Topic: The Virtual Console is a GODSEND. Cart prices for the classics can be ridiculous! Your thoughts?

How is digital going to 'expose" cartridge collecting? Just because you didn't like Earthbound on the Wii U VC?

I don't think cartridge collecting is a bubble. These games are no longer being made so there is obviously only a limited number of these available on the market. Then you got to look at who is paying these high prices for for these old games. Most likely men in their 20's-40's with disposable income, like me, who have a desire to own and collect actual physical copies of these things despite multiple other ways to simply just play them. Nostalgia is a strong factor in wanting to own them (again). So no, these are not mom's Beanie Babies fueled by artificial scarcity. The desire to own physical copies of retro games is real and it's not going to go away or get cheaper. Sure, there are people out there who try to buy low and sell high but there are many collectors like me who are not going to sell our video game collections like we did when we were younger.

agree 100%

I can't see myself selling even one game, so agree 150%.

Thankfully. I'm the same way. I don't wish to deprive myself of my games.

But unfortunately, there are some people — gamers — who "nip in the bud" any potential to amass a collection simply because they don't have disposable income and want to use whatever low-balled store credit they receive to buy new releases. And that's their right. I don't blame them. GameStop thrives on this cycle, though.

Same applies to retro gaming transactions. An ordinary Joe who doesn't give a cr@ps about his old NES, SNES, GENESIS games, etc. will sell it for store credit so he can buy the latest Call of Duty or Madden only for some unscrupulous Retro Game store owners to take advantage of his predicament and markup the game or those lot of games 10-fold. That makes me sick but what the heck, man, unless you're some little old grandma who doesn't know a thing about "This new Japanese machine-thing called a Nit'tend-oh?" you've got only yourself to blame for such one-sided transactions, which IMO help to further fuel the rise in cart prices.

And that sucks for the collectors, man. We all have a limit to what we'll pay, especially in this "latest technology-driven" society we live in. WIll the ends justify the means forever?

I believe eventually the collecting bubble will "burst" because someone who is now in their early teens doesn't/won't give a damn about owning physical NES/Sega carts in the future because they will hold no nostalgic value for them. If they want to even play the game, they will just do it on an emulator or though a digital download on their current console.

20 years from now the market to resell an old NES cart you bought in 2010 for $350 will be significantly smaller I think, because unless you find another 45-60 year old guy who wants to buy it from you, I don't think a guy who is 25 years old in 2030 will have any interest in investing hundreds of dollars into purchasing a video game he never even grew up with or played.

Who knows. I have 6 and 12 year old nephews whose father had an SNES and Gamecube around at early ages for them. We play everything from the early NES and GB to the Wii when they visit. They youngest loves some of the old simple games from the mid 80's like spy vs spy and archon (and he can not stop playing Super Metroid). I sent them both home with GBA SPs last visit, one with Metroid Fusion and the other with Metroid Zero Mission and by their reaction you would have thought I gave them the best thing on the planet. I will have a child soon and they will be starting on the NES and Gameboy for sure. I have a feeling someone is going to really want to take ownership of my collection in the future.

Congratulations on having a child soon. I will start my 14 month old son playing on the NES & SNES when he begins to show interest in video games. Between him and his sibling who is coming in 7 months, I'm sure one of them will appreciate my collection some day.