Do You Have Any Unpopular Gaming Opinions?

[Tanooki]

Bored enough I could watch Wayne's World right now after seeing that post a couple back. I played enough Gameboy earlier ago and cleared out the basic courses on F-Zero Climax and put a small dent into Metroid fusion so I'm good there.

Senran Kagura tatas aside looked actually semi-decent if anything as a throw back to the earlier brawler/hack n slash side scrolling style era which is why I had my eye on it but the price tag at $50 stopped me cold. Nothing on the 3DS should cost that much or more outside of a special edition box.

[marlowe221]

My unpopular gaming thought of the day:

I am increasingly becoming convinced that thoughtful emulation is the best route for me when it comes to "retro" gaming.

There are several reasons for this:

1. Technology - Emulators have come a long way since the early 90s and any system from the 16-bit era or earlier can be emulated well on almost any commercially available computer these days (32-bit is pretty damn good too). Visual filters and similar effects allow the user to tweak the appearance of the games to a ridiculous degree. If you want to make your games look as terrible as they did on your cheap 13" CRT that you had when you were a kid, you can do that! Sound/music emulation can still be a little spotty but it's WAY better than it used to be and is rarely distracting - even taken as a drawback, I think it is outweighed by the benefits of emulation.

2. Controllers - These days there are a lot of USB controllers available that are quite good and plenty of console-to-usb adaptors as well. Prices for these things are generally reasonable, especially compared to the ridiculous prices that many games fetch on eBay. These days, it's possible to have the "feel" of the real controls for almost any system, even when you're playing on a PC or Raspberry Pi.

3. Time - I find myself spending as much time fiddling with aging hardware and carts as I do playing and enjoying the games. I have bought tools that I don't need for anything else around my house to repair game systems and replace cartridge batteries. I have enlisted the aid of friends and relatives more knowledgeable/capable than myself to repair hardware. Then there is the time I have spent hooking up consoles and putting others away - it's not much at any one time, but I'm sure it adds up. I have spent time (and money) on storage solutions for a growing number of game cartridges. All of this is against the backdrop of my gaming time becoming more and more limited over the years with work/family/exercise obligations increasing.

4. Space - We live in a relatively small house and are about to move into a (slightly) smaller one in a couple of months. The need to downsize our "stuff" is real. Especially since we have a 1.5 month old child now and all of the baby crap that comes along with that. Setting up a few consoles, having the CRT, and storing cartridges takes space that is increasingly at a premium in my life these days.

Now, I'm not saying that I'm ready to give up all of my real hardware just yet - I think it will be a gradual process. But I am keeping things I don't need/play. I have my SNES that I got as a kid and all the games I had for it. I have kept it largely for sentimental reasons but I haven't had the console hooked up to a TV in over 3 years... why do I still have it!? I am going to keep some things for now but in the end, I am a gamer and not a collector.

There is the legal argument of course but... no one seems to care very much. Even Nintendo, who is arguably the company that emulation and ROMS do the most financial damage to, doesn't seem to care very much that NES/SNES/N64 ROMS are a simple Google search away. At least they don't seem to care enough to do much about it.

And let's face it - if I buy a SNES cartridge off eBay or at a flea market, the original developers aren't getting any money from that sale. Nintendo is not collecting any licensing fees from that sale. That's just not how the used market works for any product and I don't feel bad depriving eBay sellers and flea market booths. I know people have a wide range of differing opinions on this issue but that is how I see it. Of course, everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

Sorry for the novel but I have been wrestling with this kind of thing for a while now and wanted to share/vent a bit. I would be very interested to read any thoughts that anyone has on the issue.

[BoneSnapDeez]

I do a lot of emulating these days. With the Retron 5 I may never touch a real NES or SNES or Genesis ever again.

Emulation is so much better for my finicky floppy disk based systems (C64, FDS, etc).

And it's much more convenient for me to fire up something like ePSXe (which I can leave running for extended periods, or save state) than it is to play a game on an actual PlayStation.

[Tanooki]

Well said marlowe, it has been a slot painful slog over the years towards it, but I'm pretty damn close to where you are now.

If anything this basically sums my feelings up anymore when it comes to Nintendo stuff on home cartridges. "And let's face it - if I buy a SNES cartridge off eBay or at a flea market, the original developers aren't getting any money from that sale. Nintendo is not collecting any licensing fees from that sale. That's just not how the used market works for any product and I don't feel bad depriving eBay sellers and flea market booths. I know people have a wide range of differing opinions on this issue but that is how I see it. Of course, everyone is entitled to their own opinion." Fuck them.

