What's the deal with Jag prices on the used market?

[RREDDWARFF]

1 hour ago, cubanismo said:

If anything, I think the pandemic is fueling it.  I (re-) discovered Jaguar just before the shelter in place stuff started, and I've literally watched prices for some things I bought on eBay a month or two ago list for triple the price now.  Hopefully things calm down a bit when people are allowed to return to their normal lives a bit and aren't (like me) trolling through eBay and forums all day on their phones while re-learning parenting in a world with no schools, daycare, parks, playdates, or libraries.

I agree 100%. I also think the stimulus checks have had an immediate impact on vintage game prices. I buy games for the Jaguar, the 3do and also the Wii U. Since the whole stimulus check thing, I too can't believe how high prices have gotten in such a short period of time. 

[eightbit]

I am very interested in the GD flash cart not for playing the retail games personally, but much more to check out the stuff people have been coding that do not make a cart release at all. I am especially interested to see demos and artistic type stuff being done by individuals for the Jaguar. That is where that device will really shine for me personally.

 

I personally won't be using it much at all for retail games other than the super rare game that I haven't gotten my hands on yet (but will hopefully someday) and the CD based games as I have no desire to collect for the JagCD. I just don't trust CD mechanisms or media

 

As for retail carts, yes, they have gone up quite a bit since the pandemic. Compounded with the fact that people had "free money" (or the stimulus checks) this certainly has played into the pricing. If the pandemic continues without further stimulus and more people lose their jobs you may see this go completely the other way however. Not sure though....it seems people always have enough cash to buy their luxury items even if they do not have enough to put food on the table.

 

I have thankfully kept employed and of course I am buying more stuff than I normally would have due to how much time I have. But that is not to say that I am frivolously blowing cash. I have actually been in the process of clearing out (selling) stuff around the house that I otherwise would never use. With those funds I have taken 50% of it and thrown in the bank for bills, and the other 50% and invested in my collection. So, paychecks are not being touched, I am cleaning the house, and amassing a collection I never thought I could again. Works nicely. I highly advise it

[RREDDWARFF]

34 minutes ago, eightbit said:

If the pandemic continues without further stimulus and more people lose their jobs you may see this go completely the other way however. Not sure though....it seems people always have enough cash to buy their luxury items even if they do not have enough to put food on the table.

No kidding. 

 

I remember when  I was a kid, my uncle had a wife and 3 kids, no living room furniture, but he had a new Ferrari. No body was allowed to touch it, not even himself. We thought it was hilarious, he used to open the door handle with a handkerchief. 

[+madman]

If the pandemic is fueling higher Jag prices maybe now is the time to dump some of my rarer games. I just assumed the market was dead.

[glazball]

Three pages into this thread and no one has posted a seinfeld.jpg??  What's the deal with that?

[RREDDWARFF]

5 minutes ago, glazball said:

Three pages into this thread and no one has posted a seinfeld.jpg??  What's the deal with that?

"I DUNNO!"

[Warmsignal]

What's the deeeeall with these Jag prices??? Whhyyyy are they so high?!? I go down to 48th, the guy says fork over $99 for a used copy of Super Burn Out. I tell em', "don't ya know they're selling em brand new for that price?" he tells me "doesn't matter, this is hot stuff". How hot could it be? When you can still buy them brand new!?? Pretty hot he tells me... these sellers, I'm telling ya, they all got cat scratch fever. They're seeing big numbers swirling around their heads. You never mess around with a large cat. Chester Cheetah's no Jaguar, but have you seen this cat? He can be very persuasive. Hey buddy, just because you found yourself covered in cheeto dust and regret at 3 AM , doesn't mean you can sell your way back self-respect. I'll reserved my hundred for canned stuff.

 

Sorry, that's my best Seinfeld bit. lol

Edited May 21, 2020 by Warmsignal

[RREDDWARFF]

1 hour ago, Warmsignal said:

 

Sorry, that's my best Seinfeld bit. lol

That was good. Scary good. Waaay better than my feeble attempt of, "I DUNNO!"

