The Candid Collectors’ Union over at GameSpot runs a weekly feature where they interview one of the site’s biggest game collectors. This week, they were kind enough to let me participate. A lot of the suggestions I’ve received for this blog revolve around adding more personal items, so I’ve decided to post the full interview here. Enjoy!
The Basics:
Number of Systems: 28
Number of Games: 900+
Favorite Game: The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Favorite Genre: Platformers
Favorite System: Super Nintendo
Guilty Pleasure: Any game from the Mortal Kombat series
When did you start collecting? I’ve owned one console or another since 1985, but I didn’t start collecting until I started college in 2001.
What was your first system? The Nintendo Entertainment System (packaged with the bright orange Zapper and Power Pad)
What was your first game? My NES came with the three-game cartridge including Super Mario Bros., Duck Hunt, and World Class Track Meet
When did you feel a tipping point from gamer to both gamer and game collector?
I’ve been a gamer since I got my NES on my 5th birthday, but I never really had enough disposable income to start collecting until I started college. I guess disposable income is a relative term. What it means is that I was as thrifty as humanly possible when it came to things like groceries, books, and gas, so that any money I saved went straight to the local game store. It didn’t help matters that an import shop was just a ten minute drive from campus.
Import shop? That’s a tough thing to have to drive by all the time. Do you remember the first import game you bought?
Well, since I don’t speak Japanese, I’m very cautious when buying imports. I spent most of my money there are memorabilia and soundtrack CDs. The first CD I bought was called The Legend of Zelda: The Music. It’s a compilation of original music from all of the Zelda games including one giant megamix at the end. I wish we’d get more original soundtrack music in the States. It seems like all we get are the Grand Theft Auto or Halo licensed stuff.
What are your goals as a game collector, how have you developed them, and how do you feel about your progress toward them?
When I first started collecting, I had this pie-in-the-sky idea of one day opening a sort of arcade/museum hybrid. It would be a place for families to come and learn about the history of the medium, where kids could play any of the games from Pong up until the current console generation and parents could look back on all the memorabilia and remember where they were when each of the games came out. I think it’s important for an industry as young as gaming to have accurate records kept so that, eventually, people like Shigeru Miyamoto, Hideo Kojima, Tetsuya Mizuguchi, etc. will be remembered in the same vein as Steven Spielberg, Andy Warhol, or William Faulkner. Somewhere along the way I realized that this idea was probably out of the scope of my capabilities, but it’s always a nice idea to have in the back of my mind when I snag a rare item for the collection.
That’s a noble motivator. How many games, systems, etc. are “enough”?
I think that if you ask any collector, whether it be of art, comic books, movies, CDs, etc., there is no such thing as enough. That’s why we’re collectors, right? We collect as much as we possibly can.
What’s your proudest moment as a game collector?
I don’t really have any proud moments as a collector, but as a gamer there are plenty. There are a number of gaming moments that I can look back on from my childhood and feel a sense of accomplishment for. The first time I beat Super Mario Bros. 3 (on a Japanese cartridge from Blockbuster), collecting all 120 stars in Super Mario 64, finishing Super Metroid, getting the real ending in Bubble Bobble – most of my gaming moments are courtesy of Nintendo.
What’s your least proud moment as a game collector?
Without a doubt, my least proud moment as a collector was when I lined up at EB Games for the Halo 3 midnight launch. I try to shop at GameStop and EB as little as I possibly can, because I find a number of their policies (both employee and consumer-related) underhanded. But I’m an absolute sucker for special editions, and I had to have the Legendary Edition of Halo 3. I don’t even play the game, and I dropped $130 for a pretty helmet that sits on a desk.
Amongst your non-gaming friends are you proud of your collection or is it something you don’t bring attention to?
I wouldn’t say it’s something I purposely bring attention to, but all of my friends know that I’m the go-to-guy for video games. During high school we’d have overnight sessions of Super Smash Bros. Melee or Goldeneye. During college, our marathons switched to Mario Kart 64. Now we just play Guitar Hero. So I manage to drag all of my friends in somehow.
Has anyone you’ve exposed yourself to become a more avid gamer or even bought more games because of your enthusiasm and collection?
Haha! I’d like to think so. I’ve certainly been successful recommending some easily overlooked games to friends of mine who already play, but the farthest I’ve gotten with non-gamers is getting my fiancee and her family addicted to Mario Party, Guitar Hero, and Wii Sports. My mother-in-law is dangerous when it comes to Wii Tennis. They invented the wrist strap and remote jacket for people like her.
What’s your favorite part of your collection?
My fiancee recently went to NYC to visit her grandparents, and I had her stop by the Nintendo World Store for me. She brought back a stuffed Kirby doll and Mario & Yoshi statuettes. We’ll be back there before our wedding, and we’re going to buy a Princess Toadstool (or Peach, for the young’ins) statuette so that we can put Mario and the Princess on top of our wedding cake.
