(Look, Mom, I'm on the vlog again!) Thank you so much for giving such a thorough answer! Everything you said makes sense, especially regarding SNES and its expensive cardboard. Also, words cannot describe my relief when you started talking about the Player's Choice label GameCube games, because my bafflement at those was exactly why I asked the question in the first place. I really love that the answer is basically just happenstance. 😂 I hope you had fun talking about this, and that any collectors in the audience got something out of it!
While I haven't worked on it in years (for various reasons), my personal collection goal is "Important/Relevant/Notable". Like, I want to get every Metal Gear game, even if not all of them are good. I want to get all Pokemon games. I want to get all Sonic games. I do not need to get all Wii Family Game Night games. Kind of a "bangers only" type of approach. As I finish the most important series, maybe I'll branch out into lesser series/one-offs (like Cooking Mama as an example), but start with the games that I'll probably MOST want to experience to consider myself a worldly gamer.
a couple years ago, after constantly joking with my friends about adding their game reccommendations to "the list™", i decided to just sit down and make the list™. its a giant spreadsheet of every movie, tv/streaming series, video/board game, book/comic, and music/podcast i have ever consumed or want to consume. its slowly evolved over the years to include markers for ownership status, whether or not ive actually consumed it, and my opinion on the work if i have consumed it. one of the vlogs i watched recently gave me the idea to add a column for era {such as console} for another form of organization. I sincerely doubt ill every truly complete the list™, since im always adding to it {and also the video game section alone has nearly 1000 entries}, but im certainly going to try regardless! .....actually now that i think about it, its been a hot minute since i updated the list™, maybe ill do that today. anyway, have a good day!
Your videos on game collection got me fully into game collecting myself (even post some pics on a discord over the years). I respect your dedication to this stuff, it's awesome. Although I really doubt i'll ever have an entire major systems library like you do.
I've been collecting for probably about 10 years now and my personal thoughts line up with mostly with yours Stephen. There are a few games like Spectrobes and Spectrobes Beyond the Portals that also came with cards that gave you in game items or creatures that I personally feel are necessary for me to call that game "complete" but I agree with the notion of not needing the slips that promote other games. If those slips are already there I won't complain though!
I would say I have mini collections of things I enjoy like games, shoes, art of books, etc. Something my boyfriend started doing when we went to Japan is whenever we travel to a new country he gets a unique bottle of Coke (he LOVES Coke) specific to the county which is creating a pretty cool and unique collection.I want to create a Coke machine-like display for all the bottles he gets
I feel very similar when it comes to plastic case vs cardboard case collecting. I will pick up a cartridge game if I see something that I want, regardless of whether or not it includes the box, just because I know how uncommon it would be to find that now. With disc-based/DS/whatnot games, I want to make sure I atleast have to boxart along with the game (manual doesn't bother me too much, but I do like when it's included). I've been wanting to pick up Tekken Tag Tournament 2 on Wii U because of the exclusive costumes in that version, but every time I've seen it in the wild, it's always in a generic DVD case with no art, so I hold off on it; I want to collect all of the Kingdom Hearts games, but I can only ever find the loose cartridge for 358/2 Days on DS, so I've never picked it up. Meanwhile, nearly every single SNES & N64 game that I have is just the cartridge. The only in-box game I have for those systems is a Japanese Mario Party 2 with the manual and minigame guide, but that was found through sheer dumb luck.
I have a small collection of Nutcrackers. I don't go out of my way to get any more anymore, but I have a fair handful, about 4 or so. 5 if you include a tiny one that came with one of the normal-sized ones. I just like 'em.
I’m personally in the realm of just collecting games I have an interest in playing and avoiding stuff I have no interest in (or shovelware lol) Nontheless, having walls covered by bookcases full of games is always satisfying. You and Jon have some really impressive collections that I would just wanna look at (respectfully).
I'm a very casual collector and don't have plans to obtain every game for a console, but whenever I do get a game, ideally I'd like to have the original box/case, cover art, manual, and game.
