October 2026 - Recently added to collection/recently purchased

[doafan]

Spooky season is here as well the birthday of my beautiful wife and now that I got your attention all of you already knows what to do here 

[sworddude]

Can't say I share the same passion for 7th gen as some folks on here.
however with allot collectors having their eyes focussed on 7th gen I look the other way and double down on the gens I truly enjoy instead 4th to 6th gen and boy did I score some good stuff in recent times 

let's start off with mostly decent 5th 6th gen stuff

all cib free thanks to amazing set deals

xbox

afro samurai
alien vs predator steelbook
enchanted arms
dbz burst limit

nintendo

cookie & cream ds sealed
puzzle chronicles ds
punch time explosion wii lowest quality wii manual I've ever seen, almost looks photo copied with cheap paper 
eggo mania gamecube

psp chili con carnage not for resale copy
tear away vita sealed

playstation 2 all cib

prince of persia promo
crash nitro cart
BCV
the suffering
cold fear
resident evil code veronica
katamari damacy
obsecure II
silent hill 3

ps1

robotron x promo
fear effect
south park rally
independance day
star wars dark forces
small soldiers
destruction derby
destruction derby 2
lone soldier
wing over + planes poster
air combat
ridge racer
ridge racer evolution
ridge racer type 4
rage racer


Now the good mostly 4th gen stuff 

We'll start off with a bigger spending

black belt challenge gba 230 loss. quite a gba simp hard one to get, yolo very nice visuals for a 2d fighter on the system. usually kinda shit looking, does have a good art style to make it nice looking.

20 euro loss a pop

sega genesis always fun to add these titles, been looking for these for quite a while at a good price 

vapor trail
warsong
heart of alien sega cd

turbografx

military madness
F-123 cover looked generic but it's a shoot em up, yes plz

free deals thanks to great sets

mario bros 2 fortyfour case, already had one with 2 different arts on each side, but this one is double sided with same art
warlocked gameboy color

N64

wetrix
jetforce gemini

snes

retro zone star ocean fanmod, it's an old one and kinda handy to have an english cart of one of the better jap only rpg's on the system
power rangers snes manual to complete my copy
secret of evermore guide to complete my copy
mystic quest snes big box
ultima black gate + map

sega cib

adventures of mighty max
evolution 2, technically harder to get than canon spike quite a heavy hitter, not as good though I'll get it someday 


So a couple months ago i got this crazy snes deals that was mainly filled with rpg's with great condition boxes. she had almost every rpg under the sun for said system although there was one big title that was missing and it was chronotrigger. Didn't really think much of it at the time, but so months pass and she messaged me again saying she got some games. welp the cib chronotrigger was there alright plus one heavy hitter that you pretty much don't see in europe.

welp I'm the proud owner of an excellent boxed copy of earthbound for cheap, This has officially become one of my best years in terms of retro collecting 
Now it is missing the player's guide which doesn't seem to painfull to get at a couple hundred If I wanted to rush it but I can't really complain. if there was any of the popular snes titles that I would never expect to add to the collection it had to be earthbound.
But miracles do exist This previous owner literally had it all, that is quite the collection 

[marvelvscapcom2]

Spooky season is here as well the birthday of my beautiful wife and now that I got your attention all of you already knows what to do here 

Happy birthday to her! And Hope everyone a happy hunting autumn.



My previous 2 months have simply been the most output I've ever done in a 60 day window. I wont promise I wont buy any games at all.  But I've purchased 463 games in the past 2 months or 8 games per day for 60 days straight.  I am totally in heal season for right now lol.  I also acquired 4 doubles throughout all that that i'll have to unload.


August - 212/size]
September - 251



The only remaining grails for Gen 7 I actually need are either niche and uninteresting to me.  Or terrible such as Thor, Hulk and Captain America.  All of which can wait.

