Zaineb

My bad, when I said arcades I meant independent ones, unless there's a chain of arcades besides Chuck E. Cheese, Dave and Busters, etc that I'm not aware of. Party on, Space Cowboy

Arcades could only make a resurgence if you'd have companies willing to make new cabinets with new games and be willing to regularly service them. Of course that costs $$$, more so than making a game for a console or PC. There are novelty places like Funspot in Laconia, NH that keeps these cabinets alive, but like I said, in order for arcades to come back, companies need to be willing to take good care of these. Party on, Space Cowboy

I'd say they survived longer, until about 2001 or 2002. I was very young at the time, so obviously I didn't have the sense to see it was a dying business but I did remember going to a few independently owned arcades then. As for the reasons why, I think you're right on the mark. Games got bigger and better so there was no reason to fill your pockets with quarters and stand in front of a cabinet for hours when you had the same quality at home. Party on, Space Cowboy

All $20 at Savers [emoji4]. The classical album has Claire de lune, Sound of Music is my favorite musical, and the belly dance jams are the songs of my people. $2 a pop for records and $7 each for the 2600 joysticks, all in all a good day! Party on, Space Cowboy

Hah! That's a good one! It'd be nice if some people would just smarten up, like hell I'd be willing to pay a little more if they delivered to me, but nah. They want top dollar for their crap, which by the way, I hate so much when it's dirty, dusty and crusty. When I trade my things I at least put a little elbow grease into clearing out dust and crap in it. It's like you're saying, "I don't give two s**ts about you or this thing I've had in my possession for years, f*** you, PAY ME." Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I don't have it yet, I'm trying to bide my time on when I can get it after paying bills, going out with friends, etc., but when I do I'll show you guys! I don't have a computer sadly, I'm not kidding when I say I live on my phone, and even if I did I don't think I'd want to emulate. Part of collecting is I want to see what I can find and where, or from who. I wouldn't be opposed to a homebrew cart but I'll get them for original software, unless it's an ultra rare game I'll never see or is too expensive. Thanks for the homebrew titles, I'll be sure to check them out!

I've been kicking around for a bit making some room in my humble game collection for the classic Atari but I have no idea where to start. There's different systems (heavy sixer, Vader, huh???), different controllers, and my biggest concern, a LOT of crap games just schlocked into the market at the time. Now of course google is free and it's been a couple weeks since I've passively looked up what I'd need, (I was being a little facetious with the confusion on the different systems). I have my good old boob tube with the VCR I refused to let go, got a couple controllers, and I have a short list of what's considered the best games, but what about you old guys' experiences? Any personal stories, recco's, or tips I should be wary of I may not come across? Let me know, I'll be getting mine soon, I think it's a heavy sixer but I'll have to ask him again. Can't wait to play what started it all!

I didn't check it out myself, but I thought about this forum when I was at Savers earlier today, I could have sworn I saw a wireless one hanging off one of the clothing racks. I guess come up to New England if you want them [emoji23] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Oh and speaking of Salvation Army, my local one has given me some of the best things in my humble collection, my favorites being my CIB StarFox and Donkey Kong 64 (and my LttP but I gave that to a friend). I believe the SNES titles were $15 each and DK was $20. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Personally I think the best thing to do is continue the hunt: thrift stores, goodwill, savers and even Salvation Army (today I got a couple 2600 joysticks for 7 each. I made a couple great connections through OfferUp and letgo. The OfferUp guy is now my go-to if I want something close and at a value, the letgo sold me my four-speed Panasonic turntable for $30 WITH the external speakers. But I promise those experiences come one in a blue moon so treasure it! I'm sorry about your experiences Tanooki, sure sounds like my experiences at the flea market (including one time I was ripped off). Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Joystick controllers for $6.99 each and records $1.99 each, so in total around $20. Thank you Savers [emoji16]

I had one experience with Craigslist where someone was selling EarthBound (in the hopes of trading for Mega Man X3...should've known better but I thought oh let's give it a shot), but would've sold it for $75 if no one had it. Offered his price for it and asked if I could open the cartridge to confirm if it was real. Can you guess? No response! Kept checking the post but it disappeared shortly after. I knew it was probably a scam but still, hurt I couldn't get the chance. OfferUp, Close5, and Letgo are what I use considering I've only got my phone, and I swear some of those people drive me insane. You have your all-around scumbag scalpers acting smug they're selling a Nintendo Switch for $450 (one guy must've been on crack listing it for $600) or your more FAVORITE kinds of people (as you mentioned before) trying to offload their CRAP at premium eBay prices! Oh, and they LOVE to tell you what it's going for on eBay when you counteroffer something reasonable. Then go on eBay dipwad! Anyways long story short, I use these apps, despite me sometimes tearing out my hair, because no one on Craigslist even bothers to respond anymore and that's frustrating. They really should've gone to mobile if they want to keep up. And I have picked up some good finds on OfferUp and letgo, they're definitely worth a try.

Ouch, that seemed cool enough. I was going to at least follow it, I hope nobody got too disappointed. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I don't think I'd be willing to pay more than $40-45, but then again I already have a GBA player for GameCube. It does look pretty cool, though. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

How did you find all of these games CIB? And I had no idea they made adult games for Atari.

Oh wait I just remembered it was actually Animal Crossing for GameCube at $60 CIB.

$50 for Pokémon Blue a couple years ago, the price was crazy inflated but it was from a store I knew very well that guaranteed they saved, and what I was finding online was about $10 cheaper. They didn't save, though, and I wanted to have all three.

Back in the early 2000's, I was around 8 or 9, they were practically booming! My uncle had an Atari joystick controller plug in and a Pac-Man plug in. My own was the Spongebob one and I loved that and the Pac-Man one, too. The newer ones don't really appeal to me too much, but I may get one if they have games I can't get.

What a great theme, pretty cute juxtaposition considering Nintendo and Sega were pretty cut throat with each othe 25 years ago, haha.

Oh this looks amazing, I wish I had a computer to do this. Nonetheless, a great solution to protecting older games and keeping them nice and neat!

Wow, this all looks amazing! Very nice and neat, so much so I aspire to have this level of organization to my games. I haven't seen anything else yet in this thread but I just had to compliment this!

Wow, that's an awesome house and pretty rad collection, too! How did you get the store display units?

I bought a Sega Genesis with two controllers (not pictured) for $25 along with Sonic The Hedgehog 2 CIB thrown in for free (I've been buying most of my stuff from a guy I met on OfferUp, super nice and always willing to give me a deal). A few days later I bought my first turntable, a Panasonic RD-7673 D (I may have messed up the mode number) from 1978, with external speakers for $30. Can't wait to get home and test them out!

It's called GameZone, people are friendly and they have a large selection but prices are a little high.