DS ahead when it comes to making the most of GAME's pre-Christmas trade-ins
Copies of Pippa Funnell 2 are the best. Pursuit Force Extreme Justice is the worst
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 Pokémons 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.
Despite being both brilliant and only recently released, you'll only get £14 credit for Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions, while the yet-to-be-released Pursuit Force Extreme Justice (that will cost you £25 to pre-order), is only worth a miserable £12. Indeed, despite costing up to £30, games such as Tiger Woods and WWE SmackDown on PSP are only worth £18 at trade-in. Just compare the £12 difference between PSP retail price to trade-in price to the average £7 for DS games.
This gap is also maintained when it comes to hardware. The original DS (original cost £100) will gain you £40, while DS Lite (cost £100) will get you £60: exactly the same trade-in cash as the more expensive PSP base pack. A new PSP Slim & Lite (costing £130) will get you £80 credit, meaning you'll 'lose £50 on that deal compared to £40 for a DS Lite.
So the moral of the story, as always, is shop around – something Pocket Gamer will be helping you to do over the next couple of weeks as we continue to point out some of the best pre-Christmas handheld bargains.
