I know there are nes collector sacttered throught many sites but it seems like most of the hardest core collectors are here...I was wondering how many have a complete licensed set, unlicensed set, pal set, loose, complete ..what your missing to complete a set and the number one wanted item...

I have all the licensed games...all complete with the exception of chubby cherub which I need the box and little samson and stadium events i need the manual...I also need a replacement for shadow of the ninja and a loopz manual..Ive misplaced them and have no idea where to find them...this also happened to me with a nigel mansell cart.

unlicensed I still need a complete myriad....i also do not own any of the three paninesian cart which I still have no intrest in owning at this time.

the number one item on my wanted list is a boxed beeshu gizmo controller. second would be a boxed hyperstick.

Well, I saw your collection pics on RF, and did a double-take when I saw that Stadium Events box up there. It just seemed so odd to see it treated like just another game filed with the others instead of in some glorified position - and not even a box protector for the poor thing. Congrats, though.

As for me, I'm at 513 CIB, and I only collect for NTSC right now and don't include (nor have any interest in) Sachens.

And as it just so happens, a CIB Stadium Events is my #1 want. Sure, there are other more pricey holy grails, but SE is the #1 primo game that cannot be discounted in any way. It's licensed, had an official retail release in the US, etc. No excuses: if you want to say you've got a complete US set CIB, you've gotta have that baby!

Well, its come up enough times that probably everyone's tired of my story but I'm going for a sealed set and have about 25 to go. Unfortunately its starting to get hard to find stuff I need and I'm actually starting to lose some interest for the first time because of it. I kind of just want to stop collecting but its kind of ingrained in me as I've collected one thing or another since I was about ten. I might just complete the rest of the library with CIB copies or otherwise just move on to sealed snes (but I don't want to start spending those kinds of dollars again) or maybe sealed gameboy (although there's not really enough on the market, takes too much patience even for me). So I'm not really sure what I will collect now, if anything, going forward.

I've taken a slightly different approach to collecting than perhaps most people. I've never really tried for completing my NTSC collection outright, simply because there were always other items I wanted to get, such as certain PAL games, Asian games, signs, accessories, variations, other items of interest, etc. In fact, my NTSC set has always taken a back seat to my PAL collecting, where I only buy CIB. I've intentionally taken my time on filling in those holes to prevent burnout and keep something to hope for. I hate buying 1 game at a time on ebay just to get a box, so I tend to steer more towards trades. The biggest thing that keeps me collecting is that I've always kept something out there to long for, such as the "big 7" -- until recently, I needed all of the big 7 (SE, Myriad, Caltron, Cheetahmen II, and the 3 Panesians). Now I only need 6 of the big 7, and I plan on only acquiring 1 or 2 per year (if that). But this was by choice, since all of them have been obtainable if you simply want to spend the cash. I purchased QB Bills collection a while ago to search for variations, and turned down the big 7, cart-only (a very good price too). I told myself that if I was ever to invest in those 7 at the prices they go for, that they would be in mint condition. Looking at my NES collection, one might think I'd already have a complete NTSC set, but the truth is I still need around 80 boxes and 40 manuals and I'm in no real hurry to fill those (sure, I'd like to have them, but I'm not driven to really hunt them down outright). Add in variations, and I'd say I still need 400-500 more items (carts, boxes and manuals) to come partially close to completing my NTSC set.

As for PAL, I'm getting pretty close to having a complete set. I'm not exactly sure how many I need, but I've got 1 of just about every title released outside the US (not just PAL-only).

The collection I most want to complete is HES. I'm down to only needing a few more to having 1 of each in that set, all CIB.

My sealed collection has always taken a back seat, but I'm edging in on 300 games, or 40%.

-Dain

I think that's a great approach, but the one thing I would worry about there is the price of those big 7 going up while you wait to acquire them... is that not a concern for you?

