Most kids of the 80’s and after played video games in their youth and some of these kids kept the games of yesteryear for nostalgic reasons. What happens if this kid continues to buy old video games for the sake of having them, for the sake of completion? A video game collector is born!
Now, odds are that you’re a video game collector yourself since you’re reading this intro. Our kind has different types of collectors: people with certain criteria (RPG, sealed, unofficial etc) and completionists. These completionists want every game in the library of a console, which can be a fairly easy feat for some consoles and a near impossible task for others.
Our community member Ahans76 is someone that went for the impossible… and pulled it off!

In this interview we talk with Ahans76, who to our knowledge, is the only collector in the world to have a full NTSC Playstation 2 library!
Read on to find out why he started collecting and how he pulled off this amazing feat.

Oh.. did I mention the entire PS2 library is sealed? Minor detail right? ^^

Playstation 2 overview photo 1 (clicking will show high res version)

So Ahans76, first of all let me thank you for participating in this interview. It’s great that you’re willing to talk to us about how you started your collection and how you got to having a full Playstation 2 set.

No one is born a video game collector, everyone starts out as a gamer! What were your first steps in the gaming world?
My first experience with gaming is probably a lot of people’s. I remember playing the NES at a friend or aunt’s house when I was about 4 years old. Super Mario Bros was of course the game we played most.

What was the first console that you (or your family) owned?
The first console that my family owned was a Sega Genesis. My mom had won some money and she spent it on us kids by buying a Genesis with a couple of games. I remember playing it in Kindergarten so I must have been at least 5 years old.

What games did you originally get with that Sega Genesis and what game did you love most on it?
I know that we had Sonic when we got the Genesis. It came packaged with the system so that had to have been the first one. The game I like most on the Genesis was Shining Force, the game was so good at what it did. I would spend hours going into a battle and then retreating just to get more exp. points. To this day I can still get lost in it.

So the Nintendo NES was the first console you played and the Sega Genesis was the first console you had at your home, but what is your favorite console after all these years?
My favorite console would have to be the reason why I’m doing this interview. I was one of the lucky few to get an early Playstation 2 and my love for collecting video games grew from then on.

Playstation 2 overview photo 2

So the Playstation 2 is your favorite console, but was of course the successor to the immensely popular Playstation 1. When did you first hear about Sony’s first gaming console?
When I was in 2nd grade after Christmas break, we returned to school and one of the kids had gotten a Playstation for Christmas. I had no idea what it actually was and thought that it was an arcade machine. It wasn’t until later in the year that I got to see one and I thought that it was amazing. I don’t remember what the first game was that I saw on the Playstation 1, but I do remember the first one I played which was 2xtrem. It was a game about biking, rollerblading and I think snowboarding/racing. It was fun because we didn’t know any better about games back then when you got a game you played the hell out of it good or bad. But now a days if you don’t like a game after 5 minutes of playing it we trade it in and get something different. It’s sad really so much time goes in to making a game and yes some sucked, but take a look back at some of the earliest games you played and had a blast with and look at what a gaming magazine said about it. I bet a lot of people would be surprised that some of the most loved games aren’t critically that good.

Your introduction to the Playstation 1 had you wanting for more then, when did you get your own Playstation 1?
The first Playstation that I have ever gotten was an original Playstation (the grey square model) that my brother had traded for. The games that it came with were Resident Evil 2 and a Playstation demo which had the game Sled Storm on it that I would play nonstop.

Playstation 1 Collection

After the big success of the Playstation 1, Sony brought us the Playstation 2. How were you introduced to this model and what was your response to it?
I first saw/played the PS2 was when I got my first one on launch day; my mom ordered it out of a catalog. When it got to my house I was so surprised I had never had a console on the first day it came out; I didn’t know what to think about it. When I turned it on for the first time I was blown away. The first game I played was the one that I had gotten with it, Ridge Racer 5. I still own that copy today and it holds a special place in my heart.

Currently we’re at six Playstation models (not counting the PSP), which one is your favorite?
My favorite Playstation model would have to be the original PS2 (the non slim version).To be more specific it would have to be the limited edition red one that I have brand new.

Three Playstation home consoles have had a big impact on the video gaming world, how do feel the Playstation changed gaming?
I would say that it brought disc games to the public. Others tried but didn’t get the commercial success that Sony did with the original Playstation. For the future of Playstation, the console exclusive titles are most important to stay ahead of the competition. It would be great if they could hold onto their important and strong licenses for years to come.

