Why Do People Collect outside their region?

[Reed Rothchild | 9,576]

8 hours ago, fcgamer said:

Region would be related to nostalgia, and likely those that collect for non investment reasons are doing so because of nostalgia.

That's a whole lot of assuming.

Many of us collect good games.  Many of those are only available in certain regions.

Many of us also like to collect cool video game thingies.  Those thingies may or may not be from our region.

8 hours ago, fcgamer said:

@Tanooki for people like you, it makes sense. But for folks that chase after sets (and I swear it's always sets, despite the fact that no one chases a proper NA NTSC set anymore), I just don't get it.

Everyone here has their own MO to collecting, and their own goals.  Not everyone will "get" everyone's else's goals.  I want every good Switch game.  @drxandy wants every Xbox game. @spacepup wants every Japanese PS2 demo disc.  You want moldy bootleg action figures.  Clearly none of us are on the same wavelength

[Strange | 1,700]

8 hours ago, fcgamer said:

Region would be related to nostalgia, and likely those that collect for non investment reasons are doing so because of nostalgia.

Nostalgia is what got me into collecting, but love of the medium and desire to learn about it is what drives me now. If I had just stuck to nostalgia I would’ve missed out on so much else that’s out there.

Doesn’t answer your initial question but maybe sheds light on other answers posted here?

[Dr. Morbis | 2,091]

25 minutes ago, Strange said:

Nostalgia is what got me into collecting

Same here, but I didn't keep collecting for 23+ years because of nostalgia.  I'm a gamer first and foremost, and having a huge collection means I can play a huge number of games for the consoles I like to game on.  It's akin to a voracious reader wanting to have a huge library of books because he loves reading real books instead of ebooks.  Having a full set plus region exclusives from areas I don't live in would mean I can play all the games...

[fcgamer | 4,752]

26 minutes ago, Dr. Morbis said:

Same here, but I didn't keep collecting for 23+ years because of nostalgia.  I'm a gamer first and foremost, and having a huge collection means I can play a huge number of games for the consoles I like to game on.  It's akin to a voracious reader wanting to have a huge library of books because he loves reading real books instead of ebooks.  Having a full set plus region exclusives from areas I don't live in would mean I can play all the games...

I like the analogy with books. Unless it were first print books from an Australian author, I don't see many here importing Australian versions of books to read,instead of just buying the American ones. 

It's one thing to buy stuff that's not in your region, or to buy the definitive/original version, but like I said it just gets weird to me when I see people buying complete sets of Korean Wii games, for example, when the person doesn't even have ties to Korea at all. 

[Tanooki | 4,950]

Well Ankos is right, it's an oddity, why bother, unless I guess you're some odd archivist wanting 20 versions of Gameboy Tetris because CHN, NOE, JPN, etc and v1 with minuet, and so on.  It's dumb pointless and utterly wasteful on the whole, not like you're going to actually open some museum to variants.

But it is important to also point out, why someone might want out of their region, because maybe they've focused for years on some system, it has hundreds of games, and you got the percentage of titles you want on it, played them/played them out, but you're thirsty for more.  What better way than to exploit another region that got twice the releases where of that bump a majority don't require reading to make sense let alone play?  That opens you up to decades of added enjoyment of fresh new experiences.

[Lynda Monica | 350]

If you want the actual reason, it's because humans have a natural instinct to horde and organize. Seeing something in its most organized form triggers all sorts of responses in our brains. Humans have sophisticated enough brains to attach personal worth to things too, so our desire to have our favourite things in their most complete state is a natural urge that we're technically not supposed to indulge too heavily, as it's somewhat irrational in modern life.

People collect things they love because it's pretty hard coded into us to do so. How hard you're willing to feed that instinct varies from person to person though, which is why collecting other regions of a specific game is going too far for some people.

This is obviously an INCREDIBLY simplified explanation, but it gets the idea across.  

[phart010 | 1,708]

I am one of those that likes the CHN and HK gameboy games. Let me explain.. there are Japanese exclusive games on gameboy. Some of them are fully playable without having to understand Japanese. An example would be Sagaia. Sometimes you get the itch to pick up the Japanese exclusives. But there’s a little disappointment since the Japanese games don’t have the silver bars on the left/right  of the label, so they stick out like a sore thumb among your gameboy games. Then you see that Sagaia also came out in CHN and the label looks like they have the silver bars that you so badly wanted:

Then you start looking at other CHN games and you notice they often have unique art on the label. Well if the game is still easily playable without having to read another language, why not? They’re not exclusives but they are neat variants because of the art.
 

Then you start amassing a number of CHN games and you just feel like you better just go ahead and get any of  them whenever you see them for cheap.

