Cart games have save batteries that you can easily replace. Discs need memory cards to save. Carts can play on any region console if it fits and can bypass lockout via Game Genie/Shark. Discs are programmed to run via region of console and you need the console to match. Ok there's Game Shark discs for those, but those can get scratched too.
This is why Disc based games have to be backed up. Carts from Atari up to Nintendo 64 still work with a little cleaning and maybe a new Backup battery. Other than that yeah they are super sturdy. I had some dingus years ago who must have had a love of disc based games, tried everything saying carts will go bad and the Eproms will go bad. Nope, only if you physically removed the Eproms and wiped them.
I love the NES cartridges because that's what I grew up with and have many priceless memories playing with friends. I DO love the Turbografx-16 cases also, love the vintage colored labels on the spine of the case, as I didn't have as a kid and finally hunted down the collection as an adult.
ah the good ol days when you found a game based on a movie you got super excited, now when you see a game based on a movie you are like oh god please no!
I love the Cartridge for sure. You can hold it and look at it and not worrying about scratching it and it not working. You can leave them on your floor in a pile and not worry about them. They look cool on display over a disc for sure
I'm 4 years younger than you, still grew up with an NES first and then SNES, but PS1 discs are pretty special to me, and are different than other consoles of the time. First off, they have black bottoms, not silver, it's cool and unique. But more importantly, so many games have beautiful, full color artwork(Sega CD, Turbo, Sega Saturn and others only allowed like 2 colors printed on the disc or something, always silver and one other color). The disc that immediately comes to mind is Pac-Man World, all the ghosts in a circle with bright colors. Plus PS1 discs have a very recognizable square PS1 logo which make them a bit easier to find in bins/thrift stores. Heck, the cases have a white NTSC box logo that I've come so accustomed to looking for, I can go to a stack of hundreds of cd cases and quickly pull out the 1 or 2 PS1 games by looking for the white NTSC logo. Oh, and of course the longbox original cases, that plastic case is my favorite case by far. Cardboard is awesome, but even protected, I find that silverfish looooove old video game boxes. They hate plastic lol. I don't think I could choose, as PS1 is as important to me as my NES is. I heavily rented games from both consoles, where I think most of my nostalgia comes from.
This video is awesome man! It brought me back to your channel after years away. Good choice pairing up with Retro Bird too. You guys are both crushing it.
I agree with you on a collectors stand point cartridge games just feel right, that nostalgic feeling you get when find one. Digital maybe the future but im forever physical.
Going all digital is the future but I am not a fan!. Here is a few reasons: Cant trade or borrow games with friends, cant use a game rental service like gamefly, you dont get the sentimental enjoyment of physically owning something, you cant resell your game after beating it and with nintendo games resale value is pretty dang good, digital involves buying a secondary storage that can be very expensive, and most importantly there would never be shows like NESPursuit if digital was the only way!
I was so ready to put on my boxing gloves and prepare for the fight. I love my PS4. It’s my favorite console but…. BUT Cartridge vs disc, 100% cartridge. Every point is on point and love that you had Retro Bird in the mix! Great video.
Been subbed to retro bird for a while great collab riff. I collect both carts and discs. I never buy a loose discs though since it's hard to display and store
i think long term shelf life would go to carts..cds end up having issues,getting scratched etc..BUT cd's offer more space typically along with better sounds..
Discs only scratch if you don’t take care of them..... The only discs that I have in my collection are used copies I bought..... The other 90% are in mint condition. Disc over cartridge any day. Much better quality with sound and graphics. The only downside is load times, but the better the hardware gets, the less of an issue that is....
We just don't feel like we can talk about it for some reason. It's time for that to change. For example, when somebody asks me what I did over the weekend I always include "staring at my cartridges" as one of the highlights.
Discs need cases. If they're used, they sometimes don't have them. Some games even require multiple discs. Final Fantasy? 3 to 4 discs. On carts? Each experience is self contained. Also carts can be stored in a shoebox.
Some disc based game systems can be good to collect as well but only if the cases are standard CD cases. Once games started showing up in DVD cases, I started looking at those games as being cheap junk. Like the DVD movies you would always see in a bargain bin.
Solid points. Enjoyed this video very much. The only counterpoint I have is….nothing hits harder (for me) than finding a GameCube game complete. Lol. Love you guys
Cartridges were built to last forever! Which is great for us vintage cart collectors I find a lot of disc games in the wild and so many of them are destroyed, I've only had one cartridge that I could not get working and it was a Spelunker for NES but I think that was a manufactured defect or just a bad motherboard. I'll be 36 in 2 months so I know exactly what you're talking about Riff cartridges for life baby!!
@@PixelGameSquad That maybe for the Genesis but not for the n64 cartridges. The n64 ones are more fragile due to their internal flash memory chips that are needed for the game to run (rip to my friend's Wrestlemania 2000). Not sure about the SNES carts tho.
I do collect both cartridge and disc based games. I prefer cartridge based games by far. I would add cartridge based games have the entire game on the cart. Especially with Xbox One/Xbox Series X where you only get a stub of the game on the disc and have to download the rest. Also, cartridge based games don't require a 30 minute plus install process or day 1 patches to make them playable. And you don't have to make room on a tiny storage drive to play a cartridge game.
