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SNES Game Collecting (Tips, discussion, and info for like minded collectors)

KlotePino

Member
Just won an auction for a CIB copy of EVO, one of my holy grails. Cost me a pretty penny but it was definitely less than what's listed on eBay right now and it looks to be in great shape. Also managed to score Robotrek along with it so I'm thinking about completing an Enix collection. Too bad the games I still need are mostly badly rated. Can anyone make a case for Brainlord, 7th Saga and Act Raiser 2? The only other game would be Ogre Battle but that's expensive and although it's supposed to be great, tactics games like that aren't really my jam.
 

Teknoman

Member
Just won an auction for a CIB copy of EVO, one of my holy grails. Cost me a pretty penny but it was definitely less than what's listed on eBay right now and it looks to be in great shape. Also managed to score Robotrek along with it so I'm thinking about completing an Enix collection. Too bad the games I still need are mostly badly rated. Can anyone make a case for Brainlord, 7th Saga and Act Raiser 2? The only other game would be Ogre Battle but that's expensive and although it's supposed to be great, tactics games like that aren't really my jam.

Brainlord has an amazing soundtrack and a kinda interesting premise. The puzzles can be really mind bending (hence the name) but its a fun action rpg still.
 

CrovaxPSO

Member
I just found my copy of Search for Eden that my dad bought for me years and years ago out of the bargin bin at a Wherehouse. Cover is cut up and put in a plastic case and it didn't come with the manual, and the cart is a bit grimy. Cool to have found it after all these years, though. One of my favorite games from my childhood.

tMpRJdp.jpg

JLdud8g.jpg
 

Iggins

Banned
Please know that if you have an NTSC (US) SNES, it is not region locked and can play JPN Super Famicom games, so there's no need to buy a Super Famicom. You will need to remove a plastic tab inside the cartridge slot for the JPN cart to fit, but it works fine.

Does it work the other way around? I mean can I play US games on the SFC?
 
Technically yes, but it's much harder to widen the cart slot to fit the US carts than it is to snap the tabs out of the US SNES to play JP carts.

I've done it. Nice to have the superior looking SFC that can play both, but I ended up really butchering the cartridge slot.
 

Iggins

Banned
Technically yes, but it's much harder to widen the cart slot to fit the US carts than it is to snap the tabs out of the US SNES to play JP carts.

Interesting, it looks like some adapters are nothing more than a straight wired connection, it shouldn't be hard to make an adapter.

I'll definitely take a look into it when I get mine.
 

Peagles

Member
I've done it. Nice to have the superior looking SFC that can play both, but I ended up really butchering the cartridge slot.

Hence why I'd recommend against it, unless someone starts making replacement lids that accompany the US carts.

Interesting, it looks like some adapters are nothing more than a straight wired connection, it shouldn't be hard to make an adapter.

I'll definitely take a look into it when I get mine.

I'm sure they exist. I have one for my N64. Works a charm.
 

Bar81

Member
Interesting, it looks like some adapters are nothing more than a straight wired connection, it shouldn't be hard to make an adapter.

I'll definitely take a look into it when I get mine.

Exactly. I have a couple of adapters for my SFC to play SNES games and they are very basic.
 

Lettuce

Member
What's sad is that it has nothing to do with quality. Even shit games like Run Saber demand ridiculous prices complete.

Ive said it before and ill say it again, im soooooooo glad i got 90% of my SNES games in 2004-2006 time, prices were sooo much better then. My only regret is i always used to turn my nose up at games like Megaman x2, X3, Castlevania Dracula X etc CIB going for like £45 i would snap their hand off for those prices now a days!!!
 

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
If there's a silver lining to the stupid-ass prices these days, it's that it feels like a real victory when you actually manage to get a game you want.
 

-KRS-

Member
I'm confused too. Unless you are a Scandinavian and are talking about NES-SCN releases.

I'd say NES prices on places like Tradera are pretty ridiculous in general these days, SCN or not. But yeah, those SCN collectors... it's like a cult or something haha.
 

Petrae

Member
so do you recckon the bubble will burst in terms of prices or will it still keep going up?

Prices will continue to remain high or even rise for at least the near-term. As more carts stop working or stay with one owner, availability will shrink amidst demand, keeping prices high.

The proliferation of YouTube videos and other related content that hammer home the value of games and how "deals" were scored will smarten up sellers. They'll realize what they have instead of just pricing it to sell. The increasing popularity of older games & systems will equate to higher prices from sellers and higher costs for buyers/collectors.
 

