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Posted on Feb 11th 2025 at 03:06:36 AM by ( slackur) Posted under Retro |
PSN was completely down last Friday and into Saturday. Our family hosts a weekly gathering that includes playing Magic: The Gathering, watching movies, playing video games, and whatever else strikes the group's fancy. Four of us have had a regular Friday night firefight with Helldivers 2, and thus we were not pleased with the downtime.
I was reminded of one of many reasons why I am a physical collector and retro gamer. While I do very much enjoy many modern games, my preference is always going to be more towards anything S.O.A.P.: Switch On And Play. No worrying about updates, online connections, installation issues, hard drive space, etc. Video games should, ideally, accommodate us more than the other way around. They exist for us, yet we are slowly getting to the point that the expectation is to rearrange our lives around them.
We recently picked up the Atari 7800 "Plus", and as weird as it may sound I found it to be the perfect modern update to a classic system. It is truly SOAP; not even menus to fuss around, it pretty much just works. Of course HD resolution is overkill for 2600 and 7800 games, but boy do they look nice! Original controllers plug right in, the games take a moment but load right up, and it plays everything I've tossed in without issue. It even runs the Halo 'port' from a few years ago.
In fact, my favorite gaming hardware purchases over the last few years have all benefitted from this SOAP mentality; the robust Evercade Library, the fantastic Analog Duo, the Genesis Mini II, even the cheap Hyper Mega Tech Super Pockets. (I love that name, it sounds like something twelve-year-old me would name a portable.)
At this stage in my life, sometimes a few minutes of gaming is all I can squeeze in. When I sit down for my daily exercise bike gaming time, if there are technical issues that take time to resolve I just move to the next gaming option. When I sit down and play something with the kids, we don't want to rearrange our limited time window around what a game will allow us to play; we just want to jump in and have fun.
Our Friday night quad will likely be back defending Super Earth this coming Friday, Lord and servers willing. Yet as the years roll on, our physical collection is getting more precious each year, and not just in terms of monetary value. Having lots of options that don't depend on modern gaming tropes means we can always game on.
Oh, in case you were wondering what we ended up playing? Um... the board game Thunder Road Vendetta. But my point still stands!
[img width=531 height=466]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/U-061/bf/U-061-S-01430-A.jpg[/img]
Folks on this site likely know the feeling; You and three 'friends' are in a heated Super Smash Bros. Melee when someone cries out, "My "R" button isn't working! Hey guys, wait!" Or that heated Joust versus match with the controller that just doesn't 'flap' as fast, or the time you were excited to show off your rare Sega CD Snatcher on one of the four days of the week that the drive tray doesn't want to work...
If you are a retro gamer that plays as well as collects, you know the effort it takes to upkeep your library. Vintage video game collecting is like classic car collecting or pinball machine collecting; it's more than just having space for the stuff and the ability to find and pay for the games and hardware. If it is going to remain playable, there's some know-how and some elbow grease that will become part of the hobby. From notorious controller wear and faulty optical drives, to analog drift and bad capacitors, every retro player/collector has to get comfortable with just how far down the rabbit hole they are going to go. Perhaps you are fortunate enough to have a passion for a console that seems immune to all but psyonic attacks (SNES, Game Boy Color) or maybe you've fallen for a glass snowflake (Famicom Disc System, a Turbo Duo with good sound), but either way there is always some basic maintenance needed.
Continue reading Thoughts On The Upkeep of Retro Game Collecting
[img width=630 height=480]http://www.nintendo.com/images/page/wiiu/what-is-wiiu/panel-1-hardware.jpg[/img]
I guess it makes sense that Nintendo.com has pictures that makes me want to buy a third one.
Isn't it funny how we easily get caught in a trap of thinking that, because things have been a certain way for awhile, that is how they will stay? For years and years and years, Atari games were a dime a dozen at yard sales. NES games were everywhere, and a copy of Contra was $5 to $10 tops. Final Fantasy VII and Symphony of the Night were both twenty bucks new everywhere. Collecting N64 and Atari Jaguar games seemed like a silly idea. PS2 games were never, ever going away.
And before that a Coke was a nickel and gas was a quarter and yada yada, I get it. Different times.
My point; How many of us are kicking themselves for not buying that complete Earthbound from Blockbuster, or those last few Saturn games like Panzer Dragoon Saga and Burning Rangers on clearance? Wish we knew then what we knew now, right? Queue the classic discussion about time machines and grabbing retro video games.
Continue reading PSA: Now Would Be The Time To Collect For Wii U
[img width=525 height=382]http://www.thepwashow.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/grumpy-old-man.jpg[/img]
If you're as old as I am, go take a nap. Are you back yet? Sorry, I didn't want you falling asleep while reading, as folks our age tend to do. I may have yet to hit the big four-oh, but it feels like the world is a different place than in my youth, and it sure is spinning faster these days. Yeah, when you've been into video games this long, you see quite a few things change over time.
For example, it doesn't seem like too long ago that once a game was released, it was as simple as walking into any major retailer to nab a copy. Sure there have always been obscure titles with small print runs, but preordering felt like an extravagance, online retailers felt like they had unlimited inventory, and unless you were importing or looking for a game more than a few years old, most relatively modern games seemed pretty easy to get. Although I do remember the challenge of trying to ask for Katamari Damacy at a GameStop during the week of release (or just explaining what the game was.)
Continue reading Gaming Retail Ain't What It Used To Be
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