Too many games

[strider]

12 hours ago, pastry said:

You'll feel like that until it's replaced by the regret of selling stuff.

 

But yeah, clear out the stuff that's not really important to you and see where you stand - as you well know, old games are more accessible than ever.

In all fairness, it's very rare that I miss playing a game I've got rid of. I certainly miss the price I would have got for it now if I still had it, but that's obviously very different 

[WibbleWorldGiddy]

I've started to move my PC discs from their DVD cases to DVD transparent sleeves. Many of my PC games are cheap charity shop finds that are only worth a few pounds, so I have no problem with getting rid of the original boxes in this instance (I'm definitely not taking this approach for console titles). It's only a small space saving, but allows me to move other things off the floor.

[partious]

 I have my collection of games from consoles I'm interested in and never sell anything. We can talk about everdrives, raspberry pis, misters and the rest, but it isn't the same experience as putting the cart into the original console, looking at the boxes/manuals etc. 

I didn't buy any of my stuff for market rate on eBay etc so I look at my games and can remember a little story attached to where each thing came from. That makes me less likely to sell them. My boxed nes and boxed games that happen to now be valuable aren't just some junk I randomly accumulated. I trudged through Sunday morning car boot sales every week when I was 18 and got lucky a few times when someone was selling off some classic for pennies.  I bought a virtual boy boxed for 30 quid in some rural recycle shop in Japan that I went out of my way to get to 15 years ago. Bought my ps2 while studying abroad and had many a good late night gaming session on it with people who then went back to the four corners of the earth never to meet again.

Everything else that I have was something I went out of my way to buy or at least was happy to stumble across randomly. Didn't fall into my house like a hoarder's bunch of shit stained nappies or expired tins of dogfood or whatever did.

 

I'll happily clear out various other things to make space, certain books I'm finished with etc, but I like having the games to look at/play if the mood takes me. I don't find decently organised retro games take up that much space, comparatively speaking, and of the various things I own that take up space I'd say they're about the closest to something that actually "sparks joy" as people like to say in these topics. I'd certainly sooner downsize my collection of old t-shirts and other clothes I haven't bothered throwing out yet than my game collection. 

 

I guess it depends whether you're tight on space (I don't have a huge amount but I have a spare room and choose to use it for games as opposed to something else), want to cash in on inflated retro prices (I bought anything I have because I wanted to own it so I don't sell anything) and whether your owning of certain things bothers people you live with , in my case it doesn't but it certainly seems to be a factor in a lot of retro collection selloffs. 

[partious]

On 24/01/2022 at 09:25, strider said:

 I’ve got just over 1,137 games which feels ridiculous (and doesn’t include the 90 odd limited run vita games in my loft). 

 

15 hours ago, strider said:

 I find myself with very little time nowadays so I'm looking at moving back towards focusing on shmups as they fit into my life better. I was recently going to go for every Switch shmup, but after hating Aces of the Luftwaffe I realised that was a waste of money so that's now been put on hold. 

 

 Despite my defense of having a collection above, I can't relate to this. I assume you bought at least some of those 90 limited run vita games because they were limited run games and not because there were 90 games you wanted to play and own that happened to be limited run vita games. 

 "Maybe I'll play some shmups because I have little time" becoming "I'll buy every switch shmup" is also a thought process I can't quite relate to. 

 

It sounds like collecting things for the sake of collecting something and in that sense it seems pretty straightforward that once you've accumulated that arbitrary collection you might not have much attachment to it. I remember as a kid the premier league sticker book wasn't particularly interesting once it was completed. 

Did you buy the limited run games because you wanted to play them all or because they seemed like a safe bet in terms of likelihood of appreciating in value?

[fat flatulent git]

Most of mine was purchased for market price, some was dirt cheap and some was expensive.

 

I can't deny that much of the appeal is looking round second-hand shops and trying to find old games I want at a reasonable price.

 

And some of it is that feel of a real cart or disk in real hardware.  I'm just one game away from a complete Lynx collection now, apart from one game that was a homebrew and only ever had about a dozen copies.  I have all the original releases bar one.  Sometimes I'll just decide to have a Saturn night, a Dreamcast night, a Game Gear night, or something else, and I do enjoy looking through my collection to see what I fancy playing.

 

The Lynx apart, I am not looking for complete console collections.  I have some series I collect - actually made a thread about that.

