I’ve owned just about every console you can imagine. Master System, Game Boy, SNES, Game Boy Advance, Xbox, N64, PlayStation 2, GameCube… basically all of them. But right now, at this point in time, I don’t know where any of my old consoles are. Today’s question is simple: when a new generation rears its head, do you keep your old consoles or get rid of them?
I’ve given most of mine away. Usually I have friends who have young children, or friends who aren’t really that into games but wouldn’t mind having something to mess around with. I’m usually happy to just let these people have the consoles I’m not really using that much anyway.
I guess I’ve never really been a hoarder. I’ve moved around a lot as well which contributes. I certainly don’t find it hard to get rid of things. I’m sure that’s sacrilege to many of you.
So that’s today’s question: do you keep old consoles or get rid of them? Vote in the poll and let us know in more detail in the comments below!
Comments
62 responses to “The Big Question: Keeping Old Consoles”
I keep my old consoles and that’ll be true for this generation too. So many excellent PS3 exclusives that I want to replay eventually and lack of backwards compatibility makes this an easy decision.
(Though my folks gave away the NES/SNES without asking. They made the enemies list that day.)
You had a NES/SNES? That sounds AWESOME!! I’d ask if I could borrow it but, well, you don’t have it any more. Awkward…
This seems to be common practice among parents…
I heard a rumor that you cant stream content from your PC to the PS4, so the PS3 will stay plugged in.
not a rumor. its on the official FAQ
i can not believe that this and music play back was removed.
why
the only reason i can see is to force its streaming services on you.
as for consoles though.
i have the Atari, mega drive, snes, n64 and GCN in the cupboard but the wii and ps2 are still in the cabinet next to the 360, ps3 and wii u (really need to remove the wii now)
the only console i have ever got rid of was the xbox. and that was a trade in for the 360 as i was a uni student back then. I still regret that, if only i knew how bad PD0 was going to be at the time i would have kept playing ninja gaiden and panzar dragoon orta
I have way too many of them. In massive plastic boxes. That take up most of the useful storage space in my spare room. Sometimes I think it would be liberating to get rid of them. But then I think it would be cool to set them up in my future games room. But then I think that I probably won’t be able to find anything to play them on, or that the mechanical aspects will have failed anyway, and that modern console emulation is probably easier. Then I just throw my hands in the air because it’s all too difficult and leave them in the boxes in the spare room.
So yes, I keep them.
I look at all mine in the garage and think I really should just ditch them make up a cheap emulation PC I can leave plugged into the TV. I want to keep them but I really should just face facts and admit that as long as they’re in their boxes I’m never going to play them. With an emulator permanently setup I might actually revisit them from time to time.
I’ll hold onto them until I stop using them and then there’s a good chance that they’ll just sit in a box, forgotten.
I sold my NES & Megadrive (I would end up buying an american model Genesis year later for retro purposes along with Sega CD for dollars. Cost more to ship it back to AU)
I gave away my PS1 to a friend for his child as my PS2 could handle all the duties my PS1 did.
After that PS2, GC, all current gen all still around in some form. Handhelds too although I did go through buying and selling of PSPs as I kept getting newer models etc.
I just don’t really have the space to keep them set up, so they tend to go. I’ll keep the PS3 though as the wireless controllers mean I can stick it behind the TV and still be able to use it. Plus the ridiculous decision by Sony to not allow the PS4 to play CDs or mp3’s means I’ll be needing to keep the PS3 as a media player until Sony pull their finger out and patch that functionality into the PS4.
The fact that you can plug in the Xbox 360 HDMI into the back of the Xbox One is the reason I’ll be keeping my Xbox360 for the foreseeable future.
Too lazy to go watch the video, but can I plug my PS3 into it instead? Or my PS4? Woah… super console!
All reports I have seen so far say that you can. Might need to double check on google once both Xbox One and PS4 are released. Im sure someone has enough money to buy both and try it out.
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/playstation-4-will-work-with-xbox-ones-hdmi-pass-through-port/1100-6414735/#
Essentially you can run anything through the HDMI port. All the XBOX One really cares about is that video and audio come through the XBOX One HDMI input. It slaps the XBOX One UI over top of it like it would anything else. They dance around the question a bit because it’s usually phrased as ‘can I play a PS4 through the XBOX One?’.
