How To Save Money When Collecting Retro Video Games 

For those on a budget or like collecting, it's okay to NOT have the original stuff. Wii Game CD cases work for Gamecube CDs that fit perfectly. Many sites have printable original box art with proper dimensions (you can even make your own!) and then add to the box. I have a full GC collection with boxes and custom art using wii cases (white instead of the black cases). Blank Wii cd cases sell for half the price of GC case/boxes.

At retro game stores, generally the rule of thumb i go with is 10% over price charting is the limit. If a game is more expensive than that, I wont get it. Also usually, a retro game store has either great selection but terrible prices or great prices but terrible selection.

recently got into restoring my old consoles from when I was a kid, then wanted to start collecting some older video games and their consoles. The biggest problem I have with collecting older video games/consoles is how vast it is, like their is no end point because of how much money you'd have to dump into it. I think trying to define a range of what you want to collect can really help make it seem more achievable.

They used to be so easy to find "in the wild" or easy to collect. Now people are just money hungry 🤦‍♂️ people who don't even like games are buying and selling. Top tip number 1, only collect your childhood, don't buy something that's expensive, because it's expensive.

"Re-sellers do not raise prices maliciously" God I wish I had Zion's good natured faith in people in these trying times.😞

Waiting is genuinely one of the best things, I got a ps2 game that I feared I was gonna have to pay hundreds for just the game, but just randomly I found it for about $50 complete in box online selling from a used bookstore. My favorite part of collecting oddly isn’t the game itself but that you can have a story for everything, looking for it, finding it, and the game itself.

Part of the fun of collecting for me is trying to get the lowest price possible for games, while still getting stuff in good condition. Helps save money and adds some challenge

Hey Zion, I just wanted to say that I really love these video game collecting videos you have been doing. Whether it's your recent pick-ups or collecting tips like this video, they are always a really enjoyable watch! :)

Loved the video! In my experience I have been, in the past, a collector wanting to complete a whole set of N64 games. I realised in the end there’s just no point in collecting games that I’m never likely to play so I sold them in bulk for a craaaazy low price compared to what they are worth today but I also paid a lot less for them at the time. Now I only buy the games that I want to play and plan on playing in the future. If I’m not going to play anytime soon then I just wait it out until I see one come up for the right price. Here in the UK we have car boot sales and charity shops, which are our equivalent to thrift stores as such. I’ve found many games and sold them in order to buy the games I actually want for my collection and with all intention of playing. I’ll never again be the kinda person to just collect for the sake of completing a whole library, it’s just not worth it. Not all games are worth your time playing. Only a couple weeks ago I found a copy of Dragon Force for the Saturn. Sold it and that financed my purchase for the Zelda Twilight Princess Ltd Edition set for the WiiU 😊

Zion, loving this type of content. Very cozy and wholesome (and useful) 😇 Keep talking about the things you love 😁

Paper Mario thousand year door was about $40 3 or 4 years ago, and I thought that was nuts. I bought it because I sold my old copy. Now, I can’t believe how much it is. Insane

Hi Zion, this was an unexpected but welcome video from all of you at Nintendo Life!! I hope we can see more personal types of content like this from you in the future. Thanks for taking the time to make this!

Started rebuilding my PSP collection. With most current gaming systems requiring an internet connection, it's nice to embrace the retro and not have to wait for patches or updates to download. Plus, the PSP is such a great handheld in its own right!

Great advice, I've been wanting to rebuild my childhood collection lately and this has been good motivation for doing it right

Recently, a game collector I know and have bought stuff from before, found himself in a situation where life priorites changed, and he decided to sell off his entire collection. I got myself a little stack of games that I had wanted for a long time, and for a really fair price. Chief among them was Thunder Force V for the Japanese Sega Saturn, a game I in no way could justify the going market rate for, but now I have this gem in my collection without breaking the bank thanks to him, CIB with spine card and everything, and I'm really happy about it!

This video was SUPER informative! Thanks, Zion! Makes me want to get into collecting. I just might one of these days! :)

Went on a float trip. My friend gave me…GAVE ME… CIB pokemon black 1 and white 2. Also gave me Pokémon sapphire. Didn’t want anything in return. He just said that he had them and they were just sitting in his closet and knew I would appreciate them. I have been looking for all the Pokémon games, so this was just stunning to me. I truly do not deserve him as a friend.

