Related buyer guides
playstationHow to Collect PlayStation 2 Without Drowning in ShovelwareTake a blue-bottomed disc with you to the next retro fair. A worn PS2 laser will keep reading silver DVD games for months after it starts failing on the blue CD pressings, so a console that boots the seller's copy of a big DVD-era title can still be quietly dying. Thirty seconds with a blue disc tells you more than any "tested and working" sticker ever will. That test matters because the PlayStation 2 is still the most open door in collecting. It's the best-selling home console ever made, with
nintendoThe N64 Condition Checklist Every Collector Should RunGrip the analogue stick and rotate it slowly before you look at anything else. If it wobbles in its socket like a loose tooth, sits low, or crawls back to centre like it's exhausted, you've just learned more about that console's life than any listing photo will tell you. The N64 stick is the most honest condition report in retro gaming — which is why it's step one on this checklist. Why the stick test comes before everything else The original N64 controller stick rides on plastic gears inside
nintendoHow the Wii U Turned a Sales Flop Into Collector GoldNintendo shipped roughly 13.5 million Wii U consoles across the machine's entire life. The Wii before it cleared 100 million. That gulf — the hardest faceplant in Nintendo's home-console history — is exactly why the Wii U has quietly become one of the most collectable Nintendo platforms you can still build without remortgaging the house. The maths is simple: a tiny install base meant tiny print runs, and a small library means actually finishing a collection is achievable. Add the eShop closing