The Ultimate Guide to Classic Game Consoles: An Ideal Reference for Collectors!

By Kevin Baker

The ultimate guide to retro game consoles, an ideal reference for collectors and enthusiasts..

Write ups, specs and pictures of over 85 collectible consoles and variant models from 1972 to 2000. From the Magnavox Odyssey right through to the Sega Dreamcast.

Including the history of the evolution of electronic gaming and advice on how to collect classic consoles.

A comprehensive database of collectible consoles. Written by fellow collectors and enthusiasts.

• Language: English
• Publisher: eBookIt.com
• Release date: Apr 26, 2016
• ISBN: 9781456617080

Kevin Baker

Kevin Baker is the bestselling author of the novels Dreamland, Paradise Alley, and Sometimes You See It Coming. He is a columnist for American Heritage magazine and a regular contributor to the New York Times, Harper's, and other periodicals. He lives in New York City with his wife, the writer Ellen Abrams, and their cat, Stella.

Book preview

time.

2 – Classic Game Console Collecting Guide

CC Image – Flickr.com – Daniel Pisano

An Overview

Collecting classic game consoles appeals to people in different ways and people have their own unique reasons for becoming collectors. Some people like to collect classic consoles and games for nostalgic reasons. Maybe you are a fan of a particular game genre and want to collect as many games as possible for that genre. Others collect classic consoles for investment purposes, or perhaps they may be fans of a particular game console company, such as Atari, Sega or classic Nintendo systems which have their own individual feel and style.

Every collector usually has a personal favourite console that they love. My choice would be the Atari 2600 or the Neo Geo, whereas for others it may be the Fairchild Channel F, the Sega Saturn or even the Vectrex. If you are new to collecting classic consoles or you are considering starting up a collection there are many different approaches you can take. For instance, will you build up a collection of many different consoles and if so from what era? Will you specialise in collecting a full set of games for a particular console, or from a particular games console company, or will you opt to collect rare consoles and games as an investment for the future? Also, keep your budget in mind, as if you opt to collect the Atari 2600 and games for example it will be a relatively cheap endeavour, whereas if you decide to collect the Neo Geo console and games it will turn out to be quite an expensive hobby.

If you are a classic game console enthusiast and you are speaking to a non-enthusiast I would highly recommend keeping conversation about your hobby to under one minute. For example, if you are at a party and try to express your love for classic consoles to non-enthusiasts, they will more than likely try to drown themselves in the punch bowl through sheer boredom after a while. However, whenever you have the chance to talk to a fellow enthusiast, whether it be online or in person, it is a lot of fun sharing knowledge and experiences.

When most people think of a stereotypical classic game console collector, images of geeky middle-aged men dressed up as Darth Vader behind closed doors, fencing with their dog using a fake light sabre and speaking fluent Vulcan spring to mind. However, in reality, console collectors come from all different walks of life and it is a fun community to be a part of.

Where To Start?

If you are new to console collecting it can be overwhelming as to where to start in the sea of collectable consoles and games out there. A good tip is to maybe start with a console system that you are familiar with, which maybe you had when you were younger. This way you know the console and have a head start. It is also a great idea to have a clear cut goal. For example, you could start out by aiming to collect say a Sega Genesis console and a collection of your top 10 most favourite games. After this, you can of course readjust your goal to collect maybe 50 games and so on. This way you are hitting your goal and it is rewarding, rather than just having a blurred open goal with no focus. Having crystal clear focus and successfully hitting your goal targets is fun and there is the bonus of a feeling of achievement afterward.

Where To Find Classic Consoles & Games

So just where can you find that classic console or the games you have in mind? The best places tend to be at garage sales, car boot sales, flea markets, second hand shops, sales ad columns in local newspapers and swap meets. You will maybe even spot an absolute bargain at a garage sale or car boot sale where people are often anxious to get rid of what they see as clutter, thus maybe coming across a rare gem of a game. You can also pick up consoles and games online, such as on eBay or Amazon. To find out what the average price of the console you are looking to purchase might be, you can go online and see what price people are buying and selling it at. Bear in mind that if you spot a classic console at a car boot sale and there is no way of testing the console, you can end up with a faulty console with no comeback.

Be especially careful if you are ordering consoles to be delivered from another country, as the customs / import tax fees can be higher than what you paid for the actual console in many cases. First check the customs fees that you will have to pay, to gauge whether it is worth ordering a classic console as an import to your country of residence.

If you do opt to buy a console from another country, make sure that the console model in question was actually distributed there. China, Eastern Europe, Nigeria and Russia are just some of the countries where you want to be especially careful before parting with your money.

Make a List

If you are collecting games as additions into a large collection that you have planned, make sure you make a list of the titles that you want to collect. This way you can cross off the ones you have bought so that you will not collect the same game twice. This is something many collectors have often mistakenly done, especially if they have hectic lifestyles which tend to warp memories.

