Flashcarts has been around for years, allowing users to play roms on original hardware. Many find these invaluable as the rarity of certain games drives up prices to prohibitive costs. Since they play on original hardware, they function exactly as original games do. They are also a means to preserve their original games, and test other games to see if they would like to purchase them, and play rom hacks, unreleased games, and translations.

CD based systems like the Playstation, Saturn, an Dreamcast have recently been recipients of optical drive emulation, through such products like PSIO, Rhea and Phoebe, and GDEMU, respectively. These are devices that are installed in the CD system that forgoes the need for discs to play games. The use of the word emulation here is misleading, there is no emulation as far as gameplay is concerned, the method of getting game data to the console's cpu is direct and internal. In essence, these devices are like flashcarts for the CD systems.

Video output of older systems can range in quality, as most North American consoles were limited to radio frequency (RF), composite, or in some cases S-video. A recent revolution in retrogaming has been to adopt the RGB standard, which many consoles support internally, but require proper cables to coax it out of the system and or modification.


The Super SD System 3 is a modern solution for the Turbo Grafx/PC-Engine line of consoles. It also works for a Supergrafx, if you have one. It is produced by the Spanish company Terra Onion, who also make a Neo Geo flashcart. It is a hardware add-on that slides right on to the back of any TG-16 or PC-Engine. It's function is threefold: it acts as an optical disc emulator and flash cart for the CD add-on as well as for Hu-card games, it improves video output to RGB, and contains the arcade card required for some memory-demanding games like Sapphire and Strider. It is definitely a boutique item that fills a specific niche, and as such commands a premium price. If you add up the cost of these features individually, I think the price is appropriate, even at $300.

The Hucard slot can still be used to play games, but since this uses the pins at the back of the console, the CD peripheral cannot be used at the same time. So you have to be ok playing backup roms of your CD games. This introduces a little snag, as some may not be familiar with making backup images of their roms. If you search around, you can find tutorials on how to do this. It is more work than downloading roms, but you feel a little better about it. Then again, I'm never going to acquire a legitimate copy of Ginga.....Saphire due to its outlandish asking price, so this is an example of straight downloading to play.

There has been some debate as to the video quality from prominent online sources, but I honestly can't see the issue. I think mine is the revised version, which had some tweaks and improvements made in the interim. It could also be I don't have the highest end equipment to detect this. There may be an issue present, but I couldn't tell. I'm using SCART through the OSSC, and if it doesn't bother me with this setup, I think its fine for 90% of people.

An options menu allows for customization

The setup is similar to setting up a flash cart. You update the firmware via SD card, and load roms, Huard or CD, onto the SD card. You will have to obtain your own bios to run the CD games. This is not hard to find. You can customize some options, like loading the last game played, using an in-game hook to back out to menu, establish game save data for each game individually, and others. The in-game hook works on some games but not others, there's no way to tell beforehand. I found myself power cycling the system often to get out of games.

The game data saves is huge, as the original amount of space allocated on my PC-Engine Duo was miniscule. Now I don't have to worry about losing or overwriting game saves.


Being that I already have a SCART RGB setup, all I needed to do was buy another 9-pin SCART cable, like the one designed for the model 2 Sega Genesis. My SCART systems run through an OSSC and it looks fantastic to my eyes.  I also tried HD Retrovision's Genesis model 2 component cables and they work just as well as a SCART cable.


The one thing that I would have liked is for the system to have HDMI output. However, this unit is an add-on to existing hardware, not a complete overhaul of the console's processor, and thus high definition video would not be possible unless there was some external scaling taking place. Another cool addition would have been a second controller port, but given the fact that this attached to the rear, it would have been inaccessible.




So, overall I recommend this to anyone who already has a SCART-capable setup. The gameplay is still using genuine hardware, you can play backup roms of your games, and the video quality takes an huge leap forward. If you already have a CD system, the price point may be a bit too high. Given that TG/PC-Engine is notorious for escalating prices, so there is definitely a market for this.

My previous post was on my top two player co-op games for the NES, so this time I'm dredging up past rivalries and covering my top two-player versus games. Playing these games as a kid may have involved pushing, shoving, pulling your opponent's controller cord out of its port as you battle to back up all the your trash talk.