Also my moms dna test says she’s 5% Chinese… so Im entitled to do it

Edited October 31, 2022 by phart010

[Sumez | 2,989]

12 hours ago, fcgamer said:

Region would be related to nostalgia, and likely those that collect for non investment reasons are doing so because of nostalgia.

Really? Is simply actually being into video games really such a novel idea on a video game forum?

This is far from the first thread where that sentiment has been questioned, and it's frankly starting worry me.

[Splain | 2,581]

In some ways it's Hard Mode, I guess. Hunting for PAL Game Boy games (that didn't get released in the US) is a definite step up from Normal Mode. CHN games? Very Hard Mode. And my monkey brain wants to amass all the things. Sets is life, I do not cherry pick lol.

I' m also interested in playing stuff from other regions that didn't get released in my region, but I don't think you're asking about that.

[Andy_Bogomil | 815]

Marian shows more skin on the Famicom box art for Double Dragon 2... and the game is more challenging than the NA version.

[spacepup | 2,411]

I agree with some of the comments in this thread, and then other ones confuse me greatly.

I think a lot of people make assumptions about why other people what they do.  Or try to categorize people into different buckets of types of people.  The collector.  The gamer.  The investor.  Not everyone fits neatly into all these buckets, and honestly, we don't always know why people do what they do.

Someone might look at me buying Japanese PS2 demos (as Reed mentioned) as just hoarding, "investing," or 'shelf-collecting,' but they don't KNOW me.  They don't know my passion for documenting and researching video games, preserving the library, exploring the content and sharing interesting things with others, documenting metadata about games, etc.  

There are a ton of reasons why I'm buying games from Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Europe, and many other places.  I wasn't born in any of those places, but does that somehow mean I don't have some natural birthright to collect them?  That my goals are "less-worthy?"  Some of the comments in this thread almost make it sound like I shouldn't deserve or be allowed to, simply because I wasn't born there or may not have some deep personal connection to the lands.

I think many of us share the frustration sometimes, that it might be getting harder and harder to obtain things because other people are buying them purely for investment or to sit on a shelf, etc.  Maybe ultimately that's where some of this sentiment is coming from - resentment that it's hard to get the things we want or are passionate about because other people with seemingly "less-pure" motives are snatching them up? 

It's a tricky area for sure, as I do sort of understand that feeling sometimes.  But, it's also just a practical piece of dealing with a huge hobby where people with tons of different motivations are involved.

 

[fcgamer | 4,752]

3 hours ago, spacepup said:

I think many of us share the frustration sometimes, that it might be getting harder and harder to obtain things because other people are buying them purely for investment or to sit on a shelf, etc.  Maybe ultimately that's where some of this sentiment is coming from - resentment that it's hard to get the things we want or are passionate about because other people with seemingly "less-pure" motives are snatching them up? 

I was not very forthright in my initial post, on purpose, but perhaps I should be: Hong Kong, Korean, and Indian game collectors are the next dank collectors.

I'm not talking about people like @phart010 or @Splain, rather referring to everyone else. These regions are collected by everyone and their f'ing uncle, and I just scratch my head and wonder why. You can even see it in the prices that the games sell for, Hong Kong versions and Korean versions sell for a lot more than Asian versions, for example, or Taiwan versions. 

I just don't get it. As a guy who collects out of his region himself (going for some South America stuff,), I could understand it if someone commented "I collect out of my region because I collected everything in my region" but few if any actually responded that way, lol. So it looks like a bunch of dank collectors to me, honestly 

 

[Renmauzo | 1,205]

@fcgamer, what is a 'dank collector'? Honest question, I'm not familiar with the term. I'm trying to parse the two words and can't figure out how 'dank' and 'collector' fit together, and if it's slang, that's a new one to me.

"Inquiring minds..." and all that

[Reed Rothchild | 9,576]

I assume it means someone who doesn't pass some made-up collector purity test.

It's a rigid system.  The true gamers criticize the shelf collectors.  The shelf collectors criticize the investors.  The investors criticize the pleb investors.  The pleb investors criticize the untrue collectors.  The untrue collectors criticize the "you collect the wrong region" dank collectors.  And they in turn complete the circle by criticizing the true gamers.

It's very confusing.

[Ankos | 463]

23 minutes ago, Renmauzo said:

@fcgamer, what is a 'dank collector'? Honest question, I'm not familiar with the term. I'm trying to parse the two words and can't figure out how 'dank' and 'collector' fit together, and if it's slang, that's a new one to me.

