It saves a lot of space if you throw out the cart case. Am I alone here? Are you mocking me? If so; I ask you: Did you throw out the boxes? The dust covers? Where are your dust covers? Yaaaaa. That's what I thought. So why keep the extra plastic? Then you gotta worry about the label... It is a big PITA. Yaaa. NOOOOOO thanks.
Totally agree with you on needing to own a physical copy of anything you play. I’ve paid thru the nose of some of my stuff, but it was worth it! Do you use Instagram much? Follow mine @thevideogamecabinet
For me, playing is definitely primary. I buy games to play first and foremost. and will happily get stuff like an everdrive to make that process cheaper. But at the same time, flashcarts and the like really kill my collection and willingness to buy games, even though I still have a desire to collect it. Similarly with digital games. I end up buying digital since it can be cheaper or more convenient in the moment, but then regret it hard because I wish I had a physical copy instead. Collecting physical games is nice because it lets me see my entire collection at a glance, and easily recall what games I own, and the memories along with them. I might not ever touch "Enter the Matrix" on gamecube, but one look and I can fondly remember my time I had with the game when I *did* play it. With digital games, or pirated games, it's a lot harder to have that sort of connection. I also find that large digital collections often just feel like they don't exist to me. Or having them just leads to choice paralysis and me not playing them. For my physical games, I've pretty much put at least some decent amount of time into it at some point. Whereas digital I end up not playing as much. A physical collection also helps to let me be sure that I can have, play, own, etc. the games on the original hardware. Could I own something like mario 64 on the switch? Sure. but that isn't a way I'd like to play it. So the original n64 cartridge is preferred. And ofc the boxart is... art. It's something to look at and appreciate. You can't get that with digital games. Showing other people your games is also much easier with a physical collection. And even if you don't play everything, it shows what games you find appealing. A way of saying "out of all the games, these are the ones I have taking up physical space where I live".
I miss 5 years ago when I wasn’t so tired at night and I played more games. I’ve almost become just a collector now sadly because the gamer is my preference.
I feel your pain. I wake up at 4:15am to work 12 hour shifts. After travel time and putting my kid to bed, there’s nothing left in the tank. Many times, I walk by and glance at my consoles and games and think, “Ugh! Well, good night, toys”. I look forward to the days or nights when I can sneak a few minutes or an hour to play a game. I still won’t give up on the hobby. I’ve been gaming since the 80’s. Now, I just don’t have as many hours available to do it.
I keep hearing people say that Retro Bird is "underrated", but I don't think that's the case. Everyone here seems to know that he's good, I don't hear people trashing him. No, it's the usual thing where people really mean that the channel is "overlooked" and should be better known. We always do that and say that the thing that should be better known is "underrated".
After collecting like over 250 PS2 games I stopped and moved to actually PLAYING... PS4 games. Trophies were the reason, and PsNow a cheap and easy way to start
I honestly sometimes just enjoy looking at them and browsing through them, looking at the artwork and moving them arround. For me it also helps morphing a little bit what it means to "play" your games. If you mean continuously playing it through the years, that is hard to achieve even for non-collectors. I collect gameboy almost exclusively and most of my collection can be beaten in less than two hours or are semi infinite like tetris. I have no problems with just beating a game once no matter how short it is. For most of them I try to at least give them an honest attempt to beat it no matter how terrible, if I can do it that might be it, if I can't then at least I have a pretty good idea for the future if I actually want to beat it or not, but regardless just giving them a good try is often enough for me to justify my purchase and to feel like I do play all of my games.
GB is interesting in that since i feel like that is most of the catalog- puzzle type or short. There are a few longer games (pokemon first comes to mind), but even that can be beat in a solid weekend of gameplay. I also like the thrill of the hunt just as much as playing. I do cull my collection to fund the continued hunting, but that is less common.
