This is the droid your looking for....

I've always tried, when i can to play real games on real systems.

There is nothing like actually owning the cart or disk and using the real controller, pad or stick with the proper game.

Sometimes however, this is not possible, either the game is hard to find, or its too much effort to unpack, setup and boot the system the game you want is on. This is when emulation is handy.

if you are Reading this blog then you don't need to be told what this is and how it works, suffice is to say that it allows the playing of retro games without he hardware to play them on (at least not eh original intended hardware).

I am just adding this article to mention a new emulator i have found for android OS ICS and honeycomb. its called SNES Droid and it allows snes and nes Roms to be played on your tablet (in my case a Xoom) or phone.

It could not be simpler, you just install, copy the Roms of games you own (legal reasons) into the ROM folder.

It plays really well at the correct speed, very few dropped frames and with great audio.

I really like this and may write more on it latter, check out the screen shots bellow.

I dream a dream of casts gone by.

I've got my Dreamcast back!

After selling my last one on a boot sale I've picked up one from the ropiest game shop I've ever been in.

Just off London road is a side street that looks like it should be in the shades (Pratchett reference) and not in Brighton, on this particular street is a place called game hive, the grimiest, dirtiest crappiest video entertainment emporium you will ever find (except maybe gamestation Worthing).

In the window of said flea pit was a Dreamcast, sun damaged dusty and yellow maybe but for a tenner you could not say fairer...or so I thought.

I went inside and the guy in army surplus combat trousers and a grubby quicksilver hoodie glared at me over his copy of Metro.

"How much is the Dreamcast in the window?" I asked. "you cant buy it, its show only"
"okay, do you have any for sale?". "maybe, you buying?" okay this was not going easily, at this point I notices the a sign on the counter, well I say counter, more of a pasting table with a crap till on it. The sign said "closing end of April". so this place was going out of business? there was a surprise.

Turns out he had a box load of Dreamcasts, an actual box full, they were thrown in a brown card board packing box , wires curled round each other and the consoles smashed together by which ever Neanderthal had decided this was the best way to store complex ageing electronic goods.

I convinced the ape behind the till to let me test them and find one which A, looked okay and B, actually worked at all.

After 40 mins of me rigging up several consoles Donkey pong announced he was closing the shop early (it was 2 in the afternoon) so I picked the one that was not too smashed, yellow and stinking of fag smoke and actually booted a game and paid him the sum of £20 for the console, a broken one for spares and some games that looked like someone has gone over them with an angle grinder. as I left I picked up a pad and 2 vm units as he tried to get the till open by repeatedly swearing at the stuck draw, I'm not paying £20 just for a yellow stinking console!

I got it home, took it apart and vacuumed the inside, ran a lens cleaner over it and reassembled it.

I gave the plastic a good scrub with bleach and toothpaste to it came up nice and white (toothpaste will clean any sun yellowed plastic, SNES consoles and pads look great after 5 mins of scrubbing).

Here's a pic of the results, not to shabby if I do say so myself.

 

Update, 20/12/2012

 

 

I walked past Game hive today and it is now boarded up and empty, as is gamestation Worthing, I think this is probably for the best.

I'm back from the dead!!! well..ive started collecting retro game stuff again...so not actualy dead...oh shut up.

So, it's been awhile, I'm a little older, a little wiser and a little richer so Ive decided to start collecting again.

It wasn't my intention to start it up again, after selling my last console (a dreamcast) on a shoreham car boot at the end of 2010 i was going to call it a day, and i did.
I closed my blog, gave up hunting carboots and charity shops for old copies of radiant supergun and snes carts. I stopped my ebay shop where i sold and items i had duplicates of or didn't need.
I even gave my boxed Amiga A1200 to my mate and my whole box of A500 games to my bud Paul.

I was finished, i took up photography and painting, moved house, twice and got a new job working for a heath insurance firm (the one with the blue green logo, you know the one).

Then one rainy morning i spotted something in a shop window. It was a Saturday (other mornings are available)   and i was walking down London road in Brighton ( i don't advise this to the faint of heart, its a bit lively down that way) when i saw a box i recognised in cancer research uk's window.

I went inside and found a fully boxed gamecube with 2 pads, games and memory cards, something stirred that i thought was well and truly gone, i took it to the guy behind he counter and asked how much they wanted, a look of panic ran over his mid teen spot encrusted mug as he tried to deconstruct and reassemble the complex and nuance laden request i had just forced into his subconscious so early on a Saturday morning. How much? yes i said how much? i tried to not look like i felt, ready to hand over all the loot i had to play the collector edition res evil 4 that sat on the shelf next to it.

After he panicked and fled to the back room a older gent in offensively festive knitwear informed that it would be £9 for the system and all the stuff that went with it (turns out it ha a dance mat and a 2.1 sound system from logitec) i handed over the reddies and took it home with me.

The wife took one look at my face when i came in the door, "what have you bought now?" she asked with suspicion. "just an old console"i said, she took one look at my face and walked away, she knew it was only a matter of time.

I'm collecting again.....