This is kind of interesting for me. People always say that gaming is something that you just "grow out of". At age 25 I really don't see that as a thing. Gaming seems to have this view that it is something which is juvenile and that is frowned upon as an adult, yet a lot of games which are popular on modern consoles are aimed at adults so I don't really see any justification there.
Personally for me. I started buying retro stuff about probably 5 years ago. Partly influenced by this website. My first games console was a SNES, until I came to this site I didn't even know what a NES was. So that was something that I had to have because I hadn't played all these classic games you talk about - I mean I knew what SMB and SMB2 and 3 etc. cause I'd played All Stars but it never twigged to me as a kid where these games had come from. Then it came to systems that I just didn't own as a kid. So I bought a Mega Drive, my friend had one so I knew the games and I was like wow need to get that. Then N64 which was never a huge interest for me (and really still isn't hugely). So then I really had a lot of the major consoles, cause I had a PS2 and formerly PS1, a PS3, xbox was never much of an interest, my sister had a gamecube. So I was set.
My SNES was in storage for a long time, and in fact I forgot I even owned it and I essentially rediscovered it. It wasn't till I went to University that it returned to somewhere where I could use it. So that was a factor as well.
So now it becomes a whole other level to you guys being mostly Americans.
Then the popularity of speedgaming has came into it and I started to get into that. But the problem with speedgaming and being a European is that the games run slower (17%) so then it was the case of well If I want to be competitive I need to play American or Japanese.
So then it became the case of basically rebuying all the consoles I owned as American or Japanese. So for example: I own a NTSC-U SNES, I also own a Super Famicom, so that means I currently own a UK Super Mario World, USA Super Mario World and a Japanese Super Mario World. In fact a lot of the games I owned as a kid I now own at least doubles of them.
So a part of this was a quest to play games I didn't own, the other was for speedgaming.
However I wouldn't say what I have is a "collection" nor am I interesting in "collecting" games because it would get ridiculous. For example I've seen people who collect solely PAL games. But why? In my eyes they are the inferior format, the format which aren't the true ways the games were designed to be played. So do you collect only American? Do you collect all versions of the same game? Where does this end?
I own games that I like or want to play or games I have doubles of as speed games.
Doing this allows you to get into untapped markets as well. I own a lot of Japanese exclusive "SNES" games which I intend to make a post about at some point. I was thinking about the Top 100 lists and how JP is omitted from that. Also games can be cheaper. I got my copies of Super Metroid for probably a third of the price for what I would pay for an American copy and the funny thing is that English is a selectable language for it - ha-ha - it being of course an example of a game that I never owned.
I would also probably say that I have more PS3 games than games for any other system. Mostly because it's the first current system which I have the money to support my spending on it. Not like being a kid where your parents bought all your games for you.
I just got up and looked at my "collection". I have a NTSC-U N64 and I have 7 games for it, with no intention of buying anymore. I wouldn't really call that much of a collection. So I'd agree with what has been said. It's really got to the stage were I have most of the games I want and I don't want anymore (unless speed things come up of interest). The only possible exception would be games not in our market aka Japanese.
Also more problematic for me would be buying games which are not easily sourced from here. A game that I want but I dunno if I would ever get is Earthbound. I'd probably have to import it to great expense.
It's way easier generally to get old games like SNES/NES/Genesis/N64 than some other systems like PS1 and PS2. Importing is pretty expensive. I bought my US SNES from the United States. I got my US PS2 from the USA. I got my NES from the US. The others I was really fortunate to be able to buy here but I've had to buy some SFC games from Japan.
It's definitely a huge money sink and collecting is just not something which is feasible nor something that I am interested in thankfully.
The other thing is I don't think i'd ever sell this all off because I imagine it would probably be to a loss. I don't intend to be one of those people who have a room dedicated to video games. The 4 small shelves I have at the moment are fine.
tl;dr I buy the games that I like, collecting is a huge money sink and how you define a collection is problematic, hand your papers in on this essay by Monday.
