The End Is Near: Gamestop accepting retro game trade-ins

[Kosheh]

Yep. It's true. Hell has frozen over.
You'll finally be able to call Gamestop and ask about Battletoads, and they'll respond "Yes, we do have Battletoads"
(sorry Dazz, looks like you're gonna have to change the description for this forum to another Epic Meme)

I couldn't find a copy of the printed media for it, but there's um, this awfully civilized reddit thread.
http://www.reddit.com/r/GameStop/comment...ro_trades/
In the thread it's got the list for items that can be traded in (no prices, just the games).
starting today in NY, and...Birmingham? they've started accepting trade-ins for games for the

-NES
-Super NES
-Genesis
-Playstation
-Nintendo 64
-Dreamcast

The trade-in values are pretty nice, too - you'll get AT LEAST HALF the price of the trade in trade-in monies. For example, Final Fantasy 3 (yes, I know, 6 in Japan) will be sold for $50, and they'll give you $30 for it.

A lot of you will probably wonder "Okay, big deal" - and it's just that. This is a pretty big deal, and a ballsy move on Gamestop's part. If this takes off, it's possible they might be able to shape the retro game secondhand market - for instance, Chrono Trigger might actually fall to a decent, buyable price among secondhand markets...but this also might spell the end of some Mom & Pop used game stores around the US, who frequently price-gouge because there usually is no competition.

However, it seems that what the deal is is that you'll be able to trade in your old retro games and get shittons of store credit. Gamestop will start selling those games on their website, which you can either purchase from home or in-store with the help of their staff (a web-in-store order). It's neat I guess, but I'm wondering if they'll start selling old accessories and consoles soon. It'd be nice to pick up one of the variant N64 colors for a decent price.

What're your thoughts on this? Good? Bad? Are we now truly fucked as a nation, America?

[Quirby64]

I say this is great. Add more consoles (AND HANDHELDS  ) and I'll be set.

That, and that this service spreads all across America and other countries. Because The only time I can buy a retro game ANYWHERE is this one place where my family goes on vacation, and we only go once and nvgtuymgjhn

[MrYoshbert]

You mean there's the possibility of not having to scour the streets for some grimy obscurely-situated shop that sells old PS1 games for over-inflated prices, and instead just rely on the decently-priced Gamestop 20 minutes away?

I'm all for it.

[psychospacecow]

Question, who that still owns such games would give them to Gamestop of all places?

[Helmo]

I remember when Gamestop had some sort of retro rewards deal. Basically you got points for every used game you bought, and when you got like 10,000 points you could get... SMB1 on NES, that game that costs like $2 (or something similar).

I still kind of hate Gamestop

[Kriven]

Question, who that still owns such games would give them to Gamestop of all places?

If the price is right, I'm down for it. Basically all I need back from GameStop is enough money to repurchase the game on PSN/Virtual Console and I'm happy. The only reason I would ever sell games in the first place is to downsize my collection without losing the actual content.

[psychospacecow]

Question, who that still owns such games would give them to Gamestop of all places?

If the price is right, I'm down for it. Basically all I need back from GameStop is enough money to repurchase the game on PSN/Virtual Console and I'm happy. The only reason I would ever sell games in the first place is to downsize my collection without losing the actual content.

Fair enough. I just don't see a good outcome outta Gamestop.

[Kosheh]

You mean there's the possibility of not having to scour the streets for some grimy obscurely-situated shop that sells old PS1 games for over-inflated prices, and instead just rely on the decently-priced Gamestop 20 minutes away?

I'm all for it.

The only downer though is that it seems like it's gonna be done through their online store...which serves like, the continental US. :/ Alternatively though, you could find a game you like, visit your local Gamestop, pay for it in full and then have the game shipped to your house. And if it doesn't work, return it back to Gamestop.

I wouldn't expect them to actually sell retro games until they, like, actually make room in their stores for it lol

Question, who that still owns such games would give them to Gamestop of all places?

