HoshiChiri

I found me a pretty darn nice SNES lot today! System with AC & RF, and 2 controllers. It's all pretty grungy and the power port needs to be replaced- I haven't had a chance to clean or test any of it. The real find was the included games: Haven't tested these yet either, but it's a darn good selection for a thrift store lot. The cost for everything? $30. That copy of New Horizons (if it works) covers the lot by itself! A nice birthday surprise for me! (If anyone might be wondering, I only intend to keep New Horizons and Joe & Mac. The rest will be up for sale once I clean it up & test it.)

It would have been 2003 or later, becuase I bought my first collector-era NES when that blowout happened & I was dating my fiance (he took me to the store). It was doubly nice for me- when I asked for the console, the clerks decided it would also be a great time to clear the NES games out of the employee hold drawer, so I got some nicer titles like Kid Icarus too. I don't think we can count on Gamestop for a measure anymore... assuming they stay in business long enough to fully roll another generation, what's stopping them from just moving old stock to their new 'retro' category?

This is pretty much it. Aside from the fairly clear Current & Last gen, everything else is just when the public consensus gears largely toward a console being retro. It's almost like wine aficionados arguing over when a wine has aged properly- there's a spread of opinions & you have to wait to hit the top of the bell curve for the debate to taper off. (Does that made sense? I don't drink, so...) I do think every system does have a time, after being last gen, where it's just 'old'. After the clearer delineations have ended, but before enough people really care to hunt it down. It also seems that the debate over when something has ceased to be old & started to be retro gets messed up when it's very popular, or very niche. Even though the PS2's age says retro, there's no consensus becuase it was so popular, it remained a relevant option so for long it's had an effect on people's perception. Similarly, I think the Wii U will have an incredibly short window of 'old' due to its limited time on the market. The real oddball is the Vita. It's got a short release window, coupled with an almost rabid fanbase. I feel like the Vita might be the first system to go from 'current' straight to retro... or that it's completely bypassed our usual definitions and become something new.

If anyone's on the fence, I purchased a composite-modded Colecovision from Bradd a few years back & it's lovely. He does good work!

I've had lots of lil' scores from yard sales & secondhand shops over the years. Crusader of Centy cart, $2; Suikoden 2 disc, $5; NES toploader (no hookups or dogbones), $5; PSP 3000 model in carry case with 6 UMDs (no charger), $5; and so on. But, I'm gonna go with my Wii U, becuase it was a very odd set of circumstances. Gamestop had a B2G1 sale going, and the 3 Wii U games I wanted to start my collection in one store. So I asked my fiancé if we could swing by after work so I could pick them up. He waits in the car, I come out with my bag of games- and he looks confused & asks where the Wii U is. Well, there's no special sale on the system right now, so I'll get that a little later, just wanted to get the games while I could, y'know? He doesn't say anything, drives a block up the road, pulls into Best Buy & basically orders me to go buy a console. We go in- this is kind of an odd thing for him to do, so I'm just going along with it. Turns out, they were having a special (which my fiancé knew about)- buy any Wii U, get either Zombi U or Just Dance & a $50 gift card free. And- unlike the Gamestop- they had the Mario+Luigi U bundle in stock. I'm pretty pleased at this point- three more games than I expected, plus I can get a Pro controller! I make my purchase, ended up with Zombi U since Just Dance was out of stock, then run back to get the pro controller once I have the gift card. They tell me my total is $30. I am confused- isn't my gift card $50? Several minutes and 2 managers later, they've got it- there's TWO promotions going, the Wii U one, and one to get s $20 card if you spend over $100. Only one triggered. A lot of register jumping jacks happen but the end result is: My order was refunded & re-rung to trigger both gift cards, and since they couldn't cancel the original one for some reason, I got to keep it. So, for the standard $300 a Wii U cost, I ended up with: the system, Mario U, Luigi U, Zombi U, a pro controller, and $40 in Best Buy gift cards. And the B2G1 from Gamestop for Rayman Legends, Sonic: Lost World, and Wonderful 101. I think it's the largest amount of unintentional savings I've ever got on a console.

