A lot of carts = lot of crap???

[Arqueologia_Digital]

I don´t know if this topic exists, but i don´t think so.

Last week i was watching a collector´s room of doom (not from this site) and he has about 15.000 carts from different systems...oh man, i lost the link, but that´s not the point.

I don´t know what´s your opinion about that, but i consider that a lot of cartridges (like this man) is..."al pedo" (not necessary in english). Beware, i´m a collector since 2001 and i like to have a lot of carts from every systems...but...15.000+???? (obviously, he owns about 4 or 5 copies of many games)...

I don´t know...maybe quality before cuantity is best...

So, discuss...(and i hope you understand my point, my english is not the best)

Matías

[GrandAmChandler]

It all depends, I mean I purchase in lots all the time, but thats not to say I won't collect multiples If I see them! I know I have at least 2 of the following:

Pieces for SNES
Final Fantasy III for SNES

etc. etc. etc. But these doubles are used for trade bait to get what I really want

Now that also means I have 10 copies of Pac-Man for 2600 ... But these tend to come in lots of games that have more uncommon or BETTER games with them. I.e. Activision titles, etc. I am all for doubles, more tradebait!

[swlovinist]

I personally dont count doubles in my collection, or my trade stock, which is usually doubles. When I say I have 4000 games, I mean 4000 DIFFERENT ONES. I seperate trade stock from my collection. Some people though, like to have several copies of stuff in their personal collection, but not me.

[Nesmaster]

i have very few doubles of games, and dont count 2 of the same game toward my total number of games. some i have 2 of are:

Ninja Gaiden 3, SMB 1, 2, 3 etc.

[hydr0x]

i think lose carts are crap, no matter how many or if they are doubles (only exception are lose carts to play if the actual game is sealed), i currently have about 50 lose carts in my ~700 (unique) collection and i'm considering selling them all on ebay soon, they haven't got much more appeal to me than a ROM, at least for the common->uncommon games, i keep R6+ lose games as long as i don't have the complete one

but yeah, even if i would collect lose games, having more than 2 per game is ridiculous imho, at least if you're not wanting to sell them

[jdc]

It's hard to find non-loose NES carts in the wild (does the average person really find the box and instructions of games to be that much of a pain in the ass to keep?) The thing that I like about the NES carts is that they at least stack well.

I have purposely avoided loose N64 carts up until now....I only have 2 in my whole collection. But.....there are some games out there that I can't find boxed but they're plentiful as loose. I figure that this is the year that my collection takes a turn and gets loose carts added. If I don't, building an entire NA N64 collection is going to take way too long.

[hydr0x]

If I don't, building an entire NA N64 collection is going to take way too long.

see, that's the completionist in me i guess, i would never really think "i've got a complete set" if boxes are missing, i could live with some manuals, but boxes? no way. Yes, i would probably claim here that i have a complete collection (which ain't false!) but for me personally i couldn't sleep well until i have the last box LOL

i understand that for US NES it's a completely different story as you actually find a lot of stuff in the wild (Germany's wild just plain sucks, i'm already happy IF i see a game in the wild, not like you in the US who are happy if they find something good) and most of that is lose

[squidblatt]

I wouldn't count doubles in my collection. 'Course I don't have any except for a loose R-Type for SMS, but on principle I'm against hoarding every copy of a title that I come across.
I have a hard time believing that people who simply buy without discrimination actually enjoy their hobby. It seems more like compulsive behavior than recreation.

As for loose vs complete, it depends on the system for me. For some reason, I don't care if NES or Jaguar games are loose, but I want my SMS and Intellivision games to come with the box. For Intellivision, they need to have everything - overlays, instructions, and box - but I don't mind if my SMS games are without the instructions, although I prefer them to be included.

[vulcanjedi]

Hmm

About 90% of my entire 1000 game collection is loose. I didn't see any point in storing 200 sega boxes so I pulled the covers from the boxes and stored them away. Only kept non standard or mint or rare ones. When I trade doubles it's always the better one so I can get more for it.

