RANT: Collecting consoles and why you should not do it

Collecting consoles was a mistake. Never do it.

I must say you can never have too many video games but your can have too many consoles. Too many consoles = Too many wires.

When I was a kid I wanted to be like my heroes Stuttering Craig and Handsome Tom from Screwattack. I was 12 and I saw his video game collection I was sooo green with envy. The only difference? Craig is a game journalist who lives in a big house and can support himself.

But now I collected consoles. I collected a -

-GBA

-Playstation

-Gamecube

-Playstation 2

-NDS

-Nintendo Wii

-Playstation 3

-Microsoft Gateway computer

A boy could never be more happy. It was a simpler time. I had a nice set up. With a AIWA stereo system. DVD player, Consoles, Personal computer Flat screen, and more.

5 is a number happy in the human world. You can do 5 things a day and you can be happy.

Then my cousin had to move to China.

In return I had a

-Nintendo 64

-Nintendo entertainment system

-Super Nintendo

The N64 aged particularily well. But the Super Nintendo didn't. It was the least functional.

I came to neglect these consoles as I left them in my bedroom in which I never played games in anymore. My life became more hectic as the days went by. Plans of moving where going into gear.

I became incredibly stressed. I had to be responsible for games I didn't play. I had 300 of them. I was busy at college.

Then I was looking too myself. Wondering, thinking, "would my life be more simple like the good old days if I had less? "

I was heavy set on video games still. I was motivated to be a artist and game designer because of all this.

Sadly I gave away my SNES to my friend without my cousin's consent. He hated that. I gave it to a friend. I truly denied epic games.

I didn't want to change my life. I was rigid.

My life became more and more complex as I had trouble choosing the console to play int the front room.

Don't collect consoles unless its something truly special to you. I know people like to collect random garbage consoles like a Sega Saturn or Atari Jaguar but there are other better things this is the late 10's. Now a days technology is more powerful than ever. You can emulate old games on new systems. You don't even have to do it illegally as much as you used to. You can use a computer to do it. (personally I don't think its the same charm)

I live a busy complicated life. I become incredibly distracted by social media. Cleaning and cooking.

Nowdays I live in a tiny 2 bedroom apartment at a facility. My consoles are in the bedroom. My room mate is also a console hoarder. He keeps every console known to man but never touches them. He's just on his computer playing video games. Raging at FPS titles.

I feel like both of us where lead on by the media. We gave into the hype, the charm, the nostalgia, and gave it all we got until one day we both grew up and could only put all our eggs in one basket and survive.

So tl;dr, don't collect consoles unless you live in a 2 story rapper's house. Your life is too precious.

Currently I only own a PSP, 3DS, PS4, & a Switch. I only use my Switch these days.

Forgot to add the Nintendo mini's also.

I'm not reading that BS, sorry. I own 18 consoles and they're all hooked up and ready to go, 13 on a crt tv for the retro ones the rest on a hdtv.

@vfighter: oh then you must have a real nice living room then.

Well, I have a permanent shelf unit where all my consoles are, and the cables all run behind it, so no issues.

I do have few consoles in storage, but their cables are behind the unit too, so when I take them out the storage, I only need to plug in those cables and start playing.

@Alexander2cents: I live in an old farmhouse, there's a medium sized room behind the living room that I converted into my gameroom/weight room. The 13 consoles sit on an old (probably 1970's) 3 tiered entertainment stand (not sure if that's what it actually was called back then) all,g with my crt. All the cables sit behind it hidden. You don't need a ton of room for a setup like that.

That's why I never collect consoles. Too much storage space. I only collect things that have nostalgic value.

My gaming set-up usually limits me, otherwise I would keep more. But I never feel bad passing on/ trading older hardware.

Would appreciate if more platforms gave us backward comparability. It's why I have a habit of boxing up the software for a maybe; yet not the hardware. I get rid of the older software if/ and when decent ports/ faithful remakes come that fit my set-up.

Disgaea: Refine, Dragon's Crown Pro, and the latest CastleVania collections are good examples of this.

I would love to have more consoles.

Dreamcast, Saturn, PSP and WiiU are consoles I still want to add to my ever growing collection.

Reading part of your OP ... I think you have a mental problem more than too many consols ...

I collect Transformers and I don't feel bad if they are in storage or if I haven't transform them in a while ...

I have video games that I haven't played in a long time or that I still haven't played. So what ? One day I'll play them for sure.

You stress over simple stuff. You said it yourself, you are very stress by your life and so you feel guilty of having stuff.

You should talk to a Psy

Collectors all collect for different reasons, and it's up to the individual collector to determine what those reasons are.

It sounds to me at first you were going all in on everything and collecting out of envy, trying to be like the screw attack guys. Instead you need to find what interests you and go after that.

Remember it is healthy to downsize a collection, we all get a little over zealous from time to time.

I was in a similar situation myself. I was collecting anything and everything and it was getting stressful on space, money, and just the thought of ever playing all my stuff.

I ended up selling my original xbox, ps vita, DS, Gamecube, Sega CD, Sega 32x, and Sega Saturn; along with some games for each.

I'm currently thinking about selling my Dreamcast, and giving my Wii away.

I still own PS1-4, Retron 5, Sega Genesis, Dreamcast, Switch, N64, and a Wii.

I use the Retron 5 for an obscure game I want to play on a cart from time to time, but everything else I genuinely have a connection to either from growing up with it or having fun memories of playing with friends. The stuff I sold.....I had no feelings for.

So my reason for collecting is strongly tied to previous good times/growing up.

@omegamaster: What things do you collect?

@clefdefa: ok you got me I'm a mental case.

But at least toy robots don't have 30 wires connected to them.

Games where never the problem. Unless they are exclusive.

@Alexander2cents:

I could stress over the fact they are just plastic and collect dust more than anything else. But I like those I have, they are a big part of my childhood in the 80's.

Just like you seem to hate with a passion cables and have too much games and you feel pressure to play all those cool games that comes out but you don't have the time to keep up and it just add stress for nothing.

I was a little bit like that for a short while. Early Xbox360 I was playing everything that came out. I felt pressure, I felt I didn't enjoy any games because a lot of those games aren't my style but hey they are the new shiny shit and they get great score everywhere. It wasn't healthy for me.

You have to let go.

I have 6 consols hook up to my tv right now. It is a mess of cable, but I tied them with tiewrap which help a lot. But I just enjoy those consol. The other day I dust out my PS3 to play some match of Unreal Tournament 3. I could've played MK11 to stay as good as everyone else or unlock more shit in the krypt but hey whatever.

@Alexander2cents: I sometimes collect retro video games that I once played on a demo as a kid.

The types of genres I buy are JRPG's which is quite expensive considering the games I want is Persona games on the PSP and 3DS. Those games are priced £55+ in the UK. I would also like to play Persona 4 Golden, but don't own a PS Vita and am not considering it.

@Alexander2cents: Mate I guarantee ya there are people older then you that still collect consoles, ones with life, kids, and responsibilities. It all depends on where you want your life to go and what you want in life.

I have a collection of nintendo consoles stored in boxes, i dont know why I buy them, maybe habit due to collecting all these years but anyway I buy nintendo console each gen but I never really used them. I dont game on nintendo. Its a bad habit.