jferio

I stopped by one of my favored thrifts while I was running some lunch errands. Sega Genesis Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist, in clamshell with manual, for $4. Well worth the stop.

Is it a painted/silkscreened label... or a replacement made from decal film like you use for models? If it's the latter, the white box that extends almost to the edge would be necessary to make the red 'opaque' against the black of the cart plastic.

A bit of grazing the past three days from various thrifts: Atari Flashback 2 CX-40b stick: $2 Video Touchpad with Star Raiders overlay: $4 (a good spare for my boxed copy) Nintendo NES AC power supply: $2 (keeping as a spare, and yes, I did make sure they didn't have an NES on the shelf separately!) Text label Breakout: $3 Fire Fighter: $3 (and possibly overpaid!)

You can also add a different power connector if you're inclined... I've done that to mine, and my friend's unit, so that they can both take a standard 2600 power supply, or the closest available 'generic' supply that uses that sort of positive center tip. (1/8" mono headphone plug)

They're definitely available in Colorado, I picked up my set... still have yet to try them on my Windows machine, my poor Mac Mini just doesn't have the horsepower to do them justice. Worst case, it's nice artwork to peg to the wall.

Last night and tonight: Poker Face Paul's Gin for Game Gear, with clamshell: $2 Cardboard large box Destruction Derby for PS1, no manual: $6 Long jewel case Mortal Kombat 3 for PS1, complete: $6

The power switch is great! I have 2 of those and 3 of the more modern ones. These are great for PC's(as they were intended), multiple game consoles(no need to let them all draw power), dvd players/televisions(same). I buy them whenever I see them cheap. I run three of those in the gaming rig right now, and two somewhat more modern ones. I'm working on standardizing on this rocker switch style though, it fits much of my collection in terms of style.

Another small set of gaming finds: Jakks Atari 10-in-1 Paddle: $4 Killer Instinct SNES: $2

I visited a thrift on the way to the folks' place that I rarely ever visit, and it turned up these gems: NES Castlevania: $5 Another power center I can use in my rig: $2 Abalone (complete): $2.50

I always delete... maybe checking to see if there's a good indicator of the progress made like a level number, but overall, I prefer to start from scratch unless it's a game that's mostly made of unlockable characters and costumes.

OK, here's an update for February 2010. I've added the second bookshelf, N64, Sega Dreamcast, Atari Heavy Sixer and GameCube Player to the rig since I started this thread. I also got several 'power center' power strips to provide power to the consoles on a very individual basis. I've also, ahem, cleaned up considerably for these photos. The prior batch had been taken with piles of clutter behind me.

I can vouch for the 300mA power supply myself, I used one for years on a Vader and a Woody. It's not worth the effort to make your own, really, not when you can get them so cheap.

Yes, that I'm sure, but I can also imagine that the complaint would come from people who are trying to store their PS1 games in with their music CDs. On another factor, PS2 slimline's lid... a relatively minor quibble, but when I have it vertical on the stand, the lid snaps back with just enough force that the console rocks a little bit on its foundation.

