Rebuilding my PlayStation (one) Collection: A Monumental Undertaking

[gf78]

Years ago, a series of unfortunate events (no pun intended) led to the liquidation of my original PlayStation collection.  At the time, I had roughly 180 games, all purchased new and in mint condition.  Just like I just took the plastic wrap off.  Hot commodities like Tactics Ogre, Tomba 1 & 2 and Klonoa Door to Phantomile?  I had 'em.  Needless to say, I was gutted after my collection was gone.

BUT...I have vowed to rebuild, better than before.  Many of the games currently in my collection, I didn't own that first time around.  Some are great games that I missed.  Others I got dirt cheap or through a trade.  I'm not going to say that the Courier Crisis' or Hooters Road Trip's of my current collection are great.  Of the 165 games in my PS1 collection currently, 94 were in my original collection. 

Likewise, some of the games in my original collection weren't AAA material.  I'm really not interested in getting every iteration of Cool Boarders again.  I could also do without Star Wars Masters of Teras Kasi, Vs. and Theme Park.  My intention is to get the remaining great games (IMO) that I originally owned, plus a few more I missed and in the end, I think I will have a better collection overall for it.  Below, a list of all the games from my original collection I currently do not have.  Strike-through for those I don't want again.  LOL.

3Xtreme
Alundra
Alundra 2
Arcade's Greatest Hits:  The Midway Colleciton 2
Breath of Fire III
Bushido Blade
Bushido Blade 2
Bust-A-Groove
Capcom Vs. SNK Pro
Castlevania Chronicles
Castlevania Symphony of the Night
Chocobo Racing
Chocobo's Dungeon 2
Colony Wars Vengeance
Cool Boarders (just the 1st one...LOL)
Cool Boarders 2
Cool Boarders 3
Cool Boarders 4
Crash Bash
Darkstalkers 3
Darkstalkers the Night Warriors
Dead or Alive
Deathtrap Dungeon
Devil Dice
Die Hard Trilogy
Doom
Ehrgeiz-God Bless the Ring
Fighting Force
Forsaken
Frogger
Front Mission 3
Galerians
Gauntlet Legends
Gex:  Enter the Gecko
Gex 3:  Deep Cover Gecko
Ghost in the Shell
Grandia
Guilty Gear
Jade Cocoon
Klonoa-Door to Phantomile
Koudelka
Legend of Legaia
Legend of Mana
Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter
Marvel vs. Capcom
Mega Man 8
Monster Rancher
Mortal Kombat Mythologies:  Sub-Zero
Nightmare Creatures
Norse by Norsewest
Oddworld-Abe's Exoddus
Parappa the Rapper
Pitfall 3D:  Beyond the Jungle
Pocket Fighter
Rival Schools-United by Fate
Shadow Madness
Skullmonkeys
Spawn the Eternal
Star Ocean-The Second Story
Star Wars-Masters of Teras Kasi
Street Fighter Alpha
Street Fighter Alpha 2
Street Fighter Alpha 3
Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha
Street Fighter EX2 Plus
Strider 2
Suikoden
Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo
Syphon Filter
Syphon Filter 2
Tactics Ogre
Tecmo's Deception
Tetris Plus
Theme Park
Threads of Fate
Tomba!
Tomba! 2-The Evil Swine Return
Twisted Metal 3
Twisted Metal 4
Valkyrie Profile
Vs.
Wild Arms
Wild Arms 2
X-Men vs. Street Fighter

[burningdoom]

Luckily, a lot of PS1 games are still affordable and easy to find.

[gf78]

Luckily, a lot of PS1 games are still affordable and easy to find.

Yeah, a lot of the ones I want to get again are fairly cheap.  But a few I know I'm going to be paying through the nose for.  Alundra, Symphony of the Night, Klonoa, Skullmonkeys, Strider, VALKYRIE PROFILE...and most of the Capcom fighters are pretty high for anything resembling good, complete condition. 

[desocietas]

I'm in a similar boat as you, though it's a smaller PS1 collection I'm trying to rebuild after a theft.  But Valkyrie Profile is the one that's hurting the most. I got it ages ago, back when it was still $17 or so on eBay.  Seeing all the listings for $100+ makes me weep.

Are you going for black label for all of those titles? That's what I'm shooting for.

[gf78]

I'm in a similar boat as you, though it's a smaller PS1 collection I'm trying to rebuild after a theft.  But Valkyrie Profile is the one that's hurting the most. I got it ages ago, back when it was still $17 or so on eBay.  Seeing all the listings for $100+ makes me weep.

Are you going for black label for all of those titles? That's what I'm shooting for.

