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I’ll try and answer this topic with my own collecting trajectory. Initially, I just wanted to buy some cheap games for nostalgic thrills and pieces that I had missed out that I had always wanted to try. Mainly stuff from the 90s. Then I started noticing sellers on eBay with humongous amounts of listings and I both admired and envied their collections. Effectively that lead me to the path of “follower” where I wanted to emulate others’ full sets, subsets etc. Somewhere along this collecting path, I branched out into my own variant desires as well as started to trim and add games that had fitted better with my collecting tastes and circumstances. Eventually, it’s got me now to the point I don’t care what others have, and I just keep doing my own trimming and adding to my collection, and at my own pace. I certainly stIll enjoy seeing others stack of goodies, but I now no longer feel the need to emulate anyone.

I haven’t played some of these games, particularly the Genesis-only games. Some quick comments: - Altered Beast was a cool early title, pack-in game. However, it’s shallow as heck and probably one of the weakest games in the poll list. - Greendog vs Turtles. No contest! - I loved Quackshot. Possibly one of the most underrated Sega games in the 90s.

I’ve seen around 20 on the list. I definitely plan to watch more of the titles on this list, but not keen on watching all of them. I like a good mix of US/English movies but also Eastern movies, where I love the action/thriller/ horror elements.

Just the other day I had a funny parcel story so I thought I share it here (actually 2 stories). 1. Recent story: 3-4 months ago I had purchased a cheap Sega Megadrive game around $20 AUD (including postage). A week then passed and on the tracking it says delivered on the official tracking website. I checked everywhere, front porch, front lawn, I didn’t see anything. So weeks go by and I honestly thought the package was either stolen or there was some dogdy stuff going on with the local postal office. 3 months later, I had completely forgotten about it..Until..my mother told me she found a package put in the garage shed which somehow nobody noticed! Sure enough, it was the Megadrive game from the eBay purchase at the end of 2023! The postman had the bright idea of leaving it inside my garage when the door was left open, instead of leaving it in the usual spot at the front porch! 2. Embarrassing tale: I would be interested if anyone else has ever done the same.. A few years back, I sold some stuff and sent one of the parcel with my details as the buyer and the buyer details put in the seller’s section. TLDR - I sent the package to my damn self!!

One of the most iconic games on Atari. Loved it when I had played in the late 80s. Hard to rate any Atari games with modern era games, but for pure simplistic fun, this one is a recommend. 8/10.

Yeah, ON PAPER. They were piggy backing their reputation from the NA forum and its members. Once they got a sniff of the momentum, it became an amazing disappearing magic trick.

I think there are several layers of greed at play: 1. WATA overhyping and overmarketing themselves to be superior than VGA. It was mainly all talk without the actual evidence. The only thing they’ve shown from the start was that they had more collector friends than VGA, who gave them their backing. Meanwhile, the products were yet to be served. 2. Jim Halperin facilitating the speedy market growth and his application of prior market manoeuvres (that benefits him but to the detriment of the collecting market). 3. Shonky bidding by HA participants which appear grossly disingenuous, relative to where the market was at. —————— I like your pig to hog analogy. Meanwhile, it’s sad to see how genuine graded collectors were instantly being priced out overnight with the top-tier items, and to see so many newcomers who obviously have no care for the hobby other than the monetary value to boast/hype/resell.

Ok, it’s time to man up. How much are they paying you?

Great read @PII! You're quite talented in various fields! In fact, I’m starting to realize this forum is actually filled with multi-talented geeks, rather than just plain game geeks! I’m not quite sure on your stance on the music thing. Maybe it was the type of music that you were playing that was more associated with depressive scenes? Lately, I’ve been heavily into sports and fitness, and music has been inspiring me to find my best self-version as opposed to a lazy hack that I used to be. Good luck with your novel writing endeavours!

I dunno, the Heritage Auctions thread is pretty epic. So much data mining to be had!

Prior to the WATA/HA cranial infestation, game collectors cared for the words “rare” and “mint”. First prints were rarely talked about simply because those were often mass produced and weren’t rare at all (for the most part)! I think rare print-runs and limited editions were more the fancy rather than first-prints. Sometimes first prints can be rare, so that would then be the obtainable challenge/goal. It’s a completely different concept to that of comics and other older hobbies, whereby first-prints would mean many decades old, and most would likely be trashed and looking very ugly by present day. Hence those would generally be all rare in nice condition and would be adored by any such collectors.

