Games Retrospect

Since this PVM-style CRT only has composite, someone suggested to get a consumer CRT at that point. Thing is, I only have space for a 14-inch or smaller right now. I was trying to find a 14-inch CRT with either S-video or component, but apparently only a few brands sold those (such as Sony or JVC). I could get a 14-inch CRT with composite for almost nothing and I really want to hook up my PS1, N64 and GameCube, but I wonder if adding that to my setup will be worth it in terms of image quality or if I should keep waiting for something better.

So I found a PVM-Style CRT locally. I live in a small city and considering where retro gaming is heading at the moment, especially in terms of price, I think this is the closer I'm going to get to a PVM. The seller sent me a few pictures, as well as the model number (Panasonic bt-m1400psn). I did a quick online search though and almost nothing came up, just a few forum entries from Europe. There's a lot of info about JVC, Sony and Olympus PVM's in both written and video form, but nothing about this Panasonic series. I don't know if what the seller wants for it is fair, I don't know anything about the picture quality, I don't know anything about the cables I need to make my systems work with it and so on. So does anybody here have any experience with this monitor in particular? Does the image quality look good on it? He's asking around 70 USD for it and apparently it works fine, but for what he told me, that TV has been sitting in storage for decades. I can always be honest and tell him that this is going to be a project that might take me months to complete and ask less for it, but since I don't know much about the CRT, I wanted to ask here first. Any experiences with this model in particular? I attached a few pictures I found in an online forum, but I can always upload the ones he sent me. Thanks in advance!

Hi! So my cousin gave me his broken Super Slim PlayStation 3 and since I have some free time here and there, I made it my personal mission to try and fix it. I got it today and disassembled the whole thing, cleaned it as much as I could (it was really dusty) and replaced the HDD with one that worked. The problem is that the system is not working properly: when you turn it on, it immediately turns off. As far as I know, this is a common issue (yellow light of death is the internet is to be believed), but I can't seem to find if there's an actual solution. My cousin's solution was to wrap a bunch of rubber bands around the system and this seemed to work for a while (it might be similar to what's happening to this guy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tz-_RL1h-4U). Although I like to troubleshoot these kind of problems, I'm by no means a technician or anything like that. I'm wondering if there's anything I can do other than start to replace parts, take it to someone else (who, god forbid, knows what they are doing) or throw it away. Again, I have some free time and I'd love to sort this out myself, but there are so many ideas out there that I wouldn't even know where to start. Should I use thermal paste, should I re-ball, should I disassemble the PSU? I don't know, any ideas are more than welcome. Slim Thanks in advance!

That sounds accurate. I don't have a Switch, but if I had one, Sword and Shield are not that appealing to me due to the reasons you mention in your comment. I'm more interested in classic Pokemon than newer Pokemon, if there's such a thing. What's more interesting to me is that even spin-off games are becoming expensive too. Collecting Pokemon games is becoming harder and harder and I'm pretty sure we won't certain games in the wild soon, at least not where I live.

That's a fascinating way to look at what's happening right now. I completely forgot about Pokemon Bank, mainly because I don't have a Switch. I'm still trying to track down some classic Pokemon games and it's frustrating to see that most are completely out of my price range. I just bought loose copies of two of the three Pokemon Ranger games for the DS, though and I'm super happy about that. Especially now that I know that those have increased in price significantly over the past few months. In fact, I feel bad that I didn't get an extra copy of Shadows of Almia for trading purposes.

I was watching one of the latest Nintendo Collecting videos where he speaks about how Pokemon games are crazy expensive right now and he also speculates what's going to happen in the near future. Today I saw that some of the Pokemon Ranger titles are really expensive too, especially Shadows of Almia and I'm tempted to get more than one copy so that I can resell it or trade it in the future. I know that there's a huge market for Pokemon games of the main series, I also know that Pokemon Snap has increased in price because a new Pokemon Snap has recently been announced. But I can't for the life of me, figure out why Shadows of Almia is 50 USD and why Guardian Signs is more than 20 USD. And that's just for the cartridge itself, CiB copies are even more expensive. I know those games are cool and everything, but am I missing anything? Do people suddenly realized that those games are rare/hard to get? Is everyone getting them all of the sudden? I'm more than welcome to other crazy ideas or conspiracy theories. Oh and here's the video I mentioned https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR_3pNlaR7k

