Overall, I probably spend more time playing on my consoles than my PC. I have;

N64,
PS2,
Original XBox,
Gamecube,
XBox 360,
PS3,
PS4.

The N64 is my favourite, having my two favourite ever games (Perfect Dark, and Goldeneye). The original XBox (I hate the way Microsoft stopped us from saying the "XBox 1", by naming the XBox 3 the "XBox One") doesn't just have superb games (including some great versions of contemporary PC games) but also (when modded) has some superb homebrew, including fantastic versions of many emulators, some great ports of open source games (including the commercial games like Doom 1 and 2, Duke Nukem 3D, Alien vs Predator, etc), and is a fantastic media player.

I'm not too keen on the PS4 (I only bought it because the one game I really wanted at the time, Batman: Arkham Knight, wouldn't run on my (or most people's, due to it's terrible state at release) PC), as it's basically a PC but with none of the PC's advantages. Console games used to be fully tested before release (in most cases), but almost every PS4 game seems to need a day one patch (and the patches can be huge).

I work away from home a lot, and I can't drive, so I mostly go by public transport. And a console is much easier to carry than a desktop PC (I have two laptops, but neither of them are real gaming laptops, as apart from anything else, there's always the risk of them getting stolen, so I can't really afford a top end laptop, just in case). My original XBox, and PS2 both have an internal hard drive with lots of games installed, so I can take the console without having to carry games, plus I have an Everdrive 64 flash cartridge for the N64, with every game on that, so I needn't carry N64 games with the console.

I've not bothered modding the other consoles though, so I have to take the games I want to play when I take one of those consoles.

sf78 wrote:

That's a nice collection you got as well,
Amiga 600, Amstrad CPC 464 and 6128, Spectrum 128 and Atari STe would be nice to have to.
Love to get me a Schneider CPC-464, because it was my first computer and a Philips P2230 (Our first PC).

Oldskoolmaniac wrote:

That's a big collection, where do u find the room for all of that?

Most of my stuff is stored away. I have 2 desks, 1 has my current pc with 2 monitors and 2 IBM model 30 (8086 and 80286) and my xbox360.
On my other desk i have currently setup my Commodore CDtv with on top the Commodore PC1, next to it i have my Philips cm8833 monitor, next to that is my Philips CD-i 220, with on top my ZX Spectrum 48k and the MSX2 with usbfloppy emulator in front.
Next to that desk are 3 cases with games. I have a large cupboard that holds most of my consoles stored in boxes with all leads and powersupplys in them. The rest in stored away on the attic.

Yeah, I have a couple of non-PC gaming thinga-ma-jiggers.

Nintendo:
NES (PAL version, Lockout disabled)
Famicom (NESRGB, Famicom Disk System)
SNES (50/60Hz Switch, Lockout disabled)
N64 (S-Video mod)
Gamecube (PAL, XenoGC mod chip, Gameboy Player)
Wii (Softmodded)
WiiU
NES Classic Mini

Gameboy (Original grey)
Gameboy Pocket (Clear)
Gameboy Colour (Pokemon Pikachu edition)
Gameboy Advance SP (Purple)
Nintendo DS (Silver)
Nintendo DS Lite (White)
Nintendo 3DS (Aqua Blue)
Virtual Boy

Sega:
Sega Master System I (50/60Hz switch, multi-BIOS)
Sega Mega Drive (50/60Hz switch, region switch, MegaCD 1, Super32X)
Sega Saturn (50/60Hz switch, universal BIOS, mod chip)
Sega Dreamcast (Universal BIOS)

Sega Game Gear

Other consoles:
Sony PlayStation (SCPH-1002, mod chip)
Sony PSOne (mod chip, PocketStation)
Sony PlayStation 2 (Fat, mod chip, network adaptor, 250GB HDD)
Sony PlayStation 3 (Fat)
Sony PlayStation 4
NeoGeo CD
NeoGeo MVS (custom cabinet)
Panasonic 3DO FZ-10
NEC PC-Engine Duo (RGB mod)
Microsoft Xbox (Softmod)
Microsoft Xbox 360
Microsoft Xbox 360 Slim
Atari 2600 (S-Video mod)
Atari XEGS
Amiga CD-32
Classic lowboy arcade cabinet with XX-in-1 JAMMA board

Non-PC, non-Mac computers:
Tandy TRS-80 CoCo 2
ZX Spectrum+ 48K
Amiga A1200HD (4MB trapdoor, 802.11b wifi)
Commodore 64
Panasonic MSX2 FS-A1
Apple IIgs

I suppose I'll join in. I have:

• NES (1987 motherboard)
• PC Engine CoreGrafx II
• Genesis Model 1 (VA6 motherboard)
• PS2 Slim (SCPH-70011)
• Game Boy Color (Purple)
• DS Lite (Black)

I also have an Atari 7800, but I'm thinking of unloading it as it has no real significance to me (nostalgic or otherwise).
Overall I'd say retro games is my second main hobby outside of computer stuff.

Some really nice collections in this thread...!

^^^Some really nice collections indeed. Can't say I'm into it quit as much. Just got a NES, SNES, and a PS1. I enjoy retro console gaming though. Especially on my SNES. So many of the games on that platform hold a special place in my heart. Every 5 years or so I still feel the need to grab Super Metroid out of the chest hook up the SNES and just binge until I beat it. haha

Tetrium wrote:

This alone is a really good reason to come visit Finland some time in the future ever, but I'm pretty sure Finland is an awesome country already 😀

I got really lucky with my collection, as I got 90% from flea markets and recycling centers within a 6 year span (2009-2015). Some are from friends and only a couple from the net. Nowadays you can't find anything remotely retro in the wild. I still kick myself for not buying a rolltainer filled to the brim with C64's and another filled with tape decks for it. :depressed I did get around 5-6 machines (a1200, Atari Ste, MSX...) for the total sum of 15€ from that lot. I just wish I had bought them all for like a hundred.

