VGCollect Forum
General and Gaming => General => Topic started by: xenofeithrice on August 30, 2016, 05:31:03 am
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Hello all, recently began my adventure into collecting retro consoles. Here is my brief history of what I had growing up:
NES, Sega Genesis, N64, PS1, PS2, PS3, PS4, Wii.
Everything has been given to family or sold at garage sales after I moved out, except the PS3, PS4, and Wii which I still have. I wish I had the others, but alas, that's life!
I just picked up a Sega Saturn in the box, with all original cables and manuals, Nights Demo and Bootleg Sampler in the box! Also has a second controller and a knockoff memory card, all for $120, happy with that acquisition!
Here are some of my questions:
1) Besides the Saturn, which seems to be one of the more expensive/harder US consoles to find CiB, what other consoles should I focus on now before time drives up the prices?
2) I have recently become pretty OCD, hence why I stalked the Saturn until I found the complete box. I'm a little bummed I don't have the boxes for my PS3, PS4 and Wii. I could probably get them on eBay, but will the OCD'ness that they won't have matching serial numbers consume me? Anybody like me in that regard?
Thanks, happy to join here!
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Let's just say that as an avid Complete-in-Box collector myself, me and my wallet are very happy that I'm not into collecting NES/SNES/N64 titles :D
Regarding the Saturn, be happy that you are in the US with the plastic cases. It's a nightmare here in Europe with the carton-boxes coming apart because of the bad glue used in production
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we in europe also have the improved cases wich are even better than the US plastic cases and look way better.
games like megaman x3 have sturdy cases furthermore inlay can be replaced with other boxes. If all cases were like that it would be a huge difference . Furthermore inlay is protected really well thanks to the sides wich prevent the inlay from sticking out.
Also sega sega saturn etc are all really high in price depending on what kind of games you collect, It´s BS that nintendo games are way more expensive than the rest. People always say that nes etc are more expensive but this only applies for the common and not sought after games since for all the quality titles all the older consoles also have those prices. the titles wich I am after are usually in the same price range as the more expensive snes nes games. I have to agree that for ps1 and ps2 gamecube it is yet not the case but for allot of the other vintage systems wich are popular to collect for it is
collecting cib is expensive unlesss you collect everything, buy in lots or buy smart.
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First things first, Welcome to our little corner of the internet. Always love to see new people.
Boy, did you pick a bad time to start collecting. Prices are crazy high.
Personally, I'd start with what I wanted to play. If you have an interest in it, grab it. Don't collect just for the sake of amassing a wall of games. Don't go for high priced items unless you plan on going for complete sets.
Enjoy the journey. Collecting is a lot like a road trip with no real destination.
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Welcome to the site!
Research the games you want to play and go for those first. That way you have stuff to play while other things you might be interested in have a chance to go down in price.
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This is not the time period to enter the CIB console market. The prices are already up and the market cannot sustain itself. As time furthers, the prices will come down, not go up.
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First off, welcome to the site and welcome to the madness that is video game collecting!
1) Unfortunately you are pretty late to the party and most retro consoles have been expensive to collect for, for years now. Pre-NES systems like Atari and Intellivision are really cheap to collect for overall, with the exception of some really rare games on those consoles. As far as post NES consoles, Genesis is still not too bad, and systems from last gen (Wii, PS3, 360) are still highly abundant, easy to find, and mostly cheap. If you have any interest in those systems I'd jump on that soon.
2) Boxes do not have specialized serial numbers, only the consoles themselves do. So grabbing a PS3 box in not going to be any different than the exact box from the same console someone else bought.
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First off, welcome to the site and welcome to the madness that is video game collecting!
1) Unfortunately you are pretty late to the party and most retro consoles have been expensive to collect for, for years now. Pre-NES systems like Atari and Intellivision are really cheap to collect for overall, with the exception of some really rare games on those consoles. As far as post NES consoles, Genesis is still not too bad, and systems from last gen (Wii, PS3, 360) are still highly abundant, easy to find, and mostly cheap. If you have any interest in those systems I'd jump on that soon.
