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It really feels like I've been cranking away at JRPGs for a while now, and I feel like I need a bit of a break, so I decided to turn to my second (and most recent) RPG love: the CRPG. But what to play? Ultima VI? Nope (and for a reason we can discuss another time, if you want). Witcher 3? Nah, I don't really want to start anything new (and possible very long).
So what to do? Ah, maybe something from my past, something I have already played but largely forgotten, but also I can play on my recently hacked PS Vita. After a few days it came to me: Dungeons and Dragons - Warriors of the Eternal Sun (Eternal Sun) for the Sega Genesis!
Continue reading Dungeons & Dragons - Warriors of the Eternal Sun
I really dig summer, especially for writing (did I mention I love writing?). This time of the year I typically spend a goodly amount of time not playing games but rather thinking about them, diving back into the glory days of the late 80's and early 90's, back when Metro D had a respectable amount of arcade games located in every conceivable place, save government buildings and banks (and I am sure they secretly wanted them).
What does this have to do with the article? Early this year I spent a fair amount of time running my mouth about the past as my fourteen year-old son and I sat on the couch in the game room and played our way through the ninety (!) titles available on the Retro-bit Super Retro-cade. And man, was it amazing.
Continue reading Retro-Bit Super Retro-cade - A Flawed but Fun Plug N Play
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Once upon a time, the most desired trait of any home console gamer was accurate arcade ports. In this fashion, one could say that arcades ruled the jungles of electronic video game entertainment. While complete faithfulness to the arcade original was the holy grail, it was certainly not a requirement, though individual interpretation on the quality of the port was certainly in place, especially in the playgrounds and hallways of schools.
For your reading pleasure, this article is setup using three "categories," those being "The Safe One" (which would generally be agreed that the port is superior to the arcade), "The Controversial One" (which many likely wouldn't agree with), and "The Garbage One" (in which the console port is metaphorically a trash fire). Enjoy!
Continue reading But I Like Those Ports! Part 2019
[img width=700 height=543]http://i63.tinypic.com/243kh7a.jpg[/img]
One of these things is not like the other...
Once upon a time, the most desired trait of any home console gamer was to play arcade ports. In this fashion, one could say that arcades ruled the jungles of electronic video game entertainment. While complete faithfulness to the arcade original was the holy grail, it was certainly not a requirement, though individual interpretation on the quality of the port was certainly in place, especially in the playgrounds and hallways of schools.
Another episode of But I Like Those Ports! follows, and another three games are presented for your reading pleasure. In a way, these were the most ambiguous of the small list I drew up of possible games, but it was still hard. Out of the games left, I might have one more episode left, but who knows. Perhaps I should start branching out a bit into other territories.
Continue reading But I Like Those Ports! Part Trois
[img width=700 height=394]http://i68.tinypic.com/b8vjfr.jpg[/img]
Once upon a time, the strongest desire of most gamers was to duplicate what they played in the arcade on a home console. In this fashion, one could say that arcades ruled the jungles of electronic video game entertainment. While complete faithfulness to the arcade original was the holy grail, it was certainly not a requirement, though individual interpretation on the quality of the port was certainly debated, especially in the playgrounds and hallways of schools.
Today I submit three more titles for your enjoyment; two I truly love more than the arcade originals, and one that I would rather suffer (another) head injury than play on a home console.
Continue reading But I Like Those Ports: The Sequel!
[img width=600 height=450]https://i.imgur.com/40rVa51.jpg[/img]
As the storage size of digital media has increased, so too has the size of the video games that are played. Game worlds used to be quite tiny, and the length of games came from other areas of difficulty meant to make it hard to explore those worlds. Enemies were difficult and frequent; statistical balance was brutal. It would take players hours to get the right equipment, enough money, and high enough stats to be able to properly progress. Games have been expanded in many ways for decades.