Yep.  Never could stand that goofy green banner down the side.  I tolerate it for cheapies or for games that only came with the green banner when they converted from the long box format to the jewel case format.  But if I'm going to spend more than ten bucks, it's a black label.  Anything like the Squaresoft titles, I only buy ones in excellent condition.

Valkyrie Profile....that one's gonna hurt when I drop the cash for it.  Einhander was bad enough!   

[burningdoom]

I got my copy of Symphony of the Night for only $25 at Play-N-Trade. Try there if you have one near you. Also got a disc-only copy of Alundra from eBay for about $15, then paid $3 at a local used movie shop to get it resurfaced, under $20 all-together.

The big 3 PS1 games I still need that are a pretty-penny:
-Einhander
-Final Fantasy VII
-Intelligent Cube

[gf78]

I got my copy of Symphony of the Night for only $25 at Play-N-Trade. Try there if you have one near you. Also got a disc-only copy of Alundra from eBay for about $15, then paid $3 at a local used movie shop to get it resurfaced, under $20 all-together.

The big 3 PS1 games I still need that are a pretty-penny:
-Einhander
-Final Fantasy VII
-Intelligent Cube

I don't think there is a Play-N-Trade within 80 miles of me.     I picked up a disc-only copy of Alundra at a Pawn shop.  It was in a Crazy Ivan PS1 longbox.  It needs to be resurfaced, but works.  However, I won't keep it or even add it to my collection.  I have disc-only copies of a few other PS1 games like Tomb Raider and some F1 game.  I didn't list them either.

I'm pretty picky about these  games.  I want all my PS1 games to be complete.  If it's an expensive game (over $10 used), I want it in excellent condition.  Sometimes I pay a premium to get what I want, but such is life. 

Cartridge games I'm not so picky about unless it's a very specific title.  When I eventually pick up Final Fantasy I, II, III and Legend, they will be complete, boxed copies.

[bikingjahuty]

That is a commendable collection right there .


I love my PS1 collection and am particularly proud of it. I've been able to find most of the games on it for fairly cheap and I'm glad I got them when I did. Stuff like Strider 2, Clock Tower, and Einhander, just to name a few, have gone up like crazy over the past year. Good luck to you sir in your quest to rebuild your collection.

[gf78]

That is a commendable collection right there .


I love my PS1 collection and am particularly proud of it. I've been able to find most of the games on it for fairly cheap and I'm glad I got them when I did. Stuff like Strider 2, Clock Tower, and Einhander, just to name a few, have gone up like crazy over the past year. Good luck to you sir in your quest to rebuild your collection.

Thank you!  It will take some time, but I'll get there. Just picked up Einhander, Xenogears and Tobal No. 1 so things are moving along nicely. With any luck, I may be adding three more Squaresoft titles to my collection before the week is out.  Fingers crossed it works out!   

BTW...you have a nice collection as well!

[dondetti]

Years ago, a series of unfortunate events (no pun intended) led to the liquidation of my original PlayStation collection.  At the time, I had roughly 180 games, all purchased new and in mint condition.  Just like I just took the plastic wrap off.  Hot commodities like Tactics Ogre, Tomba 1 & 2 and Klonoa Door to Phantomile?  I had 'em.  Needless to say, I was gutted after my collection was gone.

BUT...I have vowed to rebuild, better than before.  Many of the games currently in my collection, I didn't own that first time around.  Some are great games that I missed.  Others I got dirt cheap or through a trade.  I'm not going to say that the Courier Crisis' or Hooters Road Trip's of my current collection are great.  Of the 165 games in my PS1 collection currently, 94 were in my original collection. 

Likewise, some of the games in my original collection weren't AAA material.  I'm really not interested in getting every iteration of Cool Boarders again.  I could also do without Star Wars Masters of Teras Kasi, Vs. and Theme Park.  My intention is to get the remaining great games (IMO) that I originally owned, plus a few more I missed and in the end, I think I will have a better collection overall for it.  Below, a list of all the games from my original collection I currently do not have.  Strike-through for those I don't want again.  LOL.

