Retro Consoles: Hooked Up or Displayed?

[Polygon]

So, I recently took a trip to Ikea and as such found a bunch of crap I wasn't looking for. One of which was a new entertainment center. I'm going to be putting it together today and before I tear everything down I wanted to get an idea of what everyone else does. I currently have all my system connected and ready to go. That means they're scattered about in the setup. I've been thinking about having one connected at a time in a specific spot and when they're not in use, they're simply on display.

So, do you have all your systems hooked up and ready to go? Or, do you just have one connected at a time and the rest on display?

[ProjectCamaro]

Every single console I own is hooked up and ready to go at anytime. I don't want to have to pull them out, all their hookups, etc... just to play them.

For example I had a friend over yesterday and we jumped from the Sega Master System, to the N64, to the Gamecube and we just had to hit one button to make each one play. Sometimes I like to jump from console to console myself and I just don't see the point in having all these consoles and not having them hooked up ready to go.

[DK1105]

My classic gaming tv has 9 console connected to it at all times. It is a lot of daisy chained rf switches and 2 composite but it all works.

[8-Bit Archeology]

My 42" has the sega genny 2, cd, 32X, ps1, ps2, xbox, xbox360, 3do, jaguar, tg16 and wii hooked up. On that 3 glass shelf walmart stand for panel tvs.

On my retro roll around. I have my sony trinitron with my sega master system, nes, snes, sega genny 1 and my gamecube ( for the gameboy player) all hooked up.

My goal with my game room is to have all hooked up to one huge custom built entertainment stand with 2 retro monitors and one large panel or projector for modern gaming. One retro monitor would be assigned for light gun games.

[Dashopepper]

I have 12 systems currently hooked up and ready to go, but I think it's a little overkill. Really 3 or 4 is all you need because It becomes such a mess with wires and the 6 power strips I'm using that it becomes more of a hassle then it will be worth.

[Aussie2B]

Half and half. My collection long ago grew beyond my ability to have everything in my entertainment center at once, and even if I had the room, that would just be more than I'd want to constantly look at and dust and such. NES, SNES, N64, GameCube, Genesis, Sega CD, PC Engine Duo, PlayStation, PS2, Dreamcast, MVS, and Wii are pretty much always ready (although some are admittedly rarely touched). Xbox 360, PC-FX, Virtual Boy, Colecovision, Master System, Saturn, 3DO, and TG-16 are packed away until wanted. The handhelds are obviously easily accessible.

[xelement5x]

I keep most of mine hooked up to the AV parts of my TV using switches, but I also use power strips to prevent them from draining juice when I'm not using them. So I have two button presses normally (AV, and then powering the applicable strip). The only unique one is the SNES/N64. Since they're right next to each other and use the same AV cable I just swap between them.

I will say, I only keep my daily player units hooked up. Like, I've got both version of the Sega CD, but I keep the Model 1 boxed up on display, and only use the M2 for playing because it's like a million times more reliable.

[Tanooki]

They're not all together but what I have is all plugged in somewhere.

My LCD 720p tv with no issues on old games has a top loader, snes, gc w/gb player, wiiu and ps3 on it. Have a Sharp NES TV with the N64 on it so it works right. Back bedroom has the Wii, really just there as a netflix box basically. I don't keep systems around as wall hangers as that's silly.

[ApolloBoy]

I don't have the room to keep them all hooked up, so I keep them on my shelves and take one out if I feel like playing it. I have various AV hookups coming out from my PVM to the front so I have a common set of cables I can use (including a SCART adapter for RGB). For power, most of my consoles use a model 1 Genesis PSU (or have been modified to use one) so I keep one of those hooked up at all times as well.

[Trebuken]

I have been contemplating a new Room of Doom and how to handle this situation. I am determined to have all but the most obscure systems hooked up at once. I think I am going to go with multiple TV's...a TV for every two console generations; CRT's for the older systems, I have an RGB for the RGB ready systems I have, and an HDTV for the last two generations preceding the Wii-U.

