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Retro Gaming - a general discussion thread

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 (Edited)

This has become a pretty big thing in the last few years but I’ve never seen a thread discussing it here. Is anyone into retro gaming? As much as I love the PS3, I still play my Genesis, Dreamcast and PS1 more than anything else. Classic games are like classic movies, they might not have the slick visuals and sounds of modern examples but it’s all about the experience. One of my favourite games of all time is the arcade version of Donkey Kong, and that came out in 1982! I’d still rather spend 2 hours playing that than Call of Duty 29 or whatever they are on now (not that I don’t play COD as well). Amazingly there is an arcade near me, so for instance last week I spent about $3 playing Donkey Kong in between House of the Dead 2 and the new Rambo game (which is awesome). Luckily DK emulates well, but the control response time is sometimes off if you aren’t using a pad or stick.
 

Some systems I own:

-Magnavox Odyssey (the first game console of all time…also totally broken now, but it’s too expensive for me to replace at the moment)

-Atari 2600 (three models: the original 1977 version, the 1980 4-switch which no longer works, and the “Darth Vader” black model which is my go-to because of it’s reliability)

-NES (two copies since one doesn’t work, but it’s the first system I had so I won’t throw it out)

-Sega Genesis (model two only)

-Sega CD (again the model two version)

-Neo Geo AVS

-Panasonic 3DO (FZ-1 model, though I’d like to get the top-loader since I expect this to die very soon)

-Playstation (modded to play imports and CD-Rs)

-Dreamcast
 

I also used to own a Gameboy, but it died around 1997, probably because I played it so damn much. To this day I have never owned an SNES or a N64, since I was a Sega loyalist in the “bit wars” of the 1990s, but they are great systems. I play them on emulation but I’m hoping to pick them up soon, as they are cheaper than the NES at the moment. But even though the system sucks I’ve never played the Atari Jaguar so I’m hoping to acquire that next.

I love the Neo Geo, but it has a limited library and it is super expensive anyway, often more than the games are worth now (they emulate on MAME very well, especially if you have a PS3 arcade stick, which is USB and works on MAME), so I’d say my favourite game system of all time is probably the Dreamcast. I cannot say enough good things about this system, which was tragically cut short because of Sega’s financial fuck ups with the 32X and Saturn. The only reason this thing isn’t better regarded is because no one has played it! For everyone that owns it they usually consider it worth it’s weight in gold. You can get it for about $50 these days, which is criminal, and if you like late-1990s arcade games like House of the Dead 2, Street Fighter 3, Soul Calibur, Daytona USA, Hydro Thunder, Virtua Tennis or Power Stone, you will be in heaven (it also has it’s share of puzzle games, RPGs and great exclusives like Resident Evil Code Veronica, Sonic Adventure and Jet Grind Radio). It was the first system to have online gaming and even though the official servers are down, the fan networks have made their own so you can still play Fantasy Star Online. Did I mention that there is absolutely no copy protection or region coding?

Also, many of the games on Dreamcast, even popular ones like SF3, did not get dedicated releases on any other console. The guts of the Dreamcast was basically the arcade circuit board Sega was using at the time, so, similar to the Neo Geo, you are pretty much playing an arcade board shelled inside a plastic console body.

I’m sad I don’t have a Colecovision or Intellivision, since I love many of those early 1980s arcade games like DK which were ported pretty faithfully to those consoles. The Atari 2600 has ports of most of them, but to be frank they absolutely suck on the 2600. Pac Man and DK were just totally butchered. They play well on the later alternative systems. Ironically, the truest ports of those types of games are the “Collection” releases that you saw released on the PS1 and such. But it’s fun playing them on the vintage systems, it just “fits” better. Amazingly, you can plug in your Sega Genesis controller to an Atari 2600. They use the same ports, there was no true game pad for the 2600, and plus the Genesis controller is one of the best designed gaming pads ever made.
 

Would love to hear from other gamers that don’t just play whatever is new.

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I think I might own more consoles than I don't! Haha. I'm a bit of a collector. Here's my list:

-Atari 2600, recently acquired at a great price. It's great owning it as a novelty, and sometimes when I have friends who might actually be interested in it like myself it's a real blast. Combat especially. But I don't think it's much on single player action. I can't beat ET... =(

-NES (toploader). I'm probably going to get it modded so it can use AV ports, because the RF adapters - all three I have of them (long story) - get really snowy to a distracting level. With the Atari, I don't mind it; but with this baby, it's a little annoying. I still love her though, she got me started on classic gaming. She's great, but we don't have a TV old enough for Duck Hunt currently hooked up in the house. So she's lost a bit of her spark.

