[Operation Game Collection/Let's Play] Computer Games on Consoles, Construction Sets, and Themed Malarkey PT 1.

  Happy 2019 everyone!  We are one year away from Neo Geo arcade classic Super Baseball 2020 becoming reality except Baseball is still boring and doesn't have landmines or robots in it.  But as always I have silly collection themes and a really silly idea to force me to actually spend some proper TIME with my stupidly huge collection of games I don't need or really have the proper amount of time or space for.

  But before my idea let us see yet another of my theme collections that just sort of popped out at me one year and I have sometimes added to intentionally but not really.

  Computer Games on a Console.  It is a sad fact that most people game on consoles and not their computers, or at least people won't admit to it or give computers of any sort any real respect.  (Outside of our European and United Kingdom friends.  Which apparently enrages the console fanboys of North America something fierce.)

  So many games got ported once consoles got big again because it was both an easy way to make a fast buck off a back catalog with little real effort needed and a way to get some older titles in front of a new audience.  To the point many games like Skate or Die and Tetris are more known for their NES versions than the computer originals.  Sometimes these games ended up better than their originals thanks to sometimes superior core hardware or the game effectively becoming a Director's Cut of the computer version, in other cases they are screwed up in numerous ways to become a complete embarassment.

  But either way as a computer retro type these ports have some upsides.  Being on consoles generally makes these games MUCH cheaper than their microcomputer counterparts as consoles being bigger platforms means more copies were made.  Add in that the classic era that my LP is gonna cover primarily has cartridges or CDs towards the end of it and the games are more reliable and easier to get running than temperamental floppy disk drives and the computers that tended to have single button joysticks and we at least have a recipe for interesting if not always GOOD ports of classic or niche titles that might have otherwise been forgotten and lost.

  Now what am I considering a port?  Its more or less FEELINGS.  Do I feel the game more or less started on a home computer of some kind and the console version was a later port and not just a window of time that was always intended to be a multiplatform release as so many games are these days?  Well that is what I am going by.  I could do things like look up release dates and whatnot but who really cares anyhow?  It is what I choose to consider.  Some of these could possibly be considered sequels and in fact might be so!  Anyhow, let us show what I have to my knowledge.  Note that as a fellow from the USA I am not counting MSX or NEC PC 88/98 type machines as computers for porting purposes as in general most of those titles stayed in Japan or had very limited releases in PAL territories.  Plus it would make things insane.  

We start off with 2 failed systems and the Game Boy which was more like one of the biggest consoles ever if you take the original pea soup unit up through the Color model.  That platform had a ton of sequels and ports of classic games when it wasn't becoming a dumping ground for terrible licensed dross designed to rip off children('s parents).  The Atari 7800 was a casualty of the US 1983-4 game console crash and was more or less brought out due to legal rules, full warehouses, and a notoriously cheap boss looking to make some fast ME TOO money.  So of course it would be easy to just port stuff over as the 7800 shared the same basic 6502 CPU as many big platforms of the day.  And of course the Turbografx 16 which was sold in the US hamstrung by both the hardball Nintendo was pulling at the time and how inept and clueless NEC was.  Oddly enough most of these ports are from the system's dying days in the US and are all quite good and sought after.  

I have already stated the basics of the Nintendo era.  It was also the biggest platform for two entire game console generations roughly owning the roost from 1983 to 1995 worldwide outside of a few notable regions.  So early on in Japan it was a quick way to get some software out the gate to a hungry audience once the JPN version of the NES was known to be a hit, and later on much of what I said above.  The SNES had a fair share of ports as well though not quite as many given how it didn't use the 68000 CPU most of the big home gaming machines had.  But in some cases Nintendo themselves handled a port giving us the best version of the original Sim City.  

Now Sega Master System using the 2nd most popular old system CPU (Z80) and it's follow up having the 68000 meant they both got a whole lot of ports, some of which are even BETTER at being definitive than Sim City above is.  (And far fewer disaster level ports compared to the NES.)  SMS era Sega needed software and a lot of it so it was easy to do ports and also get around Nintendo douchebaggery.  In the CD era it was easy to also take advantage of all that CD space to put those big massive multiple disk titles on a single CD.  

