How is retro game pricing as of Feb 2018?

[burningdoom]

I think people are moving to other collections, too.

I sure has as hell have been seeing a surge of collectors in the horror & VHS stuff. That stuff used to be plentiful like retro gaming was in the early 2000s. It's starting to dry up out there. And my VHS collecting group on Facebook has practically doubled in size in the last year.

A ton of people that are/were into retro games went that route.  It was cheap and fun to do.  Look out Betamax.  Folks will be coming for you.
I think it's fun for people to collect stuff.  If they have an interest in it, it doesn't matter what it is.

Betamax is already rare and expensive. Try to find a cheap, working betamax player, you can't.

[sworddude]

I think people are moving to other collections, too.

I sure has as hell have been seeing a surge of collectors in the horror & VHS stuff. That stuff used to be plentiful like retro gaming was in the early 2000s. It's starting to dry up out there. And my VHS collecting group on Facebook has practically doubled in size in the last year.

A ton of people that are/were into retro games went that route.  It was cheap and fun to do.  Look out Betamax.  Folks will be coming for you.
I think it's fun for people to collect stuff.  If they have an interest in it, it doesn't matter what it is.

Betamax is already rare and expensive. Try to find a cheap, working betamax player, you can't.

I'm pretty sure that people who have been in this hobby for a long time have already found that cheap beta max player for their tapes including the both of you unless ofcourse your just starting to collect for it thanks to other people the reason for it being big. If the last part is the reason that one starts to collect for it because it is wanted by others and starting to have value It's a pretty dum reason in my opinion.

For long time collectors I see little reason to complain at least for the beta max players you should have a high end one by now if it was that plentifull not to mention to actually begin and appreciate the hobby unless your collecting vhs already. except ofcourse if your doing it for the thrill of finding something valuable for cheap, than again that's not a solid reason in my opinion.

It is obviously a shame for the more rare horror tapes though since obviously those were harder to find but a beta max player without it you can't even start with the hobby except the collecting part as far as movies go. There are also high end vhs players wich are desirable but I guess It's a bit more easy since regular non high end vhs players are  plentifull.

[burningdoom]

Betamax and VHS are 2 different formats.

Most movie collectors have a DVD and Blu-Ray Player. Many have a VCR (VHS). Not everyone has a betmax player. It didn't have a long shelf life. It lost the format war with VHS like HD-DVD did to Blu-Ray. So it's harder to find them since so many less of them were produced, and they are from the early 80s, so many of those, even, aren't working anymore.

[sworddude]

Betamax and VHS are 2 different formats.

Most movie collectors have a DVD and Blu-Ray Player. Many have a VCR (VHS). Not everyone has a betmax player. It didn't have a long shelf life. It lost the format war with VHS like HD-DVD did to Blu-Ray. So it's harder to find them since so many less of them were produced, and they are from the early 80s, so many of those, even, aren't working anymore.

I do know they are 2 different formats. Beta max a bit higher quality but less time for a movie compared to vhs.

That being said if stuff is that plentyfull and cheap in the past why does one still not have a beta max player. Unless ofcourse it was always hard to find and not to cheap especially the last part being the reason why one never got a betamax player to begin with even in the past. If it isn´t super cheap I can imagine people holding off waiting for a cheap one having bad luck that it has become hyped and even more sought after expensive than it was before.

Obviously with vhs you could already enjoy the hobby, beta max is just slightly higher quality with different beta max tapes but if you really were dedicated and wanted a beta max player even back in the day in my personal opinion one should have already foud one years ago if you were in that hobby for years before it was hyped.

Also I´m pretty sure that more dedicated vhs betmax collectors will focus more on the old stuff and way less on blue ray and dvd if not ignore it. Obviously there are some who are a jack of all trades but many dvd blue ray collectors do not collect and enjoy vhs beta max and vice versa.

[scraph4ppy]

I wish I could look at games at my Goodwill....

