Rarity: Retro Video Game Collecting in the Modern Era

Look, this "movie" was just put together with self-filmed clips by youtubers and liberal stock footage inserts so technically it's awful, but what makes it a real slog is the need to aggrandize WATA games and that whole scam. They literally just wave off valid criticism of WATA by saying it's all jealousy which is really something else. Then you have the fact that the key faces in this movie are simply showing off their stuff and talking about how valuable it is and how they turn down offers, etc. The actual "real" people like Metal Jesus, Riggs, Hancock, etc are barely in it while the hoarder scammers of the WATA crowd get to wave their proverbial dicks in your face with their rare stuff. Get a life! And no how many times someone says that preserving a sealed game etc is preserving history, pop-culture, or art, doesn't make it true. These things were commodities. You are celebrating plastic and cardboard. The game exists outside of those things. A part of me wishes disc rot on all their rare games, but being somewhat of a collector myself (albeit with way stronger boundaries than these people) I will admit it's neat to see what they have, but the smugness of them really gets me.

The film is primarily based on collecting NES games and doesn't get into the nostalgia of the original era of gaming. It feels like a 2021 film based on 2021 gaming.

The people used in the film don't tell the story of gaming in the 80s and 90s and just don't have a sense of what it was like to game during this time. It's like they decided to collect something and chose NES cartridges, which produces a very boring film.

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.

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.

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.