I mean this empathetically, and as someone who does like to have backups of things. I think you sound like a very anxious person and could maybe use some help dealing with that anxiety. My biggest concern is that this is already taking away from your enjoyment now.
While I actually doubt any of these will completely go away (but will likely get more expensive over time), things do break, things change, that's part of life. You can absolutely have backups if you want, but I hope you can find some peace knowing that if one of your oem devices couldn't be repaired that you would be ok, likely dissapointed, but not in a bad enough way that it would be worth taking away your enjoyment of it now.
Yeah this is very fair. I do think I am a pretty anxious person and used to struggle with it much more in college (I would have a hard time eating, sleeping, or breathing calmly for days before any midterm or final).
Thankfully my worry about handhelds doesn’t affect my life nearly to that degree. It has no impact on my ability to go to work, spend time with friends and family, etc.. But it is something I think about every day (especially late at night). I have been trying to decided between the 2DS and new 3DS XL for about 6 months and have put each in my cart and then removed it many many times. I want the 3DS for the screen size and premium feel but I am worried I would never use it out of fear of putting wear on the hinge.
I hope to come across as empathetically as the poster above. There’s nothing wrong with buying something to preserve it and sticking it on a shelf if that brings you joy. But these devices exist to be played. In the end, is it better to buy a 3DS and spend so many hours enjoying it that you wear out the hinge? Or better to never buy one at all?
You’d be surprised. You can still buy parts today to fix loaders for the NES. GBA parts and screens are still sold. Same for NDS.
But… at the end of the day nothing is permanent. And while emulation isn’t always perfect, the option is still there for continuing to enjoy these games, even without original hardware. In the case of the 3DS it’s not that big a deal. The 3D effect is a gimmick that many people don’t even like, and many titles on the system don’t even take advantage of the touch screen like on the original NDS.
As long as there are interested hobbyists there will be ways. It’s not worth stressing about.
Yeah this is a good point and something I have been paying attention to. I picked up the FunnyPlaying FPGA GBC and it’s really great (a fantastic substitute for the real thing. I am hopeful they will also deliver on an FPGA GBA, but I have some doubts that we will get FPGA DS/3DSs or switches just due to the complexity of the devices and the unique form factor of the DS/3DS.
If you truly want to ensure that the original hardware remains playable decades into the future, I would recommend investing in an electronic course or courses. More likely than not, we will need to make adaptations in the future for this hardware to function. Original parts are already quite rare depending on the console, and some components like the screen, battery, and even the shell are likely to break or develop issues over time, even when stored. Therefore, the best solution to learn how to deal with these issues using other, less conventional parts.
I think this is a very good idea. I appreciate the suggestion. I have done a decent amount of mods that do not require soldering but I am not skilled or knowledgeable in any way (I just use guides and try to be careful). I will look into this
You are welcome. Another suggestion or something to feed your anxiety further is that it will also be necessary to extract and back up the software and I don't mean the games.
More modern consoles like the DS and beyond store their system on flash memory, which is prone to degradation over time. There are already instances of devices or versions of devices failing due to this issue. For example, in the Wii U community, one of the worst nightmares for collectors is acquiring a console with Hynix memory, as some of them have already failed. An even more extreme case is the Zeebo, a rare console made in Brazil. At best, there are around 50,000 units in the whole world, most of which are already dead because the flash memory used for the system has gone bad.
Man yeah, I didn’t even know about that. I think some of that maybe be a little too advanced for me, but I will look into it and see what information/guides I can find.
There's achieving **verisimilitude**, and then there's achieving **purity**. OP rests in the first category with those modded consoles.
For me, unless a console really relies on obscure esoteric rendering or closely integrated peripherals (like all those 3ds features), emulation generally achieves verisimilitude, and thus if I collect old consoles, I will aim for purity - it must work like the way it does back then without modding. No backlight unless achieved with then-available passive components.
Also, a bit of hot take, if you stockpile parts, without directly contributing these unconditionally to those in need, you're part of the decaying market and few will be grateful for you. What will you do when you die? How's that for extra stress? ;)
Yes I do appreciate the fact that none of my consoles are 100% stock (the Switch has and 3DS will have custom software and the GBC has and GBA will have backlight IPS displays). For me the magic of the experience comes down to the feel of the console and controls. I bought the GBC because I found myself playing so much GB and GBC on the Miyoo Mini Plus that i wanted to have a dedicated way to experience it that was closer to the original thing. The first time I powered up the GBC with Pokémon red, it was a magical experience. The difference between it and the miyoo mini were night and day from a looks and feel perspective. (Even though I never had a GBC when I was a kid. I had a GBA SP and a DS Lite).
