What do you regret getting rid of from your childhood?

[briwayjones]

For me unfortunately, there is a lot I regret getting rid of from my childhood. Toys like He-man, G.I. Joe and Transformers. Including an original metal Optimus Prime.

 

But also my Atari collection. My first Atari was a woody 2600 sixer. Given to us by a friend when I were just a few years old. It was the promotional pack Atari 2600. Had chrome switches and yellow instead of orange highlighting around the switches. Came with Combat of course, Pac-Man and maybe Tapeworm. I'm not sure if Tapeworm came in it or separate. Since it wasn't an Atari game it probably didn't come with it. It also came with two controllers and a set of paddles. From what I gather it's one of the more rare and more valuable Atari 2600s.

 

Over the years I was given a couple more woody Atari 2600s from people. Maybe a Vader. I bought a Jr. along the way, and was given one or two more. I had at least 80 games. In those days you could get the games from yard sales at .50c a piece. Sometimes even .25c a piece. In the end I wanted to make room and get rid of the stuff, think I sold the promotional woody 2600 I had, with all of the games and controllers for $20 at a yard sale.

 

If only I could go back.

[spacecadet]

There's almost too much to list.

 

My two Intellivisions probably top it, though. I had both a I and a II. Also a nice collection of games (nothing rare that I remember) and an Intellivoice. I replaced all of these, but I know the replacements aren't "my" Intellivisions, and since it was my first ever game console (and one of the very first of both the I and II), I wish I still had the originals.

 

Ditto for my NES. Basically the exact same situation. Got one as a gift in 1985, played it like five times, put it in a closet in the box, like new condition, never saw it again. Also regretted that enough to buy another one in the same exact condition, and same Action Set package.

 

I had a bunch of those Mattel electronic games that are almost all gone... I still have a Baseball game but it's missing the battery door.

 

There was this Pac-Man handheld clone called Pakri Monster. My mom bought one for me and I remember being inordinately into it. Something about it was just very addictive for me. I look these up on Ebay periodically but haven't pulled a trigger on a replacement yet.

[StopDrop&Retro]

My first game system was a Commodore 64 that had some pretty great games with it. My dad had to throw it away after a house fire though.

 

My dad wanted to give me my NES collection but I turned it down like an idiot because I was leaving for school and didn't have anywhere to store them. I've pretty much rebought everything I had but it just irks me that I'm a moron for turning it down. We also had a few extra NES systems he bought for cheap at garage sales and they always had blinking light failures, I wish I had known back then how easy it was to fix. Also some Atari consoles and a big bin of games. I could never get the Atari to work so I never played the games and now I wonder if anything valuable was in that bin.

 

I don't think I've lost too many games that were worth a lot except for one. I was going through a ninja phase and as a birthday present I picked out Ninja Gaiden Shadow for GameBoy. It's one of the more valuable GameBoy games today and I'm sure I traded it for some stupid shit like Ballon Kid or something. My parents would rarely buy me games so I usually had to trade at school to get anything new to play. Just pisses me off that I had the game in box and everything.

[128Kgames]

EVERYTHING: Billy Blast Off, Micronauts (figures, vehicles, playsets), Star Wars, Lost in Space B9 robot, Tyco slot cars, Mego figures ('Trek, Planet of the Apes, Marvel, etc.) and playsets (Treehouse, etc.), Big Jim, Action Jackson, Six Million Dollar Man (Playsets, Mask-A-Tron, accessories), Atari 2600 & games, Bally Computer System & games, ColecoVision (Games, modules, Super Action Controllers), Model Rockets, gas powered planes and cars...

 

I'll edit and keep adding to list when things start coming back to me...

 

Can't wait for time travel so I can go back and tell my younger self to hold onto everything, then return to the present and have everything back. Just don't want to be like 96 years old or something at the time...

[+save2600]

my childhood - didn't last long enough, dammit!

[briwayjones]

Someone gave me an NES when I was about 14. It was past it's prime at the time. The SNES was out. It was maybe after I got rid of all of my Atari stuff. That is the only thing I have left as far as video games from my childhood. In the last couple of years I've gotten nostalgic about my video games from the past. I as always curious about the 7800 because I never had one. So since you can also play 2600 games on them I got a couple 7800s to kill two birds with one stone.

