I'm looking to get in collecting Nintendo, where should I start.

[jipsy]

I am looking to start collecting Nintendo consoles and games and I don't know where to start.  I currently own a few things, I have an original GameBoys, a GameBoy Color, Advanced, Advanced SP, DS Lite and 3ds.  I also have a NES and a few games for it.  I am looking to collect more and I don't know what else to get.  Is there any websites I can find deals on classic Nintendo consoles and games?  Also what are some must haves that I need to get?  I grew up on Playstation 1 and 2 so I don't really know what the must buys of Nintendo are. Thanks in advance to anyone that responds to this.

Edit: I haven't put my entire collection on to this website yet however, I have put all of my Nintendo, Sega and PS4 games on here so far.

[redblaze57]

Start with the Wii. Games are still fairly cheap and available.

[dhaabi]

Start with the Wii. Games are still fairly cheap and available.

Agreed. On that note, the system itself is cheap and also allows you to play GameCube titles, though some of those are getting to become pricey.

As far as recommending titles, it's hard to suggest since your current catalog for this site is limited. However, you can't go wrong with first-party Nintendo titles, such as Mario, Mario Kart, Zelda, Super Smash Bros., etc.

[droaa]

I third on the Wii. Cheap to buy and has good amount of games to warrant getting and a plus if you can get one with GCN backwards compatibility

[wartoy]

Yes the wii is a good place to start most games are cheap and gb,gbc,gba and ds are mostly cheap too.

[oldgamerz]

If you want old school Nintendo games I would recommend The NES mini/classic and the SNES mini/classic, since it's currently the cheapest way to get most of Nintendo's the otherwise high priced classics for one price.

but you'll might need a newer television with an HDMI port though

[redblaze57]

Also a piece of advice for GBA games, familiarize yourself with how the cartridges look there are quite a few counterfeits on sites like ebay. A lot don't have the right art or can be missing details. Otherwise a big tell is the ESRB label never looks quite right.

[emporerdragon]

Honestly, for the older stuff (NES, SNES, GB, GBC, GBA), I'd suggest pirating and playing a bunch of ROMs, then hunting down the titles you enjoyed. Some of those games haven't aged well, and without the nostalgia factor in there, you may find yourself disappointed or bored by some of them. Advocating piracy may sound a bit counter-intuitive, but you'll find collecting much more enjoyable when you collect stuff because you like it, not because it's there.

[jipsy]

I'm not really looking to play the games more collect them, I already have a Retro Pie with 15k+ games on it.  I'm just really into physical media.

[NickAwesome]

Now is likely the worst time to start collecting Nintendo as everything has shot up in price due to COVID. You should make a wishlist to start of titles you want and figure out your overall budget. And then decide if cart only will suffice or if you need CIB. Depending on your state, local game shopping may not be an option so join your local fb retro collecting groups or join some of the national buy/sell groups. People are selling stuff all the time on these groups.  eBay is an option but be warned, Nintendo has spiked in price, anything desirable is going for over the former market value.

[bikingjahuty]

I'll also jump on the Collect Wii bandwagon. Sadly after that is still kinda expensive (Wii U, 3DS, and Switch), and before that is hard to do and very expensive. Nintendo collecting became unattainable to most about 3 or 4 years ago, and while values have plateaued on some stuff, they're still very high for the most part. I looked at N64 priced the other day and could not believe how valuable so many of the games have become.

[Warmsignal]

Wii, if building a large collection cheaply is your goal. Switch, if you like modern indie games and Nintendo first party games. N64, if you wanna focus on just the essential games of which they're not all terribly priced, but it won't be super easy. NES, if you'd like to build a collection of mostly hidden gems and a few essentials for a reasonable price.

Stay away from GameCube if you wanna get the most out of your money, and stay away from SNES unless you're willing to pay big time for just about everything you can find.

[sworddude]

I'll also jump on the Collect Wii bandwagon. Sadly after that is still kinda expensive (Wii U, 3DS, and Switch), and before that is hard to do and very expensive. Nintendo collecting became unattainable to most about 3 or 4 years ago, and while values have plateaued on some stuff, they're still very high for the most part. I looked at N64 priced the other day and could not believe how valuable so many of the games have become.

only for cib to be fair, if your collecting cart only it's pretty affordable to cheap for the most part.

also some of the more common games atm also cart only are a  bit more pricy because of corona that's not going to stay that high.

for example mario 64 usa version, before corona 25$ after corona 45 and up

https://www.pricecharting.com/game/nintendo-64/super-mario-64#completed-auctions-used

ps1 same thing if where looking at for example all resident evil games.

right now is not a great time to buy essential (retro) games. stick to emulation and buy after the virus has been dealt with

current gen etc is way less affected so normal prices there.