Sadly there's enough people dumb enough or just care so little it's kept up this long and I've lost interest in fighting it so I jumped to non-poached pastures. I think that I'd be just as happy today now as I was with the Retron5 nearly 2 years ago if I sold the damn thing and got a Pi2 or 3 and tossed a crap ton of ROMS on it and was done with it, or just put them on my big ol memory card on my Shield Tablet since I have a table to HDMI adapter and a bluetooth controller, but I do like the real feel so I'd still want to use my controllers. I still like my plastic, original or 1:1 restoration labels, and boards inside either period or a new parts copy of solid quality that wouldn't stand out against originals so I keep my systems still and some games.

I don't mind fiddling with stuff, mine works, so it's more of just digging the game out vs scrolling a menu and clicking to start -- doesn't phase me I'm used to both. My only gripe is basically dead anyway for a few years now, wonky emulation, it's 99.9% there and using a USB dongle to use original controllers negate the weird feeling too (kind of like using my R5 with real controllers.) I don't have a heap of space relatively speaking, I mean I do, but it's housing a lot of other things from Lego, vintage toys, a few movies and CDs but I have a rack that could house nearly every single release for the NES as carts to give a size feel for it.

One other thing is Time -- as shitty as the prices are, will you ever get the TIME into the game to get the value out of it? I'd argue no. No to anyone really, even a collector, unless they value their time as just a not so shiny object sitting on their shelf, then maybe.

Perhaps I need to go look up some pre-fab Pi2 devices in a nice shell with the needed parts and see what the $ damage would be then see what I could get for my not very used Retron 5 as I never put much time on the black one I have compared to the gray original that flaked.

[ElkinFencer10]

I, personally, love collecting games, and I get at least as much enjoyment out of collecting them as I do actually playing them. Don't get me wrong - most of my free time is still spent gaming. I just love collecting games and seeing them arranged on my shelf. I love the look of awe on my friends' faces when they come to my house for the first time. I love having almost the entire history a multi-billion industry in my house. I love having that tactile connection with my gaming. For most people, those are trivial reasons to be so dedicated to such a money sink, but my collection has been a central part of my life for the past ten years, and I'm incredibly proud of what I've managed to build.

That said, however, if you're only in it for the actual gaming, it is a waste of money from an objective point of view, so for games that don't have a "legitimate" way to purchase them, I don't have a problem with emulation. For games that have been rereleased legitimately (Super Mario Bros, Legend of Zelda, Earthbound, etc), however, I do think that they need to be purchased legitimately. If supporting the developers is an option, then that's what needs to be done.

[Snatch1414]

If you don't enjoy (#3) tinkering with the stuff and (#4) space is at a strict premium I could totally see emulating. As I touched on a page or two ago, there's so many ways to play these games these days it's almost silly to chase physical copies from a logical standpoint. That said I say again, it comes down to how much of a collector you are. It's a blast for me acquiring old SMS and Genesis games and takes me back to the height of 8-bit and 16-bit popularity. If that doesn't do anything for you, emulate away.

[SonicTheHedgehog]

I am increasingly becoming convinced that thoughtful emulation is the best route for me when it comes to "retro" gaming.

I agree with almost everything you said! I used to a be a huge purist and was adamant about playing on the original hardware, but over time my views have shifted and now are the polar opposite.

I think the defining moment for me was around 2006. I was playing my physical copy of Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals. I had dozens of hours into my save. For those not familiar, Lufia II has this really long, demanding sidequest called "The Ancient Cave". The Ancient Cave requires a huge time investment, it could practically be a standalone game.

So anyway, I'm working on this save, slowly working progressing each and every day. One day I fire up my system, get ready to play, and - POOF - my save was gone! The CR2032 battery inside the cartridge died, wiping all of my saves in the process. I was just devastated. All of that progress down the drain! This is a very real problem for old, battery-based save solutions.

It was on that day that I finally gave up and started emulating. Like you, I have USB adapters for many consoles. I don't even notice the difference anymore!

[SonicTheHedgehog]

If you don't enjoy (#3) tinkering with the stuff and (#4) space is at a strict premium I could totally see emulating. As I touched on a page or two ago, there's so many ways to play these games these days it's almost silly to chase physical copies from a logical standpoint. That said I say again, it comes down to how much of a collector you are. It's a blast for me acquiring old SMS and Genesis games and takes me back to the height of 8-bit and 16-bit popularity. If that doesn't do anything for you, emulate away.

