What Next?

I’m in a contemplative mood today, and I’ve been thinking about my collection. Specifically I have been thinking about what I want to get next. Here are my thoughts.

Computers

At this point I am really not going out of my way to buy any more computers with two exceptions. If someone offers me a system, obviously I will contemplate it seriously. I’m just not going to go and hunt down systems any more. No more eBay searches. No more trawling through message boards.

The two exceptions are:

• The new Microbee – Ewan at Microbee Technologies is slaving away on a new “Premium Plus” Microbee. I want one. I just hope I can afford one at the time :-D. I may go into debt to get one.
• A Sinclair Spectrum 128k clone – I really enjoyed building the Omega MSX2, and another “kit” computer sounds awesome fun. The Harlequin 128K would fit the bill, but I am also looking further afield at more exotic versions of the Spectrum 128k.

Consoles

At this stage, I want three more consoles. There’s a fourth I will add to the list as a “It’d be nice to have” but I’m not as desperate for that as for the other three. Other consoles I would probably accept, but I’ve got most of the ones I am desperate to play.

• A Super Nintendo Entertainment System – It’s a classic. An icon of its time, and has a library full of games I want to play, and to play again. Super Mario RPG FTW.
• A PC Engine – The littlest console that could! The powerhouse from Japan. The coolest console I never got to play. I remember seeing reviews of these in computer gaming mags at the time it came out. The performance was mindblowing. Do want!
• The Atari 7800 – The best of both worlds. Able to play both Atari 2600 games and Atari 7800 games. It scratches my Atari itch. Also the controllers are not bad.
• (the nice to have) Sony Dreamcast – I nearly got one of these. They have a decent library of games and are easy to mod.

Addons and Upgrades

There are a lot of these. Even after the “year of the peripheral”, there are more to get. Mostly around making my existing systems easier / more fun to use.

• Hummingboard for the Apple II – Sound at last for the old beeping beast.
• “Everdrives” for the consoles – A way of playing the games I want to play, when I want to play them. NES, SNES, PC Engine, Atari 7800. to name a few
• An “All in One” cart for the MSX – There’s a variety of these. Most emulate cartridges, add more RAM and add additional sound capabilities.
• A HDD solution for the Atari STs – ACSI2STM would probably fit the bill.
• A case for the A1200 – Sigh. I need to revise my cutting file for this and get off my bum and actually make it.