Post by wafflerevolution on Sept 12, 2013 17:45:04 GMT
Subject: Pikadeth, Member Since 2006
Some basics first.
Number of Systems: I own games for 30 different platforms. If PC or iPod games don't count do the math accordingly.
Number of Games: 1,455 and growing... like a fungus.
When did you start collecting? Probably at about 5 years old. I got my collection to about 300 games by 17, then had to sell them off. Stupid move, I know. Collection 2.0 started in 1998 with the purchase of my N64. Most of collection 1.0 has been regained.
What was your first system? It was the Atari 2600. Many an hour were spent playing E.T. and Pacman before I knew that they were horrible. (Pac-Man on A2600 is not horrible - Aspro)
What was your first game? My first games that were new in box and purchased solely for me were Tetris and Super Mario Land for the original GameBoy. They were a gift shortly after it launched. Anything prior to that was picked up from garage sales and swap meets and meant to be for both my brother and I. I inherited them when he lost interest in games.
When did you feel a tipping point from gamer to both gamer and game collector?
That was about 5 years ago when my income doubled in a very short time span and I finally got my driver's license. The world was at my fingertips and I kinda went nuts from the freedom. Some of the games that were purchased during that time have yet to be played. I'm so bad. Before then I had a 2 game per month rule and made sure to beat every game that I played.
Two game per month? Coming from you that's hard to believe. You, and a lot of other collectors often say things like, "I'm so bad" or "I was bad, I got these games". Is that based on true feelings of guilt -- are you doing harm to yourself or others when you buy too many games in a short period?
Nah, no real guilt. It's mostly because I go through phases where I want to catch up on backlog. It's hard to do that when the backlog continues to grow. I never feel guilty about giving homeless games a nice place to live.
What are your goals as a game collector, and how do you feel about your progress toward them?
I'm not as much about numbers as I am about building a set of games that define a console. There are too many games to get them all. I needed a boundary and that one made the most sense to me. I also try to avoid realistic sports titles even though it's tempting to buy a lot of them for cheap just to raise the overall review scores of my GCN, PS2, and Xbox collections. The main thing that keeps me away from them is that I only want things in my collection that I have interest in playing some day.
So raising or maintaining the cumulative average score of your individual collections is important to you? To that extent would you intentionally not buy a game that is collectible, but received a low score?
Yes and no. I won't buy big lots of low quality games just to raise my numbers and expand my collection, no. If a certain title interests me a bad review won't stop me from getting it if it has an interesting premise, tried something new, or did anything to make it unique and worth adding to my collection.
How many games, systems, etc. are "enough"?
It's hard to tell. Every time that I think that a collection for one console or another is nearing completion I find something new to desire. I'm hoping for some sort of zen moment of peace to overcome me when I get there so that I know when to stop.
What's your proudest moment as a game collector?
The game merger with my soon to be wife. A load of new games and someone to play them with? I'll buy that for a dollar!
What's your least proud moment as a game collector?
Pika's Friends, "Look! A Mortal Kombat GBA game! Get it! How bad can it be?
"
That was the first and only time that I ever bought a game before any reading reviews. Not that scores mean much. The meat of the article is another story though.
I think that was the lowest score ever given by EGM -- a 0.0 from Dan "Shoe" Hsu before he was the head honcho.
Yeah, that was great. Some head honcho at Microsoft used to keep a copy of the title on his desk just to remind him of how not to make a game. The game itself is kinda fun in a wonky sort of way. At least until you get to Shao Kahn and he just flails his hammer around and murders you to death.
What's your favorite part of your collection?
Watching the mind of a child boggle the first time that they enter my game room. Their little brains can't comprehend it when it hits them all at once. It's priceless to see them stagger back with eyes darting from one marvel to another.
And you standing by with a taser in case they touch anything. Or are you more the avuncular, Uncy Pika-type?
I'll set things up for them and they can play, but can't touch. Kids are too accident prone to trust with some things.
What would you like to improve in your collection?
I'm missing several consoles like the Atari Jaguar, 32X, Wonderswan, NeoGeo, and NeoGeo Pocket Color. My GameBoy, GameBoy Color, and PS1 sets leave a lot to be desired too. I'm only 30. I have time.
What would you like to get rid of in your game collection within the next year?
I have some duplicates that are too valuable to trade in to a store, but I'm too lazy to ebay them. I'm not willing to part with anything that I don't have a double for. That includes console variants.
Of course. What do you think was your best deal while game buying?
My $90 copy of Panzer Dragoon Saga. I watched that game for years on ebay until one slipped by that cheap.
What do you feel is the most valuable and/or rare item in your collection?
Panzer Dragoon Saga comes to mind for a single item of value. As for rarities my boxed 3DO flight stick doesn't seem to grow on trees any more. Neither do my complete set of Virtual Boy US releases or Fairchild Channel F. I normally don't go for high ticket items since my Animal Crossing money trees don't grow so well in real life.
