This is the first of hopefully a series of articles in which I attempt to find ‘retro’ consoles and games at rock bottom prices. All of the classic games and consoles can of course easily (albeit expensively) be bought on ebay or amazon marketplace, but that’s not how I roll. As I get older, I realize more and more who I am: A hunter-gatherer. I hunt for consoles, and I gather them. So far I only have 3 retro consoles, but I have aspirations of grandeur…oh yes..oh yes…
It all started last fall when I happened to find a little tiny childrens’ pleather suitcase that had an old N64 console with 9 games in it during my final round at the local flea-market. The little old Turkish lady wanted 20 euros for it, and I automatically said ’10’ and she readily agreed (score!). I’ll be honest with you though, I actually had never played on the N64 until I bought this model. There are a few years where I was hitch-hiking around the globe and off the grid, so the N64 was virgin territory to me.
The Nintendo 64 (ニンテンドウ64 Nintendō Rokujūyon), often referred to as N64, is Nintendo‘s third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit central processing unit, it was released in June 1996 in Japan, September 1996 in North America, March 1997 in Europe and Australia, September 1997 in France and December 1997 in Brazil. It is Nintendo′s last home console to use ROM cartridges to store games (Nintendo switched to a MiniDVD-based format for the successor GameCube); handhelds in the Game Boy line, however, continued to use Game Paks. It was discontinued in 2002 in Japan, North America and PAL regions by the launch of Nintendo′s GameCube. via: Wikipedia
So, for an all time low price of 10 euros, I got the following:
- 1 N64 console
- 2 original controllers
- 1 original power supply unit
- 1 original AV cable
- Pokemon Stadium (gold)
- Zelda (gold)
- Banjo-Kazooie
- Super Mario 64
- Snowboard Kids
- F1 Pole Position 64
- Diddy Kong Racing
- Beattle Adventure Racing
- Fifa 99
I of course contemplated retrofitting an old arcade game, and installing MAME, or something equally as cool, but honestly, that takes a lot of fiddling around, sawing, soldering, hammering and paining: basically way too much work. Maybe when my son is older it’ll be a cool project for us to work on together, but for moment, the thrill of the hunt is where it’s at for me.
So I don’t go completely overboard with my latest obsession, I’ve put together a set of rules to follow.
Rules:
1. LOCATION: You have to buy the console at a flea-market or a second hand/good will. You cannot buy it online at amazon or ebay etc.
2. PRICE: You cannot spend more than 20 on said console, or 3 on one particular game.
3. CONDITION. The console must be a working console.
4. PERIPHERALS: If said console comes with appropriate games and original controller/ power supply.
Every time I do in fact find a console, I will review it (not the console itself, but my personal catch if you will).
| SCAVANGE SCORE | |
|---|---|
| Price |  |
| Maximum price of 20. Anything 10 or below is a perfect score. | |
| Condition |   |
| What this console well loved, or simply abused? a 10 is pristine condition! | |
| Peripherals | |
| Did the console come with a controller or controllers, the original power supply and AV adapter?. | |
| Overall | |
|---|---|
| I have definitely set the bar high for my first console! | |
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