Do you play games or play "Gotta collect em all!" with ROMs?

[Deleted member 42501]

Not just ROMs either. There are those who buy Steam etc.. as well as physical and (strangest of the lot) buy physical, don't open it, don't play it. Last but not least my personal fave:

The perpetual tweaker.

Gotta get the emulation just so, collate the ROMs, add some art, make it look real fancy and, oh yeah, put some LEDs in that bitch like its 2001 again!

Man I did so much of that back then. Now, not so much.

Got me thinking as the best pure gaming experiences I've had were with consoles running legit firmware where I bought one game, played it, traded it and then bought another. You really research what you buy, only pick quality and are generally a lot more discerning that way.

That said these days I'm almost at the point where I'd just watch a yt of the cutscenes of a game that interests me for the story as I'm too busy for the bloated mess that is modern gaming.

 

[GeekyGuy]

As far as Steam is concerned, when Humble Bundle was still actually a thing for charity before being bought and presenting itself as a "for charity" thing, I would donate almost weekly, so yeah, my Steam library is pretty full with stuff I've never touched.

Other than that, I only (mostly) buy games I intend to play. I treasure games because the memories I've had playing them with my kids, or Animal Crossing DS, playing with my wife. Games I love because they're just a great sanctuary from day-to-day life, but I'm not really a collector. I do keep my games, though. And I understand why some folks are collectors. It's allgood.

 

[Minox]

Used to suffer from pirate's syndrome but ever since being able to pay for the games I want to play that has become less of an issue. As nice as free is paying is usually just so much more convenient if you can afford it.

 

[Psionic Roshambo]

I have a tremendous library of steam games, most of them I have never played. I also collect ROM's but I have learned to be brutal with trimming them down to what I actually want to play... So like top 20 or 100 depending on the system. I find that less is more when it comes time that I am in the mood to play something. If I have 5,000 games for a system I start wandering through the collection spending like hours just browsing then I am not in the mood to actually play anymore.

 

[Nakamichi]

why not both?

 

[JuanMena]

Used to.

I still love old videogames, and I used to had completely downloaded libraries of old roms.

But as I grow, I keep getting bored by games faster than before.
As a kid, I literally spent days with my SNES on, nowadays I get bored 15/30 minutes later.

So I don't download nor buy anything unless I'm trying to fix something.

Sidenote: New games and new consoles doesn't interest me anymore, and even then I'd use newer consoles to emulate old games. And I only have roms of games that I do play sometimes.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

I used to buy every Humble Bundle, before eventually deciding I wasn't playing 90% of the games, so I wouldn't buy another Humble Bundle unless there were at least a couple games in the bundle I really wanted. I've only bought a few Humble Bundles since. To be fair the quality of some of the bundles has gone down a lot too. I still have never even launched about 75% of the games in my Steam library.
When it comes to roms etc. I do tend to download full sets if they aren't too big (no more than a few gigs), and I download anything even remotely interesting looking to put on my 3DS or Switch, many of which I never end up playing for more than half an hour.

 

[Deleted member 568892]

I've been through phases of spending more time downloading games than actually playing them. It was a fucking waste of time. Games rarely get delisted so hoarding (whether by downloading illegally or mass buying during sales) costs more time than it's worth.

 

[Marc_LFD]

I do.

Been playing Burnout Revenge on PS4 and am near the end of the campaign, then I'll play Burnout Takedown (should've been the other way around). Revenge's gameplay is a bit better and crashing into cars to get 'em out of the way is so much fun.. something you can't do in Takedown.

 

[Bagel Le Stinky]

both

 

[Lostbhoy]

I'm in both camps! I like to have the old games i had as a kid and the ones i didn't but also as you delve into games you didn't know about and then rom hacks.... You do end up hoarding to a certain extent anyway I'd say but i recently cleaned up my collection and got rid of some rom hacks and games i know I'll never play again (mainly just bad games!) however there are still a few I guess I'm keeping for other peoples enjoyment. I love having a game someone remembers from their childhood and saying here ya go, is it as good as you remember lol!

 

[Two_Fitty]

I prefer to buy games but I use a lot of roms and such cause I’m broker than dirt

 

[godreborn]

I used to be that way, but I'm not anymore after an hdd failed on both the ps3 and the 360. it seems more prudent just to download games you'll play, at least for more modern systems. older systems--the games are so small that it doesn't really matter.

 

[UltraDolphinRevolution]

I used to have a huge ROM collection, but lost it. Instead I became a Wii collector. I do plan on playing them all eventually.

 

[godreborn]

I used to have a huge ROM collection, but lost it. Instead I became a Wii collector. I do plan on playing them all eventually.

you're in for a lot of shit.

 

[Xzi]

Little bit of column A, little bit of column B. I have a huge Steam library as I created my account the same year the platform launched. I also have a physical games collection of (almost) all my favorites. Still keep a massive collection of ROMs on an external HDD though, both to fill in the blanks where overpriced classics are concerned, and also for the sake of convenience. Wouldn't want to have to rip all my carts and discs every time I get a new device like Steam Deck.

 

[UltraDolphinRevolution]

you're in for a lot of shit.

Well, I think there are at least 100-200 games worth playing. I´m not collecting everything.
When people speak of "hidden gems", they mean something like Little King´s Story. I´m digging much deeper and sometimes find sth like WW2 Aces, developed by a view people, obviously low budget but great fun.

 

[godreborn]

Well, I think there are at least 100-200 games worth playing. I´m not collecting everything.

maybe. I have 700-900 games, and most of them are not something I'd play. I was able to preserve the wii hdd with backups. that's when I was pirating because I could. I play two pirated games on all platforms combined, but I wouldn't mind buying them, just know optical drives are horrible in many systems.

 

[UltraDolphinRevolution]

maybe. I have 700-900 games, and most of them are not something I'd play. I was able to preserve the wii hdd with backups. that's when I was pirating because I could. I play two pirated games on all platforms combined, but I wouldn't mind buying them, just know optical drives are horrible in many systems.

My Wii DVD drive broke from playing too much CoD (clack click clack). That´s how my journey to gbatemp began.

 

[godreborn]

My Wii DVD drive broke from playing too much CoD (clack click clack). That´s how my journey to gbatemp began.

I'm pretty sure the dvd drive is failing in my wii as well. I think it's from nonuse or something. I can get burns to work, and I can get wiifit to work, but my other wii game doesn't work for some reason. no idea why. I have a wiikey in mine, so it's either the modchip or the drive itself.