I agree with you about the buying multiple game thing but it really depends on the market. The only PAL game I currently own is Tactics Ogre: Let us Cling Together LE.I collect next to nothing but US games except in the rare case of something being more valuable outside the U.S. Just so happens that most US releases are more pricey and I like to collect the pricey ones. For instance there is a huge difference in price on the PAL Ni No Kuni and the NTSC one, largely due to Namco fucking over those whom ordered the NTSC and then giving a half assed version to PAL. There are a fuck ton of games that are hard to get in US release that are cheap as hell in Japan simply due to the fact that the japanese game market is much larger than in the U.S.
There are tons of US titles that are worthless to buy in my opinion when in comes to CE/LE. There are some exceptions such as The Uncharted LE which goes for around 10k at the moment, or the Dead Space. But most of the good money are titles from Japan like Ps Vita Persona 4 gold Edition, and pretty much any JRPG. IMOP buy a Persona Q LE, a Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 X LE and wait five years and maybe they will be worth close to 1K.
Also. Do yourself a favor. If you have the money buy Hyrule Warriors ULE or better yet a Retro City Rampage DX PS4 hard copy; I just sold the later for 500 dollars on ebay. 10 years from now it really could be close to about 40k and you could get one for about 200 atm. Just wait and quote me on that, check back in 10 years after you send your kids through college.
Probable Muppet
Joined: Aug 05 2008
Location: CA
Posts: 867
Posted:
Dec 30 2014 12:40 am
Count_Akula wrote:
I fell in love with a hot asian babe
So did I but she is hawiaiian. Does that count?
Also I am still stuck in CA, what's the rent like there LOL.
slapolakinkaido
Title: Illegitimate Son of God
Joined: Jul 14 2009
Posts: 1565
Posted:
Dec 30 2014 03:05 am
Count_Akula wrote:
I fell in love with a hot asian babe
So did I. But if my wife finds out I'm gonna have a whole new set of problems.
Count_Akula
Title: Sir Galahad
Joined: Dec 19 2014
Location: Taiwan
Posts: 142
Posted:
Dec 30 2014 03:09 am
slapolakinkaido wrote:
Count_Akula wrote:
I fell in love with a hot asian babe
So did I. But if my wife finds out I'm gonna have a whole new set of problems.
I'm too young to have a great perspective on true retro gaming, but I still really appreciate picking up old games and playing them the way they were meant to be enjoyed. I recently bought a GBC in the color I had wanted growing up( clear purple!), as I long since gave away my hand-me-down teal one from Dr.Jeebus when my friend's house burned down in elementary school. There is nothing quite like popping in one of those crappy Harry Potter games, or Tetris Plus, and remembering the joy of being a young gamer again.
Additionally, I wanted an N64 super badly when I went off to college and the Lexia clan's has long since been absconded by someone or other, so Syd sent me one in the mail. As much as I like remastered versions of LoZ and Mario64, it's nice to be able to play them as they were intended. There's also a benefit to retro gaming that keeps me tied down: advancements trickling down. If y'all recall, N64 joysticks were garbage because over time they get ground down and they're loose and impossible to use. Syd fixed that by purchasing me a refurbished controller with a GCN joystick. Boom. All the enjoyment of a less-crappy controller. You wouldn't even really notice a difference.
I don't know how much sense that actually makes in context of the conversation. Sorry?
DarknessDeku
Title: Deku Scrub
Joined: Dec 08 2007
Location: The Forest
Posts: 3280
Posted:
Dec 30 2014 07:31 pm
Makes perfect sense.
I've been playing nothing but newer games, I haven't bought or played an old game in forever. I may start doing that again, but I love newer games better.
i'll_bite_your_ear wrote:
DarknessDeku is already assimilated by the bots.
He knows your algorithm.
slapolakinkaido
Title: Illegitimate Son of God
Joined: Jul 14 2009
Posts: 1565
Posted:
Dec 31 2014 03:06 am
I do nothing but retro gaming. I think I've only played 1 or 2 games that came out after 2000.
Mr. Satire
Title: No title necessary.
