Have You Ever Thought Of...

[Takumaji]

...reducing your games and systems collection to just one system?

This isn't a dessert island question, more like musing on the stuff you have and how often you use/play it.

I've found that having lots of stuff does not always mean lots of fun. Having a choice is nice but the more you have, the longer it will take to pick a game you wanna play and then you often end up with the tried-and-proven favourites because you're quickly getting tired of skimming through hundreds of titles.

Remember the days when you had just one system and a couple of games? The idea to have more than one was just inconceivable for most of us so we squeezed every bit of fun out of the machine we had. We bought magazines, swapped games with friends, rented them for the weekend and had fun with our buddies into the wee hours.

Well, a few decades have passed since then and of course things have changed a lot but wouldn't it still be nice to go back to that mindset and reduce things to the max, so to speak?

 

[kernow]

I only have a PS5 and a neo, best of the old and new. Got a mister for everything else, oh and an analogue pocket I never use.

Pretty much covered and there's no reams of crusty old hardware everywhere.

 

[kernow]

When you look about and you realise there's 89 wii games on the shelf, a PC-FX, near complete 32X set - well you're probably not in it for the love of that system, or its library, just the retro collecting mental illness at that point.

 

[madmanjock]

I know it’s a total goob choice, but I am thinking of picking up one of these later in the year, connecting it to my living room tv with current gen consoles and calling it a day: https://polymega.com/

Then slimming down my games collection to the essentials and selling most the hardware outside the poly, a ps5 and a Xbox.

I might keep my Sega Saturn and a AES for sentimental value but put them on a shelf. I really don’t also need my SNES, Megadrive, Mega CD, Neo Geo CD, 3DO, PS1… probably some other shit I’ve forgotten about too anymore.

 

[StevenK]

I found this out a long time ago with the advent of the pirate multi game cartridges. I think the first one I got was for maybe the GBC, had something like 100 games on it and it totally killed the system for me. Too many games, played none.

When I've had large numbers of original games for a system, kernow is right, it was just collectard nonsense and I eventually managed to free myself from it.

The urge is still always there a bit, though.

 

[madmanjock]

At least with the collectard nonsense going mainstream it has made our useless pieces of plastic now valuable. Take that mum and dad saying video games were pointless!

I do admit with retro gaming and collecting becoming ‘mainstream’, it has put me off it as I don’t want to be associated with the spotty soap dodging cheeseburger crew nerds on YouTube, Facebook and Reddit.

It’s amusing to think as crazy as ‘this’ place is, we have some of the most grounded people online when it comes to discussing this stuff. Maybe it’s because the user base here is a bit older and most have had/sold/seen the best of what this ‘hobby’ if you could call it that holds.

 

[BeefJerky]

Well, a few decades have passed since then and of course things have changed a lot but wouldn't it still be nice to go back to that mindset and reduce things to the max, so to speak?

Agreed. Dug out my Neo stuff, sc00ped some carts then proceeded to dig out my old Super Famicom, picked up a cheap Mega Drive then sc00ped up even more carts like an idiot.

I had it right the first time.

 

[LoneSage]

I got some Chinese knockoff handheld that looks like a Switch but has a couple thousand games on it. Got it for like $80USD as a Christmas present in 2021. Still playing it at least once a week on my morning commute and still discovering old games that are new to me. It is fantastic.

Eliminating want and becoming a Buddha is the way.

 

[StevenK]

Eliminating want and becoming a Buddha is the way.

Easy to say, but you have to really want it

 

[SouthtownKid]

The only systems I have right now are a ps3 I haven't played in 6+ years and an iPhone. The kids have a switch I've never used.

Oh wait, I also have a neo mini, which I haven't played since one week after I bought it, whenever that came out.

I had a bunch of games on mame -- you know, if I wanted to play columns 2 or popeye or arcade GI Joe -- but my current computer of the past several years doesn't run mame.

 

[NeoSneth]

I've pretty much done that. It's my PC.
I game on my PC 99% of the time, and the other 1% is emu-boxes and the Switch.

I've noticed this with all my hobbies. Having More actually leads to Less.

 

[Takumaji]

Seems that most of you already jumped ship hardware-wise.

About 95% of my stuff has been bought when it was new/had just come out and sometimes it took a lot of sweat and tears to get a certain item. Yeah, it's all just plastic and silicone but every piece has a story behind it, it's not a faceless heap of overpriced ebay crap, amassed in less than a year, polished and put into shelves to impress youtube viewers, that's why I have a hard time letting it go.

 

[kernow]

Well, you don't have to!
But I'd get a mister anyway - you'd have a load of fun with the microcomputer cores

 

[Takumaji]

A Mister for 8 and 16bit, a emu box for the later stuff and a proper arcade controller would be a good solution I guess.

I've heard that Mister hardware has become more expensive.