The idea of playing through a game twice or more is quite old by now, with the earliest examples coming from some mid-80s hits and classics such as Ghosts 'n Goblins, The Legend of Zelda, and Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei. The rewards for this choice are varied, the true ending for Ghosts 'n Goblins, or an extra challenge in Zelda and Megami Tensei. It was only later when this idea was not only popularized, but received a name that has stuck with gamers for over two decades and counting now. Chrono Trigger rewarded players for multiple trips through its world by offering a variety of different endings that could be achieved by beating the final boss in any number of different ways and almost anywhere during the story.
Continue reading Old Game -
[img width=700 height=466]http://i1029.photobucket.com/albums/y359/necrom99/RFGen%20Blog/hyperspace-logo-1_orig_zpsvcaz903e.png[/img]
I recently took a road trip to the Denver, CO area and spent a good weekend hunting there. We had some choices for arcades to visit, but with one being in Downtown Denver and one right outside it, we made sure to find something closer, and with less traffic. Hyperspace is advertised as the Denver area's largest arcade, and its a good one to go visit if you're wanting to spend some real time surrounded by cabinets and pinball. Its a flat entrance fee for all you can game arcade action.The cost of a day pass is $12 and for $45 you can acquire a monthly pass. Every machine is set to free play and with the push of the start or credit button, you can play until your heart's content.
Continue reading Hyperspace Arcade Review
[img width=600 height=450]http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c394/bombatomba77/newy_strider_zpsykljdce7.jpg[/img]
Original image from modthesims2.com
Once upon a time, the most desired trait of any home console gamer was to play arcade ports. In this fashion, one could say that arcades ruled the jungles of electronic video game entertainment. While complete faithfulness to the arcade original was the holy grail, it was certainly not a requirement, though individual interpretation on the quality of the port was certainly in place, especially in the playgrounds and hallways of schools.
Once upon a time, I was among those that desired the "perfect" arcade port, having been a child in the jungle of electronic entertainment. Yet, as I grew in years, complete faithfulness to the arcade original was only a concern, then less of a concern, then finally of little to no concern. Don't get me wrong, I still love original arcade games, it just so happens that in my mind, certain games have been usurped by certain console ports, so that when someone says, "Remember how awesome xxxxxx game was back in the day?" and I say, "Yes," my mind isn't even remotely in the vicinity of the arcade original. Curiosity piqued yet?
Continue reading But I Like Those Ports!
[img width=287 height=193]http://www.atarimuseum.com/videogames/consoles/5200/5200ad.jpg[/img]
In this blog series I will be focusing on the Atari 5200. I will be covering the console itself first and then move on to the games. This series will be one half information such as history and background info on the console and the games. The other half will be a review of the system and the games from my point of view after playing them. I will make it through each game for the Atari 5200, as long as I have it. This is going to be a long series of blog posts, and have quite a few games to get through. I have about 25 games left to grab for the console, but I will review those as I get them. I appreciate comments and hope you have as much fun reading this as I will writing this. Please pardon for any typos and incorrect writing conventions.
So without further ado, I give you my first blog post and an inside look into.....
The Underestimated Atari 5200
Part 1
The first post in this series will cover the console itself. The background information such as the history, technical information, and library information will be brief. I would rather focus more on the review and my thoughts about the console itself.
Brief History:
The Atari 5200 also called the "Supersystem" was released in 1982 exclusively in North America. What we got was a console capable of giving the public great ports of great arcade games. Despite the great games the console suffered due to controllers that were notorious for not working, competition from the Colecovision, and in 1984 the video game crash finally finished the Atari 5200 off.
Technical Information:
The Atari 5200 was based off of the Atari 8 Bit computers (Atari 400/800). The Atari 5200 uses a 1.79 MHz Processor, and has 16kb of RAM. Although, the Atari 8 Bit computers had a more powerful 10k operating system compared to the 1k "monitor system". The Atari 5200 has a max resolution of 320x190 Pixels. The console used ANTIC and GTIA chips for graphics, and a POKEY chip for sound. Two versions were released. The first version included four controller ports, and the second release had two controller ports. The four-port version had a strange way to hook it up to your tv, with a power adapter connecting into the RF box. The two-port had a more traditional setup.