@@MrNotoriousjim Yeah, the gameboy has lots of puzzle games that are kind of fun and you can pick up and play once in a while, I like writing down passwords in pieces of paper and stuck them into the cartridge holder for future use. To be honest, gameboy games are small enough and so easy to pick up and play, that I often kind of look at them like more of a collection of interacting trading cards, with the gameboy being the machine that tells me what the card does, so you just swap them out, play for a few minutes, grab another one. And it is kind of fun and interesting in that way. I try to research my games so that I have anything somewhat interesting to say about them each time I show any one of them. There are s good number of longer adventures like you said, and pretty good actually, like the Final fantasy legend series, links awakening, gargoyles quest. Platformers are probably the second most popular genre in the system, and most of them you can beat by simply just sitting down a couple of hours nonstop, and granted... They are rarely great, most range from average to mediocre, but on the flip side, you are playing from start to finish a whole new game, instead of doing another two hours of skyrim or whatever. I don't know there is a lot that can make collecting fun for an individual, people forget that people collect all kinds of stuff not only video games for all kinds of reasons, and a lot of those reasons apply to videogames just as much. I used to don't care that much for the label in the cart, but now I realized that I don't play everygame all the time, but I do look at all of them regularly, when I look for a specific game or whatever, so a good label has become much more important now
1:36 I absolutely used to be the ultra minimalist. I did take it too far and ended up selling literally all my games, consoles, and even memory cards, including my all-time favorite games with over 2 thousand hours of progress lost. Fortunately in my re-bought copies, I play them casually because I know in my mind I already beat the tar out of these games. 5:19 I can admit with ease that there are many many games in my collection I will probably never play. And indeed I would rather have a permanently unplayed XB360 copy of Darksiders sitting on my shelf than the extra $5 in my pocket. So you are right that just having that option is the whole point. When you start talking about retro prices though, indeed the scrutiny is ratcheted up to 11. Another factor that applies to me is that I loathe with a passion having to go out and seek / research. Whether that be looking for a specific game on eBay, or even just buying a printer or scanner. The more time that passes in the research phase, the greater the likelihood that I pull the trigger and buy that product just so I won't have to go through that phase again. A couple years ago I spent close to $1000 on a 7.1 surround system and let it sit for no less than 13 months before setting it up for the first time. I was completely fine with that because it was so nice and relieving to look over to where they were sitting on that side of the room, knowing that whenever it was convenient for me I could have surround sound. That's a very real example of the kind of value I place on "the option is always there" kind of mentality, as tolling as it might be on the pocketbook.
Oh I hate it so much. And shopping too, whether it be groceries or even me by myself at a game store with nothing but time and an open wallet. If there was a way to skip all that BS and just instantly be in the checkout line so I can get back to my life.
My philosophy is to only buy stuff that I’m going to play, cus isn’t that the whole point? That said, I do enjoy the “hunt” and owning things physically. Boxes and manuals are another part of that physical experience. Which I think is why Emulation just feels hollow to me. I would rather have a repro of a super rare , expensive game than to emulate it, but that’s just me.
I see your point. For me, it’s about storage space. With a family, and a home office, I can’t store a massive library of carts, discs, and boxes. I do keep carts and manuals, but not the cases and boxes. I store my carts in multi-cart cases. For most other stuff, I go with emulators. All to save space in the home.
This resonated so much with me! I almost pulled the trigger on an eBay lot of games but as I mulled it over I realized I wouldnt play like 90% of them. I like the thought of playing what you collect.
I try to make it a habit to beat every game I purchase (or at least attempt to) because I was a lover of videogames way before I was a collector. That being said tho there are plenty of titles I spent serious coin on and I haven't completed due to lack of free time and the fact I couldn't get into them despite me thinking I would love them (dragon force for Saturn comes to mind) When I first got into retro game collecting I mainly chose the hobby because at the time it was cheap but for the past decade it has gotten quite pricey but despite that It is still possible to play great titles on the cheap if you are willing to not be to picky and I attempt to beat at least 3 to 4 games in my backlog before I am tempted to purchase another title. Fantastic video and I subbed 👍
I have about 60 carts I play off and on. I have emulators and such on my computer. Right now I have a retro handheld with all my old favs on it. The 351v by Anbernic.
Here is one game, YOU WON'T find in my retro video game collection. 🚨Pit Fighter SNES 😖‼ Avoid this STINKER 🍑💨💩🤢 from THQ with 6 feet of socialist distancing like the CORONAVIRUS PLAGUE ☢😷☣
Im literary in the finishing phases of my home business and setting it up to operate automatically passively so I can have the time to play them AND COlLECT even more. lol plus my 2 toddlers will be older couple of years from now and slightly more independent , granting me more down time to play.
