Alder

The price rise is almost exclusively due to the rise in popularity of the fan-made Clone Hero game. The white Xplorer (wired USB from GH2 360 bundle) is probably the most sought-after, followed by the Wii Les Paul (GH3 bundle), then any of the Xbox 360 wireless ones. PS3 ones require a dongle that is usually missing, PS2 / Rock Band stratocasters are generally worse quality. And GH Live guitars are all the way at the bottom, since they have the 2x3 button layout that most people are not interested in

Can't comment on the Dollar Store, but the standard single guitar bundle was dirt cheap for a while, I got mine for $10 new from gamestop in 2018-ish . $80 for this bundle doesn't hurt my head though considering how much hardware you're getting. But traditional 5-fret guitar hero will always be more fun IMO

The true "complete set" is to own every game ever printed. Like, literally every single copy of every game in existence - no one else can own any games. Everything else is just a subset But seriously, I've sort of stopped thinking in terms of full sets and started thinking in terms of subsets that hold meaning to me. That subset might align with what someone else considers a full set, or it might not. It's an unfortunate reality that there are so many unknowns out there regarding what was released (all unique printings/variants) and when.

Went through all of my carts and this was the only one I had that's not on the list yet:

I gave it a 9/10 but that's really for the entire GH/RB series. I was really into GH2/GH3 in the late 00s (anyone else from scorehero?) GH3 was pretty universally regarded as having the best guitar engine. Both series were kind of milked a bit too hard unfortunately. Both are still great as casual party games, but if you just want to play a bunch of songs on guitar/drums, check out Clone Hero. Regarding the fake instruments thing, I can say this: I played GH for at least a few thousand hours from 2008-2017, when I bought my first guitar. Skill-wise, I felt instantly comfortable with timing rhythm between up/down strums and fretting, and hammer-ons/pull-offs and just general fretting dexterity. That alone doesn't get you too far, but it does speak a bit to some slight skill transfer. But at the end of the day, it's a rhythm game. I play it because it's fun, not because I wish I was a rock star, lol.

I remember throwing controllers as a kid, but never hard enough to break them. The only thing I can remember is accidentally breaking the screen on my game boy advance when I couldn't beat Onox in Oracle of Ages. It's kind of embarrassing but I just slammed the fucking thing, hulk-headbutted it into my forehead. The screen cracked and I instantly regretted it. I learned my lesson and haven't raged over a game since.

I don't own a single limited run game. IMO it's far better than nothing and I'm glad people are doing it, but I really wish it was more of a "print-on-demand" kind of thing. As for the PS5.. maybe I'll get one some day, but I still need a PS4.. and a PS3

Happens to me all the time with any variation of Tetris or Picross.

In my situation, I just have a big rectangular room (12.5 ft by 50 ft), plus a bit of space near the stairs and a closet, so there's not much interior framing I have planned.. none, really. Unfortunately working with a 7 ft ceiling, but I'm short so it's fine for me :p. We looked at houses with nicer basements before buying this one, but they all had prior issues with water. My current predicament is this floor.. that mastic remover was really not worth it, and I've been venting the fumes out the window for days now. Just need to get to a clean slate so I can (hopefully) pour a new one.

Like others have mentioned, the price is a large part of it - but generally I've been more accepting of label damage as I've gotten older. What matters to me most is having an authentic copy. At some point I plan to print new, obviously repro labels for the handful of really trashed games I have. I am mindful however of opportunities to get nicer copies of my games, but that doesn't happen often since most are in acceptable shape. What does bother me though are games (NES/SNES/SFC) with super yellowed shells where it's worse on one half than the other. Even if the label is slightly worse, I'd probably prefer a copy with nice bright gray plastic. I'd like to try retrobrite on some commons that are like that, but I haven't heard of many success stories working around the labels.

I grew up playing 2, but I played 3 (just not as much) and it was great too.

Just got this in the mail today: https://www.ebay.com/itm/224598718685 I've been wanting to start collecting some of the Japanese-exclusive Game Boy games and was happy to get a copy of Painter Momopie along with a handful of others (crayon shin-chan, sailor moon). What's weird is, those 2 GBA video carts weren't included, and instead the seller gave me Kirby's Dream Land 2 (USA) and F1 Boy (JP) with torn off labels. Fine with me! I needed a copy of Kirby's Dream Land 2 anyway.

