I suppose one other thing about a hypothetical Xbox Classic is that Xboxes are cheap as dirt, as are the vast majority of the games; even a lot of the best ones.
That was something the Nintendo Classics had in their favour: decent NES and SNES consoles could easily run you more than half the cost of a Classic. And several of the games included would do as well; orders of magnitude more in some cases. The Classics, the SNES especially, were outstanding value propositions.
Admittedly the Xbox hardware has more potential points of failure than a cart-based Nintendo console. Hard drives die. The DVD drives sometimes would as well (I've been lucky with the Thomson drives in Xboxes, but they were widely considered the most fragile at the time). And as with any console with analog sticks on its controller, good condition controllers can be more scarce than we'd like (plus make sure they have the breakaways on the cables, for the love of all that is holy). But it's still a relatively economical machine to check out now, assuming your TV still has the right connections (no HDMI, but it'll support SCART, S-video, composite, and even RF if you're really stuck. And then there's component, with which a few games will even support HD).
Which reminds me: anyone tried one of those HDMI to component converter boxes? Or even their vice-versa equivalents. I actually have potential use cases for both, amazingly.
What's the state of oXbox emulation? I figured the NES, SNES, and PS1 were easy since emulation on those have been damn near perfect for years, even on weak hardware. Last time I looked into oXbox emulation, it ran like shit even on beast machines.
I know "the seeds of the future are buried in the past," but yeah, I can't see these guys running oXbox stuff.
Like Mega Man Legends? Then check out my story, Legends of the Halcyon Era - An Adventure in the World of Mega Man Legends on TMMN and AO3!
No doubt cashing in on nostalgia, as all of these things are.
I mean, yes? Obviously?
I wasn't trying to be argumentative-though I have heard some people argue that the original NES Classic had less to do with nostalgia and more to do with accessing a library in a more efficient matter that was currently available (at a higher cost).
@Synthesis Yeah, I was kind of a dick on that for no real reason. Sorry about that.
No doubt cashing in on nostalgia, as all of these things are.
I mean, yes? Obviously?
I wasn't trying to be argumentative-though I have heard some people argue that the original NES Classic had less to do with nostalgia and more to do with accessing a library in a more efficient matter that was currently available (at a higher cost).
@Synthesis Yeah, I was kind of a dick on that for no real reason. Sorry about that.
It's all right, the internet is a bad medium for conveying tone.
Though as @Jazz pointed above--working Super Nintendos and Super Famicoms aren't that cheap any more, by simple constraints of time and inventory. Even "good conditioned" units are probably occasionally unreliable unless you're any good at soldering loose connections, etc., whereas a SNES Classic is designed for a minimum of labor. Cartridges are expensive too.
On the other hand, I really don't know how much cheaper an original Xbox is. The games though, like all DVD-medium games, though, are cheap unless they were rare (and while there were a lot more PS2s sold, there were fewer Gamecubes than Xbox, so I'm guessing game rarity generally falls in between those two). At least the original Xbox supports a lot more options for video out unmodified...
No doubt cashing in on nostalgia, as all of these things are.
I mean, yes? Obviously?
I wasn't trying to be argumentative-though I have heard some people argue that the original NES Classic had less to do with nostalgia and more to do with accessing a library in a more efficient matter that was currently available (at a higher cost).
Synthesis Yeah, I was kind of a dick on that for no real reason. Sorry about that.
It's all right, the internet is a bad medium for conveying tone.
Though as Jazz pointed above--working Super Nintendos and Super Famicoms aren't that cheap any more, by simple constraints of time and inventory. Even "good conditioned" units are probably occasionally unreliable unless you're any good at soldering loose connections, etc., whereas a SNES Classic is designed for a minimum of labor. Cartridges are expensive too.
On the other hand, I really don't know how much cheaper an original Xbox is. The games though, like all DVD-medium games, though, are cheap unless they were rare (and while there were a lot more PS2s sold, there were fewer Gamecubes than Xbox, so I'm guessing game rarity generally falls in between those two). At least the original Xbox supports a lot more options for video out unmodified...
Last I saw, an original (unmodded) Xbox in good working order and good condition, with a good controller, would invariably be well under the twenty buck mark. There's very little demand for them; another factor that doesn't apply to the old Nintendo machines.
And yup, they support everything (apart from HDMI, of course) with no modifications, you just need the right cable.
