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.