In fact I would say in many cases the Genesis is the cheaper alternative for retro gamers who would like to sample some of the bigger games from the Amiga and Atari ST.  While a few have issues thanks to PAL/NTSC speeds not being accounted for, by and large the Genesis could easily handle Amiga stuff of the time and normally a little bit better when enough cartridge space was alloted.

 And of course as an Ultima dork I have a lot of the better Ultima ports.  In some ways they are easier and more fun to play than their computer originals.  Although the Ultima 7 and Wing Commander SNES ports I merely have thanks to the PSP EA Replay collection are.. not definitive.  Perhaps the opposite in U7's case.

  Now let us get into the other part, Construction Sets.  (And a few things for the LP.  Hold on we are getting to that.)

  See for whatever reason I really haven't been able to have programming click in my head.  While I do still want to learn and think older computers might be a good way with all their novice level self teaching books and all, in general my brain hates programming.  But I have the urge to create.  And a Construction Set done right is a fantastic tool to at least dabble in making a game.  Done well a CSet gives you a relative amount of flexibility and freedom to create without having to code.  Done poorly they are either little more than scenario editors or so limited or so complex to use they are insults to the very idea of a CSet.  Like off brand Legos that are just giant pieces you really can't make anything but whatever was on the box cover.

Here we see a fair number of the sets I have although we may discover they aren't unlimited at all.  Or are ridiculously limited in use and scope.  Or are more or less just a scenario editor with illusions of grandeur. (Or are meant to be in an above image but were misplaced for a moment.  Yet somehow STILL FITS.)

Psychic War, War of the Lance, Roadwar 2000, Thunderscape, and Power Dolls are all options for the Let's Play.

  Ok cool huh?  I got a LOT of silly stuff.   Now it is the time for you the reader to rise up to my fate and help me not just have a hoard of games but to PLAY SOME OF THEM.  Join me swiftly along in Part 2 which will also have fun links to older posts of mine with other options to peruse!  

[Operation Game Collection] NES and Game Boy/GB Color Game Collection Update

  I have as always been busy as hell and working on important real life things plus you know working.  Which means things I want to do like paint Football playing Orcs have had to wait, merely mocking me from atop my printer while other things have been dusted and put away.

  But there is always time to reorganize and see exactly what I own in various game platforms.  And today it will be the NES and the Game Boy in its Pre Advance variations.

(As always click for larger if that is your thing.)

 We start off with my complete games.  Titles I have with both the manual/maps and to keep them together in the plastic dust covers mostly so dorkily organized my actual Nintendo published titles are in Nintendo branded dust covers!  Obviously some manuals were super big and thus they are resting above in the image.  How as a child I was seemingly the only person who always kept at least the manual with the games even if I threw away the box has always confused me.

 And the currently loose titles with the few boxed games I have, mostly titles bought late in the platform's commercial lifespan.

 And to finish up some of my theme collection titles.  Ultimas, Batman games, and a couple Japanese NES (known as Famicom) titles I have a convertor for but in most cases those games are either unplayable due to language or are COMPLETELY TERRIBLE.  But the NES Goonies 1 title has neither of those problems.

 My boxed Game Boy titles and the one NES game that doesn't fit in my properly aligned setup.  The shadows are mostly hiding my Arkanoid Vaus controller.

 My complete with manual titles and most of my Game Boy Color ONLY titles.  If you think finding NES games with their booklets is tough?  The Game Boy is WORSE.  But on the Game Boy there were more or less 3-4 different cartridge types.  Original grey cases ran on all models and was the default.  Black cartridges which had color modes on the Color model that came out in 1998 or so.  And the clear convex top cartridges that only ran on the Color.  A subset of the grey cartridges had special extras if played on the SNES Super Game Boy cartridge.  Some of the black cartridges had little extras if used on the Super Game Boy as well but in most cases it was inferior than playing it on the Color.  (The Advance and its player on the Game Cube also run all the Game Boy family cartridges but generally as if it was a Color Game Boy model and not any other one.)

And we finish up with all my loose carts including ones for some of my theme collections.  (Batman, Alien/Predator franchise, Transformers)  One thing that saddens me is how the early Game Boy titles were great games on a nearly unplayable machine even for the time it was released (1989) and at least in the USA it would be years before there was any way to play these great games in a decent manner, and even longer in a portable form.  There were so many enhanced ports and sequels to classic arcade, computer, and console titles over the lifetime of the non Advance Game Boy family of machines and many of us never even knew they existed, especially given all the licensed garbage that infested the machine in the later days.

