What is your favorite system/generation to collect for, and why?

[Ninja Warriors | 86]

My 1st console was an SNES, but I always wanted an NES due to not having one growing up ( parents said it would ruin the tv).  The NES got in me into collecting retro, so I would definitely have to say that it is my favorite era.

[SoleGoose | 95]

I'd say too that with Switch collecting I try to do my research beforehand and only pick up the games that I truly think that I'll enjoy. If I am picking something up it is usually a limited release type deal since the AAA stuff will come down eventually and I'm not that into it anyways (Octopath being the one first party game that I have out of ~20). I'm also avoiding all collector's editions (my brief step into 3DS buying burned me out on those pretty quick), which keeps the obsessive urge to have everything down and prices more reasonable. It keeps it more fun though.

[Makar | 1,946]

Definitely DS. Best library by far, most titles aren't too crazy expensive yet, it's portable, and titles are still easy to find. The 3DS is technically the best though only because it's backwards compatible with the DS but 3DS library of games is nowhere near that of the DS.

I also really like collecting for GameCube, although it's getting really pricey and hard to find complete games 

[ThePhleo | 2,184]

NES is my favorite to collect for, SNES has my favorite titles though.

[drxandy | 3,225]

I have been heavy on the nostalgia collecting lately honestly. Nes and snes were my childhood but never had either till after their lifespan, only at friends houses. Lot of memories with the n64 so I decided to go boxed, cib for games I really like.

I was really into the original Xbox back in its lifespan and was a staff member of a smallish Xbox forum that allowed me access to go to e3 in 2005 so I have plenty of good memories there too.

Also lots of Gamecube, especially Japan imports.

I really want to get into famicom stuff, especially the disk system. Love the design. 

[T-Pac | 7,539]

I'm partial to 8-bit and 16-bit systems, especially NES. There's something so appealing and timeless about it - the cartridge format, simple gameplay, experiencing the starting point of different genres, etc. I'm itching to start an Atari 2600 collection, but I want to finish off my "must-have" list for NES games first.

-CasualCart

[spacepup | 2,404]

I came back to give some extra love to modern gaming.  People love to hate on so many things about modern games, modern systems, etc., and yes, there are definitely some negatives to them.  However, there are also tons of amazing games I've played over the last several years - and I find it unfortunate when I hear that people probably won't ever give them a chance.  

I shared my favorite systems in here earlier, and while that's still the case, essentially, I just enjoy good gaming.  I don't really care what system it is on - if it is a fun or entertaining game, I'm all for it.  

Beyond the early days of gaming for me which mostly included NES, I also spent a LOT of time playing older computer / DOS games.  The days of Apogee, Epic, 3DRealms, games like Commander Keen, Duke Nukem, and many more.  There is still a very special place on my heart for computer games.  A lot of the discussion on these forums tends to be about consoles, and that's great, but both older and modern PC gaming are also great in many ways!  I'll still boot up DOSbox every now and then and play some older games and have a blast with them.  And while the indie gaming scene can seem extremely overwhelming, there are still some AMAZING games coming out all the time, that are really special.  

Had to give a shoot out to these things!

[RH | 4,903]

I started with the GB because that was mostly the sole system I played during my gaming "dry spell" which was the SNES era.  But, after collecting for 4 years, I tend to have the most fun hunting and collecting PS1 titles.  I have no clue why.  I guess it's because there's a TON of them and they are easily hidden amongst audio and software CDs at thrift shops.  Most that I find at those places are $1, and if the case and game are in great shape, I'll pick up anything at that price, even if it's a sports title, so long as I don't have it already.

Game Boy collecting is fun, but so far it's mostly been an eBay hunt type of thing--digging through poorly documented lots, looking for images of games in the middle of many.  Now that I have under 25 to get, it's full price for these or waiting fooooorrreeevvveeeerr for one to show up at a cheap price, and praying I hit the BIN before someone else.

Game Gear is also awesome.  I think I'm about to pick up the two heavy hitters and I already have about 30 games, so after my GB set is done, I probably hit that one the heaviest.  If I wasn't playing my Game Boy as a kid, I was playing my Game Gear.  I didn't get my own TV in my own bedroom until I was about 13 of 14, and I wasn't able to use it for gaming until the N64 so, that system is on my radar too.  Fortunately, that's suppose to be an easyone to complete, even with Sculptor's Cut.

Edited October 29, 2019 by RH

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

NES due to nostalgia factor and the staggering amount of innovation the console brought to gaming. The library is crazy diverse and the boxart is fantastic. I'm working on a full CIB set and just nabbed one of the white whales, Panic Restaurant. Love this hobby.

[a3quit4s | 4,096]

Nintendo cartridge based games. Dunno why I just like them. 

[Strikezone1 | 154]

My favorite systems to collect for (and also play) and NES and SNES.

[AstralSoul | 502]

My collecting has slowed down a lot these days with a kid and a house to take care of. But when I do buy a game it's usually either current gen or it's a specific game I wanted to play regardless of its given system. So I don't concentrate on any one system, I spread my collection pretty evenly around 13 consoles and handhelds.

But if I had the money I'd go for a complete N64 collection. My reasons are easy - it's the one I have the most nostalgia for. It's also a relatively affordable console, not too many very high end priced games, and a lot of cheap commons. On top of that, I just enjoy it a lot. I love the variety of the colors in controllers, consoles and game cartridges. It's also the console I've played more than any other. I have all the N64 player's guides, have a bunch of N64 related Nintendo Powers, have about 80 cartridges total, and 20-something boxes and manuals for them. I don't plan on going for a full set, it's just not feasible right now. But if I could I would.

I've been enjoying collecting for PS2, PS3 and PS4 lately though because games have been very easy to come by and there's a lot of great games I haven't played for them so I've been buying a lot of those lately.

