And now, some hardware listings and generic technophilic rant, so if you're anything like Warma and Trilkk you probably enjoy this. So. Go on, then. I either own or have owned at least one of each. I'm also going to reacquire the ones I don't have at the moment. Yeah, I'm just that obsessed.
Distinctions between loose / CiB / others disabled to my advantage. Will implement sometime. Y'know, with all the speed of mamedev.
Atari 600XL
Commodore C64
Nintendo Entertainment System
Sega Master System
Sega Game Gear
PC Engine
Atari ST
Commodore Amiga 500
Sega Megadrive
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The PC
Sega Saturn
Sony Playstation
Sony Playstation 2
Nintendo 64
Nintendo GameCube
Sega Dreamcast
Xbox 360
And down below, all of them in-focus.
No orgastically verbose technical specs though, 'cause the Internet has hordes already.
These lists will obviously be revised and updated in the future
whenever I think of something clever to say or gain more gear.
All quirky information entries are complete right now, but any added listings
of newly acquired items of the future may change that fact.
Still, the records of material possession should always be pretty damned accurate.
Anyway.. quicklinks a viable solution, exit a possible option.
Atari 600XL
This is the first machine that (I) truly owned. (I had an Atari 2600 prior to this but it was borrowed from some relatives.) It was equipped with an external cassette drive, a slot for some cart gaming action, and I used to own some fun games on it that I really played when I was really young. Even though I couldn't figure out the point behind Star Raiders (And I still don't.. maybe there was no point save for shooting enemies 'til you're out of fuel) or wasn't particularly dangerous with Pengo (Penguins. Blocks of ice. Shakable walls.) I spent countless hours playing, typing in Basic (Argh, those lightnings!) and cursing the fact that I never saw a single game cassette that ran on this kid brother of the less-almighty-but-very-fun-with-Bombfusion Atari 800XL. Well, to be honest Killa Cycles did run. But seriously..
I have in my possession :
No Atari 600XL
No tea
The Commodore C64
I'll cut this one short, since there is nothing I can say about this computing god incarnate (inmachinate?) that hasn't already been said by a three million actual web shrines of this almost-very-definer of home computers. And I, of course, love Him also. The C64, I mean.. so what have I got for it? Two working tape drives, two disk drives (one of which is sadly broken *sob*), a (boxed) red Action Replay VI, a Final Cartridge III (Final oxymorons before the FF saga!), and lots and lots of useful and useless original and copied diskettes and cassettes, most of which I'm sure can't be relied on these days. Which does suck.
I have in my possession :
C64-C model
Load-It style tape drive
1541 disk drive (Working)
1541G disk drive (Unworking. *Damn*!)
Final Cartridge III cart
Action Replay VI cart, box and everything
Simons' Basic cart
The Nintendo Entertainment System (Affectionately NES :)
Another legend, this little grey bit of plastic (Called a shoebox by some) is certainly deceiving in appearance. While the processing power doesn't shine, it's very much the games that make this platform - the best ones are totally engrossing in both gameplay and flair. The NES held its share of marketing for way longer than you'd think, actually holding back the technological progress of consoles for a couple of years, but at least this got us some really great games (and some real shit as well). One needn't question why it was so immensely popular - it was like that for a reason, and even now the NES lives on in emulation, although kind of underground. :)
I currently own many NESes. The first I got was a birthday present, can't remember which, and the next Christmas brought me Mega Man. I had protested against the game before because it didn't seem very attractive in the game catalogue (Bad screenshot, I guess?) but once I received it I was quick to understand that it kicked some serious ass, thus beginning a long, unholy and technophilic love for both the console and the series. Mega Man, the Wizards and Warriors games (Not the PC crap of the same name), Shadow Warriors, Blue Shadow, Kirby, anything from Sunsoft or Natsume .. grace and bliss. I also had a Game Genie once, but I sold that piece of crap after I found out about the Pro Action Replay and how it pretty much does everything GG did, only better. I was also one of the unfortunate people that actually met the Action-52 in person.
As for the negative - there are a few things of gripe about the NES. First, hundred per cent working controllers are somewhat of a rarity now. Second, the console and cart contacts are terrible (The worst of any console I've seen), and since it was problematic even back in the day, getting the games to run nowadays may prove out to be a total bitch, depending on the cart.
