Having just purchased a copy of Grabbed by the Ghoulies for some Halloween goofing, I’m reflecting on my small, odd, and not very representational collection of cartridges and discs.
Do you still collect these artefacts? Have you been forced to part with some? Have precious favourites? How much would you say your collection represents your taste? Be as self-indulgent as you like. I’m about to be:
2017 was a real low point for me financially. I had to sell my TV, my American P-Bass, amps and almost all my games just to scrape by that summer. Gitaroo Man was probably the most valuable one and the biggest regret. Or was it Final Fantasy VI? Or Chrono Trigger? Ugh. I kept my original copy of Super Mario 64 because it’s my favourite and Earthbound because even though it was worth a good chunk of $$$ it’s just too precious (I bought that copy on eBay in high school, I would never marker a game like that, certainly not on the front). Mario Paint (which the owner of the last studio I worked for lent me and I’ve not returned) was also spared because it wasn’t worth much (even with the mouse which I have) and hey, it’s Mario fuckin’ Paint. Without a SNES right now, I’ve never played this particular cartridge. Kinda interested to see what he has on there…
Soon after the purge, at the last house I lived at (8 people, don’t miss it) one of the departing roommates was rummaging through their stuff and pulled out an N64 in one of those big, unwieldy plastic boxes with the pull-out storage bin (I had the same monstrosity as a kid) and I sensed an opportunity. They seemed doubtful about ever using it/going to the effort of selling it. Peeking round the hallway I exclaimed, “N64! Niiiiiice. What games ya got there?” Having clearly established my excitement, they asked if I wanted it. Yes, duh, thank you. It came with Diddy Kong Racing (love it), Goldeneye (love it) and Donkey Kong 64 (groan (the N64 is Jungle Green)).
Sin & Punishment: Star Successor was a game I sold off but purchased another copy of in 2018 because I love it so much. Soon after, I was killing time at a GameStop and Elebits was $1.99 so what the heck why not (the Wii was the only console I had aside from the N64 for a while (it’s packed with Virtual Console games from my pre-emulation days (Rondo of Blood!). I’ve played about 15 minutes of Elebits. I’ll give it another shot sometime.
In 2019, for my birthday, a friend gave me WCW/nWo Revenge (yessss!), Banjo-Tooie (ok, whatever), Ridge Racer 64 (fine, not the best RR by any stretch), Madden 2001 (haven’t touched it) and Ken Griffey Jr.'s Slugfest (haven’t touched it).
The 360 games were purchased specifically for a long night with friends called “Trashterpiece Theatre”. Disappointingly, Blood on the Sand is a pretty boring, formulaic cover shooter. Stranglehold owns though, despite its wildly uneven level designs/challenges. And we all know Mr. Kane and Mr. Lynch (this is my second copy after the 2017 purge).
Oh and finally, I picked up Dragon Ball (1988) for the Famicom during my 2018 trip to Japan. I set aside a little money just for pre-Z Dragon Ball stuff, the older the better, because I love pre-Z Dragon Ball stuff.
It’s not my plan to start building another collection anytime soon. Emulation meets most of my needs, but it’s a case-by-case basis. My next acquisition will be Demon’s Souls after I convince my parents they don’t need the (backwards compatible!) PS3 that my bother and I convinced them would be better than a conventional Blu-ray player years ago.
