The Journalix Gaming Console Controllers

If you’re a retrogamer like our Joni then you’d agree that a handy feature on some consoles is the ability to be backwards compatible – specifically the hardware. Simply being able to play your old games on your new console. That’s the perfect way to support RETROGAMING!

Xbox Controller Blue Purple

His first experience of this was when learning you could play your original PlayStation games on your brand-spanking new PlayStation 2! Some consoles go to greater effort; the most common example is the first version of the Nintendo Wii which included a full GameCube hidden inside. Just lift the flap at the top and you’d find the controller ports and memory card slots!


If there’s one thing gamers notice as they get older, it’s that the timeless systems, while altered slightly, will always win out. The biggest release of the year, Baldur’s Gate 3, is still using a digitized form of Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition, so there are very real skills you can take with you no matter what gaming era you prefer. Console compatibility is one thing, but as Arkane Atlas shows in its writings about game systems and lore, player compatibility can serve you forever.


THE GAMING CONSOLE TABLE

Original Nintendo Game Boy handheld console

But then there is also another handy feature on home consoles worth mentioning – being able to play foreign imports. Now some gamers like to modify their consoles (this was called being “chipped” in the old days) and make them do all sorts of tricks but for those of us clean-living types – who still keep the box the console came in – it’s good to know which of the major consoles released in the UK, are region free? Well looky here:

CONSOLEYEARREGIONCOMPATIBILITY
Nintendo Entertainment System1986PALNone
SEGA Master System1987PALNone
SEGA Mega Drive1988PALNone
Super Nintendo Entertainment System1992PALGame Boy, Game Boy Color (with adaptor)
Sony PlayStation 11994PALNone
SEGA Saturn1995PALNone
Nintendo 641997PALNone
Nintendo Game Boy Color1998FreeGame Boy
SEGA Dreamcast1999PALNone
Sony PlayStation 22000PALPlayStation 1
Nintendo GameCube2001PALGame Boy, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance (with adaptor)
Nintendo Game Boy Advance2001FreeGame Boy, Game Boy Color
Microsoft Xbox2002PALNone
Microsoft Xbox 3602005PALXbox
Nintendo DS2005FreeGame Boy Advance
Sony PlayStation Portable2005FreeNone
Sony PlayStation 32006FreePlayStation 1
Nintendo Wii2006PALGameCube
Nintendo 3DS2011FreeDS
Nintendo Wii U2012PALWii
Sony PlayStation Vita2012FreeNone
Microsoft Xbox One2013FreeXbox, Xbox 360
Sony PlayStation 42013FreeNone
Nintendo Switch2017FreeNone
Microsoft Xbox Series X2020FreeXbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Sony PlayStation 52020FreePlayStation 4
Nintendo Game Boy1990FreeNone
Blaze Evercade2020FreeNone
Hyper Mega! Super Pocket2023FreeEvercade

ONE MORE THING…

It is worth noting that there a number of ways to engineer (legally, and illegally) a console to play the software of another console or region either by emulation or by other means. A few worth mentioning are:

  • As a general rule, the SEGA Mega Drive can play Genesis versions of games pre-1992
  • The discs/cartridges that have been sold legally to provide cheat codes to games (a good example would be the Game Genie) also often make a console multi-region
  • Soft mods are a safer way to open up your console to emulation, the PSP in particular has been particularly good at handling this. Being handheld these days offers great flexibility as a gamer but it’s also quite simple to hook up to a laptop/PC to upload ROMs and the necessary files…
  • Google “Free McBoot”

1999 SEGA Dreamcast classic home console

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