My goal is probably to tie down some series I have gaps in. Such as Risen 1 and 3.  Ninja Gaiden Yaiba.  Dynasty Warriors Gundam 1. And Any war games im missing which are odd balls that slipped through the cracks.

welp I'm the proud owner of an excellent boxed copy of earthbound for cheap, This has officially become one of my best years in terms of retro collecting 
Now it is missing the player's guide which doesn't seem to painfull to get at a couple hundred If I wanted to rush it but I can't really complain. if there was any of the popular snes titles that I would never expect to add to the collection it had to be earthbound.
But miracles do exist This previous owner literally had it all, that is quite the collection 

Congratulations! What a beauty. Very clean. My brother would be jealous. He adores that game. Terraway on Vita is such a joy. And imo the greatest use of that handheld.  I hope you enjoy!    

[sworddude]

Congratulations! What a beauty. Very clean. My brother would be jealous. He adores that game. Terraway on Vita is such a joy. And imo the greatest use of that handheld.  I hope you enjoy!    

Thanks earthbound is one of those games That I would have accepted to just never get but lucked out, in terms of terraway, the art style is pretty fun, gotto give it a shot at some point got a used copy aswell anyway.

[bunnybear]

PS3
- Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny

PS4
- Days Gone

PS5
- Beast of Reincarnation
- Blood of the Dawnwalker
- Grime II: Definitive Edition
- Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero/Trails to Azure
- Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls
- Metal Gear Solid Master Collection Vol. 2
- Mortal Shell II
- Observer: System Redux
- Onimusha: Way of the Sword
- Plague Tale Legacy: Resonance
- Prodeus
- Severed Steel
- Shadows of the Damned Hella Remastered
- Silent Hill: Townfall
- Star Wars: Zero Company
- Stray

NS1
- Aggelos
- Aggelos II
- Chained Echoes
- Dreamin’ Her
- Kugayama Shiori’s Death Diary

[bikingjahuty]

Can't say I share the same passion for 7th gen as some folks on here.
however with allot collectors having their eyes focussed on 7th gen I look the other way and double down on the gens I truly enjoy instead 4th to 6th gen and boy did I score some good stuff in recent times 

I knew this day would come eventually, but it's still been crazy to me seeing 7th gen take off recently. i feel like Wii got a head start in the collectability race, but it's Nintendo, so it makes sense. It's likely a lot of early mid 20-somes as usual going back and rebuying games from when they were kids. It makes me feel freakin old since I was a legal adult already by the time the 360 came out in 2005. Just thinking about current 7th gen hungry 25 year olds being like 4 or 5 when those consoles came out and it being their introduction to gaming makes me feel like I'm 40 going on 100.

[marvelvscapcom2]

Can't say I share the same passion for 7th gen as some folks on here.
however with allot collectors having their eyes focussed on 7th gen I look the other way and double down on the gens I truly enjoy instead 4th to 6th gen and boy did I score some good stuff in recent times 

I knew this day would come eventually, but it's still been crazy to me seeing 7th gen take off recently. i feel like Wii got a head start in the collectability race, but it's Nintendo, so it makes sense. It's likely a lot of early mid 20-somes as usual going back and rebuying games from when they were kids. It makes me feel freakin old since I was a legal adult already by the time the 360 came out in 2005. Just thinking about current 7th gen hungry 25 year olds being like 4 or 5 when those consoles came out and it being their introduction to gaming makes me feel like I'm 40 going on 100.

It's almost entirely not related to people chasing their childhood sadly. I wish it was. It used to work in slow linear trends like that. I remember when PS2 blew up.  It was when all the millrnials got jobs and remembered how good Def Jam was. The hobby is sadly controlled by social media trends and hive mind like most of the internet now.  With PS3 It's almost entirely fomo from the store closing announcement and digital fears meeting scalper aggression.  Sony's announcement was directly connected with a giant spike on vgpc for those games. I grew up with Gen 7 and was 10 when 360 released. Those who seek PS3 and 360 for nostalgia have been doing so for years now. Ive been doing PS3 since before pandemic. Mostly cusp babies born in the late 90s.  These new comers are freaking out because you tubers they love are pretending bargain bin games with huge print runs are chunks of Amelia Airharts plane solely because they are "delisted"    Plus the digital only announcement has made a lot of normal non collector folk take up physical media in rebellion.   Its the wild west out here lol.


