How do you buy?

[Spyke]

I think I must be a compulsive buyer.

I've only just received Hellfire and Under Defeat HD and I'm already looking for good MD shmups like Gynoug, Tatsujin and Thunderforce III. Then I'm also keeping an eye out for Darius Gaiden and Sengoku Blade for Saturn, and considering Zero Gunner 2 for Dreamcast. And that's without even mentioning Espgaluda II for the 360...

Man, I mean I've got plenty to play already but can't seem to stop the "next, next..." obsession.

Am I alone in this? Is there justification in it, as some games are hard to find now? Do you have specific plans for your shmup purchasing?

Ant

[kamiboy]

All collectors are like that. Personally I find that as classic game prices go up every year and as I find modern games more and more off putting then my habit is not likely to get any better.

I do have list of stuff that I want, but that grows everytime I discover some other title or series that looks cool. I think by some time next year I'll have most of the titles on my want list and things might calm down after that.

[Spyke]

I'm worried that my wants list will never stop growing!

[Teufel_in_Blau]

I have a list on google docs which contains all PC strategy games and 360/PS2 shooters I bought or want to buy. This list is already so huge that I am probably set for the next ten years or so.

As for the buying itself, I mostly buy from amazon. I bought a few times from play-asia, but in the last couple of years amazon germany turned out to be very import friendly. You can import right now mushi and espgaluda for the PS2 via amazon.de, hell, even pachinko and pachi-slot games.

From time to time I stumble upon some games I never heard before, like Deadly Premonition, which I greatly enjoy playing on Saturday nights with a few beers.

[BulletMagnet]

I tend to be something of an "opportunistic" buyer, and pick stuff up when I see it for a decent price, if something rare suddenly pops up, etc., whether or not I'm playing much of anything at the moment or am already planning to pick up other games in the near future. For some reason this seems to preclude "feast or famine" conditions, wherein I'm either finding and snapping up loads of stuff at once or don't get anything new for months...not sure why.

Anyways, yeah, my backlog is bigger than I'll ever have an opportunity to catch up on it, but I'll sell some stuff and pare it down...eventually.

[kamiboy]

I'm worried that my wants list will never stop growing!

It wont, and some day, long before you have all those games bought you'll prolly burn out on collecting. One important thing to keep in mind is that a want list should be sorted into priority sections. Once you've done that try and force yourself to only buy stuff in the highest priority.

I find lower priority stuff are often cheaper, so they are more tempting to buy as you can maybe get two, three or more games that you only kind of sort of want than one expensive one that you really, really want.

But giving in to that temptation is a good way of burning out fast and being stuck with a mediocre collection in the end. Get the really good stuff out of the way first.

Anyway, I am trying to build a backlog of classics that can last me a few decades as current gen devs are making fewer and fewer new games that I find resonate with my tastes.

I pretty much buy everything off of eBay. And I usually only buy when I find a good bargain.

[EmperorIng]

Since these STGs and arcade games are often prohibitively expensive, I pace out my purchases, or strike while the iron is "cheap," so to speak. My most recent purchase was at the beginning of December, for Elevator Action Returns. My last purchase before that was GigaWing back in October, and getting it for $18. Not too shabby! After some Christmas revenue I might spring for another purchase, but we'll see. The saturn port of Chase HQ and the PS1 RayTracers beckon!

I'm getting into the rhythm of buying new purchases only when the sales of my older games can make up the majority of the asking price. We'll see how long that is viable.

The upside is that these games never really go down in value, so the resale when I eventually do get tired of any of them offers a nice way to continue on gaming. I try not to have a backlog - my backlog at this point is entirely consigned to burned Dreamcast CDs, and some steam games, ha. Oh, and Astal, which I have yet to beat. But all the same, I try to make sure that the games I own are games I will -play a lot and -play a lot some more. Why hold on to anything else?

[photons_au]

For some reason ive only just started to purchase shmups as for years ive been playing them on modded systems but ive been buying around 2 a week.

Ive been playing them since space invaders and river raid on the atari 2600, and along with jrpgs, 2d fighters and puzzle/arcade types they are my favorite genre but for some reason ive never indulged in the shooters for my collection.

