VGCollect Forum
General and Gaming => General => Topic started by: kawaiigirl2004 on October 18, 2018, 12:19:05 am
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hey, i'm kind of a noob at this game collecting thing. any ideas on where to start?
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Start with the systems you like to play on and the games you like to play, then build your collection from there. You don't need to start out by chasing the rare or expensive items.
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Start with common games first. Xbox, PS2, GameCube, are a good generation to start with. Nearly every game is widely available (the common ones) and the systems are cheap (under $50). When you collect try to get everything CIB (complete in box) unless you really don't have the storage space or care about that stuff. Most common games for those systems are under $10 some go for about $1. Once you get the hang of it you can go for handhelds, older retro consoles, or even current generation consoles. Once you start collecting you can build lists, rank them from rarest and most expensive to cheapest etc. I usually didn't tackle the rare expensive ones until I had all the common cheaper ones off my list. I also tried to get hardware as nice as possible. Check local game stores first as sometimes they're cheaper than online stores. I usually go into my local game stores (or drive up to 100 miles sometimes) with all my consoles in lists on Google Keep sorted by price range and rarity and I go from there.
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Get as many as you can for as cheap as you can get them. because if things don't change worldwide most physical video games will be all sold out. and only the rich, will have them in psychical form or be selling them all for extreme prices, not too mention some games will be too old and too far damaged especially disc based games to work again.
I know I may receive back some back lash for this but my heart says if things don't change that is how it is gonna be
But I did hear that United States President Trump has made an effort to give copyright owners more money for at least on people that own rights to used music CD's possibly preserving the music CD manufacturing department at least in the US
If that happens to video games as well. it's possible that the market would be wide open for any new gaming console company to have a console with physical as well as digital video games instead of only digital video games
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What are you interested in collecting?
When I started I really wanted to collect for the Saturn, Dreamcast, and N64, and from there it evolved into other systems as well. Depending on what you're interested in there are better or worse ways of going about collecting for them.
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Get the games that interest you mainly, best case is games that you will probably play.
If you just buy games for the sake of buying or collecting you're just gonna get stuck with a whole bunch of shovelware nonsense or a truck load of sports titles since those are pretty much the easiest to find.
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You shouldn't collect something because it is popular or you have friends that do it. If you want to collect something, it has to have some personal meaning to you.
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Start with an enjoyment of games
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What kinda games do you like, what platform(s)? Do you have a passion for gaming?
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I would say go to yard sales and thrift stores but most people don't seem to have luck at that.
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:o wow. I didn't think i was going to get this many responses so soon. Um, to answer some of your questions, i don't have a strong passion for gaming (yet), and i mostly played mario and dancing games with my friends. So i guess you can say i enjoy those :D . Also thanks for the tips about the ps2 and xbox, the prices for those games seem like the best way to grow a collection quick. But i do have another question: what about pc games/gaming? I know theres a lot of free games but i was wondering about the hurdles of starting there. So i guess my question for today is should i start with a pc game collection or a nintendo collection?
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I would personally recommend emulation or digital downloads the cheaper modern alternative for retro instead of going full on original console games etc if your just beginning.
If you don't have that much money to spend I would pretty much exclusively recommend the above option since otherwise gameplay wise it will not be that great. Unless collecting is more fun than playing them games i guess only than picking up everything for cheap can be fun.
while xbox and ps2 seem cheap i would tend to disagree the interesting games are pretty pricy and have gone up. ps2 and xbox are not at those low times anymore if you would have start at least 3 - 4 years earlier than yes even allot of them good obsecure stuff on those systems were usually very cheap and not really discovered wich actually kept them cheap.
There are cheap good games but mostly filler as far as these consoles go.
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As you can see, you got a LOT of different answers, that's cause game collecting means different things to different people.
I would ask you this question first, Why do you want to start collecting games? it might be easier for us to guide you a bit if we knew what your motivations were.
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:o wow. I didn't think i was going to get this many responses so soon. Um, to answer some of your questions, i don't have a strong passion for gaming (yet), and i mostly played mario and dancing games with my friends. So i guess you can say i enjoy those :D . Also thanks for the tips about the ps2 and xbox, the prices for those games seem like the best way to grow a collection quick. But i do have another question: what about pc games/gaming? I know theres a lot of free games but i was wondering about the hurdles of starting there. So i guess my question for today is should i start with a pc game collection or a nintendo collection?
PC game collecting, at least physical releases, is something you can really only do with games that game out no later than the mid 2000s since most retail copies of games after that employ some sort of DRM or online disk verification that renders used copies of the game unplayable on another computer. If you're talking about collecting digital titles, whether or not this is truly collecting is debatable. Owning a game physically is actual ownership and at least in my book the only way to actually collect. Owning a digital PC game is akin to indefinitely renting it from the distributor and/or publisher; you don't actually own it even if you can play it whenever you want to after buying it. I have hundreds of games on STEAM and GOG, but I don't consider even one of those games to be a part of my collection for that reason.
Collecting for Nintendo is really a mixed bag. You can collect for the Switch, but that is currently very expensive since the games are all pretty new. Collecting for the Gamecube, Wii, and Wii U is relatively cheap and many of the better games on these consoles are still relatively common. Collecting for the NES, SNES, and N64 has become extremely difficult due to the scarcity of the games and the prices on many of them. Unless you have a thing for retro games, I'd probably avoid getting into retro Nintendo collecting, or really retro game collecting in general. It's a hobby that will consume all your income, trust me lol
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Yeah, if you want to collect games you really own, you should collect physical releses, starting perhaps from Nintendo (you said you liked Mario, after all).
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Start with the systems you like to play on and the games you like to play, then build your collection from there. You don't need to start out by chasing the rare or expensive items.
I agree
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Like others have said - start with systems that you like and just kind of branch off from there.
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Thrifting is a good way to build you collection, I find mostly CD based games from the 6th and 7th console generations though, but sometimes you'll get lucky and find cart based console games as well.
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Wow. Thanks everyone for the suggestions and advise. I think i know where to start my game collection now. Wish me luck!
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Wow. Thanks everyone for the suggestions and advise. I think i know where to start my game collection now. Wish me luck!
Good luck! :) Definitely curious to hear how it goes!
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Aside from 'buy the cheap stuff' and 'buy what you think sounds interesting, not what's popular', decide two things:
1) Emulation & aftermarket gear vs. authentic original. Authentic is more brag-worthy, but notably more expensive & labor intensive to keep running. If you just want to play, getting a good emulation setup now will save you a lot of money. It doesn't have to be all PC, everdrives are a great halfway point between authentic & full emulation.
2) Game only vs. CIB. Once again, it's a lot more expensive & time consuming to get boxes and manuals as opposed to just the game itself. It's also pretty hard to track down loose boxes & manuals too, so decide now before you have to spend a decade pestering random Ebay sellers to just sell you the case for Lunar: Silver Star (no really, it's not great.)
Last bit of advice: Tell people you want their old gaming crap. Get the word out there that you collect, that if they've got something around you're interested. People will give you stuff becuase they want it gone and better it go to you & get used than thrown out. I have so many games that were hand-me-downs it's crazy. I've also picked stuff up for friends becuase I knew what they liked & found a deal. It's fun to drop in on someone and go "Hi my Sega-loving pal! I found a Dreamcast with 4 controllers & a VMU & Soul Calibur for 10 bucks. You don't have a Dreamcast yet, right? Here ya go!" Make sure people know what you're into!