I have in my possession :
Two PAL NESes, both wired to circumvent region lockout
Two regular NES controllers, good to great condition
One red-grey Zapper lightgun
"Cartridge Soft Pak" by Nuby (Holds 8 carts)
Con-60 Super Converter, adaptor to fit NES games in a Famicom
Dreadful Famicom clone named "Ba Tong Family Computer" w/ 2 pads and a lightgun
The Sega Master System
The veritable competitor for the NES back in the day, sporting a legendary Zilog inside, had the theoretical muscle to duel out the Nintendo, but the software side couldn't deliver. Problems manifested as many games appeared rushed, shoddy, unfinished and lackluster when compared to the competitor's highly polished Nintendo titles. This made me not buy one in my childhood, a decision that I still stand with, and not all the mediocre arcade ports (Exactly what this platform mainly churned out) on Earth could change my mind. Anyway, it certainly has its share of legends. Take a look at Y's (Where you strangely enough ram into enemies to kill them), or the Wonder Boy games, Power Strikes, Psycho Fox (rocks) or Phantasy Star, for example. I just wish there was more of those around to counter out all the washed-up ports.
I have in my possession :
PAL Sega Master System power base (Model PAL-G, 3005-18-B)
Official controller, questionable condition
Sega Game Gear
This miniature Master System, colours included, challenged the Game Boy in the handheld market, only to suffer total destruction at the hands of that another fine (black and white) relic the mighty stale Nintendo dished out. Well, this 'Gear apparently has a rather limited battery life, and the games are the same sub-par conversions you see on the Master System, only with an added minus of severely cropped screen space. Still, it's an interesting device and I'm glad someone tried to battle the lame boy, especially when an adaptor allows you to play the few good SMS carts directly.
I have in my possession :
Two plastic cart cases
NEC PC Engine
The pseudo-sixteen-bit graphically ace machine. Noteworthy mainly for Irem's titles and the Castlevania with the cult following. This entry set to grow later.. but let's just acquire a machine first.
I have in my possession :
Nothing-a!
The Atari ST
Around the same rough time frame as the next entry in this list was borne a new generation of the Atari home computer, and most people who actually know something about them know them as Atari STs. The ST compares and competed with the Amiga (500) in the home market, and this competition reached some rather ridiculous heights as every oldskool Finnish computer wiz who had a subscription of Mikrobitti at the time can attest to.. the reader mail section practically flooded with idiotic soapbox drivels from more idiotic users, each taking their best stab at bringing down the one machine of the two they didn't possess. Funny how people feel necessary to camp up for war whenever they see sides to be picked..
At the core of both of the competing machines lay the Motorola 68K processor, but since the Amiga was well versed in aural and graphical reproduction (with the help of about a million other neat chips indside it), both of which areas the Atari ST fell really short in, the competition quite died down in the gaming area after programmers had grown accustomed to the hardware. But not before hordes of Amiga users suffered the survival horror of a thousand quick ST ports with no eye for the vast Amiga capabilities whatsoever. Which is always nice.
I have in my possession :
Nada..
The Commodore Amiga 500
Another computer crafted from the stuff of legends, and again a Commodore product, the Amiga was challenged by the Atari ST family, but was loved by everyone and their dog (ruff) for its sleek aural reproduction and loads of sharp, stylish, sophisticated games. Chaos Engine, Cannon Fodder, Moonstone, the Cinemaware titles, Stardust, you just name it. I never owned one myself until my later days, though, but I did have my serious gaming sessions on the Amigas of my friends and relatives. As you can imagine fun was had by all. Too bad I'm currently extremely low on the games side of the machine, though, and the use of regular 3½ disks bugs the hell out of me since you can never know when any given disk decides to retire..
I have in my possession :
Amiga 500, older model, with 1MB of total memory
An Amiga mouse
RGB SCART
Sega Megadrive
After the lukewarm Master System, Sega thought again and struck back with the 16-bit powerhouse that was the Megadrive, while Nintendo was still making plans of happily unloading their cutting-edge NESes unto the public for another decade or so. Some mediocre and some good games ensued (again with the lukewarm arcade ports Sega has been making ever since the beginning, but at least the hardware was fairly well versed this time around, which helps a bundle), but after Sonic blazed into sight the 'Drive quickly started to get that attention it so well deserved, attaining quite a following.
