Goodwill actually used to be amazing for getting old games but unfortunately the company has shifted to online focus so they are no longer putting more valuable things like games and films in stores and instead auction them online for ridiculous prices compared to what in store used to sell them for.
@@AngryWildMango so true. They had a used tie for $25 at mine. They are just a for profit business that might help out some people here and there. McDonalds does, too, but I wouldn't consider them a nonprofit any more or leas than Goodwill.
I was just about to say this. It suuuuuuucks to go to goodwill now. I wish when I was in middle school and high school I actually bought the retro stuff in a lot of thrift stores. There were like heaven, but we all were so into our advancing graphics and newer toys. Not some eye burning Virtual Boy going for $60 in great condition with games. Sadness. Also the prices being high has more to do with resellers REALLY wanting to get their hands on them. The battle for good price sucks.
@@marcanthonyskidmore4131It was Wata Games and Heritage Auctions. Not resellers. There's a lawsuit against them that seems like a slam dunk. Prices will return to normal when after that.
US has plenty of stores like this, BUT you will pay a premium and quality is dubious at times. I grew up with a local shop that had a lot more quality control, but online marketplaces, yard sales, and flea markets are where you get the real deals.
Hey bud! I just saw the video; I am a Greenville Native and I am a video game hunter as well! If you ever end up back in North Carolina, let me know. I know places that are only a hour away or so! i will show you all the good spots!
It's awesome to see you combine traveling and videogames together like this. As an American, I'd even be interested to see what you can find close by in Europe!
I don't understand why these retailers think pricing everything the same as they see on eBay is acceptable. Unfortunately they get away with it cos some people pay
Do you own a store? Do you pay insurance, employees, rent, taxes, everyday expenses? I love how you shit on store owners for not giving stuff away for 1.00
I remember seeing a boxed copy of Legend of Zelda Minish Cap and Tactics Ogre Knight of Lodis both in a Goodwill for $2 each when I was a kid. Fantastic finds, and I wish it was that easy to find cool stuff like that nowadays.
FYI, for the last 5 years or so Goodwill has told their employees that all retro games are to be shipped to their HC. Then they are posted on their auction site only. Bunch of people believe that Goodwill practices shady bidding and creates fake bids on items to outrageous prices.
There are retro game stores and places to find games all over the US. The thing is that they’re all getting expensive. It’s understandable because people have really been getting into retro games over the past few years, but it’s also disappointing because I remember walking into some of the same stores as a kid and getting recognizable games for half as much as many of them go for now. It also really depends where in the US you are. The south (where Elliot was) is going to be different from the northeast, the midwest, the mountain west, and even California.
There's also been an artificial push to increase the value of retro games. Basically, one of the companies that rates the value of retro games that was recently founded was created by a few market manipulators with fairly extensive connections to the media and auction houses. It's why you started seeing stories for things like an original Mario Brothers in the box that's never been opened selling for over a million dollars. The guys were basically the seller of the item in an auction house where he was well known as well as one of their friends being the purchaser of the item so they could inflate the value of it and have the media cover it. Do this a few times, and it raises the prices on everything down the line which is also easier to do when you run a company that people use to price check these games.
"Getting expensive" -> Being sold at actual market value on eBay. Is the store owner a charity? They need to sell it $10+ cheaper than eBay to be a nice guy for you, the special customer?
@@anotherthing they might be scummy but I'm pretty sure wata grades have little effect on over all market prices. It's really only auction values and the scummier side of eBay that it's effecting.
@@codak29 I get what you’re saying, but first of all, eBay isn’t market value. Everything is overpriced to account for the cut that the website takes. I understand that shops need to make a profit. All I’m saying is, as someone who’s been retro game collecting for 10+ years, I have seen prices skyrocket and it’s understandable but disheartening.
Dude I love your accent, but I seriously laughed so hard when you said “pawn” shop and had to definitely think for a moment what you actually said haha
Being in America, I wish I had started collecting like a decade ago, I picked the worst time to start I think 😂 Retro games have become basically a stock market now it's insane Also the issue with places like goodwill is resellers often camp out waiting for them to restock stuff, and then just snatch up anything that could possibly be valuable
LGR is in that neck of the woods I think, but Clint is able to go to bigger towns for Goodwills and his tech hunting. The obvious challenge is the size of the US compared to the UK or Japan; everything is spread out and requires a car, whereas I can hop on and off the trains to check out several cities around London in a day. I rarely do as that much train-hopping is tedious, but the point is it's feasible. In some states or up in Canada you can drive for hours and still be in the same county. Smaller countries are much easier for logistics, ISPs, shipping, retro games etc., but large ones obviously benefit from untapped resources, open space, affordable land and so on.