I have a pretty pristine SNES.
It has a finicky cartridge slot.
I need to finagle and tilt any cartridges for a while before the game works. I cleaned it a lot, including using contact-cleaner, took it to a fixer guy who told me "there's nothing really I can do about it, it's just the way it is", probably because there's nowhere to get a new part anymore, at least not where I live. No telling if it's gonna go 100% bad any day.
So mini consoles and other methods are vital for gaming to go on. We can read Don Quixote and Shakespeare (and see his plays enacted), listen to medieval music or decades old recordings, so on so forth. We shouldn't let so many games die forever like it happened to so many early movies and tv shows etc.
I've still got a working SNES (my mum has it now, purely to play Tetris & Dr Mario).
I'd like to find a replacement for my controller, though.
We've got a QJ controller because it's larger than the normal ones and was way more comfortable for her to use, but the Start button is worn out.
So if she wants to pause the game, she has to flick the 'slow-mo' switch on and off.
One thing that using Hakchi teaches you is how bad the SNES Classic controller, as a pretty fateful reproduction as far as I know, is for non-SNES games. I haven't been too displeased in any Megadrive games, but I can't even say "Outside of 16-bit games," because it's really deficient for quite a few Neo Geo games. That in turn was a major motivator for me to plummet into the pain in the ass that is RetroPie.
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One thing that using Hakchi teaches you is how bad the SNES Classic controller, as a pretty fateful reproduction as far as I know, is for non-SNES games. I haven't been too displeased in any Megadrive games, but I can't even say "Outside of 16-bit games," because it's really deficient for quite a few Neo Geo games. That in turn was a major motivator for me to plummet into the pain in the ass that is RetroPie.
It works pretty well for 8-bit games too! I actually find it superior to the NES controller for NES games, but only if I set the Y button to the NES B button and the B button to the NES A button.
One thing that using Hakchi teaches you is how bad the SNES Classic controller, as a pretty fateful reproduction as far as I know, is for non-SNES games. I haven't been too displeased in any Megadrive games, but I can't even say "Outside of 16-bit games," because it's really deficient for quite a few Neo Geo games. That in turn was a major motivator for me to plummet into the pain in the ass that is RetroPie.
It works pretty well for 8-bit games too! I actually find it superior to the NES controller for NES games, but only if I set the Y button to the NES B button and the B button to the NES A button.
True--an ironic form of "backwards compatibility." I don't have any NES games on my own Euro SNES Mini, but I'd really, really have to search for a situation where I'd prefer to use the NES controller to the SNES Controller outside of nostalgia, which I don't have much for in his case.
The NES controller has sharp edges that bite into your hands if you grip it too tightly. But that's okay, you'd only do that if the game was super difficult or frustrating and we all know NES games weren't... aw shoot.
Yeah, that 2018 Flashback does look like a definite improvement over the 2017 one. The form factor is more faithful, and they at least fixed the goofy "face buttons for menu navigation" scheme. I imagine some more thorough reviews will focus more on the emulation quality.
I had a model 2 as well, but my first experience with the Genesis (besides store displays) was when my friend rented one from Blockbuster for a weekend, and that was still a model 1.
The 2018 Genesis Flashback is just now coming available? In 2019?
It came out in 2018, but they did not announce it. No idea why. The even have a site for updating the firmware.
…Christ.
Apparently nobody outside of YouTube has reviewed them, either. I tried to look through Amazon reviews to see what people think but most people are just bitching about the thing only coming with two wireless controllers even though the box specified it has two wired and two wireless (which is a very valid complaint, mind you).
Also Amazon and Walmart have stopped carrying them, another not-great sign.
Yeah. The key way to identify one is that it has a logo for the firmware site on the top. I saw one on eBay that had it and I am waiting for it to come in the mail.
Every time I look at that Genesis model, I just think "...That's not my Genesis".
Model 2 4 lyfe.
I honestly forgot they made two different Genesis models till you said that. For me it is the first generation Genesis that is a SEGA Genesis and not the second one. But that also is due to my age I am sure.
Every time I look at that Genesis model, I just think "...That's not my Genesis".
Model 2 4 lyfe.
I honestly forgot they made two different Genesis models till you said that. For me it is the first generation Genesis that is a SEGA Genesis and not the second one. But that also is due to my age I am sure.