Hands down Cartridge based games are so beautiful to display, and we're not even mentioning the fact that old games came with cool manuals, posters, boxart. In some ways, as things turn more digital every year, I do wish that the gaming companies would at least come out with boxes that don't feel like DVDs, or Blu-Ray, and maybe come out with bigger boxes, with real manuals, and cool bonuses. Since 90% of games can anyways be bought digitally and the number is going up every day. At least if we buy the physical disc, it would come with a premium collector feel to it and a definite display value. I'd definitely be willing to pay for that premium, even though I'll probably end up playing the videogame digitally simply for convenience.
Fan of Retro Bird here, great video, easy sub for me. For me the biggest difference is feel, like you've mentionned -- putting a disc in feels negligeable, putting a cartridge in makes me feel like Geordie Laforge installing a new system into the Enterprise lol kudos for the cameos from 2 of my favorite gen 6 hidden gems, Raze's Hell and Mean Girls!
Actually, cartridges tend to rot much faster, the reason is because inside the cartridge is a so called condensator or a battery, each part will eventually break down and the battery will leak acid on the board. Back when i used to buy games i always had issues with the N64 cartridges, it was always the case with the connectors and the gold got rotted, or snes games which had a battery inside, a example is super metroid, 5 copies that i saw always had a dead battery. My suggestion to all people who are thinking into getting in this hobby is, buy a multicart, because sooner or later yoi will end up with worhless plastic which you cannot sell, and whats worse as the generation of new people is coming and going NO ONE will be interested in old school games, well its hard to sell these games today imagine selling them later.
Loose carts and manuals plus Custom Game Cases for every game and you have an epic collection that is protected and looks beautiful! I was never a fan of the cardboard fragile cases anyway so for me it's a win-win, plus it saves you a lot of money.
Can't really say this about the original nes. So from top loader nes to even 32x there always has been something to seeing the cartridge you are playing sticking out of the system. Maybe it's just me.
Another point is just traveling/packing/moving the games. I can pack those suckers lose in my bag and I'm confident they'll come out okay. Even in a case, I feel like I have to be aware of outside pressure because those discs will snap. I tend to collect my cartridges loose and just throw them in my case. With discs, I feel like I have to buy them with a case because I, 1. Don't have a case for loose discs and 2. Afraid that they're gonna get scratched easily. Plus, as Retrobird said, I just like to stare at my stuff sometimes. I can't do that (comfortably) with just a disc.
As someone who grew up in the early 2000s to the mid 2010s, I do like cartridge games, but I only have nostalgia for consoles like the DS, which is cartridge based, but the cartridges are so small that the whole "they look better on their own than discs", which I think is the best argument for cartridge games, doesn't really go for it, I didn't really grow up that much with video games though, I mainly collect the games that I always wanted but never managed to get, so things like PS3, Wii or Gamecube games are much more fun to me than for example an NES game. Cartridge games are much more expensive, even loose, so even the consoles I do want to collect for, I can't afford! The only cartridge based games I own that aren't DS, 3DS or Switch games are GBA games. I also like to collect games that I just want to play, and although I definitely do think retro games have value, and I think pixel art is beautiful, a PS2 or Gamecube game feels much more appealing to me than a NES game. In my opinion, a CIB disc based game is equally as good to both hold and display as a loose cartridge game.
if i was a console maker for a gaming industry. i definitely want to bring back the cartridge with all the upgrades, i grew up with discs and dont own any catridge games, but they look better, appear to function better. imagine them to have all the modern standards and the cases you can add more. I've said to other channels we need a new game console for the old school players and new games for them tat don't force message you. you know what, I'm doing it. I've already made a game concept and do a console concept as well.
Father's Day post: Before having kids, I was fine with having discs in the house. After kids... for my own sanity's sake, and for the love of my kids, I haven't bought a new disc game in the last 5 years. It's all cartridges and digital downloads.
Only times I ever went really heavy on Disk media was during generation close outs. End of Gamecube, PS2 and Xbox I was going wild buying cheap new or like new games because the easiest way to get a good quality disk was the be the original or one of the earliest owners. Did the similiar with Wii U and Wii games too when they were still on store shelves.
It’s pretty rare for me to find a disc game without at least it’s case. While on the other hand I almost never see a cartridges box with the cartridges they’re always loose. Me personally I don’t think the decision is as clear cut as this video makes it out to be but that’s just my opinion. And if we were to add the games themselves into the discussion I don’t think it would even be close, I think the disc based games would win.
For those same reasons I only own and want cartridge-based systems. I should add that, for me, cartridges are synonymous with videogames themselves. Discs can be movies or music as well as videogames, but cartridges can only be videogames.
I agree with all these points. One big downside of cartridges though are the batteries. I have so many cartridges with batteries that will need changing now or in the near future that it will probably take me literal days to change them all. I just don’t have the enthusiasm for it. I’m happy if the batteries themselves go dead, but my worry is that they leak and damage the cartridge.
I enjoy my disc based games, having any NES game in box is awesome. Sega Genesis games definitely have the best cases. Having original long boxes for PlayStation one games, Sega Saturn and Dreamcast games in the long case . But you’re definitely on point with the ability to display games goes to Cartridges.
