How to find cheap retro console?

[Xanthe]

I decided I wanted to start getting into collecting retro consoles, but I am not quite sure where to start. I've been looking at garage sales online in my area, but none of them seem promising. Online purchasing is definitely out. I think we all know how that goes.

Is there a certain way I should go about this? Perhaps there is some elite method I am not aware of lol

 

[fille]

flea markets-garage-much luck,cheap findings gets more and more difficult cause people known market values.
retro events maybe,what are you after?

 

[cvskid]

I decided I wanted to start getting into collecting retro consoles, but I am not quite sure where to start. I've been looking at garage sales online in my area, but none of them seem promising. Online purchasing is definitely out. I think we all know how that goes.

Is there a certain way I should go about this? Perhaps there is some elite method I am not aware of lol

Cheapest retro console that i know of are the sega genesis consoles with sega genesis model 3 probably being the cheapest of the three.

 

[Dionicio3]

I decided I wanted to start getting into collecting retro consoles, but I am not quite sure where to start. I've been looking at garage sales online in my area, but none of them seem promising. Online purchasing is definitely out. I think we all know how that goes.

Is there a certain way I should go about this? Perhaps there is some elite method I am not aware of lol

I got all my retro consoles from my father, so ask your parents to look in storage on the closet.

 

[cvskid]

I decided I wanted to start getting into collecting retro consoles, but I am not quite sure where to start. I've been looking at garage sales online in my area, but none of them seem promising. Online purchasing is definitely out. I think we all know how that goes.

Is there a certain way I should go about this? Perhaps there is some elite method I am not aware of lol

Also take into consideration the cost of collecting games for whatever system you decide to start out with. Nintendo systems usually have high priced games.

 

[fille]

i have over 35 consoles and a lot of handhelds,its not cheap this days,best thing todo is find genesis and snes and buy everdrives.
http://krikzz.com/store/
the rest is to yourself what you want to collect.

 

[Rick Astley]

It's too late to start retro-gaming and looking for cheap prices.
I'm a collector for 17 years, got 100+ Retro handhelds... I ALMOST stopped to buy stuff.

After garage sales are your best bet. Really. I usually go at 5AM and can find nice stuff like the Xbox Cristal Collector complete and new for 15€ or 2 SNES for 8€, to say a few...

 

[Xanthe]

I don't plan on collecting many cartridges, but I do want to find the console relatively cheap. I will probably buy 150 in 1 carts and such.

I have also been considering buying the RetroUSB AVS. That thing looks gorgeous...

 

[FAST6191]

Yeah as others have said we are in a nice little retro boom right now and I don't imagine it is going to pass any time soon. Luck and serious shoe leather or petrol and effort are your only real chances of getting in cheap these days. You can try a few things to help (ever see someone's mum call it a sega nintendo? Guess what they might try listing it on ebay as, that is perhaps a bit too obvious and broken but play the players and all that) but you up against people with the time, money and knowhow already.

If emulators do not do it for you (and you can do things like get a CRT to output them to, emulate the CRT itself -- http://bogost.com/games/a_television_simulator/ , get nice controller input methods...)

If you wait a few years we are probably going to start to see true console clones become more common*. Right now the non official world it is a mix of hardware emulators and crap clones/90% of the way there clones** but chip fab prices are coming down, FPGAs are getting faster for when that is not enough and the skills are filtering into the regions of mere mortals.

*you have things like https://github.com/trun/fpgaboy and people are decapping old devices to get full chip layouts and behaviours sorted.

**and of course that last 10% is enough to sink it, see also the famiclones and their failings.

 

[Xanthe]

Yeah as others have said we are in a nice little retro boom right now and I don't imagine it is going to pass any time soon. Luck and serious shoe leather or petrol and effort are your only real chances of getting in cheap these days. You can try a few things to help (ever see someone's mum call it a sega nintendo? Guess what they might try listing it on ebay as, that is perhaps a bit too obvious and broken but play the players and all that) but you up against people with the time, money and knowhow already.

If emulators do not do it for you (and you can do things like get a CRT to output them to, emulate the CRT itself -- http://bogost.com/games/a_television_simulator/ , get nice controller input methods...)

If you wait a few years we are probably going to start to see true console clones become more common*. Right now the non official world it is a mix of hardware emulators and crap clones/90% of the way there clones** but chip fab prices are coming down, FPGAs are getting faster for when that is not enough and the skills are filtering into the regions of mere mortals.

*you have things like https://github.com/trun/fpgaboy and people are decapping old devices to get full chip layouts and behaviours sorted.

**and of course that last 10% is enough to sink it, see also the famiclones and their failings.

I have been looking at some clone console, a few being the Retro Trio, the retrousb AVS, and a couple others. If I'm going with a clone, I want the most accurate clone I can find.

The only big issue that I don't want to see come up in clones is latency. Latency is an instant deal killer for me, which is why I cannot use emulators. Even the best emulators have latency.

 

[cvskid]

I have been looking at some clone console, a few being the Retro Trio, the retrousb AVS, and a couple others. If I'm going with a clone, I want the most accurate clone I can find.

The only big issue that I don't want to see come up in clones is latency. Latency is an instant deal killer for me, which is why I cannot use emulators. Even the best emulators have latency.

