Does Retro Gaming Have to Be an Expensive Hobby? - Retro Bird
Vložit
- čas přidán 30. 09. 2021
- Retro gaming has a reputation for being expensive, but does it have to be? What sort of compromises have to be made if not? I go over all the ways people make this hobby less expensive as well as the benefits and drawbacks of each.
Does Retro Gaming Have to Be an Expensive Hobby? - Retro Bird / Does Retro Gaming Have To Cost a Lot of Money? / Is Retro Gaming Unaffordable or Affordable? / Do Retro Video Games Have to Be Expensive?
If you'd like to gain access to my retro blog or just support the channel - you can find my Patreon here: / retrobird
New discussion videos uploaded every Tuesday, and my normal videos uploaded every Friday! Be sure to ring the bell if you subscribe!
Follow me on Twitter here: / retrobirdgaming
or on Instagram here: / retrobirdmatt
#retrobird - Hry
Games Played: Klonoa: Door to Phantomile (0:01), Rockman 7 (0:10), Revenge of Shinobi (0:25), Rescue Rangers (0:35), Symphony of the Night (2:15)
I will definitely be checking out door to phantomile! Looks cool.
Rescue Rangers looks so cute
@@davepage2466 ?
@@davepage2466 epic
Being in my 40s now and having hundreds of games in physical format and many more digitally has made me reevaluate my collection. I've been selling stuff I don't see myself playing and buying the games I wanted or had as a kid and other games wanted for a long time.
this is the way!
Me too; got rid of all the fluff and just got the games I actually always wanted, in reason of price of course.
Definitely Everdrives for me. I have one for my GBA, DS Lite and N64. So convenient and cheap and I get to have the original hardware experience as well!
Same for me. I have the ones for Genesis, Nes, Snes called FX pak pro.
@@tonyp9313 I want to get one for my NES. Just need to save up for one.
@@chrispy3051 Cool. Yeah gaming is really expensive...I cut down a whole lot in gaming. I have a PS4. I bought Sonic Colors Ultimate recently for $50. A lot of popular games I stayed away from like Red Dead 2, Last of Us 2, The new Assassin's creed game, Any Call of duty games. Etc..Those 3 alone would easily cost me like $200 or more...I stay away from those....It's funny cuz the PS3 era was worse and I bought like 100+ games...I sold majority of them. Now I only bought like 20 games about.
I love my flash carts.
Everdrives are amazing. I especially like how you can play rom hacks and translations with a simple IPS patch on original hardware.
My trick for keeping gaming less expensive has been to buy imports for games that don’t require much reading. Unfortunately that time is running short, lol.
Yeah, importing games has become pretty popular from what I've seen.
@@RetroBirdGaming not unless you import directly from japan by buying on Japanese games
During 2020 I didn't have as much expendable income as I did (just got a new apartment) and my hobby was retro gaming I found a cheap alternative by collecting and playing retro NHL Hockey videogames 😄
I know classic sports games are looked down on as "filler" in the hobby but I feel the gameplay in a lot of them still hold up and its refreshing going back to a time when multiple sports games came out from different developers aside from the monopoly on a franchise we got nowadays
That’s rad!
@@randominternetuser2 thanks 😁
I been thinking about making a shelf with all of them combined with Hockey memorabilia 🤔
Love it. Some of my favorite games are sports titles, especially retro! NHL '94 and Mutant League Hockey are my favorite Genesis games.
@@charleybarley7148 Yeah NHL 94 is legendary even to this day as a matter of fact even modern EA NHL games still use its control scheme as an option 😄
Mutant league is one of the few hockey games I have yet to obtain due to its $100 plus price tag 😔 I looks so fun tho and I loved mutant league football
@@immitationstation3369 I gotta be the only one who thought sports games achieved perfection in NHL 95 on Genesis instead of NHL 94 on Genesis.
I was waiting for the Castlevania Advance Collection to be announced before getting into the series and grabbing all the collections out there. I'm glad I did, because the Anniversary collection was on sale for $5! All told, I ended up spending around $45 for 14 games. Compilations are a good way to collect games, too.
Great deals. All hit games too!
Agreed. Compilations are a great way to go. I love them
Honestly it's a shame that they didn't include Rondo on the first collection.
@@PacisJusticia Yeah it's more of a platformer.
Hope they bring the DS ones too.
Already spent too much on video games, I can't turn back now 😆
I’ve been collecting games my whole life. Yes I have Earthbound, but I got it when it came out. I’ve bought so many games my back log is monstrous. So I’ve taken a step back from buying games and just playing the games I already have.
Best trick to collecting would be going back in time and convincing myself to hold onto all the games/systems I used to have.
In all seriousness you can still find some incredible deals at yard sales but they are becoming rarer.
yard sales are super hit and miss or obscenely cut throat. Yes; i have made some amazing scores at yard sales- but go out to as many as possible starting at 7am every saturday (i actually enjoy doing that part of it). If the ad even mentions video games- there will be a half dozen people already there scoping out the games. There is also about a 50/50 shot the person at least attempted to google the value of the item.
