What are the coolest items in your collection?

[sramirez2008]

I'm interested to hear about and/or see the coolest items in your collections. My top three are my Vectrex, Atari Video Music and Atari 2800.

[CrossBow]

Tough one Steve. I don't have a top three but I've quite a few things that I think might qualify?

My two Parker Bros protos for the 2600 I got about 20 years ago.

My proto cart for the Jag that has the 2600 emulator on it with a few games that Bryan Edwaard created in the 90s. I believe this is a repro Bryan allowed to be made for a contest that I won this in.

My Dreamcast KIOSK

My Galaga cocktail cabinet

My little VFD table top games of Lupin and Tron from Tomy, and my Zaxxon from Coleco. Heck most of them I have I think are pretty cool!

My Ti-99 version of Dragon's Lair that I got as part of a deal with @- Ω - here in our forums.

It would go on and on dude...

 

Edited September 24, 2023 by CrossBow

[RickR]

Off the top of my head:

• Vectrex
• Virtual Boy (I've got a decent collection here.  Nothing fancy.  But it's a lot better than it gets credit for)
• TG-16 (again, nothing fancy here.  I essentially have a working console, one controller, and the everdrive.  This system is seriously underrated)
• One more for posterity:  Jaguar (this one was a splurge, but I've been very happy to explore the games)

[sramirez2008]

1 hour ago, CrossBow said:

Tough one Steve. I don't have a top three but I've quite a few things that I think might qualify?

My two Parker Bros protos for the 2600 I got about 20 years ago.

My proto cart for the Jag that has the 2600 emulator on it with a few games that Bryan Edwaard created in the 90s.

My Dreamcast KIOSK

My Galaga cocktail cabinet

My little VFD table top games of Lupin and Tron from Tomy, and my Zaxxon from Coleco. Heck most of them I have I think are pretty cool!

My Ti-99 version of Dragon's Lair that I got as part of a deal with Omega here in our forums.

It would go on and one dude...

 

You had me at the Dreamcast Kiosk. The Galaga cocktail cabinet is not too shabby either.

[sramirez2008]

1 hour ago, RickR said:

Off the top of my head:

• Vectrex
• Virtual Boy (I've got a decent collection here.  Nothing fancy.  But it's a lot better than it gets credit for)
• TG-16 (again, nothing fancy here.  I essentially have a working console, one controller, and the everdrive.  This system is seriously underrated)
• One more for posterity:  Jaguar (this one was a splurge, but I've been very happy to explore the games)

Virtual boy would be nice, but I'd really like to get a Jaguar. Unfortunately, they have become quite pricey. Not as bad as a Vectrex, but getting close.

[CrossBow]

1 minute ago, sramirez2008 said:

You had me at the Dreamcast Kiosk. The Galaga cocktail cabinet is not too shabby either.

The DC Kiosk I've had since 2004. It originally came out of an EB games (Before they turned in Gamestop), and then was acquired by a small retro game store that was just getting started around 2003 and they setup a booth at my 2004 OVGE event. They had the KIOSK for sale at the event for about $300 I think it was? But there were no takers as again in this timeframe, the DC was just last gen and no one cared about it. They offered it to me for $250 at the end of the event and I did NOT hesitate to purchase. It is mostly all original still although when I got it, the original lock had been removed and two large sections of velcro had been used to remove the front to change games out etc. It also was missing one of the controllers. I remedied all of this shortly after and it has a proper lock/key on it again and replacement controller that I did have to drill holes into to mount to the arm like the originals did. That said, it currently had DC# 3 in it as the original died within a few weeks of owning it and the second one died a few years later. Both due to failed GDRom drives in them. DC #3 has been in there for well over a decade and had more hours on it than the others and at last check, was still working fine. But I will state that if the GDRom should fail in this one, I would most likely put an ODE into it so that way I can have a lot of games at the ready to play.

The galga cocktail I've only had for about 8 years I think? It was serviced fully not long after I bought it but I'm sure the monitor is due for a recap at this point. It has been sometime since I powered it on but it was working great last time it was powered on.

 

[sramirez2008]

10 minutes ago, CrossBow said:

They offered it to me for $250 at the end of the event and I did NOT hesitate to purchase

Ha! Try picking one up today for $250. Nice!

[socrates63]

31 minutes ago, sramirez2008 said:

Virtual boy would be nice, but I'd really like to get a Jaguar. Unfortunately, they have become quite pricey. Not as bad as a Vectrex, but getting close.

I didn't realize I was in such exclusive(?) company with my Jaguar and Vectrex. I realize they aren't as common as the Nintendo and Sega consoles, but I'm getting the feeling that they're not as common as I thought. I actually acquired the Jaguar a couple of years ago because I wanted to take part in the Atari I/O high score challenge.

My cool-to-me items in my collection:

• 2600 Activision North American collection -- all in box with manual. I finally added the last game, Cosmic Commuter, earlier this year.
• 2600 Pitfall! and Keystone Kapers signed by David Crane and Dan Kitchens, respectively. When I stalked them at PRGE a few years ago to get a photo and the games signed, they asked me, "Is this all you brought?" I felt bad enough bringing two games and imposing on them 😂
• Last month, Joe Decuir signed my two heavy sixers, Video Olympics, and Atari 800. I was super stoked to get the 800 (my first computer love) signed by someone directly involved with creating it.

