Battle Stations TAG - a response (Room tour)

[marlinlee]

A Mega-cart on the Vic-20 and a Dazzle for video capture. Great minds think alike. :)

[Croooow111]

Great tour.  I would do this tag myself, but my battle stations have not been rebuilt yet.

[markvergeer]

@Croooow111 Thanks, I just saw your beardless video. I did see some shelving up with a Dreamcast on it among other things so I guess there is some progression on the rebuild!

I know what you are going through. Moving can be pretty stressfull but is also very nice. Enjoy the experience!

[austinmackert]

Wow, nice stash, man! And just a nice setup in general!

[markvergeer]

@austinmackert Thanks. I'm very content with the room although I would like my consoles set up a little more practical.

[jboypacman]

That is one sweet game room Mark thanks for showing it to us buddy. : )

[markvergeer]

@jboypacman Glad you like it John. Have you shown yours yet? ;)

[jboypacman]

@markvergeer I did a while back but Techromancer1 wanted me to show it again and i think i will because somethings have changed in it.

[revolutionactiondk]

dude, don't forget to mention you got the Game Boy plugin for your Game Cube :D But very nice room, dream come true :)

[markvergeer]

@revolutionactiondk Thanks for the compliments. And indeed, the GBA player thing underneath the Gamecube is worth a special mentioning! Great for playing GBA and GB games on the big screen.

[TheVideoGameJunkie99]

awesome game room! One day I hope to make a really awesome room, but right now my bedroom doubles up as my game room so I can't do much.

[markvergeer]

@TheVideoGameJunkie99 Thanks, it used to be like that for me too. A long time all the stuff was just stored in boxes in the attic, in cabinets or closets. Only now can it be displayed and used in all its glory and still there's no room to put it all! :P

[Nosse2]

Damn, thats an awesome set up, and a great collection, much respect

[markvergeer]

@Nosse2 Thanks, appreciate the compliment. 

[amurphy245]

Thanks for doing the tag,you have an insane set up :D

what is the button for on the nes?

I also prefer old crt's for gaming especialy with rgb :D ive been looking for a trinitron for a while,you just cannot beat crt for the authentic image.

[markvergeer]

@amurphy245 Thanks mate. It is insane - I am a shrink by the way so I guess that is rather fitting :P

The button on the nes is a strange thing. It was connected to the NES-10 chip but not to pin-4. I think it was meant for switching on and off the NES-10 region lockout chip but it wasn't working properly so I got rid of the wires to the button and did cut pin-4 myself. The button I left in situ as I didn't want to leave a hole in the front. It is kind of intriguing right?

CRTs rule!

[markvergeer]

@xTHExSTIGx I have looking forward to the progression from name pc in bedroom to a full cabinet. My main concern would be getting a proper screen and controls.

[Jacesfaces]

Wow! thats like a vault of retro awesomness :)

[markvergeer]

@Jacesfaces Thanks Jace. This particular battlestation is a nice place to hang out. My friends are not so much into retro gaming but I would love to do some multiplayer games.

[FranzFamicom]

Wow! I bet you never get bored. That's a proper gaming room.

[markvergeer]

@FranzFamicom Thanks, but still one can easily be bored despite the room ;)

[sheepthehack]

is it just me or did he say he had a collection of GAY magazines?

[markvergeer]

@sheepthehack You could be so brave to ask me directly. But no you misunderstood a non native speaker. And even if they were, there's nothing wrong about being gay, bisexual or god forbid hetroseksual. I am not sure but I think I belong to the boring last category. :o)

[markvergeer]

@sheepthehack 'Game magazines' was the expression used..... sometimes people just want to hear things :P

[sheepthehack]

@everyone.. come on guys!! it was a joke :) i know what he was saying.. man.. humor bypass or what :)

[markvergeer]

@sheepthehack It's cool! No prob mate

[sheepthehack]

@markvergeer good man :)

[markvergeer]

@xTHExSTIGx Thanks John, the room is good fun and after making the video I felt even more fortunate to be able to have the room to put it all in. Still there's always room for improvement. A nicer setup of the consoles with all the cables neatly tucked away. Central power switches to be able to switch it all off and prevent heating up and deterioration of the power bricks - even when the systems are not in use.

Would love to have an arcade cab and/or mame cab somewhere.

[Bakemon13]

Is the PAL NES really region free?

[markvergeer]

@Bakemon13 This particular PAL NES is region free because I disabled the region-lock-out chip - also known as NES-10 chip by cutting pin no.4. This also makes the system more reliable as the NES-10 chip can cause the flashing screen and not loading a cart if the contacts on the game are a little dirty.