I've said it before, I'll say it again- the newest systems are 'current gen'. The ones that immediately preceded them are 'last gen'. Everything else is, arguably, 'retro'. It's just a matter of people being willing to admit they're getting old. (A lot of the 'X isn't retro' arguments I've read over the years tie into a person's personal experience, & not the console itself.) And yes, PS2 is retro. It's long gone from retail stores. Video standards have changed. Save game standards have changed. Popular genres have changed. And Youtubers making 'hidden gems' videos can cause temporary price spikes. The only box we haven't checked is branded merch readily available at Target.

Doing a bit of research for curiosity's sake, and found a couple Reddit posts: My Chinese/HK Gameboy collection I found a rare(ish) Chinese version of SD Hiryu no Ken Gaiden Apparently, these are Hong Kong releases, produced by a company called Mani but officially licensed from Nintendo- which explains the somewhat nonstandard board there. I'm honestly intrigued by these now, but there's very little information on them that I can gather- people keep linking back to a Nintendo Age thread, and we all know how that pans out nowadays 😅

That's actually exactly why I made this thread- my instinct was 'glob tops & chinese writing, this is bootleg!' But then I thought the logos & such were way too correct for it to be that simple. The cart itself is a little finicky, & tends to freeze- but only on my modded GBA. The Gameboy needed an extra try to boot, then ran fine. I may just need to clean it again- the seller said they did, but perhaps transit shook some crud loose.

That's honestly good to know- I'd read in the past that globtops always mean fakes, glad to know that's not the case. I was not looking forward to the ebay case.

Yeah, I think we can all guess the answer to that question... but before I pop over to Ebay & start the whole 'this is a fake' process, I thought I'd check in here and make absolutely sure I've got my ducks in a row. The glob-top in the photo seems like a dead giveaway, but the actual chip does say Nintendo, so- what are the odds this is actually just a Chinese release? Any other key things I should be pointing out if/when I make my case?

For the curious: 2019 thread 2018 thread 2017 thread 2016 thread I have managed, this year, to 'complete' my retro console collection. I bought a modded PC Engine Duo. I bought a Vectrex. I bought an original Gameboy & a backlit-mod GBA. I'm basically good. I mean, I kinda want a 32X & a famicom disc system, but these are not things I have space for, and the amount of games I want cannot justify the cost. It's nothing I dream about having. But, this year it's time to look to the FUTURE! We have a new console generation about to begin! We have niche machines with both indie & retro flair coming to market! We must be READY! That's focus one for 2020- just making tweaks to the setup to accommodate new arrivals in 2020 & 2021, and saving up money to pay for them. I've already got cash set aside to cover the Playdate (which is an easy fit into any collection) and the Amico (which will be harder to work in, but doesn't seem to difficult to figure out). I'm pulling away from the games themselves for awhile to focus on storage options. I recently discovered the bins I use for most of my handheld carts, when a couple of the dividers are removed, are perfect for Famicom & SNES (I seriously love these bins!), so I need to find more of those. I also need to do some examining of my shelving & my fiancé's shelving- the ones in question are all Billy cases from IKEA, but mine are the older run & 'not compatible' with the newer shelves. Trick is, I need to add new peg holes to make things work anyway, so I need to assess how hackable my setup is or if I'd be better off just replacing everything. I need to see if I can cut back the craft bin to a shorter one so I can change out the table it's under for one with a shelf. I need to see if I can relocate my handheld cabinet. Lots of storage tweaking. Aside from that- save, save, save! Save for new consoles releasing holiday, so when the games come I'm ready. Save for summer con season when I buy the pricey games. Save for all the above furniture & storage changes. Also- play, play, play! The games I've actually finished are mostly Switch indies this year, but I've spent more time actively on my systems, and it's lovely. I've discovered I have a soft spot for Compile's output, for example. I'm gonna have to DYI a Blue Lander something-or-other for my con bag. If the money & time allows for it, I would like to start getting some maintenance work done on my machines as well. My channel F still has a broken button. My Sega CD makes grinding noises. The Xbox started turning itself on & off (that's been fixed already.) I've picked up all the old systems I want, time to keep them all running!

Darn it! I'm too late!

