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Haven't checked prices recently, but the PAL games are probably still reasonable...

DoDonPachi Resurrection, Deathsmiles, Akai Katana and Under Defeat HD got PAL releases. All are excellent. They used to be very cheap but I reckon they will probably be sitting a full price modern release price levels now. That's probably as reasonable as you will get but there may be deals around.

There are some really expensive PAL games like Eschatos and Ginga Force I wish I had picked up - mad prices now.

The JP region free games would be expensive now.  I'm lucky enough to have picked them up at sensible levels before the world went mad. For the record these are :-

Musihihimasama Futari
DoDonPachi SaiDaiOuJou
Espgaluda II BL
Muchi Muchi Pork & Pink Sweets

Ah OK. It could be a combo of your age plus the fact that board games fell out of fashion for a while.

They are a big thing again now - esp. in Europe. The Germans seem to still have a strong culture of family playing together and they are perfect for it. Most of the really great games come from Europe at the minute.

Othello is very well known here in the UK. I still have a copy of the actual board game.

Didn't own the cart myself but I played it using emulation.

Othello was one of the first board games that computers were able to play perfectly. The number of available moves is small and decreases with every turn. A computer with a modest amount of memory could perform an exhaustive search of all possible outcomes from every available move.  Perhaps the old 2600 version didn't do that but it would have been able to put up a very credible game.

With respect to the types of games I like and play the Gamecube/PS2 are as powerful a machine as I need to be honest.

I'm really into the 2D shooters that were made by Cave and the 360 got good ports of them. PS2/GC probably could have hosted them.

360 games to me look stunning. Trials HD, Pacman CE, Rockstar Table Tennis look as good as they need to. I don't see what modern hardware could do for me over and above being the only way to play some yet to be released shooters.

I suppose it comes back to what one considers retro. I don't really think most games are retro. They are just games.

I have the 360 on my shortlist for greatest console ever. And that really is saying something for someone who is a real fan of Atari, Nintendo and Sega.

What are the feelings on the 360 being retro?  (or for that matter PS3 - but i don't own one).

It's possibly a step too far but within another gen I think it's getting there. My personal rule of thumb is current_gen - 2 = retro.  I note that there is no Microsoft section here and I'd consider Oldbox retro since Gamecube and PS2 are.

It's hard to look at games on a 360 and consider them retro. But it brings up the question of whether retro is finite. If we draw a line somewhere instead of moving it along as time progresses then that does make it finite.

Recent gens of games haven't exactly created new experiences - esp. since 360 which brought excellent online integration to gaming.  Apart from VR I don't see much else happening apart from "more" realism which itself tends to age in the eyes of those who care about it.

I've built up a rather nice physical 360 collection based mainly around 2D shmups. It's a superb console for that and none of them have been made BC with the newer consoles - leaving it the only way to experience most of Cave's finest examples of the genre. My personal feelings have the console on my shortlist for best ever.

Well. I played the Mario & Sonic / Angry Birds games and I've decided to keep them. They are way better than I remembered. Star Wars Angry Birds is a hoot in multi-player. It's just a shame the original Trilogy disc doesn't have MP but it's still entertaining.

Mario/Sonic games are still pretty good entertainment. MP is a must though. I ditched the London games one as it was a dirge but these 2 are more streamlined and enjoyable than I remember.

I was like that too. Having a good clear out from time to time is the smart thing unless you are going for complete sets of games for console - or maybe collecting some like a complete set of games in a favourite franchise or genre.

Unless you have the room it quickly becomes ridiculous.

It was a shame the game for the Atari 2600 was never released. It was all ready to go and then it got mired in development hell after management wanted it changed into a Dukes of Hazzard game but they messed about so long it was abandoned.


I really like the look of the old classic Atari dedicated consoles. There were a lot of Pong consoles with different modes  but there's the Stunt Cycle one and a Video Pinball console with Breakout on the machine too.

The Pong consoles on sale here were all copies made by different companies - but I never saw the Atari ones.

So I started going through these games last night to see which ones I will dispose of:

Here's games I could remove from my Wii collection without too much bother.

*= daughters might whine but they haven't been played in years.

