Systems this week!

Well this week was light on games, but I was able to get a few systems I've wanted for a while now. Take a gander...

 Ian at What's On 2nd hooked it up with a TurboGrafx16 and a Colecovision. I've wanted both of these systems for a while, especially the TG16. I actually have wanted a TG16 since I was a kid, so it's nice to finally have it now that I'm practically a senior citizen. The two TG16 games are Bonk's Adventure and Keith Courage in Alpha Zone. For the Colecovision he tossed in the timeless classic, Donkey Kong. Also at the bottom below the Colecovision is the module that allows you to play 2600 games on the Colecovision. Not pictured are all of the hookups for the systems, as well as two TG16 controllers and a multi-tap. In the center is a factory sealed Space Armada(Space Invaders clone) for the Intellivision. The price on this lot was to die for! Unfortunately, repairs are STILL ongoing in my slumber cave and I don't have access to my retro system tv to break them in. Life in America is so tough sometimes.

And to round things out, another pickup that I can't try out until the repairs are done, WCW World Championship Wrestling for the NES! Hmm, World Championship Wrestling: World Championship Wrestling...perhaps the most redundant title of all time.

I've never played it before, but those old school rasslin games have such a charm that I'm sure it was worth the money. Besides, not many games allow you to live vicariously through the Freebird Michael Hayes!

I may not be able to get much loot in the coming week, as a weekend full of work looms in the distance. Still, you never know when the bug will crawl up your rear and you'll go out searching. Until next time....

Super R-Type, one of those sadistic, hard as hell games from the early 90's. Shmups(shoot em ups) are notorious for being difficult, owing to their arcade roots and being designed to suck quarters/tokens from your pocket. While shmups by and large have retained their difficulty through the years, in the early 90's games were starting to get a bit easier. Many more fleshed out games were being designed from the ground up for home consoles, and even ports of arcade games were having their difficulty adjusted for the home console market. However, there were still many games being released at the time that were just plain brutal in their difficulty.

One of the launch games for the SNES, and what a launch that was, Super R-Type was one of those games that haunted me for years. To be more specific, it has haunted me for over two decades. Like so many younglings around for the debut of the SNES, Super R-Type was one of my very first SNES experiences and memories. It was(and is) such a fun game, just oozing with character, but it was insanely hard. We(my bro and I) never owned the game originally, just rented it from Video Xpress. So while we really enjoyed the game, we never really came close to finishing it during those 3 days of R-Type beatdowns.

There are certain games that you play as a kid and never beat that are always gnawing away at the back of your brain. Some of those games I would later finish as an adult, like Mega Man, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Mike Tyson's Punch-Out, Ninja Gaiden. There are always some that still remain unbeaten, such as Contra, Ghost n Goblins, Super Ghouls n Ghosts, and Gradius III. Super R-Type was on that list of hard games that I never beat...until today!

Lately I have been playing me some shmups(UN Squadron, Star Soldier, Star Soldier: Vanishing Earth, Gradius III), but I had not touched Super R-Type. It had probably been 7 or 8 years since I had last played it, and that was just for a stroll down memory lane, not a serious attempt at playing it. Then yesterday I decided to man up and pop the cart into my SNES. This game has unlimited continues, so it can't be THAT bad, right?

Well, maybe. It definitely was every bit as hard as I remembered it to be. One thing that really makes this game such a challenge is that enemies come at you from every direction and angle imaginable. Front, back, top, bottom, even the corners of the screen. Not only that, but often you will have enemies coming at you from all these angles at once. On top of that you have to deal with random enemy fire, enemies that "snake" around the screen, and moving/shifting environments. If that wasn't enough, once you die you have to restart the level. That's right, no checkpoints. That kind of stinks, but at least when you are facing a boss you will have your ship powered up. Checkpoints in a game like this aren't that great when you have to face a boss with just your measly peashooter and no speed upgrades. Of course there is also the infamous slowdown that was present in many early SNES games. This is both a blessing and a curse on Super R-Type. It comes in handy when dodging a screen full of bullets and enemies, but it sometimes backfires when enemies go off-screen. In that case your ship suddenly goes from molasses speed to lightspeed and you wind up flying right into an enemy or a wall.

