Have you played every game in your collection?

[recorderdude]

The best thing about video game collecting is that the collectibles can do something other than sit on a shelf...so how do you ensure they do?

I know this topic might seem immensely silly to some, but my game collections have grown so large I often find myself playing only a select few games most of the time, seldom if ever popping in the others. This applies moreso than anything to my 90+ games SEGA Genesis collection: I'll pick up a super cheap game where my purchase is influenced more by price than desire, make sure it works, and then just play a bunch of SNES games or a few of my favorites on Genesis that I've had for a while and practically forget the game exists.

Now, when I mean "played", I mean invested at LEAST a half hour into the game, unless it's super simple like an atari game in which case, ten minutes, or an RPG, in which case, at least an hour.

Whether it's because the games aren't fun to play or because you're busy with others, how often do you find yourself collecting games just to "have" them, even if you never really use them, and, if you've run into this problem before, how did you remedy it? Do you plan specifically to play new additions to the collection ASAP, try to fit them in with what you normally play, just sell what you lose interest in, or something else?

[DK1105]

Right now I am rather behind on my playing because I haven't had the time to sit down and play. As a whole I try to play most of my games when I can. One of my favorite things to do is look through my collection and oh "Oh I haven't played this one yet." Its kinda like going through a rental store for me. It is even more fun to have a buddy over and have them flip though and pick out a game.

I have a really bad habit with my steam account of buying games and never playing them. The bundles really kill me.

[Atarileaf]

This was one of the main reason I purged my collection. I didn't see a reason to buy games to JUST sit on a shelf. So I think I can safely say that I've played every game I currently have for at least 5 minutes to test them. My main problem is time and when I do get some play time in I tend to gravitate to my absolute favorites although I try to mix in some others to keep it fresh.

However as the OP mentioned, games like Atari, Coco, CV, etc are the kind of games you play for a few minutes and move on so I can spend an hour or so playing and go through a couple dozen games at a time.

[Niku-Sama]

i've played MOST of my games. I say that because a few of mine are sealed and/or just too rare to play regularly. Occasionaly its a copy that i got when i was a kid, had it since new and dont want it to get messed up.

But with all of those i usually have a seccond copy, a player, that works but might look like hell.

For instance one of my favorite games is Megaman X series, mostly X3 comes to mind. Thats a hard game to find, infact i havent seen any in the wild since it was new, hence i have a copy that is complete, and a copy that was a rental from Hollywood video. Complete is complete, dont want to screw with it too much, but the hollywood video rental looks like hell. I rented the game ALOT and the times it wasnt in my hands it went through hell, infact it even looks like it was used as a brake for a bicycle. but since it was cheap i figured i would get it, it means more to me than the complete.

as you can imagine doing this gets expencive. I did something similar with Chrono Trigger, I have all major system coppies of that game (Super Famicom [complete], SNES [w/ manual only], PSX [complete], DS [complete]) but i play the least expencive version.

edit:

by the way...

http://guide.digitpress.com:8080/DP/cmf/game.cmf?gameid=13726

that cant be right can it? i knew it was a 5 but $120 for a loose copy?

i've noticed prices for games are way up the past few months

[treismac]

No. I have not played every game in my collection, unfortunately. A while back I was given a crate of Genesis and Atari 2600 games from a friend cleaning out his garage. As I am not a huge Genesis fan, I have only just recently actually started checking some of the games out with my son. And I don't see myself ever bothering to purchase the hookups for either the 32x or Sega CD he gave me in order to play those games, which is a shame because I'd love [i.e. be more than mildly interested] to play Final Fight CD. Who knows, though? I enjoyed playing the Genesis games more than I thought I would; I will more than likely revisit it someday in the future.

There are other games for the NES, my favorite system, that I have I have not, as of yet, given my time to seriously get down on, but I have periods in my gaming cycle where I get curious about less well known games in my collection, so it is just a matter of time.


My main problem is time and when I do get some play time in I tend to gravitate to my absolute favorites although I try to mix in some others to keep it fresh.

Yeah, same here. Also, my young son is now playing video games so a good bit of my gaming goes to playing with him. Not playing the Wii is a rare treat for me. :|

[demen999]

I actually have quite a few that I haven't played, the list might be 15-20 perhaps. Some games I got in trades or extras and didn't really care for them, I don't have the system or just don't have the time. Thank god my obsessive collector days are over...

[Polygon]

Nope.

Mainly because I've started collecting for systems I don't have yet.

[Aussie2B]

I've never understood collectors who don't try out games as they get them. I mean, don't you at least want to confirm that they work right? I've tested almost everything in my collection, probably in the ballpark of 30 minutes each, give or take. There are some exceptions, though, like games for systems I've yet to get, games where I have the system stored away at my mom's or vice versa, games that were for my fiance or he just wanted to try first so I didn't bother myself, and a very small number of games that are still sealed for one reason or another (but I do open and try out 99% of my sealed games when I get them).

My problem is getting around to seriously playing a game. Casually trying something out for a short bit is a totally different experience from sitting down with them for real, with the intention of beating them. Way too many of my games have seen nothing but a brief try, even games I acquired over a decade ago.

[Emperor Megas]

I haven't played even half the games in my collection; there's just not enough time. I'd stopped purchasing current gen games that are more than $10 and have been playing through my current gen backlog, with a last gen title thrown into the mix every now and again, trying to get the backlog down. Cartridge era games I don't worry as much about because they're pick up and play endeavors more than anything else, and usually only last a few hours.

