I’m a big believer of having the ability to play what you like, no matter what era of gaming it’s from. I’ve put a lot of effort into getting all the consoles I’m interested in set up in a way that I can play what I want, when I want. That means buying all the consoles, buying the games or the flash/SD solution for them, setting them up with the best video signal for the system, etc. That’s all well and good, and it’s honestly a hobby unto it’s own, for certain. I’m still only part way through the adventure, and that’s half the fun.
The trouble is that I’m so limited on the time I get to play, I feel like I may never really get to the libraries that aren’t front and center on my interest spectrum. I feel like I’m on the first steps of a marathon, and the games at the end are almost unattainable. I would love to deep dive into the likes of Intellivision, PS1, C64, Amiga, Atari 2600, and truly enjoy and explore their libraries, but I still have so many of the greats to play like Mega Man 3 and up, Metroid, Wonder Boy in Monster Land, Halo 3 etc…
I’m a big believer in getting use out of what you buy and keep. Does this mean I should be trimming my collection for fear of never using it? Should I wait and see how much free time I have once the kids are in school? Do I wait to see how much use my kids get out of it?
This is obviously a decision I need to make on my own, but I’m interested in your thoughts on the subject.
If you have space and aren’t hurting for money, personally I think it’s better to just hang onto things even if you aren’t going to use it right away. Re-acquiring it down the line will be more difficult and annoying.
As to how to play obscure stuff, the last couple years I’ve been trying to just play what is really compelling to me when the nerve strikes me. I think a few years ago I would take something like Looney Tunes Sheep Raider or Bonk for GB and just shove it into my backlog until I finish other stuff I’m currently playing.
But if I really feel up to diving into something, I just go for it even if it means dropping Okami halfway through or putting something else on hold.
Its the same with every media. Unless you dedicate a large amount of time to it you wont get to every library and that’s ok. I used to spend a lot of time and effort playing aaa games but it started to feel more like a second job instead.
I decided to play and explore what games really called to me and that was Shmups. They are pick up and play ready and I can feel like I accomplished something in 20 minutes.
Bottom line is your gaming time is naturally going to be crunched as you grow older and especially so with kids so find a game games or genre that speak to you and enjoy. Don’t worry about the fear of missing out.
Also a switch might be a great idea for portability and ease of use if you don’t have one.
I feel like it’s always like this since no one has unlimited time and unlimited money. Biggest thing is to just pick things that actually interest you or you want to try out and luckily most of the stuff you want to try is old enough that you can likely get a decent smattering of them just from buying one of the many game collections on current consoles for those systems.
As far as trimming, that’s up to you. If you don’t need the money you can always keep them and at worse they’ll generally go up in price. I’ve also gotten rid of certain sections that I noticed I likely will never actually play due to time constraints and use it to fund the purchase of things I’m more interested in at the time and want to play. Maybe there will be some eventual crash in value for video game collecting but generally speaking they hold value pretty well on average.
I’m currently going through a significant (to me) software purge and I’m happier for it. Too many games and not enough time. I know I’ll never get around to most of this stuff even if I hang onto it until I’m dead, so off it goes.
I went through all my games, identified games that have sentimental value or that I’m determined to eventually play, and everything else has been listed for sale.
Yeah I can understand that. It would be hard for me to sell them, but I think it would be fun to focus hard on maybe 2-3 systems only, and run Flashcart/SD on everything else.
Honestly once you start and get the ball rolling it’s not so bad. It’s just overcoming that initial selling hurdle that’s difficult, or that’s how it was/is for me anyways.
It’s like going to the gym lol. If I can just get out of bed and into my car I’m good to go!