When anything get's trendy or big, all media will cover it to death until the fad fades out. Hell, when Retro Game Collecting blew up, the news, the media, even Pawn Stars had Pat The NES Punk in an episode with his NWC cart. No matter what it is, it's the nature of the world. At this point, youtubers are the only people still covering Retro Games. KZfaqrs are keeping Retro Gaming alive IMO. End of the day, the biggest Retro Gaming Channels have MAYBE 100k subs. We are small fish in a huge pond. I love the little community we have here. I'd hate it everyone stopped talking about Retro Games. Yeah, maybe I would be able to find a few more out in the wild that way. Maybe they will be cheaper. But it would just be me, on my own, buying games. I wouldn't be able to share my cool finds with my friends, or make videos about it, or laugh at other people finding and playing old shitty games. It would be lonely. We have a little community here, all sharing and loving Retro Games. Stop trying to ruin that by bitching about KZfaqrs talking about their 'Memories', just because you suck at finding video games cheap at thrift stores :)

The thing that ruins retro game prices the most are the shelf collectors. People who buy games and don't even play them! The worst are the sealed collectors. Games that should be easy to find simply arent.

It's 8-bit Eric's fault.

Everyone's guilty of fuelling the high prices on sort after games from You tubers , resellers , scalpers , game collectors, game hoarders, game conventions, secondhand game shops and the list goes on. We all create the hype that's why everyone wants the same " rare" games and the trends go up and down depending what's in at the time .

I think the internet is ruining everything in general.

Everyone having a phone and being able to look things up has hurt the hobby much more than youtube. The only people who seek out gaming youtube channels are people already interested in the hobby. The fact that any grandma who has a yard sale now looks up the retail prices for their old consoles that have been in the attic for 20 years is what really makes the prices soar in general :/.

If they really want to blame someone they can blame the people who pay the high prices.

They aren't ruining it but are contributing to many to think they have gold and therefore creating a horrid chain reaction of selling and selling and selling .

I agree that KZfaq screwed the hobby.

Get games you had, and maybe some you didn't. Collecting for the sake of it is a mental disease. Hoarding is a sickness. Most people who get on this completion trend, lose interest and sell off. AVGN is the best KZfaq channel in gaming. Edit: some KZfaqr collect, because they need pick up videos, to keep their channel alive.

All these people talking about Nintendo Switch on KZfaq making it sold out too!

I was going through a very hard moment in my life when I started collecting retro games. I used to think about suicide very often but retro gaming brought a spark into my life. Now I'm in a good moment in my life and games are still with me. I'm really glad I found out abour retro gaming collecting and had awesome youtubers to inspire me.

KZfaq literally ruined my entire life.

Mobb Deep man! Give Up the Goods!!! I hear that back there! RIP Prodigy.

Had at least 5 games stolen out of my game room recently by a good friend. Moral of the story drugs are bad.

It's all about supply and demand...when there's a significant demand for something, the prices go up.....basic economics....

Retro gaming and the heavy metal community are both like this. They are very inclusive to people that feel like outcasts and to folks who dont think anyone likes what they like. when you are within a community of people that share the same passion as you and you never thought people did, it is a great feeling.

I don't think YT'rs are the sole reason why games are so high, but it does contribute a lot. You guys are basically making advertisements for games. When there's only a certain amount of games in in the wild, and you make the demand high, so to will the price of the game. Now, I do agree with most of your points, and like I already said, I don't think YT'rs are solely to blame, but they do contribute to the increase in sales. It's not so black-and-white.

I agree with the statement that KZfaqrs are the primary reason that the prices have gone way up! Retro gaming used to be an underground hobby that not everyone knew about. When channels like AVGN started getting popular around 2010 it brought it all into the spotlight. Fast forward a couple of years and KZfaqrs started making "hidden gems" episodes. Great games that could still be found relatively cheap because the noobs and casuals didn't know about them yet. Now there no more "hidden gems", after each of those videos by big KZfaqrs the low priced games would skyrocket in price due to the sudden increase in demand. So while I'm happy that more people are into retro gaming, and it's more acceptable by mainstream society, you can't ignore that KZfaqrs are the reason hidden gems are extinct, and why most games are overpriced.

