What is the most "intimidating" full set ? The easiest to complete ?

[LeatherRebel5150 | 1,056]

17 minutes ago, Tulpa said:

*long pause*

These sets go to 11.

 

[T-Pac | 7,587]

@Code Monkey - there are a lot of unspoken implications made when people talk about full-sets (regarding licensing, regions, system lifespans, etc.). 

All of that implied information isn’t ideal as far as clarity-of-communication is concerned, but trust me when I say that these discussions are way less frustrating when you learn to accept those unspoken classifications instead of fighting them.

-CasualCart
 

[T-Pac | 7,587]

But on the flip-side, Atari 2600 is a much more reasonable set if you apply the same "licensed-release" standards as later systems, because then you can omit all of the 3rd party games haha.

-CasualCart

[glazball | 172]

On 7/22/2022 at 4:22 PM, final fight cd said:

I know aes is expensive, but what games are hard to find? I have zero knowledge of the system, but the only one I can think of is metal slug. Which, now that I think about it, I don’t know if it is just expensive or also hard to find.  

I believe there are only 6 known copies (each) of English AES versions of Kizuna Encounter and Ultimate 11.  If you had Elon Musk's money, you might be able to convince someone to sell.  Otoh, some Atari 2600 ("R11" lol) carts have only 1 or 2 known specimens in existence and it would be simply impossible to find them even with unlimited money.

[Splain | 2,581]

My experience so far collecting Game-Boy-contemporary-ish handheld libraries:

Atari Lynx has been very easy so far, and from the looks of it, it never really gets too bad. 71 games in a fullset (plus there are cartridge variants, which are fun. One variant is famously hard to find)

Tiger Game.com is comically easy except for Wheel of Fortune 2. But just a couple hundred when it does pop up, if you can bring yourself to spend that much on a Game.com game. 20 games plus an "internet" cart. This set is easier than VB.

Tiger R-Zone is not easy at all. Low print runs, I assume. Many games aren't fully confirmed to exist, so not all lists agree with each other. But there are at least 27 confirmed titles. Used to be that the best way to collect the games was to find someone selling their R-Zone and check the pictures to see what game was inside it. I have like 10 spare R-Zones lol. But lately they've been getting sparse and expensive. There are console iterations too, one of which is really hard to find, especially lately.

Neo Geo Pocket Color is a small and pricey library. 32 USA releases, there's NOS out there but it's expensive compared to the library size.

Game Gear is easy and cheap to collect the bottom 90%, but it has a crazy high end, like most other sets. Devilishly hard to find stuff. I legitimately fear the later stages of the GG fullset. 234 USA releases.

Game Boy wasn't that hard, there were a few games I had to keep an eye out for, but not longer than a few months for anything. Things are getting expensive though, and the list of $100+ games is growing.

[DorkOverlord | 687]

Doesn't the Switch have over 2,000 games or something insane like that? I'm gonna go with that one. Or maybe PS2 because it comes close to that and is not currently being produced. 

[LeatherRebel5150 | 1,056]

On 7/25/2022 at 5:42 PM, DorkOverlord said:

Doesn't the Switch have over 2,000 games or something insane like that? I'm gonna go with that one. Or maybe PS2 because it comes close to that and is not currently being produced. 

Depends on how you look at it. Overall across the world? Definitely in excess of 2,000. By region I can only speak to the US as thats all I track, its about 1200 physical games 

[MrWunderful | 2,927]

On 7/25/2022 at 1:05 PM, Splain said:

 

Game Gear is easy and cheap to collect the bottom 90%, but it has a crazy high end, like most other sets. Devilishly hard to find stuff. I legitimately fear the later stages of the GG fullset. 234 USA releases.

 

Speaking of, im about 45 away. Its sneaky hard, not expensive per say (so far?) but some games are legit HTF. I have better luck at the scarce brick and mortar game stores around, which end up being a full day trip for the wife and I. 
 

We will see about Pete Sampras and CJ. Found a PAL sampras in the east bay, but thats not the same. 

[RH | 4,966]

1 hour ago, MrWunderful said:

Speaking of, im about 45 away. Its sneaky hard, not expensive per say (so far?) but some games are legit HTF. I have better luck at the scarce brick and mortar game stores around, which end up being a full day trip for the wife and I. 
 

We will see about Pete Sampras and CJ. Found a PAL sampras in the east bay, but thats not the same. 

Dude, I’ve not seen a Fantastic Dizzy in yeeeeears.  I think one had just sold when I saved my eBay search, and that was pre-COVID.

[MrWunderful | 2,927]

44 minutes ago, RH said:

Dude, I’ve not seen a Fantastic Dizzy in yeeeeears.  I think one had just sold when I saved my eBay search, and that was pre-COVID.

Good heads up to keep my eye on that. Thanks!

[Strange | 1,700]

I never consider Atari 2600 in these discussions because like others have said it’s impossible to get a full set. Not just because of the insanely scarce stuff, but because we still find stuff we didn’t previously know about. Guys making games in their basements and selling them door to door in one particular area. It truly was the Wild West and while that’s what fascinates me about Atari, it’s a nightmare for set collectors.

You can argue PS2/Wii/Switch due to sheer volume and you’d have a solid argument.

