That’s what I did earlier this year,sold my 650+ NES collection (and 400+ SNESone ) and just use Everdrives. I never played the original carts anyways since it was inconvenient to play them compared to the Everdrive.
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This is basically what I do for emulation. I have full sets on the PC, but one folder up I cherry pick my favorites. This list is what I carry over to my Pi, Wii, or whatever. It makes for about 50-100 games for each system, and it’s not like I can’t throw more on there when needed.
So for example, my PC folder structure would be XYZ:\SNES Emulation\SNES Games\SNES Full Collection and my ‘quick picks’ would be in the folder named ‘SNES Games’.
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I’m moving back to the lower 48 (San Antonio) next month and will have all my arcade stuff back that has been in storage for years. Will put together a nice game room.
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can’t wait!
I own a lot of video and computer games. One of my sons jokingly calls it “The Inheritance” and yes it does take up a reasonably large amount of space but I don’t have collections of books and music CDs take up a low amount of space as well. If it ever becomes an actual space problem, I will maybe think about selling, but I worked in game retail for a couple years and was a writer in games magazines pre-big Internet and on the net as well as mags after, so I really struggle with the legality of playing things I do not own.
Everyone is different, but I find that owning these games makes me happy because I get to play them in their original form on origInal hardware. When I get something new, it’s always an event for me and makes the discovery a part of the experience.
Some day I’ll be dead and gone and my kids can keep or sell it all, but I think it’s a part of me that they’ll hold onto even if the physical games are gone. The collection I’ve accumulated and the stories of finding this game or that one is just a piece of who I am.
Yeah, I wish I could do emulation. My pocket would have been so much happier if I did.
I went to a mini collector show yesterday and for the life of me I couldn’t get excited about anything. I want to rebuild my childhood collection for most Nintendo consoles but sometimes I wonder if it’s worth it when I play most everything on ever drive anyway.
It’s tough to find a good looking physical collection. I like modern furnishing and ultra-clean but that doesn’t always go well with physical game collecting. Does anyone have good examples of this aesthetic?
Yeah @Peltz has one of the better set ups I’ve seen for display. Someone else who posts here has a white office with a sofa and a clean set up I really admire.
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I believe so.
That’s essentially what my collection is. I got all the games that personally matter to me and then everdrive the rest.
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Here is my mindset:
I really enjoy both playing games and collecting physical games themselves - but I also struggle with analysis paralysis when deciding on a game to play. To solve this, I have applied the solution that I use in my work environment that I found helps me focus on the task at hand: Completely clean out the area
For my work environment, that means I just have my dual monitor setup on the desk, keyboard, mouse and phone. No other clutter.
For my gaming environment (I recently posted in setup thread) - I keep a very modest game room, with basic crt, chair, and magazine to play games; with a curated “main” collection containing a selection of favorite titles that reside in a small closet in the same room as my setup. For the rest of my collection, I store it away in a separate closet in a different part of the house, out of sight, organized neatly in storage bins and boxes. This helps solve the issue of having a curated collection, but also rarely running into the issue of not having / being able to locate a more obscure title that you might only want to play once and then store away, or might not want to include in your “main” collection with frequently played or accessed titles.
I’m a firm believer in Quality over Quantity. It’s nice to have a complete library of games but there’s no real meaning behind each game.
“Oh yeah, I got a copy of Little Samson. Needed it to complete my collection.”
“Oh yeah, that’s a Japanese exclusive Super Mario World that I got so now I own all region versions of Super Mario World”
Just sounds bland and pointless to me.
Whereas…
“Hey, check this out. This is a copy of Duck Tales that my dad and mum gave me for my 7th birthday and it’s been with me this whole time. I used to play it every evening in the living room and I simply adored the music”
“I have this copy of Chrono Trigger that I recently re-bought online because it was the first RPG game that i completed and it has resonated with me since my teens. Sadly I lost my original copy or sold it to go to college”
sounds more personal and if a games collection is filled with these kinds of stories then the collection is more meaningful 
I completely agree. I only bought 3-4 retro games over the past 12 months and intend to keep that rate of retro game acquisition in perpetuity. The first was Layer Section and it’s because a friend showed me it and I loved everything about it.
Then I got on a shooter kick for a few months inspired by Layer Section so picked up two more shmups after beating it. DonPachi and The Raiden Project, the latter of which I’m still working on here and there.
Then the last game retro game I bought was Twilight Princess for Gamecube because my original copy mysteriously started getting disc read errors so I wanted to replace it. I’m playing through it now.
