What sort of collector are you?

[PC Gaijin]

What kind of collector are you, if you collect at all? Are you interested in only particular systems, do you want only sealed or mint in box games, do you collect memorabilia. Do you collect prototypes, obscure hardware, etc. Just wondering what everyone here is like.

Myself, I only collect games I actually want to play. I'm not interested in getting a "complete set" for any particular system. I also don't care about owning sealed games, although if the price is right I prefer sealed over used simply because....well, I don't want someone else's grimy stuff. However, the most I really care about is that the game, instructions, and box or case be in good shape. I don't spaz out over a missing spinecard or registration card and little things like that.

Most of my collection has built up over the years due to me simply not ever selling anything I buy. Seriously, I think I might sell one in fifty games. After twenty plus years of gaming, that adds up! I'm also only interested in game systems that I owned "in their prime". This means I collect Atari 8-bit and 7800 because I owned them back then, but I don't have any interest in Intellivision, Colecovision, Vectrex and so forth. The main systems I collect for are Atari 8-bit, Turbo, Saturn, Dreamcast, and NGPC.

Prototypes were never something that caught my eye. I also don't collect gaming memorabilia outside of magazines, guides, and comics (I have a particular soft spot for Atari-era publications, like Atari Force and the Star Raiders graphic novel).

As for areas I'd like to start collecting in someday: arcade games. I just never had the space for them before, and I'm planning on buying a new house in a few years so plans for any arcade cabs are on hold. I'd love to have a couple of arcade machines eventually though.

[TR0N]

Gamer&Collector

I do play what i collect period.

I don't see video games as a investment like most collectors do.

Afther all video games are some thing to be, enjoyed not sitting in some self to keep the dust off.

Still the only old systems.. that i'm into right now are the famicom,pce and neogeo mvs  

[Keranu]

I mainly collect for games I want to play, but I'll also buy the extra crap that's not as useful to me.

[cavein2000]

I also collect what I wil play.  Although I find myself taking in more than I am playing.  I have to slow down the buying and increase the playing.  Anyway the systems - Everything Nintendo, TG16/PCE, Everything Sega minus SMS(to date) and PS1/2.  

I have a decent collection, I try to keep everything in "very good" condition(whatever that means)...  As far as NES/SNES/N64 stuff goes- all cart only - I do like the labels in tact though.  I have some genesis carts but most in clamshell cases.  With discs, I prefer the case/instructions and all but I do have a cd folder with some disc only games.

[esteban]

I am most interested in the 80's/early 90's, any platform (arcade, handheld, console, computer). I started playing at the beginning of the decade and witnessed their crazy evolution.

For a long time I've maintained that I am a gamer who has a library, as opposed to a collection. For me, the distinction is that I love to play the games, therefore it is a library. A collection, on the other hand, is more akin to a museum...

I appreciate both libraries and museums. Both are crucial for preserving the past. My own philosophy is that museums should be as accessible as possible -- so as many people as possible can enjoy their collections. That's why I love the folks who scan stuff and put it all online.

If I get a sealed game, I open it to play it. Needless to say, I'd never be silly enough to pay for a sealed copy of Magical Chase, only to open it. But I would pay for a sealed copy of Cratermaze, China Warrior and JJ & Jeff to open them.

That said, I admit that I do a lot of things that a collector might do (i.e. I prefer to have boxes and manuals), but it's because I am keenly interested in the marketing and commericialization of culture (not just video games). I think of them as cultural artifacts, "living" history.

I consider every dime I spend on video games to be a waste of money. First, I am a pack-rat and will never sell anything (other than an occasional duplicate... or I might sell something to upgrade to a nicer copy). I cherish video games and consider them to have artistic, cultural and historical value -- but I rarely think about their economic value. If you don't have the desire to sell something, you tend not to think about it in economic terms, IMO.

I am most interested in games that I want to play or that are silly and bring me enjoyment for some other reason. So, I'm usually curious about the games that are considered "garbage." First, they tend to be cheap. Second, I want to see why they are so reviled. I buy some games simply because I like the cover art. I buy tons of games simply to listen to the music (the PCE library is veritable goldmine of Red Book soundtracks).

Eventually, I actually end up playing the games I bought "just for the crazy cover art" or "because it has an awesome soundtrack". As many of you will understand, sometimes it just takes awhile to get interested in a game.

Over the years I've discovered that I enjoy playing a lot of games that are dismissed as "mediocre", "lame", "derivative", etc. That's not to say that I can stomach all games -- I can't. But I try to appreciate what a game offers.

