Player or collector

[kingjohn3]

I bought alot of games years ago from video store close outs and pawn shops. Currently my NES and SNES total somewhere between 500-600. Before I realized how many games were made for each system I was really considering finishing off the collection but it would be way more than I wanted to spend. Most of the SNES I have are complete so it was very tempting. But I finally decided to keep the games I grew up with and only try to get the ones that are consensus "the best".  Most everything I'm selling is going for $5 - $20 each (sports and game show games obviously less, next to nothing). So if anyone if feeling the collectors itch I can definately help with cheap games and a huge amount of them boxed/complete in very nice shape. If anyone is interested PM me. All are going on ebay or yard sale soon along with a ton of SW toys and misc stuff.   

[Arseen]

I think I'm at horder level.

[segaprophet]

When shopping for games online, I actually avoid CIB if they originally had a cardboard box, such as for older Nintendo consoles. I find it a pain to keep and maintain cardboard boxes.

I like having manuals with my carts, however.

As for playing vs collecting, I don't have time to play video games anymore, sad but true. So I mainly just collect.

[DNinja]

I'd prefer to have everything complete in box, but considering the prices for some of the rarer games it's just easier on the wallet to buy them loose. I love Castlevania and wanted every game complete in box, but there was no way I was going to buy Castlevania: Legends, Dracula X, or Vampire Killer (MSX) for $150+. I picked up Legends in a deal with the other two Game Boy games, settled on the Super Famicom version of Dracula X since it was a LOT cheaper, and found a loose Vampire Killer for a decent price. After printing up some covers and putting them in some cases they fit right in with the others.

[Blueprint]

I originally was a reseller flipping my picks on craigs and ebay but now i am collector/player i still sell some things but i keep most of the rare and hard to find stuff, i'm not currently playing retro stuff besides super metroid on the wiiu, but im actively playing halo 4 , skyward sword and darksiders II on the wiiu , my collection is somewhere around 1000+ games from different consoles but biggest are
nes @ 200
snes @150
genesis @ 200
ps2 @100
Ps1@75

Plus the rest in other consoles and handheld games

I dont have a lot of filler titles like sports or games i dont like .
most games i have i had played at some point but never finish and probably never will.

7 years ago retro gaming was not what it is now and cart were cheap and easy to find but now retro gaming is booming so everyone is looking out for games, my biggest competition in my town are reseller shops they are somewhere around 6-8 in my city (las vegas, nv) and they usually shop at the local outdoor swapmeet on weekends and comb though craigslist as well.

[Head of Desserts]

Life's too short, might as well play the games rather than have them just sit on a shelf idle.

Player all the way.

[tiktektak]

Collector because life is too short.

If I would play too many of my games than I would have no time to really live.

Standing at 3300 at the moment. I am collecting everything from NES. Only exception is INTV.

[laurenhiya21]

I'm definitely more of a player than collector. I just don't like the idea of having games in my collection that I don't enjoy playing... (I don't tend to have much money to spend anyway :/)

Also I don't care about boxes, but I try and get manuals when I can... I won't bother with them if it's a ton more expensive, but they are nice to have in my opinion (which is why I'm a bit sad that manuals are disappearing in new games ;-; Understandable yes, but still sad)

[Seraph Man]

It's a tough call. On the one hand, anything Gen 5 (N64, PS1, ect.) or older, I don't care for the box, and while a manual would be nice, I know it's hard to come by. But anything that came in a DVD case needs to be complete. DS/3DS games are the same. I won't buy them unless they have the case and manual.

As for the games themselves, one the one hand, I buy games I intend to play. On the other, I have 2 PS2 games, 1 Game Gear game, and intend to get 2 PSP games, and an N64 game (and maybe a repro Genesis game), despite not owning any of those consoles, simply for collection's sake. Hell, I had 6 NES games before I ever got my NES. But those I consider special circumstances. I think of myself as a video game player, and a Mega Man collector.

[zyphyer]

both.  i have played and beat a large portion of my collection but i still wont go out and buy sports games because their cheap to pad my collection.  1500 games only a few doubles across systems and only a handful of sports games.  im happy

[Quazimoto]

I would classify myself as a player more so than a collector.  I only buy games I do intend to play... eventually.  As far as completeness goes;  All my PSOne, PS2, PS3 and Genesis games are complete.  I do have a fairly good sized GameBoy collection as well.  It's not complete and I don't care about obtaining boxes for those, but I do want to eventually get manuals for all the games.

[AxelSteelBMX]

As for the games themselves, one the one hand, I buy games I intend to play. On the other, I have 2 PS2 games, 1 Game Gear game, and intend to get 2 PSP games, and an N64 game (and maybe a repro Genesis game), despite not owning any of those consoles, simply for collection's sake. Hell, I had 6 NES games before I ever got my NES. But those I consider special circumstances. I think of myself as a video game player, and a Mega Man collector.

As another Mega Man collector, good luck to you. Took me a long-ass time to lock down some of the ones you're talking about myself, and I'm still filling in the last handful of holes. Out of curiosity, which are you missing? I'm still aiming for the entire GBA MMZ series, BN6 Falzar, Xtreme 2 and ZX Advent to round out my domestic releases.

[Azazell0]

I'm definately a player. I'm not even trying to collect as many games as I can, but rather ones I have personal experience in, ones I know were good but never had them as a kid and of course some gems I only discovered as an adult. My collection is not - and probably won't be - massive, but I would say each of the games I own has some kind of personal connection for me (or I just know are really good and I want to try them out). There's really no games in my shelf that are there just for the sake of collecting which I would never play.

I too made the decision early on not to collect original boxes (have some manuals, though, but not really collecting them) for two main reasons : 1) money and 2) the DVD cases are more durable. If I had lots of money to spend, I would probably get some original boxes, but since I don't, this site and DVD cases are the way for me to go. Even if I had original boxes, it'd be a huge hassle with the protector plastics since I'm actually playing these games all the time! Uncanny, right?

An exception however is Megadrive, since it's so easy to find games in original box for that console and it won't usually horribly raise the price. I have, however, bought some loose MD carts and then gotten a cheap game for a few euros from a local gamestore, sold the other game cart and re-used the box for my good MD game.

[wiggy]

Loose carts for sure. In fact, when I do end up with a pricey game that has the box & manual, I just sell/trade them. In fact, I traded a Final Fight 3 box & manual to a fellow TCP member not long ago for a loose copy of Demon's Crest. So I got a copy of FF3 and Demon's Crest for 100 bucks

Also picked up a CIB copy of Megaman Soccer not long ago for $40 and sold the box/manual for more than I paid for the whole package. Free gamez!

The only games for which I have boxes and manuals are those that I bought years ago when they were new or nearly new (and some that I've acquired more recently, but have little value on their own).

[mojoeskateco]

I usually go cart only for the older systems where boxes where made of cardboard which isn't very durable and complete for disc based games or anything that came in a durable / plastic case.

For NES, SNES, N64, etc. I feel that given the extreme price difference in most cases, I'd rather have a UGC which can be replaced if it's damaged.

UGC's are also easier to take care of.  I can't imagine wanting to play an NES game and having to take the box protector off, carefully open the box, get the cart out without creasing anything and then putting it back carefully when done.

I could just imagine my OCD amping up if I had an expensive CIB like Little Samson and had to worry about devaluing it hundreds of dollars by accidentally creasing it every time I opened it up to play it.

The only exception to my cardboard rule is current gen stuff that had collector's editions.  I just do my best to take care of them but I usually buy them at retail price or lower so it's not like I paid an obscene amount for them .. if they get shelf ware I'm not too worried about it.