For me, I casually collect games that I personally find interesting, and if I know that I'll eventually get around playing it. I'm currently on a phase that I'm more interested collecting 3DS games, before they start going up in price. I was lucky to score both Luigi's Mansion games for reasonable prices while I was on vacation at Tampere, Finland this year, but I'm still looking for Bowser's Inside Story remake, before it's too late.
I never plan to collect a console's catalog, I just pick up what I think I'd play or would be some amusing nonsense to play. The idea of trying to collect an entire console library - the game and it's original box/hard-case with the cover-art - seems a bit overwhelming! Let alone dedicating display and access space for that in your house. I've been where I am ten years and it's still a challenge to work with what limited space you have for hobbies + furniture (especially if you've had to downsize).
Honestly, as someone just getting into collecting Video Games, I'd constitute a System/Collection as complete with just the Disk and preferably the OG Art, with Manuals being a Bonus, and I'm not including Players Choice or Complete Editions (Game plus all DLC) as Seperate versions, I also think that I wouldn't count most Remasters/rereleases, but that is more of a case by case basis
Most of the time, I'm fine with just the cart/disc and the disc art, and that the case is in ok shape. Since I've bought most of my games from ebay, it's a crapshoot whether the case will be in good shape lol. If the game has the manual, cool. But I'm not gonna go out of my way to collect manuals. As for collections, I have a mostly complete set (IE no boxes) of the GBC & GBA Pokemon games, don't have Silver or Ruby (I was a dumb kid and sold my childhood copies of Gold and Silver, got Gold back from Gamestop, but didn't get another Silver yet) and the only DS Pokemon games I don't have is Black & Black 2. I also collect Dragon Ball games.
As much as I would love to collect games from my childhood and games I missed out on, a lot of the GameCube stuff is too expensive for me to justify it. I mostly just pick up first party Switch games and anything else that looks interesting. For PS4/PS5 just anything I plan on getting to some day. For Blu-rays it's my favorite shows or movies and anything I plan on watching.
I collect manga personally and trying to find older series is such a pain but I want to get some of the ones I grew up with. I recently got Mars by Fuyumi Soryo FOR FREE from my library cause they were put where the books they sell was and my friend who works there just grabbed them for me. It is a series that came out in 2002 so it is suuuuper out of print. I got so lucky with that series.
Depends on the console. Disc games: Manuals, games, boxes. Cartridges: Games except for ds/3ds those have to have the boxes, manuals, games. Certain series: boxes, manuals, games.
Honestly, though I'd prefer to have the case and label, I don't mind not having it on account of there being high enough quality scans out there to be able to print replacements, and there are enough sources for passable replacement cases available. As for collecting goals: I'm currently collecting Wii, Wii U, and Switch titles. Nothing in particular for the first two, but for Switch, I want all the classics collections and full sets of standalone releases in series' of historical significance.
I am trying to get most of the Wii and Wii U first party library (it’s my only system) Basically my criteria is they’re the games I’m interested in playing. I was chasing Wind Waker HD for months trying to find it under $50. I made a list of which games to find before I stop REALLY looking, and I only have 3 games left on it. For me it’s box and disc- I don’t care too much about manuals. They’re cool and most of my Wii games have them, but I just want a good box, intact box art (cause I have to look at it afterwards) and a good functional disc.
I wanted to start a N64 collection once but the prices on some of the games are crazy. The most expensive is Clay Fighter Sculptors Cut which costs around $2,000 CAD loose apparently. And there a couple more in the $200s to the $700s . There's no way in heck I'll pay like more than $100 for a loose N64 game. So I gave up this idea. For me, my game library for a particular console is "complete" when I have all the games I wanted for it!
I have a very small video game collection that's just my personal games from childhood. My mom was adamant about keeping the cardboard boxes pristine, and that carried over when I briefly considered expanding my collection. I quickly realized that THAT path was not for me. 😂 ... But are there still days when I think about that sealed copy of Ocarina of Time in a local game store in 2012 that was "only" $100, but I was a broke grad school student and thought, 'I don't really NEED that...'? Oh yeah.
My collection will be complete when I get all the games I personally have interest in playing. Never saw any point for me to have the shovel ware/sports titles if I'm never going to play them.