Some people have claimed the light-gun doesn't work anymore after you do that and some people claim that the light-gun (Zapper) still works. I have yet to try that. But I can always use my NES2

[markvergeer]

@Bakemon13 The Nintendo NES2, Dogbone actually doesn't feature a NES-10 chip and is by default region free and plays all regions without flashing the screen. The toaster models - all regions - by default have a NES10 region lockout-chip. The Famicom also doesn't feature a region lockout chip but has a different pin-lay out. 60 vs 72 pins.

[hobodude68]

I see sonic 3.

[markvergeer]

@hobodude68 And you are correct at that. Sonic 3 on an NTSC Jap Megadrive!

[NeonGenesisPlatinum]

Very nice Mark

[markvergeer]

@NeonGenesisPlatinum Thanks mate! Glad you like it.

[techromancer1]

ah! sweet you did the tag..lol cool collection mark but you don't have a tv monster like me that's the new style ..lol cool thanks for sharing mark:D

[markvergeer]

@techromancer1 Say I didn't see your TV monster - was that in your last video with the pink monitor? I had to cut that short whilst I was watching that so I need to re-watch that again.

[DLiberator78]

Nice collection of games and hardware there mate. I particularly like your Sega Saturn and Neo Geo AES collection, although nothing can beat the N-Joy system that has to to be the best lol. Like I said on a previous vid. We bought an N-Joy system for my son which he promptly got bored with after 5 minutes and went back to his 360 lol.This is an impressive collection, awesome.

[markvergeer]

@DLiberator78 Thanks DLiberator - of course the N-Joy is the jewel in the Crown and it deservedly sits in the cool-box-thingy I once got from the HalfBlindGamer.

The N-Joy was something I received from RetroGamerVX in conjuction with the Giraffe Clock... come to think of it - that needs to get adressed too. The GC is spending overtime at my place....

[OldSchoolNYCGamer]

if I only had a bigger house... I would show all what I have off but most is in storage at the moment. Great video Mark, I'm glad you showed this = )

[markvergeer]

@OldSchoolNYCGamer Thanks man! That means a lot.

I lived in a much smaller house until last Oktober/November. After we moved I got to have this gameroom and it has been improving ever since. Still there's a lot in storage in the attic/top floor in those plastic boxes. I need to streamline the room a bit more with a smarter setup of the systems without too much cables and debris on the floor.

[cyanidebreathmintz]

your station is heavily armed and state of the art..awesome!

[techromancer1]

@cyanidebreathmintz hahaha you haven't seen mine hahahahaha:P

[markvergeer]

@techromancer1 Ah I should go check it out. I've seen your and your wife's computer setups - with the pink monitor and stuff. The remains of your still sizable NeoGeo AES collection. But I need to watch some more.

[markvergeer]

@cyanidebreathmintz Thanks Ben, it does feel like command headquarters with the chairs,the equipment and all the screens etc. A heavily armed battle-station indeed! LOL

I would love to have one of my still faulty Vectex machines in my study though.

[Bert1268]

wow 5 tvs thats awesome. Also awesome cows :D

[markvergeer]

@Bert1268 Thanks! One can never have too few TVs in a gamesroom. They are a tad small though. Would not mind changing one of them for a nice 100Hz/120Hz 16:9 widescreen CRT.

I am a sucker for cows, ever since I got exposed to Garry Larson's Farside comics I am into chicken and cows :P

[SteveBenway]

The Kingdom! YAY!

I have that (with subtitles... and not the crappy "Kingdom Hospital" remake)... it's awesome :D

[markvergeer]

@SteveBenway I am glad you approve of my 'The Kingdom'-set. Indeed it is very good. Would love to see a tour of your study/gameroom. Most of my computers and quite a few consoles and systems (TG16, Amiga 500, AtariST, MSX, C64, ZX Spectrum 48K, Amstrad CPC) sit in the attic in those huge plastic boxes. :)

[TigonVLiger]

Love your setup friend ;-) So much good stuff! I could see myself spending a lot of time in that room ;-) I agree on using the old CRT's for the retro consoles. Don't care much for the stretched, pixellated look on modern Hi-Def sets.

Great stuff! ;-)

[markvergeer]

@TigonVLiger Thanks. I am glad you like it. We moved last October/November so I finally got the chance to have a proper game-room. It was all in the study prior to that and/or in the attic/in cabinets.

Now there's enough room to have my consoles connected up and have space to put my games.

CRTs are the way to go when it comes to old consoles. Even the tiny ones - my small 13" - 14" Sony Trinitron is just about perfect for the old consoles as it gives a very sharp and bright image.

[markvergeer]

@TigonVLiger C'ed. LCDs are often not good at scaling analog signals and often are bad at the sometimes a little dirty composite/S-video/RGB signals coming from the old consoles.

Thanks again.