What's your cutoff point? (in terms of system power)

[Anthony1]

The question that I'm posing is......What is your cutoff point? What I mean by that, is which system is your cutoff system, in terms of not playing anything earlier than that system?


For example, I've pretty much determined that the TG-16 is my cutoff point. I don't really play much of anything pre TG-16. I'll play TG-16 and Genesis, etc, on up.

For a little while I was collecting and playing NES, but I just can't get into NES that much. I also had a Atar 2600, even got a super expensive S-Video mod for it, but it turned out to be a brief phase for me. There is only so much time left in my life that I need to focus on systems and games that I really, really want to play.

I've decided that the Turbo is about as retro as I want to get.

For me, the Turbo is a perfect cutoff point, because it's really a 8 bit system in a 16 bit disguise, so it gives you that flavor of the 8 bit era, but it has some very nice 16 bit trappings to it. 512 simultaneous colors is a very nice 16 bit trapping if you ask me. But at the real core of the TG-16 it is basically a 8 bit system, and that is as far back as I want to go with my graphics.

It's the graphics whore in me. I will totally admit that I'm a big time graphics whore. So that is definitely a factor. Also, I will occasionally play a game of Contra or Metal Storm on my XBOX NES emulator or on Pocket NES on the GBA, but I've just decided for the most part to roll with TG-16 on up.

I got a Sega Master System awhile ago, primarily because it's the oldest standard console system to offer RGB output. But I quickly learned that RGB really doesn't do much for it, it just has too few colors to play with. (This makes me also think that the holy grail of somehow playing NES in RGB is probably way overrated). The Master System unfortunately has to deal with a very small amount of colors on screen, and I never had a master system originally, and all of it's best games appear to be downscaled Genesis ports.

I know that it's more me, than the Master System. I never had a Master System originally, and I've never played a single Master System game till just recently. But it didn't take me long to determine that the Master System is just a little too underpowered for me to really get into it. I know that's pretty shallow on my part, but hey, I might as well realize it now, before I start buying tons of stuff and not using any of it.




Ok, getting back to the original topic, my cutoff point is the TG-16, what's yours?

Also, I'm sure that some people don't even have a cutoff point. They play everything all the way back to pre Atari 2600. And that's perfectly fine and acceptable.


I'm guessing that alot of people have a cutoff point at the NES and Sega Master System. That those are the two oldest systems that they will play on a consistent basis.

[Arcade Antics]

My cutoff point is a system with no power.

If it doesn't power up, I refuse to play it. If it does power up, I'm there, no matter what era, what company, what color, what controller style, what spokesperson, etc.

[Xexyz]

I get what you're saying. My cut-off point would be the NES/SMS. Anything before it, I just can't experience with much passion. It feels like a chore for me to play an Atari 2600. Sad, I know, but to each their own.

[NE146]

Heck, I'll play my darn Coleco Colortron Pong powered by two 9volt batteries. :P

It's all about what you grew up with and are familiar with. I play all the games no matter how primitive because I remember how they were in their day. Although I don't have too much interest in Odyssey 2 or Intellivision since I have zero memories of those because I didn't have them.

Turbografx though.. that isn't exactly retro yet is it? Heck I remember the day I stole one from the store like it was yesterday I also remember the guy at a remote Software Etc. telling me I was one of the few odd people who bought Turbo games.

[Gamereviewgod]

NES.

I do own a 7800, an Intellivision, and a small stack of 2600 games, but nothing special. Just some personal favorites. If I find a stack at a garage sale, I'll pick them up and see if there's anything I like. If not, it's eBay or the BS forum here.

[digitalpress]

No cutoff point for me either. I really enjoy the retro stuff. Not always for the gameplay but for the charm of it all. I am still amazed at what game designers were able to do with just 4k of code, it puts today's designers with their fancy tools to shame.

Though quite honestly, I still have more fun playing a game like Outlaw on the 2600 than half of the crap that's churned out in today's market. It has been and always will be about the gameplay to me.

[Anthony1]

Turbografx though.. that isn't exactly retro yet is it? Heck I remember the day I stole one from the store like it was yesterday I also remember the guy at a remote Software Etc. telling me I was one of the few odd people who bought Turbo games.