[kupomogli]

Nope. Unless it's to test a game that I got used to see if it's working, I don't like to put any time into a game I don't plan on attempting to play towards completion.

With everything from the NES to the N64, I can't think of anything I own that I haven't played. However, the PS2 and onward is a different story. I haven't played about 40-50 PS2 games I own, 30-40 DS, and 10-20 PSP. The current and next gen consoles and portables all less than five.

[BydoEmpire]

Most, but not all. There are some PS1, PS2 and Xbox games I bought (or were given to me) and never played. I have also bought some games I haven't gotten to work yet (hopefully they just need a good cleaning.

[JSoup]

No, but it's something I've been working on for years. Aside from a few flea market purchases, it's mostly Steam games I've never started up.

Generally, if I'm going to play a game, it's because I'm planning on making some kind of progress. If I don't plan on making progress, I don't turn the game on. Which is why I have games I've never played. "Do I think I can devote an hour to this, maybe see how far I can get, etc? No? Not gonna bother, then."

[kupomogli]

I forgot about Steam and GOG. I have 51 games on Steam and a few on GOG. I've played four games between both.

[sloan]

No way. My collection is for my retirement years. Then, I should have ample time to play most or all of them.

[Bloodreign]

To finish 1,000 + games would take dedication, but I have tested all games in my collection. Do not have the time to play everything, but I try and keep a rotation for the really good stuff to be played in and out.

[Edmond Dantes]

Well, technically I've played every game I own, because whenever I buy a new game I make a point to playtest it when I get home.

[Collector_Gaming]

Technically yes (well except for RAGE which i got off steam.. I have yet to fire that one up)

Have I progressed very far and/or beaten them all? Hell no!

I got a bunch of NES games, SNES games, Genesis Games, Saturn Games, PS1 and PS2 games, a couple Xbox and xbox 360 games, Gamecube games, N64 games, And i have odd ball games i don't have consoles to so i can beat them like a Master System game i got and a Dream Cast game i got.

I figure i have atleast 100 days worth of non stop gaming to go through. and me being me I got a large list of games I wanna get so I can beat them on steam due to missing out on a few years due to lack of a gaming pc.

[The 1 2 P]

It would be impossible for me to play all my 700 or so games. Soon I'm going to start getting rid of certain collections like my N64 and Wonder Swan ones but even then my collection is way too deep to ever make that big of a dent into it.

[IHatedSega]

Physical games, yes. Downloaded ones, nope :S Ive got so many, and some arent compatible with emulators, or I just want to have it but not actually play it.

[Flashback2012]

Oh hell no. @_@

[PapaStu]

I haven't even played all 32 US NGPC games and thats a complete set.

[Steven]

The best thing about video game collecting is that the collectibles can do something other than sit on a shelf...so how do you ensure they do?

Simple: my drive to eventually play every last single SNES game in my collection. 7 years in since I got back into this scene and it will probably take me 7 more years before I get through every last one... not until 2020 maybe. I find keeping game journals to highlight notes helps tremendously. Also, I love reviewing them on my website, and I can't review 'em until I play (through) 'em. One of the most satisfying things IMO is playing through your games one at a time... and then shelving it ONLY AFTER you've maxed it out.

http://www.rvgfanatic.com/mediac/400_0/media/DIR_1840243/391ad86ab9b5bd5dffff819ca00140f.JPGhttp://www.rvgfanatic.com/mediac/400_0/media/DIR_1840243/75d55f9ab9b55c26ffff81a6a00140f.jpghttp://www.rvgfanatic.com/mediac/400_0/media/DIR_1840243/75d55f9ab9b55c26ffff81a7a00140f.JPG

On a side note, I recently pontificated on my website about why my SNES fire has been burning these last 7 years. For anyone who might be curious, the article can be seen here:

http://www.rvgfanatic.com/7443/1803693.html

[Nebagram]

I did a quick look through my records and the results were depressing to say the least. 1706 physical titles owned over 39 different systems, of which I've played 744. I have no intention of letting the 'unplayed' column hit 1000, so I have a busy year ahead of me (even though my collecting habit has slowed considerably over the last couple of years).

[retroguy]

For the most part, I can say yes. My gaming philosophy is to only collect games I actually want to play at some point, so my collection thus far isn't huge (less than 200 games total for 17 systems), but any games I haven't played yet will be gotten to eventually. Actually, in the last few days I've finally started playing Paper Mario after picking it up a year or so ago and I am seriously loving it. Star Fox Adventures will probably be the next one.

[Aussie2B]

These kinds of topics always make me facepalm because it just shows how half of our members don't bother to read anything but the title of a topic. Everybody is throwing around "yes" and "no", yet to different questions. The opening post even defines "playing" as trying out games for a short bit, but so many people are responding as if the question is if we've significantly played/beaten all of our games. I don't know why we even attempt to have discussions if people are too lazy to read what anybody else is writing. :/

[Tanooki]

I doubt I own more than 400-500 games and of that I'd guess 5% or less are unplayed by your criteria in the original post. I tend to get around to stuff but a 1yr old gets in the way. I've had more in the past but I am not into shelf ornaments so it gets used eventually or dismissed for something I will use. Hoarding stuff is just stupid and a waste of money and effort, space too.