Another Reason To Be A Retro Gamer (as if you need another one)

My xBox 360 red ringed the other day. I tried a xBox Live Gold membership to try what they offered for steaming video. The system glitched in the middle of a Seinfeld episode....Newman!

As a classic gamer, I rarely used the xBox 360, this thing had less then 100 hours on it. WTF?

You suck Mirosoft

Kid Icarus, a disappointment

I recently made time to sit down and play a classic game. Spent most of the day on Sunday on the NES playing Kid Icarus.

By far the most challenging part was the first few stages. You start with a very short power bar and, falling off the screen was certain death. I died over and over. Once I got a larger health bar, and started a side scrolling adventure, the difficulty level dropped off considerably.

The boss levels were fun, and challenging but the bosses themselves were push-overs.

Once defeating the three bosses, you use the three treasures that transforms the game to a terrible and ridiculously easy side scrolling shoot em up. The final boss match was a joke too.

After all the work, the final stage and boss was so cheap, I felt ripped off.  

Sorry Kid Icarus, you might be Metroid's twin sister but you pale in comparison. BTW speaking of Metroid, you do encounter some small Metroid like enemies in this game. A nice touch.

Custom Made Mario Block Box

Custom Made Mario Block Box: http://nilprops.blogspot.com/

This guy made up a logo for www.videogameboxprotectors.com, check out his Mario box

Huge Local INTV score

Along with the NES CIB score, I got a bunch of INTV CIB a few days later. Unlike the NES, many of these about 30, were pretty rough. Most were unfolded and shoved in a box for over a decade. There were a few that we spared this fate including Digdug and Stadium Mug Buggies.

Prior to this score, I didn't know about Stadium Mug Buggies, turns out it one of the rarest for INTV.

Filling up this shelf now..... Perfect timing too, I just got the INTV box protectors

OMG

Local guy had these. Kids and grandkids were no longer interested. He had them a garage sale with no takers. Most are very nice. Some of the black box games had it pretty rough thou. Theres like 175 of them

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