 

I think I just came across as abrasive. 

[Warmsignal]

I used to watch the show religiously.

Edited May 21, 2020 by Warmsignal

[eightbit]

Haha....pretty damn good interpretation right there. Read the whole thing in Seinfeld's voice

 

This pandemic thing really does have people going crazy though. Or bored and crazy. Or bored, crazy and not knowing what better to do with their stimulus. They will regret it though if we suffer months more of this without more assistance...especially if a second wave occurs.

 

I have been selling strange things myself (that are selling!) such as tape cassette holders. I sold one today for $80. Holy crap. Time to offload the 800 tape cassettes I have in storage FINALLY!

[82-T/A]

On 5/13/2020 at 3:58 PM, Warmsignal said:

Historically speaking, they've always been pretty high relative to the prices of other consoles and games. When I initially picked up one in the early 2010s, I scored a pretty good deal getting my system with a game at just $60. Even then, in 2012 or so, $60 was pretty steep for a used retro console found "in the wild".

 

So why does the Jaguar market ignore the bounty and still fetch good money for used, or otherwise abundant stuff?

 

 

Atari is synonymous with Generation-X... who are generally doing well for themselves. They are all typically at the point in their lives where they are at "peak income" (mid 40s) and thus have expendable income.

 

Nintendo 64, PlayStation, Sega Saturn / DreamCast, XBOX, etc... are synonymous with the Millennial generation, whom are saddled with heavy college debt, entered the workplace during the Great Recession, have an obsession with buying Apple products, Starbucks, Uber, and a multitude of various services.

 

Although the Jaguar came out at the same time as those other systems... they appeal (often later in life) to people who grew up in the 80s because of the name, versus people who grew up in the early 2000s. I'd be willing to bet the 8-bit Nintendo prices are relatively high as well.

 

Edited May 22, 2020 by 82-T/A

[Tommywilley84]

I think it's simply because the Jag and it's games are rare as hell in comparison to alot of other console's . Plus us Jag folk are a very niche crowd. There's alot more wiggle room to charge us more because of that. 

[danny_galaga]

On 5/20/2020 at 7:55 AM, cubanismo said:

If anything, I think the pandemic is fueling it.  I (re-) discovered Jaguar just before the shelter in place stuff started, and I've literally watched prices for some things I bought on eBay a month or two ago list for triple the price now.  Hopefully things calm down a bit when people are allowed to return to their normal lives a bit and aren't (like me) trolling through eBay and forums all day on their phones while re-learning parenting in a world with no schools, daycare, parks, playdates, or libraries.

 

Yes but as we know people put any old price on things on ebay. What will things REALLY sell for? If at all? In a zombie apocalypse you can't eat Jaguar consoles 

[RREDDWARFF]

17 minutes ago, danny_galaga said:

 

Yes but as we know people put any old price on things on ebay. What will things REALLY sell for? If at all? In a zombie apocalypse you can't eat Jaguar consoles 

If that's the case, I'm making a suit of armor out of Jaguar consoles.

[Mikebloke]

Jaguar in the UK with 5 games, think 4 was boxed went for £225 recently. I did consider bidding on it but my own little project was potentially going to put me in the red after having to buy a new laptop, so I didn't bid. The seller had 0 rep as it was a new account that probably helped it a lot. Normally sellers expect that for a damaged boxed jaguar, sometimes not even complete or with cybermorth. 

 

Regarding younger collectors, I'm afraid to say there is still very committed collectors. There is one kid I know who delights in telling me about his jaguar knowing its the only retro system he has that I don't (outside a nuon, neo geo aes, it's the only retro console I don't have!), he will stupidly follow my footsteps and try to find and buy everything. A few more people I know are being smart and only collecting for one system or company (good luck Nintendoids!). 

 

I feel I may well wait, generate a good pit of money and one day try and go for a bigger set, perhaps including a CD, there have been times where it was possible but I chose to be sensible and keep my money. The price does limit, but apparently people still pay so it will still be awhile before I grab one. 

