JayJ

Seems like the 90's has become a real highlight era as far as video game collecting is concerned. Something about the era, a good blend of interesting games and unusual concepts with graphics and sound that has aged a lot better than prior eras. By the 00's it seems like we were getting a lot less in the way of unusual platforms like this.

Great article, nicely covers an early period of Sega's history that would be easily lost on most people. Even as someone who grew up as a Sega fan with Sega consoles, everything pre-Genesis (Mega Drive) was pretty foreign to me. While Nintendo managed to get a big presence in the late 80's and early 90's, I don't think anyone in the west was really paying any attention to Sega back in those days.

The fact that 2D pixel art has made such a big comeback with the modern day indie scene is proof of how timeless it has become. I mean pixel graphics really went away in the 32-bit gen as 3D graphics was the big thing, and you would be hard pressed to find much in the way of pixel graphics in the PS2 generation. Having made the comeback it did, I would say it's become a timeless art style.

Might have to buy this as I so miss having these light gun games, especially Time Crisis which was one of my favorites growing up.

Much like the first one, this is just too expensive for what it is. I enjoy these mini-arcade deals as a relatively low priced novelty, but when they become as expensive as a legitimate modern console I simply lose interest. I'd probably just buy one of those Arcade 1-Up deals over this as I could at least get some games I really love and want with that. Taito just doesn't have enough games that I consider that appealing.

I only see this appealing to the type of people who already had an Atari 2600 collection.

@ferryb001 Yeah it's like I'd rather just try to help everyone.

This is very cool as this has sort of been an overlooked part of the collectors scene. Not something I have been into but it's still interesting to people who are into retro gaming in general. Wonder how many of these were used in Nintendo Power covers.

Love how M2 keeps coming out with these shoot-em-ups. So many games I had been meaning to try that were simply too expensive for me to justify collecting, heck some that never ever had home ports before.

The world of these handhelds has been getting exciting again now that they've been closing in on good stable PS2/Gamecube performance at a sub-$200 price point. Before that I was into the 351's for everything leading up to the PS1.

I just love handhelds like this, when you go to the more expensive options things become a lot bigger and more power hungry. Plus, I could justify getting a Steam Deck but a very expensive handheld just for retro emulation isn't really what I'm after.

No Xbox no buy.

Back when the industry was all about making big ideas happen with passionate developers who had a vision.

Those giant super buttons are almost comical, kind of want one just to have a big red button lol.

So glad I bought Devastation on my PS3 back in the day, but then again all you need is a disc to play these games.

I used to play this as a kid. We had what felt like a bar essentially, a business that had a lounge you would hang out in that had a bunch of these machines in the back so you could play the mech battling as well as a racing game they had. I don't think I had any idea of what I was doing really, and I was scared to use it at first lol, but I also had a blast using these and it's resulted in some memories of a rather unique time when this was a thing.

Pretty neat, also a throwback to an era when TV's would have some high quality wooden cabinetry. It must be special to play a Sega console on one of these.

The 32X was truly the worst thing Sega ever sold.

Well it's hard to argue with the price.

This whole thing comes off as an endorsement for retro gaming roms. Honestly that's the only reason why I support it, because legal avenues have been so terrible about making things available to purchase legally.

Sharing well-known Gamecube facts from the era as if it's a new revelation today.

Kinda cool but it also loses a lot of the fun selfie capability that I loved about it. Then again the entire concept is so dated.

Lightguns was probably one of the best things about gaming. I loved them back in the day, such a shame that all went away with the death of CRT TV's. They were probably the only games I would play with my dad, I don't think he has ever had any interest in anything else when it came to video games lol.

Interesting, one of those games I probably would have liked as a kid.

@Bu1ld0g Yeah that's what I was thinking lol, I remember playing just about everything in 1080p on 360, while it was common for the PS3 to run a lot of games in 720p. It couldn't even upscale, it would just straight up set 720p as the display resolution.

Ah yes, the N-Gage, the worst designed handheld I have ever attempted to use. I say attempted because I could never get one to work properly lol. I mean the design for the original was just incredibly bad, having to remove the battery to change games? Who thought that was a good idea?

It's no wonder it failed. Didn't work well as a handheld, and it didn't work well as a phone either. I mean the whole awkward "taco" calling position they came up with, like so much else, just odd and bad decisions all around.