2) Boxes do not have specialized serial numbers, only the consoles themselves do. So grabbing a PS3 box in not going to be any different than the exact box from the same console someone else bought.
I'm pretty sure the boxes do. Retailers use the numbers on the box, system, and receipt to prevent consumer fraud.
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Like the others have said this is a bad time to get into game collecting. Too many resellers driving up the price on games these days. I see games I bought for $10-15 being listed on ebay for $100 all the time now. If you insist on collecting right now though, the two systems that have the least attention on them imo would be the original Xbox and the PSP. You can find almost any game you want on those systems for $5-20, with very few exceeding that cost. I think right now there are less than 30 games valued over $20 on the OG Xbox, not sure with PSP.
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I won't go far to say it is bad to get into collecting. Video game collecting, as far as what is "popular" is not what you want to get into. NES, SNES, PC Engine/TG-16, Neo Geo AES/MVS, Japanese computers, Sega Saturn US/EU etc are all in the high water market and it is expensive. But there are still systems where the prices are ok to get in to.
For example, Sega Saturn is still ok to get into, if you want to play collect Japanese games. US Saturn has always been high because they are in low numbers compared to other systems of the time. Japan versions were always cheaper, and if you can stand waiting on the shipping, is a good way to bring the games over. You just need a Saturn and have it modded, or get the RAM cart that lets you play imports. But if you wanted to full set US Saturn games... It was a bad time in 2010 to start collecting Saturn, it is even worse now.
Then there are systems where the prices have gone down. Notable among those I have noticed are Sega Master System and big box PC games.
Now it might make sense to some people that see the value is high and expect that things will be worth more in the future. Its a big gamble tho, and you see indicators and people all over the place asking about/when/how bad the bubble is going to burst. That right there is your clue that it won't stay just the same way. A correction will happen, just like it did for baseball cards. And just like baseball cards, it doesn't mean everything will become worthless. Some items will still be worth good money. The whole trick is trying to figure out what those are.
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Maybe a stupid question, but are you collecting games or just consoles? I couldn't really tell by the way the question was worded.
As far as games, if it has to be complete. Original Xbox, or PS1. Maybe PS2. Or PS3/360/Wii. It just depends. Do you buy games according to taste, or do you buy them all? I wouldn't recommend trying to buy all games for one console. There are a lot of good website out there now, and Youtube channels where you can find out about the types of games you might like.
Like others have said, when it comes to really expensive games, I wouldn't bother. Half of the games exceeding $60 these days are totally not worth the money and have shot up for no real reason. There's still plenty of cheaper alternatives. Some of my best times with games came from cheap titles that no one gives a crap about. Unless you're super serial and have lots of cash to spend, then I'd look at what's still reasonably priced first.
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Actually Sega Genesis and Sega Dreamcast aren't too bad either. While both have their high end titles..there is a lot of cheap fun to be had on both systems. For Sega Genesis start out super cheap with "Six Pack" Has six great genesis games on one cart. On Dreamcast get things like Sonic Adventure 1, Sega Rally ,and Virtual Fighter 3tb. PS2 is a good system as well and lets you tap into the whole PS1 Catalog if you get lucky.
Finally don't fear the "Greatest Hits/Player's Choice" Lables. Yes they are ugly as sin we know. But chances are a Greatest Hits Re-print is going to be a lot cheaper than the original label and you have a decent chance of the game being something you actually want to play.
Anything worthwhile from the House of Mario isn't gonna come cheap. Even the most average NES and SNES games go for 10$ USD and up these days. More sought after titles can get into the 50-60 range fast.
Saturn, only on Sega's 32 bit console can you see people selling lots of sports games for 80 bucks..and getting it easy. I look for US Saturn to be the next Neo Geo.
Finally if you can find a working system, Atari 2600 games are cheaper than dirt.
