Love it or loathe it, CeX is one of the world's major high street retailers of retro games these days, thanks to its wide network of franchised stores which deal in second-hand gaming goods.
The retailer - which began life in the UK in the early '90s - sells all kinds of retro gear, including games, hardware, accessories and other related items.
This is the first in a new series in which we'll be highlighting CeX's many retro offerings - both good and bad.
To kick things off, we've got a selection of photos from CeX's branch in York, England.
Zelda on the NES is really rising in value, as you can see — Image: Damien McFerran / Time ExtensionThat sun-faded copy of Turtles 3: Radical Rescue on Game Boy might be rare, but would you hand over £70? (Lovely boxed example of a boxed Tetris, though!) — Image: Damien McFerran / Time ExtensionThere once was a time when you could pick up a loose NES for peanuts... — Image: Damien McFerran / Time ExtensionNice selection of Sega stuff here... Shining Force 2 continues to fetch big money, but Die Hard Arcade's value shocked us! — Image: Damien McFerran / Time ExtensionA boxed Mega CD and Capcom Home Arcade - quite the pair! — Image: Damien McFerran / Time Extension
Next up, a selection of photos from you, our dear readers...
Spotted in Sheffield - Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is always a big-hitter, but the amazing thing is, this isn't even the most expensive version - it's missing the music CD and art book... — Image: Robcf3Spotted in the Windsor CeX is this pricey Persona PSP offering — Image: inkling_ravenPocket Monsters always mean big money on the pre-owned market — Image: snivy932...keeping with the same theme — Image: Bloke99Do you think the impending arrival of the Switch version will bring the value of this one down a touch? (Taken in the Manchester Arndale store) — Image: supermariometaSometimes, there are no words — Image: a_jackanape
Damien has been writing professionally about tech and video games since 2007 and oversees all of Hookshot Media's sites from an editorial perspective. He's also the editor of Time Extension, the network's newest site, which – paradoxically – is all about gaming's past glories.
I’ve just got into getting SNES stuff since getting a pretty good deal online for a console and all the gubbins. Picked up Street Fighter 2 for £8 and Super Mario World for £12 (both cheaper than the lowest Ebay asking price) as well as Lucky Dime Caper (£2) and Castle of Illusion (boxed £8) on Master System for my son. All in Leeds. Prices are really hit and miss, but occasionally you find something at CEX cheaper than online, plus they have a guarantee on them if they stop working.
They didn't have Shattered Memories when I went there! What a pain. Anyway, I remember going to the Lincoln one and they had both Persona 3 Portable and Persona 2 Innocent Sin. They were both extortionately expensive, as usual. I know that a couple of them up north generally have a Silent Hill game or 2, generally one of the PS2 Team Silent ones. One of them had 2 copies of Silent Hill 2, both in quite good condition. I've never seen one of their shops that ever has more than 7 PS1 games, and without fail there's always Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare, and at least 2 Tomb Raider games, so they don't really have any PS1 games that I want.
On a side note, I don't like that York one. It's really bugging me that I have an entire series of something and all but one of them, the one I got from there, have their cardboard covers. I should have just got it online.
Is there a market crash going on? As a Canadian, I'm amazed at some of those prices: £6 for a boxed copy of Sonic 1, £15 for Daytona on Saturn, and just £8 for Smash Bros. on Wii U?
I thought I noticed the prices on many games over here starting to balance out a bit, with older titles starting to come back within reach of us average peasants. But we still don't have prices like these, as far as I've seen!
@Andee Especially considering that the same game costs $10 CAD on Xbox (at full price)!
Similar deal with TMNT III on Game Boy: Considering the faded label and lack of any packaging, you're not getting much of a collector's experience for the £70. If you're just after the game itself, you might as well get the Cowabunga Collection for a fraction of that cost, and be able to play the dozen other games it includes.
@smoreon Is there a significant difference in the value of the PAL version of N64 Worms Armageddon? Or is it the effect of the LRG reprint? 35 pounds for a boxed Worms Armageddon would definitely be cheap for a NTSC copy. That's one of the more infamously expensive games, next to Bomberman Second Attack.