Yard sales were the hot tip 10-20 years ago, but honestly if all i was looking for was retro video games- i would have stopped doing garage sales a long time ago. The 3-4 hours a week spent on it is not worth it for the maybe 1k worth of video game stuff i got this year for under $200- that $800 in savings would have been better spent just driving for uber a night each week and buying at full price elsewhere.
First off, I love the NES Chip N Dale music in the background. Secondly, your channel is of such a high quality. From your editing to your mini skits to your gameplay footage, everything is spectacular! You will boom in popularity when more people find out about you! Thanks for the great content!
Thank you very much for that! Glad you like it :)
I'm currently trying to decide what to do with my collection now that i don't spend so much time with it. Really appreciate your thoughtful videos and perspective.
I would say hold on to it I mean you may not play it as much now but... Time will tell and they may be unobtainable price wise if you want to revisit them
@@immitationstation3369 - I made that mistake with a few games such as Mega Man X, Mega Man 7, and Rule of Rose! I once owned all three, CIB, and sold them for much needed money. Fast forward a few years and I wanted them back, but the price has skyrocket beyond what I pay for.
@@NYCJoeBlack I got mega man 7 CIB from my old video rental place for $8 I had no idea it was going to be as expensive as it is now
Damn you had Rule of Rose that's the rarest ps2 game I think. I seen it at GameStop all the time for $20 back in the day.... Damn 😔
I’ve heard some big collectors say, “dwindle down to just your fav’s”, cut the fat and reap both financially and personally, cuz yes I agree sellers regret is very real, but no point in missing out on something else for nothing more than maybe a memory.
@@immitationstation3369 - 😂 😂 😂
I kept Haunting Ground (CAPCOM) , but sold Rule of Rose. I did keep the preorder soundtrack bonus that accompanied my purchase though. Who knew that Rule of Rose would shot Ho in price the way it did. I remember reading that a lot of collectors were blaming CZcamsr, Metal Jesus for contributing to the game’s price skyrocketing.
One of my favorite "keep things cheap" strategy is with Gamecube specifically. If you get either minidisc jewel cases, or a minidisc disc holder for your games, it 1)saves a ton of space and 2)getting Gamecube disc only takes off around 25% of the price per game if not more. And storing them in the appropriately sized jewel cases or zipper case gives a lot of style.
You know one of the best things of this year besides Metroid Dread ? Discovering this channel and having a blast !
Glad you found it and hope you enjoy Metroid Dread as well!
Reproduction Carts were such a blessing when I was knee deep in games I still needed to collect. English translations of Japanese games or just talented Etsy entrepreneurs making games like Earthbound, Ducktales 2, Mega Man 5 or Little Samson. I’ve never cared if my collection has value. I just wanted to own all of the games physically.
Retro games can be the cheapest or most expensive hobby you have, depending on how you want to play the games. If collecting isn't important, you can play them all for no cost at all (at least for the actual games). Collecting original hardware and copies of games is where things can get very expensive. My advice is to have a way of playing emulators on your TV, regardless of what you're collecting. It changed my perspective about what I want to buy and my collecting habits because I can play the games without owning old copies of them. That's not to say I don't still buy retro grame stuff but I'm more selective and informed when I spend my money now.
Same with coin collecting. There are options for all price budgets and people can still enjoy the hobby even if they don't want to break the bank.
@@husbandofsamus I compare buying original retro games to buying antiques but coin collecting is a similar thing too. Comparable factors determine the price (the era, rarity, condition, holding value, current demand etc). The main difference is most antiques can't be enjoyed in a purely digital form like games on the internet. Old music, movies, books and comics are exceptions and there are people going to great effort to preserve all that, just like with games.
Edit: Game collecting is a strange thing when you think about it. Music fans don't insist on owning only the original vinyl pressings and cassettes. Movie fans don't insist on owning the original film reels or VHS versions. A re-release that works on current technology is what most prefer. Are we a bit... weird?!!
I'm surprised nobody has mentionned the Evercade, yet... The whole point of that little machine is litteraly "retrogaming and collecting on a budget".
It doesn't support multi player from what I have read...So it's a pass for me when every other one does multi player.
@@tonyp9313 I can understand that. I think this is a good start though. I'm in my early 30's and fortunate enough to be able to afford collecting originals but I'm also a huge fan of emulation, so these things drew my eye a bit
@@AfroPear Emulation for sure. There's a lot of ways to play them though. The Ever drives is the best way as you can have tons of them and put them in either a original console or a clone one. Also if you hacked the Retron 5... That to. Ever drives are the best though for emulation.
@@tonyp9313 Everdrives are great but there's one distinct advantage emulation has over original HW/FPGA. Versatility. They can be put on nearly any type of hardware and can be played in nearly any fashion/form factor. Many of which can be plugged directly into your TV so you're getting more of a 2-for-1 deal. Buying multiple Everdrives can also get pricy quick
I see what you are saying. You are saying basically it's a retro switch. The controls for handheld systems are not good in my opinion. I rather play them with original controllers or clone controllers that are exactly like original ones. That's why I bough the ever drives.
Your main advantage with that would be playing games on the go outside your house etc.
