When it comes to cartridge games quite a few come in cardboard boxes. As a collector i would love to keep all of these boxes but i don't have the appropriate storage conditions to ensure they stay in good shape so i usually just pass them on to someone else who can store them correctly. So my question i how can i efficiently store them while also keeping quick and easy access? This goes for my NES, SNES, N64, and some genesis games that don't have plastic storage cases. I've seen drawers for most nintendo console, but they usually only hold a small amount of games. I've also see the plastic cases for NES cartridges. Something like that for the other consoles would probably work well. Has anyone seen anything special out there?
A lot of places sell plastic cases with the game artwork (they're easy to find on eBay), or cases that go over the original game case. I didn't get into the Nintendo systems until later, so 100% of my games are loose anyway. Now the Genesis on the other hand...
I've seen those cases on ebay, are they made well? That would be a good alternative for NES games, i just figured they were poorly made.
For the N64 (my only cartridge console) I used to store the (cardboard, so they don't last, sadly) boxes separately, but we had a fire and I lost them. The cartridges I played on regularly were stored in the draw under the TV stand, and the others I kept in a box in the cupboard. But since buying the Everdrive 64, I keep all of the cartridges in the cupboard, as I never use them now, but I keep them as part of my collection. I really would recommend you get backup cartridge devices for your consoles, as being able to keep all of the games on one SD Card, and so use just one cartridge with a console, is utterly fantastic, plus you can play fan-made mods of games on the console too. Then you can just put your cartridges away in safe storage, and never touch them again. There are some SNES games that won't run from a backup device, games that need special chips, and I think different backup devices for the SNES allow some special-chip games to work For Super Everdrive vs. SD2SNES, see; http://www.assemblergames.com/forum...rive-vs-SD2SNES-What-are-the-main-differences For the SD2SNES specifics, see; http://sd2snes.de/blog/status/compatibility
This is a great idea for the ones i wont keep near my consoles, thanks! But i'm looking for a solution to somewhat display them. Either i can pull games off of a shelf or from a drawer in an organized fashion. I did find these which i like a lot http://www.ebay.com/itm/BitBox-NES-...=US_Video_Game_Cases_Bags&hash=item35c97dbbd2 These also look great if they work well: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Universal-G...ideo_Game_Cases_Bags&var=&hash=item2ec92c56c7
I have one of those second ones and it's ok, but I really have all my loose carts in drawers or shelves.
I like to have my loose carts only a grab away so I am a big fan of Wall mount organizers. For Famicom, Genesis, Master System, N64 and possibly others, an audio cassette rack is just the perfect size. I grabbed this thing for like 3$ at a flea market. Its perfect. I had been looking for a SNES equivalent for a while but concluded they did not exist and the only equivalent official product was small, rare and expensive. So I recently built my own. I designed this for SNES carts but NES carts can fit on the side too but then you cant read the label easily. However I found that with a plastic jacket, NES carts will fit on the proper side! As can be seen on the top right. So im probably gonna buy a bunch of em.
storage drawes are good, but if you want to store them away somewhere, make sure you used a dry sealed container, maybe throw in some of that silicone stuff to remove moisture like they do with shoe boxes, also if storing for a long time, watch out for carts with memory batteries make sure they are not leaking or remove them completely as you could end up with a destroyed cart.
I just use flash carts and don't keep the real games on stock. Yeah, I know. Having ROMs without original carts is a grey area but I don't have the space to store carts. Sue me...
Well, you can store all your original carts anywhere at home, and use flash cartridge to play only games you own
Im somewhat cramped in here too, that is why I built the wall mounts up there. Im kind of affraid to dive into flash carts. Im somewhat affraid it will kill the magic. I usually buy cheap battered carts with no box and damaged stickers. I buy AS-Is for part consoles and fix them. My collection is pretty ghetto in this regard but i still love the orginal stuff
It was a bit of a pain to design and build the SNES rack but after thinking about it for a while I found a relatively clever solution. I actually took pictures when I was building it so I can post the details on how to make them later on. Stay tuned.
Those "universal" cases have always seemed like a total waste of money to me, who wants to pay $134+ for 50(presumably low quality, I had VHS cases built like that and they got damaged very quickly just from being stacked.) cases that you then have to print labels out for?
I agree completely but at the time i hadn't seen any better options. It sucks trying to pull cartridges out from underneath other cartridges when you want to play shelved games. I could stack them in drawers but i know that will become a mess. I really likte the cassette rack idea thought.
You know, if you took one of those for CDs and filed down every other ridge, they might fit. I haven't checked, but it seems almost likely.
I just posted a little picture Guide about my Cart organizer. http://www.assemblergames.com/forums/showthread.php?47382-DIY-wall-mount-SNES-cart-organizer
I like it. But it might be easier to build a standard shelf design with the idea of storing games vertically. You could adjust the height of the shelf depending on what sort of cartridges or cases you intend to store to maximize usage of space. My bookshelf isn't ideal for my game storage. The NES carts are stacked up like in your rack, but they are not supported like yours. I don't think 13 carts stacked up is too much for the ones at the bottom. The middle shelf I have a bunch of CD games, which means about half of that shelf space is wasted. If I had a custom built shelf I could optimize the use of space better. Another useful thing for your storage solution would be some kind of glass or clear plastic door. It would help keep dust out.