I have no plans to get any more physical games either unless I get the urge to play something I don’t own. Just buying to buy or owning to own never made sense to me.
I also don’t get paralysis of choice because I don’t consider myself a collector at all even though I happened to have amassed a “collection” for lack of a better word. Everything I have is there to be used. Less is more. And I know it sounds ridiculous for me to say that when I have 20 systems hooked up and ready to go at a moment’s notice, but on the software front it’s really true. I’m able to commit to playing one game at a time for weeks when the mood strikes me.
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My collection ethos is about historicity. I guess I’m more of a ‘museum curator’ or librarian than completionist? I want at least something that represents each era, almost like enough to be able to do a documentary or exhibition on a subject (say, space shooter games, or platformers). The collection is still focused (primarily Japanese for me) and I still only have things I like but I have a grander vision than just ‘get everything I might like’ or whatever.
I have basically ever console ever because they are a huge part of the history. Intellivision has historical importance, so I have one with key games.
For me it’s not just about playing, but preserving.
I do have a ‘value’ struggle. Some of my more valuable items I would never sell (eg my Akumajou Dracula X because I’ve had it for 20 years and it’s one of my favourite games), but I struggle to justify keeping my copies of Silvergun and Saturn Street Fighter Zero 3 when I could sell them for so much and do better things with that money.
It’s also why I’m almost exclusively a complete in box collector. The box (and manual) is part of the history. I have a series of mini period game store shelves. I could recreate a dream 1989 NES gamer cave, or a 1998 Japanese Saturn set-up etc.
I could write more about this curation philosophy, it’s about the collection being able to tell a story, and not just a story of my own games of my youth. That said I have cut down a lot, as I’m in an ‘off’ period right now, not really interested.
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I am at the point where I am comfortable with parting with about 80% of my collection. I’m really only interested in hanging on to stuff I still regularly play, or that holds sentimental value to me. This includes my arcade stuff, my Saturn and games, and a bunch of promotional stuff I received from Nintendo while working in games media. I will continue to buy and play newer stuff, but I have been increasingly moving towards digital purchases.
Much of my interest in retro gaming stems from nostalgia and the elusiveness of it. Now that much of it is so pervasive and accessible both culturally and through the help of the internet (mainly YouTube) I feel like I don’t have to hang on to this stuff so tightly since it still has strong presence in the social collective.
I’m getting to the point where i don’t have much room left, so I’m super picky about what I get.
My NES collection has been hovering at around 170-180 games, including boxed/complete. I can hold around 140 loose carts on the shelving over my CRT, so if I pick any new NES games up, others have to go to make room.
Recently I’ve been on an emulation kick, and like I always do when I swing back toward emulators, I begin to question investment in physical games. I’m not to that point or anywhere close, but I have often thought about it. Now that I can emulate on a CRT at native res with minimal lag, there are only three things that I have against emulation. These are:
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Emulation means some sort of boot-up and time spent in menus selecting a game. A necessary evil, but it does impinge on the immediacy of the experience.
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This is both a pro and a con; I use Retroarch primarily, and I find myself tweaking settings, updating the program/cores, and trying different features almost every time I play. I honestly enjoy setting things up and getting them dialed in, but it is sometimes tiring.
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Glitches, compatibility, or lack of solid options. This is always the biggest issue with emulation (and everdrives), there are usually incompatibilities, glitches, and a lack of support for certain consoles or peripherals. Of course this isn’t true of every emulator, but the inconsistency is part of the frustration. Luckily most unsupported consoles are pretty cheap to collect for (Xbox), and open-source projects are updated all the time, bringing us closer to a world where all consoles are emulated accurately.
I use Buffalo SNES pads (NES, SNES, TG-16), PDP Fightpads (Genesis, Saturn), a 360 controller (PS1, N64, Dreamcast) and a Hori arcade stick (MAME) for my various emulation needs. All of these actually work really well, but I’ll get some Raphnet adapters eventually. Then I think I’ll be set.
I doubt I’ll ever get rid of my games though, they mean a lot to me.
Many years ago I made the mistake of selling all my NES, SNES & SFC carts, they were loose carts only but where all in good shape, clean carts with perfect labels, I thought a SNES flashcart on my SFC and emulating the NES stuff was a good solution (and much cheaper). I discovered that I stopped playing the games as much and would play a game for a few minutes and then switch to another and so on, it was less satisfying and a bit soulless, I missed the authentic experience of buying and playing the original carts. Most of the games I sold are far too expensive to rebuy now so I regret the sale, I should have kept my favourites! I now use emulation as a method of trying out games to see if I like them before spending money on the actual game.