Really enjoyed this insight into your collection and tips for collecting! My collection's not real big, but I do enjoy it. I've been particular about keeping my game boxes and manuals since I was a kid, so I have a few items that are pretty nice. With the advent of digital sales (and less shelf space), most of my purchases these days are digital, though I will occasionally pick up a retro game disk/cartridge that I wouldn't otherwise be able to play. The most recent one of those was Yoshi's Cookie for NES--one of my wife's favorites from when she was a kid. Thanks again for sharing--great content!

I’ve actually just gotten into seriously collecting games over the last year. I made it a goal of mine is to have a complete CIB of every mainline Pokémon game. I have a lot of them already, but recently I actually got Pokémon pearl, the last 4th gen game I needed! It was pretty expensive everywhere I went, but I ended up buying a loose cartridge on eBay from one person, and just a box and manual from another, and saved a lot of money by not buying CIB at a store or something!

I go to a vendor at our local farmer's market and buy retro games now. They've got 3 rooms literally stuffed floor to ceiling with retro video games, vintage toys and collectables, etc and you can just sift through cases and boxes of all kinds of stuff and the prices for the games I bought were fair. It's kinda overwhelming when you first walk in with the sheer volume of stuff they've got stacked about, but it's fun to explore and see what you can find.

My most recent game hunt that I really loved was when I was visiting my better half and we both went to a game shop We checked, talked and laughed, when we calmed down, I saw Rhythm Thief on the 3DS for 10€ and was so excited! Can't wait to move in with my better half in the near ish future and do couple's game hunting trips

Great video Zion! I’d love to see a video going through a specific strand of your collection - maybe a Zelda one or something similar? Maybe a console or character specific video?

Great video! As someone who only really *collects* stuff that I want to play and enjoy, this came in really handy.

My partner and I’s interest in retro gaming collecting started almost 10 years ago, when we were celebrating our first anniversary together and bought a Sega Genesis for $25 at a local novelty store that had a very small selection of retro games. Afterwards, we walked down the street to a video game store to pick up a few games for the system, which ended up being Jurassic Park, Sonic 2 and Mortal Kombat. Within a year, we were able to find a working Sega CD and 32X, both for under $100 (possibly under $50? Can’t remember the exact price for the 32X) and found really great games for both for pretty cheap. Lately, I’ve been thinking how lucky we were to start collecting when we did, but also how it’s now an expensive hobby for anyone who wants to join in, but the advice in this video is really solid. My personal advice I would add is collect what you want to collect. Don’t feel like you have to own a super rare game just because it’s rare.

Great video. I was having fun in the past slowly collecting gamingrelics cases for my old cartridge based games. They have printed covers based on original box art, but are hard plastic cases. Now I'm left with an incomplete set because they stopped selling them with the printed covers (due to legal reasons i'm sure). Unfortunately, I have nowhere local that does a good job printing, and even if they did, I always mess them up cutting them.

Thank you for the knowledge you gave out that day!!!

This was great advice honestly, this past year I have had such fomo with gamecube games in general and the wii u/ 3ds eshop closing has been making me buy games throughout the year. Thanks so much! Currently, downloading Mario Galaxy 2 and Metroid Prime Hunters hehe

Love your video! I’m not exactly a game collector, I buy the games I want to play, but that can be difficult sometimes with the prices going up. I live in the Netherlands and we have a game shop who sells games second hand for the “normal” prices, like what they would be based on the original prices. So some games never come in stoc (yet..), but I love just daily searching their website for any new added games. Also got a lot of coupons there, so for example I got Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy for around 20 euro’s (Goes here online for about 80) and yesterday found Assassins creed chronicles for PS Vita for 12 euro’s (goes for around 50 online). And fire emblem Awakening for around 20. Just love to browse everyday and see what might come up. As you state, you can only spend your money once! So be patient and the game you would like to play or collect will come by eventually! Thanks for the tips and keep up the amazing work 🙌🏽

I felt inspired by your video from London when you bought some games. I spent an afternoon looking online for local stores that sell Nintendo Switch games and I found a copy of Streets of Rage 4, even though I bought it digitally I felt that it would be awesome to support a local store during their sale. Since then I have bought 2 more games from them because their service is just friendly and fun.

