20th Century Gamer

Within a 10 mile radius of our home, there are 12 corporate game stores and 3 franchises — but not a single independent. It appears that for now, the mega corporation has won the hearts, minds, and dollars of the masses. We’re interested in more than the last few years of gaming, so the corporate stores don’t meet many of our needs. Whenever possible, we check out independent stores to fill in the gaps. We recently visited Video Game Heaven in Chesapeake, Virginia.

Merchandise was grouped by game system. We loved the well-lit organized glass display cases that showed off the wide selection and made rare titles easy to spot. Aisles were wide enough to make everything easy to see and accessible. It was especially nice not to have to dive through grimy and disheveled bins.

Used systems were clean, tested, and paired with cables and controllers. Those that weren’t in original boxes were shrinkwrapped into bundles. These were merchandised neatly and efficiently, again making it easy to select the items for purchase. The packaging inspired confidence in their used systems and lead us to believe that our purchase would work when we got home — a feeling we don’t get from dingy stores, pawn shops, flea markets, or yard sales.

Employees, and not just the owners, knew their inventory. The generation-Nintendo staff were willing to discuss other systems, even systems that were released before they were born. If they did not know the answer to a question, they went off to find an answer instead of making things up.

At checkout the guy behind the counter noticed that the jewel case for one of the PlayStation games we were buying was cracked. He offered to replace the case for free before even ringing the item up.

Overall, our shopping experience was excellent. They not only had a wide selection of new and old video games, but they knew how to run a store well. We appreciated the prices, cleanliness, merchandising, customer service, and the efficiency at checkout. It was great to visit a video game store that respected their merchandise enough that we didn’t have to spend hours cleaning our purchases once we got home. It’s a few miles out of the way, but we recommend Video Game Heaven as an addition to your Virginia Beach vacation plans.

My first emulator experience lead me to imagine a world where all computers were compatible, without hardware, software, or operating system barriers. II in a Mac came out in 1985, but it wasn’t until a few years later that I first used it. As the name implies, II in a Mac allowed Macs to run Apple II software. II in a Mac was pretty impressive even by today’s standards, offering a straightforward interface with graphics representing the emulated hardware.

I did absolutely nothing to make it happen, but to some extent my dream came true. Emulators are available for almost every computer system and game console made over the last 35 years. With emulation it’s possible to enjoy and preserve our digital culture, actively experiencing the history of both hardware and software.

According to Wikipedia, the word “emulator” was first used in 1957 by IBM to describe the hardware and software that allowed their 709 computer to run programs written for their older 704 computer. Since the first emulator is over 50 years old, that should make emulation one of the most established and respectable software genres — yet it is not.

The emulation genre has suffered indignity for decades, most often at the hands of large companies afraid that emulators will hurt hardware and software sales. Apple, Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo have all at some point taken an anti-emulator stance, threatening legal action and trying to intimidate users from running software on anything but the original manufacturer’s hardware.

It was inevitable that the conflict between emulator developers and hardware manufacturers would eventually be tested in court. In 1999 Connectix released the Virtual Game Station, a highly compatible Sony PlayStation emulator that ran full-speed on average Macs and PCs. The VGS was available during the peak of PlayStation popularity, and it required no purchase of Sony hardware to run original PlayStation games. In 2000, Sony sued Connectix for trademark and patent infringement, but lost the lawsuit. (In the end Sony won when they bought VGS from Connectix — and immediately discontinued the product.)

The courts may have upheld the legality of emulators, but that doesn’t mean big business has to like it — except of course, when they’re selling emulated software themselves. If an individual creates an emulator and distributes the emulator for free, corporate policy is that emulation should be illegal because it condones piracy. But if the corporation can make money by selling an emulator to run older software, emulation is suddenly legitimate. Regardless of the business machinations and double standards, emulation is here to stay.

Over decades, many programmers have created many emulators recreating the hardware of many different systems. There are so many variations that finding reliable information can be difficult. Fortunately, EmuWiki provides a centralized repository for emulators old and new. Looking for that Apple II emulator I used on my Mac Plus in 1987? II on a Mac is there, along with hundreds of additional emulators — more than enough to satisfy anyone’s nostalgia quotient.