I've been going to stores that sells old games and such and sure they're cool, but some games can be rough in condition and the pricing can get a bit weird but hey, there is always ebay that is here to help I've recently been collecting games for this past year and I can say it's definitely been a journey and I hope it becomes more efficient to be a better collector that doesn't spend too much
If you want retro games in the middle of nowhere, might, I suggest Harry and lloyds, which is literally the only video game store in Vermont except for GameStop.
As someone who used to live in that state: Trade-It tends to surprise like that with the gaming stuff, but otherwise it's... varied at best unless you're in NC's bigger cities and pawn shops tend to be the majority of your local options otherwise. Aside from Facebook Marketplace these days. Also I'm so sorry for this hunt, retro prices in the US especially have been ridiculous ever since the pandemic.
Retro game hunting has sucked in America for at least ten years. Gone are the days when I'd go into a thrift shop and find a copy of SNES Shadowrun for $5, or a boxed 32X for $10. Prices are horrible, and deals are impossible to find outside FB Marketplace in big cities (and even then, rare). I would be *floored* if you got something cool for cheap while on your trip here - I hope to be wrong!
at this point i have almost given up on trying to collect retro games. They are super expensive and quality for the price point is wild. a vomit encrusted pokemon emerald will sell for 100$ with no working battery. The market is full of resellers rather than collectors so its hard to get anything good that you would want to play without resorting to piracy or a reproduction cart that may not work.
Yooo that's surreal! I went to Well Played Games 2 years ago. Amazing collection there and the vibes were incredible, glad you went and checked it out, really awesome staff. Went with some of the MrB crew and we were opening pokemon cards and playing some arcade games. Really wish I could have WPG where I live :( but it was such a fun experience
Also I imagine that BIG BLACK BASS label is on there boldly and upside down because they figured older people who are into outdoor sports would be playing it, and they could easily pull the console out of their pocket and lightly pull the cartridge out to make sure it's the correct game (which seems odd because it's probably the only game they owned on Game Boy lol).
I rarely comment but figured why not this time. It's been a number of years since I have collected games myself. It's really nice to see it from someone's perspective who isn't from the US.
OK THAT IS SO COOL. @The Retro Future , I had just traded in most of my duplicates of pokemon and GBA/GC games I did not play anymore about 3-4 weeks ago. The Big Black Bass, Inspector Gadget, Hey Arthur, Spyro 2, and guitar hero on tour controller were mine. I swiped their CIB Gameboy SP and Metroid Fusion about a week before this!
From my experience it’s tough finding a store that sells retro games unless you go closer to a larger city. My personal favorite for N.C. is the video game world in huntersville. They usually have decent stock and prices, and also have some sick arcade cabinets including DDR and Mariokart GP.
its hard to find a good deal around here in NJ. most dedicated retro game stores won't have many deals unless you look hard enough. but once in a while you'll come across something fair or cheap
It’s even worse in Canada, my local pawn shop asks $250+ for any model gameboy or DS …they have a donkey kong N64 for $1000 that they will literally never sell. $150 for any Pokémon gameboy carts no matter the gen. It’s honest to god bogus. The markup is insane. Edit: The original 2DS that well played games had marked for $100, yeah those exact models are $250+ here
I'm finding that as well. I literally just wanted a Game Boy or GBA to lay around and play in bed before I go to sleep. I thought it would be cheap and no problem. Game Boy prices are crazy, and they're hard to find! Every game store I go into they have every console you could want, NES, Atari, SNES, Dream Cast, PS2, and on and on. But no Game Boys. It's weird. Why are they so hard to find? And when you do find them, they're really expensive.
surprised you even tried goodwill. I was friends with an employee and they said anything video game related was shipped out to an HQ of sorts to be listed online.
There is a game store located in Boone North Carolina that has an early Black Friday deal going on where all of their games are 50% off. But the deal ends Sunday at 7:30 PM (Ori’s Game Corner)
America Game Hunting is definitely a completely different breed to what you can get here in the UK. Sometimes pricing in America for games and consoles can cost more for the same thing here in UK. Collecting is a-lot stronger I think in America than UK.
Welcome to game hunting in Eastern NC. Long time viewer and supporter. Greenville is very rough for game hunting, great sports also are thrift stores and consignment shops as well. In our area definitely facebook marketplace. You can find some great deals besides some of the local shops. Living in a military town, We have quite a few game stores. Look forward to future videos.
The market for these things skyrocketed during the COVID thing. It's frustrating that I can't even get a decent GBA SP here for a reasonable price. (And I'm not even trying to collect GameBoys, I just want at least one GBA SP, which I currently don't have.) I think certain things are starting to come back down (N64 stuff, shockingly, seems to be getting cheaper), but overall, most things are frustratingly pricey. In my area, finding things like that is less common, though there is a local shop that sells retro games. They once had a complete, boxed copy of Earthbound for SNES, priced over $2,000. And, get this, _they managed to sell it._ Me, I rarely buy a retro game if the price is over $20... And as for consoles, Ebay hunting for damaged, fixable ones seems to be the way to go (since I can fix stuff). Or, Japan imports, those tend to be cheaper.