I'm a collector...of digital games. RetroPie allowed me to play games I no longer owned because stupid me sold them when I needed quick cash. These days I buy physicals of Switch games when available, digital otherwise...
I respect this cause you were a collector at a time. I’d go digital too cause now data gaming for retro is crazy
Ahem, don't let people make you feel bad for using emulators or retro pies. The used gaming market has exploded mainly because of companies like META games falsely driving up market prices. They should be in jail in my opinion. You wanna waste your hard earned money because some guys who are already rich want more? Go ahead. Download emulators while you can. Cause greed will drive every decision made in this misguided country. 💵💰🪙💳
Man. I sold a majority of my ps1 and ps2 games to scrape some money together when I got laid off and the main one I regret selling is Suikoden. Shit cost me £3.99 in a bargain bin, so I was like "Yeah, £40 sounds good enough!" Now I wish to fuck I hadn't sold that shit since it's now hard as fuck to find at a reasonable price.
@@andybytheway I truly do feel your pain. I think many of us started selling some of our games.....before the market got over inflated illegally. Companies like WATA games have intentionally been using the Media to hype up purchase prices of old used games. This has basically taken every single gamers money who wishes to collect, and put a chunk of it in their pockets. American Greed at it's finest! Let's hope the owners of WATA games get Cancer. 🤞
8:40
I got my copy of Pokemon White 2 when it first released.
Because of recent events, people who see me playing it in public are always surprised.
It's really weird.
For me I gave or sold all my Super Nintendo Games when my original Super Nintendo died. Just recently bought a 16 Bit Boy that plays Super Nintendo Games and just got one cartridge for it the 900 in 1. Bought both in one day. When it came in my collecting for the Super Nintendo was done, as it had all my bangers that I needed in one cartridge. Saved tons that day!
Wish I could say the same for my other Retro experiences.
My favourite trick for keeping the hobby less expensive is buying less games! Enjoying what I have and only picking stuff up if I REALLY want it
I've gone down the "have children" route - nestles right next to the "stop buying so many games" option and saps your disposable income just as effectively
"Mister, no, not what I was called when I was a child" I've mentioned this on another one of your videos, but you really crack me up! I'm really glad I found your videos!
We must think alike then!
It's times like these where I wish I could go back in time when the game/console was brand new in mint condition, came with the manual and box, and was much cheaper
Not always
Retro gaming & collecting is an emotional roller coaster 🎢
Two things:
In college I used to buy the expensive games I wanted to play, beat them and then resale them a few months later for basically the same price. I thought of it as renting with out the use of blockbuster.
Now I have a collection, but I will still some some of the higher priced items I got cheaper back in the day because I got them now on another console(super mario 64 on the switch)
Hello,
To spend little money on video games while still having a decent collection, here is what I try to do :
-Collect for a limited amount of consoles (choose 2 or 3 you really like)
-Try to buy the games that are cheap. Often during the 8 and 16 bit eras, licenced games where made by great companies (mainly sega and capcom), yet are still cheap nowadays.
-Import some games from Japan. Sometimes It can save you a lot of money
-Appreciate everything you have, even though your collection is small
i'm a collector through and through, and it is important to me to maintain the authenticity of the era - the ceremony of pulling a game off the shelf, popping it into the console and firing up the electron radiation tube. Which is pretty much the most expensive way to be in this hobby, luckily i've been in it for 20yrs so theres not much i am buying these days. So my trick is/was "get in early!". Having said that, i LOVE that there are cheap/free options available for this hobby, and even some completely authentic ways of playing the games but without having to buy them. The more people that can experience the golden era of video gaming for themselves (the 90s), the better!
Yes, I have felt over the years that there will be a chance to get these expensive games at one point or another. I learned to be patient as I'm not anywhere rich and have all these responsibilities. It took me like ten years of waiting for the right price on Tengen Tetris. Everything comes and goes. I also agree about the imports as they are amazing and cut your spending so much. Also, just wanted to point out that the artwork is always so much better than other regions. The Famicom and Super Famicom artworks are a perfect example. I highly recommend taking that route.
CZcams recently recommended your Channel to me, so I watched, liked and subscribed. My tip for collecting retro games is patience, and knowing if you're a gamer or a collector (decide the parameters early on).
A few thoughts:
1) I really appreciate the business owners that try to help keep prices low. One local store gives a discount on Fridays and additional discount if you’re wearing their branded merchandise, as well as keeping their prices reasonable to begin with.
2) One thing I miss about gaming expos is the free library to play games. Someone needs to come up with a Netflix-like rental for obscure/rare games. That would give someone who isn’t into emulation a chance to play at a fraction of the cost.
That super soaker 2000…. Damn.. i still feel my eyeball almost fall out when i got a point blank shot to my dome back in the day.
Well, legend has it that's why they had to discontinue it.
Honestly I stopped trying to collect around 2015 and only buy or plan on buying the games im truly interested in now a days and have a better idea of what im looking for in general
My funding for video games has been much lower recently so buying certain retro games has kept me in the hobby. Original Gameboy and NES have some great titles for cheap!
P.S. it seems like you’re always kicking it up one more notch with each video Retro Bird!