[+cubanismo]

18 hours ago, 82-T/A said:

 

 

Atari is synonymous with Generation-X... who are generally doing well for themselves. They are all typically at the point in their lives where they are at "peak income" (mid 40s) and thus have expendable income.

 

Nintendo 64, PlayStation, Sega Saturn / DreamCast, XBOX, etc... are synonymous with the Millennial generation, whom are saddled with heavy college debt, entered the workplace during the Great Recession, have an obsession with buying Apple products, Starbucks, Uber, and a multitude of various services.

 

Although the Jaguar came out at the same time as those other systems... they appeal (often later in life) to people who grew up in the 80s because of the name, versus people who grew up in the early 2000s. I'd be willing to bet the 8-bit Nintendo prices are relatively high as well.

 

Well this inspired a novel for some reason...

 

Speaking as someone who's officially a millennial, the Jaguar actually appeals to me *because* it came out at the same time as those other consoles, so I question this a bit.  I never had a 2600/7800/etc.  I played one at my cousin's house sometimes when I was very young, but didn't even realize what it was called until later.  They got a Nintendo soon after I was old enough to actually play the games reasonably well anyway, and the 2600 went in the closet.

 

We didn't get a console in my house until SNES because video games were the devil, and I had to beg and plead for years to overcome that stigma.  This wasn't even when SNES came out either, but probably a year later or so.  By the time we'd well and truly wore that thing out, and were trying to figure out how we were going to play Daytona USA at home some day and stop giving all our quarters to the arcade machines, my brother and I came across the Jaguar marketing, and oh how it was glorious to young kids like us in all the ways Nintendo's was not and Sega's Genesis stuff was!  Also, just being old & informed enough to vaguely comprehend "the math", 64-bits was quite compelling.  I wasn't so naive as to think it actually quantified the system's power, but it made you want it, the same way 8 cylinders are more alluring than 6 without needing to go into silly things like weight, turbocharging, and horsepower ?

 

So while we were counting our meager funds and debating whether we should buy a Jaguar or wait for Saturn, Saturn dropped early, a refurbished one showed up at the local Funcoland for something we could afford, and we went with the Saturn, thinking no one would defeat the mighty Sega and we'd be enjoying it for years to come, whereas Atari was a bit questionable at that point as far as longevity (We really put some serious thought into this.  It was a *lot* of money for us back then).  Looked like the smart choice for a few months, but we all know how that played out too.  My friend and I soon after got more into computer games anyway, made a killing (in 14-16-year-old-terms) off some questionable early interwebs ventures, and bought a playstation, which we used for most of our remaining console gaming from that generation.

 

The point of this rambling story being: The Jaguar appeals to me not at all because of the Atari name, but because it's "the one that got away."  It was still the "cooler" console in my mind Vs. the Playstation (too mainstream).  We had the Saturn, which I do love and was also relatively rare, but kind of a dud overall IMHO.  But I never got to so much as play a Jaguar.  Was that Cybermorph game in all the ads actually any good?  Why was everyone always raving about that weird-looking Tempest game?  Alien Vs. Predator always seemed like a legit masterpiece from the pictures.  A while back I read "Ready Player One" and watched "Atari: Game Over," and started wishing I could care about any non-human thing as much as Ernest Cline seems to care about everything he's ever touched.  The interviews with the Atari engineers were also touching.  Lot's of passion there that I can understand as a SW engineer who's worked with some cool HW and tried to get the most out of it.  Still, 2600/Atari didn't directly connect for me.  However, one recent night I fell down a youtube vortex and ended up watching this:

