Hey fellow gamer dudes and dudettes (I will never say that again.)
So, first I guess I should tell you my name. I'm Shawn. I'm 37 years old, I have high (very high)functioing Aspbergers, and I've been a gamer for as long as I can remember.
My first system was the NES. Well, okay, if I'm being honest, it was actually an old pong thing, but I have little to no memory of it. Just that it only worked if you flicked it on and off a few times first. But the first game I truly remember playing is Duck Hunt.
Despite this, I didn't have a happy life. My dad was an asshole and mom and I had to endure him for 35 years. I'm not going to go into to much detail (I don't mind, it's just too much to post here and I feel it's too off-topic) So gaming always gave me an escape. But every old game I didn't play anymore would be sold. We didn't know better back then. And then in 2005 we had a house fire. Most of my games survived thanks to my storage system, but every other valuable object we had needed to be tossed out. (My Mighty Max and Masters of the Universe collection, sadly, was part of that trash heap. Including Snake Mountain)
My mom passed away in 2017. I think after realizing what dad had been doing to us all these years, she lost the will to go on. Doctors took her off life support and she died 5 days later. I was evicted from the family home when my dad's attorneys decided they needed to sell it to pay for his medical treatments. So for a year I was living in a cheap hotel. I didn't get to keep much, but my games were fortunately allowed to come with me. Finally, I was granted an apartment in a nice state funded community where I currently reside.
I am now on the path to mental health recovery, and it's a
very long one. I hold no illusions that it will be easy, and will slip into despair often, so to keep myself focused, I decided to make it my personal goal to collect as many old games and hardware as I can. I always loved seeing those features in gaming magazines about collectors who have an entire room of the house dedicated to classic games. I loved the pictures of Atari, Nintendo, and Sega cartridges sitting on shelves along the walls. I won't lie, I may have drooled a little.
I am a beginner, and while I am pretty knowledgeable, I am willing to learn more. Are there any specific places that I can look for older games/systems? I know about garage sales, but they're pretty sparse in the winter
There is also a pawn shop with a handful of classics nearby. But I like to have different leads.
I am so happy to have found this site. I'm mostly using it as a makeshift list to remind myself of what I have/don't have. Therefore everything is getting wishlisted. Oh, I do want to ask, should I add homebrews? I know they're made by regular people and therefore unique, but are there any I should look out for? I've mostly just been adding the ones that look like fun.
I am staying away from computer systems like the Apple II for now. I just don't have the desire or, let's face it, the space to keep them. Same with Arcade cabinets. PC games are also off my radar (for now). When I move into a nicer space, that will probably change.
That's the gist of it, my story, what I want to do, etc. I look forward to meeting everyone!
OH!!! Wait, one last thing! Okay, so while I do not have the money right now, I am fully planning to get the
gold cart 1990 Championship cartridge for the NES. I can hear you laughing right now. Yes, you. Stop it. After what I've gotten away from, I feel nothing is impossible. Among those that have one, whether they bought it off the winner, or are the winner themselves, I figure at least
one of them would be willing to sell for the right price.