Collecting is way too expensive a hobby for my taste, Everdrives are good enough for me. And I find myself loading them up with so many games and barely playing any of them, sometimes i'll play them for a few minutes but I end up wanting to try something else. Having all those options at your fingertips is a blessing and a curse. Only games I collect are the main pokemon games, so I can use them with pokemon stadium. I would like to get all of the games I had as a kid but was unfairly separated from, and a few of my personal favorites... unfortunately some of those games I had are way unfairly priced, and when they're not, i'm worried about the risk of getting some dodgy bootleg that freezes and refuses to save data ( looking at you Conker's Bad Fur Day )
Personally I actually like to call it a library. I feel collecting doesn't describe me as the actual point is to play the game, and to have a catalogue of everything I have and want to play. I have a library of old books, not a collection. Now, do I care about the conditions of my games? Yep, but I feel the same about any other piece of media I have. There are just a few games I have purely for collecting sake. That applies to 1 or 2 Saturn imports that I love with all my heart, but couldn't afford the translated version. Beyond that, collecting is not what I do at all.
Handhelds have helped me play more games in my free time more than anything. Emulators give me the freedom of being able to play some PS1 titles I wouldn't normally use my free time on because I can play on the go but if I'm sitting in my game room I end up playing something else
My 60 game collection cost around $3,500 with the best titles ever. I just bought a lot of 114 games for $160 bucks. The larger the collection isn't always the best choice. Quality over quantity.
LOL my collecting journey began twenty years ago when I wanted to finally have a Super Nintendo. The intention originally was to be able to play the games I desired. I look back fondly on those simple times. Nowadays the concept of only playing the original games on original hardware is laughable. I’m not gonna pay a thousand bucks for a complete copy of earthbound to play it on my Super Nintendo. If I’m gonna pay for the privilege of having a highly sought after game like that it would be a waste to risk adding to the deterioration of its condition by taking it out of the box when I can ply it on my snes mini. Most of the games I have now are display pieces. Manually changing carts/discs is a fucking hassle that belongs in the twentieth century. The original games and hardware of retro games are in the process of becoming status symbols to people who grew up with them and where possible I would sooner play on emulators or on a flash cart or a modded console to experience a particular game.
I would call myself a digital collector. I try to collect everything in digital form, and have all my systems be able to play digital backups. For example a Wii that has all Wii/GC games from SSD. A hacked SNES Mini with all games ever that were all time greats for the system, etc. There is also this point of preservation. Without people that hoard the data, there is always a chance that something might get lost. Because of the internet there will always be somewhere some guy having another copy of a file on some network drive. There is also a point about showing great grand children what games were like back in the day. Everyone who really thinks their SNES will work in 2060 is either delusional or doesnt know about the unreliability of hardware over decades. There will come a point when all existing hardware will fail. Older hardware is more resistant, but Sega Saturns, PSX, PS2 are already failing on people left and right currently. Optical Drive Bays, and Optical Media has only a lifetime of about 20-30years, in best cases 50years - which means most PSX games and PSX drives will fail 2050 latest. I will be 60 then which isnt even old when the last PSX isnt playable anymore.
For me collecting video games is similar to filling a time capsule or scrap book. I only collect for systems in time periods which I lived through (80s to present) as mementos. The only rule I have when hunting is for games which I am interested in playing even if I never actually complete them. Having cases and manuals isn't a requirement for me but being in good condition is. As for which systems, as long as there are enough interesting games on the system to justify acquiring the console/handheld I'll usually pick them up. The recent slew of mini and repro consoles has been a particular boon for retro accessibility. I have the mini SNES, Genesis, TurboGrafx-16, and Neo Geo which offer a nice snap shot of the 16-bit era. And the Retron 5 plays carts from 5 different systems and also upscales for play on modern TVs.
I just play games off emulators before determining if I really love the game enough to the point to where I would actually buy it physically or not, curiosity is one thing, but actually getting into the game itself can lead to you either being okay having a game in a collection or just outright regretting buying that game.
I've taken a similar approach. Always want a physical copy of game in my collection. Sometimes these physicals have limited releases and are much more expensive than the Digital. I've done my best to try and play games before I buy them and realizing I don't really care to own this in my physical library. Sometimes I feel the same way when I buy a game and I'm thinking I could do without this in my library as well.
Wisdom! Another thing I do, if I can’t try the ROM, is watch the game on RU-vid. Several channels offer long play videos where you can see the game in action and decide if it’s up your ally.
I set myself a budget every month, $60. I don't have to spend it, most months I don't but I do require myself to complete the games or at least keep them in circulation. Hunting becomes more fun when I'm trying to maximize the value.
