Gaming wishlist items that seem odd in hindsight

[G-type | 2,482]

Before Game Boy, I used to see those portable TVs in the catalogues and wish I had one to play Super Mario on... 

[Tulpa | 3,501]

Awesome. I think that model has an RF input for cable/games, one of the few portable TVs from that era that did. Too bad the TV tuner is useless now.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,532]

A Sega 32X and Doom.

[twiztor | 851]

the Power Glove for the n64. man, i wanted that so much. then i got one. and it sucked hard. i tried SO hard to master using it, but there was just no way. what a piece of junk.

then my dog chewed it up, so at least i didn't feel bad throwing it away. or else i would probably still have it.

[Webhead123 | 675]

2 hours ago, G-type said:

Before Game Boy, I used to see those portable TVs in the catalogues and wish I had one to play Super Mario on... 

I actually had one of those that looked something like this, although I think the handle was oriented length-wise:

The screen couldn't have been more than 4-5" and it was black-and-white only. It had a power adapter that could connect through the cigarette lighter in your car, making it handy for long road trips...assuming you could get decent reception on the antenna.

Actually, the very first TV I had for playing my NES on was a tiny Zenith that had a screen no more than 8". We had no stand or desk for it to rest on, so I would set it on a chair and play sitting on the floor. I remember thinking it was a HUGE deal when my grandparents would let me play NES on the living room TV on occasion...with a screen that must have been 24-26"!!! What a spectacle that was!

Edited December 2, 2023 by Webhead123

[Webhead123 | 675]

I don't think it ever made any proper "wishlist" at the time but back when the 3DO came out, I reeeeeally wanted one. It was ridiculously expensive but those gaming magazines and TV commercials made it look so cool! I probably would have sold all my NES, SNES and GEN libraries if I thought it would make me enough money to buy one.

Thank goodness that never happened...

Edited December 2, 2023 by Webhead123

[the_wizard_666 | 1,325]

When I was a kid I listed like every Nintendo game in the catalogue on my Christmas wish list.  One year, that included Taboo: The Sixth Sense.  Sometimes I'm glad my family was too poor to buy new games

[Rhuno | 107]

Trying really hard not to go to ebay and buy a vintage portable tv right now 

[SilverspoonGaming | 332]

Apple Pippin

Probs wont play it for more than 5 mins, but you could say that about half of the consoles in my collection already.

[NostalgicMachine | 235]

19 hours ago, twiztor said:

the Power Glove for the n64. man, i wanted that so much. then i got one. and it sucked hard. i tried SO hard to master using it, but there was just no way. what a piece of junk.

then my dog chewed it up, so at least i didn't feel bad throwing it away. or else i would probably still have it.

Do you mean "The Glove" aka this piece of junk?

[Renmauzo | 1,201]

Not so much odd (the item) as was the reason:

Remember Consumers Distributors catalogues? When the tv tuner came out for the Game Gear, I had one and a GG circled for Christmas that year and kept the catalogue under my pillow for all of November and December. 

I used to build the craziest snow forts because my house was on a cul-de-sac and in Québec, so we'd get a ridiculous amount of snow build up and the plows drove it all up onto our yard. I'd have full tunnel systems, different 'rooms', pit traps (I was always at war with the neighbourhood kids because they assumed I didn't speak French and I was so incensed, I refused to correct the bigots *those particular kids and all their parents were awful*), ramparts, you name it. This particular year, I felt I had to defend my ice castle because they kept trying to sabotage my work, which is why I wanted the GG and tv tuner; I planned to camp out every night in my snow suit and stay awake watching tv on the GG. Of course, my folks were not going to get me a GG, let alone a tv tuner, lol.

Stupid reason, stupid war with the French kids (half my family is French, so they should have put the prejudice aside and I should have made more of an effort to deprogram that way of thinking), but great memories overall

 

[RegularGuyGamer | 2,013]

14 hours ago, Rhuno said:

Trying really hard not to go to ebay and buy a vintage portable tv right now 

I couldn't resist. Bought this the other weekend. No regrets. 

To answer the OP: basically every OG Xbox game I bought new when it came out in high school. I remember buying games like Blood Wake, Wreckless and NFL Blitz Pro for full price essentially right when they dropped. 15 yrs old and Xbox was a toxic mix...

Edited December 3, 2023 by RegularGuyGamer

[twiztor | 851]

3 hours ago, NostalgicMachine said:

Do you mean "The Glove" aka this piece of junk?

that's the one! it still haunts my dreams.

why i thought it would be awesome, i will never understand. 

[G-type | 2,482]

looks like a medical device

[the_wizard_666 | 1,325]

5 hours ago, RegularGuyGamer said:

To answer the OP: basically every OG Xbox game I bought new when it came out in high school. I remember buying games like Blood Wake, Wreckless and NFL Blitz Pro for full price essentially right when they dropped. 15 yrs old and Xbox was a toxic mix...

If you played the crap out of them and got your money's worth, why would that be regretful?  Its only bad if you bought them to put on the shelf.

[RegularGuyGamer | 2,013]

5 hours ago, the_wizard_666 said:

If you played the crap out of them and got your money's worth, why would that be regretful?  Its only bad if you bought them to put on the shelf.

I definitely got my money's worth. Easily played 100s of hours on each of them. I had a PS2 and the coolness of the Xbox won me over. 

[DefaultGen | 5,405]

15 hours ago, RegularGuyGamer said:

I couldn't resist. Bought this the other weekend. No regrets. 