The more exposure>The more people want it>The more they buy>The more people that buy it the less there are>The less there the more valuable they are>The more valuable they are the more expensive they. So, in theory yeah they could be ruining casuals people to get in collecting because they don't have a lot of money to spend on games.

i talked about this in a rant long before you did this video.

I blame Jay Leno & Top Gear for ruining the retro car market! I blame American Pickers for ruining the antique market! I blame Anthony Bourdain for ruining the hole in the wall restaurants I like! I blame Bob Ross for ruining the indie art / painting / ASMR market!! I blame ... I blame... I could do this all day

They don't ruin it. They bring certain games, consoles, and the hobby as a whole to the light. That in itself isn't a bad thing. The indirect effect is more people looking for stuff which lowers supply and raises prices. The higher prices then created scalpers and resellers. It's very simple economics.

6:11 agreed, instead of pointing at those people you can try to help with (labeled) reproductions, proper new releases etc. and showing companies that there might still be a market for carts.

i agree with allot of your points but there is one thing you didnt mention. i think KZfaqrs are partly responsible for turning their own viewers into collectors. like many people werent collectors before they saw james or pats videos. so they added more collectors to the market, adding demand, and when demand goes up prices follow.

Maybe indirectly, but its more or less people (as others have said) in their late 20s, 30s, 40s that remember playing this stuff that is driving up demand. I don't think this is going to go away anytime soon.

I believe that smartphones, Gamestop's discontinuation of retro games in their stores during the 2000s, and when Ebay started offering "Buy it Now" as an option negatively impacted the prices of old games. I started in 2002 as a 7th grader.

I believe that youtubers are at least partially responsible for the sky rocketing prices.

if gamers didnt pay the asking price then sellers wouldnt sell it for that price. its the same issue with scalpers for the mini nes/snes. i blame the scalpers less than i blame those stupid enough to pay 4x the rrp just to claim bragging rights in ownership. half the fun of retro collecting for me is knowing i got a bargain. ill hold off purchasing a game indefinitely till i find it at a price i am comfortable to pay. or ill just collect in an area where the games are still super cheap. for everything else theres emulation.

I get what you're saying but you kind of contradict yourself. The only reason people are willing to pay a higher price is because of the renewed interest. One can only wonder if they hadn't mentioned a specific game would it have been popular? And collectors aren't the only people who watch these videos as I know resellers who watch them and base the price on what's trending. In 2006 I was able to buy almost any cartridge game for pennies to $2 at thrift stores and now it's hard to find games out in the wild and when I do find them they're usually priced at eBay price or higher. So yes I do think there are many factors that influence the hobby but I also believe youtubers have an influence.

RGT, does the 32x work on the retron 5??? I just got a retron 5 and wasn't sure. I tried to look it up and I didn't see anywhere that it wouldn't

$15 was not the going rate in 2003 - you got ripped off. Games really were that cheap back then, at least in my experience. I used to buy mine from flea markets etc, and they really were just a buck or two each. I think the problem nowadays is that the sources that the flea markets used to get games from have dried up (and so have the flea market stalls that used to sell them). I'll never forget the time my friend was at a flea market picking up some Atari 2600 games, and he called me to ask if I wanted him to grab the Atari ST that they had because it was only £5. Try getting a deal like that nowadays...

You are talking in circles here. The exposure that KZfaq and smart phones provide have fed into the nostalgia mania. To deny that it's not the biggest factor is silly. Not to mention, a lot of "you tubers" have avenues of game gathering/collecting not available to most people: big cities, funded channels, and so on. It's an elite platform. Just call it what it is

Short answer, yes. Long answer, yeeeeeeeeeeessssssssssssssssssss!

