Rarity: Retro Video Game Collecting in the Modern Era

This film is a love letter to video game collectors, no matter how they collect. It not only pays homage to the O. G. Collectors, but all those that came after, or are starting out. Anyone with nostalgia for Video Games will find enjoyment in this. The director featured Video Game enthusiasts from all aspects of Video Games, from the very first consoles all the way through the original Nintendo, Sega, Sony PlayStation & Microsoft Xbox eras.

It shines a light on different types of Video Game collecting, whether they collect loose cartridges, artwork, Complete in box Video games and even the burgeoning scene of Original Factory-sealed, graded game Collectors and the exciting market that has followed.

The theatre was buzzing, even those like my wife & daughter that have little involvement with video game collecting, found the film very informative & entertaining.

The production is top-notch & the sets are all shot in the locations of these avid collectors, with intruiging backstories of their own.

It's flashy and well edited but it's essentially a rip off of all those retro VHS collecting films that are getting dumped on Tubi, each of them is basically the same film over and over. The filmmaker interviews wealthy and often annoying YouTube personalities who collect video games. An entire segment is devoted to video game grading and winds up being a big commercial for the company WataGames, another segment features a couple of the more bigoted personality's making fun of Christians and Christian video games. It's well put together and at times interesting but overall, it's sadly nothing new.

This was a documentary that I decided to check out late in my workday. I treat these like podcasts where I'll listen and look down when something interesting is said. What I normally do is watch ones that are films, in the horror genre or obscure cinema related. I decided to check this one out as I used to be a gamer. I didn't necessarily play Call of Duty, Minecraft or those types of games. My first system was a Sega Genesis before shifting to Nintendo and then to PlayStation. I was a big fan of JRPG when I shifted over to Sony.

Now what we're getting here is meeting a good handful of collectors. What I like here is that we're seeing the guys at the top and others who are more like someone you might work with. There was a good cross section of people. I did like that we got to know them, what got them into collecting and then where do they see their future heading with what they do. Something that is also interesting here is that there is a question posed about if they think what they're doing is obsessed or by having channels to display what they have, is that showing off? I do like that one of them gives the best answer that is somewhere in the middle for sure.

Another aspect I enjoyed here is that we get the history of video game collecting. This also ventures a bit into the history of this industry itself. I enjoyed seeing these people's collections, but hearing more of what they know about what they have or the lore they've heard, that interested me more. There is one who is from Europe who has a complete collection of systems for Nintendo's GameCube. That blew my mind.

Then to shift over to filmmaking. I thought this was well-made. They did a good job of mixing in footage from games with the interviews that we're seeing. How they display the collections and having the interviewees showing the prized possessions was a good touch. The biggest thing that brought a smile to my face was using music that was inspired by the older games. That was a good touch for sure. This does tease at the end that there will be a part two. That is something I'd check out if it is made. I'd recommend it to collectors, especially of video games, or if you're an old school gamer for nostalgia.

My Rating: 8 out of 10.

I really enjoyed this documentary about the video game industry. As a child who grew up in the 80s/90s spending all my free time playing Nintendo and later sega- this was a really fun walk down memory lane. I really sympathized with all of the collectors and liked the different viewpoints and styles of collecting. Made me want to go home and hookup my N64, which is the oldest system i still own lol.

Look, I have no issues with collectors. I have a (modest) video game collection myself.

I do think the time spent on sealed games and the hype on their importance was a bit of a waste.

BTW, I am far from jealous of sealed games. I've owned them and simply opened them because I think these things are meant to be played (but this is just my opinion).

The assumption (and insistence) that anyone that has issues with WATA (and their practices) and the overhype on sealed games is simply "being jealous" was certainly overplayed in the doco. I think they could have balanced the opinions by addressing the fact that this hobby was available to all, but due to people buying up huge swathes of copies, it has pretty much cut people from the hobby. Once again, not my jealousy as I'm good with what I have, but I know many others that are now locked out. It's just a shame is all. Most hobbies end up as rich people time wasters, so I guess it was inevitable.

There are some interesting things here (rare consoles and one-offs) and some good personalities, just skip the ad in the middle and it's far more enjoyable.