Retro game stuff talk

[obsidianspider]

I was looking at the Facebook Marketplace and I got a pretty decent deal on an AGS-101 that's been "well loved" today.

For $35 it also came with a copy of Pokemon Emerald.

It looks like a legit game, and it works, but the battery is dead, and it's pretty corroded. Pokemon doesn't really do anything for me, so I'm not sure I'll go to the trouble of finding a replacement battery and replacing it, but hey, a free game is never a bad thing.

I really only bought it for the screen, since an AGS-101 repro screen sells for $45 all day long on eBay, but I'm wondering if I should just get another shell for this thing, if I should put the GBA in a GBC shell, or get one of BennVenn's GBC-101 ribbon cables and convert a GBC to use the screen. Something to think about. For now, I'm charging the battery. :)

[obsidianspider]

The second GBA case that I bought "accidentally" (don't bid on two of the same items on eBay unless you are prepared to win both of them) arrived today along with some extra accessories. I only really wanted the case, so I'll have to see if I can sell them or something. Considering this lot was only $1 more than the first case, and I might be able to sell some of the accessories, I'm ok with it.

The GBA case is in better shape than the first one I bought, so I'll be keeping this as a "very good" example of the case, and now have few qualms about modding the first one. The first one has a damaged "foot" and some scratches on the case.

[obsidianspider]

Two more handhelds arrived today. (Is the Wii U GamePad a handheld? I mean, it has a screen.) Both have screen issues. Neither are mint, but are in good shape with a few scratches. Not sure what their fates will be, but the price was right, and they won't go bad sitting on a shelf, plus they look nice.

[MrJordaaany]

@obsidianspider Always worth restoring a pokemon game man. Especially Emerald version. They always hold their value and a quick cleanup and new battery means it wold sell for 60usd easy (thats about 100 NZD here which all pokemon games still go for).

[edmaul69]

@obsidianspider if i remember right their might be a capacitor that goes bad on the game gear causing the screen to not work. I believe it is located in one of the top corners.

[obsidianspider]

@mrjordaaany $60? I dunno, they don't seem to sell for that around here, especially with a mangled label.

[obsidianspider]

@edmaul69 the screen comes on, but there's no picture, just the backlight. Some reading around suggests a full cap replacement. I also see there are some TFT conversions that have been done. If I don't throw a Pi in this thing I may look at converting it to run on a LiPo with a PowerBoost to bring it up to 5V. 6 AAs would be 4.5V, but I have to think 5 would be in its nominal operating range.

[MrJordaaany]

@obsidianspider Hmmm probably just our overly jacked-up market then :/ Retro collecting is hard here. I almost always use Ebay/Amazon.

[obsidianspider]

@FlyingTomahawk you are officially a bad influence. I am now addicted to finding cool retro game stuff. I just discovered that the Pocket Pikachu is a thing and am seeking some out.

[celly]

@obsidianspider you are such an addict! Hahaha!

[FlyingTomahawk]

@obsidianspider said in Retro game stuff talk:

you are officially a bad influence

lol, thank you. I am very proud of that achievement. Hehehe...
It's good for the world economy. :-P

[obsidianspider]

@celly you're an instigator too!

[MrJordaaany]

@obsidianspider Shit those are cool. Where do I find em?

[obsidianspider]

@mrjordaaany The Internet? They're 20 years old at this point, so I'm just searching eBay and the like. They're around, but I don't want to pay a ton.

[MrJordaaany]

@obsidianspider Stupid question, stupid answer :) Ebay away!

[lilbud]

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/08/09/new_amiga_to_land_in_late_2017/

New Amigas are coming to market

[obsidianspider]

@lilbud cool that the people who own the IP are allowing it. I've never even seen an Amiga. How's the game library?

[lilbud]

@obsidianspider You're asking the wrong person, I've never heard of the Amiga until now.

[A Former User]

An Amiga? No way.

But they should've done the 64 cause that, my friend, is the one.

also surprisingly I'm younger than @lilbud and I know what an amiga is.

[Danorak1981]

@obsidianspider: this is a good webpage for the back catalogue. There were hundreds of games, several cross platform (Sensible Soccer, Desert Strike, Cannon Fodder to name a few). Ultimately there was a lot of shite too. They had several versions, the Amiga 500, 500+, 600 and the 1200. There were more but those were the ones you were likely to find in the home. The 500/+ and 600 were 16 bit, whilst the 1200 was 32bit and benefitted from the AGA chipset (advanced graphic architecture). There were games companies that made games for the 500/600, but also made an 1200 AGA version too to take advantage of it's extra capabilities (Theme Park was an example, and is a better game visually for it).

Piracy was rife-i had tonnes of copied games from mates, but there were people who specifically hacked games (Fairlight were one) and had a little intro upon insertion of the disk. Was a great platform though, even if disk loading times could be killer! If i had to pick my favourite platform from my youth, the Amiga would be at the top of that list!

Sorry, well off topic!