Hey man, I struggle with depression and retro/gaming youtube channels got me back into gaming after years of not playing and I am doing better for sure! Props to RGT, BeatEmUps, AVGN, Mike and Ryan, The Game Chasers, Clean Price Gaming, 8BitGuy, The Last Gamer, CUPodcast, MetalJesusRocks and his crew which has to many people to name, AlphaOmegaSin, 8BitEric too, Kim Justice, Gaming Historian, Classic Gaming Quarterly and I am sure I am missing some other off the top of my head but thank you all for helping me find even a second of away from the darkness that can be my life.

every time a youtuber reviews​ a game there's people just waiting for that , and up the price...i kept track on prices on games before and after a review by a big youtuber.. it always goes up...and thats the bottom line.

idk about ruined but definitely not helping. Not that it would make much of a difference either way since ebay is a thing. It would be easier to just say the internet ruined collecting.

Game collecting is different, but in a lot of ways the same. They're just mad they can't find the deals they used to. Nobody can, or rarely can. But I still find plenty of Xbox 360 and PS3 games for dirt cheap.

Speaking for just the AVGN, I believe he's made retro gaming MORE popular. Sure, I wish he'd tone down the language, but I've been a fan of his for years. I own all 9 volumes of his AVGN DVD's. And I can't tell you how many times I ordered games on eBay because of him. And I've even been watching a lot of movies because of him as well. Movies I never cared about before. He's definitely been a huge influence on me.

People may dislike speculators or backpack resellers, but they serve a critical function in EVERY collectible community. That is, they are the ones who do the leg work. They go to garage sales, flea markets, comb craigslist etc. They are the ones who salvage the games so as to prevent them from being lost forever. They are why you can buy these games in the first place. They also ensure that others can join the market and actually find product to buy. The people who promote the hobby and share with the community various titles only serve to buoy the hobby, and the market. Yes, sometimes that means you'll pay more for things. But it also means that your collection has value, that said value often increases, and that if you ever want to sell your games in a pinch, there are hordes of market actors willing to buy your games back. That your hobby allows you to recover money you've spent at some later date means even more people are going to be willing to spend money on games, instead of some hobby where your purchases result in depreciation as a rule. Don't flame people because they're part of an economy. They help, not hurt your hobby.

*It's Norm the Gaming Historian's fault!!!* *Because let's go after the nicest most genuine guy you will ever meet on YT... XD*

KZfaq has basically destroyed the hobby. I'm a huge fan of many channels but it's very true. Limited commodity + increased exposure = increased market pricing and lower availability. It's just math.

None of the things you say are wrong, they just aren't arguments for your point. Just because a fact is unpleasant doesn't make it untrue. Increased exposure has increased demand, while supply is finite. In fact, collectors tend to keep objects to complete their collection and out of the market, you might even say that supply is dwindling. Supply < demand = higher prices. It's good and it's bad, but it's true.

Retro gaming was already on the rise because of the demographic. They've now reached the age where nostalgia gets their claws into them and after tasting the "grownup life" for a while, those good old days are starting to look really sweet again. Same happened to The Transformers, G.I. Joe etc. KZfaq is just an excelerator for the inevitable.

NESticle !!!!!! Throwback

I wouldn't blame KZfaqrs but rather blame resellers who aren't into playing retro games and are just there to make money. Same assholes who bought up all of the nes classic minis 😅 If anything, KZfaqrs benefit retro gaming by introducing the classics to an audience 🤔

It's supply and demand. The KZfaq channels have increased awareness in the retro video game collecting, which increases demand on the supply. So YES, THEY DO MAKE THE GAMES COST MORE.

At thrift stores they were a dollar or two, I'd walk into Value Village and the games would be in bags lining the walls, not behind the showcase locked up with jewelry, I still don't blame any one person or thing for the prices to sore though its a combination of things. One thing people often over look is indie games, for the longest time people were all about graphics and the latest and greatest in tech, indie gaming blew up and people realized that great games can have simple graphics so they started looking back. In the end people just need to learn how to adapt to the new market, I started rebuilding my collection after selling it like 15 or so years ago and just in the past 5 year it's already grown bigger and much better and hardly cost me anything because in large part thanks to youtubers who helped me in the art of the deal, seeing how they haggle, barter, trade and get deals.