60 pounds also sounds cheap for a boxed Game Boy Tetris. I don't know how widespread the boxed Tetris was in Europe, but in the US (especially the non-Player's Choice box) was extremely rare, because of course every single Game Boy sold in its first four years on the market included an unboxed copy of the game. I want to say the Tetris bundled continued to be sold, even when Nintendo launched the no-game Basic Set console in 1993.
@KingMike Could be a bit of both, for all I know. Japan, at least, is supposed to be a treasure trove for collectors, with much lower prices than you'd find in the west, but I thought Europe was a lot more in line with North America. The high prices on Pokemon, Castlevania, etc., as seen in this article, would seem to back that up!
I go to CeX a lot and I've seen some cases in pretty bad condition before but good god I wanna know how the previous owner let that Assassin's Creed 3 box get that way
Comments 14
I picked up a Megadrive controller for £6
I’ve just got into getting SNES stuff since getting a pretty good deal online for a console and all the gubbins. Picked up Street Fighter 2 for £8 and Super Mario World for £12 (both cheaper than the lowest Ebay asking price) as well as Lucky Dime Caper (£2) and Castle of Illusion (boxed £8) on Master System for my son. All in Leeds. Prices are really hit and miss, but occasionally you find something at CEX cheaper than online, plus they have a guarantee on them if they stop working.
Genuinely curious to see who would spill nearly half a grand on a PS1 game.
They didn't have Shattered Memories when I went there! What a pain. Anyway, I remember going to the Lincoln one and they had both Persona 3 Portable and Persona 2 Innocent Sin. They were both extortionately expensive, as usual. I know that a couple of them up north generally have a Silent Hill game or 2, generally one of the PS2 Team Silent ones. One of them had 2 copies of Silent Hill 2, both in quite good condition. I've never seen one of their shops that ever has more than 7 PS1 games, and without fail there's always Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare, and at least 2 Tomb Raider games, so they don't really have any PS1 games that I want.
On a side note, I don't like that York one. It's really bugging me that I have an entire series of something and all but one of them, the one I got from there, have their cardboard covers. I should have just got it online.
Well, that started rambling. Sorry.
Is there a market crash going on? As a Canadian, I'm amazed at some of those prices: £6 for a boxed copy of Sonic 1, £15 for Daytona on Saturn, and just £8 for Smash Bros. on Wii U?
I thought I noticed the prices on many games over here starting to balance out a bit, with older titles starting to come back within reach of us average peasants. But we still don't have prices like these, as far as I've seen!
@Andee Especially considering that the same game costs $10 CAD on Xbox (at full price)!
Similar deal with TMNT III on Game Boy: Considering the faded label and lack of any packaging, you're not getting much of a collector's experience for the £70. If you're just after the game itself, you might as well get the Cowabunga Collection for a fraction of that cost, and be able to play the dozen other games it includes.
@Andee I sold my very beat up copy for around 100 a few years back. People love that game.
@smoreon Is there a significant difference in the value of the PAL version of N64 Worms Armageddon? Or is it the effect of the LRG reprint?
35 pounds for a boxed Worms Armageddon would definitely be cheap for a NTSC copy. That's one of the more infamously expensive games, next to Bomberman Second Attack.
60 pounds also sounds cheap for a boxed Game Boy Tetris.
I don't know how widespread the boxed Tetris was in Europe, but in the US (especially the non-Player's Choice box) was extremely rare, because of course every single Game Boy sold in its first four years on the market included an unboxed copy of the game. I want to say the Tetris bundled continued to be sold, even when Nintendo launched the no-game Basic Set console in 1993.
Did you nip into CEX in York after your visit to Sore Thumb Games? 😀
(I saw you on their Facebook page. I’m not a stalker, honest!).
I’ve said this before, but we need to start calling these CEX window shots Cexies. 😉
@KingMike Could be a bit of both, for all I know.
Japan, at least, is supposed to be a treasure trove for collectors, with much lower prices than you'd find in the west, but I thought Europe was a lot more in line with North America. The high prices on Pokemon, Castlevania, etc., as seen in this article, would seem to back that up!
I go to CeX a lot and I've seen some cases in pretty bad condition before but good god I wanna know how the previous owner let that Assassin's Creed 3 box get that way
If I was going to spend a boatload on a CIB game, I’d never give it to this store. What’s with those stickers? They wreck everything…
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