Cataloging your collection is just the perfect thing to do when you're stuck at home during a quarantine.

This makes me think about how my dad had this handwritten spreadsheet with all the cassettes and records he owned from the late 80s early 90s lol

I still use My Game Collection App. I bought the Pro Version years ago and have been getting all the add on for free as they come out including Amiibos and Skylanders

Spent the entire afternoon cataloguing my collection with Game-eye and it's pretty solid! price-wise it's a bit off on some of the stuff but accurate on others, but overall a great experience and easy to use. Would never have known this existed without this video, many thanks!

Real answer: Microsoft Excel

App: how much your collection is worth. New age gamers: All digital collection 10,000 games App: worth= $0

The way i catalog my games is a google excel sheet for each console i own, having each column being CIB, without manual, loose, rental cover, greatest hits, etc. Its kind of my best way of cataloging them since ill know what i have for each console

This was an awesome video. Also a great reminder to catalog my games during quarantine, as well as take some time to do my own research for which app to use! Thanks, MJR!

Thanks to this video I ended up spending my day cataloging my collection on GAME EYE. I had no idea my copy of Rule of Rose was worth that much!

On Price Charting, you can also import an Excel file list of your games. That's much better than the manual process.

You can permanently allow certain websites to use your camera by clicking on the "aA"-Symbol to the left of the header in Safari and setting "Camera" to "Allow" instead of "Ask".

I use CLZ on my phone and desktop based on your last video and I love it. They sync between one another and it is awesome!!!

Clever of you to update the title and thumbnail. No need to work any harder. Nice!

Watching this NOW as I’m moving! Let’s get these babies catalogued 🤚

That moment your collection is soo small that you don't need to catalogue it. Rip

Retro Game Collector is my personal favorite! Separated by system and shows the full set for each console. Super high quality!

Great video, I love gameye.. I downloaded it literally as you started talking about it. I started cataloging my games/consoles using it, I like it so far! Thanks!

I physically write my games down and then I have tags so I can go directly to that page . On top all that I don't keep games in the boxes either , I use disc holders , but I have one area just for FPS, Sports and so on , if I have more of one thing like games based off of movies then I have a disc folder just for those kind of games , tell you it's so much easier and your not putting wear opening and closing your boxes all the time. So I can just grab my disc folder , say Wii and then I flip right to the game I want to play . Unfortunately then don't make CD holders for Gamecube, so I found this really cool hard plastic that's usually made for small pictures, but works perfect for Gamecube games. Sometimes you have to be Creative when collecting, so I also took an old wooden cassette holder and if you remove some of the inserts you have yourself a nice Atari 2600 cartridge holder .