What item in your collection do you feel you overpaid for?
$80 for Devil May Cry 4 Collector's Edition comes to mind as far as the actual item goes. The happiness that it brought Mrs Deth was worth it though.
Gak! Yeah, that' pretty steep. But I can't really comment, all the expensive stuff in my collection was bought for my wife. Don't know why she never took the hint and got me a copy of Steel Battalion. Didn't you also get her the limited edition MGS4 PS3?
Yeah, that was mostly for her too. I don't mind that one so much since it's the last version of the PS3 to have backwards compatibility. At least I think that it has it. I've hardly touched the thing since we bought it. She has bought me a few games like Mr Mosquito and The Adventures of Cookie and Cream. What can I say? I'm a cheap date.
What do you feel is the strangest or weirdest item in your collection?
I get funny looks when people see Britney's Dance Beat in my collection. The same goes for Hello Kitty Roller Rescue. What can I say? I'm a man and I enjoy manly games.
What items do you not have in your collection that people are surprised to hear you don't have?
PC games. I actually have a large box of them and a giant, boxed flight stick with pedals and such that I found, but never inventoried or added to my collection. They're older games that wouldn't run on my XP computer any way.
Where/how do you store it all?
Mostly in 8 large book cases in my bedroom. The duplicate consoles or extra items like the NES Action Pad are boxed in my closet. I couldn't put any of it in storage. I get too much enjoyment from knowing that I can play any of my games within minutes if I desired to do so.
Is there anyway you'd ever stop collecting?
If I lost my collection I'd go back to only buying games that I planned to immediately play. I've come too far to start over again.
Do you have a funny story about your collection?
No, but when I asked to describe my game room I tell people that it looks like GameStop and Toys R Us had a love child.
Have you ever had to move your collection to another house? What was it like?
Thankfully no, but part of my collection moved from Virginia to here in California. I was drowning in cardboard for a while.
What percentage of your games are still sealed?
Probably 10% to 20% since I buy most of them used.
What percentage of your game have you actually played? Completed?
30% to 40% between the Mrs and I. It helps that a good number of my games are for cIassic consoles and are rather short. That percentage plummets when applied to newer games.
Right on Pika, thanks for being an active member of the CCU and for taking the time for this profile.
It's been a pleasure. Expect to have me around for a while. A good group of collectors like this is hard to find.
Some basics first.
Number of Systems: I own games for 30 different platforms. If PC or iPod games don't count do the math accordingly.
Number of Games: 1,455 and growing... like a fungus.
When did you start collecting? Probably at about 5 years old. I got my collection to about 300 games by 17, then had to sell them off. Stupid move, I know. Collection 2.0 started in 1998 with the purchase of my N64. Most of collection 1.0 has been regained.
What was your first system? It was the Atari 2600. Many an hour were spent playing E.T. and Pacman before I knew that they were horrible. (Pac-Man on A2600 is not horrible - Aspro)
What was your first game? My first games that were new in box and purchased solely for me were Tetris and Super Mario Land for the original GameBoy. They were a gift shortly after it launched. Anything prior to that was picked up from garage sales and swap meets and meant to be for both my brother and I. I inherited them when he lost interest in games.
When did you feel a tipping point from gamer to both gamer and game collector?
That was about 5 years ago when my income doubled in a very short time span and I finally got my driver's license. The world was at my fingertips and I kinda went nuts from the freedom. Some of the games that were purchased during that time have yet to be played. I'm so bad. Before then I had a 2 game per month rule and made sure to beat every game that I played.
Two game per month? Coming from you that's hard to believe. You, and a lot of other collectors often say things like, "I'm so bad" or "I was bad, I got these games". Is that based on true feelings of guilt -- are you doing harm to yourself or others when you buy too many games in a short period?
Nah, no real guilt. It's mostly because I go through phases where I want to catch up on backlog. It's hard to do that when the backlog continues to grow. I never feel guilty about giving homeless games a nice place to live.
What are your goals as a game collector, and how do you feel about your progress toward them?
I'm not as much about numbers as I am about building a set of games that define a console. There are too many games to get them all. I needed a boundary and that one made the most sense to me. I also try to avoid realistic sports titles even though it's tempting to buy a lot of them for cheap just to raise the overall review scores of my GCN, PS2, and Xbox collections. The main thing that keeps me away from them is that I only want things in my collection that I have interest in playing some day.
So raising or maintaining the cumulative average score of your individual collections is important to you? To that extent would you intentionally not buy a game that is collectible, but received a low score?
Yes and no. I won't buy big lots of low quality games just to raise my numbers and expand my collection, no. If a certain title interests me a bad review won't stop me from getting it if it has an interesting premise, tried something new, or did anything to make it unique and worth adding to my collection.