Welcome, just wanted to say Road Rash 2 is an awesome game

Put a tiny bit of water in, put your thumb over the top and shake it like hell. Or better yet, just don't use ketchup in the first place

Maybe they went overboard with flux when reflowing surface mount solder?

So it sold.. but I'm confused how 9***y (118) won with a 3.5 day old bid when thats the only bid shown placed by them?

I bought my first house last year after renting 6 different apartments since 2011. We got a 1960s brick ranch house in our hometown. It's been a huge learning experience - mainly a list of never-ending projects, but still lots of fun. I have a list of several hundred tasks I want to do, big and small, and it's started to kind of become my life. We got a few big things out of the way, contracted, like a new roof and HVAC, but everything else I've been trying to do myself. Just cleaning the place out and taking stuff to the dump has been a big chore, but I also replaced the toilet, installed GFCI outlets, installed a bathroom fan, wired in a new chandelier, and ran ethernet to the bedrooms. By far the biggest project on my plate is the basement. It's 1200 sqft split down the middle; half was finished when the house was built. A basement finished in the 60s though might as well be unfinished. I've got wood paneling on the walls and asbestos floor tiles, the works. But nothing appears to have had water damage, so I feel comfortable enough refinishing it, even if it's not a perfect solution and I end up having to replace something in 5 or 10 years. After much deliberation I ended up removing the floor tiles myself, since I was able to get them off without any cracking. The ceiling tiles also came down, along with the wood paneling. I threw a furnace out and tore down the stone wall facade with a hammer and chisel. The insulation and framed exterior walls are coming next. I tried removing the mastic tile adhesive on the floor with some expensive solvent, but it only partially worked and left me with a giant mess. Ultimately I'd like to get someone in to help me pour some self-leveling concrete and add a subfloor, then put in new windows before re-framing and hanging drywall. I'd like to eventually make this a game room so once I'm further along, I'll make a new thread to show my progress. Anyone else in a similar situation or have any funny/tragic project stories? All I can say is, part of me can't wait to make more progress, but another part of me just wants it all to be over with. It's definitely a trade-off

So apparently Wata damaged this game when they tried to clean it? I'd love to know if anything else comes of this.

Happy birthday @Nightowljrm even though you're not around right now!

And a pretty awful fake, at that.. I'm surprised there are any bids on it. I also reported it.

I feel like it'll be around, for NES at least, as long as Nintendo continues to be a household name. Plenty of kids are growing up with Mario and Zelda and will care about their history. Plus kids who have parents who share their childhood games with them. With games like NES remix, the NES classic, the virtual console, the NES/SNES games on the switch... kids today are playing the classics even if they don't own the originals. NES collecting interest might go down overall, but I think it'll still be around in a significant fashion as long as Nintendo is here, and right now they're killing it with the Switch.

I'd been wanting Ham-Hams Unite for years, finally caved and bought a copy online but end up paying around $30. Now I just need to find time to actually play it...

How do you guys get the majority of your collection? I have a hard time finding lots on ebay anymore, and it always seemed like a waste to pay shipping on every single game. I've been slowly gaining games across all platforms for the last ~10 years, only selling duplicates. I'm at around 3700 games so far, almost all local, but no sets are close to being complete. I've been pretty opportunistic since I haven't felt justified in spending too much. Having said that, the sets I'd most like to focus on are NES (minus SE) and GBC, cart-only. I'm a little over halfway for both. I'd like to eventually do GBA cart-only as well, I'm around 350 right now.

Reminds me of the "video games cause violence" controversy.. my dad was always stubborn about that. Any time there was a shooting, it was because those kids were obsessed with violent video games. Meanwhile I grew up with Mortal Kombat, Goldeneye, and Perfect Dark. Yeah... let's just ignore mental health entirely and blame it on the games. That's a great point. I'm not a psychologist or anything but I never really thought of it as concentration. And another important thing is the difference between passive and active games. "Just pause the game" - for some games that's easier than others. I might be busy keeping track of projectiles and stuff. You wouldn't expect someone to just stop playing a game in real life while the ball is in play. So of course I'm going to be a bit pissed off when you rip me out of the action instead of waiting for a reasonable place where I can pause the game.

It's cool to see this is still a thing, I was part of it years ago on NA but I think we called it something else. I'm in.