KZfaqrs have done just the opposite with retro gaming. Channels like yours RGT 85 is the reason why retro gaming is alive and thriving! It's great to see others like myself who love the hobby and are extremely passionate about collecting. I can personally say, if it wasn't for gaming, I would either be dead from alcohol/drugs or worse yet, in prison. And no, I don't live in my parents basement. I work and I'm married. However, video games have always been my preferred form of escapism from the world we live in... Great video dude!!!

The real question is: DO YOU PLAY ALL THE GAMES YOU COLLECT OR DO YOU JUST USE THEM AS "TROPHIES" FOR AN ACHIEVEMENT YOU THOUGHT WAS REAL?

PattyTheSNESPunk's constant blasting of so called "scalpers" makes people think games are worth more than they are. Not to mention that every single business runs buy low, sell high. SMH.

Is it weird that I recognize one of the songs in the background as a remix of "What Would I Do If I Could Feel?" from "The Wiz"?

I don't think that KZfaqrs are "ruining" retro gaming, but the videos do inflate game prices, which you indicated to a degree in your video. Being patient is key...

I'm buying PS2 and PS3 games 'cause they're cheap as dirt and they blow most cart games away in terms of quality and fun-factor. The majority of these superb titles I buy cost less than $10 (Last of Us), which more than makes up for the occasional $35 I spend on something like God Hand. (And that probably cost at least $50 new.) If the current prices for vintage games upsets you, then you're more obsessed with having stuff than using stuff. Stop with your antiquated collector mentality and just emulate and play the games for free if you don't want to drop cash on the original article. Having the real THING is for fetishists. If that's your bag, cool. But that means you gotta pay a premium for what you want. Because while an .iso of Rule of Rose is free and the quantity infinite, the physical artifact is quite limited. Just the nature of stuff man. And hey try enjoying what you already have instead of whining about how you can't score killer deals at garage sales anymore. I say this having been a collector of stuff since the 80s: comic books, sports cards, MTG... now vinyl records. Supply Vs Demand is the LAW of commerce. Respect it or forever be angry and pathetic.

Smart phones have nothing to do with it. Web browsers have been around forever. In 2001 a copy of Dragonball GT for the PlayStation would net you about 500 dollars on ebay. Game collecting wasnt as big as it was post-KZfaq but the diehard community was still there.

After half a decade I think it's safe to place ruining into the past tense. KZfaqrs absolutely destroyed the retro market and ultimately ruined Retro Game collecting for pretty much everyone not wealthy enough to rekindle their nostalgia. Now a 32X costs almost $200. Sega's half baked cash grab failshroom costs $200. Want an N64 with half a controller and a cable that might go with it with no guarantee it actually works? That'll be a cool fundo hundo at least. Wanna take your fun on the road? That's another fundo hundo for a Game Boy color, batteries and battery door not included. Let that marinate. :)

What out, you are gonna piss off those elitists. It's THEIR club and no one else is allowed in the club house. Especially girls and moms.

Retro games are better than games from this day and age. Back then it was all gameplay and little to no QTE and cutscenes. In fact, I actually like playing games on older systems than my new systems. Games like Budokai, Super Mario Sunshine, Metroid Prime, Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks, Jak & Daxter, Wrestlemania, I-Ninja, I could go on. Man those were the days, don't you guys remember?

I got started collecting back in March of 2015. Partly because I found a virtual boy and had no idea what it was. I couldn't imagine that there was a Nintendo system that I had never heard of. Then I started to research what else I didn't know anything about. I had no idea retro gaming was as big as it is.

