There is a thin line between a hoarder and a game collector, and Antonio Monteiro walks it every day.
The Texas man got the Guinness World Record for the largest video game collection: 20,139 (as of March 28).
Monteiro’s library, which has been developing since he was a child, features games for a second- to eighth-generation consoles—as well as 100-plus gadgets on which to play all of them.
For a dim idea of scale, his stock includes:
Monteiro started collecting video games when he was a child (via Guinness World Record)
The collection is so big (how big is it?) that it took eight days to count before Guinness could confirm the record.
“I’m really excited to be finally sharing this with the world,” Monteiro, who clearly takes great pride in his highly curated selection, said in a statement.
Of his 20,139, however, “Castlevania IV”—a 1991 platform game from Konami, described by Monteiro as a “masterpiece”—is his personal choice.
Games and consoles include, Monteiro’s collection is so huge it took eight days to count (via Guinness World Record)
There are many duds, for sure, as well as many “unusual” pieces, like the “Max Basic Rifle Marksmanship Program,” released by Nintendo exclusively to the U.S. Military for shooting practice and never sold to the public.
Monteiro—whose job and bank account balance was not shown—also owns a comprehensive collection of Nintendo 64DD games, published only in Japan; rare Sega Game Gear title “CJ the Elephant”; and a series of informative Sega Dreamcast games such as “Timeless Math.”