Consoomers / Consoomer Culture - Because if it has a recogniseable brand on it, I’d buy it!

[Jason_Cruiser]

Yep. Fortunately I was ahead of the curve on that one, so I “got mine”, but I still feel for the people who are looking for cheap classic games.

I’ll say it now too, but I think that prices for these games won’t go down, because even though millions were produced back in the day, the market landscape has changed, which is most obvious with Japan. It’s no longer just Japanese people and foreigners who go there that can buy the games, it’s the entire world. When you consider it at that scale, the supply suddenly seems pretty low, compared to the demand.

Some games like pocky and rocky and the ninja warriors have returned to pre-pandemic levels. Sucks though being a zoomer and missing out on the chance to buy the games I wanted for cheap, but atleast I have relatives who grew up then and got all their shit handed to me.

There is always the chance the games will go down once the nostalgia does. For Nintendo I can't see that happening, everyone will want to play Mario's origin, but for the pc-engine and Sega, I can't image in thirty years too many people are going to be clamoring for cotton 2 or Shinobi x.

 

[Scuffed Marisa]

"Collecting" or even worse consooming retro games and consoles is utterly fascinating and nonsensical to me. It makes no sense whatsoever since all of it can be emulated and played for free. Every argument against ROMs and emulators people come up with sound like a massive defensive cope about wasting a shitload of money in a futile effort to recapture their fading childhood. That, and it's obvious the whole industry that sprang up around "mint vintage games" and so on is completely artificial and amounts to a kind of scam or crypto grift where someone eventually ends up holding a bag of worthless shit. I can understand buying manga, figurines and so on within reasonable limits because their physical nature is what you're buying, but a piece of software (game) is ephemeral and untied to the cartridge or CD or whatever.

Game collecting is just a modern expression of the old boomer mindset of collecting "fine china" and similar old hag bullshit that goes straight to the junk pile once the boomer kicks the bucket. "Heirlooms" they call them, but it's just porcelain ducks or horses or similar shitty knickabrack with no meaning, purpose or even aesthetics. Just save your money people.

 

[Kalsarikännit]

"Collecting" or even worse consooming retro games and consoles is utterly fascinating and nonsensical to me. It makes no sense whatsoever since all of it can be emulated and played for free. Every argument against ROMs and emulators people come up with sound like a massive defensive cope about wasting a shitload of money in a futile effort to recapture their fading childhood. That, and it's obvious the whole industry that sprang up around "mint vintage games" and so on is completely artificial and amounts to a kind of scam or crypto grift where someone eventually ends up holding a bag of worthless shit. I can understand buying manga, figurines and so on within reasonable limits because their physical nature is what you're buying, but a piece of software (game) is ephemeral and untied to the cartridge or CD or whatever.

Game collecting is just a modern expression of the old boomer mindset of collecting "fine china" and similar old hag bullshit that goes straight to the junk pile once the boomer kicks the bucket. "Heirlooms" they call them, but it's just porcelain ducks or horses or similar shitty knickabrack with no meaning, purpose or even aesthetics. Just save your money people.

“It can be emulated” is the “just use Linux” of the console world.

 

[Judge Dredd]

"Collecting" or even worse consooming retro games and consoles is utterly fascinating and nonsensical to me. It makes no sense whatsoever since all of it can be emulated and played for free. Every argument against ROMs and emulators people come up with sound like a massive defensive cope about wasting a shitload of money in a futile effort to recapture their fading childhood.

It depends on what your goals are and the systems you collect. eg. Systems like the SNES, NES, Playstation, GameCube, and MegaDrive, I mostly agree. Those can be emulated very well. Which is why I don't understand Gen-X Nintendo fans who rebuy their NES collection every time Nintendo releases a new console. But other systems like N64, 3DS, and Xbox 360 come with major compromises to emulate.

Without powerleveling, my PSVita has been my best friend the last couple of days. I like that little handheld, and I keep hearing about how all but a few noteworthy games are available better on PC, that doesn't beat having them in a portable format. There are a few games I'd like on the system. Mainly Killzone: Mercinaries and Bullet Girls 1.


I know this will sound cringe, but what bothers me about collectors is that they don't appreciate what they have. It's not like they're collecting these games to dump to ROM sites or for archival purposes. They don't even play their vast collections. It's just for clout, for background decorations on their set, or worse an investment asset.