When people remember NES and SNES games being a couple of bucks, they're not remembering going to Walmart, Kmart, GameStop, or any big store chain. They're remembering going to Yard Sales, Flea Markets, and Pawn Shops and finding Kirby for $.50 and the Mario games for $1.00. Nowadays you go to those places and they are priced ABOVE eBay prices. When we go to those places in search of those games, we are doing so to avoid the inflated eBay prices, but the re-sellers see their prices as justified because of the "convenience" of not having to deal with eBay. KZfaq expanded the market, but also introduced the market to Re-sellers who saw it as an opportunity to make money by buying the game at a low price and selling it at a higher price, which slowly made the games rise in price. You partner that with renewed interest in Retro Gaming (which was also helped by KZfaq), and the demand for those games rises, which also causes the prices to rise. So KZfaq is the cause of the cause of the reason that Retro Games continue to jump in price.

I made one response to him and he blocked me then deleted my comment lol +500 keks for me

Yes they are. They need to get real jobs. Y'all need real jobs

"Ruined retro game collecting" just means "I think stuff is too expensive. I want things to be what- I- want to pay!" It's idiotic. Yes, scum floats to the top with higher prices and more interest, but we would NOT have things like independently manufactured consoles, parts, accessories, games etc. without it. Not would we have the additional wealth of information about these things. I've been collecting since the 90's, and it's been the same complaint. Guys just want to get boxes of games for $10. Sorry, you're not the only one into it. That's why you can't anymore.

That's really nice to be able to help people with your video's and you tubers help retro live on by keeping interest in retro alive to the point developers make new releases in retro style.

In 1987 I got my first NES and it all started from there. I worked in a game store and started major collecting in 2000. I was buying PS1, Saturn, Genesis, N64, NES, and SNES trade ins for myself, (the store didn’t buy them but I did). I was able to work in a trade value etc to motivate them to sell. I got pretty lucky. I also took my extra pennies and shopped heavily at Funcoland, which turned into GameStop… I think the youtube community does stoke fires, but there are still collectors out there that have been collecting for decades. The biggest problem I’ve had with collecting now days are resellers who don’t give a shoot about the game. I go to a flea market and ask how much, they go straight to their phone. They have to remember there is no shipping or overhead selling at the flea market, no ebay fees etc. I still find good deals though. You just have to keep on going on!

It's good to have a goal when collecting as well. Like, why are you collecting? What system? Why do you want to have that game? Those are things I think of when I make a purchase. I don't have the biggest collection (only 170+ games and 10 systems and 4 handhelds so far) and I'm more of a musician anyways, but I just started hardcore collecting about a month ago and I only had my Xbox 360, WiiU and DS at that time, and I feel like my collection has grown a lot in such a short amount of time. It's not impossible to find good games for cheap. Patience is always the key.

So I do collect myself, never bought from Ebay. Just a Dutch/Belgium website. I'm from The Netherlands myself and collecting here seems very different from there (US). Each game does have it's price. To be fair I started before watching any youtuber on the topic of collecting. Grew up with an NES and my mom sold it to buy me a Gamecube, than sold my Gamecube 3 years ago. That got me started buying all the old games I remembered playing and the console just to play them again. Such as Super Mario Bros/Duck Hunt, Chip 'N Dale and The Great Circus Mystery. Going into a collecting frenzy for about a year. Anyway point is I got a lot of games for a very cheap price. Just because it is rares to find a fantastic or even dumpster low price for a group of games with "valueble" games is lower. They are still out there, rare video game related items are also still being found. Besides if you really want to get into collection, you don't have to start buying every $30+ game. You can buy a few fun cheap ones that you know or heard are good, trade with people etc. KZfaqrs didn't destroy it, you can blame people for following a trend. I prefer it to be more known so more people get into older video games so they can see what games were like back than. Feel the controls back than or how taugh it could be to beat a game and how rewarding. Personally trying to stream these games for people that didn't hear about odd titles before to show something they'd otherwise not have. Thats my main reason for watching youtubers for retro video games too. The only other place retro collecting still gets coverage is on forums/threads dedicated to this.

