The Vectrex, the only non-portable console to ever sport a built-in monitor, is both a piece of hardware that's worth collecting and a great console to enjoy vector games on. You can still find out more about it here and see just how innovative the thing was and how many people still care.
The Amstrad NC200 is a nice little 8-bit notebook computer that has always been geared towards word-processing. It features a decent monochrome LCD screen, a Z80 processor, 128kb of RAM, a PCMCIA slot, modest networking capabilities,word processing software and a version of Basic. To find out more and see how to turn this into a gaming-friendly CP/M compatible machine try this link.
Commodore's Amiga 500, the classic 16-bit home computing powerhouse, can finally be yours (probably again; heh), complete in its original box, with a couple of joysticks, lots of... uhm... disks, quite a few boxed games, Deluxe Paint II and some manuals. Games included such excellent retro gems as X-Out, Turrican 2, Mortal Kombat 2 and Fists of Fury.
Now that the Atari Lynx got its very own Emmy award and it's all the rage (well, sort of), here's a fine chance to see what it is all about. Try this eBay Lynx II, games & accessories auction. You'll be bidding for a Batman-boxed Lynx II complete with 9 games, the CommLynx multiplayer cable and a power supply.
Well, a JVC X'EYE apparently. It's a pretty rare SEGA Genesis (and not Mega Drive) SEGA CD (and not Mega CD) combo console produced by JVC or, to put it another way, the American version of the Wondermega unit. Said unit retailed at roughly 500$, flopped and now, being the rarity each failed console is destined to be, usually sells for almost 200$, 100£ or 135 euros. Still, a nice obscure piece of hardware, that plays quite a few classic CD & cartridge games and is definitely more manageable than a Genesis and CD with all their cables and adapters.
Interested in massive space exploration/trading games with excellent fighting bits in them? Still have an Amiga? Remember how brilliant Elite felt? Have a look at this Frontier Elite II offer then. Seller ships worldwide.
Apple's first and only attempt at a video gaming console, the Pippin, has been known to sell for as much as 400£ (786$ / 534 euro), for apparently it's quite the rarity. Then again, besides being a pure collector's item, the Pippin also was an innovative for the time multimedia platform that even sported a modem and above average game-playing capabilities. Having to face both the PlayStation and the N64 it spectacularly failed. You can find out more here.
Released back in 1980 the Mattel Intellivision was the first 16-bit console ever and shockingly the first one with online and voice synthesis capabilities too. Talk about revolutionary... Anyway, to grab this aging marvel complete with 8 classic games (including Frog Bog, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and Soccer) and the voice synthesis module, you'd better try this Intellivision eBay offer. Seller ships only within the UK. The average Intellivision prices start at 40£.
CRASH magazine, Oliver Frey, ZX Spectrum, type-ins... Ah, the days... Anyway, you could try and feel better by grabbing this amazing lot of 42 CRASH magazines @ eBay. Better be quick though. Seller ships to UK only.
Time for another rare SEGA Dreamcast console and this one is definitely the cuter of the lot. It's got Hello Kitty stamped all over it, you see, and Hello Kitty is by definition cute. For a kitty. Anyway, what you see above is the complete and aptly named Hello Kitty Dreamcast. Included are the Hello Kitty Keyboard Controller, the suitably pink controller and VMU, the Hello Kitty Garden Panic game and the Hello Kitty Dream Passport. Oh, and know this is a Japanese console, so you'll be needing some sort of power supply adapter.
You can indeed play Zork I for free, but what kind of collector would you then be if you chose to ignore a sealed Zork I copy for the Atari ST @ eBay? One that doesn't care much for Infocom's classic text-adventure probably... Anyway, it's still a fantastic game in a pretty lavish box and it won't cost you a fortune. Oh, and yes, seller ships worldwide.