Another thing worth mentioning is the prices have only ballooned at the tippity top. The classic instagram love darlings lol. Folklore, Puppeteer, Spiderman and Splatterhouse.   But the headlines are leaving out that the gen has like 1400 games. The vast vast majority of Gen 7 hasn't budged at all.  For Example Kane and Lynch deadmen.  It was 12 bucks in 2020. And its 12 bucks now.  Even niche games with lower prints like Hyperdimension Neptunia mk 2.  They just dont go crazy.   This is a trend culture thing and I do loathe it but it was inevitable.  And luckily no Kuon level 1500 dollar games yet. 


For example last month I bought 262 games mostly Gen 7 and my average Even with bigger titles pulling it up was 8 dollars per game spent.   It's still a really affordable Generation.  It's just the buzzword games people Hawk give a bad impression.  And truthfully a good portion of those are very overrated anyway.   I love love love gen 7.  I think its the most diverse Generation ever. It fed every genre. It peaked on every system.  It was a perfect time where games were pretty to the point of almost being real but gritty and simple enough to still feel like a game.  No mandatory patches and code in box.  Micro trans only came later and was usually minimal.  It was the peak of what humans could create before the beast known as greed reared her ugly head   

[marvelvscapcom2]

Been walking away from some pretty attractive deals. Have any of you had a point where you intentionally halted? Like it's hard. So hard it pains to see a game I need or want to play and walk away. Financially I can swing it. But the fact that it actually bothers me to not buy games is why I'm fully refusing to this month.  I want to own the collection not the collection own me. At this point if its a good game and cheap i'll buy it. I cant really maintain that.  And truthfully the "hey this cool game is cheap. Buy it" loop is a dog that can never be fully fed.  I never was a full set collector. How do you guys see a game you want. For say under market rate and decide. Not every game. Not today.  Or am I asking the wrong forum? Lol.   I just wanna shift away from marketplaces for a bit.   But when I see a 20 dollar game for 10 bucks its like my body treats walking away as losing money even if I know it isnt. 



With that said. I am gonna spend time focusing on recent acquisitions. Captain America was the big whale for Ocfobwr.  And I got new shelving which is always a joy!    

[sworddude]

Been walking away from some pretty attractive deals. Have any of you had a point where you intentionally halted?

Back in the day when I would get too many great deals at once I definitely did halt purchases cause I felt satisfied. wish i didn't

also have big time regrets not getting certain items that I wanted to pull the trigger on multiple times but didn't that now sell for thousands vs a couple hundo's back than 

[ssj4yamgeta]

Been walking away from some pretty attractive deals. Have any of you had a point where you intentionally halted? Like it's hard. So hard it pains to see a game I need or want to play and walk away. Financially I can swing it. But the fact that it actually bothers me to not buy games is why I'm fully refusing to this month.  I want to own the collection not the collection own me. At this point if its a good game and cheap i'll buy it. I cant really maintain that.  And truthfully the "hey this cool game is cheap. Buy it" loop is a dog that can never be fully fed.  I never was a full set collector. How do you guys see a game you want. For say under market rate and decide. Not every game. Not today.  Or am I asking the wrong forum? Lol.   I just wanna shift away from marketplaces for a bit.   But when I see a 20 dollar game for 10 bucks its like my body treats walking away as losing money even if I know it isnt.

