What are your favorite parts of collecting/gaming over the past year? Please share!

[YOURTURN | 1,256]

Lets see...  I have to say...  Yeah, definitely. It has to be the moment the main series portion of my Dragon Quest game collection was complete.

This was something I first attempted in 2017, but dropped in 2018. With all blame going to the fact self-entitled social media posters ruined the fun of being a fan. And ever since that point I pretty much swore off the series. Which was close to a year after I realized that doing a CIB collection was not for me. Or, at least, when it came to my goals.

But all of that changed when I got my "first purchase" variant copy of Dragon Quest Monster Battle Road Victory! 

So highlights on that include...

- Finding a mint looking, sealed copy of Dragon Quest VII (PS One Books variant) for $75 while I built my X'mas wish list. I got it as a gift, have it be the first game I sent to CAS for grading, and am waiting for the results.

- Buying a mint looking, new/unused copy of Dragon Quest I.II for the GBC. This is my most expensive purchase, but it was also purchased based on actual images.

- Buying a nicely sealed, near mint copy of Dragon Quest VIII for less than it was worth. This is the Japanese release, and it pretty much why I ended up doing a 'Japan only' release for this series. Very much worth it.

- Capping off this part of my collection with Dragon Quest Heroes I & II for the Nintendo Switch. If it turned out to have been the "first purchase" variant, I'd own one of the rarest* Switch games out there! But I am happy with what I got. 

Honorable mentions go to the remainder of that collection.

[*: As for the rarest statement, there are no real numbers on how many copies of this variant were sold, which stores offered it to those who preordered it, nor if if it was limited to a bundle set. Plus sales numbers might include digital sales, which does not help say how many physical copies were made atop of that limited variant.]

[tigerwolf | 79]

28 minutes ago, FenrirZero said:

Lets see...  I have to say...  Yeah, definitely. It has to be the moment the main series portion of my Dragon Quest game collection was complete.

This was something I first attempted in 2017, but dropped in 2018. With all blame going to the fact self-entitled social media posters ruined the fun of being a fan. And ever since that point I pretty much swore off the series. Which was close to a year after I realized that doing a CIB collection was not for me. Or, at least, when it came to my goals.

But all of that changed when I got my "first purchase" variant copy of Dragon Quest Monster Battle Road Victory! 

So highlights on that include...

- Finding a mint looking, sealed copy of Dragon Quest VII (PS One Books variant) for $75 while I built my X'mas wish list. I got it as a gift, have it be the first game I sent to CAS for grading, and am waiting for the results.

- Buying a mint looking, new/unused copy of Dragon Quest I.II for the GBC. This is my most expensive purchase, but it was also purchased based on actual images.

- Buying a nicely sealed, near mint copy of Dragon Quest VIII for less than it was worth. This is the Japanese release, and it pretty much why I ended up doing a 'Japan only' release for this series. Very much worth it.

- Capping off this part of my collection with Dragon Quest Heroes I & II for the Nintendo Switch. If it turned out to have been the "first purchase" variant, I'd own one of the rarest* Switch games out there! But I am happy with what I got. 

Honorable mentions go to the remainder of that collection.

[*: As for the rarest statement, there are no real numbers on how many copies of this variant were sold, which stores offered it to those who preordered it, nor if if it was limited to a bundle set. Plus sales numbers might include digital sales, which does not help say how many physical copies were made atop of that limited variant.]

Glad to meet a fellow Dragon Quest fan! 

As for me, it's been a pleasure collecting Japanese imports and obscurities like @DefaultGen 

This year with all the Wata/HA hype zaniness happening it's been a nice to ignore it while I continue to focus on collecting things that most people likely aren't collecting. Yahoo Auctions is so much more fun than eBay! 

And while I've been focused specifically on Koei games, my favorite thing to collect from Japan right now are video game music CDs. For years I knew there Final Fantasy CDs, but I didn't realize just how many other game companies released not only "Original Sound" versions but Arranged and Orchestral versions as well.

I've spent the last week cataloging Koei CDs in Airtable and it's been a strangely satisfying 10,000 piece puzzle to solve.

