About What Year Did You First Desire On Being A Collector

[kashell]

No specific year, for me it was a natural evolution of just playing games. Back around 4th grade or so, we sold our family NES to pay for a Genesis... and we missed those games enough that I vowed to never just dump a system again.

I suppose it kind of started around 2001- that's when I bought my first Sega CD. It marked the turning point of just getting what was new & setting my old systems aside, and actively buying older machines I had no nostalgia for. I wasn't seeking them out yet, though- the early pickups were ones of opportunity. The Sega CD was a high school friend cleaning out as he moved for college, the SNES was another friend's mom getting on her case for too many game consoles... that kind of thing. I bought the NES becuase Gamestop was closing out the system & i was afraid I wouldn't be able to find one later. I bought a Dreamcast becuase I was offered a free game collection for it.


So, not so much that I ever actively desired to collect... I just gradually realized it was what I was doing anyway, so I ran with it.

Basically, this.

[marvelvscapcom2]

I first became a collector in 2014.  Very recent compared to many. .   I always gamed heavily since I can remember but never decided to buy bunches of games to catelog them and collect.  I always just did the basic beat a game, sell it, trade it thing.  But then I became obsessed with the games of my childhood and trying to recapture my youth.  I miss being a kid and try to relive the simplicity of the older years. 


I used to collect PS2 games but sold them all.  Now I got a lot of what I had as a child back and most is just trying new old games. Since NES,SNES and Atari were well before my time.  Although I did own a NES as a kid that was passed down from my aunt.

[gusseven]

I started seriously around 2006 I think, The old blockbuster started a "new section" as Gamerush, and for one specific store they had the old NES rental games for sale. The good thing they sold them with box an manuals like new, since they didn't rent them along with the game. I bought a lot of them  for around 2 dolars each.  Since then,  I started collecting but most of them I want them with Manuals and box. It makes me remember that feeling about opening a new game and checking manuals and all inserts, nothing like today.
I personally think it's almost an psicological issue  I have no specific "goal" but I mainly try to collect everything I had, I liked or I wanted as a Kid, Sega was not so strong in Mexico on those days, so Saturn and Sega CD are rare and something I look forward to have.

[bikingjahuty]

I started seriously around 2006 I think, The old blockbuster started a "new section" as Gamerush, and for one specific store they had the old NES rental games for sale. The good thing they sold them with box an manuals like new, since they didn't rent them along with the game. I bought a lot of them  for around 2 dolars each.  Since then,  I started collecting but most of them I want them with Manuals and box. It makes me remember that feeling about opening a new game and checking manuals and all inserts, nothing like today.
I personally think it's almost an psicological issue  I have no specific "goal" but I mainly try to collect everything I had, I liked or I wanted as a Kid, Sega was not so strong in Mexico on those days, so Saturn and Sega CD are rare and something I look forward to have.

I envy anyone who got into video game collecting around the time you did or earlier. I've met collectors who cleared out Funcolands or independent rental stores of their NES, SNES, and Genesis games for pennies on the dollar since no one wanted them at the time they were getting rid of them. There is a local collector who was been hitting up our local flea market since the early 2000s and has some crazy stories about games he found and what he paid, probably the craziest being Stadium Events for a couple of bucks. If only I had a time machine lol

[hoshichiri]

I envy anyone who got into video game collecting around the time you did or earlier. I've met collectors who cleared out Funcolands or independent rental stores of their NES, SNES, and Genesis games for pennies on the dollar since no one wanted them at the time they were getting rid of them. There is a local collector who was been hitting up our local flea market since the early 2000s and has some crazy stories about games he found and what he paid, probably the craziest being Stadium Events for a couple of bucks. If only I had a time machine lol

You just gotta work the system a bit, man- this is the time go buy up your Wii/PS3/360 games. 20 years from now, that generation will start their nostalgia buying & be jealous of our prices. Meanwhile, I suspect the NES era will be down to a couple bucks apiece, just like Atari is now.

[bikingjahuty]

I envy anyone who got into video game collecting around the time you did or earlier. I've met collectors who cleared out Funcolands or independent rental stores of their NES, SNES, and Genesis games for pennies on the dollar since no one wanted them at the time they were getting rid of them. There is a local collector who was been hitting up our local flea market since the early 2000s and has some crazy stories about games he found and what he paid, probably the craziest being Stadium Events for a couple of bucks. If only I had a time machine lol

You just gotta work the system a bit, man- this is the time go buy up your Wii/PS3/360 games. 20 years from now, that generation will start their nostalgia buying & be jealous of our prices. Meanwhile, I suspect the NES era will be down to a couple bucks apiece, just like Atari is now.

Funny enough I don't believe that collecting for 6th generation and newer will ever be more popular than it was maybe 2-years ago. Keep mind that the PS2 came out almost 19-years ago, the Gamecube and XBOX 18-years, and Dreamcast almost 20. The people who were old enough to remember and enjoy these consoles are in their mid-20s at the youngest and are in that prime time for nostalgia + disposable income to create a huge collectors market for those consoles, but they've all been declining in value for over a year now. Even the PS3, XBOX 360, and Wii are getting to that point where collectorism should be setting in for them, but it hasn't. I believe the Wii will definitely rise a little, but I doubt it will ever reach the heights of even the Gamecube and N64.