Optical disc media storage formats for games are way better than ROM cartridges because optical disc media formats can hold way more data capacity than ROM cartridges will ever have. Sony PS1 CD-ROM: 700 MB Sony PS2: DVD: 8,500 MB vs Nintendo N64 ROM cartridge: 64 MB
I am a disc game collector I agree on this cartridge definitely have the edge over disc. A loose disc is pretty much useless to collector. GameStop hope you take some serious note if you want to stay in business.
I think we're the same age Riff, or close. I grew up in the 80s, got the NES when it released, had a SNES, GB, cousins had a Genesis. But PS1 had more if an impact on me in the 90s when I was old enough to understand and enjoy RPGs so for that reason I have to go with Discs. I know you said you won't factor in the content on the discs/carts but RB did so :p
I hadn't given it much thought but most of my collecting is cartridge vs disc-based. Probably because that is what I grew up with along with old computer disks but I have never felt the desire to pick up a bunch of C64 or old PC disks. Now I am trying to figure that one out. GG on the video and getting Retro Bird on.
I am in the middle, I like cartridges because of load time and they are more reliable but I like disc because they can store more space. Game consoles like the Nintendo 64 ended up with missing levels and music because of cartridges but has better load time
Great topic for discussion. The simple fact that cartridges were really made to last and hold up so well is the sole selling point to me. Once we start seeing 40 year old discs that have run the circuit of used shops let's see just how they're holding up.
I like collecting GameCube games because the size of the disc makes it almost impossible to reproduce I dont have to worry about whether the game is fake or not same can be said for most disc based games cartridge games are a different story entirely they can easily be made into a reproduction cart or the game boxes themselves are not original and its become very hard to distinguish between the two as people have become very good at it.
Hi ! Thank you for putting the subtitles it helps me a lot because I am French so with that I understand a lot more !! a nice day and always good interesting videos.
im about to get an N64 for my birthday, which arguably is the console that embodies this idea that cartriges are better, as Nintendo stuck with them for just one more console generation. And even then they didnt commit to full on disks till the wii. 1:18 im a 19 (almost 20) year old dude who also grew up playing videogames. Allthough, I mostly grew up playing them online, and what I did play of console, it was the wii and xbox 360. So... disks. The games that stuck with me are the ones I never even had a physical copy of. Minecraft pretty much was my childhood. But if any console games where to stand out, there's of course Mario Galaxy, and Lego Star Wars. But in general I find myself more remembering the games I got on the DS and 3DS, like Kirby Squeak Squad, or Kirby Mass Attack, or Kirby Planet Robobot (im a bit of a Kirby fan), and Pokemon, mostly Pokemon White, and Pokemon Black 2. So its not even really just the era its that I like cartriges more. 3:55 twice. Once, easy fix, the casing lost a peg and so the board wouldnt go in. I literally hot glued a toothpick in there and it worked perfectly. The second time, well it was a botched repro job, but I was able to sermise the donor cart was the jungle book. I was really hoping the game would be that one funny lion king bootleg, but alas I could not get the thing to work no matter how hard I tried, the cartdrige was fried when I bought it. 5:23 my wii back when I was a kid (as I mentioned) had broken at some point. I cant remeber if it feel, or if it just pooped out from not being used or stored properly, but the thing completely broke at one point. I think that early gaming experience is part of why I prefer cartriges. My DS never gave out on me, nor did my 3DS. 8:45 this is defenitely part of why im collecting and playing games on real hardware nowadays rather than just emulating. Not only does emulating and then taking the signal from HDMI to RF make the visual look worse, but I can display the cartriges I buy. And they look really cool. 12:06 okay so the *only* time ive been getting disks recently is for the wii and the gamecube.... but not necessarily just for the game, but in this case.... I actually wanted the case. See my local retro game store sometimes gets loose disks. They obviously cant just put them on the shelf, it would get scrated, so what they do is they draw their own custom covers. Its just such a nice little thing you wouldnt find online or something like that. So if I see a drawn on case, I buy it. Anyway I dont think this video necessarilly adressed both sides of the issue. The fact is that disks can handle more space, whereas cartriges are quite limited. Even know with the switch we can see that, as half the game becomes a download. But I guess this was from moreso a collectors perspective, so I guess storage space doesnt matter. Though if it doesnt matter, then you cant give cartriges their "faster load time" point imo.
1) Rinry! 2) Both have their upsides and downsides, which leads me to... 3) Sony was on to something with UMD. Disc capacity with cartridge-like casing? Yes, please! They weren't perfect, but I feel like it's something that should have been built on. 4) Unfortunately, that didn't get to happen, thanks to the biggest threat to disc and cartridge alike: digital. 5) It's kind of funny that you're talking down on discs in front of all that lovely Xbox signage. XD
I have to mention ultimate edition/goty discs for things like the 360/ps3. Getting games self contained games with all the dlc packs is pretty great and my preferred game collectible.
some snes games are failing, like earthbound has a chip that can fail inside it and you cant finish the game, similarly with donkey kong. The game will still work but some sort of piracy protection chip/circuit fails. I think maybe in another 5-10 yrs we might see some carts fail. Now if they made cartridges like nes/snes/genesis today they wouldnt last as near as long cause they use super cheap components now a days AKA planned or artificial obsolesence.
they are already failing ive had a copy of yo! noid, yoshi's cookie, athena, darkwing duck, mercs, castlevana bloodlines not work and that was after cleaning them using different methods and consoles. and this was like 3 years ago too.
