i recently tried to get back into retro gaming, but it seems now like everything is just devolved into a horrible quagmire. and the realization that all the original hardware sucked. too difficult to find original components, every game is super rare apparently, and greedy ebayers are charging up the ass.
Like Earthbound?, worth $10 according to Nintendo, $200 on ePay-through-the-nose.
Misadventures of Tron Bonne is worth $5.99, a mere $220 for polycarbonate plastic.
Megaman X2, a decent $7.99, on ebay $130.
even accessories aren't immune to this insanity, Gamecube Video Cable going for $200-$300? (uuuh, doesn't Wii run GC?), Hori Mini Pad $130, Gameboy Player Controller $200!. PsOne Mouse $50. Ridiculous!. what kind of mental deficient is paying these prices?
start with NES, ok, you get a used console, maybe you have an old cartridge lying around, pop it in and.... Green Flash... Green Flash... Green Flash.... Brilliant!. you need a new 42 pin connector, and soldering equipment, and time. But remember you also need to De-Yellow the console because the chemicals are breaking down the plastic!, better run around to beauty salons looking for Hydrogen Peroxide solution and UV lights to De-Yellow it. Hopefully the neighbors wont think you turned your garage into a meth lab.
Well what about the Top Loader NES, NOPE!. "The RCA composite were removed from the system; an RF connection is the only way to connect the system to a television" WOW. forget about having the luxury of S-Video on any NES console, even the crappy 240p composite was removed.
ok but what about 3rd party clones?, every manufacturer used crappy Composite video. you have one option, the Retron 5.... But theres a huge BUT..... its an ANDRIOD system running Retroarch emulator!, and you can download Retroarch for FREE!, on any Android device you want. the only real practical benefit would be for Mega-Collectors with massive cartridge collections. otherwise you could just download the roms with ZERO difference.
SNES has S-Video... try finding a cable that actually separates the signals in true S-Video, most are "Dual" cables that simply push composite through the s-video port. And even then, try finding a TV that accepts SVideo nowadays. most newer LCD TV's are removing the S-Video port altogether. so are Receivers. look up Sony Receivers on radio shack, not one has s-video.
and Gameboy, original has horrible picture quality regardless of what mod you do to it. Gameboy Color cannot be backlit. Chinese Clones have wrong aspect ratio. GBA is junk, AGS-001 is junk, and GBA SP AGS-101 is ridiculously overpriced and useless for backwards compatibility because GB plays in a tiny little window, with ugly GBC palettes.
Gameboy Player?, Super Gameboy?. the SGB is not compatible with GB Color cartridges. and doesn't really do much for 99% of GB games besides slap on a border and choose a 2-color GBC palette for you. GBPlayer on Gamecube, still uses GBC hardware so its Left+A, Right+B stupid codes at startup, and none look any good anyway.
and anyway you can never really own every game physically. Translations. Hacks. Remakes. and Prototypes. but flashcarts... aren't perfect. arent future proof (equipment breaks down) and don't run 100% of games, so forget Starfox 2, or Banjo Kazui, or Kirby Tilt n Tumble, or Pokemon Ruby. You WILL be using an emulator eventually for those hard to run games, so why even bother at all.
at this point, when is not using an emulator have any benefit over simply and easily using emulation and saving the massive headaches.
Like Earthbound?, worth $10 according to Nintendo, $200 on ePay-through-the-nose.
Misadventures of Tron Bonne is worth $5.99, a mere $220 for polycarbonate plastic.
Megaman X2, a decent $7.99, on ebay $130.
even accessories aren't immune to this insanity, Gamecube Video Cable going for $200-$300? (uuuh, doesn't Wii run GC?), Hori Mini Pad $130, Gameboy Player Controller $200!. PsOne Mouse $50. Ridiculous!. what kind of mental deficient is paying these prices?
start with NES, ok, you get a used console, maybe you have an old cartridge lying around, pop it in and.... Green Flash... Green Flash... Green Flash.... Brilliant!. you need a new 42 pin connector, and soldering equipment, and time. But remember you also need to De-Yellow the console because the chemicals are breaking down the plastic!, better run around to beauty salons looking for Hydrogen Peroxide solution and UV lights to De-Yellow it. Hopefully the neighbors wont think you turned your garage into a meth lab.
Well what about the Top Loader NES, NOPE!. "The RCA composite were removed from the system; an RF connection is the only way to connect the system to a television" WOW. forget about having the luxury of S-Video on any NES console, even the crappy 240p composite was removed.
ok but what about 3rd party clones?, every manufacturer used crappy Composite video. you have one option, the Retron 5.... But theres a huge BUT..... its an ANDRIOD system running Retroarch emulator!, and you can download Retroarch for FREE!, on any Android device you want. the only real practical benefit would be for Mega-Collectors with massive cartridge collections. otherwise you could just download the roms with ZERO difference.
SNES has S-Video... try finding a cable that actually separates the signals in true S-Video, most are "Dual" cables that simply push composite through the s-video port. And even then, try finding a TV that accepts SVideo nowadays. most newer LCD TV's are removing the S-Video port altogether. so are Receivers. look up Sony Receivers on radio shack, not one has s-video.
and Gameboy, original has horrible picture quality regardless of what mod you do to it. Gameboy Color cannot be backlit. Chinese Clones have wrong aspect ratio. GBA is junk, AGS-001 is junk, and GBA SP AGS-101 is ridiculously overpriced and useless for backwards compatibility because GB plays in a tiny little window, with ugly GBC palettes.
Gameboy Player?, Super Gameboy?. the SGB is not compatible with GB Color cartridges. and doesn't really do much for 99% of GB games besides slap on a border and choose a 2-color GBC palette for you. GBPlayer on Gamecube, still uses GBC hardware so its Left+A, Right+B stupid codes at startup, and none look any good anyway.
and anyway you can never really own every game physically. Translations. Hacks. Remakes. and Prototypes. but flashcarts... aren't perfect. arent future proof (equipment breaks down) and don't run 100% of games, so forget Starfox 2, or Banjo Kazui, or Kirby Tilt n Tumble, or Pokemon Ruby. You WILL be using an emulator eventually for those hard to run games, so why even bother at all.
at this point, when is not using an emulator have any benefit over simply and easily using emulation and saving the massive headaches.