Rare game collecting is a hobby I've wanted to get into for a while now. I like to look for anything wether its consoles, accessories, or games, but I've never had any luck in the past one and a half years I've been keeping an eye out for stuff like that. I've never acquired anything remotely rare or interesting except for some weird GBC surround sound system from a friend, but its pretty much worthless anyway. I know this sounds silly, but seriously where do you have a good chance of picking up something rare without paying an arm and a leg? I always hear people talk about flea markets as a good place to score, but the flea market I was at down here in Florida had only two stands selling anything related to games, and they only carried some pretty average/common stuff at normal/slightly higher prices. The only other place I could think of is Goodwill, but pickings at mine are pretty scarce. The only interesting thing I ever found at my Goodwill was a broken Famiclone system in the form of a N64 controller that had a busted slot where you could insert NES cartridges. Other than that there's been one PS2 and a GameCube controller and that's it along with a few average PS2 games. So what's my problem? Where do I have a good chance of finding rare gaming items? Also My main fascination is of prototype and beta games. So how do I know when a game (specifically a PSX, PS2, or any other disk based game) is a prototype? What can I use to tell the difference between a normal/bootleg disk based game and a prototype right on the spot. Thanks in advance for the answers, sorry if this is the wrong place to post this
1. Charity stores, flea markets, garage sales, freebie posts on places like Craigslist are a good start for some cheap ones. For more expensive ones, you may have to check online like eBay, Amazon or perhaps even local vintage stores. It depends as to whether or not you're looking for specific titles/game series' or if you're trying to cover an entire console's line-up and if you're limiting your collection to a particular region. If you're going to cover multiple regions then you need to start looking at things like - Yahoo Auctions Japan, Yahoo Auctions Hong Kong, Mbok, Rakuten, Ruten Taiwan, Gmarket Korea, Amazon or eBay regional variants. Otherwise if you're looking for particular things for certain consoles, communities dedicated to those ones are also often a typically safe bet to ask for advice OR if you're looking to buy something in particular. 2. You will likely have a higher chance of finding unusual items in charity stores and the like if there's been a company within the area - for instance, a store near where Team Bondi were located would often end up with posters and other random promotional crap for L.A. Noire that had obviously come from the dev team. If you know who, where and what was being distributed, manufactured, marketed (such as a major expo or convention) or even tested in particular regions - you may be more inclined to find stuff in the wild and if you are checking around such a location, always check the serial numbers and/or pressing on stickers or discs! 3. Prototypes are typically not on retail looking discs. A "beta" could be anything closer to a retail build of a game in terms of looks or content and can come in various forms that are all technically considered beta builds - some Trial Editions/Demo versions of games are close to retail but may contain content that is different to the final game whereas a prototype is typically not intended to be sent out and will generally look as such. PS1 prototype builds (it is PS1, not PSX as PSX refers to the digital recorder and not the first console) can show up on a variety of CD-Rs and due to this, multiple fakes have shown up in the past as there isn't really a set look for them. The best bet in regard to PS1 prototypes is to confer with other collectors that may specialize with a particular game series, company or console to be able to confirm the authenticity of it if the data cannot be confirmed before purchase. Most companies will have specific CD-R selections, some may even have private/personal details on them such as phone numbers, names and the like as to the person that was initially given (or was supposed to be given) the build. A beta/trial/demo/near retail build may likely surface with a demo/trial build look or even as a retail copy with a sample mark around the inner ring of the disc. Some may be stickered as to what they are or what they are intended for - like a review copy will often say the build of the game on it. However, even with fakes floating around - it's actually very easy to confirm what the actual build of the game is. Within PlayStation and PlayStation 2 game discs, there's ELF files or files that are labelled with the game's catalog code. Within that file, the compiled build number is listed and the EXE/catalog code named file will often be a major giveaway without even having to check the file itself. Though, you can also refer to Redump.org for file size checksums and other data against retail and typically promotional builds of games. A PS1 promotional copy is typically a black coloured disc, the opposite look to a Platinum/Greatest Hits game, there will be no decorative logos or print on these. A PS2 promotional copy looks closer to a PS1 Platinum/Greatest Hits game but has blue print on the disc and again - no decorative logos or print on it. A PS3 one looks like the PS2 one but the disc could be silver or white but will have a red print. PSP and other ones will typically have a white inner disc within the UMD case with the game's title printed on it or may say what it is in massive lettering on the disc too. A master copy is likely to be a completely blank disc but may have a sticker or simply the game's title or codename printed on the disc but the disc's matrix (or possible lack of) would be the giveaway for a fake if the plant manufacturing info does not match up to general info on the game's promotional and retail copy's production. A prototype build is likely to be specified on the menu or in a corner of the screen, a debug menu or additional options existing in menus that don't compared to the retail game. A lot of them may not look massively different which is why that it's best to manually check files on the disc. A bootleg will typically not have any logos on the disc, the print colour of the disc is likely to be off. The printing on the disc itself is likely to be skewered, blurry. The matrix numbers (hard to see on a PS1 title) are also a dead giveaway. That said, you typically won't see many disc prototypes publicly - or at least of a few major games or franchises. I can show you some examples if you would like from my Clock Tower collection as I have also recently found some bootleg copies of games. But the above is just what I've found, that said - I tend to poke around in files normally so likely one of the better suited collectors and/or specialists on here could explain some more for you.
