Gamers' Legacy: retro console discussion thread

Timstuff

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Anyone who was born in or grew up in the 80's and plays games probably has a soft spot for at least one dusty old cartridge-based game system. I should know, because I had a couple myself. With that in mind, I figured it would be a fun idea to start a thread where we can talk about our memories of classic consoles, games, and accessories, any recent additions we've made to our collections, or any interesting news stories regarding the classic systems that have popped up lately. So to get you all in the mood to talk about these golden oldies, let's take a look at some of them.

'70s

Atari 2600

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Argueably the first real breakthrough video game console. If you were gaming before Nintendo, chances are you had an Atari 2600. The games had ugly visuals, rudimentary sound, and primitive gameplay, but hey, it was the first, so that makes it all good.

'80s

Nintendo Entertainment System

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If you were a kid in the 80's or very early 90's, this was the present you dreamed of one day finding under your Christmas tree or in your birthday present pile. For the vast majority of us, 8-bit is synonymous with Nintendo. Nintendo singlehandedly resurrected the game industry after the massive Atari crash, and the results were spectacular. It has an iconic although very annoying "quirk" of the cartridge slot wearing out, necessitating the user to blow on games to make them work, although hardcore fans are by now used to replacing the part in question when it fails. It's my opinion that this guy belongs in every gamer's collection.

Sega Master System

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Most of you probably did not have one of these, even if you've heard of it. Sega's unlucky workhorse in the 8-bit era did not put up much of a fight against Nintendo's juggernaut, but it is well known for having better graphics and sound, and multiplatform games, while somewhat of a rarity in those days, were typically better on Sega's system. Its legacy is that it was a better piece of hardware than the NES, and that it had a decent amount of solid games, but unfortunately the market just wasn't quite ready for a two machine console war.

'90s

Sega Genesis

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Sega was not going to take the 16 bit era lying down, and the Genesis is testament to that. Although it initially failed in Japan, thanks to the aggressive marketing of the American and European branches of Sega, the system became extremely popular in western culture. Bolstering several "arcade perfect" ports of popular Sega arcade titles, plus a "too cool for school" marketing campaign and a sleek black design, the Genesis found a happy home with the cool kids on the block-- and the kids who wanted to look cool. And if you were hardcore, you owned the 6 button gamepads for serious fighting game action. Its legacy would be marred by unsuccessful add-ons in its later years-- while the Sega CD did have some truly worthwhile games, the 32x proved a total disaster, and nearly made a laughing stock out of Sega. Even so, the Genesis is the system that made Sega into the rock stars of the video game world in the early to mid 90s.

Super Nintendo

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Following up on the legacy of the NES, Nintendo unleashed one of the greatest systems in their company's history, the SNES. The controller design to this day remains the gold standard to which nearly all controllers since have been held, and if you had one back then it's easy to understand why. The graphics were superior to those found on the Sega Genesis, and the audio made games on Sega's systems sound like a joke by comparison (in all fairness though, the Genesis actually used the same audio processor as Sega's 8-bit Master System). The Super Nintendo had a noticeably "dorkier" design than the Genesis, and it did spend its first few years behind Sega's machine. However, in the end the SNES did finish ahead of Sega, even if by a nose.

Handhelds

Nintendo Gameboy

database-hardware-gameboy01.jpg


Yeah, you know this guy. Chances are, your ophthalmologist warned your mom about it, but that didn't stop you from loving the heck out of it. A tiny, unlit, 2" monochrome screen was all you needed to be transported from a long car trip to another world thanks to the Gameboy. The graphics weren't much, but the games to be found on this system were almost every bit as enjoyable as those found on its big brothers. It combined a nice, long battery life with a huge library of quality games that offered typical Nintendo-quality gameplay, and on top of that it was pretty cheap compared to its contemporaries.

