What Do You Play On?

SoulBlazerFan · Sun Apr 21, 2013 12:43 am

Might sound like a silly question, but I'm quite interested in knowing. When you play retro games, what do you usually play on? Original hardware? Clone consoles? Emulators? I know there used to be a lot of hatred towards clone systems, due to their cheap design and high failure rates.

In recent years, they've gotten better. In fact, the recently announced Retron 5 (NES, Super NES, Famicom, Super Famicom, Genesis, and Gameboy-Gameboy Advance) looks like something I'd be interested in grabbing, considering that they said 100 compatibility across all platforms.

Personally, I'm an original hardware kind of guy. I was turned off from clone hardware seeing several units have high failure rates, and there's nothing quite like playing the original game on original hardware, it's part of the mystique if you ask me.

So, what do you guys use when you retro game?

Mantaray · Posted: Sun Apr 21, 2013 1:21 am Post subject:

prefer original hardware unless a new game system has backwards compatibility, like the GBA could with old gameboy, DS with GBA, PS2 with PSX, i'd go that way because by then the old game system would be on the brink of death anyway >w> doesn't take long to get used to button placement. sadly recent consoles dont do that so theres no choice but to use emulators if they don't work. the whole BIOS thing turns me off though because it's been complicating in the past. SNES only ever worked for me.

kind of interest in the retron 5 now.

SoulBlazerFan · Posted: Sun Apr 21, 2013 1:39 am Post subject:

sora-mage wrote:prefer original hardware unless a new game system has backwards compatibility, like the GBA could with old gameboy, DS with GBA, PS2 with PSX, i'd go that way because by then the old game system would be on the brink of death anyway >w> doesn't take long to get used to button placement. sadly recent consoles dont do that so theres no choice but to use emulators if they don't work. the whole BIOS thing turns me off though because it's been complicating in the past. SNES only ever worked for me.

kind of interest in the retron 5 now.

Look it up sometime. They're adding a OS system to let you select between system (Less button failure) and also adds to the ability for easier compatibility. Their using Bluetooth wireless controllers... but leaving ports for NES, SNES and Genesis so you can use the original controllers as well. All in all I'm kinda impressed as well.

Manibrandr System · Posted: Sun Apr 21, 2013 5:36 am Post subject:

I use emulators and the Logitech F710, or an adapted Playstation 1 controller. I do actually own those consoles, but I can't be bothered to set them up with the living room TV.

Fazermint · Posted: Sun Apr 21, 2013 10:26 am Post subject:

I use on-hardware emulators. On my Wii I've got NES and SNES emulators, plus a slightly glitchy N64 emulator. My Wii is an older model that still has GC compatibility, which is win. I've also got a DS flashcart with GB/GBC/GBA emulators.

So it mostly feels like the real deal.

Jason Tandro · Posted: Sun Apr 21, 2013 12:48 pm Post subject:

For me, portability is the key factor. If I'm not playing on the original, i better be taking it with me. Emulators and mobile phone versions are my preference. Also started playing a bit with Wiis virtual console.

psychokind · Posted: Sun Apr 21, 2013 1:54 pm Post subject:

Emulator on my PC or on the android phone. sadly I don't own anymore consoles except for an N64

Jason Tandro · Posted: Sun Apr 21, 2013 2:06 pm Post subject:

I actually had a question about that. Aside from obvious things like formatting, language and the power supply are there any major differences between NTSC and PAL region consoles?

Edit: not counting like famicom vs nes

tay120n64 · Posted: Sun Apr 21, 2013 3:36 pm Post subject:

Original hardware, with the only exception being officially licensed ports (Virtual Console, PS1 Classics). Mostly because button latency is a big deal to me, and PC emulators never feel authentic.

HOWEVER, the Retron 5 looks fantastic. If they really achieve full region-free on all 5 platforms, I'm buying it for importing.

SoulBlazerFan · Posted: Sun Apr 21, 2013 4:12 pm Post subject:

tay120n64 wrote:Original hardware, with the only exception being officially licensed ports (Virtual Console, PS1 Classics). Mostly because button latency is a big deal to me, and PC emulators never feel authentic.

HOWEVER, the Retron 5 looks fantastic. If they really achieve full region-free on all 5 platforms, I'm buying it for importing.

I remember reading somewhere that the top loading NES is actually region free (obviously not Famicom). Anyone know if that's true?

