Good Deal Games - Classic Videogame Games ARTICLE

ReCap '99 by Michael Thomasson

A week ago, if anyone had asked me, I would have told them that CinciClassic was about games. Sure, There were thousands of rare cartridges, devices, peripherals, consoles, adapters, collectable - literally a grand multitude of miscellaneous hardware and software from the the Golden days of electronic console gaming. Objects to represent just about every niche of gaming history, from the common to the most obscure. Devices new even to the most experienced enthusiest. Many times I witnessed the awe of discovery pertaining to items decades old. But all of this, as fantastic as it was, is nothing more than stacks (and stacks) of plastics and wires, componants and integrated circuits, buttons and switches.

What was CinciClassic really about? It was about Matt Gauslin taking hours of his life to create the ultimate Decathlon joystick from Radio Shack parts; Twelve hands working together to repair a bum wheel on the Hero Jr. Robot, and watching it roll for the first time, chase a beam of light, or read poetry; Dick Redwine finally completing his Vectrex collection, and my own personal tears as I handed over the only 3D Imager I've ever seen; Mike St. Clair displaying long cancelled products (Jag Protector & SkyHammer) finally coming to fruition through the labor of Carl Forhan's dedication; Hours and hours of number crunching to bring new code to classic consoles without the aid of long lost programming manuals by hobbyists. The trading, the swapping, the bartering, the sharing, the showing, the explaining, the learning -- CinciClassic was about interaction. Interaction, not with machines, but with people. People that appreciate the machines.