Who Needs Quarters?

I've added two more machines, (I'm so compulsive) to make myself a little arcade just in time for the cold winter weather.
R-Type is still my favorite to play. Classic shmup, way fun and challenging.

Turbo Out Run is a pretty standard driving game, reach the check point to add more time. The steering wheel shakes when you hit something. My son can barely see over the wheel but he loves it.

Space Invaders is an interesting piece. At first I wasn't sure about it. Primitive game play, B&W, I think it only makes about 10 sounds. However, I quickly fell in love. The simple game play is still very challenging. (I've yet to make it to the 4th level) The side art, glass art, and art within the cabinet is beautiful. The Retro coolness of this thing is through the roof and it has high replay value. I'm very happy to have this piece in my collection.

Picked up a fun toy this weekend. I've been looking at arcades for a while, most are either too expensive or not a game I want. This one was a mere $200 and R Type is kick ass. I love shmups. No collector's condition but it works great. My son and I've probably logged 15 hours on this thing this weekend.

I have fond childhood memories of feeding quarters into Road Blasters. I'd love to pick up one of those, all the console ports pale in comparison. 

A side by side racing game would be awesome for me and Austin and when company comes over.

Good thing I've got a large finished basement :)

Custom NES Lights

I've got a unique product to peddle.

Used board with NEW POWER and RESET button faces.

Red LED has been replaced with a new Blue, Green, Yellow, or White one.

It's pretty easy to install these.

The color is deeper in person then in the pic

$7.50 shipped to US. International will be a little more.

Dragon Warrior

I have a little history with this game. I first played this as a teenager. I reached the point in the game where you enter the final castle to face the Dragonlord, as I approached, the game reset! Turns out the battery died and all my progress, lost.

Now some 15 years later, I again took up my controller to save the kingdom of  Alefgard.

I'm happy to report, this time my battery held up 'till the end

 

As a fan of the NES and Classic RPG I was well entertained by this game. Yes it was simple, yes there was alot of boring leveling up, repetitive music and a predictable story line, but that's what I expected. 

I think this grandaddy of a RPG is worth a play, looking forward to the sequel. Happy Gaming!

Picked this up at Gamers for $0.90. Simple game. Shoot baddies in the maze. Gets progressively harder. Based on the arcade. There's a lot of bad Atari games. This is not one of them.

Weird thing... you must have the joystick connected to the right controller jack.

Game room rearranged

I got a little moisture in my room a while back, nothing major. My walls seeped during a very wet spring and a had a shelf get wet. It inturn soaked up the water and ruined some of my Guides. Biggest losses: Mario RPG Guide and Ogre Battle guide.

So after I dried it out and sealed the walls I rearranged the room. Got a couple shelves a over sized chair and ottoman. Also upgrade to a 32 tube TV.

Feels more like a legitimate room now

Got Some Stuff Today

NES, SNES, Gameboy and Atari box protectors for sale at www.videogameboxprotectors.com

www.videogameboxprotectors.com 

I took over Justabum's business and now I'm selling video game box protectors. Atari, NES, SNES and Gameboy.

PET acid free safe and intended for pictures and collectibles

www.videogameboxprotectors.com

eBay

Gamegavel (much cheaper):

Dedicated blog w/more pics and info

www.videogameboxprotectors.com

Custom fit NES

Snug fit, good for Snes and N64

Virtual boy and Gameboy are the same size

I also have oversize NES and Oversize SNES, like what justabum used to sell. I can give a greater discount on those for orders of 100+

Nice semi rare gamecube find

2-pack bundles are a little on the rare side, the outer retail box, just got pitched.

I got this Sonic one here locally for $15!

I know of a Supermonkey ball 1+2 and a "Pure Evil" Resident Evil 0 & 1 pack

Sega Kiosk

Picked this up locally about a month back for a mere $30. It was a little rusty and grimy.

I finally found a cheap ($5) 13 in TV for and slapped a Genesis in it.