 

spacecadet

 

Ditto for my NES.

 

 

Edited January 1, 2017 by briwayjones

[briwayjones]

I just remembered another one. At some point I bought a friends Game Boy after he got a Game Gear. Had the Game Boy, a bunch of games, the light for the screen attachment, adapter and case. After a while I sold it for $30. Something else I wish I would have kept.

[Retro-Z]

I regret not keeping my original SNES and the AT&T Globalyst computer (with Pentium cpu) from my childhood. Both of these were actually around till fairly recently at a family member's house (around 2007/2008). I remember exactly where they were, but as I was moving around a lot during that time, very busy, and not feeling very nostalgic, I didn't even think about grabbing them. Then that part of the family moved to a different house, and they ended up throwing a bunch of stuff into the trash in preparation for the move. That is where the SNES and the computer ended up. Of course, only a year or two later I started thinking it'd be cool to have an old Pentium and SNES to play around on. The timing just wasn't right, I guess. LOL.

 

Fortunately, I had snagged my SNES cartridges and the Super Scope a few years before that because a friend wanted to borrow them, so at least I still have the games.

 

I remember in the early 1990s my family threw out a NES with the "blinking light" problem and replaced it with a new one. LOL. I'm sure it would have been an easy fix. The other NES was sold at a garage sale after we got the SNES.

 

However, that SNES bothers me the most since I vividly remember exactly where it was sitting, I had already kept it around for 15+ years, and let it go just shortly before I started getting interested in the system again.

 

But I still have my PS2!

Edited January 1, 2017 by Retro-Z

[Eltigro]

I lost my original front loader, probably about ten games or so (Castlevania, Metal Gear, 1943, Spy Hunter, Stadium Events... just kidding...), two or three years worth of Nintendo Power magazines, zapper, Advantage, Power Glove, and Max controller.

 

I had just got my TurboGrafx and thought, "I don't need this old stuff anymore." So I put it in a garage sale for a hundred bucks or something. I figured I'd at least get enough for a new TG game. Anyway, my step mom apparently thought I had priced it too high and sold it for $40. I was pissed. Not even enough for a new game. This was around '92 or '93 so I think $100 was easily doable and maybe even underpriced.

[HoshiChiri]

I had a Disneyland autograph book that disappeared in a move I wish I still had.

 

As far as games go... there really isn't much that I especially regret. My parents got rid of the NES when we got the Genesis, but I've replaced almost everything we had back then anyway. The only one I think I need is Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego. Which isn't a priority. I kept the Genesis up until I got a Sega CD, but some of the games went to siblings... I kept everything they didn't, so not much was lost there. I know I'm missing Mutant League Football (my brother's game, really) and Lotus 2. I'm sure I'll pick up Lotus eventually.

 

I gave away my PS1 back when I got my PS2. I kind of regret that, mostly because I'd gotten into the collector's mindset by then and still own all the systems I acquired around that time, except that one. I now own a PSOne, though, and I didn't get rid of any games, so it's not much of a loss these days.

[Eltigro]

Oh, and I didn't "get rid" of it, but after I got my PS2 around 2000 or so, I let a friend borrow pretty much my entire PS1 library. I had them all in one of those big Case Logic cd binder and just handed him the binder. Well, he moved and lost it. (I bet the movers stole it.) Anyway, lost in the binder included: Einhander, Wild Arms, SaGa Frontier, discs 2 and 3 of Final Fantasy VII (disc one wasn't in there for some reason, so I still have it), Tomb Raider 1 and 2, Resident Evil 1 and 2, Alundra, Wipeout and Wipeout XL, Croc, Spyro, Suikoden 1 and 2, at least a couple of the Namco museums, Castlevania SotN...

 

Anyway, all I have left of my collection is D, Cyberia, and Terry Pratchett's Discworld (all in the old long boxes), Gran Turismo 2, Breath of Fire 3, Caesar's Palace, and, frustratingly, disc one only of FF7.