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^^ This is true. Though, I would consider Genesis, Dreamcast, and Master System as well to be of moderately difficulty to collect games for. The bargain bins aren't that vast, but there also aren't that many people fighting over Sega stuff, other than Saturn and CD which are arguably the least essential Sega platforms. The plus side being that complete items for Sega consoles aren't quite as insanely coveted as Nintendo.
The NES has such a plethora of games, that there are plenty of gems to be had under $10, even excluding a lot of the staples and must-haves. But you can't get much of anything complete without a hefty price tag.
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First things first, Welcome to our little corner of the internet. Always love to see new people.
Boy, did you pick a bad time to start collecting. Prices are crazy high.
Personally, I'd start with what I wanted to play. If you have an interest in it, grab it. Don't collect just for the sake of amassing a wall of games. Don't go for high priced items unless you plan on going for complete sets.
Enjoy the journey. Collecting is a lot like a road trip with no real destination.
yep, yep, yep.
don't make a mistake of collecting a bunch of cheap crap for the sake of having a bunch of cheap crap. you can have 1000 games, but if 800 of them are $1 shit titles, no one is impressed and neither will you be.
it's not worth it.
anyway, i personally collect for more modern consoles, and OG xbox... i would for psp, but my psp has a bunch of issues. i ought to cave and get a new one. sigh.
but retro consoles are just too expensive, and i don't honestly have much interest in many of those old games... i guess i'm just not that big a fan of side-scrolling and such. i AM, but not as much as many others.
i also suggest making sure, if you DO go for more modern games, trying for CIB... you'll kinda regret it if you don't. that doesn't go for those old cartridge games, imo. most of those can be bought loose and it doesn't feel awful, but getting disc-based games in generic shitty cases sucks. avoid it. when i first started collecting, i got all these games in generic crap cases... ugh. i had to rebuy some games, basically. it sucks.
and always remember: no matter how much you want a game, just wait for a good deal on the game. don't pay market price. just wait it out. you WILL find it cheaper eventually.
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yep, yep, yep.
don't make a mistake of collecting a bunch of cheap crap for the sake of having a bunch of cheap crap. you can have 1000 games, but if 800 of them are $1 shit titles, no one is impressed and neither will you be.
it's not worth it.
I do not collect for other people, instead myself. So I do not care if other people are not impressed by my 800 $1 games. :p
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yep, yep, yep.
don't make a mistake of collecting a bunch of cheap crap for the sake of having a bunch of cheap crap. you can have 1000 games, but if 800 of them are $1 shit titles, no one is impressed and neither will you be.
it's not worth it.
I do not collect for other people, instead myself. So I do not care if other people are not impressed by my 800 $1 games. :p
^ this
also I am impressed with 800 shit titles. don't forget that a lot of our hidden gems from previous generations have been part of those $1 shit games list at one point or another. being bargain binned out on the cheap just to get rid of all the unwanted copies.
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yep, yep, yep.
don't make a mistake of collecting a bunch of cheap crap for the sake of having a bunch of cheap crap. you can have 1000 games, but if 800 of them are $1 shit titles, no one is impressed and neither will you be.
it's not worth it.
I do not collect for other people, instead myself. So I do not care if other people are not impressed by my 800 $1 games. :p
^ this
also I am impressed with 800 shit titles. don't forget that a lot of our hidden gems from previous generations have been part of those $1 shit games list at one point or another. being bargain binned out on the cheap just to get rid of all the unwanted copies.
I'm usually not impressed by sheer number, but I will concur that there are a lot of games that are inexpensive/cheap and are not just crap. To me, there is a fairly clear difference between obscure games/budget titles/"bad games" and shovelware. Shovelware being stuff that is an obvious cash grab on an pre-existing idea or property (not associated with games), done by some fly-by-night game studio and pushed out banking on the popularity of whatever the game is piggybacking on. Sometimes shovelware isn't terrible (like when Capcom did games based on Disney movies), but having a collection chock full of that stuff just drives me nuts. I can't help but question why anyone would buy a ton of that stuff. That, and having tons of sports if you're not actually a sports fan.
