Fit-nowhere technologies

[Misery]

I wondered why the NES has such a stupid system which bends the the metal pins that make a connection to the game every time you push the game down. Getting old NES systems working is all about unbending things or buying unbent replacements. The Atari system was so much less complicated and worked so much better.

Honestly this is one of the reasons why I use emulators. Yes, I'd PREFER to use original hardware, and I still have about 5 zillion cartridges from the 2600/NES/SNES, but getting the bloody things functional is difficult. AND, modern TVs dont like the things much. Though also, with all of my nerve/tendon problems (which primarily manifest in my neck and arms) the blocky controller of the NES, and the huge stick of the 2600, can cause problems.

And then of course there's arcade stuffs. Yes, it's possible technically to buy cabinets, they're not as much as people might think, and boy do I ever have the space for them. Already have one actually (Golden Tee collection cabinet). I'd LOVE to get myself a Moon Patrol one, that's one of my all-time favorites. Or Juno First, which nobody seems to have heard of.

But they're ENORMOUS (so getting them into any given place is very difficult) and I'm not sure what I'd do if any particular mechanism became damaged. The one I do have still works just fine (even though it uses a trak-ball, which I would think would break easier) but there's no guarantee that any other machine would be so sturdy.

Actually all of this is the primary reason why I got into VR. New Retro Arcade completely creates an entire virtual 80s arcade (with whatever games I want in it) and a program called EmuVR creates an 80s/90s bedroom setting, complete with CRTs and the actual consoles and cartridges (and the detail is amazing).

All that tech makes it easier than ever to play these.

It's not perfect though. Like, there's a PS2 emulator, right. The ISOs for any given game are actually quite easy to get. But unfortunately the people that made the emulator arent the brightest bulbs. The thing lacks a true fullscreen mode, which is a problem. When running in windowed mode, Windows outright *forces* full vsync on everything. And vsync causes inherent input lag. Some games are outright unplayable on that. It's *very* frustrating.

And yeah, I know that actual PS2s are easy to get, but I refuse. I've had PS2s before. Those things were GARBAGE of the highest degree. I went through TEN of them. Yes, really. Ten. I'm told that the really old models were fairly reliable. But I never had old models, only later ones as they got progressively more shoddy. I'll never forget working at the EB Games when the Slimline model came out. What a freaking circus that became. We'd never seen so many people coming in asking for refunds... those things were THAT bad. I myself had one that refused to work unless a heavy weight was placed on top of it. I kept this big stapler around just for that. It was as silly as it sounds. Eventually, on machine #10, my patience completely snapped and I simply destroyed it myself and sold all the games. I was so excited to find that emulator then, to be able to maybe play all those games I used to have on a RELIABLE machine, but... nope. Unavoidable input lag. *sigh*

Yeah that was a recent experience (like, 3 days ago) so I'm still very salty about it. I'll stop rambling now.

 

[Jumpback]

The bikini, or at least for about 1600 years until it emerged again

Roman girls in “bikinis” - A mosaic from the Villa Romana del Casale

 

[Jumpback]

Honestly this is one of the reasons why I use emulators. Yes, I'd PREFER to use original hardware, and I still have about 5 zillion cartridges from the 2600/NES/SNES, but getting the bloody things functional is difficult.

It’s almost always about the pins that connect the game to the system. Usually it just requires cleaning the corrosion off of the pins, it’s just that the stupid NES system actually bends the pins, making getting nes systems working again more difficult

And yeah, I know that actual PS2s are easy to get, but I refuse. I've had PS2s before. Those things were GARBAGE of the highest degree. I went through TEN of them. Yes, really. Ten. I'm told that the really old models were fairly reliable. But I never had old models, only later ones as they got progressively more shoddy. I'll never forget working at the EB Games when the Slimline model came out. What a freaking circus that became. We'd never seen so many people coming in asking for refunds... those things were THAT bad. I myself had one that refused to work unless a heavy weight was placed on top of it. I kept this big stapler around just for that. It was as silly as it sounds. Eventually, on machine #10, my patience completely snapped and I simply destroyed it myself and sold all the games. I was so excited to find that emulator then, to be able to maybe play all those games I used to have on a RELIABLE machine, but... nope. Unavoidable input lag. *sigh*

My experience is that although PS2s disk reading system tends to screw up a lot, much of the time it’s just that the lasers they used didn’t like much dust at all. A lot of the time running a laser cleaning disc (basically CDs with tiny brushes on it) gets them working again. I don’t have that much experience, but I haven’t really seen a PS2 system itself stop working, it’s about the stupid reading the discs.

Gamecubes seem more like when they won’t read disks they need to go in the trash.