I'am not a collector but I still have my Nes, Genesis & N64 and try to find some cartridges on the net or during garage sales :)

Might try to get back into collecting neo geo, but if I do, I'm going the arcade platform. Higher start up costs but MUCH lower game costs.

Got some consoles

Nintendo : NES, SNES, N64, Gamecube, Wii, WiiU, GBC, GBA, DS lite, 3DS. I had GB and GB Pocket, probably lost or sold.

Sony : Playstation, PS Two, PS3 Slim. I had PSP and PS Vita, both sold.

SEGA: Master System 2, Megadrive 2 (Genesis 2), Dreamcast (I salute you sweet prince)

Other : Lynx 2

I post 99% of my games in photos. Probably two or three are missing. Segagaga is my collection joy.


EDIT: I also have the Game&Watch from the club Nintendo.

I'd just love to be an old videogame collector but unfortunately I don't really have the resources!

I'm rediscovering the PS1+ age, as I was mostly a PC gamer until that point. I had a PS1, but I didn't have a PS2 until 4-5 years ago, when I also bought a PS3.

I've now got a collection of around 200 or so PS1 games, 250 or so PS2 games, around 120 PS3 games and a grand total of four PS4 games.

Also rediscovering Nintendo since buying the Wii U, bought a used GameCube at around the same time. The GameCube's library is a bit scant, mind you, and most of the best stuff is now available on other platforms (Tales of Symphonia I ended up picking up for PS3, and Wind Waker I got for Wii U). I have around 30 GameCube games, 80 Wii games and 35 Wii U games.

As far as handhelds are concerned, I have about 200 PSP games, 20 DS games, 15 3DS games, and around 100 games of the Game Boy persuasion (Gameboy, Color, Advance).

The keywords are luck and patience. In fact the ressources don't really matters, except if what your seek is something really collector or huge. Exemple Steel Battalion on X Box with his marvelous controller.

Perhaps someone will sell something too much, wait, see another seller, trade, etc... Last time i checked FF7 non platinum here was 70/80 euros, i paid mine 20 euros on ebay. CDs quite brand new with its booklet.

And about chance i get FF8 non platinum for 3 euros, because the mother's seller didn't know about it and the game was hidden with music albums ^^'


EDIT: another trivial thing. Shenmue I, II and Bangai O were gift from a ex co-worker. I help him for his wii, he gave me this games ^^' Big luck ^^'

I don't think I am a collector, but I have around 120 Sega Saturn games (among other retro sega games), number which exploded many years ago (I only had around a dozen saturn games for a decade) when I realized it was easier to buy games than before the big online era (easier to find but unfortunately not cheaper for some games...). And when I wanted to add more old big boxed PC games, I was forced to share my retro console budget with retro PC one.

And then, for some reason, when the Crowdfunding movement had risen, I stopped them both to pledge, and somehow I thought I should invest in the future games (what I didn't for years, and it was quite depressing).

Oh the irony.

Now, I am thinking coming back ;-)

Oh, a collector SegaGaGa, nice !!!

I enjoy collecting these things, although my Gamecube collection is about 75% stuff I got from when it was current to reasonably current (like 2007/8). Same with my Game Boy Advance games, the only one still with the box is Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones, because when I got that the mentality wasn't "Screw the manual and the cardboard box" anymore.
Also, I bought my brother a copy of Super Mario Land 2 on Game Boy from Japan. Still in packaging, not new but very nice looking. Super Robot Taisen on Super Famicom with Seisen no Keifu with boxes and all inserts, fairly inexpensively. Still hunting a copy of Thracia 776. Recently received Japanese Saturn games like Sakura Taisen (I think 2), Super Robot Taisen (can't recall which one), Zeta Gundam, and Virtua Fighter 2. All of those were in surprisingly good condition, the discs were immaculate and with the exception of Sakura's sleeve and one little spot on Virtua fighter all the cases and manuals were just about perfect.
Also within the past couple of years I've bought a couple of old PC games, Quake I and II with some mission packs (even if I can't get Quake I to work), Age of Empires (with the legitimate big box), and probably something else. Unfortunately, the Quake games were only jewel cases (supposing they came in big boxes) and whatever you call Quake's. Probably lots of others, but those are all that come to mind.
Edit: Although, with there being new releases coming out this Autumn/Winter/Into Next year that I actually want, the GOG account and the retro collecting might have to be put on hold... that kinda makes me wanna cry... But, I won't.

A big problem with the retro market is that many games are massively overvalued, especially here in Germany. You have a lot of commercial traders on the likes of eBay and Amazon demanding ridiculous amounts for games that are supposedly rare but are plainly nothing of the sort. Mario and Zelda games are a key culprit in this regard. We also have the same problem with commercial fleamarket game traders who demand ridiculous amounts for their games, although I've solved that by now only going to fleamarkets in smaller towns.

You get a lot of idiots charging 20-25 euros for Super Smash Bros. for the GameCube for example - no box, no manual, just the disc. I have to wonder sometimes if these people have completely lost the plot.

As you say, it comes down to patience and luck. At fleamarkets, you'll always get better prices from private sellers who are just clearing out their basement or getting rid of their old games. Charity shops and thrift stores are often good sources - I've picked up some classics from charity shops in the UK.

For those you don't have snes games box anymore, the website Nintandbox can please you :)

http://www.nintandbox.net/index.php/en/

There is Nes, SNES, virtual boy, game boy, game boy color, game&watch, Nintendo 64 boxes and other stuff