Definitely. I went through a 3 year period from 2019 through 2021 where I stopped collecting games entirely. My yearly spending on games during those years was well under $100. I started collecting movies and tv show box sets during that time because it was a much fresher experience than collecting games like I'd been doing for the previous 7 years. Eventually I started collecting games again because I realized there was still a lot of stuff out there I wanted to play. My methodology changed, though. I no longer wishlisted anything that looked remotely appealing. I'd gone through a phase of trying new genres before, and now I knew what I liked and didn't like, so I focused on making a curated list of games I knew I'd like and which added something unique and meaningful to my collection. I've never been one for collecting full sets either, I see no point in buying games I don't want to play. Lately I've expanded that to include individual series, I no longer feel compelled to buy all the games in a series because I liked one or two of them. I'm perfectly fine only owning Resident Evil 0 through 5 and the Revelations subseries, as that was when the series peaked and the subsequent mold plot never interested me. The Umbrella/T Virus saga IS Resident Evil to me. I also decided to skip Monster Hunter Stories 1 even though I own 2 and 3 because the first game's kiddified, Mii-like art style is really off-putting to me. Now I'm looking at the Yakuza series on my wish list and wondering if I really need all 10 games, or if I really only enjoy the Like a Dragon subseries that introduced me to Yakuza. I have the remaster set of 3, 4, and 5, so I'll play through those to see if the rest of the original series is worth buying. I have played quite a bit of 3, and remember enjoying it quite a bit less than Like a Dragon, but it's supposed to be the black sheep anyhow from what I've heard, so we'll see.

One thing that's saving me a lot of money is my decision to stop collecting physically for anything gen 6 and older. Sorry, but I see no reason why I should pay $800-$5,000 (which will never reach the game devs) to a collector or speculator for a copy of Panzer Dragoon Saga when I can just download the rom and run it on an emulator for free. Yeah I love my physical copies, but I'm glad I have more common sense than money. I'm also now at the point where the more games I collect, the less I want to collect. My desire to continue collecting is actually dropping with every new haul now, and I'm looking forward to being done. It's not depression or burnout like it was before, I'm just finally reaching the point where I feel I have enough. My goal is to acquire the remaining 61 games on my list by the end of 2028 at the latest, then spend the next 5 years pruning my collection down and getting rid of stuff I didn't enjoy so I can reduce my total collection to a more manageable size.

[marvelvscapcom2]

Been walking away from some pretty attractive deals. Have any of you had a point where you intentionally halted? Like it's hard. So hard it pains to see a game I need or want to play and walk away. Financially I can swing it. But the fact that it actually bothers me to not buy games is why I'm fully refusing to this month.  I want to own the collection not the collection own me. At this point if its a good game and cheap i'll buy it. I cant really maintain that.  And truthfully the "hey this cool game is cheap. Buy it" loop is a dog that can never be fully fed.  I never was a full set collector. How do you guys see a game you want. For say under market rate and decide. Not every game. Not today.  Or am I asking the wrong forum? Lol.   I just wanna shift away from marketplaces for a bit.   But when I see a 20 dollar game for 10 bucks its like my body treats walking away as losing money even if I know it isnt.

I agree wholeheartedly with early than Gen 6. I love physical for the nostalgia sake but once that becomes a used car investment I can't do it.  Ive actually had a firm like at 180 and have never purchased a 200 dollar game in my 16 years of collecting. Not saying their is anything wrong with others doing it. I get the appeal because sometimes its people's childhoods and either you pay it or not have it again. But a game 

