when did you get it and why? how often do you use it?
If you don’t own a retro system or console, what is the oldest system you emulate or which system would you like to own in the future?
—
For me, my oldest system is an Atari 800xl (i’m counting early home computers). I purchased it on a whim when Netflix’s Bandersnatch interactive movie was briefly popular. I was studying (and still am) computer science and was curious on what you could all do on a home computer from the early 80s. Turns out, quite a lot and I’ve had a lot of fun sifting through the 50+ floppies i have finding everything from home finance software, a plethora home brew games, and even floppy magazines (a bunch of articles on a floppy. not sure the proper name)
when i first got it i was on it more than my modern computer, but after moving it has been gathering some dust in its box. i’m hoping to eventually find a home for it in my home so i can use it more.
a fun thing of note is that it still has the saran wrap on its chrome parts, and it has a Sears Service sticker on the bottom of it when one of the previous owners had it serviced.
The oldest functioning system I have is an Atari 2600. it was originally my mother’s.
My oldest running system is a Commodore 64C with a 1541-2 floppy drive but that is for years only a nice accessories on my wall, because my MiSTer Multisystem completely replaced that (and my Amiga 500 and my SNES and all other retro consoles I own) in every way.
The earliest one I bought was an Amiga 500 which I still think is one of the greatest machines of all time. I loved the community - really creative. I also own a ZX81 which was the first machine I ever did any programming on
i dont use it as much but i stil have my snes which i got specifically to play secret of mana again (its not my original one but i got it on ebay mid 2000s again; i dont know what happened to our original)
Mattel Electronics IntelliVision (1979)
I have this and an Atari 800 in a tote waiting for the day I have somewhere to put them.
Had 2-3 of them! Amazing machines for their time. Only knock would be the controller pads kept going bad. My dad started repeating them at one point.
I was so hooked on B-17 bomber with the voice module!
PS3, modded with HEN 1.5 TB SSD.
Personal computer. I got a Atari 130xe in middle school (newer version of the 800xl).
Put hundreds of hours on the thing. Had a 300 baud modem and connected to BBSs to download pirated games.
Actually fired it up 3-4 years ago. Most of the floppies still work !
Oldest by release is my NES which I got recently as a sort of gift sort of “Well I’m not using it” from a family member.
Oldest in terms of owned by me the longest is my SNES which I got for Christmas when I was about 8-10 along with a CRT, I remember that Christmas quite fondly.
I don’t find myself often going through the effort to play my retro consoles anymore with projects taking up a lot of my time. If I had the time, however, I’d happily use the consoles over emulating, which I do frequently.
Atari 7800. I bought it from someone on craigslist about 3 years ago. The video was pretty fuzzy and audio wasn’t consistent, so I talked them down to a good price. I ended up modding it for composite video and audio, but I rarely play it. I didn’t grow up with an Atari, so I don’t have the nostalgia for the games, but I still think it’s pretty neat.
I have a *working Pong machine.
*It runs, but I don’t like to turn it on because it gets extremely hot.
My Commodore 64. I have a ton of cassettes and floppies with games. Some even with intros from scene release groups, which are pretty fun. I should probably digitize them at some point to preserve them. I don’t use it much though due to the risk of the original power supply frying the computer. I’ll have to buy a modern replacement at some point.
i have a 2600. warlords and circus atari are awedome with the paddle controllers. that seems to be the one of if not the oldest answer showing up in this thread, but i’d love to own a coleco telstar one day. the wood grain aesthetic is so cool, i wish it stuck around longer!
Atari 2600. Got in a few years ago from my in laws. Still hook it up and play berzerk from time to time.
A Binatone 6-in-1 Pong machine from (if I recall) around 1977. My next oldest machine is a red-label Astro Wars from 1980.
Psion 5mx palmtop computer running Epoc OS. Had the screen cable replaced a few years ago. Still use it for the word processor from time to time. Runs on two AA batteries.
Psions were pretty amazing. Can’t believe they ran a whole operating system like that on a couple of batteries. Iirc, turning on the LCD backlight doubled the idle power consumption. So the whole system was as heavy as a couple of LEDs.