Controllers & Peripherals:
The 5200 controllers were 15-Pin controllers that were a combination of a joystick with four fire buttons, a start, pause, and reset button. The controller also included a numeric keypad. The joystick was a 360 degree non-centering joystick. The Pro-Line Trak-Ball controller was also released for the console. Other controllers were in development by Atari but never released. A few third party options were released. WICO released the Command Control a 9-Pin controller that came with a Y-Cable to make it compatible with the Atari 5200. The Command Control also came with a keypad. Masterplay released another adapter that allowed the use of any 9-Pin controller with the console.
Nowadays, you can find repair kits and upgrade kits to fix the classic Atari 5200 controllers. The gold-plated parts are the best ones to pickup. They are more expensive but definitely increase the controllers life by a mile.
Games:
The Atari 5200 has a library of 69 games. Homebrews, Repros, Multi-carts, and Hacks are available for the system as well. About half of the games released were from Atari, and the other half are from several third party publishers. The rarest game for the console is said to be Bounty Bob Strikes Back the sequel to Miner 2049er. Some popular games include Pac-Man, Mario Bros, & Frogger. I will cover more about the games, when I review them in later posts.
My review of the console:
I am not doing a review where I give a rating, its more of my thoughts and ideas on the console. Let me first say I wouldn't be doing a multi-post review if I didn't like the console. So do expect some bias there. I will do my best to give it an honest review.
My first exposure to the console was through watching the AVGN review of the Atari 5200. I had never played it, or was interested in it before watching his review. He mostly covered the console and did not show any of the games in his review. I was still enamored by it. I wanted to try it out for myself.
A few years ago I was able to pick one up off ebay. The auction included the console, two controllers, and a handful of boxed games. This was the start of my goal which was to pickup every Atari 5200 game in box. A very ambitious endeavor, I found out later. Its not out of the realm of possibility but a few games are quite difficult to find even loose. But I digress.
When I got my Atari 5200 in the mail, I plugged it in, and started playing. My first reaction was that the games look amazing. Pac-Man looked almost arcade worthy. The other games I got with it, looked great as well. The controllers I received did only work partially, but they worked enough to play the games. They did later break all together. I repaired them several times before they eventually couldn't be fixed anymore, without picking up upgrade replacement parts. I am now in the process of waiting on my Y-cable to come in the mail for my Wico Command Controller. So with that, I do agree the controllers are the major setback for the console. Although with some amount of investment the controller problem can be remedied. But, the controllers being unreliable is my only complaint about them. I heard many people say the non-centering joysticks are a major problem. I disagree, I found the feel to the joystick very responsive, and comfortable in my hand. I didn't feel I had a whole lot of difficulty controlling Pac-Man, Frogger, or the car in Pole Position. The button layout felt great, and having a pause feature is a great addition to playing Atari games. I enjoyed playing the games with the Atari 5200 controller until it broke for good. I do understand though that reaction time is delayed at times because of the non-centering. The non-centering joystick however does not make the games unplayable, it just something you have to get used to. Although, I would much rather use a Wico Command Control. They are just better, bar none. Its too bad the console did not last long enough for them to rectify the problem. You could tell they learned their lesson when they made the Atari 7800.
(I want to add that opening, repairing, and doing maintenance on the controllers is quite easy but you may want to view a guide, so you don't break any parts inside the controller. I unfortunately broke one of controllers while opening, making it completely unusable. So just a word to the wise, always view a guide before working on the controllers.)
I am a big fan of the console despite its problems. The look of the console definitely shows its age, which makes it appealing to me. The Atari 5200 featured a great small door on the top of the system, used for storing things such as pens, pencils, spare change, D20 dice, & juice boxes. The games are easy to insert and take out. With the two-port model, it is easy to hookup and start playing. The console is quite large and one might have a hard time trying to find a place for it. I have found that the console itself is very reliable. Every game I put in it, booted up on the first try. Since I have not had to fix mine, I do not know yet, how hard they are to fix.