Definitely. I went through a 3 year period from 2019 through 2021 where I stopped collecting games entirely. My yearly spending on games during those years was well under $100. I started collecting movies and tv show box sets during that time because it was a much fresher experience than collecting games like I'd been doing for the previous 7 years. Eventually I started collecting games again because I realized there was still a lot of stuff out there I wanted to play. My methodology changed, though. I no longer wishlisted anything that looked remotely appealing. I'd gone through a phase of trying new genres before, and now I knew what I liked and didn't like, so I focused on making a curated list of games I knew I'd like and which added something unique and meaningful to my collection. I've never been one for collecting full sets either, I see no point in buying games I don't want to play. Lately I've expanded that to include individual series, I no longer feel compelled to buy all the games in a series because I liked one or two of them. I'm perfectly fine only owning Resident Evil 0 through 5 and the Revelations subseries, as that was when the series peaked and the subsequent mold plot never interested me. The Umbrella/T Virus saga IS Resident Evil to me. I also decided to skip Monster Hunter Stories 1 even though I own 2 and 3 because the first game's kiddified, Mii-like art style is really off-putting to me. Now I'm looking at the Yakuza series on my wish list and wondering if I really need all 10 games, or if I really only enjoy the Like a Dragon subseries that introduced me to Yakuza. I have the remaster set of 3, 4, and 5, so I'll play through those to see if the rest of the original series is worth buying. I have played quite a bit of 3, and remember enjoying it quite a bit less than Like a Dragon, but it's supposed to be the black sheep anyhow from what I've heard, so we'll see.

One thing that's saving me a lot of money is my decision to stop collecting physically for anything gen 6 and older. Sorry, but I see no reason why I should pay $800-$5,000 (which will never reach the game devs) to a collector or speculator for a copy of Panzer Dragoon Saga when I can just download the rom and run it on an emulator for free. Yeah I love my physical copies, but I'm glad I have more common sense than money. I'm also now at the point where the more games I collect, the less I want to collect. My desire to continue collecting is actually dropping with every new haul now, and I'm looking forward to being done. It's not depression or burnout like it was before, I'm just finally reaching the point where I feel I have enough. My goal is to acquire the remaining 61 games on my list by the end of 2028 at the latest, then spend the next 5 years pruning my collection down and getting rid of stuff I didn't enjoy so I can reduce my total collection to a more manageable size.

 I agree wholeheartedly! I hacked my NES Classic to play games like Flintstones surprise at dinosaur peak. I guess I am somewhat lucky because I didnt grow up in the 80s and early 90s.  So my childhood is taxed less heavily right now then those people.   But I see what happens too that for some people the rom or emulator wont give them that Christmas eve feeling. So they pay the piper.  I want the love for it to always guide and not vgpc and top 20 lists but its hard not to see cool stuff. I have slowed down this month for sure. The only game that was nostalgic enough that I paid balloon prices was My dad got me stunt racer 64 for N64 on my birthday from a bin in blockbuster.  It was a unassuming game. He wrapped it in wrapping paper with my name on it he somehow found. And when I got older and had money. I needed it. I simply needed to hold it again. I got lucky to find a copy for 180 recently. Its about 450 to get one.  Sometimes nothing will cut it but the cartridge.  But for games I didnt grow with. Not so much.  And I actually hope Gen 7 emulation gets better and it seems people are making strides in that. I am not very deep in those communities or maybe will ever emulate it but I really think people who wanna play these 1000 dollar games and cant.  I see a need for both and truthfully emulation curates media for the masses. It's like charity in a way.

Been walking away from some pretty attractive deals. Have any of you had a point where you intentionally halted?

Back in the day when I would get too many great deals at once I definitely did halt purchases cause I felt satisfied. wish i didn't

also have big time regrets not getting certain items that I wanted to pull the trigger on multiple times but didn't that now sell for thousands vs a couple hundo's back than 

My big regret is Rule of Rose.  My damn brother (who was a bit of a jealous kinda collector.  Hard to explain but he's the type to get genuinely mad if someone gets a deal. Yet has no issue paying old ladies 5 bucks for psps and shit. That kinda all for me vibe guy. He was collecting longer than me and my brother so he would make very leaned trades with us and guilt trip)   well he constantly insisted Rule of Rose was gonna tank.  Its garbage.  It's a reseller game. Its not your bag.  Dont buy that shit. And I was a teen and sorta followed big brothers guidance.  I got offered the game from a gang member in my city for 100 dollars flat in 2016.  Even though he was a gangsta he was legit and had a reputation for clean games. At the time it was like 140 150.   I tried to haggle. And eventually just walked away.   Truth was.  The game was for me.  It wasn't for my brother.   And I genuinely did like it.