Anyways I had a very long post typed up about how LRGs weren't going to be collectible but having typed it out, I think I was wrong. They will be collectible, but not in the way that normal console games are. Instead they will be in the same manner that PC games are. A complete collection will be nearly impossible to get a hold of (seriously, with how low these print runs are, a complete set of LRG Vita games is going to be harder to find than a complete set of NES or PS2 games is,) and few people will try. But there will be lots of interest from certain people in getting a hold of certain titles, and the games will retain value until the day that no one cares about physical media anymore. The only thing is, LRG's offerings will not be considered in the same way that any other company's will, and most collectors will have them off in a side bar along with NFRS games, demo disks, special editions, beta hardware, etc. and the think nothing of the fact that their otherwise complete collection does not contain copies of them. Perhaps they will redefine the default collection to be "sold in retail stores" or something else like that to exclude them or perhaps everyone will just get together and decide that forced scarcity is ridiculous from the stand-point of collecting childhood memories, especially when as a child you wouldn't have been buying from LRG anyway.

[hoshichiri]

I wish I could look at games at my Goodwill....

Anyways I had a very long post typed up about how LRGs weren't going to be collectible but having typed it out, I think I was wrong. They will be collectible, but not in the way that normal console games are. Instead they will be in the same manner that PC games are. A complete collection will be nearly impossible to get a hold of (seriously, with how low these print runs are, a complete set of LRG Vita games is going to be harder to find than a complete set of NES or PS2 games is,) and few people will try. But there will be lots of interest from certain people in getting a hold of certain titles, and the games will retain value until the day that no one cares about physical media anymore. The only thing is, LRG's offerings will not be considered in the same way that any other company's will, and most collectors will have them off in a side bar along with NFRS games, demo disks, special editions, beta hardware, etc. and the think nothing of the fact that their otherwise complete collection does not contain copies of them. Perhaps they will redefine the default collection to be "sold in retail stores" or something else like that to exclude them or perhaps everyone will just get together and decide that forced scarcity is ridiculous from the stand-point of collecting childhood memories, especially when as a child you wouldn't have been buying from LRG anyway.

That's largely my thoughts too- When all is said & done I think they'll be a few games in the run that achieve proper collectible status, but most of them will be collectible by association. Years ago, I was at an anime convention swap meet, and I had 2 copies of Trap Gunner for PS1 on the table. It's not rare or expensive, and was even less so back then- but those games still got picked up within minutes. At the same time acutally, and the guys who took them laughed becuase they grabbed them for the same reason- "I don't know this game at all, but it's Atlus." I really see a similar situation with LRG in the future- where publisher reputation rather than game quality causes interest & therefore raises prices.

[sworddude]

I wish I could look at games at my Goodwill....

Anyways I had a very long post typed up about how LRGs weren't going to be collectible but having typed it out, I think I was wrong. They will be collectible, but not in the way that normal console games are. Instead they will be in the same manner that PC games are. A complete collection will be nearly impossible to get a hold of (seriously, with how low these print runs are, a complete set of LRG Vita games is going to be harder to find than a complete set of NES or PS2 games is,) and few people will try. But there will be lots of interest from certain people in getting a hold of certain titles, and the games will retain value until the day that no one cares about physical media anymore. The only thing is, LRG's offerings will not be considered in the same way that any other company's will, and most collectors will have them off in a side bar along with NFRS games, demo disks, special editions, beta hardware, etc. and the think nothing of the fact that their otherwise complete collection does not contain copies of them. Perhaps they will redefine the default collection to be "sold in retail stores" or something else like that to exclude them or perhaps everyone will just get together and decide that forced scarcity is ridiculous from the stand-point of collecting childhood memories, especially when as a child you wouldn't have been buying from LRG anyway.

That's largely my thoughts too- When all is said & done I think they'll be a few games in the run that achieve proper collectible status, but most of them will be collectible by association. Years ago, I was at an anime convention swap meet, and I had 2 copies of Trap Gunner for PS1 on the table. It's not rare or expensive, and was even less so back then- but those games still got picked up within minutes. At the same time acutally, and the guys who took them laughed becuase they grabbed them for the same reason- "I don't know this game at all, but it's Atlus." I really see a similar situation with LRG in the future- where publisher reputation rather than game quality causes interest & therefore raises prices.

Trap gunner is actually a very good ps1 game gameplay wise seriously not just an atlus game If an atlus game is bad it is worthelss unless it is very rare. look around for bad atlus games and you will see cheap ones wich are random racing games etc wich are just as uncommon or rare but gameplay wise not interesting at all.

not to mention that there are plenty of valuable excellent games from very unknown publishers.