So if you have a machine or an easy way to play any of your old 8 bit era Nintendo platform games do so in this upcoming holiday weekend!  Avoid idiotic political discussion with family members or the tedium of sports programming and enjoy some classics or hidden gems you might have missed out on!

SNES Collection Update

A mixture of a needed use of a sick day thanks to that iron blood testing thing they do when you give blood on a finger has lead me to have a little time to burn to do an update on my SNES collection such as it currently stands.  (The needle in the arm to remove the blood?  Eh.  The tiny quick prick to your middle finger?  OWWWWWW)

Why do these updates?  Well keeps my blog kind of active, and its good to have a photographic record of what I own both for going out and looking for new stuff and if anything bad would happen family members or insurance purposes.  A nice organized inventory helps out when it is needed the most.  Also it helps me reorganize things and clear up space as I re alphabetize and then store my useless but fun junk.  Until much like as kid me did to his closet making everything a disorganized mess again.

Click for big if you need to see them bigger.

 Oddly enough the reason I only have two of these loose SNES cart photos is because back before retro gaming and collecting got big I was snobby and mostly only wanted boxed games, or at least with manuals.  And as can sadly be seen most people never really took good care of their games.  I have seen things that would turn one's hair white.  CD/DVD based games just thrown loose on a table.  Drinks on top of electronic devices.  Games and controllers thrown about.  Horrible things.

 Zelda there came with my SNES in 1995 and can show you how I kept my stuff good.  It is clean and fancy.  Even UN Squadron I bought in early 1996 looks better than most of these carts because I take decent care of my stuff.  (I just need to dust a lot more often.)  And I have indeed actually done some light cleaning of most of these loose games.  That is how poorly people take care of their property.

 The first of my three images of my boxed games.  This sort of explains why I was also a boxed snob.  Most of my existing games in the early days of Ebay were such so why would I buy loose?  And it wasn't like there were a ton of retail stores carrying old games at that point.  SNES was in the midst of being phased out of video rental stores and the normal game shops of the time.  But I got a few choice morsels.  And thanks to a few budget reissues a couple more titles.

 Pilotwings is on top because technically it is the actual box cut up and placed into a plastic case of some kind.  It is a reasonable price.  Now if only we could get the true successor to it (Disney's STUNT ISLAND for DOS) reissued or remade.  It is everything Pilotwings wanted to be and MORE.

 The final suite of boxed games.  All three Super Star Wars games boxed.  And a sought after rarity.  And a game mostly known as a donor cartridge for reproduction and overclocking projects.

 From what I understand the Chrono Trigger cluebook is also sought after.  And while I may have gotten rid of the box my SNES came in (you can only transport so much on an airplane after all!) I still have all the paperwork in there.  Even if it isn't really needed.  The little thing at the bottom is a fancy save state/convertor cartridge.  Plug it into your SNES, plug the game in and you can save state in most spots in most SNES games.  And the design allows for Japanese Super Famicom games to be played without having to do any sort of chopping to your machine!

My controllers.  The Super Advantage because I enjoy such things as RAPID FIRE and joystick controls for my videogames, a stock pad because sometimes shoulder buttons have their use (and you know, it kinda came with the unit), and the SNES Mouse and Mouse Pad for Mario Paint, Arkanoid, Super Game Boy, and a handful of other games should I get them in the future.

Where is the SGB then?  Well I showed it in an earlier collection update covering the Game Boy but.. here it is again:

Just Some Collection Update Photos

I could get into a long long LOOOOONG rant about how silly people are being over videogames, movies, comics, toys, and other assorted bits of pop culture goofiness but it is too depressing to me right now.   I had a heck of a rough Summer so I just don't feel like it right now.  But I will share some roughly paraphrased words of wisdom from Lord Karnage himself of Classic Game Room:

Games are supposed to be FUN.  Lighten up!

Words to live by.

Anyhow, let us start with my Dragon Quest collection as it is at this moment:

Click images for bigger if you want.

 All of my main numbered DQ games!  I actually had the NES releases of 1 and 2 but traded the first in with other games to a game store towards some Genesis games (Kind of a mistake) and the second with a classmate for... Double Dragon 3.  WTF?  I think I got some money as well because the game wasn't as good and I had completed DW(now Q) 2 already and the classmate really wanted to play more of 2.  As we can see from the Game Boy Color remakes it all turned out ok!  The little Slime is from one of the Stacking Slime sets they put out in Japan 10 or so years back. The other slimes and the Golem that came with it you could do silly stacking things with it and said Slimes is in a zip baggie someplace.  (Yes kids there are even better things to put in your zip baggies besides marijuana.)

