Before I start this, let me make this clear : I am not attacking video games as a whole. In fact, it’s perfectly okay to wind down with an occasional video game after a hard day’s work

What I am speaking out against is the video game collector hobby.

Up to about ten years ago, the prices of most retro video games were so low that you could buy most common video games- “common” as defined as games which were mass produced at huge numbers – for sometimes as low as $1 to $5 per game. Only the rare and super rare video games would command huge prices.

The same could be said for video game consoles.”Loose” consoles – – “loose” meaning a console which came unboxed but included the controllers and hook-up cables – could be purchased for anywhere from $10 to $50, with (super) rare consoles such as the Vectrex commanding huge prices.

I remember ten years ago, you could buy a loose NES, SNES, or Genesis for less than $50, with boxed versions ranging from $75 to $150. You could get a loose Atari 2600 for less than $20 and a boxed one for less than $100. Hell, you could get a loose Atari Jaguar with a decent game collection for around $100. (I sold an Atari Jaguar – purchased in 1994 – with 14 games for around $150 in 2012 after the death of Jack Tramiel, with a portion of the proceeds being donated to the Anti-Defamation League in his memory.)

However, now with rhe proliferation of YouTube personalities such as Gamester81 and The Immortal John Hancock, video game collecting has become an obsession, and it has created a problem with people buying video game hardware and software and displaying them on shelves and bookcases like trophies.

The video game collecting hobby has in essences created a shortage in retro game hardware and software. When you create a shortage of a product, you drive up the prices.

Gone are the days when you could go on eBay and get an NES for less than $100. A loose NES now costs at least $100, and a boxed NES – depending on the condition of the box and depending on the presence of original packing materials -will set you back over $200. And an NES which is still factory sealed? Be prepared to pay over $500.

The most obscene rise in prices has to be the Jaguar. True, there were only 150,000 Jaguars made (with most being liquidated around 2000 for $10 per console in some stores), but why are video game collectors suddenly gushing over a “64-bit” video game system which was derided and ridiculed by the video game magazines of the day? Why do they suddenly give a shit over a console which had only 50 games produced during its short lifespan from 1993 to 1996? Nowadays,a loose Atari Jaguar console – with no games, controllers, or hookups – will set you back at least $300-400, while a Jaguar with the original box, packing materials, and all included accessories will set you back around $1,000. (A “sealed and never opened” Jaguar will set you back well over $1,000.)

Now don’t get me wrong. I loved my Jaguar. I enjoyed Doom, Alien vs Predator, Tempest 2000, and Super Burnout. And yes, I owned my fair share of stinkers for the console especially Checkered Flag, Club Drive, and Kasumi Ninja.

The problem with rhe Jaguar was that it wasn’t a true 64-bit system. It had a very complex architecture which made it difficult to program Jaguar games to take advantage of the hardware capabilities. That’s why most games developed by third parties were coded around the Jaguar’s Motorola 68000 and didn’t take full advantage of the 32-bit “Tom” GPU and the 32-bit “Jerry” DSP (short for “audio chip”. (Take a look at the Jaguar library. Most third party games looked like something you could play on the Genesis or SNES.)

The mainstream video game magazines pretty much exposed the Jaguar as NOT a 64-bit system. Just because it had a 64-bit data bus does not mean squat. (I’ve had a long-standing theory that the Atari Jaguar was pretty much a consolized Atari ST with a custom GPU and DSP for expanded graphics and audio capabilities.) Most of the stellar music in Atari Jaguar games – especially Tempest 2000 – were actually in the .MOD format which originated on the Commodore Amiga.

So why do they now care about a failed video game console which was deceptively advertised and risked getting Atari Corporation in trouble with the FTC? (Personally, I’m surprised Atari Corporation wasn’t subject to consumer complaints to the FTC.) Because people like Gamester81 and The Immortal John Hancock have turned their borderline hoarding obsessions into a glorified fetish, and this has caused other game collectors to hunt for the lost memories of their childhoods while paying through the nose on all video game hardware and software, no matter if the quality of the hardware and software is good or crap.

And don’t get me started on the financial aspects especially when most video game collectors are willing to get into tens of thousands of dollars – if not more – in debt in order to justify hoarding.

However, I am about to burst the bubble of retro video game hardware and software.

ALL electronic devices – including video game hardware and software – have finite life spans. Eventually, the CPUs, GPUs, audio chips, and other electrical components such as capacitors will eventuality fail to function. When capacitors start to die, they swell and will eventuality leak corrosive acid. (Capacitors are acid-based components like alkaline batteries.) If the capacitor juice leaks out, it can corrode the traces on motherboards and render the entire console unusable.

Not many retro game collectors are handy with soldering irons, desoldering guns, or desoldering wicks. And not many of them will know where to send off their consoles for repairs, and if they find a service which repairs game consoles, the prices are astronomical.

When most game collectors’ game consoles die, they will most likely put it in the trash, and the dead consoles will eventually end up in landfills. And since the consoles’ cases are made with petroleum-based plastics, the petroleum contents will eventually seep into the ground and pollute the environment.

And this obsession isn’t just directed towards game consoles. Classic computers such as the Commodore 64, Apple II/IIe/IIc, and the Atari 400/800/XL/XE are also mass hoarded and cause prices of remaining stock to soar astronomically.

And the fact that “ArcadeUSA” – another YouTube game collector – proudly displays a “soy face” in many of his video thumbnails just gives the impression that video game collectors are your typical middle-aged soyboys who pop a boner over amassing their latest “super rare” video game acquisition.

Now, if you still enjoy retro video games (as I do), there is a better solution to get your retro game fix. It’s called emulators. It’s called game ROMs. So it’s not the authentic hardware. Big fucking deal. Just get a Raspberry Pi, get a case for your Pi that looks like a console (I have a Raspberry Pi 3 in a case that looks just like a SNES), install RetroPie on a microSD card, and load your favorite ROMs on the card and play your favorite retro games without spending tens – or hundreds – of thousands of dollars on physical hardware and software which will eventually die and wind up in landfills.