Favorite Part of your Collection

[Limewater]

Limiting myself to one thing (OK, I'm sort of cheating because this is two), I guess my favorite part of my collection is my Aladdin Deck Enhances with the Dizzy the Adventurer compact cart.

It's not the rarest or most valuable thing in my collection, but I like it a lot and I enjoy it since it is one of the only really cool things in my collection that I actually just found in the wild. I stumbled upon it in late 1997 or early 1998 in a small store that had a shelf full of NES games. Since then, Aladdins have become more common, as several pallets of unsold units seem to have been discovered and sold over the internet, but at the time it was an amazing find.

For a runner up, I would probably select my pirate famicom multicart with famicom-to-nes adaptor. It is a 72 in 1, and pretty unremarkable. I traded for it from a friend whose mom was Korean. Apparently someone on her side of the family had given it to him. This was also prior to the widespread use of ebay, so it was a particularly exciting find at the time.

[D.D.D.]

That's pretty difficult to say... I think it varies time to time for me.

Right now I'm on a run of obtaining Club Nintendo items like the Wii TV remote, gold Mario statue, Star Tenbillion, Mario family figure set, etc and old non-video game Nintendo items as well (like tin cases, dot art, buncha little figures, sound figures, etc).

Perhaps game-wise some of my finer or rarer selections would be:
Sin & Punishment
Bangai-O (64 & J-DC)
a mint/CIB SMB3 JP version
Zelda 1 Disk System
Metroid Disk System
FF7 (first ed - JP & US)
C:SOTN (JP PS1 first run w/bonus art book - and a music CD I think, it's in storage and haven't seen it in years)
Vib Ribbon (JP)
Jet Set Radio, Jet Grind Radio, De La Jet Set Radio, Jet Set Radio Future
Napple Tale (DC)
Burning Rangers (US & JP)
C:SOTN (SAT - free from a friend)
Guardian Heroes
Panzer Dragoon Saga (US & JP)
Radiant Silvergun
Silhouette Mirage (Sat)
Alien Solider (JP)
Gunstar Heroes (US & JP - not rare but I love the JP artwork)
SamShoRPG (NGCD)
Dracula X: Rondo of the Blood (Duo/PCE)
Lords of Thunder (Duo/PCE) (JP & US)
Y's 1~4 (Duo/PCE)
Gate of Thunder (Duo)
Arkanoid DS + paddle controller (not rare but it felt special because I always wanted the NES Arkanoid paddle as a kid)
Ikaruga (GC)
MGS:TS (GC) + (MGS1, MGS2, MGS2 Sub, MGS3, MGS3 Sus)
3 of 4 Hudson GC remakes (Adventure Is, Bonk, and Star Soldier)
Zelda: OOT (gold cart 1st ed)
and a ton of great SNES games (my favorite system).

[ott0bot]

I think it's my Genesis collection. I've managed to track down complete or boxed copies of alost every US game I've ever wanted. Especially complete copies of Shining Force 2 & Crusader of Centy, and boxed MUSHA (now if i can just find the manual). The box art is so varied and unique, it just looks impressive. Got a boxed Shining Force for Game Gear too.

I really love my Sega CD collection too. When people come over they are just like, "What the heck, i didn't know sega cd had so many good games!" I love the inappropriately large cases. They look sweet.

I'm also a bit proud of my PS1 and snes collections, especially my complete Super Mario RPG.

They are my children and i'm proud, and it makes my wife laugh at me but so what?

[Krooze L-Roy]

I've got lots of more expensive/desirable/fun stuff in my collection, but I have to say that my Vectrex is a definite highlight for me. It's just so much different than everything else.

But my arcade machines (a ratty old Pac-Man machine and a William's Diner pinball) put all my other stuff to shame. Particularly Diner, though my dog hates when I play it.

My LEAST favorite part of my collection is a Climber Game & Watch that died like a month after I got it. The damn thing cost me like 170 bucks!

