Gaming Forums => General Gaming => Topic started by: wandering on September 22, 2007, 01:39:34 PM
Title: What's the best way to get ahold of old games?
Post by: wandering on September 22, 2007, 01:39:34 PM
Awhile back, my favorite poster said something that cut me to the quick:
Quote Originally posted by: Ian Sane I hate ignorant dolts. If you have at least half-a-brain you've been there where you've encountered someone that seems to have no knowledge of anything outside the last three years. And these jerks are usually spouting opinions about stuff they're unfamiliar with. It's not just kids or teens. Full grown adults do this too. So I encourage people to familiarize themselves with the past. Not only can it be rewarding since you'll find stuff you never would have known about that you like but you'll have perspective and can form real opinions. Don't say The Beatles suck if you can't even name their albums.
I want to follow Ian's advice, and shed my ignorance. I want to familiarize myself with games that came out before my time. The trouble is, I don't know how. I don't want to buy VC games because they're overly laden with DRM. I don't want to download ROMS because I don't like to steal. I'd buy games off Ebay, but prices there are generally kind of high.
What should I do?
Title: RE: What's the best way to get ahold of old games?
Post by: Kairon on September 22, 2007, 01:56:31 PM
How do you know EBay prices are too high?
Title: RE: What's the best way to get ahold of old games?
Post by: that Baby guy on September 22, 2007, 02:04:00 PM
Well, first off, buy Namco Museum for the DS or GameCube. Play some of the classics and learn the twists. Then, move on to Sonic Mega Collection and give all four Genesis Sonic titles a shot. There's several options for the Super Mario games, Advance, Wii, and elsewhere, so you're probably set there.
Try out some arcade brawlers with friends if you get the chance. TMNT, TMNT: Turtles in Time are great examples, though you really can't find either without having to unlock them in some terrible Cube games at the moment.
Follow this up with some Shmups if you can. Chances are you won't find any of those easily available. I think Raiden III came out on the PS2, but I have no idea how traditional it plays.
Buy Super Metroid on the virtual console. I see you hate DRM, but for this game, it's worth it.
Final Fantasy VI Advance would be another top investment as well.
Those are off the top of my head as viable options, and most don't require the Wii. Good luck!
Title: RE: What's the best way to get ahold of old games?
Post by: LuigiHann on September 22, 2007, 02:22:58 PM
For anything that isn't Nintendo, I recommend looking into GameTap, although if you find the DRM on VC games restricting then you probably wouldn't be pleased with it. But the price structure (monthly subscription) is much more reasonable for "play-it-once-just-to-check-it-out" titles like Joust and Streets of Rage than 5-10 bucks a pop.
Title: RE: What's the best way to get ahold of old games?
Post by: wandering on September 22, 2007, 06:12:39 PM
Some excellent suggestions. Thanks, guys. I didn't know there were that many compilations out for gamecube. I'll definitely be picking some of them up.
"I recommend looking into GameTap"
I actually already subscribe to Gametap, and love it. I don't mind restrictive DRM, so long as it's on something I'm renting, and not something I own.
"How do you know EBay prices are too high?"
In truth, I just looked up some nes and snes games, and the prices weren't that bad. I guess the ridiculous price I paid for Sam & Max: Hit the Road isn't indicative of video game prices in general.
Title: RE: What's the best way to get ahold of old games?
Post by: EasyCure on September 22, 2007, 06:37:00 PM
Check out Skate or Die on the NES. Don't remember if 1 or 2 was better though...
Title: RE: What's the best way to get ahold of old games?
Post by: King of Twitch on September 22, 2007, 07:09:06 PM
Title: RE: What's the best way to get ahold of old games?
Post by: Ian Sane on September 24, 2007, 05:46:29 AM
For me it's always been the luck of where I live. I live within walking distance of a flea market and there's this great used videogame store in town. There's also a great used record store that also has old games and I just bought a Genesis there.
But just buying old games (and with stuff like the VC and retro compilations you don't have to buy the original copies) doesn't let you know what's good. Sites where people review old games is a great way to learn what's worth looking for. I recommend Sega-16.com for Genesis stuff and videogamecritic.net and hg101.classicgaming.gamespy.com as general old game sites.
And I think ROMs are fine for just trying a game out for five minutes to see if you like it. Still illegal though. MAME however is a must to familiarize yourself with old arcade games.
The VC actually is pretty good for informing as well. I really didn't know much about the TurboGrafx-16 aside from games like Bonk. But every week some new game comes out on the VC that I've never heard of so I look it up and find out about it. I may never buy it or play it but at least now I know about it. If I ever decide to collect T-16 games I have a better idea of what to look for.