(Long post is LONG) I often forget smartphones apps exists, as I only really use my phone as a phone, or something to kill time when I'm at work or otherwise at home. Here are some I have used: *Backloggery* : A website to catalogue what games you have completed. Keeps track of your completion level and ownership level. Displays games you're currently playing Trend list shows comparison between games you've beat and haven't beat. Has a bit of a social network vibe as you can add friends, post on each other profiles, compare recent changes, and has some Twitch integration. There seems to be no database, so every entry is hand made by each user - so expect typos and other incorrections thanks to human error *HowLongToBeat* : More used to compare completion times between gamers, but has a huge database of games, thus can be used to catalog game libraries. I haven't used it extensively though. *Steam* : Obviously, Steam will show you all your Steam games, but it has been improved recently to allow you to sort your library more easily and use Dynamic Collections which can grow automatically as you get more games, based on parameters like Genre, features, players and more. Steam allows you to list your non-Steam games as well, allowing you to list your DRM free games and games from other launchers. The interface is pretty visual, so you can use a custom image as "Box art" and there is a budding community of people making custom box art to use on Steam *GoG Galaxy* : GoG made a big effort to make a unifying PC game launcher made to scan games from all major game store fronts, including consoles. Also tracks recently added games, achievments, and hours plays. Feels a bit like a spirtual sucessor to Raptr, albeit not as robust. It's based on libraries from game stores, so "executable games" you may have on your PC won't be detected. You can add games manually, but I think they only work on games already on connected platforms, not loose entries from users. *Anarchy Arcade* : I'm possibly cheating here, but this is actually a free game on Steam. It is a digital world/sandbox where you can create your own virtual arcade by importing your Steam games. You can add various arcade machines, PCs, and TV setup that display and launches a Steam game with in the game. I'm pretty sure you can also have in world game boxes so you can make bookshelves or stacks of loose games with your actual game library *GiantBomb.com* : This is bit of a misnomer, as GiantBomb is a game coverage site, mixed with a forum, social network, games wiki, and lists. You can use lists along with the game database/wiki to list your games. It's a bit cumbersome to use as a game catalog compared to other options, but many regulars have used it as such. Defunct *Raptr* : This was an AWESOME program that would scan your games libraries and also display achievements, ratings, and show which of your friends from which platform were online and playing. If I remember correctly, you could use it for chat as well and I'm pretty sure there some community/forum/social aspect to it as well. The best thing about Raptr is that it tracked what games you played and for how long. At the end of the year, you could generate a "This year in gaming" report that would show every game you played, how much you spent on it, which genre's you played in pie charts, and a bunch of other neat information. You could compare your report to friends reports as well. *Favslist* : This was used as a social network/tool to list your favorite lists of game related stuff, and non-related stuff. Since games was it focus, it had a huge community-created games database. Truly, you probably couldn't catalog a huge collection of games somebody like MJR, AVGN, or The Last Gamer would had, but it was awesome to make lists of "Your favorite fighting games" or "Favorite games of 1997" or "Favorite Characters". Unfortunately, the primary creator/owner, Pape Badiane died tragically and with it, the funding for the site, making the site spiral out of maintenance, updates, and eventually existence. Fans/former members of the site are apparently working on things in the background, and one of them on Discord mention there is plans to get the site back up, as the data/lists on there are still backed up somewhere. Fuck, I ramble too much. This is damn blog at this point.

Gameye sounds cool. The manual cataloging of missing entries is just how Letterboxd works for film, so I can get used to that pretty quick.

If using gameye and you want to back up your lists to another device just choose to email the backup and access it on the other device you want it on.

Ty it really helps having GAMEYE

These sounds cool, especially with the barcode scanner, had no idea what even was a thing. Been using Backloggery since 2008. It's pretty good, though it doesn't run a database system, so you'll have to manually add everything, which can take a lot of time if you got a big collection. It's main use is to keep track of which games you've finished, completed, etc, which is something it does really well.

Bummer that the Backloggery wasn’t mentioned, but I can only assume this video was in production before my last comment haha I still recommend that you check it out!

I use GAMEYE and its awesome. It’s gotten better and better with each update. Definitely recommended.

The best way is to do it yourself, the apps still don't recognize many uncommon games. Take a picture of each game then name it, (game title - console - new, complete, loose). Makes it easy to search & view your actual games.

I love how awesome Metal Jesus is, by giving fellow game collectors really helpful advice.

great addition to the information you give!!! Going to have to use the CLZ on my movies, but since I'm an old-school (manual is the best way) person; I use MS Excel and add my own headers and make lists from there, with every console having their own "Tab". To me, it's easy; maybe not if you are starting when you have thousands of games, but my list started on Excel 2002. For those of use that don't believe in data plans, just sending my excel file from main computer to smartphone is enough for me to make sure I'm not buying doubles when I'm out at the stores. Again, thank you MJR .... KEEP A ROCKIN"

I use an app called My Game Collection (on the Android), and it has been working great for me.

Surprised "My Game Collection" wasn't on the list. It doesn't charge a monthly fee and you can use it on multiple devices with a good range of backup options. It's the best app for cataloging that I've found for my needs.

I've been using the Gamers Database App on Android to catalog my games. It has some nice options, and updates it's game catalog daily. I'm going to check out Gameeye, as I like the format of that one. Thanks Metal Jesus

I look forward to your videos every week. Keep up the good work. And stay safe from the coronavirus. Very helpful video 👍👍👍👍

Perfect timing for a video on this topic with everything that is going on. Continue making great videos. Looking forward to the next one!

I use My Game Collection for Android. It has some nice features, like being able to import you library from Steam, Playstation, XBox, Backloggery and others. It also pulls data for each game from Price Charting, Metacritic and How Long to Beat. From looking at the apps you have reviewed here, My Game Collection is a better app. The premium version is only $4, but sadly, I don't think it is on IOS...

