The only tips I would give is that first figure what you want to do collect all the NES games like some of the crazys on here lol  or collect a certain amount of games. I picked out around 150 NES games I want and have fun with then slowly over time buy some of the games complete and thats that. And save the rare ones for last you should not be buying a Bubble Bobble II complete your first months collecting.

You'd definately want to make up your mind about complete vs. loose first, some people don't care about boxes and manuals and loose carts are by far the easiest to find.

If however you have a just the slightest interest in complete games, go for complete from the beginning as it'll save you a lot of trouble getting rid of the loose games.

Keep in mind though that it takes a lot more searching and money to collect CIB's ....

At some point, you're probably going to want to get a game off of ebay.  Observe the following tips:

1) Read the auction completely at least four times.  Take notes if you have to. 

2) Ask questions.  If you can't see the back of the game cart, you'd better ask to make sure it's not covered in sharpie or rental crap.

3) Check feedback.  We have a list of really good and really bad transactions in a thread on this board.  Examine other auctions like yours to see if the buyer was satisfied.

4) Limit your liability. Use PayPal so you have a chance of recovering your money if something goes bad.

5) Check on NESWorld first.  It's farily likely a reputable member has a duplicate of whatever you're looking for, usually for a better price.


Good luck!   

Exactly what wrldstrman said don't start over spending trying to make your collection in 2 months relax look for deals and make trades good luck!!!!

If you do plan on collecting cart only.  Look me up, I can help if you are looking to buy in bulk.  Probably around $2 a cart (shipping included) for most common to semi common games. 

Bryan

A few tips

If you do collect cart only, don't hesitate to pick up boxes and manuals if you find them in the wild.  They become excellent trade bait to CIB collectors like myself and can net you carts you need via trade.

Collecting the entire NES library becomes overwhelming at first.  Pick out subsets to collect or make a list of game you'd really like to have.  Example of subsets:  Koei, Capcom, black box games, series (megaman, TMNT, etc).

Bryan

Good idea, i would start like that man.