![]() North America and Japan which both use the same NTSC television output and have roughly the same power cords and voltages. See for us English language folks there are really 3 places to be aware of. There are many computer types in the old days, and even more types of connectors and such.Ĭonsider this your primer of terminology so we have an idea where to go.įirst off you need to figure out WHERE you are playing your games and WHERE your games are coming from. (Unless your computer is a portable one, or your console is a full Sega Genesis with CD and either 32x or Master System Converter.) Unlike game consoles which at their most complicated normally involve just getting an old tv, a game system from wherever the heck you are playing it at, some cartridges (or CDs), and plugging system to wall, controller to system, shoving game in the appropriate spot, and system to TV usually with RCA or RF cables, computers are much more in depth. Retro Game Computing, just like computing in general, is a bit of a pain. Retro Computing: Why Bother? Part 2: Terminology and Technology You just didn't hear about it, and modern gamers, the gaming press, and even most retrogaming discussions tend to forget or ignore it all as if nothing mattered if it wasn't on a console. You name it and computer gaming probably did it first. Hell, Jack Tramiel's decisions when he took over Atari had direct influence on console gaming's rebirth into the billion dollar level industry it is today! Retro console darlings Rare and Bungie began life making games on the Spectrum and the Macintosh respectively. Outside of Activision, most of the trailblazers were working on computer games. So many genres, game styles, and even legendary companies got their start on computers. If you are interested in the history of electronic gaming retro computing isn't optional, it is REQUIRED. Sure lots of swearing and the odd cuts and bruises happen as a result but. To use an old computer when new and now is the difference between just driving a modern car with whatever options you like already in place, and buying an older car and working on it. All sorts of awesome peripherals to both make your machine better.Īnd you could actually do some proper work with them too. Volume controls to adjust perfectly so that 20 minute tape load wouldn't give you an error message. You had disk drives and tape drives to connect. You normally didn't just plug a controller in, plug the power supply in, then connect an RF or RCA cable to the TV set. They required more effort and intelligence to use than consoles. Old computers were a lot of fun to work with. Why would I want to get into playing games on old computers? Those things kids got their parents to buy them "to help with their homework" but were really bought to play all sorts of boss games, usually copied off someone else due to difficulty at finding these games (nothing has changed sadly), and the fact that kids & teens are amoral greedy little self entitled shites. There were other game systems people played on besides consoles. I'd love to own a legit copy but y'all have pushed that game into a ridiculous price level for how common it is.) (And we won't even get into the Earthbound fanbase. And a small but generally annoyed group of US folks who inwardly sigh whenever the only old RPGs brought up seem to be an endless worship of Final Fantasy, or maybe Dragon Quest & Phantasy Star if they are classy. You will hear a lot of folks from Europe and the UK talking about Commodore and Sinclair. for many of us it wasn't gaming consoles that provided us most of our enjoyment of games back in the old days. But as someone who works in a casino I see people willing to spend entirely too much money being kind of foolish every day.) ![]() The REALLY wealthy retro folk also talk about arcade games. (Well those who are happy to spend time blabbing about old games. ![]() Rare games like unauthorized third party titles or short run releases like the final Sega Saturn games in the USA command enough to pay one's bills for the month.īut when you look online the old school gaming discussion is mostly NES-N64 era for the English speaking western world's 20-30 something folk, and the Atari 2600 for the 30-40 set. Loose copies of Super Nintendo titles are going for big money, some like Earthbound can fetch double if not TRIPLE original MSRP in spite of the game having been clearance priced in the mid 90s for being a failure with the general pre Internet gaming audience. OFF MY MEDS AGAIN PLEASE DON'T USE BIG WORDS
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