What's your main retro gaming interest / area of expertise?

[alienjesus]

Replacing GG capacitors isn't too costly even iuf you have to pay someone to do it. I find the GG fairly playable once I replaced the capacitors on mine, although having to be plugged in is a pain, because that battery consumption is painful.

I saw a GBA SP 101 for the first time the other day. Wow, it's quite a step up. Shame they're so pricy, because I'd definitely like one.

Are Lynxes really that hard to come by? They seem to go for not too much over here last I remember.

GB/GBC games have enough other options for playing them (Super Game Boy, Game Boy Player, GBA SP, 3DS VC) that I'm not too concerned about them.



I dunno, I don't find retro portable gaming to be too bad. Backlights are definitely the biggest issue overall, and I feel the worst offender in this case (The GB line up until the SP) have enough options that it's no big deal.

[marlowe221]

Replacing GG capacitors isn't too costly even iuf you have to pay someone to do it. I find the GG fairly playable once I replaced the capacitors on mine, although having to be plugged in is a pain, because that battery consumption is painful.

I saw a GBA SP 101 for the first time the other day. Wow, it's quite a step up. Shame they're so pricey, because I'd definitely like one.

Are Lynxes really that hard to come by? They seem to go for not too much over here last I remember.

GB/GBC games have enough other options for playing them (Super Game Boy, Game Boy Player, GBA SP, 3DS VC) that I'm not too concerned about them.



I dunno, I don't find retro portable gaming to be too bad. Backlights are definitely the biggest issue overall, and I feel the worst offender in this case (The GB line up until the SP) have enough options that it's no big deal.

Personally, I have never come across an Atari Lynx in the wild here in the southern USA. It would be an ebay-only kind of purchase - not that that is a terrible thing necessarily but they are hardly common in my experience.

It's a shame about Gameboys really. It seems like Nintendo could never quite get a perfect model to market. The 101 is as close as it gets I suppose, but it does have the poor ergonomics of the SP to deal with.

As far as the Game Gear goes, the maintenance and quality of the LCD screen have always scared me away from actually acquiring one...

[Sarge]

Doesn't look like it'd be too hard to recap. After doing like 40 on the Genesis, that seems like a much smoother job. Only challenge would be making sure you get the right sizes and have the proper orientation so that the system will close back up.

I know others have also done a screen mod, and if I find an old junked Game Gear, I might go for that. Would be pretty slick to have a nice screen, and it helps the battery life a ton, too.

[Jmustang1968]

Replacing GG capacitors isn't too costly even iuf you have to pay someone to do it. I find the GG fairly playable once I replaced the capacitors on mine, although having to be plugged in is a pain, because that battery consumption is painful.

I saw a GBA SP 101 for the first time the other day. Wow, it's quite a step up. Shame they're so pricey, because I'd definitely like one.

Are Lynxes really that hard to come by? They seem to go for not too much over here last I remember.

GB/GBC games have enough other options for playing them (Super Game Boy, Game Boy Player, GBA SP, 3DS VC) that I'm not too concerned about them.

I dunno, I don't find retro portable gaming to be too bad. Backlights are definitely the biggest issue overall, and I feel the worst offender in this case (The GB line up until the SP) have enough options that it's no big deal.

Personally, I have never come across an Atari Lynx in the wild here in the southern USA. It would be an ebay-only kind of purchase - not that that is a terrible thing necessarily but they are hardly common in my experience.

It's a shame about Gameboys really. It seems like Nintendo could never quite get a perfect model to market. The 101 is as close as it gets I suppose, but it does have the poor ergonomics of the SP to deal with.

As far as the Game Gear goes, the maintenance and quality of the LCD screen have always scared me away from actually acquiring one...

I have been in the possession of 2 at different points that I found in the wild, and have seen a couple at some of the local retro shops in town. One of mine worked, and one didn't. They are easy to damage as well. I believe the headphone port and power plug port are of similar size, and plugging the charger in the headphone jack causes some damage. I think I have that right.

[Key-Glyph]

Here's what I think some of your guys's specialties are. I know I'm missing people, but:

Ack: Adding more "conquered games" skulls to his pile. Also possibly murdering everything in-game.

alienjesus: Pokémon! I know you do other things AJ, but I home in on your thoughtful Pokémon thoughts.

BogusMeatFactory: Shenmue, and being a ray of freaking sunshine regardless of game or era.

BoneSnapDeez: Ys, and games with sprite pixel counts between 1 and Pitfall Harry.

CFFJR: Hamming up the 16-bit Sega snobbery with me.

Exhuminator: Writing in-depth reviews; is incidentally also now synonymous with King's Field. Seriously. Every time anyone says anything about King's Field, I will think of this man.

Hobie-wan: Shmups, and cartridge/electronics care. If I have doubts about what cleaning solutions are kosher or some such, I ask this guy.

MrPopo: Everything. I swear anytime anyone brings up a game I've never heard of, Popo weighs in with some very specific, informative paragraph that indicates obvious experience and familiarity. It scares and awes me.

pierrot: VGM, and Japanese translations. We actually had a visit booked this past winter in which he was going to translate a Japanese horse racing/betting game for the Super Famicom for me and a friend. It fell through due to a medical emergency, but it would have been awesome!

Sarge: Beating all those NES games that tortured us as children and are still technically impossible, at a rate of roughly five per day.

[marlowe221]

Doesn't look like it'd be too hard to recap. After doing like 40 on the Genesis, that seems like a much smoother job. Only challenge would be making sure you get the right sizes and have the proper orientation so that the system will close back up.

I know others have also done a screen mod, and if I find an old junked Game Gear, I might go for that. Would be pretty slick to have a nice screen, and it helps the battery life a ton, too.

I wish I had your technical abilities/confidence Sarge!

[Sarge]

Well, I'm feeling pretty confident after not borking that Genesis console.

I did do a pretty good amount of soldering when I was teaching Microprocessors labs, so I should hope I retained at least some of that! Not that I didn't screw up some stuff there, but I had a little more freedom to do so there.

[Ack]

Ack: Adding more "conquered games" skulls to his pile. Also possibly murdering everything in-game.

Exterminatus.

[8bit]

First of all, what a great I'd for a topic!

I'd have to say my main area of interest is probably on the hobby of collecting in general. I've really loved going out hunting (when it was still not a super competitive thing like it is today) and building a real who's who of the best games for the best consoles. Talking about and finding those games is probably my favorite thing.

Then for area of expertise (from an experience stand point) I'd have to say it's probably the main Mario series of games. I've spent countless days playing all of the games from the NES to Wii U and frequently I revisit these games. Beyond that its probably the Halo series. I've just always been addicted to the action packed multiplayer in those games.