What do you think of my collecting habbits?

[Retro_player]

I collect games in this condition:
- Snes: Cart only
- N64: Cart only
- Game Boy: Cart only
- Game Gear: Cart only
- Saturn: Boxed
- PSone: Boxed
- PS2: Boxed
- Dreamcast: Boxed
- 32X: Boxed
- Jaguar: Boxed
- Linx: Boxed
- MegaCD: Boxed

Do you think I shouldn't make cart only collections?
Give me your thoughts please

regards!

[metal_head]

I think you should collect whatever you like...your hobby, your choice.

If you enjoy your collecting then great.....if you want to PLAY the games then who needs the boxes?

[digitalpress]

Collecting habits are completely subject to the collector's goals and tastes. What you've got here looks fine to me personally, if it's fine with you!

Now if you're collecting SPECIFICALLY to profit from it later, I'd say stick to boxed/complete packages unless you find loose items at a STEAL of a price.

Otherwise, it's really up to you! Just have FUN with it.

[Ed Oscuro]

Yep, it's up to you.

I have a question, though: you're from Europe or England, right? I see Mega CD on that list. How about Mega Drive games...do you collect those, and do you go for cart only or complete? I'm curious as to the answer here (wondering if other people feel, like I do, that complete Genesis titles stay nice longer than complete SNES games).

[Retro_player]

Sorry...

Forgot that one...
Megadrive I collect complete, because the megadrive boxes are more like jewel cases than really boxes.

regards!

[Ed Oscuro]

That's essentially how I view it. The MD game boxes are very nice to look at (especially the Japanese versions) and pretty sturdy. Thanks!

[hu6800]

I collect games in this condition:
- Snes: Cart only
- N64: Cart only
- Game Boy: Cart only
- Game Gear: Cart only
- Saturn: Boxed
- PSone: Boxed
- PS2: Boxed
- Dreamcast: Boxed
- 32X: Boxed
- Jaguar: Boxed
- Linx: Boxed
- MegaCD: Boxed

Do you think I shouldn't make cart only collections?
Give me your thoughts please

regards!

Why limit yourself?
You mean to tell me,,, if you seen a NEO GEO CD player in the box
for $5 at a tagsale,, you wouldnt buy it and start collecting ?

Collect them all (pokemon styles) , you only live once dude.

[hydr0x]

I collect games in this condition:
- Snes: Cart only
- N64: Cart only


x_x i really couldn't do that, the boxes are the best part of a lot of games ;)

[AB Positive]

I have some quirks similar to this:

SNES - Cart only for the most part. Any RPG I try to get complete but otherwise I don't realy care too much.

Super Famicom - Complete mint ONLY. I'm very very picky with this, as I love the japanese packaging style for these games.

Neo-MVS - Cart only. I'll take kits if they're a steal but I really just want the cart to put in a shock box with a snazzy insert. I have no use for kits. Arts and mini marquees, yes. Boxes? No.

-AG

[josekortez]

Usually, I can only find good NES and SNES games without boxes or instructions, but that won't keep me from buying them. They don't get as much play as the new stuff anyway, so I don't worry about it much. Really, it comes down to how cheap they are. I used to say I'd never buy any Genesis games without the boxes, and I got a bunch for a song at a yard sale last month. So, I guess it really doesn't matter to me.

[chaoticjelly]

Anything as long as its cheap!!! im an impulsive sod!!!! :evil:

[Iron Draggon]

Personally, I always wished the SNES had nice plastic cases like the Genesis, instead of just cardboard boxes like the later Genesis titles and 32X games. That way you could keep the manuals and all the extras with the cart itself, instead of just having all the manuals stored in a big cardboard box like I do.

I never liked the big bulky cases for Sega CD and Saturn games either, so I put all of mine in regular jewel cases and keep the manuals in the same box with my SNES, Game Gear, 3DO, and Jaguar/Jaguar CD manuals. Needless to say, this means that I have a really big box full of nothing but manuals, and if I need to refer to one I have to dig through all the manuals in that box to find it. Of course they're all alphabetized and categorized by system, so it's not very hard to find the ones I'm looking for, but it's alot more difficult than just sliding them out of the same case that I keep the cartridge in for sure.

This has also devalued the vast majority of my collection as well, because the only complete games that I have are my Genesis and 32X games. All the rest of them are complete except for the boxes, which obviously are necessary to some collectors for the artwork and screenshots on them, if nothing else.