3Xtreme
Alundra
Alundra 2
Arcade's Greatest Hits:  The Midway Colleciton 2
Breath of Fire III
Bushido Blade
Bushido Blade 2
Bust-A-Groove
Capcom Vs. SNK Pro
Castlevania Chronicles
Castlevania Symphony of the Night
Chocobo Racing
Chocobo's Dungeon 2
Colony Wars Vengeance
Cool Boarders (just the 1st one...LOL)
Cool Boarders 2
Cool Boarders 3
Cool Boarders 4
Crash Bash
Darkstalkers 3
Darkstalkers the Night Warriors
Dead or Alive
Deathtrap Dungeon
Devil Dice
Die Hard Trilogy
Doom
Ehrgeiz-God Bless the Ring
Fighting Force
Forsaken
Frogger
Front Mission 3
Galerians
Gauntlet Legends
Gex:  Enter the Gecko
Gex 3:  Deep Cover Gecko
Ghost in the Shell
Grandia
Guilty Gear
Jade Cocoon
Klonoa-Door to Phantomile
Koudelka
Legend of Legaia
Legend of Mana
Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter
Marvel vs. Capcom
Mega Man 8
Monster Rancher
Mortal Kombat Mythologies:  Sub-Zero
Nightmare Creatures
Norse by Norsewest
Oddworld-Abe's Exoddus
Parappa the Rapper
Pitfall 3D:  Beyond the Jungle
Pocket Fighter
Rival Schools-United by Fate
Shadow Madness
Skullmonkeys
Spawn the Eternal
Star Ocean-The Second Story
Star Wars-Masters of Teras Kasi
Street Fighter Alpha
Street Fighter Alpha 2
Street Fighter Alpha 3
Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha
Street Fighter EX2 Plus
Strider 2
Suikoden
Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo
Syphon Filter
Syphon Filter 2
Tactics Ogre
Tecmo's Deception
Tetris Plus
Theme Park
Threads of Fate
Tomba!
Tomba! 2-The Evil Swine Return
Twisted Metal 3
Twisted Metal 4
Valkyrie Profile
Vs.
Wild Arms
Wild Arms 2
X-Men vs. Street Fighter

Some great choices! I still think that Die Hard is a fun game collection though. It includes the only rail shooter so far that I've ever enjoyed/completed.
I see that you have Final Fantasy Tactics in your collection. Do you know the Vandal Hearts series? The first one is a really good (though mighty raw) tactical RPG arcade by Konami. A successor came out in 2000 which was way more fleshed out on all accounts but had a different, super weird chess like round system and ultimately felt like a chore to complete to me. But I could recommend the first one to everyone into the tactical RPG genre.

[kashell]

Good luck on your quest to rebuild your collection. The PlayStation era was a golden one to be sure, especially if you considered yourself an RPG fan.

[gf78]

Some great choices! I still think that Die Hard is a fun game collection though. It includes the only rail shooter so far that I've ever enjoyed/completed.
I see that you have Final Fantasy Tactics in your collection. Do you know the Vandal Hearts series? The first one is a really good (though mighty raw) tactical RPG arcade by Konami. A successor came out in 2000 which was way more fleshed out on all accounts but had a different, super weird chess like round system and ultimately felt like a chore to complete to me. But I could recommend the first one to everyone into the tactical RPG genre.

Thanks.  If I saw Die Hard for cheap some place I would probably pick it up.  This is just more or less my "hit list" for stuff to get.  Don't recall at the moment if I put Vandal Hearts I and II on my wish list, but they are definitely something I will keep an eye out for.

[gf78]

Good luck on your quest to rebuild your collection. The PlayStation era was a golden one to be sure, especially if you considered yourself an RPG fan.

Thank you!  PlayStation was definitely part of a golden era and changed everything.  I personally think Squaresoft was at the height or their glory, releasing 25 titles from various genres, especially great RPGs.  Then you add on all the other RPG's from Namco (Tales), Konami (Vandal Hearts, Suikoden), Working Designs (Arc the Lad, Lunar, etc.) and Sony themselves among others. 

Mature games like Tomb Raider and Resident Evil changed the landscape of gaming forever and platformers blossomed.  Then you have quirky stuff like Parappa and UnJammer Lammy as well as Bust-A-Groove and many others. 

Just too much good stuff started with PlayStation.  I guess that's why it's my favorite go-to since 1995.   

[bikingjahuty]

That is a commendable collection right there .


I love my PS1 collection and am particularly proud of it. I've been able to find most of the games on it for fairly cheap and I'm glad I got them when I did. Stuff like Strider 2, Clock Tower, and Einhander, just to name a few, have gone up like crazy over the past year. Good luck to you sir in your quest to rebuild your collection.

Thank you!  It will take some time, but I'll get there. Just picked up Einhander, Xenogears and Tobal No. 1 so things are moving along nicely. With any luck, I may be adding three more Squaresoft titles to my collection before the week is out.  Fingers crossed it works out!   

BTW...you have a nice collection as well!

Thank you, I appreciate that

[tafk]

I'm really not interested in getting every iteration of Cool Boarders again.

Cool Boarders (just the 1st one...LOL)
Cool Boarders 2
Cool Boarders 3
Cool Boarders 4

Am I missing something? haha