That is the question. Whether to buy a sealed version of a game (and therefore complete) or a loose cartridge of the same game. This dilemma did not come up until I recently discovered the mother of all used game stores and was forced to pick between the sealed version of Joe & Mac for the SNES or the open cart -- a dilemma that was to be repeated about 4 more times that morning at the same store.
I won't tell you which choice I made yet, I'm, pretty sure this is going to be a no-brainer for many here for opposing reasons.
well, I'll buy a complete game if the option is there, BUT....I have a problem with sealed games. See, if they are sealed, they usually cost a great deal more. And, chances are, if I'm buying a game its because I dont have it yet. And, if I dont have it, that means I havent played it....and THAT means I'll prolly be breaking the seal before too long so I can play it :) Which, with older games, kinda defeats the purpose of buying a sealed game....
I always prefer mint, complete and open to sealed, actually. I am not a fan of getting games incomplete, but sometimes that's what you're left with unless you want to shell out the big bucks on eBay. Wafle and I (and others I'm sure) have made a habit of getting incomplete games and then finding the missing components later, which is a cheaper option than buying vintage games mint at the outset.
I have two interesting facts related to this to bring to your attention. First, you may have noticed recently that there was an eBay seller who put up about 60 factory-sealed 3DO games and some very nice accessories. One of the games was Dinopark Tycoon, which is the rarest game on the 3DO, and valued at $80 complete by the Digital Press. It sold for $242.50. I was interested up until the $80 mark, but then people lost their minds. The right sealed vintage games are outrageously expensive, and this trend will not soon change.
Another fact: even though I don't care for paying a premium for new/sealed games, I'm so far behind on trying the games I've bought, that I have roughly 200 factory sealed games ranging in age from Genesis to current generation. It isn't so much for collecting purposes as it is a symptom of not having much game playing time. Plus, if I want to sell or trade them or give them as gifts, they're a lot more desirable in an unopened state.
In a lot of cases with carts, it's a case of "take whatever you can take." See with games like, the old NES, SNES, Atari, Gameboy, and N64 ones, they are prone to "loosing their boxes." And for some games just having the cart is a sheer blessing. If you can buy it sealed without paying too much, (sometimes, honestly, it's not worth paying a crud load of money for one game) then do it, but otherwise, with carts, take what you can get.
I just use this rule... Cart-storage games- Buying used is fine Disk based- Always buy new The disk can too easily be damaged compared to carts, hence why I ignore price for a disk I'm sure will work
Thats true...with my disk games (SCD, PSX, Saturn, DC, PS2, etc) I do insist on manual and original case. I'm also a snob about greatest hits - I dont think I have a single one in my collection except the special edition stuff like DMC3 and Fable: Lost Chapters...
I almost never buy sealed for old cart games, unless it's all I can find. The cases are usually in poor condition and serve no real purpose other than completeness. By contrast, the case for a disc game helps protect it. So yeah, sealed when only availible, boxes for discs only.
Well, all the games that I had a choice between sealed or loose were indeed carts, and I chose the carts. I knew if I bought the sealed boxes that that plastic lining would be removed in about 30 minutes from the time I got home, and thus depreciated tremendously (the sealed games were $40-$50 more than their loose doppelgangers).
I don't buy disc games loose, they must have the original case with manual, but for carts, I am so far down that road, a few more loose carts are not going to make a difference at this point.
Sometimes I have considered selling off all of the games that I have which are incomplete and starting that portion of my collection over with complete copies. If I dropped all of the many cart-only (and few disc-only I'm sad to admit) games from my collection, it would be a huge downsizing. I have tried to get the games that I really like from the 8- and 16-bit days in complete form, so many of my favorites would not be lost, but about 500 or so games that I consider 2nd-tier and below would be. I probably wouldn't even bother to replace most of them. My estimated incomplete:complete ratio by system is very high for any Atari console ( 8 ), the NES ( 9 ), the SNES ( 8 ), the N64 ( 5 ), and handhelds before the GBA ( 9 ). It's low for the Genesis ( 0.3 ) and the SMS ( 0.03 ) and nearly zero for anything on optical discs.
Sometimes I have considered selling off all of the games that I have which are incomplete and starting that portion of my collection over with complete copies. If I dropped all of the many cart-only (and few disc-only I'm sad to admit) games from my collection, it would be a huge downsizing. I have tried to get the games that I really like from the 8- and 16-bit days in complete form, so many of my favorites would not be lost, but about 500 or so games that I consider 2nd-tier and below would be. I probably wouldn't even bother to replace most of them. My estimated incomplete:complete ratio by system is very high for any Atari console ( 8 ), the NES ( 9 ), the SNES ( 8 ), the N64 ( 5 ), and handhelds before the GBA ( 9 ). It's low for the Genesis ( 0.3 ) and the SMS ( 0.03 ) and nearly zero for anything on optical discs.gmsnpr
if I did that, I'd be emptied out... very few of my games by comparision are complete or even half complete...
I will only buy complete stuff. I do agree that finding a sealed copy usually cost a great deal more and isn't really worth it. gmsnpr made and interesting observation about the sealed 3DO games. That system has long been dead and never really carried any prestige like Super Nintendo. It's kind of like buying sealed Jaguar games b/c there rare.Â
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