I actually think it's a draw between discs/cartridges. Cartridges have some downsides you didn't get into. Let me give you a few counterpoints. 1. It is WAY easier to preserve a complete in box PS1 game than a complete NES game. A PS1 game in the case it came in (much easier to get) that is not scratched up will never need a Qtip and alcohol EVER. But just about every NES game, when left alone for a while, will need the pins cleaned. I have PS1 and Sega CD games I bought in the 90s that are pristine and I have never once had to do anything to them except make sure they stayed in their cases. 2. Disc based complete in box games are generally in plastic, making them much more protected when you find them in decent shape and add them to the collection. It is very easy to mess up a folding tab or something on a NES/SNES/N64/etc. box 3. No disc based game has an internal battery that can fail or leak. While this can be fixed, it requires you to open up the cartridge and possibly even solder. 4. The reason FF7 was on disc was because you needed the storage. They barely got RE2 on N64 on a cartridge, and it took significant engineering to achieve a port. Plus, discs allowed the games of that era to be just longer, as well as CD quality audio which made some Sega CD ports of cartridge based equivalents much better in some cases. 5. A disc based game can be often easily copied if you want a backup copy. 6. Jewel cases are easily replaceable. NES boxes are not replaceable. 7. A scratched disc can often be buffed out. A cracked board or dead chip is much more challenging to deal with, and can compromise the fixed product. 8. Some disc based games can be put in a CD player and you can listen to the soundtrack of the game (just some though). 9. Disc based games also introduced a lot of these collector's set type games. If you look at the Working Designs PS1 games, or PS2 box sets, or Odama, or other atypical packaging for games, I feel like you only get that stuff from systems that are disc based in the mid 90s or so. 10. While disc based games may be more prone to scratches, cartridge based games are more prone to label and water damage, or the dreaded sticker on the label. Along with that, hard to find cartridge based games are bootlegged much more often. 11. In 2021, if you want to go game hunting, you are more likely to have success and fun if you are open to picking up disc based things. They just made more of them and there is more variety. This was a lot more than I thought I would say when I started this comment, but I guess my point is as a collector over the years I have shifted to having a much greater appreciation for disc based games and while we are about the same age and I used to feel as you did about cartridges vs. discs, my thinking has changed over time. It's a draw to me between discs and carts. I like them both quite a bit.
“Try to change your mind?” Let’s see… Cartridges are completely finished games with virtually zero load times, are far more durable, and don’t suffer from scuffing/scratches or disc rot…. No thanks, I’m not even gonna try.
I unfortunately haven’t been as lucky as you when it comes to cartridges always working. I’ve bought an NES game and a Game Boy Color game that would not boot up no matter how much I cleaned the contact points. Thankfully both of them were cheap but yeah. They don’t always work.
Thank you for having me on! Really fun video to work on :)
hi
@@therantinggamer7273 Hi!
@@RetroBirdGaming love ur vids
I watch all videos from both your channels. Glad to see the team-up!
Loved your commentary and story about the Dreamcast waking your parents up LOL
Cartridges are SOUGHT while Discs ROT!
oh boy hahha
Amen
Cartridges are worth buyin' while discs are dyin'
@@PixelGameSquadIn 2024 my answer is yes. No disc rot , no load times, carts can now do what cd do
My copy of Pokémon emerald has been accidentally left in my pockets when I put my pants to wash so many times and that damn thing still works
Cartridge games aren’t as prone to disk rot.
They are not prone to it at all! 😂😂😂
@@bladedreviews well yeah lol, you get what I meant 😂
Cart games have save batteries that you can easily replace. Discs need memory cards to save. Carts can play on any region console if it fits and can bypass lockout via Game Genie/Shark. Discs are programmed to run via region of console and you need the console to match. Ok there's Game Shark discs for those, but those can get scratched too.
This is why Disc based games have to be backed up. Carts from Atari up to Nintendo 64 still work with a little cleaning and maybe a new Backup battery. Other than that yeah they are super sturdy. I had some dingus years ago who must have had a love of disc based games, tried everything saying carts will go bad and the Eproms will go bad. Nope, only if you physically removed the Eproms and wiped them.
He's The Retro Bird and he's talkin' talking about video games!
Great colab! Glad to see you hanging with the Retro Bird!
I love the NES cartridges because that's what I grew up with and have many priceless memories playing with friends. I DO love the Turbografx-16 cases also, love the vintage colored labels on the spine of the case, as I didn't have as a kid and finally hunted down the collection as an adult.
So happy to see retro bird get the attention he deserves! Great video everyone
ah the good ol days when you found a game based on a movie you got super excited, now when you see a game based on a movie you are like oh god please no!
Yeah...... and now they make movies based of games and they suck too.
I love the Cartridge for sure. You can hold it and look at it and not worrying about scratching it and it not working. You can leave them on your floor in a pile and not worry about them. They look cool on display over a disc for sure
I'm 4 years younger than you, still grew up with an NES first and then SNES, but PS1 discs are pretty special to me, and are different than other consoles of the time.
First off, they have black bottoms, not silver, it's cool and unique. But more importantly, so many games have beautiful, full color artwork(Sega CD, Turbo, Sega Saturn and others only allowed like 2 colors printed on the disc or something, always silver and one other color). The disc that immediately comes to mind is Pac-Man World, all the ghosts in a circle with bright colors. Plus PS1 discs have a very recognizable square PS1 logo which make them a bit easier to find in bins/thrift stores. Heck, the cases have a white NTSC box logo that I've come so accustomed to looking for, I can go to a stack of hundreds of cd cases and quickly pull out the 1 or 2 PS1 games by looking for the white NTSC logo.