 

 

There are other mini collections I'm adding to - games about trains, games about the law, medicine and hospital games, cooking games.  A few of those I bought just for the sake of adding to the collection.  There is a DS game about being a police negotiator, which is beyond my level of Japanese, but I picked it up anyway.  I never pay much for that sort of game - if it's pricey, I go without.

[JoeK]

Been effectively all digital now for years. 

 

Although, I do seem to be building up an unhealthy collection of external hds and my main PC is fully loaded with storage!

 

Some days I dream of being able to actually tidy the damn things so I don't wastes hours trying to find stuff.

 

But it never happens  

[strider]

7 hours ago, partious said:

 

 

 Despite my defense of having a collection above, I can't relate to this. I assume you bought at least some of those 90 limited run vita games because they were limited run games and not because there were 90 games you wanted to play and own that happened to be limited run vita games. 

 "Maybe I'll play some shmups because I have little time" becoming "I'll buy every switch shmup" is also a thought process I can't quite relate to. 

 

It sounds like collecting things for the sake of collecting something and in that sense it seems pretty straightforward that once you've accumulated that arbitrary collection you might not have much attachment to it. I remember as a kid the premier league sticker book wasn't particularly interesting once it was completed. 

Did you buy the limited run games because you wanted to play them all or because they seemed like a safe bet in terms of likelihood of appreciating in value?

In the case of limited run I bought them because I did want to collect every one that came out as I thought they might make a good investment. I went for all the switch shmups initially because I love shmups and I think it’s the best modern system for them and thought it would be cool to have them all. I eventually realised both decisions were pointless so abandoned them. As I said, I get an idea in my head and pursue it. I’ve largely stopped doing that nowadays (aside from switch of course). I’m just as prone to anyone else to making bad gaming decisions.

[MattyP]

I sold off my complete retro collection 3-4 years ago now. Got a nice tidy sum for it all. I found it was just sat there gathering dust most of the time and I'd rather it all went to people who might appreciate and use it! 

 

Still ponder at times whether I made the correct decision however don't actually miss any of it really - if I really want to I can get many things on emulation anyway and there are so many games out there to play these days.

 

Have a few trinkets of retro things and with some of the proceeds from the sale picked up a joystick to use with the PC for MAME. Have some mini NES/SNES units which are great - don't take up a lot of space and scratch the retro itch when I want it now and again (and something tangible to put on a shelf/display). The other thing I have left is my old OG GameBoy and a game and watch etc. Again things that don't take much space up.

 

A lot of that goes with this is the emotional attachment to things - much like music records etc. But we can have these with pictures and of course memories. 

 

[nakamura]

It's much more difficult to buy physical games nowadays though. You have to buy early or risk missing out at normal prices altogether. It's impossible pretty much to be a physical gamer nowadays. 

[MattyP]

7 minutes ago, nakamura said:

It's much more difficult to buy physical games nowadays though. You have to buy early or risk missing out at normal prices altogether. It's impossible pretty much to be a physical gamer nowadays. 

Indeed. However there is nothing worth collecting most of the time these days IMHO. You get a plastic case and a disk with PS5/Xbox at least. Not sure what the Switch is like.

 

Anything that has any "bits" with it - manuals etc have really inflated prices... and are usually snapped up by opportunists to sell on eBay etc. Its a sorry state to be honest. Not liking the way the whole gaming industry is going these days... all hardware/software seems to be just commodity used by traders to make some £££s rather than bought to used, played and enjoyed. 

 

Maybe because gaming is huge these days and so the market much larger - so demand is so much higher. Also the WWW more than ever has opened it up to be a global market - one which the individial can trade on very easily so more opportunists around.

[strider]

1 hour ago, MattyP said:

Anything that has any "bits" with it - manuals etc have really inflated prices... and are usually snapped up by opportunists to sell on eBay etc. Its a sorry state to be honest. Not liking the way the whole gaming industry is going these days... all hardware/software seems to be just commodity used by traders to make some £££s rather than bought to used, played and enjoyed. 

 

Yup the worst part about collecting for the Switch now is that if you don't buy the game in the month-long window it's available for odds are you're going to pay a hell of a lot more for it a little time down the line. Windows at least give you more time to make a decision, but it's not going to be suitable for everyone. I forgot to get Chostblade HD on release for example when it was £35 and now you won't find it for under £135.

