Retro-Z

Hmm... so they are actually discontinuing the NES Classic? Bummer. I'm always amused by companies that don't like the idea of people downloading ROMs for free and using them on freely distributed emulators. Yet these same companies, like Nintendo, don't consistently offer products at an attractive price to entice people AWAY from the emulator/ROM/Raspberry Pi scene. There is obviously a demand for products of this type, and these companies are obviously capable of producing attractive retro themed video game consoles at good prices that are popular with their customers. They just choose not to do so. In the short term, I think the NES Classic was a great marketing move and a nice, attractive, "retro" video-game product. However, long-term, I think people's frustration when attempting to acquire one has only increased the interest and knowledge about what can be done with something like a Raspberry Pi. I've chosen to not play the "gotta hunt down a Nintendo (insert name here) console". If they want to make this stuff hard to find, I'll just go without it. Not worth the effort/trouble/time.

Well, I've still never seen a NES Classic or Switch on the shelves of any of the local Wal-Marts, Targets, or GameStops. Not a single one. In fact, I've never even SEEN either one in person. Since last November, I've occasionally seen a few 2DS units on the shelves that included Mario Kart, but that's it for Nintendo systems. I haven't seen a 3DS on the shelves in months, either. Oddly, however, there seems to be plenty of games on the shelves, just no systems for them. I could walk into Target right now and pick up all of the currently available Switch games if I wanted... but they would just be paperweights... because there are no Switch consoles to play them. LOL.

I've always preferred getting machines that are still in good, presentable condition. In some instances the discoloring is due to UV exposure, but in others it's simply caused by the chemical composition of the plastic. In other words, if the plastic components still look good 20-30 years later, there is a good chance they'll continue to look good for many years to come if stored properly. However, machines with plastics that needed the Retrobrite treatment will likely discolor again simply due to the composition of the plastic itself. Or... just focus on collecting vintage IBM PCs (5150, 5160, etc.) that used painted cases and much higher grades of plastic. LOL. I've not yet seen an IBM 5150 keyboard that was badly yellowed.

Pretty much every single Commodore 64 or Atari 8-bit computer I've purchased from the original owners included a printer, some games, educational games/software, and some word processing and database software. Several others lots also included several books on BASIC programming, and in some rarer cases, books for more advanced programming. It's always seemed to me that most people, being cost-conscious consumers, simply tried to get the most utility as possible out of their then new home computers. Some people actually DID use 8-bit home computers for serious work. I know a guy that ran a motorcycle repair shop in the 1980s and he used a modified Radio Shack TRS-80 Color Computer (1st model) to run his business and keep track of inventory. He used this setup till well into the 90's when it got set aside in favor of a Pentium-powered MS Windows PC. That old CoCo 1 still works great!

I don't purchase used games at GameStop for exactly the reasons you mentioned. Why buy something used if you can get it brand new for just a few dollars more? Or, better yet, go check the prices at the Target next door and get a new game for the used GameStop price? LOL. The staff at the local GameStop in my town are generally friendly and pleasant. The only thing they get a bit "pushy" about is the "disk protection" or whatever insurance they try to sell when buying a game. If I recall correctly, they have something similar for DS/3DS/Switch games, but I haven't picked any up there in 12+ months. There also seems to be more of their stores than necessary in my area, so I completely agree that they could close a few and be perfectly OK.

Man, that's pretty cool. It's amazing what all is still sitting out there waiting to be found. LOL. I just came across a 3rd-party case that is styled just like a IBM AT. Oddly enough, it was set up with a 5150-style motherboard rocking an 8088 CPU.

LOL. Those Joy-Cons look to be about the world's worst controller for NES games. Super tiny size coupled with no actual D-pad? No thanks... However, the Wii U Pro controller and the PS3/PS4 pads would work great, so at least the adapter is useful for that. Used & working PS3 controllers are pretty cheap right now.

Yes, that's exactly what I've been saying. Like CPUWIZ said, this thread does seem like trolling...

Most definitely an option (for instance, the PSP used optical discs). However, the cartridges used by Nintendo are a MUCH better option for 2017. Even Sony moved away from the PSP's "UMD" disc setup when they introduced the Vita.