Which was so full of love for the machine, and finally gave enough details about the *actual* power of the HW that I was intrigued enough to look up virtualjaguar and look into how hard it would be to write some homebrew.  I gave it a try, realized emulation was not the Jaguar experience I was looking for, and finally bit the bullet and realized I was going to dive into the retro HW market I had sort of knowingly smiled at so many times before.  Somewhere along the way while I was doing the Ebay dance & waiting, I came across these forums, and the community around Jaguar gave me the warm fuzzies, so I decided to go all the way and look for a Jag CD too.  Fortunately, not all of us millennials are debt-laden Apple fan boys queuing for the latest fruit phone with our stimulus checks in hand (I can only sort of poke fun at this.  I'm old for a millenial, if you can't tell from the above.  I remember life before the internet.  I'm also writing this on a Macbook I use as my daily web/email machine because it's the only major OS whose kernel/internals I don't have to wrestle with regularly at work, so turning it on doesn't give me stress).  I make enough I didn't get a stimulus check.  While I managed to get a Jaguar + all the original pack-ins for less than original retail price (gee, what luck for a 20+ year old piece of HW Atari could barely give away), I certainly over-paid for a CD unit before realizing the way to go is to buy broken ones and fix them (I saw a broken one go in hours for $400 this morning...).

 

As I mentioned, this all happened for me for somewhat random reasons *just* before stimulus checks, being stuck at home and bored wondering whether every sneeze is the beginning of the end or just some stray pollen, etc.  COVID-19 was still something quarantined on a nearby military base and a cruise ship near Japan or something.  However, it makes me sympathize with anyone escaping reality by diving into some retro HW right now, especially stuff as romantic as Jaguar.  I'm not a collector (All my stuff is scuffed loose cartridges and HW with no boxes.  Wouldn't want the boxes if I had them), and my main interest is in creating content/exploring the HW (If I ever stop rat-holing trying to make this stupid BJL-via-Pi thing work.  Luckily hobbies aren't subject to prioritization reviews or anything), but now that I *am* stuck here in my house with merely my family and the vast internet to entertain me, I feel that need to buy one more cart when I see a close-to-reasonable price on Ebay even as I sit here knowing I'll just buy the SD cart and play them all that way in (I hope?) a matter of months/few years.  Having these things that are technically amazing and which I coveted in my childhood has a strange draw that fights pretty hard with my more minimalistic ideals ?

 

So does it suck that COVID-19 is probably fueling insane retro gaming prices?  Yes.  Will it go down when we can go outside again or we all run out of money?  Seems likely.  However, I deeply empathize with all sides on this one: The long-time scene members whose hobby is suddenly expensive, the newcomers that have to make hard choices about a new love or toilet paper, and the collectors who aren't looking to sell and now have to contend with a bunch of n00bs over paying.  Here's hoping we can all buy a new Jag Duo with a built in SD cart and/or skunk-compatible USB debugging connection soon, and the boom in interest means a bigger audience for an expanded 2021 homebrew season!

 

I'ma go watch my kids and poor a little grape juice out for the original Jaguar engineers/SW devs now.  If you made it this far, hope you enjoyed the read.  If you want to share your own story as well, know at least one person will be hanging around refreshing the forums for an update that doesn't involve someone trying to get on some non-existent list to keep him sane while having yet another tea party with my adorable 2 and 4 year olds.  Hang in there everyone ?

[Warmsignal]

I was somewhat sheltered myself as a kid, not from the evils of games but from the high cost of them. We never read or subscribed to any gaming mags back in the day, and to some degree were drunk on the Nintendo kool-aid. My brother was a Ninty fanboy because my uncle was, and by association so was I. We were so absorbed into the NES / SNES and with our brains fixated on "ultra 64" rumors, to the point that the 3DO, Jaguar, Saturn and PlayStation passed us right by without so much as realizing they were a thing. Literally, I first learned of the PS1 around 1997 or so (after N64), and even though we had a Genesis (somewhat neglected), didn't fully learn of Saturn and 32X's existence until 98 or so. It actually took a couple more years after that before I ever learned about 3DO and Jaguar. By then, they were long gone. It was kind of a surreal feeling to learn of all those consoles and games that I'd never touched in my life. I knew one kid that actually claimed to have a 3DO, and one brother of a friend who had a Saturn, and knew of nobody that ever had a Jag. Seemingly everyone had a PS1, or maybe an N64. Luckily I was smart enough to pick up a Dreamcast at launch, and I never regretted that one bit.