 

[DeciderVT]

I don't really care for collecting anymore. I look at the room lined with shelves of games and trinkets I've accumulated over the years and wonder what the hell I was thinking. I think I've posted it here before but I had a moment of clarity when I found several consoles tucked away, which I had no memory of buying. Far too much stuff, most of which would stay on the shelf or in a cupboard.

 

Flash carts, ODEs and MiSTer are a godsend. Playing Snatcher on Mega SD last year rammed home the realisation that my experience of the game was not diminished by leaving my copy on the shelf. I'm also likely to be more objective about a game's qualities than I would be if I'd paid for an expensive copy on eBay.

 

Moving past the hoarding mentality has been incremental but I'm glad I've started selling up- I just wish I'd done it all along, before I ended up with a mountain of stuff. The task of getting rid of it all is overwhelming to the point of paralysis sometimes.

 

[gossi the dog]

1 hour ago, strider said:

Yup the worst part about collecting for the Switch now is that if you don't buy the game in the month-long window it's available for odds are you're going to pay a hell of a lot more for it a little time down the line. Windows at least give you more time to make a decision, but it's not going to be suitable for everyone. I forgot to get Chostblade HD on release for example when it was £35 and now you won't find it for under £135.

 

 

As far as I'm concerned anything that's released in limited quantities and sold directly by niche publishers are not "proper" releases and thus can be ignored Buy the game on the eShop and save yourself £120.

[strider]

6 minutes ago, gossi the dog said:

 

As far as I'm concerned anything that's released in limited quantities and sold directly by niche publishers are not "proper" releases and thus can be ignored Buy the game on the eShop and save yourself £120.

It's not a case of it being a proper release, I just like having the physical thing in my hands. If I could use your reasoning I'd save a fortune as the games in question are often heavily reduced by the time they get physical releases 

[nakamura]

3 hours ago, DeciderVT said:

I don't really care for collecting anymore. I look at the room lined with shelves of games and trinkets I've accumulated over the years and wonder what the hell I was thinking. I think I've posted it here before but I had a moment of clarity when I found several consoles tucked away, which I had no memory of buying. Far too much stuff, most of which would stay on the shelf or in a cupboard.

 

Flash carts, ODEs and MiSTer are a godsend. Playing Snatcher on Mega SD last year rammed home the realisation that my experience of the game was not diminished by leaving my copy on the shelf. I'm also likely to be more objective about a game's qualities than I would be if I'd paid for an expensive copy on eBay.

 

Moving past the hoarding mentality has been incremental but I'm glad I've started selling up- I just wish I'd done it all along, before I ended up with a mountain of stuff. The task of getting rid of it all is overwhelming to the point of paralysis sometimes.

 

 

That's why I always kept to a minimum of consoles. Mainly PS1/2 and SNES. Anything else I have could easily go. 

[strider]

6 minutes ago, AstroBot said:

I nearly bought some limited run stuff again but they are selling half thing genie shite again as separate releases. Should be a compilation.

I think the reasoning behind those is due to the new carbon engine so a lot of work was done. You're right though, they could easily all fit on a single cartridge. Same with those split Space Invaders, Darius and Turrican compilations.

[SeanR]

5 hours ago, strider said:

It's not a case of it being a proper release, I just like having the physical thing in my hands. If I could use your reasoning I'd save a fortune as the games in question are often heavily reduced by the time they get physical releases 

“code in box edition”

[strider]

2 hours ago, SeanR said:

“code in box edition”

The only thing worse than the publishers who sell them are the idiots that buy them.

[dataDave]

22 hours ago, DeciderVT said:

I don't really care for collecting anymore. I look at the room lined with shelves of games and trinkets I've accumulated over the years and wonder what the hell I was thinking. I think I've posted it here before but I had a moment of clarity when I found several consoles tucked away, which I had no memory of buying. Far too much stuff, most of which would stay on the shelf or in a cupboard.

 

Flash carts, ODEs and MiSTer are a godsend. Playing Snatcher on Mega SD last year rammed home the realisation that my experience of the game was not diminished by leaving my copy on the shelf. I'm also likely to be more objective about a game's qualities than I would be if I'd paid for an expensive copy on eBay.

