/vr/ - Retro Games

All I can say is everyone's different. For me owning real carts doesn't do much for me because flashcarts exist but if I had boxes and manuals for my old games that would be bliss. In my opinion that's something you can't replicate the feeling of by looking at a pdf scan online.

I think the idea of "collecting" pisses people off because for the most part it's driven by blatant materialism. Sure, collections can be cool if they are unique and customized but there are those people who cross the line and just want to have things for the sake of having them. There will also always be people who gain a sense of self-worth and superiority over others in what they own, and that's just life, but I think it's natural for people to frown upon that.

This is a more nuanced topic than people like to make it out to be. It completely depends on the type of game and the nature of the "strategies" included in the guides. In any case though, figuring something out yourself to me ALWAYS feels better than if I used a guide to do it.

For an action / platformer game, giving tips such as "aim for the head", or "it's easier to dodge this way," etc. I wouldn't call cheating since you still have to execute those actions in game. Still would feel better to figure out myself though.

For puzzle games where the strategy guide gives you the solution, of course it's cheating.

That doesn't mean you should feel bad about using guides though. If you honestly tried your best and gave it your all without a guide you will eventually get better at games and need the guides less and less.