Bar81

Member
so do you recckon the bubble will burst in terms of prices or will it still keep going up?

There is a finite supply of these games and less and less of them are available over the last ten years so unless everyone decides they no longer want to own retro games or owners start dumping them on the market, I don't see prices crashing anytime soon.
 

Chinner

Banned
its been awhile since i've looked, and it still looks like snes is more expensive than the other consoles. probably because of the nature of boxing and stuff. N64 games are still going up because of the same reasons.

i wonder if the price will ever go for the more recent games using CDs. PS1 games don't really seem to be doing much, maybe because of mass production. dreamcast is a little more expensive.
 

ZealousD

Makes world leading predictions like "The sun will rise tomorrow"
its been awhile since i've looked, and it still looks like snes is more expensive than the other consoles. probably because of the nature of boxing and stuff. N64 games are still going up because of the same reasons.

i wonder if the price will ever go for the more recent games using CDs. PS1 games don't really seem to be doing much, maybe because of mass production. dreamcast is a little more expensive.

PS1 games were cheaper and they don't necessarily have that Nintendo-nostalgia working for them (FF7 notwithstanding). I think they'll be like the Genesis and be relatively undervalued for some time.

I'm rather surprised that Dreamcast games are as cheap as they are. I guess everybody who owned one bought a ton of games for it.
 

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
its been awhile since i've looked, and it still looks like snes is more expensive than the other consoles. probably because of the nature of boxing and stuff. N64 games are still going up because of the same reasons.

i wonder if the price will ever go for the more recent games using CDs. PS1 games don't really seem to be doing much, maybe because of mass production. dreamcast is a little more expensive.

PS1 games are definitely going up in price, even in the last year. It's not an across the board thing like it is with the SNES, but it's starting to get rough, particularly for RPG fans.
 
There is a finite supply of these games and less and less of them are available over the last ten years so unless everyone decides they no longer want to own retro games or owners start dumping them on the market, I don't see prices crashing anytime soon.

The thing that sucks is you know there are way more copies of these games just sitting in peoples closets gathering dust. If all the people who just have this shit sitting around would pull them out and sell them, there'd be more than enough to go around.

I was talking to an acquaintance a few weeks ago who said he had an NES and a ton of games, and his father had thrown them all away. My wife's aunt was about to do the same with her NES and games before she heard me talking about them. It's painful to think how many parents have thrown out their kids "old toys".
 

Leonsito

Member
So, my girlfriend bought me some SNES games for my birthday, one of them is Terranigma, but when I started playing it it is entirely in german (I'm from Spain, where we had a spanish version), I will have to see if I can return it to the seller despite the game been ok...

She also bought me Super Castlevania IV :D
 

-KRS-

Member
It's painful to think how many parents have thrown out their kids "old toys".

I sometimes wonder how many games have been destroyed because of people throwing them away. :(

So, my girlfriend bought me some SNES games for my birthday, one of them is Terranigma, but when I started playing it it is entirely in german (I'm from Spain, where we had a spanish version), I will have to see if I can return it to the seller despite the game been ok...

She also bought me Super Castlevania IV :D

Yeah you have to be extra observant when buying those PAL SNES RPGs since they were often localized and they could only fit one language on the cart. Secret of Mana is another example. Link to the Past as well. And some later non-RPG SNES games as well, like Yoshi's Island.
 

Peagles

Member
Yeah you have to be extra observant when buying those PAL SNES RPGs since they were often localized and they could only fit one language on the cart. Secret of Mana is another example. Link to the Past as well. And some later non-RPG SNES games as well, like Yoshi's Island.

Weird, my Yoshi's Island has a language select between English, German, and French.
 

-KRS-

Member
Weird, my Yoshi's Island has a language select between English, German, and French.

Really? That's interesting. I just checked my NOE release of Yoshi's Island and it just starts up in German automatically and I can't find any settings at all other than to remove and copy saves. What region code does your copy have?
 

Peagles

Member
Really? That's interesting. I just checked my NOE release of Yoshi's Island and it just starts up in German automatically and I can't find any settings at all other than to remove and copy saves. What region code does your copy have?

I'll go check. I do remember I found it difficult to find the setting. When I got mine it was in French.
 

-KRS-

Member
Ah I see. Perhaps you have to press some button combination on startup or something? Man if that's the case, the SCN copy I bought after was completely unnecessary lol.
 
