Topic: What is the most obscure, retro console you own?

[Stratos]

I'd fire up my old Virtual Boy, but I don't have enough batteries lying around. Almost nothing uses them anymore that I use besides my Wavebirds.


It isn't super retro yet, but I wish I had bought a GBA Player when I had the chance. Same with GC Broadband Adapters. Saw plenty at Frys when the Wii launched and knew I should have grabbed them but decided to wait too long.

[UncleBob]

Does my Panasonic Q with Game Boy Player, Broadband Adapter and Component video cables count?

I have a Magnavox Odyssey 2, but no power cord, so I can't play it.

I own an Intellivision, but that's not really that rare.  I love that thing.

[BranDonk Kong]

Q would probably be the most obscure - and if it works, then it would be obscure and rare.

[lolmonade]

The Amiga Commode doesn't count because it was the Commodore Amiga.

Give me a break, I was a stupid child when my parents got it.  I don't have an excuse anymore now that i'm a stupid adult.

[michaelbaysuperfan616]

Does my Panasonic Q with Game Boy Player, Broadband Adapter and Component video cables count?

I have a Magnavox Odyssey 2, but no power cord, so I can't play it.

I own an Intellivision, but that's not really that rare.  I love that thing.

Q doesn't count for what I was saying just like Xeye or CDX, those are just rare variants of a non-rare console.


But if you broaden the terms to most obscure retro gaming machine then sure, except Game Cube and Retro doesn't really fit in my head. Wow, has it really been that long?

[nickmitch]

But if you broaden the terms to most obscure retro gaming machine then sure, except Game Cube and Retro doesn't really fit in my head. Wow, has it really been that long?

Not if you're still using the same controller for Smash Bros.

[pokepal148]

A PS2 Slim... Mock me as you wish.

[Stratos]

Its a good console. I traded my old PS2 in for a PS2 Slim when it first released and have always been very happy with the final product.

[Mop it up]

GameCube will be 15 years old this year, and when the GameCube was released the NES was around 15 years old. I viewed the NES as "retro" when GameCube came out, so it'd probably make sense to view GameCube as retro... but it does feel weird to do that. It's probably because I still remember buying a GameCube at launch and have had one since then, most of which was in my adult life, whereas the NES was released before I was born and any game I bought myself was used after the fact. Therefore, the NES felt a lot older after 15 years than the GameCube has.

[Ian Sane]

I figure the formula for determining if something is retro is if it is two generations removed.  The Wii U is current, the Wii was last generation, Gamecube is now two back along with the Xbox and PS2 so they're retro.  One generation back is obviously too soon since you'll still see games available new in bargain bins at major stores.  But where are you going to get Gamecube games?  You have to go some retro gaming store or go online to find anything like that now.  And when the Cube came out it made SNES games two generations back and they didn't merely seem like games that were a few years old by that point.

And a lot has changed in videogames since then.  Case in point the Cube/XB/PS2 generation was designed for SD televisions so if you wanted a good setup for them you would seek out a CRT.  There was essentially no DLC then (aside from I think some Xbox Live stuff) and no patches so if you find an old disc it's the same version of the game as every other one.  Patches will be something difficult to work with years from now but the GC/XB/PS2 generation is the last one where what you bought in store was what you got.  It's also a generation that relied on proprietary memory cards (except the Xbox) so that's a complication that seems archaic now.  Hell aside from the Wavebird it's also corded controllers all the way!  To an 8 year old kid this stuff might as well be a home Pong console for all the out-of-date stuff it has.

[michaelbaysuperfan616]

Well damn when you paint a crystal clear picture like that you destroy any chance I had at maintaining the illusion.

[riftzzz]

I don't own any

[Mop it up]

I figure the formula for determining if something is retro is if it is two generations removed.  The Wii U is current, the Wii was last generation, Gamecube is now two back along with the Xbox and PS2 so they're retro...

Coincidentally, that actually is the way I look at it, and you explained it pretty well.

[pokepal148]

If you want to get somewhat obscure I do have one of those Logitech Cordless Action Controllers for the PS2 that are considered the PS2's version of the wavebird and actually have rumble so there's that.

Really nice controller actually.

[Spak-Spang]

Retro is like oldies.

You can't just go by decades to determine if something is an oldie, just like you can't go by console generations to determine if something is Retro.