Yeah, I never had the second model. They actually made three models. The third one wasn't compatible with the Sega CD at all.
I only had the model 1, and at some point I shelled out some cash for a Sega CDX which was a bulky Discman-sized system that had the Sega Genesis and Sega CD combined in a (relatively speaking) small unit.
I've had all three at some point (never a CDX, although I did get to play on a collector friend's once, many years later), but the original Japanese Mega Drive model 1 was always my favourite. The huge "16-bit" logo in a much cooler font than the Genesis or UK Mega Drive and positioned higher up on that panel, and the red and blue accents in the colour scheme always looked the best to me.
Beautiful.
My Japanese MD died through someone spilling something in it at a party and never owning up to it. I ended up modding the top part of the shell and fitting it on a UK system (the port panel on the back was in a different place). I've still got it, although it's become separated from its games, controller and cables at some point.
I'm glad the new Mega SG has that colour scheme as an option.
I've had all three at some point (never a CDX, although I did get to play on a collector friend's once, many years later), but the original Japanese Mega Drive model 1 was always my favourite. The huge "16-bit" logo in a much cooler font than the Genesis or UK Mega Drive and positioned higher up on that panel, and the red and blue accents in the colour scheme always looked the best to me.
Beautiful.
My Japanese MD died through someone spilling something in it at a party and never owning up to it. I ended up modding the top part of the shell and fitting it on a UK system (the port panel on the back was in a different place). I've still got it, although it's become separated from its games, controller and cables at some point.
I'm glad the new Mega SG has that colour scheme as an option.
That does look really nice. I still have the US model 1 Genesis that I bought with...not my first paycheck from my first crappy tech support job, but certainly one of the early paychecks from my first crappy tech support job. I have considered building a Raspberry Pi into the shell because the video out looks awful and needs new capacitors.
I also owned a model 3. That only thing I really remember about it is that it was super light, just a circuit board in a very small plastic housing, so any kind of energetic controller movement tended to pull the console off the shelf where it would just dangle by its video and power cables.
Model 1 Genesis's design for me feels very much like early 90's, like very early where you still have a lot of similarity and crossover with late 80's design.
Model 2 Genesis is 100% 90's, and the one I would put next to the SNES and say "yup, they're from the same time period".
Double checking the release dates makes that super obvious. Mark 1 was in '89, and the Mark 2 in '93 (side note: fuck me the Genesis was in 1989?). It's just interesting that you can really see it in the physical design.
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I don't know, KI:Gold and Blast Corp seem still relatively playable.
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That was something the Nintendo Classics had in their favour: decent NES and SNES consoles could easily run you more than half the cost of a Classic. And several of the games included would do as well; orders of magnitude more in some cases. The Classics, the SNES especially, were outstanding value propositions.
Admittedly the Xbox hardware has more potential points of failure than a cart-based Nintendo console. Hard drives die. The DVD drives sometimes would as well (I've been lucky with the Thomson drives in Xboxes, but they were widely considered the most fragile at the time). And as with any console with analog sticks on its controller, good condition controllers can be more scarce than we'd like (plus make sure they have the breakaways on the cables, for the love of all that is holy). But it's still a relatively economical machine to check out now, assuming your TV still has the right connections (no HDMI, but it'll support SCART, S-video, composite, and even RF if you're really stuck. And then there's component, with which a few games will even support HD).
Which reminds me: anyone tried one of those HDMI to component converter boxes? Or even their vice-versa equivalents. I actually have potential use cases for both, amazingly.
Steam | XBL
I know "the seeds of the future are buried in the past," but yeah, I can't see these guys running oXbox stuff.
Like Mega Man Legends? Then check out my story, Legends of the Halcyon Era - An Adventure in the World of Mega Man Legends on TMMN and AO3!
@Synthesis Yeah, I was kind of a dick on that for no real reason. Sorry about that.
It's all right, the internet is a bad medium for conveying tone.
Though as @Jazz pointed above--working Super Nintendos and Super Famicoms aren't that cheap any more, by simple constraints of time and inventory. Even "good conditioned" units are probably occasionally unreliable unless you're any good at soldering loose connections, etc., whereas a SNES Classic is designed for a minimum of labor. Cartridges are expensive too.