In theory you can daisy chain XBOX One’s for split screen (if you’re willing to fork out the money for two consoles and two of the games, but for some reason got cheap when it came to an extra TV).
Not sure how well it’ll work, but my plan is to get a HDMI hub and run the Wii U, PC out, PS4 and XBOX 360 through the XBOX One giving me XBOX Live on everything.
With any luck that’ll let me use one gaming headset for all of them, but I’m not getting my hopes up on that.
@DogMan I like your idea of the HDMI Hub to run them all through one. Be sure to let us know how it all goes. Im very curious of the results!
Will do. I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t work, but my TV only has one HDMI input so I have to buy a hub anyway. I’ll be pretty happy if I can play other consoles with the XBOX One overlay and then just use Glass or Kinect to control the XBOX stuff. I think I just stumbled upon a practical use for the Kinect voice recognition… =P
The more I think about it the more I get the more it sounds like the XBOX One will bring everything together. I just have to figure out how to loop it back somehow to get PSN notifications on everything…
im interested to see how this works.
is it a simple pass through, or is there processing involved. if thats the case then there may be responsiveness issues. will it maintain the full signal quality.
if there arent processing delays and the signal is full quality then this is awesome. except for the fact that your xbone needs to be on ALL the time
I’ve always run my consoles and TV through a receiver/amp (via HDMI), then that outputs to the TV. That way I play all my games and watch all my shows from my laptop with awesome surrond sound. And I have so many thingies plugged into it, it’s less confusion for my hapless partner to select the thing that the want to use/watch. The set-up doesn’t do the crazy split screen action though…
I’ll be leaving my PS3 set up – I’ve managed to churn through most of my pile of shame ahead of the XBone launch, but I still love my Rock Band and even if that does make it to the next generation, my embarrassingly-large DLC library won’t go with it. It’ll probably get a workout for GT5/6 too, if I can’t use my Driving Force GTs to play Forza.
Well, I have an n64 and ps2 lying around even though they barely work. I don’t use them though. When I bought a 360 we traded in the Xbox towards a Wii, and I kind of regret that because I have some great Xbox games that the 360 isn’t backwards compatible with.
I think things are different this time. The 360 will probably remain my primary console until about a year into the Xbone cycle, at which point it will be completely obsolete. I am planning, loosely, to add a TV to the bedroom and have the 360 set up in there to act as a kind of secondary option. Whether this happens entirely remains to be seen. Maybe the 360 will just sit around until it finally dies and I’ll toss it out, the wonderful games that sustained me for 8 years completely forgotten.
Beware of TV in the bedroom if you are in a relationship.
?
I keep them. One day, when I’m an old man, I’ll take them all out and be all “whoo! nostalgia”.
I still have my old SNES, with action replay and all (how else could I play NTSC games like the classic Final Fantasy series? It’s not like Squaresoft will ever port those gems to another console).
They Already have ported most of them to iOS. A lot can be played on PSN and there are also steam versions.
The only console I’ve unloaded was a PS1, since the PS2 had backwards compatibility. I kept most of the actual games though (not hard as most of my PS1 games were JRPGs which my sister had no interest in).
In general I retain old consoles because most of my family aren’t really interested in playing games much, and the regret factor if I unload a console then later want to play a game from it is also something of a factor.
Im a PC gamer so I dont keep consoles I just keep the games on my Computer.
Good ol virtual machine.
I had a Master System 1 with a stack of games, light gun etc, but my mother convinced me to sell it at a garage sale when I was a teenager.
My wife later bought me a mega drive with a stack of games.. I played streets of rage for a while, then I ended up selling it too lol…
But, I do still have my PS1 – well, a Frankenstein monster one I put together from my original modded board and a friends laser lol. I had a spare I found in hard rubbish one year, fully modded and working, sold that.
I sold my Gamecube when I got a Wii – but kept the games and controllers.
I still have Xbox classic.. however I might get rid of it..
I have 2 PS2’s still.. a second hat phat for… reasons.. and a new 90002 slim.
Xbox 360 slim..
I’ll probably hold onto at least one PS2, the PSX, the Wii and the 360 for the near future.. The PSX.. I dunno, I have a hard time considering parting with it lol.. I’m sure everything could be emulated fine or played on the PS2..
