As I'm nearing the completion of my NTSC NES collection, I'm thinking about what the best video game consoles to collect for are. My NES collection will never be truly done, but I do want to get some new focuses. In my mind, I don't think there will ever be a better system than NES but there are some contenders. It's obviously a highly personal decision, but factors like availability, library size, game quality and variety, console identity, and what I'll call "extendability" all determine how collectible a console is, at least to me.
What Makes a Library Collectible (to me!)
Availability
While not a requirement, I'd like to be able to find games for a console, at least some of the time. While the MicroVision is super cool, you'll never find a MicroVision game at the flea market or probably even the local game store. Resorting to Ebay to buy every single game isn't very fun and certainly isn't as exciting.
A minor point here is looking at the rarest games and seeing if they're obtainable. If you are a completionist you need to be ready for insane road blocks like Magical Chase and Stadium Events. Systems like the Game Boy and Genesis are much more reasonable to actually acquire 100% full sets of if that's important to you.
On the other hand, a good mix of rare and desirable games makes a console more interesting. The most collectible consoles are the ones with the Panzer Dragoon Sagas and Keio Flying Squadrons. The top shelf games are what makes a collection exciting.
Library Size
I think there's a sweet spot here. If it's too small, you'll just dump a bunch of money and finish it in a couple months. If it's something like PS2 with some 2000 or more games, it will be incredibly challenging (and thus last last a lot longer!). That comes at the cost of having to buy a lot of really bad games, sports games, and shovelware. Bigger libraries also mean more exploring unknown titles, which is one of the more exciting parts of game collecting.
