How concerned are you in the appearance of your games?

[LifeGame]

Well its always nicer when its clean...but i buy everything as long as it goes in my price settings.

Every time i get a NES game i already have, which is my primary goal to get get them all, i analyse for a good 2 minutes all aspects of the cart and keep the best one.

I got 274 dups for nes so ask me if you want to trade!!

Clean is the best Eraser for Marker
Lighter Fluid for sticker when not on a unprotected label.
Thats it

[rhiohki]

A poll would be nice for this thread. This question aims straight at collectors and gamers alike. The collector in me always searches for games with the UTMOST perfect manual, label etc. Not only that, but it must be complete
(i.e. if it came with a box and/or inserts etc.) NOT ONLY THAT, but the box and any other included items must be in as perfect shape as possible.

I've had the hardest time finding good boxes for Turbo Games. They are the flimsiest piece of carboard I've seen. I'm both anal and a collector, so I have a damn hard time trying to find perfect games in the wild. I have become a bit more lenient though, but I digress.

If I'm buying to PLAY, it really doesn't matter about condition.

[ROBOTNIK666]

As long as it works, I don't really care about the apearance of the game.

[CosmicMonkey]

I'll only buy a CD game (or HuCard) if it's complete in case, with front and rear insert. Spine card/registration card aren't important unless it's an expensive/rare game. But the game itself has to be in very good condition.

Same with Megadrive/Genny games, they have to be complete with hardcase and vgc/mint insert.

All my NeoGeo MVS carts have had the labels replaced wih nice uniform ones. I've cleaned all the carts, and they're all in ShockBoxes with proper printed inserts (apart from Blazing Star and Pulstar, still waiting for NeoCverA to upload those ones). My PGM games are also in Shockboxes with inserts too. Waiting to see how the boxes for CPS2 games go on South Town. Atomiswave games will also be in either Media Shelving or MD cases, with printed inserts.

I'll also be making inserts for Media Shelving boxes for my upcoming SuperFamicom/N64 purchases. If the game comes with a box for cheap, then it's a bonus. Just makes making an insert easier. But I want all the SNES/N64 games in nice uniform hardcases.

So yeah, as you can see, I like all my games to look nice when sat on the shelf.

[SolidZach]

I will buy anything for the right price. Like an earthbound cart that had some small sticker damage for 10 bucks.

[smork]

All depends on price.

Current gen stuff I only buy if it's in super nice condition and complete -- too easy to find any current gen stuff to put up with disc scratches, bad manuals, etc. Caveat: very cheap, like under $5. Then I am not so picky.

Older stuff -- depends. I don't need the obi on an import CD -- but I try to get them anyway. I strive for complete stuff -- but most of the things I tend to buy are already usually complete anyway. I'll pick up any old crap if it's cheap enough. I never buy older stuff online so it's not usually to taxing to check condition of things and refuse it if it's poor enough. I'm not looking for anything that's TOO difficult to find so I don't mind waiting for a good copy at a good price.

[mailman187666]

I like to collect saturn games, so if i can come across something that i want to play, I'll buy it disk only if i have to. I like the saturn RPGs which all cost a good amount, but i find them on ebay as disk only for sometimes up to $30 cheaper or more than a complete one. If i can find a disk only radiant silvergun, I'm going to buy that because that will save me damn near $80 on it. So all in all, as long as I can tell what game it is and be able to play it without any hassle, I'll buy it if the price is reasonable.

[BocoDragon]

Boxes & Cases: If I had kept my NES-N64 era collection, I would probably be anal about boxes for cartridge games. As it is, I can't afford to be. Worrying about aquiring boxes at this stage in the game is too expensive, and really, rather pointless. I'm going to be keeping my classic carts in the my official cart racks anyway, so the boxes are nothing more than something to display. In that case, I pick up a few boxes that look really cool, or for games I consider the best, and save about $40 per purchase.

Cases on the other hand, for optical media games (and many Sega carts), are requred IMO. The case is really the only place to the see the box art (which would have been nicely represented on the cart labels of old), and an optical disc lying around or in a binder doesn't really feel like I own the game. (unless it never had a case!)

Cartridge Labels: Yes please. This is one thing I couldn't live without. It would be like having a ripped up box... I'd just throw it out.

Manuals: For boxed games I only sorta care. It just happens that all boxes usually come with the manuals anyway. I'll never really open the box and look at them though. For cased games, it's obvious and looks sucky when the manual is missing. I had to deal with it for the first time in the example of MGS2: Substance, but that was just to complete a collection anyway.... I could deal with it.

Stickers: As long as they're not on top of the label, they can probably be removed with goo gone or lighter fluid! Yes, even on cardboard boxes, lighter fluid has taken off stickers with no residue! (and a little care, duh) I've also had stubborn CD/DVD rental labels come off with a little work, restored to new condition.

Marker Writing: I've still never bought a written on game... too scared that it won't come off. I guess that trick above with magic eraser will work if I ever come across one.