/vr/ - Retro Games

[Anonymous No.1354469]

>Want to play a retro game

>Have to buy the game for the same price as a new, modern game if not more, thanks to price-gougers
>Have to clean cart and replace battery
>Have to find old controllers that aren't damaged with gradual wear.
>Slight chance console won't work for no reason.

I have been a physical media collector my whole life, but really it's just starting to be so much trouble and money. It seems like with modern games going towards the route of all-digital, maybe I should just stop caring and start playing my retro games on emulators too.

How does /vr/ cope with the rising cost and effort of being a retro game player? Maybe if I had a higher paying job I would still be interested, but I feel like I'm being squeezed out by people with disposable income

[Anonymous No.1354478]

>>1354469
>How does /vr/ cope with the rising cost and effort of being a retro game player?

I hit up coolrom and open up my nearest SNES/PSX/Genesis/Whatever emulator. Being a collector is fine, but if you start having some serious issues, just drop it and hit the alternatives.

[Anonymous No.1354489]

I emulate games I don't have. That's really the most economical course of action. I know I got to a point where I just cannot justify spending more money on games when I can just as easily emulate them.

Flash carts are a good alternative too, if accuracy is a necessity for you.

[Anonymous No.1354618]

I don't know why you'd want to play retro on retro consoles now.

Digital is just more convenient. You get fast-forward and save-states for busy on-the-go gaming.

I definitely do not miss playing original consoles.

[Anonymous No.1354692]

>>1354469
>>Have to buy the game for the same price as a new, modern game if not more, thanks to price-gougers
If this is really the case, you're doing it wrong.

[Anonymous No.1354717]

>>1354469
I emulate.

[Anonymous No.1354723]

I have emulators for every console I care about and every game in their libraries available to me at no cost...I have a CRT and a PS2 controller with a thing to plug it into my computer and play my games with.

I feel no need to buy games at this point, especially at the prices they go for these days.

[eTan !OD.c6PSqx6 No.1354731]

I usually attempt to buy it on virtual console before I emulate it. If its available, I'll play it that way, since I want to support having those easily available, legal, and at the possible chance of showing interest for more stuff (cough cough mother 3 Nintendo, come on)

Emulation is a last resort for me since I do own much of the retro consoles and games I am interested in! The joy of starting collecting five years ago.

[Anonymous No.1354734]

How do you maintain and grow your collection? Well, of course you always be on the lookout for cheap games. Everybody knows that.

If you've been a collector your whole life then you should already have a huge video game library and also be familiar with the market forces.

To keep your collection strong, you leverage the items that are experiencing outrageously high values (I'm looking at you, S/NES) to blow up your collection in undervalued areas (PS2) and then, when the market changes you leverage the value you've added to your collection through wise investment to replace anything you might have missed when you let it go at an unbeatably high price.

Do you have any idea how many PSX games I got in trade for Earthbound five years ago? They're already worth more than current values and I predict EB will go back down to $100-$150 by 2016.

[Anonymous No.1354736]

>>1354469
>How does /vr/ cope with the rising cost and effort of being a retro game player?
I don't. Because that's not a retro game player cost, that's a collector cost.

[Anonymous No.1354754]

>>1354469
I buy flash carts.

[Anonymous No.1356892]

>>1354469
I buy the cheap stuff. I emulate the expensive stuff. But then a problem arises because for some reason my computer has issues emulating PS1 games, so when it comes to games like Tales of Eternia and Mega Man Legends 2, I'm pretty much stuck paying full price, since they aren't on the PSN network.

[Anonymous No.1356915]

Buy what I can afford and what I can stomach paying, other wise buy digital copies and suck up my pride.

Emulate at last resort.

And there really are certain games I just accept I may never own, like earthbound for example. Hard copy that is.

[Anonymous No.1356971]

>>1354469
I hunt. It is an expensive hobby sometimes, depending on where you live, but you can get to know people in the community, gaming stores, retro groups etc, and chug to thrift stores to snap up deals so long as you're not specifically after a certain game it works relatively well.

I don't do the ebay thing, I'd rather emulate than dip into that festering pit.

But now that I've spent all of my disposable income years income on games I'm beginning to see the joy of emulation when it comes to PLAYING the games, and see the joy of having a collection for it's own sake.

There is a big difference between collector and player, I'm a little more about the hunt than playing the game, but at the end of the day I love having shelves full of options, and I always end up playing a wider variety than I would emulating everything on my PC. That being said, consoles I don't own I emulate [turbografx comes to mind] and those with controllers I really like/would be a pain to emulate [nothing beats a real n64 controller] I try and get physically.

And at the end of the day I'm hoping the bubble lasts a bit longer so if I really do bite the bullet and start selling my collection, or at least the higher end/earlier pieces. As it scales. I've noticed nes/snes games dropping and PS1 games rising in my area. Whether or not it's the wave riding out I don't know, but I got a bunch of ps1 I could ditch.


tl;dr: with a heavy heart and a light wallet, and ambivalence about being a collector vs a player. lol first world problems amirite? captcha: calculated kidesia, sounds like a fine name for the mental disorder that is being attached to videogames for nostalgia purposes.