 The spinoff games mostly bought cheap as chips and some fun promotional goodies.  Sadly the Slime sticker from the 9 sheet is now on a 2007 iMac that I eventually ebayed to someone who is probably using it for dubious activities.  (Which is why I have all the data of the freshly OSX reinstalled and formatted hard disk and the machine info itself saved to a flash drive.  Never hurts to be safe with computer hardware ya know!)

A close up of the other Warrior World newsletter.  This one is sad because it mentions the superb 5th game of the series coming to the US SNES which never happened.  Again we eventually got them in a superior format in the US.  Sometime in 2017 we are reported to even get the 8th game above on the 3DS platform giving us all of the current single player Dragon Quest games on portable Nintendo platforms.

 Back in the days, Nintendo Power and other gaming magazines were the only real way to get help to complete so many games, especially those that never got clue books released.  So I have had this stapled together DW(Q)3 walkthrough waiting on the game itself until I got the Game Boy Color remake... On September 10th 2001.  Unbeknownst to me at the time I was starting on DQ 3 at the same time the tragedy of the next day was happening.  I still need to get the Nintendo Power articles and pullouts for the 1st and 2nd game sooner or later.  But I am cheap.

 The Playstation 1 cluebook of the 7th game I got last year or so cheap enough to buy, and the cluebooks for 8 and 9.  

And that is Dragon Quest as it currently is!

NOW SOME NES!

Well, for some silly reason the Nintendo faithful consider me a hater of Nintendo because I question many of their actions both past and present.  It does not mean I haven't bought and enjoyed a ton of their games.  Or generally the games other companies made for it.  Even some of the infamously bad titles on the system (most of the time licensed titles from such Childhood giftday/allowance savings ruiners as LJN, Acclaim, Bandai, and Ocean) are at least INTERESTING, especially now when you can get some of these terrible no good games for like 5 bucks or less loose.  An emulator and access to the Internet can sometimes help make these games somewhat playable!

 Most of my totally loose cartridges.  Some light gun fun, some of my collection themes (helicopters, Godzilla, computer games gone console, JAWS) and some actually good games in the mix.  I like to keep price stickers on as a reminder how much I paid for these silly things.  And in cases like Friday the 13th seeing the rental store sticker and what looks like all the effort some kid probably put into making the entire cartridge case black with permanent marker gives it charm!

 The rest of the loose cartridges, ones in a case with their maps and manuals, the Famicom version of Ultima 4 for my Ultima collection just like 3 (aka Exodus) there, the manual to the third TMNT game in spite of me having no idea what I did with the actual game, and titles for various collection themes like Batman and 2d Castlevanias.

 My four boxed games from back then and my controller of choice, the godly NES ADVANTAGE that helped and still helps me complete many a game.  And sometimes without abusing Turbo and Slow Motion features!  My one remaining NES pad I never really liked is there for the odd 2 player time, the Arkanoid Vaus controller so I can play Arkanoid right, and the original launch era Zapper for CRT shooty bang bang.

 Cluebooks and tip guides!  Always helpful in the pre Gamefaqs day!  The Official Nintendo Player's Guide was practically a must own for any NES player in the early days.  The Ultima 3 clue book is lovely and well suited for most versions of the game (and like a tenth of the price of the original Origin one that is both rare and has all it's maps done in black and white ASCII text.  Seriously.), and the Gamepro book is mostly NES titles and sometimes good in house art.  There is an excellent Phantasy Star 1 cast painting in there.  It isn't actually covered in the book but.. I appreciate it!  

 The New Games section is more or less previews of recent titles but the rest of it is full of cheats, passwords, and various bits of help to get you through the games covered.  For those who are counting the vast majority of the book is NES so that is why it is here.  

But there was a reason a one dollar (REALLY) 40 page black and white comic book was shown.  The last few pages are a guide and some maps to Golgo 13: Top Secret Episode!  Which is quite helpful, and even moreso back then.  You get a 33 page comic of Manga's most famous assassin killing some dude with an M16 from like a mile away, and a walkthrough of the game I presume this comic was released as kind of a tie in for.