Well we all know the rest of that 1400 dollar story  lol.   


And even if he is correct that the game has flaws or sucks.  Some games for me I interact with as art. I actually adore many games that play poorly but tell a story.


I know every collector has one of those stories. Some dudes ive heard their mother's threw out a bin of cib SNES games when they went to college or sold them.for dollars like Earthbound and Chrono Triggers.   Thats a brutal out lol.

[marvelvscapcom2]

Today was one of my favorite hauls in a while.  I managed to get Madagascar 2 for free. It's actually a serviceable platformer that has praise. And a few new titles to begin

Also Captain America is one of few white whales I had left for Gen 7.

[burningdoom]

Got Metroid: Dread, the digital version because the physical version has gotten crazy all of the sudden. And I pre-ordered the physical version of Castlevania: Belmont's Curse.

[bikingjahuty]

Can't say I share the same passion for 7th gen as some folks on here.
however with allot collectors having their eyes focussed on 7th gen I look the other way and double down on the gens I truly enjoy instead 4th to 6th gen and boy did I score some good stuff in recent times 

I knew this day would come eventually, but it's still been crazy to me seeing 7th gen take off recently. i feel like Wii got a head start in the collectability race, but it's Nintendo, so it makes sense. It's likely a lot of early mid 20-somes as usual going back and rebuying games from when they were kids. It makes me feel freakin old since I was a legal adult already by the time the 360 came out in 2005. Just thinking about current 7th gen hungry 25 year olds being like 4 or 5 when those consoles came out and it being their introduction to gaming makes me feel like I'm 40 going on 100.

It's almost entirely not related to people chasing their childhood sadly. I wish it was. It used to work in slow linear trends like that. I remember when PS2 blew up.  It was when all the millrnials got jobs and remembered how good Def Jam was. The hobby is sadly controlled by social media trends and hive mind like most of the internet now.  With PS3 It's almost entirely fomo from the store closing announcement and digital fears meeting scalper aggression.  Sony's announcement was directly connected with a giant spike on vgpc for those games. I grew up with Gen 7 and was 10 when 360 released. Those who seek PS3 and 360 for nostalgia have been doing so for years now. Ive been doing PS3 since before pandemic. Mostly cusp babies born in the late 90s.  These new comers are freaking out because you tubers they love are pretending bargain bin games with huge print runs are chunks of Amelia Airharts plane solely because they are "delisted"    Plus the digital only announcement has made a lot of normal non collector folk take up physical media in rebellion.   Its the wild west out here lol.


Another thing worth mentioning is the prices have only ballooned at the tippity top. The classic instagram love darlings lol. Folklore, Puppeteer, Spiderman and Splatterhouse.   But the headlines are leaving out that the gen has like 1400 games. The vast vast majority of Gen 7 hasn't budged at all.  For Example Kane and Lynch deadmen.  It was 12 bucks in 2020. And its 12 bucks now.  Even niche games with lower prints like Hyperdimension Neptunia mk 2.  They just dont go crazy.   This is a trend culture thing and I do loathe it but it was inevitable.  And luckily no Kuon level 1500 dollar games yet. 


