My Games Room (The Museum of Gaming Goodness)

Retr0gamer

Dark Savior wrote: »

I'd have more Dreamcast and Saturn if I could find them.I never see them in car boot sale's or charity shops making them hard to collect for .Even growing up I never knew a Dreamcast owner and only one guy with a Saturn.To be honest, I'm not a lover of the Saturn,probably because I have'nt played anything to blow me away yet.The only game's I really like are Outrun and Nights so far.

If you are only playing the western released games for the saturn you will be disappointed. It really had very few good games released in america and less in the EU. You've really got to look at the japanese games that were released, it's far more impressive. Unfortunately some can be expensive but then I hear the Saturn is easy to chip Also there are some saturn gems that are easy to find and cheap like galactic attack.

Atavan-Halen

Personally I'd just import one of those lovely white or see-through coloured ones. Much nicer looking

CCCP^

James Howlett wrote: »

How do you guys amass such big collections?
I have been gaming for many years too but my collection is nothing compared to what I see here.

Do you guys buy stuff when it goes 2nd hand and dirt cheap? A lot?

Some of us have at one point worked in sales side of Gaming, so we've had easy access to that rich seam of second-hand videogame goodness. About 95% of everything I own is second-hand, came from Ebay, Adverts.ie, Craigslist.ca, charity shops or Game/Gamestop. Alot of stuff I managed to pickup in Canada.

I only started seriously collecting in mid 2007, now about 2 years on I've 367 games on 12 platforms. It used to be much higher but I've sold alot and trimmed it down to a core few consoles that I love and constantly play. Being only 25, I haven't had that much money to spend, but other guys are older, have better jobs, and have had a longer time to amass and stockpile stuff.

CiDeRmAn

James Howlett wrote: »

How do you guys amass such big collections?
I have been gaming for many years too but my collection is nothing compared to what I see here.

Do you guys buy stuff when it goes 2nd hand and dirt cheap? A lot?

Yeah, I pick up most of my games second hand, even if that means someone has traded in a new release a couple of days after it's release, I make a good saving.
For the older stuff eBay was my friend for many years, and I have the credit card balance to prove it!
As for the more common retro stuff, Sunday markets, Adverts.ie, and places like Cash Convertors often have N64s, Megadrives, Snes' and the like.

I have collected most of mine by the simple measure of not selling them after I "upgrade" to the next gen, I have been doing that since the PS2 launch.
Also, places like Gamestop and Smyths, for a couple of years at least had a plentiful supply of cheap GBAs, GBASP/Micro, PSones, Xbox's and GC's.

I picked up a lovely PSone with official screen in Harvey Norman about 4 years ago for a song, they were just trying to get rid of them, nice for me!
Similarly HMV found a stock of GBA Micros somewhere and sold them all for around €25 each, bargain!

Atavan-Halen

In cash converters do you have to ask if they have anything pre-ps2? Because everytime I've gone in there's been nothing there in thomas st. and moore st. Currently my collection consists of about 350 games and 28 consoles (some duplicates). I've been collecting for around a year and a half and I don't think I've done too bad seeing as 98% of it was gotten "in the wild". However I'm nowhere near what I picture my collection being and theres so many games I've yet to play, but I just take each day as it comes and build up over time

NeoKubrick

Does anyone hate the nasty habit that's crept in where second-hand retailers mark the cover of the game or place a sticker on it? De-values any game for me. I don't mind a bit of rip and tear on covers or manuals, but having a big red marker does put me off.

James Howlett

Cool. So would you guys buy a new release or wait for the inevitable price drop?

I have been lucky on a few occasions to pick up game bargains as shops just viewed them as "dead stock," which to us I suppose is treasure. I still have nearly all of my PS1 games, although some dics are a little too far on the scratched side for my liking.

CCCP^

NeoKubrick wrote: »

Does anyone hate the nasty habit that's crept in where second-hand retailers mark the cover of the game or place a sticker on it? De-values any game for me. I don't mind a bit of rip and tear on covers or manuals, but having a big red marker does put me off.

You would not be happy with Gamestop in Canada or North America. They have these yellow stickers that are impossible to remove and if you try, they tear and leave a horrible sticky residue behind, the muppets.

James Howlett wrote:

Cool. So would you guys buy a new release or wait for the inevitable price drop?

I have been lucky on a few occasions to pick up game bargains as shops just viewed them as "dead stock," which to us I suppose is treasure. I still have nearly all of my PS1 games, although some dics are a little too far on the scratched side for my liking.

I have only bought the DS new, of course are family bought a Mega-Drive new when it came out, same with the C64 and Sinclair Spectrum, and my brother bought the PSOne and Sega CD new, but thats been it. Everything else was 2nd hand.