Gotta say though, for a brief while, the graphics were rather impressive, and it managed to get decent selection of games.

Well they did somehow port Alpha 2 to the SNES

Anbernic always seems to be the best when it comes to these handhelds, they have high quality standards and seem to make devices that are very affordable.

Ah yes, the days of games being constrained by the storage capacity of their discs/cartridges. It's no wonder games got so much bigger after, heck blu-rays proved to be largely useless for games as they're too slow to load off disc. Seems like having to download and install games quickly became inevitable.

@GOmar Well that's the problem, they're basically trying to manufacture a collectors market with limited production scarcity. It's the problem I got with all of these small production publishers. Physical editions are often overpriced, and the incentive is the price gouging on the second hand market.

It's just become a high-expense scene for collectors.

@KayFiOS Yeah exactly, this is just a cash grab for Limited Run. If they actually cared they wouldn't be selling it the way they are. These physical releases are all about manufactured scarcity.

So it comes with some fake CRT monitor deal that actually works? Well that's kinda neat, for a mini old school PC kinda feel.

@10basetom I got an Analog Pocket and it's a real apples and oranges situation. The main value for me when it comes to the Analog Pocket is simply it's status as the ultimate Game Boy for anyone who has a collection of Game Boy games. For me it essentially replaces the desire for something like a modded GBA, and it's got the bonus ability to support more platforms as well.

Meanwhile this new Anbernic handheld is for people who just want to run emulators and roms, with an ability to play later consoles like the PS2.

Wow, I thought they had forgotten about that content lol

They're really scraping the bottom of the barrel with these latest re-releases.

This is the kind of update I have been waiting for, my 351 devices were perfect for PS1, but this seems to bring it up to the next level.

To this date this is probably still one of my all-time favorite spin-offs. I think it's a real shame they essentially abandoned the whole rodracing thing after episode one. I mean it would have made for a cool spin-off of it's own, like a Star Wars Initial D or something.

That's sort of a funny office prank easter egg though, says something about the era.

Sounds kinda pointless for all but some.

Stuff like this is why I don't bother with any of this.

These late 80's and 90's era games are what really grabs my attention when it comes to ACA games. I'll have to pick this up.

Funny, they basically had the same style of cartoon in Atomic Heart.

This is still the GOAT ping pong game all these years later, and I still enjoy playing it from time to time. I figured it must have been a next gen tech demo for them, as it always felt like a rather lightweight and basic game, and came out before GTA4.

@cdog555 Yeah I have to admit, this is more along the line of what I would want from an arcade 1up machine, something that I can't just easily play elsewhere.

@Tasuki That's what I was thinking. Pretty sure we already got this game re-branded as Cruisn.

By "below" they could mean $999.99

Still haven't been sold on any Steam Deck alternative. I think it's going to be a long time until the alternatives give me something I am looking for.

This is neat but I'm sticking with my Steam Deck. What's nice about the Deck is that even if you got for the best model, it's still really affordable when compared to this, and it's something that just really manages to get the job done. Having Windows means there's a few more games I could play, but then again I don't feel like my Steam Deck is lacking in supported software.

This is definitely more of a high-end niche market product by comparison, kind of bridging the gap between a Deck and a true gaming laptop.

In an era when most consoles were notoriously hard to develop for, PS1 made things easy. It's no wonder it became the home to so many 3'rd party titles back then.

@Boucho11 It's funny how Rockstar is probably the #1 reason the PS2 became so popular, they truly turned it into an essential item for anyone who had an interest in video games. They were pumping out hits left and right back then, with a lot more variety to their games, back when we would see stuff like Smugglers Run, Midnight Club, and The Warriors. They really slowed down after.

I think they will always be memorable to anyone who lived through that era, it was such an exciting time to be into video games, when we would seemingly get big AAA hits on a regular basis. AAA gaming slowed down so much after, and we're at a point where as opposed to releasing new games they just keep updating the same game forever.

I don't think kids these days know how big Rockstar was in the early - mid 00's. Like every kid seemed to have a Rockstar games or GTA poster, it's amazing how many hits they were coming out with during that era. Heck Rockstar on the PS2 felt like a different company from what they later became.

If I didn't already have legit consoles loaded up with authentic games, I suppose this would be the only alternative these days. Luckily I shouldn't have a need to modify my 3DS's.

This is probably my favorite version of Mario Kart, just something about it that always felt so simple and fun.