Been using retro game collector for years and I like it a lot. Love their rarity system even if it’s not always 100% accurate

To make a website not ask you for camera permission every time you want to use it you must go to the “AA” button on the top left corner of the search bar in safari, then go to the “website settings” menu tap on “camera” and tap allow, keep in mind you must be in iOS 13

This was just the video I was looking for. Keep up the great work we don’t have to many honest KZfaqrs left

Thanks for re-visiting this topic Jason! I am a big fan of the CLZ apps. I use the movies, games, and the comics ones.

i love price charting. i found it by accident a couple years ago when i was trying to find something i could keep on a tablet and portable instead of logging my huge heavy binder with me, when i first started there was only the mainstream games and consoles on there. but after a while more was added JP and pal and some computer stuff was added. i think they only track the games for sale on ebay i dont think they get the database from ebay. i believe a lot of collectors have manually added to their database and once its in there anybody can find it. only about 95% of my collection is on there cause some systems/consoles/computers have yet to be put on there. like there's barely anything for the ti99/4a. downside to adding manually is you have to have a picture of the item or they wont allow you to upload it. also you can add all peripherals, consoles etc to your collection. by far in my opinion price charting is the most complete to date thanks to the ppl who have manually added their collections to it. im sure by next year it'll be even better :) hugs and love :D

This is my "old man" hobby.... and my "wtf I'm 26 why do I need an old man hobby" hobby

You can even catalogue your arcade cabinets if you own them.

I like using Backloggery - it's a pretty simple UI without many bells or whistles, but the type of info you put in can help motivate you to actually go through and play all those games you buy.

GOG Galaxy 2.0 is a big help for all of my PC/Console games across the different platforms.

Retro Game Collector is my go to app, super efficient and super organized, awesome metrics etc. It is a paid app but completely worth it for a small fee... cloud back up, online storage... also they add new systems all the time... each system is separate and games are easy to add... no barcode support yet but definitely worth the time and effort

Great video MJR, but i still prefer use RF Generation. For music, of course, discogs. :p Both have a great and very detailed library.

I've become a fan of the iCollect App recently. The main reason I started using it was because I wanted a movie cataloging app that allowed me to add analog formats such as LaserDisc and VHS which most movie apps don't support. You do have to pay $10 one time per category you want to catalog. But I've found it worth it to finally be able to fully catalog my movies.

I use Retro Game Collector on the iPhone. I absolutely love it. Do you have to purchase it, but it's nice that you can either buy the entire Nintendo collection or just the N64. Have a look. I use it all the time. It also has an option where you can click on the ebay app and it takes you directly to that game's ebay page. It gives you the latest prices as well. I use the CLZ for my current generation games.

Cool video Keep up the good work MJR

THANK YOU FOR THIS. Organization is Key ;)

I use Trello. It's not a game catalog service. In fact, it's designed for workers to share their work (like, for a store manager giving a to-do list, and the workers checking it off, with pictures). However, it works just fine for cataloging all of my games. And I can add pictures of my games/accessories/systems, so that I can see the quality of them at a glance. In addition, I can make a wish list for each console, so that, when I watch a Metal Jesus video, I can put the games he recommends there! It doesn't have all the fancy bells and whistles that the ones he showed in this video do, but it's worked well for me for years. I'd recommend at least trying it out (it's free).

Was looking for this and found this!! Thanks! :)

Great content as allways! Just wanted to add in regards to the CLZ app. If you buy the package of both app and desktop software you get way more out of it. I scan with my phone. But i edit on my pc. On the software version you can also in fact serach consoles and add them from core and it will be synched to the phone. I feel their app is okay, but the real power is in their software version.

Gog Galaxy v2 is the all complete game launcher that can import any digital title from all PC launchers/platforms and some console support

This is an awesome app for collectors.. saves me time to look what i don't have.

I used to recommend CLZ to people when it was a fixed, one-time price. Now that it has a subscription, you may as well just go with Gameye.

I use CLZ for my comic collection (just under 10K comics) and it works pretty well. They seem to update it pretty regularly and if you buy the PC version, you can continue to use it if your subscription runs out. This allows you to take a year or two off, and then resub for the latest version if you prefer. It does have some weird quirks, but might be a good option for people.

I catalogue all mine using Excel Spreadsheet. Easiest way to do it as I can organise by console all the games I own, as well as the games I want to own for each system.

Nice! An MJR video! I sure hope we get more of these soon.

