Getting rid of reto game collection: do you regret it?

[LuigiMario]

Some background

I have a decent sized collection of retro game stuff boxed up at my parents house I haven't touched really since I lived their nearly 7 years ago, and my plan has always been to keep it there and set it all up once I live somewhere with the space. I'm guessing the collection is worth around $1500 when its all said and done. The issue is I don't really know when I'll have the space at this point, and I am unsure really if having "a game room" is a priority in my life going forward. Recently, I've been thinking it'd be nice to clear most of it out and put the funds in my savings account for a future vacation. My question to people who have done the same, do you regret clearing out your game collection, and if not what made you finally pull the trigger on parting ways with your old games?

 

[Agent_J]

Absolutely I do. I was foolish to sell to make a quick buck. Many of those items are literally impossible to obtain now, and a lot of it is stupidly overpriced by collectors. Keep it dude, future you will thank you.

 

[demi]

PM me details I'll help lighten your load

 

[Dr. Zoidberg]

As I aged though my teens and twenties I went through periods where I kept/collected and then others where I thought I had moved on and sold a lot of stuff. At 44 I am now at the point where I regret selling most everything I sold when I was younger. As a result, my advice is to keep it unless you really really need the money.

 

[Crayon]

Just the magazines. I had next generation also known as edge, issues 7 through perhaps 50. Great condition. I held onto them for years. And then I flushed them out during some weird letting go clean out phase. Stuff that was stupid. I decided to just keep like 3 to remember them by. And I look at those three and I just get so mad at myself.

 

[MrChillaxx]

Personally I got rid of a good 90 percent of my (significant) retro collection including a lot of hundred euro sellers. So while they did pay for a lot of my new apartments furniture and I have both a dedicated pc for accurate emulation with great controllers and a bar top arcade... I miss og hardware like hell, especially my dreamcast. That one was my biggest error by far. That and dedicated controllers like the dk bongos, samba de amico maracas and Mario mix mat. Not that I really used them either but still. Feels bad to be an adult with limited income!

 

[Chucker]

I had a game room with a PVM that would kill either of my children(had 2 at the time) if it fell on them, rgb connections for my SNES and Genesis. NES, N64, TG16, lots of arcade sticks, framed posters etc. We found out we were having a 3rd and we didn't have any room for it.

I HATED getting rid of it, but now that it's been a few years I can look back and realize I never needed it and that I chased the high of getting good finds at flea markets and craigslist more than I enjoyed playing everything I had, except for the SNES on that monitor because holy shit it looked incredible.

I think if I were in your shoes I'd just take out some of my holy grail items and sell the rest off, you'll find that once you let the first piece go, the rest is easy.

 

[Porygon]

I totally do, I sold a lot of my gaming things because I was going to get married and need some extra money... And to be fair, I was never going to use them again, my collection was probably going to be sitting around in boxes somewhere....


Buuuut now I'm divorced and I cry for my collection exactly every 10 days

 

[Masterspeed]

Not at all. I'm 28 and if I kept every game I ever bought that I loved, I would never have room for them all.

I have a few games now and they take up room still, like a ton of ps2 and Wii games. Sure I'd love to have all of them again, but it takes up so much room It's unreal. I need the space.

 

[t26]

Go though your collection and only keep the one you want. Some games now have remake/remeaster/port that totally replace the original. I mean as much as I like Persona 4 and Yakuza 2, I won't miss them since I now have newer version.

 

[entremet]

If you're going to touch them, sell them.

 

[lactatingduck]

Not at all. Sold 98% of my collection spanning the NES to now with a little from everything. I realized I wasn't playing them and owned them simply to own them which felt pretty foolish. Why own games you don't play?

Between feeling like a hoarder and realizing the SNES classic and other emulation type devices are how ill play everything moving forward, it was a no brainer.

Of course part of me misses having a great collection but reality is I play those games just as much now as I did when I had them which is not at all.

And honestly it feels really good to get rid of things and to get away from being satisfied by owning or controlling something instead of actually using it.

FWIW I did keep a few games like Super Metroid and the Japanese SMB 1, but They'll never get played again. I'll put them in a display case at some point and they'll be relics of my childhood.

 

[Steeped in a Sea of Games]

I keep everything, but I'm sitting on a copy of Little Samson that's worth upwards of $1000 and I'm having a hard time deciding whether to sell it or hang on to it.

