In the Year 20XX, a Blog was Created

Hello game fans and welcome to the first official post at Backward Compatible!


Our 1970s handyman special basement:
there are no winners in game rooms like this.


While woefully unoriginal, I couldn't think of a better way to tell you about who I am and what I do than with a tour of where buttons are frantically pressed and princesses are occasionally saved: my game room. (Colloquially referred to as "The Glory Hole," "Nerdatorium," and "The other place that hot chicks avoid.")

 

Once a shamefully creepy and depressing "man cave" finished in rainbow brown carpet, warped faux wood paneling, and similarly atrocious 1970s finery, we gutted the basement to make a space more appropriate for my ever-growing collection of awesomeness. And I assure you, it's pretty awesome.



And here's how she looks now.



I won't go so far as to say that construction is finished at BCHQ, since I'm always coming up with "one more thing" to cram in there (heh), but as an aging man-child with a nasty video game habit, it certainly suits my tastes better.

Aside from the electronic bits, just about everything in the room can be found at your friendly neighborhood Ikea. We went with the Besta/Framsta entertainment center. Assuming your Allen key and profanity skills are up to snuff, you should be able to build something similar in an afternoon with just minimal couples therapy to follow.

Storage space is at an absolute premium right now, which is something I hope to address soon (and document in a future blog post). As I've said many times before, the difference between hording and collecting is all in how it's displayed. And as fun as it'd be to swim Scrooge McDuck style through a room just flooded with games and systems, It'd be too difficult and shameful to share with anyone.

It doesn't look like much, but there's just shy of 400 games and 25 consoles hidden in, on, and around the various shelves, cubbies, and cabinets throughout the space. My collection ranges from the Magnavox Odyssey II and Atari 7800 all the way through the current generation of consoles and handhelds.

While I have absolutely zero interest in owning games and consoles that I have no desire to play, there's still plenty of great stuff out there that I do intend to own eventually. Currently on my hot list is to get a nice Sega Saturn collection going and to flesh out my selection of Neo Geo AES games, but taking advantage of the best deals out there requires a certain amount of flexibility--I'll buy just about anything if the price is right.



Virtual Boy and N64: Ultimate Bookends



Believe it or not, most of this stuff is the result of shady Craigslist deals, garage sale finds, and epic scores at the local thrift stores. Stay tuned for weekly pickup posts, with game and console reviews to follow once I get a video camera and capture device up and running. Until then, I have plenty of topics to go on about, that'll (hopefully) keep all of us entertained.

I hope you enjoyed the room tour and little sneak peek of things to come here at Backward Compatible. Check back on Tuesday for another post!