I'm far from a full set collector, but if I were to go for a full set it would definitely be original Game Boy Cart + Manual only. So many good titles in that library and it wouldn't take up too much space. I also probably have the most nostalgia for OG GB.

I had a box of SNES games... and was like "What in the hell am I going to do with these shitty games??? I'm NEVER going to play them." So I traded them to some guy for Zombie Nation.

I can't imagine going for a full set of any system (sans perhaps Turbo) for the exact reason you mentioned. So many shitty games on the NES and SNES, nevermind 64. 

More Killer less filler, I say.
 

For me, collecting a set has the same kind of thrills as a virtual scavenger hunt, and at this point in my life, I enjoy that aspect of this hobby more than actually playing the games. (I'm older, and my eyesight and hand eye coordination are all weaker than when I was in my teens or twenties.) I still play, but spend way more time on the collecting. (I'm collecting US GBA, but also some key PAL and JP games as well.) In addition to US GBA game set, I'm also going for GBA video and NFR sets on the side.

That said, if we look at what's happened to many other collectibles, it's possible set collecting may become a dying part of this hobby, as people start to fixate on identifying and collecting "keystone titles", which are likely to hold the majority of value of a console set. (e.g. - hardly anyone collects full sets of comic books, or MtG cards any more.)

For those that are considering throwing in the towel, don't. Let things take whatever amount of time is necessary. Another collector recently completed a set that has games rarer than ANY Nintendo releases: The Emerson Arcadia 2001 set:





I hope that seeing somebody complete such a difficult set will inspire a few here.

To note, that isn't me in the vid. I already accomplished that particular set some years ago.

All the killer and all the filler.

So.... everything?  Just get everything.

Exactly!
 

Well put a little umph in it!!!

All the killer AND all the filler!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think that's a sufficient amount of exclamation points. 

You were so naive. Just 35 games remain Neo Geo!
 

I'm not actively going for a complete set, but being that I am collecting gameboy games, I can play every game without having to invest in months and months of grinding to complete the games. My task is harder than you think as I'm collecting complete in box games rather than just the loose cart.
The other thing about gameboy games is that there are a lot less shovelware on this system and there are secrets to be had even with truly poor games. In fact, other than the around 100 sports titles, some of which, are good I see value in collecting 90 percent of these games.

I tried to get all of the Limited Run Games and it was just more of a chore and not fun. I know those arent really on par with retro games. But I think I was more attracted to the idea that they were hard to get when you tried to order them. Now I see that for me it was a stupid idea. They released basically every week and I would try to get every variation of the games released. So I stopped and just went after the games I want. I say good luck for those that are going for full set for any system that is done with their libraries.

Reading some of these comments really does reaffirm for me that I got off easy when it came to the Virtual Boy both in time given but also the low payout to cover it too.

Yeah, I really despise their artificial scarcity business model. Brings out the worst in people and hurts the actual fans of the games. It seemed like a cool concept at first, but once it became clear they were going to create hundreds of Limited Edition games, it kind of defeated the appeal of the whole endeavor. On the NES there are maybe 20 truly rare games, on the PS4 there are like 100 "rare" games because of LRG and other copycats. Boggles the mind.

I'm going for the Vita fullset and I can't wait for it to finish. If there wasn't an end in sight I would have thrown in the towel.
The only thing that keeps me buying them is the number of games left to release but I'm really burned on it.
The way LRG has managed those late releases was also very dissapointing. They don't always limit how many copies one person can buy to 1 and those Vita games are selling out in less than 2 minutes.

As for fullsets, I gave up on the Vita fullset. During the console's life I had the fullset sometimes but then a lot of games that I have no interest at all (like VNs) started releasing and then I decided to not buy them.

 

Here's a question for everyone - does it count as "throwing in the towel" when you finish 99% of a set, but don't get "that" game? (For reference: http://nintendoage.com/forum/mess...)

I mean, I have a complete 3DO set, aside from DinoPark. A complete A'can set, aside from Rebel Star... etc, etc, etc.

I bet a lot of people here have NES sets they consider "complete" despite not having Stadium Events.

I think the Stadium Events/World Class Track Meet loophole could be argued with the NES. I don't really know about the other consoles though, but are those games simply expensive or are they the same as some other game?