Casuals :V

No but like the guy cleaning out his basement looking to make a quick buck to put down for the next Battlefield title would totally trade his games into Gamestop. Also, it's nice because like, you don't get hilariously ripped off like you do at a ma & pa store nowadays

If the price is right, I'm down for it. Basically all I need back from GameStop is enough money to repurchase the game on PSN/Virtual Console and I'm happy. The only reason I would ever sell games in the first place is to downsize my collection without losing the actual content.

or...this guy, lol

One thing that gets me about digital games is that it really isn't the same. It's not popping a game out of the case and putting it onto the console. There's a weird little satisfaction and pride in doing so.
I'm down with digital when you're able to obtain games that are literally fucking impossible for 1% of their secondhand cost. Like, I could pay $150 for a gently-used Earthbound cartridge or $200 for a Shantae GBC cart

or $10 to play Earthbound on my Wii U or $5 to play Shantae on my 3DS, with emulator savestate features (which I frankly couldn't give half a shit about but it's nice to have I guess)
The actual Smart People decision would be to just buy the damn game digitally

I remember when Gamestop had some sort of retro rewards deal. Basically you got points for every used game you bought, and when you got like 10,000 points you could get... SMB1 on NES, that game that costs like $2 (or something similar).

I still kind of hate Gamestop

I remember that as well and tbh I'm with you it was kinda stupid. At least now you don't have to spend $2000 to get a random game that pops up in their "Retro Rewards" section :V

[Kriven]

One thing that gets me about digital games is that it really isn't the same. It's not popping a game out of the case and putting it onto the console. There's a weird little satisfaction and pride in doing so.

I get that. There's nothing quite like slipping SML into an actual Game Boy. I think I've just become pretty spoiled by the digital age, though, because the second there's any kind of glitch I know is related to ohshit 90s tech, I'm reminded why the VC is so appealing to me. As far as physical games, I mean there's the whole space thing again (especially now that I'm trying to situate all these NFC toys), but also... I fucking hate discs.

[Kosheh]

Help. I think I might be a game fetishist.

There's nothing quite like slipping SML into an actual Game Boy.

I have no idea why but this sounds extremely hot. HELP


She slipped her copy of Super Mario Land into her Play It Loud! Game Boy...very slowly, very carefully. She knew what she was doing. She was a fan of foreplay - she had softly cleaned and swabbed the contacts of the cartridge carefully using a cotton swab dipped in rubbing alcohol. After all, she's owned this game for a long time, and was known for being meticulous with her Game Boy library; always very careful not to wear out the stickers on her DMG Game Boy cartridges as her peers did, who aggressively removed them from the back of the system while grabbing the label. She was always sure to grab the cartridge by the cartridge's depression as to not wear the label gloss away with her natural hand oils and softly tug. She was no novice.

She powered on the vintage handheld and pushed start after the trademark power-on sound of the console, and lost herself in Mario's chronicles through Sasarasa Land and the aged chiptune soundtrack.

[E-Man]

This new turn of events suits me just fine, really! When I was living in Georgia for the first time many years ago, I frequently visited some game trade-in places (such as Rhino) to not only trade away some games I have on hand, but also browse their selections. Seeing all those old games filed me with great delight because I was hoping to play a classic gem somewhere in all that (such as the original Legend of Zelda).

Now that Gamestop is bringing back something like that, I'll now be able to relive those moments to an extent (especially when I get back to the states). It'll be completely worth it when I find original copies of Conker's Bad Furday and Earthbound.

[DioShiba]

If by chance this does take off I'd be happy and lucky if I could find myself copies of really rare games like say, Wild Guns or some other games that go for a ridiculous price on sites like amazon.

Honestly I'd rather deal with game stop than having to pay an unfair amount of money for one fucking game online, and that's saying a lot =P.

[Helmo]

After hearing some more opinions and thinking it over... this is probably gonna be really bad. Gamestop does not care about the condition of games at all, you have the valuable box/case and manual? Probably going in the trash. Trust me I know, half of this stuff collectors want is going to go in the trash... not to mention Gamestop can't spot bootlegs/repro for shit so expect to see a lot of those...

[Ayumi Shinto]

Don't even care anymore.
They used to do this. Remember when they controlled Funcoland?
I even got Superman 64 from them long after the 64 died. They up and decided one day...

"Nope. We're not taking them no more! Stupid to sell those things! We need to sell only new! NEW! NEWWWW!!!"
Now they see that people really want them... like people always did?
I mean it's kind of good as I can maybe go there and pick up games people don't want no more... maybe.

[Koh]

I personally don't see what would be wrong with reproduction cartridges. After all, I can't imagine too many original ones still being properly functional after all these years. All a reproduction cartridge is is slapping the same game data into a more recent cartridge anyway. Also great for rom hacks that decided to go the extra mile of making an official cartridge release.

Now if it's just a collector's pet peeve because everything needs to be 100% old and 100% not-reproduced, then it's a very minor complaint that only affects their collecting fix, and not the ability to play the games. All GameStop needs to care about is that they're functional, not that they're vintage.