But I do agree with you about Gen 7 being a great time to jump in. I was actually checking values on various highly sought after games and was pleasantly surprised to see many of them down about 20% or more since about 2-years ago. The bottom for these consoles will probably be in the next 5-years before they go up a little bit, but nothing like we saw during the beginning and middle of this decade with most older consoles.

[ronchichio]

1987 is when I started collecting.  I've been gaming since 1981 but 1987 is when I was actively thinking about what getting games on my own and planning ahead with when I'll be getting Christmas or birthday money.  This intensified later on in jr. high when I would skip lunch to save my lunch money in order to get more games.

[oldgamerz]

I envy anyone who got into video game collecting around the time you did or earlier. I've met collectors who cleared out Funcolands or independent rental stores of their NES, SNES, and Genesis games for pennies on the dollar since no one wanted them at the time they were getting rid of them. There is a local collector who was been hitting up our local flea market since the early 2000s and has some crazy stories about games he found and what he paid, probably the craziest being Stadium Events for a couple of bucks. If only I had a time machine lol

You just gotta work the system a bit, man- this is the time go buy up your Wii/PS3/360 games. 20 years from now, that generation will start their nostalgia buying & be jealous of our prices. Meanwhile, I suspect the NES era will be down to a couple bucks apiece, just like Atari is now.

Funny enough I don't believe that collecting for 6th generation and newer will ever be more popular than it was maybe 2-years ago. Keep mind that the PS2 came out almost 19-years ago, the Gamecube and XBOX 18-years, and Dreamcast almost 20. The people who were old enough to remember and enjoy these consoles are in their mid-20s at the youngest and are in that prime time for nostalgia + disposable income to create a huge collectors market for those consoles, but they've all been declining in value for over a year now. Even the PS3, XBOX 360, and Wii are getting to that point where collectorism should be setting in for them, but it hasn't. I believe the Wii will definitely rise a little, but I doubt it will ever reach the heights of even the Gamecube and N64.


But I do agree with you about Gen 7 being a great time to jump in. I was actually checking values on various highly sought after games and was pleasantly surprised to see many of them down about 20% or more since about 2-years ago. The bottom for these consoles will probably be in the next 5-years before they go up a little bit, but nothing like we saw during the beginning and middle of this decade with most older consoles.

Generation 7 started to get real cheap around when I first started collecting in 2015 almost 4 years ago. Video games in general are still not that expensive yet at my area, it's too bad I stopped I am not sure if those $5 sellers are still in business, last time I went to buy any games was months ago

[turf]

It was around 2003 or so. I bought a box of nes games at a flea market and had the conscious thought, “I think I’d be awesome to have all of these”. That’s when the madness began.

[gusseven]

I started seriously around 2006 I think, The old blockbuster started a "new section" as Gamerush, and for one specific store they had the old NES rental games for sale. The good thing they sold them with box an manuals like new, since they didn't rent them along with the game. I bought a lot of them  for around 2 dolars each.  Since then,  I started collecting but most of them I want them with Manuals and box. It makes me remember that feeling about opening a new game and checking manuals and all inserts, nothing like today.
I personally think it's almost an psicological issue  I have no specific "goal" but I mainly try to collect everything I had, I liked or I wanted as a Kid, Sega was not so strong in Mexico on those days, so Saturn and Sega CD are rare and something I look forward to have.

I envy anyone who got into video game collecting around the time you did or earlier. I've met collectors who cleared out Funcolands or independent rental stores of their NES, SNES, and Genesis games for pennies on the dollar since no one wanted them at the time they were getting rid of them. There is a local collector who was been hitting up our local flea market since the early 2000s and has some crazy stories about games he found and what he paid, probably the craziest being Stadium Events for a couple of bucks. If only I had a time machine lol

Before that was even easier to get better games I remember having seeing such rare games now, but never had interest, probably was also my income was not so much at the time to start serious collecting, and as you said a time machine will be a dream for this.

I think around 2010, more people started to look at this as bussiness, which came to increase prices and have the games hidden for them by the sellers

[pzeke]

Video games have always been a big part of my life, but collecting for me I feel started during the end of 1999 and the early 2000s. Even though comicbooks were my main focus during this point in time, I used to go to Babbage’s and Electronics Boutique regularly to get my video gaming fix. Going to the arcades was also a big thing for me back then, which also solidified my interests. My friends from school were also a big influence; if it weren’t for one of them, I would have never discovered Pokémon (and ultimately become as obsessed as I am today with the franchise).

College was also a big factor given I met new people with the same interests as me, including video games. Also, I've been collecting a lot of things growing up (even rocks), so the mindset was there already, I guess.

If I'm being honest, though, I think collecting is essentially the natural evolution for every gamer...or at least those who are the most dedicated to the hobby.