What a wretch is he who must survive his hopes! Nothing remains when that day comes, but to sit down and weep like Alexander, when he wanted other worlds to conquer. ***end dramatics*** Does anybody else feel like their video game collection is more or less complete? What do you do about it? What do you do to still get joy out of it all and keep it interesting? I never really had a specific goal for my collection. I've just bought things that interest me, subject to one major limitation: I won't waste space/time/money on something when I don't think the experience offered is worth the cost. Stated another way, I own every piece of hardware out there where I think the games offered are worth the price of admission. The result is as follows: Spoiler: List of Stuff Apple IIgs Commodore 64 MSX MSX2 TI/994A Atari 8 Bit Computer Atari 2600 Intellivision Colecovision Vectrex Odyssey 2 Atari 7800 Sega Master System NES Turbo Grafx/PC Engine/CD Genesis 32x Sega CD SNES Neo Geo Amiga CD32/500 Atari ST Sega Saturn Playstation 3DO N64 Dreamcast PS2 Xbox Xbox 360 PS4 Wii Gamecube Wii U Switch A decent gaming PC A Supergun/Decent PCB Collection (Naomi, Neogeo, STV, bunch o' random Jammas) Game Boy/Color/Advance DS 3DS PSP NGPC Vita Game Gear Lynx Gamate X68000 Yes, I'm sure that you could nitpick and ask what about "X", but honestly, there aren't really many "X"es left out there. When it comes to specific games for hardware, there's not much that I want that I don't have. I don't like buying top-end $100+ games because they don't really line up well with my ideas on return on investment and on a lot of platforms, I see as only worth my investment with a flash/backup device. Now, I try to actually play/use stuff a bit more. However, I much prefer to do that with friends...but friends have less time for that nowadays because we're all getting older. What do you do? Start a website? A Youtube channel? A museum?
I have limited space, once I replace my PS2 and XBOX/360 I'm done with new old consoles. I'll emulate either on PC or my Pi.
I doubt my collection will be "complete" any time soon. However, you could say that it's almost complete, because I have the majority of the games and systems that I want. I don't own any arcade cabinets; I doubt I'll ever own every one I've ever wanted. Even if I didn't collect much beyond what I have currently, that would be fine. I have games in my collection that I've never played. I have an even larger number of games that I haven't ever finished. If I wanted to finish all of them, just doing that would take years. Plus, I'm always replaying my favorite games. So, I don't really need to collect more games considering I already have a lot to play. That said, I probably will continue to collect stuff. I buy new games, so obviously there's no end to that. As far as hardware, there isn't much left that I would want. There are only a few consoles, and maybe a few computers. As far as arcade hardware though, there's basically no end to that either. Somewhat related to gaming, I eventually want to get a larger RGB CRT monitor.
I have specific goals, and after I finish those I will probably be for the most part done collecting. But I can imagine that I'll still pick up interesting stuff even after that.
To me it's a lifelong journey and hopefully over the years can finish off some console sets. Hit game #3135 in the collection yesterday. One thing I do want to do more of though is whipping the consoles out to play them more regularly. Work/life makes that difficult though... I find each year the goals change, might focus on one console one year etc. This year I'd like to try complete the N64 PAL set (40 games off), and get up to date with the LRG titles I'm missing (earlier releases), and play more of the games. Next year I think it'll be MegaCD that will be the focus. I think the end for me will be once everything is online only, I'm not going to collect hard drives. Will then just be games I want to play and skip the rest.
I too have a huge collection of almost every console, and game in total more than 2500+. The problem is space for me. My collection is almost all boxed up and in storage in my roof. I have only a small area to call my own, and that is now more of a console workshop than somewhere to display and play retro games. I open my site and services up to console upgrades, repairs and mods for everyone, and now that takes up a large amount of my time. I'm hoping in the future to have somewhere I can show off some of my stuff and enjoy it more, but for now the active collecting is on hold, or perhaps done.
I want to beat my backlog & I haven't purchased any of the current gen systems. At least if I'm buying retro stuff from the past there's only a finite amount :x.
*Drools at collections. Years ago I sold a lot of my old favourites thinking that space was more important and everything could be emulated. Now I've reversed philosophy and want everything on original hardware again. I'm slowly rebuilding collection. The problem is I'm spending more time modding the consoles for best AV option and not getting to spend enough time enjoying gaming. I don't think I will ever get close to some of the collections members on here have.
Interesting to see that there are a few like me in that they acknowledge that there's still things that could be bought, but really there's nothing else you need. 8bitplus, your collection seems a lot like mine--an eclectic mix of platforms out the wazoo with seemingly less of a focus on games/sets. I have about 2500 myself. One thing that I actually do to keep it interesting is attending the local video game shows and just setting up a table full of interesting stuff to actually play -- things that you don't really see out for sale, let alone to try out. It's a nice way to evangelize more obscure platforms and show off a bit too. Most recently, I had some Naomi and Neo Geo Games out, along with an MSX computer. Spoiler: Rant: It's also a nice little way to protest that it's about 90% of the same stuff over and over again at classic game shows. I love NES/SNES. Had an NES as a kid. Some of my favorite games are there, but there's more things out there than just NES. I consider my table a protest against the typical retro game show fare--dealers with stacks to sell, but no depth, no friendliness and nothing to actually play.
Yeah I think we are of the same mind. I collected what I wanted. Never set out to have a full set (although I'm close on PAL Saturn and Dreamcast).
I've basically devolved into a video game hoarder, because I believe by the time I'm interested in a game/hardware that it will be so overpriced it will be unobtainable, so I collect anything in decent condition I don't already have, even buying copies of games I enjoy if I can pick them up for like a dollar. Also, it tickles me in the right places thinking I denied a reseller a good deal.
I'm nowhere near the end of my ideal collection, but it definitely has slowed down dramatically over the last year or two. Rising prices aren't helping, and going out garage sale hunting lately has been more annoying than anything.
I'm not even close to owning everything I ever wanted, but money and space has become an issue with the rising prices. I have also become a little more reluctant spending money on more games because I simply don't have the time to play them, and I still have literally hundreds of games on my shelves that I haven't even tried out yet... I am not stopping to collect however, but I think I'll become more selective in the future about what I buy.
I have a lot more than 47 systems and don't consider my collection anywhere near "complete". But that's never been my goal. I keep it interesting by being interested in stuff. There's so much stuff that most people will never even see let alone own. That in itself is interesting to me but plenty of it is interesting in it's own right. The only reason I have to take it easy on buying more stuff is space. I have one room packed wall to wall and multiple systems in every room in the house except the bathrooms/kitchen.
I’ve gotten to the point where the items I want have become very hard to find. Been getting into arcade pcb collecting as of late. Building myself a supergun
For a lot of people, I don't think their collection can ever be "complete" per say - maybe certain sub-sections of it sure, but never the entire thing. There's always something that you've never heard of before that you discover and have to have for your collection, at least in my experience anyway (especially when it comes to vintage computing!). I ended up downsizing about a year ago after I moved countries, there's no way I want to move that amount of shit again, even domestically... I say that, but I ended up getting more into vintage computing which takes up a hell of a lot more space than console collecting. It's going to have to go into storage somewhere when I move back to Japan, woe is me...