-Genesis (model 3) It does what Nintendon't... sometimes. I own Ecco, 6-pack (Streets of Rage [best]), Shinobi Revenge, Sonic, Columns, Super Hang-On and apparently a game I can't remember), Vectorman, and Comix Zone. Due to the smallness of this collection I don't normally touch it - and the fact that the Model 3 supports no add-ons is a real bummer. I'd want a SEGA CD even for a novelty. To be honest, if I wanna play the Genesis I just pop in "Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection" on the PS3 due to its highly comprehensive library. The controllers come in handy for the Atari though.

-Super Nintendo. I mostly use it for Super Mario World or Chrono Trigger, both of which have been on my to-beat list for years. I have all three Super Star Wars games, but - let's face it - I can't beat the first level in 2/3rds of them. Probably not going to try again anytime soon.

-SEGA Saturn. Yup, someone has a Saturn! Virtua Fighter 2, NiGHTs (fantastic), Sonic 3D Blast. That's about the extent of my collection. There's not much to say about it because I haven't spent too much time on it (I can't beat the second NiGHTS boss, and really, who would play 3D Blast?) but it's great to have for one reason: that d-pad. is. PERFECT. You have to use it to experience it yourself, but I've never used a smoother or more responsive one. Shame, too.

-Nintendo 64. My first. Somehow have six controllers in the house. That speaks as to how much I play it. It's still my go-to for local multiplayer fun, and that's unlikely to change.

-A topless Dreamcast. I tried to clean the laser once, and... the top won't screw back on properly! When it's in, the discs just don't spin. So it sits in the corner. It works with a little bit of tape, but makes it harder to use boot discs for burned games. I'll come back to Soul Calibur every so often. Very glad I have this.


So, yes, I enjoy my classics.

A Goon in a Gaggle of 'em

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Luckily I had three or four friends who owned N64s, so for me it was almost as if I owned them. I beat Mario 64, and played the hell out of Goldeneye. Same with SNES, I had enough friends that I never felt like I needed one, especially being a kid in the height of the "Rental era" in the 1990s, I played so much of the library.

The Sega Saturn controller was phenomenal. It fit solidly in your hands, had a 6-button fighter configuration plus additional bumpers for games that needed them. I think the main thing that made the PS1 Dual Shock Twin-Analog controller become the standard instead of this was the dual analog. It was a weird novelty when it came out, but the Saturn didn't last long enough to see the day when it became increasingly standard. The Dreamcast controller is basically the Saturn analog pad that came with Nights Into Dreams, but frankly it isn't very good because of the hard plastic which cuts your thumbs. I think thats one of the few things the Dreamcast has against it. The layout is fine, but the d-pad and single analog stick were poorly made. The DC does have a huge arcade stick though, the one caveat being that it's ugly as sin. The Genesis arcade stick is so much sexier in appearance, and the only arcade stick with a rubber area to rest your wrist.

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Also, dammit why did Lucasarts make the Super Star Wars games so difficult? They are some of the best games ever made, but I would call anyone who said they beat them without using passwords a dirty liar. I had to cheat using save states on emulators to finally beat Super Empire Strikes Back. On the actual consoles it's a big deal when you get to the third levels.

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I've pretty much been a videogamer ever since I can remember. My dad got an Intellivision, and then me and my brother would play it all the time.

Listing all the systems, the games, and the other stuff I have would take a loooooong time to type out, but it's safe to say I have a lot of it.

And, just to be clear, I'm not a 'Retro Gamer' really. I'm more of a 'Classic Gamer', because all of this isn't "new to me".

 

Star Wars Episode XXX: Erica Strikes Back

         Davnes007 LogoCanadian Flag

          If you want Nice, go to France

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The only games that I truly love are the old LucasArts adventure games. Monkey island, Indy FoA, up to Full Throttle. I constantly go back and play them. If you have a moderate amount of patience you should check them out. I also enjoy some SNES and Genesis. Chrono Trigger, Link to the past, the usual.

