Several years ago, I began an episode of computer and video game mania. I look back on the episode with mixed feelings. In some sense it was an understandable attempt at recapturing the days of junior high and high school, when my life was simpler and my mastery of the 8bit computers and video games of the day was unchallenged. Yet in another sense it was an attempt at callous escapism. I am writing about it now, since emulators for most of the systems which I collected for a time are now becoming available. These emulators are both technically and artistically impressive, and I have found that some of my enthusiasm I once held for the hardware and software is now transferred to the emulators. More on that shortly.
My mania began innocently enough in the summer of 1991, when I dug my Atari 130XE out of storage (where it had been since the previous summer) and set it up. From 1983 to 1988 I had been using either an Atari 800 or a 130XE for all my word processing, but since then I had done most of my work on Apple Macintoshes provided by my college. In the Fall of 1990 I got my own Macintosh (an SE/30) and by the next summer it was clear that I was not going to return to my old 8bit computer ever again. Yet I had written over the years a good deal of text for classes and correspondence which I was loathe to lose. So after setting up a null-modem transfer cable, I decided to archive all my old work onto my new computer and retire my old computer.
While it was set up, I decided to play a few video games for old times sakes. I probably hadn’t played any of these games since 1987, and perhaps that explains why I was suddenly beset with such a feeling of nostalgia. My new Macintosh was quite a computer, but it lacked the simple colorful arcade games I had been so fond of when I was younger. Suddenly I realized the idea of retiring my 130XE was premature, and gears and wheels began turning. “Why retire the computer?” I thought, when it obviously complemented my new computer so well. My old computer would provide entertainment, my new one productivity.
No sooner than this was decided when a couple keys on the keyboard stopped working. After searching around, I discovered Toad computers could sell me a new keyboard mylar overlay to fix the old one which had worn out, but the temporary loss of the computer made me sensitive to the problem of keeping old computer equipment running. The solution which I decided upon was redundancy: I would try to obtain, cheaply, duplicate parts for every crucial part of the system. Fortunately, people were selling their old systems over usenet regularly, so in December I bought a complete system (130XE, 1050 Disk Drive, 850 Interface, a bunch of carts and disks). The drive broke during transit, but everything else worked fine and the additional software and hardware comforted me in some small way. I worried a little less about my system failing completely.
However, I was unsatisfied in some ways with the situation. In addition to my old computer, I also had an Atari 2600 video game system which I used to play extensively, but hadn’t used in six or more years. Well, sometime in the spring of 1992 I retrieved it and began playing some old games. In July I started frequenting garage sales in the hopes of picking up some new games fairly inexpensively, and right away found another 2600 console and a few games. Around the same time I borrowed and restored a Franklin Ace 1000 (an Apple ][+ clone). In August I found two Intellivisions with a number of games for only $20. I didn’t own one when I was younger, but I remembered playing it at a friend’s house, and so I decided to buy it. In the same month I also bought a Nintendo, mostly to play Gauntlet II, which I used to play at college from time to time, and a Commodore VIC-20, sans power supply and monitor cable. In September I traded one of the Intellivisions and some of the games for an Atari 7800 and a few games. At the end of the month I bought many more 7800 games from Joe Sabatino, who was buying them cheaply at Big Lots in Ohio. In addition I bought a bunch of old ANALOG computer magazines and a few carts for my Atari 130XE. Clearly at this point I had lost focus, as I now had three new game systems to cultivate and collect, as well as an old computer. Yet, this fact was to escape me for a while yet.
October 1992 was a bad month for me personally. My four year relationship with my girlfriend ended, and I suspect that as a result I increased my collecting activities in order to occupy some of my time. I bought more Atari 8bit cartridges and a Percom disk drive controller over the net. In November I bought a Sega Genesis, which at the time I viewed as the successor to the Atari game systems, and a number of 7800 games from Joe Sabatino. In January and February I bought more 2600 and 7800 carts over the net. In April of 1993 I found an Odyssey^2 at a garage sale with most of the carts with it. At this point I had two more systems, countless more cartridges, and a growing storage problem.
By now I knew that I was out of control. My collection was an obsession, and I was adding systems haphazardly thereby increasing the potential for additional growth. I rationalized that I couldn’t pass up some of the deals since they were so good, which was essentially true. The Intellivision and Odyssey^2 equipment for example allowed me to make some very shrewd trades for equipment I was more interested in. However the Nintendo and the Genesis game systems were outside my original interests and required more money to equip. Furthermore, they opened up a new collecting interest of mine, strategy books, which fortunately I was able to obtain extremely cheaply from bookstores near me which were dumping them at firesale prices. Eventually I was to buy thirty-five odd strategy books, (perhaps more, they fill a copier box completely in my closet currently), which although inexpensive, added to my storage problems.
At some point in 1994 I realized that I was just buying this stuff without rhyme or reason. I had scaled back some of my activities back in 1993, but not fundamentally, and the pursuit of the next find for my collection had continued. I decided drastic action was warranted and so I boxed everything up and walked away from it for awhile, storing the entire collection in my parent’s home, taking up three shelves in the basement. In a reassessment, I realized that I had been looking for nostalgia but that my hobby had grown into something else. It was best just to let it rest for a time. I immediately decided to sell/trade the Intellivision and Odyssey^2 and limit any future acquisitions to the Atari 2600/7800 and 8bit computer system. The 2600 and 8bit computer were truly nostalgic, as I had owned them when I was a child. I kept the 7800 because I had developed a great appreciation of it, and it was the natural successor to the 2600. The Nintendo I gave away as a gift. The Genesis I kept only in name: I loaned it to my brother so that his children could play with it, though I expect I’ll take it back someday.
Clearly I spent a lot of money on this stuff, money which would have been better spent elsewhere. I didn’t keep perfect records, but I kept very good ones. On Atari 8bit computer stuff, I spent about $500 on equipment, games, magazines, books, etc. Atari 2600/7800 games and equipment cost me about $350. I spent about another $50 on the systems I used for trades. This $900 total is fairly modest in retrospect, and was very nearly well spent. However, I also spent $140 on Nintendo and $820 on Genesis games, books and equipment. Buying the Nintendo was an error, and the amount I spent on the Genesis was excessive.
After about a year I returned my attention to the collection. Although I’ve been trying to reduce the material aspects of my life considerably over the past few years, I’ve yet to make a serious dent on this cache of video games and computers. Instead, I have been content to simply keep the collection intact. It was unchanged in 1995 and only a very modest number (14) of new carts were added in 1996. Yet I think I’m ready to start simplifying again. I recently (Nov96) sold the remaining Intellivision equipment and some Odyssey^2 carts. And I’ve decided to sell off a small number of the strategy books.
Part of the reason I can do this is the increasing sophistication and popularity of machine emulators. Excellent emulators of the Atari 2600 (such as Stella) and the Atari 800 (such as Rainbow) make my initial justification for starting the collection moot. I can now indulge in a little nostalgia without having to hook up a console to the TV set. Stella for the Power Macintosh, for example, is good enough now that it plays a version of2600 Space Invaders which is almost precisely as I remember it.Future versions will be even better.
Thus, the justification for this oddly titled page. My earlier mania with video game consoles I liken (lightly) to a heroin addiction. Emulators are then methadone, substituting for the addiction, but without most of the detrimental effects. Perhaps ultimately I will simplify my life and relinquish these video games. I can then consider myself “cured”. till then, I’ll continue to play around with increasingly sophisticated emulators and try to consolidate my collection by degrees. hopefully within two years I’ll have come to a new consensus.
Last modified: June 23rd, 1997
Kevin Chase