 

Moving past the hoarding mentality has been incremental but I'm glad I've started selling up- I just wish I'd done it all along, before I ended up with a mountain of stuff. The task of getting rid of it all is overwhelming to the point of paralysis sometimes.

 

This is precisely what I was going to post. Sometimes I miss my old collection, but that's mainly because it'd be worth around €100,000 now. Besides that I'm glad I have less stuff to dust off. I'm also spending more money and time on other hobbies besides just pointlessly burning cash on buying stuff that's only going to sit on a shelf.

 

Someone always brings up the "thousands of ROMs" point. It's exactly the same when you have shelves and shelves (and shelves) of games.

[gossi the dog]

15 hours ago, AstroBot said:

I nearly bought some limited run stuff again but they are selling half thing genie shite again as separate releases. Should be a compilation.

 

Shantae?

[strider]

1 minute ago, gossi the dog said:

 

Shantae?

I'd imagine so. They've released the games either as Game Boy releases to use on physical systems or the Switch, but all five games (I think it's five) were released separately.

[fat flatulent git]

I really hate the long wait for LRG and especially SLG releases.  It's coming up to a year since I ordered Turrican.

[strider]

18 minutes ago, Death Adder said:

I really hate the long wait for LRG and especially SLG releases.  It's coming up to a year since I ordered Turrican.

I'm still waiting for my Game Paradise from City Connection. Ordered that in August 2019.

[gossi the dog]

28 minutes ago, strider said:

I'd imagine so. They've released the games either as Game Boy releases to use on physical systems or the Switch, but all five games (I think it's five) were released separately.

 

They've released games in the same way as they've been released digitally, so if they're on PSN as separate releases then the physical version will be as separate releases. I don't see them changing that. 

 

Note that some of the Asian or Japanese releases (which contain English as a language option) have been done as compilations e.g. the Japan Switch release of The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa which was released as a double pack with Arrest of a Stone Buddha.

[Skull Commander]

At one point I easily had a couple of thousand games, but one day I realised that I couldn't possibly ever play and enjoy them all. Over the last 8 years or so I've gradually got rid of most of them and now I'm in a place where I feel much better. All I've kept is my Gamecube collection , and all gens of Xbox. I do have a Wii and Psp Go which I use to play emulated stuff but getting all my physical games down to one set of shelves has felt great. I don't feel like I'm missing out at all and I barely get enough time to keep up with gamepass stuff alone nowadays. 

[Oracle]

I've sold a bunch of stuff over the years, I am thinking about selling the rest save the saturn and OG xbox

[Kevvy Metal]

2 hours ago, Fallows said:

 

This is precisely what I was going to post. Sometimes I miss my old collection, but that's mainly because it'd be worth around €100,000 now. Besides that I'm glad I have less stuff to dust off. I'm also spending more money and time on other hobbies besides just pointlessly burning cash on buying stuff that's only going to sit on a shelf.

 

Someone always brings up the "thousands of ROMs" point. It's exactly the same when you have shelves and shelves (and shelves) of games.

 

Yes, and as I've posted many times with just a tiny bit of file managment you can get round that "thousands of ROMs" thing by simply creating a folder called "My games" or "playlist" or whatever, and put the games you're going to play in it. 

It's just like the "play next" queue on Netflix or Gamepass or whatever. 

 

Say you watch the latest episode of Gamesack and fancy playing through...  ..."The Twisted Tales of Spike McFang" for the SNES... stick it in the folder along with your other classic games. 

 

It's like having a digital store for your retro console. 

 

 

[DeciderVT]

That's exactly how I treat my collections of games. Go-to stuff is curated in separate folders, the rest is left as-is in an amended version of the SmokeMonster folder structure for discovery.

 

Saw Gon on SNESdrunk recently, picked it out on the SD card and gave it a try immediately afterwards. Same for the GBA version of SMB3 with all of the extra card reader levels unlocked. I've never understood the choice paralysis with flash carts when it's such an easily solved problem.

[dataDave]

Yes.

 

 

[Oh Danny Boy]

4 hours ago, strider said:

I'm still waiting for my Game Paradise from City Connection. Ordered that in August 2019.

Bought Radirgy which they were selling at the same time. It’s been a right mess and I’ll doubt that either games will materialise. They go by ‘ready to dispatch games’, definitely taking the piss with that name.