It's coolness is only is matched by it's impracticality

My Castlevania, Simon's Quest

Simon's quest has a special place in my heart. I played this Castlevania the most as a kid as it was the first one I owned. In fact I don't really recall playing the third one at all as a boy.

One of my fondest childhood gaming memories involved this game. I distintly remember after finally collecting all the items, I marched to Dracula's castle, however there was a problem, it was a week day morning and I had to leave for school (I was a latch key kid and had to get myself ready and walk to school.). But I was sooooo close!!! I did what any die hard would have in my place and played through until I finished. I don't remember how late I was, 30 minutes tops, and I probably lied about why I was late, but I knew, as I ran to school, that I would have no greater accomplishment on that day.

Simon's Quest departed quite a bit from the original, trading the straightforward linear, action platformer for more of an adventure/RPG hybrid. Exploring was not only encouraged but required. Guidance and direction was rarely given by towns people, and misinformation is common. One of the issues people have with this game is this lack of direction, and the resulting frustration. But, if you know where to go, this is a very charming game to play though.

As an adult, I remember where everything is and can easily breeze though the game (8:35 according to the game clock this weekend, which translates closer 2 -3 hours real time) and that's because as a youth, prior to walkthroughs on the internet, I labored as the game's designers intended. I'm not sure I'd have the patience now.

Graphics: excellent improvement from the fist game. Wonderful music scores as with all game in the franchise. The challenge is different in this game, rather the difficult bosses, the challenge is finding all the items and completing the quest. Controls and mechanics are just as good as the first.

Over all, its a solid game but I can see why many consider this the black sheep of the early franchise. The challenge is total different, free roaming exploration and the three bosses you fight near the end are absolute push-overs.

Great game but it might not be what you're expecting
7.5/10

I understand why their are so many critics with this game, I tend to agree with some of their points but there's some elements first seen in this game that will make the others so great.

The subtitle "Simon's Quest" is very fitting for this game. It's about the journey not the destination. Personally, I love this game, but to newcomers be warned, if you're looking for a game more like the original, best to keep looking.

Down with Dracula

Looking back I have both love and hate for Castlevania for the NES. Easily one of the top 10 games for the NES great story, solid graphics and awesome music however, growing up, I rarely got passed Frankenstein and never beat Death ( 2nd to last boss.) Very frustrating.

After reading in the Gamers area of Nintendoage, I was inspired to rectify that.

Tonight I can proudly say I beat Castelvania, at least I accomplished something this weekend.

Finally got a Master System

I've wanted to get a Master System for some time. I wasn't overly anxious to get one so I convinced myself to hold off and find one locally rather then EBay or pay ~$40 at my retro Gamers store.
I've been hovering over Craigslist and shopping thrift stores for nearly 3 years and I've seen multiple Ataris, NESs & SNESs, all of the colored N64s (except gold) and even two Mt Dew Xboxs. Even with all that watching, this is only the 2nd Master system I've seen. I was too late on Craigslist to get the first one, but I managed to beat the crowd and score this one for only $25 (he said he had a lot of interest)

Nothing super rare here, most games are in good shape, it's a good starter set. My son (3) likes it, I think it's because of it's similarities to the NES which he is starting to get good at.

Some note about the Master System:

Release in N America in 1986 and was technically superior to the NES in every way but it was largely unsuccessful in N America due to the popularity of the NES library. There was a significant lack of 3rd party releases because Nintendo wouldn't allow 3rd party companies to release NES licenced games to other consoles.

114 US titles

Early versions played both cartridges and "Sega Cards", cheaper and smaller games.

The Master System was successful in other parts of the world including Brazil where it was a huge hit. As of 2010, Master Systems and Mega Drives (Genesis) are still being sold in Brazil w/o cartridges rather paying games from memory.

Compared to NES boxes, the artwork completely sucks

Happy Gaming

Awesome Craigslist ad

Saw this on craigs this morning. I loved it

Pretty Much Every Game Ever - $10000 (00,000)



I'm selling my super wicked video game collection that consists of every game ever, including super duper rare games. Serious buyers only!!