 

[The Real Slim Shady]

Emulation is preservation and the biggest middle finger you can show to all these retards who stockpile new-in-box old titles is to run a copy on your phone. But I find emulation will always be imperfect. Slight PL but a few years ago I wanted to replay some PlayStation Portable games I had as a kid. I found PPSSPP and while it ran perfectly fine, I could not play aything, even on a DualShock controller because PSP had a unique controller layout and my muscle memory could not deal with a gamepad. So my experience is that not all platforms can be easily played when emulated.

I own a few game consoles that I bought used and repaired. Getting each one to work was a journey on it's own and I could never understand people who pay $150 for a PS3 or Xbox360. For me that would be a waste of money and a very boring console. Not many things are as satisfying as booting up a pirate ISO on a games console I picked up for $10 and put $20 to get replacement parts to run a jailbreak.

 

[Kalsarikännit]

Emulation is preservation and the biggest middle finger you can show to all these retards who stockpile new-in-box old titles is to run a copy on your phone. But I find emulation will always be imperfect. Slight PL but a few years ago I wanted to replay some PlayStation Portable games I had as a kid. I found PPSSPP and while it ran perfectly fine, I could not play aything, even on a DualShock controller because PSP had a unique controller layout and my muscle memory could not deal with a gamepad. So my experience is that not all platforms can be easily played when emulated.

I own a few game consoles that I bought used and repaired. Getting each one to work was a journey on it's own and I could never understand people who pay $150 for a PS3 or Xbox360. For me that would be a waste of money and a very boring console. Not many things are as satisfying as booting up a pirate ISO on a games console I picked up for $10 and put $20 to get replacement parts to run a jailbreak.

Yeah, I'm not pu-puing emulation overall, but it depends on your means, your budget, and what you want. If you want to just play one or two gen 4-5 games in your living room, and/or don't have a very beefy computer, it may be cheaper to just buy the console and games than pay for an upgrade. If you want all the games, and don't care about physically owning games, then sd card modding an authentic console is probably the best and cheapest way to play.

That's what I did back in the day, because I didn't have a computer good enough to run Dolphin consistently (I LOVE FRAME-LOCKED PHYSICS AND SOUND!)

 

[Yaks]

Bold of you to assume most of these retro game collectors actually play their games.

 

[foam rolla]

There's something gross about obsessive game collectors. Literally hoarding multiple copies of everything with no intention of using of using.

Also shits me that so many of these people are part of the "If you play a rom then you're breaking the law and should be charged by the police" way of thinking. When questioned with how you're suppose to play a game that's 30 years old and was never made available digitally by its publisher, they'll either do weird mental gymnastics or think buying a $300 copy on eBay is a normal thing to do.

 

[DrearyDoomguy]

There's something gross about obsessive game collectors. Literally hoarding multiple copies of everything with no intention of using of using.

Also shits me that so many of these people are part of the "If you play a rom then you're breaking the law and should be charged by the police" way of thinking. When questioned with how you're suppose to play a game that's 30 years old and was never made available digitally by its publisher, they'll either do weird mental gymnastics or think buying a $300 copy on eBay is a normal thing to do.

I have a similar sentiment about Limited Run Games whales. I get wanting to get physical medium, I really do. It provides a degree of certainty in an age where a digital product can be snapped out of existence without warning and for no good reason. Spending hundreds of dollars on FOMO Collector's edition shit, on the other hand, is just plain stupid. Companies like LRG are exploiting these people to cultivate a whole new generation of scalpers, powered by artificial scarcity stemming from "limited runs" which they from time to time actually go back on by running the same "one time" product again. The people who knowingly subsidize this shit are next-level pathetic.

 

[Jhonson the Two]

There's something gross about obsessive game collectors. Literally hoarding multiple copies of everything with no intention of using of using.

Also shits me that so many of these people are part of the "If you play a rom then you're breaking the law and should be charged by the police" way of thinking. When questioned with how you're suppose to play a game that's 30 years old and was never made available digitally by its publisher, they'll either do weird mental gymnastics or think buying a $300 copy on eBay is a normal thing to do.

Most people who do it love more the games than the collectors who shame them anyway, also it's true that having the thing in your hand is satisfying , but having a digital back up somewhere is as important as having a physical one ; both can be destroyed after all.
And me think they're pissed because they stupidly spend thousands thinking it is some classy elite shit to do, only to see smarter/poorer people enjoying it all around the World without spending a dim
You got to play some good old games free and to piss off some lame scammed idiots : no one can convince me that retrogaming by emulator is a bad thing.

