About a month ago I wrote a post which centred on the fact that having a large collection often results in choice overload. Since then I have been taking a hard look at what I’ve got and reassessing my collecting goals.
In the Beginning:
Like most retro-gamers, nostalgia led me to initially pursue Master System and Mega Drive titles I had played as a kid. With only 269 odd PAL titles and living in a country that saw continued sales of later released games, completing the PAL Master System library was going to be a realistic goal. During the early days I did pick up an Xbox, PS2, and N64 which enabled me to buy the odd title I had been longing to play, but my allegiance was primarily with the original system I had owned as a kid; the mighty Master System.
And then..
Unlike most retro-gamers, in late 2013 I was fortunate enough to head to gaming heaven; Japan. This wasn’t a flying visit where I would sightseeing for a week or two, this was going to be for a year, yes a whole year! My original collecting plans were to concentrate on developing my Mega Drive collection as I was often frustrated with overpriced and well worn games that came up for sale back home. But I had a full year, there was no need to rush into anything. To cut a long story short I quickly discovered that the Mega Drive had been significantly outsold by the Super Famicom in its day and second hand stores had a plethora of Famicom and Super Famicom titles at dirt cheap prices. However the shortage of Mega Drive games was definitely compensated by the large range of Sega Saturn and smaller, but equally as awesome Dreamcast libraries.
After a year in Japan I had tripled the amount of games in my collection. I now had worthy Famicom, Super Famicom, Saturn, and PS1 collections to match my Master System library as well as smaller but more concise Dreamcast, N64, and Japanese Mega Drive collections. With over 650 titles spanning across 11 consoles, 95% of which were obtained over a period of about 2 ½ years I was more than proud! However that was then..
And now..
Six months after returning home I’ve settled into a routine. I pretty much work business hours and try to fit in game time over the weekends. The dream for the past couple of years has been to have a dedicated game room; somewhere I can display my minty boxed consoles, peripherals, and games as well as a large CRT and cabinet to house all the consoles. My problem is my other passions are starting to get in the way! I miss riding a motorcycle, I wanna see more of the world, I want a car that I can take on long road trips, I need a house for my games to call home, and of course there are still titles I am hunting for!
Over the past few weeks I’ve been debating a cull. One to free up some space as I felt I had way too much stuff boxed away in storage and two so I can free up some funds. Having a large gaming collection is cool, but not necessary to call yourself a gamer. I can see a lot of quality in my collection, however I can also see filler, so much of which its filling boxes that are stored in cupboards! I know there are going to be readers who will cringe at this, but there are flash carts. I mean, when you’re in the heat of collecting its easy to look past how much things are costing. When I started out I compared buying games to packs of cigarettes (it honestly helped me quit), but these days I’m adding stuff up and thinking about a new set of wheels! With its space impeding boxed games and huge range of titles I hardly look at let alone play I knew from the start that the Master System was on the chopping block, I just didn’t want to admit it. After spending a couple of weeks looking at the library, debating whether actually killing of a whole console would be better, and considering that I wasn’t even halfway to completing the Master System library I came to the conclusion that I could easily cull the 115 Master System titles I own down to 30, yes that’s right, I’m preparing to cull 75% of the Master System collection!
Well today is Friday and I’m about to head to the post office to ship off items that have sold over the past five days. With 14 already sold and dollar signs in my eyes it actually feels pretty damn good and if I’m honest I am having as much fun selling them as I did collecting them! All is not lost though, my initial sales have paid for a flash cartridge which is going to allow me to access a massive range of titles, but I am left with one last question. Who’s next…?