Super Dodge Ball

What kind of childhood would be complete without reliving the horrors of gym class dodge ball? In case you weren't traumatized enough during the school day, you can take out your aggressions in Super Dodge Ball for the NES. The game is sort of fun alone, but several times better against a live opponent (as are all of these games). There is variety to be found as each player has tweaked attributes, and differing power throws. There are some rules that I don't quite remember from gym class, but overall its a blast.


Tetris (Tengen)

The first Tetris game I played was the Tengen Tetris game. At the time, I had no idea that it was unlicensed, nor what that really meant. I remember the odd-shaped, black cartridge, and thinking it was odd, but whatever. This version allowed for two-player head to head, and that automatically makes it superior to Nintendo's official offering. It was the first two-player VS game that I ever played, and in my mind set the bar for how such games should play. As you clear lines, your opponent has junk rows added from the bottom, inhibiting his ability to clear lines effectively. The music was catchy, the colors popped off the screen, and there were little Russian dancers that would come out inbetween rounds.


Dr. Mario

A highly color-dependent puzzle game, Dr. Mario has you maneuvering bicolor pills that drop into a jar such that four pill halves in contiguous color contact disappear. The goal is to clear the play field. Just as in Tetris, the better you perform, the more difficult you make it for your opponent. There are only two music tracks, each one just as catchy as any Mario soundtrack. You'll be humming the melody to "Chill" or "Fever" for hours after you're done playing.


Ice Hockey

NES sports games did not require much actual sports knowledge, and I still don't know what icing is, but Nintendo's Ice Hockey built in its own layer of strategy by incorporating a simple concept everyone can understand. Fat guys are slow and strong, and skinny guys are fast and weak. By allowing you to choose the composition of your line, you choose your approach. Do you power through with a heavy set, knowing you'll lose every chase down of a loose puck, or do you finesse your way to the goal, knowing that if you get hit you're flattened and loose the puck? Debates still continue as to what is the optimum lineup.



Track & Field I & II

An early third-party release, Track and Field was a popular arcade conversion by Konami. What could be more adversarial than a pure button-masher? Want to see who will win a race? All you have to do press the buttons faster than your opponent. New and intriguing methods were devised to increase the rate of button taps. Two methods were using a shirt sleeve to rapidly slide your fingers back and forth over the buttons, using your index and middle fingers in a alternating tap. Other events required more than button mashing, like the timing of the javelin throw, jumping the hurdles, the clay pigeon shot, and others. This is a game that would fit well in a competition cart.

Pro Wrestling
Another early NES title, Pro Wrestling had just enough character, just enough simplicity, and and just enough realism to draw kids of the 80's in and pursue their own wrestling title dreams. I remember sleepovers where winner takes on all challengers, and keeping win-loss records on a notebook paper. Everyone had a favorite character, each with a signature move. Try the power moves too early and it will backfire on you. Will your opponent stay down on the mat long enough for you to leap off the top turnbuckle and crush him with a knee drop? Or will he roll out of the way, leaving you to crumple to the mat? Like the prematch posturing that took place before televised matches, this game brought out the most colorful insults.




Ivan "Ironman" Stewart's Super Off Road

Giant boulders are placed all over the course for character

This is an arena racer that shows the entire race course on screen. As such, your cars are pretty small. I don't know much about monster truck racing, but the courses seem ridiculously treacherous and unforgiving; perfect for a video game. The hardest part of this game is turning. Your controls are relative the to the direction the car is facing, and it can be easy to over turn and hit the wall just before a turn. With the aide of a Four Score adapter, you can race against three of your friends at the same time. It was a party game before party games existed. The difference between a skilled player and noob is painfully and hilariously evident. Adding insult to injury is the fact that the top finishers receive more money, and can upgrade their cars at a faster rate, further leaving unskilled drivers behind. A true gem that more people should play with friends.


Double Dribble

Do you know where "the spot" is?

There aren't a lot of basketball games on the NES, but even if there were, Double Dribble would have to be one of the best. It is hard to program a game with that many sprites moving around at the same time, yet Konami did a fine job replicating the fast pace of basketball. The graphics are serviceable, the sprites flicker as the cpu tries to keep up, and yet there is no slowdown to be found. The free throws involve timing, the three point shots are rare (unless you know "the spot"), and stealing passes is just as frustrating for your opponent as in real life. Despite not having the NBA license nor player likenesses, this game is worthy of settling disputes.