What??? LOL. Try stuffing a DVD drive into a Switch. It's pretty easy to see why the optical discs wouldn't work in that application. I would guess that the decision to use "cartridges" was a very practical one dictated by a variety of things, ESPECIALLY the tiny size and portable nature of the Switch handheld unit. Besides, the durability and costs for hardware that uses solid-state cartridges, compared to an optical drive for reading disc-based media, was likely a very important factor as well. The optical drive would be more expensive, likely less durable, would likely use more battery power, would take up too much room in the handheld (room that could otherwise be used for something like a larger battery), would add hardware costs to the device for something like a door to access the drive, etc. I've always thought the UMD drive in the PSP was super cool in a tech-gadget sort of way (literally like having a miniaturized Playstation, complete with discs!). However, the limitations of the little discs and the mechanical complexity of the drive were some drawbacks to the PSP system. Nintendo knows the Switch will likely be handled/abused by less-than-careful kids, so a delicate door for inserting disc media probably isn't the best approach for avoiding warranty repairs of broken products. Finally, the storage capacity for things like SD cards is increasing and getting cheaper every day per gigabyte of storage. So, those little game cartridges for the Switch will likely just get cheaper and cheaper for Nintendo, and allow them to put larger and larger games onto them.

Yeah, that's a pretty good plan when buying "untested" or "parts/repair" stuff off eBay. Keep your expectations low enough and you may even be surprised! LOL. Back to the main topic of this thread, I've found that there's really only two groups of people still left on Craigslist: 1. People looking for incredibly good deals (around half of retail/market pricing or less) 2. People looking to buy for eBay resale (in other words, willing to pay very low prices) Really, it's not that surprising. Why deal with Craigslist when eBay can be so much easier? There are still lots of great deals on eBay, the items get shipped directly to the buyer's door, and the eBay return policies are pretty friendly to buyers to guard them from sellers listing defective goods. I generally only use Craigslist for items to are too large/bulky to ship economically. Even then, I've had horrible luck the past few years, with very few replies to anything I list, even when at a price substantially lower than anything similar someone might find on eBay. Of course, a LOT of people are starting to use the Facebook Marketplace...

Hmmm... it's perfectly fine to sell non-functioning items for parts/repair. In fact, these types of items are great for buyers when repairing other similar items, or to use as a base for a new restoration project. Generally, if an item is described as being non-functional and for parts/repair, it's difficult for them to claim a non-functioning item as "Significantly Not As Described". Also, very rare vintage hardware is often desirable in any condition, whether it's tested/working or for parts/repair, and often sought out by eBay users. I've seen some vintage PC cards in completely untested condition sell for several hundred dollars and up. As with anything, if the item is accurately and honestly described (with lots of pictures) and priced fairly, it will likely find a happy buyer. If it's listed as an auction, those same buyers will decide for themselves what they are willing to pay. Sellers obviously need to be realistic about the pricing for untested/defective/non-functional merchandise, and buyers should be aware of the issues brought up in the descriptions for each item listed. It's unrealistic to expect all of the vintage hardware on eBay to be fully functional, and it's also unrealistic to expect all of the eBay dealers to have the necessary equipment/knowledge to fully test old electronics, video games, computer systems, etc. Believe me, the sellers are already taking a risk with EVERYTHING they sell on eBay whether it's fully tested or not, and ESPECIALLY with vintage electronics. So selling only tested/functioning items on eBay really isn't going to alleviate any risk...

Seriously, the "scalpers" aren't the problem. Sure, they buy up a good portion of the available inventory out on the market, then stick it up for sale with an inflated price. Guess what?... people STILL buy them. Even when they KNOW the original retail price is $59.99. If NOBODY bought them from the "scalpers"... then the scalpers would have no incentive to sell them, the prices would normalize, and then everyone would be happy. Consumers are free to not purchase things. The scalpers aren't forcing anyone to do anything. Why would eBay ever restrict any "second-hand upcharges"? Why make the fees off of a $59.99 item when that same item can sell for $200 in the current market? Again, eBay isn't forcing anyone to buy anything. eBay is a website with market driven prices (yes, even the "Buy It Now" listings are market driven, as items won't sell if they're priced too high). The consumers will decide how much they want to pay... and eBay will make a bunch more money if the consumer is willing to pay $200 for a $60 item (in other words, you'll never see eBay restrict second-hand price increases on current production goods). The only time you'll see that "scalpers" move on to something else is when it isn't worth their time to sell an item. When the NES Classic isn't getting much more than $100, the scalpers will likely relent. There isn't much profit from $100 when the item is $60 + sales tax and about $15 in eBay fees.

