5 Peripherals I'd like to own 

Peripherals for video games, while still something that is used in games today definitely had it's heyday in years prior. Whether it was something that you had to have in order to enjoy the game, like a memory card or 2nd controller for multiplayer, or something more specialized that gave a new way to play or offered more options and content for a game. After collecting games more seriously over the past few years, I realized that I had a lot more peripherals in my possession than I realized. From light guns to arcade sticks, from cables to adapters you end up amassing peripherals as your collection grows. Today I want to highlight 5 peripherals that I have some interest in getting, whether to experience a game in the best way possible, or to expand the possibilities of a specific system. 

Saturn Taisen Cable

A big part of Sega's experience on the Saturn and their marketing behind it was that they were trying to bring the arcade experience home. All the favorites were available, from arcade wheels to light guns, the mission stick to the Netlink modem for online play. One that I want to highlight today and have on a gaming bucket list is obtaining and using a Saturn Taisen Cable. The Playstation had a similar option for its OG models, but the main idea behind it is you link 2 systems up to one another, and play multiplayer games on 2 separate screens as opposed to a split-screen. For a lot of people, this would be the closest experience possible to having an arcade experience at home (at least in the late 90's, way before Arcade 1Up made aftermarket machines more accessible). There aren't very many games supported by the cable, but the main one I want to play multiplayer in this way is Daytona USA Circuit Edition. It'll require 2 Saturns, 2 copies of the game, 2 TVs, and another person. A boy can dream...

E Reader

The E Reader was an add-on for your Gameboy Advance that let your read specialized cards that unlocked items in certain games, play games that are bound to the cards and more. My main reasoning behind this are the Animal Crossing E Reader cards that let you unlock certain items in the original Animal Crossing on Gamecube, along with artwork with each of the villagers. The Amiibo Cards for New Leaf and New Horizons were something that let me scratch my card collecting itch, so it would be nice to have another set of cards to compare and contrast with the newer ones. There were also some pretty cool expansions for games like Pokemon Pinball, F Zero GP Legend and others that I would be interested in taking a look at, so at least it's multi-purposed.

NeGcon Controller

Early on in the Ps1's lifespan the controllers didn't have any sort of analog option. That wasn't more regularly available until the Dualshock 1 controller got released a few years after the console got released. How are you supposed to enjoy racing games or other games that require more finesse? That's easy with the NeGcon controller! Instead of having a normal analog stick, Namco actually designed the controller to twist in the middle as the analog. The controller was made for the Ridge Racer series and continues to work even into the Ps2 era of games, but it also has compatibility with games outside of Namco games which is really interesting. I know the controller was created with racing games specifically in mind, but I wonder how the older Ridge Racer games play with this controller.

PSP GPS

I just found out about this the other day, but apparently there was a GPS released for the PSP that has data saved on it as opposed to accessing the information from the internet or satellite. The data itself is old, but it's still usable today and I always need an excuse to use my PSP more. Definitely more of a novelty but kinda neat. 

Vectrex Light Pen

One of the coolest systems that I have is the Vectrex, although I don't take advantage of it as much as I should honestly. With the official games I'm on the lookout for dwindling to 2-3 games, I'm starting to turn my attention to the homebrew and peripheral scene. The 3D imager is completely out of the question because of its price, but the light pen gives enough novelty to be interesting. This allows you to use specific cartridges as a drawing program straight onto the Vectrex. I'm not much of an artist myself, but if there's a way to draw on a system I like spending some time with it to see how it works. I got a kick out of a homebrew Saturn title a few years ago Sartist and took an evening to create a little landscape using my Saturn controller, so I imagine I'll do something similar to that. Personally the Vectrex will always fill more of a party trick role in my library as opposed to something that I play on a regular basis, so having another trick to show off would be cool.

So yeah, that's some more obscure items I have on my radar to expand my peripheral collection. Some of them will definitely take longer than others, like the Taisen Cable or Light Pen, but my local store has a NeGcon controller so maybe I'll get them closer than I expected! I wanted to make a bit of a shorter post after the longer review of Sega Touring Car, so let me know if the shorter content is something I should do more often? Or stick to more in depth reviews that get put out at a slower pace? Let me know! Otherwise thanks for reading as always!