Blades of Steel

If you're anything like me, you often pass when you mean to shoot

Despite this being the second hockey game on this list, Blades of Steel has one thing that none of these other games offer: in game fights. If you keep harassing and checking the same player, he'll eventually throw down the gloves and be ready to duke it out. Player control is tight, and shooting and passing are intuitive. There's even a mini-Gradius game that you can play during intermission. Voice samples are impressive considering the machine. "Get the pass!"


Super Tecmo Bowl

If you are an NFL fan, its worth your time to track down the updated roms

Out of all of the competitive games on the list, I have found Tecmo Super Bowl to be the ultimate dispute settling, disparaging, humiliating, gloating, scream-inducing, controller-smashing game. Football is the sport I watched the most of growing up, and in our neighborhood, it was king. With quick plays and four quarters, you can do a lot of damage in little time, and have your opponent buried by halftime. Or, the game could come down to the last play. Part of the strategy is knowing the nuances of the game, and which team to use. Deeper than that, knowing the "money" plays and general football strategy will go a long way to provide an advantage. We're not talking "Madden"-deep strategy here, but even still, the cpu will control the players the users are not, so anticipating what the cpu will do can help you sneak some plays in that wouldn't work in real life.
This game has a cult following, and a community that hosts regional tournaments and updates rosters. You can even purchase an updated physical cart.

So there you have it. If you and a friend have a dispute that needs to be settled, you have a burning urge to yell "in your face", pick up those NES controllers and settle the issue like adults. Just don't throw the controller, as it is are harder to find replacements these days.

The AVS menu screen is simple and straight forward

Hardcore retro gaming setups have evolved over the years, as recent developments introduce new ways of playing classic consoles. Since HD televisions have become the norm, CRT TVs have been phased out of homes and pushed to the curve. Even thought HDTVs are superior tech, they do not aways interpret the ancient video signals of retro game consoles as intended, and there is a gap between intended video output and onscreen results. The video quality of the yellow RCA plug is dreadful by today's standards; back in the day the CRT TVs had lower resolution and this went unnoticed.

A European SCART plug carries the RGB signal directly, if the console has it

To accommodate for the progress in video tech, gamers started to utilize the RGB video output of older gaming consoles to provide the cleanest image possible. This requires some research, specialized SCART cables, and devices called upscalers as translators between the retro consoles and the HD TVs. A SCART setup would provide a vastly clearer image on a modern display. Depending on how many systems you have connected, you may need a SCART switch box as well. This type of setup can be expensive, as the equipment is highly specialized, and not sold in any walk-in store.

SCART switches need to be imported since they were never released here in the U.S.

Some people who feel that retro games are represented best on professional video CRT monitors, like the ones used in television broadcast studios. These do look great, but they are exceedingly rare and expensive now. Even if you managed to find on on eBay, they are so heavy that shipping and insurance is cost prohibitive. Also consider that these are just as old as the consoles you are hooking up to them.

Most will not want to pay $500 for a 20' screen

Some companies are seeing the demand for solutions to bridge the gap between retro and modern, like HD Retrovision cables. These cables convert the RGB signal (if present) from retro consoles into component video signals, so they can be directly plugged into modern TVs. They are a nearly equivalent solution as an RGB setup, with less hassle and cost. The cables receive rave reviews, but are produced in small batches, and sell out quickly. The cables are sold by Castlemania games, and you will most likely have to preorder for the next release batch.

HD Retrovision cables are immensely popular

Emulation has undergone a resurgence as well, officially and unofficially. Nintendo's NES Classic Edition got the ball rolling, and was followed by the SNES Classic Edition, Retrobit's Retrocade, Neo Geo Mini, and eventually the Genesis Mini. Everyday there are more and more options for playing retro games. HD retro consoles are becoming more and more commonplace, and the cost of these systems vary, depending on if it is a single system console or a multi-system console. These are emulation systems that dump the inserted game rom, and hence are prone to the same flaws found in emulation: sound accuracy color accuracy, and input lag.

The Retron 5 has its fans, and may be a fine solution depending on your needs

Depending on the need for accuracy of gameplay and representation, many emulation solutions do not live up to the expectations of the hardcore retrogamer. This is where FPGA hardware comes into the picture.  A field programmable gate array is a means of simulating (on the hardware level) everything that an original game console did, and more. There is no underlying operating system running an emulation program, so there is no lag generated in the process. Couple that with direct HD video output with multiple digital resolutions available, and we have a retro revolution in the making.

