Your Collecting Standards

[kgenthe]

If the price is right, I always go for complete.

But to be honest, if the game is good, I'll settle for anything. I want to play the game, not look at its packaging

[Why-Disciple]

I'm not rich so I don't buy everything CIB. I try for boxed at least for Gen games but I'm okay if it's loose. SCD games I won't buy without box/manual though.

[SpaceFlea]

I'm collecting every game for every system 3rd-6th gen (primarily US and JP with a few EU sets in there too for shiggles). And I want them all CIB and as mint as possible. FUN TIMES!

My obsession knows no bounds...

[QuickSciFi]

^That's quite a feat. Congrats.

MD/32X/SMS - CIB only if I am going to pay money for it
For other cart based systems I am fine with even loose carts.

CDs and DVDs must have absolutely no scratches, mint, like new... singe scratch is a deal breaker for me aswell as pinholes.

Seems like me. What are pinholes?

[Melf]

I want all my games to have box and manual. I'm not too worried about stickers on carts or anything, so long as they work. They must be complete though. I'm a stickler for that.

[mick_aka]

As I've got older I've become a lot more picky about the condition and release type of any game I get, I guess now I can afford to be like that.

Budget re-releases do not exist in my house, and with very few exceptions everything is boxed and complete.

[Leathco]

For me, it doesn't really matter. Most of my games are loose, some even have severe label damage (I've reprinted labels for those, so they look original unless you look close). If I happen upon a cheap boxed game (like NES) I pick it up, but I don't specifically look for boxed or mint games.

I DO have a larger number of boxed Gen titles than any other system, prolly due to the fact that the Genesis had nice plastic cases (until late in its life when it switched to cardboard, WHY???)

[Nuxius]

CIB, unless it's some rare/popular game with ridiculously high prices (that I don't want to pay) and I want to play it. Then I'll go with whatever I can get for cheapest (as long as it works, of course).

[edojapan76]

My standards for collecting games are much like my standards for woman. I HAVE NONE!


I prefer CIB for everything that isn't Nintendo. To much of a pain in the ass & the prices are way too high. But I hate damaged labels on anything.

[David J.]

Cart based systems - loose is fine depending on the game; a fighting game I want the manual at least, or the few complex games I want them too. Other than that... it really isn't too much of a deal breaker. But a carts aren't in good condition. I am going to remdy that someday.

CD based systems - complete only. I had a few incomplete games, but now I am all complete.

I only really collect Sega though.

[OldSchool]

Cart Only - Good to Mint condition works... my main concern has always been the pin connectors... I've accepted a couple dirty carts that needed some cleaning, but nothing too major. I have a few with labels that are in bad shape but the pins are near perfect like the rest of my collection. (I think CIB prices are inane... nuff said.)

PS1/2 - prefer having the case and manual, but there are a few that I let slide... I plan on having all of them CIB at some point though (won't be too expensive to do that) I have a lot that are used and full of scratches. I couldn't have collected what I collected in such a short time if I tried to go the new route... plus, the cost would have been very different.

PC/PS3/Wii/360/PSP - CIB, I've bought some that were used, for my PS3/360 I won't accept anything less than perfect, for the Wii it wasn't that big of a deal to let a couple have minor scratches on them (they were cheap). PSP games will all be new. PC are usually new, but I've grabbed a decent amount used in fair to excellent condition.

[ApolloBoy]

For carts, it depends on what kind of box the game came in. For most carts, I'm OK with them being loose so long as they're in good condition. If the label's thrashed then I'll pass up on it. But for carts that came in plastic cases like Genesis/MD and non-Japanese SMS games, I almost never buy them loose unless it's a game I'm really looking for. The manual is a bit important, but it's something I won't fuss about if it's not there.

Discs have to be CIB though, loose discs are always real scratched up and take a bit of cleaning to get working in my experience.

What are pinholes?

These...

