I don't know anywhere in my area that sold unlicensed games back then, not even Tengen. I only saw unlicensed at rental stores.

i guess alot of collectors go for the Licenced stuff first , then if there not burnt out , they go for the unlicenced stuff

I don't touch unlicensed because I play my games, and I think the majority of unlicensed games stink. Bad gameplay and bad graphics is what keeps me away from unlicensed games....I'm also a bit of a graphics snob. This also keeps my collection "manageable."

When I come across them, they go into the "selling" pile.

This reflects me as well. I don't touch homebrews but I had some Tengen growing up and some of the unlicensed carts have great colors that stand out. I'll never have a complete licensed/unlicensed set unless I can find in the wild because I don't have the disposable income to pay for Stadium Events, etc. I like to play my games so when collecting from NES/Sega/SNES/N64 I have games that I must have that I like to play then try to fill in the rest a little at a time. The only complete set I can realistically see completing with my income in my lifetime is Sega Genesis. Now if I ever won the lottery, game on.
 

I find Genesis even more intimidating than NES sometimes. There are more officially licensed titles than NES and it still has its fair share of heavy hitters you've gotta pony up for. 
 

and nobody likes loose genesis carts. I feel like most people who go for a big genesis collection prefer CIB, and that's even more $$$. I don't think I've ever seen a big genesis collection that is loose only

Is there anyway to look up the most expensive licensed Genny games without actually knowing?

I know Crusader of Centy, Splatterhouse 3, Sparkster, Bloodlines, Splatterhouse 2, Hyperstone Heist come to mind but I am sure there is more.

No clue why it never occured to me but I could potentially get a full set if I really wanted to....I already own all the above mentioned titles with the exception of Splatterhouse 2, and they were all pretty well free.
 

On top of what you've already mentioned. Outback Joey is the big one, it's gonna set you back at least a couple grand. MUSHA too, that's a big one. 

Ahhh shit I forgot about MUSHA.......
 

I all ready have more Genny games than any other system. I collect cart only for all systems and if they have the case its a bonus. I don't care how they display, if they are alphabetized that is all I care about. The heavy hitters for Genesis are much more reasonable than NES whether you include licensed or not. Here is just a list of Genny versus NES on vgpc on loose carts high to low. Outback Joey is the most expensive and I don't own at this time. Approximately each set has about 700 licensed titles/NA releases without looking up as well. Editing: Earlier I stated that I probably could only complete a Sega Genny Set cart only but a N64 is possibility as well. Lot less games and if you don't go for NFR variants and all types of variants then N64 isn't too bad either once you get Sculptor's cut out of the way which I don't own either and many of the NFR N64 games. It all depends on what someone considers a complete licensed collection and having to have all variants and if you are trying to use unlicensed as well.

http://videogames.pricecharting.com/console/sega-genesis?sor...

http://videogames.pricecharting.c...





 

A few reasons.

The first one is deciding where to draw the line becomes an issue. There's 677 US released NTSC games that were licensed by Nintendo.
There's also lots of promotional, test and diagnostic cartridges that aren't necessarily games but are more of demos or just "software" for the NES. Most people aren't collecting Nintendo Repair Center carts.
Then there's unlicensed games that were sold within the US. Where people draw the line on this varies as some things like Cheetahmen II weren't available to purchase until long after the NES had passed its natural retail lifespan in the US. If you decide "Complete to me includes all the unlicensed games" you have to make your own decisions. Does Cheetahmen II count? What about homebrews that have been made in the past few years? What about foreign unlicensed carts like all the Sachen stuff? It becomes a very slippery slope and soon the goal of a "complete collection" becomes neverending. As a result most people stick with the 677.

 

Thanks for all the awesome responses. All of them make lots of sense to me, I thought this particular quote from one of them sums everything up well: "This is exactly why I love this hobby as there is something for everybody and so many different ways to go about collecting for any system."

Getting back into it and reading all of this new info after so many years away has made me realize just how little I actually knew back in the day. I was just a kid who thought NES games were better than the current generation at the time and were dirt cheap so I just starting buying them up and it evolved into a collection. I still can't believe the hobby has blown up like it has. Really makes me wish I woulda been able to not walk away for ten years due to financial limitations. Ah well.