Games
Great Selloff – Hardware
I used to play videogames a lot as a kid. It started off with an Atari 2600 and marathon sessions of Space Invaders, and then it was the Atari 400, 800, 1200xl, 65XE, 130XE, then the Atari 520ST and 1040ST… And then it was off to the consoles. Turbografx 16, Genesis, Super Nintendo.
And then I was managing a game store, then I owned a game store, then I was living in Japan in that magic time between everyone selling off their old junk and then realizing that junk was worth something and the prices started going nuts.
And so I had an enormous collection of game hardware. And a few select titles for everything, the games I really liked or that really showed off the system. Games that were remarkable for one reason or another. Silpheed for MegaCD, Dracula X for PC Engine, Bangaioh for N64. That one magic soft.
And then I lost most of it in the floods of 2011. I made the front page of Kotaku, and other sites, as the photos of my mud-soaked treasures made their way around the world, and, I’m sure, made a few people call their insurance companies.
What I have left is the stuff that was triaged during the flood evacuation. The important stuff was placed closest to the door, and loaded up first. Except, of course, for the stuff that I overlooked.
I lost my LaserActive, forgot which box it was in. I saved my X68000 XVI, but lost the keyboard, mouse and other peripherals. I was in the middle of a photographic project, taking pics of PC Engine controllers, and so most of my NEC systems don’t have controllers anymore. A Korean Vistar, a PAL TG16, a PC Engine Shuttle. No pads.
These are the things I love most. Or, occasionally, just the things that managed to survive, boxed alongside something else I loved, etc. I was never a NES guy but I’ve got a boxed NES top-loader and a few Famicoms. Go figure.
Anyway.
Pricing
- All prices are AUD.
- Pricing is based on -sold- prices on Ebay, Yahoo, forums and wherever I can find sold pricing. Current listings and asking prices are often unreasonable, so I didn’t pay attention to them. I went high where my stuff is mint, but some of it might turn out to be less great, and the price will reflect that when I dig into the items individually.
- For the most part I stuck to ~80% of the max prices I saw. I need money but I’m not in it for the money.
- Some of my stuff is so uncommon prices aren’t available.
- Everything is negotiable. If I’m way off base, do tell me.
- I am accepting trade offers. Mostly arcade stuff. I don’t have a want list, but I like shmups.
Condition
I am using a simple 3-tier condition rating system:
- A – Minty fresh, like new. Perhaps a tiny number of minor imperfections.
- B – Good shape, normal signs of wear for a 30 year old game. A few marks, a crease.
- C – Yeah look, maybe I dropped it, or it was stored with my sandpaper collection. It ain’t BAD but it ain’t GREAT.
Navigation
Click here for a huge list WIP list of stuff, and current estimaged pricing. This isn’t nearly all of it, I’m adding to it as I find stuff.
Check out the softwares, listed in the Great Selloff Part 1.
TurboGrafx 16 & PC Engine
One day I was in a mall in Penticton, in British Columbia. I didn’t live in Penticton, I was just there for the day, and in the middle of the mall they had a display showing off a console I’d never heard of. It was so early that they didn’t even have the console itself on display, just a small wooden box with a padlock, and Top Secret stencilled on it. They were showing off a pinball game and it looked utterly amazing compared to everything else I’d ever seen. It was colourful, and so smooth! And the sound was crisp and haunting. It was Alien Crush on a PC Engine, but they were hyping the TurboGrafx 16, in fluorescent green and orange.
It was a while later that I picked up my first PC Engine. My father dealt with a company in Vancouver that decided, one day, to start importing PCE gear. I was given these text-only price lists featuring games I’ve never heard of. It was just wild. Looking back, I think the company was probably from Hong Kong or Taiwan, selling the games that were being cleared out of Japan. I remember pretty clearly I bought Final Lap Twin and Flying Ninja for about $18 CAD each. Oh, and Rock On, a game with a solid first stage soundtrack and little else to offer. I still have that PCE. And Rock On. =D
From there I went on to own just about every single TurboGrafx and PC Engine hardware released, and some dev kits, some promo gear, and just… PC Engine is life, man. I fucking love that console.
TurboGrafx 16
Estimated: $900
This particular system is in great shape. The paperwork inside is flawless, the HuCard is like new. There’s a crease on the black cardboard welcome panel, and the box of course has been protecting its contents for a long time, and it shows. So, mostly A grade. The console looks its age but doesn’t have any obvious marks or scratches. The box straddles the B and C line, I guess.
Turbo Express – New
Estimated: $???
This is brand new, old stock from my game store. When TTI became the distributor of the collapsing TurboGrafx empire in Canada, I bought a ton of stuff for my store. Mostly a handful of games and as many Turbo Express units as they’d let me buy. We sold them at a very small profit to an active fan base, and this is the last of them. The box shows some wear, and there’s some green crust in the battery compartment where the original batteries started to decay.
The system itself is brand new, as is the manual. B box and styro, A contents.
Nintendo NES & Famicom
I missed the NES era. While my friends were playing Super Mario Bros, my dad was insisting that I had Atari computers with lots of games and the NES wasn’t happening. But, when I ran my game store, and the GameSX.com webpage, I started getting into the hardware. I didn’t want a front loader, they weren’t reliable or interesting, but the top loader… That was neat.
While I was in Japan I picked up the occasional Famicom, Disk System, Twin Famicom, etc. It was fun hardware, but the games meant little to me and so I didn’t hang on to most of it.
NES Top Loader
Estimated: $700
This particular unit has been modified, by me, following this guide to adding AV. So it has a little headphone port on the back for AV output. It is the unit shown on the GameSX mod page. I’ve probably played it twice since doing the mod. A common refrain around here. =/
B grade box, A grade contents. Depending on whether you consider the AV mod a flaw or not. I modified a lot of my stuff, they were made to be played. Not all of my mods looked great but this one’s pretty sharp, IMO.
Neo Geo & MVS
I loved the Neo Geo. SNK’s silly ads in EGM, an acquaintance with a rich dad and a NeoGeo he barely let anyone touch, expensive games that, if we’re honest, weren’t better than the Super NES games it tried to compete against. But then, Samurai Shodown changed SNK’s fortunes and they were able to recruit solid talent for a long while.
MVS Card Reader
$150
I had some MVS systems in my store, in arcade cabinets, but the 1-slot couldn’t use this card reader, and the four-slot was flaky and so I never bothered installing it. So, I have a card reader and I’ve never used it.
--NFG
[ Mar 6 2024 ]
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