Playstation 2 overview photo 3

It has been aprox 19 years since your first contact with video games and even though it’s torture to ask, we must know! What are your three favorite video games?
My three favorite games in no particular order are:
-          Final Fantasy IX, I know a lot of people really like VII but IX in my personal opinion was an all around better game
-          Dragon Quest 8, when I finally gave the game time to play it I was hooked
-          Uncharted Series, I can’t pick between the two they’re both great games

Like stated in the intro, it’s not something special that a kid growing up in the eighties and nineties played video games. But collecting games from these long gone days is something special, how did you get into that?
When I was 16 while going Christmas shopping for my mom, my little brother had told me about this new game store that was in a city we lived nearby called Game Crazy. (those that live in the states may remember them)
We stopped there and I saw a game gear, which I always wanted as a kid but could never afford.  That was the first old school system that I had ever bought and that is when I started considering collecting video games and systems for the first time. I still own that exact same game gear 7 1/2 years later.

So you started your collection with buying the games and consoles that you wanted as a kid, but never got. This is probably how 99% of us started our collection. After a while though you have all the stuff you wanted as a kid, what did you focus on next?
My focus for about 4 years was collecting brand new Playstation 2 games to get the complete library. After I got them all it literally stopped over night. Currently my main focus is collecting English Neo Geo AES games. People that know what the Neo Geo is and how rare it is will know the difficulty in it. I am currently only missing two games, Metal Slug and Ninja Master.

When you have a collection as vast as yours, there are probably dozens of items in your collection that would qualify high in anyone’s “favorite items” list. So now I wonder which ones you pick out of all those amazing items.
Well actually picking a top 5 is not that hard for me:
1. Uncharted Fortune Hunter Editions [Playstation 3] (of which I have two copies)
2. Elemental Gearbolt Assassin’s case [Playstation 1]
3. Last Hope [Neo Geo AES]
4. Magical Chase [Turbo Grafix]
5. Minestorm 2 Cart [Vectrex]

Top 5 favorite items

Even though you have so many great items, most collectors also have their “why in the world did I let that game pass” regrets. Do you have any of those?
I don’t really know, I try to not have regrets in my life. If I lost out on a game it’s just the way things go. I’m not saying that I buy every game I see but sometimes you miss out and that’s just the way the cards fall.

We already know that Neo Geo AES is the current focus of your collection, what is next on the list?
I would like to one day acquire the letter that came with my assassin’s case. I would also like to finish my PSP collection. I have about 430 titles on it but I’m not too sure about how many there are. I hope I’m at least half way there ^^

We at PlaystationCollecting.com are nuts for Playstation games, but even in our community it’s a rarity to find someone going for a full set. Not just because it’s a time consuming and expensive feat, but also because the enormous amounts of titles that got released for the system. How come you’re the exception and did go for the full set?
I didn’t try to go for a full collection at first, I kind of fell into it. I started acquiring more Playstation 2 games, more then I could play, so I decided to just leave them sealed. At first I had about 300 or 400 sealed and then I decided to look up on the internet how many games there were. At the time a website said that there were 800. Being halfway there I decided, why not go for a full collection? Later I found out that I wasn’t even a quarter of the way there. By that time I had already acquired so many games from stores going out of business (like game crazy) that I continued collecting and went for the full set. Since there are still games being released for the Playstation 2 the set is not final yet, but to the best of my knowledge it’s about 1850+ different titles, not counting variants.

Playstation 2 box sets

We now know that all games in your collection are sealed, were there any other special criteria for games to be in your collection?
My entire collection consists of first editions. What first edition means is when a game came with a white Sony seal on the top of it. This is the version of games that I have. Some older games got a second release and the white Sony seal is not there. I did not collect those types of games. I made sure that all the games that own have the white Sony seal. Also no greatest hits versions, unless they made a game greatest hits with “extra” content. I think there are only 3 games like that and I do have them in my library. Those games are Devil May Cry 3, Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition and Namco 50th Anniversary. I also have the original version of these games in my library as well.

When you’re on such a huge mission, there is always “that last game” that you just can’t find or can’t get for a decent price. What was the last game you needed for the full set?
The first Moto GP. It was an early release title and I had never seen one sealed. I literally looked through thousands and thousands of games every day on EBay to find one. The first post I ever put up on the PlaystationCollecting.com forum was a want post for Moto Gp. I was willing to pay 100′s of dollars for a copy of my dreams. Late one night a friend called me to tell me there was one on EBay from a seller in the UK. I won it shipped for $9.00. Isn’t that how it goes?