Sweet. What would you like to improve in your collection?
I have a very large number of games, but very few rare titles. I’ve usually gone for quantity over quality. I need to become more selective.
What would you like to get rid of in your game collection within the next year?
This seems like a silly question. Why would anyone want to get rid of parts of a collection?
I know, I think about taking it out every time, and yet it remains.
Actually, I have gotten rid of one game purposely. I’d bought a Sudoku game from Ubisoft on the PSP. One of the advertised features on the back of the box was that you could use photos from your memory stick as the background for puzzles. The feature didn’t work, and I had such a horrible experience with their customer service that I violated my “not trading in games to GameStop policy.” I suppose, though, I’d also like to find a way to get rid of the myriad of cases for the Game Boy, Game Boy Color, GBA, GBA SP, etc. They don’t really serve any valuable purpose, but there’s no way to get rid of them besides throwing them away.
What do you think was your best deal while game buying?
I don’t know if you’d call it a deal, since they were about $15-$20 a pop, but during college I found a guy on eBay selling most of the Famicom Mini series for the GBA. I bought as much as I could, but I’d really love to have that entire series. Japan always gets much better fan service than we do in the U.S.
What do you feel is the most valuable and/or rare item in your collection?
I only have a few rare games. Rez and Marvel vs. Capcom for the PS2, The Legend of Zelda Collector’s Edition and Ocarina of Time: Master Quest discs for the GameCube, and a copy of Call of Duty 2 for the PC signed by the developers. Actually, the members of the Candid Collectors Union helped me pick out CoD2 from a list of swag when I won a contest among the GameSpot moderation team. The input was much appreciated.
I remember that. What item in your collection do you feel you overpaid for?
A: Nearly any current generation title. I remember SNES and N64 cartridges being very expensive, but I never purchased any for myself. My parents were still buying my games for me. Now that $60 is the standard price for games, I’ve had to be more frugal. I wait for sales and coupons. It’s rare that I buy a game at full price anymore.
Yeah, it’s crazy. I’ll drop $300 on a fistfull of games and not even think about it, but I’ll be damned if I pay full-price for a new game. What do you feel is the strangest or weirdest item in your collection?
When the DS first launched, Nintendo held a contest where they would send you a mannequin hand and you were supposed to take pictures of it in situations that emphasized the slogan, “Touching is good.” It was nearly impossible to come up with anything that wasn’t extremely disturbing or perverted. The thing is still sitting on my shelf, and every time I see it I want to look behind me to make sure there’s no one there to choke me.
If this series of spotlights has not motivated you to get better shelving, nothing will.
What item(s) do you not have in your collection that people are surprised to hear you don’t have?
I own very few original Xbox games. I wasn’t a fan of the console and didn’t own one until very late in the life cycle. It’s odd how just a few years later everything has completely turned around. I own very few PS3 games, but my Nintendo stock has always been steady.
Where and how do you store it all?
All of my current generation titles are out on shelves, since that’s what I spend most of my time playing. The great thing about these systems is the expanding library of old games available for download. My goal with the Wii is to make it so that I never have to hook up my Nintendo legacy systems again. Everything that isn’t played on a regular basis is sitting in boxes or drawers at my parents’ house for safe keeping.
Is there anyway you’d ever stop collecting?
Only if I ran out of money to buy them or space to store them.
Have you ever had to move your collection to another house? What was it like?
Twice. When I moved to Baltimore for college it wasn’t a big deal because I only took the bare minimum. Over four years, though, I eventually had my entire collection that had to be moved back to Cleveland and split between my new apartment and my parents’ house. I’m insane about keeping everything organized, but it was actually a lot more fun than I expected. I think the value of my game collection in my car was probably worth more than all of my old furniture in the U-Haul.
If your significant other told you no more games, what would you do?
I guess I was lucky enough to find someone who would never say that. She spends almost as much on shoes and clothes as I do on games, so it evens out. The only thing I’m worried about is keeping them safe from a baby. My nephew is already quite fond of throwing my controllers around!
What percentage of your games are still sealed?
I only own two sealed games, because I play everything I buy at least once. One of them is NiGHTS for the Sega Saturn, because somehow I ended up with two copies. The other is the original Metal Gear Solid on the PlayStation. I found it for $1.99 at some Blockbuster and just haven’t had any desire to open it because stealth is quite possibly my least favorite genre. I don’t like guess-and-check gameplay.
What percentage of your games have you actually played? Completed?
I’ve played nearly every game I own at least once. It’s tough to say how many I’ve completed, because so many games today don’t have a definitive ending. If I had to venture a guess, I’d say I’ve finished, beaten, or collected everything there was to collect in about 25% of my games.
Thanks Doc for taking the time for the spotlight!
Posted by brianfishman 