For instance, the NES and Gameboy had a much longer life span than games have now.  So when calculating retro status you must include that in the equation.  Also, you must include what type of games are being made and the depth. 

For me, all the classic 2D consoles are Retro, and only the first generation 3D consoles are Retro now.  So that means we are 3 console generations out for 3D systems.  Nintendo 64, Playstation, and Saturn are 3D retro systems. 

I will add the Gamecube, Playstation 2 and Xbox systems next generation though honestly that seems too early even.  So when PS5 and Xbox 4 comes out, I think we can consider looking at the second generation of 3D games are Retro.

Afterall, I would not consider music from the 80s and 90s as classic oldies.  Now that I think about it, the thing that really pushes the oldies music and retro gaming status is the shift from 2D games to 3D games and the the changes in Rock and Alternative system of music.  Those changes really pushed the recognition of a change in gaming and thus Retro was born.

[michaelbaysuperfan616]

I guess by Mop It Ups post in the other thread, we could all say Wii U is retro, and it is pretty obscure for all intents and purposes.

[Ian Sane]

Retro is like oldies.

You can't just go by decades to determine if something is an oldie, just like you can't go by console generations to determine if something is Retro.

For instance, the NES and Gameboy had a much longer life span than games have now.  So when calculating retro status you must include that in the equation.  Also, you must include what type of games are being made and the depth. 

For me, all the classic 2D consoles are Retro, and only the first generation 3D consoles are Retro now.  So that means we are 3 console generations out for 3D systems.  Nintendo 64, Playstation, and Saturn are 3D retro systems. 

I will add the Gamecube, Playstation 2 and Xbox systems next generation though honestly that seems too early even.  So when PS5 and Xbox 4 comes out, I think we can consider looking at the second generation of 3D games are Retro.

Afterall, I would not consider music from the 80s and 90s as classic oldies.  Now that I think about it, the thing that really pushes the oldies music and retro gaming status is the shift from 2D games to 3D games and the the changes in Rock and Alternative system of music.  Those changes really pushed the recognition of a change in gaming and thus Retro was born.

I wonder if your definition of oldies is based too much on your personal life.  For example I always thought music from the 70s was old, even in like 1988.  The reason being that I wasn't born yet so anything before I was born was super old.  It was easier for me to accept 80s music as oldies because of the speed of which my life was changing.  I remember watching an 80s weekend on Muchmusic in like 1996 and it all seemed so ancient and why wouldn't it?  I was a teenager and that was stuff from my childhood.  My life was totally different then so this music was from another era.  It took longer for me to see 90s music as old because the difference between teen Ian and adult Ian is not as extreme as kid Ian and teen Ian.  Now that stuff does seem old but if you play a song from like 2003 I'll say "what's the new ****?" which is pretty idiotic since that's over 10 years ago and it isn't "new" at all.  But I've been an adult pretty much this whole century with my life changing very slowly compared to my childhood so it all blurs together.

So a videogame from the N64 era?  Yeah that's high school.  Totally retro.  A Gamecube game?  That's adult Ian so is it that different from now?  Doesn't really feel like it until I go looking for Gamecube games and realize there aren't any in any store but ones that specialize in retro games.  It was as a collector that I realized that generation is now retro because you can't find any trace of it in stores anymore, while my local Wal-Mart still has Wii and DS games.

[Mop it up]

I guess by Mop it up's post in the other thread, we could all say Wii U is retro, and it is pretty obscure for all intents and purposes.

Huh? Which post is that? How do you have the impression I think Wii U could count as retro?

[Spak-Spang]

Ian Sane:  Great Question.

I used my definition of oldies based on what was playing on oldies stations when I was in high school.  So that would be 60s and 70s music.  But you mention the 80s and it reminds me that there was a significant music shift in the 80s and later the 90s...basically the 80s and 90s to music is much like the shift from 2D to 3D gaming.  I think honestly I could never truly consider 80s and 90s music as oldies.  Perhaps that is because I have already defined what oldies are...and perhaps a younger generation could redefine it...but then if they do what does that make the music of the 60s and 70s?  Golden Oldies is a term I here now.  To me, I just can't get behind a classic retro or golden retro label for gaming yet...but perhaps that is where we are going...or we will become more specific 8-bit classics, 16-bit classics, and then 3D classics.  To me this is messy, because I still have a hard time wrapping my brain around any 3D game being considered Retro...or classic.  I guess Retro gaming is almost a genre to me.