Best retro system for your money?

[Reverend Finch]

Came for the Genesis. Was not disappointed.

[Betamax001]

I third the Dreamcast. All you really need is the system, controller, cables, and a VMU. Hooray for piracy! (That was sarcasm)

[lordofduct]

I will say Genny as well.

The Dreamcast is really nice, I love my Dreamcast. But the library isn't that big, and it is pricier then the Genny.

Playstation does have a huge library, and the games can be had rather cheap. But PS1 is borderline retro IMO, I grew up on Atari, NES, and Genny... so yeah. PS definitely is a better deal then the DC though, it's cheaper and a much more expansive library.

Atari - wouldn't even list this one really. Yeah it's dirt cheap ($20??? crap I wouldn't buy a 2600 for more then 5 bucks). But you really get what you pay for. It's an Atari, the games are very simple and at a buck a game you kid of feel like you paid 25 cents to much. Atari is a great deal when you find someones box of Atari games and console at a tag sale... sad thing is you don't see this that much anymore.

SNES - much pricier then the Genny, is sought after because it does have those 'golden nostalgia' titles, especially in the RPG realm... but my nostalgia doesn't lay there, and the price for such stuff places it out of the 'best bang for your buck' market. It's just like the Saturn in that respect... I won't even list that as an option because it is a very expensive console to collect for.

NES - this ones hard to say, I say it falls just behind the Playstation in my opinion. There is quite a bit of goodies to be had on here. But it really shows its age. 16-bit can still keep up IMO, but the 8bit market has really boiled down to pure 'nostalgia' market. Consider it, a Genny or SNES game can be comparable (if not beat out) most modern 'pop cap' games that you find as flash games and on virtual consoles or xbox marketplace. They're solid. NES on the other hand pails in comparison. Some titles shine bright... but only a few of them really.


So yeah I say Genny. A LOT of great titles to be had for dirt freakin' cheap (to bad GameStop stopped selling the games as that made it even easier for someone who didn't want to go on the hunt). I pick up gennies constantly for almost nothing... I've got a closet full of them.

Furthermore I base this on the consoles I still play to this day (I don't play a lot of games anymore). If I go into my living room to pop on a game it usually is on one of the following:

Sega Genny/CD
Sega Saturn
Xbox 360
PS2

This is from a list of any console you could name (well any main stream console and a couple lesser known ones... I don't have shit like the Vectrix or nothing).

And it's easy to see which one is the cheapest in that list. Unless you're a bootlegger that is, I ignore that aspect, hence why I ignored genny emulation. But even then if you bootleg, consider the bandwidth cost. You can get the entire genny portfolio of games in the same amount of bandwidth needed to get just a couple of games on any of the other systems (shit just 1 XBOX 360 game is more then the entire Genny catalog including imports).

[Toadstool_mafia]

The Genesis is cheaper but the NES isnt much more expensive. Id go with the NES

[Barracuda]

Genesis all the way!

[Luke]

All depends on what kind of games you like. If I lost all my games and consoles, I'd pick up a Nintendo first, 2600 second, Genny third.

[darthmunky]

Super Nintendo had the most great games.

[Luke]

Super Nintendo had the most great games.

I don't understand your sentence. Please elaborate.

[Ack]

If you're looking only at raw cost, probably the Genesis.

If you're looking at games, well...I wouldn't just consider a console based on game prices because low prices doesn't necessarily mean I'll like the games. Instead, I'd look at it from the perspective of specific titles you're interested in, or specific genres you like.

[Betamax001]

Actually as far as costs go for a system, while its not retro (yet) the PS2 is an extremely good value. You could pick up a used system for about 50 bucks and it has one of the biggest game libraries of all time. It can play not only PS2 games, but practically every PS1 game too. And it has a DVD player in it.