Useless storage

[MrSparkle]

Alright so i constantly see people selling cartridge storage shelves and boxes from years past. The problem with these things is that they typically hold between 4-8 games. Now i know that the members of digital press are not average game consumers in terms of collection size, but even the average consumer is going to have more than 4-8 games for a system. Who on earth thinks that these products are even remotely useful?

[Draven]

Yeah, pretty crazy. Even if a system is new (i.e. current gen) and games are running typically $50 each, you should still amass a larger collection than 8 in your first year alone. That is, unless you're on a budget. And if you are on a budget, I can't see anyone purchasing a storage box for games instead of getting a new title. I always kept my games in shoeboxes when I was younger. I couldn't afford many new games and definitely wouldn't waste any allowance on a box to hold them!

[MrSparkle]

If your never going to get beyond the eight game mark for a system why even bother with the purchase of the system. The greedy storage shelf companies are probably hoping you'll buy like 30 of their tiny shelves to hold your games/cds/dvds.

[skaar]

Alright so i constantly see people selling cartridge storage shelves and boxes from years past. The problem with these things is that they typically hold between 4-8 games. Now i know that the members of digital press are not average game consumers in terms of collection size, but even the average consumer is going to have more than 4-8 games for a system. Who on earth thinks that these products are even remotely useful?

I dunno, back in the day I had a holder that would hold 8 SNES games. The others I'd keep in drawers, but the ones I played the most got the "honour spot" on the rack. Gradually I got some bigger shelves but I quite enjoyed having to pick my faves for who got to be in the nice box. Games that pissed me off got the drawer ;)

People weren't anywhere near as media-happy back then too - you'd carefully consider purchases rather than buying a box set, etc. Now in the era of disposable media and binware everything... things are different.

[MrSparkle]

When i was a kid the first game system i owned that was specifically purchased for me (ie not a hand me down like my intellivision) was an NES. By the time I got a genesis (right when the model 2 was released) I had a collection of about 25 NES games. that would be three 8 game shelves, and id still have a lonely cart sitting on top of one of them.

[Draven]

"Honor Spot"...."lonely cart"...phrases I'm all too familiar with. How sad.

[Ed Oscuro]

If your never going to get beyond the eight game mark for a system why even bother with the purchase of the system.
If you'd be happier with just those eight games than without.

If you're just buying crap for the sake of filling up your house...well, you get less than what you pay for, usually.

I have two Game Gears and not eight games for the system that I really want to play - I might not even have eight games total. Still was worth it because the games I like I really like.

[Draven]

I have about 15 games for the Game Gear and I enjoy playing about 10 of them. The rest of the library (I have no idea how many games they made for that thing) I haven't even played, so I would safely assume that there are more than 8 good games for that system. Why not go ahead and get them, unless restrained by a budget? And why can't these guys make something that holds more than a small handful? I have a bag for mine and it holds 12 games and has flaps on both sides, room for the magnifier, chargers, etc. One of the only "storage devices" I actually like...but its still another product from the same money-hungry accessory-making companies that like to prey on consumers. I can't even begin to count how many of these storage boxes, light screens, cases, etc. are at the local flea market, almost being given away now, but were crazy popular when first released. I guess since there's such a huge market for crappy accessories they'll keep producing them...just like Dragonball Z games!

[Nikademus1969]

If your never going to get beyond the eight game mark for a system why even bother with the purchase of the system. The greedy storage shelf companies are probably hoping you'll buy like 30 of their tiny shelves to hold your games/cds/dvds.

Well, there were some companies that made interlocking shelves so I'm sure that was the idea.

[Draven]

The only system I have a small number of games for is my 4 year old daughter's VSmile (we have 4 games) and it has its own built-in crappy storage! Actually, it's pretty nice...a flip up cover on top of the system that holds 4 or 6 games. We'd have more games for it if she had any interest in playing it, but she prefers the NES or SNES...daddy's little girl.

[jb143]

I remember having one of those for the NES growing up. It stored about 8 games and the controllers and zapper as well. We maybe got 1 or 2 games at most on Christmas and birthdays, so it took a while before we needed more space than that. Beyond that I think we just used a shoe box. It wasn't untill the local video stores went out of buisness and started selling all their stuff for cheap that the collection really grew.

[Cornelius]

I imagine the bulk of sales for these was parents trying to have some semblance of order around the TV in the living room.

I don't think I ever had more than 8 games for the NES back in the day, and we had one of those grey holders. Games just weren't in the budget, but my mom couldn't stand loose games everywhere. Might be part of why I collect today.

[Kid Fenris]

If your never going to get beyond the eight game mark for a system why even bother with the purchase of the system.

Because those eight games are good enough to merit keeping a system. I own about 10 systems for which I have fewer than eight games each.

