General Retro Discussion

[Hero-of-Time]

Took some more Gamecube games in today (£350) and stood chatting to the guy for a while (took an hour to check all the bongos, dance mat and mics) who runs the store.

He was saying how when he worked at GAME and they took over Gamestation, they were ordered to destroy all of the retro consoles and games. Thousands of pounds worth of stuff was just taken out back and smashed to pieces. He said it was heartbreaking and the staff weren't allowed to take any of it, even if they offered money for it. He said they were such a scummy company and that they couldn't really afford to keep Gamestation going and only bought them just to dismantle the competition. 

I used to love Gamestation. They were so much better than Game. Some of my Cube games still had Gamestation and Chips price stickers on them. 

[RedShell]

17 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

He was saying how when he worked at GAME and they took over Gamestation, they were ordered to destroy all of the retro consoles and games. Thousands of pounds worth of stuff was just taken out back and smashed to pieces. He said it was heartbreaking and the staff weren't allowed to take any of it, even if they offered money for it. He said they were such a scummy company and that they couldn't really afford to keep Gamestation going and only bought them just to dismantle the competition.

That is messed up.

17 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

I used to love Gamestation. They were so much better than Game. Some of my Cube games still had Gamestation and Chips price stickers on them.

Same here. It was a far nicer experience shopping there, had much more of an independent game store vibe, and the staff were genuinely interested in gaming and knew their stuff as a result.

Edited April 7 by RedShell

[Hero-of-Time]

12 hours ago, RedShell said:

That is messed up.

I think the same happened over in the US with various Gamestop stores. Pretty sure Jeff Gertsmann rescued a lot of retro goods when it happened.

[Happenstance]

Went to Arcains Arcade in Liverpool today with Goafer. Really good, well worth it if you are ever in the area. Kept pasting Goafer in fighting games until he realised he could main E Honda in the SF games we tried and that was my kryptonite.

[Dcubed]

12 hours ago, Happenstance said:

Went to Arcains Arcade in Liverpool today with Goafer. Really good, well worth it if you are ever in the area. Kept pasting Goafer in fighting games until he realised he could main E Honda in the SF games we tried and that was my kryptonite.

That looks amazing, would love to go some day!

I also really want to go to Arcade Club in Bury, but it’s just way too far out of the way for me to go to from London…

Edited April 9 by Dcubed

[Ashley]

On 4/7/2025 at 4:54 PM, Hero-of-Time said:

I used to love Gamestation. They were so much better than Game. Some of my Cube games still had Gamestation and Chips price stickers on them. 

Although it did suffer from the same problem that CEX does; it just feels grimy in there. 

But yes, a better store for gaming. 

[Hero-of-Time]

Well, all my PAL Gamecube stuff has now been sold. Hopefully the games and console will all find good homes. I made just under £2500. Not too shabby.

I'm gonna have to resort to eBay for the few NTSC games that I have. @Dcubed would you be interested in Cubivore?

[Dcubed]

2 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Well, all my PAL Gamecube stuff has now been sold. Hopefully the games and console will all find good homes. I made just under £2500. Not too shabby.

I'm gonna have to resort to eBay for the few NTSC games that I have. @Dcubed would you be interested in Cubivore?

I would… but I fear I can’t afford it.  Now’s really not the time for me to be splashing cash if I can help it.

Congrats on the downpayment on a new car though! Should buy you a couple of Switch 2 games

[Hero-of-Time]

3 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

Congrats on the downpayment on a new car though! 

Downpayment? I fully bought my current Fiesta for that amount back in 2019. Remember when cars were affordable?

[Hero-of-Time]

My N64 collection is now all gone. @lostmario took a bunch of them and so I know they will be well taken care of. As for the others, they went to CEX. Another £1400 was made. 

The guy who runs the store said most of my stuff has been sold already. If they get rare or mint condition items in store they tend to post it on their social media account. He said they had loads of people trying to snap up my stuff. The Resident Evil 4 Gamecube was bought instantly.

Again, so much space has been created and the extra money is always handy to have. I've still not decided whether or not to part with my Sega Saturn stuff. I'll think about it a bit longer before committing.

[Will]

@Hero-of-Time did you just take everything to CEX? What's the process like? I've decided I'm going to get rid of my entire collection of retro stuff - don't want it to be a huge hassle but also want to get half decent prices for it all.

[Ashley]

11 minutes ago, Will said:

@Hero-of-Time did you just take everything to CEX? What's the process like? I've decided I'm going to get rid of my entire collection of retro stuff - don't want it to be a huge hassle but also want to get half decent prices for it all.

If you have some GameCube stuff let me know as I might go the opposite direction! 

But yes you can sell to them. If you're not already a member you'll need to take some ID in case they later find out they're stolen or whatever, but turn up and sell. 

