Does anyone else have this problem? :)

[Atariman]

Here's the 'problem'. It seems that no matter how many Atari systems I acquire, I always feel like I have to buy another one. I don't mean as in, 'oh, I have a 7800, but I think I need a 5200, too.' No, it's much worse than that.

Lets say I walk into a Goodwill and I see a 2600 there. I'll pick it up and look for the price. Meanwhile, in the back of my mind, I'm thinking "I already have 8 of these. Do I really need to blow another $X on this?" and of course the Atari part of me kicks in and goes "Are you F***ing kidding me? Of COURSE you need to buy this. I mean, look. It even has an Atari Service sticker on the bottom of it. And it's a METALLIC sticker. The other Atari that you have with a sticker like that has a PAPER sticker. This is a VARIATION!"

So needless to say, this has obviously happened to me more than once. I always make up some reason on why I should buy one of these. The last 7800 I bought was because my other one had an expansion port while THIS one didn't...

Does this make me a die-hard Atari fan, or am I just an Atari cosumer whore? Does anyone else find themselves doing this?

[BassGuitari]

I also find myself pulling that! For instance, I have all 3 different letter-case label combinations for Missile Command (is there more?). With me, it's usually more about cartridges than consoles, since consoles are scarce in my area.

 

I think I do it because I like to show that I'm an Atari fan, show that someone still cares about it...or even knows what it is. The average gamer in my area is blissfully unaware that any other console existed before the original Playstation (even Genesis and NES seem to have been relegated to a mere footnote in the Prehistoric Encyclopedia of Electronics....kids these days...), so I like to think of myself as the Keeper of All Knowledge .

[ATARIPITBULL]

I'm in the same boat, like right now I have seven atari 2600 boxed systems: The large silver box with the get a free pac-man inside, The small silver one with pac-man inside, a pal system, the normal four switch system box, The red Jr system, The box that say's FOR PROMOTIONAL USE ONLY, NOT FOR RESALE & the box that say's FACTORY RECONDITIONED, plus I have two loose, but complete 2600 systems that I play with, The four switch & a six switch. I don't even want to get into all the other boxed and loose items I have.

 

[AtariDude]

Well look at it this way. If one of your systems breaks down, you can always use it for parts. That is an advantage of having so many systems.

[JB]

Here's the 'problem'.  It seems that no matter how many Atari systems I acquire, I always feel like I have to buy another one.  I don't mean as in, 'oh, I have a 7800, but I think I need a 5200, too.'  No, it's much worse than that.

Lets say I walk into a Goodwill and I see a 2600 there.  I'll pick it up and look for the price.  Meanwhile, in the back of my mind, I'm thinking "I already have 8 of these.  Do I really need to blow another $X on this?"  and of course the Atari part of me kicks in and goes "Are you F***ing kidding me?  Of COURSE you need to buy this.  I mean, look.  It even has an Atari Service sticker on the bottom of it.  And it's a METALLIC sticker.  The other Atari that you have with a sticker like that has a PAPER sticker.  This is a VARIATION!"  

So needless to say, this has obviously happened to me more than once.  I always make up some reason on why I should buy one of these.  The last 7800 I bought was because my other one had an expansion port while THIS one didn't...

Does this make me a die-hard Atari fan, or am I just an Atari cosumer whore?     Does anyone else find themselves doing this?

You're why I can't find anything anymore, aren't you?

[kyle]

I have that problem! I'm always watching college football or playing ncaa 2004 and spending time with the wife to find time to do anything!

[Room 34]

I don't have quite the... er, um... excessive... collection that some of you guys have, but I do own four 2600s (2 of which work completely, 1 of which works except the left difficulty switch, and 1 of which sort of works but is very temperamental), two 7800s (one is mint and one is dead), an Intellivision (Sears Super Video Arcade, actually, with the box), and two NESes.

 

I also have a drawer full of joysticks and other controllers. It's all way more than I need, but I like to have backups... just for whatever reason. (When I come up with a reason, I'll let you know.)

 

But I look at it this way. These systems are dead technology. No one's making them anymore. Each one that dies (or, *gasp*, gets thrown away) is one less in the world that will never be replaced.

 

So if you are buying the thing to take home and preserve it for the future, more power to you! Keep that old stuff alive!

[Canuck]

I too find myself buying atari systems anytime I find them. My feeling is that if I don't buy it, the system may be put in the garbage never to be played with again. Just trying to doing my small part to keep the atari alive and well.

[kyle]

Lmao at my self i meat to post my repy about football and my wife and all that under the post TITLED How do you guys do it? Sorry about that.

[Brad2600]

I'm actually feeling the need to DOWNSIZE my collection..but I almost never do this to my Atari collections for some reason.

 

Instead, I look for NES or Genesis games that I'm willing to part with.

 

I've had so much luck finding Atari computers around here and that's one reason why I'm trying to get into them now.

[MattG/Snyper2099]

I have this problem too but it is with Colecovisions. I now have [counting...counting] 2 working colecovisions, 5 broken cv's, 12 cv controllers, 8 power supplies, 2 cv 2600 adapters, 4 super action controllers, 20 duplicate games, 5 games I have 3 of, 2 games I have four of (turbo and donkey kong), a roller controller, and then I have 2 turbo controllers. Where the hell did I come up with all this stuff?

[donkeykong1]

i have the same problem. when i find an atari i'll buy it unless its too much money. but there seems to usually be something different about each so i feel like i have to have them. the same with games and other systems.

[DeV0]

Well it never hurts to have backup machines i find,, I live to give so i can usually get rid of what i dont want. Sadly i'll buy a wood 6 or 4 for the most trivial reasons, Like the wood grain finish etc....

[Godzilla]

I got way WAY too much. I could through out a room full of stuff and still have too much