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 align=right]https://i.ibb.co/B6gLZbS/PSX-20210728-150832.jpg[/img]The first REAL computer sport?
Back in May 2020 an article appeared, somewhat bizarrely, on the BBC Sport website about a 1985 videogame designed to teach people how to surf.
It was a fascinating piece that I'll link at the bottom and I thoroughly recommend you read, but with little interest in surfing my imagination was particularly captured, so much so that I tracked down and bought myself a complete copy of the game, by the game's bespoke controller; a plastic surfboard shrunk down to a size a little smaller than the original model of ZX Spectrum. This device was designed to sit on top of the rubber keys and claimed to offer the player scientifically developed 'realistic' movement.
It's a brilliantly bonkers concept, but how does it work? And is the game any good?
Well, perhaps unsurprisingly (especially if you've read the aforementioned article) the game has the air of being put together by someone who's never made entertainment software before. It's worrying enough when the loading splash screen looks to be comprised of the in game graphics which were, it should be said, very simple even by 1985 standards. But furthermore, once loaded, you're immediately presented with the questions "Choose your board 1-5?" and "Gear Selection 1..5", the latter of which inexplicably requires you to enter more than one number and then, for some reason, enter an "X" to move to the next screen.
This is a menu system that is entirely impossible to navigate without constant reference to the game manual, and once you're in-game things only slightly improve.
First up, you have to plod up and down the beach as you choose the best time and place to paddle out... or risk being washed back the way you came. How far you paddle is a variable, as is when to mount, how to turn, how to re-mount... and all this is must be achieved while watching an energy bar that constantly depletes, and is impossible to refill.
On the underside of the game's 19cm surfboard controller are a central pivot, and several little nubs around the edge that press down onto certain keys. Placing a hand on the board, you press in the various areas, relative to where you would press with your feet when real-world surfing, to perform turns, dip the nose over waves, and replicate other surfing moves that I have little knowledge of... I think you can even "hang ten".
[img width=427 height=299 align=right]https://i.ibb.co/Jp10HwH/PSX-20210723-100137.jpg[/img] It's the sound, I think...
More than the sandy beaches and palm trees. More than the branching routes and agonising countdown. More, even, than the girl and the Ferrari. It's the sound that really makes OutRun special.
It's fairly unlikely that I encountered Yu Suzuki's iconic driving game 35 years ago but it was then, late in 1986, that the bright red and vaguely car shaped cabinets first arrived in Japanese arcades.
It's more likely, however, that a couple of years after I would have discovered it when my grandparents took me and my brother on holiday to Great Yarmouth, a popular seaside destination for people living, as we did, on the outskirts of London. This was largely thanks to its Pleasure Beach; a collection of aging arcade machines, roller coasters, and other death-trap rides and attractions jutting out into The Wash.
Posted on Jul 28th 2019 at 12:00:00 PM by (jjGames) Posted under retro, gaming
[img width=450 height=600]https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BqLOhoOitjE/XG77tTP8ENI/AAAAAAAAYL4/pu_Gp0GLYm0ps0U50e9t_g06CKNgeyqoACPcBGAYYCw/s600/IMG_20190220_164649.jpg[/img] View inside 3 camera photo light box with no item
JJGames.com sells used video games for retro systems like NES, SNES, PS2, etc. Some of the items are 30+ years old and each one has a slightly different condition. Many of our customers are game collectors and they really care about the condition. The best way to show the condition is with high quality photos.
Taking photos can take quite a bit of time though and we have 500-1000 games coming through the warehouse per day. A fully manual process takes about 50 seconds per game (take three photos, upload to servers, and update database with photo info). With 1000 games, it would take 14 man hours per day to take all the photos.
How could we give customers photos they wanted, but not spend so much time taking them? We developed a multi camera light box and wrote a program to take multiple high resolution photos at the same time. Here's how you can cheaply create your own!
I really dig summer, especially for writing (did I mention I love writing?). This time of the year I typically spend a goodly amount of time not playing games but rather thinking about them, diving back into the glory days of the late 80's and early 90's, back when Metro D had a respectable amount of arcade games located in every conceivable place, save government buildings and banks (and I am sure they secretly wanted them).
What does this have to do with the article? Early this year I spent a fair amount of time running my mouth about the past as my fourteen year-old son and I sat on the couch in the game room and played our way through the ninety (!) titles available on the Retro-bit Super Retro-cade. And man, was it amazing.
Posted on Jun 12th 2019 at 12:24:47 AM by (jjGames) Posted under retro, gaming
From the original Zelda games on the NES to GoldenEye 007 on the N64 and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas on the PS2, we take a look at the consoles of choice for retro gamers across America.
You never forget the first time you completed Super Mario Bros. You also never forget the first time you held one of those iconic retro Playstation controllers or when the best way to troubleshoot a game was to blow the cartridge.
Times have changed and new consoles have come and gone, but there is still something to be said about those iconic gaming systems that we were raised on. Their games have a unique charm that no amount of fancy graphics can make up for, which is why we turn to emulators and why original NES games still in their boxes go for hundreds of dollars on eBay.
To celebrate the release of a new infographics, which digs into the favorite consoles by state and favorite games by states, we thought wed jump on in and take a look at the data.
Another episode of Stuck in the 80's means another chance to dive into some awesome 80's themed nostalgia, this time it's all about Halloween! Will Duke be able to repair enough time fragments to get back to his own time? Put it on Channel 3 to find out!
After a brief Chicago vacation, Duke is back repairing time fragments. This time, it's the lovable, 80s phenomenon the View Master. What memories will this blast from the past unlock? Watch and find out!
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.
[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.
Hey everyone! It seems that I'm getting out a bit more often as of late, and what better way to spend time out than playing video games! It just so happens that this past Saturday, Yestercades of Red Bank, NJ was there to feed that craving with a delicious smattering of all things retro to right now.
Yestercades is a pay by the hour/day style arcade featuring a large array of classic arcade cabinets, a decent chunk of modern pinball machines, and a set of gaming stations for console gaming. As of the time of this writing, $25 nets you a full day pass, which allows for full play on any of the aforementioned machines, as well as come-as-you-please access to the arcade (which is super useful to go snag pizza from the amazing place across the street).
1. Reach 500 games total with as little sports titles as possible (currently low 400s) 2. Get new shelf/shelves that fits all loose and complete games. 3. Get cases and print labels for loose disc/Gameboy games 4. Get the basic Sega Genesis games. (Just rebought one so have almost no games) 5. Figure out what to do when school comes around. (I can't bring collection with me, but would like to continue collecting) 6. Complete my ROB the Robot pre deluxe set. (Just need manuals, poster, and male hand) 7. Make collection look more presentable. (Very messy and currently in a set of lockers)
I will be documenting every game I get through my collection page and will have overviews of what I have found until I have reached these seven goals. Pictures of collection will be added throughout the year.
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