QUALITY OVER QUANTITY

DO THE MATH

RON PAUL 2012

[Jimmy Yakapucci]

How about for people that mostly rented games? I am sure that there were/are a lot of people who rent first and if it is a really great game that will get a lot of replay, then a purchase is in order.

JY

[Sosage]

When I first received my NES waaaaaay back in the days it took at least 2-3 years of Christmas and birthdays before I had enough games to fill that dinky official Nintendo cart holder. Some of us just couldn't afford 8+ new games a year back then (that's when trading/borrowing games with friends was king).

[Aussie2B]

What cases only hold 4 games? Most I've seen hold at least 10.

As has been pointed out, not everybody wants to mix all of their games together. I have two wooden NES storage cases that hold 18 games a piece, and I find them perfect for keeping the best games easily accessible.

[FxMercenary]

I use a n64 game case holder. It holds 24 games, thats pretty much it =)

[Atarileaf]

I've got about 15 or so of those little plastic interlocking cubes in the top of this picture. They're for Atari, CV carts. They're fine for small amounts of games but when you get hundreds of carts, those things all locked together take up way too much space so the bulk of my atari games are in display cases stacked together.

[sebastiankirchoff]

I would just use bookshelves for displaying my games. I am a major collector and have literally hundreds of games, so I don't bother with the smaller storage containters. If I am moving or storing games for long periods of time, I just get plastic storage bins.

[Gameguy]

I've got about 15 or so of those little plastic interlocking cubes in the top of this picture. They're for Atari, CV carts. They're fine for small amounts of games but when you get hundreds of carts, those things all locked together take up way too much space so the bulk of my atari games are in display cases stacked together.
I've got one of those too, I'll probably bring it to the next swap meet as I don't really need it.

I also have and use some NES storage containers, I don't really keep all my games together so they are of some use.

[MrSparkle]

When i was a kid i simply kept my games in the really bad "entertainment center" that our tv was house in, Right next to the VHS tapes and of course the beta-max tapes lol. Even as a kid i managed to stockpile games pretty quickly id usually ask for one for my birthday and one for Christmas. but besides that i would take all my lunch money and save it up for Funcoland runs. At this point i have two 6 feet tall shelves which are literally overflowing, as well as several large shipping boxes and a few desks in my workshop just loaded up with games. Really need to build another couple of shelves.

[Draven]

I use a n64 game case holder. It holds 24 games, thats pretty much it =)

That sounds sweet...like something I would actually use. Do you have a pic of this thing?

[hush]

I used to store my games in small cubes or shelves then when my collection started to grom i needed a better way so i had a mate of mine convert the wall in my "shed" into shelving each section is dedicated to a system the shelves have been made to size all my mates refer to it as the museum the only problem i have now is that i need more games to fill all the empty space :-D

[rbudrick]

I always thought these cases were dumb too, but I guess they were ok for the less-than-casual gamer who really only had 8-10 games or less. They make it easy to walk to a friend's house with a few games, but a plastic grocery bag does way better. But yeah, the cases were pretty damn stupid and useless.

I think they were really just overpriced accessories made to trick dumb parents into getting their kids to put their games away. 3 cents worth of materials sold for $14.99=profit.

I do have 3 "book-style" Atari 2600 cases that hold 8 games each. The nice brown or terra cotta spine color matched nicely with the woodgrain of the games system, VCR, shelves, and every other piece of electronics you owned, since in the 80s, entire houses of objects were woodgrain, even the sex toys and the pets. Now these made a hell of a lot more sense to me, since it gave a refined and organized look to the game collection. They said, "I'm not a video gamer. I'm a connoisseur of electronic entertainment media. My mullet should have made this clear to you. I can see you simply think of these as toys. You are surely beneath me."

-Rob

[kaedesdisciple]

Back in the day I used old shipping boxes to store the Atari, Coleco, NES & Genesis games. They were strong enough to do the job and held ~25 each. More than enough to hold everything we had for those systems.

[Draven]

After bashing these types of accessories I started looking at some that have been released for various systems. I really want to get the NES one with the roll-back cover (aka the Bread Box). It's huge, only holds 10 games, and is overpriced. Fits all the crappy peripheral criteria!

[klausien]

Haven't read the entire thread, but I wanted to chime in. I use the old Nintendo 64 branded storage cases for my 64 games. I only really collect what I like to play, so 2 of the ones that hold 20 or so carts does it just fine.

[darkslime]

Haven't read the entire thread, but I wanted to chime in. I use the old Nintendo 64 branded storage cases for my 64 games. I only really collect what I like to play, so 2 of the ones that hold 20 or so carts does it just fine.
Same here.
I've gotten one at a thrift store for like $2 and one with a big N64 lot. They're pretty cool, one I have is full and the other is a little less than halfway.