I was at a friend's place in Portland last Saturday and he showed me his modded SNES running through a RetroTink 5X on a modern screen. The clarity on those pixel art games was honestly mind-blowing, made me realize I was just clinging to nostalgia. Anyone else made the switch and regretted it or felt the same?
He said he only keeps games he actually beats, and I realized I've got like 40 titles I've never even booted up. Has anyone else gone through and culled their collection based on what you actually play?
I was playing Super Mario Bros 3 in my basement in Chicago when I smelled burning plastic and saw the AC adapter smoking. Unplugged it quick and found the cord was cracked near the plug - anyone else check their old power bricks regularly?
I was digging through a bin of old games and this teenager points at a PS1 and says that to his friend. Made me laugh at first but then I thought about it. We spent hours on that thing playing games with those load screens and disc sounds. Now kids see it like some ancient artifact. Anyone else feel weird when younger people treat these consoles like they're from a museum?
I was dropping off some e-waste and noticed a whole stack of PS2 slim models just sitting in a bin. About 15 of them, all with the disc drive covers missing and some serious dust caked on. Before I could ask, a worker told me they get these all the time and just crush them for scrap metal. Has anyone else seen good consoles getting tossed like that?
Picked up a broken PS1 from a garage sale for $10 and thought I'd have it running in an afternoon. Turned out the laser needed replacing AND the tracking ribbon was torn, and I spent 3 weeks ordering the wrong parts from ebay. Then another 3 weeks figuring out I needed a specific security bit (the 6.3mm triangle one) to even open the disc drive. Has anyone else burned way too much time on those stupid security screws?
He saw me staring at a dead console and just walked over, grabbed my iron, and fixed the thing in 30 seconds. Said he's been doing it since 94 and never bought a heat gun. Has anyone else run into old-timers who refuse to use modern tools?
Found a copy of Mega Man 2 at a flea market near St. Louis for 5 bucks last month. Got it home and it wouldn't boot past the gray screen. Cleaned the pins with isopropyl alcohol and a q-tip, still nothing. Tried again with a white eraser on the contacts and that actually did the trick. Now it loads up every time without any issues. Anyone else run into carts that just needed a good eraser rub to work?
I always thought people who collected big libraries were just hoarding for the sake of it. But last weekend I hit exactly 100 SNES carts on my shelf and something clicked. Getting there made me realize it's not about the number, it's about the stories behind each one. That copy of Earthworm Jim I got from a garage sale for $3 has way more meaning than the one I paid market price for. Anyone else hit a milestone that made you rethink why you collect old games?
I keep hearing folks say the SNES pad is the gold standard for retro gaming, but I think they're forgetting how bad the d-pad is for fighting games. I spent 8 hours last weekend playing Street Fighter II on my Genesis with a six-button controller and hit every special move perfectly. The SNES d-pad always leaves my thumb sore after 20 minutes. Has anyone else actually tested both side by side on a beat-em-up?
I picked up a beat-up PS1 at a garage sale near Dayton back in July for $10. The disc drive was totally dead, so I spent the last month and a half replacing the laser assembly and recapping the power board. After three failed attempts at aligning the new laser, it finally read a copy of Crash Bandicoot this morning. Has anyone else found those ribbon cables on the early models to be super fussy to seat properly?
I was dead set on keeping my original capacitors because I heard recapping kills the original sound. Then I watched a video where a guy put a scope on the audio lines and showed the old ones were way out of spec. Has anyone else actually A/B tested a Genesis before and after a recap and noticed a real difference?
I swapped all the capacitors on my Model 1 Genesis and now the audio is crystal clear but the video is just a black screen, has anyone else messed up a cap job and figured out which tiny solder bridge I probably made?
I spent years blowing into NES carts and getting frustrated. Finally tried the rubbing alcohol and q-tip method on the pins of a copy of Mega Man 2 that wouldnt boot, and it fired up on the first try after drying for 20 minutes. Has anyone else had better luck with this vs. the old blowing trick?