(I've gotten past the first level of Super Star Wars.)

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^ How about the Sierra adventure games? Those were great, too.

I miss the 90s dearly. Best time to be a kid. Great cartoons and great games. Watching PC gaming (as well as console gaming) grow from the early to late 90s was incredible. However, the rise of 3D gaming on PC did also lead to an oversaturation of shooters and action games (something we still have today), and the relegation of adventure games to a niche following.

I digress.

“Grow up. These are my Disney's movies, not yours.”

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I was going to mention what Bloodnose did. I never got into the Sierra games, they were too unforgiving.

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All I have left now are the PSONE, XBox, Gamecube, Gameboy SP, Dreamcast, PS2 and SNES.

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zombie84 said:


The Sega Saturn controller was phenomenal. It fit solidly in your hands, had a 6-button fighter configuration plus additional bumpers for games that needed them.

You really need to use one to experience the difference. I didn't really pay much attention to it until my friend mentioned how much better it was, but once I did - man did I adore it! Unfortunately the 3D pad didn't fare as well; it's awkward as heck. The DreamCast is okay, but I tend to go crooked with the analog stick when holding forward so I tend to prefer situations like with the Gamecube where the edges are solid instead of rounded and there are 9 or so points I can easily stop at without it sliding over.

A Goon in a Gaggle of 'em

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I still own a Amiga 500 and my old SNES and GameBoy.

I am too younf for the C64 and Atari Generation. But I really love retro Gaming.

I own 4 SNES Controller. My two original and two I bought few weeks ago for plugging via Adapter at my Wii and PC...

"I kill Gandalf." - Igor, Dork Tower

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used to be a bigtime gamer.

 

started with sega genesis.

then got a saturn. (mostly for vf2/sega rally/daytona)

 

then reluctantly a PS1, and

afterwards got a newer top loading NES,

SNES, (then got rid of both)..

stopped gaming...

 

then got an xbox 360 which i play from time to time...

then a ps2, dreamcast (one of my favorites),

and recently someone gave me an original XBOX.

 

don't play many games anymore, but in 2010 i took

a year 'off', and just played videogames everyday.

and broke a lot of my old records. i hang out at

MARP (mame records), HARP (home records),

and checkout Twin Galaxies from time to time for

advice, records, etc.

 

i own a standup atari blasteroids arcade game:

------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

i play pc games, mostly puzzle types, word games,

but definitely a lot of older ones. i rarely ever get new

games, and don't play shooters, role playing games, or

anything online. although i compete on leaderboards.

 

i have quite a few xbox live arcade records, and i really

liked microsoft arcade when it was going on.. i have the

world record for pac-man at 7million+ (they fixed a bug

on the arcade version to allow playing past the killscreen),

and i'm working on a million on ms. pac-man (namco fixed

the killscreen bug on that game too).. but that's going to

take awhile.

 

 

later

-1

[no GOUT in CED?-> GOUT CED]

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bkev said:

 

zombie84 said:


The Sega Saturn controller was phenomenal. It fit solidly in your hands, had a 6-button fighter configuration plus additional bumpers for games that needed them.

You really need to use one to experience the difference. I didn't really pay much attention to it until my friend mentioned how much better it was, but once I did - man did I adore it! Unfortunately the 3D pad didn't fare as well; it's awkward as heck. The DreamCast is okay, but I tend to go crooked with the analog stick when holding forward so I tend to prefer situations like with the Gamecube where the edges are solid instead of rounded and there are 9 or so points I can easily stop at without it sliding over.

 

 

i've hated EVERY controller made out there,

with 2 exceptions, the atari 2600 joystick,

and the sega genesis 6 button controller.

the saturn one was too hard.

 

i LOVE any kind of actual joystick controller,

and to this day still use the sega saturn arcade stick.

(even for pcs/other consoles) with adapters.

i have a custom arcade joystick for the xbox 360,

and i also have an x-arcade stick for pc and other systems.

i have trackballs, and spinners for the pc to use with MAME

(arcade emulation) for playing all those tricky games that

need those. i don't own any steering wheels though,

but racing games are one of my favorites.

 

i grew up in arcades, until they died out, and so i am used

to real arcade controllers. i HATE touch screens, touch screen

games, any kind of games on phones (unless you can use

buttons). and i own a few portable systems, the revised

lcd gameboy (gave it away), the sega nomad (gave it away),

just got a sega game gear, and a color neo geo pocket 

(because it has an arcade perfect port of pac-man).

