Algus

Wish I still had my first PC. I think all we have left is the monitor. Man that was when a computer was a computer! Massive manuals, a full box of CD ROMs, monitor, computer, keyboard, mouse. Even a mouse pad! It was a Packard Bell 486 running Navigator and Windows for Workgroups 3.11 Nice little system, ran everything in the DOS era perfectly.

I think emulating computers is even more satisfying than game console emulation (though I do a lot of that too!) I have my old Mac which I love but it is so great being able to pull up a system on my current computer and do as I please. Plus with virtual file sharing, it's a lot less of a nuisance to move files between a classic system and a new system. With my actual Performa I have to use a virtual floppy drive with an SD card plugged into it, kind of a pain in the butt. Thinking about when I was a kid and how much I would have loved to have been able to pull up my school computer at home. Of course the school had nothing but Macs and that was what I used the most but at home we had a PC. PC had tons of games for it but I always wanted the Mac at home.

Simon's Quest is an amazing game but yeah good luck with it if you don't know where to go. The music is awesome, the controls are fluid, and the RPG elements are a blast. It's definitely my favorite of the three NES games. Castlevania I is one of the few "hard" NES games that I've beaten legit. A buddy of mine and I bought all three games on his Wii once Halloween and we just sat around all night trading off and playing them. It was a lot of fun. I've since beaten it on my NES as well. This is a game I never owned as a kid but of course knew about because of it being on Captain N. mbd stream yourself playing second round on Twitch. I'd watch the hell out of that.

It's so weird reading an eBay ad that doesn't sound like it was written by a robot and offers full disclosure of the item history. Good luck with your sale!

I got in line for the Wii preorder. Honestly it was a blast. Me and like 20 other Nintendo diehards all gossiping about the new console. Had a lot of fun. Wait wasn't to bad. Think I got in line at 6 (store opened at 10) and was like 3 or 4 in line.

I don't know if I'd have the patience for the first Zelda today. When we were kids running around exploring and sharing what we'd found on the playground was the way to do it. Then of course there was that one kid with NP that could answer all of our questions. Beating that game was a collaborative effort with everyone in my grade. I remember I had the patience to run around bombing virtually every rock face on the overworld map to find the hidden stuff. I did eventually buy this guide after we moved to AZ that was for LttP but padded itself with full guides of Zelda I and Zelda II as well and it helped me find the last couple things I hadn't been able to. With modern games though, you're so used to hand-holding and waypoints that sure, a game like Zelda I must feel antiquated. Coincidently, I grabbed Final Fantasy XI as part of the Steam winter sale. That game doesn't tell you shit! I've had to run around like a chicken with my head cut off, either figuring stuff out on my own or googling it. I was pretty aggravated by it at first, especially after coming off FF 13 where every single zone is a straight linear path! Eventually I started to enjoy it though. Straightforward games might be more popular with the masses but I think we lose something but not having more obtuse games that challenge you to figure them out.

I had better luck running DOS games on my Win 95 laptop then on either of my Win 98 machines. Though that is most likely because the hardware on that old Compaq was really close to what the DOS games were needing. That was a great machine. I ran it until the hard drive just died. If I were to build a retro gamer now though, it'd probably be for Win 98. DOSBox runs all my older stuff fine but there's a few Windows games floating around from 98-2002 or so that just act funny on newer systems

You can get out if you beat Earthbound The only copy available triggers its DRM check

You can count on it being on its way to Steam IMO.

Eh, yeah that is a danger with old laptops in general. I will probably buy from a collector vs some scrub reseller on eBay. Pismo has a very good reputation among powerbook owners but I think the G3 is not the direction I want to go. Plus I already own a G3 computer and I kind of want to get something that I can do some "modern" things with.

This is more of a "classic computers" post but their main use would be for gaming so... I want to get a G4 Cube and a Powerbook G4. I've been waffling on the Powerbook because I'm holding out to find the final released 17'' model as it has 1680x1050 resolution but I think this year I will break down and buy an older unit. I want it on OS X Tiger anyway so that it will still have classic mode. I'm undecided if I want to buy the hookups for the Cube as it'll mostly be sitting on my desk as a display item. I was talking to a couple of the guys on one of the Vintage Mac forums I go to and they've been putting SD cards in their clamshell iBooks running Mac OS 9. This sounds pretty intriguing to me, but I don't have an iBook. I'm thinking of hunting one down (I want a hard to find color, Sage, and they are always super expensive :/) and trying the mod out. A bit more ambitious: period appropriate monitor for my Performa, decent Apple II setup This stuff eats into my "new" computer budget so it gets blown off a lot. I did get around to getting an original Bondi Blue iMac this year and I am quite pleased with it. If Apple releases the iPad Air 3 next year, that'll probably be my toy for 2016.

