The Transportive Nature of Objects (and the Power of Mini Consoles).
I recently purchased the NES Mini and the Megadrive Mini as these consoles were a hugely formative part of my life, being the consoles I played the most between the ages of 10 to 16.
I've been into gaming for nearly all my life and, whilst in my younger years I sold my collection to buy the upgraded consoles and games, ever since the N64, PS2 and GameCube era, I've kept my favourites games. About 10 years ago, I dabbled in the retro game collecting scene, buying much of the older games I had liked in my youth for the Mega Drive, Master System and Gameboy, as these were the systems I most associated with my youth. Needless to say, I built up a pretty solid collection of games which I've kept and loved but I've had no desire to be a hardcore collector and have every game on a console system or have a complete set of anything; I just collect the things I love and have a curator's approach.
However, a lot of the systems I've got have no way of being played on modern tellies without buying expensive wires, hardware mods or by purchasing increasingly rare, bulky and pricey CRT sets. This is part of the reason why mini consoles were initially so appealing; an easy way to play the games you loved on modern screens at a reasonable price. As gaming becomes more ephemeral it's nice to have something physical where you can revisit things without fear of it being taken off a digital storefront or being removed due to licensing issues. I managed to get the SNES Mini on release at cost price which, looking back, was incredibly lucky.
However, during the pandemic, many retro games and mini consoles were unobtainable at a reasonable price. Mini consoles in particular were often being resold or scalped at more than 4 times their retail price. During one of the early lockdowns, the Megadrive Mini was being resold at around £200 or so, way more than its £59 RRP.
The surge in retro gaming sales was unprecedented and retro games, consoles and mini consoles of retro systems broke records in terms of sales during Covid. I think it's fair to say that when things go bad people like to remember better times and often it's the sepia tones of childhood and the past that appeals. I know that allure as I bought the Numskulls 1/4 mini Bubble Bobble arcade machine purely for the feelings of nostalgia and affection for my childhood days with this game. Despite that though, I couldn't justify buying these mini consoles at the hugely marked up prices so I bided my time and waited.
Back in the day, this would have bothered me. I'd always been there on release days, but I was not going to pay a premium to some chancer of a scalper for the privilege of owning these systems. The main reasons I wanted and got these mini consoles was to revisit some old classics with my daughters and experience some games I didn't get to play back in the day. I could wait for a more reasonable price before buying these systems.
So, after selling some old games that I had no way of playing as well as some I no longer wanted in my collection, I got both the NES Mini and Megadrive Mini for pretty much cost price. At CEX, I used my newly minted credit note and even had a couple of quid credit to spare. I just bought the consoles without the £10 extra for the boxes, I wasn't into collecting these for collecting sake but rather it was the easiest way to play these games.
Previously, I was playing some of the games on my Retron 5 clone system with original controllers (which I've reviewed here) but it was such a faff, so I thought I'd go for the easiest and cheapest (illegal emulation excepted, of course) option. I had these games on emulation of course but it just wasn't the same for me as there is a transportive nature to objects, they can open a door into the past- taking us to another place or time. As I held the NES Mini in my hands, I had flashbacks of my friends birthday party where I'd eaten so much and played Mario Bros. for so long that I went home that evening and promptly threw up-best day ever! I've talked about how Nintendo has been a constant in my life prior and how it became a formative part of my youth.
When I held the Megadrive Mini I remembered seeing Sonic playing at the local Comet and being amazed at the graphics and the speed when I had a play at the kiosk. I also remember part exchanging my Master System, tonnes of games and cash to get the Megadrive and Sonic game at the local comic/ book/ videogame/ manga and anime shop... Yup, I was a silly kid and was fleeced by the trader at the shop but there ya go. You live and learn right?
It's funny the memories you have on to when you hold something sentimental close to you. However, there is also a danger in revisiting old games; discovering that the games you held dear are rather bad but, due to a kind of Stockholm Syndrome brought about by only being able to buy games every couple of months, you got used to it and convinced yourself you loved it. I've recently played the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles NES game again for the first time in about 30 years and the poor level layout, unfair enemy placement, slow gameplay and lack of save points really grated on me now but back in the day I thought it was merely me being a crap player. I'm sure we've all got stories of revisiting something and finding it not like we remember, however, I hope to play my way through the games on these systems and writing my opinions on these, as well as sharing some screenshots of my playthrough.
LINK: Japan- My Journey to the East
LINK- My One True Gaming Constant in Life- Nintendo
LINK- On, and On and Conston (Or, ‘How We Learned to Talk About the Legacy of Colonialism in GB’)
LINK- ‘Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire’
LINK: Let’s All Create a ‘New Normal’.
LINK- Ms Marvel Can Change the World