Yeah, turbo isn't exactly the oldest system out there, so whether or not it can truly be considered "retro" is up for debate.

It actually came out in Japan in October of 1987, which is a pretty long time ago.

If you play a game like China Warrior, you will think the Turbo is pretty damn retro.

[Videogamerdaryll]

No real cutoff point for me..
I collect a lot of Pong type systems..I'll try them(Test),play them a bit but It's not something that I keep going back to play again unless someone who comes here wants to check them out/asks.

If I say cutoff it would be in reverse.....It would be with current stuff, going online to play games....Right now though I have all the means to go online with the Xbox and PS2, I don't want to,I don't want to dedicate the time to do it..My gaming time fluctuates to much..I fear it'll take away from other things I do/family etc..

So,I've cutoff to the point of not playing games online..If everything was online only I would be playing everything before that.

[bargora]

Well, I've not really played much before the 2600. But that's not to say that I'd sneer at older stuff if it fell in my lap.

However, on a regular basis I find myself playing on 32-bit (Saturn, PSX) and more recent machines much more than I get to the older stuffs, with the caveat that sometimes I'm using the machine to emulate older games.

EDIT: I don't play games that suck too powerfully.

[Jumpman Jr.]

I own consoles from all era's: Intellivision, 2600, NES, SNES, Dreamcast, Ps2, DS etc... But I don't really play anything pre-NES.
I think it all depends on what you played before you started collecting. I had never played anything pre-NES until I bought my 2600 about a year ago, and I can't really seem to get the same fun out of it that people who grew up playing it get.
However, I probablly get more fun out of the NES because I was a huge NES fan growing up.

I don't play anything post-N64 either. The N64 is the only 3 dimensional console I play, so that means that I don't play the 3D consoles that came out before that.

[Jibbajaba]

I definitely do not have a cutoff point. If it plays games, I'll play it. My VCS collection is easily in my top five as far as number of games goes. I would guess that it's third. I get more excited about getting a new retro console than I ddo about getting current-gen systems. But then, the fact that you are into RGB/s-video/component/etc sayd that you are into the flash and pizzaz of it all, and the VCS, O2, Coleco, Intelly, etc. don't have that.

Chris

[NE146]

If you play a game like China Warrior, you will think the Turbo is pretty damn retro.

Played it? man I bought that damn game for like 40 bucks or something brand new. There weren't all that many games in the beginning if you remember after the U.S. launch. Man... did I feel gypped

The other games more than made up for it though, and really.. In China Warrior the characters were a lot bigger than we were used to so I guess that was the "draw" of that game.

[chadtower]

Though quite honestly, I still have more fun playing a game like Outlaw on the 2600 than half of the crap that's churned out in today's market. It has been and always will be about the gameplay to me.

My cutoff point for anything other than 30 seconds of checking it out is the N64.... of course, that's my HIGH point, I will only play systems older than that usually. Anything more complex than an N64 isn't worth bothering with.

[evildead2099]

My cut-off point is the Atari 2600.

[Daria]

I refuse to play the tiger handheld type games. I even hated them as a child.

[evildead2099]

I refuse to play the tiger handheld type games. I even hated them as a child.

Good call, but, don't you play consoles which came out before those crappy Tiger handhelds hit the market (i.e. Atari 2600, Colecovision, etc.)?

[mezrabad]

I won't play anything earlier than "Tennis for Two".

EDSAC games bore the hell out of me.

[Daria]

I refuse to play the tiger handheld type games. I even hated them as a child.

Good call, but, don't you play consoles which came out before those crappy Tiger handhelds hit the market (i.e. Atari 2600, Colecovision, etc.)?

>.>'

Actually I wasn't sure when they started making those. Weren't game and watch based on the same kind of technology?

[evildead2099]

I refuse to play the tiger handheld type games. I even hated them as a child.

Good call, but, don't you play consoles which came out before those crappy Tiger handhelds hit the market (i.e. Atari 2600, Colecovision, etc.)?

>.>'

Actually I wasn't sure when they started making those. Weren't game and watch based on the same kind of technology?

Perhaps, but I find it difficult to believe that they could have been anywhere as krappy as the Tiger Handhelds were.

[Wookie]

I won't play anything *newer* than a dreamcast or older than a pong system.