Does a larger library really equate to better games?

[Gamevet]

N64 definitely has more than 25 games worth owning, depending on tastes, of course. But the dilemma is a false one. 100 great games on the PS1 is way, way better than 25 great games on the N64. Ratios mean shit. You're far more likely to get less enjoyment out of 30 games than 100 games.

I said 20 great games, plus another dozen worth owning. That equals 32 at best, which is about as many titles as I do own for the N64.

[o.pwuaioc]

I said 20 great games, plus another dozen worth owning. That equals 32 at best, which is about as many titles as I do own for the N64.

Ah, that's about right. I have 50 in my list of games worth owning. Then again, I only have 70 listed for the PS1 (would be more if I counted ports that I own on the Saturn instead of the PS1).

[Ze_ro]

The trick is learning how to separate the wheat and the chaff. Most of us could probably look through a stack of Wii games and instantly know which ones aren't even worth trying... while a random mom and her kid are going to go straight for shit they know (ie, movie and TV licenses) and get burned.

For well-informed people like us, yes, more is better.

On the flipside, for small game libraries, less can be exceptionally worse. For a system like the Jaguar or 32X or Virtual Boy, there are important genres of games that are entirely unrepresented (There's only 1 RPG between the three of them, and it's a crappy and rare one at that). People always mention the Dreamcast as having an excellent good-to-bad ratio, but even there, if you look at specific genres, you might only find 2 or 3 good games before the well runs dry. PS2, on the other hand, just keeps going and going.

--Zero

[otaku]

overall a large amount of games and developers should result in more good games but as others have said the DC while having a small library had tons of good games given that amount and likely could have had more

[Richter Belmount]

If its older systems it depends on what style of games you like , 100 different saturn games vs 100 n64 games is going to be radically different from each other cause of their libraries/markets. Like if you had a saturn collection its going to have more shooters , fighters and rpgs and n64 is going to have more fps , 3d platformers , maybe racing games? Is really depends on what the system focused on.

[thegamezmaster]

I choose quality over quantity after several years. Only buy games I know I'll play over again

[Manhattan Sports Club]

I choose quality over quantity after several years. Only buy games I know I'll play over again

How do you determine this without having tried it first, though?