Naked Warrior

The short answer is no...One of my favorite parts of collecting is holding the box/case in my hands and looking at the art, then reading the manual before I finally actually play the game. So for something like the Cowabunga Collection, I would rather go out and find CIB copies of everything (although I realize this can be cost prohibitive). However, I will still buy the Cowabunga Collection (when I can find it for $20 or $15 - used probably), because of save states and the other benefits that just make the games so much easier to play/finish. On the other hand, there are compilations out there for games that I'm never going to have in my collection because I don't want to buy hardware for that system or hunt down the games. Perfect examples for me are the Neo Geo Pocket Color collection (Switch) and the TurboGrafx-16 mini. I have no nostalgic connection to those systems, and currently no ambition to collect for them. I know I could emulate, but it is easier to just pick up the compilations. Lastly, I will jump at the chance to pick up compilations of games that were formerly locked on Sony systems. I don't like the Sony controller design, and even though I have a 3rd party "offset stick" PS4 controller to play the great Playstation exclusives, when stuff like the Crash or Spyro Trilogies, or the recently announced Suikoden I & II come to the Switch (or Xbox), I will gladly pick those up in lieu of the original copies.

Got this super-clean copy of everyone's favorite bearded man/banjo simulator off eBay for $135 (after taxes/shipping)! The box has a few minor blemishes, but the cart/manual don't even look like they've been touched/opened. Alas, it is too nice for my collection, so it is available in my trade thread - Check it out!

It has been a while since I bumped this trade thread! I have added some cart-only SNES/NES/GEN as I've been swapping out my cart-only copies for CIBs...and I've been getting a lot of sealed Switch games (mostly CEs) if that is your thing...Still lots of stuff in here if you are willing to trade me things from my want lists!!

In the CIB market (mostly SNES/NES/N64/GB) I have definitely seen some auctions go for way less than I was expecting over the past 2 1/2 months...And I've had a few "lowball" (like 20% below pricecharting) offers accepted on games that 6 months ago would have only been on eBay for about 10 minutes before they sold...However, I'm still not seeing a good breadth of games come back into the market...a few years ago it seemed like you could pretty much buy anything at a "reasonable" price...now I feel like I've been waiting 8 months to even just see a CIB copy (within $100 of what I'm willing to pay) of Peace Keepers (SNES), Fighter Destiny 2 (N64) or DuckTales 2 (NES)...Or maybe I just have too many games and my focus is too granular......Nahhh... For real tho - lots of softness in the market right now, wouldn't be surprising to see a 10-20% pullback over the next year or so (and more like 65-80% pullback in the sealed/graded market - If that hasn't happened already...I don't really keep up with that stuff)

How did the "Thrustmaster" brand name go out of business?? I'm buyin' whatever the Thrustmaster is sellin'!!

What if DK Oldies IS my local shop???

Yeah, their prices are super high for your "Name" games and systems, but I still buy stuff from them all the time at decent prices...They have to rake in the profits somehow, and why not by selling a SNES with a copy of Super Mario World for like $150...that's what the "normies" want . I think I bought a CIB Genesis Wings of Wor for like $90 maybe 6 months ago...I bought my first CIB Minish Cap and my only CIB copy of Oracle of Seasons from them back in 2017 for like $40 or $50 each - I know that was a long time ago, but those were below-market prices at that time. I try to check in when they have Buy 2 get 1, and I bought some PS2 games probably like 3 months ago at 70% of pricecharting due to the Buy 2 get 1...Secondly, even though I don't know the people who run it personally, I live in the area and know some people who are friends with them - from all reports, they are good people.

I will go months without finding anything worthwhile on Mercari, but I do sometimes find garbage condition games for cheap - which, of course, is my favorite thing...1st I got this jacked-up copy of Trouble Shooter for $90 (after shipping/taxes)...I feel like this game would probably be like $300 (cart only) if it was co-op...I mean who can resist that gorgeous early 90s box/label art! (Although you may notice my cart here has a small sticker partially obstructing that beautiful label art ) It is fun nonetheless, and even though it was in a bootleg yellow case, the cover art is authentic and I had another cart/manual that I probably would have had to pay like $75 for cover art anyway (to complete it), so getting the whole package for $90 is a steal to me... Then I got this nice little Xbox 360 lot...it was $65 (after shipping/taxes), so it wasn't an absolute steal, but all the games had their manuals, and it had F.E.A.R and Bullet Witch and Left 4 Dead 2 which were all on my "to get" list, plus the other 3 games are solid enough titles on their own (but I already had Enchanted Arms )

https://www.ebay.com/itm/295039034635?hash=item44b1b2650b:g:DxgAAOSw9MFiqU5f I love these people with their "alternate box art" ...I have to say the real prize here is that sweet manual art - that's how you know it's legit. And with a starting bid of only $500?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/175309858564 Alright, it didn't take me very long to come to terms with sealed/graded stuff - It is a pure money thing (anyone who tells you otherwise is lying to themselves), and at this point, is anyone really going to open a sealed SNES or NES game? The people sending sealed stuff in to get graded are not really taking anything away from other collectors... It took me longer to understand the CIB grading scene, since those are games that could be played, but I again justified it because mostly of money/fun to speculate, plus I can understand why someone might want a mint condition copy of their favorite game or two...and they might not be able to afford a sealed/mint condition copy. Especially if the game is rare or condition is rare...Whatever. But what the hell is this? It is a cart only WATA 7.5 Donkey Kong Country...The 3rd most common game on the system...I mean the only thing I could think of is that it was this person's childhood copy and they wanted to preserve it to remember someone or sometime from their past...but then why sell it? The fact that this even has bids higher than the $20 it would cost to get an avg. condition cart just blows my mind.

I know this game is pretty rare in the box, but close to $600 rare?...for a CIB with some moderate denting/sticker issues? I've seen this for sale at least 5 or 6 times and I've passed up on $75 CIB/$300 Sealed... https://www.ebay.com/itm/BattleBots-Beyond-the-Battlebox-Nintendo-Game-Boy-Advance-2002-/403689906074?_trksid=p2349526.m4383.l44720.c10&nordt=true&rt=nc&orig_cvip=true

Alright, I wasn't going to point this out when I saw the 1st one, but these 2 were listed within minutes of each other by 2 different sellers!! Yep, the ol' "Authentic" translucent blue GBA carts. Nothing screams authenticity like a non-Pokemon Sapphire translucent blue cart... https://www.ebay.com/itm/125305657121?epid=8759&hash=item1d2ccc9721:g:bW4AAOSwHSNieW1w https://www.ebay.com/itm/175274763474?epid=6484758&hash=item28cf30a4d2:g:yeIAAOSwjzdieWmi

Thanks so much for the offer! I'd rather not give that seller my business , and I wouldn't want to get you "block listed" too! Hahaha

Ah, you know you are doing eBay right when you get one of these: I offered the seller $130 for a CIB Maui Mallard on SNES...pricecharting value currently sits at $167.50, so I wouldn't have defined the (~22% below "market" value) offer as "lowball", but it was significantly lower than the price the seller had listed - $900...I like to send reasonable offers to sellers that have a way out of line price because I feel like maybe it will alert them to what I assume is an error in their listing...and that is exactly what happened here! S/he lowered the Buy It Now price from $900 to $350 shortly after my "lowball" offer. Too bad I'll never get to buy it or any of her/his other 5 items ...block listed as I am...I cannot overcome the brilliant and shrewd business acumen of this eBay seller. You've won again, crystalsthings!!!

I'll recuse myself