However, people should just go by their own goals and be happy  
 

Idk how you full set collectors do it. More power to you. I know I'd be bothered by all the shovelware that exists for each system if I were to go after a full set. Not to mention how expensive a full set must be and how much time it takes to complete a set.

I agree so much with shovel ware being the killer for me. I recently got all the super rare games co. Switch set and I’m already over it. So many turds 
 

I know when I made my choice to get seriously into collecting a set, I had a short list of sets I desired and then I slimmed it down until I had one that felt "right".  Quantity was important and though I expected some shovelware, I didn't want a system with shovelware titles outnumbering titles that at least the developers really put effort into them.

I settled on the GB because the form factor is small, I loved my GB as a kid, just over 500 games and legit shovelware never really hit that system.  IMHO, that didn't start until the GBA era.

Alternative systems I considered were the N64 (lol, I didn't know everyone else felt that way too), the NES (onle SE kept me from choosing this, cause I'm not dropping +$5,000 for a game), the Game Gear (which I'll likely pick up next) and I dreamed momentarily of going for a CIB PS1 set but then I laughed at that idea after 30 seconds of research.

Anyway, now that I've been doing this for four years, I have to say what's most fun is hunting down the rare stuff that no one thinks to look for.  This is usually game variants, and errors that had a run long enough that they can be found with enough searching.  Plus, variant hunting is a way to cheapily enjoy the thrill of the hunt without having to drop a ton of money for something rare.  I'm actually enjoying that more than finishing my GB set, of which I only need 35 more titles... I'm getting so close.

A couple of questions

What are your favorite Gameboy games?

And for variants, do you count those as necessary to complete a set?

A couple of questions

What are your favorite Gameboy games?

And for variants, do you count those as necessary to complete a set?

#1.  Many of the old classics were classics for a reason and arr still some of my favorites.  The couple of games that I'd never heard of and fell in love with from this process were Trax (which in some wierd way just get's what it's doing right, but doesn't look special), and Xenon 2.

#2.  Nooooo, I do not include having every variant as having a complete set.  This is partly because many of them are super rare, and also because a few of us round here that are looking still find unknown variants every month or two.  This is cart only too, and they are often only minor changes to the label and you only notice it by the bump in revision.  Last was found by Splain was Castlevania Adventure.  I've only seen his copy and the only difference beside the serial number is that beside the logo on the sticker is a (R) rather than a (TM).  He found the revision and then it took a while for me to actually spot the difference!
 

Nice! Might have to look into traxing Trax down. It looks interesting. And that makes sense about the variants. Cool that you guys are still finding new ones!

Trax is a Hal Labs game (people behind Kirby). It's a shooter game. It's difficult to find that game cib, I've been looking for about a year, but you can buy the loose version pretty easiliy if condition is not an issue. There are many great shooters on the gameboy, he also mentioned Xenon 2, which is pretty rare and even the loose cart is expensive for a gameboy game. Another game that I would recomend is the original Game & Watch Gallery for the gameboy. That game (on a sp 001) is straight magic. And Sword of Hope. I just started playing this game and it might be the best rpg I've ever played. It's a throwback to the text-based dungeon crawlers and the writing is superb. I don't know why I like it so much, but it feeds your imagination so well. Like when you walk into the room and use the "look" command and it says the room has a foul stench. With the Link's Awakening, as great as that is, you really don't get a sense of the world like you do with Sword of Hope.
 

In 2016 this happened to me with TakaraTomy's Transformers Legends line. But since this is not video game related, I'll stop right there.

But when it came to 2017, however, I was going to do a complete Japanese run portable Dragon Quest games. Between Mandarake, Luida's Bar, eBay, and one other online store I was around nine games away from having every variant published by both Enix and Square Enix. This excluding "first press" sticker variants since there was no difference when it came to the packaging. But I ended up quitting for a number of reasons. With parts of it being why I will not try to do a Switch version of this goal.

And still might not. Unless they announce numerous versions of Dragon Quest Monsters 3. Then I'll wedge it in. Because the main Monsters line of games are my favorite and I am officially burnt out waiting for Shin Megami Tensei V.