Sega Game Gear

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If there's one crime that the Game Gear commited, its that it was too ambitious. Sticking with Sega's slogan of "Sega does what Nintendon't", Sega listened to the complaints of Gameboy users and did their best to give them what they wanted. The system had a 3" fully lit color screen, which certainly felt more satisfying to watch than the Gameboy's dull gray shapes. The system was basically upgraded Sega Master System hardware (Sega actually offered an adapter that let you play SMS games on the system), so many of the games were teetering on the edge of "Genesis-esque," and many scaled-down ports of 16-bit games finding their way onto the system. Unfortunately, all this sweetness came at a high price. Not only was the hardware expensive, but it was not very efficient. It took 6 AA batteries which some people could drain in only 3 hours! Ontop of that, the system was bulky, being roughly 30% bigger than the gameboy, which was already difficult enough to stuff into pockets. And on top of all that, the screen was notorious for being very blurry. This was a system that was ahead of its time. On paper though, it was an amazing technical feat, and to this day it still has some very enthusiastic fans, even if they're few and far between.

Feel free to discuss! And remember, discussions about old computer games are welcome too.
 
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Just discussing any old school systems?

Well I would have been a Nintendo era kid. My bro and sis had an Atari that I occasionally pulled out and played, but a Nintendo was the system I grew up on. After that I got a Genesis that I shared with my bro, and my sis got an SNES. For the most part Genesis had more games I cared for with better multi plat games in most cases (Aladin, Power Rangers, X-Men (especially Clone Wars), etc all had better Genesis versions). Love games like Streets of Rage, and General Chaos.

Later on I got a B&W Gameboy, but pretty much only used it for Pokemon. However with Christmas money from a few relatives one year I bought a Nomad....damn that system was ahead of it's time. Plugging my Genesis games in and playing them on a portable? Took Nintendo years for them to match it with the GBA. I was so dissapointed when the Nomad didn't gain ground.

Also I do remember at some point owning a Sega Master System...don't remember when tho. I remember playing spy vs. spy on it tho.
 
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My dad has an Atari in our attic. Unfortunately it doesn't work anymore. He has the E.T. game :(
 
I loved the game gear, the tv tuner was awsome at the time. The battery time was terrible though. There was also a cool gadget to play sega master system games on it.
 
I grew up playing the 2600. When I was 3, back in '81, that was all my old man had. I didn't get the NES until I was 8 or 9. My parents refused to buy a SNES, so I had to settle for PC gaming.

Thanks to emulators, I've been able to experience the SNES, Genesis, and N64
 
I spent my years as a young'un playing a SNES, a Gamegear, and most of all, my beloved Gameboy. I remember getting the good ol' yellow and black one for like my 5th birthday or something, along with Super Mario World 1 and 2.

Most of my memories playing games as a kid are from the PS1, namely MGS and Crash Bandicoot, but I do have a precious few memories of Chip n Dale on the Snes and Sonic on the Gamegear.
 
I had a SNES, and i loved it. I had the batman forever game, and it annoyed me to no end. I never got past the first level :(

Now i own an NES, and play it some what regularly. Ninja Gaiden is a great game.
 
The first system that I focused on was the SNES. I had an NES, Atari, and a Genesis in the house, but the SNES is the system I remember playing the most. My childhood was full of NES and SNES goodness. :woot:
 
I picked up my Game Gear at Funcoland a few years ago for $30, and I was amazed at the stuff that came out of that little screen. Sadly, I only ever got 3 games for it, and now it has ton of dead pixels which I'm unsure of the origin of. I may pick up another one someday for nostalgia's sake, if I can find more games for it that I like.

Even though Nintendo was my first love for video games, I actually had an Intellivision that I got as a hand-me-down from my uncle when I was maybe 4, in the very late 1980's. I don't remember much about the system other than it had weird controllers and we didn't play it much. I wish we still had it, but my mom gave it away to someone else when we got our NES because we never played it after that (she did the same thing with our Commodore 64 when we got our first dos-based PC).