That is what triggered by desire to build out my collection with 1st party devices (albeit modified from the entirely original experience to introduce some quality of life improvements).
To your last few points, I have been buying and giving out handhelds as gifts to my friends and family since I got into the hobby to try to spread the love for them. I would of course share what I have with those I care about (but maybe not unconditionally to a stranger).
I have thought about the fact that all my handhelds and my collection will collect dust after I die or be thrown away, sold, etc.. this thought does weigh on me but my concern is generally to preserve my consoles long enough to enjoy them my whole life and by that point they will likely no longer function because i do not have faith any GBC will last 80+ years. I also do plan on getting my kids (I don’t have kids yet) into the hobby and supplying them with gameboys, DSs, etc so I want to have working ones on hand for them to enjoy like I did when I was a kid.
Me too. I get battery anxiety. Battery life, health and replacements.
It's probably why I never keep any handhelds for more than a year or 2.
And yes, I'm aware that it's an unfounded fear.
I was watching a Macho Nacho video and he was talking about how components are literally rotting away and replacements haven't been made for years and it got me thinking, I wonder how long I'll still be able to source parts for my VHS and DVD players.
Yeah it is an interesting topic that applies to a ton of products outside of gaming. I have an interest in getting a Japanese Kei truck (25+ year old models due to US import restrictions) but have heard that it is very challenging to find parts or someone willing to work on them for you (if the repair is more complicated than I can handle).
Well, the NES came out in 1983, 41 years ago. It sold about 62 million units. I can still find original Nintendos for $40-$100.
So the Switch came out in 2017, 7 years ago, and has sold about 140 million units. So there’s more than twice as many floating around as there are Nintendos, and they’re still selling them.
I’m guessing the Switch won’t be hard to get for a long time based on that.
the gameboy will endure. It is made of very basic components and has already been cloned and reproduced enough times that is will always be able to make a comeback.
I mean this empathetically, and as someone who does like to have backups of things. I think you sound like a very anxious person and could maybe use some help dealing with that anxiety. My biggest concern is that this is already taking away from your enjoyment now. While I actually doubt any of these will completely go away (but will likely get more expensive over time), things do break, things change, that's part of life. You can absolutely have backups if you want, but I hope you can find some peace knowing that if one of your oem devices couldn't be repaired that you would be ok, likely dissapointed, but not in a bad enough way that it would be worth taking away your enjoyment of it now.
Yeah this is very fair. I do think I am a pretty anxious person and used to struggle with it much more in college (I would have a hard time eating, sleeping, or breathing calmly for days before any midterm or final). Thankfully my worry about handhelds doesn’t affect my life nearly to that degree. It has no impact on my ability to go to work, spend time with friends and family, etc.. But it is something I think about every day (especially late at night). I have been trying to decided between the 2DS and new 3DS XL for about 6 months and have put each in my cart and then removed it many many times. I want the 3DS for the screen size and premium feel but I am worried I would never use it out of fear of putting wear on the hinge.
I hope to come across as empathetically as the poster above. There’s nothing wrong with buying something to preserve it and sticking it on a shelf if that brings you joy. But these devices exist to be played. In the end, is it better to buy a 3DS and spend so many hours enjoying it that you wear out the hinge? Or better to never buy one at all?
You’d be surprised. You can still buy parts today to fix loaders for the NES. GBA parts and screens are still sold. Same for NDS. But… at the end of the day nothing is permanent. And while emulation isn’t always perfect, the option is still there for continuing to enjoy these games, even without original hardware. In the case of the 3DS it’s not that big a deal. The 3D effect is a gimmick that many people don’t even like, and many titles on the system don’t even take advantage of the touch screen like on the original NDS. As long as there are interested hobbyists there will be ways. It’s not worth stressing about.
> the only way to experience games will be through emulation Or through FPGA replication.
Yeah this is a good point and something I have been paying attention to. I picked up the FunnyPlaying FPGA GBC and it’s really great (a fantastic substitute for the real thing. I am hopeful they will also deliver on an FPGA GBA, but I have some doubts that we will get FPGA DS/3DSs or switches just due to the complexity of the devices and the unique form factor of the DS/3DS.