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yep, yep, yep.
don't make a mistake of collecting a bunch of cheap crap for the sake of having a bunch of cheap crap. you can have 1000 games, but if 800 of them are $1 shit titles, no one is impressed and neither will you be.
it's not worth it.
I do not collect for other people, instead myself. So I do not care if other people are not impressed by my 800 $1 games. :p
Word.
I'm explicitly going out and finding shit games because I know a lot of shit games don't get a lot of coverage or videos and stuff because people didn't play them.
At some point I'm going to play through (as many as I can bother) with some people and upload the shenanigans to youtube or something.
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i have started a debate with my tired talk
i probably should have said $1 shovelware to be absolutely clear. there's a lot of titles out there that aren't worth your dollar. so unless you're a hoarder, or a masochist, why even buy it?
(and i'm pretty sure i was trying to say something along the lines of "no one is impressed but most of all, you won't be", but i was tired, and i'm still pretty sure 'impressed' is only half of what i'm looking for. i'm bad with words and i was exhausted last night. who fucking knows.
although it does feel neato for people to be like "wow damn that's nice" to me so w/e)
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I pretty much agree with necrosexual here.
The cheap crap usually means shovelware, so with my Wii collection I wouldn't waste time picking up stuff like Billy the Wizard or Anubis II, or Bubsy 3D for the PS1, when there are much more enjoyable titles on the retrospective systems to spend my time with. There can be cheap hidden gems within those systems too, but its better to do some research on the library first before buying stuff.
To be fair, it is your money and you can choose what to spend it on. But if you wanna play a crappy game, then I'd reccomend to just emulate it and/or do a video on it.
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i have started a debate with my tired talk
i probably should have said $1 shovelware to be absolutely clear. there's a lot of titles out there that aren't worth your dollar. so unless you're a hoarder, or a masochist, why even buy it?
there are plenty of titles under $ 15 wich are basicly trash. I'd say at the very least 80%
Ofcourse there are trash titles above this value but i'm just saying that not only dollar titles are trash.
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i have started a debate with my tired talk
i probably should have said $1 shovelware to be absolutely clear. there's a lot of titles out there that aren't worth your dollar. so unless you're a hoarder, or a masochist, why even buy it?
there are plenty of titles under $ 15 wich are basicly trash. I'd say at the very least 80%
Ofcourse there are trash titles above this value but i'm just saying that not only dollar titles are trash.
well, yes.
but i speak from a little bit of experience when i say that... if you begin late (i didn't start collecting until i was ~15?) that you'll be highly tempted to inflate your collection number with cheap $1 trash. the problem is, is then you still have 'all these games, but nothing to play' syndrome. and that sucks. but it's really tempting to buy shitty games that are vvv cheap just to inflate your numbers. or, well, it was for me. maybe not everyone, but then, that's why i went ahead and warned ;'D
there are definitely plenty of $5-15 games that are trash, many of which are featured as shitty games by people like james rolfe or angry joe (ride to hell retribution is like $20+ on ebay because of him, after all, from a quick look). but it's hard to pad out a collection with $10+ games. it's easy to amass 50 games quickly if you just buy a bunch of $1 junk. while most people aren't in collecting for a number game... i very much was, and i imagine that many people might be starting out. you change as you get more into it. where my goal once was "have a fuckload of games!" it's now more along the lines of "have at my disposal any game i could ever want to play, when i want to play it". it's a much healthier reason to have a collection, and maybe i'm an outlier and speaking to the wind, but maybe i'm not, and that's why i mentioned it.
