It was a dream of mine to one day have a cart only set for the Super Nintendo. But I gotta say, fellas. The dream is dead. 

It started out pretty promising. I got all the heavy hitters out of the way early. All of 'em. Even the competition carts.

Then I started picking up all the games I actually wanted to play. And that was a blast. I did a ton of research, pulled out old magazines and read reviews, I even discovered a few hidden gems. And I played the hell out of them. Then came the time to starting picking up filler...and it turns out I'm not really about that.

So yeah I think I'm out. It's not a money issue either. I'm still collecting. In fact in the last 12 months I've spent more on this hobby than any time before. If I had used that money to buy SNES filler I could have finished the set in July. But instead I spent that money on signs and displays and a few games for other consoles. 

So have you let the full set dream go yet?

Halfway through N64 and 1/4 through NES still going strong. Do you think you made an error by not always grabbing filler and waiting till the end? I find especially for the N64 that buying games I actually want in between filler keeps it fresh since the N64 library is pretty dry for the most part.

edit: N64 was amazing when I was a kid, didn’t age well is more what I meant. 

This sounds like my own SNES journey. Started in 2011 and got a large number of the heavyweights early. I found myself chasing after shitty commons most of the time.

Fast-forward to 2018 and I had just moved the set to a new place for the 3rd time. The number of commons really drove me nuts. Boxing, unboxing, and re-shelving. Not much to look at. As I kept buying more, realizing that I'd never play them, it began to wear on me. Finally I let it all go, literally sold my entire SNES collection at once for 80% of the going rate just to have it gone.

The love affair was over. Felt good, got more serious about my 8-bit interests and haven't looked back.

I agree, it's one thing to say "I want every SNES game ever made" and then coming to the realization you'll have to purchase filler that you don't care about. But then I do see some users here who do like the filler. It depends on the individual, but I hear ya on this one man.

I'm actually on the cusp of thinking about *starting* an SNES full set, since I've got so many games for the library anyways, it's almost like a "might as well" type of thing at this point. To answer the question, no, I've never started out a full-set quest and bailed. Only ever completed a few sets, but when I've made it a goal I've always seen it through.

I started out going for a NES fullset but quickly realized it wasn't for me. A very expensive pile of shit games just wasn't appealing.

Sounds like you got your priorities straight. The appeal of a full set can be strong, but you have to have the stomach for the filler sports and one-star or less games; it starts putting things in focus.

RIP, Guntz.   (inside joke.)

 

I considered throwing in the towel, but then I had it graded at WataGames.com
WataGames.com are the leading authority in grading services, now accepting submissions across many platforms and consoles. From accessories, to games, and all manner of memorabilia.
Anyway it graded a 9.2 and after that, there was no way I could just *throw it*.

The only full set Ive actively gone for was the famicom, and it was like a marathon. So many times I thought about throwing in the towel, but glad I didn't.

As some others have said, I think it does help to mix some filler as you go along, and some of the filler can be fun too, in its own way.

Was it that "special" towel?

 

I've been close to throwing in the towel a few times during my quest for a NES CIB set (and I will probably have that same thought again when I move all this shit next year), but I enjoy seeing and feeling every bit of art and booting up all the crazy games that somehow exist. So I still have a lot of fun with it. Not sure I'll move on to another set when I finish NES, but I love that era, so maybe Game Boy or even SNES.

In the end, collecting is all about having fun. What you collect is meaningless as long as it brings you joy. Like that guy who is collecting only the "radical" games for NES.

Once I had kids my thoughts for aquiring the competion carts went out the window.  When you're looking at upgrading into bigger houses, paying for Montessory, saving for college funds, possibly looking at private school, and all that jazz, it really doesn't make a whole lot of fiscal sense to be throwing thousands of dollars into hobbies.  So I start funnelling existing gaming capital into remaining carts and just having fun with the chase and collecting and playing my SNES stuff, instead of worrying about what I wont' have.

