Retro Rant: Treat It With Respect

As quite a big retro gamer, there are so many things that just get on my nerves, from the consoles themselves to the games I play on them, the shops that sell them and collecting in general. So, I thought I would bring you a Retro Rant every week, to give you an insight on what really splits my bananas. This week, it’s the lack of respect of the games from yesteryear.

Now, as a retro collector, I tend to buy quite a few games from various sources. Whilst I strive to find games that are in good condition, I’m always seeing games which have been abused or mistreated, and I think it’s wrong. From battered cases to ripped/missing instructions manuals, to permanent marker and stickers liberally used on various items, there’s a fair amount of game mistreatment that happens nowadays. Now, I’m not saying it’s just individuals that do it, a lot of it is a result of the games passing through the pre-owned section of bricks and mortar game stores.

I’ll start with the permanent marker and stickers. By using these, it takes someone about 2 seconds to ruin a perfect game. Game shops sometimes feel the need to write on everything in permanent marker with a ‘P’, as well as sticking stickers on nearly everything they can. It’s not like they just stick them on places where they’re easy to remove, that would be too sensible – they would rather they’re stuck on a game manual, cardboard box or cartridge sticker. Trying to remove these is a complete pain as you ultimately run the risk of ripping whatever the sticker is attached to. To cut costs they normally use those cheap-ass stickers that just tear during removal, leaving you with half a sticker and no way to remove it without further damage. Also, what’s with the number of stickers? You need two at most, one for the bar code and the other for the price, so why does the case, manual, disc/cart all need to have them? It’s just another pain in the ass. As for the marker, it’s just inconsiderate. In most cases there’s no way it’s ever coming off, so we all have to get used to that huge, jet-black ‘P’ whenever we play our games just because of some idiot in a shop.

Now, here’s what really gets on my nerves – why is it so hard to find complete games with manuals? What does everyone do – eat them? Use them for fuel? The number of games I see that don’t have the manual is unbelievable, I mean, come on, they really can’t be that hard to keep. We all like to read a game manual, especially if they’re funny or unique, but what’s so hard about putting them back afterwards? It takes no effort just to slip it back into the case, so there’s really no excuse for not having them. Keep your games nice and tidy, use them carefully and put them back when you’re finished. Don’t throw them around, leave things lying about or do anything else that might cause items to be damaged or lost; You’ll keep your games complete and in great condition, as well as giving the collectors of the future a much easier time.