I use retro games collector but you have to pay to use it. Works great but you have to unlock each system sets you have. Another draw back is that it lists all the Japanese and European games to along with the North American release and not in a separate list. Makes it harder to add want list games. It does use price charting to tell you what games are worth and helps you find them to buy.

Hey thanks for the video. On Gameye can you: 1) Create a restore point (essentially downloading it) 2) Open it as it is a CSV on your PC. 3) Add notes and/or do some cleanups 4) Import that edited restore point so that it shows your now cleaned up list I am struggling to do so if that is even possible

Newer sub here. Just started collecting NES. Thanks for the info! Your vids are awesome 👍

I Love My Game Collection, it lets me import steam and PS+ games super easy. haven't found another that lets me do that.

Love Gameye - I would even be happy to pay for this (obviously not a monthly subscription fee though)

I use backloggery. Doesn't have fancy graphics and you have to manually add every game but it works for me.

I've used an app on my Android phone for a few years called My Game Collection (kind of a generic name, I know) and it works great. I have over a thousand games and I added them all using that app. I don't exactly have stuff like Atari ST or Commodore or Amiga games, but for the most part nearly all of my games could be found in the search. I've only had to manually add a game maybe 10-15 times over the course of adding over 1,200 games. It allows you to add digital and physical games, list the price you bought it for, the date you bought it, and the completeness of that game as well as several other things. It also allows for backups in a file on your device or to Dropbox. Check it out.

I don't know if anyone was wondering but the background picture is Lake Campbell from the top of Mt. Erie in Anacortes, WA

These are great for extreme collectors. I don't consider myself a huge collector like Metal Jesus, so I just use Google Sheets to catalog my games, movies, and books. All of my catalogs are on the same document because you can add and rename as many pages as you wish! For my games, I have them grouped by console or system. I use different highlight colors to indicate if it's a physical copy, digital copy, or if it's something that I've been looking for - which comes in handy when I'm shopping, I can just pull up the list on my phone and even edit it right there in the store! I also use my own emoji rating system, 1 to 3 black circles if I dislike or hate it, 1 to 3 green hearts if I like it or love it, and a raised hand emoji if I haven't played it enough to know yet. This is cool because I can get rid of what I don't like and I can also see what I haven't played enough of with the hand emoji. My list (including consoles/systems, games and expansion packs, and wishlist items) only has about 250 rows, and I only keep what I like and play often, so I don't think my collection is large enough to really need its own app. But when you have over 7000 games, Google Sheets would definitely be too tedious probably!

Sometimes apps feel like coporate and made to make money and sometimes they feel like they are made from collectors to collectors

I use GOG and I love it . I can even launch games from there. And add even consile games to my library to know what I have

Heya. Have a wonderful day you all. Love the video.

Looks like GamEye might be the best considering it's free and only has a few drawbacks. Glad to see they're working to improve it though! I really would like the ability to manually enter games and sync them with other devices. Hopefully that gets implemented soon.

Ayyyy I use GAMEYE, nice

So, I added gameye and on the Google play app and it has a photo of radical reggie! That made me laugh because I'm hitting the download button and I'm like that looks like reggie. I scroll down past the gumbo jumbo and I click on the picture. Low and behold it was a cartoon drawing of reggie! Lol

you should make a top 10 Quarantine games lmao.....the video everyone is waiting for :P

Is there an update to this video? Seems like all 3 could be quite a bit different here in September 2023, with possibly some new competition.

The new Resident Evil 3 Remake will most likely be catalogued in these Apps soon

I wish Metal Jesus would look into the app data / pricing working for UK residents, especially as he has a lot of support over here. Does anyone know the best cataloging app that works for in PAL territory?

Hey man I hope your doing ok I know ive been told theres so many fatal corona cases in your area. ITs like a lot there.

With GOG Galaxy you can catalog Steam games too as well as GOG games.

GAMEYE looked amazing until I realise that I'm from Europe and almost every barcode I tried to scan didnt worked at all :(

Speaking of games, anyone played Doom Eternal yet? It's one hell of a game

@MetalJesusRocks I know this unrelated, but a new shootem up just released in the Playstation Store called "Rainbows, toilets and Unicorns" its actually quite fun!

awesome video, using CLZ for years now

Omg this is amazing!! Thank you!!! I stupidly never thought of looking for apps. For years I kept track using a computer document.