TxK for the Vita has quite a few fans. Unfortunately, Atari wasn't one of those fans...

The price does seem a bit steep... While there IS a market for these (and the buyers do have some serious coin to spend), it's still a very small market. $12,000 is a LOT. I could see this setup, if indeed fully functional, selling in the $4,000 to $6,000 range. The desk with built in drives, while cool, might not be something every collector really wants (takes up a LOT of space). Also, many people just wanting an example of an Altair 8800/IMSAI 8080 style computer are fine with just the main computer unit and related documentation. That's why the computer itself can get $1,500 to $3,000 while a bunch of additional parts/accessories don't really add much to the overall value.

I played all of the N64 and earlier games back in the day during the 90's... from the original Super Mario Brothers up to Super Mario 64. They're all great, but prior to the Wii I probably had the most fun with Super Mario World for the SNES. It was a great time looking for all of the secrets in SMW, and I preferred the 2D platformer style to the later Nintendo 64 3D stuff. However, Super Mario Galaxy absolutely blew me away. I love the concept of it (all of the little "planets"), and the way they integrated everything into a great product with quite a bit of replay value. What a fantastic game! Totally awesome.

I'd personally just leave the disc alone. With the demise of Blockbuster and Hollywood Video, the property stickers for these companies adds a bit of history to the games. I actually think it's cool to know that a particular game was rented/used back in the day through one of these companies, likely because my family made many trips to Blockbuster in the 90s for SNES games. Who knows, in the coming years these old rental games may have their own degree of collector interest. Especially as people try to remove any sign of that game's past by removing Blockbuster/Hollywood Video ownership labels.

The story sounds like a bunch of BS. As has been said before, Nintendo is either not telling the truth or is completely ignorant. Take your pick. For instance, they could have easily looked at the "plug and play" console market and have seen that consumers are definitely willing to continually purchase products that contain repeats of the same games (such as the AtGames Sega Genesis and the Atari Flashback series). Surprised about consumers buying the games over and over? With AtGames showing that it's possible to sell the same basic thing over and over (were are now on the Flashback 7!?!?!)? Surely Nintendo would have known that if AtGames can sell repeats of Atari games in a simple box year after year, Nintendo would be hugely successful with their first offering of a similar product containing games that are MUCH more popular in the current market. Furthermore, they were selling the hardware with the built-in 30 games for $60, when the games on their Virtual Console service sell for $5 each. So there is already a bunch of built-in value ($60 total versus $150 + the cost of other Nintendo hardware starting at $80) with the NES Classic that would make it desirable for consumers. Add to this number of die-hard Nintendo fans and collectors that want one of these little consoles "just because"... it's easy to see why they are hard to keep in stock. Nintendo could have just paid a company to do a thorough market study (if they didn't want to do it themselves) to help gauge consumer demand. If they are just throwing stuff out there without doing any of the proper homework, I'd be pretty concerned if I was an investor. There are likely many reasons why Nintendo didn't produce more of the NES Classic. I just find it hard to believe that "not knowing the demand" is the main one.

Man, I enjoyed the heck out of my Super Scope 6 as a kid. I even have about half of the compatible games (Bazooka Blitzkrieg, Hunt For Red October, Battle Clash, Super Scope 6, Yoshi's Safari). Super Scope 6 is a blast with all of the little mini games on it. However, even as a kid, I had to stop playing every 20-30 minutes and take a quick break or get up and move around as it can be a bit fatiguing staring down the sights on the Super Scope while having it perched up on your shoulder. With all of the complaints I've heard about the Super Scope, mine must be the most used example in existence. I rocked that thing through most of the 90s. I still have it to this day, along with all my game cartridges for it.

Steve Wozniak gets the vote for me. Not only is he highly intelligent and designed some of the most innovative products early in the history of Apple Computer, but pretty much every time I see an interview with him, he seems to be a genuinely awesome and nice guy. Nonetheless, Steve Jobs was definitely awesome at getting Apple to a dominant place in the industry. Talk about taking advantage of a unique opportunity in the tech world... Apple basically went from nothing to HUGELY SUCCESSFUL in the blink of an eye during the 1970s. Completely amazing. He saw the chance for success and exploited it nearly perfectly. I don't think Wozniak would have ever made his place in history without Jobs, and I don't think Jobs would have ever become so famous without Wozniak. It was perfect timing with a great product from a team that needed each other.