Despite a slightly awful aural reproduction (that could be, and was worked around by the best groups) and a severely limited amount of colours available, the Megadrive is the 16-bit console of my heart, with the terrific games thanks for which obviously go to the likes of Treasure, Konami, and naturally Sega. And seeing that the Sonic series still prevails as the string of the best platform games there are (Mercifully excluding the latter-day atrocities in vein of Sonic Adventure and whatever followed Sonic Team's bloody awful spiralling descent into batshit insanity), I wouldn't have it any other way. 2d Sonic forever. Another set of terrific titles are the Shinobi titles, the (from-Double-Dragon-to-Final-Fight) Streets of Rage games, the Turrican games, Comix Zone, Gunstar Heroes.. just see my game list. :)
Of the numerous Megadrive hardware iterations one item is particularly worthy of note: The prized Multi-Mega, combining a regular 'Drive with the CD add-on in one tiny integrated miracle.
I have in my possession :
PAL Sega Megadrive mk.I (Model PAL-B(VE), 1601-07, Asian)
PAL Sega Megadrive mk.I (Model PAL-G, 1600-20) w/ 50/60Hz and language toggles
PAL Sega Megadrive mk.II (Model MK-1631-50), w/ poorly made 50/60Hz toggle
PAL Sega Multi-Mega (Model MK-4121-50)
PAL Sega Megadrive 32X (Model MK-84200-50)
MD mk.I RGB SCART and a miniDIN (MD mk.2) one
2x Datel Pro Action Replay 2 (boxed in PAR-I case.. go figure)
CD+Plus CD region adaptor cart
Mega-CD back-up RAM cartridge (Battery-based.. dodgy. Very Engrish box!)
Official Sega controllers; three 3-button and two 6-button
Sega Arcade Power Stick mk.I
Sega Arcade Power Stick mk.II
Master System Converter (Modeled for mk.I)
"The Justifier" lightgun
Megadrive mouse
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (That's a mouthful)
The follow-up (haha) home console to NES, the design was quickly finished and sent out after Nintendo soiled their underwear at the sight of Megadrive commanding and conquering. Only slightly stronger at heart than the predecessor, this effort was really particularly weak in raw processing power, but it was complemented with a multitude of specialized chips to make 2d graphics its bitch - the SNES could do a selection of what the Saturn later on would do to two-dimensional graphics, with less finesse and grace but still well enough to turn heads back then. And the ability to retrofit game carts with additional processors allowed for some amazing resuscitational manoeuvres later on.
However, one very, very negative point about the SNES was that the game prices turned out to be nothing short of utterly ridiculous. And this was one of the reasons I never bought one (or wanted to). I never even played one back then, that's how steep the costs were. Well, the more sweet it was later on to pick one up and get those colourful games for pocket change. Some Konami titles would be heaven! Too bad as with a lot of other consoles, problems arose as great Japanese titles were never released here, while they thought it might however be interesting to glut the market with bad western gaming and shitty licensed ones, and when they actually took heart and imported a great Japanese game here they were quick to paste robots and whatever over humans so that the kids of Germany wouldn't start gassing and torching humans and taking over Europe again.
From the nag list, a thing about the SNES bugs me even now.. that supposed RGB cable I own doesn't give me a picture that you could exactly call crystal clear, unlike the ones on Sega, but maybe it's some sort of an internal SNES feature or something; Nintendo consoles have always had lacking outputs.
I have in my possession :
PAL Super Nintendo Entertainment System (Model SNSP-001A(SCN))
American SNES, wired to allow other region titles via a switch (Model SNS-001)
PAL RGB SCART
Four regular controllers, some better than others
Super Famicom Multi Adaptor Auto (A multitap)
AD-29 Universal Adaptor (Upgrade Version)
The "PC"
As x86-compatible PCs are soulless (but certainly not sleek) and boring by nature, this radiation of tedium has been faithfully reproduced in the entry. Only the primary is in active service, and thank fuck modern PCs can be quiet.
The 486 machine is in storage... somewhere in the northeast.