There are atlus games out there that are trash and they are worthless since no one wants them Back in the past trap gunner was less known that's all and even now not that known but more people have heard about it.

trauma center series on wii and ds gameplay wise it's pretty bad in my opinion very cheap series since proabably many think the same thing and most will only pick it up because it is atlus.

Just because certain games have a certain brand it is not guaranteed that they will have value, if the game is great and at least uncommon than yes but there are allot of cases in wich the games aren;t that great and thus they remain ignored. Look at examples of taito hudson soft to name just a few.

Allot of games that were cheap back than were less known hagane sunset riders etc, yet when more people know when a game is good the price might increase. The more rare it is the more valuable will it become especially is a game is excellent.

[burningdoom]

Betamax and VHS are 2 different formats.

Most movie collectors have a DVD and Blu-Ray Player. Many have a VCR (VHS). Not everyone has a betmax player. It didn't have a long shelf life. It lost the format war with VHS like HD-DVD did to Blu-Ray. So it's harder to find them since so many less of them were produced, and they are from the early 80s, so many of those, even, aren't working anymore.

I do know they are 2 different formats. Beta max a bit higher quality but less time for a movie compared to vhs.

That being said if stuff is that plentyfull and cheap in the past why does one still not have a beta max player. Unless ofcourse it was always hard to find and not to cheap especially the last part being the reason why one never got a betamax player to begin with even in the past. If it isn´t super cheap I can imagine people holding off waiting for a cheap one having bad luck that it has become hyped and even more sought after expensive than it was before.

Obviously with vhs you could already enjoy the hobby, beta max is just slightly higher quality with different beta max tapes but if you really were dedicated and wanted a beta max player even back in the day in my personal opinion one should have already foud one years ago if you were in that hobby for years before it was hyped.

Also I´m pretty sure that more dedicated vhs betmax collectors will focus more on the old stuff and way less on blue ray and dvd if not ignore it. Obviously there are some who are a jack of all trades but many dvd blue ray collectors do not collect and enjoy vhs beta max and vice versa.

What? Where do you get the idea that most movie collectors collect exclusively one format?

And I'm not sure why you keep trying to insinuate I'm new to this. Not having a betamax player, which I clearly already explained to you is rare and why it's rare, means Jack squat.

My dad was a movie collector. I have always been around that and comics because of him. I inherited what he had left when he passed away, as well. Guess what, he didn't have betamax either. He had VHS and DVD.

[sworddude]

Betamax and VHS are 2 different formats.

Most movie collectors have a DVD and Blu-Ray Player. Many have a VCR (VHS). Not everyone has a betmax player. It didn't have a long shelf life. It lost the format war with VHS like HD-DVD did to Blu-Ray. So it's harder to find them since so many less of them were produced, and they are from the early 80s, so many of those, even, aren't working anymore.

I do know they are 2 different formats. Beta max a bit higher quality but less time for a movie compared to vhs.

That being said if stuff is that plentyfull and cheap in the past why does one still not have a beta max player. Unless ofcourse it was always hard to find and not to cheap especially the last part being the reason why one never got a betamax player to begin with even in the past. If it isn´t super cheap I can imagine people holding off waiting for a cheap one having bad luck that it has become hyped and even more sought after expensive than it was before.

Obviously with vhs you could already enjoy the hobby, beta max is just slightly higher quality with different beta max tapes but if you really were dedicated and wanted a beta max player even back in the day in my personal opinion one should have already foud one years ago if you were in that hobby for years before it was hyped.

Also I´m pretty sure that more dedicated vhs betmax collectors will focus more on the old stuff and way less on blue ray and dvd if not ignore it. Obviously there are some who are a jack of all trades but many dvd blue ray collectors do not collect and enjoy vhs beta max and vice versa.

What? Where do you get the idea that most movie collectors collect exclusively one format?

And I'm not sure why you keep trying to insinuate I'm new to this. Not having a betamax player, which I clearly already explained to you is rare and why it's rare, means Jack squat.

My dad was a movie collector. I have always been around that and comics because of him. I inherited what he had left when he passed away, as well. Guess what, he didn't have betamax either. He had VHS and DVD.