I remember when we used to have this store called Game Craze in my hometown they had a couple locations and sold so much retro stuff and Gameboy Colors were $15 a pop that was about 17 years ago Game Craze went out business about 10 or 12 years ago its crazy how much video game collecting has changed and how cost prohibitive its becoming in the states not to say you cant still find deals but i dont think well ever see the prices ever come close to what they used to be great video though i love the channel and all the content youve been bringing to the video game discourse
I live in denver and a lot of the retro shops have actually resorted to undercutting a lot of the online retailers aside from their collector pieces. It's really refreshing cause I've been used to seeing inflated prices for everything for over a decade but now I can get less popular games for less then I find online.
that being said I just bought a fully modded sega game gear for 250 dollars at a local retro shop. very happy because you can't ever find it at that cost online.
We've got a lot of good retro gaming stuff here in Northeast Tennessee, several game shops like 2Dudes Gaming in Elizabethton and Pop Culture in Bristol as well as the Tri-Cities Flea Market with a half-dozen gaming vendors.
Hey Eliot have i have retro UA-cam channel to and i collect games to I have been watching your videos for a while and I love your channel and your hard work to make people happy
Very cool series, I look forward to seeing more retro hunting! Where I am at in the US, I typically can find some retro games at a nearby Half Price Books, I got pretty lucky once during the pandemic and found a copy of Halo CE at clearance for $4. It is really interesting to see these sorts of used games shops.
Elliot if you ever come to New Jersey, I would love to meet you in person and show you our local game stores, Goodwills, thrift stores, and pawn shops!!
You should come to Paradise, CA where the great campfire happened in 2018. There’s this one random video game store there that actually is kinda cool. One here in Chico, CA too
Elliot, if you can make it to Hagerstown, Maryland, theres a TON of retro game and console shops around. We’ve got two dedicated stores, and then We’ve got 2nd and Charles which has a metric buttload of retro stuff!
If you want to check out Greenville, South Carolina some day. They have an annual convention for retro video games called South East Game Exchange. Maybe you can talk to them about trying to get someone to sponsor you as a guest at the show?
Just went to a local store near me and picked up an atari 2600 with 2 controllers, the ac adapter and some games for only $60!!! If you know where to look in America, you can find some real bargains. Ive been through that area but never considered that retro store! If I'm ever near there I'll have to swing by. Thanks for another video!
I went to school at ECU there in G-vegas. got 2 decent 24" monitors for $40 a piece at that exact trade-it. Long-time viewer, never thought I would see you checking out the retro scene in America, let alone Greenville!
This is a great video that really showcases the state of retro game collecting here. I live in NC as well and this feels all too familiar. Goodwill used to be a good source to find games and such but they’ve combed through their games that have come in and put them online now🫤 They do have The Grid which is run by goodwill. I have yet to check it out though to see if it’s worth it. What I do recommend doing is either finding garage sales on the weekends or going to a flea market/swap meet. Those two are the best ways to retro hunt with reasonable haggling in the US IMO.
There's a store in Asheville, North Carolina called Orbit DVD, and they sell retro and new video games as well! They're a small business and they also try to stay with what price charting says to stay fair with their prices! I've personally been able to find some games for my collection there
Man, I miss hitting up thrift shops for old games. I haven't been able to go to any good ones in about a decade. The last time I did, I managed to bring back some rarer GameCube controllers and a Donkey Kong Game & Watch. I sold the controllers to a friend and still have the Game & Watch.
If you ever find yourself back in the USA and in Michigan I can show you a lot of amazing spots. There are still deals out there if you know where to look. Also I really look forward to seeing the Santa Clause 3 Gameboy stream haha
If you are still hanging around NC you should swing down here near Wilmington, there is a place called Game Giant on college road right down the road from UNCW that has everything from retro consoles and handhelds and the games for them to more modern stuff and the controllers and stuff to go with them. If you are willing to travel a bit farther south in the Myrtle Beach Mall there's a place called Player's Choice that you might like as well.
I got a working GBA for $35 today from a thrift store in NJ. (I plan on getting an IPS kit for it eventually) If you ever come back to the US, you should visit NJ because we have a ton of retro game stores and pretty good pawn/thrift shops here.
Maybe this series will include a visit to New Jersey, we got Digitial Press located in Clifton (known for the Angry Video Game Nerd) and the Game Zone over in Hillsdale.
you should come to Washington state, new 2 you is a variety mall great place to go shop for games, they just moved to a better location. ive shopped there for a long time, i am excited to see the new location sometime, back in time gaming, and several other great retro gaming stores, oh and some arcade bars. great video btw!~
It _really_ depends on where you are in America. There's a chain of used media stores called McKays that has a few locations in Tennessee and North Carolina, they're great for finding games, movies, books, toys and music. If you're real lucky, your town might have an independent video game store with people who price things reasonably. Unfortunately, a lot of stores seem to base their prices on Amazon listings, which are generally twice as expensive as what you can find on ebay. Plus, retro game prices are just inflated in general here in the states.