CiDeRmAn

My problem is fast becoming one of storage, I have so much stuff and no where to put a lot of it.
Bigger than thatm when on earth am I going to get a chance to do more than play for an hour or so on even the best of them?
I am loath to sell any on, it's nice to take a notion to play a spot of, say, Tokyo Bus Guide and nip upstairs, pop on the Dreamy cast and have a "blast" around Tokyo in a single decker bus!
But, how often has it or most of them been played, it's easily been 2 years since the TG16 even got turned on, same with the 7800 tbh.

Atavan-Halen

Oh I know what you mean Ciderman. I have a stack of games under the bed and games hidden in shoeboxes. Theres a MD and SNES lurking in a wardrobe somewhere and a PS1 has escaped into the sitting room where it sits under the Tv, making any visitors think we're living in the mid-90's. I'd never ever get rid of anything though

o1s1n

Nice to know I'm not alone on the storage problem front!

I have about 200 ps1 & 2 games, 50 odd n64 games all my handhelds and extra booklets/Nintendo cardboard boxes in a wardrobe in my sisters room.

N64, Megadrive 1, Genesis 3, ps2 and all my extra leads/controllers in a big bag in the parents sitting room. About 6 playstations in their attic. Also a huge cordoned off area up there full of original boxes.

cps2 arcade board, jamma megadrive & arcade marquees & CPs under their stairs.
6 foot Arcade machine in their kitchen.

And that's basically all the stuff I cant bring to my apartment...which has a dediated room just for videogames and consoles. (Not even going to attempt to start listing whats in there)

I need a ****ing warehouse!

o1s1n

atavan-halen wrote: »

In cash converters do you have to ask if they have anything pre-ps2? Because everytime I've gone in there's been nothing there in thomas st. and moore st.

That's because I got there before ya

Best find in there was a load of n64 games. They'd accidentally been marked at either 2 or 3 euro each. Can't remember how many there were as it was a while ago, but it must have been at least 20 carts.

Guy at the counter admitted it had been a pricing error but game them to me anyway. Was going to throw in an n64 carrier bag for a fiver but I was totally tapped out of cash after getting all the games. Bah!

Futurism

I'll have a room like that some day!

Atavan-Halen

o1s1n wrote: »

That's because I got there before ya

Best find in there was a load of n64 games. They'd accidentally been marked at either 2 or 3 euro each. Can't remember how many there were as it was a while ago, but it must have been at least 20 carts.

Guy at the counter admitted it had been a pricing error but game them to me anyway. Was going to throw in an n64 carrier bag for a fiver but I was totally tapped out of cash after getting all the games. Bah!

Darn it! I should ask them anyway next time I'm in, although I'll probably get looked at as if I had 2 heads and no ears =/

batari

I've found going in asking if they have stuff can be a hindrance, especially if you go somewhere regularly, like charity shops. The moment you walk in they'll pretty much tell you if they have anything, which takes away from the 'having a look yourself and finding something good' surprise.

One Charity Shop I asked in, every time I enter now the woman at the counter just shakes her head as I walk in! and once when I went in she said 'oh, I have some games and a console for you', went out back, and came back a few minutes later just to tell me the other woman who works there must have thrown it all out! Man I wasn't well that day, imagining what it was...

*Imagines a boxed mint atari 2600 woody, lots of games, all boxed, and a copy of Pepsi Invaders*

CiDeRmAn

I will get into the room upstairs some day, kick out the spiders and other assorted creepy crawlies that call the back of the Saturn, 3DO and TG16 home and then, perhaps, settle down with a mini fridge, stocked with Coca Cola, maybe admire a newly bought 32" LCD (still in dream mode you understand), and play a few games, hmm... Bliss!

Just found out, today, that my son, the 6 and a half year old DS addict, who is currently burning his way through Scribblenauts, was playing an old PSone down in his grannies, maybe a retrogamer in the making!
I will have to hide all the precious things of the shop!

Atavan-Halen

Nice! But whats better is that your or Mrs. Cidermans mother is a retrogamer, judging by the presence of a PS1 I guess it runs in the family

Of course thats all just asumption...

CiDeRmAn

Nope, that's a relic from my nephew, who inherited it from his uncle, my brother, otherwise known as Kerbdog on these here pages.
My mum has been thrilled to figure two major pieces of technology in the last 20 years,
The bank ATM,
The mobile phone (not texting or taking pictures or, heaven forbid, using the internet, just using the contact list and making calls)

Unlikely she has a secret life, playing a spot of Wipeout 2097 and Resident Evil whilst others are out, she's 62!
Although her older sister used to be addicted to the Snes, about 13 years or so ago, used to play a lot of Super Mario World, apparently,
Hmmm.....

Atavan-Halen

Very interesting indeed. At least your family has some knowledge. My mam thinks everything is a Playstation.

o1s1n

atavan-halen wrote: »

Very interesting indeed. At least your family has some knowledge. My mam thinks everything is a Playstation.