Anywho, yesterday I spent quite a few hours battling my way through the first 6 cruel stages of savagery in the game. If you ever want to know what YOU really think about YOURSELF, play a game like this. Apparently, I am of the opinion that I am an idiot, worthless, a literal pile of feces, and worthy of being sodomized. But we say things to ourselves that we don't really mean in the heat of battle, so I've forgiven myself for talking to myself like that. I had a few choice words for Super R-Type as well, but that's the name of the game when taking on such a challenge.

I finally took a break last night after cursing myself out a little too much. This morning I picked back up on the final level and was able to make it to the final boss fairly consistently. The final boss is really cool, what with his four tentacles holding on to trapped ships(that you can free), and the two space fetuses he is protecting inside. You don't have to rescue the ships, but it does give you more room to maneuver if you destroy the tentacles holding them. To finish him off you just blast the fetuses(I'll skip on the obvious democrat joke here) whenever he opens up. The pattern of the boss isn't that hard really, it's just getting to him that is the real pain.

You're treated to a cool little scene where you blast a whole into the wall to escape the explosion , then you and the rescued ships head out into space.The game informs you that the evil Bydo empire is defeated and you, of course, feel like a champ.

                                                        See you space cowboy....

 

As John Madden would say "BOOM"

For the week "ending" on June 23rd.

Well, it was another somewhat slow week for me. I didn't have any great finds this week, though I did have a first...a real deal retro game find at a garage sale. More on that in a moment, first, let's have a look.

To the left are two Master System games that I picked up from What's On 2nd: Thunder Blade and Gangster Town. As my cave is still undergoing repairs at this time, I don't have access to my Master System and have not got a chance to try them out. From what I have read, both should be well worth the price. I'm particularly looking forward to Gangtser Town.

Atop the two SMS games are a few items from estarland: Ninja Gaiden for the Lynx, and Macross: Do You Remember Love, an import for the Sega Saturn. Ninja Gaiden is fun and, apparently this is a "port" of the original arcade game; the gameplay is more of a beat-em-up, and less of a platformer like the NES NG's. Macross is a short shmup, but quite fun, especially if you enjoy Macross(Robotech). It is also one of those games that is a cakewalk until the very end, when the difficulty is cranked up considerably. Still, it wasn't too hard to finish. The game also features cutscenes from the anime movie.

In the middle are the five NES games I picked up this week, Double Dribble and Mickey Mousecapade courtesy of What's On 2nd. Aaaaand, I got them for the low, low price of $2 a piece. Double Dribble brings back memories of my early NES days playing with my brother. I can still remember what a thrill it was to initiate those slam dunk "cutscenes". The Mickey game I'm not sure if I played before, but if nothing else will be sure to reek of some cheesy cuteness that I can never seem to get enough of. The bottom three NES games I picked up at Top Games. Originally I just got 1943 and Pin-bot(LOVE the label art) from there, but Mega Man 2 beckoned me back the next day. $10 for Mega Man 2 ain't too shabby.

Now about those Atari games...those are what I found at the garage sale. I have had ZERO luck at garage sales through the years. My luck has been so bad, I rarely even bother any more. But this one was right down the road from my house, so I gave it a shot. As always happens at yard sales I go to, I initially saw nothing but, shall we say, woman stuff: lamps, cups, bowls, that kind of useless stuff. I did spy a computer mini-joystick box, and lo and behold, Atari games inside! My heart probably should have skipped a beat. Could it be? Had I finally found favor with the gaming gods? What hidden treasures await in this crappy joystick box? Perhaps Custer's Revenge? Has the spirit of Gunpei Yokoi directed me to a copy of Air Raid?!?!? Of course not. Inside were six games, all of them very common. Pac-man, Slot Racers, Space Invaders, Basketball(the only one I didn't already have), and to add insult to injury, TWO copies of Combat. Yes, Combat. Regardless, they were all in pretty good shape and I only paid 5 clams for them.