Yeah that makes sense. It’s nice that people like Stephen and ProtonJon have found ways to make even those shovelware games or games they would never normally play into some useful content. Whether for charity or themselves! Keeps them from collecting dust haha. But for the average person who doesn’t stream it might not make as much sense
As a game collector of Gameboy Colour, I feel a collection isn't fully complete until you have at least every game you want/trying to collect. Me personally I've been working on the European collection as I live in the UK and if I want to play any of the Gameboy Colour games during my spare time, I have the option to do so. However, when I look to collect a game, I go by the cartridge and manual (unless of course, I already have the box for said game, since as Stephen says, finding the cupboard for every game is expensive or difficult to find), I don't care much about the extra things, such as posters, etc. I also work on what series I enjoy the most and try to collect every game in that series first, then work my way up to other games for Gameboy that I probably won't play anytime soon, but can say "Hey, I have this in my collection now." Also, I'm well aware that some games are extremely rare to find. For example, in my current collection I'm missing Resident Evil Gaiden and Survival Kid, I know those two games go for A LOT on the retail market. I'm still hoping someday I can get those two, but I'm not too worried if I don't at the same time.
When I was young i peeled the stickers off my gameboy games and I really regret it… so I’m looking for the original pokemon red, blue, yellow +gold and silver games with intact stickers and preferably with box so I can frame them and enjoy the art ❤
I've been collecting games since I was a kid (like Under 10). I wish I could've bought more games when I was younger, but I (obviously) had a lot less money than I do now as an adult (currently 24 for reference) I don't know if I ever really considered getting every game for a console (because I just don't care about a lot of the games). For me personally, it would just be the game and the case (or the cartridge). I think a manual is nice, but game and box for each game is enough for me (excepting cartridges of course). I feel as discs are inherently more fragile than cartridges when they're loose, a disc needs the case to be complete, where cartridges i'm more inclined to just stack on a shelf. It depends, but I still like picking up games when I can for all systems (and it kills me that it's gotten so expensive.) I remember passing on many NES's as a kid at a Flea Market because I had one of those 3-in-1 retron style consoles (it wasn't very good), so I didn't bother, and now it's a lot more expensive, relatively speaking.
I’m not at all a game collector, but I do prefer physical media. I have been fortunate to collect most of the mainline Pokémon series. To me, it’ll be “complete” when any functioning, saveable copy is in my possession (virtual console Silver works but the save data battery in my Silver cartridge is dead). Switch Pokémon games are the ones I’m most okay with owning digitally.
I'm a natural completionist and I've had to train myself out of obsessing over it, to the point now I can have a set of books in a series that are in different editions and cover designs without feeling I need to make them all consistent.
Also even back in the 90s I always found it baffling how Nintendo didn't have plastic cases for their games like Sega did. It's like they were trying to create scarcity for future obsessives!
I have a fairly sizeable collection (although compared to yours it’s nothing XD). For me in order for a collection to be complete I’d need the game and manual, preferably OG cover art. But if it’s a good deal I’m ok with a reprint. The only console I’m looking to complete though is the Wii U just cause it’s not a huge library and I just think it’d be cool to say that I have every game for it in my region
I took Stephen and Jon’s advice when it came to collecting….don’t 😂. I basically only collect for my favorite game Quake 2 which is basically all the players guides. Right now I’m missing the PS1 version…..and the toys if you count that.
In my experience, a collection is only complete when you die, and are physically unable to add to it anymore. Another reason why people strive for immortality, I guess.
May i say, i heard u talk recently about buying Final fantasy 10 and 10 2, about how 2 wasnt on the cart, its a download to maybe sync it to the cart, i have 10, 10 2 and did it this way, on switch
Stephen's N64 collection is done when he finally gets around to printing the remaining box covers.
(Look, Mom, I'm on the vlog again!)
Thank you so much for giving such a thorough answer! Everything you said makes sense, especially regarding SNES and its expensive cardboard. Also, words cannot describe my relief when you started talking about the Player's Choice label GameCube games, because my bafflement at those was exactly why I asked the question in the first place. I really love that the answer is basically just happenstance. 😂 I hope you had fun talking about this, and that any collectors in the audience got something out of it!