Ah I see. Perhaps you have to press some button combination on startup or something? Man if that's the case, the SCN copy I bought after was completely unnecessary lol.

Press Select during the intro/on the start screen before you press Start and you should get a menu that enables you to choose the language.
 

Peagles

Member
Ah I see. Perhaps you have to press some button combination on startup or something? Man if that's the case, the SCN copy I bought after was completely unnecessary lol.

The label says SNSP-YI-AUS, is that the part you mean?

I think (cos I got it second hand) I had to delete the existing games and reset, then it asked me for my language preference. I think... It was a few years ago and I don't have a PAL SNES plugged in right now to check.

Edit: Or see above, heh.
 

-KRS-

Member
Yeah that was the part I meant.

And haha I just tried the select thing and it did bring up a language select option. The more you know! I suppose that was written somewhere in the manual but I don't have one for that game.

Edit: Out of interest, what color is the label on your cart? My SCN copy has a yellow frame around the artwork while my NOE has a black frame.
Edit²: Sorry I meant the background where the logo is is yellow on my SCN cart, not that there's a frame. I need to go to bed lol.
 

Peagles

Member
Yeah that was the part I meant.

And haha I just tried the select thing and it did bring up a language select option. The more you know! I suppose that was written somewhere in the manual but I don't have one for that game.

Edit: Out of interest, what color is the label on your cart? My SCN copy has a yellow frame around the artwork while my NOE has a black frame.
Edit²: Sorry I meant the background where the logo is is yellow on my SCN cart, not that there's a frame. I need to go to bed lol.

Mine is yellow behind the Yoshi's Island logo, and black behind the Super Nintendo logo. I'll put a pic up for ya when I'm not on my iPad.
 

Teknoman

Member
The thing that sucks is you know there are way more copies of these games just sitting in peoples closets gathering dust. If all the people who just have this shit sitting around would pull them out and sell them, there'd be more than enough to go around.

I was talking to an acquaintance a few weeks ago who said he had an NES and a ton of games, and his father had thrown them all away. My wife's aunt was about to do the same with her NES and games before she heard me talking about them. It's painful to think how many parents have thrown out their kids "old toys".

Everytime I read/hear stuff like this, I flashback to when I was working at a game store, and some guy thought his two Dreamcasts were old junk. I traded them for a Little Ceasars 5 dollar pizza, since he thought the pawnshop wouldnt take them, and he knew we didnt.
 

Shining

Member
I'd say NES prices on places like Tradera are pretty ridiculous in general these days, SCN or not. But yeah, those SCN collectors... it's like a cult or something haha.

Now that you mention it. I remember selling a US NES Batman Returns CIB in decent condition on Tradera and it sold for like $70. US NES TMNT 2 in decent shape went for $82.

It's a cult alright (SCN). And some of the rarest, minty games often stays within the inner circle of elit collectors. You know which forum i'm talking about ;) NTSC 4 lyfe, lol

God damnit, it's been three weeks since i payed for a copy of Ninja Warriors and it still hasn't arrived. Just found out the seller used surface mail so there's still hope. It could take up to 6 weeks.
 

-KRS-

Member
Mine is yellow behind the Yoshi's Island logo, and black behind the Super Nintendo logo. I'll put a pic up for ya when I'm not on my iPad.

No need. That's what my SCN cart looks like too. :)
I noticed the Japanese cart has a pink background behind the logo. Looked pretty good as well. :D

Now that you mention it. I remember selling a US NES Batman Returns CIB in decent condition on Tradera and it sold for like $70. US NES TMNT 2 in decent shape went for $82.

It's a cult alright (SCN). And some of the rarest, minty games often stays within the inner circle of elit collectors. You know which forum i'm talking about ;) NTSC 4 lyfe, lol

Oh I know lol. Yeah I'm not too fond of that place anymore. It has become very insular. The moderation is weird as well with their odd rules.

And yes, lately I've started buying only NTSC carts as well. It kind of feels like a bummer to buy PAL copies these days, so I thought why should I? And also Tradera has gone to shit lately price-wise as mentioned so it's usually cheaper to get NTSC games from ebay anyway. Luckily most PAL games in my collection seems to run fine in 60hz, both on the NES and SNES, so I don't feel like they're wasted. But the PAL optimized NES games like Nintendo's and Sunsoft's games are kind of a bummer since they won't run correctly in 60hz. I may or may not replace them with NTSC copies as time goes on but haven't decided yet if I care enough. But going forward I will definitely only be getting NTSC games for my collection. So NTSC 4 life indeed. :)
 
I impulsively tried to snag a copy of Star Fox Weekend the other day. Didn't work out, so I got Metal Marines and Lufia 2 as a consolation :p

Based on everything I've heard, I'll probably play Lufia 2 before the first, assuming I ever even play the first...


