How often do you play your old console games?

[LostLuggage]

I’m not talking about emulators. How often do you dig out your old consoles and play them? I haven’t for a while. But, I could go for some Super Mario World on SNES right now.

[twiztor]

pretty regularly. i've got my NES (my fave system) hooked up in my basement and built a shelf to hold all my games. i have a notebook that i keep high scores in and invite friends over all the time for a round of Battletoads, or Super Tecmo Bowl, or whatever.

[DPsx7]

On the system? Not often. When I get something new I'll be sure to test it of course. I emulate because I can take my laptop and sit someplace cooler in the summer. Still I don't even get that far as much as I want because of the huge backlog of titles in front of me. If I'm not playing the Wii, PS3, U, or PS4, it's the 3DS and Vita. Someday I'll get back to the classics.

[PixelTHING]

I've got my Sega Mega Drive, PlayStation 2, Commodore Amiga and ZX Spectrum plugged in and ready to play games whenever I'm in the mood!

By the way, I'm always in the mood for retrogaming!

[Wiggum]

I just upgraded my Crt for that reason! I have a pelican switch connected to my NES,SNES, Genesis/CD, Gamecube, PS1, and Dream cast, with a TG-16 and an Atari 2600 hanging off the Coax.

I'm in the middle of my regular playthrough of Link to the Past right now. Sure, you can play it on the new systems, but it just doesn't feel the same.

[TySpicy]

I have a game room with many of my classic systems (NES, Genesis/SMS using power base converter, Sega CD, SuperNES, N64, Saturn, and Jaguar) hooked up to a 13" color television. I haven't played in there recently but I always prefer playing original verse emulation. It doesn't feel the same. With emulation there are occasional issues with graphics or sound.

Though I do admit that I recently found that the Nvidia Shield tablet with controller makes for a decent way to play old games anywhere.

Older games generally don't look good on bigger televisions or monitors so running these things on an old 13" television or the 9" tablet makes them appear crisp rather than pixelated.

I will admit I almost always prefer setting game systems up and then tinkering in the game room endlessly just happy to surround myself in the aura of old videogames but then I generally have a short attention span when sitting down to actually play the classics.

What would probably help me play more is if I had someone to play with. That's probably the part of playing games I miss most is sitting on the couch and playing with a friend.

[twiztor]

the part of playing games I miss most is sitting on the couch and playing with a friend.

ain't that the truth.

[ctophil]

I play retro games like it was 1988 all over again. lol. Seriously though, I have an entire room dedicated to just retro games and another room with modern games and systems. What I do is rotate between retro and modern throughout the month. For example, right now I'm playing Zelda II: The Adventure of Link for NES. But after beating that, I'll journey to a modern game like Resident Evil: Revelations for Wii U. But in between I also game with my online coop buddies with shooters and RPGs.

[ArcaneSylph]

Unfortunately, not often: my PS2 is broken (thanks to a friend) and my Sega Genesis (both of them...would the plural be Sega Genesi?) and Atari 2600 are at my mom's place. Still, I'd never get rid of them.

[kiwilove007]

I don't play videogames anymore - though I had computer systems and consoles - such as Atari 800, 800XL, 130XE, C-64, PCs, Sega MegaDrive, SNES, PlayStation - and played a friend's Lynx, N64, NeoGeo, Saturn, Dreamcast, Wii, PS2. I did turn into a collector of emulators and the ROMs for them - enjoying playing arcade games via Mame. The coin-op I ended up playing a lot was Shanghai because of the variations it has available (reset the machine and it'll run a new variant). Anyway - I played less and less videogames until I stopped altogether. I couldn't be bothered trying out the latest PC games - just cannot be bothered to, even though I know about so-called illegal downloads and cracks, etc. I'm certainly not interested in the first person shooter styled videogame (although I did play Doom, and others back in the day).

Anyway about 2 years ago - I had the opportunity to return to designing graphics for the Atari 400/800 etc series home computers - for a project named GTIABlast! - now renamed to AtariBLAST! (back in the day I did work for Laser Hawk and Hawkquest). This current project has about another year to go on it? Videos (and downloadable/runnable test demos) have been released on Youtube - I work with a programmer (since I'm not into programming) - and this is more of an enthusiast/hobbyist kind of project, but is up to professional standard. We could have opted to work on the SNES hardware (since we did work on Rockfall and Astrohawk together - previously - these were homebrew projects as such, back in the 90s) - but had a more passionate interest in the A8 hardware.

Anyway this current project - did change to include the Atari 5200 console too - as about 3 versions of the game is catered for - it changed from disk based for Atari 400/800 etc with a minimum of 48k, to that of the Atari 5200 console - and any Atari 400/800/etc with a minimum of 16k - through going to a flashcart - since diskettes are hard to source these days, and also to support those who upgraded their Atari 800 etc to maximum of 1088k of memory. It's not an easy feat to support 3 versions of the game as such.

A lot more work has been done since the last video release - in which it does look like an awesome shooter game (vertical and horizontal scrolling styled shooter).

Anyway - amazing progress has been made. While this game does work on an unmodified console/computer - we do concede that this exact project was not possible back in the day - because it uses current cartridge technology as such. Also tools running on the PC are extensively used (to save on time and effort etc) - but some kind of watered down version of it - could have been made back then. You need only to see the current video(s) to see how this is something special and shows how advanced the hardware actually was.... Those who were amazed by the amazing graphics that featured in the best Atari demos (eg. Robot and Spaceship demo, Lucasfilm's intro to Rescue From Fractalus) - can now see those graphics used within a gaming environment - as I have reused those graphics and tweaked them a little or a lot?