For example last month I bought 262 games mostly Gen 7 and my average Even with bigger titles pulling it up was 8 dollars per game spent.   It's still a really affordable Generation.  It's just the buzzword games people Hawk give a bad impression.  And truthfully a good portion of those are very overrated anyway.   I love love love gen 7.  I think its the most diverse Generation ever. It fed every genre. It peaked on every system.  It was a perfect time where games were pretty to the point of almost being real but gritty and simple enough to still feel like a game.  No mandatory patches and code in box.  Micro trans only came later and was usually minimal.  It was the peak of what humans could create before the beast known as greed reared her ugly head 

God, that is so freakin sad, but also that doesn't surprise me. I catalog my collection of Pricecharting and some of my gen 7 stuff has been skyrocketing recently. It's sad that you have to assume that any major shift in price for something, whether it be games, cards, toys, cars, or whatever is part of some inorganic social media grift rather than an authentic increase in interest for these things. I freuently ask myself, "okay, what tiktok or youtube personality hyped this game up for clicks causing to to go from a $40 game to like $200." Parasocial relationships with influencers have ruined so many people. It's really sad.


Directly related to this, I've also noticed how flipping and reselling has become revered rather shunned as it was not even 5 or 6 years ago. I loath the modern Pokemon card scene since it seems like it's 90% about pulling rare, expensive cards, grading them, and then reselling it, rather than any genuine interest in Pokemon or collecting games. It's pretty much this constant ponzi scheme of finding the next shmuck to buy your $600 Charizard card because the buyer thinks it'll be worth $2000 in a year or less. I watched an interesting video a while back about how scalping and flipping culture is more byproduct of the modern economy and gig economy than it is "influencer likes this, so I like this!" Regardless, it's just sad and incredibly annoying imo.

[marvelvscapcom2]

Can't say I share the same passion for 7th gen as some folks on here.
however with allot collectors having their eyes focussed on 7th gen I look the other way and double down on the gens I truly enjoy instead 4th to 6th gen and boy did I score some good stuff in recent times 

I knew this day would come eventually, but it's still been crazy to me seeing 7th gen take off recently. i feel like Wii got a head start in the collectability race, but it's Nintendo, so it makes sense. It's likely a lot of early mid 20-somes as usual going back and rebuying games from when they were kids. It makes me feel freakin old since I was a legal adult already by the time the 360 came out in 2005. Just thinking about current 7th gen hungry 25 year olds being like 4 or 5 when those consoles came out and it being their introduction to gaming makes me feel like I'm 40 going on 100.

It's almost entirely not related to people chasing their childhood sadly. I wish it was. It used to work in slow linear trends like that. I remember when PS2 blew up.  It was when all the millrnials got jobs and remembered how good Def Jam was. The hobby is sadly controlled by social media trends and hive mind like most of the internet now.  With PS3 It's almost entirely fomo from the store closing announcement and digital fears meeting scalper aggression.  Sony's announcement was directly connected with a giant spike on vgpc for those games. I grew up with Gen 7 and was 10 when 360 released. Those who seek PS3 and 360 for nostalgia have been doing so for years now. Ive been doing PS3 since before pandemic. Mostly cusp babies born in the late 90s.  These new comers are freaking out because you tubers they love are pretending bargain bin games with huge print runs are chunks of Amelia Airharts plane solely because they are "delisted"    Plus the digital only announcement has made a lot of normal non collector folk take up physical media in rebellion.   Its the wild west out here lol.


Another thing worth mentioning is the prices have only ballooned at the tippity top. The classic instagram love darlings lol. Folklore, Puppeteer, Spiderman and Splatterhouse.   But the headlines are leaving out that the gen has like 1400 games. The vast vast majority of Gen 7 hasn't budged at all.  For Example Kane and Lynch deadmen.  It was 12 bucks in 2020. And its 12 bucks now.  Even niche games with lower prints like Hyperdimension Neptunia mk 2.  They just dont go crazy.   This is a trend culture thing and I do loathe it but it was inevitable.  And luckily no Kuon level 1500 dollar games yet. 