The one thing EmuWiki seems to be lacking is background for many of the older emulators. The older the software, the less information seems to be available. It sure would be nice to know more about those emulation favorites from years past. If you know some of the background history for a specific emulator, please stop by EmuWiki and fill in anything you can so that we can all appreciate more details about the long history of emulation.

The last month has been a doozie. I got the flu, went to the hospital, my computer died, and someone stole our Honda scooter, all within a month. It’s as though I have been living the nerd version of a country western song. That’s a lot to deal with in a short period of time, and I’d be lying if I said it hadn’t knocked me for a loop.

Our classic games collection would seem to be the perfect medicine for the situation by being a great distraction from the stress. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the necessary patience to nursemaid old console hardware. I tried playing a few handhelds, but for some reason their diminutive size made me feel sorry for myself. My computer was dead, and my sweet emulator setup along with it. As hard as it was to accept, classic gaming had failed me in my time of need.

A week ago we were in Target doing some shopping. Recent events hadn’t left me in the best of moods. I don’t remember what we were looking for, but we were wandering around the toy section.  Most of the electronic toys and games were dedicated to movie franchises or tween idols.  I was shuffling down the aisles in a trance when a package adorned with bright and familiar Pac-Man graphics caught my attention. What was Pac-Man doing alongside High School Musical and Hannah Montana? I was both offended and intrigued.

I picked it up to discover this was one of those all-in-one TV games that ran on batteries and plugged into the RCA inputs standard on most televisions. It was a monstrosity, tacky beyond belief, apparently designed by someone with the aesthetic sensibilities of a bridge troll. Unbelievably, the controls appeared to be decent, with 2 micro-switch buttons and a micro-switch joystick. The built-in selection of classic Namco games was another surprise. Pac-Man, Galaga, Dig Dug, Pole Position, Galaxian, New Rally-X, Xevious, Mappy, Bosconian, Pac & Pal, Pac-Man Plus, and Super Pac-Man were all above-average arcade titles. Unlike so many arcade compilations, there wasn’t a stinker in the bunch.

The $20 price was a sticking point. I needed to save money for a new computer. It wasn’t as if we didn’t have several versions of the same games at home already. I put it back on the shelf and we continued with the rest of our unmemorable shopping. We were buying something mundane, one of those household supplies like dishwashing detergent, when I changed my mind. Jen continued with the shopping list while I walked back to the toy section to get a Jakks Pacific Plug & Play TV Games Retro Arcade Pac-Man Edition 5. I felt a little ridiculous about buying it, but not nearly as ridiculous as the name of the product I was buying (which hereafter will be referred to by its acronym, JPPPTVGRAPME5).

As I was preparing to play JPPPTVGRAPME5, I was shocked to find that the battery cover was held in place by a screw. I hadn’t seen a battery cover held by a screw for decades, and even then I couldn’t remember what piece of crap I had owned that was designed like that. That wasn’t a good sign, and as I removed the screw I hoped those new 4 AA batteries I was about to install were going to last longer than expected.

With the batteries in and the battery cover screwed back down, I plugged the JPPPTVGRAPME5 into our TV and turned it on. The simulated coin slot on the front of the unit lit up. I looked more closely to find that it not only glowed when turned on, but also doubled as the menu and pause game button. I was happy to see that the bridge trolls had actually included some function within their tacky attempt at retro design.

Obviously, I wasn’t expecting much from JPPPTVGRAPME5. Maybe it’s because I was expecting so little that I was impressed. These aren’t perfect arcade translations, but they are highly playable and close enough to the originals that casual gamers won’t notice any difference. Even better, I’ve played it almost every day since we bought it — and enjoyed it. The controls are responsive and fun, especially twisting the joystick to steer while playing Pole Position. And yes, the batteries are still working even after over 20 hours of gaming.

A word of caution: if you do end up with a JPPPTVGRAPME5, be aware that the idiots who manufactured the unit used alcohol soluble paint on the top control-panel surface — you know, the area most likely to need cleaning. That means it’s important to keep the JPPPTVGRAPME5 away from alcohol-based hand sanitizers, spray disinfectants, cleaning agents, and of course, alcoholic beverages.