As a kid my mom made me buy many of the games I wanted with my own money. I still remember counting out over $40 of coins and wanting to go to the game store that afternoon. So even when I was young I was very interested in learning proper video game storage, to ensure that the games I was buying with my hard earned money would not go to waste. I knew the pain of lost save games, broken cartridges, and scratched controllers. I wanted to avoid them as much as possible.
Memories
I mostly played Nintendo, and right off the bat they taught us right. Nintendo games usually came in sleeves that covered most of the entire cartridge. These were fantastic, because they got us off to a great start. The most vulnerable part of the game was the connectors located at the bottom, and so keeping those in very close wraps was vital in keeping them healthy. Nintendo themselves encouraged it, by often reminding consumers in the instruction manuals of the dangers of exposed cart parts (does anyone besides me remember how Legend of Zelda warned of the tons of ways games could be deleted?)
There were always a variety of third-party video game console storage units sold as well, as anything with the name Nintendo on it sold so well back then. My personal favorite were the full containers that were used by rental stores in my neighborhood. These were large plastic containers that would neatly hold one game, or one console, or whatever. I had many of these and would use it to let my friends borrow games, I even had a video game storage rack that I’d set them all up on. Yeah, a bit geeky, but many of my games are still in my possession, they still work, and I have no regrets.
Long term storage
You will also want to consider a way to store games long term as well. I’ve owned some Nintendo cartridges for a quarter century now, and they work well. Wouldn’t you like to say the same thing one day? I’m amazed at the pictures I see of people who owns literally thousands of games, and have these video game walls in their houses. Luckily, games are made pretty solidly, and so it’s not terrible to keep them in containers that close (to keep dust and light off of them for the most part) and then simply keep them in a climate controlled area. Although the older cartridges that allow you to save games are able to do so using batteries that Nintendo long ago warned would some day die, in my experience this hasn’t been what happens. By investing a little bit of cash into video gaming storage, I’ve been able to keep them operating and in excellent condition.
So how do you keep them secure? A game’s biggest enemy is dust, as it can spoil the connectors on the cartridge and cause them to stop working over the long run. That’s why I suggest investing in some kind of storage unit that will keep them airtight. The sleeves work well on a day-to-day basis, but some sort of case, or even a video game storage rack, will help a little more than having them just lying around.
Don’t be afraid to put a little effort into the games you buy. By putting forth an ounce of effort now, you’ll save yourself a pound of headache later. There are many values to good habits in storage – video games especially benefit in a little TLC.
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