I have considered the possibility of some sort of coffee table creation to hold the systems in front of the sofa, while running extensions on the video cables to the TV and power-chords hidden inside with extensions; thus all the controllers would be in arms reach. This still seems cluttered so back to my other thought.

[lkermel]

I only have my current gen consoles hooked up, but all the retro stuff is all ready to go inside shelves next to my TV. When I feel like playing, I just hook up the one I wanna play. I just have too many systems, I can't have them hooked up all the time...

[sloan]

Massive collection means it is in no way feasible to connect them all simultaneously.

All are on their own shelves and I hook them up individually to play.

[Polygon]

Thanks for the input everyone. I've decided what to do. I'm going to have all the current gen consoles connected since they go directly into the receiver. However, everything else is going to be on display and one hooked up at a time. With the entertainment center I just got I don't really want to cut holes in the back. So what I'm going to do is have all the cables hooked up and ready to go. I'm going to have them hanging on the back so I can quickly grab them from the top to hook them up to whatever system I get out. Here are some pictures so far.

Here's the empty unit.



Here it is as of right now.



I still need to get the other side in there for the 360, PS3, and the Wii. But all the older system are there and ready to go. So the idea is that the one system that's in use will go up top on the left of the T.V. and the cables will all be ready to go right behind it, out of view. I'm going to mount the switches on the underside, I still need to get another one. Hopefully, I'll have it all done tomorrow. I'm too pooped to finish it right now.

[wiggyx]

Every single console I own is hooked up and ready to go at anytime. I don't want to have to pull them out, all their hookups, etc... just to play them.

For example I had a friend over yesterday and we jumped from the Sega Master System, to the N64, to the Gamecube and we just had to hit one button to make each one play. Sometimes I like to jump from console to console myself and I just don't see the point in having all these consoles and not having them hooked up ready to go.

For me, there's no way to have ~20 consoles hooked up at one time, no matter how much I may want to.

[Ed Oscuro]

Even if I could have 20 consoles "hooked up and ready to go" at once, eletrical storms and the possibility of detail downgrades from this tell me not to.

My ideal situation is to have consoles packed up in safe storage when not in use...I'm still working on that.

[wiggyx]

Just keep the power strips turned off until you need to use them.

[ProjectCamaro]

For me, there's no way to have ~20 consoles hooked up at one time, no matter how much I may want to.

I have 16 consoles and they are all hooked up at the same time. Just takes some extra time and effort when you first set them up. Then you'll save a ton of time and effort whenever you decide to play games.

Even if I could have 20 consoles "hooked up and ready to go" at once, eletrical storms and the possibility of detail downgrades from this tell me not to.

My ideal situation is to have consoles packed up in safe storage when not in use...I'm still working on that.

There are other ways around it over having to hook everything up one at a time. The power cord that comes from the outlet to the consoles that I use have a switch that I turn switch off so no power goes to the consoles when not in use. They then go to the surge protectors so they are protected when they are in use.

[Orion Pimpdaddy]

I have all of mine hooked up because I like the convenience of walking into the room and being able to play whatever I want. It took a lot of work to get it to put together though, and I had to buy a lot of extra devices like switchboxes. It's definitely not for everybody.

This is a "tour" of the setup as it looked two years ago:



Here's another tour with less talking and better picture quality:

[The 1 2 P]

So, do you have all your systems hooked up and ready to go?

Doing that would probably burn my house down as I have around 15 systems or so. I keep six hooked up at a time, although I'm going to try and get that down to 4 or 5. I also got my entertainment stand from Ikea after seeing it used for a feature in an old game magazine. It works nice but it's a pain in the ass to move(which I've had to do twice). The next time I move I'll most likely just get a new entertainment stand. As far as classic systems, I currently have my 3DO and Saturn hooked up.

[Einzelherz]

Too much switchwork for me. I just have them all on a rack and I get the cables out as I need them. Or since 90% of what I play is emulated on my Wii, I just use the Wii.