I have a feeling I put the NES back together wrong. It wouldn't make sense that the 72-pin is SO tight that I have to brace myself to pull out a game. I'm guessing I did something wrong with the plastic tray.

When I first acquired this NES, I took it apart and cleaned/adjusted the connectors and put it back together just fine, though I don't think I took the entire thing apart. Replacing the 72-pin was more involved that my initial fidgeting.

I'll go back and take it apart when I have the time.

I've been so tempted to splurge and buy a system complete in box, but that's probably dumb. I'm still annoyed that my brother took our NES to college and puked on it, making me resort to buying one on eBay.

i still have my ~1986 original but dont know where the cords are for it. i've been using emu's for so long I haven't even thought about it in forever.

hahaha, jesus

dlk you could try loosening the screws but new 72 pins are notorious for being tight to the point where some can damage your games. I really doubt you've put it on wrong.

@ all: if i ever was to found a 80s-retro-synth band or project, i would call it 72-pin connector
@ dlk: i remember my 72pin thing felt as thight as .... well, it was very tight. und can try to use a cartridge to widen it softly or re-open the nes and widen it wit a scredriver. but you will easily widen it to hard, as i did so too with my first try.

what games are you going to play?

Yeah, from my research it seems that I may just have a connector with a death grip. I left a cartridge in there for a couple months, to no avail.

Took the thing apart yesterday and reassembled. Seems like it might be a little better, but still really tight. Didn't plug it back in yet to see if it works.

No specific games I'm looking to play, just whatever I have. My kids really like retro games. My favorite game was Baseball Stars.

By the way, a little off-topic, but I stumbled across this site the other day and it's really fun to browse:

https://coinoppartsetc.com

I just made a purchase. Picked up arcade game marquee headers for Dig Dug and Yie Ar Kung Fu. Called the company and they said they are the genuine article, not reproductions. My 9-year old's favorite classic game is Dig Dug (might be mine, too), so I thought it would look great above his bedroom door.

I couldn't believe when I saw Yie Ar Kung Fu on that site. I LOVED that game. I would get physically nervous playing it, advancing to the next opponent. Total impulse buy.

With a 20% discount they have going on, they were $60 combined. The ordering page isn't the best, so just be sure you definitely want what you are buying. There is no final confirmation screen. As soon as I submitted my payment info, that was it. I was expecting to find out shipping costs somewhere, but I guess shipping is free, as the receipt I got doesn't show any extra charges.

Man I loved Baseball Stars but I lent it to a friend and he held onto it for too long and eventually traded it in. That said I played it recently and didn’t think it held up quite that well.

Update on this:

Got an e-mail from the website saying they forgot to tack on shipping. They said it's $13-$16 each, but they are discounting it to $20 combined.

A bit steep, but the items do have glass instead of plastic and the dimensions are probably odd for packaging. They gave me the option to cancel, but I'll probably pay the shipping because now I have my heart set on the items.

thanks for linking that but damn, now I want to buy one of those cocktail party gaming table machines.

I could see myself going Howard Hughes and being surrounded by jars of urine while I skee-ball my life away.

The arcade marquees arrived yesterday. Definitely the genuine article - the wear and tear gives them character. The Yie Ar Kung Fu one is a tad underwhelming (not the seller's fault), but still very cool. The Dig Dug one is fantastic.

My kid is loving this classic/retro games kick I'm on. We played Atari the other day when some games arrived in the mail. And after his baseball game over the weekend, we sat down on a bench and won an eBay auction for an original Gameboy (I never had one). It's arriving today.

My parents are coming to visit tomorrow. My dad is getting the Atari stuff from my uncle today and will call me to see what games I want him to pack for the trip.

I have no idea why I'm so obsessed with this stuff right now. I think it started with getting the Art of Atari book.

Getting back into NES Tetris again, I want to get half a million, currently stuck with one high 300k game and a bunch of low 300k games, starting to get the hang of level 15 speed but level 18 is still a bit quick for me. God knows how the pros can play 19+ in other than survival mode

lol - my dad just called to go through the Atari games his brother gave him (most of which were originally ours). There were 90 ****ing games. It took so long to list them and for me to cross-reference that he was like, "God dammit, my back is killing me."