It's a shame that I threw away all the other boxes and cases as I got them, but I have so many games for so many different systems that I really didn't have very much of a choice about it. What I do still have takes up enough space as it is, so if I still had all the rest of the original packaging, I'd have even less space for more games than I do now. And I want more games!

The way I see it, even without most of the boxes and original cases, my collection is still worth a fortune, it's just not worth as much of a fortune as it would be if I still had all the missing boxes and cases. I have so many rare titles that I don't think it really matters much that I don't have the box too. Especially since most of my rarities are for Genesis and 32X, so I do have the boxes for those, which should be more than enough if I ever decide to sell.

I have about $50,000 invested in my game collection, and I'd estimate it at $250,000 today, so by the time I'm an old man (I'm only 35 now) I expect to be a multimillionaire, if I can ever talk myself into parting with my games! At any rate, at least I'll be leaving a very nice legacy for my heirs, as long as they go about selling everything properly, and they match up all my loose manuals with all the cartridges and CD's that they go with. And that's just my video game collection. I have a pretty large board game collection too, and one of them is already worth $1000 right now, so as long as whoever I leave it to researches the true value of it all, they should be very wealthy.

I wouldn't be surprised if I could make myself a millionaire right now, just by selling everything on Ebay, but of course I'd rather just keep on waiting until all my stuff is even older and even more valuable before I consider selling it. That way I still get to enjoy playing all of it in the meantime, and all of my common titles still have a chance of becoming rarities themselves, while I still own them. I've watched a ton of my common titles become rare or highly sought after over the years, so in my opinion even the most common titles are worth holding onto. Eventually they always become scarce, even if all the gamers in the world had one at one time. Nothing lasts forever, right?

Just keep collecting whatever you like, and let time do the rest of the work for you, that's what I do. While everyone else is wishing that they could find one, yours is going up in value, whether it still has the original box or not. As long as you're very careful to keep everything in mint condition by storing it properly, you can still play it as much as you want, and enjoy all the benefits!

[waxpoet]

Right now I am collecting Famicom and Super Famicom. Since it is very expensive to always buy complete games I usually only do so when its a game from a series that a really like...or a really special game. Of course if its a good price I will also buy it.

For example, any Zelda, Metal Gear, Metroid, Ninja Gaiden games I definitely buy with the box and manual.


I might later try to get a larger complete collection but for now I am happy with my favorites boxed and the rest mint carts.

[Videogamerdaryll]

Whatever makes you happy.. :)

[BoOchan]

It depends on what I see, if the box is crappy and cracked or the instruction manual is moldy and in severe disrepair, but the cart in fairly nice condition, I'd throw out the cart and box. I collect Mostly Cart + Box for Sega, due to the cases, As good as I can get for everything else really. Also depends on the price I get it for.

[Ed Oscuro]

It depends on what I see, if the box is crappy and cracked or the instruction manual is moldy and in severe disrepair, but the cart in fairly nice condition, I'd throw out the cart and box. I collect Mostly Cart + Box for Sega, due to the cases, As good as I can get for everything else really. Also depends on the price I get it for.

I never throw out stuff, but if there was mold on something paper I might consider doing that (unless it was on a small area...bleach kills that stuff off). Sometimes you have to sacrifice something to keep everything else in good order, though...

[hezeuschrist]

I can't bring myself to buy something that isn't complete, but it's defeinitely all personal preferance. I'm an anal asshole... ok that was bad. Really bad, I sincerely apologize. Anyways, it's no different with my collection, as tiny as it is. I guess that's why I can always opt for complete, I don't collect much. Just the ones I really enjoyed playing years ago, and the ones I never got a chance to play that I still want to... or if it's classic and cheap (Actraiser complete for $2) I'll grab it.

[Ed Oscuro]

I can't bring myself to buy something that isn't complete, but it's defeinitely all personal preferance. I'm an anal asshole... ok that was bad. Really bad, I sincerely apologize. Anyways, it's no different with my collection, as tiny as it is. I guess that's why I can always opt for complete, I don't collect much. Just the ones I really enjoyed playing years ago, and the ones I never got a chance to play that I still want to... or if it's classic and cheap (Actraiser complete for $2) I'll grab it.

Nah, that's perfectly alright. When I started out I would go and list everything in my posession in GameTZ...now, no big deal. If it doesn't seem desirable to me, it doesn't go on my collection list :)