The C Word. Collecting.

[madhatter667]

So, being that this is a game forum (with obviously an Atari focus), but this is a topic about games in general, here it is. I'm a bit of a spaz, and enjoy game banter, so take that for what it is.

I've been a member here for some time, though I post off and on (as I collect in waves as mood suits). Kinda how my personality works with my hobbies. In a way, it keeps things fresh. Dive in, take a break, come back... there WILL be something new. Lol.

 

Anyways, a little back story. I once had (I think it was) 22 different systems, not counting hardware revisions. Had games for all of them (though nothing resembling a complete library for any). Though I did have some rather large ones. I had most of the less than crazy rare consoles. Of the ones that I most regret selling off are: Atari Lynx, and Jaguar (had a pretty solid Lynx collection going, and most were with box), my ST computers/games, and my TG16/PCE (had both US and Japanese consoles). They were really cool pieces of work, all of them.

 

I suppose it is several years ago now, as opposed to a few, I moved. I had a relationship dissolve, in a bad way (but ultimately to my benefit). Long story, not appropriate for here. Either way, I had to move. I also had a LOT of game related stuff. A lot of it got sold away. The downside is that in moving I also needed money, on top of wanting to get the eff out of where I was as fast as I could. A lot of this stuff converted to cash pretty fast. I have under half of what I once did.

 

Aside from the few things I let go that I wish I hadn't, what this process made me do, is think critically about what I was doing/collecting. Now, I like me some Atari stuff, so I regretted selling the Atari branded pieces right off the bat. I needed money badly. Some of the other stuff I miss less than the aforementioned items. But it made me think "if I really HAD to keep just a few systems, which would they be?" For me, those ended up being the Atari 2600/7800, 8 bit, NES/FC, SNES/SFC, PSX/PS2. These are the systems I primarily collect for. This is changing a little bit with some recent acquisitions, and the want list is altered some with emulation of systems I don't yet own. But those are the big ones.

 

At the end of the day, I really like collecting NES/Famicom stuff. Even the pirated stuff is kind of neat (systems and games... have both, authentic, and pirated). I might even enjoy collecting it more than the Atari stuff, and that's a hard thing to say (because I really enjoy the 8bit, and have a ton of 2600 carts... more than everything else except PSX/PS2). I don't want to call it a guilty pleasure to collect NES/Famicom (on an Atari themed forum). I picked up Famicom in 2005 or 2006, and have slooooowly built up what library of carts and disks I do have. Most of that came in a wave though too. Got a few coming in the mail soon (which I'm pretty excited for). I've got toaster NES from childhood, spare decks in case it burns, Sharp Twin Famicom (officially licensed product), Retro Duo, Power Games penguin clone, Power Joy joystick clone, Micro Genius IQ501 clone, a crappy Polystation clone, working on lining up an A/V Famicom (the equivalent of US top loader NES), and I want to get a top loading NES on general principle. Lol. Dunno. Just something about it I like. Hard to qualify. Spent many years staying up way too late playing this stuff. Lol.

 

So. We're all here because Atari. But what else do you collect?

Edited April 29, 2016 by madhatter667

[Keatah]

Apple II paraphernalia

Mini-Labs science kits

RadioShack project kits

TRS-80 pocket computer stuff

TI-59 material

Astronomy books

 

I used to have a videogame collection with thousands of carts and like 30 consoles till the cult of the crazies got a hold of it.

[HoshiChiri]

I have far too much interest in all the different consoles out there. I look at consoles the way some women see shoes- so many different styles to fit so many different situations! I tend to lean a bit toward oddities, things people might not run into during their normal course of gaming- but nothing inherently "bad". No R-zones or Hyperscans or such. I also typically don't build very large game libraries for each one, opting to cherry pick a few choice titles and move on. Not surprisingly, this means I don't have anything too odd lying around. All told, I have 26 consoles (not counting the extra 2 GBAs) & 650ish games.

 

Outside of gaming- I collect US coins & currency (it is most convenient for me that PAX West takes place in a building with a coin shop!) and stretched pennies (if I'm buying stupid tourist tat, I want it small and cheap! Plus coins.) I also have a small collection of Obitsu dolls. They're a Japanese vinyl jointed doll with extreme poseability (something like 21-25 points of articulation, depending on what you get.) You buy them in parts, without faces, and customize to your liking. I do a lot of craft projects, and these guys lend themselves well to being involved with such. I suppose the anime/manga counts as a collection too, but I'm actively working on cutting that back as I've largely fallen out of that hobby.