The BS of Retrogaming

By JustGeorge
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Grand Master

JustGeorge

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1. Garbage, knock off controllers polluting Amazon and eBay: 

 

It’d Be different if they actually tried to make a decent controller but they all have mooshy buttons and lousy D-Pads! I’ve read that HyperKin’s NES and Genesis pads are decent but haven’t tried them yet. 

 

2. High prices:

 

Games like Contra NES goes for new MSRP retail. A good deal of these games flowed like wine back in the day. 

 

3. Reproduction/fake cartridges.

 

As if prices for these games aren’t bad enough, people are now cranking out reproduction copies.  Some are convincing. You really have to watch what you’re buying! I assume these carts use flash-based chips and not mask roms like the originals, meaning they won’t last nearly as long. 

 

4. Modern TVs VS old Consoles:

 

Its awesome that we now have these huge, light and space saving TVs these days. Back in the day when the 300lb 27”-32” console TV was the gold standard, I was annoyed with life bars and other info being cut off due to the curvature of CRT screens. That’s no longer a problem but now we have input lag and unsupported screen resolutions to deal with. 

 

Modern TVs just weren’t designed with old gaming consoles in mind. Required inputs are missing, screen resolutions not supported and unfortunately, our fancy, new TVs just aren’t as fast at updating screen information as an old CRT is. This will cause input lag. Play Mike Tyson’s Punch Out! or try the Donkey Kong Country mine cart level for examples. They’ll be much harder. Tyson is supposed to be near impossible to beat because of the lag. As for the resolution problem, you can buy upscalers like the xRGB that will make your games look beautiful but they’re expensive and introduce even more input lag. Grrrrr....

 

5. Failing hardware:

 

Older consoles are beginning to fail. Major offenders are bad disc drives and capacitors on the boards themselves. Acquiring spare parts usually means salvaging used components from another broken machine. If you know how to solder, you can replace the bad caps, but not everyone can do that and it’s hard to find people/businesses willing to do it for you. 

 

The road of the retrogamer is a painful one indeed....

 

 

 

 

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Grand Master

Jason S. Global Moderator

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1. Garbage, knock off controllers polluting Amazon and eBay: 

 

dont buy these. buy original. controllers are still pretty cheap.

 

2. High prices:

 

nostalgia is big business right now. people in their 30s and 40s are nostalgic for the good ole days of gaming. more interest = higher prices. i think we're in the bubble stage of retro gaming right now... prices are way too high and people are seeking games that are buzzworthy. they're interested in these high priced games b/c theyre rare and someone on youtube says so.

 

3. Reproduction/fake cartridges.

 

This is a reality and something that you have to be vigilant about. you have to buy from reputable shops and sellers. you have to learn how to spot fake cartridges, too.

 

4. Modern TVs VS old Consoles:

 

you should check out my thread for the XRGB Mini - shameless plug -

 

no perceivable input lag at all. Yes, this device is expensive, but imo, it's worth the cost. there are many alternatives out there, though.

 

 

5. Failing hardware:

 

Unfortunately, this is a reality of aging hardware. These consoles are going to fail. there's no stopping that. i have an SNES that will power on, but the video is all skewed. it's most likely due to busted capacitors. over time they'll bulge and fail.

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

in the end, retro gaming is a hobby for me. i dont constantly spend money on this stuff, nor do i pay for the high priced, rare games. some people would be fine w/ emulation. for me, though, the hobby isnt about the game. It's about playing retro games on the original hardware the way they were intended. as a tech nerd, i like learning about the retro gaming industry. i want to learn about RGB, SCART, JP21, and all the other inputs that exist. Did you know that Component cables are red, green, and blue, but arent RGB and dont carry the Green color space?

 

instead of being frustrated about the retro gaming industry, you should embrace it... learn about it.... save up for the proper hardware... enjoy it as a hobby.

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JustGeorge

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4 hours ago, LimeMaster said:

This is why emulators exist. :p

I’ve been into emulation for years. It’s nice, but I’ve recently been comparing my skills on emulation vs. real hardware and I can definitely spot the difference in response time from the controller to the screen. It’s not much and it’s not an issue in all games, but it’s a thing. 

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LimeMaster

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Just now, slamfire92 said:

I’ve been into emulation for years. It’s nice, but I’ve recently been comparing my skills on emulation vs. real hardware and I can definitely spot the difference in response time from the controller to the screen. It’s not much and it’s not an issue in all games, but it’s a thing. 

Ah cool! (Y) Weirdly enough, I'm the opposite. 

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JustGeorge

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10 minutes ago, LimeMaster said:

Ah cool! (Y) Weirdly enough, I'm the opposite. 

I don't know how I ever beat some of these games without save states. Ninja Gaiden makes me eat ball bearings and **** BB's.

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Grand Master

LimeMaster

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6 minutes ago, slamfire92 said:

I don't know how I ever beat some of these games without save states. Ninja Gaiden makes me eat ball bearings and **** BB's.

Don't know. You must have a lot of skill.

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Mando

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9 hours ago, The Evil Overlord said:

Not just retro gaming....

I hate the marked up costs of buying from an actual game store, but at least they can guarantee genuine or compatible products.

Meh for retro go to smack converters or CEX at a push ;) or find small independent retro game vendors, my mate runs one in York i think it is.

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JustGeorge

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51 minutes ago, Mando said:

Meh for retro go to smack converters or CEX at a push ;) or find small independent retro game vendors, my mate runs one in York i think it is.

The problem with game shops is they’re usually (around here) savvy of online pricing. They don’t always take into account if whatever particular item is actually selling for though. They might notice someone has an NES console on eBay for $250 and slap near that on theirs. Doesn’t matter if it sells or if the condition of theirs is worse. 

