When You Buy Classic Games, Does Condition Matter To You?

With most current games, and even in the last generation, it's pretty easy to buy used games complete. People take care of them better then ten years ago, or 20 years ago.But what about retro games? It wasn't that case 15, 20 years ago or so. Boxes often got thrown out, manuals lost, etc. It's obviously much harder to find NES or Atari games complete of course, and even some Disk based media, Like the Sega CD, Saturn, even the PSone games often are sold incomplete. So the question must be asked: when you buy retro games, does the condition matter to you? Does it only matter to certain types of classic games? Why so, or why not?For me, Condition matters to a point with cartridge games. Overall, when buying retro games price is always a factor, but obviously with cart games the boxes often are damaged or gone entirely. I don't own a Single NES or SNES game complete out of all the ones I own for example. It doesn't matter so much to be me if it's complete or not. If I ever comes across them complete, and for good price I do jump at the chance. For Genesis games I'm 50/50 I tend to look for it complete, but if I come across a good cart incomplete I'll buy it, like Rocket Knight Adventures for example. The condition of the cart does matter to me, as I don't prefer it damaged or the label inpacted. It's just hard to find it complete, and for some games it's not even worth it having it complete (doesn't add much extra value I mean).With Sega CD, and Saturn, I prefer complete also, but trying to find complete ones out int he wild can be very hard. Luckily for my Sega CD collection most of them are complete, but for the Saturn collection, I only own 4 games complete, the rest are disk only. The cases these games were housed in often break apart very easily, thus most get thrown away voer the years.Then for My PSone collection, I really prefer complete and condition matters a lot, but I'm sad to report that I have a good number that i disk only 3 years back for practically free.So in short, condition does matter to my retro game buying, but not overwhelmingly that i must ahve everythign complete/perfect.When You Buy Classic Games, Does Condition Matter To You?
Game condition matters to me. I got a lot of Gamecube games used at Gamestop, and a lot of them didnt work. I never buy from Gamestop's online store anymore because they sent me ones with awful cases. It's sad that a system so new has games in such bad shape - I blame those college kids who stayed up smokin joints and playin games with their buddies all night longwithout a care in the world lol.But never expect to find a game from before the N64/PSX era in such good condition. In the 80's and early 90's people didn't seem to think as much about the future of gaming, we thought we would have 2D games for a long time you know? And then 3D games came along and the whole foundation of gaming was turned on its side, and people began to think of games as collector's items and meaningful nostalgic things then.When You Buy Classic Games, Does Condition Matter To You?
I really care about the condition of my games, especially retro games. for cartridge games, i don't care much about the manual or the box it game with, i only care about the cartridge, such as N64 games. However i do care about having games in complete packaging if i can. Retro games to me, mean more then current gen games, simply for the fact they can not manufacture those games again, and to own an complete package of a game, let alone be able to play it, is amazing!
I prefer my retro games to be complete, but price is a factor too. It is really hard to find good, complete SNES games at reasonable prices. I have 2, Arcana and Chrono Trigger. Genesis games are much easier to come by, since the games had an actual case, instead of a ''throwaway'' box. Only 4 of my Genesis games are incomplete.
Yes, condition is pretty important. For any system other than the cartridge-based Nintendo systems, games need to have the case and the manual. For NES, SNES, N64, and Gameboy games, getting a box is practically impossible, so all I hope for is that the label is in good condition.
I guess I'm one of the few people that never got rid of his games, so I never really had to do any scavenging or pay high prices because I already had most of the games I want since I bought them on their time. If I didn't had purchased them on their time, I doubt I would be paying the high prices they go for nowadays. The most expensive game I've bought was Dracula X for the PC-Engine back in 1997, and it's the only console game I've paid $120 for. The games I do buy online though, are all Japanese, and the Japanese seem to be better at taking caring about their stuff, because I've yet to see a Japanese retailer that sells games in either incomplete or non-mint conditions. Most of my cla$$ic game purchases nowadays revolve around Arcade and Japanese PC systems. I petty much have all I want already on consoles.