Oh, and of course the longbox original cases, that plastic case is my favorite case by far. Cardboard is awesome, but even protected, I find that silverfish looooove old video game boxes. They hate plastic lol. I don't think I could choose, as PS1 is as important to me as my NES is. I heavily rented games from both consoles, where I think most of my nostalgia comes from.
Damn right they are. No laser to burn out. No fragile disc to get scratched.
That stare 🤣🤣🤣.
This video is awesome man! It brought me back to your channel after years away. Good choice pairing up with Retro Bird too. You guys are both crushing it.
Happy to see Retrobird!!!! //
He’s the Retro Bird, yeah! And he’s talking, talking about VIDEO GAMES!!
Whenever Retro Bird has Mean Girls hiding in his disc collection....
It gets me every time
I agree with you on a collectors stand point cartridge games just feel right, that nostalgic feeling you get when find one. Digital maybe the future but im forever physical.
Cartridge > disc
We gotta get you in a video 🔥
Heyyy, he's back! I didn't know this 'til now. Good to see.
Going all digital is the future but I am not a fan!. Here is a few reasons: Cant trade or borrow games with friends, cant use a game rental service like gamefly, you dont get the sentimental enjoyment of physically owning something, you cant resell your game after beating it and with nintendo games resale value is pretty dang good, digital involves buying a secondary storage that can be very expensive, and most importantly there would never be shows like NESPursuit if digital was the only way!
You could have ended this video in 10 seconds. Cart based are better than disc based. The end
I was so ready to put on my boxing gloves and prepare for the fight. I love my PS4. It’s my favorite console but….
BUT
Cartridge vs disc, 100% cartridge. Every point is on point and love that you had Retro Bird in the mix!
Great video.
Realistically the ps4 discs are more akin to a download key anyway, with patches twice the size of the disc memory not uncommon.
Ps4 can't even play cd disc's sony invented lol
Wow, I had no idea my two favorite RUclips channels have already collaborated together! Awesome work!
Thanks so much!
It’s the retro bird! Yeah! And he’s talking! Talking about video games! Oh yeah!
Ohhhh babay!
Been subbed to retro bird for a while great collab riff. I collect both carts and discs. I never buy a loose discs though since it's hard to display and store
You two need to do more vids together... Retro B & Pixel GS...:-)
i think long term shelf life would go to carts..cds end up having issues,getting scratched etc..BUT cd's offer more space typically along with better sounds..
Sure, that's one of the reasons the N64 lost to the PlayStation, but in the long term N64 games are more desirable than PS1 discs.
Discs only scratch if you don’t take care of them..... The only discs that I have in my collection are used copies I bought..... The other 90% are in mint condition. Disc over cartridge any day. Much better quality with sound and graphics. The only downside is load times, but the better the hardware gets, the less of an issue that is....
@@AJ72281 i can totally agree..
@danielespeziari5545 resident evil 2 n64 sounds as good as ps1 version and its 1 cart not 2 cds lol
OMG I thought I was the only one who stares at their game collection... O.o
Hahahah
We just don't feel like we can talk about it for some reason. It's time for that to change. For example, when somebody asks me what I did over the weekend I always include "staring at my cartridges" as one of the highlights.
Discs need cases. If they're used, they sometimes don't have them. Some games even require multiple discs. Final Fantasy? 3 to 4 discs. On carts? Each experience is self contained. Also carts can be stored in a shoebox.
Yess! Retro Bird getting some love!
Some disc based game systems can be good to collect as well but only if the cases are standard CD cases. Once games started showing up in DVD cases, I started looking at those games as being cheap junk. Like the DVD movies you would always see in a bargain bin.
Wave Race 64 was on a cartridge. Therefore cartridges win.
another great video retro bird jut got a new subscriber
Been watching for over 2 years now. Absolutely love the videos. So much nostalgia. Keep up the good work.
Solid points. Enjoyed this video very much. The only counterpoint I have is….nothing hits harder (for me) than finding a GameCube game complete. Lol. Love you guys
Disc games have music that has to reset because the tracks are either redbook or Mp3. Cartridge music loops properly.
Emulation and computer files are the absolute best way to play games and preserve them.
Cartridges were built to last forever! Which is great for us vintage cart collectors I find a lot of disc games in the wild and so many of them are destroyed, I've only had one cartridge that I could not get working and it was a Spelunker for NES but I think that was a manufactured defect or just a bad motherboard. I'll be 36 in 2 months so I know exactly what you're talking about Riff cartridges for life baby!!
Cartridges: I am undestructable!
Water: Allow me introduce myself
CD rots in laughter while being thrown as a frisbee
Haha! Although that video I showed "RinryGameGame" she boiled her carts for like 10 minutes each and they still worked 🤟
@@PixelGameSquad That maybe for the Genesis but not for the n64 cartridges. The n64 ones are more fragile due to their internal flash memory chips that are needed for the game to run (rip to my friend's Wrestlemania 2000). Not sure about the SNES carts tho.