[Retro Gaming] Old School Portable Games Update

It has been a while without me posting anything, hasn't it?

  And well I did need to update some collection pictures of portable games, especially given an utterly idiotic discussion on Something Awful involving old portables.

  You see, I dared defend the N Gage as a system that wasn't complete garbage without a single worthwhile game.  The thread utterly missed my point about how there are great and interesting games on nearly every platform and how popular opinion isn't always if ever correct.

  The point was missed, mostly with people considering me to be considering the N Gage a superior machine than the Game Boy Advance while ignoring that I also mentioned the Neo Geo Pocket Color as a device I played as well as the N Gage "When Nintendo's offerings were full of kiddie license IP crap".

  I INTENDED this to mean there were a great many dry spots in the Game Boy Color/Advance release schedules where it seemed like the vast majority of titles were licensed games normally based on things with children's appeal.

This is a sad fact about videogames in general.  Stuff based on existing IPs just.. SELL BETTER.  Some companies like Ocean in the UK made a lot of money doing this, effectively fleecing children and their parents of their money for games of questionable quality at best.  Sometimes some game systems and game distributions at certain stores are seemingly nothing but.

  Does it mean all games on a platform are such?  No.  Heck, there are even some that aren't just fun for fans of that other media but fun games in general!

  This out of the way, here are some of my portables and the games that play on them!

(Commentary to follow.)

Retro Computing: Why Bother? Special: More Fun With the Commodore 1084

I just cannot get over the mighty massive utility and quality of this little gizmo.  While it is not the better looking and stereo S version it is just so damned GOOD.

A good composite monitor is basically one of the least effort requiring display options you can get for your computing needs.

And hell, as I have shown it even makes your console games look great.  And given that some console titles were ports from computers you have even more effort light ways to play your favorites, in some cases much cheaper!  Let's show some more stuff!

(As always click for larger.  And note this is me pointing a camera at a screen and using Sony Play Memories to do some light editing.  In general they look so much better in person.)

 Here we have the SNES version of the Amiga classic GODS.  It still runs fast like the Genesis port but it looks and controls nice and sweet.  Plus in level music, something the Amiga original didn't do. For some reason a lot of UK made software in the 8 and 16 bit era were either sound effects or music in game, but never ever both...

And unlike a 1 button DB9 port controller I can use this mighty joystick with 6 action buttons, variable speed turbo and slow motion (on games that pause with START), and even have all 6 buttons at even autofire or normal button press independently.  A very classy stick!  I love my Epyx 500 XJ to death but the sheer volume of controllers for the consoles gives you some leeway.

Heck, with the SNES you can even get away from terrible ancient portable game consoles with their tiny screens, no lighting, and passive matrix screens.  Its called The Super Game Boy.  

 Some games such as Metroid II even have a default color palette though you can use various SGB menu options for various borders and color schemes.  Some were even designed for the SGB and have exclusive colors and borders, which its bigger and more versatile brother never did.  (More on it later.)

 I generally go with the black and white palette for most games designed without any SGB support and a black border.  Which is why I am zoomed in on this here Ultima Runes of Virtue game.  (Yes kids, there were two exclusive Ultima games only on Nintendo consoles.  Both of them are still better than Ultima 8 and 9 are.)

 Even if Sherry the Mouse got kind of homicidal...

 Shadowgate Classic is the Gameboy/Color dual cart translation of the Macintosh 68K adventure game.  On a SGB black and white is ideal I would say.  

 Speaking of the black cart Game Boy Color titles, Dragon Warrior 1-2 have a custom border but they don't let you mess with palettes.  

But the Gamecube had its' own Game Boy player, one that also covered the Game Boy Advance and Game Boy Color, albeit losing some of the palette and background goody options the SGB had.  Let's take a look eh?

 Dragon Warrior in full color.  But in widescreen mode it looks.. ungood to me.

 Much better in proper aspect ratio.

 You can also shrink the screen for a sharper image.  

 Widescreen is still butt though.

 Shadowgate Classic now looks like a BOSS.  It even looks superior to the NES port.  

 Most GB original games just go to some default color scheme I think is the same as the Game Boy Advance and GB Color auto palette options.  You can change to a couple presets by holding directions and buttons but compared to the SGB it is a giant pain.  No menus and you pretty much have to write down the combinations.