This was a very helpful video! I believe the last games I went into the store and bought in a little haul were Kirby Star Allies, Pokemon Shield, and Pokemon: Let's Go, Eevee at Target last week. As we approach the release date for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, I hated missing physical copies for only two Pokemon Switch games, so I had to even out my collection. 😅 My niece (5) loves playing Kirby with me, so I saved up for another couch co-op option for our gaming sessions. Pokemon Snap will be the next buy for her. (Those games were on sale, and I added on my partner's Walmart discount, so I think it was about $130 for all three games.)

I just started getting into physical game collecting and I immediately subbed to your channel, you kind of remind me of my older brother actually! I'm very broke right now so even though they aren't proper retro games by most people's standards I'm starting out by asking for DS/3DS games for Christmas since I already have a 3DS, right now I have Pokemon White, Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth, Pokemon Y, Tomodachi Life, and 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors on my list, I'm not expecting to actually get all of them but my brother has a tendency to spoil me whenever I ask for video games for Christmas so who knows lol

I'd recommend anyone around central Scotland look up "Forgotten Worlds" in Stewarton, near Glasgow. Incredible place with likely the biggest selection of Japanese retro games I've ever seen (and I've been to retro game shops in Japan). There's too much wild, ridiculous stuff to give you a full impression, but there's full trays of Sega Pico, Amstrad CPC, WonderSwan and Virtual Boy games. Last time I was there I saw a boxed Philips CD-i, Casio Loopy, PSX (the DVR PS2) and Pioneer LaserActive. I bought a Japanese Metal Gear Solid: Premium Package, and the contents looked like they'd never been touched. The time before that, I got a boxed Nintendo Scope (that's the European name for the Super Scope, and I'll insist on propagating it) and they had two more right behind it. It's an insane place in the middle of nowhere, and I think it's a mandatory stop for any retro gamers visiting the area.

been buying up a few physical wii u games I missed out on and genuinely want to play for such little money lately, its awesome!

My last physical purchase was last weekend, I bought Split Second on the PS3 for £3! I went into town specifically to buy it and was excited for it. I'm surprised the online lobby's are full too. I'm also excited for my lunch break, I'm going into town again to buy Motorstorm Apocalypse for the PS3 for the price for £4. I have a 3D TV too to make the most out of the game. Fun times 😊

Thanks for the tips!! I'm currently collecting retro games, but only the ones I'm interested or missed out on. FOMO really is a pain in the butt. It also doesn't help that people are inflating the prices of these retro games. I think I will try one of your tips and collect the game in parts. Getting the game, case, and inserts separately. Because trying to get a game CIB (complete in box) is difficult because the price is too expensive. I'm trying to get Paper Mario and the Thousand-Year Door and Wario World.

good tips! these will be useful as im getting into collecting nintendo handhelds. now i just need friends who dont hate games that are new but have a pixel artstyle

Waiting is a good tip and something I only recently made a point to do. I waited around for Fortune Street and recently ended up getting a sealed copy for $50 at a Madison shop. It was like buying a new Wii game a decade later and I intend to check it out!

In an ideal world; buying games digitally on the Switch, would have been perfect. As is; it's really great as it seems I am able to get the best games from various past retro and last gen consoles (not just Nintendo consoles) through current retro collections or re-releases. However, because of ambiguous nature of DRM and how the backwards compatible feature of the next gen Switch will be implemented (if at all); it makes it risky to trust. If Nintendo and companies were to promise and ensure full digital ownership of all game purchases to your account (even if games get delisted and even if the console is no longer current); then it would be great as it saves space and I know what games I would want to buy and keep.

Thanks for the tips!

a few years ago i was getting into retro collecting (and some switch stuff.) I ended up talking to my uncle about Gamecube games for a few hours. Later during christmas, he randomly suprised me with a copy of ttyd! Probobly my best experience yet with game collecting

Cool I didn’t know Zion lives in WI. Nice to hear you were able to pick up something useful in Fond du Lac. I grew up there and the only cool thing was Chimera Hobby Shop.

Before COVID, I was lucky enough to get a GBA SP with a travel case and a few games for $29.99 at a Savers. I had lost mine when I was a kid (along with my copy of Pokemon Leafgreen) and I was absolutely thrilled to find one that looked similar to it for a good price. Absolutely made my day and I still use it frequently.