The popularity of youtube videos have made the prices skyrocket. Contra for NES was 3 bucks, now it's 40-50. Doesn't mean that the people making these videos are bad. it's just the nature of the beast. A youtuber says this game is a hidden gem, boom, the price just went up. I'm not going to stop watching these entertaining shows because it's making the prices skyrocket, I enjoy the content.

you are a positive influence in my life forsure bro.. I've suffered from anxiety and depression since 2004 when I was 14yrs old and retro gaming got big 4 me around 07-08 bc I wanted to experience the n64 witch I didn't get 2 play much of around it's release. I didn't find KZfaq until many years later but I can say your the only retro gaming channel I follow and your channel along with 4 others have really helped me get my mind on other things and brought me out of that slump... what I'm really tryna say is u keep it 100 witch is rare in this day and age and you really have helped people out of dark places weather u kno it or not.. ty bro 👊

There's a lot of reasons for why prices are the way they are, but the one reason that really pisses me off is when crappy news sites like to run articles on "Your Games Are Worth Hundreds Of Dollars" which makes some people go through their stuff and try to get $100 for Super Mario Bros/Duck Hunt. Thankfully no one will pay that, but those articles certainly don't help, and they often times don't know what they're talking about.

Nutshell: KZfaqrs are indirectly causing game-prices to rise because of awareness, but overall, they're not _ruining_ retro game-collecting. In fact, KZfaqrs are making it better by creating a community and bringing us together. I agree.

I became a game collector by accident. I found it more acceptable to buy cheap older games, than to buy the new games. Good games never get old. Then I found all these youtubers talking about the games I was buying and playing, it felt like being part of this game collecting community.

Speaking of Beckett, the retro gaming community could really use a source guide of the same level. Not just for price control, but just in general have a guide to better track rarity and stuff like the most accurate accounts of complete vs. loose copies of games.

I've been rocking with you since you had only a few thousand followers I appreciate you and all other youtubers to keep me inform with all this knowledge as I'm too busy with life kids and my job I have no time for other things but because of all you guys I'm in the know thanks again brother

KZfaq video's give information about rare or good games to resellers and they use this information to set high prices and some people want to pay those prices. So the answer to following question: "are KZfaqrs causing prices of games to go up and scarcity to increase?" is: Yes. When I'm lucky to find games/consoles for cheap on flea markets, it's from people who don't check the internet for prices and think nobody is going to buy their 30-year old games with outdated graphics. I love this kind of people, they keep the flea market spirit alive, and us collectors happy.

Collectors on KZfaq saying KZfaq isn't destroying retro gaming, with their huge walls of collected games behind them. "No, renewed interest is causing this"....... "I already got the games back in 2007, suck it up Caroline"...... "Look at all the cons going on now" And the same thing is happening now with pinball.

People fail to remember that in 2017... How many people are still clearing out their homes and finding old systems and games and then donating them to thrifts?

awesome vids as usual, btw for some weird reason I keep thinking that's #StoneColdSteveAustin singing at the end of all your videos!! lol

What got me into retro games (and back into the games that I grew up with) was watching channels like AVGN, Roo's 16-bit gems, and Noah Antwhiler back around 2009/2010. From there I found let's play channels and a whole community that shared a similar love for the games I grew up with. I wager this is the case for many people too. As for the value of games, I agree that retro games were not all dirt cheap. I remember paying over $50 for Final Fantasy III at a Micro Play back in the late 90's. Great video RGT!

I've been collecting video games for well over two decades now and I've seen ups and downs in prices and interest. I've bought a CIB copy of Snatcher for $20 and then I've seen copies of Little Samson cart only for $700! You hit the nail on the head on prices only being high because there are people willing to pay it. I also agree with Wood's comment 100% if there isn't a community, then where is the fun in collecting in the first place?

Having this "youtubers" reviewing retro games is absolutely POSITIVE in the gaming community, just take a look at young indie game developers nowadays, a lot of them are developing games with 8-bit graphics and superior sound effects/music combined together, can't get any better than that for us old school gamers, this has opened up a window of opportunity not only to this day and age developers, but for us old school gamers to experience both worlds combined. Win-win situation when you open up a whole new different market in video gaming.

Before Gamestop and whatnot there was this place called Funcoland. I believe they were bought out by them, actually... Anyway, they sold a lot of NES, GB, Genesis games and whatnot and they were indeed a few bucks.

