Classic Video Games

I posted a thread in the Classifieds selling an Atari 2600, and to my surprise, many of you were very interested in classic gaming. It makes sense: every car guy I've ever met has been into either video games or music, or both ).

So here's a thread on classic gaming.

So.... anyone else here have a collection? I've been playing games since age 3 when I figured out how to play my older sister's Colecovision. 27 years later, I still have that system (she abandoned it LONG ago), along with many others. I like the older stuff, mainly because of the nostalgia, but also because it's fun to hunt down and collect all the games I used to always want and pick them up for a fraction of what they cost new.

Here's what I have for consoles:

CLASSIC ERA:

Atari 2600

Atari 5200

Colecovision

Intellivision

Vectrex

8-BIT ERA:

NES

Sega Master System

16-BIT ERA

Turbo Grafx 16

Sega Genesis

SNES

32/64-BIT ERA:

Goldstar 3DO

Atari Jaguar

Playstation

Sega Saturn

Nintendo 64

What I call the "Modern Classic Era":

Dreamcast

Playstation 2

Xbox

Gamecube

PRESENT:

Wii

Xbox 360

HANDHELDS:

Game Boy

Game Boy Color

Game Boy Advance

Nintendo DS

Sega Game Gear

Sega Nomad (portable Genesis!!!)

Neo Geo Pocket Color

PSP

Sony Xperia Play cell phone (kinda counts)

And I have tons of games, accessories, etc. for all of that stuff. I couldn't even begin to list all of that!

All that and no PS3? for shame...

I kid. Impressive list. My wife would shoot me. She thinks that cars are bad enough and all I have now is a 360 (bought 5 years after ps3) , PS3, and a genesis that I think has bit the dust.

TRS-80 with Adventure Island, Hunt the Wumpus and my favorite: The Dungeons of Daggorath circa 1982.

Kind of wish I never sold my NES console, didnt let my brothers just about destroy my SNES, and didnt trade in my Dreamcast on an xbox. I have a co-worker that has a lot of old systems from when he was a kid, still has most of them put back in their original boxes too.

I have a later Atari 2600 with over 60 games and many different controllers stashed away somewhere, I think in the 'rents basement. No boxes for the games but do have a lot of the instruction manuals. I picked it up the whole lot at a yard sale a long time ago.

Other than that, have a working Xbox, a broken Xbox for parts, Flip-top modded PS2, Xbox 360, and a PSP.

Now that I think about it I did have an Atari 5200 for a little while too, only had a couple games but I think one of them was Pole Position (FTW!!)

Silverfleet I do the same thing as you, sometimes get on a old school gaming kick and seek out old used games to play for super cheap.

Yeah, no PS3.... yet.

I usually don't buy games unless they are $20-under for modern games, and I bought my 360 back in 2007. Miraculously, it somehow still works.

I've been on an Atari kick lately. Right now, the prices are on the decline because the NES, SNES, and N64 are going up. They fluctuate all the time, so you know when you have to capitalize. PS1 stuff, especially the Japanese RPG's have been trending upward lately too.

I used to have quite a collection going, but then we moved to a smaller house and I decided that was one of the things to not make the cut. It was a lot of fun to have but I rarely actually played with them and so I gradually sold it all off on eBay and/or Craigslist.

I had a few upright arcade machines:

-Asteroids (Not the later Deluxe, it was an original 1978 or so cabinet)
-Galaga
-Mr Do!

And "consoles:"

-TI 99/4a - my first computer, my dad bought it when I was around 5 and I learned to program in BASIC on it.
-Sega Master system (that's what I had growing up rather than an NES)
-Atari 2600
-Atari Jaguar (ugh, so much promise squandered)
-Sega Dreamcast (still quite an enjoyable system, kind of wish I hadn't sold it.)
-Playstation 1
-Xbox original
-Xbox 360
-PS3

That's just what I had at the beginning of our move - I had already begun selling off prior to that and can't remember what all I had. I sold the uprights first, obviously, but decided the consoles were just in the way too. I kept the 360 and PS3 since I actually used them. I got a surprising amount of money for some of them. Ie, the Xbox original I would have put as worthless but got over $100 for it.

