The Black Beast

I got this in an online goodwill auction a few weeks ago and it finally arrived. I was not really expecting it to be in good shape or work well for the price. My first surprise on opening the package was that it was packed inside an original Sega CD box.

I have to admit, I was always impressed with Sega's ability to make things to
plug into every orifice the Genesis had available. (Yes, I want a 32X, someday, too.)

I remember seeing these on the electronics shelf in Walmart and imagining how futuristic and cool CDs were as a kid. CD based games must be absolutely mind blowing, I thought. It would be a few years before I'd even get a music CD player. Memories of playing Sega always have the background music of Aerosmith's "Get a Grip" since it was the only CD I had for the longest time. Anyways, here's the beast after unpacking.

Sorry, Sega. I think that's
Goodwill's entire business model...

I don't think I've ever seen this combination. I used to rent the Sega Model 1 Genesis system every now and then as a kid and thought it was one of the coolest looking consoles ever. I actually owned a Model 2 system, which is usually what you'd see hooked up to the Sega CD unit.  So this is a pretty odd setup but looks pretty awesome.  Not only is it in excellent cosmetic shape, it's also in perfect working order. It came with a few Sonic cartridge games and one terribad Sega CD game called Sewer Shark (seriously...so bad.). All of them played flawlessly, though.

I had to try out a decent Sega CD game though and figured I'd try this...just to see.

I guess it wasn't a worry back then since CD Writers either didn't exist or were insanely expensive, but the burned Sonic CD game plays perfectly. Though I may grab some of the original games if I can find them cheap, it's nice to know I'll be able to play them without having to pay an exorbitant price to an eBay scalper. There's no way Sega could make money off these games anymore, anyways, so not too big a deal.

Though I ultimately loved the Super Nintendo more, there were some great games on the Genesis. The rivalry of the two systems was just as silly as the political candidate race we decide today: full of catchphrases, generalizations, and cheap shots in the advertising, but the world would really not have been the same without them both. And unlike the political process we have to watch today, the competition actually made the games from both consoles better.

Long live the 16-Bit war. We all won, in the end <3.

Atari 2600? It's not a fine wine...

It's kinda like that old station wagon with the wood on it your parents had.

The Atari 2600 plays a great part in the history of video games. However, the thing just doesn't play fun for me. Though I found one through goodwill pretty cheap and cleaned it up a bit, I debated whether it was something I wanted to keep on the shelf. Admittedly, the only game I had for the thing was Asteroids, but I've played a bit of the popular games folks have recommended through emulation...and still...not fun.

It works great and plays fine, but it's simply not fun. I was born in 1981 and my first console was the Nintendo Entertainment System. I don't even have a taste of the nostalgia that could make this thing fun. It looks kinda cool with the wood grain panels that really do scream "80s," but it's also a clunky beast of a machine with a ton of switches on the console itself, yet only one button on the simple controllers. Granted, the arcades proved you could make a great game with a joystick and one button.

Reading the history the Atari 2600 and what eventually led to the video game crash of 1983 is also a reminder of what the current video game market feels like to me: an over-saturation of games that are shoveled out with little care or craftsmanship.

It's not the kind of library I'd be interested in collecting for. With not much guilt, I ended up trading this system for a Game Boy Player for my Gamecube and a few Gamecube games. These Atari systems are also not as valuable as I thought, so I think I ended up getting a decent deal and something I'd actually enjoy playing, as the Gameboy library is pretty awesome and playing them on the TV is pretty convenient.

I do still have this convenient piece of junk though: The Atari Flashback 2.0

At least I don't have to turn the TV to channel 2 to use it

If I can find a decent trade, I may get rid of it as well, but at least it's less clunky and has quite a few games built into it. In fact, if you want it, feel free to make me an offer!

I would actually love to hear people's memories of the Atari and their opinions going back and playing the games now. If you had one, still own one, and most importantly, still enjoy it, please share your stories!

Reclaiming Childhood

I've been a gamer my whole life. Memories of life experiences are intertwined with whatever video game I was playing at the time. I've generally tried to keep up with each generation of games that comes out, but I find myself not enjoying anything of the modern age. I am getting older and I sometimes wonder if it's just nostalgia and pining for ages past, but I honestly believe that more love was put into the crafting of the games of old.

I managed to score some good trades when I was a kid, trading bad games for better games and sometimes  even whole consoles. Then as I became an 'adult,' the dollar bill ruled everything around me and I sold the things I loved for ridiculously low prices so I could move out on my own and become a productive member of society.

I never stopped playing those games though. I may have gotten newer and fancier consoles and games, but thanks to the marvel of emulation, I'd still go back and play the games I loved on NES, SNES, and Genesis. It's really not the same, though there are some wonderful projects out there that can give emulation a wonderful "authentic" experience. I still really love the Hyperspin project, for example and actually made a home theater/gaming PC utilizing it you can check out here.

Emulation can be fun, but for a few reasons it's not ideal for me anymore. Though many emulators have come a long way, there's still many games that are not accurately emulated and won't play correctly. Though most of the games I enjoy play reasonable well, It became pretty frustrating when nearly every game my girlfriend wanted to play through Hyperspin had some kind of issue making the game unplayable on the emulator.

There's also some really nice game pads, such as the Logitech Wireless Gamepad F710, you can use for emulation, but absolutely nothing beats using the physical cartridge, consoles, and controllers the games were meant to be played with. It's true, many games are completely digital now and don't even exist on physical media, but the cartridge of a Nintendo game was truly the soul of a game. The artwork on the labels and boxes mingled with the gameplay itself and set our imaginations off on wonderful journeys. I don't quite get that same feeling from putting a Call of Duty game in my PS3...

So I'm going to set out on a quest to reclaim some of my childhood and see what I can find, collect, and most importantly play again! Thanks for reading and I hope you will enjoy sharing this experience with me!