Moto GP was the hardest game to find sealed in your experience, what other games were tough?
Finding the original black label versions sealed of games that had a red label or greatest hits rerelease was sometimes incredibly hard. My collection consists of all black label games not the easier to find red label or greatest hits versions.

What Playstation 2 sealed game had the biggest impact on your budget?
Well that would most likely be Wizardry: Tale Of The Forsaken Land. I have had at least 4 copies of this game sealed, however they all had the barcode with a hole in it. Many games that have that use it as a security measure for games given to employees, so they can’t resell them. I found one in Germany that was $300 USD and I bought it without thinking twice about it. I bought 95% of my games at deals or the price they were when they were released. There are not many games that I had to pay more than retail for. None of the games in my library have the barcode hole in them.

How did you find out about our community at PlaystationCollecting.com?
I stumbled upon the website while looking for my last game Moto GP. It came up on Google and I joined up right away. The rest is history

Playstation Portable PSP

How do you like the community at PlaystationCollecting.com and what do you think about the newly added database and collection tool?
I like this website a lot, it’s real nice to be on a forum that is so in love with one brand. Most of my time collecting PS stuff has been revolved around USA released stuff. It’s nice to see other stuff from around the world. I am filled with envy for some of the things that have not been released on these shores.
The main reason why people should visit the site is because it’s the ideal spot for a Playstation fan. You’ll find the people there are nice and love to help out with any question and you don’t get that from a lot of forums! Last but not least, you’ll find the most complete NTSC Playstation 2 list on the internet in the database!

I think it would be an understatement to say you’re a veteran collector, as a final question I’d like to ask if you have any tips for the collectors out there that are just starting?
My tip would be to collect what you want.  Don’t be forced to collect anything that you don’t have any love for. My entire video game collection is post-NES. I wasn’t old enough for the Atari and don’t care about the Atari so I don’t collect any of them. I do have some rare older games in my collection like Minestorm 2 but that is just for the rarity.

Is there anything you would like to share with the reader as a final comment?
I would like you to add some special thanks.  First and for most to my wife Ashley who has done nothing but support me with this whole thing. I can’t even begin to count how many checklists she has made for me, how many miles she rode with me going to all the stores all over the country and how many hours she spent waiting in the car because she doesn’t share the same love for buying games as I do. And I love her for that! Also, my great friend and brother from another mother Marlon, a fellow collector, he has done everything in his power to make my collection so great. If it wasn’t for him I still to this day still might not have moto GP.  Thanks and to all the eBay/half.com/Amazon sellers that unknowingly helped me complete this (in my opinion) huge task.  Last but certainly not least to all of my forum people because if it wasn’t for you this story may never have gotten out and if there is no one to listen, then why talk!

Thanks for reading this interview, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did making it
If you’re allready a Playstation collector / enthousiast, or decided to become one after reading this, don’t forget to sign up at our forums and join the community!

Forum: http://www.playstationcollecting.com/forum/

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ps_collecting

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/playstationcollecting

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/psxcollecting?feature=autoshare

I absolutely hate when people say N64 had the first analog stick.
So lets start out with who was the first

This is the Vectrex. When was it released? 1982

When was the N64 released? June 23, 1996

So Vectrex beat N64 by 14 years

This is the Atari 5200 controller

http://www.axess.com/twilight/console/detail/5200.html

When was it released? November 1982
Still over 13 years prior

Moving to Sony

This is the PS1 dual analog flight stick. It uses the same protocol as Dualshock and works as one

When was it released? April 1996

So Sony beat Nintendo by 2 months.

So lets say you bring that up and a Nintendo fan claims Sony just copied it from Nintendo’s announcement

When was the N64 announced? November 24, 1995
When was the flightstick announced? April 1995
Still almost 7 months earlier.

The next reaction a Nintendo fanboy will go to, is that it’s not thumbsticks. Well that circle on the right analog stick, is a thumbstick.

I’m very excited to bring you the news that at this very moment DJPimpDaddy
is working on the PlaystationCollecting.com database! Read in for more details!

The eventual of this database will be to have all NTSC and PAL
PS1/2/3/portable games in it. Later on we will also integrate a collection
tool so members can show and store their collection online!

