I'm looking at an NES top loader with 7 games for $150 on my local craigslist. I feel like I'm crazy for wanting to get this. I've never been much of a retro game person. . .but the thought of a top loader is pretty cool, and it's in really good condition. But I know if I get this then I'll want to get a SNES-since I completely missed that console and never experienced (what are considered) the best entries in a lot of Nintendo's flagship franchises. Then I saw a Dreamcast for $30 (which I also missed). . .

Should I fall down this rabbit-hole? I have a decent amount of games from this year I still want to buy and play. But, something about going back and learning about the roots of console gaming pikes my interest.

If you have the money, and aren't gonna bankrupt yourself, and it will bring you happiness then why not?

If you haven't got the cash/space for a ton of consoles, maybe look at emulation?

Personally, I'd start SNES in your case. NES systems can be a little finicky to get working, and if you haven't touched a SNES before, there's a lot of great games you can start with there. Also, it'd depend on the 7 games because you can pick up a classic nes for 40 bux or so, and that new nes hdmi console will be out in Nov for 60. That price is a wee bit high unless they're tossing in some heat.

In other words, start SNES then branch out from there. Just note some of the huge and expensive snes games have been re-released on gba, vc, and ds over the years too (which will save you some cash).

Dream cast has some good stuff, but it's a little more centralized and the real good games are pricey.

I just learned about the top loading NES a few days ago. I've never seen it IRL. I don't think it came out in Europe.

I'd just get that mini NES that Nintendo is putting out. It has most of the games you would want to play in a nice format with HDMI. But having retro systems can be cool but they don't always work great. I got a used NES in 1994 and even then it had a lot of problems with the buttons on the controllers barely working and I've not heard of anyone with a NES even back in the 90's let alone now that worked always. You had to put the cartridge in and out, hit restart 10 times, blow on the cartridge (yes I know now that it did nothing) and say a prayer to make games work. It felt like the NES was not designed to last more than a few years. Compare that to my Dreamcast that still works. All I had to do was open it up and clean some contacts that had oxidized a few years ago.

As a top-loading NES owner, I can say it is the most reliable version of the official hardware. No blinking grey screens, no bullshit. It just works. The only disadvantage over the original is no separate audio/video out jacks; you're stuck with an RF adapter, but if that makes no difference to you then yes, by all means, pick up that console. Depending on which 7 games they're including, it would be a good buy.

Depends on the games. $150 sounds a bit steep, but I don't really know.

@tanookisuit: @madman356647:My bad it's 9 games. Here are the 9:

Super Mario Bros 1

Super Mario Brothers 3

Excitebike

Tecmo Bowl (my favorite)

Bayou Billy

Wall Street Kid

Sky Shark

Batman

@dagas: no one has probably looked at this thread in 2 years, but i have a top loader that still works. original controllers and everything. I don't know if mine is a special case or what but it's never had issues. I actually played through Mario Bros 3 the other day without an issue. If you keep it in a place where it's not gonna get dropped or spilled on or anything, they can last pretty much forever. As long as you get the power and video cables with it (kinda a pain in the ass to get the power cable, at least) I'd go for it.