Five Games You Must Play On Their Original Consoles

It occurred to me while playing the Dreamcast Collection for the Xbox 360 that gamers would have been better off buying an old Dreamcast and playing the titles as they were originally intended. Most old consoles – NES, Genesis, Atari 2600 – were so ubiquitous in their day that they're easy to pick up on the cheap. (You can get a complete Dreamcast with a handful of games for about $40 online – the exact price of the Dreamcast Collection title.) I believe most games should be played as they were originally intended – the same goes for movies, but George Lucas does not return my calls.

Other titles don't need the old school approach. With Nintendo's awesome Virtual Console and a plethora of retro gaming compilations and downloadable titles available, it's important to know when to take the easy way out and when to make the investment in a classic.

As such, here are the games that I believe require the investment of time and cash it takes to play them on their original consoles.


First of all, if you're reading articles on this site and you don't own an NES, you need to shape up and get one. It's essential retro tech for any gamer. As for Punch Out, this game is a monster. Not only is it a classic, but it's one of the most approachable of Nintendo's hard-core games. Easy to get into, hard to beat. It's all about memorization and timing, but it's also about the gamepad.

Punch Out uses the Start button as a third button for your power-up punch. Timing this punch just right is everything. If you go fumbling around your Wiimote looking for its substitute, you could miss your window of opportunity and get clobbered. (Punch Out also uses the Select button to increase your stamina between rounds.) You could play it on the Wii's Virtual Console, but using the Wiimote or even a classic controller is no match for the original NES gamepad. Square, simple, perfect. It's far easier to reach the Start and Select buttons on the classic pad than any other.


Sega's blue mascot has been ported onto nearly every console and handheld on the market. Most of his post-Genesis adventures are terrible. The original, however, is perfect. And it must be played on the Genesis. Every gamer should own a Genesis. They're easily found for about $25 and they're hard to kill.

Having a Genesis and no Sonic is like having a bicycle without a chain. The Genesis D-pad is much maligned, but I think it's fine for this speedy platformer. All of the buttons do the same thing: jump. Seeing a Sonic game come to life in all its glorious color on a newer console is no big deal. Watching it come to life on the 16-bit Genesis is still a revelation after all these years.