Will there ever be a TG16 price crash?

[Mathius]

So, are CD longboxes and 3DO boxes the same?  I had a few 3DO boxes and eventually put them somewhere and now they're in a box in my parents' attic if they still exist at all.  Man, those things were terrible.

Most 3DO long boxes were their own thing. Kinda a mesh between "true" PS1 longboxes and early two-piece cardboard PC boxes. Other one-piece 3DO boxes resembled those of early music CD packaging and were far less durable. Both were way too tall.

[StarDust4Ever]

Ah, really. I don't have any SEGA PAL games anymore.
Isn't there anything good about PAL games (besides nostalgia for some) often most expensive, crippled with 50hz/bars and crappy cases.

Most SMS games were not region dependent, and SMS was much more successful in Europe because Nintendo couldn't strongarm developers to not produce games for it there unlike in the US. A few PAL games that did too much processing in the overscan region or had otehr timing issues may have had artifacts, but for the majority of games, the PAL SMS games ran stock on NTSC hardware. Sonic infamously had a NTSC specific region sticker on the box.

Sega had lockouts with Megadrive/Genesis, but it was game optional. My PAL Psycho Pinball and Micro Machines II carts run fine on my US Genesis. Then the Turbografx never really made it out of US/Japan, so the relatively few test market PAL consoles are just NTSC hardware with gimped 50Hz video.

NES is in a similar situation with many games running on stock NES hardware with the region chip disabled, and in rare instances wher the PAL games were optimized, run too fast and at wrong pitch on NTSC hardware, or slow/flat on PAL hardware. SNES and N64 also had lockout chips and physical tabs as well, which can be broken on a US SNES to support Super Famicom carts but not the like-shaped PAL carts. Nintendo started adding microcode to most SNES games released after 1992 to prevent pass-through converters from playing out of region carts on PAL SNES systems.

Atari 2600 used incompatible color pallets between PAL and NTSC systems and the 50Hz refresh rates made most NTSC TVs roll or at least crop the bottom. 7800 was completely incompatible across regions.

[HuMan]

My favorite is Panzer Dragoon Saga, which has three of its four CDs in paper envelopes banging around in the box because that giant ass case can't hold more than 1CD, despite being twice as big as a standard 4xCD audio CD case (which is what the JP version came in).

There are some 2 CD Saturn games that came with a special disc tray that slots in above the main tray, for what it's worth.

[Winniez]

Ah, I'm not that familiar with SEGA games optimization. I think most early Mega Drive PAL games were just slowed down while later had their game speed and music adjusted.

Suprisingly there are more PAL optimized NES games than SNES games. Most of the NES games had atleast their music optimized, meaning that when played on NTSC hardware the gameplay is at normal speed but music too fast. But there are also completely unoptimized games like the first Castlevania. The actual PAL hardware was underclocked.
There are way more unoptimized SNES games, which in theory is a good thing since you are able to play them as intended with other hardware/modding. To my knowledge N64 games were often optimized, atleast the major games. And Rare being European helped aswell. With N64 its especially bad since framerates were often just about bearable to begin with.

In Europe it was a fairly common mod to install 50/60hz- and regioncode switches on SNES consoles.

[xelement5x]

My favorite is Panzer Dragoon Saga, which has three of its four CDs in paper envelopes banging around in the box because that giant ass case can't hold more than 1CD, despite being twice as big as a standard 4xCD audio CD case (which is what the JP version came in).

There are some 2 CD Saturn games that came with a special disc tray that slots in above the main tray, for what it's worth.

SegaCD games as well.  Fahrenheit, Double Switch, and Ground Zero Texas are good examples to look at.

[SignOfZeta]

So, are CD longboxes and 3DO boxes the same?  I had a few 3DO boxes and eventually put them somewhere and now they're in a box in my parents' attic if they still exist at all.  Man, those things were terrible.

You might be right about that. I've sorta forgotten most of what I know about 3DO but I used work at a place that rented out 3DO and I so kinda remember what may have been RIAA style CD longboxes. IIRC packaging wasn't fully standardized for 3DO.

Since games were rarely sold at record stores back 1993 and record stores had ditched their 12" shelving by then it would have been a dumb thing to do but...it is 3DO we're talking about here...

[GohanX]

3do game cases were not consistent at all. I have a bunch, all of the boxes are different.

[GohanX]

f*ck yo mama, 3do has some good shit. It's better than a PCFX at any rate.

[spenoza]

f*ck yo mama, 3do has some good shit. It's better than a PCFX at any rate.

That's like saying, "At least having my arm needlessly amputated is better than being disemboweled."

[GohanX]

Well, that is true. But you could take your one arm, get a 3do flight stick and play an awesome version of Wing Commander III.

[SignOfZeta]

f*ck yo mama, 3do has some good shit. It's better than a PCFX at any rate.

That is the lowest praise possible for a system. I'm pretty sure it's true, but it isn't saying much.

[goldenband]

Most 3DO long boxes were their own thing. Kinda a mesh between "true" PS1 longboxes and early two-piece cardboard PC boxes. Other one-piece 3DO boxes resembled those of early music CD packaging and were far less durable. Both were way too tall.

I think there were something like 4-5 different styles. One FAQ-type document lists them as:

 1 = Snap Case boxes
 2 = Clam style boxes
 3 = Long Box w/ Jewel case and inserts
 4 = Long Box w/ JC or CB holders and 1 or NO inserts
 6 = Pull off top box style

5 = Jewel cases, BTW. Also, all of the 3DO longboxes I've seen -- regardless of type -- are substantially thicker than music CD longboxes were.

Also, I like my 3DO! -- but then again, I'm fond of early 3D gaming in general. (Not the N64 so much, though, since it gives me motion sickness/simulation sickness.)

[Mathius]

^^ I love my 3DO. It was my introduction to 32-bit gaming. The first time I saw Crash and Burn at a local HH Gregg is something I'll never forget.

[StarDust4Ever]

f*ck yo mama, 3do has some good shit. It's better than a PCFX at any rate.

That is the lowest praise possible for a system. I'm pretty sure it's true, but it isn't saying much.

Yes, as is any praise that begins with "f*ck yo moma." Terms of endearment fo sho.

[HuMan]

Who cares if TG16 prices never come down? If the games are what matter, then stick with an Everdrive and a pack of CD-Rs. I had a TG16 back around 2010, this was before the Everdrive got made. There was no hope for a CD drive either, not with a TG16. The lack of affordable games made me sell the TG16.

Ever since going with a PC Engine Duo and the aforementioned Everdrive and CD-Rs, I can finally play some PCE games as intended. I also have a plain white PCE because it's badass.