Consoles you REFUSE to collect

[Place Logo Here]

On 5/19/2022 at 11:12 PM, Tanooki said:

Quite a few, but largely because I find the pre-Coleco/Famicom stuff a joke, too crude and needing more imagination that anyone should muster to get some solid justifiable level of pleasure out of the games. 

 

This is absolutely not meant to be a slam on you but I feel the complete inverse of this statement from your post.

 

I am sure part of it is because I was a kid in the 2600 era, but I actually find it more interesting what people can do with fewer resources than what they can do with more. 

 

Also, the simpler the game mechanics, the more longevity it tends to have.  After all, we now have fully-realized worlds in games, with epic storylines, and some of those will doubtlessly have a significant lifespan (so long as they are ported to future platforms).  But we will always have chess, checkers and go.  Similarly, we will always have some variation of the game (or at least the mechanics thereof) of Pac-Man and Space Invaders.

 

And those early games engaged my imagination more than anything more realistically rendered.  I find the experience similar to books vs movies: one shows me exactly one version of the world while the other forces me to fill in the gaps and make it my own.

 

Lastly, I love the look and feel of those first generation consoles.  I love my Fairchild Channel F with its 8-track cart styled cartridges even if the library is underwhelming.  And I strongly feel artwork starting with the NES became less engaging.

 

Anywho, my $0.02 about the actual topic at hand, I have zero interest in collecting RCA Studio II and the original (screen-overlay-based) Odyssey.  Even I have my limits.

[Keatah]

4 hours ago, Lord Mushroom said:

A small percentage of the players use money in free to play games, and the vast majority plays for free.

Yes. I would agree. I don't know the exact figures, but it's in the billions from what I keep hearing.

[Leatherrebel5150]

I exclude everything CD based from my collection. I may have stuff here or there for the PS2 from when I was a Tween or some other systems from when they were current. But I very actively avoid collecting for them. Theres just too much uncertainty with disc based games. Even barring the idea of disc rot, there is still the chance that the little micro scratch that you would think wouldn’t possibly cause an issue, is what cause the game to freeze every time you get to the final boss or whatever. I just don’t want to deal with it. 

 

Other than that the Neo Geo AVS because of cost. Vectrex, Channel F, Odyssey 2, they just don’t stick in my mind for whatever reason. Ive got no drive to them for whatever reason. Mentally they don’t make the cut, though other consoles of the era do like 2600, Colecovision and Intellivision. I think it has to do with Odyssey’s keyboard which makes it more like a computer in my mind and Vectrex with its screen seems more like a self contained toy. Channel F just seems too primitive even compared to a 2600

[Lord Mushroom]

1 hour ago, Keatah said:

Yes. I would agree. I don't know the exact figures, but it's in the billions from what I keep hearing.

Yes, those who spend money spend a lot.

[Keatah]

I find games of the early era exciting in how many different ways something can be done. Like I'm playing Planetary Defense for Atari 400/800. And as the game progresses I'm finding I need to take different approaches to protecting the planet. S'cool because the game mechanics are so simple. But all the shifting angles permit and require more strategy than just firing away. New ways of making sure your shots arrive on-target are needed. A way to protect against the saucer shots is also required. Lots of balancing and time management needed too. All in a hi-speed action game!

 

And since the game has simple graphics on 1979 hardware I can overlay my own imagination. What kind of world am I protecting? What civilizations? What kind of weaponry am I using? Who makes it? Who is attacking? And where are they from? How is the terraforming conducted? See..? All that is open to personal interpretation and makes the game my own as I fill in the blanks when playing.

 

 

[Tanooki]

9 hours ago, Keatah said:

To us kids back then, games were easy to come by. Just yell for mom and dad! And the games showed up! Bonus points if you lectured them on inflation, demanding more money for more games. Today the onus is all on us as individuals to get'da  games. Some of us do well. Others not so.

I'd never try doing something like that again. Especially in these days and times. The games I purchase or own or kept are ones that have personal meaning to me. Sentimental. Nostalgia. That sort of thing. When plying by those rules life is so much easier. There's no rushing around. No anxiety about gotta get it now. And I'd be remiss in my personal mission of evangelizing emulation yet again and again because of the awesomesauce it brings to the game room. Not to mention how well it rounds out a collection.

 

Just this past weekend emulation let me play Marble Madness 2, and then a couple of rounds of Tac/Scan and Assault. I had to give up the upright cabinet, CRT, authentic controls, and arcade noise & smells & ambiance for the privilege however. But I did save on 4 hours of travel time between two arcades opposite each other by some 40 miles, with me in the center. Not that either had MM2 to begin with.

 

Yes a certain amount of specialization (or limiting the platforms to collect for) is practically a requirement. 4 is the sweet spot for me. 2 main platforms, and 2 sideshow gigs.