We only got a Wii and a GameCube, so there is not much to get rid of, but I just can’t ditch the GameCube. It brings back so many memories when I look at it, it just breaks my heard even trying to throw it away. So I have put my foot down to keep it.
I keep them. For display. My Dreamcast and GameCube are up on the same shelf my toys are (though their cables are stored right behind them in case of emergency/loss of internet).
I still buy as many old games and consoles as i can.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Computer_Disk_System
I bought 2 x the disk drives just this week.
I always tell myself I’ll keep them (Gameboy, SNES, N64 etc) but they gather dust for a few years and then I sell them.
The only thing that makes me think I should have kept them is, “what if eventually I have kids?” It would be cool to show them what I grew up on.
I still have five different Nintendo Game & Watch games though. I’ll never sell those!
I’ve gottten rid of all my old consoles apart from my PS2 which I boxed up when I got my PS3 and just sort of forgot about so I still have it. I won’t be getting rid of my PS3 or Xbox 360 for a while though due to the lack of backwards compatibility in the next gen consoles and my PS plus subscription for my PS4 will still be bringing my games to play on PS3 for a while yet.
I’ve got a room full of them. I’m not a retro collector, I just bought stuff when it came out and never got rid of it.
When I get the PS4 I will be moving the PS3 to that room to join its brethren. Plus it’ll give me a blu ray player on the TV in there.
I just found a PS2 on the side of the road yesterday, with a controller, all the cables, and a burnout game in it. Plugged it in, works great! Not entirely sure what to do with it though, all the PS2 games I really want to play I already have as HD versions on the PS3… 😛
I had a SNES when I was young, but I sold it for a song along with all of the best SNES games I had collected. In retrospect I seriously regret it as that’s just the type of console I’d love for my kids to start getting into now – it’s got child friendly games and it’s pretty hard to damage. Those cartridges are just made for clumsy little kids to handle.
I am a parent and have other places money should go. Last year I sold my Wii so I could buy myself a WiiU for my birthday – same deal for the PS4 this year
I keep them all, i have such a massive collection, one day i will sell them for a tidy profit
I’m holding out till Nintendo releases an online patch for goldeneye 64
YES! I spent so many afternoons after school at friends of my place playing this game. Was heaps of fun considering I was the best except in caves and stack I think it was called. Never played them much so never learnt the layout.
I keep all of mine, thought they’re currently in boxes at the moment due to moving house. Thinking about constructing a display shelf for them, as a lot are still in boxes (3x SNES in box >_>) and would look nice doing something instead of just being boxed.
The sentimental part of me wants to keep them, but the rational part of me knows I’ll very rarely if ever play those games again (and even if I do want to play them again, I’m happy to repurchase them for a reasonable price on the PSN or Nintendo store or something), so I’ll basically only have them for bragging rights and the sake of having them. And I don’t have room in my house for all of them plus all of the games I’ve ever owned.
I’ve been selling my old consoles to help to finance my purchase of new ones. Also helps to convince my wife about owning new consoles.
I keep my past consoles. I have set half of the older ones up on a rack in the spare room, with the other half being set up when i get a new unit to house all of them in. I still play them when possible, while updating their game collection when the bank account lets me.
It’s cool to have them around, especially when you talk about old games that you loved as a kid, you can go and play them straight away. I know you can get emulators, but it’s not the same experience.
I keep mine for the most part. My DSiXL is sitting collecting dust. My PS2 is doing the same, but i think the PS2 might be heading to the scrap heap soon.
I’ve kept them. Mostly in their original boxing as well. However, now that I have gotten into desktop gaming and Steam lately, I plan to get rid of them soon.
I would never get rid of my consoles. They enable me, they make me who I am.
I keep them, but only until someone wants one in which case I just give it to them. Although I may just bin my first 360. The drive tray does that stupid thing where it won’t open without a disc in it, and I’ve got my MW2 edition XBOX 360 that I actually play games on. Throwing it away feels like a waste but there’s not really any point in keeping it and I wouldn’t feel right selling it to anyone.
I’ve still got all mine.
From the Master System 2 onwards.
I’d never throw any of them out.
