Where do you find your older games?

[pandaa]

I have an older Nintendo and a Dreamcast that I would like to find games for. Besides searching online, where can you find games in person? Perhaps at a Goodwill or another thrift shop?

 

[Oklahoma City Thunder]

I don't think you can find them anywhere to be honest.

 

[beastmaster184]

if i am going to get retro games i go rock 30 games it is not only a website store but acuatl store where i am at they have a gaurentee that if the game
does not work with in 7 days they will fix or replace it

 

[Jboh]

I have a friend whose dad owns a gaming store that usually stocks a lot of the old stuff. Sometimes they have what I want, sometimes they don't. Aside from the obvious Goodwill and any local thrift stores, you can sometimes find some great stuff at garage sales. More often than not, I find that people don't really know what they have and just throw it out there for 5 or 6 bucks. A few years back, a very nice family was selling Suikoden 2 for $10 and Super Smash Bros. Melee for around $5. I guess their kid moved away and they were cleaning out his stuff. It really just comes down to luck and persistence.

 

[djordjem87]

I rarely download them. I have my old Terminator console and Playstation 1 console as well as my old PC with games on the hard drive. I never go online with it since it is not well protected. It uses Windows XP. I haven't turned it on recently but I play old console games on Playstation mostly. I like Crash series and especially Crash Racing Team. I am not sure why they stopped making these after Playstation 2. Crash was a great game.

 

[Squigly]

The best place to hunt for them would probably be at yard sales, however there's no guarantee as to whether they're in working condition.

 

[fcuco]

Quite frankly, emulators, I don't collect old games anymore, it is getting more and more difficult to find TVs that you can use with some of the old systems and having several old systems hooked to a TV creates little rat's nests of cables. I think some nice emulator with an USB old controller modeled after some of the old fashioned ones is enough. For me, personally, the experience is the same, the only thing that's missing are the light gun things, but those only work on CRT TVs anyway. I can fit the entire NES catalog on a memory stick, isn't that nuts?

 

[Dame6089]

It's getting harder and harder as retro collecting becomes more mainstream. I would avoid ebay unless you desperately want a game. Ebay is usually the highest price a game could ever go for. I would recommend yard sales and flea markets. Some flea market sellers try to prove match ebay now, but you will still find people who just want to get rid of an old box in their closets. Also state sales and Craigslist are other options. Just gotta do the foot work!

 

[abonnen]

I find most of my older games at local owned game stores, I find my older game systems at auctions and friends. Anyway most games stores have older games, however I find locally owned game store to have better pricing and selection.

 

[fcuco]

I find most of my older games at local owned game stores

Can you point me to an actual brick and mortar store that sells very old school games like NES or even N64 games? I mean some stores exist that sell Vinyl records so I am not saying that this is impossible but, as awesome as it sounds, I don't know if such a store could exist and sustain itself.

I am talking about very old games, because a lot of normal stores carry pre owned used games, but not this very old gems. Maybe in Japan, I bet such stores exist there.

 

[abonnen]

Can you point me to an actual brick and mortar store that sells very old school games like NES or even N64 games? I mean some stores exist that sell Vinyl records so I am not saying that this is impossible but, as awesome as it sounds, I don't know if such a store could exist and sustain itself.

I am talking about very old games, because a lot of normal stores carry pre owned used games, but not this very old gems. Maybe in Japan, I bet such stores exist there.

Well I live in Kansas, and I have never had much luck with chain stores, I have had really good luck though at privately owned stores, I get many of my NES, Super Nintendo, Super Nintendo 64,Sega, gameboy, and even games for my Intellivision from a local privately owned store ( I am bit of a vintage game system collector). I think your best bet is to search online for privately own game stores in your area. Are you looking for vintage new stock games or vintage pre owned games?

 

[fcuco]

I think your best bet is to search online for privately own game stores in your area. Are you looking for vintage new stock games or vintage pre owned games?

I really doubt that I am going to find such store where I live so I am probably stuck buying online on eBay cragislist or stuff like that. If anything I see myself buying used games since I am not a collector. I get the excitement of buying a new vintage game with the original packaging and all that but I don't have that kind of money to blow, an used game will work for me just fine.

 

[Snow90]

I'm from the UK, we have a website owned by Ebay called Gumtree. I've found so many quality games there at a great price. I got a complete, boxed excellent condition Super Metroid for £25.

But as @Jboh said. Thrift / Charity stores can sometimes yield good results. I got the soundtrack to Killer Instinct for SNES at one for 10p (I was missing one on my copy)

I've also found market places are good, Retro games stores too. But both know what they're selling and will price accordingly.

 

[abonnen]

I really doubt that I am going to find such store where I live so I am probably stuck buying online on eBay cragislist or stuff like that. If anything I see myself buying used games since I am not a collector. I get the excitement of buying a new vintage game with the original packaging and all that but I don't have that kind of money to blow, an used game will work for me just fine.

I agree I always use used games as well, new are to expensive, why are you not wanting to by games online? Is there any particular reason?

 

[fcuco]

I agree I always use used games as well, new are to expensive, why are you not wanting to by games online? Is there any particular reason?

I loved this mental image of going to an actual physical store a go trough the stands grabbing and looking at very old NES or SNES games and all kinds of old memorabilia. When you said that such places existed I was excited, the idea sounds really awesome. I love going to interesting stores of all kinds, it is an experience that the online shopping thing can't replicate, specially with old used stuff, you can't help bu wonder if there is a hidden gem among the pile of things there.

 

[Blue Betta]

Some used game stores have them. I would also check garage sales and such. I've even found a bunch at Goodwill and Salvation Army stores. My best source, though, is Amazon. I've found some old games for really good prices on there. I would also suggest Ebay or Craigslist. People tend to have things sitting around and just want to unload them, so sometimes you can make an offer and get a game for cheaper than the original selling price.

 

[Steamroller]

For pc, I usually buy digital games at GOG.com, the content does include a DRM free game and manual, also OST, footages, drawings and every other kind of extra content you can think about. For catridges or cds of older games, I often take a look at Amazon.com, or Ebay.

 

[Xilkozuf]

As Steamroller said, Gog.com is good to find older games. I'll add also a link to the Steam Sega and Genesis collection: here you can find many games from the Sega Drive and Genesis Era, and if you buy one on Steam it will come with an integrated emulator to play without problems.
Many classic oldies here!

 

[Sino989]

Yeah, I don't think you can find them anywhere honestly, and if you can you're going to have look real hard because they will be hard to find. Try searching online.

 

[Olly88]

I live in the UK and it's almost impossible to find retro games out in the wild. The best you'll do here are PS2 games in charity shops unless you're lucky enough to live near a dedicated retro shop.

I get all my NES/SNES games online. I used to use eBay the most, buy over the last year I've started using Amazon a lot which I've found to be really good. The only negative from buying on there is that 99% of the time sellers don't upload pictures, so you've either got to risk it or ask them for some.