I love flea markets. Yes, the scalpers are roaming, but I still catch them slipping or am there earlier, but I love scanning for unexpected games, merch, trading cards, and walk about :)

i've wanted thimbleweed park physically for years, but i missed out on the limited run games & fangamer versions. found the complete big box pc version for $40 plus shipping (what it retailed at) and the seller just had the switch, ps4, and pc versions and only kept the switch one. other sellers were charging $200+ when it did come up (pc cd rom is more niche i suppose) and i am so in love with it. framed the poster that came in the box.

I recently bought a new 3dsxl from a retro store in Mobile, AL for $195.00. Probably not a fantastic price but for over a year I've been looking for one that I could afford and that was the best price I could find. It's in great condition. Almost looks new! I'm very happy with it! I play Story of Seasons on it every day 😀

Hi, loved this video alot!!! Their were two really good finds i got(One in person and one online): The first find was I wanna say two years ago. I was at a thrift store, looking at their CD's and I found that they had a PS1 gem hidden in that pile of CD games. Believe it or not, it was a CIB Black Label Silent Hill 1. Not kidding, it was crazy too find it and it was in really good condition, plus i only payed like one dollar for it, That might be the most satisfying find, I've ever gotten. The other one was technically online, but i still wanna mention it. I was looking for simpsons road rage on the gamecube, since i have hit and run on the gamecube and wanted both too be together on the same system. (unless your going for the PS2 or Xbox versions, Which are only around 10-15 bucks) Road rage on gamecube is pretty expensive nowadays, it goes for like $65 cib. I found a listing that was from goodwill, it had only a stock image of the game, it said it was complete and it was only $40(Keep in mind, this is when the gamecube version was going for $60). However the thing was that it said it was untested and i couldn't return it, soo i took a big risk buying it. When it came though, it turned out too be one of the cleanest gamecube copies I've ever seen, it looked very very good. It also worked perfectly well, i was really happy with this find. But yeah great video, i really enjoyed it alot Zion!!! >:3 ❤️

Truly love Zion's videos!

My biggest hurdle in really going all in on collecting is that I don't really have room. My wife and I share a one bedroom apartment and we try to keep things not too cluttered. I'd almost need a whole separate room for it.

At a retro game store I got Metroid prime loose for 20$ and was so excited because it's my one of my favorite Metroid games and i just recently got a GameCube to play it. That was a good day.

I got Immortals Fenyx Rising for €8, which felt like a bizarrely good deal. I always try to go for physical whenever possible but my country seems to not import any other games than the basic titles (for the Switch atm), so that's a huge bummer.

“Video games can be expensive” Me, who just bought a copy of the thousand year door: *y e s .*

Really enjoyed this video :) best recent purchase I made was at a Walmart. They had switch games on clearance. I walked out with Diablo 3, Dragon quest XI and Xenoblade chronicles for $5 each. Best feeling ever.

I’d love a follow up to this either of being favorite pieces of your collection, or crazy deals you’ve gotten. Last year I got an in box WiiU for $10, and a Galaxy & Samus 3DS XL for 35 each

My advice: don't start. And if you do, buy my collection first.Lovingly collected over many years, then drastically changed my life with new ideas of what is of value and what is not, and now I have an amazing collection... stored in my mother's house because I live in nature and don't want to bother selling it, but don't want to give it away either because even at reasonable prices I could buy my camper again by just selling some of my collection, or feed my dogs for a couple of years, or... Some of it I just don't think I can get rid of, especially GBA games hard to emulate like Boktai of Warioware Twisted, or my near perfect Zelda collection.

My advice for retro collecting. Go for the cheaper games first or try and find games in charity shops then work you’re way up to the more expensive games. And buy and sell. And use expected profit rather than you’re own money.

This was such a positive uplifting description of how to collect games. The sad reality of retro gaming currently is unfortunately cutthroat and toxic, with collectors and dealers treating the games they buy and sell as a “get-rich-quick scheme” by tricking amateurs into spending 10 times more than they should, or buying them from naive people for dirt cheap. It infuriates me to see games that would be at some boot sale for just a few Dollars/Pounds in ok condition now being sold for hundreds in some stupid acrylic box and a “certificate” from some auction house. What used to be a simple, cheap, and fun hobby has been warped into such a complicated, expensive, depressing for-profit business.