OTOH it depends on the console we're speaking about too. OG xbox's entire library sparing about 20-30 games is under $15 and psp is very close the same, but then you have GCN where any title worth having is over $15. you can argue that the majority of games on any console are trash tho, maybe even 80%, but that's a lot more subjective and a subject for a different topic ;')
also, i didn't mention it, but my other advice would be: don't get overwhelmed. this goes with the 'don't overpay for shit just cause it's there' that i mentioned in my tired initial post, but it's a little different. it's easy to write a list of every game you want for a console(s) but it's also easy to get overwhelmed when looking at pages of 'games i want eventually'. it's easier to get games as the urge hits. my buying patterns usually reflect this... ie, i want some shmup action, i buy shmups. i want some grand RTS, i buy grand RTS games. i want JRPGs....... well i always want JRPGs so... well oops. i want a sonic title, i bought sonic generations. and so on. it's a little different now that i'm in clean-up stage on a console (PS3 is about to be finished) and gamestop is likely to be phasing out last gen consoles soon, but i've only got ~30 to go before i close the books on that, so...
my point is, is take is easy. you don't amass a 1000 game collection overnight... or over a year. it just won't happen. plenty of people get big collections by only spending $100 a month, or buying say 3 games a month, or whatever their parameters are. so, too, will you, given enough time.
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i have started a debate with my tired talk
i probably should have said $1 shovelware to be absolutely clear. there's a lot of titles out there that aren't worth your dollar. so unless you're a hoarder, or a masochist, why even buy it?
there are plenty of titles under $ 15 wich are basicly trash. I'd say at the very least 80%
Ofcourse there are trash titles above this value but i'm just saying that not only dollar titles are trash.
well, yes.
but i speak from a little bit of experience when i say that... if you begin late (i didn't start collecting until i was ~15?) that you'll be highly tempted to inflate your collection number with cheap $1 trash. the problem is, is then you still have 'all these games, but nothing to play' syndrome. and that sucks. but it's really tempting to buy shitty games that are vvv cheap just to inflate your numbers. or, well, it was for me. maybe not everyone, but then, that's why i went ahead and warned ;'D
there are definitely plenty of $5-15 games that are trash, many of which are featured as shitty games by people like james rolfe or angry joe (ride to hell retribution is like $20+ on ebay because of him, after all, from a quick look). but it's hard to pad out a collection with $10+ games. it's easy to amass 50 games quickly if you just buy a bunch of $1 junk. while most people aren't in collecting for a number game... i very much was, and i imagine that many people might be starting out. you change as you get more into it. where my goal once was "have a fuckload of games!" it's now more along the lines of "have at my disposal any game i could ever want to play, when i want to play it". it's a much healthier reason to have a collection, and maybe i'm an outlier and speaking to the wind, but maybe i'm not, and that's why i mentioned it.
OTOH it depends on the console we're speaking about too. OG xbox's entire library sparing about 20-30 games is under $15 and psp is very close the same, but then you have GCN where any title worth having is over $15. you can argue that the majority of games on any console are trash tho, maybe even 80%, but that's a lot more subjective and a subject for a different topic ;')
also, i didn't mention it, but my other advice would be: don't get overwhelmed. this goes with the 'don't overpay for shit just cause it's there' that i mentioned in my tired initial post, but it's a little different. it's easy to write a list of every game you want for a console(s) but it's also easy to get overwhelmed when looking at pages of 'games i want eventually'. it's easier to get games as the urge hits. my buying patterns usually reflect this... ie, i want some shmup action, i buy shmups. i want some grand RTS, i buy grand RTS games. i want JRPGs....... well i always want JRPGs so... well oops. i want a sonic title, i bought sonic generations. and so on. it's a little different now that i'm in clean-up stage on a console (PS3 is about to be finished) and gamestop is likely to be phasing out last gen consoles soon, but i've only got ~30 to go before i close the books on that, so...
my point is, is take is easy. you don't amass a 1000 game collection overnight... or over a year. it just won't happen. plenty of people get big collections by only spending $100 a month, or buying say 3 games a month, or whatever their parameters are. so, too, will you, given enough time.
I started collecting even later at age 18. a little bit over 3 years ago very late when prices are already pretty high.
