Why do YOU collect Atari games?

[Gregory DG]

There are many reasons, I suppose. Nostalga, "gotta-catch-'em-all," the fun of the hunt... But why do you enjoy collecting games?

 

For me, it's the fun of being able to play a game I never did as a kid. I'd always see these cool games in the magazines or catalogs, but never got around to buying them. Collecting those games now (that they're cheap) is a ton of fun!

 

Ok, now YOU go. :wink:

[kyle]

I got in to gameing in the laet 80s when atari was dieing out and nintendo was really big. But my parents were to poor at the time to buy me a NES. So when my cousin got a SMS for christmas in 88? He gave me his 2600 and all his games i was 8 years old. Well some how afer about six months of playing atari it broke! So when my birthday rolled around my mom and dad got me a 2600 jr and the christmas of 89 a ton of 2600 games! Sometime in 1990 i finally got a NES and gave all my atari stuff away Then in 94 my sisters bf at the time. Sold me his 7800 and all his 7800 and 2600 games but when we moved in 95 they all got lost . Then came last jan 2002 i was in my moms attic and in a unopen box there it was my 7800!! After all these years i had it the whole time and never knew it! For whatever reason i couldnt find the games for it so the next day i went out to a local flea market and found a box of 40 atari games thats when i started collecting! Man ive been back in to atari and collecting ever since!

[Rockin' Kat]

I collect Atari games because I'm really into video games and I found an Atari 2600 at GoodWill.

[MattyXB]

Yes, Nostalga. :love: Because I have own some games as child, and the gameplay was great. I have remember many great games like Asterix, Dragonfire, Indy 500, Raiders of the Lost Ark and some more.

 

And then I have begin to collect first my favourite games and then all others too.

I have near all, what I have own as child in the past, only some boxes and or manuals maybe missing, like E.T. the Box and Jungle Hunt Box & manual. But most from my favourite games I already have.

[King Atari]

Well, after Atari had been dead for a few years (though I'm betting you could find new games cheap enough at stores if you looked), the people were moving across the street had a HUGE pile of stuff out on the curb. I'm no trash digger, but just from looking you could tell there was some good stuff there. I ran over there and got my first two Atari's, and a load of games. Long story short, I've been addicted ever since. The games are great, simple but incredubly fun, and yes, the thrill of the hunt is definitely a factor.

[joeybastard]

I collect for a number of reasons:

 

1. I truly love these games and think they area ton of fun. I'm also amazed at what some of the programmers could get the VCS to do.

2. As a kid, I couldn't afford this stuff but dreamed of having it all. Now I can try to achieve that dream.

3. Also as a kid I wanted to be a game programmer for Atari. The idea of one man creating a whole game to be enjoyed by millions is very appealing to me. As an adult I soon realized I would never have the smarts or the patience for it, but I still dream of making my own game.

[MegaManFan]

1. It's a challenge. There's so many games it's honestly hard to believe I'll ever have them all.

2. It's retro. I love the simplicity of games from the 70's and 80's where it wasn't about high res, digital sampling and paid voiceovers.

3. It's fun. These are games that were meant to be played, not sit somewhere gathering dust.

[Witchfynde]

There are many reasons, I suppose. Nostalga, "gotta-catch-'em-all," the fun of the hunt... But why do you enjoy collecting games?

 

For me, it's the fun of being able to play a game I never did as a kid.  

 

Good grief, that pretty much sums it all up for me PERFECTLY!

 

Also because the 2600 was my first system (well, after the Microvision, but that thing wasn't exactly expandable or anything, and I got rid of it, so I still pretty much consider the 2600 to be my first).

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

I can relate to the "play a game I never got to play as a kid" side of things. How about playing entire systems I never got to play as a kid? I'm always elated to play newly-arrived games on the Intellivision, Colecovision or 5200, even if I've played their equivalents elsewhere. The first time the Recognizer popped up in Tron Deadly Discs (INTV) and nailed my ass, I didn't go "Awwww, man!", I let out a big whoop of delight because I didn't know it was in the game and I didn't see it coming, not in a million years. Same thing happened when I first saw the intermission in the INTV version of Pac-Man.

 

For me, it's an investment for the future, but not a financial one. When I have kids, these are the games I want them to grow up with too, not the reheated, dressed-up leftovers that hit the shelves today. Not very violent either, in many cases. If Dig Dug is good enough for me, it's good enough for my kids.

