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something so amazingly common that you didn't know about?


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I thought this might be an interesting question for collectors based on something that I somehow just found out about a couple of weeks ago. Here's the story, then the question.

 

I have been actively collected video games since I was around 16-17 years old, I'm 34 now, so for at least 15-17 years. At the local flea market I actually found some 2600 games. Now I am a lazy collector, so I have over 300 individual 2600 games with nothing but my memory to remind what I have and don't have. Well, it seems mixed in these games were a bunch of silver labeled games like Football and Baseball. I bought all these silver label games because in my years of collecting, I've NEVER seen silver labeled atari games like this variant. I was kind of surprised of all the games I have ever bought at all the different places, and all the games I've passed up on at different shops that I never came across these ever!!

 

c_SuperChallengeFootball_Telegames_Telegames_front.jpg

 

So I come home to check rarity only to find that they're pretty common. So the question is, Has there been anything that you've collected thinking maybe it was unique only to find it's common, or anything you discovered recently out of years of collecting that you then find is common or common knowledge?

 

Thanks

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Apparently Galaga for the NES is not the rarity I first thought it was. I've got two copies of the game, both with the box, but it turns out Galaga is a 5 tops, on a rarity scale of 1 to 10.

 

Chase the Chuckwagon WAS like that in the 1990s, although all bets are off twenty years later. I had two copies of this, and got them both in the span of a month and a half.

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I got one. I've been collecting atari 800 carts for about a year now and I still don't know whats rare. A guy on craigs list here is selling about 25 carts and I'm kinda broke so I lowball him. No dice. So I start searching the net for info on one of the games and I cant find anything on it so I ask the throbbing brain that is Atariage. It turns out many of his games are unreleased prototypes. I figure this guys got to be one of those craigs list scammers. Well he decided to research his games and in doing so he found my posts on here. So he becomes a member and calls me out. Turns out he didn't really know just how rare his stuff was until reading my thread. Now people in the atari computer area are all happy to see the pics of his super rare proto's and I'm lookin like a fool. I really wish I had not lowballed him.. I know that story doesn't fit the title of this thread but its kinda the inverse I just saw a bunch of games alot I knew were common so I figured they all must be.

 

More on topic though I have done exactly what you did many times. I spend so much time looking at old games that I figure If I haven't seen it it's got to be rare right? Get it home and not so much. No regrets though just another piece in the collection.

Edited by Dripfree
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c_SuperChallengeFootball_Telegames_Telegames_front.jpg

 

So I come home to check rarity only to find that they're pretty common. So the question is, Has there been anything that you've collected thinking maybe it was unique only to find it's common, or anything you discovered recently out of years of collecting that you then find is common or common knowledge?

 

Thanks

 

Telegames cartridges aren't THAT common. They're not holy grails by any stretch, but as you know, you won't be tripping over them at your local game shop or Goodwill. I've never seen one in the wild in 15 years of collecting, just NOS copies online.

 

Apparently Galaga for the NES is not the rarity I first thought it was. I've got two copies of the game, both with the box, but it turns out Galaga is a 5 tops, on a rarity scale of 1 to 10.

 

Chase the Chuckwagon WAS like that in the 1990s, although all bets are off twenty years later. I had two copies of this, and got them both in the span of a month and a half.

 

Why would you have thought Galaga for the NES is a rarity? :P I'd probably even put it closer to a 4. Although I suppose boxed could be a different story (I default to "loose" since that's what I collect).

 

Yeah, I remember seeing Chuckwagon in a game shop for $300 about 12 years ago. At the time, that was the marquee rare Atari game. Now it's about $80 on a good day. I'm not sure if it's better now or then. It was easier to start collecting then because, except for rares, everything was dirt cheap. Now rarities have come down, which is good for established/serious collectors, but commons have come up.

 

And some systems, I just can't figure out. Atari 400/800 and XEGS cartridges seem to average $20-30 a pop these days (or at least that's what they list at). At prices like that, I'd just as soon say "the hell with it" and get an AtariMax. Why is A8 stuff so expensive?

 

But anyway, back to the original topic. I don't think there's any really common stuff I don't know about (and if there is, I don't know about it!). There's some stuff I kind of forget about and that I somehow still don't have yet, though, such as Championship Soccer and Hunt & Score for the 2600, or the Mattel Electronics editions of Motocross, Royal Dealer, Pinball, and Bump 'N' Jump for Intellivision. Or Dynasty! for Odyssey 2.

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I found a Japanese Mega Drive recently, fully boxed and everything, and in great condition. They wanted about 175 for it, and I ended up passing on it because of the price. My initial search on eBay for boxed Mega Drives showed that it wasn't high priced for the condition and what came with it....

 

except...

 

After I did further research I learned that not only is the system often bootlegged (and quite well, mind you), but that there were some versions that were made horribly poor compared to other versions. These "Asian" models had poor video and sound, and had boxes that looked identical to the Japanese versions except that they lacked a handle.

 

The one in the store lacked a handle. The Asian versions are FAR less desirable and I dodged a huge bullet.

 

I've been collecting for a decades, and I can honestly say that was a first for me. Learn something new every day I guess.

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