[Atarian7]

I traded a #1 GI Joe comic book in mint condition for what turned out to be crap.

[Eltigro]

 

I gave away my PS1 back when I got my PS2.

 

 

lol By the time I got my PS2, my PS1 was just about dead. It had gotten to the point where it would only play a game if I turned it upside down. Don't remember how I figured out that trick.

[briwayjones]

lol By the time I got my PS2, my PS1 was just about dead. It had gotten to the point where it would only play a game if I turned it upside down. Don't remember how I figured out that trick.

That was a trick to get the first generation Sony Discmans to work after they got some age on them.

[spacecadet]

Technically not from my childhood, but one thing I didn't mention was getting rid of my Sega Genesis. I must have been 23 at that point. I had just gotten a PS1, thought I'd never play the Genesis again and so took it in to a Gamestop or something and got $15 for my entire setup, including about 20 games. I did hesitate for a moment before agreeing to it, but I didn't want to carry it all back home on the subway.

 

Instantly regretted it. Instantly. Figured I'd get over it after a couple hours and never think about it again. Wrong. That was the actual moment that started me on the path of retro gaming. After that, I started buying back all the stuff I'd lost over the years, and buying all the systems I'd missed too. For me, there's a very clear line between the time when I just wanted the newest stuff and the time when I began appreciating everything regardless of age. And that line is the day I sold my Genesis.

 

Funny thing is the Genesis is the one system I never really directly replaced. I had a Genesis 1 in really good shape with all the original stuff; I later bought one that was in much worse condition, and then sold it again (I don't regret that, although I kind of regret selling the CD I also had with it). I now have a Genesis 3, which works great but I don't feel like I get the full experience from it because it's not the same system I had. So I still mean to pick up another Genesis 1 someday.

[RainbowCemetery]

my tomy tutor :<

and to a lesser degree my 5150. i don't know where i'd put it even if i did still have it.

[AtariLeaf]

I regret getting rid of all of it. I applaud those who had the foresight to keep their original systems and games from their childhood. I eventually got rid of it all as time passed from my 2600 to my entire Tandy Coco collection, to my original NES, TG-16, Genesis and SNES. Not to mention all the original Star Wars figures and toys from the 70's and 80's. I also miss my "Big Jim" and Camper. Anyone remember those toys?

 

I also regret getting rid of my 486 computer. Really great system.

Edited January 1, 2017 by AtariLeaf

[Ransom]

Rosebud!

[HoshiChiri]

lol By the time I got my PS2, my PS1 was just about dead. It had gotten to the point where it would only play a game if I turned it upside down. Don't remember how I figured out that trick.

 

At the risk of horrible, horrible karma- my systems rarely malfunction, oddly enough. I don't know if it's because of spreading out my playtime across so many systems or what, but out of 40ish systems I've possessed I can only think of 4 that died. My 360's never even died on me. *knocks on all the wood*

 

I did kill my PS2 though- the laser failed on that. Luckily, it did so while Sony was required to repair laser failures for free, so I got it all fixed up & it's still going for me today.

[Pixelboy]

Boxes of Space Legos. If my mom had kept them instead of cutting them up and throwing them away, I would have made a killing on eBay decades later.

 

In terms of video games, I don't regret selling the stuff I got rid of over the years, except maybe the Game Cube + Game Boy Player. But I can play Metroid Zero Mission and Metroid Fusion under emulation if I really want to, so it's no big loss for me.

[R.O.T.S]

As with most of us there are many things but for me I miss the VFD,LED handheld / tabletops like Galaxy Invader 1000 , Astro Wars and Missile Invader and I had an L.C.D mini munchman (Epochman)

Edited January 2, 2017 by R.O.T.S

[KeeperofLindblum]

My Enthusiasm!

EDIT - Okay more serious answer.

I've sold a lot of games and items that I kinda regret now.

Probably the biggest one is my original Game Boy. Big ol DMG-01 that survived my childhood and then I let my family sell it.

I think they got a couple dollars for it.... -_-

EDIT 2 - To clarify! It was sold more than a decade ago.