Anyone who has a limited budget will understand this sentiment: You make the most of what you have. So, if you're stuck with a lemon, you try to squeeze a few drops of lemonade.

[rolins]

I'm a Zanac collector. If you guys didn't know already it has been my favorite game like forever. I've been trying to collect every known version of this game. So far I have the...

MSX:
Zanac A.I (EU cassette tape and JPN rom)
Zanac EX

NES:
Zanac (US)

PS1:
Zanac X Zanac (JPN)

I'm still missing FC disk version, Zemmix, and Nes prototype.

[Tatsujin]

nowadays i'm more collector that gamer! the reason for is also that i haven't that much time to play games but i'm still very interessted in it, because i play games since about more than 25 years now!

what kind of collector i am?

since about more than 12 years i concentrate to collect any kind of games and systems in their official siuts, means how they was originally made i like them! and my interessts goes since a long time for japanese soft only! about 36 systems and nearly 1000 games i had back in a year.
but since last year i moved my whole flat oversea and i sold a lot of my stuff and tried to concentrate to PCE stuff only, which makes also much more fun for me. so nowadays i als buy any kind of pce soft probably i never will play in my life, when i can get it for example for about 10~20yen! means i'll try to get the whole bunch of pce soft as an future target. also i will bring some schematics in it. f.E i finished the whole hudson vol. 1~61, irem, konami paletts and try now to complete the namco(t) and taito series! also i just miss 2 shooters to get all 109 available on that system!

still i want to get any kind of makaimura/gosts'n'goblins soft/stuff ever released in japan. at the moment just missing the x68k version to complete it (and a spinoff so called makaijima for the FC).

that's for now^^

[FM-77]

I collect Ys games. I have almost every version ever released but I won't stop until I've got every version, and every type or release (re-releases, different regions, etc).

I also collect Falcom games in general. I pretty much have at least one version of every game they've ever released, but I'm aiming for every release here as well. I'm not that interested in their later games: I prefer their older games and especially those for PC-8801, FM-77, X-1, etc.

I also ADORE the Korean and Chinese releases of Falcom games! They are making me crazy! I must have them all! Many of them are DOS versions and that's just so very awesome, and that is because I usually hate DOS games, but these are Falcom DOS games and that's a big difference, he he he he.  

I also somewhat collect Falcom and Ys "stuff." Memorabilia. But not soundtrack CDs. I have very few of these and that is because I'm just not interested in video game music (I usually like it but not enough to actually sit down and listen to a whole CD of it).

The reason I do this is mainly for research. You can't get enough info about something that you don't own. Most games also come with old Falcom ads and catalogues, and these are just incredible to read. I love "researching" Falcom stuff, that's my biggest interest, he he.

I almost never play these games, they're just collecting dust on my dedicated Falcom bookshelf, hehe.  


I'm also "collecting" games for various systems in general. I have about 20 different systems for which I buy the games I just want to own. About 95% of these games are RPGs. These are the games that I play.

Oddly enough, I don't have that many PCE games, even though that is one of the more interesting systems that I have.

[TJ]

I collect almost everything.

Pong consoles, Atari and Intellivision and other pre-NES consoles and games, Vectrex is just about the coolest system ever, 8-bit and 16-bit consoles and games, PlayStation and Saturn and N64, up through the Dreamcast and curent generation of PS2 and Gamecube, and into the next generation of PS3 and Wii and whatever else. Domestic and import, NES and Famicom, Turbo and PC-Engine. Game Boy, Virtual Boy, Neo Geo Pocket, Game Gear, PSP, DS, Game & Watch? Yes please. Magazines, guidebooks, videogame art and history books. Swag and memorabilia -- t-shirts, posters, toys, goofy little knickknacks, action figures, that punching Ghaleon puppet that Working Designs offered as a promo for preordering Lunar SSS, yep, got that too, and a Fatal Fury cap that looks like Terry Bogard's. Videos and collections of game-related footage -- Famitsu DVDs, Once Upon Atari, a tape full of Starcade episodes, an old bootleg tape containing all the laserdisc footage from both Dragon's Lairs, Space Ace, Cobra Command and Cliffhanger, and yes I did order the first DVD box set of Game Center CX. And just in case I was in any danger of actually having some room left, I also own 13 arcade machines and a pile of JAMMA boards.

So yeah...I'm kind of a sucker for videogames and everything related to them.

