What's your budget for collecting?

[Professor Gull]

After this past weekend picking up some Atari controllers and some games it really does boil down to spend what you feel you want to but not outside your means. Don't take what you need out of the equation especially if you have family and friends to consider.

 

Make sure you enjoy what you have in all cases as well. If it does not bring you joy maybe rethink the hobby.

[phoenixdownita]

.... If it does not bring you joy maybe rethink the hobby.

Well said.

 

But it takes a little time to go through the grinds to realize you're pretty much done even if the collection is not complete and no, that one "last game" you'd want on the shelf would not make your day exactly like the 10 before it didn't really do much for you.

Don't just collect, play the thing.

[TheDeviot]

It varies. It depends on what I can afford any given week, and how much I want something. I collect 2600, Intellivision, C64, NES, SMS, Super NES, Genesis, N64, GCN, Wii/U, GB, GBA, DS/2DS, and PC games.

But I also don't buy any, and everything for them. I just get stuff I know I'll fire up. I don't shoot for ultra rare stuff because it's expensive, and usually isn't very good. Case in point That Flintstones platformer on the NES

everyone loses their crap over. But there are a handful of ultra rares I would pick up if I could afford them.

 

I also tend to like a lot of under the radar stuff. Great games not a lot of folks have heard of or played. My last trip to Retro Games Plus was fruitful. I found Sorcerer, Roc'n Rope, and Sub Scan along with a Man-E-Faces

action figure fairly inexpensively.

[AtariKid81]

The great thing about being an adult(with a real job) is I can buy pretty much any Atari item I want, whenever I want! I remember, as a kid, it took me 3 to 4 months to save up for a new Atari game. Anyway, I attempt, to offset a good portion of what I spend, with the money I make, selling items on eBay.

[AtariKid81]

Sorry - duplicate post. I haven't finished my coffee yet!

Edited September 18, 2016 by AtariKid81

[Professor Gull]

I just went through my fun funds for the month. Until I recoup a few my budget will stand at zero with the few commitments I have made to buy off a few games. Garage sales are my weakness though and the pickings have been good this year for the most part. That has changed my budget and with an upcoming flea market I am sure there will be more funds spent that day as well but that's another month.

 

Anyone else out there budget month to month for buys?

[HoshiChiri]

I don't set aside a specific budget... I have an amount per week for miscellaneous spending- be it things I need like new underwear, or fun impulse stuff like a game found in a thrift shop. If there's any leftover at the end of the week, that might get set aside into a specific 'gaming fund'. That's where I pull from when I'm after something specific. Right now it's sitting kind of high at $300 (leftover con money)- but since I just picked up a 7800 a few weeks ago, I intend to let it ride. I'm kind of hoping I can push it up a few hundred more, which will give me the money to finally, finally, be able to afford a Sega Saturn. It's gonna depend on how Christmas season goes this year.

[Professor Gull]

I'm kind of hoping I can push it up a few hundred more, which will give me the money to finally, finally, be able to afford a Sega Saturn. It's gonna depend on how Christmas season goes this year.

Well Saturn's not not pricey but the games are. I would try to find a Action Replay or Memory Cart (non Sega) then go for the Psuedo Saturn Kai deal. I have an extra memory cart I have been meaning to try this with on my non modded Saturns to see how it works but from the videos I have seen it looks clean and can mean some savings on buying some of the high end games. Try before you buy and all.

 

What games are you looking for for it if you don't mind me asking just curious to know why get into it.

[HoshiChiri]

Well Saturn's not not pricey but the games are. I would try to find a Action Replay or Memory Cart (non Sega) then go for the Psuedo Saturn Kai deal. I have an extra memory cart I have been meaning to try this with on my non modded Saturns to see how it works but from the videos I have seen it looks clean and can mean some savings on buying some of the high end games. Try before you buy and all.

 

What games are you looking for for it if you don't mind me asking just curious to know why get into it.