[Primary]
Case - Coolermaster, old, some or other
Power - Nexus RX-7000 700W
Motherboard - ASUS P5K, tweaked BIOS
Fans - Several NF-P12s (12cm)
CPU - Intel Xeon E5440 clocked at 3.8GHz, cooler's Noctua something something
RAM - 8GB DDR2
HD-OS - Samsung 830 SSD 128GB
HDs - Samsung 830 SSD 256GB, WF6000HLHX WD 600GB, 1TB WD Cav Black, 2* 2TB WD Cav Black
Drives - 3½, TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-S202N
Video - Asus DirectCU GTX770
Monitor - 22" Compaq P1210 CRT, 23" Fujitsu P23T-6 IPS, 17" Dell 1907FP IPS
Audio - E-MU 1820m
Mouse - Razer Naga 2014
Keyboard - QPAD MK-50 Cherry MX red
OS - Windows 10 Pro x64
[486]
Model - AST Advantage! 613e
CPU - Cyrix 5x86 100MHz
RAM - 32MB SIMM
HD - 840MB
Drives - 3½ disk, 40x CD-ROM
Video - Cirrus Logic GL-GD5428, 1MB (integrated)
Monitor - 14" EIZO 9052S monitor
Audio - Creative Vibra 16 (integrated)
Modem - Rockwell 28.8K
Mouse - Logitech V-series serial mouse, 3 buttons
Keyboard - AST, Windows-enhanced
OS - MS-DOS 6.22 & Windows 95
[Currently unused gear]
PlexWriter Premium CD-RW 52x32x52x
Soundcard HardSID Quattro PCI (3*6581, 1*8580)
Soundcard Aureal Vortex2 SuperQuad Digital PCI
Soundcard Gravis Ultrasound MAX 1024K ISA
Soundcard Creative Sound Blaster AWE64 Gold PnP ISA (CT4390)
Soundcard Creative Sound Blaster 16 ISA
Memory shitton of 2GB, 1GB & 512MB DDR400 CL3 reg. ECC sticks, wanna buy?
NIC Allied Telesyn AT-2500TX PCI
Mouse Razer Diamondback Plasma Optical USB
Mouse Logitech 2-button PS/2
Monitor 21" NEC MultiSync 5D
Monitor 14" Visa MC 8510
Monitor cable HD15 - 5*BNC
IDE CD drive Matsushita, old
Floppy drive 4 x 3½ 1.44MB
Floppy drive 5¼ 1.2MB (TEAC FD-55GFR 142-U)
LPT / COM port card x 2, ISA8
TV card Hauppauge WinTV PCI (38xxx, Bt878-based)
Iomega ZIP-100 parallel port version
Iomega ZIP-250 IDE version
Iomega (NEC) ZIP-100 IDE version
Microphone Creative w/ a stand
No Maxtor products
Sega Saturn
The last, undeniably magnificent, 2d-gaming home console, Saturn packs a frighteningly powerful punch when handling your 2d graphics in a variety of resolutions with basically whatever effects you can think of in a million shining colours. Obviously, it was to receive a fair share of superb games that are must-haves for people who dig the Saturn.. unfortunately, it competed against the Sony Playstation, and since the PSX was very much the easier console of the two to program, with Saturn toting dual processors with a bunch of tiny extra ones thrown in for aid. It was simply easier to create more impressive and fast 3d gaming on the Playstation, and because of this the software houses flocked under Sony's wing. That, combined with some screw-ups at Sega, brought the Saturn down in a relatively quick fashion, even with the Saturn sporting a modem, an Internet access for on-line multiplayer gaming and all. Oh, those fickle masses!
Anyway, the Saturn got around in a fairly lukewarm manner in the United States and Europe, but I guess it was (as usual) pret-ty popular in its home country since a lot of games were produced there that we couldn't get here without resorting to shady import dealers. Figures. Shit. But naturally we did get a load of EA shit, for which I am ever grateful.
I have in my possession :
PAL Sega Saturn (Model MK-80200A-50)
RGB SCART
Official controllers, both later, light ones and proto-DC analog ones
Two blue Virtua Gun lightguns (Stunner my ass, it's a GUN! You kill people with it!!)
Saturn flightstick (Now what's that sub control port for?)
Action Replay Plus 4M Auto (Cheats, passive savemem, imports and RAM expansion)
NetLink modem package (v2.0FI, the Finnish package)
NetLink mouse and a mousepad
NetLink "PS/2 to Saturn" keyboard adaptor bit
Sega Saturn Video CD card
Sony Playstation
The Playstation was something of a breakthrough console in many ways, for first, it was made by Sony, that had never before created any console, and second, it has sold in ridiculously high amounts, considering, and (third) it was also marketed not only as a console for kids but as a viable entertainment machine for young adults as well.
The PSX (nicknamed thus because of the original working name, PlayStation-X) can handle both 2d and 3d graphics decently - in low resolution, and it can't really be considered very powerful these days, obviously, but a nice bunch of great games got made for the thing, and they're still good. Try out R-Type Delta or Castlevania SotN, for instance, can't say they've aged a bit. One thing to loath about the PSX is that it's also a dead-on device for cashing in on all kinds of games of appalling (and unarguably shitty) quality and unfortunately a lot of those have indeed been made. Yes. The PSX has an amazing share of pure unbridled ass.