Joined: Jun 08 2010
Location: Termina Field
Posts: 1540
Posted:
Dec 31 2014 04:34 am
Although I am too young to have actually experienced the retro era consoles when they were new, I must say that I enjoy retro gaming almost the same now as when I first got interested in retro gaming.
I really want to get into collecting, but the immense cost of retro era games and consoles make it financially infeasible, and even if it wasn't, I wouldn't want to spend hundreds of dollars for something that may or may not cease to function in a few years. A few years ago I really wanted to get a NA SNES and copy of EarthBound, but spending ~$1000 for a single game is ridiculous no matter how good it is or how much I love it. At the moment, my Wii I have for emulation that I have connected to a CRT television is the closest I have (and care to have) to the real thing.
Yeah, as much as I love collecting the original games and consoles, and decorating my room with the original boxes and such, some of them are overly expensive, and I end up emulating them instead. I also like playing ROM hacks on emulators, which you can't do on original consoles.
Alowishus
Joined: Aug 04 2009
Posts: 2515
Posted:
Jan 01 2015 05:21 pm
@Probable Muppet Yeah I don't have much disposable income this month, I bought a PS4 lol.
Another good example is Earthbound. I can buy a copy of Mother 2 on ebay right now for between £10-20 minus postage.
A copy of Earthbound would cost me about £150 minus postage - all because it is in English (and that is buying it in Ireland/UK. If I was to import it from the states it would cost way more because of impor tax etc.)
RPGs are generally pretty cheap since no one can read them lol. The Romancing Saga series looks cool but there isn't even translations of the first 2 games and I can't read the Japanese text.
Another problem with collecting retro games is that eventually everything becomes retro. Eventually PS4 will be a retro machine. When do you draw the line?
Cattivo
Joined: Apr 14 2006
Location: Lake Michigan
Posts: 3332
Posted:
Jan 02 2015 04:09 pm
LeshLush wrote:
Cattivo wrote:
Last summer I bought a used Sega Genesis during a sale at Half-Price Books, then went around buying copies of all my old favorite sports games for it like Mutant League Hockey. Played it a bunch for a month, then real life got in the way. Have been trying to find the time lately, but adult responsibility can suck.
This is my current approach. I dedicate every other Saturday morning and early afternoon to gaming. On a twice-monthly gaming Saturday, I get up early and buy a whole bunch of donuts and then play something single player (RPG, adventure game, whatever) that I want to play all the way through. At some point after ten, friends come over and we eat the whole bunch of donuts and play something multiplayer. After a couple hours of that, we engage in twice-monthly Dungeons and Dragons session.
It is frequent enough that I get my gaming urges regularly satisfied, and infrequent enough that I don't feel a slave to the schedule, and it combines the pleasures of gaming solitude and gaming socially, and the pleasures of video gaming and pen and paper. It is a very good approach. Granted, I am single. Had I a wife and/or children, I'm not sure I could pull it off every other Saturday.
Yeah, that's a great approach, but my wife would kill me, telling me to watch the baby. She almost killed me as it was for playing so much Stick of Truth since Christmas whenever he was napping. Thank God I finished that yesterday, cuz I don't think she would have tolerated much more, heh.
Mr. Satire
Title: No title necessary.
Joined: Jun 08 2010
Location: Termina Field
Posts: 1540
Posted:
Jan 03 2015 04:27 am
Alowishus wrote:
Another problem with collecting retro games is that eventually everything becomes retro. Eventually PS4 will be a retro machine. When do you draw the line?
I think where 'retro' starts and ends really depends on the person. Right now, there are people who think retro stopped at the SNES era. Some may think it stopped at or after the N64 era. Some might think it stopped at a more specific point. In the future, this will start to shift for the newer generations. Meanwhile, I don't see myself ever changing what I define as 'retro'.
I'll never get tired of playing retro games. Just last night I was playing Gyromite.
Ever since I started emulating back in 2004, I never went back to playing on actual hardware. Emulation has given me access to lots of games that I either had fond memories playing or missed out on when I was a kid. Frankly I just plain love emulation: access to lots of games, neat features including save stating, cheat utilities and customizable modifications, portability (if you're playing on a laptop) and I like the convenience and compactibility of keeping all my games in one machine.