 

[Hattori Hanzo]

It's worth it Tak. Especially for the home computers in your case. The Amiga core for example is so good that I didn't buy a Gotek.
I stopped collecting 3 years ago. I haven't sold much yet but it felt good to let go. Feeling great and relieved.

 

[city41]

had something like 100 games on it and it totally killed the system for me. Too many games, played none.

Despite having access to virtually every game ever made now, I still really dig into a game and play the heck out of it, if it's a stellar game. I think the reality is 99% of games are just filler.

I've done this hardware wise. My only hardware is my neo geo, and everything else is on the mister.

 

[Takumaji]

I've made my peace with the Amiga, switched to emu (WinUAE) a long time ago already, been into it in a very intense way from 1987 when I got my A1000 to the late 90s and I really don't wanna go back there hardware-wise, but yeah, 8 and 16 bit micros are very interesting for me in general and I've heard lots of good things in that regard from people who own a Mister.

And yes, letting go feels good. Less is more.

 

[VJP]

I can't let go. I still remember where I bought almost everything. I got most of the NeoGeo games myself in the shops in Japan. Unfortunately I sold my SNES when I was young, otherwise I kept everything (except the arcade machine, which I gave away around 2000 because I thought I'd never play arcade again - now I've got it back and bought another 4 machines lol).
Looking at today's prices, I know I won't get the consoles and games in my desired condition if I want to buy them again one day.
I can't play emulations, I don't have the time for that as it just doesn't feel right to me. Multiboards are ok as long as the hardware of the system is used.

 

[Hattori Hanzo]

Your view may change over the years. Software emulation works good enough these days that I don't think most peeps even need a MiSTer.
The MiSTer has been very helpful to me. It went from being an addition to a replacement. I was already running flashcarts and ODEs on original hardware.
Hardware has always been more important to me than software.

 

[promking]

I can't let it go.
I sold a lot of my stuff to fund my down payment for a home in 2012.
I wound up missing it... I slowly gathered everything back.

I tried to use emulation, some of it is great, some of it doesn't feel right.
For me... I love playing on original hardware and CRTs.
I don't know if this is a good comparison but for me it's like driving an old car the way it was intended... Not a restomod with modern brakes, handling fuel injection etc. When I drive my old carb'd cars, I like adjusting them getting them ready.
Repairing arcade boards, and systems... Has become something I kind of enjoy now. It's not for everyone, but for me I really enjoy it. Same with the cars, I enjoy taking them apart and putting them back together... Learning how they work etc.

 

[GohanX]

I couldn't do just one system, but I have ditched a lot of the excess. Where I might have had 50+ games on a single system I now have a flash cart and 10 games. I used to have an entire bookshelf full of Neo games, now I just have a handful of my favorite games, a couple multicarts and some bootlegs. Stuff like that. I don't even look at the game stuff in terms of value, I look at it more like "is owning this worth the space it takes up?" I don't want a house full of crap I don't use.

 

[yagamikun]

I let go over half of my game library last year and haven't regretted it a single day. I still buy the occasional retro game here and there, but there is no "building my collection" at this point. I have everything classic I want, more or less, and have my PC for all modern day stuff and emu libraries along with an Analogue Pocket.

The vast majority of my game stuff is Neo & Arcade and NES/Famicom with a small collection of my favorite games for a hand full of other consoles.

Have I ever thought of letting go of the rest of it? Yes, but it would take a significant financial need for me to do so as I still avidly play and enjoy my classic games.

 

[city41]

Software emulation works good enough these days that I don't think most peeps even need a MiSTer.

The thing about the mister is there is no power down cycle. When you're done, just turn it off like an old console. It sounds very minor but it's probably my favorite thing about it.

 

[wyo]

Beyond the basic necessities I think many of us spend half our lives acquiring stuff and the other half trying to get rid of stuff, or we at least stop trying to accumulate even more stuff.

I have been steadily trimming my game collection for the past 5 years. Although I do still pick up the occasional thing here and there the trend is very much downwards. There is not a single item I've sold, given away, donated to charity or thrown in the trash that I regret parting with. I'd rather spend time and money on experiences like traveling, going to live events, hanging out with friends and family, etc than collecting things to admire on a shelf. That being said, I am still quite attached to my Neo Geo and Mega Drive collections and it's nice having cabs to host game nights.

 

[100proof]

I've held on to the hardware for the most part and sold off all my physical games. I did the emulation box thing for a while in the mid-to-late 2000s (and still tinker with new emulators and hacks as new things become available... retro achievements and the music mods for SNES games have been fun the last few years) but I found that I played a lot more when I had the actual devices connected to a TV. So yeah, flash carts and ODEs all the way down to avoid needless clutter but I intend to hold on the machines for the foreseeable future... especially now that they can all be reliably played on 4k TVs without significant syncing or input lag issues.