Edited January 2, 2017 by KeeperofLindblum

[awhite2600]

I'm a bit of a pack rat. (Some would call me a hoarder.) I seldom get rid of anything gaming or computer related.

 

From the early '80s through to the mid-'90s I bought any gaming or computer related magazine that I could get my hands on. At one point I easily had over 1,000 magazines. About 500 lbs went to the dump during a move in '96. Those were mostly things like Computer Shopper or PC Magazine. I had a large box of early game magazines that I kept. There was a nearly complete collection of Electronic Games magazines along with others from the early '80s. For some reason this box ended up in my office at work. The company was going under and I had to sneak in early in the morning to collect all of my personal belongings. Sadly, I couldn't move the box on my own and had to leave it behind.

[Tanooki]

May seem strange but anything I held some value of, I had the means to not let go of it so I didn't. If it was just a passing phase, something you get rid of and don't look back upon then I don't really miss it. I did (which is crap given my age) when I was 11 have a moving box stolen from me by the moving company (it wasn't stored, went on a 70mi drive same day) which had a couple NES games, a Jedi X-Wing, a blue Robotech Valkyrie, Dairugger(car voltron), and some other good stuff in it vanish. That still to date since I got back into getting old toys bugs me. That said I suffered big loss, but it also tempered future interests. Loss of job, help from family, living paycheck to paycheck for a few years I had to sell off like 80% of a console/handheld collection that went into the realm of a good dozen+ systems and 2000~ games as I never would part with anything. These days physical wise I'm around the 350-400 mark (neo geo arcade and any digital computer/android/ios aside) on games. Seems like a big number I guess but when you go by year back to 1985 not so much.

 

 

I did kind of fix that problem of the theft though and then some. The NES games long ago were replaced (1942 and Ikari Warriors.) In the last few years I got the ESB Degobah Swamp Yoda/Luke X-Wing Lego set, a Japanese imported 6" mostly die cast early 80s Dairugger toy(think Shogun Warriors from Popy), and a full armor complete G1 Transformer Jetfire. Jetfire was more of a means to an end anyway. Last January I found a CIB Jazz at a local half price books for $35, it was one of very few I had as a kid. From there I went and got back Optimus complete too, tried for a Mirage but they're too fragile.

 

But I got bug bitten on that one...currently I'm up to 72 Transformers of varying size, a good 2/3 1/3 split of Autobots and Decepticons...I never had but wanted Decepticons. I've never paid market value on anything outside of the micro masters or the minibot/con sized stuff. I guess call it making up for lost time? Feast your eyes if you're a G1 fan. I take pics of anything I get in all the modes they transform into, and yes Shockwave works completely with an uncracked hose too.

http://s232.photobucket.com/user/tanooki-suit/library/Tanookis%20Finds/Transformers

[Silverfleet]

I am very lucky to still have about 98% of my video games from when I was a kid, save for a few NES games that I let a friend borrow and never got back. I have since repurchased most of them, but still among the missing is Mike Tyson's Punch Out. Although I repurchased the later, Tyson-less Punch Out, I wish I still had that one.

 

What I miss are my toys. I still have a decent amount of them, but I had a lot more.The reason I still have any at all is pretty funny.

 

When I was a teenager, my mom instructed my dad to toss out all my toys. That included my coveted Ninja Turtles, GI Joes, Legos, and more. My dad was dragging his feet with it, and eventually said to my mother that he did it. What he didn't tell her is that he dragged my toy bins under my parents' back deck and forgot about them! A few years ago, I was helping them clean their yard, and I spotted those toy bins. One was still sealed, and the other was filled with water. The one with water also had some batteries in it, and I think it turned into some weird electrolysis tub, because even after sitting in water for 15+ years, the toys (including a large number of Hot Wheels cars) were totally fine! None of the metal rusted at all! Some soap and water cleaned off most of the grossness, and I still have them today. Thanks dad for being lazy!

 

But, I'm still missing a lot. I had nearly every TMNT figure released from 1988-1992, including all four turtles in the large size. I don't have too many of them these days. I also had some of the less popular toys, like Sectaurs, Air Raiders, Silverhawks, Starcom, and more.