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Collection Quality???


MattG/Snyper2099

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I have been meaning to post this one for a while but never really have had the time. I don't generally collect label variations or even cart variations by rule. For 2600, the games are what it has always been about for me (and accesories of course). I tell people the number of games I have and they look at me like I'm insane for not collecting different carts of the same game with a different name. For me a quality collecting of games consists of just that unique GAMES. I don't really care about numbers like I have XXXX number of 2600 games or this or that. A good quality collection doesn't need to be messed up with a bunch of meaningless numbers. It seems important for MYSELF to try and get as many games as each company made (especially the really bad ones). Some people may ask why collect bad games? Well, for the same reason Ed Wood is reguarded as a very important peice of cinema history, 2600 pac-man and games by Mythicon are parts of video game history. I have "completed" roughly 20 companies that released games for the 2600. It may also be important to mention that I only need a couple games to complete a lot of other companies. These are standards and goals I have set for myself. I in no way intend for them to be anyone else's. I think that it is important to be in this hobby because it is fun. You should set your own goals and standards and collect things because you likre them or they have historical nostalgia for you. Not to make money and not because things are collectable since they are over 20 years old. I saw some bull-larkey on the antiques road show last week about atari 2600 games and they had the likes of quadrun, tooth protectors, crazy climber, ect,ect and even gave price ranges for all the games! I don't know about anyone else but once something is on the antiques road show it just gets knocked down a notch for me. This certainly doesn't help the collector of these old games any by promoting how much this stuff is worth to "ordibary joe" at the antique mall. Just my two cents on a couple of recent things i've noticed in the hobby.

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I only collect unique games also. I don't care so much about the label variations, etc. I'd just rather increase the number of different games I have. Right now I have just a bit under 200. Seriously though, I don't think I'll ever get them all as I don't search huge areas for games and I try to spend as little as possible to get them. I occasionally get lucky though.

 

Yellowdragon

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good post Yellodragon

 

For me when i first started collecting seriously about 1995 is was more about quantity, i grabbed anything i could get my hands on that was in my spending range, then about 2 years ago i inventoried all of my collection and noticed i had 32 different systems and over 650 games

 

Then my focus became to get the stuff i thought was interesting and to get games i liked to play, and to get complete games or atleast a good label and a manual

 

Now for the modern systems like saturn/PS1/3DO/jaguar/N64/Dreamcast I usually wont buy it if its not complete but there are exceptions and depends on if i think i will ever see it again in the wild

 

also 99% of my stuff is store bought or at flea markets and Trade Shows and the other 1% came from 4JAYS/collectorshouse/gooddealgames that type of thing, not one item came from ebay yet

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My collection fell static for about 8 years when I moved out of my parents in 92, I moved to London seeking my fame and fortune and didnt have room for any Atari stuff so I seemed to forget about it, then when I bought my first pad I got all the stuff I left in storage at my folks and to my amazement there were about 150 Atari games and a couple of systems there.

 

Most of the games I want to play I own already, plus quite a bit of dross (Firefighter for example), theres probably about ten on my wanted list.

 

To keep my collection growing at a healthy rate though ive started a sideline in collecting Sears games (you dont find them in wild over here so you have to use e-bay). Ive got 16 so far.

 

If I won the lottery then I would probably go crazy and buy every game that ever existed for every system there is, Atari or not, but for the moment I buy and play the games I enjoy, and am I the only person who has a PS2 collecting dust on a shelf while their Atari keeps adding to the electric bill?

 

One 'not normal' publisher I have tried to complete is Gameworld, I only need Frankesteins Monster and a working copy of Bermuda Triangle and then Gameworld will hold the title of "The Only Complete Collection Within My Collection"

 

Adam

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I try to collect unique games as well. I do go on atariage to check for the rarity of the cartridge and the specific variation so that I can accurately post it on my web page but otherwise I am not going to look for different variations of a specific title.

 

I don't think I am ever going to have the complete list but I will try to obtain complete lists of some companies where the cartridges are common enough and easier to obtain.

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I only collect games that I like and/or games with cool label art (ie Sky Diver). Rarity and variation don't do much for me, but I do check it when I get a new game. I have no intention of selling or trading any of the games from my collection and I do not buy games specifically for the purpose of trading/selling. If I happen to come across doubles of games (due to buying in bulk or getting a cart in better shape), those are the ones I trade (that's why my trade bin is small, no jokes please )

 

its about the fun for me.

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Right now, I buy 1 of everything I don't have. And I buy any label variations that I can find and afford(not many). Once I hit 250 carts (my personal numerical goal), I plan on sifting through everything, taking out some of the label variations and games I don't like, and start an actual trade bin so I cang et the rarer carts that I desperately want. So basically, I collect for quantity, hoping to be able to trade for quality later.

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Right now I don't have a trade bin. I've thought about buying whatever cartridges I could get whether I have them or not (for this purpose) but given that the majority of what I usually find is common games, and what I need are the rarities of 4 and up, chances are I'd never be able to trade them away for anything. At one place they had 5 each of Pac Man, Space Invaders and Missile Command.

 

Yellowdragon

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I generally buy any game that I don't have. However, I don't go for label variations (I treat them pretty much the same as normal doubles), and I don't think I'd bother getting Pele's Soccer when I already have Championship Soccer. Of course, there are some exceptions... I may already have a red label Gravitar, but I wouldn't pass up a chance at a silver label copy

 

As for goals, the only one I've set for myself has been "Get 600 unique games". I think once I get that far, I'll pretty much stop and move on to completing my ColecoVision and INTV collections (although by the time I reach 600 Atari games, I'll probably have completed those already). As a more attainable goal, I keep a list of games I specifically want. It's around 20-30 games at the moment, but I keep adding games to the list, so I'm not sure it's actually any more attainable than the "600" goal

 

--Zero

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