[QUOTE=''Panzer_Zwei'']I guess I'm one of the few people that never got rid of his games, so I never really had to do any scavenging or pay high prices because I already had most of the games I want since I bought them on their time. If I didn't had purchased them on their time, I doubt I would be paying the high prices they go for nowadays. The most expensive game I've bought was Dracula X for the PC-Engine back in 1997, and it's the only console game I've paid $120 for. The games I do buy online though, are all Japanese, and the Japanese seem to be better at taking caring about their stuff, because I've yet to see a Japanese retailer that sells games in either incomplete or non-mint conditions. Most of my cla$$ic game purchases nowadays revolve around Arcade and Japanese PC systems. I petty much have all I want already on consoles.[/QUOTE]i would pay to see your collection ;)
when i got into this stuff i was obsessive compulsive over buying games that were perfect...but i just stopped caring now. trying to buy any game that came in a box is just useless you'll never find one that doesn't have at least one dent or crease or something. thankfully the genesis was a lot better since the cases were hard.i especially don't bother buying completes for any game on a sega system because 80% of the manuals are in black and white and the cases are all cheap and flimsy. its just a lot cheaper and easier to buy the game by itself. not to mention that you can never trust how they mail the stuff to you if its ''mint''. that stuff gets damaged in shipping so easily its not even worth it
Depends, there are games I buy for collecting purposes (And because they are rare) so the condition of the game matters 100% to me, if it's a cartridge game I never expect to get a box or manual with it, but I would always prefer to have them, disk games I wont buy without the original case. Then there are games I buy that aren't rare at all and I just want to play them, for those games condition doesn't matter much at all, mainly because these games are relatively easy to find and cheap and I could always find the same game in better condition no problem.
I buy games solely with the intent of playing them, not to collect them and hope they turn into a fortune later. Cart based games would be a serious drag to get used because god know what was done to those and there is no easy way to fix them. DVD's on the other hand are extremely easy to fix unless pretty much destroyed. I like getting games with case and manuels so I can have the option of selling them for a good price if the opportunity came up but in reality I just want the game for myself and dont care. And on that note I could care less what condition they come in because a quick trip to the video store can turn a scratched up disc into a game that looks brand spanking new. Video stores have nice expensive high quality buffing machines and they will run your games through the machine for a dollar or two. The only thing that can't be fixed are deep gouges or cracks and games with those shouldnt be getting sold anyway.
The only condition that matters to me is that of the working variety. I don't want discs with an army of scratches, or cartridges with a messed up contacts or a dead battery. However, getting a game with a case and maunal is always a bonus, just not overly important.
I'd love a sealed SNES collection =P all my NES and SNES Games are cartridge only at this point.
i always care about condition if its not good i say give em another one or better clean it i never buy a game if its used without looking at the condition of the disk or im a PoD customer
I'mfine as long as it can play.
As a matter of fact, yes! Playstation games I buy mustmaintain the following things:1: The game must be in an actual Playstation CD Case and not in a DVD case with a white piece of paper on the front were the name of the game is just written down with a black felt pen.2: I want the instrution manual to the game included with the game, and unless the game is next to impossible there's no exception
I absolutely need the original case, cover art, and manual included before I even consider buying a retro game. All of those have to be in solid condition as well. I can handle light scratches on the disc as I intend to keep the game after playing it, so I don't have to worry about reselling it to others.
More modern (disks) games i usally prefer it to be in its box...but with retro games, if it works 100% and has its sticker intact... Im Happy.
im a collector so, yeah i do care about the condition they're in. i bought a copy of MGS: 3 snake eater and the manual was in terrible nick, so i couldn't find out the special moves like sneaking up to someone and interrogating them. still bet the game though.
I take condition deadly seriously, I've been trying to recreate boxes (yes as far back as the Sharp 68000X) for my classic collection, there's just something about having a orginized collection when picking out what game to play. Right now I have everything in milk crates but there design takes up more space than required. I've been to a webpage that has factory sealed new original NES games, personaly I think someone has an inside connection, I don't doubt that some games may be rare originals due to the fact of the prices. I've accepted the fact that I can't get all the original box, instructions, and so on to my Nintendo collection so I've decided to keep in mind as to ''recreate custom high quality boxes that are indistinguishable when it comes to paper/ink and so on''.
Condition is 50/50 for me. If I spend more than average on a game then I expect it to be in great condition. But if I get it cheaply, I don't mind some wear and tear (you pay for what you get right?).



When I'm buying Japanese Playstation, Dreamcast or Saturn imports the games have to come with their manual, spine card (tasuki strip) and the media relatively scratch free. Registration card, misc. papers, advertisements I don't care if they're missing. Although they are nice to have. If the jewel case is heavily scratched (but NOT damaged), I won't mind either since they come in generic cases that can be replaced. But if the game comes in a special case (such as the Playstation fat case) then the condition of the case does matter, as they're difficult to replace. If I buy a game that comes in a box the only thing I will tolerate are scuff marks along the edges. If I can get it cheap then I can tolerate a *bit* more.