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The Dreamcast worries me the most, it's a regularly used machine for me and I have genuinel lost count of how many have died on my now.
My MegaCD experience appears to be the opposite of most peoples, I find my MegaCD1 to be very robust and reliable, where as I have a box full of dead MCD2's :(
I don't think cart based consoles are anything to worry about for a very long time, my original Atari VCS is still functioning perfectly after almost 30 years.
The toaster NES usually dies because the cartridge connector wears out.Quote:
Originally Posted by mick_aka
but that's a very easy $10 fix.Quote:
Originally Posted by Zebbe
Hopefully technology will advance (and patents will expire) to the point that all systems will be available in clone form with 100% (or near 100%) compatibility. How cool would it be to have a Genesis/32X/Sega CD/Saturn/Dreamcast all in one? While the technology may not be there now (or the patents expired), once someone takes the initiative to make that beast of a system on a chip, I think it could totally be done.
The system itself works, just that connector wears out (Gets bent!).Quote:
Originally Posted by Zebbe
I do worry about newer systems, but we'll just have to cross our fingers and see.
No, the issue with NES is the entire system falling apart. Everything starts to rust and break.
However this stuff can be fixed/replaced. The real reason people have broken NES consoles is the 'lock-out' chip. Just disconnect it and it should work. Not because the connector thing is dirty (it could rust, though).
Stuff I had age poorly were:
NES - like I described.
Genesis model 2 - the power thing gets loose and I have no idea how to fix it.
SEGA CD model 2 - the spinny thing is not as firm as it should be, so sometimes it gets noisy, tapping it fixes it though. No big deal.
Playstation - made from cheap plastic, the door is weird now.
Playstation 2 - A/V thing breaks a lot on its own.
Dreamcast - the battery died apparently, makes weird noises sometimes, the VMUs do not work right/battery died, general bugs do to even slight scratches.
N64 - controller's joystick wears out.
Consoles I have/had that work perfectly:
Atari 2600
Genesis model 1
XBox
XBox 360 (I know these have issues, mine does not)
Do you fight alien zombie robots with your system? I have never seen an NES that was "rusting, breaking, and falling apart". I did see one once where the tray contraption wouldn't stay down, but nothing 5 minutes of work couldn't correct.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kogen
Oddly enough I used to have a co-worker (when I did the game store thing) who could never get an NES to work. Clean, clean, clean and it would still flash on him, I go over and spend 2 minutes with it and its up and running. He looked at me like "how did you get it to work?" I just told him I have "the touch".
Here's from my experience:
Atari 2600: I own 3 of these, and had to do some major repairs on one(broken switches). Since then, it works wonders, except its RF output is fuzzy.
NES: I bought several of these things and my father owned one since launch. The launch model never failed(still has its stock connector!), but I got 3 that were broken, 2 had loose pinsets(I still have one of those, I gave the other one in exchange for my Super NES, with tightened pinsets, obviously), the other one had an electrical problem, as it wouldn't power on and it smoked from the power/AV/RF assembly. I also have a Top-loader version which never gave me any problems.
Super NES: I have(and had) several broken ones. The 2 broken ones I have either display no image/have no sound or has sound, displays garbled graphics and crashes. I happened to also buy a defective Super NES Mini, which buzzed through the speakers(I exchanged this for an FC Twin in frustration). I also heard that the internal fuse can blow in these. My functioning Super NESes are perfectly fine(I'm talking about the normal, the Super Famicom and Super NES Mini). I did manage, once, to run across a broken Super NES power supply, so be weary of that, too.
Master System: I have one that doesn't power on at all and don't know why. My other 2 work fine, but one of them has a controller port that's failing(Up sometimes doesn't register).
Genesis: Unless I didn't kill it with an improperly made mod or didn't buy it broken, it always worked, except for the Reset button that seems to fail a lot(out of my working ones, half have broken/finicky Reset buttons).
Sega CD: Works like it just came out of the box(Model 2).
32X: The ribbon cables needed to be reseated, but it never failed, HOWEVER, what really bugs me is a sizzling sound that comes from it every time the Genesis is turned on.
Saturn: I own the round-button version. It works perfectly.
PlayStation: The laser seems highly problematic. The big one I own has an issue with skipping music, my PSone model doesn't recognize any games.
Nintendo 64: It seems like the pinsets can get really loose on it, because I have a hard time getting certain games to work(and yes, they're clean). Not to mention the controllers' analog sticks suck and don't stay properly centered over time.
GameCube: Even after dropping it, it still keeps on truckin'.
PlayStation 2: Probably one of the most unreliable systems I own. I have 3 of these, 2 fats, one slim. The slim has compatibility problems(it's one with integrated processor/GPU) and won't read any PAL games(it's chipped), one of my fats has a broken ribbon cable on the inside, and my other one improperly identifies PlayStation 2 CDs(blue-bottomed discs) as PlayStation games, and now no longer outputs video and audio(I tried to solder a separate output, and even that doesn't work).
Dreamcast: The battery's a pain in the %!@, but it works just fine otherwise.
Wii: Can't fully assess that for a while, but it's all good so far.
And for the newer clone consoles:
FC Twin: Early models seem to break after 2 weeks of use. Those don't have Yobo's logo anywhere. Mine does, and even after taking a solder iron to it twice, once for S-Video, the other for the addition of a Super NES lockout chip, it still works.
Yobo FC Game Console: This one doesn't look like it'll last long, as it seems EXTREMELY fragile. I mean, it practically bends in half when you put in a cartridge, plus, I heard some complaints about it no longer powering on.
RetroDuo: This one looks like it's going to last a while, haven't heard much in terms of reliability issues.
