What made you choose to collect for certain systems over others?

[Keatah]

In continuing to think about this question and reading the responses, it continues pointing to remembering the good times we had as kids. Not really a nostalgia thing because I have little desire to "go back". It's more of bringing the good times (in different ways) forward to today.

 

I just ordered some Apple II manuals and a couple of filler things from ebay. It'll be nice reading and trying out the examples via real hardware or emulation. On a cold & raining New-England evening. Cozied up with some hot soup and all that.

[jhd]

I'm confused. What is the difference whether you grab the game/console from a retailer online or if you just go to their brick & mortar store?

 

It is FAR easier to get ripped off online than in person. How many Ebay horror stories have you heard -- from merchandise not as described to nothing being sent at all!

 

If I buy retail, I can examine the merchandise personally and be certain about its condition, etc. I have seen B&M retailers (more than one!) try to sell an empty DVD case or a very badly scratched game disk. I can just laugh at them and move on; that is significantly harder to do when I bought the item from some pseudonymous online vendor who declines to provide a refund.

 

As a Canadian, another issue is the exchange rate. Any purchase from the US (where most online vendors are located) will cost an extra 20-25% before shipping prices are added. Buying in Euros would be even worse. Need I mention the potential issues with customs?

 

I realise that I am significantly limiting my potential acquisitions, and I am OK with that choice. I am very risk adverse.

 

I have made two or three purchases of games from online retailers; all were from Canadian vendors. Alas, my very favourite (Canadian) media company went out of business.

Edited May 10, 2016 by jhd

[Seob]

To keep my collection within reasons, i only collect systems that came on the market in my country. To futher keep my collection from expanding to much, i try to collect anout 10 "must" have or exclusive titles that came out on those systems, complemented with the odd to good to not buy it offers.

So i don't collect to complete. I also rarely buy homebrews, because i can spent money only once, and for 1 homebrew title i can buy a few other games. I'm aware that developers need to earn some money back from releasing homebrews, but i want to keep my collection "small" and time period correct.

But i do have a softspot for late 70's early 80's homecomputers. My favorite homecomputer to collect for is the msx computer. Love the Konami games.

I also have a softspot for underdog systems. Really love to collect for the cd-i, one of my favorite systems.

[Professor Gull]

 

It is FAR easier to get ripped off online than in person. How many Ebay horror stories have you heard -- from merchandise not as described to nothing being sent at all!

 

If I buy retail, I can examine the merchandise personally and be certain about its condition, etc. I have seen B&M retailers (more than one!) try to sell an empty DVD case or a very badly scratched game disk. I can just laugh at them and move on; that is significantly harder to do when I bought the item from some pseudonymous online vendor who declines to provide a refund.

 

As a Canadian, another issue is the exchange rate. Any purchase from the US (where most online vendors are located) will cost an extra 20-25% before shipping prices are added. Buying in Euros would be even worse. Need I mention the potential issues with customs?

 

I realise that I am significantly limiting my potential acquisitions, and I am OK with that choice. I am very risk adverse.

 

I have made two or three purchases of games from online retailers; all were from Canadian vendors. Alas, my very favourite (Canadian) media company went out of business.

 

 

Canada eh? I visit every summer up there and I hope to find something cool not found in the states but I am not actively hunting when I go up there. There are times where I consider buying eBay from Canada and shipping it up there to relatives then picking it up later in the year but I have not tried this as of yet and still end up pretty much empty handed coming back.

 

I agree with eBay horror stories though but out of possibly 50 things I have ordered maybe one was not right and those tend to be pretty good odds I would say.

 

I do like to see stuff in person though. Tangibly touch a game or controller or console but location does not always make that possible.

[AtariLeaf]

This is a topic that has interested me for a long while, ever since I started pondering slimming down my collection and narrowing my focus to collecting for just a few different systems, and since I couldn't find a preexisting thread on the subject I decided to make one.