There's lesser known games by Capcom and Konami that are still fun. Guerilla War only went up in price recently because people found out it was made by SNK. Nobody cared before that and it was a good cheap Ikari Warriors clone.
My trick was this: I did all my collecting 20 years ago when the discontinued games I was collecting were-like myself at the time-still young. I merely sought the titles that I would actually play, and I procured them in the days of garage sales, brick-and-mortar video rental liquidations (businesses that Blockbuster was putting out of business). Oh, and FuncoLand.
Since then, my collecting has been limited to merely buying the occasional digital port, such as the Castlevania Anniversary Collection. I've only recently pondered taking up collecting physical games again, but I fear it could cannibalize my sim racing fund, and that's hard to justify.
I really enjoy your channel RetroBird it's one of the few channels about retro gaming that I truly enjoy. They're very informative and entertaining. You're not an e-beggar or a jerk like alot of them are. With regards to this video I decided that after looking at the disaster the market for old games has become I just decided to buy and use the mini systems. I currently have the NES classic, SNES classic, Genesis mini, and the Japanese Core Grafx mini. I'm Looking to get the Atari flashback, the PS classic and the NEO GEO mini. It's the only sane alternative for me with limited time and the resources I have financially. Awesome video and well done! Subscribed.
I have no problem with emulation. If someone wants to play an obscure game from 25 years ago, the answer shouldn't be 'sorry that you're poor, but you get to miss out'
Not to mention the fact that the developers won't get any money regardless (unless the game happens to be in a modern compilation or something), so I really can't see the problem. No one is being affected as far as copyrights are concerned. I really don't understand why people bash on emulation so much in the case of retro games.
It doesn't HAVE TO BE an expensive hobby, but if you start right now IT IS (collecting retro games), especially thinking what games these new retro collectors will seek.
But if you just want to play retro games, it could be free (guessing that you at least have a phone or PC), so just buy an usb controller and you are set.
Great topic
Saludos de Chile
Wow look at Richie Rich over there with the deluxe model Super Soaker!
Prices on older game is outrageous right now. For some games(like Little Samson), they will never be obtainable for the average collector without saving a lot of money to purchase them. My tip for collecting right now is to collect for systems that are old, but don't have much nostalgia tied to them yet. The systems I find to be cheap to collect for are PS3, Wii U, XB360, Xbox, and Wii. PS2 used to be cheap to collect for but a lot of the great titles are getting expensive. There are some rare and expensive games for the systems I mentioned but as a whole they are cheap to collect for.
My tip might not be useful for those who prefer collecting games that are nostalgic but there are a ton of great games on these systems for cheap.
My key for keeping it affordable is to buy as a console dips in price, like right now getting great ps3 games is very affordable, and lots of great ps2 games are still affordable… basically, as soon as a new generation reaches the point where enough of them have spare cash and want to relive their childhood, those items go up in price, so get the childhood items of next year’s generation now
So like Wii, PS3, and XBOX 360. DS and PSP. 3DS has some cheap ones now. Even stuff like Zelda.
@@SgtSega exactly, maybe "rare games" that are also good are already starting to climb in price, but not nearly as much as the rare gems from things like snes or ps1
My “trick” used to be buying in bulk. I’ve been after a full original Xbox set for 7 or so years now, and it was easy to knock out 10 titles for 25 dollars all day doing ebay lots, and then even recouping some of that by selling back on ebay or trading in locally. That said, now that I’m down to less than 100 games, it’s tough to find a lot that even has one game I need, and then the amount of work to make that money back almost always pushes me to just buy the game standalone.
That’s not to say you can’t score on a lot though, I remember getting a lot with Otogi 2 in it for less than 20 dollars. It’s all about patience and diligence.
Curious, can you explain to me why this is at all worth your time and frustration?
I personally pirate all my retro games, always have since I grew older.
I now run roms on the systems themselves and I just can't see any benefits to buying these games whatsoever.
Could you possibly enlighten me?
@@nexxusty 1. if anyone ever tried to crack down on pirating- you could be facing a very hefty fine (it does happen regularly, but seems more about making an example to scare people since it is ruin your life amount of fines). 2. just like to collect. 3. some games do go up in value- so can be mildly seen as an investment. 4. can turn a short term profit depending on how you collect (my collection is likely an income neutral thing- i buy mostly at garage sales and thrift stores- sell off about half that is eithere a- very expensive and not high on my list or b- not needed- so even though i have spent 2-3k on retro gaming, i have likely sold off almost as much in stuff that i had no intention of keeping- honestly the more expensive stuff i have was either lucky find and i kept or i traded a bunch of other stuff for it)
@@nexxusty Objectively, it definitely isn’t. But it’s an enjoyment of working toward a goal, building a knowledge, and helping others in the game collecting community with that knowledge. You don’t get to know about the rarity of certain titles, or neat packaging variants, or get an experience of getting a game you didn’t have before, just by downloading a console library off of a site, and then clicking around. There’s something very homogenized about that, compared to the experiences I’ve had amassing my game collection. And that’s worth something to me, I suppose.