Collecting just isn't feasible for me: I just don't have the space or money for that and I live in a household where there's just too many hands touching stuff and everything gets lost easily.
I guess it helps that I'm an uncle to 5 kids. Although they would be disastrous for the aforementioned collection purposes, it's nice to have kids to show the games their dads and uncles played when they were kids, and they've come to love playing games like Super Mario Kart, Turtles in Time, Streets of Rage, Bonk's Adventure, Gunstar Heroes, etc.
Romhacks make things even better. It's thanks to hacking why I can enjoy Gyromite now; there's now a hack that changes the controls to where you only need one controller. Romhacks also help enhance the experience, especially if you're trying to play those games with kids of the new generation. My niece always chooses the female character in games with character selections since they're more relatable to her. I'm thinking of having her play the recently-made Roll-chan hacks of the NES Mega Man games.
Emulation, hacking and having kids around the house to play with have kept retro games alive for me.
GeorgeTaylor
Title: Miss Madness 99
Joined: Sep 09 2012
Posts: 222
Posted:
Feb 04 2015 10:38 pm
ended up being bored and modding a xbox and putting this one it
Mainly did it to play Double Dragon since all the home ports sucked IMHO.
Ash Burton
Title: AshRaiser
Joined: Nov 10 2008
Location: Florida
Posts: 1044
Posted:
Feb 06 2015 12:31 am
I got super heavy into retro collecting for a while (especially SNES) but after collecting every game I ever wanted it just seemed to be me hoarding stuff rather than enjoying stuff. My bedroom looked like this:
...And I felt like this:
So I sold everything off. And jumped into Arcade and Pinball collecting. For the first time I actually play and enjoy my collection, as they are intended to be. Restoring the cabs and reliving the arcade scene is a thrill, and it has a unique community as well.
Retro Gaming should be about having fun, and remembering some of the best days of your life. When it becomes a cluttery mess that brings little enjoyment, mix it up. You can always buy this stuff back later.
joshwoodzy wrote:
Ash is probably just home humping his SNES collection.
Probable Muppet
Joined: Aug 05 2008
Location: CA
Posts: 867
Posted:
Feb 06 2015 01:44 am
Ash Burton wrote:
I got super heavy into retro collecting for a while (especially SNES) but after collecting every game I ever wanted it just seemed to be me hoarding stuff rather than enjoying stuff. My bedroom looked like this:
...And I felt like this:
So I sold everything off. And jumped into Arcade and Pinball collecting. For the first time I actually play and enjoy my collection, as they are intended to be. Restoring the cabs and reliving the arcade scene is a thrill, and it has a unique community as well.
Retro Gaming should be about having fun, and remembering some of the best days of your life. When it becomes a cluttery mess that brings little enjoyment, mix it up. You can always buy this stuff back later.
Nice collection, dammit I would have bought that shit from you given the chance!
I'm also a huge pinball fan and really really want a Haunted House machine which seems to be quite pricey, and I have not seen one for sale ever as it is apparently quite rare (I did however recently buy a bunch of parts for it). Also want a Twilight Zone...
And ohhh! That Tales From the Crypt/TNG...
Damn you. I am envious...
I'm really trying to hold myself back here. There is a copy an unopened Hagane going for 3,200 ish dollars on Ebay at the moment. I'm quite tempted but my girlfriend would most likely kill me.
Just two buttons clicks from being mine! This is rare as fuck in this condition and likely worth far more than this IMO.
What to do? I already have a CIB one but this one is new!
Ahh Haunted House. That was a fun game, had it for a short while in the garage and sold it as it got pretty repetitive. $3200 for a sealed Hagane? Thats crazy money, and a lot of speculation that SNES will continue to spike. The scary part is, that there will be more people leaving the retro scene than joining in the upcoming years; and you don't want to take a huge bath on something you don't plan on keeping forever.
joshwoodzy wrote:
Ash is probably just home humping his SNES collection.
