As we begin to hit the feeding frenzy that is the Christmas games-buying season, it’s interesting to see the sort of trade-in deals being offered by high street retailers. Not only might you be able to extract some cash from old games you have lying around gathering dust, it also demonstrates which are the titles and consoles that continue to hold their value – sometimes years after they were released.
For instance, GAME’s kicking off its November trade-in campaign with some good deals on DS games. Of course, you’ll generally get the biggest trade-ins when it comes to the most popular releases, so anyone who wants to trade in The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass or Pokйmons Diamond/Pearl would get 18 in credits (although why you’d want to swap those games, we’re not entirely sure). More enticing are the offers for older Nintendo DS games, though.
Copies of Mario Kart DS and Animal Crossing: Wild World will also net you 18, as will Super Mario 64 DS , which unlike the previous two games doesn’t have any online features, so there’s little point in keeping it once it’s completed. And you’ll get a reasonable 10 credit for any of the Brain Training games you might have finished with. Surprisingly, though, you’ll get the most cash back for horsey sim Pippa Funnell 2 .
Remarkably, you can currently buy it through GAME for 20, and gain 15 back as a trade-in, efficiently meaning that you’d only be paying 5 for the privilege of owning and playing it. (Alternatively, heartless enterprising types could just steal their sister’s copy and tell her you’ll buy one back on eBay after Christmas.) When it comes to PSP, however, things are much less lucrative.