Which consoles do you rarely/NEVER find in the wild?

[DigitalSpace]

That thread from someone who has never seen a Commodore 64 in the wild made me think of this.

So, what do you rarely or never see in the wild? I wouldn't count color variants, but model variants are fine.

Rarely:
-TG-16 - I've seen one twice since I started game hunting in 2004, both too expensive. I never see the games either, and when I do, it's usually Keith Courage.
-Sega Master System - I've seen these a little more often than the TG-16, though still not that much.
-Genesis model 3 - I recall seeing this about three or four times tops since 2004.
-Sega CDX - I passed up one for $60 in 2004, and I still regret it a little. The only other one I've seen since then was going for $85.
-Sega Nomad: Since 2004, I've seen four, maybe five of these.

Never:
-Vectrex - Well, I did see one at NWCGE, but I wouldn't count that as "the wild."
-CD-I - See above.
-Neo-Geo AES

What about you?

[ShenmueFan]

I'm guessing you're talking about in actual store and not online, correct?

If that's the case, here are system's I've NEVER seen in stores:

Neo Geo CD
Neo Geo (Original)
Jaguar CD
Pioneer Sega Genesis/Sega CD/(I think it's Turbo Grafx) system
Turbo Duo
Turbo CD Add-on

Many of the obscure systems you mentioned I've seen once or twice but all of them were well over half a decade or longer ago. Below are the last times I've seen these in person.

Jaguar (Toy store ~1996/1997)
CDi (Software Etc. ~1994?/1995?)
Sega CDX (Software Etc. ~Early 1996, Pawnshop ~1997)
Sega 32X (Walmart ~1996)
Virtual Boy (Walmart ~1996)
Sega CD ver. 1 (KB Toys ~1993/94)
Sega CD ver. 2 (KB Toys ~1996)
3DO (original - Goldstar?) - (Furniture store ~1994)
3DO (new top loading ver.) - (Meijer's ~ 1997)
Genesis Model 3 - (Meijers/Walmart ~ 1998)
SNES Ver 2 - (Toys R Us ~1997)
NES Ver 2 - (Toys R Us ~ 1996)
Sega Nomad - (Software Etc. ~ 1997)
TurboGrafx - (Witmark ~1993/1994?)
JVC X'eye - (Pawn Shop ~1999/2000)
Game.com - (Walmart ~2000)
Neo Geo Pocket - (Walmart ~2000)

[DigitalSpace]

I knew I left a couple out. I rarely see the Jaguar, and have never seen a Game.com. Come to think of it, I've only seen the R-Zone twice.

[Grunaki]

I saw a couple of 3DOs and CD-i s in the mall in my home town in the UK when they were new, but they died out pretty quickly... Same with the Atari Jaguar.

[shoes23]

Well, I've not surprisingly seen any of the more "exotic" systems in the wild here, but a few that may surprise some people. It should be noted that I live in the middle of nowhere (South Dakota to be exact) in a small town (20,000 residents). My town doesn't have an EB, Gamestop, mom & pop shop, or any other video game retailer. What it does have however, is two pawn shops that can be very useful in finding games. So much so, that I've eclipsed the 1000 game mark with my collection, and about 90% of it was from local stores and these two pawn shops.

I pick up every console I find in the wild that I don't have yet, but I've never stumbled across any of these:

Sega Genesis (any model)- I've picked up the few games in the wild that I've seen around here, but are unable to play them because no system has ever shown up.

Sega Dreamcast- I bought one retail shortly after it came out, haven't seen one in the wild yet. I've only seen a small handful of games in the wild too (I quickly snatched those up).

Sega Saturn- starting to see a pattern yet? I apparently live in the Nintendo Heartland, either that or Sega Fanboy HQ, and no one is letting go of their systems. Saw one loose sports game in the wild, which I passed on.


Runners-up:
Intellevision
Atari 5200 & 7200
C64
Colecovision
Atari Jaguar
Virtual Boy
Game Gear

[ShenmueFan]

I've NEVER seen a Saturn system in a pawn shop.

Keep in mind that Sega people are usually pretty dedicated to their systems and there were far less Sega systems (w/ the exception of the Genesis perhaps) than other systems in each generation.

I remember how crappy it got trying to find rare games in pawn shops when Funcoland used to have pricing newspapers and the pawn shop owners started getting wise to what games were actually worth more (Squaresoft games, Enix titles, etc.)...that was probably '97-'99...

[qbertandernie]

i dont have (and have thus never seen) an rca studio 2, original odyssey(that i verified), an x'eye, turbo duo, neo geo aes/cd or a fairchild channel f.

ive seen two cdx
only one master system 2
only one arcadia 2001
only one adam
two astrocades
two vectrex
four cdi
two nomad
couple of jaguar, couple of lynx
several gen, nes, snes, vb, saturn, coleco, intv, ataris, 3do, and even turbo grafx

the toledo area seems wrought with games and systems and we have several used shops here in town. i do spend a LOT of time hunting for games and related ephemera so it may simply be i see them more often.

[Push Upstairs]

CD-i
Neo CD

I've not seen a Master System 2 since I saw one on clearance for $20 at Kay Be in 1993.

I recall only ever seeing one Black Dreamcast. It was broken and gave its shell to the Dreamcast I own. Black Sega consoles all around.

