The Collector's Quest

The three of us all started as garbage men and set collectors but we're talking about how our collecting mindset and what we've chased after has changed over time.

Ever the CQ topic, we're talking about organizing game list data, how hard it is to do, defining criteria, and letting your database be flexible with your changing opinions. Is it me, or is just the concept of a simple defined list of things to collect something uniquely nuanced and difficult to our hobby?

We're talking about the ten NES games each of us would buy if we were starting over from zero and how much we would budget for them. No price limits, no compromises. We got a big insurance payout and we're each getting what we think are the best version of the best things. Only one of us chose a Battle Kid game. Guess which one!

We're just talking about cutting back on mindlessly hunting auctions and opening those packages for 5 seconds of dopamine and talking about how to enjoy collecting more... without just buying endless amounts of more stuff.

Straight from the metaverse of clickable episode titles, we're ranking some of the most collectible consoles based on the quality of their libraries, price of games, value proposition, and how cool they are to collect. What's the best console to collect? The one you like and want to of course. But what's REALLY the best console to collect?? The ones WE say are!

Guys, it's finally happening. The bubble is bursting! By that, we mean average prices across the board are at all time highs BUT there are some games that have seen significant decreases this year. We're talking about the market and making our trademark incorrect guesses for the future.

Me and Johnny are both big Sega CD fans and collectors so we're talking about the US Sega CD set! All the fancy hardware, the most expensive and interesting games, and of course Working Designs: the expensive little pink badge games you're required to own because people tell you to.

We're talking about the games the prevent people from completing their sets or even the games that prevent people from trying to collect a set to begin with. From bona fide checklist-ruiners like Stadium Events to fuzzier games in other sets, we're determining what's worth complaining about and what isn't.

what.

We're talking about games that are hard to emulate, an aspect that makes something both a challenge to preserve and more valuable to physically own in your collection. It's everything from strange controls like a 720° arcade cabinet to peripherals like Steel Battalion to super modern consoles like PS5.

We're talking about different archetypes of game collectors from investors to hoarders to plain old nostalgia gamers. Make sure to slot yourself into a single group and argue about details in the comments! I'm just kidding, we don't really have comments to argue in.

We're looking back at some of the earliest games we could find that were called special editions, collector's editions, or limited editions to see when games stopped being media to deliver joy and started being junk to put on shelves. The earliest collector's edition is actually an ill researched and hard to define thing, so we're focusing on the older stuff in this episode!

Game collecting is rough. We're all quitting! Not really, but we're spending the episode talking about some of the challenges or just bad aspects of the hobby, like I don't know, how it can take over your entire life, your finances, and all your space.

Does anyone remember the Wii U? People are out there spending $1000s for certain Wii U games. Some games have doubled in price since late 2021. SINCE LATE 2021. Since no one has talked about it in 4 years, we're talking about some of the rare and obscure collectible stuff on Wii U.

What will game companies to try to sell us to put on shelves once console physical media truly dies? Download codes with tchotchkes, some weird NFT thing, nothing at all? We're also talking about how companies like Konami are fleecing collectors in other collectibles with $1000 MSRP trading cards and wondering about super "high end" modern games and if we'll ever see them.

We're looking back at the year where many games doubled in price... again, continuing trends from 2020, best, worst, and shameful buys, best and worst trends, and probably more because this show is very long.

Nightmare On My Shelf by Johnny & Tyler

For the holiday season, we're talking about a bunch of games that came with pack-in toys, books, and novelties, the collectibility of these types of games on N64, and if there's a modern day equivalent to game collecting knick knacker in chief: Working Designs.

As a Hanukkah gift to the people desperate for any scrap of info from Wata games, they dropped the report of at least what sealed NES games they've graded. We're going through it to find any surprises and talking about split reactions to the pop report. Somehow, there are simultaneously tons of sealed NES games that will crash the market yet everything is also so rare it's all going to the Bitcoin...

For this year's Black Friday blowout we're focused on some interesting, popular, and historic complete in box games you can get for ten whole bucks! If you're only focused on the trendiest games, the best stuff may seem unaffordable so we're talking about some good, ultra-affordable stuff anyone can add to their collection.

We're talking about what the GRAILS are. Do people still overuse the term. Is it worth even saving up for them? Why don't we have the discipline to get them?

Happy Halloween! We're talking about collecting the history of survival horror from pre-Resident Evil obscure computer games, to the game that changed the genre forever in the 2000s, to RE1 itself!

Number 7 is so spooky you might pass out!! It's our annual Halloween game collecting episode, with some of our most obscure and interesting picks yet. Have you been waiting for the first episode where we talk about a Dragon 32/64 game? Because this is it!

We're talking with director and Sega collector Edward Payson about his upcoming film Rarity: Retro Game Collecting in The Modern Era! We're also picking 3 games we'd keep if we had to start our collections over, talking some Atari porn games, and mooooore.

It's Batman day! We're talking games based on Batman: The Animated Series aka The Adventures of Batman and Robin. A bunch of games with a same name that are different games, some have unappreciated collectability, and a couple games with rad music.