Really appreciate your videos and your approach to games. I like that you try to avoid excluding anyone.
It really depends on what the person's goal is when it comes to retro gaming. But it doesn't have to be expensive if you don't want it to be. It really is unfortunate though that a lot of original retro games (especially if people want to play for sentimental reasons) are expensive.
Glad Goof Troop got some love in this video....here's s hoping for an HD remake (with extra levels) someday!
I have a raspberry pi in a home made arcade board with 7000+ games currently. So much fun and wasn't too expensive to get into. 10+ consoles aswell as mame for arcade games. I just grab a beer, hit the random button and have a blast
Excellent video Retro Bird. I've been collecting since the mid '90s and I accepted a long time ago that there will always be games (and now consoles) that are well out of my reach due to price, scarcity or both.
As a 42 year old divorced man with no kids, well into my career and with a growing income, it's awesome as the only person that i have to think about is myself. So, i can splurge every now and then. However, with other expenses taking precedence over the hobby, I am a lot more choosy these days. That's life.
Some of my tips for people who are just getting into collecting or returning after a hiatus (or three) and are just trying to increase their numbers:
Look at buying game lots (even if something you already own is in it).
Invest in older sports titles (which are almost always cheap).
Avoid popular titles unless it's something that you really want.
Look at games and consoles that may have come before your time but, have fallen out of popularity with collectors (i.e. Atari 2600-7800).
OMG I had that Super Soaker when I was a kid. Just had some mad flashbacks 😂
It's pretty awesome!
To save money I collect things related to my favorite games. A lot of that stuff still flies under the radar of collectors. Also I just stopped being so impulsive. That has drastically reduced the amount of money I have spent
Great topic , and video as always!I keep a game fund that is funded by selling games or consoles. But it's been slow as of late.
One thing I've thought that would both make retro gaming less expensive & allow companies that originally made these games to make some money as well, would be to continue to re-release hardware & software. Even if this was denoted as second runs as to not hurt the "collector" market, but allow those of us who want original hardware & software but are ok with newer reproductions that still look & feel original. There's a lot of specifics to work out like are they order only similar to limited run games, but it's something that would make it easier & cheaper for more people to get some games. It would also allow more people (younger people especially) to get to play these great games.
does not really work for carts. They simply are no longer manufatured, so it would be expensive to make new nes carts since the molds and machinery would need to be made again. The carts are also fairly expensive once that is done- and the market would be small for a re-release for a 30 year old game, and even smaller once people realize they will be at least $20.
I think the real solution is the mini consoles. I would pay $100 for an NES mini with a slot for sd cards, and another $40 for an SD card with 5-10 older games on it. Clearly you could fit the whole libary on a single card, but i assume you put all the mega mans on one card since that would represent what i would shell out $40 for, but i would want 100 of the crappier shovel games for that same $40 since i likely have memories from a few of them.
@@MrNotoriousjim I'm actually getting newly produced Zombies Ate My Neighbours & Ghoul Patrol SNES carts from limited run games, so the capacity does exist.
For me the most important aspect is to play on original hardware. So for older cartridge based consoles I have multi- carts. For a few games I have gotten them digitally via virtual console. For example, Silent Hill and Misadventures of Tron Bonne on PS3 and Ikaruga on PS4. I do still collect for generations 3-6. Gen 7 and beyond, with a few exceptions I feel is less desirable in the era of patches, dlc and online variables. Cheers.
Perfect timing for a new Retro Bird video! I just got done watching True Romance and I definitely thought as I was watching it, "Brad Pitt's roommate looks like Retro Bird!".
Glad that worked out for ya!
My trick is... never buy from collectors or retro shops, those people overvalue games because they know other people pay high sums on the internet. I usually buy from local people who trade or sell their old stuff, in fact most of my consoles have cost me less than $30. The cheapest was a GBC at the price of $5, but my most satisfied purchase was a SNES with Super Mario All-Stars and Street Fighter at only $25. Sometimes I think that people doesn't know what they have.
Nowadays I only collect the games that I am interested in having physically, whether they are current or retro, since I'm not against emulation or homebrew. The only thing I want is to play the game rather than only having it on my bookshelf.
My suggestion is simple patience and diligence. If you can hold off from buying something immediately you can find a deal. For example, when I was looking for G.I. Joe for NES it was selling for $85-115, I didn't want to pay that. But I kept watching Ebay and after about 2 months or so I finally saw a buy it now listing for $38 and I scooped that up immediately. And you may think it was a beat up copy or had an issue but no, it was in excellent condition but. I can live without a game I want for a while, it's not like I don't have other games to enjoy while I wait. I think people's excitement just gets the better of them and they have to have it now and end up paying more than they want to.
If you're new to retro gaming/ collecting, the best thing you can do is be content with emulation, mini consoles or multi/flash carts. But these are seriously like a gateway drug for a much more expensive hobby. I really do appreciate your perspective on what it is to be a "collector". Keep up the good work!