Yes, and as you alluded to, I think an important distinction that needs to be made is that collecting and playing are not the same thing. I own countless PlayStation RPGs from back when I used to collect, but I still emulate games I own because it's more convenient.

Collecting is fun because, among other things, it's thrilling. I loved going to garage sales and thrift stores and having no idea what I'd find. It's almost suspenseful in a way!

Let's say you have a baseball signed by Babe Ruth. Are you going to take that out and toss it around with your son? Of course not, you're going to use a different one. Why do games have to be any different? I think it's totally valid to collect games for the sole purpose of displaying them on a shelf.

I know people that collect games but don't play. I know people that play games but don't collect. I know people that collect but choose to emulate. I know people that collect and play games from their collection. It all depends on the person, and I think they're all valid, justifiable views.

[Tanooki]

I think depending on your area your mileage would vary on that one statement. I'd phrase it as: collecting 'was' fun. I agree with the entire line, and I still do with the different direction I swung into (gameboy, genesis) as it doesn't attract the scumbags in force. I'd rather be prattling away discovering random nes/snes/n64 games to experiment with, but when random experimentation starts to go from $1-10 to $30-100+ you can forget it.

[marlowe221]

I agree with almost everything you said! I used to a be a huge purist and was adamant about playing on the original hardware, but over time my views have shifted and now are the polar opposite.

I think the defining moment for me was around 2006. I was playing my physical copy of Lufia II: Rise of the Sinistrals. I had dozens of hours into my save. For those not familiar, Lufia II has this really long, demanding sidequest called "The Ancient Cave". The Ancient Cave requires a huge time investment, it could practically be a standalone game.

So anyway, I'm working on this save, slowly working progressing each and every day. One day I fire up my system, get ready to play, and - POOF - my save was gone! The CR2032 battery inside the cartridge died, wiping all of my saves in the process. I was just devastated. All of that progress down the drain! This is a very real problem for old, battery-based save solutions.

It was on that day that I finally gave up and started emulating. Like you, I have USB adapters for many consoles. I don't even notice the difference anymore!

Yeah, I actually got to the point where I was avoiding games that had save batteries that I wanted to play because I got tired of dealing with that issue. That's just silly in the 21st century!

I, personally, love collecting games, and I get at least as much enjoyment out of collecting them as I do actually playing them. Don't get me wrong - most of my free time is still spent gaming. I just love collecting games and seeing them arranged on my shelf. I love the look of awe on my friends' faces when they come to my house for the first time. I love having almost the entire history a multi-billion industry in my house. I love having that tactile connection with my gaming. For most people, those are trivial reasons to be so dedicated to such a money sink, but my collection has been a central part of my life for the past ten years, and I'm incredibly proud of what I've managed to build.

That said, however, if you're only in it for the actual gaming, it is a waste of money from an objective point of view, so for games that don't have a "legitimate" way to purchase them, I don't have a problem with emulation. For games that have been rereleased legitimately (Super Mario Bros, Legend of Zelda, Earthbound, etc), however, I do think that they need to be purchased legitimately. If supporting the developers is an option, then that's what needs to be done.

More power to you man! I certainly mean no disrespect to those who like collecting - it's just not for me and I have realized that in an effort to be a "gamer" I accidentally built up far more of a collection than I ever intended to.

And yes, I certainly agree about purchasing those games that are commercially available re-releases. That said, once I have purchased all of the Genesis games that are available on Steam, I won't feel bad for playing them in Kega Fusion afterward (they play better on that than the Steam versions unfortunately).

Then again, I keep coming back to buying used cartridges. Let's take The Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past for the SNES as an example. It's currently available on the Wii U virtual console and has just been released again for the New 3DS virtual console. But I can totally buy a used cartridge of the game off eBay right now - if I do (and that's totally legal of course) then Nintendo gets $0.00 from that transaction. The same thing happens if I download a ROM from the internet - Nintendo gets $0.00 from that transaction.

On the other hand, I have bought that particular game at least... 4 times from Nintendo (it's one of my all time favorites). Yes, they have been on different platforms but at least 2 of those times has been because Nintendo refuses to implement a modern account system a la Steam for digital purchases. How many times do I have to buy that game?

I am not trying to start an argument with you in particular, Elkin - and I hope you won't take my quoting your post in that way. Just pointing out that there are a lot of sides to this question. And all of this doesn't even begin to get into how ridiculous US Copyright law is (lots of serious legal scholars think so).