Hi! I've been absent from here for a bit. I've checked in daily but have been so busy the last couple years I don't get much further than just checking in. I see you guys are still posting all sorts of great stuff though! It's been fun going back and looking at all the pictures I've missed.
Since I haven't posted in a long time there's probably all sorts of stuff I've gotten but haven't shown off. Maybe not as much as in previous years because of being so busy. I was pretty much working at least 12 hours a day six days a week for two years without break....
Anyway, here are a few of those fun things I've picked up:
[img width=607 height=640]https://nupoile.thetechchef.net/cache/games/IMG_6309_640.jpg[/img]
Remember when Amazon was sending out Mario boxes with some orders as a promotion? I got one from a store I go to! They just had it sitting in the recycling pile and let me have it. This was before some of the tape gets cleaned up and has some Mario stuff put in it.
[img width=515 height=640]https://nupoile.thetechchef.net/cache/games/IMG_5840_640.jpg[/img]
This was a Kickstarter from a while ago. It took over a year to get this too, but it was worth it. The RetroFighters Dreamcast controller. It was in all sorts of videos and reviews when it was released, neat stuff.
Later on they did a Kickstarter for a N64 controller which I also got.
[img width=640 height=599]https://nupoile.thetechchef.net/cache/games/IMG_6449_640.jpg[/img]
...and then they did one for a wireless N64 controller, apparently I can't help but buy these things. This Kickstarter had a really quick turnaround compared to the last two. It was like 3 months from start of campaign to receiving the controller. Obviously they already had it manufactured by the time they launched the campaign.
[img width=494 height=640]https://nupoile.thetechchef.net/cache/games/IMG_6610_640.jpg[/img]
RFG Discord alerted me to this Pringles promotion. I've still fit in some Discord time with being as busy as I was. These are available at Walmarts exclusively I think, though some people haven't seen them at their store yet. I don't actually go to Walmart but my wife orders groceries there online and we've had people pick them up a time or two, because we have been stuck at home for a bit, did I mention I can't say what they taste like? Because I can't taste or smell anything for a little bit....
[img width=640 height=640]https://nupoile.thetechchef.net/cache/games/IMG_6534_640.jpg?cached=1616352235[/img]
This is my big score. MiSTer fpga. I know some of you have one, some of you know what it is, and some of you don't know anything about it. This is a hardware emulator of sorts. Unlike software emulation, which is what nearly all other game emulation is, hardware emulation should be pretty much exactly like playing games on actual hardware. I bought it as a pre-assembled kit from
https://misteraddons.com/ because at the exact moment I bought it availability was low elsewhere and the price wasn't much different than buying all the parts separately.
[img width=464 height=640]https://nupoile.thetechchef.net/cache/games/IMG_6611_640.jpg[/img]
Pretty quickly I replaced the fan with one from Noctua. It is so much quieter! I recommend that upgrade all day long. And I bought two SNES-like USB controllers off Amazon for $10. Just something cheap to get me by until I work out some other controller solutions. Otherwise I'm using a PS3 wired controller and a mini wireless keyboard to control it. Eventually it'll have adapters to use actual NES/SNES/Genesis/2600/other 9-pin controllers on it.
The MiSTer has been great so far. I still need to make better use of it's old computer abilities, can't wait to play some Amiga games and other oddball computers from the early days.
Here are some links if you don't know what this is at all:
https://www.retrorgb.com/mister.htmlhttps://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Main_MiSTer/wikiI realize this isn't quite inline with most of the collecting we do here. And don't worry, I'm not getting rid of anything, and I'm still going to be adding more original games and hardware to my collection. This just seems like a good way to play with old hardware I'll never get my hands on.