The Analogue NT is the Cadillac of FPGA consoles, but is too expensive

The Analogue NT Mini was the first FPGA retro console commercially released.  This premium clone console did everything that the NES did and more. Video output was provided via analog or digital, so it could be used on either a CRT or modern TV. This was priced to reflect its quality at $450. Interesting for sure, but definitely a niche item. It had a sleek, aluminum case, which I'm sure added to the price as much as the allure.

The Analogue Super NT gets the cost/performance ratio right

Analogue's next product was the Super NT, which is an FPGA SNES. It does mostly everything that the NT did and more, while dropping analog video output and the aluminum shell. This change was a smart one, as the new price is less than half of the NT at $200. Reviews have been extremely favorable across the board.

The Mega SG is set to release in the spring of 2019

The company has recently announced its newest offering, an FPGA Sega Genesis console: The Mega SG. This is the first FPGA console based on a Sega system. Preorders are open. It will have similar features as the Super NT, but will also be able to play older Sega console games in addition to Genesis/Mega Drive games. It will even be compatible with Sega CD, through a connection port on the side. 32X compatibility is not possible however.

The Retro Usb AVS is very good, nearly on par with Analogue's offerings

Analogue is not the only company making FPGA retro consoles. RetroUSB makes the AVS (Advanced Video System - named after an early suggested name for the NES), which is an NES clone that also has been favorable reviewed. This once costs $185, and is popular due to its consumer-friendly price point (compared the $500 for the NT).

The Retro USB AVS accepts NES and Famicom carts, no need for a wonky adapter

I like these high quality solutions for a few reasons. For one, they are new tech, and more likely to survive another twenty years compared to the original systems of the 80's and 90's. The built-in high definition video output simplifies the hook up process, eschewing specialized cables and upscalers. This also means you can take them to other places, which is not really possible with a complicated SCART setup. With the going rate of FPGA systems averaging around $200 (not including the $500  NT), these may or may not result in a lower cost for entry. If you only want to play one system in HD on modern hardware, this will definitely be cheaper than all the necessary RGB equipment. If you buy up all of the newer FPGA systems that are released, you're probably spending more than what is needed for the RGB route.

The Super NT, coupled with an SD2SNES flashcart

As retro systems push 30+ years old, the failure rate will start to climb. These FPGA systems are arriving at the right time. Despite being priced higher than emulation clone systems, these consoles are of premium quality, and will not be mistaken for one of the budget HD options. Considering the build quality, the game compatibility, the video and sound accuracy, these check all the boxes. People who look into these know what kind of quality they are looking for.

Its hard to display through a web picture how good the image actually is

Can this FPGA trend continue to provide solutions for other retro consoles? There are lots of consoles that need a high-quality clone system, but is the market large enough to make it worthwhile for companies to do so? What are the limitations of FPGA? Is there a point where the systems cannot be replicated? The Sega Saturn and PC-Engine are two of my favorite consoles, but they may not draw as much interest, at least here in the US. I hope I'm wrong, but based on sales figures of original consoles, these look like a long shot to realized.


So what do you think of FPGA consoles? Are you willing to move on from original hardware? Let me know in the comments. Thanks for reading.

Couch cooperative play is an experience that is locked in time, a concept known to all who grew up playing video games in the 80's and 90's. Before there was broadband or dial-up, multiplayer gaming was relegated to sitting on the couch or floor, connected to the same TV, next to your player 2.
For me, most of the co-op games that are burned into my memory are on the NES. These are in my opinion the best examples of co-op play on the system. If you are of a younger age, and missed these games in their day, I recommend you seek them out, grab two controllers, sit in front of the same tv, and experience them the way people did before the internet.


Gauntlet
Was there any way this was going to be left off the list? Gauntlet is remembered most for its narrator announcing who needs food badly. If you play straight up, the difficulty will mow you down. You will need the assistance of turbo fire, and maybe some Game Genie codes to take the edge off, and then you will be able to relax and have some fun. Arguing about who gets which food item, who should use the key, and which path to take is part of the fun.