Just curious, what made you decide on a clone console instead of an original nes console? From what i saw the retrousb avs goes for at least $175 while i have seen the original nes go for $50 on up.

 

[Xanthe]

Just curious, what made you decide on a clone console instead of an original nes console? From what i saw the retrousb avs goes for at least $175 while i have seen the original nes go for $50 on up.

I haven't found a perfectly working NES for less then $75 which is about my price range. Have you found any less than that? Or is $75 a good price?

*Scalpers are my biggest worry and I don't want to get scammed into buying something that I could have bought cheaper. The clones are cheaper which is why I was considering a clone

**Also, many listings claim to have a new 72pin connector, which is pretty good. Keeps the console in better shape, but it comes at a higher price

 

[cvskid]

I haven't found a perfectly working NES for less then $75 which is about my price range. Have you found any less than that? Or is $75 a good price?

*Scalpers are my biggest worry and I don't want to get scammed into buying something that I could have bought cheaper. The clones are cheaper which is why I was considering a clone

I understand. In most cases when someone sells a nes console and they say it doesn't work, it most likely just needs a new 72 pin connector. That and maybe the 10 nes chip disabled.

You might have to try an online purchase if you can't find one in your area. From a quick amazon search i seen that the cheapest is $50 console only which might be a risk since it has no cables to check the system with. Another one i saw was around $80 complete with cables, 1 controller and a game, rad racer.

If anything people will be scalping the nes classic edition and not the original console itself.

 

[Xanthe]

I understand. In most cases when someone sells a nes console and they say it doesn't work, it most likely just needs a new 72 pin connector. That and maybe the 10 nes chip disabled.

You might have to try an online purchase if you can't find one in your area. From a quick amazon search i seen that the cheapest is $50 console only which might be a risk since it has no cables to check the system with. Another one i saw was around $80 complete with cables, 1 controller and a game, rad racer.

If anything people will be scalping the nes classic edition and not the original console itself.

I think I will keep looking online for a cheap price. Preferably below 75-80 bucks. I want to get a console that won't crap out on me lol.

I've also read that people will buy an NES an fix it up themselves. May consider that.

 

[cvskid]

I think I will keep looking online for a cheap price. Preferably below 75-80 bucks. I want to get a console that won't crap out on me lol.

I've also read that people will buy an NES an fix it up themselves. May consider that.

Sounds good. Also a heads up if you do go for the original console, you don't have to use an original nes wall adapter plug, a sega genesis model 1 wall adapter plug also works for it.

 

[FAST6191]

Clone consoles done the way I was thinking and linking there would be the same as original consoles (when we do get there I guess there would also be discussion of tolerances, things like the original xbox having a wide spec band for the memory and in turn some games). Current ones as I said are either emulators on embedded hardware that are also connected to ROM dumping gear, or are people realising that some old consoles use a common embedded processor and sort of slapping together something that works for some games and calling it a day.

Also I don't know what emulators you have been using with unbearable levels of latency, or at least latency that was not there in the original games. If your setup plays fine for normal PC games then emulators should not be a problem, especially not 16 bit and older ones. PS1 and N64 are iffy, always have been and probably always will be but that should still be lag and slowdown rather than latency.

 

[invaderyoyo]

Keep an eye on Craigslist. I see great deals all the time, but they go fast so you need to check periodically.

A few weeks ago I got a modchipped PlayStation with two controllers and a memory card for $15.

The best way to play old games is on a PVM using RGB. These are pretty hard to find at decent prices. 20" or more is ideal.

 

[britain4]

I have quite a large retro collection. Anything with Nintendo on it in particular seems to be attracting a huge premium at the moment.

Master System, Game Gear, Megadrive/Genesis, PS1, Atari ST if you're interested in that sort of thing are all pretty cheap to buy and collect for. PS1 is probably my favourite as they're so much fun to mess about with, I've bought 4 over the years (3 of them came with modchips the seller didn't tell me about) and rebuilt the laser units (the new Chinese ones are very hit and miss but with a mixture of Sony and Chinese deck parts my 4 all work like new now).

I have quite a large collection of Sinclair stuff and although it can be hard to find good working machines at a reasonable price, dirt cheap job lots of tapes come up on eBay all the time so you can build a huge collection for cheap or use an SD interface.

Look for "broken" consoles, I got a dirt cheap NES not too long back in excellent condition that just needed the cartridge connector re-tensioning and a PS1 with a busted laser is going to be pennies, and cheap to fix.

Also Gameboys of any vintage are pretty cheap

 

[RedBlueGreen]

It's too late to start retro-gaming and looking for cheap prices.
I'm a collector for 17 years, got 100+ Retro handhelds... I ALMOST stopped to buy stuff.

After garage sales are your best bet. Really. I usually go at 5AM and can find nice stuff like the Xbox Cristal Collector complete and new for 15€ or 2 SNES for 8€, to say a few...

Almost stopped huh? Guess you could say you were never gonna give 'em up?

 

[Rick Astley]

Of course, I'll never gonna give it up. I'm still collecting. Now in fact, i'm looking a good way to have a nice presentation of my collection so i need to keep money for this rather spending money for gameheld that are way over-priced.