 

[TYRANITARR]

No regrets at all. I sold mine around the time I got married/started having kids.

I have no emotional attachment to my things. I'm glad to have it all digital for cheaper and saving physical space.

 

[Finale Fireworker]

Some things I regret and some things I don't. It really depends on your personal emotional attachment to the stuff. Does it feel important to you? Would you be parting with something deeply personal if you sold them? Are they something you will miss revisiting and knowing you have somewhere safe? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you should really consider how much you'd rather have the money because you may find that you really wouldn't.

Usually, if I'm going to regret selling something, I regret it immediately. So you'll probably know one way or another pretty quickly.

Some things are just things. But you can't replace memories.

 

[Masagiwa]

I really regret getting rid of old systems and games growing up. I'm honestly thinking about buying all the games/systems I've had over the years again cause of nostalgia.

 

[GulAtiCa]

I never regretted it. Last year (including Feb when I resumed), I ended up selling like $7,000+ worth of game stuff on eBay. A lot of retro stuff. Old consoles (like Gamecube DVD combo, but it never worked, was just for display). A lot of it was more during my bachelor years where I had a lot of disposable income so I bought games & systems.And a good bit of them were just to show them off (I more bored back then)

But, I had 1 clear rule: I only kept games/systems I had an attachment too (like I really liked or emotional one from childhood/etc). So while a lot are gone, my N64 & SNES games in my collection are mostly still intact. I sold off a lot of Sega Saturn games I never played, but just were worth a lot. Or the Mega Man NES games being $25 - $100s each, but decided didn't really need it.

So i still have a good amount of stuff in my collection and on display, but downsized quite a bit. Most of my old consoles still there, though looking into getting rid of some extra things like Atari 7800 or ColecoVision. Though, I seemed to misplay the cables.... lol

 

[Torpedo Vegas]

I regret trading in my 3DO all the time.

 

[Deleted member 12129]

There was a point in the past where I regretted getting rid of my older games and systems, but nowadays emulation has gotten so competent and convenient that I don't miss having the physical stuff anymore.

 

[Cess007]

Totally.

I'd to sell them in order to buy new consoles and games back when I was younger and didn't have a job, but I regret so much selling my old stuff. Specially since I cared a lot for them, and everything was on excellenct conditions :(

 

[deftones r cool]

No. I have a PC, an original Xbox, and a PSP. I can play whatever I want between the three of these platforms.

I feel so free to be relieved of my clutter. Let someone else fill their home up with junk.

 

[Deleted member 2620]

I don't currently regret selling some key games in the past (Panzer Saga for $150 back in like 2009 lol), even if I like to bellyache about it a bit.

But as CRTs start dying out and as emulation and modern displays get better and better, it's hard for me to imagine needing all the bulk that I currently have. I could see myself ditching my CRT setup and going the scaler and/or emulation route at least. It's hard to imagine getting rid of all of the games.

 

[Deleted member 10629]

Not anymore. I used to, but then I realized that it would be sitting just there with no use. Let someone else enjoy it.

 

[Cilidra]

Things decay, get destroyed in fire, flood, etc. Lots of things I knew I would never play again, looking at my are my likes and dislikes, I sold lots of my collection. Made quite a bit that way, more than triple what I bought them for. Never regretted it.

Just keep what you really like and know you'll replay.

 

[Silvergun-Blue]

It wasn't a clear out as I needed the trade in value for a new console but looking back at my Mega Drive collection there's definitely stuff I regret parting with. Thing is, there's no way I could have known back then it was gonna be worth anything in the future.

You say your collection's worth approx $1500 but are you ever going to realistically get that amount? It could be worth separating the wheat from the chaff if you're worried about volume and just keeping the stuff that's either rare or has personal sentimental value to you.

 

[cecilpaladin32]

Selling my SNES and the few games I had for it nearly 20 years ago right before I got a launch PS2 is still one of the decisions I regret most in my life...selling my N64 and its games (along with the SNES), I don't regret at all, other than I could have made a lot more money had I held onto it and sold it down the line instead.

 

[Deleted member 11626]

I keep my absolute favorites, but I've otherwise sold the stuff I own digitally and/or have backed up to a drive. No regrets, going on five years now. Too many other priorities, and I find myself less stressed now about it. I used to spend too much time and money trying to complete it...I'm really glad I've rid myself of that.

