Pros of collecting: I love collecting, and I love having physical copies of games I enjoy. I also love the feeling of “the hunt”, and finding that crazy good deal. I also believe these games will hold or even increase in value.
Cons of collecting: I don’t like the cost. The price of games are skyrocketing, and I feel like I got into the hobby too late to amass a collection like I would want. Everdrives are relatively cheap, and they are also continuously evolving in their support.
Ultimately, for me, I think the most important aspect of game collecting is using a CRT and authentic controllers/hardware. That’s how I prefer to enjoy these games, and I’m not certain if having a physical cart is important to me or not. I’m a little on the fence about whether or not continuing to collect actively is worth the money.
I can’t do Everdrives seriously. I need the feel of choosing a game on the shelf, putting the cartridge in the console and committing to the game. Lists give me the paralysis of choice, where I either play a game for a couple of minutes before trying another one, or sometimes even give up before even starting playing because I couldn’t see myself playing such or such demanding game for a long time when I have all these other games to play. Having cartridges, original or reproductions, helped me with that issue.
I’m still using the Mega Everdrive to test how PAL games behave at NTSC refresh rates and whether I can buy a cheap (for me) PAL copy or have to import the game from the US. But that’s about it.
Repros are cool in my opinion, but I know this is a divisive subject. I like having a box and a manual, and I’m glad to see more and more people making these along their reproduced cartridges.
I have a couple Everdrives/flash carts. I don’t have room for collecting and based on the cost of about 3-4 games I wanted on SNES, an sd2snes was cheaper. It’s also cheaper than buying those two Mega Man carts that are getting reprints. I have nothing against people who want original games. I don’t get repros at all but to each their own.
I agree that the controller/console and a CRT are huge for me. I’ve tried emulators and collections on newer systems. It just doesn’t feel right to me. Super NT doesn’t feel right either to me. It’s close but not quite there.
All of that said, I would not sell games you already own to fund an ED. I would save up for one on Black Friday (if you want one of course). Each situation is different, most of my 8-32 bit games are from my childhood so they have additional meaning to me. So I would save up rather than selling them to fund it. My personal opinion of course, YMMV.
Yeah I’m not sold on the idea of selling my current collection, as I have a lot of love for the games I attained. This would also allow me to keep the hunt alive and not pass up good deals that I do run across.
However, I think I may switch my focus away from active collecting, and go the ED route for my systems.
After buying an sd2snes I have still purchased some games. I bought Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy III (cib), and a SNES console for $200 even though I already had a SNES and FFIII. I sold those and kept CT because it was too good a deal to pass up. So buying a ED doesn’t mean you can’t buy other games. It will make you more thoroughly decide if you really want the game though.
Choice paralysis is a real thing for me. My digital platform is mostly GOG, but when I log in and see 185 options lined up in tiny rows, I have an incredibly hard time deciding what to play. And while it’s super convenient to have my entire physical DS library on an R4 card I can play on my 3DS anywhere, the reality is I can never seem to commit to any of them.
When I look at my track record of games I’ve enjoyed and completed, a much larger percentage comes from the physical ones. I don’t think it’s because they are any better, but maybe because I’m forced to be more selective and intentional about it.
As a side note, this is one of the reasons I enjoy the monthly “lets play” threads both here and on Era as it helps identify something to focus on.
And as an even bigger side note, it’s also why I like shopping at ALDI instead of Walmart - I only need two choices of ketchup, not 200.
I prefer real media, and will always go for it except when the real media requires machinery that will fail (i.e. floppy disks or optical media). So I’m all in on cartridges, but I’ve replaced every floppy drive on every machine I have with either a floppy emulator or an alternative boot method.
How many people have had oem (not self burned) optical media fail on them? Honest question. I’m thinking digital like CD, DVD, BD, etc. You bought it new, didn’t abuse it, and it failed; tried buffing it and still doesn’t work. It happens so I’m not dismissing it, but genuinely interested.
I’m talking about the drives, not the media.
Although for the record, I have many floppy disks from the 80s that are deteriorated. I don’t have any CDs that don’t work, that I know of.
Yeah if I were getting into the hobby right now I’d do the same honestly. Also choice paralysis is no easier/worse for me whether I’m looking at a physical or digital collection.
I once had planned to collect my personal top 25-50 games on each system I care about and call it a day. For 10 or so consoles plus the thousands of PC games out there, that’s plenty. So I made some lists. I’ve never paid over $60 for a game and I never plan to, so when I made a list of my top 25 Saturn games and looked at prices, I had to take a step back and reevaluate my plan somewhat.
I’ve considered flash carts many times, but that in itself is a pretty big investment and I don’t think it’d mean much to me to have them over emulation. Repros are another option, but I just don’t know enough about that scene to trust them.
So I collect what affordable games I can and emulate the rest. Sometimes I feel like going all in and getting the games I want regardless of the prices, and sometimes I feel silly for owning what I do. It’s a never-ending story.
Ah yes, good distinguishing point…since the drive on my launch PS3 failed a couple months ago, otherwise it’s fine, lol. Technically, it’s broken and can be fixed but I haven’t had a chance to do so yet. Given it’s a launch BC 60GB I decided to replace it and punt on fixing it for now.
Oh, this is true for me, too. It’s just that all the sales on Steam and GOG have allowed me to amass a very large collection very quickly and cheaply. I really like the idea of a top 20 and calling it quits. Will depend on the system, though.