My games are for playing :)

VJ

[ClubNinja]

I want to address everything in here:

- I collect loose games for some systems (Genesis and TG-16 most notably) and I'm totally fine with that. I think the cartridges are distinctive enough on their own (Genesis) that the boxes just eat up space. For the TG-16, I like how simple they are to store and organized in binders when loose, so I keep them that way. (PC Engine HuCards stay in their cases though, since I prefer a lot of the art on those). I see nothing wrong with loose games if that's a person's preference.

- Counting doubles seems like nothing more than a tactic to "boost the numbers". I only count a double if it's from a different region or has some sort of unique variation.

- The meat of this topic - having tons and tons of carts/games/whatever. I used to have nearly 500 *different* Atari 2600 games. One day, I realized that I only enjoyed about 15 of them, so I sold my 2600 collection. I've always wanted a complete Genesis collection, but I've realized lately that I have lots of stinkers that I may never touch again. These, I'll probably keep, but they do get me thinking about quality over quantity sometimes. Ultimately, I think it's fine to collect whatever you wish to collect; however, it's not fine to feel badly if your collection isn't as "big" as some others. The only person you have to please (besides possibly your spouse/roommates) is yourself. If your collection consists of your ten favorite games and nothing else, then your collection is just as awesome. Just enjoy it.

[Kejoriv]

I collect loose except for Xbox, NGC and PS2. When I get boxes for n64, nes, etc I trade or sell them away so I can buy more games. Video games arent my main collection, so the less room they take up the better.

[Arqueologia_Digital]

i think lose carts are crap, no matter how many or if they are doubles (only exception are lose carts to play if the actual game is sealed)
Agree with that, i mean, i´m not a sealed games fan, but i consider that loose carts are crap, i have about 30 or 35 loose and i´m selling them currently...

Matías

[thehistorian]

As for me... Anything Pre-cd era I buy loose. After, it's complete or nothing and I could care less if it is sealed so long as it is a good deal.

I don't really count duplicates to my total, and to tell the truth I don't even know exactly how many I have. There are 80+ unique Atari 2600 carts in my collection, the rarest being Strawberry Shortcake. Fortunately, I'm one of the rare few people blessed with a great memory so it is very, very rare that I accidentally buy a duplicates. As someone else stated, sometimes you can't help it when buying lots though.

There are some out there that drive me crazy though. There is one local guy that buys every single NES top loader he can find. I know for a fact that he has at least 12. This hoarding mentality detracts from the hobby. If more people become interested, because they can find and purchase the units, then the collector commmunity grows.

[Cryomancer]

I don't get bitchy about boxes if they came in cardboard. I consider boxes or being sealed, ect a bonus. However, i doubt I'd buy genesis titles other than complete, since a lot of them have plastic cases. Same goes for cd-based games, I don't genereally buy them loose, however I will forego a spine card. I guess I just want the paper products only if they are behind plastic. Does that make any sense?

My pirate collection is obviously different...I think i've made cases for a burn maybe once, and it was an emulator disc anyway. I do store many of them in slim jewel cases, though a couple systems are delegated to spindles.

[NintendoMan]

Thats ALOT of carts!
Quality before quantity for me, definately!! I would have double or triple the amount of games if I wasn't obsessed with of MINT the game is.

[WanganRunner]

I don't count dupes or inventory that I keep for sale (even if not dupes).

I like boxes/manuals if they weren't cardboard. So disc games, Genesis titles, etc.., I want boxes/manuals. Otherwise, I find another way to store them, i.e.:

SNES: I get excess plastic sleeve things (lil clear ones)
NES: Sleeves or clear plastic Nintendo boxes
N64: Clear plastic Nintendo boxes (I'm really anal about these)
Gameboy: Clear plastic
GBA: Hori clear plastic cases (I have dozens)

Demo discs (like magazine demos): custom-printed DVD cases.

I also swap the DVD cases on some PS2 games. You can get cases w/memory card holders on ebay. A clean case is more important to me than whether or not it's original.

[AFGiant]

I don't mind buying anything loose. Hell I bought a loose SMS R1 the other day just because its uncommon to see anything sms around here (even though I could have gotten it complete online for the same price). I enjoy the collectable side of cases and boxes, but I'll buy loose just to say that I own the game. With anything, too.