[Anonymous No.1357093]

Well we used to have a store in town called Legends, and they were a local retro store but as strange as it sounds, they had some really fair prices, almost too good to be true. But i bought from them for years and never had an issue. And then one day they dissapeared, and after that I sort of quit collecting because i was so used to their prices, that anything else seemed outrageous, even if it was still fair.

And then today, out of nowhere, I see it again,. In a new building and everything. I'm not sure where they went, or why they left, but not I have a place to shop again. Though, I didn't go in, so who knows, they may have upped their prices considerably.

[Anonymous No.1357113]

>>1356971
At first I was in it for collecting. Having a bookshelf chalk full of games to impress my friends with. But then one day I realized how silly it was to collect so much.

I was buying things simply because they were rare or expensive, or simply to complete a series of games, regardless of whether I like a specific game in the series, or the series at all.

Now I only collect to play, meaning that I only buy something I know is good or am genuinly interested in. But I can't stomach getting rid of anything I own, even I don't like it, so I play everything, and by now I have bought so much that I am getting overwhelmed by all of the games I strive to play anf finish.

[Anonymous No.1357117]

>>1356892
a modded ps1 is cheaper too, always that route

[Anonymous No.1357130]

I buy the games I like, in a set price range.

I don't think I have spent over 40 dollars for a retro game. Just set your price boundary and you're fine.

I might consider 100 ~ 200 for Snatcher.. I'd break for that.

[Anonymous No.1357131]

i buy cheap crappy games(I'm looking at you snes Godzilla rpg) for lulz with my buddies, otherwise I'm like "check this out" and pull out my wii with full libraries from 2600 to n64, minus psx and Saturn. I'll have wiisx running once i figure out why it can't find the iso folder. not retro but I also have a binder of burned gc games and a ton of wii games on a hd(i waited till they stopped selling new copies to pirate wii). i used to want to get an awesome collection, and i still buy games i love, but it's a lot of hassle. I'm much happier dropping a bunch of money on new tires so i don't crash in the snow than having a bunch of games I'll never have time to play.

[Anonymous No.1357136]

>>1357117
Can I mod a slim PS1? I don't have my original PS1 anymore. I was considering it though, because I've never payed more than 60 dollars for a video game. It's sort of my boundary. I just couldn't stomach paying 75-100 bucks for a game like Tales of Eternia or Tron.

[Anonymous No.1357172]

>>1357136
Yep. Its very easy if you're into electronics and have some basic equipment.
Get yourself a PIC Programmer and an 12C508A micro. The hex files for the modchip is easy to find (just google it), look up the wiring diagram for your specific PS1 board, solder that shit in and you're good to go.

[Anonymous No.1357175]

>>1357172
Yeah I'm actually taking an electronics class as apart of my computer science degree. I also happen to have a good set of precision screw drives, and a good soldering iron.

[Anonymous No.1357191]

>>1357175
Cool, if you've never installed a modchip before i recommend you practice on some scrap electronics first. You're going to run into some trouble with the Via's; they look like a single dot on he board. The solder mask usually covers them so you'll actually have to scrape the mask off to be able to get solder to take, a pin works well for this. I also highly recommend 25ga enameled copper wire, flux paste and 0.3 or 0.4 solder. You'll get the best results with this combination.

[Anonymous No.1357201]

I only buy retro games if they're cheap. The most I paid for any retro game in the past 5 years was $12 after shipping for Dungeons and Dragons: Pool of Radiance for the NES. If it's expensive, I emulate.
>tfw people say hobbies can't be cheap

[Anonymous No.1358080]

Flashcards

[Anonymous No.1358709]

Holy fuck, I had that same shirt as a kid. I remember being so sad when I fell off the monkey bars and it got caught on a bolt and ripped. What an awesome shirt.

[Anonymous No.1358716]

>>1354469
>How does /vr/ cope with the rising cost and effort of being a retro game player?


Modded Wii + SNES9X GX (or any retro emulator) + ROMs + CRT TV + "original" picture filter + Picture related.

[Anonymous No.1359115]

>>1358716
modded wii is a God send. its not perfect, but it's really damn good. even n64 games, the ones not64 plays it plays well, aside from some audio glitches, video glitches, and occasional slowdown. I remember when nesterdc got released and that blew my mind, playing any nes game you wanted from a console without modding it. and you got all kinds of packs with weird Romhacks. emulation has come a long way, and now there are people striving for 100% accuracy with emulators, which the average computer may not run well, but the average computer in 5 years might. And more computers are supporting hdmi natively. I'm sure within the next several years upscaling and in depth shader support becomes standard on emulators. Emulation is the future, and the future is looking bright.