I think one additional consideration is about collecting games as investment. Think of boxed games, I’ve recently seen a copy of Zack McCracken sold for 2000 euros... certain games will increase their value over time. Personally I like collecting games I played in the past. It’s a sort of nostalgic gateway to those old good times, just having those boxes in your hands :)
The problem with bringing up collecting as an investment is that to a lot of people it can come across as being into the hobby for the wrong reasons. Sounds like you've got plenty of passion for gaming yourself though :)
@@RetroBirdGaming yeah, I see your point. I grew up playing games and I’m trying to have all old msdos/windows games video library completed... We’re almost at 5000 so far, feel free to have a look at my channel ;)
As Scott the Woz Says “Buying Video Games is my favorite thing, playing then is a close 13th” I don’t think you read this, but I was searching on my computer to see a screenshot of you hitting 1000 subs. First video on profile If you ever want to see it.
I do a little thing where I pick a series and then play the games in chronological story order and only buy them as I go and stick to that particular series until I finish it. Helps keep my spending in and ensures I play everything I buy and yeah my collection grows very slowly but at least I'm playing them all
I get almost all my games at thrift stores, with the intent to play, but I find myself more on the collector side. The hunt is really fun. I dont really ever buy games at retail stores , keeps the cost down, and lets me check out a lot of cool stuff Id never buy at retail.
Recently found your channel. SUBSCRIBED! I was a kid back in the 16 bit era. Had a Sega Genesis. Only owned Sonic 2 and Lion King. I remember renting lots of games. I'm gonna keep it simple, collect for Sega Genesis: Original Model 1 with 6 button controllers.I collect to play with my wife and kids. (My wife is a classic Sega fan too!)
I collect for 2 systems: the NES and TG16. I have the games I want and I play them. Gamer first, collector second. I only collect the games I love. Only game I'm still hunting is Dynastic Hero for TG-16.....that game is not easy to find. Good times.
ODE's and flashcarts, the future of gaming. Have 60+ games for Dreamcast on 3 SD cards. Now they need a ODE for the PS2, since my collection of PS games is getting out of hand lol, but I'm pretty fond of my PS2 since it was my favorite console and my dad bought it launch day which I vividly remember. So even if there was a ODE, I'd probably still hold on to my PS2/PS1 games. But man, I'm running out of space....
I bought a second 360 yesterday and decided that I'm going to get rid of all my other consoles except the 360s and Wii then I'm going to cut my collection down to games I play.
That’s a never ending cycle I find myself in. Cutting down to what I play, then slowly ballooning outwards, before collapsing again. It’s like the Big Bang followed by Red Shift in a loop.
This is a really neat topic! Adam Koralik and Metal Jesus Rocks once baffled me with their giant library of games. With the responsibilities they've got in life, there's no way they play all their games! I think they both admitted to being more of collectors than hardcore gamers. I've whittled down my collection to only the games I know I wanna play. For ex.: I traded in 7 random games I never played for DOOM 64. :D. It's freeing!
I am a bundle/lot buyer when I can find savings, so I have a good chunk of games that I just don’t want to even try to play. But I have family in future who may want to play, so I don’t mind building up a library of games.
Reminds me of the book Choke. A guy's roommate starts hoarding rocks. They are in the fridge, the oven, everywhere. The main character says it's like living in the bottom half of an hourglass; time is running out. At least for me, I have enough games. I have a couple I have barely played and a couple I never have even opened. That's when I knew that for me it was time to stop. For now. But I do want a mini TG 16...
30 games for one console can be half the library Also I don't like owning the box for cartirage games but do for cd and later just to protect them. Also most of my games are scratch and dent. Once got 3 2600 and intellvision with out labels for a Dollar and still apart of my collection
I like getting game's I'm going to play, mainly cartridge games that I couldn't afford as a kid. I have less nostalgia for the CD based games. Back in the day you had to be sure the game's you brought were good. Mainly because trading games in to buy new ones was unheard of unless you sold them privately, which I didn't do anyway. It seems to be going back that way with digital game purchases, how are we supposed to trade in or sell those games?
I buy 5 to 10 per month and I just prioritize what I want to prioritize. Thus, I cannot get to a majority of them at first. I have games that I haven't gotten to that I've had for over a year. However, for the most part I put them in just to make sure they work initially. I'm usually working on one action RPG amongst everything else.
My rule is if my backlog is 5 or more games I can't buy anymore until I have 1 or 2 left. Collecting things you plan to play I have found is what drives me. I want a collection that will impress me and make me happy. If that means having a handful of good games over a bunch of mediocre games Ill take that.
