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Post by 20thcenturygamer on Apr 29, 2019 12:39:03 GMT -5
The past weekend, I said goodbye to 264 of my 374 physical games. In other words, my entire NES/Famicom, SNES/Super Famicom, Genesis/Mega Drive, Master System, and Atari 2600 stock. I gotta tell you guys, it feels utterly fantastic. None of these consoles have had anything but a flash cart inserted in them in ages. Now I have my shelf space back and a good chunk of extra funds for my sabbatical in Europe next year. The icing on the cake: Other local gamers will hopefully get to actively enjoy my former dust collectors. Everybody wins!
Anyone else have a similar cathartic experience or planning one soon?
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Post by Ex on Apr 29, 2019 13:39:43 GMT -5
Anyone else have a similar cathartic experience or planning one soon? Well for all my 5th gen and older consoles (meaning PS1 and back); I got rid of their hardware, cartridges, and discs all before 2000. My reason was (and remains) emulation is good enough for my purposes concerning those eras of gaming. With sixth gen (PS2/Dreamcast/GameCube/Xbox) and above, I use real hardware and physical games. However I tend to sell a video game as soon as I beat it, unless for some reason I actually plan to replay the game someday. It is very rare for me to replay a game though. (That's the reason I don't care about keeping old save files.) I strongly value fresh and new experiences versus retreading familiar ground. I just don't get that same sense of joy the second time around. So in that regard I've sold off hundreds of games over time. I don't particularly regret selling any of them. I agree it's better to put an already beaten game up for sale, so someone else can experience it, versus keeping it a dusty prisoner in perpetuity.
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Post by Xeogred on Apr 29, 2019 13:51:00 GMT -5
I traded in games as a kid a lot but usually only to regret it later. I'll never forget when the PS2 came out, I sold what must have been like 20-30 N64 games for Armored Core 2 and a memory card/controller or something. Stopped trading in things about a decade ago, although there were some recent current gen games I traded in immediately because I hated them, definitely not keeping anything new around I actively dislike.
I stick with emulation lately for pre-disc based stuff myself and all these GOOD modern USB controllers that replicate the originals are fantastic. But I still value my big SNES collection a lot and will never part with it... although potentially getting like $250 for MMX3's cart, yeah that stuff is tempting sometimes. Genesis might be fun to collect for someday if they're still cheap. I've had zero interest in collecting for the NES though, since I grew up with two systems that failed on me, the base hardware is just too unreliable. Wish I got a top loader when I had a chance before they got more rare and expensive.
Next to the SNES, my largest physical libraries would be the PSX, PS2, and 360... honestly, I could probably ditch 90% of my 360 collection. I bought a lot of those games again on Steam and will always prefer those versions now, since the resolution/framerates are vastly better, more customization, etc. So yeah I've got a lot of 360 paper weights probably.
Over the course of the last year I slowly watched one of the last retro game stores around here go out of business and slowly close all their locations in the midwest. It was pretty sad, I've still got a lot of Vintage Stock's around here, but yeah. I guess it's ironic how Gamestop destroyed this business, yet they're probably looking to be out of the game in the coming years as well at this rate.
I've seen this "issue" or relief from collectors a lot in the retro gaming scene. I guess I just simply don't spend nearly as much as a lot of people, because my collection has never felt overwhelming or I've never had any need to literally make space in my living places. Right now 90% of my collection is on one big shelf I've had for ages, then a small shelf for the "to be played" games I need to hit up, and some old games/consoles are in three plastic containers. Could easily fit this all in a closet and still have tons of storage space!
Videogames are the only thing I really collect. I've definitely experienced a lot of relief getting rid of other things over the years for sure. So I get how that works, but yeah. Love my videogames.
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Post by 20thcenturygamer on Apr 29, 2019 14:07:30 GMT -5
Anyone else have a similar cathartic experience or planning one soon? Well for all my 5th gen and older consoles (meaning PS1 and back); I got rid of their hardware, cartridges, and discs all before 2000. My reason was (and remains) emulation is good enough for my purposes concerning those eras of gaming. For me, the sheer totemic value of the original consoles/controllers is too far strong for that. My Atari is signed on the woodgrain by Nolan Bushnell, for example. There's no way any emulator could replicate firing that baby up. So while I'll never emulate, I think OG hardware fitted with flash carts is my personal sweet spot between authenticity and convenience.
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Post by 20thcenturygamer on Apr 29, 2019 14:10:40 GMT -5
I've seen this "issue" or relief from collectors a lot in the retro gaming scene. I guess I just simply don't spend nearly as much as a lot of people, because my collection has never felt overwhelming or I've never had any need to literally make space in my living places. Right now 90% of my collection is on one big shelf I've had for ages, then a small shelf for the "to be played" games I need to hit up, and some old games/consoles are in three plastic containers. Could easily fit this all in a closet and still have tons of storage space! Storage space is pretty relative, though. I live in the heart of Seattle. I actually manage it pretty cheaply, all things considered, but I do in around 300 square feet total.
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Post by Ex on Apr 29, 2019 14:35:04 GMT -5
I think OG hardware fitted with flash carts is my personal sweet spot between authenticity and convenience. I hope you have some spare flash carts for each system, to avoid all the eggs in one basket. It would be a tragedy if say your SNES flash cart died in a few years, and EverDrive was no longer selling them.
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Post by 20thcenturygamer on Apr 29, 2019 14:37:18 GMT -5
I think OG hardware fitted with flash carts is my personal sweet spot between authenticity and convenience. I hope you have some spare flash carts for each system, to avoid all the eggs in one basket. It would be a tragedy if say your SNES flash cart died in a few years, and EverDrive was no longer selling them. If it ever seems likely that the market could disappear entirely for some reason, it would be worthwhile. I don't see demand drying up, though. At least not until Gen X is well into mass die-off in another forty years or so.
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Post by Sarge on Apr 29, 2019 14:46:52 GMT -5
Man, wish I'd known you were unloading stuff, might have wanted to add to my collection. It's... substantial.
I've actually started to have fleeting thoughts about unloading some of my collection as hardware dies, but for now, just the ownership feels like a point of pride, even if I don't use them much anymore. I have more storage space than most, though, which helps, and there are a few games that I'll likely never, ever get rid of for sentimental reasons. (Dragon Warrior IV is keeping its butt parked right here.)
Now that I've got a Retrode, I'm also going to start messing around with getting my SNES controllers back up to snuff, and seeing how much using the real controller improves the feelings of legitimacy. Probably a lot, if the SNES Classic is anything to go by.
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Post by Ex on Apr 29, 2019 15:01:06 GMT -5
all these GOOD modern USB controllers that replicate the originals are fantastic I agree, the Buffalo SNES pad is a great example. I still gotta get that Genesis pad you were talking about. Heck I might as well order it now. For systems that don't have USB replica controllers, I find that USB adapters allow the real controllers to work just fine with emulators though.
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Post by 20thcenturygamer on Apr 29, 2019 15:09:06 GMT -5
Man, wish I'd known you were unloading stuff, might have wanted to add to my collection. It's... substantial. That is a bummer. Unfortunately, I didn't even consider looking outside the local area. Around 90% just went straight to Pink Gorilla down the street and the rest to a couple local people.
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