The retrogame thread Options

[mirocu]

This is a thread dedicated to the gaming system that took over the torch and basically saved the whole gaming industry after the video game crash of 1983, I believe it was. Details aside though, it became a tremendous success for Nintendo and gained gaming fans all over the world. It´s a system that still has a lot of popularity long after it was taken off the shelves and it is equally iconic and infamous at the same time.

But this thread isn´t mainly about that. It´s about the games and the accessories and the memories. As many of you know, I collect games for my own console I got as a kid. It still works and since I made the decision to take it apart to clean it and cut the 10NES lockout chip (preventing games not approved by Nintendo to be played), it works even better now than when it was new since the lockout chip can also screw with legal games.

I plan to write about games I´ve gotten and ones I´m getting and about the games in general, but as I realize this is a topic not shared by too many here, I invite you to write about any other old gaming system you may have played or simply know something about that you want to share. The only requirement I ask you to follow is that it´s about a cartridge-based system.

Happy gaming!

This post has been edited by mirocu: Aug 2 2016, 10:54 AM

[Acadian]

And here we see mirocu's fine eye for discernment when it comes to antiques.

[mirocu]

And here we see mirocu's fine eye for discernment when it comes to antiques.

Antiques? It´s only surpassed by the Super Nintendo, right...? Oh, yeah! There is that new Nintendo64! How could I forget that..?


Moving on I will now compare the original Gameboy with the Pocket Light version because those are the ones I own. I´ll throw in the Pocket too just because that´s what the Light is built on.



This is the original Game Boy that came out around 1989-90 and was a huge success to say the least. It relied on even then old technology which was why it didn´t have any colours beyond green/yellow nor any backlight. This of course made it a little tricky to see what was happening on the screen if the lighting wasn´t optimal where you played. They did that purposely because that meant no new R&D was required and they could instantly make games with very good quality which of course was a huge reason it got so popular despite the screen issues. Also, playing on the go was very new at this time so those issues were easily overlooked by gamers who for the first time basically could take their NES on trips!

It used four AA batteries and also had an AC output. I also have the clear version.





The Game Boy Pocket was released about seven years after the original. Yes, they were still making new hardware for the same games seven years later! Talk about success, eh?
This version was not only smaller in size but also had another screen. It was slightly larger and much clearer and unlike the original it was in real black/white. Still had no backlight.

It used two AAA batteries.





The Light version came out in 1998 but only in Japan. You could play with or without the backlight and it took two AA instead of two AAA because of the increased power demand. 1998 was also the year Game Boy Colour came out but I´ve never played on one so I can´t give an opinion about it.




Conclusion: I still prefer the original Game Boy. The Light is very nifty but after all these years I´m so indoctrinated with the screen of the original and it´s just not the same playing on the Pocket´s black/white screen. The light makes it greenish but it´s still not the same and since nostalgia has me firmly in its bosom I can´t love it as much as my childhood version. Plus the Pockets are a bit too small for my hands. The original Game Boy is much more bulky and that suits me perfectly. Even as a kid I liked holding it because it felt so sturdy.

I hoped you liked reading about these early hand-held devices and I hoped you read carefully! There´ll be a quiz later....

This post has been edited by mirocu: Feb 6 2015, 12:55 PM