We have decided to make the NTSC PS1 part of the database our first
priority, but as you’ll read below any other data is welcome too

At this point in the process we could use help from you guys (and girls) so
I’d like to ask you the following:
- what parameters should the database use (title, publisher etc) if you
have suggestions, please reply to the following topic:
http://www.playstationcollecting.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=983
- we’re looking for volunteers who want to help test the database AND
populate it with data (either system)

feel free to contact me in any way possible, or post on the forums if
you’re interested in helping out!

as a last note I’d like to thanks DJPimpDaddy for his work so far and
congratulate him with his newborn baby boy!

This is a very strange topic for me to even consider but recently i haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. There have been some really awesome moments in slaughter, the No Russians episode in MW2, dismembering people in SoF, having sex with a prostitute in GTA and then kill her to get your money back or doing cool stuff as Kratos in God of War.

So yes, I really love that stuff, but what got me thinking? I guess Heavy Rain had something to do with it cause i could connect to the characters in a way that i couldn’t before, or at least that’s what media have told me but to be honest i have cared about characters in games as long as I’ve been playing games. Admittedly the story in Heavy Rain is great and it may be made to affect me as a player more than many other games.

Where am I going with this I don’t even know for sure myself but i know i can’t bare to even see the things i love to do in games in reality or even on TV. I can’t stand to see innocent human beings getting hurt in reality, will my feelings about games change with newer and better gaming consoles or stories even more playing with your emotions that mentioned Heavy Rain?

Well I don’t think so because after all it’s just a game how and messy it becomes or how evil and brutal things you can do it’s still nothing else than a game. Living out a horrible twisted dream, being how evil and disturbed I want to be in a game is fine. Playing a game won’t hurt anyone and I would certainly not even consider doing any of that stuff in reality.

Teaching people to do horrible things is a science which is pretty well perfected and not that hard but I am pretty convinced that a game can’t teach you that. Then comes the question about how to live with yourself afterwards and judging from pretty much every close combat war veterans story I’ve heard I don’t see why the games industry would like to psychologically destroy their audience. Even if they wanted to do it they couldn’t and if they could who would play their games?

My thought for a weekly re-occuring blogpost was to sum up the events that happened this week on the forum/blog.. good idea or not? please reply to this post and tell me what you think about it!Week 14 (and a little before that;))

- Sealed collecting, the logical next step for collectors? (blog)
- Help out the webdesigner and host of playstationcollecting.com (Xed’s brother) (forum) <– !!
- CaptN shows his collection (forum)
- Xed updates his collection video (youtube)
- What development studio is your favorite? (forum)
- Twisted Metal 2 is still very popular (forum)

Untill a few weeks back, I’ve always refrained from buying sealed games unless they were very cheap. I’m a collector first, but I’m also a gamer and I do wanna play the games (or atleast have the idea that I can play them). However, something changed..How do you start collecting games? I think most of us started with rebuying the stuff they had as a kid.. after that you start buying games you never had, but you played them at a friends house. Before you know it you’ll also start buying games that are generally considered to be great, even tho you’ve never played them before. The next big step is the moment you realise you want to have EVERY game for a certain system in a certain region (or just ALL of them).

Most collectors never even reach that last step and are more then happy to just collect great games and rare games, some do reach the point where they wanna have everything. But there is another select group that is not satisfied with having everything, they want to have variants too.. or even sealed games.

Explaining to a random stranger why you collect games is not that hard, you’re a gamer and you love to own a lot of games. They might find you strange (or super cool), but it’s an understandable hobby.
Trying to explain them that you collect sealed games is harder tho.. because you can’t really do anything with them, they can not be used for the purpose they were created! Using the stamp collector example always puts them in place tho (a stamp collector is not sad that he can’t use his stamps, so why should a sealed game collector be)

However, from a collectors viewpoint collecting sealed games is just “the next step” I think.
If you’re a collector and you want your games complete and as mint as possible, the mintest and completest you can get is sealed. You can be 100% sure that everything is in, if it’s still in it’s original seal!

So is sealed collecting the logical next step for collectors?
This picture shows that i do believe it is for me!

I want to present a bold statement here, that I would like to discuss with you guys. It is about a genre that most collector’s love and not only because of the overall rarity and price

If someone would ask you what you consider to be the 3 most important things in life, what would you answer?
Wealth, fortune, health, a job, kids, a PS3? Everyone has different priorities in life and different opinions on what is important. But I think it would be safe to say that most people will include wealth and love (family/friends/partner) in their list.