 

[Gender: Xenomorph]

"Collecting" or even worse consooming retro games and consoles is utterly fascinating and nonsensical to me. It makes no sense whatsoever since all of it can be emulated and played for free. Every argument against ROMs and emulators people come up with sound like a massive defensive cope about wasting a shitload of money in a futile effort to recapture their fading childhood. That, and it's obvious the whole industry that sprang up around "mint vintage games" and so on is completely artificial and amounts to a kind of scam or crypto grift where someone eventually ends up holding a bag of worthless shit. I can understand buying manga, figurines and so on within reasonable limits because their physical nature is what you're buying, but a piece of software (game) is ephemeral and untied to the cartridge or CD or whatever.

Game collecting is just a modern expression of the old boomer mindset of collecting "fine china" and similar old hag bullshit that goes straight to the junk pile once the boomer kicks the bucket. "Heirlooms" they call them, but it's just porcelain ducks or horses or similar shitty knickabrack with no meaning, purpose or even aesthetics. Just save your money people.

Add to the fact that old consoles and outdated technology is simply broken, and degrades super fast.

 

[Scuffed Marisa]

Add to the fact that old consoles and outdated technology is simply broken, and degrades super fast.

That too. And as other people mentioned previously, these "collectors" don't actually play the games, they rarely care about the games themselves. It's all about a meaningless e-peen contest about who has the most e-waste. I'd go so far as to say that the actual, real fans of old games and exclusively people who emulate and NOT the "collectors." The actual game is the ephemeral digital code, not the physical object.

 

[Noble Redditor]

A lot of the people who hopped on the retro game collecting trend during COVID will outgrow it or get tired of it and a lot of those games will end up back at the same thrift store or garage sales they were picked from. It's a continuous cycle. That's why some collectables are on their fourth or fifth owner at this point.

During COVID I saw someone running an auction for an estate sale that was full of retro Nintendo games. It was a huge collection of games and consoles. A lot of stuff was still in shrink wrap and the previous owner had most of the big name, high dollar rarities. I think the full collection ended up selling for 35,000 and was worth closer to 200,000. I didn't understand why or how the collection ended up for sale in the first place because estate sales are mostly old ass boomers and the guy collecting all the vidya was clearly on the younger side based on the other stuff he kept around his house.

Motorcycle accident. He died instantly. His family inherited all of his stuff and didn't know what to do with it so it went to the highest bidder.

 

[The Lawgiver]

A lot of the people who hopped on the retro game collecting trend during COVID will outgrow it or get tired of it and a lot of those games will end up back at the same thrift store or garage sales they were picked from. It's a continuous cycle. That's why some collectables are on their fourth or fifth owner at this point.

During COVID I saw someone running an auction for an estate sale that was full of retro Nintendo games. It was a huge collection of games and consoles. A lot of stuff was still in shrink wrap and the previous owner had most of the big name, high dollar rarities. I think the full collection ended up selling for 35,000 and was worth closer to 200,000. I didn't understand why or how the collection ended up for sale in the first place because estate sales are mostly old ass boomers and the guy collecting all the vidya was clearly on the younger side based on the other stuff he kept around his house.

Motorcycle accident. He died instantly. His family inherited all of his stuff and didn't know what to do with it so it went to the highest bidder.

Kinda genuinely horrifying knowing that the moment someone drops fucking dead their stuff is going on expensive auctions being bought up by more "value speculators". I'd sooner have my shit either kept slightly, given to other family that like the same shit I do, or maybe MAYBE put up for a saner price than in the 20 thousands.

Add to the fact that old consoles and outdated technology is simply broken, and degrades super fast.

"degrades super fast"
My piss colored SNES and slightly melted logo from cleaning substance mishap sega genesis say otherwise. I'm STILL mad about the sega logo getting melted by the cleaner a family member used on it like over a decade after the fact but my point is a lot of my old consoles still work normally (thank god). If shit starts going nutty which it probably will eventually there's guides and people out there that can repair them and even without that there's slightly more unstable unnoficial recreations of consoles and carts. I haven't gotten one but I know there's people that make HDMI ports for old consoles to make it easier to steam directly from them which is just insane shit to me. If a lot of current year media companies had their way all these fixes and backups for old tech having an issue would be just non-existant.

the English speaking thrift finds have dried up, there was a recent discovery that Japan has lots of near mint "rare" retro games and consoles super cheap. But after a month or two, the same YouTubers were complaining again because Japanese used game shops saw what was going on and scalp the fuck out of them.