*Insert Mr Incredible games are games meme*
I do collect both cartridge and disc based games. I prefer cartridge based games by far. I would add cartridge based games have the entire game on the cart. Especially with Xbox One/Xbox Series X where you only get a stub of the game on the disc and have to download the rest. Also, cartridge based games don't require a 30 minute plus install process or day 1 patches to make them playable. And you don't have to make room on a tiny storage drive to play a cartridge game.
Discs are only used to download the game onto a console and as DRM, cartridges are still being used to store and run the games
Hands down Cartridge based games are so beautiful to display, and we're not even mentioning the fact that old games came with cool manuals, posters, boxart. In some ways, as things turn more digital every year, I do wish that the gaming companies would at least come out with boxes that don't feel like DVDs, or Blu-Ray, and maybe come out with bigger boxes, with real manuals, and cool bonuses. Since 90% of games can anyways be bought digitally and the number is going up every day. At least if we buy the physical disc, it would come with a premium collector feel to it and a definite display value. I'd definitely be willing to pay for that premium, even though I'll probably end up playing the videogame digitally simply for convenience.
Fan of Retro Bird here, great video, easy sub for me. For me the biggest difference is feel, like you've mentionned -- putting a disc in feels negligeable, putting a cartridge in makes me feel like Geordie Laforge installing a new system into the Enterprise lol kudos for the cameos from 2 of my favorite gen 6 hidden gems, Raze's Hell and Mean Girls!
Yesssss!! Dude almost nobody ever talks about Razes Hell!!!
Theres only one problem a huge amount of the best games there is are on disc, hopefully the ones we get have been in room temp. most of their lives
discs get scratched, more prone to humidity and bitrot.
8:40 you guys gag too when you see Craiglist sellers displaying disc-based games loosely out on the floor?
Or large spindles
Yes hahaha
Carts for life 🙌
Actually, cartridges tend to rot much faster, the reason is because inside the cartridge is a so called condensator or a battery, each part will eventually break down and the battery will leak acid on the board.
Back when i used to buy games i always had issues with the N64 cartridges, it was always the case with the connectors and the gold got rotted, or snes games which had a battery inside, a example is super metroid, 5 copies that i saw always had a dead battery.
My suggestion to all people who are thinking into getting in this hobby is, buy a multicart, because sooner or later yoi will end up with worhless plastic which you cannot sell, and whats worse as the generation of new people is coming and going NO ONE will be interested in old school games, well its hard to sell these games today imagine selling them later.
Loose carts and manuals plus Custom Game Cases for every game and you have an epic collection that is protected and looks beautiful! I was never a fan of the cardboard fragile cases anyway so for me it's a win-win, plus it saves you a lot of money.
Can't really say this about the original nes. So from top loader nes to even 32x there always has been something to seeing the cartridge you are playing sticking out of the system. Maybe it's just me.
Retro Bird is one of my faves. Looking forward to watching this!
Awesome collab, I’ll definitely check out more of your channel!
Another point is just traveling/packing/moving the games. I can pack those suckers lose in my bag and I'm confident they'll come out okay. Even in a case, I feel like I have to be aware of outside pressure because those discs will snap.
I tend to collect my cartridges loose and just throw them in my case. With discs, I feel like I have to buy them with a case because I, 1. Don't have a case for loose discs and 2. Afraid that they're gonna get scratched easily. Plus, as Retrobird said, I just like to stare at my stuff sometimes. I can't do that (comfortably) with just a disc.
As someone who grew up in the early 2000s to the mid 2010s, I do like cartridge games, but I only have nostalgia for consoles like the DS, which is cartridge based, but the cartridges are so small that the whole "they look better on their own than discs", which I think is the best argument for cartridge games, doesn't really go for it, I didn't really grow up that much with video games though, I mainly collect the games that I always wanted but never managed to get, so things like PS3, Wii or Gamecube games are much more fun to me than for example an NES game. Cartridge games are much more expensive, even loose, so even the consoles I do want to collect for, I can't afford! The only cartridge based games I own that aren't DS, 3DS or Switch games are GBA games. I also like to collect games that I just want to play, and although I definitely do think retro games have value, and I think pixel art is beautiful, a PS2 or Gamecube game feels much more appealing to me than a NES game. In my opinion, a CIB disc based game is equally as good to both hold and display as a loose cartridge game.
Great video. Loved it.
In 2024 my answer is yes. No disc rot no load times carts can now do what cd do
if i was a console maker for a gaming industry. i definitely want to bring back the cartridge with all the upgrades, i grew up with discs and dont own any catridge games, but they look better, appear to function better. imagine them to have all the modern standards and the cases you can add more. I've said to other channels we need a new game console for the old school players and new games for them tat don't force message you. you know what, I'm doing it. I've already made a game concept and do a console concept as well.
I am incredibly happy Nintendo went back to cartridge's with the Switch, in terms of home consoles, obviously they never left on the handheld side
Father's Day post:
Before having kids, I was fine with having discs in the house.
After kids... for my own sanity's sake, and for the love of my kids, I haven't bought a new disc game in the last 5 years. It's all cartridges and digital downloads.
That's why I love my Nintendo switch carts
Only times I ever went really heavy on Disk media was during generation close outs. End of Gamecube, PS2 and Xbox I was going wild buying cheap new or like new games because the easiest way to get a good quality disk was the be the original or one of the earliest owners. Did the similiar with Wii U and Wii games too when they were still on store shelves.
