So in Iran people take old PlayStation consoles, refurbish them and sell them as new stock. My favorite part of this is that they do so with this incredible custom box.

I kinda love this, and if I was there? I’d buy one in a heartbeat.

To be honest, retro gaming on the PS1 is a bit 50/50 for me. Early 3D gaming before my time can be rough. But I have such a soft spot for how beautiful the console is from a design and hardware standpoint. That boxy gray box is such beauty.

I’d probably play it more than the PS5 I ended up selling!

  • lay@lemmy.zip
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    4 days ago

    Similar to how the market works here in Iraq. They package refurbished consoles with new boxes and often 3rd party controllers. A ps1 with two controllers and a usb flash drive full of random roms goes for around 50,000 IQD which is about 35$.

      • lay@lemmy.zip
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        3 days ago

        They don’t, I’ve only seen Sony consoles repackaged, basically because they are well known to most consumers. When it comes to Nintendo, they sell cheap knockoffs that come with 1000 games or something pre-installed.

  • SolidShake@lemmy.world
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    5 days ago

    For older consoles I usually stick to RPGs. Resident evil is okay once you get used to the shit controls. But final fantasys, xenogears, metal gear is good, jet moto, Gran Turismo 2…

    Great now I want a PS2

    • TheKingBee@lemmy.world
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      5 days ago

      Xenogears man, I hate that game. It put a deep hatred for random battles into my heart which killed most JRPGs for me.

      You could literally hear the CD stop and the random battles load.

      • شاهد على إبادة@lemm.ee
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        4 days ago

        Xenogears is the best game, or at least JRPG, I ever played and I played over 40 JRPGs from the 8bit era to the modern era. There might be a better JRPG out there but I haven’t played it yet.

        • TheKingBee@lemmy.world
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          4 days ago

          Story yes, game no.

          The only reason I completed it was because I wanted to see the end, but by the end I hated the game so much I can’t play the entire genre anymore without almost physical pain… The mechanics of random battle and grind cause my spirit to flag and my will to drain, now no matter how good the story of the game is I just can’t.

      • Frostbeard@lemmy.world
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        4 days ago

        I have an attention span of a 2 year old, so I never really finish games. But that one of the few to hold my attention all the way through. Even if I initially hates the movement and controls at first since I had expected a FFVII style game

  • Bizzle@lemmy.world
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    5 days ago

    PS1 was my first console, I wish I still had it. Spent my days with Crash Bandicoot and Hogs of War

    • AlpacaChariot@lemmy.world
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      5 days ago

      I’ve been playing Crash Bandicoot on an R36s recently, it’ such a nostalgic game. Amazing that you can play it on a ~£35 handheld! You can’t beat the gameplay in some of the old classics.

      • Bizzle@lemmy.world
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        5 days ago

        Hell yeah you have, nice. I looked up that thing, do you like yours? One of my kids really likes the retro games and that price is right

        • AlpacaChariot@lemmy.world
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          4 days ago

          Yeah it’s great, my daughter has been enjoying all the old games as well so i bought her one too for her birthday. It’s much easier as a parent to give her the R36s and the retro games because they are all self contained offline things unlike a lot of modern games.

          Some things I’d say to consider before buying:

          • Factor in the cost of a good quality SD card (or two, one for the system and one for ROMs) to replace the one that comes with it. There are loads of warnings in forums etc about the cards that are supplied, but even so I was shocked when the card that came with mine broke after 2 days. Get a decent card like Samsung Evo Plus 128GB.
          • It’s easier to start fresh when you get a new card than it would be to clone the one that comes with the device. Get the OS from here: https://github.com/AeolusUX/ArkOS-R3XS/releases
          • For ROMs, search archive.org for “tiny best set go”
          • AlligatorBlizzard@sh.itjust.works
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            4 days ago

            Not everything being sold as the R36s is able to use ArkOS (although I think there’s been progress on getting the other ones to use that OS), more deets here. Also, not every micro SD card works in that second slot, but yeah, just get a Samsung Evo Plus (I’m running dual Microcenter cards, don’t do this lol). There is a huge enthusiast community doing cool things with these devices, there’s a bit of tinkering to get them set up but it’s easy enough.

            Alpaca, got anything set up through PortMaster yet? I’ve been meaning to get Stardew Valley and Half-Life on there.

            • AlpacaChariot@lemmy.world
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              4 days ago

              I’ve never heard of PortMaster, I still haven’t got bored of all the tiny best set games yet!

              I think I played half life (maybe 2?) when I was a kid and it scared the crap out of me!

        • AlligatorBlizzard@sh.itjust.works
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          5 days ago

          I got one around Christmas on sale and I’m a big fan of mine, I’m replaying Crash Team Racing and Final Fantasy Tactics at the moment. They’ve got some quirks, there’s a lower powered variant floating around, definitely read through the subreddit and do a bit of research on the device. I will say that it’s awesome for what it is, but there’s places where it feels like a ~$30 gadget.

  • Sanctus@lemmy.world
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    5 days ago

    I wonder if these can be imported. If its about the aesthetic of it in a retail ready box.

    • Diplomjodler@lemmy.world
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      5 days ago

      You’d probably be breaking a lot of sanctions. And if you’re not part of the oligarchy that will have consequences.