Harvey

[Britanica]

I haven't played in some time but I did used to play my N64 on a weekly basis. have since put it away. I kind of want to dig it out now haha!

[DanielMack]

I haven’t been gaming nearly as much as I would like to. I just don’t have the time. I wish I did. As playing video games used to be such a stress reliever for me. I could use that right about now.

[RobertDuncan]

This is weird but as a kid I thought that the notion of "growing up"up and getting tired of video games was crazy talk. But I haven't been playing games much anymore I find that I actually like collecting games more than playing them. Heck I actually like watching documentaries,history,avgn,lord karnage etc. Than playing games. It's like I've become a movie buff more although I do play retro and 3ds games. I don't know why but modern games even with all their Glam really don't wow me anymore like when I was a kid growing up.

[E-Day]

This is weird but as a kid I thought that the notion of "growing up"up and getting tired of video games was crazy talk. But I haven't been playing games much anymore I find that I actually like collecting games more than playing them. Heck I actually like watching documentaries,history,avgn,lord karnage etc. Than playing games. It's like I've become a movie buff more although I do play retro and 3ds games. I don't know why but modern games even with all their Glam really don't wow me anymore like when I was a kid growing up.

Same here. I seem to enjoy reading about games more than playing them. I had realized I fell out of the urge to play games, and thought Super Mario Maker would bring me back in because of the inclusion of the Super Mario World style. But sadly it hasn't worked. Meanwhile I have two subscriptions to game magazines and have read several books on games with plans to read even more books.

I do have several old systems in the basement, but no room to set them up permanently at the moment.

[MisterXiado]

Short stretches every few months. I just put everything in a small stack. At the moment, the only systems I have hooked up are the PS2 and PS3. Neo Geo went back in the box after sitting on the floor for six months. Saturn, SNES, NES, Genesis + 32X + Sega CD, TG16, 3DO, and Master System are all leaning against each other in the corner.

[pmo1985]

here and there but mostly focusing on emulation

[fanman75]

Hardly ever. I have three NES toasters, but none work at the moment. Pretty sure all three need new cart connectors, but i have never changed one out. Need to do that this year. I have a top loader as well, but usually dont dig that out. I still have one of those NES/SNES clones out near a tv, but havent used it in years. I bought the fc mobile II and have played originals on that just to see if they work or not. Same with the SNES. I have the Supaboy and the RDP2. I guess i could test the NES on the RDP, but that adapter is ridiculous.

Mostly, i emulate out of convience. Plus, I can take the emulation to work with me to play on breaks. Still collect the originals, but until I have a dedicated game room, I usually dont play them.

[baphoon]

At least a few times a week or used to. I picked up a Retron thinking it would solve many of my issues with well mostly the non existent space on my desk. The Retron ended up having a death grip Sega Genesis and NES slot so I returned it. I mostly use my modded Wii now to play retro games and have the consoles and carts boxed up in the closet. The only consistent consoles connected are PS4, PS3, XB1, Wii, and PC (not a console but a game machine none the less).

[pablumatic]

I don't drag out the old ones anymore. Emulation is just easier in the modern world of flat screen digital input displays.

[miketheratguy]

I don't drag out the old ones anymore. Emulation is just easier in the modern world of flat screen digital input displays.

I wish I could say otherwise but I agree. I've got something like two dozen old systems and god knows how many games, and that's just too much stuff to have cluttered around (and hooked up to, via arcane means) my tv. Emulation is just easier - there's nothing quite like conjuring up a quick game of Castlevania III on my PSP.

That and the fact that a lot of the systems that I own are original and / or expensive and difficult to replace, so I kind of prefer to keep them safely stored away and archived rather than subject them to continued use. Respect to those who do so, though. While I may like the practical convenience of emulation I agree that nothing beats locking a cartridge (or clicking a cd) into place and booting up the actual system.

[kitsunebi]

Never. All of my consoles are boxed up half a world away. Even if that weren't the case, I don't own a TV anymore, so I'd have to figure out how to hook up ancient consoles to my monitor via HDMI. So it's emulation only for now. Some things can't yet be emulated, though (X-Box, for instance), so I imagine I'll unpack and use at least SOME of those consoles someday when I have the space to keep them around.

[Davekam]

I play pretty regularly. My nes and Atari are never unhooked.

[RobertDuncan]

I play pretty regularly. My nes and Atari are never unhooked.

I kinda miss the old days when everything was wood based. The atari 2600 with its wood panel looks so cool and truly unique.now everything is glassy and glossy with metal bands added to the console. who knows what the future will have in store I mean if you where to tell people of the 90s that Sony would build a George foreman grill looking console people would have laughed but behold we now have the barbecue grill and heck a nintoaster as well.

[Sean697]

I got an xrgb mini upscaler for my retro consoles. I play them occasionally. I try to get flash cartridges for all the consoles I can. My next project is to install my GD rom usb card in a Dreamcast to replace the disc drive with a hard drive.

[metroid]

I play then all the time and the new games too.The fact that i could buy the games that i only rented back in the day and play then in the real hardware is really a blessing.