Well I have a full NTSC set, a full Sachen set, and all the test stuff but 2 carts. I am working on a few goals right now. First my HES collection is what I am working on the most right now. Then I am also trying to CIB the rest of my games. I need about 200 boxes and around 175 manuals or so. Maybe a little less or more, haven't really counted them. I have put variant collecting on hold for now and am slowly starting a CIB PAL collection. I have a long way to go PAL wise though, I have about 25-30 CIB games and maybe 20 more that are cart only, mainly PAL exclusives. I just finished up my main goal this week which was getting all the black version Color Dream games, such a hard task, took me like 2.5 years to finally get them all. I am still trying to figure out how crazy I want to go with varaints (tm, made in japan, seals.....) I know I want to do 5 screws for sure and all the major labels differences, but I am a bit unsure on the really minor ones. Who needs 12 copies of Zelda or Golf? I have stopped going after pirates for now also, I have about 40 or so of them and I have kinda lost a bit of interest in them. I do plan to collect accessories and signs also, but need my own house to do that. I really should slow do collecting till I can save about 20k to put down on a house.

I have also thought about doing N64 and SNES, but just not sure if I have the time or energy to learn all the necessary info to collect them. I would do N64 first simply cause the market is very low on it right now and there isn't that many games to be honest.
~~NGD

I have been working on completing the NTSC stuff for along time. I want them all CIB and as close to MINT as I can. It is in going back to mint everything up that has made me discover so many variations. For now I have just been piling up the variations I find to think about what to do with them later. Was very happy to finally complete my Nintendo Fun Club collection yesterday, already had the Nintendo Powers. I love all the magazines, books, strategy guide stuff I can find and usually buy lots to just get one book or something I don't have. I never threw out any of that stuff when I was a kid so I have a lot of old stuff which helps.

As for right now the NTSC set has been my main focus but, including the big 7 and variations, I only need parts and pieces to 15 more to have them all CIB. As you can imagine this is tough and I haven't added anything in awhile to narrow that down. Hope to win the Sealed Cheetahmen II on eBay this week to take one out. In the mean time I have been working on my CIB Sachen set, buying alot from Robb Web in the UK. Also working on all the Color Dreams/Wisdom Tree/Bunch Games variations. Thanks to Adame2 for the large lot I bought from him I am down to only needing 12 more parts/pieces to have all known variations CIB. Still hunting for that blue Spiritual Warfare... I have a feeling Jason and I are going to get into a war over that one. Also picking up PAL exclusives CIB.

That's where I stand to date...

as far as the n64 stuff you guys mentioned now is a good time to go after complete and sealed stuff...I just started after a complete 64 collection and have it about 75 percent complete in the matter of six months..sealed stuff seems to be plentiful. I actually picked up batman behond, razor free style scooter, nfl blitz special add and rat attack for a few dollars. Best thing between buying and selling the dupes ive probally only spent 3 to 400.00 dollars...

i actually was thinking about starting collecting n64 games. think i will finish with my nes first though.

what are some of the rare n64 games?

I started collecting when i was almost 18 and have been doing it since. Just turned 21 yesterday and I still need 7 NES Games for a Complete US Ntsc Set.

Bubble Bath Babes
Peek a Boo Poker
Myriad
Cheetahmen 2
Ultimate Air Combat
RC Pro Am 2
Hillsafr

As far as CIB goes i plan to get them all CIB after i get them all cart only. I was forunate enough to get some incredible deals on a lot of the rare Cibs so completeing the CIB set wont be too hard considering i have most of the rares already cib. Cib games i already have are bonks adventure, snow brothers, caltron 6 in 1, hot slots, flintsones 2, Bubble bobble 2, blackjack, secret scout, persterminator, mighty final fight, contra force, mission cobra, dusty diamonds softball, volleyball, might and magic, sqoon, clu clu land, action 52, all the mega mans, little samson, marios time machine, mermaids of atlantis, fire n ice, Dk jr. math, faria, and about 200 other CIB Games. I plan to buy the next CIB Myriad that hits ebay with my tax return check lol. So aside from getting the box and manual for my stadium events and getting a box for chubby cherub, the option for getting everything CIB is gonna be a little easier considering i have most of the rares already CIB. :-)

Nice! Good call on trying to get the next myriad - I think picking up the top games is only going to get more painful cash-wise over time, especially CIB. Seems like everyone is trying to collect CIB now - maybe its just me but it seems like things are trending that way?