How many games, systems, etc. are "enough"?
It's hard to tell. Every time that I think that a collection for one console or another is nearing completion I find something new to desire. I'm hoping for some sort of zen moment of peace to overcome me when I get there so that I know when to stop.
What's your proudest moment as a game collector?
The game merger with my soon to be wife. A load of new games and someone to play them with? I'll buy that for a dollar!
What's your least proud moment as a game collector?
Pika's Friends, "Look! A Mortal Kombat GBA game! Get it! How bad can it be?
"
That was the first and only time that I ever bought a game before any reading reviews. Not that scores mean much. The meat of the article is another story though.
I think that was the lowest score ever given by EGM -- a 0.0 from Dan "Shoe" Hsu before he was the head honcho.
Yeah, that was great. Some head honcho at Microsoft used to keep a copy of the title on his desk just to remind him of how not to make a game. The game itself is kinda fun in a wonky sort of way. At least until you get to Shao Kahn and he just flails his hammer around and murders you to death.
What's your favorite part of your collection?
Watching the mind of a child boggle the first time that they enter my game room. Their little brains can't comprehend it when it hits them all at once. It's priceless to see them stagger back with eyes darting from one marvel to another.
And you standing by with a taser in case they touch anything. Or are you more the avuncular, Uncy Pika-type?
I'll set things up for them and they can play, but can't touch. Kids are too accident prone to trust with some things.
What would you like to improve in your collection?
I'm missing several consoles like the Atari Jaguar, 32X, Wonderswan, NeoGeo, and NeoGeo Pocket Color. My GameBoy, GameBoy Color, and PS1 sets leave a lot to be desired too. I'm only 30. I have time.
What would you like to get rid of in your game collection within the next year?
I have some duplicates that are too valuable to trade in to a store, but I'm too lazy to ebay them. I'm not willing to part with anything that I don't have a double for. That includes console variants.
Of course. What do you think was your best deal while game buying?
My $90 copy of Panzer Dragoon Saga. I watched that game for years on ebay until one slipped by that cheap.
What do you feel is the most valuable and/or rare item in your collection?
Panzer Dragoon Saga comes to mind for a single item of value. As for rarities my boxed 3DO flight stick doesn't seem to grow on trees any more. Neither do my complete set of Virtual Boy US releases or Fairchild Channel F. I normally don't go for high ticket items since my Animal Crossing money trees don't grow so well in real life.
What item in your collection do you feel you overpaid for?
$80 for Devil May Cry 4 Collector's Edition comes to mind as far as the actual item goes. The happiness that it brought Mrs Deth was worth it though.
Gak! Yeah, that' pretty steep. But I can't really comment, all the expensive stuff in my collection was bought for my wife. Don't know why she never took the hint and got me a copy of Steel Battalion. Didn't you also get her the limited edition MGS4 PS3?
Yeah, that was mostly for her too. I don't mind that one so much since it's the last version of the PS3 to have backwards compatibility. At least I think that it has it. I've hardly touched the thing since we bought it. She has bought me a few games like Mr Mosquito and The Adventures of Cookie and Cream. What can I say? I'm a cheap date.
What do you feel is the strangest or weirdest item in your collection?
I get funny looks when people see Britney's Dance Beat in my collection. The same goes for Hello Kitty Roller Rescue. What can I say? I'm a man and I enjoy manly games.
What items do you not have in your collection that people are surprised to hear you don't have?
PC games. I actually have a large box of them and a giant, boxed flight stick with pedals and such that I found, but never inventoried or added to my collection. They're older games that wouldn't run on my XP computer any way.
Where/how do you store it all?
Mostly in 8 large book cases in my bedroom. The duplicate consoles or extra items like the NES Action Pad are boxed in my closet. I couldn't put any of it in storage. I get too much enjoyment from knowing that I can play any of my games within minutes if I desired to do so.
Is there anyway you'd ever stop collecting?
If I lost my collection I'd go back to only buying games that I planned to immediately play. I've come too far to start over again.
Do you have a funny story about your collection?
No, but when I asked to describe my game room I tell people that it looks like GameStop and Toys R Us had a love child.
Have you ever had to move your collection to another house? What was it like?
Thankfully no, but part of my collection moved from Virginia to here in California. I was drowning in cardboard for a while.
What percentage of your games are still sealed?
Probably 10% to 20% since I buy most of them used.
What percentage of your game have you actually played? Completed?
30% to 40% between the Mrs and I. It helps that a good number of my games are for cIassic consoles and are rather short. That percentage plummets when applied to newer games.
Right on Pika, thanks for being an active member of the CCU and for taking the time for this profile.
It's been a pleasure. Expect to have me around for a while. A good group of collectors like this is hard to find.