There’s a place here where I live in Alabama called play and talk and they have lots of cool retro consoles. They buy sell and do repairs and they also mod consoles.
ive traveled alot for work and ive been to a lot of retro game stores in the US, mostly east coast. if you plan on doing more parts i suggest skipping the carolinas theres nothing there. i can recommend locations north of that. from virginia to maine
If you come to Utah/Idaho, you can shop at the deseret industries. It's a large thrift store chain that gets games sometimes, and sells them very cheap
I live in a small town and we happen to have a retro game store it’s super small but I like to swing in every now and then to look at what they have. Got Pokémon stadium for $15 one time and one of my roommates surprised me with a copy of banjo kazooie once. Love my small stores
I am not sure if you are still in NC or not, but if you are, I can direct you to the best spots to go for deals and inventory in general. I also have a few of the different game boy videos that I would let you have. I have been watching your videos for a bit and they inspired me to mod handhelds and learn how to solder. Thank you for that!
If you wanted to hit Goodwill, you definitely should've hit up The Grid. It's in Charlotte, NC and it's owned by Goodwill. It's where most of their games, retro games, and electronics in general go to be sold. It's a great place to shop around.
Lol of course you're going to find video games in every nook and cranny in even the most rural towns. This is America only one of the biggest video game markets in the world!
It is very expensive to find retro consoles in good condition. Your best bet is garage sales, flea-markets or buying junk lots from gaming stores and trying to Frankenstein the pieces together. I haven't had any luck myself so I switched to emulators to save money
There's a couple of stores right by my house here in Connecticut (US) that have really good quality games and systems -- all mostly retro. One is called Game X Change, the other is called Retro Games Plus... love going into both shops to gander and they also have in-shop repairs and warranties.
blows my mind how much people are willing to pay for all of these old games. I remember when you couldn't give this stuff away, particularly around the times when it was all recent old gen.
You should do a trip to Italy next! We don't have much in terms of pawnshops except Mercatino (not great but I got my Wii there), but we have amazing local markets everywhere that are filled with interesting stuff
In Detroit we have disc replay and those stores have a pretty good selection. There still is a rare, resident evil 4 chainsaw game cube controller no one has bought in years. That will be my next collection piece.
Goodwill actually used to be amazing for getting old games but unfortunately the company has shifted to online focus so they are no longer putting more valuable things like games and films in stores and instead auction them online for ridiculous prices compared to what in store used to sell them for.
they are also very overpriced. goodwill is worth checking, but it is bad for retro games.
I built an awesome collection a few years back before they got the greed bug :(
@@AngryWildMango so true. They had a used tie for $25 at mine. They are just a for profit business that might help out some people here and there.
McDonalds does, too, but I wouldn't consider them a nonprofit any more or leas than Goodwill.
I was just about to say this. It suuuuuuucks to go to goodwill now. I wish when I was in middle school and high school I actually bought the retro stuff in a lot of thrift stores. There were like heaven, but we all were so into our advancing graphics and newer toys. Not some eye burning Virtual Boy going for $60 in great condition with games. Sadness.
Also the prices being high has more to do with resellers REALLY wanting to get their hands on them. The battle for good price sucks.
Goodwill are a charity - so it sounds like they are making the most of their donations.
As a retro game player in America, thank you for bringing this problem more out in the open. Been a long time sub and love the vid
Thank you very much I appreciate it a lot :)
You have to hit garage sales, but the internet ruined it
@@Bigbigpoopiyeah thank those reselling idiots that have caused this.
Problem?
@@marcanthonyskidmore4131It was Wata Games and Heritage Auctions. Not resellers. There's a lawsuit against them that seems like a slam dunk. Prices will return to normal when after that.
US has plenty of stores like this, BUT you will pay a premium and quality is dubious at times. I grew up with a local shop that had a lot more quality control, but online marketplaces, yard sales, and flea markets are where you get the real deals.
I literally got a copy of just cause 3 on ps4 for like less than 10 bucks at a yard sale. Really fun game, glad I got it
Hey bud! I just saw the video; I am a Greenville Native and I am a video game hunter as well! If you ever end up back in North Carolina, let me know. I know places that are only a hour away or so! i will show you all the good spots!
It's awesome to see you combine traveling and videogames together like this. As an American, I'd even be interested to see what you can find close by in Europe!
I don't understand why these retailers think pricing everything the same as they see on eBay is acceptable. Unfortunately they get away with it cos some people pay
Why wouldnt they price it what it sells for ?