Also, I'm wondering if anyone else here is crazy (or stupid) enough to go for a complete NTSC SNES collection? I'm up to 248/7??, with a decent amount of the $$$ titles out of the way. Whether or not I end up going for the US Hagane or Aerofighters of the world will still require a lot of contemplation.
 

Fox Mulder

Member
SNES prices are the new NES prices.

there's a lot of great nes games at good prices though. Snes is on another level really.

I had to sell the majority of my snes collection and I'll probably never get the motivation to build it back up at current prices. Even cheap finds in the wild are pretty scarce now, although a coworker sold me his childhood box of games for lunch one day.
 

Teknoman

Member
Are there any notable differences between the US and JPN version of King of Dragons? Thinking of getting the SFC version to save me a chunk of change.

I dont think there are, but how much cheaper is it? King of Dragons shouldnt be that expensive. Unless the jp version is like 10-15 bucks.


Also apparently Ninja Warriors has a chainsaw wielding samurai as a boss!
 

ZealousD

Makes world leading predictions like "The sun will rise tomorrow"
I dont think there are, but how much cheaper is it? King of Dragons shouldnt be that expensive. Unless the jp version is like 10-15 bucks.


Also apparently Ninja Warriors has a chainsaw wielding samurai as a boss!

SNES version is like $60. SFC version is $30.

The price went up like a rocket recently.
 

Teknoman

Member
SNES version is like $60. SFC version is $30.

The price went up like a rocket recently.

Wow...and i paid 30 last year for the SNES version. Maybe i got lucky since only me and some other guy bid.

Stage 2 boss is supposed to be a Samurai? He looked like some big generic masked horror guy in a yellow hazmat suit

Helmet looked samuraish to me heh. Hazmat helmets are a bit more cylindrical arent they?

Boq1ckkIIAI296h.jpg:large



Another note...just learned that not only can you block (hold Y) in the game, but you can use your blaster meter as a combo modifier and there are also dash attacks ( hold down-forward and press B).
 
Hey, SnesGAF. Not sure if this is the right place to put this, but I could use some help.

I've been experiencing these weirdass visual glitches with SNES games that, while they don't typically cause crashes, are still really distracting regardless and I've been continually attempting to be rid of them. They're a little hard to describe and I don't have any pictures/video footage with me at the moment, but probably the best example is how in Kirby Super Star whenever Kirby runs there's a weird morphing white box below to the right. I was wondering if this was because I left the games exposed to dust (dumb, I know), but lately I've been turning my mind around that.

I've done all the recommended solutions from cleaning the cartridge contacts with Q-tips/rubbing alcohol and the console slots with credit cards/cardboard and nothing works. I recently read that if none of the above is working, the video RAM chip inside of the console may be to blame. After purchasing A Link to the Past last year, I think this may be the case since the game only started acting up only a couple of weeks after it arrived.

So...I suppose what I'm asking here is not just an answer to the above, but how common of an issue this is. As a budding collector, I'm concerned about purchasing further games due to what happened with ALTTP. At the very least, this has taught me to get into the habit of cleaning the cartridges.

I'm guessing purchasing a new SNES would be worth less than the hassle of repairing the RAM chip or w/e, yet similar issues have been plaguing my N64 and when I purchased two separate replacements (along with more copies of SM64), the same exact issues were present. Is this some epidemic I'm not aware of or something? lol
 

Teknoman

Member
Finally beat it! That last boss was really giving me grief lol. Never did like those kinds of bosses.

i4UixZJ0WapGt.jpg


Wasnt expecting such a bitter-sweet ending for a beatem up though. They usually end on a somewhat happy note...but not Ninja Warriors...

Its an old game so I guess spoilers are fine: Your character auto self-destructs once it completes the mission, and the reason why is because people were unsure if such advanced AI was a safe thing. Then on top of that, the resistance force leader that used the ninja to take down the corrupt regime (run by an alien or mutant?) becomes the president, makes an even more powerful army of advanced cyborgs, and the cycle begins again.
 

meanspartan

Member
Since I saw this thread, I really gotta recommend that new console wars book about the 16 bit era battle.

Halfway through and loving it so far.
 
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