u/grud315

Got into collecting in the last year and chose to focus on 4 main franchises (Zelda, Metal Gear, Metroid, 007) and 1 console. Chose the SNES since it's what I first played growing up and it is still my favorite. Previously I sold most of everything I had for the SNES except 4 titles to make room for other games growing up. Now, I've gotten this collection back up to a level my childhood self couldn't have dreamed of.

Purchases were equal parts eBay, conventions (chiefly LI Retro and its winter counterpart), local shops, and a trip to Japan.

My top 5 are: A Link to the Past (my fave game ever), Mario World, Mario RPG, Castlevania IV, and Yoshi's Island. HM: Super Metroid, never got around to finishing it.

Edit: Added an IMGUR Link to high-res versions of these photos, since Reddit still cannot process photos without losing quality. https://imgur.com/gallery/snes-collection-rV7Wz0Y

I've finally organized my collection to a point where I wanted to share it.

While I do play a variety of titles, I wanted to focus collecting my favorite franchises, those being Zelda, Metal Gear, Metroid, and 007. On top of collecting these franchises, I wanted to focus on 1 specific console, so I chose the SNES. This was my 1st console growing up, so it has a special place in my heart.

For the most part I aim to collect CIB versions, except for the SNES collection. There, I focus on getting cartridges for the most part. Outside of a few more I'm looking to get, along with a few boxes/manuals for some loose 007 cartridges and the BOTW amiibo (the only Zelda amiibo I'm missing), I'm at a point now where collecting missing titles for these franchises is getting both difficult and costly, purely due to them being rare and/or in-demand (Zelda being the biggest offender in this case). Still, I'm very satisfied with where my collection is as of now, and with the shelves that I have here which came as-is in my house, I don't have much room left without expanding further anyway. For the most part I see myself slowing down just a bit, focusing less on the eBay's and Mercari's of the world, and aiming to go to the occasional retro gaming con and vintage shop. Among my missing grails, I'm aiming to add a CIB A Link to the Past (my favorite game ever), and MSX copies of Metal Gear 1 and 2. Also, I know that Funkos, artwork, and vinyl records aren't exactly "game collecting", but by virtue of them being tied to gaming franchises, I felt it was cool to share them.

Happy to answer any and all questions! (Also, if images are blurry, it's reddit, i took all but 1 photo here with a fancy mirrorless camera, had issues with mobile so this post is from a PC).

Special shoutouts to Gameye for their tracking app and accepting 25+ of my submissions, and Dan @ RetroProtection for answering all my questions and providing the protective cases I use for my games.