Well, the empty space on the display case reserved for the NES Classic at the local Wal-Mart is now filled with a big advertisement for the "Coming in March" Nintendo Switch. The Wal-Mart even chose to remove the tag for NES Classic off of the shelf. Nintendo would likely be better served by focusing on selling NEW stuff NOW. Any gaming company that is obsessed with monetizing their products from several decades in the past isn't going to be a major player in the market. Just look at what remains of Atari and Sega... Nintendo would be better off giving their older library away for FREE as a marketing tool to get people drawn into their brand, not trying to wring every last cent out of Super Mario Bros. 3 or Metroid. If necessary, get people hooked into a subscription service by giving away some games. Nonetheless, the NES Classic was an AMAZING idea for Nintendo, allowing a fairly inexpensive (if not free) way for consumers to experience (or re-experience) part of the Nintendo charm in a cute little plug-and-play NES shaped package. It's too bad they have, so far, been unable (or unwilling) to actually put those units into the hands of paying customers.

Last year I didn't get around to streamlining my "accumulation", so this I'm going focus this year on liquidating those items that need to go.

I've used up to a Class 10 Sandisk Ultra microSDHC card with success. The AFP did load from it noticeably faster, as the "LOADING" indicator typically popped up for just an instant compared to the Class 4 card I'm currently using (the Class 10 card was borrowed from a Raspberry Pi set I hadn't set up yet). Wal-Mart sells a twin-pack of Sandisk Class 4 SDHC cards for about $8 that works very well with the AFB. One approach is to fill one card with ALL of the ROMs available, and the second card with just the "favorites". I'd recommend this option if someone doesn't have a bunch of older SD cards sitting around, as it's much easier than hunting down a sub-8GB card that MAY work. Sure, the 8GB size is overkill, but the cards are still very cheap and I have found them to work flawlessly when properly formatted.

I regret not keeping my original SNES and the AT&T Globalyst computer (with Pentium cpu) from my childhood. Both of these were actually around till fairly recently at a family member's house (around 2007/2008). I remember exactly where they were, but as I was moving around a lot during that time, very busy, and not feeling very nostalgic, I didn't even think about grabbing them. Then that part of the family moved to a different house, and they ended up throwing a bunch of stuff into the trash in preparation for the move. That is where the SNES and the computer ended up. Of course, only a year or two later I started thinking it'd be cool to have an old Pentium and SNES to play around on. The timing just wasn't right, I guess. LOL. Fortunately, I had snagged my SNES cartridges and the Super Scope a few years before that because a friend wanted to borrow them, so at least I still have the games. I remember in the early 1990s my family threw out a NES with the "blinking light" problem and replaced it with a new one. LOL. I'm sure it would have been an easy fix. The other NES was sold at a garage sale after we got the SNES. However, that SNES bothers me the most since I vividly remember exactly where it was sitting, I had already kept it around for 15+ years, and let it go just shortly before I started getting interested in the system again. But I still have my PS2!

Sure, but you can certainly put the emulators onto a laptop for fully-portable gaming (like the Nintendo Switch!), or onto a Raspberry Pi so you can plug it into a TV at the hotel. Much more portable than a modded vintage console and a stack of 30 to 40+ game cartridges. CRT Vs. Flatscreen??? Why is this even an issue??? Is this brought up just to have something to debate? Both are good options for their own reasons, and having the choice right now is great. Seriously... just do whatever you want. Hook that modded Atari 2600 up to an HD flatscreen television? GREAT! Hook a stock Atari up to an old 1980s woodgrain TV? Great! Hook that modern PC running Stella up to quality HD monitor? GREAT! I really can't think of a more inexpensive way to enjoy Atari than a Raspberry Pi 3, a few used Sony Dualshock 3 controllers (or USB joysticks if you prefer a joystick... aren't choices great?), some quality emulators like Stella, and start playing. I'm sure it's possible to do this for well under $100, which is far less than a modded 2600 (and other systems) with a stack of games or a Harmony/Everdrive/etc. cartridge. It's nice to see all of the passion people have for their personal favorite way to experience Atari. However, not everyone will have your same set of preferences, you same budget, your same set of living conditions (giant house, tiny apartment, etc.), etc. etc. etc...