I absolutely agree with you in this video! You touched briefly on Beckett and baseball cards, but it's interesting to take into account what happened with baseball cards when they became popular between 1986 and 1992; the market tried to take advantage of this fact and there were SO MANY cards produced during that time. Comic books have had a similar thing happen, where the comic industry realized sales increased for limited edition covers as well as arcing stories. The gaming industry continues to grow, and the market is responding. Sure, retro games were created ~20 years ago, thus they're more difficult to control quantity as demand increasing, but that's where the prices increases. Great video, hit on some good points.

I think the point your missing is the cause and effect relationship between a specific game being showcased on a popular youtuber's channel and the price shooting up right after. It is no coincidence that after after Cinemassacre's SNES Hidden Gems video that Hagane went from being a $60 game to a $300 game in a month. This has happened dozens and dozens of times as a result of various famous youtuber's talking about a game. And yes, if you were in the hobby pre-2013 you were finding a lot of games for only a couple bucks each; I would go to my local flea market every weekend and fill a backpack with games nearly every time I went, rarely did I break $5 a game no matter what the title. I do admit that retro gaming did eventually take on a life of its own, but the youtube community was instrumental in turning the hobby into the expensive mess it is today.

The fun of collecting is the excitement of finding a deal, finding an old game on ebay for dirt cheap, finding Road Rash at a fleamarket for a buck. That is the joy of it. The more people doing it means the less there will be, sure, but the best part of that is; that makes it more exciting. Its like people who bird watch, trying to get a view of that one, uber rare bird. That is what makes it great. The more, the merrier. Yes it makes the hobby a bit more difficult, but if you can't handle the heat, stay out of the kitchen.

Hello! Longtime lurker on KZfaq since 2006. This is officially my first comment on a video so I really wanted to put my input on the subject; I couldn't agree more. I've been collecting for a long time and enjoy watching all the youtubers talk about their passion, which I've felt I've always been alone occupying. I continue to watch as much retro collecting videos as I can. Like you said, we have jobs and income so it's sometimes difficult lol Keep up the good work and that isn't towards just you, but to all the retro collecting/gamjng youtubers. Continue making videos and I'll keep watching.

I think what they mean by "ruining" is just getting more people interested in them, which in turn creates competition for them, and obviously that will create higher demand than supply causing prices to go up. I would say it is KZfaq game collecting channels primarily that generate interest in game collecting. They're easy to watch, highly informative, entertaining and yes, it's very enticing to see people who have shelves full of supposedly great games that you're missing out on, and if you don't buy them soon as many KZfaqrs like to mention "the price is only going to go up" so "get it while you can". A lot of KZfaq channels like to echo the same info back and forth over what games are must-have, which are rare, and which are currently going up in price. I think this actually has the power to influence prices, and it gets resellers salivating. Some popular guy on the internet said this is a must-have game it's going up in price, it's time for a mark-up.

4:11 to 4:22 - thanks for explaining how the free market system works. People come up with the silliest reasons to blame the high prices of just about anything and you sum it up fairly nicely in 11 seconds. The whiners are upset because they want to pay next to nothing for a game when someone else is willing to pay a lot more (BUT - they expect top dollar when they're ready to sell). And there's always gonna be non-gamers buying and selling games for a profit - as long as there's a demand for it, which means as soon as there isn't they'll get out and prices will go back down. It's simple economics, people.....

I love watching pickup videos, game chasing, garage sale finds, etc etc etc heck I even love watching your channel!! All that motivates me to reach my unrealistic goal of a complete n/a nes set

That's why it's so important to shop around.Today Turtles in time usually goes for 60$, I found it for 30$

Channels like this brought me (back) to retro gaming. To know you are not the only guy in the world still interested in older systems is a good thing!

KZfaqrs are advertising products that are no longer in print. I think the real problem is COPYRIGHT. If 20 year old games were brought into the public domain, they could be freely reprinted to meet demand.