[snes_collector]

Only a few times:
TG-16(saw a TG-16 once for $60 but it was on hold, told the dude to call me back if the deal never came through, but he never did)
Saturn
32X(once)
Virtual Boy(the only I've ever saw is the one I own)
Master System
Sega CD(once)
Nomad

Never:
3DO
Jaguar
Lynx
anything Neo-Geo
7800
CD-i
CD32
Intellivision
R-Zone
Game.com

And others

And thats from about 4 years of collecting

[shawnbo42]

Pretty much everything "rare" that I've ever found in the wild I bought. I got very lucky last year at a mom&pop type place, and actually found a Neo-Geo AES boxed w/2 games. I have seen Lynx/Jaguar in the wild (too pricey, so I passed on those), Dreamcast I found one (purchased), 3DO I have never seen in the wild (bought one from a friend of mine), Odyssey or any of the "classic" systems (i.e. pre NES), I very rarely if EVER see, and if I do, I will rob little old blue-haired ladies to come up with cash to buy them (lol). I would say some of the best luck I have had over time is yard sales. It usually takes about 1,000 of them to find the deal, but when you find it, you really get the deal (if y'all know what I mean). Pawn shops and mom & pop type places USUALLY (at least in my area) Ebay price everything, so there really isn't a lot out there for "steals". I have seen a Sega Saturn once, TG16 NEVER, Genesis all over the place, SMS NEVER, Sega CD from time to time, and, surprisingly, I don't see GameCubes very often.

[Nebagram]

I've seen Vectrexes and Virtual Boys in stores... okay, only one of each, but still, not bad. Nowadays though, major stores won't stock ANYTHING pre-Mega Drive, except the Game Boy (and very occasionally Lynxes and Game Gears). Everything else is fair game though- 3DOs and Jags can be picked up if you look hard enough, but Neo Geos are the proverbial rocking horse shit.

Still. This was why ebay was invented (amybe).

[Technosis]

Good thread. I've never seen anything Neo-Geo in the wild. I've found (3) Vectrex's, a Turbo-Duo, and some rarer coin-ops. I've only seen a Bally Astrocade once (at a flea market (late 90's)and I passed on it since the vendor was calling it a "collectors" item and had priced it accordingly)

[Sniderman]

Hmm... Well, although others have found 'em, I've never come across an Atari 5200 in the wild, but plenty of 7800s and Vectrexes. Go figure. No Neo Geo (of course) and never a TG 16. But other systems I would THINK would be hard to come by were pretty common to find around here B.E. (Before Ebay). I've found Sega CDXs, Saturns, and even Virtual Boys without even trying.

[DefaultGen]

.....

[diskoboy]

-Turbografx 16.
-Neo-Geo (any model)
-Atari 5200 (games are plentiful - consoles are not)
-Jaguar
-Lynx
-Vectrex (I haven't seen one in the wild since 1985)
-Odyssey 2
-Intellivision
-Any system made before the Atari VCS

Systems that have suddenly become hard to find that used to be fairly easy (funny how they're all Sega)..

-Sega Saturn
-Sega CD
-32X
-Game Gear

[TurboGenesis]

I've seen a couple Neo Geo AES in the wild, and have seen one Neo Geo CD (I bought it then sold it off a few months later-was Japan system). I still see Turbo Grafx 16 systems once in a while but the only game I ever see for it pretty much is Keith Courage.

Stuff I never seen:

Turbo Duo (last time I saw one traded in was 1994 - I bought it and still have it)
Amgia CD32
Pioneer Laseractive
Nuon
Jaguar CD

[Technosis]

I've never even seen a Vectrex :-( In fact unless I passed over it, I haven't ever seen anything except really popular systems. I've seen a few TG16s at church sales and such.

One of the coolest garage sales that I was at was that of a guy who formerly owned an electronic store. He had a Vectrex, extra controller (boxed) and 2 complete sets of Vectrex docs/Minestorm overlays. I picked up the set/docs/extra controller for $25 IIRC. He also had all sorts of weird TV antennas and other electronic gizmos. I asked him if he had anymore Vectrex's but that was it...it had been left over in storage for years.

Regarding TGX-16's, I've probably picked up 4 or 5 over the years in the wild.

[Slate]

Most of the stuff on the "Never" List is pretty obvious.. Turbografx 16, Neo geo, CDi, But I've never found an atari jaguar, And I haven't found much for the Atari Lynx.

Occasionally:

Virtual Boy (I found 2 of these in 2006 for very cheap)

Rarely:

Atari Lynx Model 2 (I have only seen one of these - Three years ago! I bought it)
Atari 400 (Only seen one, Bought it and sold it later)
Atari 800 (I saw one back in 2004)
Atari XEGS (I bought one in 2006 for $2)
Game.com (I saw one at a yard sale in 2005)
Sega Master System (I've only seen two of these and bought both)
Nintendo Top Loader (I bought one a year ago, It's the only one that I've ever seen)

Never:

3DO
Adventurevision
Atari 5200
Atari Jaguar
Atari Jaguar CD
Atari Lynx Model 1
CDI (Any model)
Channel F
Laseractive
Neo Geo AES
Neo Geo MVS
Odyssey (The original)
RCA Studio II
R Zone
Sega CD Model 1
Sega CDX
Sega Nomad
Sega Master System Model 2 (Did these things come out in america?)
Microvision
Turbo Express
Turbografx 16
TG16 CD Drive
Turbo Duo
Vectrex

And add a great deal of PONG systems to the Never list, And it's complete unless I'm missing something.

[ShenmueFan]

I've seen a Rob The Robot once in a pawnshop in '92 or '93...

[Xexyz]

Too many to list. I will say this though, I've seen a Neo Geo AES, I've seen a Jaguar CD, I've seen a Nomad on several occasions, I even remeber seeing the 3DO and CDi back in the day when they were new at Media Play, but never, have I ever seen a TG16, nor even a SMS in the wild. These were systems I never even knew existed back in the day, mainly due to my young age.

It kills me too, especially not seeing an SMS. I've been collecting games for the SMS for two years now, own over 20 boxed/complete games for it, even a game pad, and still have yet to see one in real life with my very own eyes...