I've never been big on emulation- just doesn't feel 'right' to me somehow. If money were no object, I'd be starting my Saturn collection with Magic Knight Rayearth, Guardian Heroes, Albert Odyssey, etc. As it stands, I'll likely only pony up the really big bucks for Rayearth. Then Astal, Knights, Baku Baku & Fighting Vipers, which (while not dirt cheap) are all easier on the wallet.

 

As for why- I've just always wanted one. I was going to buy one with Christmas money when I was 13, but someone stole my Christmas Knights demo from the mail. I was so dissapointed I didn't get the system. By the time I was out of school and working, prices were already kinda crazy. It's just a long-time goal, really.

[Professor Gull]

I've never been big on emulation- just doesn't feel 'right' to me somehow. If money were no object, I'd be starting my Saturn collection with Magic Knight Rayearth, Guardian Heroes, Albert Odyssey, etc. As it stands, I'll likely only pony up the really big bucks for Rayearth. Then Astal, Knights, Baku Baku & Fighting Vipers, which (while not dirt cheap) are all easier on the wallet.

 

As for why- I've just always wanted one. I was going to buy one with Christmas money when I was 13, but someone stole my Christmas Knights demo from the mail. I was so dissapointed I didn't get the system. By the time I was out of school and working, prices were already kinda crazy. It's just a long-time goal, really.

Aw no one want a holiday to go badly. That would be like getting a Jaguar on valentines day just to have your significant other at the time take it away and breaking up with you.

 

Yeah the wallet issue keeps me from the last few Saturn titles I want as well but it will happen someday and you got some good starters there. You also might want to add in some not as well known titles as well. I would recommend Gun Griffon, Daytona USA ( best with the wheel but still a great game), Panzer Dragoon, Virtua Fighter 2 and maybe Bug for a platformer.

 

Funny I saw Astal last week in the store and I probably should have snagged it for the $40 they were asking but I missed my chance. Like with all things though patience will pay off and something will come up I would bet.

 

Cheers

[HoshiChiri]

 

Funny I saw Astal last week in the store and I probably should have snagged it for the $40 they were asking but I missed my chance. Like with all things though patience will pay off and something will come up I would bet.

 

Cheers

 

Patience almost always pays off- I remember once missing a copy of Suikoden 2 at a Gamestop for $40 because I didn't have the money to buy it that day. Fast forward to Game Crazy having their 'classic plastic' sale where anything older than PS2 was 3 for $15. After 8 hours of dealing with assorted crap, me & my sister hit a slightly farther away store just after dinnertime... and they had Suikoden 2. This was back when the game got around $100 online. I was pretty pleased with $5.

 

Anyway, to be more on-topic... Atari games rarely ever get consideration into my gaming budget. They simply don't usually cost enough to have to worry about. If anything, I have to try and watch myself to prevent just buying everything I come across willy-nilly. I'm not after label variants or such, so I tend to be wary of getting doubles.

[Professor Gull]

So then maybe does the question now turn to when you budget for collecting do you include recoup costs for things you don't need more than one of?

 

I buy lots if there is something good and the rest can be shared with friends. But often the budget allows me to buy a lot and sell off some extras I did not want. That money returns back to the game buying budget and gets reused again. Or it ends up as trade bait for things I want as well. Anyone else do similar?

[HoshiChiri]

So then maybe does the question now turn to when you budget for collecting do you include recoup costs for things you don't need more than one of?

 

I buy lots if there is something good and the rest can be shared with friends. But often the budget allows me to buy a lot and sell off some extras I did not want. That money returns back to the game buying budget and gets reused again. Or it ends up as trade bait for things I want as well. Anyone else do similar?

 

I know a lot of people do this- I do not. I don't really have the space for extra games, nor the time to deal with setting up Ebay listings (plus our post office is kind of a pain to get to, so I don't want to be going often.) I will buy lots if there's enough stuff I'll keep to justify the cost, but it's not frequent. Actually, it's normally only around this time of year- in the lurch between con season and Christmas shopping, when my gaming budget balloons for about a month or so.

 

I'm more than willing to give the extra stuff away- but it usually ends up being for systems my friends don't collect on. Meaning Not Nintendo, basically.

[Mangia-Boy]

 

No limits...