But even with all of that stuff crapping up my house, I mostly identified with stevek666's philosophy of collecting. Some stuff I have is more museum-oriented, but it is a library and all of it gets played. Yeah, I prefer my games to be boxed and complete, but that's not going to stop me from buying loose games if I want to play them. And like Steve, sometimes I buy bad games to laugh at them or just out of curiosity, or I buy something because I like the soundtrack or packaging or cover art, or just because it's weird and I want to check it out. I like buying anything that's different or unique in concept -- games like Katamari Damacy or even Pokemon Snap -- because I want to give them a chance and have their kind represented in my collection.

I think, long-term, I'm trying to build a nice cross-section of videogame history. But I'm still not sure if I'm doing it to preserve it for anyone else, or just because I enjoy it so much that I want to surround myself with videogames and have them available to me whenever I want to play. Even so, I have no amibitions to actually collect any complete sets for any consoles -- I mostly buy what I like.

There's also this nagging urge I've had for years to open a classic arcade/retro game emporium. Kinda like Portland's Ground Kontrol crossed with Akihabara's Super Potato or Osaka's Retro TV Game. That might explain why I have a stack of 2600s sitting around -- I think I subconsciously buy them whenever I find them just in case i ever get to open that shop. If nothing else, I'll have a kickass game room in the basement when I finally buy a house.

Great, now I'm trying to psychoanalyze myself through my game collection and it's not really working.

I think I've just been obsessed with videogames since 1980 and it's never gone away, so I just dove in and never looked back!

[akamichi]

I'm somewhat of a packrat.  Unless something got broken or lost, I pretty much tried to keep it.  Right now, I'm pretty much trying to get all official released PCE games.  At first, I just got the games I wanted to play.  Being like 12 or 13 when I first got a PCE, I could only afford a few games anyway.  However nowadays, I just buy whatever looks interesting at the time (that I don't already have).  

I pretty much collect Famicon and PCE.  Famicon collecting is a recent thing.  I've been basically trying to buy the Famicon versions of the NES games I used to have.  Oddly enough, the first Famicon I ever owned was the one I bought back in 2001 or 2002.  I lived in Japan pretty much during the hey day of the 8/16bit era and never bought one.  Luckily I had friends that had them, so I really didn't miss out too much.

As for the games, I honestly have no idea how many I have total.  It's all in a big mess right now.  I try to only buy good condition games.  Must have everything that would have had if it were new.  I'm pretty particular about that.  For PCE games, must have the spine card (if there is one).  The registration card is optional.  For Famicon, must be boxed with booklet.  Usually that's all there is anyway.

The funny thing about me being a collector is that I'm also cheap.  That's pretty much why I don't have any prototypes, "special" versions, most rares on PCE (like Sapphire), etc.  I usually don't buy card/cart only either, but I have a lot of SFC, Fami, PCE games only because I got a good deal on them.  

Currently, I'm kinda in the researching mood.  I've been buying games that came out on multiple systems.  I bought a lot of SFC RPGs (cart only) that also came out on PCE just to experience the differences.  I've always wanted to make a webpage about comparing all the PCE games that also had a release on another system.  Too bad there's just not enough time in the day.

I could go on much more but I won't.  Basically, I'm a collector with a lot of mood swings.  One day I'll buy whatever I can find in any condition, the next I'm only looking for new/shrinkwrapped games.

[torgo]

I collect games that I want to play, period. I also have a lot of "swag" from old CES' that I try to keep in good shape. Recently, I found a pair of the 3d glasses from the unveiling of the Virtual Boy that we were supposed to return once you walked through the booth (oops.)

Half of the older systems taht I own were given to me by people that didn't want them any more, but I keep everything as I'm kind-of a packrat by nature.

[Keranu]

...Vectrex is just about the coolest system ever...

Agreed   .

[extrarice]

I'm into collecting the obscure and forgotten systems, and usually just the games I actually am going to play. Though I might try to complete the NGPC software library, since there are so few titles for it. I'm also trying to collect unique official Dreamcast equipment - DreamPoint controllers and memory cards, unique versions of the console, etc.

[radiantgun]

A broke one !!!!!!!  

[Michael Helgeson]

Gaming computer hardware,graphics cards by Nvidia,ATI,and 3DFX,audio cards that are q-sound or A3d powered,along with the usual Creative stuff,and motherboards and cpus. Other then that,arcade hardware and laserdisc odds and ends.