Start on eBay, move your way up through the different sources as you find out more about what you're doing. The Assemblergames User Marketplace is a fantastic place to find dev stuff (betas, prototypes, etc), as well as regular games and consoles, all for extremely fair prices in comparison to eBay. And this probably isn't the right place to post this, but I'm not quite sure what would be the right place. Maybe the introduction thread? Hex, help me out here.
Tell me about it!!!!!!!!!! There is nothing at flea markets or anything. You got to be extremely lucky to get cool systems. I don't know how people have crazy systems. Even boxed consoles, you never find them anywhere and on Ebay, there is not many boxed consoles.
I think Lamont hit on a lot of good points. To follow up, most of us didn't decide one day we were going to have a collection. It sort of happened over time. For every 10 times I go to the flea market I find things to buy once or twice. Don't be disappointed you can't find everything off the bat. Really good stuff is worth waiting for. Heck, I've waited YEARS to find some stuff that I wanted for my collection.
Thanks, A Toubib. ^^; About it taking time, you're absolutely right! It's taken 7 years to be able to get my hands on a promotional glass that was only retailed via the eCapcom store and to get a prototype build for my collection too. That said, I check all of the sites I've listed in my other post daily and other forums too for the last few years, so I've really only missed items when I've been unable to get online. I think the best bet would be to make a decision as to what you're collecting and as to why you're collecting. For instance, I'm collecting as I both enjoy CT but I'm also documenting everything (which I have fun, but I have fun making spreadsheets so that may be somewhat unusual). My husband collects RE/SH/MGS stuff as he likes the series but typically only picks up retail or promotional-retail type items due to space concerns in the house and that he doesn't consider himself a "hardcore" collector - I don't either. Just got to keep in mind that there's always someone else out there with something you'd be interested in, or items you had no idea existed. It just may take a decent amount of time to find info on them or for things to surface, so I would recommend to take the hunt at your own pace to avoid burning yourself out.
Sorry, I haven't logged on in a while, but I'd like to thank you guys for a lot of the words of advice and inspiration, its very helpful
Generally yes, but not necessarily. Some of the rarest items I have - measured by how often they pop up for sale and how many other people currently own them based on my knowledge - cost me just under $10-20 each. For the real unicorn items such as prototypes and prize games you will pretty much always have to pay big bucks, but certain things also have surprisingly low demand despite being incredibly rare. My Sega Saturn Nissan video CDs come to mind... both of which almost never show up for sale. I constantly searched Japanese auction sites and bought all three copies that I would find in a timespan of over 4 years. Cost me a total of $30+shipping, all combined
i think as others have said perseverance is key or money....one or the other, but i dont think anyone has ever built up a big collection fast & cheap mone more thing ....get to know your local charity shop staff, if you never see anything out, you can be sure someone is already in there getting stuff kept back for them.....that or you just don't pop in often enough , there's lots of collectors (and resellers) of this kind of stuff.....you have to catch them while they are there, you cant just pop in every month or so and expect it to build up just for you, same go for flea markets and such if your not there early you will never get the best bargains....old controllers, broke stuff and overpriced stuff is all thats left if another collector or a reseller get there first oh and last bit of advice....get to know your rivals if there is someone else who seems to beat you to bargain and you hate him for it....put that anger aside and just try make the best of the situation being mates with fellow collectors can pay off sometimes, being able to swap items without ebay fees and postage and all that stuff can be really good and it also means if ever they are a bit short on money for whatever reason you can have first picks on stuff
The price of rare games and systems is directly proportional to their popularity. I've seen Jaguar prototype carts go for 1/2 the price of a dinged up copy of Earthbound. Whenever people think about rare games, they tend to think of the "holy grails"... A trifecta of price, rarity, and popularity (whether it's actually a good game that didn't sell or it's rarity has been over-publicized): games like Panzer Dragoon Saga, Shining Force III, Stadium Events, Flintstones 2 for NES, etc. The "holy grails" are always going to be difficult to find in the wild let alone for anything under typical eBay prices (thank you, smartphones), but don't let it discourage you! There are plenty of rare and somewhat obscure titles out there that people have yet to care about.