Do you own a store? Do you pay insurance, employees, rent, taxes, everyday expenses? I love how you shit on store owners for not giving stuff away for 1.00
I remember seeing a boxed copy of Legend of Zelda Minish Cap and Tactics Ogre Knight of Lodis both in a Goodwill for $2 each when I was a kid. Fantastic finds, and I wish it was that easy to find cool stuff like that nowadays.
Thank you so much for watching! I have a few more vlogs in America to come out :)
I got cartoon network speedway video game it is video game I got one in brand new in box
Nice
❤❤❤
FYI, for the last 5 years or so Goodwill has told their employees that all retro games are to be shipped to their HC. Then they are posted on their auction site only. Bunch of people believe that Goodwill practices shady bidding and creates fake bids on items to outrageous prices.
Appreciate your hard work, mate ❤
There are retro game stores and places to find games all over the US. The thing is that they’re all getting expensive. It’s understandable because people have really been getting into retro games over the past few years, but it’s also disappointing because I remember walking into some of the same stores as a kid and getting recognizable games for half as much as many of them go for now.
It also really depends where in the US you are. The south (where Elliot was) is going to be different from the northeast, the midwest, the mountain west, and even California.
prices are generally going down thankfully, albeit very slowly. (compared to the height of covid)
There's also been an artificial push to increase the value of retro games. Basically, one of the companies that rates the value of retro games that was recently founded was created by a few market manipulators with fairly extensive connections to the media and auction houses. It's why you started seeing stories for things like an original Mario Brothers in the box that's never been opened selling for over a million dollars. The guys were basically the seller of the item in an auction house where he was well known as well as one of their friends being the purchaser of the item so they could inflate the value of it and have the media cover it. Do this a few times, and it raises the prices on everything down the line which is also easier to do when you run a company that people use to price check these games.
"Getting expensive" -> Being sold at actual market value on eBay. Is the store owner a charity? They need to sell it $10+ cheaper than eBay to be a nice guy for you, the special customer?
@@anotherthing they might be scummy but I'm pretty sure wata grades have little effect on over all market prices. It's really only auction values and the scummier side of eBay that it's effecting.
@@codak29 I get what you’re saying, but first of all, eBay isn’t market value. Everything is overpriced to account for the cut that the website takes.
I understand that shops need to make a profit. All I’m saying is, as someone who’s been retro game collecting for 10+ years, I have seen prices skyrocket and it’s understandable but disheartening.
Dude I love your accent, but I seriously laughed so hard when you said “pawn” shop and had to definitely think for a moment what you actually said haha
Being in America, I wish I had started collecting like a decade ago, I picked the worst time to start I think 😂
Retro games have become basically a stock market now it's insane
Also the issue with places like goodwill is resellers often camp out waiting for them to restock stuff, and then just snatch up anything that could possibly be valuable
That’s extremely trashy
man could find gems anywhere in the world
This one is hype! The new methods of making your videos are on display in the right light compared to the last few. Go Elliot!
LGR is in that neck of the woods I think, but Clint is able to go to bigger towns for Goodwills and his tech hunting. The obvious challenge is the size of the US compared to the UK or Japan; everything is spread out and requires a car, whereas I can hop on and off the trains to check out several cities around London in a day. I rarely do as that much train-hopping is tedious, but the point is it's feasible.
In some states or up in Canada you can drive for hours and still be in the same county. Smaller countries are much easier for logistics, ISPs, shipping, retro games etc., but large ones obviously benefit from untapped resources, open space, affordable land and so on.
LGR and Crazy Russian Hacker live in Asheville. Unfortunately it's about at least 5 hours away.
I've been going to stores that sells old games and such and sure they're cool, but some games can be rough in condition and the pricing can get a bit weird but hey, there is always ebay that is here to help
I've recently been collecting games for this past year and I can say it's definitely been a journey and I hope it becomes more efficient to be a better collector that doesn't spend too much
If you want retro games in the middle of nowhere, might, I suggest Harry and lloyds, which is literally the only video game store in Vermont except for GameStop.
As someone who used to live in that state: Trade-It tends to surprise like that with the gaming stuff, but otherwise it's... varied at best unless you're in NC's bigger cities and pawn shops tend to be the majority of your local options otherwise. Aside from Facebook Marketplace these days.
Also I'm so sorry for this hunt, retro prices in the US especially have been ridiculous ever since the pandemic.
I remember like a decade ago I bought a dreamcast at a local pawn shop for 5 bucks. It's crazy seeing them for $90 now.
Retro game hunting has sucked in America for at least ten years. Gone are the days when I'd go into a thrift shop and find a copy of SNES Shadowrun for $5, or a boxed 32X for $10. Prices are horrible, and deals are impossible to find outside FB Marketplace in big cities (and even then, rare). I would be *floored* if you got something cool for cheap while on your trip here - I hope to be wrong!
Oh this is interesting to see where else you go while you're here and how it compares to the abysmal selection in Oklahoma
at this point i have almost given up on trying to collect retro games. They are super expensive and quality for the price point is wild. a vomit encrusted pokemon emerald will sell for 100$ with no working battery. The market is full of resellers rather than collectors so its hard to get anything good that you would want to play without resorting to piracy or a reproduction cart that may not work.