Now let’s distill that first thing, wealth.. why does one want to acquire wealth? What would you do if you were to become wealthy?
You would buy things you’d love to have, you would buy other people things to show them you love them, you could provide for the persons you love and you can afford to do the things you love.
So actually wealth is not a primary goal, it is only a means to recieve and show love!

If we translate this to gaming (something we all connect on).. what type of game captures that most important aspect of life the fullest?
You can love to drive and tune cars in Gran Turismo, some people love to “pwn” online in games of Modern Warfare 2 and others love to kick someones ass in Street Fighter 4. But what genre stands or falls with it’s ability to generate love from the player? The Role Playing Game!

Even if a RPG has a great battle system, or a great level up scheme.. if the game doesn’t manage to get you to love the story and the characters, you’re not gonna spend 50 hours reaching the end. (some exceptions made) You finish a RPG with 50+ hours on the clock because you love your characters, you want to see them develop and you want to know how their story goes.

Therefore I declare that RPG’s are the pinnacle of gaming, because they are not just entertainment.. they capture the most important thing in life; love!

It’s been a while since i wrote anything.. so i figured i would just write what’s on my mind…. lol…

I bought FF13 at release.. fun game. Very linear, which is nice. It’s sometimes fun to play an RPG that is all about the story and the game rather than the side quests and being sure you speak to EVERY npc in the game.. lol.. but I am not playing that.

I bought GOW3.. more correctly, i was given GOW3 by Wal-Mart for messing up my order. Excellent game.  It’s a little “platformy” for my taste but still awesome.  I am not playing that either…

What I AM playing is Worms, Wheel of Fortune and Warhawk. One would have to wonder why I am playing these games rather than the outstanding new games… and my answer is I don’t know. I have several friends who play WoF and Worms.. and Warhawk, well, it’s hard to beat a classic.. lol.. but unsure why I am playing them.. lol

I am trying to complete my collection of early PSMs. I am missing one issue from volumes 1, 2, and 3. I purchased the missing issues for vol 2 and 3 on Ebay. I am still looking for the missing vol 1, Oct 97.  I now have two issue 1′s with all the stickers included. I am thinking of setting up a retro game area in my bedroom.. complete with old grey playstation, lid stickers, etc.

Lastly, when I look at the blog, there are two big boxes of grey blocking out the newest post. I thought maybe it was something for twitter so i logged into that.. and no difference. Am I doing something wrong?

GumbyNeeley

The fifth of march 2000 was a memorable day for gamers all around the world. Our now beloved Playstation 2 got released in Japan and went on to change the future of gaming!

After launching worldwide, the console has gone on to sell over 140 million units globally, making it the best selling home console. Ten years in, the console is still alive and kicking. There are still video games being released on it!

What better what to say “Happy birthday, PS2!”, than by naming your favorite PS2 title. What are you waiting for? Get to it!

Hello everybody. It has been a while.. well, not for me.. i have been posting to the old board.. LOL.. I guess that will teach me to not read my emails.. LOL 

Ok, let’s start from White Knight Chronicles. In my  previous blog post i mentioned how disappointed I was in this game… and i still am. But, as it turns out, i was right about the online aspect of the game. There is a LOT of fun to be had in playing the various quests online. If only they had ironed out all the bugs before release.. Btw, I am GumbyNeeley on there are well.. look me up.

I found a copy of Ogre Battle in the wrapper on ebay. I had previously seen copies go for as low as $70 so i wanted to catch this copy if possible. The bid got down to the last minute and was still at $100.. So i threw a bid of 120 on it.. then 140.. then 150.. lol. It settled out at 155. Sometimes they go cheap and sometimes expensive.. Rhyme or reason? There is none.. lol.. Instead i purchased a copy of Persona 2 in the wrapper. I got it for $74 shipped. It just got here yesterday and it is perfect. SCORE! lol.. Also, I was recently at the game store checking prices and ran across a copy of Bully CE for the PS2. I had never seen this before and since the price was only $20 i picked it up. It contains a mini comic, a rockstar sticker and a dodgeball all in a locker style box. I have no idea what it’s worth, but it’s kinda cool.. lol

ok, off to work.. happy gaming all!

Marcus