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

[mirocu]

I just got spare parts for one of my controllers. As much as I´d like to keep it all original, it might be a good idea to get new guts inside for better response. The other controller is fine, though.

I also got a Super Mario Bros 3 watch, just like the one I had as a kid! However I know I threw that away when I got bored of it. *kicks self through space-time continuum*

This post has been edited by mirocu: Feb 25 2015, 10:48 AM

[Acadian]

It's great fun to watch mirocu as he flutters and flitters down nostalgia lane.

[mirocu]

It's great fun to watch mirocu as he flutters and flitters down nostalgia lane.

As I´m still trapped in that age, it´s not really nostalgia lane for me. It´s present time!


Today I got a complete copy of Kid Icarus. It was all in good condition except for the cover of the manual, but it wasn´t too bad so I can live with it. Didn´t even need too much of a cleaning

[Jacki Dice]

I still have my parents' 101 model of the NES tucked away somewhere. I just dn't have the cord that you plug into the TV. Our old games are still around too. My favorite was Super Pitfall though I never beat it. I could never figure out how to rescue the girl :/

[mirocu]

Never played Super Pitfall but I have seen the Nerd´s review. It didn´t make me wanna play it, tbh..

But maybe I will get it off ebay later anyway, just to have it as a gimmick. I´ll put it next to my copy of Mr Gimmick so I can giggle every time I see them together. No one will know the gag but me!

[SubRosa]

Is this one of the console systems you have mirocu?

[Renee]

mirocu have you (or anybody else) played Faxanadu? It is a side-scrolling action RPG in which the player character climbs a giant World Tree. Goes on and on. All kinds of adventures in that game. I remember playing when I was in college, which would have been early '90s.

One of the things I liked about Faxanadu was you could go all the way back to the beginning, if I remember correct. It had that small bit of freedom so far as exploration goes.

This post has been edited by Renee Gade IV: Dec 3 2014, 11:21 PM

[mirocu]

@SubRosa - Not quite what I usually play on...

@Renee - Nope, never played that game. Never payed any attention to it due to its strange name

Other games you can walk all the way to the beginning are Shadowgate and Street Gangs, or as it´s also know River City Ransom

[mirocu]

Lately when I´ve come home from work I always popped in Bubble Bobble and just went nuts with the turbo controller I have. Haven´t played as much now though, but I blame the Christmas tree I have standing right in front of the TV cause I don´t have room for it anywhere else...


Somehow feel like in the mood for Shadowgate but I reckon I have to wait.

[Renee]

@Renee - Nope, never played that game. Never payed any attention to it due to its strange name

That's a shame, sort of. I wouldn't want to play it now, but back in the late '80s Faxanadu was one of those rare games which bridged the gap between table-games and video, in the sense that it had some of the elements found in table-games. It also had a story as you went along. A mostly linear story with (I think) a few choices here and there.

Bubble Bobble? There's a name I haven't heard in .. sheesh..... a very long time.

[mirocu]

Faxanadu was one of those rare games which bridged the gap between table-games and video, in the sense that it had some of the elements found in table-games. It also had a story as you went along. A mostly linear story with (I think) a few choices here and there.

I think I may have liked it for all that, but I don´t think the graphic style of the game would have appealed to me. Too much brown and grey. And at this time I was all into Super Mario 3 and other games with a more "just rush through" attitude. I can be very impatient sometimes..

And yeah, Bubble Booble!

[mirocu]

As I was playing Darkwing Duck last night something hit me. I have that game and Ducktales 2 on both the NES and the Gameboy, and I much prefer the Gameboy versions. You would think I´d like the NES ones because they´re in colour and all, but no. I actually find the colour in both games to be meh and that really surprised me. I thought they´d be much more nice and colourful. Plus a few aspects are not quite the same but I blame that on my familiarity with the Gameboy versions.

Tough luck, really. Both the NES versions were quite pricey...

[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

[Acadian]

Thanks, mirocu, but where are the buttons to push to make phone calls on those things?

[ghastley]

So the Game Boy Pocket Light is actually heavier than the Game Boy Pocket?

Newspeak!

[mirocu]

You guys

[mirocu]

Speaking of the Game Boys, I just got a new game for them! Well, not exactly new per say but at least new for me and in very good condition

It´s Bugs Bunny´s Crazy Castle! Not much to bring out the heavy guns for to salute with or anything, but it´s complete with the manual and plastic inner shell and I´m sure the game can if not kill then at least stun a few minutes

This post has been edited by mirocu: Feb 8 2015, 11:21 PM

[Kiln]

Been playing Little Nemo: Dream Master on the NES. God platformers are so much harder than I remembered. I still need to go dig out my games from storage and get a working NES of my own.