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nintendoHow to Start Collecting Nintendo Without Losing Your MindTry to destroy a loose N64 cartridge. Short of power tools, you'll struggle – Nintendo moulded that grey plastic like it fully expected the thing to be hurled down a staircase, which, in the average 1997 living room, it was. Now look at the cardboard box the cartridge originally came in. Three decades of attic damp, price stickers and enthusiastic children have made surviving boxes the real prize. That tension – indestructible game, fragile packaging – is the whole story of Nintendo collecting.
GamesHow to Tell a Genuinely Rare Retro Game From a Merely Expensive One"Rare" is the most abused word in a game listing. Here's how to tell genuine scarcity from a common game wearing an expensive word – before you pay the premium.
Condition & GradingHow to Grade GameCube Discs, Cases and Console BundlesTilt a GameCube mini-disc under a desk lamp and turn it slowly. Honest wear looks random – a stray arc here, a fingerprint there. But if the whole surface carries one uniform, circular swirl from hub to edge, like it went for a ride on a buffing wheel, you're looking at a resurfaced disc. That's not automatically a dealbreaker. It is something the seller should have mentioned. Small disc, small margin for error The GameCube's proprietary 8 cm disc is based on miniDVD technology, and its size