[OptOut | 8,889]

Man, so many! Obviously my crowning achievements of the past year have been completing my PAL N64 set, and ALMOST finishing the Japanese set. Just got 1 game and a few boxes left to go on that.

But now I am seriously considering the full SEALED Japanese Dreamcast set, it's really a proper challenge but I think it would be SO epic to have a full sealed set for that. I love all the research and the window shopping aspect that goes into something like that, that's actually almost more fun than the purchasing itself! I still don't know whether I got the BALLS big enough to go for a full sealed set, but I could always scale it back to just the regular fullset if I get scared, lol!

 

Lower level, I love picking up XBOX and Xbox 360 games cheap to open and play! In terms of gaming value for money right now, I don't think you can do ANY better than that. The games are cheap, they are available, and they are great fun, what more can you ask for?

And, of course as many others have said already, the REAL thing that keeps me hooked is VGS! All my great friends and frenemies over here, I just love you all to bits! 

[DefaultGen | 5,414]

5 hours ago, OptOut said:

Lower level, I love picking up XBOX and Xbox 360 games cheap to open and play!

[tidaldreams | 654]

6 hours ago, OptOut said:

Man, so many! Obviously my crowning achievements of the past year have been completing my PAL N64 set, and ALMOST finishing the Japanese set. Just got 1 game and a few boxes left to go on that.

But now I am seriously considering the full SEALED Japanese Dreamcast set, it's really a proper challenge but I think it would be SO epic to have a full sealed set for that. I love all the research and the window shopping aspect that goes into something like that, that's actually almost more fun than the purchasing itself! I still don't know whether I got the BALLS big enough to go for a full sealed set, but I could always scale it back to just the regular fullset if I get scared, lol!

 

Lower level, I love picking up XBOX and Xbox 360 games cheap to open and play! In terms of gaming value for money right now, I don't think you can do ANY better than that. The games are cheap, they are available, and they are great fun, what more can you ask for?

And, of course as many others have said already, the REAL thing that keeps me hooked is VGS! All my great friends and frenemies over here, I just love you all to bits! 

I always thought these were stupid consoles to collect for, but after seeing prices of sealed halo's, gears of war, etc. I guess I was wrong. Even stuff like assassin's creed and elder scrolls oblivion that were reprinted up the wazoo are selling for hundreds... luckily like 90% of my xbox games are still sealed 

[fcgamer | 4,731]

1 hour ago, tidaldreams said:

I always thought these were stupid consoles to collect for, but after seeing prices of sealed halo's, gears of war, etc. I guess I was wrong. Even stuff like assassin's creed and elder scrolls oblivion that were reprinted up the wazoo are selling for hundreds... luckily like 90% of my xbox games are still sealed 

I collect Asian version OG Xbox games, going for a full set, only because they're underpriced at the moment. I agree though, I think it's not really a great machine to collect for.

[twiztor | 851]

i have, for the most part, hit a spot where i'm not actively searching games out. i spent 2020 finishing out the series sets i was short on, so i feel a relative sense of relief/accomplishment.  

but what i'm most happy about in the last 12 months or so is my playing accomplishments. i had long wanted to dive in to the Metroid and Castlevania series. and i did so in a big way. i beat Metroid (old school style- made my own maps, no online hints, not even looking at old NP issues!) and it became one of my favorite games. this lead to also beating Metroid 2 and Super Metroid. then i jumped to Castlevania, where i beat 1-4 and SOTN. awesome games. it also lead to me playing (and loving!) the Bloodstained games. for good measure, i also beat Kid Icarus 1 (ok i used save states for this one) and 2.  

non-gaming related, i finished off a complete set of the Goosebumps books (original series), fleshed out my vinyl record collection, and started reading all of the Spider-Man comics (digitally) from the beginning. it's been a great year.

[OptOut | 8,889]

9 hours ago, tidaldreams said:

I always thought these were stupid consoles to collect for, but after seeing prices of sealed halo's, gears of war, etc. I guess I was wrong. Even stuff like assassin's creed and elder scrolls oblivion that were reprinted up the wazoo are selling for hundreds... luckily like 90% of my xbox games are still sealed 

I mean, I've been a big fan of XBOX since it launched, I have no idea why so many people don't seem to like it. I'd call it my number 2 system after N64 probably.

