Should You Collect Your Games “Complete in Box”? - Retro Bird

I think for me, getting a game CIB is a way to relive what it was like actually buying games in the heydays. Usually on the bus ride home or in my mom’s car I’d flip through and read the manuals so I was ready to go when I got home. That’s a big part for me, along with the action of putting the original cartridge or disc in the real system and playing the game in its original format. By no means is CIB necessary for me, but it just adds a little something to look at when I’m not actually playing. This also comes back to when we only had one console and one tv for the whole family to enjoy too.

With more game hunting on line now a days I like to find the games CIB. As some of the shippers are not taking care of it getting the game to you. They are just in it for the money. So having it CIB it is an added insurance of getting the game to you in one piece. Also when people don't ship games correctly I wonder if the game even worked in the 1st place? They usually say, it must have broke on the way there. Then you have no way to argue against them. Just give them a bad review & type in all caps THEY WERE IN IT FOR THE MONEY & NOT THE GAME DO NOT ORDER!

Some systems I like collecting cib, some I like loose cart and some I like somewhere inbetween. One thing i do like is consistency, so if its loose for one system they are all loose for that system etc..

I just clicked on the video not caring much about the topic, but you have a very unique sense of humour. I laughed a bunch of times while watching this! 🤣 thank you and keep it up!

Awesome vid! Bread bag clip thing got me good. I'd love to know the context but still funny. They're mostly made of paper now so maybe they are rare? lmao

I love CIB games. I put it like this. Playing games is easy, there's multiple ways to buy and play games even retro games. (Compilations, Emulation, Everdrives.)

But when you have a game CIB, its like buying a piece of history from that time period. Flipping through an advertisement for Game Gear games with an old receipt from 20 years ago hits a lot different I'll tell ya what.

for me If it comes In the case I will get it in the box 80% of the time and If it comes in a cardboard box I don't care If its loose or complete

Depends on my willingness to pay whatever outrageous amount they are asking for. My genesis are all CIB. Well except virtua racing. I have a few snes and n64 cib but for the most part for those, I just get the game and manual/maps and then get a custom game case from a website.

It depends for me. When it comes to cartridge games I usually do not care at all about collecting them complete because those things can be pricey like the Box, the manuals and other little inserts that came with it too. The exception is when it's a game that means a lot to me and is affordable to get like dr. Robotnik's mean bean machine which I got for like less than twenty bucks complete.

Disc-based games are when I actually do try my best to get them complete because I have way too many disc games throughout the years that are loose and many stopped working so I try my hardest to get the games complete. Even going a bit out of my price range like when I got a couple of the Atelier games on the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 and Pikmin one for almost sixty bucks I think, which is a range I tend to stay away from with older games. Sometimes I even just buy cases and manuals by themselves to complete like I did with Metroid Prime on the GameCube

I'm in the middle, somewhere. My cartridge base gangs don't have to be complete in box. But if a Odyssey 2, Sega Master System or Genesis game comes complete, then that's a bonus. Now my disc-based games on the other hand, those have to be complete. I would buy a loose disc at a reasonable price then jump online to find the case.

I don't keep the box for any of my games unless it's a collector's edition. Just the game is fine, all the other stuff has no value.

3ds, ds and any CD based game should be in a case (with or without manual) yes or yes, on the other hand, i do like how naked cartridges looks like and i have no problem to have them like that, plus, as you stated, its easier to pick them up and play.
pd: im with you on having a CIB copy of something significant, i mean i loooove the art on secret of mana, secret of evermore and cybernator. My advice, be patient enough and the chance to get them on a humanly reasonable price will come.

I'll do CIB with the disc generations but I find everything 90's and earlier gets a little crazy for me. I feel like if I only did CIB for something like the NES I'd have no games for it lol

I don't collect a lot of games. I only collect the games that mean something to me or I actually want to play. But that said, I can't and won't, buy any disc based or tiny cartridge (DS, 3SD, Switch) based games that don't come with original case, box and art. I don't need complete, but I do need the case and the art.

CIB prices are so outrageous that I mostly dont even care. 20-30€ just for some cardboard is insane.

I'm definitely a "take what I can get" collector. I will buy games complete if the option is available but if there's just the case and disc, that's good enough for me because it'll look presentable on my shelf with the rest of my collection. Loose discs are fine if it's an otherwise expensive game that I can get a good deal on loose, but I'll still go out of my way to make my own reproduction case with a high quality artwork print so I can display and store the game. I don't collect many games that are on cartridges (aside from DS and 3DS games which I like to have the plastic cases for) but if I did I probably wouldn't bother looking for the cardboard boxes because they're harder to store than DVD cases.