Good, good- my plan to seed the world with copies of the Guardian Legend is working beautifully! You'll have to tell me how you like the Triffids, I know my mom will be curious- I don't watch a lot of movies myself, but your list of preferred genres/owned films almost perfectly overlapped her favorites, so I immediately consulted her for recommendations 😄 She was positively giddy when I read her the info- although she did have to rethink her top suggestion since you already had The Brain That Wouldn't Die!

I think hindsight really affects these systems. In the case of the NES, it was a hit & availability opened up shortly after its 'test run'- so there's no real need to mark a separate release date. The 7800 didn't stay available after its test run, so there was a 2-year period where you couldn't get the thing. I think that makes the difference there.

I hereby declare this question impossible to answer (yes, I am being a spoilsport.) Even if I only chose 1 game per system, I'd still have 43 games! That means I have to remove at least 75% of my systems before I can even consider games! I can offer some form of short list, however: Something from the Katamari Damacy series: The Katamari games are a favorite of mine, so I'd definitely have one of them around. The only question is, which one? The original has the most nostalgia, We Love Katamari has the rose thing for play value (I still haven't finished that), & Katamari Forever is like a Greatest Hits take on the game. A hard choice. Lightening Force (Sega Genesis): Had it as a kid, grew more into the genre as an adult & came to appreciate it more & more over the years. The Guardian Legend (NES): Had it as a kid, had it stolen, got it back, beat the first stage for the first time, floored by the change in gameplay. Another one I appreciated more as I got older. Final Fantasy 8 & Final Fantasy 12: My two favorite Final Fantasies. For 12 I'd probably take the Zodiac Age re-release, not committing to that tho'. And no idea what version for 8. A version of Lunar: the Sliver Star: Another favorite RPG, I own & have played through every variant released in the US, save the iOS version (I don't own any Apple products to play it on.) The PlayStation version gets nostalgia points, but I couldn't pick a favorite take. I imagine Sonic 1 on Genesis & some sort of puzzle game could get in too, but I'm not willing to say for sure on those, or on anything else.

I've spent days trying to answer this question- we got the NES when I was in Kindergarten & a Genesis in 4th grade, but I didn't play very much until middle school- so most of my gaming memories are as a teen, not a kid. I finally figured it out though- I think Streets of Rage is my best answer. I played the snot out of that. I learned to play with my feet so I could get the bad endings becuase my siblings wouldn't play that long (a skill I retained throughout my school years- sadly, as an adult my toes are too big for the buttons.)

How did I miss this?! Let me know when more order slots open up, I'm interested!

No worries (although I did a have a brief panic that I'd not put it in the VGCollect list- found it though!) I checked amongst my gaming friends & found it a new home. With a surprising amount of enthusiasm, even ("Isn't that like, the BIGGEST 360 game made? Yes, I'll take it!")

16. The Gardens Between (Switch) Another short-but-sweet indie game. Probably spent too much on the physical release, but as a download, it's wonderful.

If you don't need them fully displayed, Lynx carts fit in small gaming card sleeves (the kind designed for Yugioh cards.) You'll have to cut the top third or so off. Then you can just put them in a shallow desk organizer bin to flip through.

My package arrived today! I was going to save it- it's been a fairly easy December in retail land. Buuuuuut- my niece was visiting. YOU tell the 5 year old you're not opening mail from Santa!😆 Anyway, here's what I got: Always down for more Reese's Pieces! I actually already have Lost Odyssey... so the next step is to check over each disc/manual & decide which ones are in the best condition to keep 😜 I'm amused at getting the Avengers. I used to have a copy, but I actually sent it as an Atari Age Secret Santa gift a couple years ago (since my giftee wanted the O-ring &my copy had it.) Pleased to have a replacement copy! I'm most pleased, though, with that copy of Concrete Genie! Of everything on my wish list this year, that's the one game I wanted the most! My niece was into it too: She decided, based on the cover, that the game was about ghosts & insisted we play the Ghost Game. Like, IMMEDIATELY. Sadly, my PS4 wanted to update, so she had to head home before we really got into it. I told her we can play next week on Christmas. In conclusion, to quote my niece: THANK YOU SANTA!