Retro Gaming & Collecting

In an era of unlimited cloud compute and containerized scaling, there is something grounding about the strict constraints of early hardware. My interest isn't just nostalgia; it is a study in optimization and creative problem-solving.

It is about understanding that the flickering ghosts in Atari’s Pac-Man weren’t a glitch, but a clever workaround for strict sprite-per-line limitations. It is marveling at technical feats like the 'impossible' port of Resident Evil 2 to the Nintendo 64—where developers managed to compress 1.2GB of data spanning two PlayStation discs onto a single 64MB cartridge, without losing a single level or cutscene. Seriously, that is a legendary tale; they should be singing songs for 10,000 years over what those developers achieved.

This collection focuses on the tangible connection to this history—keeping original logic boards and physical media alive through careful maintenance to preserve these engineering milestones.

The goal is a working library of gaming history. Almost all consoles are functional original hardware, maintained to play as intended on their native displays.

• The 8-Bit Era &  Before (Logic Limits)// Atari 2600, ColecoVision, NES, Sega Master System

  The era of pure assembly efficiency, where every CPU cycle and byte of memory was accounted for manually.

• The 16-Bit Era (The Sprite Wars)// Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis

  The golden age of 2D architecture and custom sound chips. A masterclass in parallax scrolling and hardware-accelerated creative tricks.

• The Polygon Revolution (3D & Optical Media)// PlayStation 1, N64, Sega Saturn

  The difficult transition from sprites to polygons. This era marks the introduction of complex 3D geometry and the shift from ROM cartridges to high-capacity optical storage.

• The Modern Era (High Fidelity)// GameCube, Wii/Wii U, PS2-PS4, Xbox (Gen 1 - One)

  The convergence of console and PC architecture, introducing networking, hard drives, and high-definition rendering pipelines.

• Portable Compute (Handhelds)// Game Boy Family, Sega Game Gear, Nintendo DS/3DS

  A separate study in power efficiency and screen technology, from the monochromatic DMG to the dual-screen innovations of the DS.

Entropy is the enemy of vintage electronics. Managing a collection of this size requires a rigorous approach to lifecycle management, and has burdened me with a wealth of incredibly specific knowledge.