When compared to its competitor the Colecovision, it runs a close race. Colecovision does have a much larger library of games, and the controllers are more reliable. Although the Colecovision controllers just don't have the same great feel the Atari 5200 controllers have. I like a good ole trusy joystick, compared to that flat dial. The Atari 5200 is a worthy rival to the Colecovision.
I think that about covers it for now
I will go more into the individual games later, but all the games I have played are great. The colors are nice and bright. You get the classic Atari sound effects, and music. The Atari 5200 even has a built in voice module. Which is a pretty nifty bonus when you play some of the games.
I know this is a brief overview, and review of the Atari 5200. For this series, I am hoping to focus more on the games and not the console. I will probably touch more on the console as I go about playing the games but for now, this is all I want to say.
I hope you enjoy this review, and keep coming back for later installments.
Sources:
https://atariage.com/5200/history.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/.../List_of_Atari_5200_games
http://www.ign.com/wikis/...-game-consoles/Atari_5200
http://www.atarimania.com/atari-5200.html
http://www.atarimuseum.co...onsoles/5200/5200ads.html
I don't know about all of you guys, but now that I have been collecting for a little while and have the "basics" covered as far as consoles go (NES, SNES, N64, Genesis, Dreamcast, PS1 I consider to be the bare essentials for consoles when collecting) and a little bit beyond that, I am starting to contemplate which console will be next.
The consoles I am considering (drooling over) are as follows in no particular order:
Sega Master system
Neo Geo CDZ (CD if I can't find a CDZ) - I would go for an AES but I'm not Bill Gates
Colecovision
Atari 7800
Jaguar CD - I know not technically a console
Does anyone have a suggestion in terms of which one I should snag next? My guess is the SMS is the cheapest option with most likely the largest library of cheap games. I am also guessing that the Jaguar CD is the worst value considering the cost of the unit, and the small library of games for it. I am just trying to decide without the eenie, meenie, miney, moe method of choosing.
Also note that I probably won't be getting any of the above consoles very soon, so please feel free to really take your time before giving a recommendation :-)
Looking forward to the input!
Hey now!
So, you think you're greener than I am when it comes to gaming?
Then you've got another think comin', mister!
I'm so green, I could run around in the nude on St. Patrick's Day, and be completely pinch proof!
Ummm...
Wow, sometimes I even creep myself out.
*Cough* Moving on: I'm a big proponent of the whole "Reduce-reuse-recycle" philosophy. The vast majority of my collection is second-hand, which means I'm REUSING stuff that others have, in a sense, RECYCLED by directly selling to me via yard sales or indirectly via thrift stores. And by selling or donating, they've REDUCED their stock of unwanted games. Heck, I do a little recycling of my own with some reselling here and there, which generates my favorite kind of greenery.
And need I point out that the whole reduce-reuse-recycle deal also lessens the impact of our carbon footprint on... something or other. Actually, I don't fully understand the mechanics of the whole "carbon footprint" deal, so I'm probably talking from where the sun doesn't shine in this instance. If only I hadn't lost the number to Al Gore's direct line; I'm sure he could explain it to me...
But, what about supporting local small businesses? Hey, you can't get a smaller, more local business than a weekend garage sale just down the road! Fortunately for me, I reside in a region that usually has decent weather year-round, with sprawling suburbs that range from lower-middle to upper-middle class. These conditions provide a lot of opportunities for good deals, and a wide range of selection on Saturday mornings! Which, sadly, I've been unable to take advantage of lately, 'cuz I work Saturday mornings... *SOB*
Hey, you know what? If I expand the scope of "local" to include the San Francisco bay area, and throw in a few BIG businesses-- because hey, why not?-- no one's closer to the action than I am! There's Namco Bandai Electronic Games Inc. in San Jose which, according to Google maps, is 15.9 miles away from my front door. Then there's Redwood City some thirty-odd miles up the peninsula, home of Electronic Arts Inc., Konami of America, and Capcom USA Inc. Just beyond Redwood City is Foster City, where Sony Computer Entertainment of America is based. Then it's on to the city itself, where Sega of America has called home for over a decade after moving from Redwood City. And we mustn't forget Atari, which came into existence just a few miles up the road forty years ago.