I made the decision one day to only collect for one console. I was spreading myself out too much and finding that not only did I have a bunch a games I'd never play but that when I did have time to play a game, I wouldn't be able to make up my mind on what game I should play. Now obviously there are other ways to play games without owning the actual item so I do have more than one console hooked up to my TV. I just choose not to collect for every console I own because I do feel like less is more. I'm able to concentrate on those few consoles I have hooked up more easily from having less to choose from.
For me its a discipline thing. I like to think of my collection as a curated set of games for each console I have. Well it can't well be curated if I haven't played them now can it? So I simply don't let myself add more to the collection until I finish a good chunk of my last batch of purchases, say about half or so. I set rule to myself that my collection cant grow unless I keep working on my retro backlog. But it also gives me a bit of pride when I look at my shelf and find it harder and harder to spot a game on it that I havent beaten yet.
Good way to think of it. That could be hard for old school consoles, such as the nes. Some of those games were excessively hard to beat without cheating. Some people never do beat those games. Any games in recent years though should be quite beatable for anyone
The last couple of years my backlog has gotten really out of hand. I think it's fine though to have a huge backlog as long as you actually do play a game once in a while. I try to play as much as I can and have time for. I know a guy who just scoops up loads of games and never or rarely ever plays any of them. I can't stand people who don't use any of their games and just sit on them like a stamp collection. Playing games will always be the main point for me. It's fine if you don't have the time to play everything but you should at least have beaten 50% of your collection in my opinion. I'm very proud to say I've reached and maintained that percentage over the years.
For some reason your videos are always spot on lol Love it! So with the introduction of the PS5 and Xbox Series X I've decided to cut down on my game spending and only buy modern games I will play immediately such as multiplayer games like Call of Duty I'm happy with my current library and have stopped seeking older games for older consoles. I'd only look to buy an older game only if I already played it and really really enjoyed my experience. Saving up for a MisTer and I'm planning playing games that aren't on my library on that :)
@@RetroBirdGaming I'd rather a MisTer than a PS5 or Xbox Series X 😁 Probably one of the last major gaming purchases I'll make Then just enjoy what I have 😎
Honestly if i just cut out genre’s I don’t fully enjoy my collection would be perfectly balanced with variety, choice, and replayability. You’re spot on with this obsessive collecting culture though
My collection is better than everyone in this comment section. Yes even yours. But alas, it brings me no joy. Except for the knowledge that my collection is better than everyone in this comment section....
Great video. Also, I'm envious of the generally nice condition of all your games. I have quite a few n64 carts with significant blimishes or wear. I only collect/play n64, and I'm not concerned with completing the library. While my backlog is sizeable, I plan to play all the games I buy, even if it will take quite a while to play everything. I'm up the 120+ titles, including a good chunk of japanese exclusives. Love my collection and love to experience so much retro goodness when playing!
Thanks. I'm typically pretty picky about condition when I first get games. Yeah, the N64 labels are pretty fragile compared to other nintendo labels in my opinion. I think Genesis labels are the most prone to issues though. They fade really easily, have actiplaque and all sorts of weird stuff.
You're comment about collections being a trip down memory lane resonated with me. When I started this hobby a few years back I bought way to many crap games, which led to me becoming all too familiar with selling on eBay. Thanks to retro gaming I went from little eBay experience to selling loads of games on the platform. I am much more careful with what I buy these days. Per your question, I guess I haven't been able to to play games for the last 6 months or so, but I always assume I'll get the time to get back into it soon. Another thought provoking video Retro Bird. :)
eBay can really help offload some of your games haha. You just gotta watch out for the buying end of things on there :) Glad that you liked the video as always Jake :)
2:24 - Fully agree! I HATE digital only releases. I've long been saying that when gaming becomes all digital or streaming, I'm going 100% retro and there will be enough to keep me happy until I die in like 50 years. It looks like we're getting dangerously close to that time with the direction Playstation and XBOX is going, and CBOMB is now threatening merely the future existence of any PS3, PS4, and PS5 games we already own (unless emulated and pirated)! Digital stores have been an incredible opportunity for indie developers to bring their vision to life, where they wouldn't be capable of a physical run. I buy digital to support those indie projects, but I always buy physical when possible.
You can resurface them. Either take them to a store to have them done the right way or you can buy your own machine and do it yourself. I bought the JFJ Easy Pro and i have saved around 20 games from thrift stores
It’s a balance for me. Most of the time I just collect the original hardware (or the FPGA equivalents), and the flash carts so I can play what I want. But I still collect my favorites.
I "Collect" games I plan to "Play". It's very easy to buy games you will never play so if I don't have any nostalgia for it or it doesn't seem interesting, I'm not buying it. Quality over quantity.
