Haha, yeah I totally get it!

I think we talked about this up thread, but it seems that we might be at tipping point now... lots more people seeing the issue in the last couple of weeks.

If you have a PSP, check the battery. Carefully.

https://www.kotaku.co.uk/2020/07/28/psp ... -batteries

Thanks Flabyo, seems like an important thing to know! Just checked my slim, which is fine. But I've got a launch model fat one somewhere in the house, I just have no idea where. We probably won't know until we hear it go bang... :/

Flabyo wrote: ↑July 28th, 2020, 4:51 pm I think we talked about this up thread, but it seems that we might be at tipping point now... lots more people seeing the issue in the last couple of weeks.

If you have a PSP, check the battery. Carefully.

https://www.kotaku.co.uk/2020/07/28/psp ... -batteries

Yikes, thanks for letting us know! I'll have to check my battery now, it seems like a latent issue similar to the original Xbox clock capacitor exploding.

Recent pick-ups from the last couple of weeks. No showstoppers but some new things I'm really excited to try and some old favourites I'm looking forward to revisiting.



Mechwarrior 2 - Saturn - This was a game I always wanted to pick up at the time as I remember it getting good reviews and the PC version had earlier made a bit of stir with some fantastic 3D graphics for the time (check out the excellent DF Retro episode on it - https://youtu.be/87tvXIIMJes). Never did get hold of it for whatever reason, so looking forward to finally giving the game a try!

Sega Touring Car Championship - Saturn - As a conversion of a Model 2 arcade racer, this was really touted as 'the next Sega Rally' by magazines at the time, but in the end only got half-decent write-ups. The comparisons with Sega Rally also didn't do the game any favours when a demo was released, as I certainly went in expecting to be drifting around corners with ease and instead found a game that was much trickier and difficult to master. This NTSC-J copy in good condition was cheap at just over a tenner, so looking forward to finally giving the game a fair try.

FIFA International Soccer: Championship Edition - Mega CD - I played the hell out the Mega Drive version of the game that started it all back then. I've been casually looking for cheap Mega CD pick ups for a while and this was £5.50 in great condition, so should be fun for a nostalgic kick-about! This version has the obvious updates of improved music and crowd noise plus FMV not featured in the original. But there are also 16 extra teams, some new player moves and slightly faster paced gameplay apparently.

Virtua Striker 2 - Dreamcast - I have really fond memories of playing the Virtua Striker games in the arcades, and always being blown away by how incredible they looked vs the footy games on console at the time. Let's be clear - this is not a good football sim. What it is a fun arcade game for short play sessions and I'm really looking forward to it on those terms.

Capcom vs SNK 2 - Dreamcast - The Dreamcast version of this never made it outside of Japan. I've got the PAL version of the first game but have always wanted to pick up the sequel. I'm not particularly good but I just love the art style, and won this 'good as new' version on ebay complete with obi card for about £25.

CvS2 is a great buy. One of my fave all-time 2D fighters.

The 360 show has made me want to reconnect my old console up again. It's a launch model that only has the composite TV output. Trouble is, my new TV doesn't have those sockets. Can anyone recommend a decent device that'll convert that to HDMI so I can plug it in the telly? Thanks!

EDIT: Or is is component? I can't remember which is which. Its the red, white, yellow, green, blue etc.

Component is the cable per colour setup, and most modern TVs still have a component input somewhere, I think. Well, my 4K Sony Bravia does anyway.

Composite is one video cable with all the colour signals mashed up together.

Ah yeah it's definitely component then. Yeah my TV doesn't have them for some reason, I had to get a new adapter for the Wii because I was using a component cable and wasn't anywhere to plug them in

Annoyingly, it HAS got composite.

Bugger.

I have some new shiny things.



Have to decide what game gear games to go look for now. Heard good things about it’s two Shinobi games, and it has some weird RPG based on golden axe that might be fun. Anyone else got any game gear recommendations?

Flabyo wrote: ↑August 13th, 2020, 4:48 pm Have to decide what game gear games to go look for now. Heard good things about it’s two Shinobi games, and it has some weird RPG based on golden axe that might be fun. Anyone else got any game gear recommendations?

Game Gear was my first 100% my-own gaming system (i.e. not having to share it with my sister!), so have a lot of affection for it. There are some really fun games on there!

Most GG iterations of Sonic are excellent. The original Sonic The Hedgehog is arguably the best, but Sonic 2, Sonic Chaos, and Triple Trouble are all good platformers, while the Sonic Drift games are decent little cart racers.

The version of Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse is also really well done, as is Fantasy Zone, and Factory Panic is a fun and frantic little puzzler I played the hell out of back then.

In the category of "I played them a lot but not sure if they're actually good" - Batman Returns, Taz-Mania, Olympic Gold, and Winter Olympics got a huge amount of play back then!

Sometimes the YouTube algorithm finds me gold...

https://www.youtube.com/c/OddTinkering

Lots of videos of a dude cleaning and fixing old manky consoles. No voice over.

Sinclair Gregstrum wrote: ↑August 17th, 2020, 9:31 am
... Olympic Gold, and Winter Olympics got a huge amount of play back then!

Olympic Gold was brilliant on Master System, I loved that game. Unsure how easy it would be to do the old 'grip pad hard and basically spasm' method for winning races though

Dilemma time. So I own a couple of ps1/ps2 games which are unopened/factory sealed so I never played them.

Now I want to play them but I’m loath to break the seal. Just wondering if anyone else had similar dilemmas and how they resolved them.

Oh and used copies are pretty pricey too.

Oof, I'd be inclined to keep them sealed if you're intending on selling at some point, but otherwise games are for playing, right? Get stuck in!

Alex79uk wrote: ↑November 9th, 2020, 7:57 pm Olympic Gold was brilliant on Master System, I loved that game. Unsure how easy it would be to do the old 'grip pad hard and basically spasm' method for winning races though

I think my ageing wrists would probably just snap nowadays

Alex79uk wrote: ↑November 10th, 2020, 9:00 am Oof, I'd be inclined to keep them sealed if you're intending on selling at some point, but otherwise games are for playing, right? Get stuck in!

You are right but they are worth 150 quid minimum sealed but still 75-80 used. I suppose doing the maths I could sell one and buy both used and still have one sealed left.

I just hate eBay

What games are they?

I picked up a 27" Sony Trinitron yesterday for $50 https://www.cnet.com/products/sony-kv-27fs120/. I had been playing Gamecube and Wii games on my 60" 4k TV with component cables and switching between widescreen and 4:3 formats. It was fine and I've played through multiple titles this way but was curious if switching back to a CRT and 480i would be noticeably better as people have said. I plugged in the Cube and loaded up Wind Waker and was really pleased with how gorgeous it was in comparison to the 4k TV. I think going to 27" from 60" and natural 4:3 format is doing a lot of the work but the sound of turning on the CRT and the static the screen creates is pretty awesome nostalgia. Curious how using a small 20" LCD/LED screen at 480p would compare. I also was pleased at how much better the Wii remote works on a smaller screen. Not having the cursor travel all the real estate of a 60" really improved the experience. Bigger isn't always better

*The games I will be working through on this CRT beauty (GC Pikimin 2, Killer 7, Luigi's Mansion, Ikaruga/Wii Twilight Princess, Warioland Shake it, Metroid Prime 3, Muramasa, Super Paper Mario, and Punch Out)