My first, latest, and also only home console that I own 100% myself is a Nintendo 64 (Shared one is a Magnavox Odyssey²/Philips Odyssey²/Philips Videopac G7000/Whatever they called it).
I got it on one of my birthdays with Mario 64 packed in, and Ocarina of Time as an extra.
At the least, my parents knew that having just a single game was a waste. Just like with my Gameboy being bundled with Tetris, and having Marioland 2 as an extra game.

While I did have a bunch of GB(C) games growing up (half being secondhand gifts, other half being mostly pokemon), the N64 game pile did not really increase a lot.
I picked up two games for cheap on flea markets in the years, but it remained <5 until about a decade ago when I plugged in the N64 again and bought myself Conker’s Bad Fur Day. Didn’t end up playing much of it though, mainly because of the TV being hogged.

Having already awakened to collecting things and loving boxes, I still got it all in pretty good condition. The Zelda box has some wear, but it’s still pretty good too. That Sub Zero box from the flea market’s a wreck though – and I think of all my cartridge-type games, only Marioland 2’s in a bad shape. Has a faded sticker. Wonder htf that happened..
Imagine my surprise when I saw the prices for CIB Conker games nowadays. Whoa.

I did play again later though, mainly because of reading the news that batteries in cartridges everywhere were dying (As relieved as I am after the fact, I still feel bad for Alex). Finished Ocarina of Time on that day.
While it’s not a big issue on single player games because you can redo literally everything, having your savegame erased on Pokemon just sucks.
I’m still scared of putting my Yellow in the transfer pak, but will eventually have to bite the bullet and see if I have to crack it open and put a new battery in.
Hey, at least this time I can do the Surfing Pikachu minigame! — Confirmed Yellow’s battery is dead through Stadium’s GB Tower. FFFUUUUUU.
Just… R.I.P. that official Mew, Celebi (May their DS reincarnations live on forever on my HeartGold save) and my magical blue Ditto.
And especially that lvl 100 Golem I trained for.. That stupid.. Truck..
Well, now I know how I can glitch myself a Mew after I replace that battery.

Anyways, with prepping moving and renovations, I’m going into the reverse and instead of paying shitloads of money on a Nintendo Switch, I’m expanding my N64 collection a bit (Though I do still want a Switch)!
I had fond memories of renting Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon (Though I misremembered Ebisumaru being clad in purple instead of blue. Oh, silly brain. Or it was my TV..) and going to friends who owned Super Smash Bros.
I god damn needed those games.

While the idea of buying loose cartridges didn’t appeal to me very much (and neither did the high prices for those CIB copies), I’m.. Okayish with it now.
All thanks to discovering the Universal Game Case. It looks pretty cool, having all those old games lined up like videotapes. And much handier than a cardboard box (ps. Did buy protectors for Zelda and Conker).
As for the Gameboy era games, I stumbled into a guy using empty cassette tape cases for them in the same thread. Amazing idea.
I do still have all the boxes in good condition, minus Tetris because GB bundle. Not sure about the GB box.. haven’t seen it lately. Got Color though!
Though there are also people using NDS cases (mainly for GBA since GB(C) would require cutting things off), the cassette thing is a great budget option. Totally gonna try that out for a bit before butchering a batch of empty DS cases.

So far I’ve added 5 games to the collection, so already doubled what I had. Others will follow later in the year. Maybe Konings Dag will have some gems surface.
I’ve gotten a few manuals to add too, and will be getting those universal cases later. Print some nice covers for them, make the new place look all fancy.
Can’t decide if I’ll go all PAL, NTSC, or mix yet. Since Conker’s an import game.
Oh, also get a good ol’ CRT TV. The upscaling of N64 games on my computer monitor is horrible.
I started writing this late november and am editing here in january. I bought a bunch of UGCs and photoshopped a few simple covers together to save on ink for now.

Can’t say I’m entirely happy with them. For starters, you can see those odd indents(?) on the spine, which hopefully are a lot less noticeable once I switch over to to the box-based covers. Second, the N64 manuals don’t fit when you’ve got them sleeved in protectors, so that’s a bit of a bummer.
Finally, while the cartridges do fit, there’s still a tiny bit of wiggle room – and with the cases being new, the back kinda pushes them up a bit.
It’s still a better/cleaner/safer option than dumping them all in a box, but the EU prices for these things are still a kick in the dick.
You Americans have it all cheap and quick.. *grumble*

I’m still a gen removed from the current handheld market though. I stayed behind on DSi/PSP.
Wonder if there’ll ever be a time that I- Nah, shit’s too expensive at release.

p.s.
It’s the site’s birthday today~