If you wanted to not include those, then there are a bunch of smaller sets with hard to find stuff that could be fun to pursue. Game Gear for example as mentioned above.

I think NGage has some rarities that don’t come up often too?

[guitarzombie | 927]

Neo Geo

[Gex | 121]

There's some libraries with games so niché, they're not even available to buy regardless of price. Systems like TG16 and NeoGeo seem somewhat accessible if you have the $ to overpay and know where to look, however you have stuff like Atari and unliscensed NES that just seem impossible. Games so niché they're barely even known to exist.

[Nintegageo | 582]

On 7/25/2022 at 4:05 PM, Splain said:

Game Boy wasn't that hard, there were a few games I had to keep an eye out for, but not longer than a few months for anything. Things are getting expensive though, and the list of $100+ games is growing.

Indeed! I working through the games and it isn't as cheap as I thought.

[guitarzombie | 927]

4 hours ago, Nintegageo said:

Indeed! I working through the games and it isn't as cheap as I thought.

It was like 6 years ago.  While I was in my NES phase with high end stuff, GB looked really cheap.  The 3rd game I ever bought was Toxic Crusaders and I paid top dollar at the time, $30.

[Ankos | 463]

I've never attempted to get a full set of anything, except the libraries of some unlicensed game companies. For an entire system I would guess that something like the Mega Duck would not be too difficult to complete one for. Some regions have a decent enough supply for its games, and it has a fairly small library. The games are also not that expensive for it. I would also say it isn't the most worthwhile set to go for either, considering that almost all the games for it got released on the gameboy as well

[WhyNotZoidberg | 586]

On 7/23/2022 at 1:54 AM, fcgamer said:

Atari lynx might be another one.

 

71 Games and only a handful are in the 200-300$ range. I’m about 50% into this set. Taking things slow cause I hate paying 50-60$ +shipping on ebay for the games lol. Most are super easy to find CIB and sealed.

I think the Atari 2600 is probably the hardest set to complete. Some carts will almost never surface.

[Tulpa | 3,534]

2 hours ago, WhyNotZoidberg said:

 

I think the Atari 2600 is probably the hardest set to complete. Some carts will almost never surface.

Yeah, some of those that are one or two known copies are already in someone's collection, and you're only getting ahold of them by prying them out of their cold, dead hands. Heck, I wouldn't put it past some of those Atari dudes to be buried with their most prized games.

[AstralSoul | 502]

Easiest is probably Virtual Boy or something with a tiny library like that.

[RH | 4,966]

I bet the CDi could give anyone a run for their money but I’d bet the CDi might be child’s play compared to the Apple Pippin.  It looks like it had and 18 official titles (though some appear to just be utilities) but since most people have never heard of the Pippin, finding games can be difficult.

[Tulpa | 3,534]

6 hours ago, AstralSoul said:

Easiest is probably Virtual Boy or something with a tiny library like that.

Jack Bros is a little hard to find, but not impossible. It's priced accordingly. I'm not sure about the Japan exclusives.

Coleco Telstar Arcade (yes, it's a cartridge console) had four games, but good luck with cartridge #4. It was mail order only to the best of my knowledge, and the one that the five Telstar collectors who exist are all after. On the plus side, when a Telstar Arcade comes up for sale on ebay, they often have the other three games.

I think the Mattel Hyperscan might be easiest with only five games IF you don't count all the cards that the system used. If you do count them, who knows? (Edit: by my count, 319 cards were released. Yeah...)

Action Max has five games, but Blue Thunder...

Edited August 5, 2022 by Tulpa

[Ankos | 463]

Some consoles are really hard to full set even though they have a small library. The Super A'Can comes to mind

[AirVillain | 491]

I don't have much input and am merely learning from this thread.

Most of the systems being talked about are ones I don't know much about. 

That being said.... there's some chatter about "LRG" games being added to the NES library...

Are we talking about these people?:

https://limitedrungames.com/collections/shop-all

That's whack. Seems odd to want to include them to any official collection. As Mr. Wunderful said, I would also call them phony. 

[CodysGameRoom | 2,008]

On 7/28/2022 at 7:35 PM, MrWunderful said:

Speaking of, im about 45 away. Its sneaky hard, not expensive per say (so far?) but some games are legit HTF. I have better luck at the scarce brick and mortar game stores around, which end up being a full day trip for the wife and I. 
 

We will see about Pete Sampras and CJ. Found a PAL sampras in the east bay, but thats not the same. 

Good luck. I finished my GG set around November 2018. Last two were CJ and Pete. I found Micro Machines and Linus Spacehead or whatever locally but had to go to the ‘bay for the rest. Finding CJ was tough and paying too much for Pete Sampras was even tougher. My Dizzy looks like shit but oh well. 
 

[Tulpa | 3,534]

2 hours ago, AirVillain said:

That being said.... there's some chatter about "LRG" games being added to the NES library...

Are we talking about these people?:

https://limitedrungames.com/collections/shop-all

That's whack. Seems odd to want to include them to any official collection. As Mr. Wunderful said, I would also call them phony. 

Not sure about calling them "phony", but it's one of the reasons some of us want to push an "aftermarket" designation to some games, which would include homebrews. Sort of an unlicensed release category after the system's lifetime.