Most of my collection is in my signature digilogue, however those are the consoles I have (and play) in chronological order

Magnavox Odyssey (first ever console!)
Magnavox Odyssey 300
Atari VCS
Mattel Intellivision
Atari 800
TRS-80 Color Computer
TI 99/4A
NES
Sega Genesis
PS1
PS2 (US and EU)
Wii
PS3 (fat with PS2 HW emulation and Slim)
Wii U
PS4

I have to link this Finnish collector who has one of the biggest private collections I know.

http://www.tietokonemuseo.net/#kokoelma

911 machines
7249 games

That is just insane!

http://www.tietokonemuseo.net/tietokoneita/ (click name for detailed info)

http://www.tietokonemuseo.net/pelikoneita/ (click name for detailed info)

The PC games list alone is unbelieveable:

http://www.tietokonemuseo.net/vanhat-pelit-ja … mat-3/pc-pelit/

Oh man, that is impressive! I would like to see where he stores all that stuff!!

Yeah I got a bunch of consoles, never was much of a console person though since I only had the NES for all of the 90's and only upgraded when we finally got a PS2 sometime in the 2000's when I was a teen. 🤣 I mainly collect NES N64 Genesis Saturn and PS1 stuff now concerning the consoles. Ps1 mainly since I remember the first time I saw that console fondly, wicked cool trying spyro and Twisted metal. 🤣

Does anyone registered at http://www.arcade-museum.com? I tried to register but had no luck. Need to download some stuff, but file links hidden from unregistered

Retro consoles were my thing for a long time, and for the most part still are. But lately I've been spending a lot more time on my retro computers. This is partly due to the pricing bubble on anything Nintendo/Sega and the hordes of resellers/borderline scalpers staking their claim of every thrift store and garage sale in my area looking for nothing except video games with dollar signs in their eyes. I was lucky to get most of what I have back when it was cheap. Not as many people know or care about the values of retro computer things so it's a lot easier to get deals on them.

I still make new purchases, nowadays more consoles and less games. I've been slowly selling off my collection of games and buying flashcarts for each system that let you play ROMs loaded off an SD card. (Of course in the spirit of this forum I'm not going to go into any more detail on that front.)

Here's what I can recall off the top of my head, from oldest to newest:

Home consoles:
Atari 2600 "Heavy Sixer" (trade from a friend who didn't know what he had!)
Intellivision
NES (2, one very broken)
Sega Genesis model 1
Super Nintendo
Sega Saturn model 1
Sony Playstation SCPH-1001
***I had an N64 but my brother took it to college with him and I haven't been able to find another one on the cheap.
Sega Dreamcast
Sony Playstation 2
Nintendo Gamecube
Nintendo Wii
Xbox 360 (2, a slim and a fat which barely works)
PS3 Slim
Nintendo Wii U

Handhelds:
Game Boy original (4!)
Sega Game Gear
Game Boy Color
Game Boy Advance (2)
Game Boy Advance SP (2)
Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS Lite
New Nintendo 3DS XL

vladstamate wrote:

Oh man, that is impressive! I would like to see where he stores all that stuff!!

He bought a house for all this stuff and moved next door with his wife. 🤣

sf78 wrote:

vladstamate wrote:

Oh man, that is impressive! I would like to see where he stores all that stuff!!

He bought a house for all this stuff and moved next door with his wife. 🤣

Lets hope he didn't get cheap and had them move into the shed instead 🤣

I started my retro gaming hobby with console games in 2010. As a kid, I owned the Atari 2600, Intellivision, and Colecovision, so the nostalgia was there. At first, I decided to collect every console released in the US BEFORE the NES, which I never owned. Suffice it to say that I accomplished this goal, getting complete in box and even new in box examples. My favorites are still the Bally Astrocade and GCE Vectrex. I did pick up the NES and select post-NES consoles, but doing so wasn't a priority. After a while, I got bored. To stave off the boredom, I started collecting sealed games for the Intellivision, even the variants (so I'd end up with multiple sealed copies of Las Vegas Poker & Blackjack, for example). This was fun until it got difficult and expensive to collect the rarer titles.

Around this time, I found an old Toshiba laptop with 98SE installed in a thrift store. I spent less time at Atari Age and more time at Vogons. I grew up with the original IBM PC, so the nostalgia was there too. But what I didn't know about retro computing was vast, unlike retro consoles. Plus, it was cheaper and more fulfilling to get an old computer to run versus putting another game on the shelf.

You can see my transition in the photo below, where I repurposed clear plastic containers meant to store Atari 2600 games into containers for my sound cards. That photo is a couple of years old, so the number of bins has grown and everything is in an antistatic bag now.

Lately I've been playing more retro consoles than PC games, because the consoles are already set up, I'm still re-arranging my computer room, and using the retro PC involves setting up the monitor, PC, KVM switch, sound modules, surround sound system, network switch, etc etc..

I have a SNES (only Mario All Stars and some crappy dinosaur games at the moment), Gamecube (few decent games), Dreamcast (lots of games and accessories, bought that new), Saturn (increasing number of games, including the awesome Parodius compilation), PS2 (only a few games), and an original XBox (almost all decent exclusive games for it).

I'm quite surprised by how into the XBox I've been getting - it's far better than I'd suspected. Jet Set Radio Future is brilliant, if tricky, there's some decent platformers and driving games. Panzer Dragon Orta is far too difficult for my liking. Star Wars 3 is pretty cool, too.

The bright side of having retro consoles is that CeX and other stores still stock PS2/Gamecube/XBox games on occasion, so they can be picked up for peanuts.