Is it time to dump the spares?

[Niku-Sama]

I dont know about you guys but i've been doing this a while and i have quite a few console duplicates.
i think i have 12 NESs, 4 of which are complete, 8 SNES 2 complete, 2 SNESjr, 20+ PSX, maybe a dozen N64s. generally if its not an uber rare console i have more than one unless if its a colecovision or 7800, i cant seem to get my hands on one of them.

But with the advent of FPGA based systems is it time to unload these spares?

i'm not asking about what to do with my personal collection, i'm sure some of you have a stack of spare systems hanging out some where, this is more just a:

what do you think? when it comes to your own stuff.

its really a case by case thing, some people might be building a bunker, others just happened to find systems for super cheap in the past

[Aussie2B]

Wow, I wish I had that kind of storage space.

I've had plenty of duplicate systems pass through my hands over the years, but if I didn't see a use for them for myself, I sold them off right away. It would've been nice to be selling them off now instead, with values as they are, but that's life. I can't complain about getting fair market value for my duplicates back when I did sell them.

That said, I do still have some duplicate systems, but I want to keep them. I like the idea of having some backups, some I have at different locations (a few systems stay at my mom's house and they get put to use during visits), and others I keep mostly as collectibles just because they're different models/colors/whatever.

The only system I've got kicking around that I do want to sell is an extra CIB model 2 Sega CD. I haven't sold it yet because 1) the box is so damn big that it'll be cumbersome to ship, and 2) it's got some minor issue that needs fixing. And I should probably compare it against my other boxed model 2 and see which has better condition packaging to decide which I'm keeping.

FPGA systems aren't a factor to me. I still prefer to use original hardware. I'd sooner get MODEs and flash carts and such to replace my games than replace my systems. Not that I want to do that either.

[AceAerosmith]

Getting older and having cleaned out my late parents' house, I've started to get rid of a lot of clutter. I don't want my wife to have to wade through piles of my shit including all my old game systems. I do have duplicate systems but plan on getting rid of them at some point, hopefully before I die. And unless you know you are living in the very last place you want to, it just becomes another pile of stuff you have to lug to your new place. It's amazing how a move makes you decide what's important to you.

[celerystalker]

I have a couple of spares, but mainly just for disc-based systems. My wife had a couple of consoles before we got married that merged in years ago, and I keep them around, because PS2s are flaky to begin with. A few I keep to have in different areas of the house. There is a Wii of some kind in the basement, main floor, and my bedroom, because my wife and I like to play Fortune Street together from time to time. We have an extra Switch to do 2 player Mario Kart Live Home Circuit, amd multiples of a few others like that. Generally, I tend to give spares I don't intend to use as gifts so other folks can enjoy them. My brother is the most frequent beneficiary, getting an NES, Jaguar, PS2, Dreamcast, Pas1, 3DO, and lord knows what else over the years. One of my nephew's friends inherited one of my Gamecubes that I modded to play imports, because he's a good kid taking an interest in a lot of neat directions.

[Gameguy]

I never kept that many spares, though I do have one or two spares for each console just in case something happens. I might have more multiples for PS1, PS2, or others I just never sorted out yet. Exceptions for rarer consoles where I only ever found one, or for consoles I don't really care much about. I wish I had more space to store them but I just don't. As for games, I rarely kept extra spare copies for any title. Though for some titles I wish I did, with how prices have changed over the years more recently, many games would have been good for trades these days.

[YoshiM]

My boat is arriving at that harbor, not that I have many spares anymore. I have two Wii's, one was my original and the other is one I bought from a thrift store. The thrift store one was able to connect to a USB hard drive so I can run homebrew and a ton of GC and Wii games. I guess you can count my DS Lites as "spares", though those were for the kids when these things were at thrifts for cheap. Same goes for the 2DS systems. Now the kids play on computers mostly with Roblox with bouts on the Switch.

I'm debating on the collection as well. There's just a bunch of stuff I don't touch anymore and with the limited space I have now, I'm almost thinking it's time to let someone else have fun with it.

[Garry Silljo]

I see no point in keeping a stack of spares. Get what you can and let someone enjoy them.

[Niku-Sama]

I'm gonna shorten some of these quotes just for space reasons

Wow, I wish I had that kind of storage space.
...
That said, I do still have some duplicate systems, but I want to keep them. I like the idea of having some backups, some I have at different locations (a few systems stay at my mom's house and they get put to use during visits), and others I keep mostly as collectibles just because they're different models/colors/whatever.
...
FPGA systems aren't a factor to me. I still prefer to use original hardware. I'd sooner get MODEs and flash carts and such to replace my games than replace my systems. Not that I want to do that either.

The space thing is a big part of it, i dont have much of it and i have managed to tetris so much into such a small space, even though right now its almost all back in boxes because i dont plan on staying where i am at for very long
I'd keep some OGs but if i want to play on a nice OLED or something in the future i'll probably want to go FPGA, or mainly because its prohibitively expensive to get OG hardware

Getting older and having cleaned out my late parents' house, I've started to get rid of a lot of clutter. I don't want my wife to have to wade through piles of my shit including all my old game systems. I do have duplicate systems but plan on getting rid of them at some point, hopefully before I die. And unless you know you are living in the very last place you want to, it just becomes another pile of stuff you have to lug to your new place. It's amazing how a move makes you decide what's important to you.

Yea i am not planning on dying here, more moves in my future for sure, hopefully one across country to get away from this expensive nothingness

... There is a Wii of some kind in the basement, main floor, and my bedroom, because my wife and I like to play Fortune Street together from time to time. We have an extra Switch to do 2 player Mario Kart Live Home Circuit, amd multiples of a few others like that...