I disagree that one gets tempted by 1 dollar titles, people who collect such titles do it on purpose and like to collect everything no matter how bad it is just to have it because it is yet another ps2 title that they don´t have ::), however there are also collectors who collect what they want even when they are starting out very late. If you don´t want to collect everything I highly doubt one would want a trash 1$ title to begin with when for example a beginner is looking for a title like super metroid or mario bros.
My piece of advice is to be patient and to collect titles that you consider you actually want to play. Even today it is possible to get a personal quality collection for a bargain price. It is pretty satisfying after all aquiring awesome titles for basicly next to nothing. Also if one has the money you should just spend it if you really need something bad not to mention that there are good cheap titles out there wich are better than the more expensive ones. I do disagree though that every 15$ + gamecube title is worth owning unless one goes for a full set.
Amassing a huge game collection is pretty easy with the cheaper titles that is. If i would have done the same thing my collection would be 4000 games in excellent shape cib at the very least without a sweat while still retaining the titles that I already have for pretty much the same price since overall they didn't fetch all that much even for the older stuff it would have hardly made a difference. I can´t stand trash titles so i always sell those in big lots to get rid of them as fast as possible.
Even with other methods aquiring 1000 games while spending like 50 a month is pretty easy especially for certain consoles where you can get like 100 games for 40 $ or less since nobody wants it and the hoarders eventually already have those titles. I´d say that if someone tries hard and collects everything 1000 games can be done in a few months especially when you are just beginning. Without any effort I´d say 1 year is enough for 1000+ games if you collect everything.
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it's a little different now that i'm in clean-up stage on a console (PS3 is about to be finished) and gamestop is likely to be phasing out last gen consoles soon, but i've only got ~30 to go before i close the books on that, so...
This is a little off-topic, but, I think if GS clears out last gen their stores will look really pathetic. I just recently started to look at what they have for current gen, and man, is the selection small or what? I'm surprised at how little has come out in the past 3 years. Basically it's all triple-a, hd collections, and then a little bit of niche stuff. There's no diversity in the market anymore for retail games. I thought it was just Wii U that had a problem, but I think it's all of them really. If GS gets rid of PS3/360, they could very well cut their store size in less than half.
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Many of the best games out there are affordable (under $15), mostly because they made so many of these games they are readily available to most people who want to play them. With that said, there is a lot of cheap filler titles out there as well that you'd really only buy to make your collection beefier or because you have some strange attachment to that game.
I am with the crowd that looks at people with a ton of filler titles and is not impressed in the slightest. I know several people with complete or near complete collections of games for specific consoles and it always diminishes my excitement when I see a few excellent games scattered throughout mixed in with crap, shovelware, and titles that nobody would want otherwise. This is part of the reason why I've never gone for a complete set of any console, even the Dreamcast which is my favorite console and the only system I've ever even thought of doing this with.
With all that said, I have no problem with how people choose to collect. My style is quality over quantity (even though I have over 1800 games). but if someone just likes picking up anything they don't already have and that makes them happy, that is totally fine by me. There are many types and ways to collect, and there is no right or wrong way imo.
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I say just collect what you like and want to play. You'll end up happier. Then if some stuff happens to climb in value, cool.
But trying to collect based on value, is just gonna lead to frustration (because it's getting more and more competitive out there, it's not the early 2000s anymore), and disappointment when you get that $200 game and it ends up sucking or faulty.
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I just basically follow 2 rules when buying games.
1. The price is roughly half or lower of the current going rate, because if I'm stupid and it's a dupe or I don't want it any more, worst case I minimize my loss. This extends to making it difficult to buy up tons of games and spend tons of money because it needs to be a good price.
2. This is negotiable depending on how cheap the game is. It must be a game I could see myself playing and having a good time. Either in it being a fun game, or just makes for a fun(ny) experience when playing with other people.
Basically try not to spend too much and buy what you want.