The Original Mario Bros.
This is not Mario's first outing, but it is Luigi's. Mario has taken on the occupation of plumber in this  arcade port that holds up pretty well. The task is simple enough: rid the sewers of turtles, giant moths, and other oddities that lurk underground. Before Mario could stomp on enemies, he had to pop them onto their backs by hitting the ground underneath them, and then run up and kick them. After playing a few stages it becomes clear that communication and coordination are the only way to prevent you and your brother from accidentally sabotaging each other. Its fairly easy to un-stun an enemy that your brother has stunned, and thus let it loose right as your brother is upon it. Sometime the spirit of cooperative play gets tested, and what started as teamwork becomes something...else.


Rush'n Attack
As one of the earliest infiltration games that I can recall, Rush'n Attack is about taking on the entire Soviet army with only a knife. Luckily, only about one in five enemy soldiers bothers to shoot at you, even if they are all wielding rifles. Occasionally you can kill a soldier inconspicuously uniformed in a yellow jumpsuit who will drop a limited power up to help even the odds if only for a short while. Having a partner join in on the action is a blessing and curse, as one of your will eventually leave the other behind at the end of the screen, resulting in getting killed by oncoming enemies off screen. Oddly enough, that kind of rubber banding in the co-op gameplay adds to the charm. The controls are a little wonky, with jumps assigned to the up direction instead of the A button. As far a the title, is the cold-war play on words 80's enough for you?


Heavy Barrel
This is an overhead run'n gun game, where you invade some terrorist's hideout and blow away waves of soldiers. The title of the game is based on a super weapon that you can assemble if you collect all the parts for it. Certain defeated enemies drop keys that you can use to unlock crates that contain power ups or pieces of the "Heavy Barrel", which is s ridiculously overpowered weapon, with a time limit. I have never obtained all of the pieces myself, but supposedly that's what you get. Either way, it is a great two-player romp through a jungle, with decent pacing and a moderate difficulty curve.

It is way too easy to shoot these POWs by accident

Guerrilla War
Taking jungle warfare to the next level, Guerrilla War plays a lot like Heavy Barrel, but a lot faster. It is a rare instance of an NES game having rapid fire as the default firing speed, which alleviates the need for a turbo controller. Ironically, you will need to learn some restraint while firing as part of your objective is to rescue hostages that more often than not, parked right in front of enemy placements. The game allows you to drive tanks and unleash some serious offensive power, much like its predecessor, Ikari Warriors. As Iconic as Ikari Warriors is, its slow gameplay hindered it from being fun. SNK learned from that, and this is the result. A fantastic two-player game that no one talks about.

DD2 has some rad facial expressions

Double Dragon II
Believe it or not, but there aren't a whole lot of two-player beat'em ups on the NES. For whatever reason; maybe the complexity of sprite animations combined with lots of enemies reduced the amount of sprites that could be onscreen. Games like shoot'em ups and run n' guns don't often have main character animations, but in beat'em ups the sprites have many movement animations to show punches, kicks, head-butts, and so on. The first Double Dragon was a great game but it was also disappointing in that co-op was not included. The sequel fixes this, and includes some new moves and animations as well. There may be some additional sprite flicker as the NES attempts to keep up with the action, but it is worth it. The buttons have been configured differently; instead of punch and kick they are now left attack and right attack, which allows for better defense in a crowd.


Bubble Bobble
Perhaps known best for its infectiously catchy music, Bubble Bobble is a unique platformer/puzzle game. You play as a bubble blowing dinosaur(s), trying to make it to the end in order to be turned back into a boy. In order to advance past each stage, you need to defeat all of the enemies but trapping them in bubbles, and popping the bubbles. It is fairly simple at first, becoming fairly challenging as you progress. The biggest obstacles are the stage designs themselves. You may think that enemies are impossible to reach, until you learn to hold the jump button, which allows you to bounce on bubbles to reach higher platforms. With all of the bubbles, enemies, and other objects on screen the action gets fairly frantic. There is one music track on a loop, and while this would incite a  murderous rage in lesser games, this track never seems to offend - it will be burned into your memory however.

Gaze into my eye...