I keep them, but eventually trade them in or sell them, as I don’t have anywhere I could realistically store them. I normally keep them until most developers have moved to the next generation… But then again, I got my 360 without getting rid of my Xbox, and when developers stopped making Xbox games, I traded that towards a PS2 slim. A few years later, I traded the PS2 for a Wii, which in turn (and rather quickly) got traded towards a PS3 slim when the price dropped.
But it’s mostly about storage space (or rather, my lack thereof).
I still have way too many games I need to finish or replay and my son has Skylanders and Rayman That he could not live without. The new generation is cheap enough that I don’t have to trade in everything to afford it, also I use PlayTV on my PS3, so my wife would kill me if I got rid of it. I would love to know if the PlayTV idea is coming to PS4, but i’m not gonna hold my breath. PS3 stays.
Still got every console and game I’ve ever owned.
I’ve sold GameCube, Dreamcast and PS1. God knows what happened to my SNES!? Still have PS2, GBA (I have an original Gameboy also, but its given up the ghost). Still have a PS2 will keep until my youngest hits 7 because there’s some good simple Dora/Diego games on there. N64 will be getting sold soon just after I give DK64 and Majora’s Mask one more crack.
I have a Wii but just waiting till I see a decent price on the Galaxy games or Zelda. My 360 will stay as long as it runs!
Aside from a couple of consoles my dad gave away to other families who weren’t as well off, I’ve kept pretty much every one that I’ve ever owned. Lame to say, but they feel like a big part of my identity in formative years, and I’m way too sentimental to always settle on the emulation route (though it really is one of the best aspects of the Wii).
The Dig
I always give mine away to someone in need, but only after I know I want be playing them anymore. It’s likely I’ll keep my ps3 for another 2-3 years and then give it to someone who’s parents can’t afford a console.
I never get rid of mine. I grew up with a lot of them, so I like to hang onto them for the fond memories. Still have the NES, SNES, N64, Gamecube, PS2 etc. all hooked up to the TV through a receiver with the best cables available to each system (S-Video for the SNES, for example). I still play them on occasion. Virtual Console and whatnot is all well and good, but nothing matches the feeling of clunking one of those cartridges into an old Nintendo and powering it up.
Ack, I typed a whole comment while logged in, then all of a sudden I was logged out!
Short version: I still have my Ps1, ps2, X360 and Wii. I will put the ps1 and ps2 into storage for when my son is a bit older. Sold my old sega systems on ebay a few years back.
I wish the Poll had a 3rd option: “I keep the recent ones.” Because I only have room for the latest few.
I keep the games that matter, but really don’t collect anything from modern/recent consoles. That said I still fervently collect japanese Dreamcast games/accessories/promo items.
With older systems, like SFC and Neo Geo I’m happy enough with emulation, especially my Super Wildcard for SFC. I’ve got maybe 20-30 import japanese titles each for PSX, Saturn, Gamecube, MegaDrive etc as well, but I don’t particularly actively collect them now that I have most of what I want to play.
Kept them all. Still have my original c64.
Hell, if anything I’ve been acquiring old consoles recently. Since this gen, I’ve gone from having a Xbox 360, Wii, Super Nintendo, PS2, Nintendo 64 and PS3, to also having a:
Famicom
Famicom Disk System
Super Famicom
PC Engine
PC Engine CD-ROM2
Super Nintendo (American)
Sega Mega Drive
PlayStation
Mega CD
Sega Saturn
Xbox
Dreamcast
Plus a bunch of handhelds, included the Virtual Boy!
Gonna keep my current gen consoles, since I brought them new and they will be in better condition than any used console sold in the future if I decided to get rid of them now. Got rid of my GameCube when I got my Wii and I’m really regretting that.
I still have my original Playstation, though my parents got rid of my saturn, my megadrive and master system. I never had a NES or SNES (much to my chagrin), but we were a one system household back in the day. Now that I am older and buy my own consoles, I won’t get rid of my old ones. Currently in my house with my wife, between us we have. PSX, PS2, PS3, Xbox, Xbox 360, Dreamcast, Gamecube, Wii, 3DS XL, DSi, Gameboy SP.
Im wanting to pick up a megadrive, master system, NES, SNES and Saturn at some point in the future.