 

Also keep hearing and experiencing good things with gog. And between Apple II and PC I have more than a lifetimes worth of gaming and sandboxing. It's a good thing!

Well said there.  I agree on emulation, I'll use it when I'm lazy or in a pinch, but generally I stick to the next best thing -- flash kits, have plenty of them.  If I don't have the system, I don't really bother with the ROMs, an exception I guess would be Master System since the Mega Everdrive can do those.

 

Specialization for me would be 2 primaries, and outside that it's by specific game for a short list of systems, and that's if I both can get a deal and would intend to use it.  Perfect example, yesterday I went poking around and I found a couple cheap Genesis games, then a not so cheap ($30) SNES game and a ($45) Gamecube game I wouldn't say no to...and didn't, since they were like 25-40% off average online payout rates.  In recent months I've grabbed 2 GC games as I wanted to play them and the price wasn't crap but it's not my focus.

 

And yes gog is amazing, in cases where they lack it, so is steam.  Never buy day one unless you get the random oddity GoG Sale for that first 7days where it's something nuts like 40-50% off(very uncommon) because it won't get that cheap again minimally for a year, maybe 18mo.  You're not stuck to one piece of hardware, the games are instantly accessible, and the prices with the weekly, monthly, seasonal and holiday sales add up to being irresistibly good fast when its like 66-80% off.

[Tanooki]

6 hours ago, Place Logo Here said:

 

This is absolutely not meant to be a slam on you but I feel the complete inverse of this statement from your post.

 

I am sure part of it is because I was a kid in the 2600 era, but I actually find it more interesting what people can do with fewer resources than what they can do with more.

I know it's not, and I don't take it as one.  I'm old enough to have (and was) been in the 2600 generation, but I thought it even, it was crap, outside of the coleco and vectrex, just crap.  I'd rather use my quarters and focus on the arcade because home hadn't caught up.  I feel utterly the same otherwise, doing more with less resources.  The NES and I guess even more in a way Gameboy was all about that and more.  Look at a 1985/1989 (NES/GB) first year stuff then 2 years later, 5 years later...it's nuts.  To squeeze that much out of so little, but even at some rate, so little is just so little it's below a threshold where imagination can stretch only so far.

 

I had a Fairchild Channel F2 system, it was my moms, I'd still have it if my idiot father hadn't thrown it out a few years after I moved out in a blind garage purge rage.  She (and as I inherited basically) *I* had the system complete in the box, and almost the entire library of carts too.  I never could put a lot of time on it, outside of a few specifics like combat tank game and blackjack, but it was fairly decent.

[Zap!]

On 5/20/2022 at 2:16 PM, Gemintronic said:

I guess just the Adventurevision.  Unobtainable.  Expensive.  Fragile.

It's obtainable. Usually expensive. And yeah, don't drop it if you get one.  

[Prosystemsearch]

For me its:

Most Commodore PET models of the 2001 series (and the 4008)

Atari XEGS

ZX Spectrum models (At least the 16k, 48k, and +3 models)

Atari 400

Epoch Cassette vision

Fairchild Channel F (?)

Atari Jaguar

SNES (already experienced it closely enough via another guy's SNES Classic)

Epoch Super Cassette vision (?)

Videobrain

Exidy Sorcerer

Bit Corp. Gamate

Hyperscan

OG Wonderswan

NEC PC-8801 (at least all except for the last 2 or 3 variants)

Sord M5

Nearly all 3DO Models from LG/Goldstar

Watara Supervision 

Apple III/III+

Arcadia 2001 and any clones

Model 1 Sega Sg-1000

Atari 600XL

Apple I

IBM PC Jr.

Model A Acorn BBC Micro

Acorn Electron

Commodore 16 (Plus/4 is better IMO)

Osborne 1 (just not interested)

OG Kaypro and Kaypro IV '83

Commodore 64 Game system

Fujitsu FM-8

Amiga 1000 (would rather search for either a 500, 500+, or a 2000)

Model 3 Genesis

PC Engine GT/TurboGrafx Express

Nintendo Virtual Boy

Fujitsu FM Towns Marty

Nuon DVD game players

[+LS650]

Maybe it would be easier just to list what you _will_ collect for... 

 

[Zap!]

3 hours ago, Prosystemsearch said:

For me its:

Most Commodore PET models of the 2001 series (and the 4008)

Atari XEGS

ZX Spectrum models (At least the 16k, 48k, and +3 models)

Atari 400

Epoch Cassette vision

Fairchild Channel F (?)

Atari Jaguar

SNES (already experienced it closely enough via another guy's SNES Classic)

Epoch Super Cassette vision (?)