Wow! Zion does have a big collection of lots of different video games and other cool stuff to

I’ve been mostly a casual collector. Because of collecting, along with some emulation, I’ve fallen in love with the original PS1 library. My most favorite game that I’ve collected is probably Final Fantasy VII or Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation

I bought a cartridge for Animal Crossing Wild World and a case soon after a few weeks back. It was around $40 in total, but now I have a CIB Wild World that's been fun to play

Great video! I got Pokemon Stadium 3 Japanese CIB for about £22. Not sure if the price was good but was cheapest I could find and I like it

I've never heard of Gameye and this is the dream app I've been looking for. Great content!

When you mentioned Paper Mario The Thousand Year Door my heart ❤️ sank. Because that’s one of the games I waited on and waited far too long. 😭 Shoulda bought it when it was cheap. 😭😭😭

I'll always remember getting Chibi Robo complete in immaculate condition with all the inserts for 5 bucks right around the time it reached a hundred dollar game, you CAN get lucky on some things here and there if you always keep your eyes peeled. I luckily got Thousand Year door, also totally complete in amazing shape for like $25-30 when it was still a $60 game, and i thought I'd have to buy a completely separate Luigi's Mansion to finally get a manual without feeling like i was paying such a premium, i went into a random mom and pop game shop I've never been to one day, found they had a complete copy, i asked if they'd be willing to sell the manual separately, and without hesitation, they said to go ahead and just take it, at that point I had to mention to them it happened to be my birthday, and thanked them for unknowingly giving me a bday present, what luck!! Now if that can only happen two more times for a Kirby Airride manual and a Brave Fencer Musashi manual, i've gone through finding 3 copies of Musashi in the wild for cheap af, but all 3 were missing the mannies, sigh, lol! You win some, you lose some. The gaming gods shine upon diligence, good luck out there brethren!!

Last game I recently purchased was Persona 1 on PSP. I've been trying to be smart with purchasing games for a while now and I got a pretty good deal on it too. Game is worth around $150 on price charting CIB, but luckily I was able to snag it for $99 in really great condition and even came with an advert for the strategy guide which I wasn't expecting. Right now I'm trying to fill out my collection, the two games I really want rn (that are sadly very expensive) are the two Persona 2 games, American copies. So... if anyone has those I'd love to trade 😁

LON LON Ranch Intro brought me back my man!

I found Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin complete in box when I was looking for other games. It's probably my favorite in Castlevania series now.

Biggest thing I try to keep in mind collecting is that just because a game cost a lot of money, it doesn't mean it's something that's worth owning in the collection. Curate your collection to reflect what you want. I'm not a horror fan, i'm not a shooter fan. But somewhere along the line i had both Ju On for the wii and halo 3 legendary. I found a good trading partner for those ultimately but when I had them they did nothing for me. I've bought loose copies of games knowing the fact that trying to get them complete is almost more heartburn than the money difference to buy them complete. I physically age seeing the money it cost to complete them knowing that i'm gaining little I will spend time with. And at the end of the day, If you're in this hobby because you like playing video games, get games that are in a way that are playable. it's silly to basically turn your space into a storage area for someone else's benefit.

I recently bought a new Nintendo 3ds and i have quite a few games that i've would love to get some day

I recognize one of the stores in those pictures. Double Jump Video Games is one of my local game stores.

YOOOO you’re mentioning all my Wisconsin towns!! I love you even more now Zion

As a game collector myself.......god I love emulation esp with todays prices

Anyone know what black bookshelves he is using? His games fit perfectly

Nice collection! Very good collecting info!

I love Nintendo Life reviews! I really want to get back my copy of Pokémon XD Gale of Darkness, but man those prices. I really just want to get it so that I can transfer my Pokémon from my save file (I still have the memory card save file). It was my first Pokémon Game, so I just think it'd be really cool to transfer/trade up all my original Pokémon team from them. I have all the other games and hardware necessary to transfer them, but only am missing the game now. I hope I can get to it before the inevitable shut down of Pokémon Bank (whenever that is).

I got Pokemon Sapphire and leaf green for $90 from a guy who met me in person and even sold me more stuff the next day. It was nice to meet someone who enjoys playing games and wasn't just trying to sell

I recently got the japanese version of Donkey Kong 64 for a good price and quite good condition. It is also the version that includes the expansion pack which also came in its own box. It’s amazing just watching those beautiful manuals and extra goodies even though I don’t speak japanese!

