Man, I am so regretting throwing away all those boxes and not keeping tight track of my instruction manuals as a kid. I kept very few boxes, and for some reason instruction manuals tend to disappear into thin air. Now, I'm 24 and I wish I could have them all back. I have 60 NES games, 40 SNES games, 30 N64 games, 20 Gameboy games, 40 Gamecube games, and yeah I'm really kicking myself seeing how much people are getting for some of these CIB's. I mostly collect for the quality of games rather than just the rarity, but having everything that comes with the game is totally nice to have and a rarity in itself.

I think we all do, wish that we took better care of the video game stuff when we were kids hehe From the somewhat 7-8 games i still have from back in the days only 1 is complete and one got its manual. A game that my sister owns also got the box, but its damn beaten up hehe :\

I also remember having a box that was in pretty good condition in around 2002/2003, but i have no idea where it went. Probly thrown away I didnt collect then so i didnt save it.

Anyway, welcome to the forum!

Same here, most of my boxes and manuals I had as a kid got thrown out.  The few I still have are extremely beaten up.  Also, my last name and phone number was written on every single game by my Mother because she feared they'd get borrowed or stolen or something.  Most of them have been sold and replaced with better condition because of this.

What is the best way to go about collecting all of those instruction manuals and boxes that I'm missing? Would it be best to start over new? Find someone to trade loose games for boxes and manuals? or just hunt flea markets and pawn shops forever trying to fill in the holes? Out of the 60 NES games I do have, I have probably 7 boxes and 15 instruction manuals and 2 of them are freaking photocopied so they don't count.  

I've been an extremely hard-core gamer since I've been 5, owning every nintendo system (except that dang virtual boy), and having the complete package of the games I own is something that would be totally sweet. I'm not interested in unlicensed games at all. What are some of the best places to start?

I still have all my original manuals and boxes from my games when I was a kid.  I even have the manual to my original NES which got traded in just about 6 years ago in an exchange for another system.  I did lose one of my original games a few years ago because I let my best friend borrow it and then she and her boyfriend broke up and she left my game at the apartment  

I was like that with my toys too, I still have all my accessories to my She-ra figures for example.  A few years back my mom wanted to throw out all my NES boxes but I wouldn't let her   

The funny thing is I just collect games now for the games themselves.  I'm not interested in the boxes/manuals.