And while they're neither exclusively nor directly involved with gaming, I mustn't forget eBay and NetFlix, both of which are a mere eight-minute drive away from me. Speaking of driving: I've delivered pizzas to both of these places on several occasions back in the day, and neither of 'em were very big on tipping. Just an FYI...
And speaking of pizza: I am well aware that Chuck E. Cheese's was founded 'round my neck of the woods. Man, are you guys really so jealous of my greenness and locality that you'd throw that in my face? Sheesh-- grow up, willya!
In all seriousness, however, I really do support the reuse and recycling of game software and hardware, though not exactly for noble reasons. Basically, I'm a cheap@$$, and will add just about any game of interest to my collection if the price is right, regardless of its cosmetic condition. All that matters to me is that it plays properly. That isn't to say that I won't trade up-- or is it level up?-- for an item in better condition if the opportunity arises. I do have some vanity after all.
I also support a local business-- an e-waste recycler, no less-- also for less than noble reasons. Thanks to a conversation I struck up with one of the company's managers at a garage sale, I'm allowed to look through their stock of wasted stuff for spare parts... so long as I have e-waste of my own to, er, "exchange." haven't found much yet, but at least I have an avenue there.
Anyhoo, I wish you all a happy Earth Day. Stay green my long-haired tree-hugging compatriots!
Oh yeah, and keep it on channel 3.
'Late
Hey now, everybody!
Here's a poser for you: what is the significance of today's date?
That's right: Shigeru Miyamoto is celebrating his 59th birthday!
(Well, technically, he celebrated it yesterday. Freakin' International Date Line...)
But even more importantly: one year ago today, I signed on with this motley band of lunatics and hell-raisers that is the RF Generation. Somehow I managed to go a whole year without gettin' the banhammer. Which, considering my past experience with message boards, is no small feat. I guess I just wasn't tryin' hard enough...
Never the less, I think it's only fair for me to acknowledge and give props to the fellow 'Generators who have had the greatest impact on me over the last 365 days:
Although I've conveyed my gratitude to him many times over--and not just because I'm trying to stay on his good side--I gotta give it up yet again for Shadow Kisuragi, who effortlessly fielded my endless stream of questions about submissions and DB rules with a high degree of casual professionalism. But best of all, he introduced me to GameCenter CX. And just when I thought I'd never watch a TV show on a semi-regular basis ever again...
Izret101 and Tynstar were also a big help on several of my submissions, so don't think I forgot about ya's.
Thanks to CrabMaster2000's "Unloved" blogs, SingleBanana's Atari 2600 retro reviews, NoiseRedux's shmup recommendations, and Scarper's Game Boy write-ups, my wish list is perpetually full and my disposable income nonexistent. Now if that isn't what friends are for, then I don't know what is.
Special thanks to James, who struck a much-needed blow to my ignorance by letting me know the volume of a proper pub pint, and setting me straight about the whole zee-zed deal.
HungryMoose's console and cartridge cleaning tips proved quite helpful and effective. Though I must admit I balked at a few of them initially. My apologies for doubting you, good sir.
To Blkblskt and Phoenix1967: OLD-SCHOOL OLD-SCHOOL OLD-SCHOOL OLD-SCHOOL NYAH-NAH-NYAH-NYAH NEENER-NEENER-NEENER! Heh.
Oh, and how could I forget ReddMcKnight, RF Generation's most prominent Power Glove proponent? I couldn't, that's how. Perhaps that highly-maligned peripheral isn't "so bad" after all...
Speaking of which: I applaud The Maligned Leon for finding the courage and conviction to kick his vuvuzela habit. You, sir, are made of far sterner stuff than I could ever hope to be... er, made of. Oh, and I'll try to to be a better drunken fill-in for you the next time you head off to "Canadia" for a spell.
I also mustn't leave out ixtaileddemonfox, the first fellow 'Generator I traded with. I'm sending a little something your way in the next couple weeks, so be on the lookout. Consider it an early Christmas present...
