goldenpp72

Somewhere between a memorable novelty and a good B tier system I would think. It has a ton of hidden gems that are a good unique time, just almost none of them rank in the upper echelon of the industry either. Even Nintendo's own output was largely less stellar than normal on it, so you end up with hundreds of good to great games, but not dozens of astonishing games as is usual with them. Still an important system overall.

People like to go there to see TV's in person... Then buy them on Amazon.

Reality of the world unfortunately, physical media will become a collectors item primarily.

Alright, got the Myst demo in to complete my Jaguar CD unit, and thus the collection as far as I know. Figured I'd throw the pic in before putting it all away

Added a new figure today from Bayonetta (Scarborough Fair) and was happy to finally get something for the pink colored display that was of upper quality. I also added Arthur from GnG awhile back. Slowly but surely I'm removing the more cheap or 'junky' things that pad the displays into more significant items, will be cool to finish someday!

I'm missing the Myst demo so I just ordered that for symmetry, but this is the whole retail set for this juggernaut of a system I think

All done, updated the post, but I'll be letting this go into the grave from here, thanks all!

While this will always feel like a bit of an underwhelming finale, after 15 years and 10K+ in CIB games, I picked off the final one I plan on buying in the retro sense. Obviously something else may pop up over time, but as far as my own research and list making goes, I finally finished! This would also be the last game for the Jaguar CD that I was missing which would complete the full set for that system, which again is a bit of an underwhelming finale all things considered, but happily I was actually able to get my Jaguar CD unit working without spending a dime! Brain Dead 13 being the finale game, not a particularly beloved game but it's the most difficult US release to find for this system with the big box. Bonus pictures of a couple games post Jaguar CD repair Eventually I'll post a new tour later in the year once I get everything cleaned up and such since the area is a bit messy. As for what's next, really just focusing on keeping up with modern platforms and continuing some clean up/repairs on older more rough shape disc based titles, it'll take awhile but at least the expense will drastically reduce!

Down to 1

Got down a couple more.. slowly, painfully, but here we are

Sort of, I have a retro finish line, but I still collect on modern things which is tough to put a finish on until it becomes all digital I guess.

There is always a balance in terms of production versus quality, most companies would have a much easier time making a 30 minute game be astonishing, versus making a 20 hour game astonishing. Treasure I think just worked with what they had, they didn't have the staff or ability to play with the big boys and it's why they aren't really around anymore. Atlus is kind of in the middle, they are rarely able to produce a legitimate, truly iconic series that hits significant appeal, but they can cater to their base well, and as such budget accordingly. This is an area even Nintendo struggles with at times, Nintendo has a history of being afraid of budgeting too much money for some series because you can't put the genie back in the bottle as it were. If you make it 'too good' with too much money, you can't go back to the standard from before without angering the people you had on board, while running the risk of not expanding the base enough to offset that. We can see that recently with Kirby, Nintendo was always pretty keen on keeping them simple 2D games because Kirby always sold modestly, someone convinced them to finally let them budget for a big 3D production and now it's already the top selling game in the franchise, soon by a lot. People like to pretend their isn't an association to money versus quality but, developers ain't free, so I think it can be easily argued with some degrees, and I would say Treasure, Atlus and Nintendo all hit a different degree of the concept, with Nintendo being the most efficient at putting out the best work, where as Capcom can put out rivaling products but tends to spend a lot more doing so, but Atlus isn't really capable of that, on purpose at this point. I know this isn't entirely lined up with the discussion, but i felt like adding it onto the topic of Treasure

I don't think they are overrated, but it's important to contextualize their value. Treasure is not capable of making huge, meaty games and they never have been. Their strength was in brief arcade like experiences and they managed to stick the landing big time there, which makes them extremely important if you like those sorts of games (I do) Just, you can't really compare Ikaruga to RE4 on the Gamecube and expect it to seem like a balanced comparison, they just knew how to hit very well in their weight class as it were. I miss them though, shame all they do is port stuff these days.

Really depends, Xbox people certainly don't run around busting down the doors, and while there are some rarities, the PS1, PS2, PS3 and PSP are still pretty cheap to collect for. You see some increases on the more obscure gems but, all very much doable still. It really is just Nintendo and Sega that command the highest prices at this moment, throw in some Neogeo or other obscure golden age systems and you have your big money areas. I think the rarest Xbox title I own is worth like, 150 bucks, and I have over 1000 games across them.

A fun thing I've noted, is that the Gamecube was largely cherished by children, and when I say that, I mean the kids who grew up with that system still adore it. You can see this with a ton of Youtube personalities of people in their 20s these days, people who's first console was a Gamecube or both a Gamecube and a PS2, the fondness for the Gamecube is infinitely greater and more revered by those people. PS2 is a great system, but it was kind of the king of '7/10' or '8/10' games and didn't have many truly legendary titles, where as the Gamecube had games that people still obsess over today like RE4, Prime, Wind Waker, or oddly, Sonic Adventure 2 (I love this game but it doesn't quite fit, but hey, people adore it today). Now we see the system and its lineup creeping up in price, meanwhile the other system that sold about the same, the Xbox, has almost no placement in the collector market. Nintendo has fortitude for sure, if not at the time, it'll come get you later.

Sega tried this a bit, so I recall it since I grew up in the 90s, but I wouldn't say they were ever successful in the prime sense. Sega managed to kind of cater to the teen boy group, but Nintendo still outsold both their hardware and their software by significant amounts. The N64 definitely had SOME of the 'kiddy' stuff, but it was offset a bunch by games like Goldeneye, Mario Kart and Smash being very popular with college groups, etc. There's always been a bit of wiggle room with this, Game Boy was one big for all, kids, adults, whoever, but then when the GBC hit with Pokemon, it definitely was more slanted for kids at that point, then the GBA was just as such with anime game focuses, etc, but then the DS brought it back with a more casual, everyone approach. The Gamecube is easily the most oppressed they ever were when it came to this topic though, largely because of insecure gamers and media not being able to accept they can still play Nintendo games.