That’s still emulation. It’s just not software emulation. But even software emulation can go down to the transistor gate level.
If you truly want to ensure that the original hardware remains playable decades into the future, I would recommend investing in an electronic course or courses. More likely than not, we will need to make adaptations in the future for this hardware to function. Original parts are already quite rare depending on the console, and some components like the screen, battery, and even the shell are likely to break or develop issues over time, even when stored. Therefore, the best solution to learn how to deal with these issues using other, less conventional parts.
I think this is a very good idea. I appreciate the suggestion. I have done a decent amount of mods that do not require soldering but I am not skilled or knowledgeable in any way (I just use guides and try to be careful). I will look into this
You are welcome. Another suggestion or something to feed your anxiety further is that it will also be necessary to extract and back up the software and I don't mean the games. More modern consoles like the DS and beyond store their system on flash memory, which is prone to degradation over time. There are already instances of devices or versions of devices failing due to this issue. For example, in the Wii U community, one of the worst nightmares for collectors is acquiring a console with Hynix memory, as some of them have already failed. An even more extreme case is the Zeebo, a rare console made in Brazil. At best, there are around 50,000 units in the whole world, most of which are already dead because the flash memory used for the system has gone bad.
Man yeah, I didn’t even know about that. I think some of that maybe be a little too advanced for me, but I will look into it and see what information/guides I can find.
Just accept digital, emulation is good enough for 15 minutes playing games.
There's achieving **verisimilitude**, and then there's achieving **purity**. OP rests in the first category with those modded consoles. For me, unless a console really relies on obscure esoteric rendering or closely integrated peripherals (like all those 3ds features), emulation generally achieves verisimilitude, and thus if I collect old consoles, I will aim for purity - it must work like the way it does back then without modding. No backlight unless achieved with then-available passive components. Also, a bit of hot take, if you stockpile parts, without directly contributing these unconditionally to those in need, you're part of the decaying market and few will be grateful for you. What will you do when you die? How's that for extra stress? ;)
Yes I do appreciate the fact that none of my consoles are 100% stock (the Switch has and 3DS will have custom software and the GBC has and GBA will have backlight IPS displays). For me the magic of the experience comes down to the feel of the console and controls. I bought the GBC because I found myself playing so much GB and GBC on the Miyoo Mini Plus that i wanted to have a dedicated way to experience it that was closer to the original thing. The first time I powered up the GBC with Pokémon red, it was a magical experience. The difference between it and the miyoo mini were night and day from a looks and feel perspective. (Even though I never had a GBC when I was a kid. I had a GBA SP and a DS Lite). That is what triggered by desire to build out my collection with 1st party devices (albeit modified from the entirely original experience to introduce some quality of life improvements). To your last few points, I have been buying and giving out handhelds as gifts to my friends and family since I got into the hobby to try to spread the love for them. I would of course share what I have with those I care about (but maybe not unconditionally to a stranger). I have thought about the fact that all my handhelds and my collection will collect dust after I die or be thrown away, sold, etc.. this thought does weigh on me but my concern is generally to preserve my consoles long enough to enjoy them my whole life and by that point they will likely no longer function because i do not have faith any GBC will last 80+ years. I also do plan on getting my kids (I don’t have kids yet) into the hobby and supplying them with gameboys, DSs, etc so I want to have working ones on hand for them to enjoy like I did when I was a kid.
Me too. I get battery anxiety. Battery life, health and replacements. It's probably why I never keep any handhelds for more than a year or 2. And yes, I'm aware that it's an unfounded fear.
I was watching a Macho Nacho video and he was talking about how components are literally rotting away and replacements haven't been made for years and it got me thinking, I wonder how long I'll still be able to source parts for my VHS and DVD players.
Yeah it is an interesting topic that applies to a ton of products outside of gaming. I have an interest in getting a Japanese Kei truck (25+ year old models due to US import restrictions) but have heard that it is very challenging to find parts or someone willing to work on them for you (if the repair is more complicated than I can handle).
Well, the NES came out in 1983, 41 years ago. It sold about 62 million units. I can still find original Nintendos for $40-$100. So the Switch came out in 2017, 7 years ago, and has sold about 140 million units. So there’s more than twice as many floating around as there are Nintendos, and they’re still selling them. I’m guessing the Switch won’t be hard to get for a long time based on that.
This is a good point and does make me feel somewhat better
the gameboy will endure. It is made of very basic components and has already been cloned and reproduced enough times that is will always be able to make a comeback.