Edited September 14, 2023 by socrates63

[sramirez2008]

20 minutes ago, socrates63 said:

I didn't realize I was in such exclusive(?) company with my Jaguar and Vectrex. I realize they aren't as common as the Nintendo and Sega consoles, but I'm getting the feeling that they're not as common as I thought. I actually acquired the Jaguar a couple of years ago because I wanted to take part in the Atari I/O high score challenge.

My cool-to-me items in my collection:

• 2600 Activision North American collection -- all in box with manual. I finally added the last game, Cosmic Commuter, earlier this year.
• 2600 Pitfall! and Keystone Kapers signed by David Crane and Dan Kitchens, respectively. When I stalked them at PRGE a few years ago to get a photo and the games signed, they asked me, "Is this all you brought?" I felt bad enough bringing two games and imposing on them 😂
• Last month, Joe Decuir signed my two heavy sixers, Video Olympics, and Atari 800. I was super stoked to get the 800 (my first computer love) signed by someone directly involved with creating it.

Loving it! It would be sweet to have Joe sign my H6s. Btw, I had Dan, David and Gary sign a few of my games as well during the 2019 PRGE. Also took a selfie with Ed Logg. Asteroids is my favorite coin-op.

Edited September 14, 2023 by sramirez2008

[socrates63]

Very cool @sramirez2008! I'm still learning about who's who in the wold of video games. Back in 2019, I only knew two names and those were David and Garry. Heck, Dan was there but I didn't know who he was or anything about him then 🤦‍♂️ One of their wives was there and she was very nice and took the photo. I'm guessing she did the same for you.

I definitely will research the guest roster and learn more about the people who created all this awesomeness that has stayed with me all my life. Asteroids is in my top 10 coin-ops list. One of my co-workers is a distant relative of Eugene Jarvis, the designer of my top 2 coin-op games Robotron and Defender.

And of course, I did run into you and Eugenio last year at PRGE 🙂 

[sramirez2008]

15 minutes ago, socrates63 said:

Eugene Jarvis,

My older sons favorite game is Robotron. Eugene Jarvis signed a flyer and marquee for me that I gifted to my son. 

 

16 minutes ago, socrates63 said:

And of course, I did run into you and Eugenio last year at PRGE 🙂 

I remember and I still have the photo to prove it. Hope to see you again at this years PRGE. Less than 29 days left to the show.

[Justin]

[sramirez2008]

1 hour ago, Justin said:

I don't have any proto carts. You guys have all the cool tech.

[Justin]

29 minutes ago, sramirez2008 said:

I don't have any proto carts. You guys have all the cool tech.

@sramirez2008 Hey that Atari 2800 is pretty snazzy!

[sramirez2008]

@Justin Thanks. It arrived in its original box with original joysticks and power supply. I lucked out as it didn’t cost much and appears to have been barely used. It displays a really good picture via RF when set to channel 95 on my CRT. The below pic doesn’t do it justice. 

Edited September 16, 2023 by sramirez2008

[TrekMD]

Hmm, I think these are some of the coolest things I have...

 

[Jinroh]

You guys have alot of cool stuff!

 

My 800 is some alleged programmer used unit. It has a momentary switch on it, with some handmade RAM upgrade card. Joe DeCuir I think, and Ben Heckerdorn looked at it once, before I got it.

Cool, maybe? 😛

Here is the weird 256K RAM card. Similar to Axlon maybe? 

Edited September 15, 2023 by Jinroh

[Justin]

I should include this too even though it's essentially just a 5200

[Jinroh]

6 minutes ago, Justin said:

I should include this too even though it's essentially just a 5200

Very cool. I never heard of this name for a 5200.

[TrekMD]

Video System X was the original name for the 5200 for some time.  Watch this video for more info: 

 

[sramirez2008]

15 hours ago, TrekMD said:

Hmm, I think these are some of the coolest things I have...

 

The Cosmic Commnder & Flight Commander are in deed, some of the coolest controllers. However, that VCS Portable takes the cake.😻

Eugenio, I have to see your collection some day. 

Edited September 15, 2023 by sramirez2008

[sramirez2008]

13 hours ago, Justin said:

I should include this too even though it's essentially just a 5200

 

Just a 5200 he says. I have a 2 port and a 4 port and they are just 5200s. I'd love to add the Video System X to my console collection. This is a holy grail as far as I'm concerned. Thanks for sharing.

[sramirez2008]

I have a RomScanner Command Center complete in box. It looks pretty cool when its all setup. The Kid in me comes out whenever I set this up. I love that its a "Command Center". Marketing did a great job with this.

 

[DegasElite]

15 hours ago, TrekMD said:

 

Isn't this the design from Benjamin Heckendorn? I have seen something like this before.

Edited September 15, 2023 by DegasElite

[CrossBow]

2 hours ago, DegasElite said:

Isn't this the design from Benjamin Heckendorn? I have seen something like this before.

Yeah I'm pretty sure that is a Ben early made VCS portable.