The market has gotten incredibly inflated here in the US. Unless you're rich, good luck collecting retro games these days :/
Camera work in the Well Played Games section is *chef's kiss*, love drinking in the contents of the cabinets and shelves
Yooo that's surreal! I went to Well Played Games 2 years ago. Amazing collection there and the vibes were incredible, glad you went and checked it out, really awesome staff. Went with some of the MrB crew and we were opening pokemon cards and playing some arcade games. Really wish I could have WPG where I live :( but it was such a fun experience
Now Elliot, you should do Canada. Canada can usually have a good selections that your looking for.
Also I imagine that BIG BLACK BASS label is on there boldly and upside down because they figured older people who are into outdoor sports would be playing it, and they could easily pull the console out of their pocket and lightly pull the cartridge out to make sure it's the correct game (which seems odd because it's probably the only game they owned on Game Boy lol).
my brother marked off the B in BASS as a kid and we thought that was hilarious. Actually its still funny lol
00:49 I know he said pawn shop but I could swear I heard something else.
He’s British like me 😅
The youtube captions on this video said porn shop not pawn shop😂
Neat to see what you found, Greenville is just over the mountain from my native Tennessee and I've found some really good places to search for games.
I rarely comment but figured why not this time. It's been a number of years since I have collected games myself. It's really nice to see it from someone's perspective who isn't from the US.
OK THAT IS SO COOL. @The Retro Future , I had just traded in most of my duplicates of pokemon and GBA/GC games I did not play anymore about 3-4 weeks ago. The Big Black Bass, Inspector Gadget, Hey Arthur, Spyro 2, and guitar hero on tour controller were mine. I swiped their CIB Gameboy SP and Metroid Fusion about a week before this!
From my experience it’s tough finding a store that sells retro games unless you go closer to a larger city. My personal favorite for N.C. is the video game world in huntersville. They usually have decent stock and prices, and also have some sick arcade cabinets including DDR and Mariokart GP.
Honestly videos like this help me make a places to visit list much easier 😊
come to france saw 15e wiis and 1e games in local "occasion shops" and can't even start talking about "le bon coin"
its hard to find a good deal around here in NJ. most dedicated retro game stores won't have many deals unless you look hard enough. but once in a while you'll come across something fair or cheap
It's great to see your making these videos! I loved the Japan series, I can't wait for the full series of the USA one!
I live near Greenville and I have literally never found a single gaming item at any Goodwill. Loved the video by the way.
It’s even worse in Canada, my local pawn shop asks $250+ for any model gameboy or DS …they have a donkey kong N64 for $1000 that they will literally never sell. $150 for any Pokémon gameboy carts no matter the gen.
It’s honest to god bogus. The markup is insane.
Edit: The original 2DS that well played games had marked for $100, yeah those exact models are $250+ here
Welcome to the US! Those are some decent finds. It's hard to find decently priced gameboys in the wild here.
I'm finding that as well. I literally just wanted a Game Boy or GBA to lay around and play in bed before I go to sleep. I thought it would be cheap and no problem. Game Boy prices are crazy, and they're hard to find!
Every game store I go into they have every console you could want, NES, Atari, SNES, Dream Cast, PS2, and on and on. But no Game Boys. It's weird. Why are they so hard to find? And when you do find them, they're really expensive.
Oh man, came there to visit a friend a few years ago. Was a cute little town! I hope you had a wonderful time there!!
surprised you even tried goodwill. I was friends with an employee and they said anything video game related was shipped out to an HQ of sorts to be listed online.
There is a game store located in Boone North Carolina that has an early Black Friday deal going on where all of their games are 50% off. But the deal ends Sunday at 7:30 PM (Ori’s Game Corner)
Glad you had fun in the states mate! Hopefully it was an awesome experience. Hello from California
America Game Hunting is definitely a completely different breed to what you can get here in the UK. Sometimes pricing in America for games and consoles can cost more for the same thing here in UK. Collecting is a-lot stronger I think in America than UK.
Nice! Let me know if you ever come to Texas! We've got lots of retro video game stuff here!
I think your best bet would be to look for yard sales and flea markets.
Welcome to game hunting in Eastern NC. Long time viewer and supporter. Greenville is very rough for game hunting, great sports also are thrift stores and consignment shops as well. In our area definitely facebook marketplace. You can find some great deals besides some of the local shops. Living in a military town, We have quite a few game stores. Look forward to future videos.