Videobrain

Exidy Sorcerer

Bit Corp. Gamate

Hyperscan

OG Wonderswan

NEC PC-8801 (at least all except for the last 2 or 3 variants)

Sord M5

Nearly all 3DO Models from LG/Goldstar

Watara Supervision 

Apple III/III+

Arcadia 2001 and any clones

Model 1 Sega Sg-1000

Atari 600XL

Apple I

IBM PC Jr.

Model A Acorn BBC Micro

Acorn Electron

Commodore 16 (Plus/4 is better IMO)

Osborne 1 (just not interested)

OG Kaypro and Kaypro IV '83

Commodore 64 Game system

Fujitsu FM-8

Amiga 1000 (would rather search for either a 500, 500+, or a 2000)

Model 3 Genesis

PC Engine GT/TurboGrafx Express

Nintendo Virtual Boy

Fujitsu FM Towns Marty

Nuon DVD game players

So what do you collect for? RDI Halcyon? Entex Adventurevision and Select-A-Game?

[Prosystemsearch]

2 hours ago, Zap! said:

So what do you collect for? RDI Halcyon? Entex Adventurevision and Select-A-Game?

Sega Genesis (mine is not a 3 model, its  a 1), Atari Lynx, and hopefully Sega Master System, as well as maybe also Intellivision and (this is a big if, seeing as it got little official 3rd party support during its commercial run and sold less than 750,000 units); Bally Midway Professional Arcade aka the Astrocade. I also would like to collect for NES, and (MAYBE) the 5200 Supersystem, plus, if I am feeling adventurous enough, I'll someday look for a Commodore Vic-20, 8-bit Apple ][ or Radioshack TRS-80 model 1 and III computers. Who knows?

Edited January 30, 2023 by Prosystemsearch

[TheGameCollector]

On 5/20/2022 at 12:17 PM, Keatah said:

The most successful approach to collecting seems to be “just let it happen”.

 

Make little/no effort for chasing after stuff and just enjoy the stuff you like. Eventually you build up a library of awesomesauce, replete with nostalgia, good times, minimal fluffage, and something you can enjoy for years to come.

 

The disadvantage is none of it is instant. Collecting that way can take years! But it’s stress-free and so much fun! Nothing is pre-determined. And you end up with stuff you like.

 

Despite MAME having been out for more than 25 years and supporting tens of thousands of titles, I only mess with some 250 right now. The rest are mine to discover!

I like this method myself. I used to buy a lot of games just because I found them, but now I've broken my collection into two parts. My real collection is games I've either completed or tried to do my best to play. Games I haven't played or just barely tried are not part of my actual collection. They're just backlog and if I lost any games I would rather it be those.

[randomcat2000]

No US only consoles. I'm fine with importing stuff from japan, but shipping from the US is just too expensive.
Apart from that:
US/PAL NES
N64
Gamecube

Wii
Any portable, except for maybe the game gear.
PS4/5

Evercade (collectorbait emubox)

While I'd like to get earlier playstation consoles at some point for their exclusives, I'm sticking with the xbox for all multiplats.

[TheGameCollector]

9 minutes ago, randomcat2000 said:

No US only consoles. I'm fine with importing stuff from japan, but shipping from the US is just too expensive.
Apart from that:
US/PAL NES
N64
Gamecube

Wii
Any portable, except for maybe the game gear.
PS4/5

Evercade (collectorbait emubox)

While I'd like to get earlier playstation consoles at some point for their exclusives, I'm sticking with the xbox for all multiplats.

What do you collect, all Sega for the most part?

[randomcat2000]

Just now, TheGameCollector said:

What do you collect, all Sega for the most part?

Sega master system and older xbox consoles mostly, recently have been on a famicom kick though. I don't have much money so i stick to whats cheap.

[Senneman]

 

For some kind of odd reason I don't like to collect for newer consoles. Dreamcast and Gamecube are the most recent I have. And I'm not really actively collecting for it. But I do like to have collections for the underdogs like the Jaguar, 32x, CD-I, ...

Edited January 31, 2023 by Senneman

[Keatah]

1 hour ago, Senneman said:

For some kind of odd reason I don't like to collect for newer consoles.

So many games today are soulless corporate productions. And it's hard (if not impossible) to collect the digital stuff tied to online updates/verifications/servers.

[jhd]

 

I have no interest in collecting anything that I cannot find locally at retail (i.e. I decline to use Ebay or other online sources). The corollary to that is I will not buy any console where I have no expectation of finding any games for it.

 

Over the decades, I have, for example, passed on two Vectrex systems (though one was clearly broken) and an Odyssey 2. I have never seen any cartridges for either system, other than the 2 or 3 that came with the O2. I donated a non-working ColecoVision that was gifted to me (in part) because there was no local source for any games beyond the two included. 

 

I currently have an Atari 2600 (several units including a Jr. and a Gemini), a PSX (and a PSOne NIB), and a PlayStation 2. That said, I have not found any titles for any of these consoles in perhaps five years so the collection is largely stagnant. I also have multiple PNP systems with built-in games. 