Life Force
Often thought of as a sequel to Gradius, Life Force is technically a spin off. It was known as Salamander elsewhere, which is why there is an intergalactic snake (?) on the cover. Originally Salamander eschewed the power up capsule meter for a simpler power up pick up system. When this was localized for North America, the capsule system was reinstated, making seem like the direct sequel to Gradius. The gameplay is nearly identical, so it may as well be a sequel. It turns out that adding two-player co-op adds tremendously to the gameplay experience. Gradius was tough-as-nails hard, and this is no deviation. It does accept the Konami code at the title screen, so you can experience the carnage of death upon death as you brute force your way through the game. Just like in Gradius, if you are powered up you can plow through the game, but if you die, you are reduced to a pea shooter and the default speed may as well be a crawl. Lets be honest, you play through most of the game this way, as the cascade of death started in stage two. As with other games on this list, its more fun to die together than to die alone.


Jackal
Jackal is a game that is remarkably underrated when it comes to classic NES action games. Maybe its because it is not quite a run'n gun game, nor shoot' em up; it falls in between the cracks when genre lists get hashed out. You drive a jeep, armed with a forward-firing machine gun, and multidirectional grenades. As you progress, you rescue POWs and carry them to a helipad where they are extracted. If you rescue a general, your grenade gets upgraded to missiles, and eventually missiles get upgraded in range and power. Its hilarious to watch all of these POWs exit the jeep; it reminds me of a clown car. The game tremendously more fun with a player two.

No one is getting that spread from there unless they die

Contra/Super C
How could it be anything else? I include both games here, as they play nearly identically. What makes many "hardest NES games" lists is baffling to me. Then again, I played these games ALL THE TIME, so I memorized every enemy placement and pattern. That's a testament to how good these games are; even though they start out as merciless, eventually you learn the tricks and progress further. Essential is the Konami code to see the stages beyond the waterfall, especially in two-player. The leading cause of death on that stage is an impetuous partner constantly jumping and leaving your ass to die at the bottom of the screen. I always thought that the screen should only advance as far as the player at the bottom stood, and the player near the top should be restricted from jumping...but that would not be as much fun. Did you ever steal the spread power up even though you already have it? What about ducking under a bullet so that it hits player 2? This game teaches a lot of lessons, like whether or not you should trust your partner, and you can past Val Kilmer's face on Arnold's body and nobody will notice. In my opinion, its the best two-player game on the NES.

Obtaining the Rhea ODEUM in my Sega Saturn, was a watershed moment for me. Now almost all of my retro consoles are all outfitted with devices that can call up my entire collection for any system. Years ago, I loved getting up, picking a game off the shelf, and changing the game. It was the part of the nostalgic draw: fingering over the spines of game cases, reading over the boxart, and deciding what to play. Lately, I just turn on the console and scroll through which ever menu pops up, whether its an Everdrive or an ODEMU (for those who don't know, Everdrives are cartridges that allow you to play games from an SD card, and ODEMUs are boards installed in a disc-based console, which read games from an SD card as well). I have simply become accustomed to this practice.

My Turbo Everdrive card

There are a few reasons why I play original carts less and less. First, I found myself having to clean the contacts on games more and more. A typical sitting would have me cleaning three to four games, which gets old quickly, and takes a few minutes per. I keep all of my games in cases of some sort; original Genesis clamshells, universal game cases for SNES, and BitBoxes for NES.  I would clean a game if I even suspected that it was slightly dirty. I was always paranoid of putting a game with dirty contacts into my consoles as the that dirt would transfer, and it is way more difficult to clean the contacts in a console than on a cartridge. Granted, the games are thirty years old, and corrosion is expected, but it was getting to be too much. However, with an Everdrive I just leave it in the console, and since it is newer there is no need to clean it - it loads up every time.

There's a reason why game cleaners exist.

Another reason is time. Anyone who has kids will attest that there is less time for gaming, so the act of perusing the collection and selecting a game is time not playing. It sounds weird to say it, as I spent hours curating the reproduction cases for my carts. I still appreciate them, they lovingly adorn my game room, but I don't need to see the case to know if I want to play it anymore.

The Rhea Menu on my Shoot'em ups card

The third reason is game protection. Don't get me wrong, I have always been a gamer first and collector second. I never buy sealed copies of games because I don't think they are worth the premium, and unplayed games take up space. I will play any game that I own, any time. However, there are some games that have steadily climbed in value, and it is almost "safer" to play the roms of games rather than the games themselves. Specifically, Sega Saturn games that are outlandishly valued I would just rather keep out of harms way, especially when playing with the kids or with company.

