TPU Retro Gaming Club

[Tesselator]

Your Retro Gaming Experiences & Opinions​

Moderator note: I looked around for a club thread in this topic but didn't see one with an inviting club-like theme. So, after reading the clubbing rules, hopefully this will do or get pinned or however it works. Thanks!
(erase this line after reading if you like)

Share screen shots, collections, machines, tips, tricks, recommendations and discussions!​

You define what "retro" is. If it's "retro" to you, then it's retro! ​

Most of all - just have fun and enjoy awesome TPU retro gamers, collectors and enjoyers!​

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I'll start it off with a Commodore 64 collection. This was collected one (or a few) at a time from 1980 till about 87-ish. Coming from CBM's PET machines with an interest in developing games I started buying pretty much every game I could get my hands on (for research of course ). Vic-20 → C=64 → C=128; if it was in the shop or I could acquire it via mail order I did so. When the boxes began taking over the entire game-room I stupidly tore them down and threw them out for the make-shift plywood containers you see here. This came in handy when I moved to Japan - they became carry-ons believe it or not and they even got a special security escort past the airport scanners (yup, LAX had scanners in the 80's that everyone passed through).

Currently the machines are packed up in my storage room

so there likely won't be CRT screen shots forthcoming till later - if I can find the time. So here's the disk collection to start with:

That's it for now and I hope to see some cool and interesting stuff from all you good retro folks here!!! I know you're out there... Don't hold back!

 

[Trekkie4]

Right, sooo... Where to begin?

Perhaps here?


I'm not sure of the exact time frame but from the memory, this photo was taken some time in 1994 or 1995. It would appear that I was sitting in front of our Intel 486 (DX2, 66MHz) & playing the game Stunts. It was running MS-DOS v6.22 & Windows 3.11 combo, which essentially introduced me to the world of computers and its software.

Unfortunately, I don't seem to have a photo of the actual computer case, but a while ago I managed to find one on Google that's identical to the one we had (except for the CD drive obviously, but that's beside the point):

At the time, I was playing pretty much any game that I could find ... such as Doom, Doom2, Heretic, Prehistorik 2, Rise Of The Triad, Indiana Jones & Fate of Atlantis, even more "demanding" games such as Duke Nukem 3D, though our system was initially limited to internal PC speaker & (only) 8mb of RAM.


In fact, it wasn't until 1996 when we finally upgraded 486 with so called "Multimedia Package" (16x GoldStar CD-ROM, ISA SoundExcel SB compatible sound card, Target TRG-S25 powered speakers & additional 4MB of RAM). Everything else remained pretty much the same until 1998 when we finally had to move on, thus we bought the Pentium II.


Is there any point in discussing this particular machine? I mean, I already mentioned it zillion times, not to mention that I wrote pages & pages about my beloved "Adison"

Long story short, this particular machine introduced me to modern-day Windows environment (Win98, in particular) and I've been using it all the way into early 2000s. "Armed & dangerous" with 64MB of RAM, 6.4GB HDD & Diamond Monster 3DII (3dfx Voodoo2, 12MB) it was one of the most powerful gaming systems back then, capable of running pretty much ANY game at full settings. I literally spent hours ... if not days in front of the monitor playing Need for Speed III Hot Pursuit, Carmageddon 2, Half-Life, Grim Fandango, Indiana Jones & The Infernal Machine, GTA2, etc. Trust me, the list goes on & on.

Alas, some time around 2007 or 2008 it started developing random issues due to severe capacitor "meltdown" (not to mention that it became severely outdated & obsolete in just about any way), which made me re-consider using it on a daily basis & eventually inspired me to revert all the technical changes, hardware specs back to original layout. Which was obviously easier said than done, so it took me 13 or 14 additional years to FINALLY get it "perfect".


The plan was to restore Adison back to its former self again (which I did, photos above) & then be able to enjoy playing retro games whenever I feel like it, but once again the life had other plans unfortunately & due to series of unfortunate events I had to leave it behind. Technically speaking, I could always go back & pick it back up, but nowadays I no longer have any storage room to place it, nor I can afford to have a dedicated retro gaming system in my setup.


As the time moved on & into late 2000s, I kept trying new things, case mods & other fancy new gadgets but somehow things were never quite the same again. Hardware evolution slowed down to a crawl & most of the new games turned out to be a disappointment. I remember playing /some/ games (GTA3, Trainz 2004, Half-Life 2, NFS Underground) but for the most part I completely ignored the modern stuff & decided to stick with the ones I had from before.

To be honest with you, that was one of the reasons which inspired me to build a dedicated retro-gaming machine, rather than keeping up with Windows Millennium Edition. So with dedicated retro machine I was then finally be able to move on to Win XP.

EDIT
Found more photos:

My old room, as it was back in 2004. Pentium 4 on the left & 6-yr old Pentium II, "Adison" on the right:


The very final chapter of the "original" Pentium II, Adison machine. It received a minor overhaul, upgrading the original AGP Rage IIc graphics with Matrox Millennium G450 DualHead & replacing the original BTC CD-ROM drive with LG one. Please note that the Voodoo2 (last card, down below) still remained inside the case, as I wasn't quite sure what to do with it.


The very last photo to feature original components (on top of the case), now removed from Pentium II machine. This also marked the last era of Adison system to be used as a regular, every-day machine. Several months later it got moved aside, only to be repacked in a cheap generic case & eventually be utilized as retro gaming system.


Replacing the fan/heatsink on my somewhat new Abit Siluro FX5600:

 

[Tesselator]

So pretty!!!

Helluva story too! Thanks man!

 

[Trekkie4]

So pretty!!!

Helluva story too! Thanks man!

No prob, thank you for having me here

I never had any siblings nor kids and I never got married. Almost did, but unfortunately the breast cancer worked faster & had other plans. I also no longer have mom or dad, so I find it comforting in sharing my life story & experience out in the open, where it'll hopefully be preserved as the "evidence" that we existed, some day when I finally join my loved ones.

Both 486 (which no longer exists) & especially "Adison" hold huge sentimental weight for me and they both tell a wonderful story. As you might expect, it takes /some/ determination to keep ANY project for as long as I did (approx. 15 years in total) and it really was a wild ride! But looking back at the whole experience & final outcome, I probably wouldn't change anything ...I'm only sorry that it took me as much time as it did.

 

[Let3r]

Almost did, but unfortunately the breast cancer worked faster & had other plans. I also no longer have mom or dad

So sorry man.

I have been playing some The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Such a nostalgia blast to my childhood.