 

I am not at all interested in vintage computers as that requires acquiring additional hardware as well as the software.  

[Zap!]

20 minutes ago, jhd said:

 

I have no interest in collecting anything that I cannot find locally at retail (i.e. I decline to use Ebay or other online sources).

Any reason why? Fear of the item not being what it was described like in the description?

[jhd]

4 hours ago, Zap! said:

Any reason why? Fear of the item not being what it was described like in the description?

 

In part, yes. Brick and mortar retailers can most certainly commit fraud as well, but if I can personally examine the merchandise (particularly when buying something used) that becomes much more difficult. I have, for example, seen very obviously damaged and broken items in second-hand shops, but these items could much more easily be sold online. 

 

I also have an aversion to mail-order/online shopping more generally, but now that I live in a smaller city that is often the only option for speciality product.    

[Keatah]

8 hours ago, jhd said:

I have no interest in collecting anything that I cannot find locally at retail (i.e. I decline to use Ebay or other online sources). The corollary to that is I will not buy any console where I have no expectation of finding any games for it.

I've fully embraced ebay and other online sources for classic computing support. Had to. However, it has to be done in a meaningful manner with thought as to what is purchased. There've been many things I would not have been able to get elsewhere. General Apple II interface/expansion cards just don't show up at garage sales or thrift shops, or the quintessential used game store.

 

As a child I always ALWAYS wanted the Apple II Graphics Tablet. It was a holy grail item that exuded sophistication everytime I looked at it. In the short term I would get a Koala Pad "graphics tablet". It was like a child version. But I learned so much with it and made so many cool hi-res pics. Apple II Hi-Res pics were precursory to the BBS GIF craze.

 

I would eventually pay the princely sum of 62.50 for a near-mint condition real A2 Graphics Tablet. Complete with card, pen, overlays, manual, and software. Some 20 years after that I would discover that I could use the same software I was using with the Koala Pad! And then I would discover a whole new software package. Lo and behold this would show up on the internet too!

 

Talk about childhood dreams come true. Now. NOW my A2 was a state-of-the-art graphics workstation. Covering both recreational art and scientific fields. Never mind it was still stuck in 1979!

 

8 hours ago, jhd said:

Over the decades, I have, for example, passed on two Vectrex systems (though one was clearly broken) and an Odyssey 2. I have never seen any cartridges for either system, other than the 2 or 3 that came with the O2. I donated a non-working ColecoVision that was gifted to me (in part) because there was no local source for any games beyond the two included. 

 

I currently have an Atari 2600 (several units including a Jr. and a Gemini), a PSX (and a PSOne NIB), and a PlayStation 2. That said, I have not found any titles for any of these consoles in perhaps five years so the collection is largely stagnant. I also have multiple PNP systems with built-in games. 

Got it.

 

8 hours ago, jhd said:

I am not at all interested in vintage computers as that requires acquiring additional hardware as well as the software.  

I'm not really aware of many self-contained classic computers except like the Commodore Pets or SX-64, or TRS-80 Model II/III, The Kaypros & Compaq portables, Model 100 slate-like "systems".

 

However (you know it's coming) you can get a modern laptop which is self-contained, and emulate nearly the entire 70's through 90's range of computers and consoles! No mess no fuss no hassle.

[Guest]

On 5/23/2022 at 3:14 PM, youki said:

I won't collect NES as well.  Just because i never liked this console.

 

For the same reason , will never collect PS1 and PS2.

I won't collect for the NES also, skipped that generation completely. But I WILL collect for the PS1 <--got one back in the day for my 30th B-day!GULP! Wipeout and Destruction Derby!!ohh yeah! 😎

[vrocko]

If it exists I'll probably collect for it as long as it doesn't cost too much of course. I've got most of the Nintendo, Sega, Atari and Playstation systems as well as all the Xbox systems. Odds and ends too like 3DO, Intellivision, Colecovision as well as the weird stuff like the CD-I, Game.com, Neo Geo Pocket Color and the Hyper-Scan (there's a classic! LOL). Android micro consoles like OUYA, Game Stick, MadC.A.T.Z. Mojo, Razor Forge and GEM Box, don't know if you count them but hey I collected them. I guess the ones I wouldn't collect for are ones out of my price range like the Turbo Grafx 16 or the Vectrex. Wish I'd bought that TG-16 when I was at CCAG in Cleveland. $50 but I didn't buy it. Went to the same show the next year to buy it and a guy got it before me. Must be that Someguy syndrome. 😁  

[+Gemintronic]

For many years now I've put a personal ban on everything BUT unlicensed and new retro games/systems.

 

Keeps classic gaming fresh and curbs my hoarding gene.