 Sherry is green.  With EVIL.  I guess she was based off someone Lord British in real life was dating.  Break ups can be rough man!

 Metroid II looks AMAZING though.  Great color selection trumping the SGB.    

Really folks.  Never play Game Boy-Advance games on anything but a Super Game Boy or Gamecube Game Boy Player by and large.  

On a Commodore 1084 you get a crispy good picture and stuff!

 Its pretty good for actual Gamecube titles too!  Resident Evil looks damned good and scary.

But let's go back a bit.  Show the enemy of the Commodore 64 and how it can utilize the 1084 for retro gaming glory.

 My ancient NES manufactured in 1986 for said Christmas season.  Still with many stickers 12-13 year old me was dumb enough to put on it, plus an original game pad, the original GREY Zapper light gun, and the magnificent NES Advantage.  

See how old my rig is?  367K serial number.  It should have been even lower but.. well when I get to a full NES retrospective I will talk more about that.

 It was a pain getting games to run but once I did it is sheer excellence thanks to the A/V cables on the side of the NES that the top loading machine of the later era skimped out on while making cartridges more reliable.

 With many a great screw removal we see the internals of my NES.  Its the US launch version.  CPU 04 motherboard.  I opened it up to give the internal contacts a good cleaning.

 Also to clip this 4th pin on the 10NES lockout chip.  The ceramic capacitor made it a doozy to get to.  Clipping this pin allows for unlicensed games to be used and for legit games to work better without that constant blinking screen issue.  You still need to clean your game and console contacts though.

 See Nintendo in their usual form of WE DO WHAT WE WANT AND YOU LIKE IT ways decided instead of plugging a cartridge in that they would slide into a slot like a VCR, then you would press it down to connect to the contacts.  This makes for loose connections.  And is also why NES cartridges are roughly twice as tall as their Japanese counterparts.   OMG NINTENDO'S ISSUES CAUSE ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES SOMEONE CALL SOME TREE HUGGERS!!

 This sort of contact is called a Zero Insertion Force contact.  This can make electrical connections shoddy in the long run.  I am showing a cart inserted as before I screw a good 20 screws back in I want to make sure it works.

 Yep.  While many games take a couple tries to work there is no more blinking and it requires a lot less effort.

 Yes indeed.  Ancient games that were rarely taken care of with tons of build up of ucky on their contacts are given a little rubbing alcohol cleaning with a cotton swab and it helps a bit.  Once I get a proper bit to open these cartridges I will give them a super good cleaning and remove all issues.  Plus new batteries for battery save games.

 MULE on the NES is much cheaper to get than the computer edition.  Mainly because NES fans don't know classics when they see them.

 A bit more MULE screenage.

 And Ultima 3 on the NES for more port action.  While my photo has a bit to be desired it is all pretty and crisp in person.  And blows the HELL out of the Atari 8 bit version.  NES Advantage > Keyboard commands.

And one last thing.  Your modern TVs cannot do light gun games but the Commodore 1084 CAN.  This was my first game of Hogan's Alley B mode in... 20+ years.  Got a fairly decent score.  Gun seemed quite accurate in spite of me sitting awkwardly on a big comfy chair mostly full of my 26 NES carts.

So what have we learned kids?  

Well we now know that a good composite monitor is one of the best investments for your computer AND console classic gaming unless you simply cannot get past using a 13" monitor and must have some enormous thing instead.  

That and we learned that sometimes a beloved computer classic is available in other formats which sometimes are superior though by NO MEANS ALWAYS.  (You don't even want to see the THING Defender of the Crown is on the NES.)

But this kind of is giving me an idea now that my retro collecting has been picking up as of late as my hobby gaming is slowly ending sadly.

Not just buying games cheap, but PLAYING THEM.

I am maybe thinking of taking all my games, all my systems and redoing my collection posts with a plan.

A game a post.  I HAVE to play each game I own for at least 45 minutes and talk about it.  I can play it more but it has to get 45 minutes of play.  Then I can say if I want to play it more immediately, when I have time, or if I am fine never playing it again or whatever.

This is kind of why my hobby gaming has been dying.  What is the point of buying this stuff to merely sit unused and unloved?

And unlike hobby games a good videogame can be played without anyone else.  Or even leaving the house.  Great for our modern terrible work and life schedules where you gotta get your fun in whenever you can.