It looks like the shift has occurred. I have an Xbox, GC and PS2 slim in the gaming rig here... and all the cords are either simple power cords with the power supply internal to the console, or the 'wart' is in the middle of the cord. I suspect that it's in part because we have so much plugged in with the typical entertainment center, that it's becoming much more of a 'deal breaker' for a console to have a big wall wart that obscures at least one outlet when it's plugged in. With that, my gripes are the 2600 'Heavy Sixer' and 'Light Sixer', where not only are the joystick ports on the back, but the lower back. I solved it by just dedicating my two 9 pin extensions to the system, which also solves any cord length issues I might have. Hardwired controllers. I shouldn't have to disassemble the system to replace a bum controller. At all. Multiple power bricks for a combination. I'm really not sure why they didn't look at either a 'piggy back' design where you connect the central console's power brick to the back of the add on power brick, or give a beefier brick with two console connectors. Reduced functionality in a later revision. Sony, I'm looking at you and the PS3 losing PS2 compatibility. It may well have been the cheaper decision to do that rather than pull the PS2 off the market, but I fully expect that decision did cost you some adopters. While some of us collect, it's nice if we don't have to hook up all the generations of a console unless we really want to. This is hampered by PS2 games still being made and sold. Inflexible storage. PS1 memory cards. I have... six memory cards just to ensure I have enough storage. And I'm unwilling to trust any 'trick' to get more storage than the console was designed to address. No ability to manage save storage. N64? We need to have a little talk about the memory cards, and that I can't manage saves directly from the console without a cart that uses the memory card. The SegaCD did it. The Dreamcast did it. Even if it's a cart system, this is NOT a technical limitation that shouldn't have been broken, some of the Master Systems had Hang On/Safari Hunt built in to the consoles that would come up when there was not a cart inserted. I agree with the 7800's poor visibility of the difficulty switches (not that the 4 switchers were much better in that respect). I also dislike the overly tight cartridge port collar. I modded mine, but I had an encounter with the issue with my friend's 7800 that I just repaired this past week. Lack of end labels on carts. Loose carts and many storage methods that are actually space efficient makes this a losing combination. N64? Master System? I shouldn't need a labeler for carts, just for things like AV switches. Console combination AV cables. I've actually found that, with two of three of a generation going into nothing but standby, with no real good power-off option, that the sound hardware in standby will kill the sound on the other consoles using that same cable. Or when I use the individual cables, but try to use y-splitters to hook them all up to the same inputs. I would love to be using the combination cable for all three, but I really can't. I put this more on the consoles, since the PS2 fat could be actually switched off, versus just dropped into standby, and I don't think it would've taken much for either the PS2 slim, nor the Xbox, to completely power down the audio hardware so that it didn't leech away the signal. I know someone above mentioned proprietary A/V connections. One of the things I have to look at with consoles at thrifts is whether or not they include the A/V cable. If not, I pass. Even power supplies are mostly an issue I can resolve without breaking out a soldering iron. Poorly designed add-ons. I'm mostly looking at the issues with the Genesis addons of 32X (mushroom of death), and to a lesser degree the SegaCD (bulky!). There's also the bulk of the Intellivoice unit. I much prefer Nintendo's placement of the expansion connectors, on the bottom of the consoles. I have a GameBoy Player for the GC, and it is by far one of the best designs for an add-on I've seen, although the PowerBase Converter comes close. I know it would've been much more expensive for the Intellivoice to route to the underside of the console and place the cart port either almost under where it was, or up front, but my INTV is a pretty tight fit in the rig already, even knowing I'm pulling it off the shelf to play, but I dread the nightmare it's going to be when I finally track down an Intellivoice for it. Overly large cart shells. NES, SNES, I'm looking at you. Not that they stack badly, just that my NES2 requires so much overhead clearance for the damned cart to stick up... and the SNES carts are just taller enough than a CD jewel case that I have to set the shelf down another notch on my storage to accommodate the carts standing on end where I can see the labels in line. On the opposite end are the Master System carts, which fit audio cassette racks absolutely perfectly. Kinda in the middle are Genesis carts, which were designed to be stored in their plastic clamshells, and have the damned rounded ends on them that make it hard to do the on end storage I prefer. Unless one has a good way to 'chock' them once on the shelf, they will fall over like a stack of dominoes. Non-stacking cart designs. Mattel, I'm looking at the Atari compatible carts you made. That collar makes for the damndest issue with about any storage method except throwing them in a box standing up on end. And even then it gets hairy. Double wide CD cases. Serious. Now, granted, some PS1 games require them because they have so many discs to them, but seriously? YuGiOh needs one? What's being smoked here? And I know I've gotten double CD cases that are the same size as a single jewel case, so don't blow the smoke at me about requiring it for a 2 disc package. I need to store 16 systems worth of games... every little bit of space is valuable here.

One can also imagine, in those companies that the video games were a sideline business, there was a rather serious lack of interest in reentering a market that had already spectacularly crashed once, and wasn't guaranteed to do another crash in a quick time. CEOs and investors don't like to get burned twice. By the time they realized it was sticking around this time, it was too late to get in on the ground floor.

Some CD/tape storage racks for $4.50 total, one N64 controller for $3, and a boxed set of knockoff Atari paddles for $4. As it turns out, the loose Sega Genesis and Sega Master carts fit into the tape slots about perfectly.

Found today: NES Super Mario Brothers 2: $3 Genesis Top Gear 2: $5 2600 Stargate: $6 PS1 Crash Bandicoot with Crash Bandicoot Warped tucked inside: $6 PS1 Metal Gear Solid: $7

Guitar Hero PS2 controller (iffy wammy bar, should be able to fix): $9 Xbox controller (bad cord, will have to splice): $6 Ecco the Dolphin (boxed, complete): $4 Ecco: The Tides of Time: $1.50 and Sega 2103 power supply: $2

If the speakers work well with the existing group of composite and audio equipped consoles, then using the VCR in the middle should get the RF units through to the speakers as well. I've done it this way on my own rig. The speakers in my television are fine, but I like having the external stuff.

A friend and I went thrifting, big time, today. He got a NES Zapper for $2, and an Xbox controller in green for $6 that needs its cable replaced. I got an N64 and one controller for $15 at one place, 007 Goldeneye for same for $2 at another, and two more controllers at the third place, with a memory card, for $6.

Did a run of thrifting on the way to my friend's place to watch Mythbusters. Asciiware Power Clutch SG stick: $8 Super Nintendo Cleaning Kit: $5 Sega Dreamcast complete in box with Sonic Adventure, NHL 2K and Quake III Arena: $25

Congrats on getting it working... I actually didn't put in a diode on my handbuild of the circuit, but the resistors are pretty important.

A friend and I bought up a store's entire supply of 4 UltraRacer paddle wheels for the PS1. He already had one (that really needed the pot cleaned out) and I like them far better for quick gaming when you need a steering wheel. I've also seen that they're available for the Xbox, complete with a slot for a memory card.

I did this conversion myself with a Wico Bat that the original cord had gotten crimped, replacing it with a cord from an old Sega 3 button pad. I even wired the switch that toggles between the base button and the stick button to flip which is assigned to which 7800 button. It turns out that if you get the existing solder off the switch, it's actually "double pole, double throw", the solder bridges it into a "single pole, double throw" type. Outside of the end of the cord, you can't tell that I've modified it.

Four new finds for me. Tetris Gameboy, $1 Gunstar Heroes, $3 Contra, $3 QBert NES, $3