I wish i could find someone to play fortune street with, i really like that game. i wish there were more versions released in the US.

...with how prices have changed over the years more recently, many games would have been good for trades these days.

money is another factor here. while i still might keep a few, variants of hardware like PS1's with RCA out and I/O ports vs the ones with out one or the other, if i sell my a lot of my spares i could get the fancy hi def consoles and still come out ahead

My boat is arriving at that harbor, not that I have many spares anymore. I have two Wii's, one was my original and the other is one I bought from a thrift store. The thrift store one was able to connect to a USB hard drive so I can run homebrew and a ton of GC and Wii games. I guess you can count my DS Lites as "spares", though those were for the kids when these things were at thrifts for cheap. Same goes for the 2DS systems. Now the kids play on computers mostly with Roblox with bouts on the Switch.

I'm debating on the collection as well. There's just a bunch of stuff I don't touch anymore and with the limited space I have now, I'm almost thinking it's time to let someone else have fun with it.

I think about this too but i know if i get rid of it then eventually i'll want to go back to it.

right now i am cataloging my games, i havent made it to the meat and potatoes of the hardware stuff yet but its surprising with amount there is and the value of it at the same time. theres been a fair few games, probably close to 100, that i weeded out as never gonna play, have multiple copies or look like shit. 100 just games, most of them are low value but if they were like $2 ea, thats still giving some one a deal and coming out ahead too.
thats also why i am asking about this and finally starting to catalogue what i have with an app, so i dont get so many duplicates.

Some how i have 4 copies of Namco Museum Vol.1 on PSX.... how?

maybe when this project is done it'll make it all seem not so daunting

[Aussie2B]

I'm currently sitting on 3 copies of Namco Museum Vol. 3, so I'm not too far behind, haha.

[YoshiM]

I think about this too but i know if i get rid of it then eventually i'll want to go back to it.

And that simple thought is what's holding me back from pulling the trigger. I've gone down that particular road too many times over the last twenty five or so years, especially with the Genesis. You catch a whiff of gaming on a system you got rid of. The desire builds. The mind thinks then plots. Then, the system you sold comes along for a good deal and next thing you know it's in the car waiting to be brought home like a new pet. And typically...the cycle of non play starts again.

I bought another Tandy Color Computer (a 2 this time rather than a 3 as those suckers are just danged expensive) and have tricked it out with composite video and an SDC cart. It was a great deal with a bunch of games and controllers. And while I haven't touched it too much (at least since I did the composite mod) I have no desire to sell it. I have both Genesis Minis along with a NES, a SNES and a TG-16 mini. Those I do have the pang to dump but a part of me knows I'd probably get the real deal down the road and these systems do scratch the retro itch with modern conveniences. The Turbo is in the cross hairs as I haven't touched it in a long time but again, the knowledge that I might buy again holds me back.

Xbox is also moving towards the chopping block but I decided to redistribute my modern computer stuff that will give me room on the desk to set up the system. Hopefully that'll inspire me to play it more. I think that's the thing is I really have to push to play these systems and maybe that's an indicator that interest is truly waning? I dunno.

I am investing in my Atari 2600 as I have a new Atari 2600+ joystick and paddles ordered. When I do play the system I have a good time, though the carts take up room. I have a Harmony cart so I really don't need the actual cartridges anymore.

Choices, choices and lots of thinking.

[Aussie2B]

For me, the big push to play my home consoles is not that my interest has waned but that I don't want to leave everything hooked up and collecting dust, creating more work to clean, but I also don't want to dig a system out of my closet and have to hook it up in whatever little free time I get. Not only am I just too exhausted at the end of the day for digging stuff out, but I have so little free time that just the process of getting something hooked up will leave me with no time to play when I'm done, forcing me to wait till the next night for actual playing, which is a real buzzkill. So that's why my home consoles barely get touched and I end up grabbing my handhelds instead usually. The only thing I have to worry about there is getting things charging during the day so it's ready at night.

[Niku-Sama]

For me, the big push to play my home consoles is not that my interest has waned but that I don't want to leave everything hooked up and collecting dust, creating more work to clean, but I also don't want to dig a system out of my closet and have to hook it up in whatever little free time I get. Not only am I just too exhausted at the end of the day for digging stuff out, but I have so little free time that just the process of getting something hooked up will leave me with no time to play when I'm done, forcing me to wait till the next night for actual playing, which is a real buzzkill. So that's why my home consoles barely get touched and I end up grabbing my handhelds instead usually. The only thing I have to worry about there is getting things charging during the day so it's ready at night.

oh i totally get this, thats why i hated having my collection always in boxes but my former spouse kinda, for lack of a better phrase, kinda led me along like hey its almost time to move. I'm ok with things being in boxes at my current place because i know i am going to move but in the mean time since i have time now i have been going through, organizing these boxes and labeling them.

as for the systems i've looked twards other means. i want to have things hooked up but how many is too many. thats why i went with the NT Mini for NES/FC games, Super NT for SNES/SFC games, a backwards compatible PS3 for anything that gen and older and i am working on how to modify a Wii U so i can do GC/Wii/WiiU and maybe even DS games on it. then modern systems. the other stuff, either older than NES or wasnt mainstream (TG16, Vectrex, etc) isnt something i itch to play often soyou kinda have to pick and choose. I also have a small PC made of spare parts if i want to emulate but its very hit and miss, especially when it comes to PS2 games