NES Cartridge Prices Are on the Rise, But That’s Not a Bad Thing

Retro gaming enthusiast site Rawrcade.com posted an article claiming we’re in a retro games bubble (which has since been taking down). The article showed some evidence (supplied by the Price Charting site) that NES cartridge prices are on the rise.

The author’s perspective is that of a collector, lamenting these rising prices as a potential barrier for growing that ever-expanding retro game collection.

However, these rising prices, when viewed through the lens of simple economics, seem to be evidence of a growing demand for this old stuff. And that’s a good thing.

Gaming, which used to be a niche hobby enjoyed by kids and mega-nerds, has burst into the mainstream. Collecting NES cartridges is cool now. There are people who enjoy and respect the history of gaming as a medium, and seek to preserve it by amassing large collections of old school games.

These are good things. Gaming deserves a verifiable history. We need this stuff to be collected and hoarded and cataloged so we can sift through it as metaphorical archaeologists of the 8-bit era. How else are we going to remember that the video game heroes of yesteryear were fond of pants-less adventuring (as well as pants-less skateboarding)?

While it sucks to be a collector right now who isn’t super rich, the NES collection trend is ultimately good for all of us.