And from someone that used to work at game; try and avoid busy times and also don't turn up 5 minutes after opening and expect us to have £100s in the till to give to you. 

[Hero-of-Time]

11 minutes ago, Will said:

@Hero-of-Time did you just take everything to CEX? What's the process like? I've decided I'm going to get rid of my entire collection of retro stuff - don't want it to be a huge hassle but also want to get half decent prices for it all.

Yeah, I did. You just take it in and that's it. If a game is over £40 they will need to test to see if it works. If you go on their website you can input the games you want to sell and it will show you the current value. 

You'll obviously get more selling it privately but it's such a pain to sell and ship that I found it was worth taking the hit.

[Hero-of-Time]

Just now, Ashley said:

 

And from someone that used to work at game; try and avoid busy times and also don't turn up 5 minutes after opening and expect us to have £100s in the till to give to you. 

This is a good point. If testing is needed then you want to try and do it on a weekday morning. In terms of the cash, they do direct bank transfers and so the cash on hand isn't an issue anymore. I personally don't like that sort of thing and went with cash in hand, hence making mulitple trips to ensure they had the money, but it is an option for those wanting it.

@Ashley I honestly thought you were joking when you said you would have taken Kirby Air Ride off me. Had I known you were wanting Cube stuff I would have offered it to you first, just like I done with my N64 stuff with lostmario. Apologies.

[Nicktendo]

Amazing that just holding on to my SNES, N64 and GC stuff for 20-30 years would have netted me a pretty tidy net profit on the OG sticker price by all accounts. The folly of youth and needing "the next thing" made me get rid of it all to fund the next purchase. 

[Will]

34 minutes ago, Ashley said:

If you have some GameCube stuff let me know as I might go the opposite direction! 

I do, but I think it's all US/JP stuff - I have a ton of it here so will take a pic and put it in here for you if interested.

35 minutes ago, Ashley said:

And from someone that used to work at game; try and avoid busy times and also don't turn up 5 minutes after opening and expect us to have £100s in the till to give to you. 

Do you forget that we both learned our craft from the same master?

35 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Yeah, I did. You just take it in and that's it. If a game is over £40 they will need to test to see if it works. If you go on their website you can input the games you want to sell and it will show you the current value. 

That's good to know, I have a few things, particularly systems, that seem to be well over that, will make sure I do it when they're likely to be quiet.

14 minutes ago, Nicktendo said:

Amazing that just holding on to my SNES, N64 and GC stuff for 20-30 years would have netted me a pretty tidy net profit on the OG sticker price by all accounts. The folly of youth and needing "the next thing" made me get rid of it all to fund the next purchase.

I did the same thing but then re-aquired even more stuff when I was first working in EB then later from car boots. I have some things I probably got for free that are now in the £400 range - mad.

[Hero-of-Time]

7 minutes ago, Will said:

I do, but I think it's all US/JP stuff - I have a ton of it here so will take a pic and put it in here for you if interested.

Just be aware that they don't take imports. If all your stuff is US/JP then sadly you'll have to sell it all privately.

[Will]

@Ashley here is the US stuff I have here. I think I have a few more at my parent's place and then a ton of JP stuff in the cupboard here.

[Will]

3 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Just be aware that they don't take imports. If all your stuff is US/JP then sadly you'll have to sell it all privately.

Yeah I thought that would be the case, it's only the gamecube stuff that is imports, the rest is all UK/PAL.

[Ashley]

1 hour ago, Hero-of-Time said:

 

@Ashley I honestly thought you were joking when you said you would have taken Kirby Air Ride off me. Had I known you were wanting Cube stuff I would have offered it to you first, just like I done with my N64 stuff with lostmario. Apologies.

Ah no it's cool. I do want to try the game, but I don't want to pay what CEX would have given you. It's just a pipe dream really. 

52 minutes ago, Will said:

Do you forget that we both learned our craft from the same master?

Yes actually. I remembered that you kept moving cities every time I moved but had forgotten this part. 

43 minutes ago, Will said:

@Ashley here is the US stuff I have here. I think I have a few more at my parent's place and then a ton of JP stuff in the cupboard here.

Cheers. Got the stuff I'd already want from there... Somewhere. My mom's probably. 

[Happenstance]

I always to Drop & Go orders with CEX these days. You login to the website, click sell on everything you plan to take in then drop it off. They still give it a quick once over but after that you leave, they test then I get an email later to say the money will go into my bank the next day.

[Ashley]

9 minutes ago, Happenstance said:

I always to Drop & Go orders with CEX these days. You login to the website, click sell on everything you plan to take in then drop it off. They still give it a quick once over but after that you leave, they test then I get an email later to say the money will go into my bank the next day.

You can tell it's been years since I traded anything in as I had no idea this was a thing.