Carts are smart, discs are a risk
Great duel right here 👏👍👌🙌😀😎 Great discussion 💯
Every single point in this video was spot on. Well done!
It’s pretty rare for me to find a disc game without at least it’s case. While on the other hand I almost never see a cartridges box with the cartridges they’re always loose. Me personally I don’t think the decision is as clear cut as this video makes it out to be but that’s just my opinion. And if we were to add the games themselves into the discussion I don’t think it would even be close, I think the disc based games would win.
For those same reasons I only own and want cartridge-based systems. I should add that, for me, cartridges are synonymous with videogames themselves. Discs can be movies or music as well as videogames, but cartridges can only be videogames.
I agree with all these points. One big downside of cartridges though are the batteries. I have so many cartridges with batteries that will need changing now or in the near future that it will probably take me literal days to change them all. I just don’t have the enthusiasm for it. I’m happy if the batteries themselves go dead, but my worry is that they leak and damage the cartridge.
I enjoy my disc based games, having any NES game in box is awesome. Sega Genesis games definitely have the best cases. Having original long boxes for PlayStation one games, Sega Saturn and Dreamcast games in the long case . But you’re definitely on point with the ability to display games goes to Cartridges.
Optical disc media storage formats for games are way better than ROM cartridges because optical disc media formats can hold way more data capacity than ROM cartridges will ever have.
Sony PS1 CD-ROM: 700 MB
Sony PS2: DVD: 8,500 MB
vs
Nintendo N64 ROM cartridge: 64 MB
I am a disc game collector I agree on this cartridge definitely have the edge over disc. A loose disc is pretty much useless to collector. GameStop hope you take some serious note if you want to stay in business.
I’ve came cause Retro Bird. I did not agree with some “reasons” to favor cartridges but I like the video.
You got a new subscriber!
I think we're the same age Riff, or close. I grew up in the 80s, got the NES when it released, had a SNES, GB, cousins had a Genesis. But PS1 had more if an impact on me in the 90s when I was old enough to understand and enjoy RPGs so for that reason I have to go with Discs. I know you said you won't factor in the content on the discs/carts but RB did so :p
That girl talking about resurfacing discs was sooo pretty! Wait... is that...MY GIRLFRIEND?
If it wasn't for the price drops that are ocurring for disc based games, I doubt I would be able to play any games at all
I appreciate that little bit of Wild Guns footage & music! 😎
Oh, and uh... yes, cartridges rule!
I hadn't given it much thought but most of my collecting is cartridge vs disc-based. Probably because that is what I grew up with along with old computer disks but I have never felt the desire to pick up a bunch of C64 or old PC disks. Now I am trying to figure that one out.
GG on the video and getting Retro Bird on.
I am in the middle, I like cartridges because of load time and they are more reliable but I like disc because they can store more space. Game consoles like the Nintendo 64 ended up with missing levels and music because of cartridges but has better load time
My gosh!....It's good to see your face! haha
I want to mention that gamecube case is really good case
Something about seeing a bunch of PS1 cases all lined together and looking all sleek & shiny...Man something about it speaks to my soul
4:32 theres my retro-daddy
Your videos are getting better and better all the time mate. Keep up the good work brother
Great topic for discussion. The simple fact that cartridges were really made to last and hold up so well is the sole selling point to me. Once we start seeing 40 year old discs that have run the circuit of used shops let's see just how they're holding up.
Glad I found this channel. Very quality videos. Love the squad videos as well. Good vibes.
I like collecting GameCube games because the size of the disc makes it almost impossible to reproduce I dont have to worry about whether the game is fake or not same can be said for most disc based games cartridge games are a different story entirely they can easily be made into a reproduction cart or the game boxes themselves are not original and its become very hard to distinguish between the two as people have become very good at it.
Everyday a cart is better . Always the 5o-50 chance it would or wouldn’t work first time . And the cheeky blow to get it to work !
Hi ! Thank you for putting the subtitles it helps me a lot because I am French so with that I understand a lot more !! a nice day and always good interesting videos.
im about to get an N64 for my birthday, which arguably is the console that embodies this idea that cartriges are better, as Nintendo stuck with them for just one more console generation.
And even then they didnt commit to full on disks till the wii.
1:18 im a 19 (almost 20) year old dude who also grew up playing videogames. Allthough, I mostly grew up playing them online, and what I did play of console, it was the wii and xbox 360. So... disks. The games that stuck with me are the ones I never even had a physical copy of. Minecraft pretty much was my childhood. But if any console games where to stand out, there's of course Mario Galaxy, and Lego Star Wars. But in general I find myself more remembering the games I got on the DS and 3DS, like Kirby Squeak Squad, or Kirby Mass Attack, or Kirby Planet Robobot (im a bit of a Kirby fan), and Pokemon, mostly Pokemon White, and Pokemon Black 2. So its not even really just the era its that I like cartriges more.
3:55 twice. Once, easy fix, the casing lost a peg and so the board wouldnt go in. I literally hot glued a toothpick in there and it worked perfectly. The second time, well it was a botched repro job, but I was able to sermise the donor cart was the jungle book. I was really hoping the game would be that one funny lion king bootleg, but alas I could not get the thing to work no matter how hard I tried, the cartdrige was fried when I bought it.