All the games I have are digital. Mine are emulators and roms that I've downloaded and collected over the years. I never had to pay for mine. I'm 47 now and I'm a retro gamer collector. My path in retro gaming collection started back in 2002 when I was in college. I found a bunch of SNES games on a school computer with the emulator too. Over the years, I've collected and downloaded roms and emulators from NES to Xbox 360. My last emulator download was Atari 2600 and the roms that came with it. I continue to love retro gaming. It's fun and I get to play the games I encountered from my childhood. Also games that I never got to play as a kid.
My philosophy is to research games more before I buy. I have a solid handle on what games I will enjoy and I don't take as many chances. That being said, the games I buy now tend to be expensive because demand is high. Last year I passed on Belmont's Revenge because I though the price was too high (~$30) and I recently dropped $75 to get the game before the price keeps skyrocketing. Ugg... Same with Ninja Gaiden on the SMS. I finally pulled the trigger on purchasing it before the price keeps going up.
I bought a PS1 with a pre-installed X-Station to help me stop picking up so many games. Now I just add any games that I'm interested in playing to a list so I can check them out later.
Yes you do have to do the Macarena everytime you eat pizza 🍕 especially with "PINEAPPLES"😁
I got a raspberry pi hooked up to a CRT alongside a decent sized collection of mostly n64 and original NES. Good stuff
I’m the guy that saves up for the games to buy, I only focus on paying money for games I’m actually gonna play or already enjoy. I bought a couple of Pokémon games this year simply because I wanted to play them, granted you save up and buy when you have the money. Aside from that, I’ll pick up games from goodwills or thrift stores as well, granted I don’t mind adding games I won’t play to the collection as long as I get them for a dollar or 2
Doing Macarena before eating pizza is a must. No questions asked.
I work at a bar. I meet a lot of people and often ask them if they have any old games lying around or if their kids left anything behind after going to college. Most of the time they have no clue what stuff is worth or don't think it's worth anything. They are often happy just to get rid of it.
Wow! Never heard this one before. Totally believable though.
@@RetroBirdGaming I seriously got a PS Vita for free off a regular customer because he doesn't play it and he knows I collect. I just had to get the proprietary memory card and I was good.
How have you not got more subscribers? Your topics are always interesting.
Thank you! I'm working on it!
Super NT with FX Pak Pro is my go to way to play the SNES library on modern displays. The overall convenience, no noticeable lag, ability to play the carts you already own, and the customization is something I enjoy.
For me it’s hitting garage sales and thrift stores as often as possible looking for any cheap games I can get my hands on. And don’t get discouraged! You can go weeks without finding anything and all of a sudden hit the jackpot! Also, buy everything you can if it’s cheap enough and trade up (or, *(gasp)* resell the cheap games you find for more money) and get what you really want.
Im also in the fortunate position in that I have amassed a large collection of comics over the years that I payed very little for compared to today’s prices (another hobby that has gotten ridiculously expensive of late) so whenever I want a more expensive game, I just visit the bank of long boxes and cash out a book or two.
Hi RetroBird, I recently found your channel and I adore it! Thanks for making awesome content! I'm excited to learn more about my favorite hobby, and pick up a few laughs along the way! Thanks!!
3 friends I used to play video games with don't have the time/money/space to play anymore. I got them all raspberry pi, now 2/3 regularly play retro games again. One is a firefighter, brought it to the firehouse, and they all play it while waiting for fires. It's a great option for those who don't have time/money to collect or space to store them. Plus it's also great for those just waiting for fires to happen.
I really enjoy and appreciate your humor 🙂
My trick I have previously mentioned before.. Bulk auction lots and yard sales. I tried to buy individual games, but the cost kind of ruined that.
I go through those routes because after bills I rarely have money to myself.
I'm amazed that you went through this whole video without mentioning flash carts. Just download everything onto an SD cart and play on original hardware through that.
I kind of alluded to them when I mentioned multicarts, but yes I forgot to mention them specifically.
I have 15-1600 individual games but only play my modded consoles, and everdrives because of convenience. This winter I am slimming down 70-80% and guess what, I’ll still be able to play the same amount of games. I’m investing the profits into an index fund. Selling at the top of the market and investing will take the sting away a little. Nice video retro bird, thank you for all the content.
Thank you once again for watching!
Love this inserts 9:04!
Good topic to discuss RetroBird! I went for the mini NES instead of collecting for an original because of convenience and obviously price, love the NES mini! Also I started collecting a few games for the Xbox and Xbox 360 before the price goes up 👍
What I do to make the hobby less expensive are several things; whenever I want a game, I first try it out for a few days on my MiSTer to see if it holds my attention before actually going out to find a deal. A lot of times the game doesn’t click with me in which case the ‘need’ to get it gets a lot less. Either way, I have a lot better understanding of how much the game is worth it to me.
Another thing I do is setting a budget; I put an amount of money aside each month which limits what I can buy (forcing me to think about what I want next, the most). An added bonus to this is that when you finally buy a game or system, it brings back the nostalgic feeling of having saved up for it and finally having it in your hands!