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i have started a debate with my tired talk
i probably should have said $1 shovelware to be absolutely clear. there's a lot of titles out there that aren't worth your dollar. so unless you're a hoarder, or a masochist, why even buy it?
there are plenty of titles under $ 15 wich are basicly trash. I'd say at the very least 80%
Ofcourse there are trash titles above this value but i'm just saying that not only dollar titles are trash.
well, yes.
but i speak from a little bit of experience when i say that... if you begin late (i didn't start collecting until i was ~15?) that you'll be highly tempted to inflate your collection number with cheap $1 trash. the problem is, is then you still have 'all these games, but nothing to play' syndrome. and that sucks. but it's really tempting to buy shitty games that are vvv cheap just to inflate your numbers. or, well, it was for me. maybe not everyone, but then, that's why i went ahead and warned ;'D
there are definitely plenty of $5-15 games that are trash, many of which are featured as shitty games by people like james rolfe or angry joe (ride to hell retribution is like $20+ on ebay because of him, after all, from a quick look). but it's hard to pad out a collection with $10+ games. it's easy to amass 50 games quickly if you just buy a bunch of $1 junk. while most people aren't in collecting for a number game... i very much was, and i imagine that many people might be starting out. you change as you get more into it. where my goal once was "have a fuckload of games!" it's now more along the lines of "have at my disposal any game i could ever want to play, when i want to play it". it's a much healthier reason to have a collection, and maybe i'm an outlier and speaking to the wind, but maybe i'm not, and that's why i mentioned it.
OTOH it depends on the console we're speaking about too. OG xbox's entire library sparing about 20-30 games is under $15 and psp is very close the same, but then you have GCN where any title worth having is over $15. you can argue that the majority of games on any console are trash tho, maybe even 80%, but that's a lot more subjective and a subject for a different topic ;')
also, i didn't mention it, but my other advice would be: don't get overwhelmed. this goes with the 'don't overpay for shit just cause it's there' that i mentioned in my tired initial post, but it's a little different. it's easy to write a list of every game you want for a console(s) but it's also easy to get overwhelmed when looking at pages of 'games i want eventually'. it's easier to get games as the urge hits. my buying patterns usually reflect this... ie, i want some shmup action, i buy shmups. i want some grand RTS, i buy grand RTS games. i want JRPGs....... well i always want JRPGs so... well oops. i want a sonic title, i bought sonic generations. and so on. it's a little different now that i'm in clean-up stage on a console (PS3 is about to be finished) and gamestop is likely to be phasing out last gen consoles soon, but i've only got ~30 to go before i close the books on that, so...
my point is, is take is easy. you don't amass a 1000 game collection overnight... or over a year. it just won't happen. plenty of people get big collections by only spending $100 a month, or buying say 3 games a month, or whatever their parameters are. so, too, will you, given enough time.
I started collecting even later at age 18. a little bit over 3 years ago very late when prices are already pretty high.
I disagree that one gets tempted by 1 dollar titles, people who collect such titles do it on purpose and like to collect everything no matter how bad it is just to have it because it is yet another ps2 title that they don´t have ::), however there are also collectors who collect what they want even when they are starting out very late. If you don´t want to collect everything I highly doubt one would want a trash 1$ title to begin with when for example a beginner is looking for a title like super metroid or mario bros.
My piece of advice is to be patient and to collect titles that you consider you actually want to play. Even today it is possible to get a personal quality collection for a bargain price. It is pretty satisfying after all aquiring awesome titles for basicly next to nothing. Also if one has the money you should just spend it if you really need something bad not to mention that there are good cheap titles out there wich are better than the more expensive ones. I do disagree though that every 15$ + gamecube title is worth owning unless one goes for a full set.
Amassing a huge game collection is pretty easy with the cheaper titles that is. If i would have done the same thing my collection would be 4000 games in excellent shape cib at the very least without a sweat while still retaining the titles that I already have for pretty much the same price since overall they didn't fetch all that much even for the older stuff it would have hardly made a difference. I can´t stand trash titles so i always sell those in big lots to get rid of them as fast as possible.