last good thrift find was when i found a copy of Heartgold at goodwill for $6, in the year 2022, in a portland suburb. absolutely unheard of. i opened it up, and learned the cart was missing, i asked the employees if they had kept the cart in a case or something hoping they would have to prevent it from being stolen, they said they didn’t and they wouldn’t have put it out without the game… they said “oh well if the game isn’t there we’ll take it off the shelf.” I said I’d still take the case since everything else was inside. They marked it down to $.99. I ended up selling it to a collector for $40. They got a good deal on the case, I made a nice lil profit that healed the wound of just barely missing the game

I'm a ds/3ds collector. I was happy when I found a case for my loose Wild World cart.

the last games that I purchased that are my recent treasures are Conker's Bad Fur Day, and Banjo Kazooie 😇

Great tips to for retro collecting. I have an unrelated question though, at 17:38 there’s a GBA Video box next to the Scott Pilgrim Collector’s Edition, what is it exactly? I can see some people on the beach and nothing else.

It's funny you mention Paper Mario and the Thousand Year Door. I picked that up for $27 Canadian on a whim. Like someone i was subbed to back in the day was doing a playthrough and i thought damn i should grab that and it was very reasonably priced at the time. It's so strange I got ahead of the price skyrocketing because i picked it up just because I felt like it.

One time I found someone on Facebook Marketplace selling like 20 complete in box GBA games for $10-20 each including all 3 Pokémon games, most of the DKC and Mario Advance games and some licensed kids games. by the time I found it the only game I didn't have that was still available was Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga and it is now probably my favorite thing in my collection.

I found Sushi Striker for the switch for 10 dollars at GameStop it was awesome!

Have this local gamestore close to work I frequent and I usually visit every two weeks, sometimes weekly, looking for older games at or below their PC prize. I gotten some good deal in recent months an this week the manager has seen me so many times it seems he offered to get any below 20$ xb360 or ps3 game at 4 for 20$, offer wasnt listed anywhere in the store. It was a good experience and even tho they obviously earn money since they buy games from ppl for dirt cheap we still both win since all the games I got for below What they sell for on ebay. Some I wasnt specifically looking for but still 5$ is less than you spend on meal.

I lost almost all of my video game collection many years ago when I went off to college (classic story of mom threw them away.) I have been slowly trying to rebuild it recently. It can be pretty painful having to rebuy things at a higher price than they used to be, especially when you don't make a lot of money. There have been a lot of games that I just decided were too much and I had to let go of the dream of owning them. I understand why some people just completely opt out of buying older games. I think it's important to really think about the amount of work you had to do before spending money on entertainment. If it truly brings you joy to own things then maybe it is worth it. I paid $200 for a copy of Chrono Trigger this year and I don't regret it because it is my 2nd favorite game of all time.

Last week I found a museum quality nes, Atari, with all the hookups, 84 Atari games (including some of the more expensive ones), and a Grey Zelda cartridge, all for $60 on the local online marketplace! I ended up gifting the nes to my younger brother, and am hoping it will help him start his collection!

That Megaman and Bass is freakin Sweet!

I had a GameCube year's ago with a few dozen games. Fast-forward 20+ years now im trying to recollect what I had and wow has it got outrageous

Do you run into issues of the cart’s serial number (revision #) not aligning with the serial number on the manual or box?

What shelves do you use for your games?

You have some dope Figures too Zion. Great collection.

Love this advice!

I really dig these collecting vids that you do from time to time! They're a great insight into how others in the community may do things, and give some great tips on how to collect in a more cost effective way.

I got Zelda: Wand of Gamelon and Mutant Rampage: Bodyslam both complete for the CD-I for 8 bucks at a thrift store

thankfully I got my gamecube/wii/ds/gba collections years ago

The US is so lucky when it comes to retro game collecting. In Europe retro stores are pretty much all gone. Only the mainstream game stores are left that pretty much only have new games.

My biggest tip is: emulate and never look back. If you just want to play retro games, that’s really the only actually consumer friendly way to go about it and it doesn’t actually hurt devs whatsoever because they aren’t actually selling these games 90% of the time. Even if there’s a newer version for example, they very, very likely aren’t selling the N64 version anymore and aren’t preserving access to it. Even if you only emulate games not available in any form on the retail market, that’s still most of them

Are you a WI native? You reference going back there and visiting there a couple of times. Cool shoutout to the retro gaming scene in WI.

As I was watching this video, I went on Facebook marketplace just to see how the prices were here, the first thing I saw was a DS Lite plus Pokemon Emerald for 80 USD

Too sleepy to answer the final prompt right now, but thanks for the tips Zion!