 

It seems that most people who are into video game collecting have one or two systems that they are particularly focused on collecting for, and I'm interested in finding out what drew you to whatever systems that you feel especially passionate about and enjoy collecting for the most. There are so many systems out there with enormous libraries of games to choose from, so I'm curious to find out why someone would choose to collect for a particular system over all the other options out there.

 

Is it nostalgia for a system you grew up with? Or is it the genres or diversity of the game library on that particular system that you find appealing? Did the cost of the games for the system versus the entertainment value you get out of them factor into it? I could go on and on with questions, but I think it will be best to simply leave it up to the respondents to determine why they chose to collect for any given system over all the other options available.

 

Have fun pondering the question and I'll be looking forward to reading any replies this thread may get.

 

Very interesting topic. I did a video a few years back about what defines you as a collector and for me it was simply that I grew up in the early arcade era and loved so many of those games from the late 70's to the mid 80's in particular. As many people did at the time I was drawn to the 2600 because it had so many of those games. Yes they were pale imitations in most cases, but the idea of playing arcade games at home was a fantastic thing for me and as others will attest to, there are many times the home port was as good or superior than the arcade original. Space Invaders being the most obvious example.

 

As a collector now I'm drawn to both the nostalgia of the systems I grew up with as well as other systems from that era that also contain ports of those great arcade classics. My collection is actually divided into two sections. First there's systems I grew up with and love the most which would include the 2600, 7800, XL/XE, Tandy Coco, NES, SNES, Genesis and TG-16. However I also have a secondary part of my collection is made of systems that I didn't own but either wanted to or had a great library of those arcade games. This would include the Colecovision, Commodore 64, and the Gameboy systems, among others. For example I own an N64 primarily because, to me, Robotron 64 is such a fun update to one of my all time favorite arcade games.

 

Genre is also a reason I've chosen some of these systems. Other than arcade games I'm a big fan of sports, racing, and sim games like pool and pinball and will seek out those type of games on every system I own. When I first start collecting for a particular system it will be those genres I search out first.

 

In short, both nostalgia and the continued fun I get from playing these games from my youth helped mold my collection to what it is today.

[Silverfleet]

I have a lot of different consoles, so when I'm out hunting, I am on the lookout for basically anything I can find. Usually, it comes down to three factors: Nostalgia, Budget, and Availability.

 

In the past couple of years, I've slowed down a bit, mainly because my budget is less than it used to be and things are getting expensive. With that in mind, I've been filling out some of the commons that are worth playing in my NES, Genesis, SMS, N64, and Atari collections. I also have been building up my PS3 library. I was a late adopter, but I'm really liking the console and there were a ton of great titles that are dirt cheap now. I just snagged Warhammer 40K: Space Marine and Devil May Cry Collection from the Walmart bargain bin for $20 total over the weekend.

 

Some stuff has just gotten out of hand price-wise, which puts a limit on what I buy. Take the TurboGrafx for example. I love that thing, and I have one, and I've always wanted more games for it. But at $20+ for commons, it's just not worth it. I haven't stopped collecting, but I'm not going to break the bank for stuff like that.

[thadsilverfox]

 

It is FAR easier to get ripped off online than in person. How many Ebay horror stories have you heard -- from merchandise not as described to nothing being sent at all!

 

If I buy retail, I can examine the merchandise personally and be certain about its condition, etc. I have seen B&M retailers (more than one!) try to sell an empty DVD case or a very badly scratched game disk. I can just laugh at them and move on; that is significantly harder to do when I bought the item from some pseudonymous online vendor who declines to provide a refund.

Mmmm...Ebay has a buyer protection policy. You can return it for a full refund including shipping costs if item is not as described. If you buy merchandise from any online retailer you are protected if you are using one of the major credit/debit card issuers.

[Banquo]

Nostalgia primarily; I had the Colecovision as a child, my first console. So today I collect for it. The games are cheap and the library not to massive so that helps too. However if nostalgia is not a factor then for me it comes down to cost of collecting and whether it's a system I enjoy playing. I wouldn't attempt to collect for the SNES for example because it would cost a fortune so I only buy the games for it that I really enjoy and want to play. Also little things like cartridge styles. I never had a 5200 for example but I love the cartridge design. Big and hefty and the large labels allow for some really nice artwork. I started picking those up here and there long before I even bought a 5200 just because I liked how they look. Of course the games are really great too.

