For some, part of the joy of retro game collecting is the organizational and display aspect. Obviously playing the games is top priority, but there is something to be said for how you organize, store, and display your collection. Over the past decade, my game collection has undergone several changes, based on the logistics of quantity, space, material, and preference. At this time my collection has undergone another shift, and my means of shelving has changed.
In
one of my earliest posts, I discussed my collection and organization. At that time, I was using the Atlantic Oskar 1080 media shelves for my cased SNES and Genesis carts. My NES carts were in another vertical media stand. Along the broad wall of my game room were six Ikea floating cd shelves (now discontinued). I had a rather large cd collection after college, and the vast majority of it reflects that time period. There was some wall space that had a framed Guided By Voices poster above my stereo, that I always felt could have been put to better storage use. Lo and behold, as I was poking around Craigslist I ran across six more of the same exact floating shelves, for five bucks apiece! With these, I was able to fill in the wall with matching shelves. I then transferred my cds from the floating ikea shelves to the atlantic media media shelf. This freed up the ikea shelves for my cased cartridges.
Now normally this may seem like overkill, but since I have invested in housing my carts in reproduction cases, there is significantly more space needed.
SNES carts in universal game cases and covers from thecoverproject.net fill in the first bank of shelves.
NES carts in Bitboxes from stoneagegamer.com take the middle bank of shelves.
Genesis games in original clamshell cases round out the final bank of shelves. Not all of the covers are original, in fact most aren't. The majority of carts were purchased loose. I purchased cheap sports and filler games in bulk from online auctions on the cheap, and printed covers for the games I wanted to encase.
Altogether, I like how they turned out, and how I have just the right amount of wiggle room left in each. I feel that I have most of the games that I want, and so my rate of acquisitions has slowed (thankfully) to a crawl. I can focus on enjoying what I have, knowing that even though they are all on the order of 25+ years, hopefully they will last that much longer.
Of course these are just my carts; my disc-based games are stored in a media cabinet with shelves opposite of the bank of shelves.
When closed, the cabinet looks nice and tidy.
When open, the games can breathe and be perused.
The center top rows are my import Saturn games; mainly shooters and fighting games. These shooters are the pride of my collection.
The center middle is host to my Dreamcast games. Domestic games to the far left, Japanese imports in the middle, and both in dvd cases to the right. Not my favorite console, but some of the DC shooters are my favorites, like Zero Gunner 2 and Under Defeat.
The middle to bottom of the center are my PS2 games. The PS2 is not my favorite system, but there were so many games released for it. Gradius V, Metal Slug Anthology, R-Type Final, and Contra Shattered Soldier are my favs.
The top right are my PC Engine games: Hu Cards, and CD Roms. There are some repro cases (Onslaught reproductions) for loose Hu Cards, and some repro Hu Cards at the bottom right, courtesy of the guys at the Turboreproductions FB group.
Below the PC Engine games are a small collection of GameBoy Advance games, all newly cased. That little bag contains my SNES to Gamecube controller adapter, as the analog Gamecube controller is not the best fit for 2D gaming, in my opinion.
My Gamecube collection rounds out the right side. I have really started to appreciate this system of late. I just wish I had the component cables.
The top left of the cabinet is my Playstation collection. Some great shooters here, but the early 3D visuals were a bit of a barrier for me to really get into. I have three import games: Gradius Gaiden, Raiden DX, and Gunners Heaven. Note that Raiden Project was originally a long box game, but I just printed out a jewel case cover for it.
The middle left is where I keep my Sega CD, Domestic Saturn, and Japanese PS2 games. I have never liked the oversized Sega cases, so I sold the few that I had and just printed some repro covers in standard DVD cases. Notice how my Japanese Saturn collection dwarfs my American collection? That's what I think of the library that they released here. I don't think I'm alone in thinking this, but the Saturn might have had a fighting chance if some of the Japanese exclusives were released worldwide.
The bottoms left is for my "modern" games. Most of the Wii games are for my kids.
My beloved Sony Trinitron Wega. I hope you never die, because I don't want to have to move you ever again.
Top row, left to right: fat PS2, slim Japanese PS2, Japanese Sega Saturn model 2, Dreamcast with Region free bios.
Middle: Non-TMSS Model 1 Sega Genesis with model 2 Sega CD, 1-chip SNES, component modded PC-Engine Duo
Bottom: Bandridge scart switch and monoprice component switch, RGB modded NES-101, Gamecube and Gameboy Player, N64.
Well, that is that for my collection. As my taste evolves, I trim and prune the collection here and there, and tailor it to my preferences. I really try to keep the overall numbers down, and if I feel like it is out growing my space, I weed out more nonessentials and setup a sale on eBay. As of now, I like how everything fits, and there is a sense of necessary containment that is important for family reasons. Who knows, maybe in a year I will have an entirely different setup. I guess it will give me another thing to write about.