Last year the 'collector' in me died and i sold about 60 jrpgs for ps 1 and 2 and went on a holiday with the money, but now since ive been purchasing again there is an empty bookcase on my wall and hole in my heart for all those rare pal rpgs that once were the pride and joy of my collection. Was the holiday worth it? I should have put away some savings for it instead haha

[R79]

I wrote down lists by hand in the '90s, and am still trying to tick them off. Global currency fluctuations are a bitch, that's for sure.

[neorichieb1971]

Forum culture, eBay, compulsively thinking I must own everything fueled by need rather than any wish to play the games themselves helped cause my marriage to dissolve. Nobody here gives a shit if you fall flat on your face in some kind of deep depression once you lost everything but your games. About 10 years ago I was bidding on things like Ironclad for the neo geo CD with it going to $300 and shit. Now I look back and think "what a complete idiot I was".

I do appreciate what I have accumulated but I also found other hobbies which were a little less expensive. Namely filming things and travel. If I had this hobby to dilute what was an obsessive disorder before, I would still be married to woman no1.

Dilute yourself. Find other avenues. If your not playing the shit out of the games, stop buying them. I can't say it any more stronger than that.

Your a fool if you think your accomplishing anything by buying games after games.

Screw women, go drinking, socialize, buy a dog.. do anything. But don't obsess over accumulation. Unless its money... Obsess over money if anything. Doctors orders.

[Kollision]

I swore I would never give any money to companies like Capcom after the joke they did with MvC3.
So fortunately my want list stopped and I purchase very few games these days.

I buy new releases of shmups, basically, and any obscure ones I still don't have for the consoles I own.
I guess I'm lucky because I didn't run out of money in the process of building my collection.

[Spyke]

neorichie that's very profound advice. I definately buy more games than I play. I've several sitting on the shelf where I've fired them up to test, then gone back to playing my old favourites. Making a list and setting priorities seems to be good advice too, and not over-reaching/over-spending. There is so much out there, and it's all so shiny and pretty and appealing, it makes things hard to resist, even though they're unnecessary.

Tonight I started setting down a list for each of my consoles and I'm going to prioritise the entries in that list in such a way that the BEST games for each console are at the top. I already own several "best" titles anyway, so that will limit my "priority purchases".

Thanks for the advice. I think someone mentioned buying quality over quantity - this seems to be the way to go.

Ant

[xavierjesus]

don't obsess over accumulation

True dat!

Pure Buddhist vibe, but easily forgotten, at least continually by myself. And on so many levels.

With regard to this scene, luckily I can take a few financial hits here, but the obsessive/addictive personality seems par for the course in this little niche corner of VG land. Though, it's no different to me, from say, my wife throwing a few hundred at some Choos - but at the end of the day it's ridiculous.

When you're spending rather than shooting, then shits fucked up!

[moh]

When I was mostly playing console shmups, I would buy a new one every week. Now that I've been playing more pcbs, I can't afford that

believe it or not, buying expensive stuff has helped me to buy stuff less often

But don't obsess over accumulation.

I used to want that "wall of video games" until I realized that I wasn't playing any of them. Now I gain so much appreciation from having a small collection. setting a high bar for what "deserves to make it" into the collection helps you to value what you have

[chempop]

I used to buy regularly trying to complete my Saturn, Dreamcast, and Genesis shmup collection. Eventually I realized that it's better to own only the best titles so I started selling a couple that I would occasionally play out of guilt (having spent the money on them) but finding myself not really enjoying them (Karous and Triggerheart, come to mind).

believe it or not, buying expensive stuff has helped me to buy stuff less often

This happened to me as well. Once I started buying PCBs instead of console ports, my urge to accumulate lessened. Instead of spending $10, $20, or $50 on a cheaper game regularly, I'd drop big bucks on a single game with months in-bewteen purchases. Still more expensive in the long run, but less obsessing over buy-buy-buy, and more enjoyment for what I DO own.

Collecting is fun though, and unless it gets to the best of you, I see no harm in it (especially compared to how I used to spend my money an booze and whatnot).