Jason Tandro · Posted: Sun Apr 21, 2013 4:25 pm Post subject:

AVGN had confirmed that multiple times. It plays both PAL and NTSC formatted games.

Posted: Mon Apr 22, 2013 10:00 pm Post subject:

Jason Tandro wrote:I actually had a question about that. Aside from obvious things like formatting, language and the power supply are there any major differences between NTSC and PAL region consoles?

Edit: not counting like famicom vs nes

No, not really. The only differences are aesthetic (the PAL SNES looks different than the NTSC SNES as seen in my thread elsewhere) and the chipset/cartridge shape for SNES. PAL SNES looks more like the JP version does, and we got a weird... boxy one that isn't hella sexy. I think the cartridges have this weird way to lock out different region carts, but that's... really the only difference. Different TV signals and power supplies are about it otherwise.

For the record, I tried my PAL Terranigma in one of the older region-free SNES/NES hybrids and it didn't fit into the console. They're the same shape as a JP cart, but I guess they're slightly bigger. It was pretty damn sad.

On topic, if I can't be assed to hook up my SNES or Genesis, I'll play it on an emulator. I can play all of my PS1 era games on polybob's PS3, so I'll do that instead of pull out my almost non-working ps1 ahaha.

SoulBlazerFan · Posted: Sun May 12, 2013 6:27 am Post subject:

inferiare wrote:
Jason Tandro wrote:I actually had a question about that. Aside from obvious things like formatting, language and the power supply are there any major differences between NTSC and PAL region consoles?

Edit: not counting like famicom vs nes
No, not really. The only differences are aesthetic (the PAL SNES looks different than the NTSC SNES as seen in my thread elsewhere) and the chipset/cartridge shape for SNES. PAL SNES looks more like the JP version does, and we got a weird... boxy one that isn't hella sexy. I think the cartridges have this weird way to lock out different region carts, but that's... really the only difference. Different TV signals and power supplies are about it otherwise.

For the record, I tried my PAL Terranigma in one of the older region-free SNES/NES hybrids and it didn't fit into the console. They're the same shape as a JP cart, but I guess they're slightly bigger. It was pretty damn sad.

On topic, if I can't be assed to hook up my SNES or Genesis, I'll play it on an emulator. I can play all of my PS1 era games on polybob's PS3, so I'll do that instead of pull out my almost non-working ps1 ahaha.

PS1 near death? Why not pick up a another one? Most are going for twenty bucks these days.

Posted: Mon May 13, 2013 4:37 pm Post subject:

SoulBlazerFan wrote:
inferiare wrote:
Jason Tandro wrote:I actually had a question about that. Aside from obvious things like formatting, language and the power supply are there any major differences between NTSC and PAL region consoles?

Edit: not counting like famicom vs nes
No, not really. The only differences are aesthetic (the PAL SNES looks different than the NTSC SNES as seen in my thread elsewhere) and the chipset/cartridge shape for SNES. PAL SNES looks more like the JP version does, and we got a weird... boxy one that isn't hella sexy. I think the cartridges have this weird way to lock out different region carts, but that's... really the only difference. Different TV signals and power supplies are about it otherwise.

For the record, I tried my PAL Terranigma in one of the older region-free SNES/NES hybrids and it didn't fit into the console. They're the same shape as a JP cart, but I guess they're slightly bigger. It was pretty damn sad.

On topic, if I can't be assed to hook up my SNES or Genesis, I'll play it on an emulator. I can play all of my PS1 era games on polybob's PS3, so I'll do that instead of pull out my almost non-working ps1 ahaha.
PS1 near death? Why not pick up a another one? Most are going for twenty bucks these days.

No point in buying a new one when I still have a console I can play them on.

geekgirl101 · Posted: Tue Jul 16, 2013 9:48 am Post subject:

At the moment I play on emulators either on my android, PSP, or laptop. I also have a handheld master system! Was a little something I picked up at The Gadget Show Live a couple of years ago, have an SD card with every single game that was ever released for the master system. I'm planning on redesigning the games room so that I can hook up all the old systems I have and play games retro style. My old systems that use tapes probably won't be able to play them no more since the data on tapes degrades over time, although I could probably copy the TAP files onto the tapes providing that the tape itself isn't ruined. The only other issue to worry about is the tape snarling up inside the tape deck, as it used to happen often, and the wires popping out of the back of the Spectrum.