I am putting loads of hours into the Nintendo Switch but also buying original Gameboy games, testing them, then just displaying them. I just love collecting those little carts.
I’m a surging collector, I’m new to this stuff. I got a small collection, you could say many consoles and a handful of games for each.I’ve currently got 10 games for my sega Mega Drive (Japanese model 1 VA2 I got in the original box for 130€) but I don’t have the space yet to put my Mega Drive in a permanent and easy to access spot. That is why I don’t play my games at the moment, along with the composite video looking like crap and the framemeister glitching and school hours (annoying!!). Once I upgrade to RGB, an OSSC and find a good spot for my Mega Drive, I’ll play it to the death, just for that kickass YM2612 audio!!
Just found your channel with this video and subbed. I really like your edu-tainment style and find the coherent voice over with game footage and pantomime bits intercut to be a unique and very fun presentational identity. Great work.
I enjoy collecting and Playing games. I just got that Toaplan Genesis Collection of Shmups today. Broke the seal on that Collectors edition and started playing all those shmups. I want to play what I own. I don’t know if I will ever play them all but I also use my collection for Game nights with friends, game tournaments, and my favorite playing with and watching my kids play them. :)
@@RetroBirdGaming Yeah I am not one to order things online too much but my local Mom and Pop spot ordered a copy so I bought it from them. Nice little set of games. They really put in a lot of cool goodies in there.
I bought console minis for games I just wanted to experience at least once and boy there are a friggin' ton that I'd never touch again. So, great that they aren't taking up precious space or driving up the price for people who just want to collect! Respect to collect but for me, not so much, has to be a love it forever kind of feeling to keep it in my collection... Though now that I say that, I realize how many old/new games I have sitting in the basement. Where do you find the most value vs effort selling games, even subpar ones?
It depends what your time is worth to sell them compared to how much they go for. You may need to do lots to sell a bunch of the more mediocre ones all at once.
@@RetroBirdGaming I see, lots is a good tip. also, my time oscillates between priceless and worthless... since I've watched nearly all of your videos now in the last few weeks, I'll leave it to you to determine which and when! :)
I think a good rule would be that until you either beat a game you just bought or put a few hours into it you can't buy another game lol it would be difficult but I think it would help you actually play every game you buy and keep a good pace on purchases. Easier said then done. Love your channel, it's very unique, it almost feels like it's a message board or chat room for retro gamers in video form.
so funny. i think you miss a core component that a lot of people like their game rooms, but also like vintage games as a reasonable store of value. prices have been and almost certainly will continue to go higher. pricecharting.com has brought in more collectors than almost any other media has.
That may be a component that collectors would only admit to privately since it might make them seem like they're just in it for the money and not love of gaming :)
@@RetroBirdGaming definitely helps justify each purchase for sure. the guy at the channel nintendo collecting really views every purchase he makes through that lens.
I play most of my games for at least an hour. The ones I don't end up getting around to I usually always end up playing later down the line, and of course there's the games I don't like at all. I keep them around but never touch them.
@@RetroBirdGaming That's the amount of time I like to give the game before deciding to put it down or not. Usually the bad games don't make it past one hour lol.
I started off just looking to get stuff that I would play. Then I had a kid and now I buy for a few more reasons. I bought a couple of Jakks Pacific plug n’ play retro consoles (Pac-Man and Space Invaders) because they are physically easier for her than the smaller Genesis controllers or handhelds like the GBA. Then when I started getting games for my Sega Genesis and continuing to build my GBA. collection, I also look for games she might like (e.g. various Mickey Mouse platformers and other Disney titles, Spirits & Spells, etc.). I wanted to introduce her to dad’s retro-gaming hobby and give her a chance to see if she likes playing them too. At the current moment, her favorite video game is Pac-Man. She can’t beat it (neither can I), but she likes to play it on the Jakks. So I was collecting games for me, but now I’m collecting for us. Two days ago, my wife said she’d like to play Animal Crossing. Unfortunately, I don’t have a copy of it and I parted with my GameCube years ago so I don’t have a console for it. Now, I’m back on the hunt. Collecting can be a selfish waste, but if the whole family enjoys it, I see it more as an investment in family fun.
I'm totally over the idea that I need to buy ("collect") every game before I play it. Games are too expensive and time-consuming to acquire and then either 1) store in a personal collection or 2) sell off. Now I feel emulation before purchase (when possible) is the way to go -- legality and authenticity be damned.