Probable Muppet
Joined: Aug 05 2008
Location: CA
Posts: 867
Posted:
Feb 06 2015 01:41 pm
Eh. Where the hell did you find one of those? I have been looking for one for at least a year on Ebay ect and pinball forums. It is like the 3rd rarest pinball machine or am I wrong? Only 6,000 some confirmed units. How much did you have to pay for it?
Also repetitive, really? Frustrating and difficult for sure but I don't know about repetitive.
Also the next time you want to sell some of your stuff please PM me for gods sake, I will buy it...
Ash Burton
Title: AshRaiser
Joined: Nov 10 2008
Location: Florida
Posts: 1044
Posted:
Feb 07 2015 08:52 am
I'm unsure on the HH rarity, and repetitive may be the wrong word, maybe I meant shallow. But when being put up against more modern pins it really wasn't fair. I think I paid about $1000 for it, but there is a local pinball and arcade group that gives out good deals down here that I joined. The main problem with haunted house is the reliability, it has loads of issues. If you can bulletproof one (takes a lot of work) then it can be great, but I was new to the hobby when I had mine and didn't have the knowledge to make the needed repairs. As for my classic console stuff, next time I purge any of my classics you will be the first to know Muppet.
joshwoodzy wrote:
Ash is probably just home humping his SNES collection.
Alowishus
Joined: Aug 04 2009
Posts: 2515
Posted:
Feb 07 2015 06:29 pm
So i've resolved my problems and just bought an everdrive for my SNES and Genesis.
So now I can play the games as intended on console. I have nearly every game on a 8gb SD card minus the few games which need special chips and the 3000 versions of mahjong that I don't want. Earthbound, Hagane, (all your other rare titles) for 60quid.
The Genesis one also supports Master System as well so I have Genesis and Master System.
Is also good since you can play (most) Romhacks without buying a reproduction cart and you can play translations as well. Currently playing FFV.
Probable Muppet
Joined: Aug 05 2008
Location: CA
Posts: 867
Posted:
Feb 07 2015 06:50 pm
Alowishus wrote:
So i've resolved my problems and just bought an everdrive for my SNES and Genesis.
So now I can play the games as intended on console. I have nearly every game on a 8gb SD card minus the few games which need special chips and the 3000 versions of mahjong that I don't want. Earthbound, Hagane, (all your other rare titles) for 60quid.
The Genesis one also supports Master System as well so I have Genesis and Master System.
Is also good since you can play (most) Romhacks without buying a reproduction cart and you can play translations as well. Currently playing FFV.
I would recommend FFV on the IOS if you have the opportunity. Square/Enix games are overpriced on IOS for sure but there is a lot of extra content in this version.
Cameron
Title: :O � O:
Joined: Feb 01 2008
Location: St. Louis, MO
Posts: 4632
Posted:
Feb 08 2015 01:41 am
Alowishus wrote:
So i've resolved my problems and just bought an everdrive for my SNES and Genesis.
So now I can play the games as intended on console. I have nearly every game on a 8gb SD card minus the few games which need special chips and the 3000 versions of mahjong that I don't want. Earthbound, Hagane, (all your other rare titles) for 60quid.
The Genesis one also supports Master System as well so I have Genesis and Master System.
Is also good since you can play (most) Romhacks without buying a reproduction cart and you can play translations as well. Currently playing FFV.
I just googled this and it's a freaking fantastic idea. Do you know if they work with American SNESes/Genesises, and if so, what's the best website to get them from?
Alowishus
Joined: Aug 04 2009
Posts: 2515
Posted:
Feb 08 2015 01:43 pm
Cameron wrote:
Alowishus wrote:
So i've resolved my problems and just bought an everdrive for my SNES and Genesis.
So now I can play the games as intended on console. I have nearly every game on a 8gb SD card minus the few games which need special chips and the 3000 versions of mahjong that I don't want. Earthbound, Hagane, (all your other rare titles) for 60quid.
The Genesis one also supports Master System as well so I have Genesis and Master System.
Is also good since you can play (most) Romhacks without buying a reproduction cart and you can play translations as well. Currently playing FFV.
