From loose to complete and beyond. What's your practice?

[thisIsLoneWolf]

When I first got started with our beloved system, I'd enjoy finding games in the wild. Sure most of what I'd find was loose, but as a gamer, I was fine with that. Especially since loose games tend to cost less. This was a great way to enjoy many games, and I made many great gaming memories.

As time went on, it seemed more games were making their way to me, with their cases and manuals intact. These really do look nice on a shelf too. For some games, the manual can be quite helpful. For others, perhaps more so a novelty. Then there's all the maps and other inserts, which can potentially add value to the game playing experience.

By this time, already a big fan of this stuff, at the right opportunity, I was able to replace some of my favorite titles with complete, more specifically, brand new versions. Ultimately, I just ended up keeping them minty fresh, while I still enjoyed playing what was open.

With plenty of hard work, dedication, and time, I've been fortunate to build up quite an enjoyable collection of this cool stuff. I still play favorite titles, but I have less time these days, though the number of brand new titles is much larger. They do look great on a shelf though.

So to bring it back to where I started, what do you guys prefer?
I can definitely respect the practicality of loose games. They're usually easier to find, and can be more affordable. Do many of you guys prefer to hunt down the complete copy with case and manual, even if it adds more cost? Or maybe some of you have taken it further still. I'd like to hear you're personal preferences.

[slinkyturd]

I prefer a complete (open) copy. Couldn't care less for cardboard. Just want a complete set of open TG16 hueys CIC. I'm not above buying looseys. I'm a gamer first.

[Medic_wheat]

At the moment what ever is cheapest.


Problem is that only seems to apply to cartridge and hubcards to a lesser extent.


Do CD,DVD games I alway try with a passion to get them complete.

Some games like those found long box style simply look BEST lines up and complete. And so far at lest finding downer cases to replace the odd door or worse case entire thing are easy enough to find when buy the cheap sports game.


Oddly replacing Ps1 and Dreamcast cases especially those that hold more then one or even four CDs are hardest.  I was stupid and removed all of my PS one games at one point in like 2003 from the CD and into a mini CD wallet. Luckily I kept all the books and inserts to the case. What can I say I was active military and space was not something I had much of.

Now for the TG-16 oddly 92% of my stuff is in case. Majority of the cases look like buffalo bill sprayed them with the hose before rubbing lotion on them to gut into a skin tight body suit and hardly contain the games without the use of pixie dust and happy thoughts.


I have a stack of loose hu cards but now that I have a Everdrive I can site back and be even SLOWER on what I buy so that I can throw a few more bucks into more complete games.


Some stuff can look fine loose. Some stuff looks better and honestly needs better protection even if not original.


My NES stuff that is in storage all have but ices with printed repro covers. I really like these cases and plan to get some for my SNES and few Genesis stuff that is loose (mostly found in the wild). Pretty much everything cartrdge I will get bit idea for. The only real down side to using but boxes is they look so uniform that it is hard for me to want to use the old universals game cases ever again.  But they certainly are pricy and eat up more space then a bunch of loose NES, SNES, and N64 games would.  The up side is it really forces me to keep the games down to the gems and personal favorites. Sadly my list for NES games I want in my library still exceeds 200 games and I only have maybe 100 of them so far.  Of course that is because I have yet to get the more expensive games.  But eh. That's why building your gaming library/room isn't done in a month with a few quick eBay buys.  You have to work at it to keep things organized well maintained and with in your budget.

[Medic_wheat]

Oh god auto correct.  Fucking shit


Okay I am referring to Bit Boxes when referring to my NES to N64 games. Sigh.

[Medic_wheat]

I had also bought I think 60? What ever the limit was for a single order off Nibtendos website for DS cases with the GBA slot in 2009. I did this with the intent of printing covers for my loose GBA games. I have yet to do this or even collect for the GBA apart from the small hand full of games I have as these boxes are at my parents.


I had inteded to buy another set and keep it at or around 100 even thinking that would be the uppermost of GBA games I would want (have yet to even make a list mind you) but I forgot about it and now Nintendo does not make/sale these cases any longer.

I see batches still for sale on eBay and Amazon but am always afraid to buy as there seem to be bootlegs of these that are very hard to tell apart until you buy and attempt to put a GBA game in the slot.

[HailingTheThings]

...finding downer cases... ...to replace the odd door...

