It's been a little while since I've owned some actual older hardware, not counting gameboys but home consoles. What I would like is some advice getting some, where are the best places to buy online, prices, complatibility with TVs and the like. Now when I can get some spare cash I would be thinking about getting a Megadrive and some nice games for it- Sonic and the usual stuff etc. What should I be thinking about when it comes to hooking up an older console to a new flatscreen HDTV? What would be the best choice in cables, should I go for a Model 1 or Model 2 system. Also what should I do regarding foreign games, what is the best converter, what are good prices- anything I should take into account. Yes I am aware a simple yes/no answer could be achieved with a google search but I would rather ask from those who know their stuff so here I am! Thank you people~
I have an HDTV (LG 32LV5300) and a Model 2 Mega Drive, and it works fine. All retro consoles I own (MS, MD, Saturn, NES, SNES, N64, PS1) work perfectly fine, except the Master System (the sound works, but the picture flashes slowly, like it's there, except the screen is black every other second). Good thing I bought my Mega Drive with a Master System Converter . About Model 1 or Model 2, from what I heard, the sound is better on Model 1. Every time I turn on the Mega Drive (or when there's silence during the game) , I hear a buzzing sound, and from what I've read on the internet, this is a problem that only Model 2 Mega Drives have. I can't find any info on that right now, but thought you should be aware of that. About running foreign games: I got myself a Game Genie. Since most games weren't region locked back then, all you will have to do is play it through a Game Genie without putting in any codes (and some of later games do require codes to bypass the region detection) . There's also a way to mod your console so that it would play games from any region, but it looks hard (at least for me, who only used a soldering iron ONCE in my life) . I myself would do it only if I bought a second Mega Drive beforehand. I buy games mostly on a French website (priceminister.com) since I live in France , but sometimes the good ol' eBay proves itself useful. Most games I buy are around 15€ (with shipment) , but the price depends a lot on the state of the game, whether it comes with a box or not, how rare it is etc. Oh, and a word of precaution: if you buy games that save using batteries, chances are that by now they are either dead or about to die. I recently bought Super Mario World, and three playing sessions later, the saved game was gone. I hope this helps.
Something that I had been thinking about would be the sound, and few places mention the quality being better...
I have a coworker (who's also into retro gaming) who owns a Model 1. I'll see if I can invite myself to his house with my Model 2 and test the differences in the sound department. But so far the only defect in Model 2 I can vouch for is the buzzing sound when there's supposed to be silence (I don't think all Model 2 have this, but mine definitely does) .
IMO my Model 1 produces better sound than my Model 2, sounds crisper. That, and my model 1 produces a sharper, cleaner looking display over my model 2. So personally, I think you should go with a Model 1.
Alrighties so it looks like I'm going for an older Model 1- Now...what is the best way of hooking it up to a modern TV- picture stretching is to be expected yes, but I want to avoid muddy colours and anything else that may be an issue...what do!
Sorry for the double post- Popping into our local cash converters today and had a little look at the game consoles all lined up along the top (on their sides lol) and on the shelf below there are a few things like DS, a couple N64 but hidden away right at the back almost out of sight was a Model 1- Not sure what it comes with like games but it's priced at £13.99- now keep in mind if I had to pay online I would most likely be paying for postage too. Should I think about it?
Don't the Model 1 Megdrives have mono sound, unless you're using the headphone socket? Over the years I got my sega stuff at boot sales, pawn shops, ebay, and a couple of other websites.
That isn't a problem, I will be most likely plugging my speakers directly into it anyway. (They normally plug into the TV) Games I can get elsewhere such as online- I'm going to assume it come with the usual power supply, cable to TV with a couple of controllers..