I’d like to think I was one of the first here to actually use the words “market manipulation”. These were posted on the official “Heritage Auctions” thread: Those thoughts above were me previously suspecting more the people at Heritage Auctions and the buyers being in some sort of collusion. I wasn’t agreeable to all the initial hype and WATA initial delays, but now seeing the full context of behind-the-scenes, it’s freakin’ amazing how they think they’d get away with all the shenanigans like this without rich people not going to be pissed off AND having the power to sue?!

On face value, I would pick either Mario or Castlevania series, as those are the 2 main ones I’ve played the most while completing a fair few of the games within the respective franchises. On deeper thoughts, I think it would have to be a series with close to unlimited replayability. I think I would personally choose Defense Grid, a tower defense game. This is the type of game I’ve been playing mostly for the past 5 years in short bursts. Have yet to try the 2 sequels on the Xbox One as I don’t own that console. Certainly something I look forward to trying out in the foreseeable future.

I missed out on the N64 era for the most part, but thankfully have tried a few of the top titles and this was one of them. I enjoyed Super Mario Kart on the SNES and this took it one step further with the better gameplay, graphics and depth a la adventure mode. I haven’t had the chance to play much of Mario Kart 64 so can’t compare the 2 main N64 kart games. However, I can judge solely on DKR’s own merits and say that this is a fine example of a racing game. It’s also a perfect example of a racer for those who aren’t normally into racing games, worth to give it a spin. 9/10

The circle of life - birth, grow bigger, get weaker, organs malfunction, death. The earlier we can accept this cycle, the more we can value our lives better and the lives of our loved ones. On personal reflection, my parents were below average in the parenting arena, having high expectations of me in academics and often emotionally neglected me while doing their own thing with their careers. My dad previously also had serious gambling problems. I used to have a lot of resentment for them as they never took the time to understand my goals and interests. The present day me is more accepting of life’s positives and negatives and I don’t feel the same level of resentment as I once had for my parents. In fact, both are now with elderly ailments, and I’ve been paying them a lot more visits and can appreciate now how parenting has its own life challenges that you can never fully understand as a child. Nowadays, I let the bygones be bygones and appreciate each day as it comes. My life advice for anyone is that you should remind your parents to do regular yearly health checks to better their chance of longevity. Our bodies often start to show a decline in our 40s and it becomes faster and more noticeable by the decades.

I voted Ghostbusters. So freakin’ iconic! I would like to also suggest this: (edit: just saw wongojack’s response; Pretty Woman song was absolutely classic retro and it fit the movie perfectly)

Makes me wanna try that game now. Some big semblance of Streets of Rage music with that 90s techno feel.

I recall the magazines at the time were raving about Sonic CD and its superior graphics and sounds. Something about the gimmick of past and future versions of stages which gives it more depth and a need for exploration more than prior Sonics. I’ve only played a stage or two with this game and can’t give it a proper review score. I can see though how this game can divide the fans, as this one favours more the experimenting and explorative nature of a 2D Sonic formula.

It’s hard to picture the grime/label arrangement to give a proper advice. Maybe pics could help. Have you tried a slightly wet tissue with a gentle rub of the grime?

I haven’t been grading since the pandemic, but I can give some suggestions: - if you’re looking for the cheapest option, then it’s just a matter of browsing the relevant websites. - if you’re assuming WATA is going to give better returns if considering a resell, then I don’t think that’s a guarantee in the current market. - VGA is still an option because it has more serious collectors who give it more trust than the newer companies. Yes, they all have some flaws, but VGA is undoubtedly more reliable as a grading service.

Plot twist: that crack pipe was a limited edition, rarer than the AirZonk!

I don’t think any franchise should retire as all it takes is a refinement with some slight additions and the franchise may well kick into another gear again. Having said that, and despite my Sega affection, I feel the 3D Sonic games have a limit to how far they can stretch, as the maniacal speed running in a 3D platform doesn’t quite translate well into games. I’m fine with future 2D Sonic games if new concepts can be added.

This is interesting to reflect, as I like art but I never really cared about the color to choose in the player design. In fact I can barely remember a game in which I choose a color other than the original one! The only example I can think of is choosing between the red Ken (original SF2) or purple/yellow Ken (revised editions), in which I liked choosing random colors.

I gave it a 7. However, I actually share similar sentiments to yours. I have it on Xbox Live and played it for a stage or two. I recall enjoying the game but for some reason it never hooked me to keep playing like Contra or Metal Slug. I might give it another go to see how my views have changed.

Good to see you have a clearer understanding of your goals. Having 90% of them sealed/graded is already a mighty fine effort. Congrats on the achievement so far!