Great topic since you're the main reason I'm collecting games again!

I use the iPhone Notes app. Have a Note for each console with a picture of the spines of the games on my shelf as well as a typed list of the physical and digital games. I have about 100 physical games across this gen and the past one and the main reason I do it is so I can remember what I have when I'm out and about and come across games I may want to buy. Gameye looks good though, will probably switch to that.

I used libib to catalogue the 400 disc titles I had stolen in a burglary. 3 hours to scan all the case bar codes, and fill in any it didn't have. handy!

Anyone else use the snupps app. Yes you have to enter certain Information in manually, But you get to take a picture of your actual item so you can see what condition it is in. Plus there is a social aspect to it that some what nice, you can talk to fellow collectors

Backing up game eye isn't all that easy but it's possible. Like MJR said u can choose to email the back up to urself. By downloading the back up to any device and trying to open the back up file while game eye is on the device will prompt the back up to begin. At least that's how I did it switching to my new phone.

Surprised you didn’t mention google sheets. That’s all I use, I can easily sort and filter

Custom excel spread sheet saved to the cloud.

I use Gameye but I HIGHLY recommend creating a restore point and saving it to Google drive ANY time you add a game because you never know when your phone's internal memory will need to be wiped. I've had it happen twice. I've even had a micro SD card corrupt. You will need to download a file manager like EX Explorer for the app to recognize the backup file and it can be a hassle but way better than having to start over.

Does these support bulk import from sites like steam, gog or epic?

Multiple collections in clz is great if your collection is spread across 2+ homes, it's also very useful if you use a shipping forwarding service that allows you to store your purchases for a while so you combine shipping, this way you can track what you bought and where it is

I use a desktop program that came with a handheld scanner, bought before the age of smart phones. Its "Media" program tracks anything with a bar code (books, music, movies, games), but not game hardware. It has no mobile access or market price, but I originally got it for inventory purposes.

FANTASTIC video as always, sir! Do any of these apps support variants of games? I have multiple games where I have Japanese or US stacks to my PAL collection

Oh man, my game collection is small but I need something like this for my movie collection. Stop buying duplicates Jon!

I'm using the Backloggery to track my collection. I don't care about the value of my collection, I care more about what I've play and where I'm at with it. I don't need all the pricing stuff in m way which makes it great for me. A nice thing about it is while other apps only focus on the single game itself, Backloggery allows me to add games within games within my collection. I can mark Panzer Dragoon inside Panzer Dragoon Orta separately, I can mark Metal Gear 1 & 2 inside MGS3 Subsistence, all the Sega arcade games inside the Yakuza games, etc. and that saves me from buying the orginal game since I already have a version of it to play. Now on the downside, it's all manually done. There's no scanning barcodes to add in games. I can live with that as it allows me to add in my collection as I wish like marking all three Uncharted games in the Nathan Drake Collection as a compilation where I can mark the completion status on a per game basis. Another problem I'm having as of late is the way digital games are handled. You are suppose to have a section for the main console and a section for that console's download games. But the PS4 doesn't have a dedicated downloads section which makes me think I'm supposed to use the PSN section. Problem is that's already filled with PS3 games so I don't want to mix those together. I'm resorting to using the "Original system" sub-section to address games that are PS4 downloads. BUT THEN we have PS VR! While I count that as an accessory, the Backloggery counts it as it's own system. So now I'm trying to mark PSVR games as "Original System" PS4 games since they're all played using a PS4. But I now run into the problem where download PS4 VR games can't be marked completely correctly AND IT'S DRIVING ME NUTS!!! So now here I am wishing we can stop with the sections separating downloads vs physical and just let me toggle that when adding the game for a particular system. On top of that, now I want to be able to mark games that can use or require a certain accessory. Tetris Effect for example can use VR but is fully playable without it, so mark that as usable with PSVR. DOOM VFR requires the VR, so mark that as PSVR required. Wii Fit, required Balance Board. Super Monkey Ball Step and Roll, usable Balance Board. So on and so forth. Sorry to throw out this rat here, I just needed some place to vent those nitpicks.

I just use the collection features at GameFAQs. Doesn't have all the fancy features, but if you just want to track what games you have, it works fine.

great video - I thought I really wasn't interested AT ALL, but loved it. I may be interested!