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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Panzer_Zwei

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

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'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.

The only two things that matter to me are that the game is playable and that it has it's box then it would be nice to have the instruction booklet also but I don't get very picky about that. If the game is playable then it's okay

condition does matter to me,

for cartridge games, its not as important, if its inthe originalbox and still in a decent price then great, but most of my cartridge games are without boxes or manuals.

for CD games, its totally different and I would never buy a game unless it came in the original packaging , manual is less important.

obviously if the CD is in bad condition its a no go area, since Id rather play the game then not.

Yeah i mean you buy a cool classic game like devil may cry 1 and the box is damaged and the Disc is schracthed i wouldnt buy it for sure.

I first try to find the cheapest possible solution for the game factory sealed. Often times it's 100+ dollars so I tend to look for like new condition for the cheapest I can find it. I camped ebay for so long to find ff7 for 35-40 bucks in like new condition, no scratches, manual + case. The only time I really don't care as much about condition is when the game is impossible to find or it's extremely pricey.

certainly does matter to me, gameneeds everything asi won't buy old games from sellers out of ebay

Cartridges not as big a deal if it doesnt have a box as long as it has instruction booklet. CD's must have a case and booklet

the most important thing to me is... that i can play it. if a game is more expensive with a box/instructions, then i'll likely pay the cheaper price for just a cartridge. if there isn't much difference in price, i'll go for the one with a box/instructions.

nostalgia is a factor also. if i remember a game how it was, i want to try to get it exactly how it was when i had it last. if there's no nostalgia, just a cartridge or disc is generally fine.

if the game is important to me in a special kind of way... i want it new or in very good condition. for example, i would only buy the cardboard boxed ico, with art cards - not the cheaper one with a plastic case.

Very much so yes. Like a lot of others are saying, I don't care if cartridge based games don't have the boxes or instruction manuals, but I don't wantthe label to be absolutely destroyed and peeled off. With CD/DVD based games, case and instruction manual are important. Mainly because they aren't that hard to lose in my opinion. I don't think most people buy CD/DVD games and throw out the plastic case.

The condition of any game is important to me. I prefer to have my games complete and in mint condition, and I'll even pay a few dollars more for a mint condition game, within reason. If I receive a game I ordered in the mail and the disk has many scratches and/or the packaging is poor, I may accept it if the game still plays but I may leave the guy some bad feedback, because I never buy games that are in poor condition.

Condition matters unless the game is really rare and expensive. It has to have a case and at least the instruction manuel. It annoys me when I buy a used game that doesn't have the instruction booklet/manuel.

I will not buy any game from PS1/PS2/Gamecube/Xbox/360/ps3/Wii that doesn't come with a case + manual. Also, DS/PSP games.

However, old cart games I will buy just the standalone cart, but it must be in good condition. No ripped up label, or gunk.

I could make exceptions in some cases, but mostly I'd like my old game collection's value to increase, not decrease.

if it plays, good for me...but like most i like to have the case and booklet

yes the condition matters to me for classic games. if i can find them in sealed / brand new / mint condition, i'll buy them no matter how much they are.

Yes, the condition of a classic game I buy is very important. For cartridge games, the game must be complete with the box and instructions, plus any other things it came with (ie maps, bestiary, etc...); the label must be intact, have superficial wear, and no signs of fading; The box must also have no signs of fading and minimal wear. For disk based games, the game must be complete with case and instructions; The case must be intact; The disk must be clean and if there are scratches, they can only be light and superficial; the instructions have to show minimal wear. As for Japanese games, I don't care about having the spine card.