Why do you collect? How do you determine what to collect? What drives your decisions?

[goldenpp72 | 1,234]

I figured this could be insightful as long as we can all just respect that everyone collects for their own reasons and has their own goals. I'm curious to see the why behind the various methods we all use to collect what we collect. For myself, I originally (and still hold onto) only collecting US releases due to cost control, and rather than go for full sets on most systems I just go for sets I find interesting. Either because the game was respected, or because I want to own it for some personal reason (typically just because it looks fun or is part of a set). I don't only buy on any one system but actually over 40 platforms as well, so going for full sets for everything would be impractical and also make me feel like I have too much 'junk'. A lot of my setup is driven with the ability to play and play well, with tons of equipment and setup done to be able to use all the portables and consoles in high fidelity despite being original hardware (mostly).

So for example, these are full sets for me, but not full sets for all.

 

In the end I probably have spent hundreds of hours researching and curating each game I own so that it suits who I am as a person to some degree (even if only vaguely), I get a certain kind of feeling every time I look at a game because even if I haven't got to play it yet, I know what it is. I began collecting around when I met my fiancee because she somehow skipped the generations between 2600 and the N64 (so basically 8 bit and 16 bit) and it motivated me to want to try some stuff I grew up with her. I started this over 10 years ago and originally had a lofty goal of 1000 games. It has since been shattered and grown well beyond my original intent but it all began with a desire to share my hobby with a person I care about, and we still mutually work on it together along with play the stuff together. What about you? Share your preferences, reasoning or stories.

Edited November 3, 2019 by goldenpp72

[ALTQQ | 87]

I started out with the intention of full SNES cib and whatever else came my way. I got close but just got bored with it all. I did a big sell off recently, so now I only own stuff I'll play. Much happier with a smaller stash of tapes.

[goldenpp72 | 1,234]

4 minutes ago, ALTQQ said:

I started out with the intention of full SNES cib and whatever else came my way. I got close but just got bored with it all. I did a big sell off recently, so now I only own stuff I'll play. Much happier with a smaller stash of tapes.

 

I've thought of doing this a few times over the course but was always afraid to pull the trigger. Do you ever find you regret it at all?

[ZBomber | 54]

When I started back in 2008 I was just looking for fun games to play on older consoles. I was less interested in getting a complete set of anything and more interested in grabbing as many notable/fun/interesting titles as I could so I could play them on the original hardware. It was much cheaper then and much more attainable, but that's not the case now.

Now that I have everdrives I've kind of refined my collecting to modern systems that don't have everdrives, like the Switch and 3DS (although the 3DS does now I think). Switch is a really fun system to collect for. Definitely not going for a full set, but there are a lot of great and interesting games on it. I have most of the titles I want for 3DS/Wii U already.  I've also started focusing on series based collections instead. I'm currently going for a CIB Zelda collection (including all the different variations), as well as Star Wars which is just a massive library.

[goldenpp72 | 1,234]

4 minutes ago, ZBomber said:

When I started back in 2008 I was just looking for fun games to play on older consoles. I was less interested in getting a complete set of anything and more interested in grabbing as many notable/fun/interesting titles as I could so I could play them on the original hardware. It was much cheaper then and much more attainable, but that's not the case now.

Now that I have everdrives I've kind of refined my collecting to modern systems that don't have everdrives, like the Switch and 3DS (although the 3DS does now I think). Switch is a really fun system to collect for. Definitely not going for a full set, but there are a lot of great and interesting games on it. I have most of the titles I want for 3DS/Wii U already.  I've also started focusing on series based collections instead. I'm currently going for a CIB Zelda collection (including all the different variations), as well as Star Wars which is just a massive library.

 

I have a process (I used the NA site for it.. just in time) where I go line by line for each system and research the games. I remember dreading 3DS when I did this and actually came to the conclusion I was only missing about 30 games I wanted, I somehow amassed the rest over the gen without even really trying. Wii U was also really easy to do, but I have found Switch overwhelmingly difficult to collect on due to the amount of limited releases and small print runs with no idea which will sell out and which will be reprinted. You see a lot of stuff like Bendy or Penguin wars be sought after for a bit, but then they become quite common. I do love the system though and have around maybe 200 retail releases for it, I just hope I can keep up with it over time lol.

[m308gunner | 352]

Why? Because these games are fun and a part of my childhood that I wish to recapture. And I want the boxes cause the art is great (or so bad it's great). And the booklets are sometimes horribly translated.

I collect NES CIBs for those reasons. 67 more to go and I'm done (for the third time). Had to sell off twice now in the last 10 years and regret it, but only because the stuff I want is now so much more expensive. ($35 for a SMB3 CIB?!? pfft!! What is this nonsense?)