Speaking of Commodore 64, my favorite game for that system was Pitfall. Years later, when I found out that they had made a sequel to it on the SNES, I couldn't wait to see what it was like. When I actually got the game, it managed to surpass my expectations. It had slick, 16-bit era gameplay, a cool ambient sound track, and friggin' gorgeous graphics and animation. This game really represents the pinnacle of the franchise, so it's a shame that none of the games in the series since have managed to live up to it.




I had a SNES, and i loved it. I had the batman forever game, and it annoyed me to no end. I never got past the first level :(

ARGH! That game annoyed the crap out of me too! The only way I ever beat it was by using cheats! I HATED THAT STUPID TURD OF A GAME, BUT I HAD TO PLAY IT BECAUSE IT WAS BATMAN! Whoever designed that game was clearly half ******ed.
 
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Some games that I remember fondly...

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BladeRunner_PC_Game_(Front_Cover).jpg


fallout-ip-bethesda-1.jpg


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Yeah, I tracked them down and downloaded them about a year back. Man the memories just flooded back in. They were GREAT games. I really hope Sam and Max season hits the Wii soon.
 
ATM I can't remember the name, but I used to love this game on Genesis, it was the forerunner to Abe's Oddessy (Edit - just remembered, Flashback). You played this guy, and it had a similar control and style to the Abe games. I also really liked X-Men 2: Clone Wars, General Chaos, and Streets of Rage multiplayer fests with my friends.

There's another game I can't remember...it's on the tip of my toungue tho, I remember liking it tho. It was a semi over head almost action RPG type game. You could use different items, almost like the tool set up in wildarms. Like one was a shadow, another was a grappling hook to latch onto things and cross gaps in the ground. I want to think it had sun in the name.

Also giving honorable mentions to Lethal enforcers, SF 2 Turbo, Kid Chameleon, Zombies ate my neighbors, Sparkster (all on Genesis), and Ducktales, Little Nemo, Metroid, Ninja Gaiden 1-3, and the Megaman games (on NES) for sucking up my time as well.
 
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It recently came to my attention that American gamers got shafted when it came to the SNES's official arcade stick. I'm sure we all remember how awesome the NES advantage was:

NES_Advantage_Joystick.jpg


Yeah, that thing was where it was AT! Back then, that was as close as you could get to the arcade without actually having an upright cabinet in your house. Everyone wanted one of these because they made you look hardcore, even though fighting games had yet to catch on with consoles. But then, when the Super Nintendo came along, and it was time to come out with the Advantage's successor, something odd happened...




Okay, four words: what were they thinking!? Yeah, this thing offers pretty much the same amount of function as the NES Advantage with it's sturdy base, smooth joystick, and variable speed turbo functions, but look at that aweful layout! How the heck were we supposed to play Street Fighter II ON THAT!? The L-button is completely in the wrong place! IT SHOULD BE ABOVE THE FRIGGIN' R-BUTTON WHERE THOSE DUMB SWITCHES ARE! Arrgh! This thing wasn't even made by Nintendo like the original. It was liscensed by Nintendo to Ascii, who for some reason managed to muck up something as simple as a 6 button layout. And why does it have purple switches that don't do anything? Ugh.

In Japan and the PAL territories though, I found out this week that Nintendo played favorites for some reason.




See, now that's just not fair. Not only does this thing have a logical button layout, but it also was made by Nintendo directly! This thing is the REAL successor to the Advantage, but for some reason Nintendo didn't think that Americans deserved to have it. It's simple, elegant, AND IT MAKES SENSE! Back when I was a kid though, there was no such thing as the internet or eBay, so we didn't even know this thing existed, much less have be able to buy one. We simply assumed that the SNES's arcade stick just wasn't quite as good as the NES one, and had no idea that Nintendo was holding out on us. If Nintendo had released the Score Master in the US, no-one would even know that the Super Advantage existed because it would have been so inferior.
 
Whoa... This guy made a Wii-compatable power glove that actually works! :wow:

 
How come the Simpson's Arcade game has never been released again? Is there a licensing problem?
 