If you have a smartphone or other device that has an Internet connection, bring it along with you to the garage sale or car boot sale so that you can watch gameplay videos of games that you spot but are unfamiliar with. At flea markets or car boot sales, make sure you get there early, first thing in the morning, right when it opens preferably, or else what you are looking for may have already gone by the time you get there. It always pays to ask people at flea markets or car boot sales if they have any games, even though you might not see classic games on their display table. Often they will nod and pull out a box of games from nowhere.

Haggle & Bundle

While it is true that there is usually a benchmark price that you can make a guestimate on by doing research online, the worth of the game or console also depends on how much you are willing to pay for it and what it's worth to you personally. At flea markets and car boot sales it never hurts to politely haggle the price down. If you are buying more than one item you can always try and whittle the price down because you are buying items as a bundle. Never be afraid to start off low and pitch a price well under what the seller is asking for, you may well get a frown, maybe even a grunt, but often they will barter upwards from your original low-pitched price offer.

Read Between The Lines

If you are buying a retro games console / games online or from a local classified newspaper ad column, always read between the lines on what the seller is saying, or not saying as is mostly the case. If the seller says Working last time I checked then it probably will not work unless they are genuinely too lazy to even bother to test it. If the seller says that there are a Few fixes needed then find out what needs fixing, just how easy it would be to fix the console and decide whether you or someone you know has the spare parts and expertise needed. Also, beware of the old chestnut Bought as seen which means that in all probability it hasn't worked for a long time and that they want to get rid of it with no comeback, maybe even setting the pet Chihuahua on you if you come back for a refund. If possible go and visit the buyer you are buying the console from and test it there before parting with your money.

Be especially wary if there is no photo included for a console or game sold. If you buy classic consoles and games you may want to consider buying in the winter as prices can be better in this season compared to other seasons. Make sure that the console you are buying includes a power supply, as it would be pretty disappointing to purchase a console and not even be able to switch it on.

Sometimes a console that is being advertised will have a completely different photo attached, maybe one that they have copied and pasted from the Internet. When the real console arrives that you ordered, it may look like a complete mess. A good way of avoiding scams is to look at the seller's rating on online market places such as eBay.

When it comes to buying games that are on CD you need to tread especially carefully. Neo Geo CD games for instance are easy to copy and put into fake packaging that has been designed to look dated.

Nearly every classic console collector at some stage gets burnt. This risk just comes with the territory in retro console and game collecting. Therefore, if you get stung and lose money just make sure that it isn't a large sum of money and consider it as collateral damage. Just get back up on the horse and put it down to a learning experience.

Misspellings

If you are buying from an online market place, such as eBay, try and type in an alternative spelling for games you are looking to buy. For instance, if you are looking to buy the NES game 'Trouble on Blobolonia', try misspelling it and typing it in the search bar as 'Trouble on Blobonia' instead. This is because when people are rushing they may misspell the title, so that if you come across the game under a misspelt title heading, you will have little to no competition when bidding, as not many people will have seen it.

Box & Instruction Books

Having the box and documentation which was originally contained within the box will give your collected console extra value and interest. Some collectors wishing to sell their whole collections also have collected paraphernalia centred around the console, such as posters, flyers, logo badges, keychains and even mugs etc.

Storage

Obviously, the logical route to storing your classic consoles and games would be to store them in airtight plastic zip-lock bags or coverings and box them up, but this is boring, as part of the fun of collecting is to display your collection and play classic games with friends and family. So one great investment is to have glass-fronted cabinets. If it's a good quality shelving cabinet it will keep a majority of moisture out and prolong the life of your collection. Ideally, your collection should be stored in a room that is not damp or at too high a temperature.

Remember to power up your classic console every now and again to keep it in good working order.

3 – The Evolution of Electronic Gaming

As this is a book about classic game consoles, it seems fitting to take a look at what point electronic gaming was born, as well as the factors leading up to making it possible to produce electronic gaming systems as we know them today. So, where did it all begin?

In today’s day and age we are surrounded by advanced 3D gaming systems, tablets, smartphones and other gaming devices. But there was a time when the things that we take for granted were unimaginable. For gaming consoles to get to where they are today they had to build upon previous console designs progressively. After all, everything is an improvement leading to something else. Without the first gaming console we couldn’t have had the second, the third, and so forth.

What’s really interesting about the evolution of electronic gaming is that at the very beginning there was nothing else to base consoles on. There wasn’t anything else to base games on either. There were no improvements to be had, only innovation.