The trick is to train all your family members in the ways of videogames. Just in case of one them comes by a game/console and passes it up.

Most of my charity shop hauls were found by my mother.

Thanks ma!

Atavan-Halen

See mine would be like: No I'm not bringing in more of that crap into the house

o1s1n

Never thought of that. Must be horrific living down the road from Super Potato but not being able to buy anything because you need the room for more important things...like food.

Might even explain why Nintendo made ****ty cardboard cases for carts.

FullHouse

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

Here are my Megadrive games, a modest selection, but with important stuff like Sonic/2/3/& Knuckles, also Road Rash/2/3 and Skitchin and Lotus Turbo Challenge, not to mention Thunderforce 3 and 4 and also my fave Biohazard Battle.
Here also are my N64 games, I have pretty much everything I ever wanted on it.
And my Atari 2600/7800 games, not too many, but just enough!

And last but by no means least my controller for Steel Batallion, awesome isn't it?

I spotted Ikari Warrior for the Atari 7800 in there, very nice game. Was it possible to complete that game or did it just go on indefinately? Myself and my brother spent hours hammering that game but never completed it.

CiDeRmAn

Never got around to playing it, so many games, so little time.
I was in picking up Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising today and the guy behind the counter asked if I was one of the 800 who were awaiting Modern Wombat 2 (or something), I says, nope, I'll get it sometime, no rush, and he expressed some surprise.
I then explained I had lots to play yet, Batman, HaloODST, now OF:DR, not to mention Metroid Prime Trilogy and my retro stuff.

It's really got to the point that I barely have time to finish the new releases I buy, I'll never get to finish the myriad of games I own on the Wii, 360 and PS3, never mind the hundreds and hundreds of games I have for my retro collection.
So, what to do?
How do others deal with this conundrum?

Atavan-Halen

Well, I'm probably lucky in a way that I never have the money to buy games on release day so I have nothing to play in the new games department. However I have stacks of un-played retro games, which I will play in time. It doesn't really bother me that I have so many unplayed games as I'm a procrastinator and figure I'll get around to playing them at some stage. At least I'll have a nice reserve if they stop making games tomorrow

o1s1n

Thought I'd hobble into the gamesroom this afternoon on me crutches (aw) and try to take some pics. The place is a mess so I had to be fairly choosy with the angles!

More or less all of my cart based stuff is in this room now, bar the N64/handhelds and their games. I'm not even going to attempt to bring any disc based systems out (Okay maybe a ps1 for SOTN!) for fear of my girlfriend throwing it all off the balcony. Along with me.

It's all currently hooked up so no messing with wires is needed. Just the flick of a scart switch.



MVS, some atari 2600 and my other PGM game, Knights of Valour


My beloved AES system with MVS converter MK II


The oul electricity guzzling monster. Cant seem to get that Mega Key to work. Not sure if it needs the 32X to be plugged out or what.


Supergun connected to PGM mobo. With Demon Front in at the moment. Shame there's no label on the cart.




Jesus, a NES and Mario. Possible three of the most influential things in human history. And only one of them is real...


Can't fit all the Megadrive games in the shot and hold all my clothes back on their hangers at the same time. Ah well! Gives you an idea anyway.


Speccy games










Spectrum shelf. Which I'm afraid to no near as I haven't a clue what any of it does..heh


And then the modern system corner...you can see the 360 likes to hide behind a wacom tablet in shame. Also have that monitor hooked up to my old PC for MAME goodness.
Haven't yet tried to turn it sideways for vertical shooters. Which would be fairly cool.

CCCP^

Sexy collection o1s1n! You have so many MD games with boxes, I was drooling on the keyboard when I saw it all, nyom! Also like the comment about Jesus, the NES and Mario.

Because we all know the NES was the real one

o1s1n

Cheers man! Some of the boxed Megadrive stuff seem to be missing..can't see Ranger X or Comix Zone. Going to have to raid the parents house next time I visit.

The only reason Mario isn't real is because he's green. Damn imposter. We all know red Mario is as real as you and me.

Ooooh, found another pic. My bottom drawer. Konami Justifiers, Megadrive arcade stick and a load of balltops for AES joysticks. That's what I can see. God only knows what else is in there.

Retr0gamer

Jesus those Neo Geo carts are massive. And to think that SD micro cards have way more memory now.

Love the little tower of power you have going.

CiDeRmAn

Nice Justifiers!

Now that's a statement I never thought I'd say!

We all have a box somewhere, or even a series of boxes, filled with the plastic cables in various knots, some ending in NES controllers, some in DC guns and some with AV phonos, but like some ancient greek puzzle from the gods, they are almost impossible to unknot before the reason you are doing it leaves you and you wind up playing Tetris on the GB Pocket instead...