Fixing That Old Game System

larsoncc writes "Emulation is a great way to preserve past game systems, but what if you could keep these digital dinosaurs running for decades? Well, you can, and some of us do. It's not easy for me to 'let go' of that vintage (circa 1978) Magnavox Odyssey2, or toss my Atari 7800 in the closet because I don't have a power supply. Here's my article to help you solve common problems with 15 different systems, and general tips for the others. Viva la TI-99/4a!!"

Comments

thats what emulators are for.

[cyrax777]

I dont even bother with reparing my old systesm I just emulate them.

Re:thats what emulators are for.

[rafikki]

Did you read the first line of the original post? He said that he recognized emulation but this is for the folks who don't want to do that.

Re:thats what emulators are for.

[bob beta]

If you're game for a little hardware hacking, you maintain and keep the original hardware running.

Ten years from now, guess whose 'investment' will be worth more? The guy with a Pentium II he has to keep up and running to 'emulate' the old game, or the guy who's kept his old game running in top condition?

Mangling classic console gaming controls to plug them into a printer port on some shitty x86 box is just vandalism against the old hardware.

Emulation is NOT the same thing

[nurb432]

You cant emulate the 'feel' of having the real thing in your hands.

Sure you get to run the *software*, but you lose everything that makes it special and worth saving.

Real history is lost when we lose the old classic hardware ( both games and computers ).

Really sad to see so many people that dont appreciate history for what it is, and consider it 'throwaway'.

Re:Emulation is NOT the same thing

[Jagasian]

Have your friend compare his mini-itx SNES with a real SNES, side-by-side. Compare the difference in video, audio, controls, boot time, and power consumption. You will be surprised.

Re:Emulation is NOT the same thing

[Zangief]

In Fanrenheit 451, this wise man tells montag, that the good thing about books is their touch, and scent, and the feeling of the book.

I have grown to think like this too. An ebook is just not a real book, even if the only difference is nostalgia. The original feeling matters, and matters a lot.

The TI99/4a was/is not a game console

[foldedspace]

Yeah, there were games for it, but I've never seen a game console with a dot matrix printer and a 5.25" floppy drive. I also wrote some BASIC programs on it. I never did that with my Atari 2600. Yep, I had one. :P

The connector for the peripheral expansion box gave me worries when I had it. It was a thick sheilded ribbon cable with a heavy plastic connector hanging off the end of the keyboard. I think I used a chunk of wood to support it.

I do remember the video being horrible though. (the tip in the article is about the video). I even bought the TI brand monitor. I think it was a 13"?

Woah, calm down killer.

[cbreaker]

Wow, you wrote a friggin essay on two words I used, "pixel perfect."

While, no, I have not studied an SNES game with a magnifying glass on both an emulator and then on the real console system, hell if I can tell a difference on the 100 or so games I own.

I can't tell the difference on the Genesis, NES, TB16, Atari 2600 - 7800's either.

So fine, maybe that wasn't the right word to use - so how about this: "Pixel 'I can't tell the fucking difference so it might as well be perfect to 99% of the people playing them.'" That work for you?

You also mentioned that "almost" all of the adapters for the SNES suck, well, that insinuates that SOME don't. Hey, I never said buy a shitty convertor.

" but if we all throw away the real thing too early, we will end up with subpar emulation that isn't as good as the real thing. "

I didn't say we should. But these systems WILL die out, some day. You won't be able to get them easily, the games won't work, etc.. And even if you could, who cares? If emulation is as good as it is with some game systems, I don't see the point. Why would I have 12 game systems all wired up in a big mess to my TV when I could just run them all on a single XBox or PC?

And, I don't know too many people that play SNES games all day long anymore. It's usually every once in awhile to play a few of their favorites for a little while, then it's back to the Doom 3's, Far Cry's, and Everquests.

Re:Indeed - you're full of What If's...

[Lord Kano]

Unless you're talking about the same few from the question above, you will find that most emulators play games perfectly down to the last pixel, and in some cases, they look a lot better (as is the case with the playstation games.)

You are not kidding. I downloaded epsxe because the laser in my PSX is going bad. I tried Tobol #1 and I was simply AMAZED at how good it looked. There wasn't even a comparison. Using OpenGL or Direct3D makes flat shaded polygons look so much better than they originally did.

Anyone out there should fire up their old games and take another look. It'll be like getting your hands on an unreleased sequel.

If what I've said doesn't apply to a particular game you have, all you're risking is an hour of your time. If it does, you will lose several hours of your life rediscovering a game that you used to love.

LK

Sometimes it's better..

[vhold]

And on the flipside.. emulation is sometimes better, at least in my opinion.

My PS2 dualshock controller with USB adaptor is more comfortable in my hands then any older controllers. With video filters like SuperEagle, many games look much better without losing their charm. The ability to save anytime is a massive improvement to many games (sure you can abuse it to beat any game easily, but thats a choice), good bye long winded code inputs. Built in gameshark support with downloadable codes.. Some emulators even have half way decent online functionality..