[magmon51]

Honestly, I bought every console I could find information about. I'm starting to feel the need to trim down the collection at this point, and the one's I'm interested in keeping are really the ones with unique or superior offerings. To me, the standouts are the Dreamcast, Turboduo, SNES and Genesis.

[Austin]

For me, it was always about whatever was cheapest. And in the late 1990s, everything was cheap. Turbo Grafx, Sega CD, 32X, Virtual Boy, NES, SNES, Genesis, anything by Atari, Saturn, Neo-Geo CD, etc., etc. It was a good time to be collecting. The fact that it's now hard to get quality titles for under ten bucks a pop from the NES and on, in combination with greater personal and financial responsibility, I have resorted to flash carts. The only things I am buying now are PS2, Wii, XBOX, PSP, and used modern games because they are all that can be had cheap (unless I want to build a collection dedicated to Combat cartridges.. but seriously, who wants to do that?).

[Flojomojo]

Mmmm...Ebay has a buyer protection policy. You can return it for a full refund including shipping costs if item is not as described. If you buy merchandise from any online retailer you are protected if you are using one of the major credit/debit card issuers.

Some people are funny about stuff that other people find commonplace. Paying for shipping, using a credit card, waiting for a 3rd party to handle disputes, and not dealing with someone face to face are all things that could turn off a certain kind of person. Factor in the age and general crankiness of the typical AtariAger (we like retro games, dammit!) and it's easier to understand if not sympathize with how some see the world.

 

Speaking only for myself, I'm done scrounging in thrift shops or online auctions for ancient games. I already have more than enough to last my whole life if I would just slow down and enjoy them. My "collecting" is in the form of curating sets of ROMs nowadays.

[Keatah]

I believe that curating sets of roms is the next step in the evolution of the collector. And what a step it is!

[madhatter667]

I believe that curating sets of roms is the next step in the evolution of the collector. And what a step it is!

That gets to be a task. I have had to re-burn my NES ROM archive a few times due to the addition of really cool homebrews/hacks/translations. If for some reason my system went down, I don't want to redownload, repatch, and reorganize everything. Lol. There is cool stuff out there not in the official release category.

[Osgeld]

How many Ebay horror stories have you heard -- from merchandise not as described to nothing being sent at all!

 

Dunno once every few months, how many billions of transactions have gone perfectly smooth you haven't heard about?

 

I personally rather not buy retail, I have to go (fairly far) out of my way to get there, hope they have something of interest, pay their "mall rent" in steep prices and once I get back if something is wrong I have to go (fairly far) out of my way to get there again, bicker with the clerk and leave with a receipt for "in store credit" or something I wasnt really that interested in otherwise I would have bought it the first time.

[Keatah]

That gets to be a task. I have had to re-burn my NES ROM archive a few times due to the addition of really cool homebrews/hacks/translations. If for some reason my system went down, I don't want to redownload, repatch, and reorganize everything. Lol. There is cool stuff out there not in the official release category.

 

Work with USB HDD, one master and one backup. This way you can update daily if you wanted to! Make small changese here and there, or global, sweeping changes. Filesync software is your friend here when you conduct backups. Burn to optical media once a year as a more thorough backup. With USB HDD you can put a sticker on it denoting it is all your emulator material. And with 2x USB HDD + optical, you're pretty well backed up in case of disaster. You can even back up your main system via imaging and grab all the individual config files, too, if you wanted.

 

Treat your emulation collection as a living document that can be updated at any instant.

Edited May 13, 2016 by Keatah

[madhatter667]

Yeah. External drives have gotten respectably large, and cheap. Not the worst option ever.

[Keatah]

I'd argue the best. Especially for this sort of work.

 

I just found the DRIVE! rom in the VCS forum. So I added it in. And before that I found the Mattel Electronics handheld football rom (VCS also) and added it. Took as long as a drag'n'drop operation. I also found new schematic plans for an Apple II interface card, so I threw them into the mix too.