But I've always wanted to go back to this stuff that I never had. It's what inspired me to start game collecting over a decade ago (I actually first started collecting SEGA Saturn in the early 2000s). I missed out on so much stuff that I wanna kick myself. Realistically there's no way I could of had most or maybe even any of it back then, but I still feel guilty and like I owe it to myself, as gen 5 is actually my favorite gen to this day, ironically with N64 still as my all-time favorite console. lol

[eightbit]

I grew up with the Atari 2600, Colecovision, Intellivision, Odyssey, etc. Pre-crash stuff and then went on to the 7800, NES, SMS. And kept on with the trend of buying the new game console when it came out. First was the TG16 (which I loved) and then I was super stoked in 89 when the Genesis was released and purchased that from Kay-Bee on launch. The SNES I didn't get on launch but a short time after. By the time the Jag was released I was 18. I never subscribed to any mag, but I can tell you I purchased them a lot from places like Electronics Boutique and Software Etc. It was our "internet" of the time! I read so many articles about the "Panther" coming that ended up being scrapped for the Jaguar.

 

On their limited launch I knew NYC stores got some so I called around and found one obscure store that had ONE left. I begged the guy to hold it for me and drove like  a madman to the city. I am only about 15 minutes away so it wasn't that bad Picked it up and was so excited to look at it that I had my friend drive home

 

That night we played Cybermorph for the first time and had some beers. And no, 18 was not the drinking age at that time! What a great time I had with this console....for at least a year or so.

[Atlantis]

Jaguar has finally reached beyond embarassing ,bad failed system and is now cool and odd - perfect for late comer tech hipsters cashing in om the system, while being cool and different in their trend sensitive friends’ eyes. Now they are home from their IT offices working at home spending some easy earned cash on this old-new cool system. Its the way of things. And everyone know playing original carts and cds on original system is the shit, you should spend your ”i work at google” money on. One new game each day at least. Take a break from the computer to chill playing defender 2k on the fat screen tv, by rotationshastighet the Office chair 180 degrees. Peace out. 

[Warmsignal]

7 hours ago, Atlantis said:

Jaguar has finally reached beyond embarassing ,bad failed system and is now cool and odd - perfect for late comer tech hipsters cashing in om the system, while being cool and different in their trend sensitive friends’ eyes. Now they are home from their IT offices working at home spending some easy earned cash on this old-new cool system. Its the way of things. And everyone know playing original carts and cds on original system is the shit, you should spend your ”i work at google” money on. One new game each day at least. Take a break from the computer to chill playing defender 2k on the fat screen tv, by rotationshastighet the Office chair 180 degrees. Peace out. 

The only kind of Jag owners who annoy me honestly, are all these younger kids who like you say - buy a lot of the original hardware and games and then just like to parrot every bad and negative thing that everyone on the Internet has ever said about the system. They buy all this stuff, and then they're like "Yeah, this system is really terrible, look at this awful game! I mean this games sucks, that game sucks, etc. Yeah, I obviously spent like $700 on all this but it look it, it's soooo terrible." That's the kinda attitude they have with it. I don't understand that at all. Why have it, why talk about it, why obsesses over it, if you don't actually like it?

There was a video just the other day that I watched, some 21 year old kid probably, and unboxing a new Jag game and he's like "Ohhh look at that crappy cover art, and terrible screen shots, let's read the awful description... at least we'll get a color manual right? No.... black and white. Cheaply made, and disappointing to unbox just like every Atari game". Or something to that effect. I left him a comment something like - I love your enthusiasm, you're clearly a proud Jaguar owner who's stoked to have this stuff. What a tool. You could tell by the fact that he kept calling it a Jag"wire".