GENESIS?!?!?! Genesis is not! Is Game Console Forbidden!

Steam Winter sale (almost) all Final Fantasy games are 50% off, which makes them reasonably priced for once! I grabbed the lot save for FF14 and Lightning Returns (neither on sale) After fifteen years and swearing I'd never spend a penny on it, I've finally given FF11 a go. Holy cow, I forgot what it was like to play a game that doesn't hold your hand. I've actually had to look stuff up. Keyboard controls are ass but I grabbed my F310 and it plays pretty great with that. Doubt I'll sub to it. LOL @ having to pay monthly for character slots.

BD is fucking annoying. Back when it was new, I remember we finally got a reasonably priced (off brand) player at Best Buy for Christmas. Well guess what! None of the movies we bought would play because the player needed a damned firmware update. So now we had a stack of (opened and unreturnable) BDs that wouldn't work. Merry Christmas. Things aren't as bad now because BD has been around long enough that you don't run into weird crap like that (and better, name brand players don't cost $500). I don't think my dad or I really ever got over the disappointment of that though. We moved to streaming and digital downloads pretty quick.

Ooh, isn't this the one that was a Blockbuster exclusive? This is a tough one.

Think I own more PS1 and NES games than 2600 games. But for PS1 that is all stuff that I bought new! I think the only PS1 game I've added to my lineup since you couldn't buy them in stores anymore has been King's Field. Great game. Actually the only long box title I own. To be honest, I am less into Atari than I am into other systems but IMO AtariAge is one of the best gaming communities on the Net. I came for 2600, stuck around for the people.

I cut my teeth on an Atari Jr. They are usually pretty cheap with a game or three. I like the late 80s styling/rainbow stripe. I was (barely) old enough at the time to remember these on the market so I've more connection to them than the original packaging. I did eventually get a light sixer. They're beautiful and all Atari fans should try to add one of these (or a heavy) to their lineup. My system of choice these days is an AV modded Atari 7800. No dicking around with adapters or whatever, just plug and play. More expensive but definitely worth it. Though, like Keatah, I am mostly an emulation guy these days. My Mac can store all my games for all systems and takes no space. Hard to deny the appeal.

I dislike Match 3 games. I've got it on, umm Genesis 6-Pak? Sonic 3-Pak? Some compilation...I don't have the stand alone cart. The AI is actually fairly tough. I haven't played it heavily enough to determine if its because the AI is good or the levels are just stacked against you.

Came here to post Bionic Commando, glad to see others have recommended it already. You may be familiar with the NES version, well the GB version has sharper graphics and RPG elements. It is a stellar game that I sunk hours into as a kid. Mega Man V is my pick for the Mega Man GB games. It is an original game rather than a remix. Very fun, not to difficult for an original Mega Man entry.

Messing with cycles to get the game to run at the correct speed is a small price to pay for a program that can run games spanning a decade+ of computer hardware. Had to do more work in the old days to get the stuff to run on real hardware.

The Mugen core for N64 is still giving me visual glitches in a couple of the games I want to emulate. I really like the new UI though. I might give the PS1 emulation a go again. I couldn't get it to work in 1.04 Experimental but PS1 has always been touchy.

Region coding really only comes into play with certain commercial DVD playback programs and even then they can usually be circumvented by just ripping the disc in the first place. To a computer a data disc is just that a data disc. If you're planning to run an emulator on your PC to play the game, it will work perfectly. You may need to configure your emulator to use a European BIOS but most of the places on the Net that distribute PS1 BIOS just have them in a big pack.

I'm staying optimistic until it's in my hands and turns out to be boring. Coincidently, I just picked up the iOS port of FF7 and it is a lot of fun. Really these changes, alterations, etc. none of that bugs me as long as they don't try to rewrite the past and pretend the original game never existed. While it is an unpopular opinion, I actually thought they did a great job with the FF6 update. I like the new graphics and having the added content from the GBA version is fabulous. I got a good vibe from the CGI trailer on the FF7 remake...I liked the music and it seemed appropriately atmospheric. I love the fact that one of the ways they've been marketing it has been by pushing the original game to every platform imaginable. Good on them for making the stuff available to people that aren't just gaming exclusively on console.

The Mugen core for N64 emulation is still producing visual oddities for me in a couple of the games I want to play :/ I've been on experimental for a long time so this update didn't really add much for me. I do like the redesigned UI though. OpenEmu is probably the best emulation front end around. I never could get the PS1 emulation working on it though.

Well, the one in the ColecoVision forum was left open just so we can torture NIAD and those other guys.