So today I bought a copy of Luigi's Mansion for the Nintendo GameCube, a game I've been meaning to add to my collection ever since I acquired the console. The copy was super cheap (around 8 USD with free shipping), but it's just the disc. So no box, manual, inserts or anything else. So far so good, since that's still a steal for that price tag. Thing is the seller then contacted me and showed me additional pictures of both the front and back of the CD and I'm really tempted to cancel the purpose before he ships it. I'm adding pictures below so that you can see what I'm talking about. Essentially, he says that the game works perfectly, but I see scratches on both sides and I'm really worried. My options are: 1) cancel the purchase now or 2) get the disc and check it myself and then see if I want to keep it or not. I get a free return anyway, so I might as well. If it was any other game, I couldn't care less, but since it's a GameCube game and those are getting harder and harder to find where I live, I'd like to have it. Or maybe I'm overthinking things and I might end up with a better copy in the future. I spent some time watching YouTube videos of people sanding CDs, but I'm pretty sure that hurts more than it helps. So what do you think? D_NQ_NP_796898-MLA42882970759_072020-O.webp

I read an article that said that Nintendo is closing the eShop in my region (https://www.vidaextra.com/wii-u/eshop-wii-u-3ds-42-paises-latinoamerica-caribe-cerrara-para-siempre-a-finales-julio). That includes the ability to download digital games, exchange codes and update games. That last one really sucks, since there are a bunch of titles that have significant updates. By any chance, is there a complete list of 3DS games that have patches? I know I'm getting a couple of 3DS games before July 31st (that's the date when Nintendo is closing the eShop apparently) and I might as well try to get games with their respective patches. Some popular games like Pokemon, which I already own, have sizeable patches that feature a bunch of improvements, so which other titles have updates available for them? Is there any way to download those patches without buying the game first? For instance, I know I'm getting Super Smash Bros. for the 3DS at some point, so I can get the patch before it's taken down. Since I brought Super Smash, any DLC worth getting before it's no longer available? Thanks in advance and I really appreciate anyone who replies as soon as possible since time is really ticking down on this one.

I might try to get one of those as part of a lot with a bunch of inexpensive games or something. Thanks!

For the longest time I refused to buy loose as well, but I came to the realization that I would not be able to play certain games if I kept being so picky. The loose cart I just bought, for instance, is Yu-Gi-Oh! 2011 for the DS (I'm too lazy to check its full name). I got that for around 3 USD and the shipping is actually more expensive that the game. Just for reference, that game is usually around 30 bucks loose, so I might as well get it. Apparently, it's not the best Yu-Gi-Oh! game for the DS, but I want to at least one of those and it doesn't hurt if it happens to be an uncommon one. So far my options for storage are getting cheap games just to use their cases or get a carrier case as you suggest. Thanks!

Hi everyone! I recently started getting loose Nintendo DS and 3DS carts for my collection. Not only have I found loose carts to be extremely cheap where I live, but I also realized that I have access to games that I would never get CIB. I used to be obsessed about getting CIB copies (especially for DS and 3DS games), they tend to be hard to store, easy to lose if you're not careful and it's hard to display those games properly. So I was wondering if anyone out there was having a similar problem and maybe found a way to display DS and 3DS carts in a way that looks cool or at least different. I was searching online and most of the solutions require you to get 3D-printed stands that are usually expensive and I would need to pay international shipping for them. At the moment, I'm using a case that was made to store small screws and that can hold a bunch of DS games, but it doesn't look great. What do you think? Thanks in advance!

Hi everyone! I'm doing some research to add some Japanese games to my collection. I'd like to have a resource where I can check the price of games but I can't find any. I usually use Price Charting and Game Value Now as reference (I know those sites aren't perfect, but they really give me an idea of how much games are worth). I hate to overpay for games, especially when there's a lot of people buying games for nothing and then reselling them for a small fortune. I tried eBay, but prices are all over the place. Any ideas? I'm looking at Bushido Blade right now and I have no idea is 10 USD is a fair price for that game or not. Thanks in advance and stay safe!

Maybe someone has asked this before, but I was wondering if any of you is keeping track of the games that are becoming more expensive/hard to get during the quarantine due to their high demand. I read that Wii Sports is almost impossible to get in some places, then I looked up Wii Sports Resort (which I don't own sadly) and it seems like that game is also more expensive than it used to be. I assume that Ring Fit Adventure is extremely expensive and maybe Wii Fit will finally be collectible?? I finally started playing the Xbox One version of Rocksmith 2014 again and when I tried to get a copy of Rocksmith for the Xbox 360 so that I can import all those songs, I realized that that game is really hard to get CIB (at least where I live). Any other games that are either expensive or more collectible now that everyone is forced to stay inside? Thanks in advance and stay safe!

Thanks for sharing your findings. Now I feel like I should have gotten a DSi XL: it looks cool, playing games on the bigger screens is great, I bet the battery lasts for a long time and from what I've heard (not just from you), there's no yellowing to its screens.

I use a stylus and never touched the screens since I got a couple of screen protectors as soon as I bought the system.