There are lots of options for displaying/protecting carts

There was a time when I was determined to play the real cart, convinced that there was a difference in the gameplay experience. This is true of real hardware vs. emulation, but not true between original carts/discs and SD card devices. The data send to the console's processors is still the same data, the console does not treat it differently.

Lastly, its just too easy to play games from these devices, especially when game are organized in menus. I have found myself playing more games that I normally would not have pulled off the shelf, simply because I know that loading it, playing it, and abandoning it takes almost no time at all. I can be reminded of why I don't play a certain game as often, and just press a button combination to get back to the main menu of games. So, maybe it boils down to laziness.

Does this mean that I will never play my original copies of a game again? No, but probably less so. Maybe this is just a phase, maybe next week I'll be exclusively be original discs and carts. Only time will tell if that is truly the case.

The recent resurgence of retro gaming has caught the eye of game publishers, as we are now seeing a steady increase of retro games being rereleased on modern platforms. Recent examples include the Mega Man Legacy collections, the Sega Genesis Classics Collection, the Capcom Beat'em Ups bundle, Nintendo Switch Online, the  mini consoles (NES, SNES, Playstation, Neo Geo), and others. Publishers are starting to mine the ore of nostalgia that adults thirty years of age and older are susceptible to, and they should. Just because a game was released a long time ago doesn't mean it is no longer relevant or enjoyable.

Movies and music albums are rereleased all the time. How many versions of Star Wars compilations are there? Too many to count! Yet people still love them and snap them up. Some musical groups have just as many "Greatest Hits" albums as studio albums, and yet they still sell. Sega knew this, as there are a glut of Sonic and Genesis collections. This may be annoying to some, but I say more is better. There are so many classic retro games out there that would make a great collection, and the recent Capcom Beat'em Ups collection is a great example. Nearly half of those arcade games did not get an a home port to a console, and were until now, lost to the past. I think Konami should get onboard and put together a series of collections, starting with its Arcade hits.

Rereleases of classic retro games in high definition are always welcome

Some will say these games are available through emulation. While that is true, the issue of roms and piracy jumps to the forefront. Piracy is nothing new when it comes to entertainment media. In the early 2000's the file sharing network known as Napster opened the floodgates to sharing of mp3 music files. Napster was subsequently sued by every meaninful entity in the music industry, and was forced to shut down by the courts. This has since led to changes in how music is distributed, particularly with DRM (digital rights management). The music industry shifted to an open online marketplace for songs priced individually. After doing so, Apple proceeded to sell individual songs in droves as the digital music eclipsed physical music media in the marketplace.

Similarly, recent efforts by Nintendo mirror what transpired nearly twenty years ago, albeit on a smaller scale. Their effors to smash rom sites with litigation have been fairly effective. The major rom sites like Emuparadise, Loveroms, and the Isozone have scaled back or removed altogether copyrighted roms and IPs. Where people stand on the issue is as broad a spectrum as colors in the rainbow, but the writing is on the wall. Nintendo is sending a message, and it was clearly received. This maybe another watershed moment in the history of digital entertainment media, or it may not be. Just like the Whack-A-Mole game at Chuck-E Cheese's, roms may pop up somewhere else eventually.

Retro game collections have been better in recent years

There is an argument that companies don't do enough to preserve their catalog of releases, and this may be true. This can change, if more companies realize the demand, and do something about it. If the companies make these games available, the need for piracy diminishes, and they can actually make money on their IPs again. Win-win, right? I would gladly purchase a legitimate copy of a game, if I could. I'm sure many people out there feel the same way. As long as there is demand for such media, publishers should be able to make a profit  off of selling rereleased games. Part of preserving these retro games is supporting the companies that made them, so that future official rereleases is a realistic possibility.

Some retro-inspired releases

Perhaps the next step in the evolution of video game distribution is a subscription based service, like Netflix, Hulu, etc. This would allow for gaming to be above the table, and also allow for proper rights management to be preserved. It would take some work to track down publishing rights for companies that no longer exist, but it can be done. I don't currently own a Switch, but I like the efforts being made to increase retro game availability. If the same retro releases make their way to PS4 I'm sold. What do you all think? Would you buy rereleases today, even if you have free access to roms online?