[QuickSciFi]

^Oh I see. Yeah, that should definitely be a deal breaker. In addition to that, I look for cracks around the middle hole of the disk.

[cleeg]

Just collecting for the 32X / MD / MCD at the moment, and I like CIB but I'm not too fussed about hang tabs. I like to collect PAL because that's where I'm from and it's what I had as a kid, but if it runs badly in 60Hz I get a cart only NTSC copy to play with.

If it's a game I want to try and think I'll like I just get a cart copy. My overall aim is to have the best examples of each genre, and if I get another one in the same category it has to have a detail to make it stand out. eg I initially was only going to own SSFII as the beat em up showcase, but then heard about Yu Yu Hakusho and had to have it: CIB of course.

There's a lot of crap in the library, and I need some kind of filter or I'd just get them all!

[Zz Badnusty]

Interesting topic. It gives some perspective to read other collectors' view of quality/condition.

My standards vary depending upon a number of factors including: the amount of extra cast in my wallet, how much I want the game, and how likely it may be to find a better condition copy.

CIB is mandatory for disc based games. Not having a case really reflects upon how the previous owner valued and cared for the game.
Spine cards are a nice bonus with imports, but not something I particularly look for. And again, it reflects upon the previous owner. If someone cared enough to keep the spine card in good condition you can be pretty certain the manual and disc have been handled with care.
On the discs themselves, I'll settle for one or two light hairline marks, but serious scratches, polishing marks, or pin holes are deal-breakers.
Though I did settle for a polished Harmful Park since it was a fraction of a mint copy!

For Sega cartridge and card games CIB is mandatory. I've made a few exceptions with Game Gear games just because they were dirt cheap and/or came in a bundle.
Pretty much any game that originally came in a nice hard-case I would only settle for CIB good clean condition. Like PC-Engine games and Namco Famicom games, and of course all disc based games. Games that came with extra materials like the keypad overlays for 5200 games, or screen overlays for Vectrex game, or RPGs with maps, etc, all have to be CIB.

Cardboard box games are where my standards are on a case by case basis. I won't buy anything completely ratty and falling apart unless it is dirt cheap and the cart still looks to be in very good condition. But usually if the box is trashed then the cart wasn't taken care of. And do I really want to risk putting a funky cart in my console? No.
My main concern in collecting games is the accumulation of a choice library of titles. Packaging is part of the appreciation of the game design. Having the manual to peruse, as well as the box art and marketing descriptions all help to set the mood when gaming. With all that said, the act of opening and handling old cardboard boxes (particularly Famicom games) takes a significant toll on their longterm durability. So in that consideration I am not so worried about buying incomplete NES or FC games. I somewhat regret the loose SNES and SFC games I've purchased and am now keeping the lookout for bargains on complete versions. Complete very-good condition Famicom games are just much less common so I'll settle for cart only. For some reason I've always been particular about N64 games and most of my N64 collection is mint in box with shrinkwrap only slit at one end to open the box. Probably because I was the original owner of most of the games and that set the precedent for the rest of the collection, it is also probably because those games and packaging are the end of an era (at least for consoles, since really GBA ended the cart and cardboard box era)

Things like stickers and writing on a game are almost always signs that the game wasn't taken care of, but in a few instances I really like the traces of the previous owner. In the Archive profession this is known as provenance, or the history of the ownership of the item and the paths it took to come into your belonging. Like in some import games I have neatly scribed Japanese characters in the notes section of an otherwise mint manual. That's rad! And I have some mint Genesis games with rental store stickers from like Manitoba Canada, or some place in the middle of Iowa, or maybe Brooklyn ~ where ever, the game wasn't popular there or the place didn't do much business because here I am buying it on ebay in mint condition 15 years later! Or like my copy of McDonalds Treasure Land Adventure which has some little kid's name neatly written on the back of the cart. Everything is in mint condition so the kid must have never touched it, but to me it adds something to my collection to have a trace of the previous owners.