Edited October 29, 2019 by AstralSoul13

[Strange | 1,700]

3 hours ago, spacepup said:

I came back to give some extra love to modern gaming.  People love to hate on so many things about modern games, modern systems, etc., and yes, there are definitely some negatives to them.  However, there are also tons of amazing games I've played over the last several years - and I find it unfortunate when I hear that people probably won't ever give them a chance.  

I shared my favorite systems in here earlier, and while that's still the case, essentially, I just enjoy good gaming.  I don't really care what system it is on - if it is a fun or entertaining game, I'm all for it.  

Beyond the early days of gaming for me which mostly included NES, I also spent a LOT of time playing older computer / DOS games.  The days of Apogee, Epic, 3DRealms, games like Commander Keen, Duke Nukem, and many more.  There is still a very special place on my heart for computer games.  A lot of the discussion on these forums tends to be about consoles, and that's great, but both older and modern PC gaming are also great in many ways!  I'll still boot up DOSbox every now and then and play some older games and have a blast with them.  And while the indie gaming scene can seem extremely overwhelming, there are still some AMAZING games coming out all the time, that are really special.  

Had to give a shoot out to these things!

I know they aren’t a lot of peoples’ cups of tea in the retro gaming/collecting scene, but two of my “top ten games of all time” are modern sandbox games. Fallout New Vegas and Red Dead. I love being immersed in the world.

That said I’ve been playing Starflight on the Genesis and I’m having a blast. It’s a very early “sandbox” type of game, and it’s made me want to seek out other similar styles of game like Pirates Gold. I think Shadowrun would be up my alley too.

[WhyNotZoidberg | 585]

I think the NES is the single most interesting console of all times. But I'm out of the NES collecting game, not that I won't pick up treasures here and there I simply burned myself out by obsessing so much over it.

SNES is probably my favorite play console of all times. The "Next Gen" consoles from the 32bit era are close seconds. I was a young teenager in 1994-1996 when the Saturn, Playstation and Ultra 64 were all the hype and I was buying magazines and getting all the info I could and it was madening to imagine myself playing games that were as good as the arcade at home. That whole 90s era hit me hard.

These days, my 3DO collection is my favorite (takin' this to my grave) and the only consoles I'm regularly buying for are the DS and 3DS. Some Wii. The DS library never ceases to impress me and I play the games on a New 3DS XL so of course I'm getting 3DS titles as well.

I'll get a Switch after the holidays (unless I get one as a present) and we'll see about that one when I have it lol.

[Foochie776 | 1,051]

Always been NES, the variety of titles is great. I love the moderately uniform look of the cartridges, with so many distinctive looking subsets. They display fantastically loose or CIB and good old nostalgia 

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

3 hours ago, The Strangest said:

I know they aren’t a lot of peoples’ cups of tea in the retro gaming/collecting scene, but two of my “top ten games of all time” are modern sandbox games. Fallout New Vegas and Red Dead. I love being immersed in the world.

That said I’ve been playing Starflight on the Genesis and I’m having a blast. It’s a very early “sandbox” type of game, and it’s made me want to seek out other similar styles of game like Pirates Gold. I think Shadowrun would be up my alley too.

Pirates! Gold is awesome. You will likely enjoy it quite a bit.

[LeatherRebel5150 | 1,056]

Pretty much any cart based console. I grew up with SNES/N64 but I love them all. The Atari's including Jaguar, Nintendo consoles, Sega Master System and Genesis, they're all fun for me.

[ALTQQ | 87]

Super Nintendo. It was the first console I owned myself. Tg16 was the first console I had, but I was only borrowing that from a friend for 6months since they never used it. 

I have tapes for:

Nes, SNES, n64, tapecube, Wii, wiiu, switch,  genesis, tg16, tapeboy colour, tapeboy advance, ds, 3ds, ps1, ps2. For the most part we only own tapes my wife or myself would play. So I guess wer'e casual gamers and not collectors anymore?

[nrslam | 474]

Commodore 64, since its one of those systems that nobody, ever, will have a complete set for, so the collecting opportunities are endless.

[Strange | 1,700]

1 hour ago, nrslam said:

Commodore 64, since its one of those systems that nobody, ever, will have a complete set for, so the collecting opportunities are endless.

I like consoles with huge libraries for this reason. It seems like I never stop finding DS or PS1 games. I haven’t even thought about diving into PS2 yet despite growing up with it. It’s so daunting.

[Alder | 243]

Started out with NES like most. I've never really picked a console or theme, I just collect stuff if it's cheap and I don't have it. I've played every game I own though.. if popping it in to make sure it works counts as playing.

I like getting a bunch of cheap games and finding a few interesting games that I would have otherwise overlooked. Lately for me that has been in gameboy color and gameboy advance. Check out Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam or 007 Nightfire on GBA, or The Jungle Book on GBC to see what I mean. All do some really interesting stuff with the technology. Then there are games that are just straight up good in terms of gameplay, but you could easily overlook them. Hamtaro on GBC is a good example.

[jonebone | 1,307]

Was N64, but too easy to collect and finish.  I'd go with NES these days.

[Prime2099 | 176]

Dreamcast was the first system I bought with my own money, so I enjoyed collecting games for that one, as well as the Saturn. I got the Saturn after it had been discontinued so I found a few games discounted and was able to pick them up cheap, and both it and the Dreamcast have some super weird games that you won't find anywhere else.

[LtCasual | 27]

I'm having a really good time (slowly) collecting games for the GBA. It's a system I never had back in the day so I never played most of the games, and the portability + backlight + battery life of a GBA SP just makes it real nice to play on. Right now I'm putzing with Advance Wars and Pokemon Ruby.

[Crazy Climber | 150]

Atari 2600...probably because I'm a crabby old man