“SNES Nostalgia Overload – new to the collection!”

I recently closed in on a deal I’d been negotiating for months and landed some personal white whales. I have wanted to replace a handful of these for years, relics and shards of memories lost to divorce, hasty moves, yard sales, and pawn shops. There is no feeling quite like holding a physical piece of your past in your hands.

Let me say that pricecharting.com is an invaluable resource, contextualizing sales made across multiple platforms (and not just eBay) and across multiple months (and not just what’s currently listed on eBay). Attempting to sort out what the exact value is for items like these might just be impossible now, so the question becomes not what their value is but how much they are worth to the buyer and seller, and navigating that difference until both parties are satisfied. It’s a delicate dance but worth performing for treasures such as these.

For me, it’s not so much feeling like a kid again as it is recovering a piece of myself.

Games like Breath of Fire II are more than just video games to me. That game launched me into a world of religious studies and interest in world mythology. I might never have pursued a theology degree without Breath of Fire II. Others like TMNT IV: Turtles in Time represent all the summer breaks, lazy Saturdays, and best friends of a bygone era. I look forward to playing through multiplayer games like that with my kids sooner rather than later.

There are other games here that I’ve always been interested in but have never played, like Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete. I can remember sitting in a schoolyard with a older friend telling me all about the game, giving me his recommendation. Here, decades later, I finally have the opportunity to try it for myself.

Let’s face it, there are simply too many games to play! I’ve worked on minimizing my collecting–I know it doesn’t look like it! Getting rid of other non-game collections and collections I’ve held onto for systems I don’t even play frequently or enjoy much at all has been helpful for sanity, space, and funds.

Collecting physical retro isn’t cheap. Some systems have more expensive libraries than others. NES, SNES, and PS1 are to me, the cream of the crop when it comes to an economy of pure nostalgia…

Condition is a huge issue. My jaw dropped at the condition of these CIBs. Even the manuals were in great shape for those without boxes.

You can go to online market places and find people selling an empty cardboard box torn and beat up and stepped on almost beyond recognition for hundreds, and maybe nobody is buying them, maybe somebody is, but items like these belong in a museum and that’s exactly what I’m going to give them.

Rest assured, though, I play what I buy! Over half of my collection has been played and about a quarter are unplayed. It doesn’t make sense to me to buy graded or sealed games if I can’t even enjoy them. I certainly wouldn’t be buying Super Mario 64 for 1.5 million just to keep it in a glass case.

You know what collectors like that are like.

It’s not about investments. It’s not about saving up for retirement. I can resell these someday and maybe make bank, but for me, it’s about the experience. There’s nothing quite like it.

Full list of additions:

Breath of Fire (CIB)
Breath of Fire II (CIB)
Donkey Kong Country (CIB)
Mortal Kombat II (CIB)
Secret of Evermore (CIB)

Battletoads in Battlemaniacs
Bubsy
Firepower 2000
Populous
Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse, the
Secret of Mana
SimCity
Street Fighter II Turbo Hyper Fighting
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time
Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster Busts Loose
Ys III: Wanderers from Ys

Dragon Quest VII
Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete

Red formerly ran The Well-Red Mage and now serves The Pixels as founder, writer, editor, and podcaster. He has undertaken a seemingly endless crusade to talk about the games themselves in the midst of a culture obsessed with the latest controversy, scandal, and news cycle about harassment, toxicity, and negativity. Pick out his feathered cap on Twitter @thewellredmage or Mage Cast.