I have a bunch of really old NES era stuff: console, games (often with box and manual), Game Boy, etc. This stuff is taking up space I’d like to free up.
Problem one: it’s been years since any of this stuff has been touched, so condition is totally unknown. Hell, I have no idea if there are batteries still in the Game Boy. My TV is modern, so I don’t think I’ll be able to test myself.
Problem two: what to do with them. eBay seems like too much of a hassle. There are used/retro game stores that might be interested. They fall into two categories: larger slicker mini chains that are further away, or single shop small operations that are closer to my apartment. Which is more likely to give me the best deal possible?
Problem three: what is the best deal? I know no specifics are possible without a listing, but even a ballpark or source for such would help.
I would go with the small independent store. Where I live we have a store like that. It’s owned by a couple of guys who have been Japan to learn directly from the people at Nintendo how to repair NES and SNES games. They definitely know their stuff, and the games they sell all look to me to be priced appropriately. If the small stores in your area are like that, they could test the games you are bringing in and give you the best deal you could get. The teenager with a summer job at a chain store would probably not have clue what to do with them.
I’d also go to the small store but don’t set yourself up expecting a windfall. Unless they’re mint in the box, stuff like NES consoles and Gameboys still turn up in the $1 box at garage sales. I’m not saying it’s only worth a dollar, just that there was so many of those things that they’re not rare.
It might be worth looking up the games, especially if you have any more offbeat titles or Japanese RPGs (like Final Fantasy, except not that particular title). Some of those are pretty rare and are worth something with box and manual. The market for those is collectors though who just want to own/display the physical product – the games themselves are available on emulators – and you’ll probably still be better off selling them to a specialized store. You’d just want to know that one is selling on eBay for $80 for they offer you 75¢ a game.
Even a fairly new TV should have the AV port to let you plug the NES in and see which games will at least load (although you may have to clean the connections on the cartridge to get them to work).
The GameBoy you just need some batteries.
The price will go up a lot if people know they work. Speaking of, did you have a price in mind? If it’s low enough I might do the work myself. Also, are you selling as a batch or are you willing to split?
Rubbing alcohol and Q-tips work for me, although some people recommend brass polish too.
Price wise it depends a bit. A couple of those games will go for a pretty penny to a collector (it pains me to say this to you since I might be the one paying for it), but if you’re determined to sell as a lot you’ll get a bit less since not everyone will want all of those games (or want duplicates).
I would try to find out if anything is worth a lot of money , I am always hearing of people giving away stuff to Goodwill and someone buy it dirt cheap and it worth a lot more.
Wow. Okay, when I read the OP, I figured that it would all be junk, because it almost invariably is. But that’s quite a collection. I would pull out a few of the valuable ones and sell them separately. Take the commons to the game store.
Dragon Warrior IV is the big one, you almost never see that complete, and if it’s in decent shape it’s probably worth $150+. Mega Man V is a big one too, with the box but no manual it’s probably in the $100-$150 range. MMIV with the box is roughly $50-$75. DWII, probably $50.
Yes, knowing which are the “big ones” to concentrate on would be very helpful. From the feedback so far, it sounds like the titles mentioned multiple times already are the ones I should focus on, and the Game Boy stuff I can just “get rid of” for whatever I can get. What about the unnamed NES ones and the hardware? Stuff I can also just sort of get whatever I can for it?
Also, what are the odds that any of this stuff functions? (I’ll come back to get a better idea what to do with it all if it doesn’t.)
The game boy games seem to be going for 10-20 each on ebay.
If they’ve been stored well, it’s fairly likely they all still work. If they’ve been kept in a garage or a humid basement or a shed or something, they’d only work with a miracle.
Really though, your current TV probably has the ports to check if it works.
It’s hard to say. The batteries in the cartridges are probably dead. That’s not a huge deal on the secondary market because everyone expects them to die eventually, but if you actually wanted to play it, you wouldn’t be able to save your game.
I’ll bet the Game Boy works. Not sure about the NES. The front-loading NES was going to stop working at some point anyway; the poorly designed ZIF socket ensured that. If you had any connection problems before I’m sure they haven’t improved.
Okay, all the NES games (including a copy of Super Mario Brothers that was actually in the NES for god knows how long) and equipment are functioning, even the gyroscope spinner (and I do have the gyros after all). The batteries in a couple of the RPGs even seems to still have games saved!
The Game Boy, however, suffered from battery leakage and may not function, so I didn’t get to test the Game Boy games.
So which should I sell separately from the others? The friend who helped me test suggested selling all the non-big ticket stuff in lots (one NES, one Game Boy).
Additional question to the above: are there any items where it’s not worth the hassle of putting it on eBay (I had an account that may be closed now, but I only ever sold two significant items on it anyway), and should just take it to one of the stores I mentioned (there are now two in my area who’d buy: one is game and record focused, the other is toy and anime focused, besides the games)?
That sounds like marketing twaddle. There’s nothing proprietary about almost any of the electronic components in Nintendo products. You sure as hell don’t need to go to Japan to learn how to fix them. Develop new software and modify code, sure.
