:: AREA99 ::

Arcade

NEO GEO MVS
Single slot NEO GEO MVS system housed in a standard 3 button, 2 player JAMMA cabinet with 20" horizontal monitor.
This is the jewel in my collection really. You just can't beat playing arcade games as they were originally intended to be played. This cabinet is in almost perfect condition and was a lucky find on eBay. I bought it when the demand for arcade cabinets was quite high so I paid a high price for it but I've had my moneys worth from it since. When I have the time/money I'm going to obtain some extra JAMMA boards and hopefully a SEGA TITAN board. Ultimately I want to be able to play the arcade version of Radiant Silvergun on it but prices are just too much right now.

The cartridges I have for this to date are:

Metal Slug
Metal Slug 4
Blazing Star
Pulstar
Aero Fighters 2
Spin Master
Puzzle Bobble
Magical Drop 2
Exchanger

Computers

Texas Instruments TI99/4A
The one that started me off on the whole retro collection thing in the first place. I don't need to say anything about it here as I have already dedicated an entire site to it. Check out the link in the navigation menu to visit it.

Atari (various)
I have several versions of the early Atari 8 bit computers and can't even remember how many as they've been sadly neglected for a long time. I think I have 1 800XL, 2 or 3 65XLs, possibly 3 1050 disk drives, 2 or 3 cassette drives and loads of games on cartridge, disk and tape. My primary motivation in obtaining an 800 of some sort with a disk drive was to see if the disks I'd created in my youth still worked. Amazingly, they did and I was able to see what games I'd created and started working on all those years ago. There was stuff I had no recollection of writing on them and stuff that just brought the memories flooding back.

Acorn A5000 RISC
Not a computer I ever owned previously, I just had the opportunity to aquire one for free. It was an interesting find and I've since become interested in obtaining games for it. As a primarily education orientated machine there isn't much out there but some of the 16 bit era classics were converted for it and it also had some quite good exclusive titles. It already had Pacmania and Lemmings installed on the hard drive and I have also aquired two more original games since aquiring it. I also had the urge to restore it to its former glory as it was quite dirty so I completely stripped it down, cleaned it and rebuilt it. It looks rather good now, especially as its capable of driving a modern monitor with no extras or modification. I now use it with a 19" CRT monitor which looks just right sitting on top of the main unit.

Games aquired so far:

Overload
Inferno

Consoles

Playstation
I got this brand new not long after it first came out. Shortly after that I had it modified so it would play back-ups and imports. Most of the original games I had for it I sold again but I have recently started collecting older shoot 'em ups and platform games. A couple I regret selling are the Oddworld games so I'll probably get them again sometime.

Games I have for this system:

Bust A Move 2
Mickeys Wild Adventure
R-Type Delta
G-Darius
Metal Slug X
Gunners Heaven

Playstation 2
I decided to buy this after looking into what shoot em ups were available for it. As it turns out there are loads, and quite good ones too. This particular machine is modified to play imports and back-ups as well. It saves space under my dedicated console TV too as I can also use it for the PS1 games.

Games I have for this system:
The Simpsons Hit And Run (this was bought for me)
Buzz - The Big Quiz (bought for me again)
Psyvariar
Silpheed - The Lost Planet
XII Stag
Steel Dragon EX
Metal Slug 3
Metal Slug Anthology

Sega Saturn
This was bought primarily because there are a LOT of excellent classic shooters available for it, not least of which is Radiant Silvergun. It is a standard UK PAL unit equipped with an Action Replay cartridge so it can play imports.

Games I have for this system:

Radiant Silvergun (of course)
Parodius
Darius Gaiden
In The Hunt
Guardian Force
DonPachi
Layer Section

Sega Dreamcast
Again, bought for the amazing shooters available for the system but I have quite a few other games as well because they came with the systems I bought. I did have three and a lot more games but I have sold a lot of stuff on so I now have just the one UK PAL console. I have a boot disc so that I can play imports on it. Accessories include approx 5 controllers, 2 memory cards, one rumble pack, keyboard and a pair of light guns.

Games I have for this system:

Under Defeat
Ikaruga
Border Down
Giga Wing
Gun Bird 2
Expendable
Mars Matrix
Bangai-O
The Next Tetris
Mr Driller
Chu Chu Rocket
Silver
The House Of The Dead 2 (hence the light guns - excellent!)
Resident Evil - Code: Veronica
Shenmue

Commodore Amiga CD32
Bought on a whim (actually several but down to one now) because I wanted to play some favourite Amiga games with the convenience of CD loading. It's OK but the standard game pads are awful. Upgrades are hard to find but I will get something better one day.

Games I have for this system are:

Worms
The Chaos Engine
Mean Arenas
Speedball 2
Project X
Speedball 2
Cannon Fodder
Bubba 'n' Stix
Dragonstone
Overkill
Lunar C

Amstrad GX4000
Again, a whimsical purchase because it was there and it was cheap. I don't actually like it and haven't bothered trying to get any more games for it. It came with one game called "Burnin' Rubber" which I don't like at all. This will be sold if and when prices make it worth bothering to try.

In my modern collection:

PC
I play a lot of FPS games on PC because I like the mouse/keyboard combination for control. I have MAME installed for arcade game emulation and MESS for classic micro computer emulation.

Retro style games I have for PC are:

Soldner X Special Edition

Xbox 360
For normal console gaming.

Wii
For normal and casual family gaming.