 

later

-1

[no GOUT in CED?-> GOUT CED]

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I pretty much play only SNES & N64 games. It's not that I have any adversion to the other systems, but they're the only consoles I ever owned, so that's what I'm used to.

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oops.. forgot i owned a atari jaguar 

and the jaguar cd... got it just for

the cd graphics imager made by

jeff minter...

 

also i did have the sega CD attachment too.

 

later

-1

[no GOUT in CED?-> GOUT CED]

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georgec said:

I miss the 90s dearly. Best time to be a kid. Great cartoons and great games. Watching PC gaming (as well as console gaming) grow from the early to late 90s was incredible. However, the rise of 3D gaming on PC did also lead to an oversaturation of shooters and action games (something we still have today), and the relegation of adventure games to a niche following.

I digress.

I miss the 90s too.  Back when Saturday mornings were still a big deal before Looney Tunes was banned from television, jiggling the antennae to get the picture just right.  Then there was science court and winnie the pooh that morning.

And the games were great.  TIE fighter for PC was unbelievably high-tech for its time. 

Episode II: Shroud of the Dark Side

Emperor Jar-Jar
“Back when we made Star Wars, we just couldn’t make Palpatine as evil as we intended. Now, thanks to the miracles of technology, it is finally possible. Finally, I’ve created the movies that I originally imagined.” -George Lucas on the 2007 Extra Extra Special HD-DVD Edition

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TV's Frink said:

Dave's back!

:)

Videogames is one of the things I love to talk about...but not many people I know have the same passion for them.

It's basically the same reason I came here to talk about Star Wars.

Star Wars Episode XXX: Erica Strikes Back

         Davnes007 LogoCanadian Flag

          If you want Nice, go to France

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zombie84 said:

Is anyone into retro gaming?

Does actively playing 20-year-old games count?

Played my first game around 1987 (on C64). I'm exclusively PC gamer, since 1992.

georgec said:

I miss the 90s dearly.

Yes... and not just game-wise.

 

I do more than just playing. I like to research and document "ancient" games (the ones just as old as ...our beloved Star Wars).

I hate Wikipedia (rules, community), it has next to none screenshots/credits/etc.  Most system-specific websites offer large catalogs of forgotten titles, but usually deal with abandonware (ROMs) and you never know if they disappear someday.

That's why I turned to MobyGames. That database has over 67 000 game entries, even for old systems such as Sinclair QL, Sam Coupe or French Thomson (bet not many of you knew these?), all the way back to 1970s. I've submitted over a hundred of new titles and nearly 400 entries total (check out my Attack on the Death Star entry). I'm mostly after wargames or simulations (my first gaming love, now divorced), I was never into arcade stuff (no wonder, I never owned a console).

That website can be also useful for a collector - you can build your own "have" and "want" list.

I would be cool if some of you had joined us, if only to chat on the forum, registration is free after all. If would be even cooler if you'd contribute.

I saw the original theatrical release of the Old Trilogy on the big screen and I'm proud of it...
How did I accomplish that (considering my age) is my secret...
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I enjoy retro games as well. My  XBOX(original) is softmodded and has tons of NES, SNES, and arcade games including all the Metal Slug arcades.

If you are looking for specific games or just want to try old games you never got around to as a kid, check out Underground-gamer .com. Message me if you have any "questions" you want to ask about it.

If you want a Myspleen invite, just PM me and ask.

http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/Once-upon-a-time-on-MySpleen/topic/12652/

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I have an original Intellivision, but sadly one of the controllers is going bad. Man, I used to play the crap out of that thing in the 80s. But the controllers were torture on the hands after a while.

Hmm, maybe I should hook it up again.

You know of the rebellion against the Empire?

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I think my favourite gaming era was 1990-1996, when the concept of "next gen" systems was first experimented with. People really don't appreciate it now because there isn't any equivalent, but this was a really revolutionary time when all kinds of companies were experimenting in creating next-gen systems, and branching out in a wide variety of ways.