Edsac OXO Emulator Image

In 1952 a developer created the very first digital graphic game ever to run on a computer, OXO. This was the the only game available on the Edsac (Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator) computer, as this machine mostly did mathematical calculations. OXO is a game known as 'Tic-tac-toe' in the U.S.A. or 'Noughts and Crosses' if you come from the UK. You can download the Edsac emulator online.

It is truly revolutionary what we have been able to achieve in the past half century. The beauty of the evolution of electronic gaming is that we can connect the dots and see how one revolutionary idea gave way to more revolutionary ideas.

Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device

While it is true that the Edsac OXO game was the first computer game to be able to run on a computer, the very first interactive electronic game ever designed was the Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device by Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann. It was created with analog electronics in 1947 and was never shown to the public. This game relied solely on knobs to control the trajectory of a CRT display’s light beam. The gameplay involved the player focusing the light beam onto painted airplanes on the screen. Once the beam was positioned on the airplane, the player would fire at the target by pressing a button. If the light beam was within the known coordinates of the airplane, then the CRT beam would simulate an explosion by defocusing.

The Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device was responsible for sparking the initial interest of game developers. Without this first game having been created no one would have thought to improve upon it.

More About The First Digital Graphical Computer Game - OXO

OXO was a computer game written by Alexander S. Douglas in 1952 for his thesis on human-computer interactions for the University of Cambridge. His game OXO was identical to the paper and pencil game Tic-tac-toe. The only difference was that the game was run completely on a computer and displayed via a 35-15 dot matrix cathode ray tube. Not only did the player interact with the computer but you could also play against the computer’s artificial intelligence.

This game was not played by the general public because the EDSAC computer was only available at Cambridge University's Mathematical Laboratory, where you needed special permissions to even get near it. Calling it a 'computer' would actually be an understatement, as the EDSAC was a mainframe which took up an entire room. Certainly there were more innovations to be had before bringing gaming to the masses.

OXO paved the way for more improvements in electronic gaming technology. William Higinbotham would create a very interesting game four years later…

Tennis For Two

Four years after EDSAC's OXO game was developed came the invention of yet another game, Tennis For Two. This game was developed by American physicist William Higinbotham on a Donner Model 30 analog computer. It is often debated whether OXO or Tennis For Two was the first graphical video game. You can argue that OXO only used static graphics to represent the classic Tic-tac-toe game via a CTR display, while Tennis For Two displayed a ball’s trajectory via video. If you want to get technical about it then Tennis For Two was the first electronic video game because the ball was animated.

The reason why William Higinbotham created Tennis For Two is even more interesting than the game itself. He created it to provide bored visitors to the Brookhaven National Laboratory with something entertaining to do.

After realizing that Brookhaven’s computers could calculate ballistic missile trajectories, Higinbotham used this feature to form his game. Instead of calculating a missile trajectory, Higinbotham used the computers to display the path of a ball on a tennis court instead. By using an oscilloscope he was also able to display the moving ball with a realistic velocity.

When the ball hit the ground its path would be reversed. If the ball hit the net its velocity would slow down and bounce back. Players could control the ball using an analog aluminium controller. Clicking a button would hit the ball (which would produce a sound) and using the knob would control the ball’s angle.

Although the device was designed in about two hours, it took three weeks to assemble with the help of Robert V. Dvorak. The game’s circuitry took up about the space of a microwave oven.

It’s important not to confuse Tennis For Two with the game Pong that was created in 1972. Tennis For Two showed only the side of the tennis court, while Pong showed a top down view as well as the player paddles.

Tennis For Two was first shown on October the 18th, 1958 where hundreds of visitors lined up to play. An upgraded version of the game was created in the following year because the game had been such a hit.

Tennis For Two is arguably one of the most important games ever created. Unlike OXO, which was created for a thesis, Tennis For Two was created for pure entertainment. Tennis For Two showed the world that even a physicist could use a computer to create a fun game that served no educational purpose. This game would go on to inspire people all over the world to experiment with game development. A handful of these people would just happen to be graduate students at MIT…

1959-1961

During this time period a few more video games were created on a TX-0 machine at MIT. One of these games was called Mouse in the Maze. It allowed players to place walls and cheese in a virtual room by using a light pen. A light pen was an ancient peripheral that would allow users to interact with computer displays like you would with a pen on paper. Once the Maze was complete the mouse would be released and you could watch it find the cheese.

Two more games that were designed at MIT on the TX-0 were HAX and Tic-tac-toe. HAX allowed players to adjust two switches on the console to create different graphics and sounds.

Tic-tac-toe let players play Tic-tac-toe against the computer by using a light pen.

Although the games created at MIT from 1959-1961 weren’t that revolutionary, they inspired hobbyists to continue developing interesting games.

Spacewar! CC Image – Wikipedia - Joi Ito

Spacewar!

'Spacewar!' is a two-player game created by Steve Russell and Wayne Wiitanen