What is Your Retro Range?

[Blu]

I like how Thierry Henry phrased it:

For collecting, I'm currently after: 8 Bit and beyond. I don't really collect, other than trying to get the defining titles that I've seen forum members mention or other sources I've read. Outside of Dreamcast, most of the consoles I have collections for are under 25 games. In order for me to hang on to it I've really needed to feel some sort of connection while playing or at least a thought of, "Wow, that was actually quite enjoyable," when I've finished it. Otherwise it's to the auction block!

Mike is trying to get me to hop on the S.S. MVS, and it's enticing that's for sure, but I think the pricepoint might be my biggest obstacle at the moment.

For playing: 8 Bit and beyond. I love the SMS and NES, and everything that come after it. That and I enjoy reliving some of the arcade moments by taking a trip to the local arcade and firing up a game of Galaga. I haven't really seen a 2600/5200 in the wild, and I admittedly don't know enough about that era of gaming to make informed decisions about what would or wouldn't be worth my time. I think like other forms of artwork, the aesthetic appeal of games pre-sprites is somewhat of a barrier for me.

[BoneSnapDeez]

MVS is like my new favorite thing.

[Sarge]

I can enjoy anything, but I think NES or other 8-bit systems of that era are my line. There's just not enough complexity for me these days to really enjoy older than that. So of course I recently picked up a 2600.

Come to think of it, there are a few games on Intellivision that I'd probably play today, too. I loved Sea Battle back in the day. But anything going forward is fair game, including janky PSX games from time to time. I was actually surprised a bit that, despite its age, Spyro the Dragon isn't too bad a game at all.

[Tanooki]

I like how Thierry Henry phrased it:

For collecting, I'm currently after: 8 Bit and beyond. I don't really collect, other than trying to get the defining titles that I've seen forum members mention or other sources I've read. Outside of Dreamcast, most of the consoles I have collections for are under 25 games. In order for me to hang on to it I've really needed to feel some sort of connection while playing or at least a thought of, "Wow, that was actually quite enjoyable," when I've finished it. Otherwise it's to the auction block!

After mass losses a decade ago, and the conversion of what's more cool and popular with console games in the last couple generations it switched me into that mind set too. Other than the NES and SNES (GBA too I think) all my stuff is under 20-25 games and if a system has so few (sub-10) that I'd keep around, I ditch the hardware too as it's just a dust collector. I collect what I grew up with pre-college, and collect goes as far as mostly holding onto the favorites of what I had and a few other gems that hit me well. But even then I've made sacrifices to cut back as I had a pretty sizable GB and GBC pile and it's been gone like 4 years now because I didn't use it, or I bought something and used it once trying to keep interested and I tired of that pattern of buying and disuse.

[jp1]

Old computers are pretty cool, too. The Apple II was the place to be. More selection than almost anything else, at least for US-developed titles.

I dunno. Granted I'm biased toward C64 as it's what I had, but I remember far more C64 games than Apple II in the stores when I was younger. I also knew far more other people with Commodores and games than Apples.

C64 all the way. It blew Apple II out of the water in quality and quantity. I am biased as well though, I spent so much time with mine. "Stay a while, stay forever!!" You don't get that on the Apple II.

http://impossible-mission.krissz.hu/

[laurenhiya21]

I think the NES is the oldest I'll go for consoles. Maaaybe I'll go for a 2600 sometime, but it's definitely not a strong want.

Not quite sure how far back I'll go with PC stuff though. Haven't really thought about it since I have a lot of trouble running older games on my computer :/ (stupid Windows 8 )

[Snatch1414]

8-bit on but the 2600 is a tertiary interest of mine. I've never owned one and will gladly pick up a few dollar carts if I don't have them yet. Now I just need to get one of my 3 Ataris working...............

[emb1234]

I want to at least an Odyssey around as a piece of history, maybe some other first generation systems. (As far as I understand, they're pretty much all boxes that play Pong?)

And I play the newest systems too. I'll keep doing that, until the games are digital-only, or all require an Internet connection to play at all.

For the most part I don't really play/collect PC, downloadables, or imports, just to try to lower the amount of stuff I want to get. I think I'll totally skip trying to get into any NeoGeo collecting/playing of any kind, since it seems like it's overwhelmingly expensive (though I could see myself changing my mind on this someday, and going with a CMVS or something). Some other consoles don't seem notable enough to go for (particularly some in the late 70s, early 80s when the market was getting saturated).

tl;dr: a bit of everything, with some restrictions that aren't really time range related.

[the7k]

My range of retro is "NES to Sega Dreamcast."

I was going to say "Space Wars to Sega Dreamcast", but I'm beginning to think everything pre-crash is more along the lines of 'antique' rather than 'retro.'

[marurun]

Not quite sure how far back I'll go with PC stuff though. Haven't really thought about it since I have a lot of trouble running older games on my computer :/ (stupid Windows 8 )

GOG.com

Their DOSbox setups are impressive. Get you right into the game without having to futz around.