Vintage Online Gaming: Part 2 The 1990s
Ah, the 90s, a time when grunge was in, beepers were a thing, and the world of video games was about to be rocked by some innovative technology. In a decade marked by dial-up internet and the beginning of the World Wide Web, video game consoles had to adapt to keep up with the times. So let's take a trip down memory lane and explore some of the most exciting online and network-connected add-ons that shaped the world of gaming in the 90s.
XBand
First up, we have XBand, the OG online gaming network for Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo Entertainment System ... Read more
Posted 1 month ago
SD2SP2 Pro for the Nintendo Gamecube
As someone who loves console tinkering, I recently found out about the SD2SP2 for the Nintendo Gamecube and had to get one for myself. The SD2SP2 is a device that connects to Serial Port 2 on the bottom of the Gamecube, and allows you to do a few different things with the integrated microSD slot. There are a few variants of the SD2SP2 that will either allow you to hide the device under the console's port cover, or the Pro version that allows the microSD slot to be accessible from the side of the console, should you need, or want, ... Read more
Posted 3 months ago
Home Alone for the SNES
Home Alone was a great movie, but for some reason someone somewhere thought it would also make a great video game. We video game fans are always wary of games licensed from feature films, and Home Alone isn't going to help change anyone's mind on that. Many years ago I acquired a copy of this game for the Game Boy and wasn't fond of it by any means. Usually any video game that has been ported to the Game Boy is much better on a home console, right? The answer is ... Read more
Posted 1 year ago
Driver Parallel Lines
Driver Parallel Lines is one of my absolute, all-time favorite games. I also feel it's the most competent GTA clone ever made. Let's be honest here, by this point the Driver series was chasing GTA and trying its hardest to grab a chunk of its success. With Driv3r being, well Driv3r, the series needed a refresh; it needed something that made it stand out, but not something so drastic that it felt like a completely different game. Driver Parallel Lines came along with an air or familiarity, but also one of ... Read more
Posted 1 year ago
Peripheral Vision: NES Advantage
When I was a kid I remember having my first encounter with a turbo NES controller and wanting one of my own immediately. At this point we didn't have Gamestop or FuncoLand yet, but we did have a local chain of used video game stores, whose name I've forgotten over the years. One sunny Saturday morning, while my mother grocery shopped at the adjacent grocery store, I walked into the gaming store and took a look around. After browsing the games I walked up to the counter and asked if they had ... Read more
Posted 1 year ago
Video Games Based on Obscure Movies
Throughout video gaming history there have been many video games based on movies. In many cases movie based video games target an audience who are already familiar with, and probably already fans of, the source material that gave the video game its title. In some rare cases a movie based video game can be based upon something more obscure or older than the player, or the video games itself, leaving the player unfamiliar with its source material, or origins.
A personal example would be one of my favorite original Playstation games: The Italian Job. The year was around 2002, and I ... Read more
Posted 1 year ago
TVG Repair: NES Controller IC Replacement
Back when I was thrifting regularly I found NES controllers quite frequently, so I would pick them up for, at the very least, tradable assets. NES controllers were designed and built to last forever, or so it seemed until I found, ironically, an NES dog bone controller with actual dog chew marks on it. I originally figured something inside of the controller had been severed, or maybe the cable was snapped internally, so I went to work testing a few theories I had. Since the dog bone NES controllers have cables that detach from the internal board I swapped them ... Read more
Posted 1 year ago