In my previous post, I rambled on about the need for focus in a retro game collection. It may be hard to accept, but you can't collect everything. But so what? You figure out what you most desire, compile a "want list," then go about acquiring the items on it, right? Sure... but what happens when you get everything on your list?
I'm surprised at how often I've seen collectors complete a want list, then lose interest and sell off the collection. Sometimes they drop out of the hobby entirely. Of course, tastes do change. Maybe they used to really enjoy playing that Microvision but then discovered the Game.com and never looked back – I don't know. But if they were just after the thrill of the hunt, and didn't really want the things they were hunting, they probably shouldn't have been collecting them in the first place. On the other hand, there's nothing wrong with enjoying the "search and acquisition" phase of the hobby either. It may happen that you complete a want list, and enjoy having it completed, but still miss the thrill of the hunt.
This has been on my mind a bit lately as I've pretty much completed my original want lists. When I began actively collecting retro games in the mid 1990s, I started with the goal of reacquiring all the pre-NES games I used to have in the early '80s, which my parents gave away shortly after I picked up Nintendo's system in 1988 or so. Beyond that, I wanted to get all the games my childhood friends owned, then any games I may have borrowed from relatives or other acquaintances back then, then that one game I rented from that one place that one time... you get the idea. And of course I quickly discovered other games that made their way to the top of my original want lists. For example, during the '80s, I had not known that there was a sequel to Pitfall!, even though I loved the original game. Obviously Pitfall II became one of my most desired titles once I became aware of its existence.
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| The Lost Caverns were really "lost" to me – I didn't know this game existed until 1994! Photo: AtariAge |
After 17 years though, I find that I already own most of what I originally wanted. Make no mistake: there are plenty of games that aren't in my collection that I wouldn't object to having, but very few are on my "specifically looking for" list. And it's kind of a bummer. Nevertheless, I have no temptation to stop collecting as others in this situation sometimes do. I trimmed some of my excess stuff a while ago – mainly junk NES games I had no interest in – but I really enjoy owning my collection. I'd just like to continue enjoying collecting it.
As I've been trying but failing to state for two posts now, I've finally figured out how I want to have my cake and collect it too. It's not a huge revelation or anything – it's pretty obvious actually – but I'm excited about it anyway because it's re-energized my collecting interest. I'll describe it in my next post.