One of these days I'll get around to making an Asteroids machine using the vector monitor in the garage... I love vector games it just didn't make sense to keep that whole huge cabinet for the one game. I was going to hold onto just that one but got a good offer on it from someone that was buying the Galaga cabinet. Twice what I paid for it was hard to say no to.

Oh yeah, a few I forgot!! I had:

-Sega Nomad (those were cool!)
-Amiga 1000 - my first real computer bought with my money, I only had this one out of nostalgia since the emulators nowadays are frikken perfect, but it had such a great hardware design. Sold this close to last, it was my 3rd one at least, one of these days I'll end up with another one.
-Commodore CDTV - talk about rare! But sooo outclassed by its competitors. It was awkward at best to actually play games on compared to, say, an SNES.

I started on my Dad's old 2600. Currently have:

-4 Switch Woody 2600 with a harmony cart flash cart(100% compatibility, I have the whole library on it) I also have around 30 fairly common games for display purposes.

-NES, don't have enough games, will there ever be a decent flash cart for it?

-SNES, mainly used to play Super Empire Strikes Back and Yoshi's island.

-PS2, I think the only time GTA San Andreas leaves the tray is to play DVDs.

I'm tempted to pick up a used PS3 for GTA V, but don't want to spend $200 on the used 32" HDTV that is pretty much required.

Oh, and I almost forgot...

I have an arcade game too. It's a Galaxian cocktail table cabinet, but it has been converted to Galaga. Sadly, it no longer fires up. I'm not sure what happened, but it doesn't get power anymore.

Oh and if you like vector games in a smaller package, get a Vectrex. It is about 18" tall and fits nicely on a shelf. The controller folds out from the front. Comes with a built-in game called Mine Storm, which is an Asteroids clone. You can get other games too, they have a cartridge slot on the side. They even have a flash cart for it!

Funny story: I found mine at a junkyard in the back seat of a 1966 Rambler. Got that "weird looking little TV" for free!!!

I have an Xbox that was modded and I can literally play a metric E36 M3 ton of NES games on it. I have a modded playstation but it needs the laser to be tweeked every so often so I don't bother. The GF has SNES for some additional fun, but all the main gaming happens on the PS3 or 360 (both the newer versions since the older ones both crapped out ).

I soft modded one of my Xboxes, but I could never figure out how to get the games onto the HD. I have lots of roms stowed away on one of my hard drives.

Still have the Playstation One friends bought me for my thirtieth birthday just to piss off my ex-wife! Haven't used it in years. Only games I ever got for it were GT1 and 2. Not really a fan of all the buttons on the controllers. Too much work to figure em out for me. The 2600 will be just about right for me.

Currently have-

3x Atari 2600 (light sixer, woody 4, and a vader)

NES

SNES

Genesis

2x Nintendo 64

Ps1

Saturn

2x Dreamcast

2x Gamecube

Ps2

2x Wii

2x ps3

Xbox 360

Asus G73 gaming laptop

2x DS Lite

DSi XL

3DS

And probably more i'm forgetting.

I've discovered that I just don't play games. I got into Gran Turismo when it came out, racing against friends on the big projector screen at work. And I used to be pretty good at Doom 2, playing against a friend either on a serial cable or via modem. But I haven't fired up a console in years. I gave away my PS1, the PS2 and my home-built "driving pod" is gathering dust and the Wii my brother-in-law gave us just sits.

Never had a 2600. My cousins did. I was jealous. At the time, I was playing games on my VIC-20.

However, I do have a few classic games on my iPod Touch. The text-based Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and Doom. Really, what else do you need?

I remember when we got our first 2600. The hardest thing was explaining the concept: It's a console that allows you to switch games. The days of just having Pong had ended.

A few years ago I bought a cartridge for my GameBoy that featured every Activision game made for the 2600. I was mainly after Pitfall, but this was still cool. It even had some games that were never released and/or fully developed.

