I can hear their pleas at night. More like cries for help, really. They speak through the walls, calling for release. These lost souls came to this vile place with the best of intentions, and now they can only wait. And wait. And wait.

I am, of course, talking about my shamefully unplayed collection of fighting games. What did you think I was talking about? Because I'm not just a player. Oh no, it's far, far worse than that. I'm a collector.

Anyone who knows me knows all about my unabashed love for the fighting-game genre. A chance encounter with Mortal Kombat 2 ignited this passion at an early age, and since then it's grown to be so much more than a mere infatuation. I have amassed a staggering collection of fighting games...and I just don't have the time to play any of them.

It's like being stranded in the middle of the ocean. As the Rime of the Ancient Mariner put it, "Water, water every where, nor any drop to drink."

My collection has treasures that deserve far more attention than I can give. I've got original Playstation copies of X-Men vs. Street Fighter. Darkstalkers 3. Gem Fighter (the offshoot of the Puzzle Fighter series from Capcom) and Puzzle Fighter, and many, many, many more. The lengths I went to in order to add these prizes to my collection still haunt me.

"OOOOH!"

I'm the guy who bought a Nintendo Wii purely to play Capcom vs. Tatsunoko (which, naturally, I rarely have time to do). Picking up a GameCube fully justified getting the GameCube versions of Capcom vs. SNK II EO and entire series of Naruto fighters on the cheap. I got those just because I could, not even really to play at all. They remain unopened, sitting in the corner. They don't even merit a place on the shelf. But I've got them, and that's the important part. It's like I don't even care about their feelings.

My fiancee, Rachel, and I, we've owned at least five different versions of Street Fighter IV, three seperate copies of Marvel vs. Capcom 3, and a very roughed-up copy of an an InuYasha game that honestly doesn't deserve to exist.

I just can't help myself.

Once, Rachel talked me down off an and impulse buy: the original PSX copy of Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors in it's original, over-sized PlayStation box. I was completely ready to pay forty dollars for a haggard port of a very old and clunky fighter.

Some might not remember the big-ass Playstation boxes. This was it.

Maybe I need help. Maybe I'm only doing harm to myself. Maybe, during my much-needed intervention, someone should take away my PlayStation Network account, because publishers add classic, must-have titles all the time, including the most recent addition of Marvel vs. Capcom Origins,

But I regret nothing. And hey, did I just see a copy of Street Fighter Alpha Anthology on eBay?