Betamax and vhs are the same kinda movies. While at the dvd era It's totally different that's my only point. no cheesy horror films, no godzilla etc Harry potter and lord of the rings, pirates of the caribean  seem pretty much a totally different thing as far as movie collecting goes or am I wrong? I did say that there are some who collect all but i'm pretty sure that there are also plenty of people who focus on the older stuff, dvd format except for the remasters of old tapes are usually different kind of movies. Modern movie fans Are not always the kind of people that appreciate the cheesy old school classics, vice versa the old school fans do not appreciate the more modern movies of today.

Also as far as rarity goes since beta max is a failed format, If beta max players were even rare back in the day even when the format has failed and many people moved on with them high online prices it was always expensive to begin with. In that case even if more people joined the hobby it would make little difference since it was always expensive from the very beginning.

I've seen some forums and if it was already expensive in 2008 probably allot earlier as well if one does some research, if that were the case I guess there is very little to complain about since it was already sought after, prices seem to be pretty much the same as today really. I've seen some mention that there were quite allot of adds of available beta max players on other forums in a certain period before it became sought after but that was a very long time ago.

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/296547-Does-anyone-have-a-PAL-BetaMax-Player

The prices are in the hundreds even back than and probably allot earlier seems to me prices are the same and that was pretty much 10 years ago. I really am curious when it became sought after since prices were even that high back than.

[hoshichiri]

trauma center series on wii and ds gameplay wise it's pretty bad in my opinion very cheap series since proabably many think the same thing and most will only pick it up because it is atlus.

Yes, that is exactly my point- certain titles get a boost in interest, and therefore value, by virtue of association with a desirable publisher. It doesn't necessarily mean they'll become properly valuable- but they certainly become collectable, and therefore inherently more valuable than something that isn't considered collectable (like sports titles.)

That's what I expect for LRG- scarcity and branding will create a collectable that, while not necessarily gaining value, will likely hold value for most titles. A select few will gain Hidden Gem status & go up in value, and I'm sure a few will lose some value for being too mediocre & obscure- but will always hold some desirability just for being LRG releases.

[scraph4ppy]

I don't know if its that LRG itself will be associated with quality, (I personally think their indie games will come off as being very dated ten or twenty years from now,) as it is that they will be "rare" Vita/PS4/Switch games. Just like how DK64 NFRS is a couple hundred bucks even though its actually worse to play than the regular (and already not all that good) version of the game. Of course I also said that it would be like PC collecting where going for "completion" outside of like a certain company or series is impossible. My closet and attic are chock full of rare and theoretically expensive PC games that just would not sell for that price at a regular game store. I can't help but wonder if LRG will end up the same way.

[tripredacus]

What? Where do you get the idea that most movie collectors collect exclusively one format?

My dad was a movie collector. I have always been around that and comics because of him. I inherited what he had left when he passed away, as well. Guess what, he didn't have betamax either. He had VHS and DVD.

Believe it or not, I am a movie collector also. I have more movies than video games (maybe even if you included Steam!  )

I currently own movies in 12 physical formats. But I would think that most collectors are going to be sticking with the top-end formats of VHS/DVD/BD. I am sure that single format collectors do exist. I have a Betamax player, as you should be able to tell from my pick-up photos I have put in this thread. It doesn't work tho. I've never owned a working one. The top loading Beta players are not expensize, but they are heavy and expensive to ship. The expensive players are the front-loaders, and especially the red front loader! Curiously, the best price for a player often ends up being in the professional range, for whatever that reason is.

[sworddude]

What? Where do you get the idea that most movie collectors collect exclusively one format?

My dad was a movie collector. I have always been around that and comics because of him. I inherited what he had left when he passed away, as well. Guess what, he didn't have betamax either. He had VHS and DVD.

Believe it or not, I am a movie collector also. I have more movies than video games (maybe even if you included Steam!  )

I currently own movies in 12 physical formats. But I would think that most collectors are going to be sticking with the top-end formats of VHS/DVD/BD. I am sure that single format collectors do exist. I have a Betamax player, as you should be able to tell from my pick-up photos I have put in this thread. It doesn't work tho. I've never owned a working one. The top loading Beta players are not expensize, but they are heavy and expensive to ship. The expensive players are the front-loaders, and especially the red front loader! Curiously, the best price for a player often ends up being in the professional range, for whatever that reason is.

So the proffesional range beta max players are the cheapest? 

[tripredacus]

What? Where do you get the idea that most movie collectors collect exclusively one format?

My dad was a movie collector. I have always been around that and comics because of him. I inherited what he had left when he passed away, as well. Guess what, he didn't have betamax either. He had VHS and DVD.