I miss my SNES and my old school Game Boy that was the size of a brick. :csad:
 
How come the Simpson's Arcade game has never been released again? Is there a licensing problem?

Yup. Konami created the Simpsons arcade game, but since then the license has bounced between several publishers, and is currently held by EA. Unlike with movies, game publishers can't re-published licensed titles if they no longer hold the rights to the property.
 
I know they were acrade games and not platform, but I would love to see the X-Men 4 player, TMNT, and Simpson arcade games get a release on all 3 consoles with online capabilities. 3 of the greatest arcade experiences ever IMO, and they all faded away. I've been tempted over the years to purchase, or put together the X-Men arcade heh.
 
Electro, I still love that Indiana Jones game, as well as most of Sierra's classic P&C library.

I had an Atari 2600 to start out, then upgraded to the NES, which to me is still one of my favorite game systems ever made. The Wii's Virtual Console is an awesome service for that fact.

Some of my favorite games from the NES are (Not counting obvious big name ones):

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I know they were acrade games and not platform, but I would love to see the X-Men 4 player, TMNT, and Simpson arcade games get a release on all 3 consoles with online capabilities. 3 of the greatest arcade experiences ever IMO, and they all faded away. I've been tempted over the years to purchase, or put together the X-Men arcade heh.

The 6-player X-men arcade machine is one of the holy grails of arcade collecting. Not quite up there with Star Wars, but still a highly desireable item. This thing was freakin' huge, and even had two side-by-side monitors arranged in such a way as to create the illusion of a massive 8:3 widescreen display, which was mirror-mounted to give an even greater sense of depth to the playing environment.

xmenarcade.jpg


They have one of these at the arcade I sometimes go to. It rocks! :word:
 
The 6-player X-men arcade machine is one of the holy grails of arcade collecting. Not quite up there with Star Wars, but still a highly desireable item.

xmenarcade.jpg


They have one of these at the arcade I sometimes go to. It rocks! :word:

Loved that arcade. I liked the wrap around screen for some reason, the one that had 3 screens with the 2 on the side slightly at an angle. Truth is a home arcade machine should be kinda easy to build if you have the cash. Use a cheap CRT, do some wood work, put together or buy a cheap comp from a yard sale (older games take little power), load Mame on there with some arcade games, and attach 4-6 arcade sticks in with the wood work cut around them.

Atleast that's how I envisioned doing one, but there's something about an authentic machine heh. It's just a lot of arcade machines seem to run $500 at the lowest, and several grand for the better ones.
 
Loved that arcade. I liked the wrap around screen for some reason, the one that had 3 screens with the 2 on the side slightly at an angle. Truth is a home arcade machine should be kinda easy to build if you have the cash. Use a cheap CRT, do some wood work, put together or buy a cheap comp from a yard sale (older games take little power), load Mame on there with some arcade games, and attach 4-6 arcade sticks in with the wood work cut around them.

Atleast that's how I envisioned doing one, but there's something about an authentic machine heh. It's just a lot of arcade machines seem to run $500 at the lowest, and several grand for the better ones.

If you really wanted to go all-out with an X-men re-build arcade machine, you should stick a 16:9 widescreen TV in there to give you the panoramic view just like the arcade game. :D

BTW, you should check out arcadentrols.com. You just might find yourself inspired enough to get up and start on a project. Also, the folks at the forums there were incredibly helpful to me when I was making my custom arcade cabinet. :up:
 
The 6-player X-men arcade machine is one of the holy grails of arcade collecting. Not quite up there with Star Wars, but still a highly desireable item. This thing was freakin' huge, and even had two side-by-side monitors arranged in such a way as to create the illusion of a massive 8:3 widescreen display, which was mirror-mounted to give an even greater sense of depth to the playing environment.

xmenarcade.jpg


They have one of these at the arcade I sometimes go to. It rocks! :word:

Oh, ****! :woot:

Great arcade game or greatest arcade game ever?

I wonder if it's at all possible that game could be released on XBLA and PSN?
 

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