[DocHauser]

I'm in Japan for 8 months, I have to restrain myself from splashing out and buying loads of games. I was in a small videogame shop in Nagoya at the weekend, and for the Saturn and Dreamcast alone I spotted Radiant Silvergun, Batsugun, Battle Garegga, DoDonPachi, Thunder Force V, Hyper Duel, Shienryu, Guardian Force, Under Defeat, Border Down, Ikaruga and Zero Gunner 2. My wife was with me at the time, so it might have been difficult to persuade her that it was necessary to spend 10,000 yen on a shmup...

[kamiboy]

Indeed, if you go to your shelf of unplayed purchases and see nothing you are interested in playing then you know the things you own have come to own you.

Then comes time to blow up the old apartment.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I used to want that "wall of video games" until I realized that I wasn't playing any of them. Now I gain so much appreciation from having a small collection. setting a high bar for what "deserves to make it" into the collection helps you to value what you have

I don't actually have a big collection per se, as I've always tried to avoid buying bad games for the sake of simply having them, but it's kind of scary thinking about how the box of NES & SNES games I have doesn't really get any use... the NES I've got is a pain to clean and use just to get the games working, and I'm finding myself thinking more and more "why bother cleaning the contacts when emulation's easier?".

I want to play my classics more, but I find it harder to justify owning the console & games (although it makes me feel more comfortable to own the games I play on an emulator).

[R79]

It's that rainy day factor. You can't beat setting up an old console on an old telly when you have a completely spare day/evening, and are completely fed up with modern online consoles. Playing a great 2d game as it was at the time, transcends nostalgia, and keeping the original hardware and software around provides that comforting feeling you can do it whenever.
Women come and go in my view.
Increasingly now, good condition working classics from the 80s and 90s really don't.

[neorichieb1971]

I can only suggest that if you must tick everything off your list that you do it over a long period of time. There is no gold medal for going broke over a few games.

With me, it was about getting shit in the mail. Once I had the product stored I never went back to it, of if I did it was temporarily.

Right now, if I spend $100 on a game, I want to be playing it for months, not minutes.

Ebay and forums are old hat now. But when they started springing up everything I thought was impossible to get was suddenly possible. At least you don't have that factor. I would read reviews of games I didn't know existed and just had to have it. Like my life depended on it. lol. Its so funny thinking back.

[DrTrouserPlank]

I tended to enjoy acquiring the shooters I've got on the J-360 more than I actually enjoyed playing them. That's not to say I didn't enjoy playing them, but my struggles playing shmups has been well documented.

I certainly fell into that habit of wanting to buy another even before the previous game had arrived. Partly because of the scarcity of some of the titles, partly through wanting to take advantage of a good price, and partly because I actually enjoyed assembling the collection such as it was. There was something quite nice about obtaining these "exotic" items that couldn't be bought in this country and that were limited in a sense.

[neorichieb1971]

Yeah, understand. But you must discipline yourself. Forum culture has grabbed you by the balls I am afraid.

I may be off here, but aren't you just fantasizing about owning games that people on here have high regard for? Its like saying to yourself "so many people want this game on the shmups forum that if I have it, I will feel like i've achieved something".

If thats you, then stop buying games. Its only going to punish you in the end.

[DrTrouserPlank]

Yeah, understand. But you must discipline yourself. Forum culture has grabbed you by the balls I am afraid.

I may be off here, but aren't you just fantasizing about owning games that people on here have high regard for? Its like saying to yourself "so many people want this game on the shmups forum that if I have it, I will feel like i've achieved something".

If thats you, then stop buying games. Its only going to punish you in the end.

Not really. In the grand scheme of things the games I own aren't that limited in supply. They were only 360 shooters and there are enough of them to go around (i.e. anyone who actually wants them can get them; at a price of course)

I certainly didn't do it to impress anyone on here or anything like that. Most here have high levels of disdain for me so I certainly don't need to try to prove myself to anyone; that's absolutely not my style anyway.

I just like the games. The manuals, the graphics on the box, the Limited editions with their CD's and spinecards, the limited DLC pre-order bonuses. It's odd. As I say, I also liked the games. I certainly wouldn't have bought them if that wasn't the case, and in a world of FPS games they are somewhat unique.

