After use put it in it's CASE!

It baffles me, the amount of games that originally came in perfectly good, plastic cases that are now just a cartridge, or disc, all alone in the big world of video games. When it comes to Nintendo, they always gave you a cardboard box that typically ended up in the trash, thus boxed games for the cartridge based Nintendo systems are always going to be harder to find. But when it comes to Sega, or the disc based systems, there is absolutely NO excuse for these games to be loose, none!

I've seen a lot of loose Nintendo games, and since I understand that people trashed the boxes, and sadly the manuals, I understand why they're loose. When it comes to Genesis games, they're either loose, or boxed with no manual. I'm pretty strict when it comes to Genesis games, I see no reason in why they should be loose, albeit I won't turn down a good deal on loose Genesis carts that I really want to own.

Now that I'm going to be building up my Sega Master System collection, all of my games are complete (with the exception of my very first game before I even owned the system) and that is the way I want the collection to be! Master System games are hard to find as it is, let alone having to find them complete with the manual and in good condition, but that isn't to say it will be an impossible feat, and again I couldn't turn down a good deal on a loose SMS cartridge.

While reading through the manual for Hang On/Safari Hunt, under cartridge care it states "After use put it in its CASE", which hit me as funny. Sega knew people should return the cartridge to the case, why was it so hard for people to put the games back? The plastic case wasn't like the cardboard Nintendo offered, it was reusable.

Many of my Genesis cartridges are loose, but I would rather have them all complete. When it comes to disc based video games, I will almost never buy it without a case and manual, but if I find one super cheap in a bin at a thrift store I may pick it up. But it truly baffles me as to why people let discs and cartridges that came in plastic cases just float around loose.

Let me reiterate...

It never ceases to amaze me how life will take things out of my hands to give me a better deal. I had decided to treat myself to a rare holiday gift and finally own a piece of video gaming history I had wanted for a long time, a Sega Master System. As an avid thrift store hunter I had always hoped I would run across the system and some controllers, or anything from the Master System, and I never did.

I took to ebay to see if I could get a lot with some games, as the only other options were Disc Replay ($50 system alone) or a local indoor flea market, which had a Sega Master System sitting in there since July ($40 or $45 for the system), so if I ran out of options that would be the way to go. After losing 4 auctions I decided I would just go ahead and buy the one sitting in the flea market, but when I went down there to get it... it was gone! That thing had sat in the case for nearly 6 months and now it was gone? Wow!

Back to ebay I went, watching auction after auction exceed the limits of what I was willing to spend. One day I noticed a local listing, so I shot the person an email and asked if they were willing to sell it outside of ebay, after agreeing on a price we setup a meeting. That day was filled with anxiety and excitement as I was within hours of collecting my Sega Master System, taking it home and playing it.

The thing is, I was willing to spend $40 on the system, hookups and controllers, and when life took that option away I spent $20 more and got 10 games, one of which lists for the extra cash I ended up spending on the whole lot anyway. Everything looked as if they were only played on rare occasions, the games were all complete in the hard cases and the only real issue was one controller's cord is a little worse for wear. Had I bought the system alone, I would never have found the games for $20, hell I have a hard enough time finding Sega Master System games period.