I just googled this and it's a freaking fantastic idea. Do you know if they work with American SNESes/Genesises, and if so, what's the best website to get them from?
I have an American SNES and Genesis. I can confirm that it works on both of them. You are right to be suspicious though. A PAL SNES can play NTSC versions but sometimes they don't work because the internal workings (aka clock speeds) are different.
The American SNES is able to play Super Famicom games as well, the only thing that is stopping the cartridges from fitting is two plastic tabs in the cartridge slot - the same with the N64 actually, there's two plastic bumps, if you remove them you can play Japanese games no problem.
So if you can put Super Famicom games onto it they will play perfectly. The internal workings of a SFC and NTSC SNES are exactly the same.
I must note that there are 'improved' versions with more chips which allow more games to work but they are way more expensive than the everdrive.
www.krikzz.com is the guy who makes them. He has info on them there and link to dealers.
I bought my SNES one from retrotowers which is based in the UK, though it ships worldwide. There's probably closer ones to you though. I had no problems with retrotowers. I also bought my Genesis one from the Scandinavian one with no problems - less than ideal for you.
Here:
[SPOILER:c174f8076d]
Here's a quick demonstration I recorded on my Genesis. Excuse the video quality. You basically choose your game, load it into the system memory. I play the first game a bit to show you it works fine. I reset, if you press start it auto loads the last game saved in memory then I load a different game.
I'm sure everyone knows that US-EU Master System games are region free. The same is true for early Mega Drive/Genesis games i.e. If you put a PAL Sonic the Hedgehog into a Genesis it will play perfectly fine at NTSC speeds.[/SPOILER:c174f8076d]
Cameron
Title: :O � O:
Joined: Feb 01 2008
Location: St. Louis, MO
Posts: 4632
Posted:
Feb 10 2015 01:40 am
Alowishus wrote:
Cameron wrote:
Alowishus wrote:
So i've resolved my problems and just bought an everdrive for my SNES and Genesis.
So now I can play the games as intended on console. I have nearly every game on a 8gb SD card minus the few games which need special chips and the 3000 versions of mahjong that I don't want. Earthbound, Hagane, (all your other rare titles) for 60quid.
The Genesis one also supports Master System as well so I have Genesis and Master System.
Is also good since you can play (most) Romhacks without buying a reproduction cart and you can play translations as well. Currently playing FFV.
I just googled this and it's a freaking fantastic idea. Do you know if they work with American SNESes/Genesises, and if so, what's the best website to get them from?
I have an American SNES and Genesis. I can confirm that it works on both of them. You are right to be suspicious though. A PAL SNES can play NTSC versions but sometimes they don't work because the internal workings (aka clock speeds) are different.
The American SNES is able to play Super Famicom games as well, the only thing that is stopping the cartridges from fitting is two plastic tabs in the cartridge slot - the same with the N64 actually, there's two plastic bumps, if you remove them you can play Japanese games no problem.
So if you can put Super Famicom games onto it they will play perfectly. The internal workings of a SFC and NTSC SNES are exactly the same.
I must note that there are 'improved' versions with more chips which allow more games to work but they are way more expensive than the everdrive.
www.krikzz.com is the guy who makes them. He has info on them there and link to dealers.
I bought my SNES one from retrotowers which is based in the UK, though it ships worldwide. There's probably closer ones to you though. I had no problems with retrotowers. I also bought my Genesis one from the Scandinavian one with no problems - less than ideal for you.
Here:
[SPOILER:df0a125256]
Here's a quick demonstration I recorded on my Genesis. Excuse the video quality. You basically choose your game, load it into the system memory. I play the first game a bit to show you it works fine. I reset, if you press start it auto loads the last game saved in memory then I load a different game.
I'm sure everyone knows that US-EU Master System games are region free. The same is true for early Mega Drive/Genesis games i.e. If you put a PAL Sonic the Hedgehog into a Genesis it will play perfectly fine at NTSC speeds.[/SPOILER:df0a125256]
Sweet! Thank you so much! I've been looking into getting a flash cart for the SNES since there's so many games I'm just now realizing I'm never going to actually find, and this is perfect.