When I was snapping the (fuzzy) pic of my pickups this week, I felt like I was missing something. Sure enough, I did forget one game. Luckily, I had snapped a pic while playing it earlier in the week...

Ultraman for the SNES. My, my, how could I forget you?

And to wrap things up, I also got my copy of Pat The NES Punk Vol 1&2 in the mail this week. For those who don't know, Pat Contri is a retro game reviewer/funny lad on the Youtubes. Not only does he have weird hair, he is also my personal favorite retro game aficionado on the interwebz. I thoroughly enjoyed the dvd and encourage anyone who reads this blog(both of you) to check out his Youtube content as well as his personal site, thepunkeffect.com. Pat is one of the many talented and lovable yokes who contribute to an awesome site called RetrowareTV. If you love retro games, or just want to learn a thing or two about them, RetrowareTV is an awesome place to go.

So that's it for my pickups. Hopefully I will have more luck in the coming weeks. Then again, let's just leave luck to heaven. Get it?

Games From This Past Week

This week I picked up a few nice games, but didn't really have any major finds. Still, I was able to get a few games that I've really wanted. Things are a bit hectic with some home repairs having me out of my bedroom and stuff all moved around. Enough jibber jabber, let's have a look.

Of particular note here are the two Virtual Boy games, Galactic Pinball and Mario Tennis. I already have all of the VB games that I really wanted and I only started collecting VB a few weeks ago.

I am also happy to have Panzer Dragoon II in the collection now. Once the repairs at the house are done and I'm moved back in, I'll definitely give it a play. The Panzer Dragoon games are one of the reasons I most wanted a Saturn in the first place. The only PD game that I've ever spent any serious time with was Orta for the X-Box and it was a true joy to experience.

I'm also looking forward to playing Adventure Island(top left) here in the (hopefully) near future. It's been over 20 years since I last played it. I don't remember much about the game besides the look and feel of it, the fact that I did not beat it, and that it was a really fun game!

I also picked up Chip n Dale for the NES. I don't believe I ever played it back in the day, but, as with most of the Capcom Disney games, it is sure to please. A boxed Airwolf is now part of my NES collection. I'm sure it's not the most high quality game, but I picked it up at a good price and look forward to what I'm sure is an ultra cheesy game. The boxed Battle of Olympus is a welcome addition as well. The game looks to be pretty fun and a friend recommended it to me a while back. It also came with a mostly complete manual that has some passwords written in the password section of the manual; remember those??

Super R-Type was thrown in because I couldn't remember if I had included it in this blog or not(I had included it already) when I was pulling out all of the game pickups for the last week. It's an awesome game and brings back lots of good memories. I also got a few GameGear games on the cheap and one GameGear game(the Sonic one) that I slightly overpaid for. Speaking of overpaying, I have to mention Ninja Gaiden II. Yeah, I overpaid for it by a few bucks. I was a little off my game this week. :(

That wraps it up for this week. I will definitely be slowing down my collecting here in the near future. Not that I won't be getting games regularly. Since I have most of the systems that I want, I will be focusing more on quality games for the newer systems in the collection(Saturn, Master System) and trying to locate some must haves for systems that I already have a decent collection for(NES, SNES). I'm also going to be focusing on looking for game lots that I can purchase for a good price. With that said, game on!

Well what do you know, a few more games to add to the pile. After having lunch today I decided to drop by a local shop, Top Games and see if they had nay new stock. They certainly had some nice, new retro stuff, but being tight on cash I just picked these two up for a total of 15 bucks.

I'm ashamed to say that I did not have Super R-type in my collection until today. This was actually a game that I thought I had for years. Sometime last year I got the urge to play it and discovered that I did not have it. Well, problem solved now. It's in nice condition it's one of my earliest SNES memories. Then there is Section Z by Capcom for the NES. I don't think I ever played this one, and if I did it got lost in the ol' memory banks. Still, it looks fun and was only 5 bucks. Can't complain about that!