I get fan-made plastic cases on Etsy to protect my SNES cartridges from dust and debris. I think that gets the job done just as well, if not better than the flimsy cardboard boxes they originally came in... and much cheaper too! And whoa, do they look cool on my shelf... 😎

I mainly collect games as loose cartridge’s but if I find a good deal on a CIB game I love I have to pick it up.

If I find a copy of a game I want CIB at or near the price of the same game loose I'll always snap up the CIB, but if the price is too high I'll look for a near CIB or loose copy.
Quick little story for you: while looking for a copy of Lunar 2 on PS1 loose copies almost always seem to be missing disk 2, but CIB copies are pushing $300-500, so when I found a near CIB copy missing the necklace for sale under $150 I snapped it up no questions asked.
Another QLSFY: my local game store had a loose copy of Legends of Mana that I was humming and hawing over for weeks, but then I found a copy online CIB shipped for the same price. Good things come to those who wait.

I usually get at the least the game & manual. Remember my legs falling asleep reading it on the toilet as a kid! 😂

I have always tried to get the game & manual at least. There are a few manuals out there that wow in price & scarcity! Awesome vid!

CD games = CIB
Cartidge games = Whatever I can get

heads up about those CD wallets, the top plastic that ends up sitting under the disc, will damage the disc after a while. it's a common sight on loose 90s CDs.

I feel like I need the case for disc based games so I can properly display them, but I don't really care too much about the manual since you'd never see it. I also don't necessarily need the original case since I print out my own art for a few games that have terrible box art. Cartridge games I'm all loose (excluding Genesis with the hard plastic cases), the only cardboard boxes I bothered getting was Smash 64's because I'm a hardcore Smash fan or the very niche collection of Bionicle games I have since I collect a lot of misc. stuff for that franchise.

I was originally a CIB only type of collector but the prices of the more expensive genesis games I wanted caused me to go cart only, and I buy custom game cases. They are super nice and I save big money. 👍

I should preface this by saying most of my collection is games bought when they were current, either new or used. Games that have been treated well/OK, at least not missing a box or manual, go well with my existing stuff. I feel those games come from a good home and I will continue to take care of them. "Cart only" seems like a complete failure to me, even though I too, kept boxed and carts separate at the time.
When retro gaming came to the internet I was really puzzled why so many US gamers relegeated themselves to cart only. I have since understood that a)most gamers start at a much younger age that I did and b) collectors and retro game stores have actively been destroying boxes out of space consern. And of cours, if everyone else is thrashing their boxes, collecting CIB is going to be vary difficult let alone expensive. So I just emulate :or use RAM carts,

An important sidenote here, in many cases early drm means there is stuff you do physically have to have. Including, but not limited to, keys in the form of serial or parallel plugs, sophisticated code systems, and even specific magnifying lenses you put up against the screen

Nintendo Cart only 10+1 honor mention
Snes Cart only 10+1 honor mention
N64 Cart Only 10+1 honor mention
Ps1 / Ps2 CIB 10+1 honor mention

😄!! Rewatching a few of your older vids and must've missed it a ways back. "What's this? It's like getting mooned through a window." That's golden Retrobird. Golden. 😆

I collect loose and make bootleg cases if its smaller than a famicom cart. Looks good on the shelf and that's all I care about. If it's on the shelf I'll play it.

I love how Mean Girls keeps showing up.

Buy games to play them. CIB is a waste of money, especially for Nintendo games, which always come in flimsy cardboard and are not meant to store games. Master System and Genesis are worth collecting CIB since Sega had enough smarts to make their games in reusable plastic.

Definitely a “whatever I can get” gamer. I have a decent mix of loose carts and discs as well as pristine CiB titles

man i just love your vids... these speak to me on a whole other level haha. i've been a CIB only collector... for 20 years. I made 2 exceptions: original Gameboy and Game Gear. but even GBA and NES/SNES it was CIB only. this actually kept me from diving deep into the SNES library for those 20 years... because i could never afford collecting CIB SNES... so about a year ago i decided to make another exception... i now collect SNES carts.