While I haven't worked on it in years (for various reasons), my personal collection goal is "Important/Relevant/Notable". Like, I want to get every Metal Gear game, even if not all of them are good. I want to get all Pokemon games. I want to get all Sonic games. I do not need to get all Wii Family Game Night games. Kind of a "bangers only" type of approach. As I finish the most important series, maybe I'll branch out into lesser series/one-offs (like Cooking Mama as an example), but start with the games that I'll probably MOST want to experience to consider myself a worldly gamer.
a couple years ago, after constantly joking with my friends about adding their game reccommendations to "the list™", i decided to just sit down and make the list™. its a giant spreadsheet of every movie, tv/streaming series, video/board game, book/comic, and music/podcast i have ever consumed or want to consume. its slowly evolved over the years to include markers for ownership status, whether or not ive actually consumed it, and my opinion on the work if i have consumed it. one of the vlogs i watched recently gave me the idea to add a column for era {such as console} for another form of organization.
I sincerely doubt ill every truly complete the list™, since im always adding to it {and also the video game section alone has nearly 1000 entries}, but im certainly going to try regardless! .....actually now that i think about it, its been a hot minute since i updated the list™, maybe ill do that today. anyway, have a good day!
Your videos on game collection got me fully into game collecting myself (even post some pics on a discord over the years).
I respect your dedication to this stuff, it's awesome. Although I really doubt i'll ever have an entire major systems library like you do.
someday this will be a notable museum, just keep going stephen!
I've been collecting for probably about 10 years now and my personal thoughts line up with mostly with yours Stephen. There are a few games like Spectrobes and Spectrobes Beyond the Portals that also came with cards that gave you in game items or creatures that I personally feel are necessary for me to call that game "complete" but I agree with the notion of not needing the slips that promote other games. If those slips are already there I won't complain though!
I would say I have mini collections of things I enjoy like games, shoes, art of books, etc.
Something my boyfriend started doing when we went to Japan is whenever we travel to a new country he gets a unique bottle of Coke (he LOVES Coke) specific to the county which is creating a pretty cool and unique collection.I want to create a Coke machine-like display for all the bottles he gets
I feel very similar when it comes to plastic case vs cardboard case collecting. I will pick up a cartridge game if I see something that I want, regardless of whether or not it includes the box, just because I know how uncommon it would be to find that now. With disc-based/DS/whatnot games, I want to make sure I atleast have to boxart along with the game (manual doesn't bother me too much, but I do like when it's included).
I've been wanting to pick up Tekken Tag Tournament 2 on Wii U because of the exclusive costumes in that version, but every time I've seen it in the wild, it's always in a generic DVD case with no art, so I hold off on it; I want to collect all of the Kingdom Hearts games, but I can only ever find the loose cartridge for 358/2 Days on DS, so I've never picked it up.
Meanwhile, nearly every single SNES & N64 game that I have is just the cartridge. The only in-box game I have for those systems is a Japanese Mario Party 2 with the manual and minigame guide, but that was found through sheer dumb luck.
I have a small collection of Nutcrackers. I don't go out of my way to get any more anymore, but I have a fair handful, about 4 or so. 5 if you include a tiny one that came with one of the normal-sized ones. I just like 'em.
I’m personally in the realm of just collecting games I have an interest in playing and avoiding stuff I have no interest in (or shovelware lol)
Nontheless, having walls covered by bookcases full of games is always satisfying. You and Jon have some really impressive collections that I would just wanna look at (respectfully).
I think the reason that (you started collecting the Player's Choice versions) happened is that Roland hypnotized you.
I'm a very casual collector and don't have plans to obtain every game for a console, but whenever I do get a game, ideally I'd like to have the original box/case, cover art, manual, and game.
For me, I casually collect games that I personally find interesting, and if I know that I'll eventually get around playing it. I'm currently on a phase that I'm more interested collecting 3DS games, before they start going up in price. I was lucky to score both Luigi's Mansion games for reasonable prices while I was on vacation at Tampere, Finland this year, but I'm still looking for Bowser's Inside Story remake, before it's too late.