Angry Birds Trilogy        (found Angry Birds so over rated. It's big problem is that Worms exists)
Angry Birds Star Wars*  (nice and with 4 player options but it's still over rated)
Animal Crossing  (girls loved it but superseded now)
Bust A Move  (many better versions of this around)
Jewel Quest Trilogy (ok but best on a handheld or a PC)
Mario and Sonic Olympics*  (fun but Sega over egged the presentation and play is very load/play/load)
Mario and Sonic Winter Olympics*  (see above)
Puzzle Quest (as for Jewel Quest - this is quite a nice , tactical game though)
Raving Rabbids : Party Collection (played out - waggle mini game. Nice but past its time)
Smarty Pants* (decent quiz game but doesn't get much play now)
Sonic Allstar Racing (superseded by Sonic Racing transformed on 360)
Super Fruitfall (landfill - a freeware puzzle cashing in on the Wii launch. Was only bought for collecting purposes)
WHo Wants to be a Millionaire 2nd Ed * (OK but quite badly done at the end of the day .  The PS1 version is all you need)
Worms Battle Islands (superseded by the Collection on 360)
Zack and Wiki (charming - might actually keep this!)
Wii Music *  (a fun toy that I might keep)
Wii Chess (collector's piece but redundant really)

Going to keep these:

Bust A Move.  Because it uses the motion control well to control the bubble gun it makes the game feel quite different. It's a proper Wii game if you know what I mean. It looks nice too. The menus are really cheap looking and rushed but the levels and characters have a certain amount of charm. It has an 8 player mode too!!! To has to be kept for the nonsense value of that.

Jewel Quest. Three games in one. I really like the tile matching game and the gem game too. The spot the object levels are nice but slightly compromised by the lower res. It's still nicely presented though and I found myself playing it and not wanting to stop! The Wii pointer is dampened down nicely so it isn't too twitchy and works well.

Who Wants to be a Millionaire 2.   FAR better than I remembered. It's a basic quiz game of course but presented better than I remember. And it has a couple of extra modes that aren't bad at all.

Smarty Pants. Same as above. Basic but clean presentation. And worth keeping as long the questions don't start repeating too often.

Zack and Wiki - Just too well made and charming to get rid off. A proper Wii game that uses the control scheme. I should really try and complete it.

Wii Music and Chess.  Means I have the complete "Wii" series of games. More a collecting thing than anything else.

Still have to make my mind up about the Angry Birds and Sonic Olympics games.

I don't mind videos being posted if they prompt a discussion. Any comment I have made has apparently fallen on deaf ears. I see no value in posting any video clip if there is little to no response.  Most of us have YT subscriptions after all.

Sorry about that, I am very bad at responding, even on my own video comments .    But none the less, I will not post any more vids.  I am considering not posting to any forums at all now, just to my Twitter and Facebook pages. 

I'm pretty sure I have watched some of your content on YT. I probably even subbed at one point but I recently un-subbed from practically everything as I was getting snowed under with notifications!!!  I certainly remember enjoying your content at any rate.  Your old hardware overviews are very good. (e.g. Stunt Cycle)

Yeah - that would be nice. As long as it plays 2D I'd be all for that.

I don't even like the NES version of C-Vania.  It's probably because my first game was IV on SNES which is majestic. I even own the soundtrack on vinyl.  Such is my fanboy-ness of that game.

I like Rondo of Blood, Chronicles on PS1 (itself a remake of a JP Sharp computer version) and WiiWare's Rebirth. But I really don't like the Metroidvania games which the series developed into. I even dislike Symphony of the Night - and I really wanted to like it. I appreciate those games but I just don't like them as I prefer my C-Vania to be linear.

But I do have to pay tribute to the NES original. A great series that is due a proper update , remembering to drop the idea that it could be a 3D game. I've given up on thinking I'd ever get a current gen 2D linear game though.

For the record - my feathers weren't ruffled.

But it would be better if a video kicked off a conversation. Otherwise the forum turns into a signpost.

Wii version of Nights was a missed opportunity. All it had to be was a cleaned up version with more levels and options for M+ and classic control. Would have been sweet.  Would have controlled great with the nunchuck too.

The gun games are still great on it. Ghost Squad, HOTD2+3 and Overkill were probably the best but the Res Evil games were great too.