I almost entirely collect disc-based games so having them in a case is a priority for me when collecting. It just makes them look better when displaying on a shelf and makes them easier to find. When it comes to manuals, though, I definitely rather have them than not but I won't lose sleep if my copy of Crash Twinsanity doesn't have the manual lol. The only times I make an exception when it comes to getting a game with the case is when that makes the game considerably more expensive. Great example is Klonoa 2, which I own disc only. Getting it with a disc costs heaps more, so I'll pass.

CIB: Chickens Interested in Bananas. Under normal circumstances i would allow any new fan of some nanners, but chickens? They are a suspicious bunch.

If I had $1 for every time I read a description on eBay that said "CIB -- missing manual" ...

Scan the form and send it and ket me know what happens please

I'm kind of a different collector. I collect NES SNES Genesis and N64 mostly with some switch games and a few PlayStation every now and then. I'm not going for a huge complete collection I just collect what I grew up with and want to play usually for Genesis I'll try to do CIB unless it's very expensive then I'll just collect the cart and maybe look for the case on Ebay. For the Nintendo stuff I'll usually just collect the cart I have a few custom cases but they're taking up too much room because they big I don't have a lot of room as for the PS games I'll try to get CIB with the games I want and switch CID

The line between collecting complete and collecting cartridge only for me rests firmly between cardboard boxes and plastic cases. I mainly collect handheld games so if it's a DS or PSP game I've gotta have the case and hopefully manual but if it's a Gameboy game the box and manual aren't even an option most of the time.

I got to have Complete in Box, but it doesn't have to be the original box. Reproduction boxes are fine for me. In fact, for the games that came in cardboard boxes, I actually prefer to put them in Reproduction boxes since it is nearly impossible for me to find the original boxes in the excellent condition that I need them to be in for my collection unless I spend a fortune on a still sealed one. But with Reproduction boxes, I can get the boxes in pristine condition for pretty cheap and they look almost identical to the originals.

I prefer my games CIB but if I find a rare game in the wild loose I'll buy it and worry about that later. I have several titles I picked up over the years like that. One that comes to mind is Streets of Rage 3, got it loose with a torn label years ago on the cheap but recently got the case/manual and a repro label for much less than what complete goes for today. Did the same for Capcom vs SNK 2 on ps2. Also bought just the manual for Powerstone 1 since I had the case & disc.

Speaking of repro, if I can't find case/manual I'll spend $20 or so on a repro just so it's presentable. I had to do that for my loose copy of Marvel vs Capcom 2 last year, no one was selling the c/m by itself and I already have the disc. I did the same for Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style and Tales of Destiny. No way I'm buying those again CIB with today's prices.

On the other hand, I'll buy certain games again if they're cheap enough. I had a loose copy of Tokyo Xtreme Racer 1 on DC but it was worth buying a new CIB copy, and TXR:Zero on ps2 as well. Originally I got it loose for like 3 bucks years ago but I got another complete copy for slightly more a few years back. And then there's my original first Genesis game, SF2: Championship Edition. It plays fine, but the c/m are ragged and falling apart. I just got another complete copy since it was cheap.

Lastly, there's times when you have to know when to hold. I found a loose Zone of the Enders 2 at a store, I held off. Went on eBay and found CIB for slightly less than the store had it priced (not counting s/h). Scored that time.

I sold/lost/donated(thanks mom) my childhood collection but once I got back into console games around 2013 ish I just kept them all complete in box out of habit. I'm glad I did.

If we are talking games with nice posters, or with more complex instructions, or even a more dear to your heart title, yes CIB, especially if it is Genesis hardbox, as those are WAY easier to find CIB. other than that, if you can get the CIB on a good bid at or around the naked cart price, then jump on it. ALWAYS buy disc based games with at least the case and cover art, tracking them down separately is just as much a pain as finding card board boxes for N64/Snes... unless you don't mind using a generic DVD case and print the art yourself. or buy some from the aftermarket box company online,.. name escapes me, but they are quality if you have the $ to spare.

Love your videos man just discovered your channel a few days ago and that's all I've been playing so far. Keep it up!

how do u justify spending 1000 dollars on one game when u can buy 100 games of similarity but might not be that exact game though

If you ask me just concentrate playing the games. Don't get me wrong, manual and other goodies are swell but I am not willing to pay arm and leg for it. I am more interrested in game disc's/cartridge's condition.

For me, I collect mostly loose for NES, Genesis, GB, GBA, GG and SNES (although I do have some CIB--including MegaMan 7), but ONLY CIB (now) for all Master System, GameCube, Dreamcast and PS2 games, and CIC (Complete-in-Case) for all TurboGrafx games (although I have a couple CIB there too). :)