On the other hand, I really don't know how much cheaper an original Xbox is. The games though, like all DVD-medium games, though, are cheap unless they were rare (and while there were a lot more PS2s sold, there were fewer Gamecubes than Xbox, so I'm guessing game rarity generally falls in between those two). At least the original Xbox supports a lot more options for video out unmodified...
Last I saw, an original (unmodded) Xbox in good working order and good condition, with a good controller, would invariably be well under the twenty buck mark. There's very little demand for them; another factor that doesn't apply to the old Nintendo machines.
And yup, they support everything (apart from HDMI, of course) with no modifications, you just need the right cable.
Steam | XBL
It has a finicky cartridge slot.
I need to finagle and tilt any cartridges for a while before the game works. I cleaned it a lot, including using contact-cleaner, took it to a fixer guy who told me "there's nothing really I can do about it, it's just the way it is", probably because there's nowhere to get a new part anymore, at least not where I live. No telling if it's gonna go 100% bad any day.
So mini consoles and other methods are vital for gaming to go on. We can read Don Quixote and Shakespeare (and see his plays enacted), listen to medieval music or decades old recordings, so on so forth. We shouldn't let so many games die forever like it happened to so many early movies and tv shows etc.
I'd like to find a replacement for my controller, though.
We've got a QJ controller because it's larger than the normal ones and was way more comfortable for her to use, but the Start button is worn out.
So if she wants to pause the game, she has to flick the 'slow-mo' switch on and off.
It works pretty well for 8-bit games too! I actually find it superior to the NES controller for NES games, but only if I set the Y button to the NES B button and the B button to the NES A button.
My Backloggery
True--an ironic form of "backwards compatibility." I don't have any NES games on my own Euro SNES Mini, but I'd really, really have to search for a situation where I'd prefer to use the NES controller to the SNES Controller outside of nostalgia, which I don't have much for in his case.
It has an SD card slot and firmware updates.
But is it any good this time?
You know it isn't.
I'm still waiting on this. April release and I am 100% getting one, I still have all my Genesis carts.
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I went ahead and got one on eBay. I am wondering if they fixed the crashing issue with Phantasy Star 4 and Shining Force II.
It would be great if they got reflections to work on Castlevania Bloodlines.
It does have some more Sega games. I saw Judge Dredd on there.
Model 2 4 lyfe.
The 2018 Genesis Flashback is just now coming available? In 2019?
It came out in 2018, but they did not announce it. No idea why. The even have a site for updating the firmware.
…Christ.
Apparently nobody outside of YouTube has reviewed them, either. I tried to look through Amazon reviews to see what people think but most people are just bitching about the thing only coming with two wireless controllers even though the box specified it has two wired and two wireless (which is a very valid complaint, mind you).
Also Amazon and Walmart have stopped carrying them, another not-great sign.
This has some details on the new model.
I honestly forgot they made two different Genesis models till you said that. For me it is the first generation Genesis that is a SEGA Genesis and not the second one. But that also is due to my age I am sure.
Steam: betsuni7
Yeah, I never had the second model. They actually made three models. The third one wasn't compatible with the Sega CD at all.
I only had the model 1, and at some point I shelled out some cash for a Sega CDX which was a bulky Discman-sized system that had the Sega Genesis and Sega CD combined in a (relatively speaking) small unit.
My Backloggery
Beautiful.
My Japanese MD died through someone spilling something in it at a party and never owning up to it. I ended up modding the top part of the shell and fitting it on a UK system (the port panel on the back was in a different place). I've still got it, although it's become separated from its games, controller and cables at some point.
I'm glad the new Mega SG has that colour scheme as an option.
Steam | XBL
That does look really nice. I still have the US model 1 Genesis that I bought with...not my first paycheck from my first crappy tech support job, but certainly one of the early paychecks from my first crappy tech support job. I have considered building a Raspberry Pi into the shell because the video out looks awful and needs new capacitors.
I also owned a model 3. That only thing I really remember about it is that it was super light, just a circuit board in a very small plastic housing, so any kind of energetic controller movement tended to pull the console off the shelf where it would just dangle by its video and power cables.
Model 2 Genesis is 100% 90's, and the one I would put next to the SNES and say "yup, they're from the same time period".
Double checking the release dates makes that super obvious. Mark 1 was in '89, and the Mark 2 in '93 (side note: fuck me the Genesis was in 1989?). It's just interesting that you can really see it in the physical design.