I haven't owned a video game console since the first Xbox. I understand most if not all nowadays need or at least benefit excessively from a constant internet connection. What are the most recent consoles that do not require such?

The Nintendo Switch has cartridge games I guess. Though you can only get Gameboy and Gameboy Advance games via the online shop ( and certain features only work offline on a primary console). Which is kinda similar to how the PS4 has some games that are purchasable online only, but can be played offline. The switch does have some features that rely on internet, though, like online subscriptions and apps like YouTube.

Used to be the Wii played its own games and had GameCube compatibility. But it's been discontinued for years now.

Xbox One and stuff like that requires internet for setup at a bare minimum.

So IDK, maybe a PS4 or an older console?

Are you looking for something that will exist in a completely offline environment, like a cabin in the mountains?

Or do you want something that can be set up with internet access, but then works offline after that?

The retro consoles like the NES Classic are made to be completely offline.

Quote from: Lurkndog on June 28, 2023, 08:55:01 AM
Are you looking for something that will exist in a completely offline environment, like a cabin in the mountains?

Or do you want something that can be set up with internet access, but then works offline after that?

The retro consoles like the NES Classic are made to be completely offline.

The first. Preferably something newer than NES. Original Xbox for instance (which is the last console I owned). Something more recent than that?

Yeah, any console from at least the 7th generation (X-box360, PS3, Wii) onward is going to benefit at least somewhat from an internet connection. That's not to say you have to be online to play them. I own a PS4, and all of the 25 or so games I've purchased for it I have on a physical disc.

The problem you're going to run into with new games is that most of them don't ship to the customer actually finished, so you need an internet connection to download the post-release patches and get them up to snuff. You can mitigate that quite a bit if you buy games when they're several years old. Anything that is labeled in the box as a "remaster" or a "game of the year edition" (or really any kind of special edition) is likely to be a version with the patches already included. I tend to wait and buy those anyway, because they'll often include any expansions/dlc at a much cheaper price.

Nintendo is also a bit better on average about releasing finished games. The tradeoff there is that their systems are underpowered  relative to the equivalent in most generations, and they usually have a smaller selection of games. The Nintendo Switch has fixed the game selection issue a bit, but I don't own one, so I'm not sure how much of that selection is digital distribution only.

If you want an entirely offline system, I'd probably recommend getting a hold of used Gamecube. It was one of the few times that Nintendo actually had the more powerful console on the market, the game library is decent (though some of the best games are getting expensive to buy used), and Nintendo hardware of that era was almost bulletproof, so it'll probably keep working for a long time.

Quote from: KindaMeh on June 03, 2023, 11:24:57 PM
The Nintendo Switch has cartridge games I guess.

Yes, it has. Actually, some people love to buy cartridges and smell the plastic - even if the same games are available in the online shop (for sure I just saw at FNAC here in Paris a wall of Switch games). Even the custody (to buy separately) has space for five cartridges.

Some games, of course, need to be online, but you can buy classics like the first Zelda for Switch or Donkey Kong and you are ready to go.

The only bad surprise I had was with the "Ezio Collection" of Assassin's Creed: all the three games in a single cartridge. Pity that you actually have to download tons of "additional material" via wi-fi - including, in my case, the Italian language pack (which I wanted to have mostly because I worked to that adaptation and ever wrote some parts). However, once you are sure that you have downloaded everything you need, you can go with your Switch on a desert island and forget about wi-fi.

Quote from: Reckall on August 18, 2023, 12:55:50 AMHowever, once you are sure that you have downloaded everything you need, you can go with your Switch on a desert island and forget about wi-fi.

"1 of the 103,006 files needed for the game has become corrupted, please re-connect to the Internet."

Quote from: Grognard GM on August 18, 2023, 04:32:22 AM

Quote from: Reckall on August 18, 2023, 12:55:50 AMHowever, once you are sure that you have downloaded everything you need, you can go with your Switch on a desert island and forget about wi-fi.

"1 of the 103,006 files needed for the game has become corrupted, please re-connect to the Internet."

This can happen with any platform, PC included.

And a Gameboy. It isn't tied to wi-fi capabilities. Actually, the difference between a console like the Switch and a Gameboy is that with a Gameboy you can't flag a passing ship and fix the glitch with their wi-fi.

Quote from: Reckall on August 19, 2023, 10:29:15 AM

Quote from: Grognard GM on August 18, 2023, 04:32:22 AM

Quote from: Reckall on August 18, 2023, 12:55:50 AMHowever, once you are sure that you have downloaded everything you need, you can go with your Switch on a desert island and forget about wi-fi.

"1 of the 103,006 files needed for the game has become corrupted, please re-connect to the Internet."

This can happen with any platform, PC included.

And a Gameboy. It isn't tied to wi-fi capabilities. Actually, the difference between a console like the Switch and a Gameboy is that with a Gameboy you can't flag a passing ship and fix the glitch with their wi-fi.

I've never had a game cartridge corrupt a file and make a system useless, it tends to require the device mechanically failing. Whereas something like Steam games, needing to repair a file is semi-common.

I'd say if the OP truly wants to never need the internet to play his games, anything pre-PS1 is solid till the system actually fails.

Quote from: Grognard GM on August 19, 2023, 12:27:51 PM

Quote from: Reckall on August 19, 2023, 10:29:15 AM

Quote from: Grognard GM on August 18, 2023, 04:32:22 AM

Quote from: Reckall on August 18, 2023, 12:55:50 AMHowever, once you are sure that you have downloaded everything you need, you can go with your Switch on a desert island and forget about wi-fi.

"1 of the 103,006 files needed for the game has become corrupted, please re-connect to the Internet."

This can happen with any platform, PC included.

And a Gameboy. It isn't tied to wi-fi capabilities. Actually, the difference between a console like the Switch and a Gameboy is that with a Gameboy you can't flag a passing ship and fix the glitch with their wi-fi.

I've never had a game cartridge corrupt a file and make a system useless, it tends to require the device mechanically failing. Whereas something like Steam games, needing to repair a file is semi-common.

I'd say if the OP truly wants to never need the internet to play his games, anything pre-PS1 is solid till the system actually fails.

Well, no. Just buy a cartridge for the Switch.

You can have a problem if, let's say, you are in France but you are Italian. In that case if you want to change the language to Italian you MAY have to download a language pack from the Internet. But if you buy the same game in Italy the cartridge will have Italian (and maybe English) inside the cartridge as default.

If you think that, let's say, PS1 games were bugless, then I'm sorry to disappoint you. Publishing houses regularly reprinted games with the "1.1" version on disk. This was simply not advertised. The very PS1 changed so much during its life cycle that qualified repair shops had to get new manuals about the interiors almost every year. Same with other consoles.

I do know very well how Steam sometimes messes up - because with Steam everything is digital. If you have the original disk, however, or the original game was truly messed up in the first place, or you can still play with it without any internet connection.

Check out MAME.  If I were going to build an offline console/arcade machine, that would be the way that I would go.
https://www.mamedev.org/

One option is the PS3. You can swap out the hard drive for a huge modern one very easily and then load it up with dozens of games. There were some good games in that generation such as Uncharted and Last of Us (although the ending to that game was terrible). Once the games are downloaded, you can disconnect the internet and use it for years to come.