They aren't "rare" and it's not a new discovery. the last 5 years every used game from japan or "retro" game was cartoonishly cheaper and more affordable than the english copy. Figured it was only a matter of time till these fuckers started hyping those up as"rare" too.

 

[Noble Redditor]

Most retro games aren't really that expensive and it's a reasonably budget friendly hobby to get into even right now when the market is still at an all time high. You can easily get an N64 complete in original box for less than $250 after shipping, which is less than the cost of entry into a modern console. There are a lot of great N64 games you can own authentic copies of for less than $40, which is about 30-40% off original retail.

The problem is this FOMO mentality where "collectors" feel like they need to collect everything as fast as possible. You can't just have a copy of Mario 64. You need two mint condition copies, one with the "players choice" variant, and one standard, and you need to have them graded and sealed away in a hard plastic case never to be opened or enjoyed. The window of opportunity for that type of collecting has pretty much closed unless you want to constantly spend thousands of dollars for one trophy after another.

 

[The Real Slim Shady]

They will never play the games because you have to touch the disk (gasp) or even open the foil on the package (god forbid) to insert the game media into the console. And then the console could be OLD and BROKEN and DESTROY the precious game medium. It's safer on the shelf so that the collector can look at it to fulfill their hoarding desires. You guys and girls play your games?

 

[The Lawgiver]

The problem is this FOMO mentality where "collectors" feel like they need to collect everything as fast as possible. You can't just have a copy of Mario 64. You need two mint condition copies, one with the "players choice" variant, and one standard, and you need to have them graded and sealed away in a hard plastic case never to be opened or enjoyed. The window of opportunity for that type of collecting has pretty much closed unless you want to constantly spend thousands of dollars for one trophy after another.

This reminds me how people tried turning the wcdonalds chili BBQ sauce limited promotion thing into a Rick and Morty sauce 2 scenario but kinda failed. The promo was time gated sadly which sucks and I don't know where the shit went but I know there's been 1 or 2 californian sellers squat-scalping the promotional trading cards and posters they came out with for the thing. I haven't seen anyone else selling the promo cards online the last week or so for nearly 200 as a full set and the posters for $100-$600 which tells me they successfully bought up every sane listing. Shit sucks and I hate it because I wanted the one of the funny wagie bootleg of mayor mcheese literally named burg but i'd pay like 5 dollars tops for it.

If you look at the "sold"listings it's just a rapid spike over several sales from that price to $40 from the Californian guy and midway through the Californian seller guy is charging $12 and then $22 for the cards before just listing them as a 200 dollar set.

I managed to get something else tied to the promotion that wasn't something they gave out at select locations with burg on it from a different seller a while back (store window/register promo sign) so I'm kinda ok with having at least one thing. I didn't have motivation or time to go to mcdonalds save for one time when I was craving cheapo fried chicken nugget shit and remembered the sauce promo a few weeks back and the containers I got ended up getting grease stains due to me having to keep the food in the box till I got home because it was dark as hell out.

 

[Roy's Food Repair]

You can easily get an N64 complete in original box for less than $250 after shipping, which is less than the cost of entry into a modern console. There are a lot of great N64 games you can own authentic copies of for less than $40, which is about 30-40% off original retail.

In what universe are those prices reasonable for 18 year old software?

 

[Noble Redditor]

In what universe are those prices reasonable for 18 year old software?

Huh? It's not software people are paying for. It's an official hard copy of a vintage game that was made 25 (or 18 or 30) years ago.

Anyone can just pirate the game and play it for free on a hundred different emulators and devices. I don't collect games personally myself either. I'm just saying that if someone did want to get into the retro gaming hobby and buy original games for nostalgia or honestly whatever reason the cost of entry isn't that high. If you don't understand that it's a you problem.

 

[The Real Slim Shady]

I was craving cheapo fried chicken nugget shit and remembered the sauce promo a few weeks back and the containers I got ended up getting grease stains due to me having to keep the food in the box till I got home because it was dark as hell out.

Why didn't you eat them right away inside or on the way back? Were you afraid that someone might have stolen the food? (This is a genuine question)