And as well as only some games having more value than a baseline 5 or 10 bucks, moreover, I think only a subset of retro games 'hold up' today as still being fun.
It's subjective of course but some people say early polygonal games like N64 and PS1 titles are in general very ugly now.
Outside of first party Nintendo titles and some choice games is retro really the golden age compared to present day?
I think I'm at a realisation that most retro games are worthless and not fun - but that's not to take away from the special ones that do hold up and are still rightfully sought after.
Pac-Man is never not going to be fun, Street Fighter II is iconic and excellent, Super Mario Bros is super raw gameplay and awesome but for every one of those great games there's 50 that are mediocre to bad.
I have an easy time intimately learning and pursuing the valuable and still loved titles in a game library.
I still see PS2 around from time to time and have picked up Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel, Silent Hill 3, PaRappa The Rapper 2 and Sly Raccoon all for next to nothing on my travels. That system has something like 2,500 games and I am able to scan piles of them and just from the title on the spine largely know whether it's sought after or goes for more than a penny.
I'm finding satisfaction in being discerning and hunting for treasure and scouring the best things.
Maybe my headspace is very different from most collectors.
I like only going for gold and having a mental list of the best things and knowing I don't have all that much I need to buy because only a small amount of all retro is pure bliss. I'm going for the high of the greatest crap in the libraries and leaving all the common tat. I feel fine knowing that what I want might have to come from eBay because the list of stuff I want is relatively short so it's all good.