 

[jml]

Nah, all of my old games would clutter up way too much space for me. Maybe once a year I'll have a moment where I'm like "damn, I wish I didn't sell that" but it happens so rarely that I think getting rid of my old collection was still the best idea.

 

[WhtR88t]

The mini consoles have certainly helped me overcome missing my older consoles.

I've been slowly building up a collection of retro portables because it seems like those aren't going to get mini versions anytime soon and a lot of classics are stranded on GB, GBA, PSP and Vita. I'm also keeping my New 3DS XL around because I have a ton of digital purchases that are tied to that console.

 

[Deleted member 18021]

I downsized by a lot, and I really don't mind it. I have a small apartment, and having a smaller, more thoroughly curated collection of media is a necessity. Digital re-releases and collections help a lot, of course.

If you don't have a strong personal connection to it, and it's going to just sit on the shelf and rot, let it go.

 

[entremet]

The nice thing about retro games is that they are easier to replay.

I'm very happy about going digital these days. Less annoying clutter.

 

[Rotobit]

Being in the UK and realizing how most retro games prior to the GameCube/Xbox here are worse off than their US and Japanese counterparts, it's honestly been liberating selling my old games. Pretty much the only things I keep are from that gen onward, or handheld games. I just sold my N64 + 5 games for £158 and that was great.

With a US collection I'd probably feel a lot of regret, though. Really I'd just pick and choose - what's sentimental, what's never been re-released digitally, easily emulatable, that sorta thing. Doesn't need to be an all-or-nothing purge. And if you have a SNES collection, for example, you could sell what you don't want and maybe get enough money for a Super NT so you can play the games more conveniently on modern displays.

 

[IronicSonic]

I have a similar problem. Not decided If I'm getting rid of my consoles and games yet. My main problem is I don't have any current display to play my old consoles (Genesis, SNES, Saturn, N65, Dreamcast Gamecube). Good converters to HDMI are expensive and I don't have the space to put an old tv. I'm thinking If it's better to sell my consoles and just get a Mini Classic version along the way.

 

[LuigiMario]

There was a point in the past where I regretted getting rid of my older games and systems, but nowadays emulation has gotten so competent and convenient that I don't miss having the physical stuff anymore.

Click to shrink...

This is kind of where I'm at. I love my SNES classic, the emulation isn't perfect but having a nearly identical controller with a quick and intuitive interface that looks nice on a modern TV gets me about 99% there.

You say your collection's worth approx $1500 but are you ever going to realistically get that amount? It could be worth separating the wheat from the chaff if you're worried about volume and just keeping the stuff that's either rare or has personal sentimental value to you.

Click to shrink...

My plan is to sell most of it to local collectors in buy and sell groups for a bit under eBay prices, I plan to hold onto things like my modded PS2 as well as some NES stuff that was originally mine.

 

[Strafer]

I regret selling my Playstation 1.

 

[Alric]

No, I sold around a thousand games along with consoles over the span of a few months before I hot married. Sold more for medical reasons, and now I need to sell my ps3 and genesis collections because of more medical reasons. I thought itd hurt more than it does, but I'm honestly fine with it now.

 

[Mauricio_Magus]

As I get older, I've become more of a minimalist, so I try to have as little physical things as humanly possible while obviously keeping my gaming hobby.

Also, emulation is a thing so it's not like I need the old stuff, I do wish older games were more easily accessible because I'm wiling to pay a lot of money for older games.

 

[SpotAnime]

As I aged though my teens and twenties I went through periods where I kept/collected and then others where I thought I had moved on and sold a lot of stuff. At 44 I am now at the point where I regret selling most everything I sold when I was younger. As a result, my advice is to keep it unless you really really need the money.

Click to shrink...

I agree wholeheartedly. I purged a bunch of my stuff about 15 years ago and regretted it a few years later. Mostly PS2 and Xbox stuff, like Steel Battalion. I also had a ton of retro games and systems at my parents, like a CIB Saturn and Master System, controllers and accessories, some games. Intellivision, Colecovison and 5200 stuff (systems, tons of games and accessories). Even a CIB Dark Tower game, tons of comics and baseball cards, tons of action figures in boxes. All that is worth thousands now. But when my parents sold my childhood home and retired down south, all thst stuff there was thrown away. Like, without notice. Just gone.

