Multiple Consoles Hooked Up

[Flack]

I'm more of a gamer than a collector. What I mean by that is, I don't have any games "unopened". Pretty much everything I have is for playing.

That being said, I'm having a hard time having EVERYTHING hooked up at once.

Do any of you have ALL (or at least a lot) of your game systems hooked up? I just recently moved four of my systems (SNES, Genesis, N64, Atari 2600) out to our gameroom. Problem is, it's taking up an entire 8 foot tabel with a monitor in the middle. Plus, asthetically, it sucks. What I had envisioned was an area where people could chill out on a couch, pick up a controller of their choice, and play a game on one of several systems. Instead, I now essentially have a "desk" where you have to sit in a chair and play games while staring at a monitor in front of a white wall.

The wiring to the monitor isn't a problem, but all the wires for joysticks certainly are. On top of that, it seems like no matter which way I put it down on paper, there's no good way to hook multiple systems up without having wires from the controllers draped in front of the screen at some point in time.

I'm sure someone's already solved this problem somewhere down the line. Help!

[Sotenga]

All of my game systems (nine at the moment) are all hooked up. Not to the same place. I have two different TV sets. One is for my old-school consoles, while the other is for current game systems. Flack, you're just like me. I game more than I collect. And it is a pain to deal with all the wires and cords that make a mess in my den. I haven't really solved this problem of "cord spaghetti" myself. I just take it for granted, and if the wires get too bad, I just unplug all controllers and weave around them. Yes, it's tedious, but I don't know what else to do.

[GaijinPunch]

My problem is the space the system takes up... not the wires.
Right now, I've got a DC (well-hidden, as it's small), GC, Xbox, and PS2 hooked up, on the rack. If I want to play anything on the Saturn, I have to whip it out. Same w/ the FM-Towns Marty. The controllers I wrap up and stick behidn the unit, or in a box near the TV. It's "relatively" clean.

Something that saves a lot of space - Mega Drive/MegaCD emulation on the Xbox is fantastic, and TurboDuo isn't half bad. So, I just play those systems on the Xbox.

[john_soper]

http://www94.pair.com/jsoper/uber_main.html
I only got 20 hooked up right now, someday I hope to have a large console collection

[nesuser2]

get an xbox, then you can store all your old game consoles so they are preserved for years to come .........but that's just my idea. some people like the idea of having everything within site.....i hate clutter

[ApolloBoy]

Almost all of my systems are hooked up except for my...

Genesis
SNES
C64
VIC-20

[Videogamerdaryll]

I used to have a ton of systems all hooked up in a wiring nightmare..
It took me like two days to finish..

As I added new systems to the shelf..I got to be a pain to keep it all hooked up..
So I took it all apart..I only have around 10 systems hooked up at this time in the living room now..3 in the Kitchen and 4 in the bedroom..

When I want to play a certain system I just hook it up..I have to many too keep all hooked up at once..

[maxlords]

I have the following systems hooked up to my TV (all at once):

NES (top loader), SNES, N64, GC, SMS, CDX, Saturn, DC, PS2, 3D0, Turbo Duo, XBox

I use switch boxes for the AV cables and daisy chained RFs. It's a nasty mess behind my TV, but it works! I actually ran out of shelf space and my Jaguar and my Neo Geo CD are the only systems currently not hooked up.

[punkoffgirl]

To those w/multiple systems hooked up: Do you always leave all of your controllers plugged in, or do you store them when you're not using them?

[Sotenga]

I usually leave at least one controller in my consoles at all times. Maybe I should start putting them away...

[sisko]

I've got 12 hooked up right now, I daisy chain my AV switch boxes.

It takes up a lot of space, especially since a lot of the systems are top loaders, and thus are unstackable. Fortunately, everything fits nicely in my entertainment center and audio cabinet.....as long as I don't get anything else

@POG: I usually put them away, but as time goes by and I get lazier, they just sit tucked behind the machine, until I get lazier and leave them on the carpet in front of the cabinet.

[punkoffgirl]

See, I wish I could come up with a neater way to leave them all sitting out. Right now, my shelves are looking pretty sloppy, with my N64, SNES, Dreamcast, PS1 and Colecovision all mismashed in with cables, controllers, and accessories. I guess there really is no "tidy" way to store them out of their boxes, and still be able to use them easily.

[Zach]

I built a custom shelf and I have a network of 5 Pelican A/V/S-video switch boxes connecting everything to my home theater setup. It works really well, and I don't notice any signal degradation.

The shelf was designed and built with the specific number of systems in mind (16) and I have all of the wires carefully concealed behind small trim pieces. There are wire tie anchors mounted down the back of the sides of the shelf and under the back edge of each individual shelf platform.

Also, to make things work effeciently, I've converted all of my classic systems to output composite video and audio via RCA jacks. And I'm using S-video for any console that supports it (you really need to make the switch ti S-video if you haven't already.)

I keep all of the controllers in a nearby 1980's Nintendo Mario/Zelda storage chest. For a while I had one controller for each system hooked up, which looked cool, but it was a pain most of the time.

Check out the picture of my setup in my signature!

[Flack]

Maxlords, I'd like to see a picture of your setup. Thanks to Soper for posting that picture as well. So far, it's starting to confirm what I was figuring, that even though lots of people here have as many (or probably more) console systems than I do, not very many have all of them hooked up (with controllers) ready to go at any given moment.

I'm going to fiddle around with some more ... shelving ideas. If I can't come up with anything there, maybe some sort of system with some rolling carts and quick connects on the back is in order.

[sisko]

See, I wish I could come up with a neater way to leave them all sitting out. Right now, my shelves are looking pretty sloppy, with my N64, SNES, Dreamcast, PS1 and Colecovision all mismashed in with cables, controllers, and accessories. I guess there really is no "tidy" way to store them out of their boxes, and still be able to use them easily.

You could wrap the cords and hang them on peg hooks underneath the console.

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

At least until I started packing stuff away for moving, I had over a dozen consoles, vintage computers, etc. hooked up simultaneously, with at least one controller plugged into each and at the ready. That setup was a couple of button-presses, a couple of dial-twists, and an AC adapter plugging-in away from any given console or system being "live."

Well, okay, more than a couple of button-presses, as icbrkr can attest.

[dan2357]

I have 5 of mine hooked up at the moment.
http://www.brightfun.com/games.html
you normaly don't see the hook up wires cause its dark in the shelves, and sitting the controllers onto of or behind the units keesp it neet. a cheap deep entertainment center unit thingy you have plenty of room behind the consoles to store controllers and such.

[Flack]

Zach: Those shelves look very nice, but [a] where is the television? and [b] how would you play, for example, Atari 2600? I can't imagine sitting somewhere with a joystick that would reach that Atari 2600 there.

[punkoffgirl]

You could wrap the cords and hang them on peg hooks underneath the console.

Right, but they're not "ready to play at the drop of the hat" when they're wrapped up

I wish there was one universal controller you could hook up to all of them at once *lol*

[Flack]

I can at least say Dan's setup looks the closest to mine so far, lol.