You want this:



To replace this:

   ?

[thisIsLoneWolf]

  That was good.
You gotta love auto correct.

Keep those replies coming. I great hearing from everyone.

[thisIsLoneWolf]

I mean it's great. 

[Medic_wheat]

You nailed it on the head hailing.


Because!

I want a new drug - one that won't make me sick,
One that won't make me crash my car, or make me feel three feet thick.
I want a new drug - one that won't hurt my head,
One that won't make my mouth too dry, or make my eyes too red.

[cr8zykuban0]

at first, i was like you, i would pickup whatever i could get my hands on

as time passed, i started to get a fetish for boxed and complete games! the rest is history

When it comes to boxed games, i always try to find the best deal on them. same can be said for the turbo as i've been picking up a lot of cib games but only if i can find them for a good price which i've been pretty lucky with.

[HailingTheThings]

You nailed it on the head hailing.


Because!

I want a new drug - one that won't make me sick,
One that won't make me crash my car, or make me feel three feet thick.
I want a new drug - one that won't hurt my head,
One that won't make my mouth too dry, or make my eyes too red.

HUEY LEWIS & THE NEWS... cow ape shit.

[HailingTheThings]

cow ape shit.

Fucking auto correct!

I meant how appropriate.

:3

[ClodBusted]

Oh you autocorrect guys are adorable :3

For Nintendo cartridges, I don't give a ____ about cardboard packaging.
Everything else that comes in a plastic box needs that box. Be it CD/DVD games, DS cards or Hucards.

I once toyed with the idea of purchasing plastic repro boxes for my SNES and N64 games, but then abandoned that thought.

[o.pwuaioc]

For Turbo games, I like em in the case with manual and preferably the dust sleeve and styrofoam, but I'm not insistent on those last two items. I don't even bother with cardboard at all.

In fact, the only cardboard I have in my collection I got by chance. A couple of boxed Lynx games came with the system I have. I have a boxed 2600 game that was given to me for free (and is really easy to obtain these days brand new), and shortly I'll be getting a bunch of Colecovision homebrews that don't come any way except with the box.

I also like my Sega games to be in plastic, and I want to print out some custom covers for shells that house games that originally came with cardboard. DS, PSP, and all disc games I only get with their original cases. Sometimes with older games, especially the Genesis and Master System, I don't mind not having a manual, but not having one for CD-based games would drive me nuts.

[majors]

I'm all in for loose cards.

/all-in-hu.jpg

I love stacks of loose HuCards. Other systems, being non obey, I just don't care one way or the other...I have stacks of carts and use CD binders for discs(binders not pictured). Some times I'll use a empty CD case for games I only have few loose discs for said console that do not fill up a binder.

/IMG_20141110_214903.jpg

[NecroPhile]

It's all about the price.  Ideally they'd all be bought new/sealed, but I won't pay big bucks for cellophane and instead settle for varying levels of less completeness:

Turbobs:  they generally have to the game, case, and manual.  Stuff like spine cards and boxes are nice but not required, and I'd settle for even a loosey if it's prohibitively expensive to get a more complete copy.

PC-FX:  ditto, though you rarely see 'em as loose anyway.

PSP:  it's not OBEY, so I give less of a shit.  They all need a home, but I'm okay if they don't have the manual or are in replacement cases (made by me); the Ys games were an exception, though, as those had to be complete and the fancy versions for the three from xseed.

[xcrement5x]

Anything that originally came in cardboard I am normally pretty happy with it loose.  That means pretty much any Nintendo cart stuff. 

If it came in a nice plastic case though I like to have them, which might be one reason I have such a hardon for Sega stuff. 

In general I'm fine with loosies as long as it works, but prefer complete if possible.

[GoldenWheels]

Definitely prefer the CIC for TG16. I don't actually CARE about the case itself that much, it just makes storage and identification so much easier.

Cartridge systems, I am fine with just a loose cart with a nice end label. I actually wish some systems weren't most commonly found with hard cases (looking mostly at you SMS) because I don't actually want to pay more in that case.

[pulstar]

Generally when I get a game I'd prefer it to be with a case and manual. The cardboard outer sleeves are a nice addition, but not something I'd seek out to be honest. Everything else is the same, even the crap with cardboard only outer boxes (I'm looking at you Nintendo consoles).