 

Now I just need to get around to having kids and my whole excuse for collecting will suddenly have a hint of validity with the Mrs.!

[AtariDude]

As a kid growing up, my parents did not have a great deal of money to buy us a lot of games. I might have owned 20 games at most at any given time because my family had lower middle class income. Now that games can be purchased for only a few dollars, it is fun to be able to play the games that I was denied as a kid.

 

I also get a kick when I find any Atari related item here in South Florida. Seems that Atari did not have a major impact on South Florida since I have yet to find a good will store that carries Atari items (one member of the board mentioned one store that has Atari cartridges from time to time but I have yet to visit it).

 

Being able to relive part of your past and getting away for a few hours from your day to day problems is also another reason why Atari has a special place in my heart. It was my favorite company as a kid and it still is my favorite company even if it is only used a brand name for now.

[Brad2600]

It's very simple...they're fun to play!

 

And I'm trying to get whatever I can so I can document it and post it on my webpage and then try it out on my Colecovision Atari adaptor until the power supply for my 2600 comes in the mail.

 

I just like the idea of owning games that I enjoyed as a kid. I never had the privilege of owning a Colecovision or Odyssey2 until now..but I had an Atari 2600 as a kid. My father would gather my brother and I around a black and white TV on Saturday afternoons and we'd play matches of Combat, Bowling, Kaboom, ET, Chopper Command, Trick Shot and Eggomania. It was fun and I still have most of those games today along with the system.

 

I specifically go for games that I don't already have. I also enjoy collecting label variations and I've used the rarity guide to scout out label variations and games of interest.

 

It's fun! And it's better than doing substances or engaging in random acts of foolishness.

[AtariLeaf]

Yes, they're FUN FUN FUN!!!

 

Plus, I love looking at those rows of pretty colorful labels!

 

And don't forget the sheer, unbridled, giddy joy of finding some carts in the wild. What a rush!

 

Thats why I collect.

[eric_ruck]

Enjoyment factor is first. New games take too damn much time. I want something I can play for 15 minutes and then shut it off.

 

As a side note, that explains pretty much the only game I play on modern consoles: Project Gotham Racing. Love it or hate it, 15 minutes equals about 4 races, if I don't get frustrated and start them over in the middle.

 

Eric

[Cassidy Nolen]

Its funny, I was lucky enough to have a mom that kept things. She still has a bunch of my stuff (what made it through the fire last year, anyway), but I still have the original 30 or so games I had for the 2600 as a kid.

 

I started really collecting I guess in High School, with the TurboGrafx and then really got into it in 96 with the release of Mario 64. I was amazed by the gameplay, and I bought up everything I could find, trying to recreate that excitement. Got big into arcade machines; very heavy hobby and not too many to be found at Goodwill.

 

Long story made short, I went to Philly Classic in 2001, and could not believe that people still loved Atari, even with everything else out there. I fell back in love with Stella after that.

 

I would say I collect because I love Atari. I love its name, the feeling of the controller (I'm left handed, so I hold it funny, of course!), I love the smell of that unopened box after 20 years. I love the blip and boings it makes. I love the simplicity of its design. I love the way it hooks up (pain in the neck on modern TV's) and I love its quirky paddles and broken joysticks. It represents childhood, and all the good things of adulthood; simple clean fun.

 

Cassidy

[Clint Thompson]

Same with me... both reasons and the thrill of finding them.

However... What do you do once you've had a taste of almost ALL atari all-around? I know I still want to finish up my Atari 800 collection

and get some Falcon's/TT's/Mega's and Stacy/ST Book.

 

I'm starting to branch out into all these other things... like Saturn, Sega CD, (I'm really collecting for the Dreamcast now!!) and interested in CD32 and 3DO...

 

It would be kinda stupid to collect for PSX/PS2/XBOX etc. anything else new. Ok, maybe not stupid, just too damn expensive!

 

Atari 2600 was a great system... but I always seem to be pulled toward the computer line of Atari... 800 and ST mainly. I've spent endless hours learning the 800 and playing endless amounts of games. I've probably put more time into the 800 then any other game system.