The market for these things skyrocketed during the COVID thing. It's frustrating that I can't even get a decent GBA SP here for a reasonable price. (And I'm not even trying to collect GameBoys, I just want at least one GBA SP, which I currently don't have.) I think certain things are starting to come back down (N64 stuff, shockingly, seems to be getting cheaper), but overall, most things are frustratingly pricey. In my area, finding things like that is less common, though there is a local shop that sells retro games. They once had a complete, boxed copy of Earthbound for SNES, priced over $2,000. And, get this, _they managed to sell it._ Me, I rarely buy a retro game if the price is over $20... And as for consoles, Ebay hunting for damaged, fixable ones seems to be the way to go (since I can fix stuff). Or, Japan imports, those tend to be cheaper.
It’s not just covid, way before it people now know what these games are worth and people are banking on the full profits.
I remember when we used to have this store called Game Craze in my hometown they had a couple locations and sold so much retro stuff and Gameboy Colors were $15 a pop that was about 17 years ago Game Craze went out business about 10 or 12 years ago its crazy how much video game collecting has changed and how cost prohibitive its becoming in the states not to say you cant still find deals but i dont think well ever see the prices ever come close to what they used to be great video though i love the channel and all the content youve been bringing to the video game discourse
Awesome introduction into this new series, I wish you good luck and fun in america!
Why do retro game hunters look like they smell like a garage in a house next to a farm in a North western state ?
I live in denver and a lot of the retro shops have actually resorted to undercutting a lot of the online retailers aside from their collector pieces. It's really refreshing cause I've been used to seeing inflated prices for everything for over a decade but now I can get less popular games for less then I find online.
that being said I just bought a fully modded sega game gear for 250 dollars at a local retro shop. very happy because you can't ever find it at that cost online.
We've got a lot of good retro gaming stuff here in Northeast Tennessee, several game shops like 2Dudes Gaming in Elizabethton and Pop Culture in Bristol as well as the Tri-Cities Flea Market with a half-dozen gaming vendors.
I can with confidence say am only here on UA-cam because bros videos are amazing 😂 keep up the good work fam
Hey Eliot have i have retro UA-cam channel to and i collect games to I have been watching your videos for a while and I love your channel and your hard work to make people happy
Thank you
Very cool series, I look forward to seeing more retro hunting! Where I am at in the US, I typically can find some retro games at a nearby Half Price Books, I got pretty lucky once during the pandemic and found a copy of Halo CE at clearance for $4. It is really interesting to see these sorts of used games shops.
Elliot if you ever come to New Jersey, I would love to meet you in person and show you our local game stores, Goodwills, thrift stores, and pawn shops!!
You should come to Paradise, CA where the great campfire happened in 2018. There’s this one random video game store there that actually is kinda cool. One here in Chico, CA too
I live in New Zealand, and retro stuff is soooo expensive here. It just wasn't as popular here and so the price is higher.
Yeah trying to get into retro gaming in the States is pretty damn hard once I stumbled across your channel Sendico saved the day. lol.
Elliot, if you can make it to Hagerstown, Maryland, theres a TON of retro game and console shops around. We’ve got two dedicated stores, and then We’ve got 2nd and Charles which has a metric buttload of retro stuff!
Portland, Oregon area has A LOT of retro gaming around. Retro Game Trader in Beaverton has a crazy selection of rare stuff!
If you want to check out Greenville, South Carolina some day. They have an annual convention for retro video games called South East Game Exchange. Maybe you can talk to them about trying to get someone to sponsor you as a guest at the show?
Just went to a local store near me and picked up an atari 2600 with 2 controllers, the ac adapter and some games for only $60!!! If you know where to look in America, you can find some real bargains. Ive been through that area but never considered that retro store! If I'm ever near there I'll have to swing by. Thanks for another video!
This series should be fun to watch. Can't wait for the rest of it
I went to school at ECU there in G-vegas. got 2 decent 24" monitors for $40 a piece at that exact trade-it. Long-time viewer, never thought I would see you checking out the retro scene in America, let alone Greenville!
We probably reordered this when he went to see Mr beast.
I live in NC and I was surprised to see what you found in this video. Finding retro games is tedious here lol
You’ve got me addicted to watching repair and upgrading classic consoles. Now I want to buy junk consoles and try to refurbish some on my own 😅
Check out 2nd and Charles next time you're in America! It's a small chain of stores in the US. Great selection of retro games, books, vinyl, etc.
This is great, I hope you had a great time in the states! Come visit the Pacific North West sometime!
Video Game Hunting LIVES ON!!
This is a great video that really showcases the state of retro game collecting here. I live in NC as well and this feels all too familiar. Goodwill used to be a good source to find games and such but they’ve combed through their games that have come in and put them online now🫤
They do have The Grid which is run by goodwill. I have yet to check it out though to see if it’s worth it.
What I do recommend doing is either finding garage sales on the weekends or going to a flea market/swap meet. Those two are the best ways to retro hunt with reasonable haggling in the US IMO.
There's a store in Asheville, North Carolina called Orbit DVD, and they sell retro and new video games as well! They're a small business and they also try to stay with what price charting says to stay fair with their prices! I've personally been able to find some games for my collection there
You should come to Belgium and visit a retro gaming fair and some pawn shops. The prices for loose cartridges are certainly lower than in the US.