I do have some loose games, but these have all (as far as I remember) come from job lots and bundles.

[bob]

i like bob to be CIC.  except later releases that came in tray...i only want hu.
nes and sms/genny i only want cart.

[DeshDildo]

My requirments

Nintendo Carts - Loose is fine
Sega Carts - COMPLETE!  Who the hell throws away the nice plastic clam shells?
TG16/PCE - I prefer CIC but I have a bunch of loose ones in modified CD cases with Sparky labels
Anything disc based I prefer complete but I have a few Cube titles that are missing the manual.

[reson8er]

What I really try to go for is Case, Instructions, and Game in good or better quality. I personally try to avoid loosies since I tend to misplace them or forget about em.

For the case: I  keep types together so having the games case is needed/wanted for organizing and storing and I like how they look and generally love game cover art.

Instructions: Back when instructions in games were actually necessary, its almost a must to have the instructions. Sure you can find reprints of em online and what not, but If at all possible I try to get the original instructions. Make for great toilet reading as well.

Turbo-Boxes: I've never kept any turbo boxes except the Y's I&II box since I repurchased that much later from TTI and used it to store the map.  To me Turbo boxes were always meant to be discarded since the game cases were designed as CD Clamshells and meant to be stored as such. I always thought of the box as a way to secure shelf space at retail.

[HailingTheThings]

I'm all in for loose cards.

No.

Buy these:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/25-Pack-HuCard-Sleeves-for-TurboGrafx-16-TurboDuo-PC-Engine-Games-/320958180523?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4aba992cab

Loose HuCARDs deserve better.

[Phase]

+1 get some sleeves dude 

Since I've been making custom cases I've gotten use to trying to find good condition manuals + games. So will probably stick with that now.
Here is a shot of 90% of my TG games on a shelf so far http://www.ektophase.com/TG16/TG16Shelf_02.jpg

My original game boxes (about 15 games) from the early 90s I cut up and put the covers on my wall for some reason, still have most of the cut outs... wish I would have kept them nice and complete now obviously.

[Medic_wheat]

+1 get some sleeves dude 

Since I've been making custom cases I've gotten use to trying to find good condition manuals + games. So will probably stick with that now.
Here is a shot of 90% of my TG games on a shelf so far http://www.ektophase.com/TG16/TG16Shelf_02.jpg

My original game boxes (about 15 games) from the early 90s I cut up and put the covers on my wall for some reason, still have most of the cut outs... wish I would have kept them nice and complete now obviously.

What do you use for those plastic cases for the hu cards?

[Phase]

If you go to page three of the tcp thread http://www.thecoverproject.net/forums/index.php?topic=5101.0
I show some of the options for holding the hucards, there is plenty of room for other options but I've been just keeping them in the stock cd sleeve http://www.ektophase.com/TG16/turbografx_8dp_09.jpg and thats been working really slick imo.

Because the default cd sleeves are too tight imo for discs and manuals I did buy some better sleeves that work fine since then, but I've never been a fan of putting cds in sleeves so I will probably get some clam shells for cds in the future. Other ideas I've thought about are some of those nickel size Velcro patches or adhesive clips which one guy was using in the dvd cases for his hucards.

[esteban]

This is how you store loose HuCARDs:




Images recycled: 58 times

[Bake]

I prefer cic, although when I was a kid (been playing turbo since '89) I took all my hucards out of the jewel cases. I guess I liked that it took up less space. Today, I have no idea where the cases went- probably the dump. I know- it actually still bugs me today, years later. So I recently made custom cases out of cd jewel cases. I broke the center teeth out, used small velcro dimes to keep the hucards in place. Using a photoshop template, I printed out rear inserts, which also have end labels on each side. The end labels even look like the later spine stickers (not the orange ones). For games without manuals, I printed out image of the manual and placed it in the front slot of the case. It was a bit of work considering all of my hucards were loose. But now they all have cases. This is my long winded way of saying I try to buy games in cases now- it's easier to keep track of them and looks nicer. I don't care about the boxes all that much.

[SuperGrafx]

Brand new/sealed whenever possible.

IF not, then Complete and mint.

[johnnykonami]

I try for sealed if possible to get for a reasonable price still, but I just like to have the manual and case and everything in good condition.  I will never bother collecting outer boxes or spine cards.