The only reason they sheltered the Gamecube generation was the success of the GBA, and even then, I believe Nintendo recorded their first ever loss in a quarter during that time. I think people need to recall what things were like at that time, the media was heavily against Nintendo and many were pining for them to 'go third party' just as Sega did. There was a strong narrative about how their games were only for kids and that they needed to get with it, hence Nintendo themselves saying they don't intend to allow Mario to shoot at hookers. In a time where mega corporations were entering this hobby, Nintendo seemed small time in contrast and it didn't seem likely they would be able to hold up forever against MS and Sony, even today, they are considered a sort of adjacent to the normal industry rather than part of it directly like the other 3 primary platforms, they exist in their own sphere almost. That was a time where owning more than one console was extremely rare, versus these days where it's perfectly normal to own a Switch and a PS5. If you were around the hobby at the time, you'll recall it was the 'growing up awkward teen years' of the medium, where everything needed to become dark, gritty, and mature in order to be relevant. Even reviewers were acting like manchildren at this time trying to prove how mature each game they played was. It's how we ended up with stuff like Jak II, Shadow the Hedgehog and Prince of Persia: Warrior Within to name a few. The media was entirely slanted against Nintendo, and at that time, it felt pretty uncertain how much they could shelter the way things were going. However, they cast a pretty wide net with the Wii and DS, capturing kids, old people, women, alongside faithful Nintendo fans, and as those people grew up, had kids, got married, etc, they made fortified Nintendo fans while everyone else was chasing whatever the hot new perceived trend was. This is why games like Mario 64 still perform better in Twitch streams than newer games like Halo Infinite. Nintendo just leaves their mark in a way other companies rarely do, and now that their oldest base is in their 30s to 40s and comfortable to be playing on Nintendo hardware without fear to look 'teh kiddie' as they said back in the day, it has allowed them to remain prominent. It doesn't hurt that women like Nintendo which coincides with being able to play stuff with our partners more, etc. Obviously Nintendo was shaken up by the Wii U, but that was simply a misfire of a product entirely rather than a non existent demographic which seemed to be the risk during the Gamecube era. Despite that, we did not see the price hemorrhaging of games or insane flops that the Gamecube had. First party titles on Wii U still outsold their counterparts on the Gamecube largely despite the disparity in the hardware units, the top selling Gamecube game is Melee at like 6 million units which is eclipsed or matched by quite a few Wii U titles. Those Wii U titles retained their prices in contrast to how Gamecube titles plummeted in price, you could find games like Sunshine or Metroid Prime on the cheap rapidly during that time along with a 99 dollar gamecube not that late in life, with bundled games, a totally different story in the modern times where Nintendo is able to retain their prices. I don't think the Wii U ever once got a real price drop, and only a few games got the 'Nintendo Selects' treatment in contrast.

Partly I'm sure, it failed to sell as much as their prior console, nor near as much as their biggest competitor.. However their IP sold a lot and made successful jumps to 3D while cementing their brands forever basically, the only time Nintendo was likely truly worried was the Gamecube generation, but thankfully, they seemed to have weathered that generation fine.

The vast bulk of them came from Etsy across various sellers, the only one you'd likely not be able to find today are the Game Over sign which I had custom made like 7 years ago from a guy who disappeared, the Zelda swag on the left was just some cheapo Halloween merch. Etsy sellers put in the work in my area for sure though.

Not really one specific pick up as it were, but I've had an area under my staircase that was always kind of barren looking in contrast to the rest of the area, and really, a bit of minimalism never killed anyone, but I decided to use the space to throw up a bunch of random stuff I never found a place for, but in turn I then had to buy more stuff to fill in the rest which kind of backfired.. Either way, it's not very well themed, but I suppose it looks a bit festive for being under a staircase. This is the last area I intend to really add to aside my areas for more figures as they release, so it's a cherry on top. It was a bit tough to try and angle/position the stuff so you could see everything from many angles, and since the TV is fat and can't be against the wall, I decided to throw some truly "I have no idea" stuff right behind it in case anyone decides to be sneaky and look behind You would not see the stuff under the Castlevania/Metroid/N64 logos naturally for the most part though. The heart is a Genesis Ms. Pac-Man heart that the seller threw in for free when making the authentic arcade style one that I ended up placing, if anyone cared.

Interesting, so it's not a promotional item of some kind?

I wasn't planning to buy this (or didn't know it existed) but I happened across it and it seemed like it would be a fun addition to my Mega Man display. I admittedly don't know a lot about it, but maybe someone here knows more about the history of it? My understanding is it was some kind of limited controller made for the MMX collection release on Gamecube, but I'm not sure if it was press limited or something else, either way, it looks kinda cool to have a weird trinket as such, as I don't usually collect limited hardware things. I forgot to take a picture of the insides, but here is what is inside it per another persons image.

Is it enough that I keep both of my Wii U's plugged in? I don't turn either on often, but they do have power a lot of times.

Possibly not super interesting but this one was always difficult for me to come by but also justify. Donkey Kong on the Colecovision was bundled with the console, but apparently a boxed edition existed. I could never find concrete evidence for why it exist, some speculation was that the Adam system didn't come with DK and that tanked in the US and they made this to sell for those buyers, so it could explain why it's hard to come by. It's a lot for some cardboard, but I like finally having one.

Well, I can almost fit everything in one title now with little compromise, but one more down would make it feel tighter