Collecting: The state of affairs

As the Vita and 3DS are inexorably inching towards retirement, I'm about to enter a new phase in my collector's life; a more relaxed, less extravagant phase, where gaming purchases will become the happy exception rather than the overindulgent norm. It's thus the perfect time to take stock of my collecting achievements and assess whatever unfinished business I may have in that department.

DS: Aaah, DS dear, how I love you. That awesome piece of kit is the first handheld I started collecting for; it should thus make perfect sense that my DS library is the largest of all my game libraries, with a massive 156 games so far. I scoured every corner of the DS RPG pool, and I can safely claim that I own a good 95% of all DS RPGs released on our shores, if not more. There is still some potential for growth, though: I could complete my DS RPG library by snatching a couple of obscure RPGs I've not bothered with until now, such as Glory of Heracles. Also, several franchise with numerous DS entries remained unexplored by yours truly, such as Harvest Moon, Inazuma Eleven, Style Boutique or Lost in Blue. I own an instalment of each of these franchises; and should I happen to love said instalment, it could lead to late purchasing sprees.

PSP: The second handheld I started collecting for, and one I love no less than the DS. Despite boasting a hefty 109 games, my PSP collection is actually the most incomplete of all my game libraries, so to speak. There are still a good number of PSP RPGs out there, Japanese as well as localized, that might be worth a purchase. Titles like the Tales of the World sequels, Airou Village, Sol Trigger and Mimana: Iyar Chronicles have gone on and off my PSP Wish List for years, and they may well join the fray in the end. Still, I'm quite proud of my PSP library: not only is it nearly entirely comprised of RPGs, but it also hits the pitch-perfect size in my book — neither trivially small nor overwhelmingly large.

3DS: With 70 games, my 3DS library is my third smallest game library; yet it's also the most diverse, with games belonging to a wide array of genres — from Beat 'em ups à la Senran Kagura to Rhythm games à la Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX, without forgetting (perish the thought!) good ol' RPGs. That relatively limited library still required huge investments, as I went to the trouble of purchasing Japanese and North-American 3DS models in order to enjoy all the system had to offer. Apart from the few 2019 Western releases on the horizon, I can safely say that any future 3DS purchase will most likely target Japanese-only titles. Not that I have any such game on my radar right now, mind you; this is all purely hypothetical, which makes me think that my 3DS library might be very close to completion indeed.

Vita: This is a collection that truly took a life of its own: started as a mere afterthough, it wound up being one of my most glorious RPG pools, with 113 games and counting. It's also without a doubt my nichest collection, with fan-servicey and budget RPGs aplenty. Of all my game libraries, this is undoubtedly the one whose overall value has the most potential to skyrocket over time, as the Vita goes from the ugly duckling of the handheld scene to legacy piece of kit. Not only are most of my regular Vita RPGs fairly rare to begin with, but I ramped up the Collector's Item factor by purchasing a couple of Limited Run Games exclusives — think 2000-3000 copies available worldwide. (Heck, those games alone could be worth my my whole Vita collection's initial price in 20 years for all I know!) Although it's fairly replete, my Vita library still have some potential for growth: apart for the few Vita games slated for release in 2019 on our shores, the Japanese front remains wide open. And given how Japanese gamers love their Vitas, I'd bet that my Vita collecting endeavours won't be over any time soon.

GBA/Game Boy: I'm lumping those two together, as I play them on the same machine. With 36 and 16 cartridges respectively, my GBA and Game Boy libraries are the least impressive of all my game libraries, both in terms of sheer number of games and scope of said games. That's not to say that they don't boast mighty fine RPGs that have become cult classics over time, though. This is especially true of the GBA side, which features luminaries such as Pokemon, Fire Emblem, Final Fantasy and Breath of Fire. The Game Boy side is more modest, and focus more on little Proust madeleines of mine such as Ducktales, Link's Awakening and Kirby's Dream Land — with the occasional late RPG discovery à la Final Fantasy Legend II. I deem those two libraries pretty much complete, although you can never rule out a future addition: little hidden gems such as Warlocked and Survival Kids are darn tantalizing, and I may well cave in and snatch them in the end.

After six-or-so years of intensive game hunting, I've also come to reassess some aspects of my collecting. Things have changed an awful lot in those six years, and developments that were unthinkable a couple of years ago have now become perfectly viable options — both in my collecting and in my life in general. Which leads us to the following musings:

— Should I start selling some of my games? Although each and every game in my collection has a unique story behind it and is tied to heart-warming memories, there's no denying that some games are a tad less precious to me than others. A typical example of this would be Luminous Arc: whilst I genuinely enjoyed my run of it, I can't really imagine touching it ever again now that the deed is done. Wouldn't it be better, then, to let another collector get their paws on it? I have to admit that those impulses to sell average games are getting stronger by the year: why hold onto such games, when there are so many games I'm madly in love with and want to replay over and over again? Why not just stick with the crème de la crème?

— Should I get rid of the boxes and manuals and hold onto cartridges/ discs only? I wouldn't have dreamt of such a move a mere two years ago, as I was too afraid of missing valuable gameplay information if I let go of booklets; however, I warmed up to the idea after realizing that most games from the last two consoles generations offer in-game tutorials — not to mention that my GBA/Game Boy collections solely comprise cartridges, and I'm fine with that. Still, this remains a huge bone of contention between the hoardy, collecting-hungry side of me and the practical, non-nonsense one. My inner collector fully realizes that my collection could instantly lose a good two-third of its value if I ditched boxes and manuals; yet my inner Marie Kondo already grumbles at the thought of needing to carry all that plastic around if I move somewhere else. Ironically enough, keeping only cartridges could be seen as an act of true faith in my gaming future, as it would imply that I don't ever plan to sell my precious collection — or would it? I could sure still sell it, only at a much lower price. Or maybe not: as years roll by, collectors would probably warm up to the idea of purchasing cartridges alone, like they did for '80s and early '90s consoles. Or would they? After all, many collectors make do with cartridges because boxes were so crappy at the time. But then again, doesn't the largest price gap lie between new and second-hand games, rather than between complete and cartridge-only games? Aaah, this is such a pain! To throw or not to throw, that is the (torturous) question. 

And with that, this round-up of my collection endeavours is pretty much done. Only time will tell how my precious collection evolves from there. Will it keep inflating, or deflate a bit? Will I keep some games complete and other as cartridges only? I'll just let my gaming instinct run the show, as always. A million thanks for reading as usual, dear fellow gamers, and drop by anytime!