"Inquiring minds..." and all that

My guess is it is people who jump onto things with very little info. For an example, Korea is one of the hardest regions to collect retro games for, so someone who isn't knowledgeable might pounce on every Korean Wii game they see despite those not being nearly as rare or different since games these days don't seem to vary much between regions. Same for people who snap up everything Atlus ever made, even jumping on the more common ones like they are the really rare ones. I'd hate to see something like Cosmo Tank get a really high price tag just because some people didn't do enough research before buying, but I have to imagine that sort of thing happens. So not really nefarious collectors or anything, just inexperienced

[phart010 | 1,708]

49 minutes ago, fcgamer said:

I was not very forthright in my initial post, on purpose, but perhaps I should be: Hong Kong, Korean, and Indian game collectors are the next dank collectors.

I'm not talking about people like @phart010 or @Splain, rather referring to everyone else. These regions are collected by everyone and their f'ing uncle, and I just scratch my head and wonder why. You can even see it in the prices that the games sell for, Hong Kong versions and Korean versions sell for a lot more than Asian versions, for example, or Taiwan versions. 

I just don't get it. As a guy who collects out of his region himself (going for some South America stuff,), I could understand it if someone commented "I collect out of my region because I collected everything in my region" but few if any actually responded that way, lol. So it looks like a bunch of dank collectors to me, honestly 

 

I have found that expressing your grievances in haiku format can rechannel the frustrating into creativity : 

I feel somewhat pissed
Asian gameboy prices high
Heres a venting thread

[phart010 | 1,708]

39 minutes ago, Renmauzo said:

@fcgamer, what is a 'dank collector'? Honest question, I'm not familiar with the term. I'm trying to parse the two words and can't figure out how 'dank' and 'collector' fit together, and if it's slang, that's a new one to me.

"Inquiring minds..." and all that

I think “dank” is the term that the folks in the marijuana space use for “high tier product.” The cream of the crop.

Edited October 31, 2022 by phart010

[Gloves | 11,826]

15 minutes ago, phart010 said:

I think “dank” is the term that the folks in the marijuana space use for “high tier product.” The cream of the crop.

[nrslam | 477]

I've got 250 or so imported games, but the GameGear was probably the only system I actively sought those games for. I was trying to get all the Euro games not released in the US after I finished the US set. Most of the other imports were trades (back when trading was common and international postage rates were reasonable) taken mostly out of curiosity for games, labels, or packaging I hadn't seen before. It was always a minor sidebar to my main collecting.

[Sumez | 2,989]

Just did a quick tally based on my collection tracker (which simplifies everything to one of EU, JP, or US), and at least 1041 games are imports in terms of region.

Edited November 1, 2022 by Sumez

[phart010 | 1,708]

@fcgamerThis discussion got my wheels turning and I went ahead to order a Japan copy of Spuds adventure. I can’t afford the US version. The seller was charging $20 shipping, but I noticed he was offering combined shipping of only a few cents per item. So it made more sense to see what else he had. I found a bunch of Japan exclusives that had either English in game text or no reading really required (except snowboard kids and  Frog For Whom the Bell Tolls)

I need to use Kirby as a donor board for my non working English copy.
He shipped immediately via FedEx after my order placed and to my surprise the package arrived in like two days.

 

I have the CHN version of Ninja Spirit with the English title sticker on top of the Japanese script on the label. This gave me an idea. I was thinking to do something similar for Star Saver 2 like this. Probably cringe for many here, but I think it would be neat 

 

Edited November 4, 2022 by phart010

[fcgamer | 4,752]

1 hour ago, phart010 said:

@fcgamerThis discussion got my wheels turning and I went ahead to order a Japan copy of Spuds adventure. I can’t afford the US version. The seller was charging $20 shipping, but I noticed he was offering combined shipping of only a few cents per item. So it made more sense to see what else he had. I found a bunch of Japan exclusives that had either English in game text or no reading really required (except snowboard kids and  Frog For Whom the Bell Tolls)

I need to use Kirby as a donor board for my non working English copy.
He shipped immediately via FedEx after my order placed and to my surprise the package arrived in like two days.

 

I have the CHN version of Ninja Spirit with the English title sticker on top of the Japanese script on the label. This gave me an idea. I was thinking to do something similar for Star Saver 2 like this. Probably cringe for many here, but I think it would be neat 

 

Jumping jack or whatever that Famicom game is , it's awesome, really glad to see you picked it up

[Nintegageo | 582]

Because the SMS library was ass here compared to Europe.

[Deadeye | 1,596]

I collect outside my region.  There are plenty of games that were never released in my region or the releases have differences that interest me.  There are plenty Famicom or PC Engine games that fit this bill for me.  

[Zebbe | 9]

I'm from Sweden and sometimes buy American or Japanese games. Sometimes because the games weren't released in Europe, sometimes because they are uncensored or have better boxart/manuals than what we got here. I just want the best version of the games I buy, if possible.