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Is this the reality? Gameboy Advance games-cart only


Unbeliever

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After going down to my local Gamestop and searching for complete Gameboy Advance titles, I was saddened to find that all they had was carts. But, the good news is that they have LOTS of carts still in stock. Is this the norm for anyone out there who collects Gameboy Advance titles? Granted, most were cheap ($10.00 on average), but of course the more "popular" titles were pricey ($25 or so for any Super Mario game I saw). Gba collectors, what are you running across out there in the wild? CIB games, or mostly just carts (probably with writing on them as well)?

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A few weeks ago at a thrift shop I came across a sealed (though somewhat rough) copy of Fortress which was a launch title, IIRC.

Every so often I spot an AGS-101 at a thrift shop too.

A couple months ago I grabbed a boxed shrek/shark tale video at a local play-n-trade (it's my fav of the vid carts).

 

Gamestops have stopped carrying gba stuff in this area, and $10/game is way too rich for me anyway. A game better be sealed for that cash.

There's no point to 'in the wild' local finds if they cost twice as much as ebay.

Edited by Reaperman
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GBA, to me, was never a system where I expected to find boxes for used games. It just doesn't happen, particularly since Nintendo stopped providing the plastic game cases. When you bought a GBA game, the only thing of value in it literally was the game... maybe the instructions.

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The way I see it, boxed game boy stuff is naturally less common because portable games spend comparatively less time on the shelf and more time in a pocket or a backpack. The provision of an actual case negates this issue on DS/3DS - CIB is much more common for those.

Ten bucks appears to be the norm at most physical stores for low-end GBA games. I tend to have better luck online.

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GameStop still has GBA carts? Wow. I figured they would have abandoned those completely by now.

 

I am not 100% certain of this, but I believe the Gamestop chain shifts their inventory around to the different stores, and by popularity, will keep certain games in while others get shipped off to where they will sell. Is this not correct? There is a case (a big case) of games that are still there, each with a little round yellow sticker on them for the pricing. Other than Gamestop, I haven't seen any Gba games anywhere in my area, so besides getting them from you folks, this would be my only option to collect for it (which I plan to do once more "play" money becomes available). I know you can always get stuff on Ebay, but I prefer to pay by USPS money order and not credit card (and I don't have a paypal account). Gamegavel would be another source, but are there any other online stores that would accept money orders?

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This might be harder than I anticipated, and I'm torn between collecting for the Gba or working on my 2600 cib collecting, which is now growing, one boxed game at a time. I might just have to settle for collecting the carts and finding a good way to store them (and display them ideally).

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After going down to my local Gamestop and searching for complete Gameboy Advance titles, I was saddened to find that all they had was carts. But, the good news is that they have LOTS of carts still in stock. Is this the norm for anyone out there who collects Gameboy Advance titles? Granted, most were cheap ($10.00 on average), but of course the more "popular" titles were pricey ($25 or so for any Super Mario game I saw). Gba collectors, what are you running across out there in the wild? CIB games, or mostly just carts (probably with writing on them as well)?

 

Don't think, just get back there immediately! All GBA carts are 75% off, unless Gamestop revised their clearance policy. No worries on those high prices, the register will reduce the price. You must have been living in a cave, gamestop has gutted the GBA carts a loooong time ago, more recently the Gamecube, DS and PS2 games.

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I went into my local FYE and was surprised to find some used GBA games in box. But the boxes were kind of squished.

 

Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I realize this will probably be a "cart only" collection, except for a few odds and ends titles I manage to snatch up from you people around here.

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Most Game Stops I visit have overpriced loose GBA and DS games in the register case, with 95% of those games having price stickers on the labels. About half of the Game Stops still have used PS2 games, but X-Box and Game Cube are long gone. Only 1/10 stores still has PSP games, and only 1/20 of those PSP games has an original case with artwork and instructions.

 

Because the physical condition of these used GBA, DS, PS2, and PSP games is so crappy, I wouldn't be interested if they were giving them away. Good luck trying to return or exchange a used game because it didn't work. Because of their lack of quality and standards with used games and horrendous customer service, I consider Game Stop no better than the predatory payday loan sharks, pawn shops, and low-end overpriced department stores that dominate low rent districts.

 

IMO even eBay is better than Game Stop... and I don't like eBay, either :D

Edited by akator
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In my area independently-owned retro game stores have seen something of a resurgence. The increasing digitization and the militant anti-used stance of modern games and publishers respectively continue to threaten the Gamestops of the world (with the customers caught in the middle) but the consoles that have already exited the first-hand market are alive and turning a profit for retro start ups everywhere.

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  • 2 weeks later...

In my area independently-owned retro game stores have seen something of a resurgence. The increasing digitization and the militant anti-used stance of modern games and publishers respectively continue to threaten the Gamestops of the world (with the customers caught in the middle) but the consoles that have already exited the first-hand market are alive and turning a profit for retro start ups everywhere.

 

No resurgence of retro-gaming stores in my area. :( Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be something most people "care" about. I would love to see a few of those stores crop up around me.

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Coincidentally, I just came across a stash of pristine GBA boxes in my collection. I really don't have the space for them. Should I offer them up for sale or trade? They're all commons... Mario, Metroid, Etc.

 

Probably should offer them for sale. And of course, this is the wrong time for me to snatch them up, being cash poor (come on, Spring!). Sigh. :(

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