I don't even want to think about how much I have spent on retro gaming over the years lol. With that said, a Retropie is a perfectly good alternative for playing these games. I bounce back and fourth from real hardware to my retropie running retroarch all the time. I don't notice any lag either. If I'm on the retripie, I use a 8bitdo dongle with a Switch nes or snes joycon attatched to it and thats good enough to get in a gaming session. Its also a really good way to try out some of these old games I missed out on because video stores don't exist anymore. If I really like a game, I will absolutely track down a physical copy. Those physical copies have been bought and paid for years ago, and you're not making Nintendo or sega any richer, or stiffing them if you emulate the game. Thats my take on it anyway. I'd get the MistER, but the retropie already does a good enough job. From what I understand, Retropie is software emulation, and MistER is hardware emulation. If you buy a bunch of addons for that Mister, things sure do add up, and you're back at square one. You're 100 percent right about how it depends on what kind of retro gamer you are. For the casual player, I would say the mini consoles are great for someone who wants to experience their childhood again, and to pass that experience on to their kids. But you cant find them on the cheap anymore. For the most hardcore of retro gamer, nothing but real hardware on a CRT is acceptable. I think most of us fall somewhere in the middle. I would never tell anyone else that they're doing it wrong. I'm just glad other people are keeping these games alive, and not letting them get lost to the bowels of history.
My best trick for keeping the hobby affordable is picking stuff up for cheap at garage sales, and then selling them to collectors for 80% the going rate. Not only will they instantly scoop up my garage sale find, but now I have some people that might be willing to sell me games on the cheap in the future!
I sold all my old consoles and the last of my physicals around the time the genesis mini released. I own every mini NES, SNES, Genesis, PS Classic, TGF16, NeoGeo, Astro City Mini. I also have a PS4 Pro, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X, and a gaming laptop. And an extra Xbox One S in the bedroom lol. I prefer my collection being digital and having the HDMI out on everything for streaming/capturing purposes. I also just got sick of doing all the tinkering myself when it came to emulation and I sleep easier at night.
I’m literally repurchasing all my favourite game titles & consoles slowly, then genuinely going to add to the collection with price collection & checking. Eg GTA (tons of copies) but that over the years will get fewer & fetch more money so going to collect some just now in hope that in the future to 1. Make some money & 2. Let other people enjoy them .. I really am not aiming for the rarity’s just what most people played.
I am terrible at keeping it affordable! I buy lots of bargain games but ya know, Stacks of them. AND I hunt down some more expensive games that I really want on top of that, because, often the budget games don't always satisfy the same. Right now what I'm doing is playing Dragon Warrior 2, which keeps me busy, and lots of arcade action too, to switch it up. The best way to keep it cheap is to just play what you have, and sell off things you are not currently into to pay for things you are.
For disk based games I don’t mind finding out of box loose disks. Those are usually cheapest
Freeze Man and Turbo Man( Motor man) were designed by Dr.Doppler. ( though I don't remember well if it was Auto Man), though by now I'm pretty sure I am psychic.
Gaming should be off whatever budget you have, while not blowing all of your paycheck on one expensive title, and more so expanding your library on what seems interesting to you, because it looks cool, not because of monitary value
Yeah I still go to retro game stores and they have TONS of great games in the $10 to $30 range I have a blast with
Most people when it comes to retro games want $120 games for $5 I think 😅
He kind of touched on this with multicarts but these can do damage long term to a console since many don't draw the right amount of voltage. A better solution is a quality everdrive for a cart based system or an optical drive emulator for disc based systems. Best of everything in my opinion. No need to ever purchase a physical game (or risk damaging them by handling them) and 100%accurate performance since it's real hardware and controllers. Something like satiator for the Saturn is certainly an expense but still only a fraction of just one game for some of the more expensive options (plus you can add fan English translation patches)
Plus, with those everdrives you get to pick exactly which games you want on them.
The cheapest way to play it is by Emulation. Something is better than nothing. At least I store all my favorite emulator consoles and games in my laptop and I even backed it up just in case so that I can play whenever I like. I also have the Raspberry Pie with me as well.
If I had to do it all over again, I think original hardware with Everdrives, Optical Disk Drives and Burnt Cd's for Saturn/Dreamcast would be the route I would take. I have been collecting for about 5 or 6 years, and luckily have a finish line in sight as far as physical games that I want to add to my collection, except for Saturn/Dreamcast which at this point I think I'm going to go the burnt disk route anyways. Although I have paid retail for a lot of games, I would say half of my collection have been fleamarket/thrift store finds so that's made it easier. The other way I look at it is a new gen game will cost 60 dollars. If a retro game is exspensive but will give me that same amount of entertainment, I see that as a justifiable purchase. I still may go og hardware/everdrive if games keep getting more and more expensive, but for now I'd really like to finish my collection and knockout that backlog. Great video as always!!
@@TheVisualNovel yes, that is actually my plan for the Sega stuff. I currently do that with custom game cases for my loose cartridge games. Honestly if you can live with it, that's the way to go especially to get the bigger ticket games.
I’ve kept things affordable by using emulation as a trial for games and only buying the ones that are really enjoyable or I have nostalgic memories of. I’m also an avid thrifter and will buy whatever comes up if it looks interesting.