Even with other methods aquiring 1000 games while spending like 50 a month is pretty easy especially for certain consoles where you can get like 100 games for 40 $ or less since nobody wants it and the hoarders eventually already have those titles. I´d say that if someone tries hard and collects everything 1000 games can be done in a few months especially when you are just beginning. Without any effort I´d say 1 year is enough for 1000+ games if you collect everything.
you misread what i said. i said that every gcn title worth owning IS over $15, not that every $15+ title on gcn is worth owning.
and don't be so hostile. YMMV, but i gave a word of warning is all, based on my experience. no need to go full whale. that is all. no need to buy $1 titles just to have them, which was my point in the beginning. not that everyone does, but from my experience... don't fall into that thought trap. it's easy to fall into it, but it's NOT worth it. it's the same as the PC upgrade trap... it's really easy to fall into, and it happens fast if you're not aware it could happen. everyone knows about the PC upgrade trap... and more importantly, the steam cheap-ass sale traps, too. don't fall into the same patterns. $1 cheap-ass games are alluring, but if they're trash and all, you're still stuck on 'all these games but nothing to play' problems. if you want to finish off a complete console, the cheap-ass $1 games can come later. and someone new to collecting probably shouldn't jump straight into full console collections anyway... it's a fast-track to burnout/being overwhelmed. they CAN, but it just takes proper planning. it'd be better to start slower and then realise you can finish off a console, than to start out with that as your goal and realise there are a metric fuckton of games you still haven't got despite having 200+ games.
also, YMMV on the fast acquisition of games. in today's climate, it is vvv hard to find 100 games for $40 that isn't full of shovelware or some shit. which is exactly what i'm advising against. it depends too much on location and if you care about loose discs and other things.if you spend $50/month and are fortunate enough to have a local shop that isn't ebay prices and find plenty of $5 games that aren't beat all to shit, you're still only getting 120 games a year. yeah, maybe if you can blow through $1000 on cheap games, or if you're really good at the yard sale game, but a novice probably WON'T be.
it's a little different now that i'm in clean-up stage on a console (PS3 is about to be finished) and gamestop is likely to be phasing out last gen consoles soon, but i've only got ~30 to go before i close the books on that, so...
This is a little off-topic, but, I think if GS clears out last gen their stores will look really pathetic. I just recently started to look at what they have for current gen, and man, is the selection small or what? I'm surprised at how little has come out in the past 3 years. Basically it's all triple-a, hd collections, and then a little bit of niche stuff. There's no diversity in the market anymore for retail games. I thought it was just Wii U that had a problem, but I think it's all of them really. If GS gets rid of PS3/360, they could very well cut their store size in less than half.
yep, for sure, it'll look rather dull, but if you look around, they're crammed full of other things and they've been edging towards selling accessories more and more anyway. so that's why i think they may phase out the old gen and set up phone displays and accessories displays. they've been taking in phones for years. they're getting cricket employees in their stores.
i'm not a market analyst by any stretch but...
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Even with other methods aquiring 1000 games while spending like 50 a month is pretty easy especially for certain consoles where you can get like 100 games for 40 $ or less since nobody wants it and the hoarders eventually already have those titles. I´d say that if someone tries hard and collects everything 1000 games can be done in a few months especially when you are just beginning. Without any effort I´d say 1 year is enough for 1000+ games if you collect everything.
also, YMMV on the fast acquisition of games. in today's climate, it is vvv hard to find 100 games for $40 that isn't full of shovelware or some shit. which is exactly what i'm advising against. it depends too much on location and if you care about loose discs and other things.if you spend $50/month and are fortunate enough to have a local shop that isn't ebay prices and find plenty of $5 games that aren't beat all to shit, you're still only getting 120 games a year. yeah, maybe if you can blow through $1000 on cheap games, or if you're really good at the yard sale game, but a novice probably WON'T be.
I think you misunderstood me there, if you collect everything including shovel ware, getting 1000 games is an absolute walk in the park, I never said getting 1000 quality titles is easy (unless you like everything) but not impossible for a nice price or even bargain price.