 

Did you know Goodwill Stores will no longer be accepting videogame stuff? Well, at least around here! What a load of CRAP! I guess I gotta go to the off-Thrift stores.. but at least they'll all be at one place I guess oppose to 100 of goodwills...

 

It's walking into Goodwill and seeing 99cents on the back of the Chase the Chuckwagon that makes you feel good inside and $2 for Q*Berts Cubes at the local Flea Market.... ahhhh Good Memories!

 

Clint Thompson

[AtariLeaf]

Thats odd, I've heard from a couple people on this board that Goodwill has its own auction site in which they sell all kinds of electronics, video games, etc. Perhaps they mean they won't be selling them in their stores for 99 cents when they know some schlub will pay $50 for a box of dirty, untested carts.

[Rockin' Kat]

Thats odd, I've heard from a couple people on this board that Goodwill has its own auction site in which they sell all kinds of electronics, video games, etc. Perhaps they mean they won't be selling them in their stores for 99 cents when they know some schlub will pay $50 for a box of dirty, untested carts.  

 

Goodwill's auction site

 

I've never really taken much of a look at their auctions, but this would be the auction site you speak of.

[Inky]

I don't collect. I play.

 

If there's a game of rarity 10, but sucks to play, I don't want it unless I have to shell out no money for it.

[joeybastard]

I'm with you Inky. I collect to play and only care about the rarity second. Hence the reason I wouldn't buy the magic card/video life multicart people are fighting about over in the 2600 forum.

 

In fact if I came across a real Magic Card cheap, I would sell it to finance the rest of my search for good games.

[jon-paul]

well over here in the UK Atari never really was the big machine except for the VCS and The ST.

 

But Star Raiders hooked me as a kid, even though i never could afford an 800 and all the gubbins.

 

About 85 i bought an XL system which i built up and then stupidly sold

 

In recent years (heding for 30) me and mates would reminice, start to trawl through Car-Boot fairs/Charity Shops (UK equivelent of flea markets/thrift shops) and picking up stuff that we had, or wanted in our childhood and being big kids.

 

Me, Spectrums, Atari XL/XE and Amiga/CD 32 (appologies for swearing) were the 3 big items of interest as a kid. Owned the first 2, never could afford the last one. STs were cool, but for some reason i never got the Bug. The Jaguar, sorry guys, that a car to me

 

Yes its all about that childhood thing (getting now what you couldn't have then), its all about fun, its all about the games and playing them. Its all about 'paitence my *#$%, i wanna kill something' and slapping star raiders in the top of my XEGS

 

Its NOT about investment, playing the markets etc. Though there are some out there that do

[Room 34]

My reason is pretty much the same as everyone else's... I played Atari 2600 ALL THE TIME from 1982 to 1986 or so. During that time I actually managed to accumulate a lot more games than most of my friends... maybe 40. But I never got all of the games I wanted, and would obsessively pore over the game catalogs.

 

I actually started having what could be called "Reef Store" dreams* in college, in the early '90s... I would fantasize about finding a huge cache of games at a thrift store, and occasionally, although I never seriously went "thrifting," would actually make such a score. (I remember I finally got "Warlords" and "Millipede" that way in '94.)

 

Then of course, last year I discovered how many Atari games were available on eBay, and I also discovered Pitfall Harry's insane Mystery of the Map contest, which led me to AtariAge.com as well!

 

So anyway, I collect to finally realize my childhood fantasies of having the ultimate video game collection, and I stick with Atari 2600 because, as basic as it is, I haven't found another video game system as playable and that offers just as much pure FUN as the classic VCS!

[z28in82]

I have to agree with INKY (damn I find myself doing that alot anymore) but I don't collect I play. Just about every game I own I have played or would play or thought it seemed interesting.

 

But I got into Atari and back retro games because I just miss my childhood. And I just remeber as a kid being so happy wasting hours in front of the NES or the C64 or even the O2.

 

I have some issues with my job (I hate where I work and my bosses but they can't find a reason to fire me, it's a stupid lil game we play everyday and it gets old real quick) and found that gaming was a wonderful way to vent some stress after work.

 

I never had an atari and wondered what the big deal was so I won one on ebay. The problem was it was a 7800 w/o a power supply. So I did a search on Atari to see if I could find a power supply somehwere on line and bumbled my way into here. And the rest is as they say history :wink: