Real collection vs. emulation based collection, true costs!

[Keatah]

I have calculated the cost of a proper and complete 1st gen classic gaming collection, consisting of the following;

 

Atari 2600

Atari 5200

Atari 400/800/130xe

Atari 7800

Atari 520/1040st

Original MAC 128k

LISA

Odyssey^2

ColecoVision

Vectrex

Bally Astrocade

TRS-80 Model 1 & 3

TRS-80 Model 2

MicroVision (handheld game, with LCD)

PSX

Nes 8-bit

C-64

Vic-20

SMS

Apple ][ series

Aquarius

Times Sinclair

Amiga 500/1000

Ti-994A

Atari Video Pinball stand alone console

10 of your most favorite full size arcade cabinets in mint (restored as needed) condition..

A carton full of your favorite handheld L.E.D. games, with the first ones being the Mattel Auto Race, Football, Basketball, units. Perhaps Merlin and Simon and Ideal's A-Maze-A-Tron.

We might as well throw in a few others from that era, like Big Trak, Speak'n'Spell, Starbird.

Perhaps a PC or 2 for MAME and MESS. Don't forget a few terabytes of removable storage. But that's dirt cheap nowadays. You should not spend more than 2 grand on last years top-of-the-line pc's and today's hard disks. You will get a *LOT* of stuff for such a small price.

 

And *THE* grand total is a little over $75k.

 

What U say!??!?!

 

OMFG!!!

 

Erm, yehp, go figger it out! Do the math! Now I'm not going to give you exact figures as availability and pricing constantly change, but here's the framework. Don't believe me? Read on.. boys and girls.. Read on!

 

First of all we are going to touch on the rotting label syndrome. There is another name for this and it sounds like a bonafide disease. I forget what it was though. Anyways, you have all seen this problem with older carts, bleedthrough of the adhesive, ugly isn’t it? To counteract this you will have removed the label, removed the original adhesive, and replaced it with a non-penetrating/bleeding silicon based glue. How to do this is beyond the scope of this posting. Suffice it to say your cartridge labels must not show any sign of curling, lifting, buckling, or puckering, nor any evidence of the adhesive oozing beyond the label edges or through the label printing. The label adhesive must not have migrated into and discolored the substrate and/or caused staining of the substrate after normal aging. Any re-applied label must be squared in position with no more than +/- .4mm error in any direction. These things are from 70’s, last century for you newbies!

 

Your cartridge boxes must be packed in containers which are so constructed to ensure that they maintain the contents in new condition - dry, undamaged and without kinks or creases. A BOM on the outside of each container must list the contents within; specifying the number of items, mfg name, cart name, date, applicable serial numbers. A separate numbering scheme should be enlisted to identify said box and contents within a database.

 

Odorlessness, this is important. You cannot utilize any construction material that will outgas any VOCs or corrosive vapors that can harm paper, metal, and plastics.

 

A dedicated room in the house, employing correct environmental controls, shelving materials, plastic containers and display cases is required. The room portion is surprisingly cheap and will be cheaper than a completed collection of Apple ][ stuff, for example.. just get some drywall and cordon off a section of your basement. You get a bonus if you have a contractor do it professionally!

 

Now be sure you have original receipts, documentation, manuals, warranty cards, boxes, cables, controllers, rf switch boxes that are not corroded or tarnished. Be sure that 5200 is totally glossed and not a scratch anywhere. Not even a hairline smudge. I want you to buy a new iPod and look at the mirror finish, be sure that 5200 looks just so!

 

Much of your documentation will have (or soon should) go through a deacidification process to prevent fading and yellowing. Your manuals shall be free from torn pages, rust deposits on the stapled, ‘dog-ears’, loose pages, torn pages, fast food stains, blocking(stuck together pages), sandwiched food grains, etc..

 

There should be scanned copies of all documentation, 600dpi minimum.

 

The rubber on the 2600 joysticks should not be smooshy or sticky. You should have all varieties of those sticks, including the ones issued with the first heavy-sixers - the ones with the tiny metal "Atari" disc glued on top and long-throw action and pressable fire-button.

 

Your 5200 sticks should be 100 percent functional and the force needed to press the buttons must be equal across all 4 sticks. The Colecovision power connector should be clean and arc free, Intellivision disc pads should activate smoothly if you rolled a good-sized ballbearing around on it. Edges on boxes must not be frayed. You also need a set of useable controllers that you don't mind breaking from time to time or get mad if the dog pisses on them or something.

 

You should have at least 50% of the available software for computers, and almost 90% for rom-based consoles. Granted there is some stuff not available anymore, and some of the computer stuff is simply filler material, or just so bad. These are my guidelines, yours may vary, and that is O.K. Since you''ll be using emulation to pick up the slack. And you'll be using emulation to play most of this stuff, most of the time. You're not going to want to keep ripping into your pristine shrine we're in the process of making, now are we?? The next words I expect to hear from you is "NO SIR!" You might want to run emulation through an original xbox, for realism. And perhaps a laptop to take with you.

 

Get all the oem add-ons like Intellivoice, or perhaps the expansion chassis for a TI/99-4A and a load of expansion cards, documentation and software to go with it. Don't forget disk drives, printers, memory boards, serial and parallel interfaces, accelerator boards, speech boards, controllers, rom cards, modems. A box of spare replacement chips. Some classic TV's or monitors, preferably the same ones shown in advertisements of the day. To wrap it up, get some L.E.D. Calculators and maybe your top 5 most favorite ones. These can raise the cost by $5.00 each. Mine is unfortunately the TI-59, and it cost a microbundle to acquire some missing items.

 

You should also set aside $1000.00 for a good tool set, DMM/LCR meter, o'scope, soldering iron and torch, lighted magnifier.. Workbench is optional here. After all, you will need to effect repairs from time to time. You want to this with minimum hassle. You want to do this with confidence and style. Get some electronics books and *read* them! Order yourself a Mouser catalog, this should be one of the few free items! Learn Excel and Access, you will want to keep record of everything. A nice Nikon D90 will let you document your collection with a touch of elegance. You will become friends with a few electrical engineers and computer geeks from around your neighborhood. Say what?? There will always be a problem, sooner or later, that you can't solve. Just get'em some pizza and beer and you now have the next best thing to the original designers - on call, 24/7! If they have kids, get the children some bubble-blow-soap or something that shoots stuff. Instant hit!!

 

Surge suppressors and powerstrips are the order of the day, you're ONE-UP if you go UPS! You will be using that o'scope and power meter to check AC line conditions from time to time. Or you might use it to fix a faulty address line in that Gyruss upright. You will need that DMM to wire up custom controllers through ipac and opti-pac in that full-size MAME cabinet you built for party guests. After all, you don't want to beat on your originals, do you?

 

You are going to use a dearth of cleaning chemicals where appropriate, from gold contact cleaner, silver and tin contact lubricant, to plastic preservatives and protectants.. You will mostly use lint-free cotton socks and underwear (I kid you not) to dust and clean your consoles from time to time. Basic liquid hand soap and water works excellent here, as long your stuff isn't thrifted. Don't forget high-grade silicone lubricant that will not attack plastics. Remember, you will be buying premium-condition items here and they should not be so dirty as to need heavy cleaning. Directly though, you are going to buy NOS equipment, or have been lucky enough to get consoles and not have opened them yet.

 

The list of do's and dont's is far more extensive, but you get the idea. A complete collection is only complete when it is COMPLETE, FUNCTIONING, and MAINTAINABLE.

 

So get off that fat *** duff'O yours and start collect'n da'right way!

 

Or just go with emulation, with a total estimated cost of about $2500.00 for everything. Emulation is upgradeable, customizable, educational, compact, aesthetically pleasing, portable, affordable, durable, 'backupable', long-lived, stress free, timely, girlfriend-pleasing, and improving every month.. Hey!! What else can I say? GO EMU!

 

Uhm girlfriend-pleasing? Yeh, Women are generally make more common-sense then single-minded, short-sighted OCD hoarding men. Pursuing such trivialities as collecting old videogames is an annoyance to most women. They will, however, 100% approve of a ‘nice’ gentle and small collection that can fit in a Rubbermaid. Just tell them it’s for the next Tupperware party. Heheh if only they could comprehend the extent of 5x2TB emulation collection bwaaahahahaaa!! Like I say, as long as they don’t see the manly sprawl of excessive hardware they’re fine..

 

But, getting 100% away from the real stuff netted me a good chunk of change toward a cts-V. Now, you tell me, is that suh-weet or what? Good luck, best regards, and happy days to all!

[Mark Wolfe]

hmm, aside from the actual arcade cabinets, and a few of the consoles or computers in your list, I have this exact collection, plus a ton more you do not list with handhelds to boot and it no where near came to 75k.

 

Can you tell me why you do not include any other consoles except for the Atari stuff? You do have a NES listed but no SMS. You have Playstation 1 listed but no Genesis? or SNES? or N64 or Turbo Duo or Saturn or Dreamcast. I guess I just do not agree that your list is "a proper and complete 1st gen classic gaming collection" . There seems to be no rhyme or reason behind it. Some things are indeed true 1st gen but others are not.

 

I would toss the term 1st gen and use the term "classic" instead and then totally revamp the list. I'd also break it up into categories like consoles, computers, handhelds, arcade, etc

[GroovyBee]

From a UK perspective you're also missing an Oric 1, Oric Atmos, BBC micro, Acorn Electron, Amstrad CPC464, Dragon 32, MSX (various), Sharp MZ80K, Jupiter ACE, ZX80, ZX81 and a Commodore PET. All of which I'd class as 1st generation too.

[Keatah]

hmm, aside from the actual arcade cabinets, and a few of the consoles or computers in your list, I have this exact collection, plus a ton more you do not list with handhelds to boot and it no where near came to 75k.

 

Can you tell me why you do not include any other consoles except for the Atari stuff? You do have a NES listed but no SMS. You have Playstation 1 listed but no Genesis? or SNES? or N64 or Turbo Duo or Saturn or Dreamcast. I guess I just do not agree that your list is "a proper and complete 1st gen classic gaming collection" . There seems to be no rhyme or reason behind it. Some things are indeed true 1st gen but others are not.

 

I would toss the term 1st gen and use the term "classic" instead and then totally revamp the list. I'd also break it up into categories like consoles, computers, handhelds, arcade, etc

 

 

ahh yeh, I forgot those in the list, I also forgot to add trs-80 color computer, coleco telstar, Fidelity chess challenger units (one with voice, 3 without). though I am hesitant to call the likes of Jaguar, or dreamcast or 3DO as first gen. And perhaps "classic" would be a better choice of words. As what defines 1st gen? Specs? Time of mfg? BC?

 

I never got into the European offerings, though that will probably change soon enough.

 

The 75k cost includes the 'infrastructure' too, like tools and display cases, spare parts, cleaning and packing materials, etc..

 

 

SMS *IS* listed..

[Nukey Shay]

First generation consoles were dedicated (non-programmable) systems. The introduction of programmable systems began the second generation (the Fairchild system was first, just before the 2600). Third generation is kind of iffy...beginning at either the resurrection of the console market by Nintendo and Sega...or the debut of the Colecovision (which was hailed as "the next wave" at the time). Some choose to ignore the CV and push it down to second generation, since it was orphaned along with most all other early ones in the market crash. Since Nintendo weathered the market since, you can pretty much map successive generations based on what top-end console they produced thereafter...even tho they were (never?) first in the respective generation.

 

The ones you mentioned are fifth generation. Current systems are seventh.

 

It makes no sense in trying to lump home computers, arcade machines, etc. into the same "generation" as what was applied to the console market's offerings at the time...since they evolved more frequently & rapidly than consoles (besides which, had nothing to do with the console market...internally within the companies that produced them, or externally on how the public was introduced to them).

Edited May 5, 2009 by Nukey Shay

[+remowilliams]

So, basically you're saying that paying for real hardware is more expensive than emulators which cost nothing?

 

And that if you are a short sighted mental patient that happens to like real hardware, that essentially women will never talk to you.

[Nukey Shay]

I'd guess that women prefer real hardware

[Rev]

how long did it take you to write this thread up

 

cause it only took me 30 seconds to write this response and about a minute of skimming through your book like thread

[brojamfootball]

I don't need to have my collection be "proper and complete." A large portion of what is listed for this collection is crap. Every generation has more junk than gems.

[+remowilliams]

Ah, now I see. This is the 'there is too much old technology' thread to match the multiple 'there is too much new technology' threads.

 

[Keatah]

I dunno. Sometimes I use voice dictatation for posting. That makes for lengthy thread starters.

 

Women don't like piles of junk electronics. You've gotta keep your stuff clean.

 

It doesn't matter if technology is old OR new.. There is too much of it

[carmel_andrews]

Actually, emulation collecting ISNT free (you have to pay for the internet connection) or if you are buying an emulation rom cd/dvd collection you have to pay for it

[Video]

The only possible way to come up with that ffigure, is to assume someone bought all of that at release for full retail. There's no way to come close to that any other way. Hell, most complete collections can be had for fairly inexpinsively, it's that one or two uber rare titles that are the problemm, not the rest of the collection.

[Polybius]

Actually, emulation collecting ISNT free (you have to pay for the internet connection) or if you are buying an emulation rom cd/dvd collection you have to pay for it

 

 

Use someone elses computer, then it's free!

[Polybius]

If I had all of the real Hardware, that would be AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Mezrabad]

I'm well aware that your point is not to display a comprehensive or exact list (or you'd have displayed your numbers and not left off things like Magnavox Odyssey ) but to rather bring up the question of costs in collecting vs. emulation.

 

You're absolutely right on a single point: emulation is cheaper. This leads to the corrollary: you get what you pay for.

 

When you emulate, you're seeing the games through the lens of the emulator and without the proper controllers. This is a great way to get an idea of the gameplay mechanics, the way the graphics were put together, and the sound effects - (if emulated}. However, it's a little like watching a network broadcast of Star Wars on a 13" black and white TV with commercials and iffy reception. You'll know the plot, you'll hear the dialog and see everything that happens, but is that experience anything close to seeing it in a movie theater?

 

PS: Look up the word "dearth" it doesn't mean what you think it means.

Edited July 26, 2009 by Mezrabad

[S1500]

I think I know where the inspiration of this post came. There's that one guy who used to spam USENET selling his Atari goods(hardware & software), and he rattled on the fact it's cheaper "in the long run" to buy the original Atari 8 bit hardware, etc than dare use an emulator.

 

I'm sure that the fact he asks for people to donate old unused 8-bit hardware + he sells Atari hardware is just sheer coincidence.