And another thing. I'm the only collector among my friends, family, school, etc. and sometimes I buy stuff just to get the Wow factor from them. I mean, if someone doesn't really know I collect or that collecting even exists, 50 loose NES games spread evenly across a shelf can do a nice job impressing them :P

[Ed Oscuro]

I definitely agree with you, Arqueologica; I try to have only games I actually like (since it costs me money out of my living budget to buy them, after all)! I can stand having multiple copies of favorites, though.

[Teo]

but...15.000+????

15,000? or was decimal not taliking about currency? wtf

[AlexKidd]

Most of my collection of games that are cartridges are loose. If I get boxes I keep them and display them but it is just too expensive to get all of the nes,snes and tg-16 boxes. I have tons of sega ones. If they're cds/dvds they have to be complete. As for counting doubles I never do and generally sell or trade them. The only doubles I hang on to are my 3 snes systems because if one breaks I'll have another one.

[Ed Oscuro]

but...15.000+????

15,000? or was decimal not taliking about currency? wtf
Some people use the European style of notation, such as those in South America.

[SuperNES]

nah i don't really care about the box if it's a cart. if i find a game with a box for a reasonable price, hey, bonus! i keep my boxes displayed separate from my carts though, cause i actually play them one in a while, and it's a hassle to open the box (especially for N64) every time, so the carts go in a drawer.

[Mythik]

I have very few doubles (only doubles were attained when I bought lots of games), and are trade bait that I just never got around to selling (although all of my doubles are dirt common :[ )

[Yago]

Well, I don't count doubles torward my game total. I have over 50 copies of Combat for my 2600. Why? Why not, you see it for .25 cents at the thrift store, why let it go to waste. I want to own every Combat cart ever made LOL

Also, for those that think loose carts are crap... So, you are saying that my loose Texas Chainsaw Massacre for the 2600 is crap? I don't know about that one...

[Arqueologia_Digital]

but...15.000+????

15,000? or was decimal not taliking about currency? wtf
Some people use the European style of notation, such as those in South America.
15.000 Carts (fifteen thousand)...

I don´t understand your point...are 15.000...

[Fuyukaze]

I am of the mind that multiple copies of the same game shouldnt be counted twords a colections total. That said, I also think quality should come before quantity. There are many great games for each system, but sadly, there are also many crapy games as well.

[Sosage]

The only non-current generation console games I am a bit of a “box snob” about is Sega's Genesis/Master System era. Partially because I am half-assed working towards a complete Genesis/SMS/SCD/32X collection. The other part having to do with the cases being able to withstand the years of squishing/sitting/stomping that cardboard cases have not (minus stuff like Zoop of course), so finding a complete version for most of these games is not nearly as much of a pain in the ass than...say...GameBoy Color.

Personally, I like a shoe shelf filled with loose NES carts. NES is arguably the best console system to buy loose for. Nice. Neat. Even has the little “thumb/finger” groove for snagging it off the shelf.

As for doubles, I only count differences in art/versions or games where I have one boxed and one loose. Like Yago, I have a billion Combat carts, but I only count “2” because I have one version with nothing but text on the label and one with artwork. Also, if I had one Super Mario Bros. sealed and a billion Super Mario Bros. loose, I count “2”...one that is sealed and one I actually yank off the shelf and play. Is it a retarded way of counting my collection? Probably...but it feels honest.

[vintagegamecrazy]

So who's this collector with 15,000 games? Is there someone other than Joe who has that many games? That's one impressive collection and I'd love to see the pics. Someone fill me in on the details.

[Bronty-2]

I totally agree with the original post. I definitely don't want a mammoth collection where 90% of it is crap. I'm all about quality before quantity. That's why I collect mainly sealed except a few loose to play. I would find a 15,000 loose cart collection to be more of a pain in the ass re storage than anything else. my .02

[Arqueologia_Digital]

So who's this collector with 15,000 games? Is there someone other than Joe who has that many games? That's one impressive collection and I'd love to see the pics. Someone fill me in on the details.
I´ve lost the link!!! :angry:...but if i found the pic...i´ll post it...