That's about all of my gaming experience right there. Oh, and Wii bowling.

I used to have an Atari (2600?) when I was 12 or 13, which was about 13 years ago. Unfortunately, it, and all of its games, got tossed in the trash. I was and still am a little pissed because I would play it from time-to-time and nowadays I could sell it for a little cash.

Other than that, I don't have any classic systems. My Genesis, SNES, and PS1 all died years ago. I gave my PS2 to my sisters to use as a DVD player during college. Right now, I only have my laptop and my backwards-compatible PS3 for gaming. We have a Wii in our house, but I don't think it's ever been used.

Some of these games are available for PC's. Someone took the time to download them and convert for PC use. Used to download and play them on my computer, delete and download more. Obsolete games is what you search for or abandonedware. Make sure you have good PC protection though as some of the sites will try to take over your machine.

Almost all of these game systems have PC emulators for them. There are also people who have collected the ROMs in software form. MAME is the system that is used to play the old arcade games.

I personally have a vertical MAME cabinet I built. Great for all the old school games. At some point I will probably add some other emulators.

I also have a little handheld Dingoo that allows you to play any gameboy ROMs (also plays music and videos). Good for travelling.

Lets see.

PS-hand-me-down-'02

GB color-hand-me-down-'03

PS2- silver flip top-new-'07

GC-used-'08?

DS Lite-new-'08?

Wii-used-'10

Lately it has been Skyrim and Oregon Trail emulator on PC.

Somebody stole my Atari 2600 a couple years back. Took my favorite game too - Adventure.

Still have my NES, PS1, Dreamcast, and PS2.

what, no Battletoads?

I store in town has a "New in Box" NES with the track pad. They want a couple hundred for it, but they seem to pop up on CL for way cheaper and used. I want to play RC Pro-Am, Bigfoot, and the Mario Bro's again. Im sure there are computer versions of each, but its not the same. Also, if my mom could come over and fix me a grilled cheese...

Datsun1500 wrote: I've got an Atari 2600, with most games. Intellivision. Panasonic 3DO, and a really obscure one, odyssey 2. I bought one of the original nintendos with the robot when they came out, still have that as well. Many hours playing the original Zelda with the gold cartridge...

I still don't have an Odyssey 2. I know Pseudosport's dad is rumored to have one. I want that!

I also have R.O.B. sitting right next to me right now.

Cole_Trickle wrote: I store in town has a "New in Box" NES with the track pad. They want a couple hundred for it, but they seem to pop up on CL for way cheaper and used. I want to play RC Pro-Am, Bigfoot, and the Mario Bro's again. Im sure there are computer versions of each, but its not the same. Also, if my mom could come over and fix me a grilled cheese...

Ahh... the Power Pad. I bought one a few years ago. I want to be Nintendo Man on Halloween some year and use it as a cape.

I had a friend who used to have one when they were new. I think he used it as a blanket for a while.

corytate wrote: what, no Battletoads?

Love it! The best part about two-player is being able to pause and laugh at the music after wanting to throw something after being killed by your ally.

I have an NES, SNES, PS1, PS2 and Dreamcast (I never had any Sega consoles but this one, 'cuz it was so cool), as well as a Game Boy, Game Boy Pocket, and Game Boy Advance. (I'm currently on the prowl for a cheap N64, Genesis, Saturn or anything else to add to my collection!) I find it hard to commit to an new system when there are hundreds if not thousands of previous games I haven't played yet that are collecting dust in someone's attic or in the flea market.

I'm always looking to expand my collection, too. Especially for cheap. Just picked up a $5 game at the flea market called Xexyz, and even the seller didn't know what it was. Turns out...pretty fun!

What do you guys think the best era in gaming was, excluding the current one? I'm at a toss-up between the 16-bit era (SNES had some beautiful games) and the fifth-generation (especially the PS1, because that's what I have experience with). Cautionary note--this IS biased, because those are the consoles I grew up on. What do you guys think?