First you had the Turbographics-16 and Sega Genesis introducing 16-bit gaming, which was huge. Especially the Genesis launched with all these amazing arcade games like Altered Beast and Golden Axe! Then the SNES came out and was even more powerful! Then you had the Turbo-Duo CD-ROM which had full-motion video and animation and CD-quality sound. Wow! The SegaCD came out soon after and was way ahead of the Turbo-Duo, and you had FMV games which seem cheesy now but were hugely impressive at the time, and then Nintendo said it too was developing a CD-rom add-on for the SNES (which ultimately never came out). You could even play CDs on them! Younger people don't realize the significance of that because in 1992 a lot if not most people didn't yet have CD players (much like PS2 DVDs and PS3 BDs). Meanwhile the Gameboy had just come out, so for the first time you could play advanced games without a TV, and the Lynx and Game Gear had 8-bit colour handhelds that you could even watch TV on (!). And on top of all that, SNK gave you a home arcade with the Neo Geo, at an astronomical price tag. No one you knew owned it at the time, but just seeing the screenshots, literally an arcade board in a console shell, it was just mindblowing. I can't stress how amazing all of this was to gamers who were literally playing Atari and NES only three years earlier. Things just all of a sudden began to move so fast. Meanwhile, Street Fighter II was re-writing all the rules of arcade games, and Mortal Kombat was re-defining acceptable content in games, it was probably the biggest that the arcade era ever got.

And before we could even wrap our heads around  all of that, in 1992 we started hearing rumblings about 32-bit systems. Nintendo announced "Project Reality," which was later revealed to be a 64-bit system called the Ultra 64, and Atari was announcing it's 64-bit Jaguar. Holy shit, 64-bits?? Virtual reality was all the rage back then, and you had all these virtual reality headsets coming out. Nintendo tried this with the Virtual Boy, but like all the rest it never took off. Finally, you had Panasonic releasing the first 32-bit system in 1993, which actually was quite good. The Jaguar didn't go anywhere, and neither did the Phillips CD-i, which was more of a multi-media system and not a gaming console anyway, but by 1993 Sega and Sony were both saying they were developing 32-bit systems too (plus something called the Neptune, which turned out to be the infamous 32X add-on). To have 3D games was seen as almost reality-like, it was another example of an entire medium of gaming that hadn't existed only a couple years earlier. And at the arcade you had Virtua Racer and Virtua Fighter coming out, which blew everyone away.

So in this period of about 5 years, you had so many systems, so many different technologies and so many new things. Most of them never really went anywhere, it was mainly Genesis versus SNES, but in the background you had all these other wars going on. And then finally out of the aftermath of all this, Sony's system, which few really believed in because it wasn't Ninetendo or Sega, plus other electronics companies Phillips and Panasonic had systems of only marginal success, rose up to become the dominant platform, with the Nintendo 64 soon being released and becoming it's main competition. So out of all this convoluted mulit-platform era, by the late 1999s it was Nintendo versus Sony, and Sega was about to be bankrupt.

Microsoft entered the fray a bit later, and for an entire decade it has now just been those three companies. But think about that: for people in the early 1980s, and in the early-mid 1990s, the idea of only three consoles existing--not just having three dominating companies, because that's not unusual, but literally you only have three console systems and two of them are very similar and have almost the same games (PS2-3/XBox1-360)--that's a huge change from that earlier 1990s period. It was such an exciting and experimental time, where we started seeing things and having types of games that only a couple years earlier never even existed. For guys like me who bought every issue of Gamepro from 1990 to 1998 and followed all this stuff, it is hard to explain to people who are only really familiar with games from 1999 and on.

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walkingdork said:

I enjoy retro games as well. My  XBOX(original) is softmodded and has tons of NES, SNES, and arcade games including all the Metal Slug arcades.

I never had an XBox and have never really been too enthusiastic about the XBox line of system, but I'm seriously considering picking one up for this reason. They are dirt cheap and you can pretty much put every emulator ever made on the biggest HDD models. I have a lot of the consoles themselves but it would be nice to have them all in one compact package. I often play Genesis emulators on my dreamcast since that's the one system that is permanently hooked up, but it's disc based so it would be nice to just have them all on a hard-drive. Not sure what I would do about the controller though since I'm not the biggest fan of the X-Box controller.

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zombie84 said:

Not sure what I would do about the controller though since I'm not the biggest fan of the X-Box controller.

“Grow up. These are my Disney's movies, not yours.”