And even "filler" carts were exciting for me because of my little project.  They still are in a sense... I have them stacked in the order I ranked them.  There's something very satisfying about that.
 

I've resigned myself to never owning Stadium Events, if that counts as throwing in the towel. Otherwise I still look for boxes and books I'm missing (NES).

Nope, my OCD won't let me quit. I'll likely not pick up an SE CIB to finish that set, so it's likely already " complete" for me at a CIB- set. but I'm really close on a few other sets.

I just got the urge to maybe go full cart only GB stuff and it would all be filler minus a couple of harder to find pricer RPG games but I just don't have anywhere to put it. If I had a better solution, I just might.

Filler porn is where it's at!

Regarding the GB, over 3 years ago I decided to go for the complete cart set. I wanted to go for the NES, but knowing I couldn't never drop even $5,000 for a game, SE was out and I simply chose the GB because I loved it as a kid and 500ish titles didn't seem THAT bad.

Well, I'm a bit of a condition nut (even was as a kid with ball cards and comics) and finding some of the titles can be difficult and when you do you just PRAY it's in good enough shape. Three years in, I am 50 away from every US title and since I'm a sick man and decided to go for all known US cart variants, I'm about 100 away from all variants and upgrades for carts in poor condition.

Part of me does want to quit and, in fact, if I had 200 more to go, I'd likely throw in the towel, sell the stuff I don't care about and try to see if I could find a nice N64 set for sale. It's been tempting, but I just feel like I'm on the home stretch.

Also, regarding personal experience, I guess I could say I have filler left but much of what remains is rare stuff that no one cares about except that one guy who knows he has the single cartridge of a game on eBay and wants $40 for his beat up cart. To that I say, thank you eBay saved searches and alerts! I've been able to get quite a few "$40" carts at auction for $10-15 but it's sloooooooow going.

I'm still hopeful I will get the loose 677 someday. That said I have purchased maybe 10 carts this year and sold more than 30. A bit of redirection for me. I've had as many as 550 then down to 250 up to 350 Now down to 200 lol.

Every time I hear about someone quitting, it's associated with a goal of owning the set. Completing your collection should never be your goal, collecting for the set should be the goal. I am going for a full set and I'm simply enjoying the collecting journey. Not having the full set after 10 years isn't disappointing because my goal is accomplished every day by continuing my journey.

LOL, thought about him too when I read that.

On a more serious note, the guy completely disappeared from NA (hasn,t logged since november 2017). I'm wondering if anything happenned to him.

I had the goal of having a full cib SNES set. I had like 60 titles to go in 2016.

I found myself not even playing the tapes I like let alone the trash ones. Started chatting with toxie on discord about why he cleared out his collection and found myself feeling the same way.

Been clearing out since then. I'm down to like 110 SNES cibs and maybe like 200 tapes between every other console. Probably sell more still/ throw out the stuff that doesn't sell.

Definitely happier with a smaller scale tape dungeon.

Yes! As long as it's fun, keep going.

I've thought of going for a few complete libraries. But for me I just don't want to spend money on shit games that I will never play. I would rather buy 1 game I really want vs 20 filler.

The last attempt at least with a big library for me was around 8 years ago, but after getting about nearly 1/2 into the NES library the predators swooped in along with the video bait danglers causing the start of the horrific pricing games have shifted into so I stopped. It wasn't as much a turn off over stuff that was actually fun to play, but when you start getting hundreds of mediocre to crap titles you put more time into cleaning and testing for a moment, the life sucks clean out of it.

Despite that though, I did complete a small set this year as I have the entire Virtual Boy US library and I did it on the relative cheap too. Most of it is CIB and I've got some of those hot item extras too.

I got nothin' but time to get what I'm missing. Even seemingly out of reach games like SE. Crazy things happen, prices go up and down. Not saving my pennies for current prices but not giving up either.