 

Sometime next month I'll make a 2 minute filesync backup. No worries here. If my system blew up now I'd loose minimal material, what I added this past couple of weeks at most. And the backup will have saved everything from the 1980's onward. Pretty good workflow that's proven itself over and over again.

Edited May 13, 2016 by Keatah

[Professor Gull]

I believe that curating sets of roms is the next step in the evolution of the collector. And what a step it is!

There are plenty of days I think about going that route. I still have 2 additional Xbox original consoles and I know I can hack one and make it a rom playing machine which has been tempting.

 

Right now though I am about the thrill of the hunt for physical stuff. Finding stuff and buying it gives me more of a thrill than online purchasing. Playing them afterward with my retro buddies just adds an extra bonus too bad there are time I get something that's awesome but pricey to get off eBay. Giga Wing 2 for Dreamcast comes to mind. I just had a good opportunity to get it and went with it sadly my gaming buddies looked it up online and said "Time to make a copy I guess.".

[Keatah]

You can do both, Collect for one or two real systems, and then pick up the rest via emulation/digital.

[Ransom]

You can do both, Collect for one or two real systems, and then pick up the rest via emulation/digital.

 

And that's one of the most reasonable ways to handle it, for most people.

[Professor Gull]

 

And that's one of the most reasonable ways to handle it, for most people.

I need to find the reason to let go at some point like which ones. Good thoughts though and one of my buddies choose the emulation route almost in the entirety then his good friends bought him a 7800 and now he is out cart hunting but then again most of those are easier to get as well.

 

I don't have the TG-16 and probably wont ever get the funds to afford one but emulation hell yeah I am all for that...unless a good deal shows up oh the temptation of real thing can sometimes override reason cause sometimes things look pretty.

[Ransom]

I don't have the TG-16 and probably wont ever get the funds to afford one but emulation hell yeah I am all for that...unless a good deal shows up oh the temptation of real thing can sometimes override reason cause sometimes things look pretty.

 

Yup. I can relate. I've owned almost all the major consoles and many of the 8-bit computers over the years, partly for that reason. I get the idea in my head, and it just seems so awesome and I gotta have it! But in the end, it's rarely worth the time, space, and money.

 

And yet, if I got rid of, say, my 2600, I know I'd regret it eventually. So I try to be careful about what I buy, what I sell, and what I keep. But, like you said, it ain't easy sometimes.

[Flojomojo]

The main thing I'm "missing" (in quotes because I'm not really missing it that hard) from being mostly virtual is flipping through a stack of stuff and noticing the logo or cartridge style or advertising of something that matches another game I've liked in the past. Parker Brothers in the early 1980s had cool silver boxes, unique wedge cartridges, tons of licensed games and arcade ports, and advertisements in comics and kids magazines. Sold.

 

The reason I care less nowadays? Now I have publisher sorting in emulators, unlimited access to old magazines and advertisements online, and no financial constraints!

[atarifanboi]

For me there was the element of nostalgia, especially around the Atari 8/16 bits and other machines I had when I was younger, but ditched along the way at some point, then wished I hadn't.

 

But it was also about getting hold of some of the machines that I simply couldn't afford, like the Sinclair QL (I now have 2, one boxed), or missed out on for some other reason.

 

It's odd though, I don't feel anything for the Sega Megadrive I had, and am not bothered about getting another, but I actually still have an Atari 65XE that I've had from childhood, something made me hold onto it through multiple moves and god knows what else.

[Ransom]

It's odd though, I don't feel anything for the Sega Megadrive I had, and am not bothered about getting another

 

Same here. I've repurchased some systems I had BITD and regretted it. Even systems I played a lot, with games I enjoyed a lot. I sort of understand why I don't care for some systems, such as the ones stuck between the 2d era and 3d era, where the choppy 3d is too distracting to me these days. But even so, there are some objectively really good systems like the Sega that just don't do it for me any more, despite having a number of titles that I still remember fondly. For some reason, actually playing those games doesn't get me going.