Believe it or not, I am a movie collector also. I have more movies than video games (maybe even if you included Steam!  )

I currently own movies in 12 physical formats. But I would think that most collectors are going to be sticking with the top-end formats of VHS/DVD/BD. I am sure that single format collectors do exist. I have a Betamax player, as you should be able to tell from my pick-up photos I have put in this thread. It doesn't work tho. I've never owned a working one. The top loading Beta players are not expensize, but they are heavy and expensive to ship. The expensive players are the front-loaders, and especially the red front loader! Curiously, the best price for a player often ends up being in the professional range, for whatever that reason is.

So the proffesional range beta max players are the cheapest?

In my experience of looking on Ebay for prices (as noted I still don't have a working one) it seems that non-consumer (pro or portable) models, sold as "working" or not "for parts" are, on average, lower in price than consumer front-loaders. I'm only talking about Sony/US models. Some of the portables (like the SL2000) are technically a consumer model, but is designed to be used with a betamax camera, rather than to just watch movies. There is also the consideration that anything "fancy" such as the red player, or a Hi-Fi model, will be better and thus higher in price. The price ranges for players on Ebay are all over the place, so it is hard to judge the actual of value of these, aside from the "fancy" models.

Laserdisc players are tighter on prices per feature, but VCRs are not anywhere near relatable. You can still get away with using a 4 head Hi-Fi VCR on composite and only pay $5 for the thing. My main VCR would be considered a $5 VCR nowadays, even though I paid $60 or something for it in 1998. It looks fine on the TV and the surround works fine on tapes that support it.

[sworddude]

What? Where do you get the idea that most movie collectors collect exclusively one format?

My dad was a movie collector. I have always been around that and comics because of him. I inherited what he had left when he passed away, as well. Guess what, he didn't have betamax either. He had VHS and DVD.

Believe it or not, I am a movie collector also. I have more movies than video games (maybe even if you included Steam!  )

I currently own movies in 12 physical formats. But I would think that most collectors are going to be sticking with the top-end formats of VHS/DVD/BD. I am sure that single format collectors do exist. I have a Betamax player, as you should be able to tell from my pick-up photos I have put in this thread. It doesn't work tho. I've never owned a working one. The top loading Beta players are not expensize, but they are heavy and expensive to ship. The expensive players are the front-loaders, and especially the red front loader! Curiously, the best price for a player often ends up being in the professional range, for whatever that reason is.

So the proffesional range beta max players are the cheapest?

In my experience of looking on Ebay for prices (as noted I still don't have a working one) it seems that non-consumer (pro or portable) models, sold as "working" or not "for parts" are, on average, lower in price than consumer front-loaders. I'm only talking about Sony/US models. Some of the portables (like the SL2000) are technically a consumer model, but is designed to be used with a betamax camera, rather than to just watch movies. There is also the consideration that anything "fancy" such as the red player, or a Hi-Fi model, will be better and thus higher in price. The price ranges for players on Ebay are all over the place, so it is hard to judge the actual of value of these, aside from the "fancy" models.

Laserdisc players are tighter on prices per feature, but VCRs are not anywhere near relatable. You can still get away with using a 4 head Hi-Fi VCR on composite and only pay $5 for the thing. My main VCR would be considered a $5 VCR nowadays, even though I paid $60 or something for it in 1998. It looks fine on the TV and the surround works fine on tapes that support it.

Interesting with pc And CRT monitors the proffesional ones are the way to go and can be priced ridiculously. Those PVM or BVM sony screens sometimes over 1K $. Than again for those things your average consumer could not get their hands on one since it was only sold to proffesionals for a business not to mention the way higher retail price than the most high end available units for your average consumers. Nowadays the high end best stuff is also available to the general public not to mention that the PC's on work spaces are pretty average and in most cases unlike back in the day were they were high end better than the best consumer units. Even the places that need the best stuff for certain tasks can be matched if some are dedicated enough to spend allot more than the average ones.

Maybe with betamax players since it was a failed format proffesionalls stopped using them units pretty soon so also the general public got the better ones wich were made later. Not to mention that beta max players were already more expensive than your vhs players. Also as far as fancy ones go, I have noticed that some machines even though they are not superior are collectible because they look nice just for show if were looking at other things.