Certainly, I like it a lot more than the GameCube, at least, and so I almost always choose the XBOX versions of multiplatform games of that generation, rather than the GameCube ones.

But, as people know, I am more of a gamer than a collector so for me it's a PLUS that XBOX games are so cheap, more for me!

[8bitsupremacy | 208]

Seeing prices double/triple on games and looking at my shelf with a big smile knowing that I didn't pay that.

Edited July 29, 2021 by 8bitsupremacy

[Andy_Bogomil | 815]

Not much on the collecting side of things as I am fortunate enough to have gathered most of what I wanted over the years. It's a good thing though, as I've been able to put my focus back on gaming and organizing/trimming my collection. I still enjoy checking up on the collecting side of things here and following the trends. I've been able to complete a number of games that I've been meaning to play (partially thanks to the backlog challenge) and I'm enjoying new content on the Switch. Living back close to family, my brothers and I have been able to have a games night once or twice a month which is always something I look forward to. A lot f the enjoyment for me definitely comes from playing the real deal on original hardware, so I have my collecting years to thank for that.

[Nintegageo | 582]

I'm honestly excited that I managed to snag a 2021 Playdate order. The thing is charming as heck and just super awesome.

 

Oh and Zelda SS. Hadn't played it since it was a wii game and it's great as well.

Edited July 29, 2021 by Nintegageo

[8bitsupremacy | 208]

11 hours ago, Andy_Bogomil said:

Not much on the collecting side of things as I am fortunate enough to have gathered most of what I wanted over the years. It's a good thing though, as I've been able to put my focus back on gaming and organizing/trimming my collection. I still enjoy checking up on the collecting side of things here and following the trends. I've been able to complete a number of games that I've been meaning to play (partially thanks to the backlog challenge) and I'm enjoying new content on the Switch. Living back close to family, my brothers and I have been able to have a games night once or twice a month which is always something I look forward to. A lot f the enjoyment for me definitely comes from playing the real deal on original hardware, so I have my collecting years to thank for that.

This.  I'm in the same boat too.  I just play a lot of the giant backlog I've amassed and can trim/curate more if I come across a real stinker.

[fcgamer | 4,731]

To be honest, these past few years sucked, and they also sucked in terms of collecting. Big money and greedy assholes come in, and they just ruin the hobby, lots of the fun parts anyways. I've been playing guitar tonight, just jamming out and thinking aloud: "I've got 6k-7k games, at that point what's the f'ing reasoning behind even collecting more, I won't be able to properly play all the games I've got anyways. Yeah I wanted to preserve history, document things, dump things, start a museum, etc. but there comes a point where the greedy assholes just come in and ruin the enjoyment, and sadly I'm starting to get to that point." Maybe it's just covid, who knows, but I've just been left in low spirits regarding it lately. Comparatively, when I jam out, at least no one can take that music from me.

I've thought long and hard to try to think of some fond game-related memories. It's been difficult, here's what I came up with:

1. A new junk shop opened up about twenty minutes away from me. They seem to get new stuff in semi regularly (so it's worth stopping by a couple times a month). I also really like the area in which they are situated, so it's a great excuse to head down there, check out the shop, have a few beers and some nightmarket food, before returning home, without straying too far from home. It's the perfect trip for a weeknight.

2. When KHan hooked me up with The Incident. I haven't played it yet, I can't get it running on my everdrive and want to see if it'll run properly on a real Famicom using my everdrive, before using an emulator to play (generally I play my games on a Micro Genius machine). Thing is, we had a feud for years over something that was ultimately petty, it feels really good to have had resolved that, and I genuinely look forward to playing The Incident and seeing what the hype is about. I even bought a copy of the game for an Argentinian friend of mine for his birthday, that's how genuinely interested I am

3. Playing Haunted Halloween 85, Gruniozerca 2 and Kubo 3. These were all really fun games.

4. Playing classic games with my colleague. That was a really fun day in the middle of a soft lockdown, and it highlighted one of my favourite parts of gaming, sharing it with people you care about.