Later on, the console got a size decrease and got marketed as "PSOne", (don't call it that, please), but the machine didn't really change.
I have in my possession :
PAL PSX, modchipped (Model SCPH-9002)
RGB SCART with stereo RCAs (3rd party, excellent, I use this for PS2 too)
Official Sony Memory Card, gray
Three 3rd party 1MB flash memory cards (Red, white & blue; all translucent)
Konami Beatmania turntable peripheral (Euro)
Puchi Carat retro controller (Potentiometer! Yayy!)
Wu-Tang controller, a most fucked up peripheral, W-shaped and impractical
Sony Playstation 2
Whoo, the cashing continues! Play station two, new and improved! God, do I hate how they numbered this one sequentially -- It's a sequel to the original PlayStation! A sequel in hardware!! Feh. About every point about the PSX applies here, too, except that this one was absolutely no breakthrough at all (Or maybe in terms of marketing, you remember the mess in the early days) and managed to do the Dreamcast in. Grrr. Well, at least it plays my Mish DVDs... in so many shades of green!
Now a slimmer, sexier model is marketed under the "PStwo" designation, but the question of whether the games will also be marketed as 'PStwo games' yet remains to be seen.
I have in my possession :
Slim PS2 (SCPH-70004); Matrix Infinity modchip installed
Sony DualShock 2 controller (Black)
Sega Saturn PS2 controller
One Sony memory card, "Crimson Red"
Sony original remote (w/ receiver bit)
Nintendo 64
Oooh, Ultra! Here's an insight, though; it's no good. The bottom line's that it's utterly useless, even. The backwardness of Nintendo finally shafted them as few bothered to make games for the Cart's Last Stand and even fewer bothered to play the ones that got made, mainly because none of them were worthwhile or any good at all. Even the big N flagship games were a great big snooze and a harrowing testament to the big N letter's abysmal incapability to change (read: improve) at all as the nineties went by.
I have in my possession :
Nothing right now, actually, but that's only understandable, isn't it?
Nintendo GameCube
Well, hot damn. A Nintendo product that doesn't evoke instant pity.
I have in my possession :
Write-up pending. Just pendin'.
Sega Dreamcast
Even though Katana would have sounded better than the fuzzy Dreamcast, the latest, and apparently (as well as unfortunately) the last piece of Sega hardware is a bit of a diamond of a console to behold and own.. if you don't pay too much attention to the bad aspects of the controller (especially the awful d-pad) or the evil, poorly designed battery-eating VMU, that is, although the VMU is certainly a precursor of the GBA 'Cube hookup.
A "128-bit" (not really) processing excellence with delightful 3d hardware, very sexy in its day, received a smallish library of games overall, but the percentage of good to great games is notably high. The Dreamcast could seriously have held its own for some time to come, but.. Unfortunately, again, rash decisions from game developers and Sega's own stupid idea to kill off their hardware side did a nasty gash at the side, reducing it into an obsolete piece of silicon in the eyes of the unwary public. The few that actually had even heard of the damned thing, that is. (Define lame? The company that handled DC in Finland. No TV coverage, hardly any advertising. Nobody knew the machine existed. Marketing this applaudably pathetic gives me headache.)
I have in my possession :
A blue-swirley PAL Dreamcast! (Model HKT-3030)
A Sega DC controller w/ blue swirl
An unworking Sega DC controller w/ blue swirl
An official VMU, missing the cap
RGB SCART
Dreamkey 3.0 (So it's not exactly hardware)
Xbox 360
Following the huge VHS player / shoebox of gaming past, Microsoft produced a multimedia centre that can't play multimedia and isn't centered. Result: sheer resonance noise! Argh! At least it reminds me of a Sega Dreamcast - down to the controller.
I have in my possession :
Regular "Falcon" white Xbox 360 with a 10GB hard drive
Four official wireless white and black controllers
RGB SCART, official
VGA cable, official
The rest
Stuff that really doesn't directly belong to any of those magnificent devices - nor the Playstation bit - or when I just haven't been able to figure out the machine the item's used with.
I have in my possession :
"Universal Cleaning Kit" with a bunch of console / cart / CD cleaners
All sorts of power adaptors, cables and wires for the lot of machines
High Fidelity
This is my old audio rig. The Integra is stored away right now, replaced by an A-8000.
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