Subj : Re: Retro Games
To   : MATT MUNSON
From : phiax
Date : Fri Oct 21 2022 07:54:59

 MM> Retro gaming is an expensive hobby. Much worse than other hobbies. I
 MM> have to set a budget and figure out what I actually want. 

Yeah, for original hardware and software, yeah, it can be killer.

But I do see other suggested emulated options, and that is totally viable.

I got into retro gaming/collecting ahead of the curve and was never a huge
spender [I am the type who would rather find the deal than spend bank on
eBay], so much of my collection I got from people getting rid of what they
thought was worthless, $1-$10 yard sale or thrift store finds, trades, etc. I
have a decent NES collection [included a security modded "beater" NES, a
complete in box Action Set, and around 60-70 games], a pretty solid Genesis
collection [with SegaCD and 32x], a reasonable Gameboy collection [including
a vintage clear-case DMG], a beautiful SNES with a few of my favorite games,
a decent smattering of Gamecube, PS1, etc. Many of the things I got for cheap,
I would never pay current prices for, to be honest.

I do tend to play in emulation more than on hardware. With small kids, I
don't like leaving it all set up for too long. Prior to kids, I would have
one machine or another, but now, not so much. Perhaps when we redo the TV
room downstairs, I have thing nicely set up in a cabinet and have a full on
display case, but as of a move in 2020, they are mostly been in boxes, with
me only taking things out occasionally and putting back.

I do have several vintage PCs [late 90s/early 2000s] for DOS and
era-appropriate gaming and tend to use those. The desktop tower and a big
chunky laptop are my go-to machines. I have another I am fixing up and I have
a recapped and somewhat restored Macintosh Classic I adore but rarely use. I
have an iMac 3G DV in storage which is working ok, but needs a new hard
drive, but don't have the time. Honestly, I have gotten rid of some nice
machines in the past few years, because for PCs and Macs, part of my fun is
fixing them.

For emulation, I think the best thing to get down is the "feel". If
emulating, invest in adapters for original controllers. I have a decent
complement for Wii [mine is hacked and I do some emulation with that when I
want a "sofa" experience] and USB ones for various computers. From there, you
honestly have a slightly better experience with emulation rather than
hardware, since less clutter and you can save states. With things like the
PS1, you can have a cleaner upscale if you like. One of these days I will
invest in a OSSC, but for now, I have a cheapy RBG/SCART to HDMI converter
which is only decent [some latency, but not terrible, but much much better
than most TVs with analogue signals], for when I hook things up, so emulation
often wins out just for that.

As for recommendations, collect what you most value. If it happens to be a
particular set of games from your childhood, cool. If it is all games of X
series, awesome. However, unless you are independently wealthy there is no
chance, nor any compelling reason to go for complete collections of things
like NES, SNES, etc. To get the rarer stuff, you are only fighting with
obsessive collectors at this point.

There is a middle ground, between emulation and hardware. You can get into
the whole FPGA scene with a MiSTer. Sure, you are typically playing with
ROMs, but you are dealing with cycle-accurate behavior on FPGA cores [which
is effectively identical to the hardware represented], but with the benefit
of new [not rotting/potentially failing 20-30 year old electronics]
hardware, excellent video options, etc. 

Anyway... just thoughts.

-ph

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