 

I just wish that people who dislike it, and who only associate themselves with it just for clicks and popularity and who have nothing good to add, would just leave well enough alone. We don't need a bunch of youngsters to go back and tell us how supposedly awful it is. It's not cool, witty or funny, to do that. It's at least a 10 year old joke by now and it's so tired.

Edited May 23, 2020 by Warmsignal

[+madman]

This thread quickly turned into:

[+cubanismo]

10 hours ago, Warmsignal said:

The only kind of Jag owners who annoy me honestly, are all these younger kids who like you say - buy a lot of the original hardware and games and then just like to parrot every bad and negative thing that everyone on the Internet has ever said about the system

They're helping us out.  Keep scaring off other buyers so there's more HW for us who actually enjoy/use it ?

 

Seriously though, as long as they don't start doing "drop tests" and "will it blend" videos on Jaguar stuff, I don't really care what they do.  Haters gonna hate.  Not gonna let them spoil my fun.

[Warmsignal]

Who of us aren't old men yelling at clouds on Atari Age?

 

9 minutes ago, cubanismo said:

They're helping us out.  Keep scaring off other buyers so there's more HW for us who actually enjoy/use it ?

 

Seriously though, as long as they don't start doing "drop tests" and "will it blend" videos on Jaguar stuff, I don't really care what they do.  Haters gonna hate.  Not gonna let them spoil my fun.

It's just the negativity that's permeated the overall landscape of gaming and related content online. Yeah it was kinda funny when James Rolfe did it 12 years ago, but now it's so old. There's only so many times I can stand to hear the phrase "this is the worst thing I've ever played" and other really clever, entertaining one liners like that.

 

I came across a smaller gaming channel on YT, I believe it's called "escape to gaming". The guy is so positive about games, and it's so refreshing just to listen to him talk about his passions... it's as if the guy actually likes video games, even if they aren't perfect in every way he'll play them and like them. Yeah, he's totally nuts like that. I just believe there needs to be more of that positivity, a less of parroting the angry video game nerd. There's no need to own or play anything that you hate, much less share that misery with the world. Spend all that energy used on trying to convey hatred into something constructive, I say.

 

Maybe I'm a weird one, but I've rarely ever played a game that I actually don't like. I look for the good in any game and most of the time, I find it. Even when everyone wants to tell me the game is terrible, I end up liking it. So that's how I came to conclusion that "I like bad games". More for me to enjoy, I guess.

[RREDDWARFF]

I agree in that, I too don't care to watch a bunch of negative reviews, but I have no problem with them being out there. Everyone should be able to express themselves, even if I do find them obnoxious. I just move on. 

 

Check out Second Opinion Games on YouTube. He has a ton of great Jaguar reviews. He seems like a really nice guy too; very upbeat and positive. 

 

As much love as I have for the Jaguar, and I do, there are some exceptionally bad games on the console (in my opinion). I just choose to resell them and move along. I don't feel the need to make a movie about my opinion because frankly, my opinion really isn't that special to anyone other than me. Some people don't realize this about themselves. 

 

As far as feeling the least bit "cool" about playing and enjoying Jaguar and other old video games. I don't. There's nothing cool about it. I'm a grown ass man loving Atari. That's weird. But it's okay, at least it's okay with me. I don't give a crap, and my wife kindly doesn't complain, so it is what it is and no one is going to decide for me what I like.

 

As far as younger guys/gals trying to collect entire video game sets? I don't get it. To me it displays compulsive behavior and is freaking weird, but it's not my decision to make. If other people want to do it, knock yourself out. I think the younger generations are plagued by "Pokemon Syndrome." They've gotta catch them all. I think a lot of young collectors are going to come to terms with reality one day and ask themselves, "Why the heck did I buy all this crap?"

[phoenixdownita]

40 minutes ago, RREDDWARFF said:

...

As much love as I have for the Jaguar, and I do, there are some exceptionally bad games on the console (in my opinion). I just choose to resell them and move along. I don't feel the need to make a movie about my opinion because frankly, my opinion really isn't that special to anyone other than me. Some people don't realize this about themselves. 

...

Well said sir, well said.