I never plan to collect a console's catalog, I just pick up what I think I'd play or would be some amusing nonsense to play. The idea of trying to collect an entire console library - the game and it's original box/hard-case with the cover-art - seems a bit overwhelming! Let alone dedicating display and access space for that in your house. I've been where I am ten years and it's still a challenge to work with what limited space you have for hobbies + furniture (especially if you've had to downsize).
Honestly, as someone just getting into collecting Video Games, I'd constitute a System/Collection as complete with just the Disk and preferably the OG Art, with Manuals being a Bonus, and I'm not including Players Choice or Complete Editions (Game plus all DLC) as Seperate versions, I also think that I wouldn't count most Remasters/rereleases, but that is more of a case by case basis
Most of the time, I'm fine with just the cart/disc and the disc art, and that the case is in ok shape. Since I've bought most of my games from ebay, it's a crapshoot whether the case will be in good shape lol. If the game has the manual, cool. But I'm not gonna go out of my way to collect manuals.
As for collections, I have a mostly complete set (IE no boxes) of the GBC & GBA Pokemon games, don't have Silver or Ruby (I was a dumb kid and sold my childhood copies of Gold and Silver, got Gold back from Gamestop, but didn't get another Silver yet) and the only DS Pokemon games I don't have is Black & Black 2. I also collect Dragon Ball games.
As much as I would love to collect games from my childhood and games I missed out on, a lot of the GameCube stuff is too expensive for me to justify it. I mostly just pick up first party Switch games and anything else that looks interesting. For PS4/PS5 just anything I plan on getting to some day. For Blu-rays it's my favorite shows or movies and anything I plan on watching.
I collect manga personally and trying to find older series is such a pain but I want to get some of the ones I grew up with. I recently got Mars by Fuyumi Soryo FOR FREE from my library cause they were put where the books they sell was and my friend who works there just grabbed them for me. It is a series that came out in 2002 so it is suuuuper out of print. I got so lucky with that series.
Depends on the console. Disc games: Manuals, games, boxes. Cartridges: Games except for ds/3ds those have to have the boxes, manuals, games. Certain series: boxes, manuals, games.
Honestly, though I'd prefer to have the case and label, I don't mind not having it on account of there being high enough quality scans out there to be able to print replacements, and there are enough sources for passable replacement cases available. As for collecting goals: I'm currently collecting Wii, Wii U, and Switch titles. Nothing in particular for the first two, but for Switch, I want all the classics collections and full sets of standalone releases in series' of historical significance.
I am trying to get most of the Wii and Wii U first party library (it’s my only system)
Basically my criteria is they’re the games I’m interested in playing.
I was chasing Wind Waker HD for months trying to find it under $50.
I made a list of which games to find before I stop REALLY looking, and I only have 3 games left on it.
For me it’s box and disc- I don’t care too much about manuals. They’re cool and most of my Wii games have them, but I just want a good box, intact box art (cause I have to look at it afterwards) and a good functional disc.
I wanted to start a N64 collection once but the prices on some of the games are crazy. The most expensive is Clay Fighter Sculptors Cut which costs around $2,000 CAD loose apparently. And there a couple more in the $200s to the $700s . There's no way in heck I'll pay like more than $100 for a loose N64 game. So I gave up this idea.
For me, my game library for a particular console is "complete" when I have all the games I wanted for it!
I have a very small video game collection that's just my personal games from childhood. My mom was adamant about keeping the cardboard boxes pristine, and that carried over when I briefly considered expanding my collection. I quickly realized that THAT path was not for me. 😂
... But are there still days when I think about that sealed copy of Ocarina of Time in a local game store in 2012 that was "only" $100, but I was a broke grad school student and thought, 'I don't really NEED that...'? Oh yeah.
My collection will be complete when I get all the games I personally have interest in playing. Never saw any point for me to have the shovel ware/sports titles if I'm never going to play them.
