Hey everyone,

a while back I posted a thread about my goal to collect all the North American SNES games that also had a Japanese version (side note to those who might care: as the thread was to ask about/there isn't an actual name due to its niche-ness - I decided to go with NAJ).

I was curious what other 'niche' collections that other NAers hunt down/enjoy. I'm close to completing my NAJ SNES collection and then the plan is to work on the NES, however I would love to hear what other people collect.

Cheers

I collect good games, does that count?

I'm currently collecting CIB games that I had as a child. An interesting collector is Hybrid. He collects data errors and misprints, it's a fascinating collection.

As I find them, I am collecting unofficial / bootleg Chinese translations of Originally Japanese language games. Primarily I collect these for Sega mega drive and game boy.

I like collecting store demos and not for resale stuff. Everything else that I get is jist because it sounds like it may be a fun game.

For SNES carts, I collect Made in Japan labels (better quality/nicer looking) over Made in Mexico, etc when there is more than one version available. Some are harder to find than others.

That's quite a cool set to go after, OP!
I'm trying (key work trying,) to get as many of the shiny Gameboy Color boxes as I can. There are the standard boxes, then some where the GBC logo is shiny. It has a specific name, but I don't know what it is.
As well as for curiosity sake, trying to get the all Sonic games on all platforms I have, to compare the differences between each platform. 

Christmas games! What counts is basically up to me. Mostly just console stuff, but some PC games are cool enough to count as well. I think I have like 50 at this point from GB to SNES to PS2 to Amiga!

My thing is controllers. Nothing looks cooler to me than a neat controller display.

So is a "NAJ" collection basically just a way to say that stuff like MBR/SR, competition carts, etc don't count? Are you also not counting Aero Fighters because it was called Sonic Wings in Japan? I'm just at a loss of what this set is meant to represent.  If you aren't collecting SFC games then the "J" part of NAJ doesn't mean anything.

I would say sign and display collecting is niche.

I don't pursue MBR or competition carts, however games that were re-named in North America do, so Aero does count and I do own it. Heck, even games which were "Blockbuster" rental games count. The original reason I decided this route is because I thought companies were less likely to "port" crappy games, as translation etc costs time and money and they would need to believe in the game to warrant it. It also meant less redundant sports games, my normal example being the NHL series; 94 was sold in NA and Japan, however 95-97 weren't and thus I would only be buying the 1 game. It's just something I decided to collect and that didn't have a name.
 

Some series: Castlevania, Crash Bandicoot, Mario, Zelda, Halo

I also have a friend who collects the Burger King trilogy for Xbox / Xbox 360. I believe he currently has 3 sealed sets.

Pretty expensive niche, too! 
 

I love those Burger King games! I wish the disk drive on my 360 still worked. (I'm not about to buy a third one.)

SNES Console boxes would be challenging and very impressive.

I am trying to get a CIB copy of every NTSC TMNT game. I've got most of them, I need 6 pieces or so to make the rest complete. Mostly what I am missing are PC games, or some versions of that, and it's a little confusing what actually exists and doesn't. But I do have every TMNT game released on a Nintendo console.

Not suuuper niche, but I've never heard of anyone else collecting quite like this: I'm compiling (it might be complete? Impossible to know) a list of every grey Game Boy game ever released, each with an accompanying "Highest Ranking Region Code." (If it was released in the US, that's the HRRC. If it was released in the UK and also in JPN, then UKV is the HRRC.) The idea is to own all of the "gameplay" that was officially released on grey carts, in the most playable form possible. This means I'm not looking for re-sprites like Mystic Quest/McDonaldLand/Prince Valiant etc, if I already have a form of the game in its HRRC. I have them all ranked out, but basically English-language versions are ranked higher than non-English, and European-language versions are ranked higher than Asian-language. If I had the $$, I'd just go ahead and collect every game in every region, but I'm starting with a full USA set (getting close!) then from there I'll collect using this HRRC system.

It's easy to know what games have a USA release, and it's easy-ish to make a list of JPN exclusives. The challenge is determining which PAL-exclusives had a UKV release. And if not, a EUR release. If not, etc. If anyone has info on this, I have a list of unverified PAL exclusives. I'd hate to give up and buy a NOE version of a game (complete with overseas shipping) then find out a UKV exists. Kind of fun to research it though!

I am a huge baseball fan, so I have gotten every NES game that has baseball (or softball).

I'm still tryin' to go for a full set of "all backwards compatible" original Xbox games for the 360. Strange set to go for, but I enjoy it.

Once upon a time, I aimed to collect every balloon fight game or merchandise that I could find. I had a small collection going but quit after Iwata died. I don't know why, but something about that even catalyzed in me a lack of desire to continue the project. Maybe I just realized the pointlessness of that endeavor.

No real set per se, though I did go after all three Compile shooters for NES.

I was going to get every space shooter, but then I would have had to buy The Last Starfighter, and that's just something I can't bring myself to do.

I love reading the answers in this thread. So much more positive and enjoyable than the endless "does x count towards a full set" debates. This is what makes collecting fun!

I collected the SSI GoldBox games, got all the normal ones, the slightly larger than normal neverwinter nights one that is there to piss me off, and a few other things, like the clue books (Generally both BW and BWR editions), the famicom PoR, and the other games with the engine. Also apparently collect Mary Kate and Ashley games when I discovered I had all but one of them. I collect anything Knights of Valour I see, which isn't much (And just the first game) Oh and I'm the only one I know who bothered getting a complete action max, after 15 years of being at "all but one"

This is awesome! Baseball on NES is one of my favorites of all time!