I'm buying too. I've had a few retro collections in the past that I ultimately sold off but I've decided to proceed with a different perspective this time. Before I would just grab anything that was available and affordable for me and I ended up with a large portion of my games collection being full of mediocre or bad games. I'm no longer interested in "rare" but shitty games or complete sets of anything. I just want games that I know I will enjoy to have more of a library than a collection. I suppose it is still a collection but whatever. I want to own games that I will want to play from time to time for the rest of my life. I'n not buying out of nostalgia, I'm buying legit good games that stand on their own, imo.
There are always exceptions to rules though
. I recently bought Muscle Bomber for the SFC for example. Now I have zero interest in wrestling or wrestling games but I have an interest in George Kamitanis work and I know that his first job at Capcom was working on sprites and animations for this game so I wanted to check it out. I suppose the history behind a game can make me want it even if just for a bit only to sell it on.
Right now I am focusing on Nintendo and Sega 8- and 16-bit games. I don't even have any original retro systems currently, just a Retron 5. I suppose I have a Wii U collection as well as small Wii and PS3 ones. Primarily though I am trying to get the SFC heavy hitters I want out of the way first - Knights of the Round, King of Dragons, Super Metroid, etc.. as well as some NES staples like Castlevania 1 & 3 and Zelda 2, all games I've picked up over the last month. I've been slowly selling off my book collection to fund it so I don't mind the current prices too much. Nightshade, Subterranean and Centipede Press books have done really, really well for me
. Next up are my Clark Ashton Smith Collected Fantasies HC's, Sub Press William Hope Hodgson and maybe some Wandering Star Robert E. Howards. Whatever.
I'm just sucking it up and paying the going rates on eBay or whatever deals I can get on there. I value my free time more than the money I guess and I have no time to be running around to thrift stores, flea markets and garage sales. I have a wife and four kids to spend the bulk of my free time with. I know some people think the retro game bubble is going to burst and prices will drop but I disagree and I think they will continue to rise indefinitely. Even if a lot of people get out of it there are too many speculators and resellers that will snatch up those copies to keep the prices high. Some people have been working way to hard at boosting game prices for the past decade or so to let them drop back down. They aren't going to let their retirement plans go that easy.
I am primarily collecting cart only for NES, Famicom and SFC though so that helps some. I did grab Super Metroid complete though. I felt like that game deserved it. I would guess that there are probably less than 300 games from the 8- to 32-bit generations that I actually want to own. Most are probably belt-scroll action games and side-scrolling action platformers.
Edit: This post ended up quite a bit wordier than I intended.