Yeah that makes sense. It’s nice that people like Stephen and ProtonJon have found ways to make even those shovelware games or games they would never normally play into some useful content. Whether for charity or themselves! Keeps them from collecting dust haha. But for the average person who doesn’t stream it might not make as much sense
As a game collector of Gameboy Colour, I feel a collection isn't fully complete until you have at least every game you want/trying to collect. Me personally I've been working on the European collection as I live in the UK and if I want to play any of the Gameboy Colour games during my spare time, I have the option to do so. However, when I look to collect a game, I go by the cartridge and manual (unless of course, I already have the box for said game, since as Stephen says, finding the cupboard for every game is expensive or difficult to find), I don't care much about the extra things, such as posters, etc. I also work on what series I enjoy the most and try to collect every game in that series first, then work my way up to other games for Gameboy that I probably won't play anytime soon, but can say "Hey, I have this in my collection now." Also, I'm well aware that some games are extremely rare to find. For example, in my current collection I'm missing Resident Evil Gaiden and Survival Kid, I know those two games go for A LOT on the retail market. I'm still hoping someday I can get those two, but I'm not too worried if I don't at the same time.
When I was young i peeled the stickers off my gameboy games and I really regret it… so I’m looking for the original pokemon red, blue, yellow +gold and silver games with intact stickers and preferably with box so I can frame them and enjoy the art ❤
For me just the game is enough, boxes are preferable though.
I've been collecting games since I was a kid (like Under 10).
I wish I could've bought more games when I was younger, but I (obviously) had a lot less money than I do now as an adult (currently 24 for reference)
I don't know if I ever really considered getting every game for a console (because I just don't care about a lot of the games). For me personally, it would just be the game and the case (or the cartridge). I think a manual is nice, but game and box for each game is enough for me (excepting cartridges of course).
I feel as discs are inherently more fragile than cartridges when they're loose, a disc needs the case to be complete, where cartridges i'm more inclined to just stack on a shelf.
It depends, but I still like picking up games when I can for all systems (and it kills me that it's gotten so expensive.)
I remember passing on many NES's as a kid at a Flea Market because I had one of those 3-in-1 retron style consoles (it wasn't very good), so I didn't bother, and now it's a lot more expensive, relatively speaking.
Collections are just organizable hoarding. They are never complete.
I’m not at all a game collector, but I do prefer physical media. I have been fortunate to collect most of the mainline Pokémon series. To me, it’ll be “complete” when any functioning, saveable copy is in my possession (virtual console Silver works but the save data battery in my Silver cartridge is dead). Switch Pokémon games are the ones I’m most okay with owning digitally.
I'm a natural completionist and I've had to train myself out of obsessing over it, to the point now I can have a set of books in a series that are in different editions and cover designs without feeling I need to make them all consistent.
Also even back in the 90s I always found it baffling how Nintendo didn't have plastic cases for their games like Sega did. It's like they were trying to create scarcity for future obsessives!
So when are you opening your game museum?
YOOOO I aint seen this guy in so long
I have a fairly sizeable collection (although compared to yours it’s nothing XD). For me in order for a collection to be complete I’d need the game and manual, preferably OG cover art. But if it’s a good deal I’m ok with a reprint. The only console I’m looking to complete though is the Wii U just cause it’s not a huge library and I just think it’d be cool to say that I have every game for it in my region
I took Stephen and Jon’s advice when it came to collecting….don’t 😂. I basically only collect for my favorite game Quake 2 which is basically all the players guides. Right now I’m missing the PS1 version…..and the toys if you count that.
In my experience, a collection is only complete when you die, and are physically unable to add to it anymore.
Another reason why people strive for immortality, I guess.
What’s the first reason?
@@adrianporter5749 Fear of death.
I know one set of games for 3ds and I do not know if you try for it. Yo-kai watch have around 3 main line game and one or two spin-off.
May i say, i heard u talk recently about buying Final fantasy 10 and 10 2, about how 2 wasnt on the cart, its a download to maybe sync it to the cart, i have 10, 10 2 and did it this way, on switch
I started a SNES cartridge collection. Oh boy the pandemic boosted the price.
I collect transformers and some ninja turtles and, the collection is never really complete
question algorithm comment