A Wannabe Collector Too

I am a lucky gamer.

I once asked my significant other if when I brought home random gaming stuffs or bought them off the internet if he thought "Oh great, another box of useless shit". He thought about it for a minute and said, "I guess that's true, but, no, I don't think that" :)

So, as you can imagine, I've been buying lots of useless shit lately. And what I once read on the internet is true: you have to watch out about becoming a collector because all too soon it becomes an obsession. Obsession? No, no, no. That'll never be me. I thought as I checked the pseudo-Craigslist every hour. (I live way out in the boonies, so we don't have real Craigslist. It's just some stupid website run by some locals who feel the need to shut down their site every freaking Sunday!)

Oh, NES, someday you'll be mine again.

What's maybe a little sad is that this obse . . . um, 'hobby' has come to the point where I've started collecting games for systems I hope to own someday. You know, when I find it at the right price at the right time and place. (Please remember that I live out in the middle of nowhere without flea markets, so I'm left with online and thrift stores.) Hell, if it's cheap enough, I don't mind the games sitting on my game shelf. Not like I really play the games I do have the system for :(

Sometimes I think, Well, this is certainly a waste of money, but I rationalize it to myself by saying that I don't spend money on manicures/pedicures, I don't go to a salon to get my hair cut and I don't buy clothes to keep up with the latest fashion trends (though with my subscriptions to Vogue, Elle and Runway, you'd think otherwise) . . . you know, stereotypical 'girly' stuff, so I think it's okay to spend a few bucks here and there on video games. (Longest sentence ever!)

I certainly wouldn't want to encourage or discourage anyone from collecting games, but here are a few things I've learned over my transition into a collector:

1. Unless money isn't a concern, be aware that getting the more coveted games are going to cost you. If you don't happen upon a random copy of Earthbound for the SNES from someone who has no idea what they have, you'd better be prepared to spend $100+ to get it. Sorry, I don't see it's value dropping any time soon (or ever).
2. Know what you're jumping into before shelling out the shells (however few) for something. Find a few websites (always good to have multiple sources) that you can check up on for price checks. (I like Rarity Guide and Price Charting , but don't be afraid to find others.)



And these are just my recent PS1 purchases.

3. Don't just take things at face value. Just because some guy on a website says he has a PS1 controller for sale and you agree upon a price shouldn't stop you from looking it over once you have it in your hands and depressing all the buttons, plugging it in, etc. I always look any game over before buying. And I'm not just talking about CDs, I check the boards on cartridge games too. Sure you can't exactly tell if there's something wrong, but if it's insanely dirty or has a gouge in it, it may be better to avoid (not to mention this, in particular, can tell you if a GBA cart is pirated).

I'm no expert; I know I still have a lot to learn about as far as collecting goes, but I thought it might be nice for other beginners out there to hear about collecting from someone who's a beginner herself. Someday I'll have a collection worthy of its own game room video, but for now, my games and systems will have to be content taking up a little bit of shelf space in my closet. And I don't mind it one bit, it's a sort of personal haven for me.

Kyh's Finds

As I continue this journey deeper and deeper into retro gaming, I've become more intrigued by game collecting. Sure, it's easy enough to find most stuff on the internet (I certainly do more than my share of trolling through Ebay), but by searching through physical bins in places near you, that's when it becomes really exciting. Before I continue, I have to give most of the credit for my new obsession to The Game Chasers. They do not currently have their own website, but you can find their stuff on RetrowareTV and Blip. They tote themselves as American Pickers for video games. It's great stuff.

I hope to make this a regular column as I find more and more cool stuff. Unfortunately, I live in a tiny community and the nearest town with a Gamestop has no independent video game stores. Thus, I'm forced to resort to the many thrift stores in the area. It's not so bad, just very hit or miss. All of my finds today come from Goodwill.

Sigh. How I love to beat up the pedestrians.

A couple of months ago, I went into my local Goodwill (which happens to be by my dentist) and saw a PS2 behind the counter. I was mesmerized and knew I wanted it. When I asked the price, the lady told me $45. I didn't have the money, so I passed on it (it ended up selling several weeks later, though I did get one more chance to drool over it). It was the set of Xbox games, though that really got my attention. I knew these would be more in my price range.

Among the small stack of mostly sports games, one particular title caught my eye. Grand Theft Auto III. On the Xbox was where I learned to love this series (Vice City, I believe), so right away I wanted it. When I asked the lady how much, she said $2.99. Hey, three bucks ain't too bad. The manual and map are in excellent shape and the disc only had a few tiny scratches. So I bought it. Quite a pleasing game chasing experience.

Aww, childhood memories . . .

Fast forward to a week or two ago, and I'm in the same Goodwill, hoping for another satisfying find. I knew they didn't have anything in their case (this time I did have the cash for a PS2), so I just wandered around their basic electronics section. I'm just hoping for maybe an accessory or extra controller, but lo and behold, I find a PSOne underneath an adding machine. I couldn't believe myself, this was one of the systems I had growing up (well, the earlier version, at least)! I didn't see any of the cables, but I did find the instruction manual and a third party controller. $4.99 for the system, $2.99 for the controller. Not bad, I'll take them.

In my excitement and eagerness to find those dang cables, I continue scouring the shelves. Double jackpot! I found a lone Sega Genesis under some more junk! I couldn't believe that I'd found these systems on the same day in the same store. Sure, they're relatively common consoles, but if you only knew the isolation I live in, you'd understand. $4.99 for this system as well, why not.

Completely new territory for me.

I looked over each system carefully to make sure I wasn't just dumping my money into total crap. The latch for the PS door stuck a little, but nothing too bad, and the laser crystal looked pretty clean. Especially considering the gunk on the rest of it. Nothing a little rubbing alcohol couldn't fix. The Genesis looked to be in even better shape (perhaps surprising considering how much older it is than the PS). I opened the dust cover and it looked clean in there. Clean enough to play an old cartridge, at least.

I took my treasure up to the counter to pay. There were a few people ahead of me, so I glanced behind the glass as usual. Hey! That looks like a Playstation A/V cable! Sure enough, it was. The guy let me have it, and in my excitement, I forgot to ask if I could get some kind of discount for buying both systems. Ah well, $13 for all that isn't bad at all. Another pleasing game chasing time.

A few days later, I did go back to Goodwill to see if I could find the other cables I needed for the consoles but didn't see them. I'm pleading with you readers, if you know where I can find them for cheap (or perhaps, have them laying around your house), please let me know! I know where I can get PS A/V cables $1 apiece . . .

I'd love to hear about your own game chasing experience, if you'd like to share in the comments below.

P.S. - I got the gig at The Punk Effect. Look out for my articles there. Or if you follow me on Twitter, I'll tweet when they go up.