November 2020 Retro Game Treasures Unboxing - I'm DONE with Grab Bags!

In this video, we unbox and check out our first box from Retro Game Treasures.

With COVID-19 cancelling all gaming conventions here in 2020, getting good game pickups has been harder than it has been in years. To fill that gap, I've been looking for additional solutions for awesome pickups. This is where many mail services look to fill the need and gap that has been left by the lack of conventions for those who don't have quality retro game stores in their areas. The latest service we've checked out is Retro Game Treasures, and they offer a slightly different philosophy than other grab bag services out there.

Retro Game Treasures has a flat monthly fee, $34.99 a month, and for that price they'll send you 3-5 games randomly per-month. Some months you might get 3 games, some 4, some 5. In this way, they are different than other services out there which offer different tiers based on how many games they'll send you. The one different approach they have is different tiers based on whether you want to commit to a different length of subscription. If you pre-pay for 3-months for example, you'll save $2/month. A 6 month commitment saves you $3/month, and a 12-month commitment saves you $60 total or $5/month.

What we got:
Mario Galaxy 2 - $19.88
Ben 10 Alien Force - $5.62
Kinnikuman Muscle Tag Match - $1.25
Major League Baseball 2K11 - $6.55

Total Value $33.30
Total Spent $42.45
Net Gain/Loss -$9.15

So these games are mediocre at-best, with Mario Galaxy 2 being the only quality title, and only game with any value. To that end, Mario Galaxy 2 is truly a masterpiece, a brilliant follow-up to the original, but I am still at a net loss when I look at what I spent vs what I received. MUSCLE is a throw-away game, it's not even worth $2 and it's not even a good game. Ben 10, if I were a fan of the game I could see value in it since it is CIB, but this is not a franchise I have anything invested in. And, while I do like MLB games, sports games aren't really worth much on their own.

When you combine this $9.15 loss with the nearly $25 loss from the first month, I am -$33.84 after just 2 months. While there is a chance that I could get something amazing next month, I'm not taking the risk. I am officially done with grab bags for the time being. I could have possibly given Retro Game Treasures more time, but after how burned I feel after VGM, I am done wasting money.

One thing I will say about Retro Game Treasures, unlike Video Games Monthly, they did honor my request to not get any RPGs. I had requested this of Video Games Monthly and they only did this once. At least they honored my wishes.

While there is some upside with grab bag services such as this, I would suggest avoiding them if you have a larger collection to start with. If you are looking to build your collection from scratch, there are opportunities here to build up your collection. However, if you have a decent sized collection, I have a hard time suggesting these.

The problems I ran into with both services was that VGM kept sending RPGs when I asked them not to, but at least they delivered about the amount I spent, while Retro Game Treasures never sent an RPG but they never sent anywhere close to the value I spent. This is a crap shoot, but I am tired of winding up with crap. And for this, I am done with these services for now. I feel that I have been taken advantage of as a consumer, and I am not willing to spend $15-$25 a month just for a "SURPRISE!" factor. While frustrated with the RPGs from VGM, at least I didn't feel like I was ripped off. I do with Retro Game Treasure.

#RetroGameTreasure #RetroGames #PickUps #Famicom #PS2

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