[Prime2099 | 176]

My collecting initially started out like many others I assume, and that was to get the games I had as a kid that I had gotten rid of. I kept a large chunk of the games I had when I was younger, but there were moments when I thought trading them in was better than keeping them.

Anyway, once that was mostly accomplished, I branched out a little and decided to get the games that I wanted as a kid, but could never get for whatever reason. After that list was created, I started buying games that were recommended from other members or ones I read about that seemed interesting. This has led me to have a large collection of games, but not as large as some members here, and I feel that they are all winners, no bad games in the lot.... For the most part. 

Once I got to playing some of those games I wanted as a kid I realized they weren't necessarily any good, but I kept them either way. 

[ALTQQ | 87]

1 hour ago, goldenpp72 said:

 

I've thought of doing this a few times over the course but was always afraid to pull the trigger. Do you ever find you regret it at all?

No regrets at all. I made a bunch of money cleaning house and now I'm only left with the good stuff. I never even touched the junk titles, so it was like they weren't even really there to begin with in a sense? If you're worried about it you could always pick up an everdrive as a backup. They're just as good as having the real deal in your hands.

A good test would be to pull a bunch of titles off your shelf and stick them in a box for a few weeks. I'd you dont miss them from doing that then odds are you won't miss them at all.

Edited November 3, 2019 by ALTQQ

[empire | 106]

I've become way more picky, rather than full sets or games for every single system, I just stick to collecting as I go. Grabbing the big AAA games as they come out, and grabbing other stuff i'm interested in once they drop in price. Ideally i'd love to have only a shelf or two packed with the best of the best. I do prioritize some franchises too, i'll always buy every Dragon Quest and Zelda game that I can, for example, almost collections within a collection.

There's just too many damn games coming out lately to be able to play them all, so I gotta have a bit of patience and control over my wallet.

[Alder | 243]

I don't really go out hunting for certain games anymore, I'm more opportunistic. There are a few items I'm always looking out for, but in general if I see a game I don't have and it's super cheap, then I'll pick it up. Lately this has been at the game store in town. They've been doing $1 blowouts for various consoles. Any game that's under ~$10 on GVN makes it onto the rack and anything under ~$7 is priced at $1 during the sale. This is mostly for Wii/Xbox/PS2 but occasionally also 360/PS3 and GB/GBC/GBA. Over the last few years I'd go months without buying anything game related, then drop $200 on those sorts of sales. I've tested them all, but there are inevitably some that I'll never get around to playing in depth. But for a buck, I'm okay with that.

 

[Tanooki | 4,933]

I hope I don't inflate this a lot.  I started collecting back in 1995, but that as it stood for a pattern died in 2005.  That decade the answers were easy.  Why? The games I had access to locally and then early ebay shortly after were plentiful, cheap, and there wasn't the greed aspect of charging for every scrap of plastic, paper, and plastic.  I could play the mystery game, get things I saw in Nintendo Power magazine or others and never could afford and now experience them.  $20 could net me at least 4 games/week and it did.  That's the why, the how, and the what in that one.  Ease, cheap, and the mystery of it and love of playing so much I missed or never knew of.

Since that period though after having my will broke and most stuff gone, it changed. I hit this moment a few years after when I could start again, slowly I did as I had mass cheap access to a large flea market and got many nice things.  I even for the first time considered getting a set of this or that, but that old breakdown mentality kicked in.  After I was like 330-350NES games into it realizing 90% of it I put more time into cleaning and test playing it felt wrong.  So I swapped that for SNES beating it's wave of price increase and so on.  It took some years, missed the boat eternally on a Duo reasonably speaking, and i kind of just gave up.  I realized less was more, and now with less time (family/lacking free time and energy) further less was more.  I got rid of a few systems, and minimized others more.

I don't collect anymore, broke that rule once this year with the Virtual Boy set, and my determining factor now is will I play it, will I enjoy it, and if not, I don't need it.  If that means a game on the shelf or something I buy so I can afford something I do want, either works.  I keep the stuff I got gifted or bought in the 80s/90s and a bit into the 00s (GBA/GC) but that's really it, most of what I have now was not 21st century discoveries as the flash kits cover it nicely in almost all cases.  I even dumped some heavy hitters you know I once had so I could get off budget (free I guess) my pinball/arcade machines instead.

[drxandy | 3,225]

Part is nostalgia, but I just don't see myself outgrowing games ever.

I collect stuff I want to play.

I collect stuff from systems that I played in my youth that I may not have had the chance to play. I love imports because of this. I have no interest in a full sealed collection of anything unless I become rich and then just for kicks. Games are meant to be played.

I try to focus on exclusives for each console, but not always.