Every game for Nintendo $1,000,000,000 except for stadium events, or Mario 3 (that game is awesome!!!!!)
Every game for Sega CD $1,000,000,000 except for anything you have ever heard of (snatcher, policnauts, sewer shark etc.) etc.

Also super duper extra rares Chrono Trigger No box or manual or sticker and cartridge is cracked $1,000,000,000
Guardian Heroes (for the Sega Saturn {you didn't know that... wow} super duper mega rare) Cd only some coffee stains on data side of disk $1,000,000,000
Tekken 6 for PlayStation 1
Probably the rarest game in this ultra collection, it was never officially released for PS1 and I'm the only one that ever got one $4.00
All these prices have been confirmed by eBay so don't try to tell my that they aren't worth this muh I would sell these on eBay but PayPal is such a hassle.... PAYPAL ACCEPTED!!
Also I buy games for all systems and want them for less than anywhere else in town. Serious Sellers ONLY!
Nintendo games .05 system $1 no, no, .50 PlayStation 1 games especially Final Fantasys and Suikoden II $5.00 system $1.00
I use a simple formula for calculating my prices, if i'm selling it subtract the entire value until your left with $1 then multiply by 1,000,000,000. If i'm buying it subtract the total value of then add .50

Thanks for checking out my post try not to overwhelm my inbox

Gamecube Pics

I got a few new things recently so I thought I'd post an updated pic.

Pokemon Box (below DDR Mario Mix is my rarest game. Sold amolst exclusively in Nintendo stores and on a Pokemon website. Found it local in town with a bunch of other stuff.

I'm somewhere around 400 games

I'm not much of a varient collector but I've come acrossed these and thought they were cool

Game Review: Guardian Legend

Today I completed the The Guardian Legend for the NES. The title can be a bit misleading having a RPG kinda ring to it, when in reality it's a classic shooter with some action/adventure sprinkled in.

The premise is that a world is hurtling toward earth and you must activate the self-destruct before it's target.

7.5/10. Solid Game
Worth a play-through.

Explore the the surface on foot, gathering items and weapons and seeking corridor entrances. These corridors are the shooter levels. There's 20. After clearing a pair of corridors you're rewarded with a new key to explore more areas. The surface exploration isn't very interesting, the occasional shop and mini boss area give some variety but the real game is in the shoot em up in the corridors

The weapon system is pretty good with the ability to use all weapons you'll find. You have a limited number of "chips" which act like energy for the special weapons. Each weapon has upgrades of up to 3 levels.

As the game progresses the corridors become more challenging as do the bosses. However, effective use of your various special weapons will have you prevailing against most bosses relatively easily. I wouldn't say its a cake walk there were some challenging areas, but by the end I was expecting a bit more of a challenge. I made it though the last stage on my 2nd try. Maybe it's because I am the "greatest player"

The password system blows. Takes 5 minutes just to start the game, but the in-game continue is nice.

Overall I thought it was a pretty good game. One of the better shmups for the NES. Definitely worth a play.

12/23/10: After thought, I've fired up a few other shmups for the NES and found most don't come close to the quality of this one. (though there are a few gems, Zanac for one) I think 7.5 is still a fair rating if you consider all games across all consoles but limiting it to NES, I'd put this game in the top 50. Very good NES game.

25th Anniversary Mario

I sprung for the Wii a month ago so I figure I should get the game too.

The Wii is pretty sweet, solid Mario Red. The Wii-mote and Chuck are cool looking too. The Wi motion plus is built in.

Red Wii Console:

Pro: Price
I sold My Wii, with a crappy game, and Wii Sports for $110. Sold my copy of Super Mario Wii for $30. So for a net of $60 (plus tax) I upgraded and got another motion plus.