5:23 my wii back when I was a kid (as I mentioned) had broken at some point. I cant remeber if it feel, or if it just pooped out from not being used or stored properly, but the thing completely broke at one point. I think that early gaming experience is part of why I prefer cartriges. My DS never gave out on me, nor did my 3DS.
8:45 this is defenitely part of why im collecting and playing games on real hardware nowadays rather than just emulating. Not only does emulating and then taking the signal from HDMI to RF make the visual look worse, but I can display the cartriges I buy. And they look really cool.
12:06 okay so the *only* time ive been getting disks recently is for the wii and the gamecube.... but not necessarily just for the game, but in this case.... I actually wanted the case. See my local retro game store sometimes gets loose disks. They obviously cant just put them on the shelf, it would get scrated, so what they do is they draw their own custom covers. Its just such a nice little thing you wouldnt find online or something like that. So if I see a drawn on case, I buy it.
Anyway I dont think this video necessarilly adressed both sides of the issue. The fact is that disks can handle more space, whereas cartriges are quite limited. Even know with the switch we can see that, as half the game becomes a download. But I guess this was from moreso a collectors perspective, so I guess storage space doesnt matter. Though if it doesnt matter, then you cant give cartriges their "faster load time" point imo.
1) Rinry!
2) Both have their upsides and downsides, which leads me to...
3) Sony was on to something with UMD. Disc capacity with cartridge-like casing? Yes, please! They weren't perfect, but I feel like it's something that should have been built on.
4) Unfortunately, that didn't get to happen, thanks to the biggest threat to disc and cartridge alike: digital.
5) It's kind of funny that you're talking down on discs in front of all that lovely Xbox signage. XD
I have to mention ultimate edition/goty discs for things like the 360/ps3. Getting games self contained games with all the dlc packs is pretty great and my preferred game collectible.
some snes games are failing, like earthbound has a chip that can fail inside it and you cant finish the game, similarly with donkey kong. The game will still work but some sort of piracy protection chip/circuit fails. I think maybe in another 5-10 yrs we might see some carts fail. Now if they made cartridges like nes/snes/genesis today they wouldnt last as near as long cause they use super cheap components now a days AKA planned or artificial obsolesence.
they are already failing ive had a copy of yo! noid, yoshi's cookie, athena, darkwing duck, mercs, castlevana bloodlines not work and that was after cleaning them using different methods and consoles. and this was like 3 years ago too.
Great topic my 20 year old cartridges still worked just fine sure disc have some extra space and good music but cartridges live forever
I actually think it's a draw between discs/cartridges. Cartridges have some downsides you didn't get into. Let me give you a few counterpoints.
1. It is WAY easier to preserve a complete in box PS1 game than a complete NES game. A PS1 game in the case it came in (much easier to get) that is not scratched up will never need a Qtip and alcohol EVER. But just about every NES game, when left alone for a while, will need the pins cleaned. I have PS1 and Sega CD games I bought in the 90s that are pristine and I have never once had to do anything to them except make sure they stayed in their cases.
2. Disc based complete in box games are generally in plastic, making them much more protected when you find them in decent shape and add them to the collection. It is very easy to mess up a folding tab or something on a NES/SNES/N64/etc. box
3. No disc based game has an internal battery that can fail or leak. While this can be fixed, it requires you to open up the cartridge and possibly even solder.
4. The reason FF7 was on disc was because you needed the storage. They barely got RE2 on N64 on a cartridge, and it took significant engineering to achieve a port. Plus, discs allowed the games of that era to be just longer, as well as CD quality audio which made some Sega CD ports of cartridge based equivalents much better in some cases.
5. A disc based game can be often easily copied if you want a backup copy.
6. Jewel cases are easily replaceable. NES boxes are not replaceable.
7. A scratched disc can often be buffed out. A cracked board or dead chip is much more challenging to deal with, and can compromise the fixed product.
8. Some disc based games can be put in a CD player and you can listen to the soundtrack of the game (just some though).
9. Disc based games also introduced a lot of these collector's set type games. If you look at the Working Designs PS1 games, or PS2 box sets, or Odama, or other atypical packaging for games, I feel like you only get that stuff from systems that are disc based in the mid 90s or so.
10. While disc based games may be more prone to scratches, cartridge based games are more prone to label and water damage, or the dreaded sticker on the label. Along with that, hard to find cartridge based games are bootlegged much more often.
11. In 2021, if you want to go game hunting, you are more likely to have success and fun if you are open to picking up disc based things. They just made more of them and there is more variety.
This was a lot more than I thought I would say when I started this comment, but I guess my point is as a collector over the years I have shifted to having a much greater appreciation for disc based games and while we are about the same age and I used to feel as you did about cartridges vs. discs, my thinking has changed over time. It's a draw to me between discs and carts. I like them both quite a bit.
Cartridges are nicer to hold with the exception of Wii U discs, dem smooth edges, oh so nice. 😁
“Try to change your mind?”
Let’s see…
Cartridges are completely finished games with virtually zero load times, are far more durable, and don’t suffer from scuffing/scratches or disc rot….
No thanks, I’m not even gonna try.
discs get scratched and the game doesn't work. PIns can be cleaned and replaced.
I unfortunately haven’t been as lucky as you when it comes to cartridges always working. I’ve bought an NES game and a Game Boy Color game that would not boot up no matter how much I cleaned the contact points. Thankfully both of them were cheap but yeah. They don’t always work.