Retro Bloginator

Welcome everyone to my epic tale of owning a Sony PlayStation 2 (I'll use the PS2 abbreviation from now on) for the first time in 2023. It actually started in 2021. I'd just imported a Toshiba Laserdisc player from Japan, and it arrived in a Sony box for something called a PSX. I know the original PlayStation was often abbreviated as PSX, but this definitely wasn't an original PlayStation. It looked more like a fancy DVD player from the image on the box. I also noticed on the box that it had the PS2 logo. Now I was really curious. After a bit of Googling, I found out that Sony released a DVR (Digital Video Recorder), DVD and PS2, all in one convenient unit. It was only ever released in Japan. I decided to hunt Yahoo Auctions and a few models were available. Working units were well over ¥20,000, but there were quite a few junk units available too. In the end, I ended up bidding on a model DESR-5100/S (the S means it's a limited-edition silver colour - normal PSX consoles...

Welcome back everyone! I recently went back to England after spending nearly 4 years away from my family thanks to COVID. Not only was it an opportunity to catch up with friends and family, some I had not seen in more than the 4 years and my niece who I'd met for the first time, it was also a chance to get up into my Mum & Dad's attic and rummage around for childhood memories. My main target was my Sega Mega Drive model 1 and Sega Mega CD 2, which I managed to find. Sadly, I only found about a dozen games for my Mega CD. I think I had about 30, so I'm sure there must be more up there in the attic somewhere, but after nearly 20 years of not living with my parents full time, a lot of stuff has been put up there. I'm sure I can find some more on my next trip. I brought them back with me to Australia, and I'll do another blog about my experiences with the Mega CD growing up. My focus in this blog is the fact that the Sega Mega CD doesn't have copy protection, th...

Welcome to my next blog! I've blogged about the Terminator 2020 Famiclone I got back in 2020 before and only have a couple of authentic Famicom cartridges so far - Golf and Terminator 2: Judgment Day. I wanted to get some more and with everything I do from Japan, I go for volume. It works out a lot cheaper if you want to grow your collection quickly, just like I have with my collection of laserdiscs, which is now nearly up to 200. So I came across an auction for a box of 17 Famicom games for JPY 1,210 ($13). I bid and I won. I knew one of the games was Konami's Metal Gear, which normally sells for no less than JPY 1,000 ($10.70), so on paper, I'd scored myself a bargain. By the time I added fees and postage, it ended up costing about $65. It still works out at under $4 a game. I gave the cartridges a good wipe down and cleaned the contacts with isopropyl alcohol and started testing the games. About a third of them were working. It felt like they weren't fitting into the...

Hi everyone! Let me start by stating that I appreciate a 21 year old desktop PC is probably only just on the cusp of being classed as a "retro" device. However, the experiences on this device are truly 90's. You'll see how as this blog progresses. No prizes for guessing why I have a old(ish) desktop PC with a name of Terminator in the title. However, my acquiring of this PC was actually stumbled upon by chance. Whilst searching for Terminator goodies on www.buyee.jp, I found an auction for this PC. Starting at 1 yen was enticing enough, but to realise that it was still sealed in its original box sealed the deal. I had a little competition but I ended up winning the auction for the incredibly modest sum of 131 yen (about AUD1.50 or 80p) back in December 2020. With shipping and all the fees, it cost me about AUD120 (GBP70). When it arrived, I was glad to see the PSU was multi-voltage, so no need for a voltage converter. I had a quick read through the instruction manual ...