For example last month I bought 262 games mostly Gen 7 and my average Even with bigger titles pulling it up was 8 dollars per game spent.   It's still a really affordable Generation.  It's just the buzzword games people Hawk give a bad impression.  And truthfully a good portion of those are very overrated anyway.   I love love love gen 7.  I think its the most diverse Generation ever. It fed every genre. It peaked on every system.  It was a perfect time where games were pretty to the point of almost being real but gritty and simple enough to still feel like a game.  No mandatory patches and code in box.  Micro trans only came later and was usually minimal.  It was the peak of what humans could create before the beast known as greed reared her ugly head 

God, that is so freakin sad, but also that doesn't surprise me. I catalog my collection of Pricecharting and some of my gen 7 stuff has been skyrocketing recently. It's sad that you have to assume that any major shift in price for something, whether it be games, cards, toys, cars, or whatever is part of some inorganic social media grift rather than an authentic increase in interest for these things. I freuently ask myself, "okay, what tiktok or youtube personality hyped this game up for clicks causing to to go from a $40 game to like $200." Parasocial relationships with influencers have ruined so many people. It's really sad.


Directly related to this, I've also noticed how flipping and reselling has become revered rather shunned as it was not even 5 or 6 years ago. I loath the modern Pokemon card scene since it seems like it's 90% about pulling rare, expensive cards, grading them, and then reselling it, rather than any genuine interest in Pokemon or collecting games. It's pretty much this constant ponzi scheme of finding the next shmuck to buy your $600 Charizard card because the buyer thinks it'll be worth $2000 in a year or less. I watched an interesting video a while back about how scalping and flipping culture is more byproduct of the modern economy and gig economy than it is "influencer likes this, so I like this!" Regardless, it's just sad and incredibly annoying imo.

So spot on sadly. Slab culture has ruined a huge chunk of gaming but growing up with Pokémon in the early 2000s makes me hurt so much for these Kids who have to battle grown men treating a card game like bitcoin. What should be a happy "omg you have cool cards. Lets play" culture has turned into some sort of odd venture capatlist arena for scalpers.  And anytime I shame scalpers I get push back it seems.  It was so shunned in this hobby now it's like the big American dream to be a reseller.  Freedom. Yada yada.   Just because someone has the legal right to buy up everything and mark it up doesnt mean its not scummy.  It's being pushed to many state legislations to limit how and when it can be done with real estate, food and water so we're not the only ones who see it is hurting entire markets. 


Vast majority of gamers on my socials now don't post "so excited to play this today" its always "paid 120 and its worth 160.  Grail.  Look at vgpc.  I have every rare game" and it's really depressing to the culture of actually loving games.  It makes it harder for us of course but it also limits the people falling victim to it from actually widening their horizons.


But yeah. Sadly the entire 7th gen bubble is a fomo dump. Caused by physical media panic because YouTubers somehow convinced gamers that any delisted game is destined to be impossible to obtain soon.  So everyone had a collective "oh no. Let me get it before its too late" meanwhile the games were already delisted for years now.  And Gen 7 had such insane print runs even for games like folklore.

Not to make you sadder but there is also a trend of market manipulation where ebay sellers list an item.  Use an alt account or robot to buy it. So VGPC and ebay sold listings register the sale price.  Cancel it. Then relist it. Rinse repeat. So the prices balloon. Ive seen it done myself.  Auctions ending at like 200 dollars over vgpc. Knowing nobody is stupid enough to do that.  I researched why and its sellers bidding or buying their own items to balloon the sold listings so vgpc updates and the market shifts up.  Allowing them to pedal multiple copies for more later.  Its that sick.  Its that corrupted. 


Also anytime you go to yard sales, local meet ups and thrift stores now everyone pulls out their phone and goes off vgpc too. Like sweetheart you dont have shipping costs, 15 percent merchant fees, 1 dollar listing fees or buyers remorse penalties to tend to here.  Why on earth would I pay ebay prices and not just get it on ebay in the comfort of my home? Lol.   Can't make this stuff up.


Also good will and savers using vgpc to charge full retail and they get the games for FREE!!! Talk about charity lol.  Its disgusting. 


A lot of combining factors are hurting our hobby and world. But we prevail!  I do wish new collectors would speak with their wallet but they seem to pay whatever.