He told me to stop using rubbing alcohol and switch to 90% deionized water with a little dish soap. Has anyone else tried this on their stubborn NES games?
Spent three evenings last week trying to figure out why my Sega Genesis would boot to a black screen with sound. Turned out it was a 10uf cap near the voltage regulator that had leaked and corroded two traces on the board. Finally fixed it by scraping the solder mask and jumping wires, but I went through a whole tube of flux getting there. Anyone else dealt with capacitor juice eating through PCB traces on their old gear?
Switched from paying $45 for that retrobrighting goop online to just grabbing a $6 bottle of 40 volume hair developer from Sally Beauty and some clear gel. Did my yellowed SNES shell last weekend. Left it in the sun for 4 hours and it came out whiter than my buddy's console he bought new. The expensive stuff is just peroxide with a fancy label. Anyone else skip the branded junk?
I picked up a $6 generic AV cable off Amazon for my old PlayStation 1 last week. Figured it would work fine since it's just basic yellow white red plugs. Hooked it up to my CRT and the picture had this constant static flickering that drove me nuts. Swapped back to my old official Sony cable and it was crystal clear again. Learned that those cheap cables don't have any shielding inside which lets interference mess up the video signal. Kinda mad I wasted the money but at least I know better now. Has anyone else run into this with off brand cables for their retro consoles?
I grabbed one of those cheap PS1 modchips off eBay for $60 because I wanted to play burned copies of games I already own. Took me like 4 hours to solder it in because the traces on the board are tiny and easy to mess up. Got it all hooked up and the system just blinked a red light and wouldn't boot at all. I tried reflowing the joints twice and checked every connection with a multimeter, still dead. Turns out the chip was a knockoff that didn't match the right model number for my PS1. Now I'm out $60 and I probably fried my original motherboard trying to get it working. Has anyone else here been burned by those cheap modchips or should I just stick to buying originals off Lukiegames?
Saw a listing for a 'new old stock' NES AC adapter for $35. Looked legit in the photos, seller had good feedback. Plugged it in and my console just flickered like crazy. Took it apart and found they just stuffed a cheap modern power brick into an old shell. Now it's in the trash and I'm back to using my original that I should never have tried to replace. Anyone else get burned by fake 'vintage' parts on eBay?
My Sega Genesis started showing this weird vertical line on the left side of the screen last month. I opened it up and saw the capacitors were bulging on the board. I spent like 4 days debating if I should just buy a whole new power supply board off eBay for $25 or get a cap kit for $8 and try soldering for the first time. I went with the recap kit because I figured I'd mess up less and learn something. Turned out okay except I accidentally bridged two pins on one of the smaller caps and had to redo it with some solder wick. The line is gone now and the colors look a bit punchier actually. Has anyone else here fixed a screen artifact by just recapping rather than swapping whole boards?
I was always team composite (you know, the red white yellow ones) until last month when I grabbed a cheap S-Video cable at a garage sale for $2. Hooked it up to my CRT and suddenly Gran Turismo 2 didn't look like a blurry mess anymore. Has anyone else made the switch and actually noticed a difference on older consoles?
Was using canned air and a pink eraser on my copy of Mega Man 2 last week when he walked in and pointed out the corrosion on 3 pins, said the moisture from my breath was the real problem, anyone else been doing this wrong for decades?
I spent like 6 months telling everyone on here that the hydrogen peroxide and UV light thing was just internet hype. But last weekend I finally tried it on my Super Nintendo that looked like a old coffee stain. I used 12% cream developer from Sally's and set up a cardboard box with a cheap UV lamp from Amazon. After 8 hours under the light the top shell was almost back to that original gray color and I felt pretty dumb for being so stubborn about it. Has anyone else had a similar experience with a method they thought was bogus?
So I was at this random sale in Akron last weekend and pulled out a crusty SNES with what looked like soda dried inside the shell. One guy said to just toss it for parts, another swore he brought a similar one back with rubbing alcohol and a toothbrush. Do you guys think it's worth the time to clean up a heavily water damaged board or is it just a lost cause for most people?