[fastbilly1]

My bizarre assortment of game swag from all eras. Including but not limited to:
Final Fantasy V Cold Cast
3 Giant Gamecube Cubes from Launch - each one has posters four games on it and together they are about 6 feet tall, and spin.
8 foot tall wall scroll for the Gamecube version of Soul Calibur 2
Super Famicom Hard Travel Case
Blockbuster N64 Carrying Case - I actually won a tournament when my team showed up with our own controllers in the case with a third person carrying it - yes very powerglove like.
And who can forget dozen standees for random games from the cube era? Star Wars Galaxies and Megaman Battle Network are the only two I remember off the top of my head.

[IMJ]

No joke: at this point the favorite thing about my collection is that I've been getting rid of it. lol!
However, I'd say the favorite part that I've still got lying around is my Turbo Grafx 16 stuff. It was such an obscure and costly system at the time, that when I finally landed one years later it was like opening a whole new world of obscure gaming.

That and the fact that I've always loved Vigilante makes me and Bonk's playground good friends. The catch though? I never play it. Therefore it will eventually fall into the category "favorite by virtue of getting rid of it" and my PS3 "Media Machine" will be my favorite piece of gaming hardware ever.

[baphomet_irl]

my favourite 3 parts of my collection are -they're not rare really but I just really like them:

[lost_within]

Hey nice idea...if you guys can, post pics of your favorite items you own. Or what is that ONE piece of god like game hardware you want.

[Scooter]

I own mainstream hardware, but I really enjoy collecting a lot of the odd little peripherals that went with it all. I also really like collecting things that are complete with boxes, packaging, instructions, etc. One great item I really enjoy is the 3D Glasses for Sega Master System. Far from being just a gimick, these things really do work well and the few games made for the glasses are actually pretty good. I especially like Maze Hunter and Missle Defense 3D games. I actually got the glasses so I could play Zaxxon 3-D (I've always been a big fan on the Zaxxon arcade game) but it is probably the least entertaining SMS 3D game I've played thus far.

All in all, in my video gaming hobby and my musclecar hobby, I think I like the HISTORY of the things as much as the things themselves. I have a 1965 Chevelle and I have tons of original GM literature such as magazine reviews, advertisements, dealer books, shop manuals, etc. which bring the era in which the car was produced into greater focus. Likewise, I enjoy the magazines, packaging, posters, promotional items, etc. surrounding retro video games. I never got into video games as a kid, though I Jonesed for an Intellivision as a teen, because our family couldn't really afford a system. But as a young adult (I was in my 20's when I got my Genesis) I fully embraced gaming to fill a yearning that was never satisfied as a kid. Since I got into gaming as an adult, I was and am more aware of the marketing strategies, hardware, packaging and software design efforts than perhaps I would have cared to be had I embraced it all as a kid. Also as a partially anal adult, I've kept every box, instruction manual, receipt and correspondence letter from Sega that ever crossed my path and all this stuff evokes strong memories. Heck, my first connection with the internet was through my Saturn NetLink so gaming has a strong connection to my life experiences as a whole.

More recently, about 2-3 years ago, I began collecting more in earnest to get those items I wished I'd bought when they were new such as a Nomad, CDX and the Power Base Converter (hey, I was doing okay in my 20's, but I have much more disposable income now!). Years ago I had amassed an impressive Intellivision collection of the many and varied console versions, the ever so elusive music keyboard (boxed!), many more peripherals and complete games (which is hard to do given the games' control pad overlays and crappy cardboard boxes). But since I never experienced this stuff when new, it just didn't have an appeal for me and I sold that collection and never shed a tear. My copy of Intellivision Lives! is sufficient for me now. But my Genesis and other systems are near and dear to my heart because I've lived with them intimately for so long.

I'll try to post some photos of the glasses and the packaging they came in later tonight.

[gradualmeltdown]

I finally purchased a Sega SG-1000 for a sane price. I simply adore its simple design and it is the original version Sega's first consumer gaming hardware.

I moved my retro collection into the same space as my music studio. I'll post some pics in Game Rooms forums later with the SG included.