Cons:
The pack in games are in sleeves rather then cases
Virtual Console Games can't be transferred (fortunately I had less then 10)

Final Word: I haven't missed my VC games and it's sweet, red and new. Happy with the upgrade

Super Mario All Stars Wii:

Pros:
Price: $29.99
Extras, History of Mario Book, and Audio disk
"Limited Edition" though how limited remains to be seen.
Mario Coolness: off the charts


Cons:
Exact same port as SNES
Delay in controller response like the VC games
For being the the 25th Anniversary of one of the most influential games, the package falls short of what it could have been.


Final Word. Buy it cause it collectible or cause you don't have a Super Nintendo and no access to Virtual console games. I'll stick with the SNES or better yet, the originals on my NES.

Super Metroid

Solid 9/10

Of all the memories of NES games as a child, the memories of Metroid are my fondest. (2nd even to Zelda). I wouldn't say now that Metroid is the best NES game of all time but I'd consider it a contender for top 5.

What is odd is that with such love for the original, why has it taken me so long play Super Metroid? I've owned a crisp copy for 2 years now and though I did fire it up and play it for an hour at one point I never gave it attention and the respect it's predecessor earned in my youth.

Can I explain my behavior? No (though the n00b bridge is a likely excuse) but I believe one is allowed to repent of their sins. Here's my story:

Keeping with religious analogy, (it is Sunday morning after all) my road to redemption started as a casually read from my monthly inspirational literature (Nintendo Power #259). It contained accounts of the epic adventures of one of the greatest figures in gaming history: the galactic bounty hunter Samus. The article ranked each and named Super Metroid as the greatest.

The message seemed to be written for me. I am a classic gamer at heart, raised on 2D platformers from childhood. The epic battle on Zebus is still clear in my mind, I know where all the items are hidden and can recall my anxiety as a boy first entering Mother Brain's lair at the journey's the end game.

Screen Shot from Original Metroid released 1987. It took 7 years for Samus to return to a Nintendo Console

How could I be so blind? So naive? Why had I turned my back on the truth all this time?

I was so moved by my revelation that I immediately retired to my sanctuary, pulled the game off the shelf, out of it's box protector and proceeded to play with an eye single to competing the task at hand. To which I was successful.

Super Metroid did not disappoint. It kept everything that made the original great and improved upon it. Exploration of six large areas, hidden rooms and lots of items. Solid game play, responsive controls and wonderfully designed audio.


The only real knock I'd give it is that the final bosses were too easy. Draygon was difficult due to the unconventional method to defeat it, all others I beat at the first attempt.

Highly recommended (though I'm sure I'm biased) If you liked the original this is a no [mother] bainer. Wow, can I really end a posting with such a bad pun?

Halo 2600

Sweet!

Play it here

Yahoo Article

God of War: Amazing

Upfront, I want to state that I'm a retro gamer. That is my defense for not playing God of War before now. For the new release of GoW3, Gamestop had the original for $5. So I snagged a copy and eventually fired it up.

I found the action intense, the graphics and controls designed and implemented very well and most of all, the story and it's execution was top notch.

Kratos is a major bad ass who's been enslaved by his own overwhelming regret of the past. The story is revealed as the game progresses and you delve deeper into Kratos' psyche to learn of the origins of his hatred for Aries, the god of war.

The heavy influence of Greek mythology is perfect for game such as this and allows for some unique stories and situations for our hero.

Once you complete in normal mode, God mode is unlocked, and let me tell you, it's tough. It appears that you're well rewarded with additional story parts if you can complete though.

My only dig on the game, is that there was a few places where the obstacles were too tedious and difficult compared to the rest of the game.

The hand to hand combat sequences are incredible, here, Kratos is about to rip the head of a Medusa-like enemy

9.5 of 10

All elements of this game are superb. I see now why this is such a popular series. I'm looking forward to the sequels, which I'm sure are even better, but for now this one gets a near perfect 9.5/10

Funny story, early on, there is a nude scene with two topless women begging Kratos to return to bed. Just as this scene opens, my wife walks in to my game room. So I say, "this is the first time I've seen naked boobies in a video game before" (mostly true, I've played Hot Slots on the NES) "Well" she says, "Glad I could share that experience with you, I'm going to bed". She wasn't impressed.