And last but hardly least: a toast to Bickman2k, the first RF Generation denizen to invite me to be added to his Yahoo and MSN IM lists. I'm not exactly sure why you'd wanna converse with me outside the confines of RF Generation, but I'm grateful none the less.
Here's to the next 365 366 days. Which, with a little luck, will be eventful in all the right ways...
'Late
Hello and welcome to Super Nintendo Land!
So while I wait for my Super Famicom to arrive (more info on that at a later date), I decided to start posting my experiences on SNES collecting.
As any retro gamer knows, when buying a retro console it a good idea to research which one you'll be buying. Should I get the Mega Drive 1 or 2? Should I get the GBA SP or the smaller GBA Micro? Oh wait the Micro doesn't support GB and GBC games let me think this through.
So when I decided to get a SNES, besides looking at each region's exclusive games (although removing the lockout chip cancels out that factor, which is exactly what I did) I looked around to see what options I have hardware wise.
First factor was money. As anyone who has made it through middle school can tell you, prices are a matter of supply vs demand. How does that apply to retro gaming? First of all demand will always fluctuate. It can depend on a plethora of factors, with the most important in my mind being coverage. A single mention of a game as a hidden gem on Racket Boy or Retro Gamer might hike the price of said game on ebay. Likewise a recent release of a game on the Virtual Console might push some people to look for the original cart online. So it really all depends on luck with these out of production consoles.
But supply is much easier to calculate. Simply put, the more a console has sold the easier it is to find one. Gameboys are as cheap as chips and I've bought magazines that cost more than what the PS1 is going for right now on ebay. Anyway let's look at the regional sales of the SNES.
According to this document ( http://www.webcitation.org/5nXieXX2B ) which I shamelessly took from wikipedia, the SNES sales break down like this:
| America | 23 Million | | Japan | 17 Million | | Other | 8.5 Million |
So understandably it's much cheaper to look for a Super Famicom or an American SNES than a PAL or Korean one. I got my Super Famicom for 25 British Pounds (38$/30 Euro). On the various European ebay sites (co.uk .fr .es .it .de) a PAL Super Nintendo usually goes for at least 40 Euro (33 British Pounds/52$) In both cases with a single controller and the cables included. But price wise the crown goes to the American SNES. Right now it is being sold on ebay, for way less than the JP and EU models. The original SNES seems to go for about 20$ (15 Euro/13 British Pounds). Unfortunately I could not find any SNES SNS-101 (the redesigned model, which wasn't released in Europe btw) for sale, but only a couple of clones (I'll cover this issue in a minute), and the Super Famicom Junior is selling right now for crazy amounts of money (at least on the Western ebay sites, I don't know how much it costs in Japan).
So with price out of the way, let's look at what we collector's really care about (besides the games library). The design (aka the "looks") of a console. There are 3 main contenders in this category.
The original Super Famicom/ Super Nintendo PAL design
These are nearly identical to each other, with the only difference being the logo on the console itself and the controller (the PAL one has the Nintendo logo inside the ring thingy and it says Super Nintendo with big letters instead of Super Famicom with smaller ones. Here's a picture for comparison's sake http://upload.wikimedia.o...00.jpg/700px-SNES_800.jpg. Pictures, as always, shamelessly taken from Wikipedia).
So what do I like about this design. Well basically it's playfulness. This and the PSone have been the only console designs that basically say Hi there, I'm a box of joy. Everything, from the curvy design to the colorful logo and buttons says that when you'll interact with this magical machine you'll be having a great time. I also like how each button on the console is a totally different shape, to emphasize its different use (god knows how many times I pressed the wrong button on the Gamecube... well 2 or 3 times, but I was trying to make a point)
Next we have the American SNES
God what an ugly beast. Yup this is stereotypically American. You guys like your stuff big and that's perfectly fine (you're the only ones with space to put it in anyway. Try driving your cars in European capitals or in Tokyo). But all jokes aside, it's not the size I have a problem with. It's the overall design. First of all, why purple? Ok you wanted to promote it as a more serious machine, so the colorful details had to go, but you chose to replace them with purple buttons? WTF Nintendo? Nintendo Red goes sooooo well with dark gray, so why didn't you go with that instead? It's not like purple means less kiddy than red. What's up with Nintendo and purple anyway? The Gamecube was mostly pushed as a purple console, likewise with the GBA (the clear purple color was what most Europeans got anyway).