Man, I miss hitting up thrift shops for old games. I haven't been able to go to any good ones in about a decade. The last time I did, I managed to bring back some rarer GameCube controllers and a Donkey Kong Game & Watch. I sold the controllers to a friend and still have the Game & Watch.
If you ever find yourself back in the USA and in Michigan I can show you a lot of amazing spots. There are still deals out there if you know where to look. Also I really look forward to seeing the Santa Clause 3 Gameboy stream haha
If you are still hanging around NC you should swing down here near Wilmington, there is a place called Game Giant on college road right down the road from UNCW that has everything from retro consoles and handhelds and the games for them to more modern stuff and the controllers and stuff to go with them. If you are willing to travel a bit farther south in the Myrtle Beach Mall there's a place called Player's Choice that you might like as well.
I got a working GBA for $35 today from a thrift store in NJ. (I plan on getting an IPS kit for it eventually) If you ever come back to the US, you should visit NJ because we have a ton of retro game stores and pretty good pawn/thrift shops here.
LoL WTH the Well Played Games store seemed so legit for a store in a small town. So random/dope that they have a kitchen that serves food even haha!
Havent watched the video yet but knowing how the retro game collecting scene is here, oh boy
Maybe this series will include a visit to New Jersey, we got Digitial Press located in Clifton (known for the Angry Video Game Nerd) and the Game Zone over in Hillsdale.
you should come to Washington state, new 2 you is a variety mall great place to go shop for games, they just moved to a better location. ive shopped there for a long time, i am excited to see the new location sometime, back in time gaming, and several other great retro gaming stores, oh and some arcade bars.
great video btw!~
It _really_ depends on where you are in America. There's a chain of used media stores called McKays that has a few locations in Tennessee and North Carolina, they're great for finding games, movies, books, toys and music. If you're real lucky, your town might have an independent video game store with people who price things reasonably. Unfortunately, a lot of stores seem to base their prices on Amazon listings, which are generally twice as expensive as what you can find on ebay. Plus, retro game prices are just inflated in general here in the states.
There’s a place here where I live in Alabama called play and talk and they have lots of cool retro consoles. They buy sell and do repairs and they also mod consoles.
WOuld be good to see a vid all about the GBA video cartridges 😎
ive traveled alot for work and ive been to a lot of retro game stores in the US, mostly east coast. if you plan on doing more parts i suggest skipping the carolinas theres nothing there. i can recommend locations north of that. from virginia to maine
Welcome to the USA! Retro video game hunting is very difficult here in America 😅
If you come back to America to retro hunt go to a store in Somerville, NJ called Retro Classic
If you come to Utah/Idaho, you can shop at the deseret industries. It's a large thrift store chain that gets games sometimes, and sells them very cheap
I live in a small town and we happen to have a retro game store it’s super small but I like to swing in every now and then to look at what they have. Got Pokémon stadium for $15 one time and one of my roommates surprised me with a copy of banjo kazooie once. Love my small stores
I am not sure if you are still in NC or not, but if you are, I can direct you to the best spots to go for deals and inventory in general. I also have a few of the different game boy videos that I would let you have. I have been watching your videos for a bit and they inspired me to mod handhelds and learn how to solder. Thank you for that!
Here in TN theres a couple places but mostly retro gaming collecting here is expensive cause they go by ebay prices
If you wanted to hit Goodwill, you definitely should've hit up The Grid. It's in Charlotte, NC and it's owned by Goodwill. It's where most of their games, retro games, and electronics in general go to be sold. It's a great place to shop around.
Lol of course you're going to find video games in every nook and cranny in even the most rural towns. This is America only one of the biggest video game markets in the world!
It is very expensive to find retro consoles in good condition. Your best bet is garage sales, flea-markets or buying junk lots from gaming stores and trying to Frankenstein the pieces together. I haven't had any luck myself so I switched to emulators to save money
There's a couple of stores right by my house here in Connecticut (US) that have really good quality games and systems -- all mostly retro. One is called Game X Change, the other is called Retro Games Plus... love going into both shops to gander and they also have in-shop repairs and warranties.
Cool Stuff and Video Game Haven in Virginia Beach, VA are really great places to find stuff.
blows my mind how much people are willing to pay for all of these old games.
I remember when you couldn't give this stuff away, particularly around the times when it was all recent old gen.
Try Savers , savers in my area usually have a small glass cabinet with gameboy games.
You should do a trip to Italy next! We don't have much in terms of pawnshops except Mercatino (not great but I got my Wii there), but we have amazing local markets everywhere that are filled with interesting stuff
In Detroit we have disc replay and those stores have a pretty good selection. There still is a rare, resident evil 4 chainsaw game cube controller no one has bought in years. That will be my next collection piece.