 

None of it is a gotta have type thing for me. I bought/played all of it when it was new. It’s all memory lane stuff for me now.  Emulation has scratched the itch for quite a few years. Lately I’ve just had the urge to play them on actual consoles with authentic controls. I’ve got my eyes on an Analogue Super NT and the original NT once they release a cheaper version of that. Already acquired some NES/SNES controllers :)

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LaP

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I personally gave up running my old consoles a long time ago. I still got them. Still own my NES, SNES, N64, GC, PSone. They all still work, sort of. Getting my NES to work is tricky. But it's too much of an hassle. Image quality is not good on modern TV. Good upscalers are expensive. I'm against pirating but if i already (and still) own the console and the game i think it's okay personally. The input lag is noticeable specially on old consoles (not so much on GC/PSone games imo) but i can live with it.

 

I'll tell you Wind Waker in full 1080p with resampled textures in HD is looking really really good. I think it looks better than some games released today. It plays well too.

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LaP

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On 06/11/2017 at 2:39 PM, slamfire92 said:

I don't know how I ever beat some of these games without save states. Ninja Gaiden makes me eat ball bearings and **** BB's.

Always died on the last boss or close to the end in Ninja Gaiden and Contra III :(

 

The worst i played is probably Battletoads. That game :angry:

 

I would like to replay Blaster Master one day. Never got to finish  this one either.

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JustGeorge

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1 hour ago, LaP said:

Always died on the last boss or close to the end in Ninja Gaiden and Contra III :(

 

The worst i played is probably Battletoads. That game :angry:

 

I would like to replay Blaster Master one day. Never got to finish  this one either.

I beat Ninja Gaiden. Contra 3 on normal. Hard was just too much. I remember grinding away at the last boss with the laser on Hard and wondering if the game was glitching cause it seemed to have an infinite life bar. That game really turned me against putting the real ending behind a difficulty wall. Never cared for the overhead stages. They always seemed like a way for them to shoehorn Mode 7 effects into the game. Played Battletoads but can't remember how far I got.

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JustGeorge

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3 hours ago, LaP said:

Mode 7 was an awful gimmick imo. Hated it. I think the only game where i found it cool was SOS (Titanic game ;)).

My dream console back then would’ve been a Genesis with a bigger color palette, scaling/rotation chip and an upgraded Yamaha sound chip that was better at voice sampling. The SegaCD checked off most of those boxes but it was an expensive add on that never reached its full potential. 

 

I would’ve settled for a SuperNes with a Motorola 68000 and actual sprite scaling/rotation. The SNES’s CPU was a joke. There were some games like Space Megaforce (boring AF) and Firepower 2000 that somehow avoided the slow down. I was so ###### when I first played Gradius 3. That game needed to come later in the systems life cycle. The 68000 in the Genesis was a beast back then. SNES had great audio but there were a lot of games that had muffled/static filled voices. Too me, the Genesis had very catchy and memorable audio. 

 

Overall, I think the SNES has a stronger library of games in the end but it and the Genesis were equals in my view. I bought both for different types of games. 

 

NES vs MasterSystem was no contest. Nintendo slaughtered it (us market).  I remember commercials where Sega was giving away free games if you bought whatever game they were peddling. Like “Buy Double Dragon and get Shinobi free!”  

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Grand Master

JustGeorge

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6 minutes ago, DConnell said:

Meh. Nintendo, Genesis, PSOne. All newcomers as far as I'm concerned.

 

THIS is retrogaming:

 

Atari2600.thumb.jpg.d45ac71f8e645793073343ab132e8296.jpg

 

 

:D

I cut my teeth on Atari, but none of those games hold my interest now. Way too simplistic. Pitfall is about the only 2600 game that entertains me nowadays...

 

They seriously lied with that PAC-MAN screenshot for the 2600! PM looks like ass on it.

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DConnell Member

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1 minute ago, slamfire92 said:

I cut my teeth on Atari, but none of those games hold my interest now. Way too simplistic. Pitfall is about the only 2600 game that entertains me nowadays...

 

They seriously lied with the PAC-MAN screenshot for the 2600! PM looks like ass on it.

It does indeed. Ms Pac Man is a bit better.

 

Thankfully I've got a working 7800 so I have the option of the 7800 version as well. I have both the 2600 and 7800 versions of Ms Pac Man and the 7800 one looks almost exactly like the arcade game!

 

I can spend a couple hours cycling through the classics - Frogger, Donkey Kong, Berzerk, Asteroids. It's a nice change of pace.

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JustGeorge

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8 minutes ago, DConnell said:

It does indeed. Ms Pac Man is a bit better.

 

Thankfully I've got a working 7800 so I have the option of the 7800 version as well. I have both the 2600 and 7800 versions of Ms Pac Man and the 7800 one looks almost exactly like the arcade game!

 

I can spend a couple hours cycling through the classics - Frogger, Donkey Kong, Berzerk, Asteroids. It's a nice change of pace.

I remember the Christmas that I chose a 7800 over the NES....Not saying the 7800 didn't entertain me, cause it did but lets just say I was much happier the next Christmas!

 

 

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LaP

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On 24/11/2017 at 4:16 PM, DConnell said:

Meh. Nintendo, Genesis, PSOne. All newcomers as far as I'm concerned.

 

THIS is retrogaming:

 

Atari2600.thumb.jpg.d45ac71f8e645793073343ab132e8296.jpg

 

 

:D

Nah this is retro gaming. First games i owned and played.

 

Coleco+Tabletop+Arcade019.jpg

 

1280px-TeleGames-Atari-Pong.png

 

And of course my first mobile phone

 

chatter_phone_44.jpg

 

 

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