I have been collecting N64 and NES simeltaneously now for a while. N64 is VERY easy to collect for right now. There are only 296 releases and NONE are that hard to find and nobody seems to care too much about N64 right now. The rarest game is International Superstar Soccer 2000 which is I have a complete copy of. It's only worth maybe 15-20 bucks because it's a sports title and nobody cares about N64 now. Other hard to find games are Clayfighter Sculptor's Cut, Stunt Racer, BattleZone, and a few others. If you've been thinking about collecting n64, now is the time to do it.

Ilooked at our local game stores for hillsfar and air combat but they didnt have them...as far as the Myriad thats the last one i need to..I see a bidding war a brewing LOL

I've been collecting for 6 or 7 months now. I'm closing in on 400 NES games. My immediate goal is to finish my loose US NES set and move on to loose SNES and boxed N64 games. I'd say overall that I have close to 800 games across all platforms right now.

Locally, I've been finding that the NES market is drying up. I haven't seen many games in the last two months at pawn shops/thrift stores. Hopefully things pick up soon and revitalize the thrill of the hunt!

I've been collecting for all systems for about three years now, with NES as my main collection.

For the last six months I've been wondering about quit collecting for all systems except NES - and this weekend I've finally made the decision, and from now on I'll only collect CIB Nintendo games with focus on NES.

About NES collecting; I collect both loose and CIBs but think I'll focus more and more on CIBs.
My first goal is to get a complete CIB collection of PAL-B/SCN,
and then I'll move on to other PAL-B and PAL-A regions and US games.

I also collect boxed systems, and will try to get all box variations for NES - I'm only at six now...

I admire your discipline Xev, I can't resist a good deal for a different system, I own stupid amounts of SNES, Genesis, and 2600 that I just happened upon and couldn't resist. It is a big sink of money that I could be putting into NES games...BTW How many box variants do you expect to find? I know there's quite a few but ballpark? Maybe as many as 20? I'm sure many more if you include all the pan-american...

Yeah, It's damn tough trying to collect for different systems like you say. Instead of having 1 great collection I've got about 5 smaller ones.

Yea i agree with ya there too, if i didnt waste all this money on genny, SNES, and Turbografx stuff i would have easly had enough cash to buy the last nes games i needed for a complete collection lol.

I have always wondered why you are going for a sealed set. It is just because no one else has? Don't get me wrong I am impressed but I am just not a fan of sealed games.

Other people have gone for it and are close.

I'm going for a set because I like NES and I wanted them sealed because as a collector I like really mint condition stuff. It's pretty much that simple. As a gamer I have some loose favorites.

That's cool. I still think you are cray though.

Yeah, probably, lol, at least from a time and patience perspective. From a money perspective honestly I think sealed games are cheap in a lot of cases (not all). Many titles you can buy for not much more than a ragtag, dogeared, creased-up complete.

I have found that trying to find certain sealed games is rather fun. Can't always afford them but fun to see them none the less and especially when you get to hold them in your hands There's something about the perfection of sealed games.....

that's just it... you can get the same game mint and untouched for the same price sometimes. I paid $51 for my sealed panic restaurant, for example, in widely advertised auction. Same price I see completes going for.

But let's put sealed games aside because people tend to have strong opinions about that.... super mint flawless 100% completes with warranty card, etc etc vs. beat up dogeared 'completes' that have the box, book and manual but are missing a map or whatever - there should be way more of a price difference in my opinion. With prices the way they are right now, I don't know why anyone would settle for 'collector' type games (like cheetahmen or something, which you're definitely not buying to play) in less than mint shape. The price difference is next to nothing in a lot of cases.

I think that beat up games are great too.. I'm not going to turn down a rare box. But they should be priced accordingly... the differences for condition right now are smaller than pretty much any hobby out there. Which is fine if you're buying to play. But let's face it there's as much drek in the library that we buy strictly to collect as there are classics we buy to play. I'd rather but a bullet in my head than play 8 hours of dance aerobics. Yet I've got my copy of that too.

Sealed games you can't play. Not that I play a lot of my games but if I want to I can.