Your first point is actually how life works! Even game prices today are what people in the industry think a new game is worth. That’s why people review things and say don’t buy it until it’s on sale. Ppl just straight dumb

Love this video man! Definitely help me figure out if I still wanna collect retro games. The point I love the most, is when u said that u bought a system that didn’t have when you where a kid,I feel the same way.now that that I have the money to buy these games as an adult Im reliving my child hood all over again Thanks RGT85. I’m definitely a fan

I do agree that they helped drive the prices up, big time! Another thing too is that I find there are way too many retro gaming channels for how big the community actually is. Like we don't need 100 channels doing the same type of videos. Seems like every nerd with a camera and too much time on his hands starts a KZfaq channel these days.They all want to cash in on the craze, their ultimate goal is to get subs so they can make some KZfaq money, then open up a Patreon account and hope that they can milk the craze enough so they can quit their day jobs...

I totally agree wth all mentioned. As someone who actually lived through all that talked about in RetroGaming, it's not a fad for me. Most of the people who even get duped to spend 100's of dollars for a retro game either are just following trends, or are really about that life where they also lived through it all and it's special to them to continue capturing it. To be very honest, I haven't even been paying attention to the normal video game news sources like IGN, Gamespot, .etc for a VERY long time because of how, like every other organic start has been done, they've to being driven by money and ratings. I get my news from you guys honestly. For a while it felt like the soul was gone for video games for me, and it was only until recently, when Sonic Mania was announced, that I felt like the soul was returning to the gaming world. If anything YTubers have been trying to keep the soul in the gaming world that lacked it for a while. I personally gravitate to the channels that can personally speak to experience of living through the retro times instead of simply on hearsay. And to blame organic behavior(where they even mention how much games run nowadays to give people insight and information on that before hand) is very premature. I agree that the people who sell the games, who may only be driven by money are the problem. That's been the problem across all mediums for a very long time though. So to see it in this space isn't necessarily new.

BRAVO. I could write thousands of words on why I agree with what you said here, but I'll try not to go too crazy. If it wasn't for KZfaq personalities like James, Pat, Billy & Jay, and others... I might not have begun to put together a library of older games and consoles. I needed something like that to renew my interest in video games after the BS that permeates modern console gaming really damaged that interest. Crap like DLC/retailer-specific DLC, waiting for patches and installs, online passes, focus on online multiplayer over solo play, and more made me want to give it up after more than 30 years of gaming. Then, thanks to KZfaq, I came to the realization that going back to the past and games that made me happy was the elixir that I needed. I have put together a library of games that, as a poor kid from a single-parent household, I could have only dreamed of. I also can attach special memories from the 1980s and 1990s to the games that I find and am playing again. These are often great memories to relive, and it really does help to keep me young (at heart, anyway). Is buying older games and consoles more expensive now than it was 6 years ago, when I started? Sure. But there's also been a surge of people interested in buying these games and these consoles, and I welcome that. It expands our community, adds new voices and perspectives, and has helped me to make new friends and meet new people. It's also a case of higher demand and shrinking supply. These games and consoles aren't being produced any longer. Some stop working over time, which reduces supply further. Meanwhile, with the surge of interest in these games and consoles, more people want them and many of these people have the cash to pay for them. This cash flow sets the market where it is. If people are willing to pay $50 for Turtles in Time, why would most sellers not charge $50? I've already written a book here, but for the TL; DR crowd: I don't blame KZfaq personalities for allegedly "ruining" retro games. I thank them-- yourself included-- for continuing to build interest and expand our community.

nothing like over saturating the retrogame market, thanks youtube.

I had nearly the same argument with someone who honest to god believes something is worth $100 and yet I said I wouldn't pay that much for it and the value in itself is only worth what you're willing to pay. Chrono Trigger is worth tons of money, yet I picked it up for $40 because it's worth that to me. Great video man!

I'll be honest, I got into retro games through a little indie gem on steam called Volgarr the Viking and from watching AVGN back in 2013. I now have 17 NES games, 4 Game Boy games, 2 Ps1 games, and 9 Ps2 games. I don't plan on stopping anytime soon. lol