5. Purchasing a set of about 12-15 Famiclone games from my good friend. I've known this friend for about a decade, he used to have a second hand bookshop and he also sells antiques. He finally scraped together the money to buy his first house, at age 55. He invited me over to spend the weekend with him and his wife. When I met him (he picked me up in my city), he brought with a bag of Famiclone cartridges, which he sold me for about $30. Solid titles too. It felt great, it was a throwback to eight years ago, before all the greed and completion arrived. Then we headed to his new house in the country for the weekend, and I loved every second of it, amongst the tea, rice, and pineapple fields. It was one final adventure before covid-19, soft lockdown, unemployment, and scraping by showed up, literally just two days later.

6. Chatting more with both @JVOSS@Tanooki, as well as making another good friend (not on VGS), who is a game collector, bodybuilder, entrepreneur, as well as one of the most positive people I've ever met. I'm really happy to have seen these three friendships blossom, I mean that's a huge part of what the hobby should be about

 

 

[spacepup | 2,405]

@fcgamer  Thanks for sharing some of the positive memories.

I understand the first part of your post, and while I do agree with many components of it, that's sort of the reason I started this thread.  There is so much angst and negativity and disdain for what is happening "to our hobby" - and while I completely understand it, I refuse to let what is happening ruin my fun.  

There is still very much to be happy, positive, and thankful for, and a lot to do in the hobby, depending on what your interests are and where you look.  

You mentioned toward the end of your post, that seeing friendships blossom is a huge part of what the hobby should be about.  Personally, I totally agree with that!  AND, outsiders and investors driving prices up does NOT take away from that ability for me, whatsoever.  I've enjoyed being a part of VGS and building and strengthening friendships and relationships, and whether Mario 64 is $50, $500, or $1.5 million, it doesn't change that whatsoever.

There are still tons of games out there to play, collect, and talk about.  

It's not to say that people can't vent or express discouragement with some of the things going on, but I want to shift the mentality away from "omg the hobby is being ruined."  

The hobby, for me, is what I make of it.  I can't control all the outside factors, but I can control what I do, who I engage with, and how much fun I'm having.  And so far, even through the past year, it's been great.  Because I choose for it to great.

[Tanooki | 4,940]

@fcgamer thanks, totally agree too with you, both on the on and off we've had for years now talking about all sorts of stuff, and the more recent mailings too as they're appreciated.  But also the downturn you brought up.  You know I hit it years ago, when I finally was fed up with it pre-pandemic bomb level stuff when I broke my rule and started buying flash kits again this time for keeps which admittedly I don't use a whole lot.  They do make great barriers against falling into the trap once more, I can just fire it up if needed, yet doesn't stop the fun of finding when fun can still be had.  Just too many scum have screwed up the most fun parts outside of just actually doing the game itself, it's just miserable and more so as it goes closer to present.  And that whole 6-7k, I never was more than maybe a 1/3 of that years back, but even now I'm guessing resting (PC aside, digital aside) around 500~ physical games I still feel that's like too much as so little gets much time on it.

Thankfully, largely, most of what is there is what was important to me as a kid, teen, and early adult I snagged up through doing the whole allowance, b'day, christmas as a kid thing from between 1985-2005 as that includes the GBA/GC era in that on the back end and NES/GB up front.  Those I don't NEED to re-play to feel bad about maybe just sitting on it, or getting it back and just having it back.  What eats at me is the newer stuff, lack of time, end up just buying far less now, and dumping it if it's not used much.  I'm stressing over Witcher 3 at the moment, seems like it could be awesome but it's slow to start and has some janky/fiddly controls that aren't wowing me.

[T-Pac | 7,568]

On 7/29/2021 at 1:54 AM, 8bitsupremacy said:

Seeing prices double/triple on games and looking at my shelf with a big smile knowing that I didn't pay that.

This actually gives me a bit of anxiety haha.
I don't want the value of my games going up - that way they're easy to replace if something happens to my collection.

-CasualCart