People collect inanimate objects sheerly for the enjoyment of doing so. To an extent I guess I did this to some manner, but the initial driving force was the games themselves.

I'm a bit of a perfectionist though and I guess having a "complete" collection appealed to me in some way.

[xgunnBlaze]

Buy one or two good games and play them until your skills in each game are decent to good - one at a time and complete them both (many times if shoot em ups) - and then you may purchase another one.

At least that's what I tell myself when buying games. One or two games is well over enough to keep me happy, especially if the games are well designed.

[Spyke]

I can kinda se where DrTrouserPlank is coming from, I guess.

When I get a ne game, for me it's not just the fact that I now have a copy of Shooter#XY14, but the chances are it's one that I really want. I appreciate the artwork, the design, the graphics. The work that went into producing it, the talk that it generated. I can sort of get "into" it. I also occasionally buy guitars and feel the same way about them. I know I'll never be another Clapton or Page but I appreciate the quality of the instrument and the work and thought that went into making it exist.

Maybe that's a step too far in a video game? Whatever, at this point none of my purchases have every taken me beyond the point of financial viability, but if I really let myself go and splurged, it could well do. THAT'S the part of the buying impulse I have to completely control.

I have made my list and I will stick to it now. But more than that I will spend more of my free time trying to beat them than online looking for more to buy.

Ant

[neorichieb1971]

Sorry Ant.. I thought your post was a continuation of the first post (same person).

I didn't mean to offend you or anything

[Spyke]

Not offended at all! I wanted to hear different thoughts and opinions etc

no offence taken at all!

Ant

[TransatlanticFoe]

I have a "wants" list for the consoles I own. It's been mostly formed through checking games out via emulation to see which ones I want to bother with. A few, like Border Down, Radiant Silvergun and Blast Wind, are on a long term annual bonus/minor lottery win basis. Pretty much everything else I'm after can be picked up for under £50.

With prices steadily rising, I make pickups when I can. There was a nice little shop which did PAL stuff when I lived in Norwich (and Galactic Attack for £7 from Gamestation!) but when I last visited it was just the usual second hand Wii/PS2/PS3/360 guff you get in Game and HMV. So it's online only, usually ebay.

I only really have one console on my "to buy" list and that's a Mega CD 2. Perhaps a Japanese 360 once the next Microsoft console shows up and I can be convinced it's a reliable enough investment. I really don't need to get a PS2 because there's just too much stuff I'd end up buying - one for 10 years' time perhaps.

fter some Christmas revenue I might spring for another purchase, but we'll see. The saturn port of Chase HQ and the PS1 RayTracers beckon!

I'm after that more for SCI, which I had on the SMS but it was horribly butchered. Doesn't seem to crop up online outside of overpriced BINs on ebay as far as I can see

[BareKnuckleRoo]

There was something quite nice about obtaining these "exotic" items that couldn't be bought in this country and that were limited in a sense.

That's pretty much the exact same thing that happened when I first got a modchip in my PS2; seeing my imports come in the mail and realizing that I can actually play the games I thought I'd miss out on forever was awesome. When I got Mushi Futari, it was more of a "that looks so AWESOME" but it was a good year or so before I actually learned to 1CC any Cave shmups. I'm glad I stuck with 'em, but their pace and the sheer bullet speeds were something I thought I'd never learn to handle.

[Edmond Dantes]

Lately I've had to cut back on my purchases as well. I just spend so much on games, and it always leaves me short of cash.

Here's the plan I've adopted.

First of all, I'm going to avoid purchasing new games until I've beaten all (or most) of the games I already own.

If there's a game I absolutely must have then either I have to trade for it (which usually means I lose games in exchange for one--considering the above point, this might actually be a good thing), or I have to still want it a month later. If I still want that game next month, then I allow myself to purchase it.

I allow one exception: If I see an extremely good deal anywhere (like, for example, if I saw the Saturn version of Arcade Gears: Image Fight and X-Multiply going for like three dollars) then I'll buy it on the spot. After all, stuff like that can be hawked for cash, so its profit (although, if I found the Saturn version of X-Multiply, I would keep it, treasure it, and write in my will that I want it buried with me).

Which brings me to my meta-rule: All else flies out the window where X-Multiply is involved