After I read that - I just knew you didn't have a 360 :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Ace
Just turn it upside-down.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ace
I have never really had any problems with my consoles dying. Every single one I have is the first one I've bought. Even used stuff from various questionable sources (aka previous owners that aren't kind to their systems) is working great. I've had a couple of small annoyances, but no outright death. Heck, I'll run down the specifics:
NES: Got this a few months ago from somebody who didn't seem to treat it well. For instance, I have no screws to hold the top on and a game I got with it has a gaping hole in the front. It also is, to my knowledge, a launch or near-launch model. But anyway, it works perfectly. I did replace the connector but really that's nothing. Not an issue to be found.
SNES: Bought on Ebay, never had a problem except when the games were dirty.
N64: First home console I owned, bought at retail in 2000ish. Frickin' invincible. My 8 year old self didn't treat it great, nor did my younger brother when he started using it. Plays things like when I first got it.
Gamecube: Bought at retail. Also invincible. Reacts well to shock... I've played it in the car on long road trips for 5 years in a row. It's been dropped, still no problems except that one of my controllers has a broken analog stick, but I bet I can fix it if I open the thing up and mess around.
Wii: Again, bought from retail. I've heard of people having trouble with dual-layer discs like Brawl but no problems here. Gets a bit warm, but I guess that's normal-- though I dunno if that might affect it in the long run.
Genesis 2: Got it from a friend for free. It was pretty stickered up, dirty, and a tad scratched when I first got it, and the bottom says it's a refurb. Runs games great, although the first controller port seems to have a problem with my 3-button pad (registering C as start among other things) unless it's only inserted halfway.
TurboGrafx-16: Well, I just got this last week, and it definitely looked like it had seen better days. It was really dirty and had water spots on it. However, even in that state, everything worked. And now it's cleaned up and still works fantastically. My TurboBooster has a little trouble holding the composite cables in, however. Sometimes I have to nudge them a little to get consistent video output.
Also, I'm gonna throw handhelds into the mix. All of mine are still alive, however some of them have had some problems that are sorta bad.
Game Boy Pocket: First handheld I owned, bought at retail. Scratched badly, dropped tons of times, the start button is mostly gone, the battery cover is broken, and the labels on the back are ripped off. Works great! Also I'd like to note that the games probably won't die soon either... when I was younger I ran a Tetris Plus cart through the wash at least 20 times and it still works. It even held the save data!
Game Boy Color: Bought at retail. It's in decent condition and plays games, but the poor thing is having sound output problems. It's making sound, but even at the highest volume you have to hold your ear to the speaker. Headphones work fine, though.
Game Boy Advance: Bought at launch. Works perfectly.
DS (fat): Bought at launch. It accidentally got thrown at a wall once, but still works perfectly. My brother's, however, did die about a month ago-- it would randomly turn off while playing anything except GBA games, although it would happen more often on some games. So he had to replace it with a DS lite.
GP2X: Bought new online. The d-stick shifts out of position and then slides around uselessly occasionally, and is a pain in the ass to click back into position. Other than that, works.
TurboExpress: Just got last week along with the TG16. Works fine, except that it also has the sound problem my Game Boy Color has. Headphones work fine as well, though. The turbo switches are a little stiff.
I always have a lot of luck with console reliability in general. As everyone's stuff has failed around me, I have working systems... even the stuff I treated badly as a young kid. I don't get it.
My DC has already given up the ghost, good thing they aren't terribly expensive or hard to find yet. Ill probably just end up buying another one from Japan and one of those slick black cases without the Sega Sports logo on it so it can match all my other consoles. The only other console I have that I'm actually worried about going out is my model 1 Sega CD. Works fine now but you never know when it's time is up. I got a model 2 in storage that I would use but space on my entertainment center is scarce and it looks so much lamer.
I have 2 original woody 2600s one a heavy sixer and they both work. These systems don't have any moving parts to wear out like the DC or SCD I would say a Genesis stored will last longer than I will!
No, I don't, and I never will, as I really don't trust its reliability. At least with a PlayStation 2, I can play my games off a hard drive if the laser craps out on me:p. With the Xbox 360, it's an entirely different story.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mamba Tabac
Amen, that's the big problem, even if you tell people how to clean it, 99% of the time they still don't do it totally right.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rusty Venture
For the record, every system I have ever owned still works flawlessly, and that includes: 2 Game Gears, original Game Boy (used), PS2 FAT(sometimes you have to reinsert the controller [like every so many months], but with so much use that's to be expected), NES, SNES, Genesis model 2 (used), Sega CD model 2 (used), 32X (used), Dreamcast (used), FC Twin, Yobo FC, and a Wii. People just don't know what it means to take care of a system. My car is the same way, mine is 6 years old and looks practically new and drives like it too, other people with a 6 year old car nearly identical to mine have paint peeling and it runs like shit. Its all in how you maintain it.
My Dreamcast's GD drive fried few days ago... motor controller chip had a hole in the middle... least I had a spare drive. Dreamcast is not hard to mod... space can be an issue if you want something BIG. I don't think this is very common what happened to me... all machines with a CD/DVD drive will end up dead someday (due to mechanical stress).
Game Gears will all become half dead within some more years... Sega has some poor capacitors in the machines which start to leak... replace the caps and the system is good as new (but only if the caps have not leaked for too long... that leakage is corrosive).
MD1 is heavy duty machine, these last for a long time. My MD2s doesn't seem any worse too. SMS(2) seems to be great too.
I have a SNES and a SFC, I can't tell anything much about them yet, they don't seem to be made poorly.