Some systems mainly cart only, like snes and Gameboy. Not ready to go all in yet, but still wanna play the games.

[Jfreakofkorn | 282]

Had over 750 nes n snes cib ( and a few store demos ) before katrina hit. Lost interest due to the fact at what i collected as a kid and worked for and lost due to water n mold damage. Started collecting again due to the fact, i miss at what i had at when i was little and enjoy spending time playing them with the memories i had w close n dear friends had back then ( some have passed since than )

Edited November 4, 2019 by Jfreakofkorn

[Strange | 1,700]

Collecting is a hobby that has always been a part of me - since I was a kid I was always collecting something. In college the idea to collect retro video games hit me and it’s stuck better than anything else I’ve ever collected.
 

Now? I really appreciate the history behind the old cartridges and hardware and seeing the roots of the industry. Atari, ColecoVision, and Intellivision are an area I like to focus on, with NES, SNES, and Genesis included too.

[Skorp | 383]

I will say this that some time ago, I went through depersonalization disorder and it was extremely scary that time. When I started to collect games and get into the gaming scene again, it went away in time. It helped keep me busy and try to heal my mind back to reality, which it did. Now, I am able to collect, because I actually enjoy it! It is just so enjoyable to collect for games and strive for a goal of completion as well as actually playing the game you love.

[Scrobins | 1,725]

For me, it started as “what are the games any self-respecting ________ owner must have as a baseline”, so I’m giving myself a good broad experience of everything my consoles offer, then it expands/contracts as I try to learn more about what’s out there that is similar to games I know and enjoy. 

[DefaultGen | 5,403]

I started collecting when Virtual Console was announced. My motivation for the longest time was to have as many (loose) NES games as possible at the cheapest price because at the time I thought $5 for an NES game was ridiculous!

I've collected lots of sets with the intention of building a library of games to play, so when I hear about some neat game on Youtube I can just grab it off the shelf rather than have to emulate it. I have no disillusions about playing it all, but I like the convenience of already having it all.

The past couple years I've finished sets for everything I really care about, at least Nintendo/Sega, so I've been focusing more on upgrading CIB favorites and some historically important games. Eventually I'll get the set itch again and probably dive into PS1 or something just to chase that checklist high.

[Ninja Warriors | 86]

Nostalgia.  I also find collecting/playing vintage games can be a good stress reliever.  I try to only purchase game genres I like within each system.  Platformers for the nes, and beatemups for the snes.

[Deegs | 2]

Mainly I just pick up stuff I want to play or did play at some point in my life and wish I had available to me again.  I only ever had the desire to complete one console set which was the US Dreamcast but now that that's done it is really just subsets that I think would be fun to have (Working Designs Sega set, 1998 US Retail Saturn set, etc...).  Shooters, Fighters, Platformers, Beat'em Ups, and other Arcade style games especially are great for quick bursts of enjoyment at a time in my life when free time is in short supply.

[Astor Reinhardt | 199]

Pictures aren't showing up for me OP.

Why do I collect?

Well it started out because I watched AVGN and Pat The NES Punk videos and got hit with nostalgia over those old games. I wanted to replay them. It grew from that to collecting the games my mom never let me own (Castlevania, Contra, Megaman...) and it grew from that to owning every game ever made...yeah. $11,500 later...and I learned some expensive lessons. I don't buy every game anymore. I have a fairly complicated but strict set of rules I go by when I buy something.

But diving down deeper then that surface answer...I'm depressed. I hate my life right now. There are things I can't change about my life, and there are some I can. I'm working on a few of them. So collecting and playing games is an escape from my horrible reality. It's not just "boo hoo, the world is so hard"...I have a lot of pain/health issues and just getting out of bed in the morning is sometimes more then I can manage. So any escape is welcome. It's a miracle I haven't turned to drugs and booze. Collecting is my vice...healthier then some other vices. Anyways, it helps me escape into my childhood, where I was happier and less worn out. My childhood wasn't amazing but damn it was better then this. So I try to recapture those memories any way I can. Playing games I played back then helps...so does surrounding myself with things from my childhood...not just video games but toys, movies, books and so on and so forth from the 90s (and 80s since I had a lot of stuff from the 80s even though I was born in 91.)

How do I determine what to collect?

For NES/SNES/N64 it's easy. I'm after every game...twice. One is CIB, one is loose with manual. CIB is for preservation reasons/ego stroking and loose with manual is to play. Loose cart conditions can be worse then CIB carts. Since I plan on playing them only...so I call them my "playing condition" games. These can have flaws like torn labels, yellowed plastic...so on and so forth. So long as most of the label is readable, the plastic isn't missing chunks and it will actually work...I'm fine with whatever condition. Manuals however need to be in pretty good shape as I plan on actually reading them and handling them. CIB games...don't have to be mint (can't afford that!) but they need to be in good shape as it's about preservation...and yes some ego stroking. The only other system I'm after every game for is the Atari 2600. But I'm not picky...they can be in any condition, complete or not...just so long as they play. And I'm not actively going for it...I pick up games when I see them, but I don't worry about it.

