replacement cases for video games, particularly for systems, like the PlayStation, GameCube, PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3, as it is common to find video games for these systems with beat-up cases.
Replacement cases are also easy to get on Amazon for video games on these consoles at a decent price.
The same thing can also be done for older Xbox and Xbox 360 video games, but it is slightly harder to match replacement cases up with originals.
The only caveat is that most of these cases aren’t branded as Nintendo, PlayStation or Microsoft cases, but are made in the same style.
If you don’t care about the branding on the case, then replacement cases can be a viable option to improve your collection, rather than just buying more and taking
up space.
Not only that, but replacement cases can make your video games look almost like they’re brand new.
These are my top tips when collecting video games, especially for anyone on a budget or looking to save space in their shelf or gameroom.
Happy collecting.
