Archaeological dig

For the most part I like collecting physical media as opposed to digital and then displaying said physical media on shelves along with related knick-knacks spread in front of them.  Something about seeing an entire collection at a glance, all within your visual perception is striking to me.  Maybe it stems back from being a child when walking down the video game aisle at a Toys "R" Us or perusing all of the big box PC games in the computer software section at a Best Buy.

Though not to be confused with hating digital versions of media.  Far from it.  If a game can only come out as a digital only release, then by all means let it come out without a physical version.  And same goes to all media like music, movies, TV shows, and books.  I bought digital only copies from all types of media, but when it comes to games, I always lean towards the physical boxes than digital when given the choice.

And if you look at my gaming collection, there was always a glaring omission from it.  I have games from every console Sony put out, games from both the original Xbox and 360, Saturn, Sega CD, 32X, and Dreamcast.  Heck, I even have a spot for NES and SNES games (even though my SNES collection includes only one game).  But the one obvious gap that I had was from my Genesis collection.  This has been bothering me for a while now and I finally mustered up the courage (but mostly just happened to remember) to go to the storage shed at my parent's house and retrieve my collection of boxes for Genesis games.

It’s not much but the essentials are there.  My Sonic collection, a gambling game, and Revolution X ;-).  My collection of games I own for the Genesis is small as I was more of a renter than I was a buyer.  That and my allowance wasn’t the largest, so my physical collection grew mainly from birthday and Christmas gifts.  I still need to retrieve one more and that’s the box for Sonic & Knuckles.  Hopefully it won’t be MIA for long as I got a tip from my Dad where it might be at, so when I go back to visit, fingers crossed that it’s there.

I needed to retrieve them because they were in an outside storage shed that’s exposed to outside conditions.  It did help, though, that the boxes were stored away in large container tubs, but given that every season they’re exposed to near freezing conditions during the winter months and then intense triple digit temps during the summer, who knew how long they might have lasted out there?  When I found them, they were fortunately just a little dirty from all the strong winds the region is known famously for, but other than that, they were still in great shape.

All of the manuals and original paperwork were still in the boxes and the cover art was still in pristine condition.  I removed everything and cleaned the boxes with just some running water.  I didn’t use any cleaning chemicals or soap as it didn’t seem necessary for just removing dirt.  I then wiped them dry and let them sit out for more drying to make sure not a single drop of water was left so the paperwork or cover art wouldn’t get wet.  The box for Sonic 3D Blast was unfortunately crushed, but thought a process of stretching out the outer case by sticking a thick manga book in it and then “squishing” the inner box in between some items in a bookshelf for a couple of days, I was able to reshape the cardboard so it looks fairly straight now!  Huzza!

All in all, things worked out pretty well.  And that’s not the entire collection all as I have many more Genesis games, but they are loose with no boxes.  I even have more boxed versions, but I wanted to show off the ones from my childhood collection standing alone.  Then after you add in the games my brother owns for the Genesis, and you have a library of games worthy of displaying on a shelf.  Only problem is: I think I may need more shelving! :-D

«Let's get productive - Upstart blues »