Old Consoles - still worth keeping?

[Keith T. Hemari]

Ok, I've been doing some major cleaning in my bedroom. I have little storage space and lots of stuff. I'm a pack rat, so this is a rather large undertaking, really.

The title really says it all, I have an SENS, a Genesis, a Dreamcast a Game Boy Pocket, a Game Boy Color and a Game Boy Advance, all of which I almost never use anymore. I would think about selling them on E-Bay, but I distrust them, and I highly doubt they're worth enough to make it worth my effort.

But I know very little of current values and what not. I also have Star Fox, Super Mario All Stars, Super Mario World, Sonic 1 and 2 and other assorted games.

I have a vague dream of, one day, having enough space to hook them all up and be able to play games on them again, but that's not likely to be anywhere in the near future. Also, I intend to get a Wii at some point, so they may be rendered moot by the virtual console. And, of course there always emulation, but I likes legality I does.

Thoughts?

[GagaMan]

Keep the Dreamcast, sell all the other consoles but keep them games, then emulate all the games you own for those other consoles on the Dreamcast. Still legal that way!


*kicked*

[Ink The Echidna]

Give them to me. *shot*

I don't know a lot about the emulations on Dreamcast and such, but I love actually having the hardware, so personally, I'd just put it all in storage or something until I had room for it. After all, the other hardware can't replace that NES or Genesis joypad feel, right? XD;

[Robert]

As far as eBay goes, just test it ahead of time to see if it works, and that's how you describe it -- "used; tested and works" and set a low starting bid on any of them.

As far as keeping them... yeah, emulation can pretty much take care of any of them. As far as legality goes, unlicensed emulation is probably illegal any place any time, with the rare exception of titles that lose their copyright and fall into public domain. But do realize that most companies don't particularly hunt down and purge sites hosting their really old content. There was that time when Nintendo went nuts and tried to kill any GBA hosting sites, but at the time it made sense. The point is... legal, probably not, but there's no one out there who really cares. It's not like the MPAA or RIAA or anything of that sort.

Keeping them at this point is pretty much nostalgic only... or, of course, 100% legally OK.

[Sz]

Well, odds are you don't stand to make much money off of them even if you sell them now. So really it's just an assessment of how much it costs you to have the stuff laying around compared to the minimal amount you'd gain from ridding yourself of them.

I for one plan to keep all the stuff until a museum needs it.

[Jarel Jones]

You have a SENS?

[Squiggles the Chao]

That's pretty close to what I have. I have an Atari VCS 2600 with an attachment to hook it up to a TV with an RF connector (which, thanks to cable TV, will be around forever), an NES which also hooks up through RF adapter, a SNES with the RCA connector used by the N64/GCN, a Genesis which has what I think is a third-party RCA adaptor, an N64, a DreamCast, and a GCN (I'm still waiting on the Wii :<). All of them have at least 10 games except for the Genesis and the DreamCast. The NES and the Genesis were pretty heavily damaged when we moved, but they still work. However, when I left the house, I had to split up the systems between my brother an I. The Atari, NES and Genesis were always mine (as in, I purchased them), but we shared the other systems. He kept the N64 and the GCN, and I got the SNES and the DreamCast. We each kept our games from each system (which means that he got LTTP, grrr).

On the handheld side, I have a Game Boy pocket, a Game Boy Color, and a DS. I had a GBA but now all I can find of it is the battery cover. I still have all the games for it, except for Sonic Advance 2, which was in the system when I lost it.

So what do I do with all the systems? Well, the portable systems don't take up that much space, so I keep them in a bag. For the other systems though, I purchased some free-tanding plastic drawer storage things that can stack on top of each other. The games go in the bottom drawer, the controllers above them, the various adaptors come next and then the consoles fit in the drawer on the top. Yes, they still take up a bit of space, but in terms of ground space, I think the drawers are like 2 feet by 3 feet.

[BlazeHedgehod]

I'm never giving away my old consoles. Not even my busted NES with bent cartridge contacts. They are like my childrens. ;_;

[Oni Lukos]

I was pissed when my mom gave my NES to charity. She didn't even give the RF adapter. This was several years ago. This year I found the AC adapter. Yes. Whoever got it would be completely unable to use it.

But I shall never give away my Nomad nor my Saturn. Noes, never! Precioussss

[SpadeRunner Cin]

Personally I would never ever ever ever ever give them away, ever.
I love all my consoles, personally I want them all :<
This topic even made me go and rearrange up my cupboard XD

What I found in there!
Consoles:
NES, SNES, N64, 2 GC's(Jap with US Switch and UK normal)
MS, MD, MCD, SSat, 2 DC's(One chipped, one not)
2 PS2's(One chipped, one not)
Xbox360
Handhelds:
Game Gear, NeoGeoPocketColour, GameBoy, GameboyColour, VirtualBoy, GameBoyAdvance, GameBoyAdvanceSP, DS, DSlite.
and I have an old Amiga 1200 up in my loft.

