deepthaw

NES was not limited to platformers in the slightest. There were titles like Solar Jetman, R.C. Pro-Am, Snake Rattle 'n Roll, Punch-Out, none of which fall into the platformer stereotype. We couldn't afford a computer when I was a kid, but I still managed to discover adventure and strategy games via my NES (Maniac Mansion, Romance of the Three Kingdoms.) PCs were better for those type of games, but the NES ports weren't awful. Meanwhile, I'm struggling to think of contemporary action games, even on computers, that had the depth of content that a game like Castlevania III or Ninja Gaiden had. RPGs were an interesting sticking point: Dragon Quest (Dragon Warrior) was an intentional nod to the likes of Ultima & Wizardry, but also defined the console RPG vs the computer RPG. Some PC to NES RPG ports were excellent (Wizardry), others were fair-to-middling (Ultima III & IV). The console style of RPG seemed better received in my area, with friends viewing Ultima as "Dragon Warrior but confusing and with food." I stuck with Ultima and got heavily into it on PCs, but I still enjoyed the likes of Final Fantasy.

Forgot to mention: I think the gog.com forums are pretty lively for gold box games - particularly since GOG bought the distribution rights a couple years ago.

FRUA forums are the best I can think of off-hand... http://ua.reonis.com/ I'd also recommend visiting crpgaddict's blog and checking out his reviews. They're always good fun. http://crpgaddict.blogspot.com/2011/05/game-57-pool-of-radiance-1988.html

I grew up on the Atari 2600, but jumped ship to the NES as soon as it was released and quickly wasted most of my childhood in front of one. A huge chunk of my life has been spent playing Street Fighter and its descendants. All of these are left-hand controller, right hand buttons. I still play games today, and everything modern is the same way. But when I go to the local arcade and visit my old regular, Ms. Pac-Man, I still instinctively play with my right hand. I don't even think about it. I guess it's the lack of buttons. How about you folks: Despite decades of learning to play "left-handed" do you find yourselves switching it up in the arcade when it's possible?

Finally got a TV stand for my Trinitron, everything's working great. Unfortunately - the Trinitron has a minor scratch. You can't notice it 98% of the time, but my mind is utterly fixated on it. I've heard that the best you can do for CRT scratches is the filler stuff from eyeglass repair kits. Anybody have any experience with that?

I've looked at it, and waffled on picking one up. I've heard excellent things about it, but that's also money that I could instead use to pick up real hardware.

Son got a Switch for Christmas. When he's not playing a Mario or Lego game, I'm using it for indie games (mostly.) Most of them are retro-styled. Blaster Master Zero Remake of the NES classic. Part of the "enhanced" retro style of modern games that look 8-bit, but upon further investigation, clearly do things that a real 8-bit system couldn't handle. Quality title - my main gripe was that the difficulty was too low. The original Blaster Master was brutal - this one was far too easy. Mighty Gunvolt Burst After Capcom decided to stop making Mega Man games, his creator went on to make Mighty No. 9 (which was poorly received) while the people who worked on the Mega Man Zero games went on to make Gunvolt. This is a crossover between those series done in 8-bit style. Basically a Mega Man clone except for a highly customizable weapon system. So customizable in fact, that the customizations become mostly meaningless once you realize how to make the most ridiculously powerful weapons you can. Difficult is somewhat inconsistent, but it's an otherwise enjoyable (and cheap!) couple evenings of play. Retro City Rampage This was originally a proof of concept for a Grand Theft Auto (in the style of 1 & 2, not 3 and later) game for NES. Filled to the brim with retrogaming and pop-culture references. I had a lot of fun stealing the van from TMNT for the NES and plowing through civilians. There are a handful of segments that steal mechanics from other classic games, and it feels like a missed opportunity that there weren't more of these. By the end, it felt more like work than fun to finish the game, but was overall enjoyable. Includes the NES proof-of-concept as a bonus feature. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Technically neither classic nor retro, this game nonetheless instilled in me the sense of wonder and exploration that I felt as a child when I first played the original Zelda. There's a reason practically every place that gives gaming awards gave it game of the year. Even the jaded grognards among us (which I frequently am) need to give it a try. It's the only game I've logged 70+ hours on in over a decade, and it never felt like it was dragging. And apparently the Wii U version is just as good as the Switch version, so you might not even need to buy a Switch.

Some weirdness to be aware of which I discovered on my Vizio 4K LCD. Different HDMI ports may have different input lag. Weird, I know. I picked up my TV specifically because it had excellent input lag but I found out that it's only one HDMI input that has that minimal lag. So it might be worth researching your particular TV to see if that's true, or even just switching around ports.

Then Humble Bundle started offering Steam keys and well... According to this I've played less than half the games I own. https://steamdb.info/calculator/76561197960282507

After trying off-and-on to get my Retropie working on a CRT, I found that somebody made some custom shaders that make it work *much* better. https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/11628/240p-and-mame-scaling Basically - the Retropie can do 240p over composite if you have the right cable (like a Zune AV cable). But since it can't do all the custom timings and so on, stuff like SNES games end up with either the wrong aspect ratio (because they run at 256x224) or bad scrolling artifacts (from trying to scale that 256 pixels to 320x240.) The directions on here include the shaders that cleaned up all of those scrolling artifacts and make it look ... well, about as good as you'd expect a classic game system running on composite to look. Haven't gotten to try it on my 27" Trinitron yet to see if it stays acceptable, but I think it'll work well enough to tide me over until I can get the actual systems.

How well do these work on CRTs? Picked up a circa 2003 Trinitron with component inputs, and I'm looking at whether it's worth the extra cost vs. going for s-video.

So, we're not counting Steam sales here are we? Because more than once I've tried to impulse buy something on sale only to realize I already bought it and have yet to play it...

I have two CRTs, a little 13 inch or so Trinitron as well as a 27 inch Trinitron I picked up yesterday. Moved into a house last year, and I believe I've already identified a corner of the basement that will become my retrogaming nook. I've been playing with getting composite output on my Retropie and it actually looks pretty nice on the smaller one. Once I bring the big CRT inside I'll move the Pi over. Long term plan is to hook up actual game systems to it and phase out the Pi. Already have a 5200 on which I'm awaiting the parts to do a power mod, and I've been keeping an eye out for a cheap Genesis/Megadrive. Ironically - I grew up playing the hell out of my NES and SNES and have next to no interest in picking either back up for my retro collection. It's partially the price, and partially that I'm eager to play the games I missed out on.

50pk Presaturated Swipe Head Cleaning Cards (Dual Side) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GAC7DB6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_PTvXAbA91E33F Stuff like that.

Forgot about that. Where I work, we used to have card readers and printers that used what was basically a fabric card soaked with rubbing alcohol for cleaning its innards. I bet I could order those online and use them.

Was given an Atari 5200 recently, which has kickstarted my long dormant need to start restoring/collecting classic consoles and computers. What are the basics everybody should have in a "retro-restore" kit? Even the cheap stuff, so that you don't get halfway through a project then grumble because you have to run down the street and spend two bucks buying something. What I've got so far is: Soldering Kit Desoldering wick & pump Electronics kit with a bunch of resisters/capacitors (none of which will be what I need, but I tried...) Conductive paint/pen Screwdriver with all the weird bits Drill with small bits 99.9% alcohol Q-Tips Baking soda Magic Eraser(s) Paper Towels Windex Goo-Gone What else will I find extremely useful to have? (I need to replace my helping hands I lost in a move...) Particular IC socket sizes that should always be on hand?

Four port my boss gave me for helping him with some tech stuff at his house. https://imgur.com/a/lyXpn S.N. 0173819 SV-462