My trick is quit your job and become a reseller. Then i always happen to br at thrift stores and garage sales looking for stuff to sell and also get to be the same place i could find cheap games. Even though its almoust impossible these days
In my case I collect Game Boy games, systems and accessories. But now the prices are so high so I ended up with a Everdrive.
I love the feel of having the game CIB or well I know in some cases it will be just the cartridge, but with the prices right now an Everdrive works for me.
That's a plus for being old. I own a lot of games that are expensive know.
Mini consoles play great. It's more about the library of games on them. They all have smash hit games except for the Playstation mini. That one got screwed.
As someone who is currently 17 and got into the hobby in 2020, I can say that the best way to save some money is to ask locally to see if people are willing to give away their old games for cheap or even for free in some cases. Another way I save a bit on games is to get them in bad, but still working condition, because sometimes games sold in "not working" condition can be a simple case of dirty pins or a dead battery.
Thus far I've obtained 170+ games and it has only cost me around $1000. The main reason being that asking for free games thing I talked about works great where I live. Many people are glad to get rid of what they think can be clutter. Like the saying goes, "one man's trash is another man's treasure".
I dab in a little of all of it but am primarily a physical game collector. I picked up Wild Arms Alter Code F today. Brutal $200 but am looking forward to playing it. I have the Nes Mini, Snes Mini, and Genesis Mini but I keep them at my parents place for family visits and fun with them and for my son. I also have the Analogue NT Mini Noir, Mega SG, and Super NT. I use them for mostly for going to friends houses for game play. The game room has all the Originals hooked up and that is what I play on 99% of the time. I got into this to get that feeling of playing on the original hardware. Original Controller, the boot up sequence, the whole experience. Plus there are less settings I have to mess with. Just turn it on and have good cables hooked up to a nice crt of flat screen for some of the 6th Gen and onward.
I totally get your sense of humour and you are a very talented presenter.
Thank you :)
I retired my original sega genesis. I have an analogue mega sg. I have the 8bitdo wireless mod kit for the controller. I have the sega genesis mini. I have an everdrive for it plus my original collection. I use an everdrive for my n64 and snes. I have a a Playstation mini with a flash drive with the complete library.
With emulation as an option, retro gaming is as cheap or expensive as you make it
Another thought-provoking and funny video. Thanks as always!!
For retro games, I downloaded a pile of TG16, GBA, and SNES games through the Wii U e-shop (until it was apparently discontinued in Canada? It won't accept my credit card for payment as of a few months ago) and I also downloaded a few PS1 titles to my PS3 a few months ago so I have a nice backlog of pixel-art games to play.
I also got a SNES Classic and Genesis Mini, and I'm a bit conflicted to say that I Hakchi'd them to install additional games.
- Whenever possible, the games I put on the systems I previously owned on compilations (e.g., the PS3 Sonic Genesis Collection) or the Wii U Virtual Console;
- There are several games I loaded up that are not available any other way as far as I know (e.g., fan-translated JRPG games for the SNES, and a fan-made Super Metroid hack "Ascent" on the SNES classic as well);
- I'm thrilled to have purchased and installed a new Genesis game from 2019? onto the Genesis Mini - Tanglewood by Big Evil Corp (I was able to purchase the ROM online, and getting it to work on the Genesis mini was really easy). It's really satisfying being able to select Tanglewood among all of the actual classic Genesis games.
- I'm thinking of purchasing and installing Xeno Crisis onto the Genesis Mini as well (another modern game programmed to run on the Genesis).
It seems like there are a lot of modern developers who are making new games for the Genesis. Is anyone aware of similar projects for the SNES???
To clarify, the reason I'm putting copies of games I already own all onto the SNES and Genesis mini systems is because I want to be able to just access them from one single place (I don't want to have to jump from console to console, and I also like playing them with the controllers for the minis - in particular, this is better than playing with the Wii U controller).
I feel like a pretty good chunk of people with mini consoles have used Hakchi on them.
I had a massive collection but decided to sell most of it off after my daughter was born to clear out my gaming room to make a nursery, which became her own room. Titles I parted with included Bubble Bobble 2, Samurai Shodown V Special fixed, Lunar Silver Star Story Complete, Saturn Symphony of the Night, countless other games, and a number of consoles. I still have a number of personal favorites and the systems to run them. Now I run my games on PC with Retroarch and 8BitDo controllers hooked up to the TV, and wouldn't change a thing. Got a new car from selling the games, saved a ton of space, and my gaming experience is actually more streamlined now. I have no regrets.
My Xbox One is essentially an N64 gaming machine. I've built up a diverse digital library of retro tiles over the years, primarily those that used to be on Nintendo's first 3D console. The hobby doesn't have to be expensive, if you just pick up the games you want, a little at a time.
I Enjoy using my Chinese retro handhelds like the RG351P or Retroid Pocket 2 it's a easy way to play these different games it might not be everyone's thing but I appreciate this route of retro gaming along with my mini consoles it's just convenient.
the evercade handheld and the new vs console coming next month is a great way to collect retro games officially. plus with the collections on cart ive found i play games id never dream of.
EverDrives and ODEs. I’ve saved a small fortune thanks to SSD3 and can play it on real hardware to boot.