Protective cases

[brothertuc]

I was just wondering how many of you retro collectors, keep your games in protective cases?
I've considered it as my collection grows bigger each month. I kinda wanna do it, just in case.
I mean, what's the real advantage to using box protectors?

[62gaming]

It helps keep stuff like dust and dirt away from the actual boxes themselves. Plus, for games I owned that had really messed up (squashed, etc) boxes, it helps hold them together and makes them more presentable as well.

However the biggest reason I got them though, is cuz it helps keep a good consistency in my shelving. Because of how my shelves are designed, I have to stack my games to maximize space, and while GameBoy games aren't exactly heavy, I didn't want the actual flimsy cardboard boxes to be bearing any weight.

[brothertuc]

Yeah... Currently, I have my games standing on shelves, but I'm gonna buy a bookcase soon.
The thing with the protectors (they do look nice) is that the length of the games grows a little. I mean, sure, they are only 4mm plastic but combined that does grow your collection by a few centimetres. That's a very minor thing though.

[sworddude]

I was just wondering how many of you retro collectors, keep your games in protective cases?
I've considered it as my collection grows bigger each month. I kinda wanna do it, just in case.
I mean, what's the real advantage to using box protectors?

It's only a must for cardboard or factory sealed games otherwise I wouldn't recommend

preventing dust is a thing but it's overkill for plastic cases if you'd ask me. plus for most things non cardboard imo it looks worse.

[brothertuc]

I was just wondering how many of you retro collectors, keep your games in protective cases?
I've considered it as my collection grows bigger each month. I kinda wanna do it, just in case.
I mean, what's the real advantage to using box protectors?

It's only a must for cardboard or factory sealed games otherwise I wouldn't recommend

preventing dust is a thing but it's overkill for plastic cases if you'd ask me. plus for most things non cardboard imo it looks worse.

How about for loose cartridges? Wouldn't it be preferable for those?

[sworddude]

I was just wondering how many of you retro collectors, keep your games in protective cases?
I've considered it as my collection grows bigger each month. I kinda wanna do it, just in case.
I mean, what's the real advantage to using box protectors?

It's only a must for cardboard or factory sealed games otherwise I wouldn't recommend

preventing dust is a thing but it's overkill for plastic cases if you'd ask me. plus for most things non cardboard imo it looks worse.

How about for loose cartridges? Wouldn't it be preferable for those?

for carts it's a fine option.

[Warmsignal]

I do this for some of my cardboard stuff, and if I was a bit smarter I'd do it for everything. I've also done it for my entire Wii, DS, and Wii U collections. Just because a case is plastic doesn't mean it can't be crushed or water damaged, or even UV damaged. I've posted photo proof of how destroyed a modern game can get, over in the anonymous thread. Ideally, I'd use protectors on everything I've got, but I just don't want to make that investment. They also hog up more precious shelf space than you'd think.

[sworddude]

UV damage is definitely a thing that I've seen in plenty of collections that have been in the sun for to long it's such a waste. discoloration is an issue that will damage many games in this hobby. even if it's preserved in someone's collection, we will definitely lose some excellent non discoloured examples by the day by people who don't know. especially with yellow or red colors those will get hit first. seeing a lighter side on a box is never a great look.

[tripredacus]

I have just a few. 10 or so that I bought as a try-out to see if I could use them, and only use them for some cardboard box Genesis or 32X games, especially for those where the boxes are beat up and have issues standing on a shelf. They work great for that.

I have one for a Genesis cart, but it was because I bought a Famicom game at a local store and there was one on there. I used it instead to go on my Judge Dredd promo cart.

Another few that I have gotten were for CDs. They work really well on a CD where you want to be able to have the Obi Strip visible on the spine.

[sworddude]

I mean to be fair for excellent to pristine boxes, them box protectors will definitely help to keep those in identical condition. Damaged boxes while they do look better in these box protectors and they do get them in shape it ain't going to be noticably worse overtime there ain't rush for those the damage has already been done. better to preserve the stuff that is still in good upwards condition. dust and overall shelfware will damage cardboard over time especially when it's still in great shape.

If you had to prioritize anything for them box protectors I'd definitely favor excellent to pristine cardboard over lesser condition to damaged, there ain't much saving left at that point. But that's just my 2 cents.

Overall though anything cardboard a box protector is highly recommended.

[empovyle]

I bought some protectors for GBA, PS1, and my NTSC-J Animal Crossing. All of the cardboard on the GBA games are in pretty rough condition not going to lie, but like sworddude said, might as well preserve what's left. Before protecting them they wouldn't hold their shape on the shelf at all, but now I can stack them up without it looking terrible.

The PS1 protectors are a bit overkill but the jewel cases are very prone to getting scratched, scuffed, and cracked so might as well protect them too. I'm sure if you merely glanced at a PS1 game the wrong way, the cover would get scuffed somehow. You can probably just buy replacement jewel cases for about the same price as the protectors though, although I haven't bothered to research buying those.

I got the protectors off eBay and Amazon, because some other sites were out of stock at the time and had no shipping estimate. So far it's been a 100% positive experience. Would buy more if they weren't so expensive!

[wartoy]

I finally got protective cases for all my boxed nes,snes,n64,jaguar,turbo grafx-16,gba,gbc and sega genesis cardboard boxes a few months ago. I highly recommend it,they look great and im happy they're protected.

[gngtiger]

I bought a couple of game cases from customgamecases.com. I'm not a collector who thinks all games that came with boxes should be collected with them, unless they're plastic or the media is disc-based (even then, I'm adaptable for whatever I find). I got cases for Super Mario Bros. Deluxe and Super Monkey Ball Jr., and they work very well. They cost 15 bucks all together (that includes shipping). I highly recommend them!

[bizzgeburt]

I use those cases too, but only for those games I consider it necessary for, like e.g. NES-Games, or Sega Saturn Games, for their PAL-original cases are quite fragile.
If I had more cardboard boxed games I'd case them in too ... so dust and stuff is kept away from them.
This isn't really a deal, if the original cases (e.g. SEGA Megadrive, PS2, or PS3) are durable enough.

[pzeke]

The best candidate for these cases are cardboard boxes and loose games (NES, SNES, N64, etc.). Of course, if you want to protect your expensive, most collectible games, then they're also an option. You gots to protect your investment, no?