Now for other systems...it varies. Handhelds (excluding DS/3DS/PSP/Vita) I get loose games, sometimes buying CIB if I manage to find it and usually for a game I really love (since CIB handheld stuff is expensive and hard to find). I'm going for exclusives to the systems and my favorites. DS/3DS/PSP/Vita, exclusives and favorites...but they need to be CIB. I have bought some games loose but only rare ones I got a sweet deal on...like Izuna for the DS. But trying to find someone selling a case with the manual for that game is freaking impossible...which is why I don't like buying loose. That and the games are tiny!

Disc based games are the same as the DS/3DS/PSP/Vita. CIB only unless very rare and very cheap. Exclusives and favorites. When I say favorites I mean like Fallout 3/Fallout NV. I own them on the PS3/360 and PC. And variations of those, Collectors Editions, GOTY edition and base game.

What drives my decisions?

I've already touched on this in both of the previous questions. It's a form of coping for me and it's also about preserving games. When I die...there's a few things that I want to happen, depending on when I die/who I leave behind. If I die while my parents are alive...I want them to sell the games. All of them. Use the money to have fun...take a trip, spoil themselves because I know they never do. If I die alone, without anyone to leave anything to, I want my games to go to a gaming museum. They can use them however they see fit...hopefully putting some on display and continuing to preserve them. If I die without children but married, my collection will go to my husband who will either donate them to a museum or play them. If I die with children, I want them to have my collection...IF they actually show interest in keeping it/using it. If not, it goes to a museum.

It boils down to I want the games to go on to be preserved, long after I'm dead. Unless someone I know and love is willing to take care of the collection and pass it along when they pass...except in the case of me dying before my parents. This could be health issues or mental health issues catching up to me...or just fate royally fucking me. Either way, I know they don't spend time on themselves...they're miserable. Dad works himself almost to death on his stupid projects...and mom is as unhealthy as I am. They need to take a break and have fun while they still can. I hate seeing them like this. I don't think my collection is worth a ton...and honestly my mom would have to be the one to sell it all...idk if she'd get top dollar or not...listing everything on eBay would be a bitch. But it's probably a few thousand...enough for a small trip somewhere for a few days...something is better then nothing. My last good deed, my last goodbye and my last gift to them.

 

And wow that's all super depressing to read and think about huh? Whoops.

[Fleck586 | 300]

It all started for me in the early 2000's trying to rebuild my NES collection from my childhood.  That's when I learned that collecting was a thing.  I then started buying as many games that looked cool to play them as I could.  I would go to Pawn Shops, Flea Markets, Garage Sales, and Thrift Stores and find loads of old games.  I remember one guy at a flea market would empty people's attics and bring all the boxes of stuff to sell.  He would sell each item for a quarter and you could fill a box with anything for $10.  I would load up on anything game related and walk away for $10 on most Saturdays.  I found two ROBs that way and a CIB (top flap missing, though) Stack Up.  I just fell in love with the hunt.  As I've gotten older and have a bit more disposable income (my wife would argue this point), I've selectively completed a few sets and I've become an avid Switch collector.  For me, it's just a hobby.  I play a lot of games, but as we've grown our family, my time to play has decreased immensely.  I love it, though.  I especially love the look on people's faces when they see my collection for the first time.  It's basically a playable museum for people my age.  

[peg | 370]

Speculation and profit!

[Brickman | 3,983]

When I started collecting games my main focus was getting the games I enjoy/would enjoy to play on most consoles.

I have since refined my collection to just collecting for one genre, shmups.

I find collecting one particular genre to be much easier and more enjoyable for me.

[Philosoraptor | 468]

Wish I had a cool story. Initially, I just bought games that got good reviews or that I knew were good until I knew which games, series, and genres I liked. Consoles only, though. No PC games. I bought Sega, Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft stuff as GameStop was clearing it out of their stores. I was always a gen behind, if not two, but it got me the most good games for my money.  

Over the last decade or so, I've gotten most everything I want, aside from new releases. The current state of my collecting is the same, but much slower. I might buy 30 games a year now, if that.

[thesubcon3 | 18]

I’m to the point where I own all the classics I want and basically focus on getting games for the Nintendo Switch that matches my personal tastes. Now that my daughter is 7 it’s great to introduce her slowly to classic games too!