“I’m really into the N64 stuff and enjoy hunting for GameCube games. “I just enjoy the hunt for a well-looked-after original,” Downer explains. Twenty years ago it would have sold for £30 at most retailers. The most valuable pieces in his collection date back to the mid-2000s: he bought a boxed copy of Pokémon Sapphire (2003) for the GameBoy Advance for £115, later selling it for £260 – a more than 50pc markup. But to collectors, relics from bygone gaming eras command a value irrespective of how useable they are.įor his part, Downer has amassed a collection of games worth an estimated £8,000.

Ironically, Downer cannot play most games on the console, as it is region-locked to games from the US as an anti-piracy measure. Spurred on by his wife – who bought him a limited edition Nintendo 2DS from America, adorned with a design from The Legend of Zelda, now worth an estimated £267 according to – Downer began expanding his collection of older games. According to second-hand gaming retailer Computer Exchange (CEX), the boxed N64 alone is now worth £440. Now a tattoo artist based in Hampshire, Downer, 33, is sitting on a goldmine of valuable but very outdated tech. Miraculously, he kept the hardware in working condition for three decades, hanging on to the box, as well as every game he bought. Savvy parents may want to keep a spare boxed Switch on-hand as an investment, however, as the value of retro gaming equipment has skyrocketed in recent years, with old tech now worth thousands.Ĭraig Downer was nine when he received his first console – an N64. The story was much the same 30 Christmases ago, when children got their hands on the Nintendo 64 (1996) or Sega Megadrive (1988) for the first time. The latest offerings by today’s gaming giants – the Nintendo Switch and Sony’s PlayStation 5 – were the fourth-most requested item on children’s Christmas lists, according to a study by Natwest bank. Technology may advance, but the tastes of children do not.

Retro gaming console calculator