To answer the OP: basically every OG Xbox game I bought new when it came out in high school. I remember buying games like Blood Wake, Wreckless and NFL Blitz Pro for full price essentially right when they dropped. 15 yrs old and Xbox was a toxic mix...

That thing rules. Lightweight, built in handles, S-video. I use it more than my PVM just because my main use case for a small CRT is to lug it around somewhere.

[RegularGuyGamer | 2,013]

1 hour ago, DefaultGen said:

That thing rules. Lightweight, built in handles, S-video. I use it more than my PVM just because my main use case for a small CRT is to lug it around somewhere.

Did you mod the input or use a splitter? 

[DefaultGen | 5,405]

1 hour ago, RegularGuyGamer said:

Did you mod the input or use a splitter? 

I didn't do anything? It's just got an S-video input on the back unless I'm misidentifying the monitor.

[NostalgicMachine | 235]

17 hours ago, twiztor said:

that's the one! it still haunts my dreams.

why i thought it would be awesome, i will never understand. 

I want to get one just to review it LOL.

[RegularGuyGamer | 2,013]

2 hours ago, DefaultGen said:

I didn't do anything? It's just got an S-video input on the back unless I'm misidentifying the monitor.

Mine looks like this on the back 

From my understanding, this input is the same as svideo just split. The mod is super easy, just connect the existing wires to an svideo jack and call it a day. 

[Link | 2,712]

6 minutes ago, RegularGuyGamer said:

From my understanding, this input is the same as svideo just split. The mod is super easy, just connect the existing wires to an svideo jack and call it a day. 

Correct. You don't even need to mod it necessarily, just get a breakout cable.

[koifish | 556]

Got an e-reader for my birthday. Kind of a fun gimmick but don't think it made much sense to want one. At least I got some good money for it later on.

Oh yeah, not games, but there was also a time when I really wanted a treo smartphone. The concept of the internet/IM/email in your pocket was amazing to me. Of course now everybody has a toy that does all that, and much more, and it's terrible. Go figure!

Edited February 6 by koifish

[RH | 4,903]

On 12/1/2023 at 10:38 PM, G-type said:

Before Game Boy, I used to see those portable TVs in the catalogues and wish I had one to play Super Mario on... 

Ha!  Yeah, as a kid we had two sets of bunk bed in my bedroom that Is shared with my brother.  Since we both ended up taking the bottom bunks, for me I wrapped blankets around it so I could have privacy and less light as I played my Game Gear.

Well, I managed to get one of these "portable" black and white CRTs from my Grandfather.  I rigged up a way to suspend it from the springs of the bed above me and, boom, I had my own TV in my personal nook!  Well, the channel tuner didn't work well since we lived waaaaay out in the sticks, so I had to find a different reason for it.  This was around 1996-97, so my solution was to take a BNC/Cable Input->To Old School two-wire antenae connection, and from them I spliced wires into a stereo headphone output (or I guess, typically input).  The TV had one of those stereo inputs, so I plugged it in.

Not wanting to settle for anything less than the best, I had a cable converter box for my N64, so I ran the line from my N64 to my rigged up connector and plugged it into the TV and... it 100% worked!  There was a tad bit of noise, but not much!

And there I was, working hard for the most lazy-gamer setup of 1997!  A lot has changed since them but in a way, I wish I could re-create that setup.  Half the fun was figuring out as a 15/16 year old how to make the setup work, which was a lot more feasible in the days of analog signaling.

On 12/2/2023 at 8:57 PM, Renmauzo said:

Not so much odd (the item) as was the reason:

Remember Consumers Distributors catalogues? When the tv tuner came out for the Game Gear, I had one and a GG circled for Christmas that year and kept the catalogue under my pillow for all of November and December. 

I used to build the craziest snow forts because my house was on a cul-de-sac and in Québec, so we'd get a ridiculous amount of snow build up and the plows drove it all up onto our yard. I'd have full tunnel systems, different 'rooms', pit traps (I was always at war with the neighbourhood kids because they assumed I didn't speak French and I was so incensed, I refused to correct the bigots *those particular kids and all their parents were awful*), ramparts, you name it. This particular year, I felt I had to defend my ice castle because they kept trying to sabotage my work, which is why I wanted the GG and tv tuner; I planned to camp out every night in my snow suit and stay awake watching tv on the GG. Of course, my folks were not going to get me a GG, let alone a tv tuner, lol.

Stupid reason, stupid war with the French kids (half my family is French, so they should have put the prejudice aside and I should have made more of an effort to deprogram that way of thinking), but great memories overall

 

This needs to be turned into a 90s-era kids movie  (except you get the GG, TV Tuner and some how wire up a CCTV system using an old camera of your Dad's you found in the garage!

[TDIRunner | 2,740]

I remember wanting a steering wheel and pedal set for the PS1 to play Gran Turismo.  This was before force feedback wheels, and before they put any type of realistic feel into the gas and brake pedals.  My brother and I split the price of a wheel and I was so disappointed in how it added absolutely zero fun to the driving experience.  I sold it shortly after.  

Luckily, today I have a decent racing wheel for the PS4 that actually feels realistic in the setup with the force feedback, and even in the feel of the gas, brake and clutch pedals.  That setup actually makes games like Gran Turismo more fun and even easier to complete.  Totally worth the money THIS time.  I still need to add the shifter to my setup.  

 

Edit:

Here is my old PS1 wheel hat I didn't like vs. my current setup for PS3/PS4.

(First pic is from Google.  Second pick is mine)

 

Edited February 6 by TDIRunner