At the moment only the 360, MD and PS2 are hooked up due to space issues, but I too want to have somewhere to hook them all up together for ease of use.

I will have my own museum yet!

[GagaMan]

I'm a bit of a hoarder too, but I have managed to let go of my Gamecube recently, and am currently trying to sell two Dreamcast's off (I have 4 at the moment. There's hoarding and there's have way too many.). I also have 2 Saturn's, 2 Neo Geo Pockets, and techniqully 2 Mega Drives and Mega CDs, if you include the Multi Mega (Aka Sega CDX).

[Bartman3010]

You wont get much money for selling off SNES games. You're likely to get $2 at best for Super Mario World. Thats 1/4th the cost of buying it on the VC or even the actual cartridge at the store

[Admin]

I've actually started re-buying a few old consoles the past year or so. Additions to my collection include a NES, SNES, Master System Model 1, and my third MegaDrive (#1 is in storage, #2 is broken). As far as handhelds are concerned, there's my DSlite, the DSHeavy I gave to my mom, the GBA SP I still use to link GBA games with, my "See-through" Game Boy Classic, and my Game Gear.
Apart from those I still have my trusty Gamecube, and Roger's borrowed Dreamcast.

There are a few things I ought to get rid of - first off, I'll probably hand over my Cube to my little nephew once the Wii's out. The Dreamcast'll eventually be picked up by Roger at some undetermined point in the future, and I'm still wondering whether I should get rid of my Master System itself, or the Master System converter I got for my Megadrive.
The first is obviously more useful to have due to it having Alex Kidd included, as well as the ability to play the "Sega Card" games (which I have none of so that's probably a bit of a moot point), whereas the converter obviously takes up much less room... and its Pause button still works. Aheh.
I've also thought about getting rid of the Game Boy Classic since GBA SP plays those games as well, after all.

[Keith T. Hemari]

Thanks for all your suggestions!

I'll probably end up getting rid of them, one way or another. I'm looking toward moving this April, and any extra baggage would be a hindrance. Hmm.. I'll have to think on it more.

Thanks again^^

Oh and if I choose not to keep the systems:

If anyone would want one of them, and would be willing to pay for the shipping, I would be happier to see them go to someone who would use them/want them, rather than see them go to Goodwill and end up getting thrown away. PM me if you're interested.

Once again:

SNES
GB Pocket
GB Color
GB Advance
Genesis
and, maybe the Dreamcast, although, having two stolen from me, I have extra attachment to it.

I'll have to do a check into what games I have/am willing to let go of. Some of the Game Boy ones (like Pokemon, for example) I will keep, since I have the Game Boy Player and my DS. I also have a whole mess of connectors and accessories to sort out. So yeah. It's a mess.

Edit: Updated list.

[Admin]

Ouch, I somehow remember that bit about you having had two Dreamcasts stolen from you.
Personally, if I were you I'd seriously hang on to it...

[merku]

I’ve still got my dream cast and Nintendo 64. I lost my genesis/Mega drive a while back sadly, but god bless ROMs.

Consoles I still own:

Game boy colour
Nintendo 64
Dreamcast
PS1

I used to own a snes and genesis, but I ended up selling or giving them away.

[ila]

Keith I already sent you a PM about my intrests.
But since we're making lists!
I still have my Genesis (version 1) with 32X, a Nomad with a busted screen but it still works, a gameboy advance, a PS2, and a Wii. And yes I"m aware the last 3 aren't old but I needed something to fill things out a bit.

[Ink The Echidna]

Keith, I pm'ed ya, too. XD

As for consoles, I have... My computer. ^_^;;;

I had an NES as a kid (complete with the red gun and the early ancestor of a ddr pad), but our house rabbit chewed up the cords and Mom refused to fix it (I hadn't learned how to splice wires yet). This is the same rabbit that somehow survived chewing through the wires on my electric keyboard and our MICROWAVE WHILE IT WAS PLUGGED IN. Is it any wonder she died of what we think was a tumor? oO;

[TonicBH]

I hoard. I do not get rid of my systems. Never even got rid of my small PS1 model despite I've had a PS2 for several years now.

[Keith T. Hemari]

admin said:

Ouch, I somehow remember that bit about you having had two Dreamcasts stolen from you.
Personally, if I were you I'd seriously hang on to it...

Yeah.. I have a special fondness for my Dreamcast that I don't have for my other consoles. The first one was a birthday present, the second a graduation gift and the third I bought out of sheer blood-mindedness. Of course, shortly after I bought the third one, SEGA ditched the Dreamcast

Ila, Ink, I've answered your PM's.

I'll post my games as soon as I have the box all sorted out. I've pretty much decided to get rid of it all. I never use them any more and with the moving plans, I want to lighten the load as much as I can bear. It's just a good idea anyway. I have lots of stuff collecting dust from years of disuse. If I'm not going to use it, I may as well give it to someone who will.