But by far the worst offender is the design itself. Once more I understand they needed to promote it as a more serious machine (to combat Sega's Marketing campaign), so with that in mind it makes perfect sense that they changed the buttons to look alike. But why did they have to place the reset button down there? And why is the front so loaded and the back so empty? I do like the curvy cartridge slot, but that's an element taken from the original design and I don't like that it's so clumsily elevated.
Lastly there's the Super Famicom Jr/ Super Nintendo SNS-101
This time they barely changed anything for the North American release, other than the color of the buttons and the logo (http://www.spaghettioh.co...tent/snes/snes_model2.jpg). I don't know which design I like more though. Well the SNS-101 is actually a huge improvement on the NA Super Nintendo so it's a good choice for someone in the market for an American SNES, plus the small purple buttons look kind of cute. On the other hand the Super Famicom Jr looks bad imo. The colorful logo this time makes it look like a baby's Super Famicom. I don't like either version much, but if I had to choose between these 2 I'd probably get the American version (with a PAL/JP controller  ).
A word of warning for those in the market for an SNES SNS-101. A wide variety of clone machines have been based on its design, so be careful when buying a SNS-101 from ebay, that you don't end up with a clone instead.
Finally there are the technical differences between models. In this regard the PAL consoles are inferior to all other regions, because they run at 50Hz. You can mod the console to make it run the games at 60Hz, but unless you have the technical skills to do that (or know someone who is willing to do that for you (for free or with payment)) I'd stick away from the PAL machines if you are given the option of choosing among the 3 regions (as always game libraries are not taken into account since you can make your SNES region free more easily than the 50/60Hz mod), unless you really like the design and your machine MUST say Super Nintendo on it.
Both Super Famicom and NA SNES run at 60Hz and can output composite video, S-Video and RGB signals, as well as RF with an external RF modulator. (All together now, "Shamelessly taken from Wikipedia"). On the other hand the Super Famicom Jr and the SNES SNS-101 don't output S-Video and RGB signal and don't feature an expansion port (although with the Satellaview service discontinued in 2000 there's no real need for one anyway).
So after taking account of the price, design and hardware factors I personally decided I wanted a Super Famicom. I'd have preferred a PAL Super Nintendo (I'm getting a mod for 50/60Hz switch anyway) but they are a bit more expensive and I'd rather spend that money on some games.
Thanks for reading. I'll try to update this blog whenever I have the time and I'm in a good mood, with my experiences in SNES collecting and its games in general.
[img width=99 height=56]http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs18/f/2007/190/5/c/SNES_stamp_by_Rashoodz.png[/img]
at GDC '09 quite a few interesting things have shown up gamewise. I found the biggest suprise to be the announcement of a new console. A console like no other, a console that relies purely on DLC as its main media. Without further adu take a look at the console:
http://www.cheatcc.com/cc...rticle.aspx?PostID=375898
I think it will be quite a console to play.
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We are a community of collectors, gamers and the likes, and some of us enjoy to let the world know what is on our mind. For those members, we have the community blogs, a place where they can publish their thoughts and feelings regarding life, universe, and everything. Some of those members might even choose to write about gaming and collecting! Whatever they write about, you can find it on their blog. You can either see the latest community blog entries in the feed you see to the left, or you can browse for your favorite blog using the menu above. Interested in having your own blog hosted on RF Generation? It's rather simple, first be a registered member, and then click the "My Blog" link that you see in the navigation above. Following those two steps will certainly get you on your way to blogging.
Sit back, relax, and enjoy our entries, rantings, and completely unrelated series of thoughts. We write for you to read, so we certainly hope that you enjoy our material.
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