Nothing super-special about seeing the MVS here. It just reminded me that I’ve been seeing fewer and fewer of these. This is also one of the machines I’d like to have one day. I’m not 100% set on which cartridges to use, but the ones seen here are good picks.
Virtual On (Sega)
A pretty fun head-to-head arena fighter featuring mechs that behave more like people than giant robots (you still control them with twin flight-sticks, though). You can’t really tell from the angle of the photo, but the machines actually have a built-in partition to prevent screen-looking.
Fix-It Felix (Disney?)
I had no idea that they actually made a real machine based on the game from the movie! The cabinet does a great job of imitating the Donkey Kong artwork. The game itself isn’t anything too special, but I felt a pretty strong sense of novelty from the fact that someone actually made this machine.
Fun fact: although the concept for this game was obviously inspired by Donkey Kong, the characters, level design, and gameplay more closely resemble those of Beauty and the Beast, a Donkey Kong ripoff that was released for the Intellivision:
Ice Cold Beer (Taito)
Not a video game, sure, but this was unusual enough that I wanted to include it. Basically, you have to control a ball bearing that’s tucked between a metal rod and a vertical playing field. You can control the slant on either side of the metal rod, and your goal is to navigate the ball bearing into one of the designated goals. It’s ridiculously challenging, but the idea is really cool.
I’m into basically anything Evil Dead and kinda glad I missed the even more super duper special edition. . . #evildead #evildeadthegame #ps5 #gamersofinstagram #gamer #videogames #retrogamer #gameroom #retrocollector #gamerlife #gamestagram #retrogames #acoriginals #gamerguy #console #games #modern #retroaesthetic https://www.instagram.com/p/CdhVvF6uR5s/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
But can it live up the Wii Sports legacy? Let’s be real, that was likely just a moment in time. . . #nintendo #switch #sports #wiisports #nintendoswitch #nintendoswitchsports #gamersofinstagram #gamer #videogames #retrogamer #gameroom #retrocollector #gamerlife #gamestagram #retrogames #acoriginals #gamerguy #console #games #modern #retroaesthetic https://www.instagram.com/p/Cc9XYfpOaJp/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
Picked up this NOS Hyper Neo Geo 64 board recently, for no other reason really than… why not? It was cheap and someday I might throw it in a cabinet.
If you’re looking at the expensive NOS ones on eBay right now, know that those are likely coming from the same guy I got this one from for a lot less. Check the well known arcade Facebook groups instead.
I don’t know much about these really but I’m guessing it’s either a revision 1 Fighting board or the Korean board (based on photos I’ve seen and various threads I’ve read).
I’m not sure I’ll ever have any games for this thing so… to the arcade PCB storage bin you go for now
This will have to do for now. It seems the aftermarket “bubble” lenses that are similar to the originals are not easy to find these days.
Everyone wants the flat glass ones which are nice and better long term, I guess, but lack a big part of what made the Game Gear… Game Gear. In my opinion, anyway.
If anyone happens to know a source for those for a reasonable price these days, let me know. I picked one up from @console5dotcom several years ago for about $4.
I might try my hand at buffing out what I can from one of my originals for the next repair. In this case, the lens was already an old flat plastic aftermarket lens which was cracked so it’s fine as it is.
Regardless, it’s nice to have a working GG again with a killer screen
Comparison shots of three NGPC systems, each with a different screen configuration.
*Not shown: one with a worm light
Up first is an unmodified stock Pocket Color. Let’s be honest, playing that thing is near impossible, back then or now.
Next up is my first Pocket Color from back in the day with an Afterburner front light mod done by @jamma_nation_x probably sometime mid 2000s.
Last is the more recent full size IPS screen installed on one of the extra systems I had planned for a random pi project. I’m glad I decided to keep it as-was so it could land here
It’s not completely done, mind you. I had to borrow some parts from another unit to get it to this point so I’m still digging for those parts that go with this one. The shell also doesn’t sit quite flush so I need to work that out as well. Regardless… man, this is what I’ve been waiting literal decades for.
Still looking forward to what @bennvennelectronics might do in the Neo Pocket aftermarket screen game back when things are more normal again
Dug out an old NGPC that I bought for parts a few years ago (literally for the shell more than anything for a planned project I canceled) but ended up repairing it. Figured I’d use this one to install one of the full size LCD kits finally (something I’ve been waiting years for).
The shell is slightly yellowed as you can see from the first pic - top is the one in question, bottom is my original/main unit that still looks good as new.
Gave the front shell a peroxide bath with the help of @horde5150 yesterday and I have to say that the result is pretty amazing (pic 5 shows an after comparison with the back shell which is still yellowed).
Assuming I don’t ruin the shell with the mods to the case I need to do for the screen install (the translucent shell versions are brittle AF), I’ll do the back as well (after confirming how best to salvage the labels).
Exciting, though expensive, times for retro gaming, these.
It took almost a year but this showed up from @limitedrungames today
It’s well known that the NGPC is perhaps my favorite handheld of all time…for whatever reason…so this was a no brainer.
I was shocked when they started rolling out the individual ports and completely missed the Samurai Shodown! 2 release as a pre-order bonus with the new Samurai Shodown game a couple of years ago. Who would have thought that we’d have these available again after more or less just being bargain binned in 4 packs what seems like yesterday?
While modern analog sticks can’t compare to the classic clicky stick of an actual NGPC, you can’t go wrong with this collection or any of the individual releases.
The included book is perhaps the highlight here. I haven’t dug too far into it yet but there seems to be a decent amount of content on each game in the collection as well their arcade or series counterparts.
Some progress on the Game Gear tonight. @bennvennelectronics LCD installed and seems to be working well. Now I just need to clean things up a bit and replace the lens and I think I can call this one done
Several years ago now I replaced the capacitors and backlight in the Game Gear I had as a kid. It still doesn’t work completely and I never dove in to figure out what other issues might be present.
At some point I picked up three dead Game Gears for next to nothing hoping that between them all perhaps I could get at least one working.
I’ve since picked up a new LCD from @bennvennelectronics and have been sitting on it for a while knowing I needed to do another cap kit on at least one of these things. And if you’ve ever attempted that, then you know that once is more than enough Well, I finally got around to that tonight.
One of the four would at least power on so I figured that was a good place to start. I swapped in a working audio board and just got done with the cap kit. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a working Game Gear.
Remember when games were ready to play out of the box?
And then when an initial install was needed, remember when that was it and you were ready to play?
Now we have downloads upon downloads and mini games to try and keep us entertained while the game fully installs? I can only play these rhythm tracks so many times…