He's going to bring about a dozen to start, including E.T.

He also has two Atari consoles and a ****load of controllers. Hopefully everything works. They were kept in a cardboard box in my uncle's basement and are apparently very dusty.

And the Gameboy arrived today. My kid loves it. He thinks retro gaming is awesome and likes imagining himself as me when these systems were introduced, picturing how revolutionary they were.

GameBoy pocket imo

So to those guys talking about getting into arcade stuff, here's a word of warning:

Personally I’d rather sit on a cushioned stool than kneel on a metal piece of electronics, but that’s just me.

Just picked up a Nintendo Virtual Boy. It was a pain in the ass.

Saw an ad on Craigslist on Thursday - someone was selling one, complete in box, warranty card and all, for only $100. Said he got it as a Christmas gift in 1996, only used it once or twice, and it's just been in a closet all this time. Said he's in the process of moving and doesn't feel like dealing with eBay. I e-mailed him, he got back to me that evening, saying someone had offered $120 and he wanted to get it out of his hands by Friday.

Told him I could match that, but didn't want to get into an annoying bidding war over e-mail, and I could meet him that very night or Friday. He accepted my offer and we scheduled to meet on Friday at a gas station near his house (about 20-25 minutes from my house).

I e-mailed him when I arrived (he didn't give me a cell or a description of his car). I waited 20 minutes, e-mailed him again. Waited 20 more minutes, e-mailed him again. I left after waiting for an hour. I know I shouldn't have waited that long, but it was a great deal and I didn't want to miss out.

He e-mailed that night to apologize - something about being up really late - and asked if we could try again. Scheduled a time to meet at the same place on Sunday. I got there, e-mailed him that I arrived (btw, I had given him the description of my car and cell number), he wrote back that he was on his way (he lived a minute away). 25 minutes later, he's not there, so I e-mailed him. A bit later, he said, "I was just up there, what kind of car are you in?"

WTF? I had given him that info multiple times and told him exactly where I was parked. Finally, he showed up, walking, which I guess is why he never gave me a car description. He was all surprised, said he saw me waiting earlier and wondered if it was me. Well, dip****, I told you about my car and where I was parked, so how about you say hello?

He showed me the Virtual Boy and we put it together to test it out. Turned on, had sound, but no picture. We goofed with it a bit, but couldn't get the screen to work. He tried to still "assume the sale" by saying, "Well, I feel bad that you'll have to spend a little more money to get it working."

I told him I won't be spending any money because I'm not buying it. He accepted defeat (I was disappointed, certainly), shook my hand, and left. Came back a minute later before I took off and offered to sell it for $80, as he was going to put it back on Craigslist. I said no.

This morning, I saw his repost. He was offering it for $20. I quickly e-mailed him and said if he's really selling it for $20, I'll drive down one more time and buy it. He said yes and this time (with my kid in tow because I had to pick him up sick from school) he was already there when I got there. He gave me an extra game, complete in box, too.

So now I have a pristine Virtual Boy, complete in box, without a properly functioning screen and I only paid $20 for it. Question is: do I just put it away for another couple decades or try to find someone to fix it? I read a couple possible fixed and I don't think I could accomplish them.

To think we could have played the SNGS instead of the SNES.

I just discovered Gaming Historian the other day when I was researching the Virtual Boy. His videos are great! I found the one about SMB2 fascinating.

Would we have called it the snugs or the sings for short?

Got 400k finally, transition to 19 killed me though

Finally half a million!

Snagged an 8bitdo wireless controller for snes classic and I am AMAZED at how good it is. Perfect weight, same size and shape, absolutely no input lag that I could detect. Tried it out on Mario kart because ldo and was instantly able to place first after not having played that game for over a decade.

Color me impressed.

late to party, but there are a lot of videos on youtube on how to fix retro-consoles. also you can find a lot repair instructions via google. maybe this is a very common problem, like the 72 pin connector thing ?!

good luck dude.
never had an virtual boy, but this thing is freaky

bragy braggson: i once had a neo geo (cartridge) and a jaguar, but sold them like 12 years ago when nobody would pay good prices on ebay for retro stuff (besides final fantasy 3 cib).