So I've been slowly building back up my collection, but it's still a fraction of what it will ever be. My wife tells me that I'm foolish for living in the past, but that's like my entire childhood that was basically thrown out. It's who I am.

So don't listen to anyone, keep your stuff and cherish it for as long as you can.

 

[NoKisum]

The nice thing about retro games is that they are easier to replay.

I'm very happy about going digital these days. Less annoying clutter.

Click to shrink...

I'm all for going all digital with games up to sixth generation, before games started becoming reliant on internet connections.

 

[scottbeowulf]

At the time the PS3 came out I owned almost every home console that had come out since the NES/Master System. I didn't have a ton of games like some collections though. Anyway, I got tired of the clutter and not really playing all that much so I sold it all. I've never regretted it once. If I get the itch to play some retro game there are countless ways to play nowadays. The only way I'd say you would regret it is if you actually played all those games alot. Sounds like you don't so go ahead and sell em and spend the money on something you actually want. Hell, set aside a few hundred bucks tops for a really nice retro Pi/PC setup. Then if you really want, you can play any of those old games without all the clutter and hassle.

 

[Deleted member 54320]

Nope. I backed up all the retro games I own and then sold em.

No need for them and I might as well earn some cash for important stuff.

 

[raketenrolf]

In your case I wouldn't. It's not in your way and 1500 is not really much if you don't absolutely need the money right now.

What I can tell you is to not sell your hardware and absolute favorites games. Because the time that you want to get back and play those games on original hardware could definitely come (sounds like you are in a phase in your life where your preferences change and they will change again at some point). And then you will regret that you sold your favorites and notice that it's not easy to find anything retro in good condition. It's ridiculous what some people on the internet sell as "very good" or even "good" condition.

 

[Kaiken]

Had a very small collection worth about the same amount. Went on a selling spree with a bunch of other stuff; switch, mavic pro, ipad, magic cards and the vintage games. I now have myself a new car and it was totally worth it.

 

[Qwark]

I'm in a similar situation OP, got tons of old games (most probably aren't very valuable though). I'm about to move to a different state and it's just a lot of stuff to pack and move, and I'll probably never play most of those games. I feel like I should let go, but the task of selling everything and the potential regret is putting me off. Eventually I'd like to have a house with a dedicated game room, but that's likely still a ways off, and I don't know if that's still all that important to me.

Nope. I backed up all the retro games I own and then sold em.

No need for them and I might as well earn some cash for important stuff.

Click to shrink...

… isn't this like straight up piracy? Sorry if I'm being a prude, but that does not sound legit.

 

[StreamedHams]

I don't. I unloaded my collection in 2017 for about 5,000 usd. Sometimes I think about it, it being nice to look at, also cumbersome, I'm fine with the money I got. It doesn't bother me.

 

[LuigiMario]

In your case I wouldn't. It's not in your way and 1500 is not really much if you don't absolutely need the money right now.

What I can tell you is to not sell your hardware and absolute favorites games. Because the time that you want to get back and play those games on original hardware could definitely come (sounds like you are in a phase in your life where your preferences change and they will change again at some point). And then you will regret that you sold your favorites and notice that it's not easy to find anything retro in good condition. It's ridiculous what some people on the internet sell as "very good" or even "good" condition.

Click to shrink...

You're not wrong, for the record I'm 27 and have a serious partner I intend to marry not really into gaming, so it's difficult to want to dedicate the time/space to having a nice retro setup. I know 27 is still pretty young, but it's kind of something that's been in the back of my mind for a few years

 

[Proteus]

I always regret it.

 

[Allietraa]

I unloaded my "Retro" stuff recently and made about $1200. Most of it I had bought it my mid-teen years(when I was on a retro game "collecting" spree, as most consoles/games were still pretty cheap and readily available) and literally hadnt touched in almost a decade. Dont regret it at all. Now granted, these werent my "childhood" consoles/games. This was all stuff I had bought second hand later on, so I didnt have much(if any) nostalgia attached to it. I imagine for some people that kind of thing factors in a good bit, but for me it was an easy decision to unload it for some $$$.

 

[Cardigan]

I've never sold off a large collection, but whenever I sell a console and its games, I always end up buying it back a few years down the road.

 

[TrojanAg]

I'm keeping everything as it'll only grow in value over time. The prices of retro games keep going up.