I agree too.
I'm not in NES collection,but i had complete japanese MD/MCD/32X and PC Engine Hucard/CD/SCD/ACD collections by 1999,and i was 19! (that's like 1500 games total)
I had SMS complete collection as well (European+US exclusives)..
And all this without help of the family,only my work
And for same reasons than you: i have grown up with Nes/SMS,then MD/PC Engine (i'm 26 years now)
And soon i'll reach another dream: complete Super Famicom collection (1450 titles approx.),still missing 150!
All of this complete in box,of course..that'd be my 21st complete collection!