Few New Pickups

Yesterday morning after work I had a dentist appointment and while I was passing by, decided to drop by What's on 2nd to check up on something. While I was there I picked up a few games. So here they are!

Darkwing Duck for the NES! I'm really looking forward to playing this one. I never played it back in the day, but it looks like it's going to be a lot of fun. It's one of those Capcom-made Disney games. If you didn't know, Capcom-made Disney games are probably responsible for 50% of the quality licensed games ever made.

Now, about Batman Returns...I'm a big fan of the two Tim Burton Batman movies, and I've always enjoyed Batman Returns on the SNES, so Batman Returns for the Lynx cannot be that bad, right? Besides, I wanted another game to play on my Lynx. Well, let me tell ya, Batman Returns on the Lynx is pretty much as abysmal of a game as you can get. It's as abysmal as it gets for a game that works like it is supposed to. No glitches to blame here. My first inkling was at the title screen where there are no options at all. I pressed a button and the game begins, no setup to the story or anything, it just begins. In the game you just walk to the right of the screen and get completely overwhelmed by enemies that constantly spawn. You get peppered in the face with bombs, shotguns blasts, and knives, and find ol' Bats picking himself up off the pavement constantly. You start out with one life, and once you die it's all over. No continues. Youch.

I think I'll go play Batman Returns on the SNES to cleanse the pallet.

This weekend was pretty busy, and I was fortunate enough to get some pretty good loot. I wish that I had more time to actually play games, but considering the games that I got my paws on it was well worth it. Let's have a gander.

This is the load from Saturday. It came from a combination of a friend, the flea market, and a somewhat nearby store. Not a bad haul for a Saturday.

The Sega Saturn 3D controller came from a friend and was something that I really wanted for my newly acquired copy of Nights. I also got a copy of Rise of the Dragon for the Sega CD from my friend. RotD looks really interesting and, since I'm a fan of Blade Runner and the book that it's based on, should be quite an experience. If you've never watched Ridley Scott's masterpiece, Blade Runner, or  read Phillip K. Dick's wonderful book that the movie is based on, Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep, do yourself a solid and check them both out. I also got Batman Returns for the Game Gear from my friend.

Goldeneye, Ninja Gaiden, and Joust all came from the store. Nothing much to say about these. All are pretty common and not very vauluable. However, I am a fan of NG and Joust and really wanted to have them in the collection. I got a fairly good price on Goldeneye.

The flea market run turned out pretty well. The two most notable pickups here are Crash n The Boys: Street Challenge and Mega Man X4. Golden Axe II(GEN), Shinobi(Master System), Millipede(2600), Ecco the Dolphin/Sega Classics 5 in 1(SegaCD), Ghostbusters II(NES), and World Series Baseball(GameGear) round out the list for the day. I was able to get Mega Man X4 for $10, and the rest of the games for $20. Not too shabby!

Sunday was a pretty eventful day as well. Another friend hooked me up with some rarities, as well as some common, but always welcome, NES games. First up, an unopened GameBoy battery pack. That was unexpected, but pretty cool. Tiny Toon Adventures is a game I've always been curious about. Q*bert was one of my favorite games as a kid and it's good to have the NES version, although I already have the 2600 one. Captain Skyhawk is one that I've never played before, so I'm happy to get it. I already have the Super Mario/Duck Hunt and Bases Loaded games, but it never hurts to have more.

Now, on to the main course. This is what I've been looking forward to all weekend. Take a peep at this.

A Virtual Boy, alone with Wario Land, 3D Tetris, and Nester's Funky Bowling! 3D Tetris seems to work the best and boots up every time. I have to work a little bit with Wario to get it going, and Nester is being rather Funky(sorry) about booting up, but a little patience goes a long way.

Nester's Funky Bowling is the VB game that I've always wanted to play the most. I did get to play it for a little while earlier and it's a pretty fun little game. My biggest complaint, besides being stingy about booting up, is that there is no battery save. Unfortunately, this means it won't save your high scores.

Wario I only briefly tried out, but it played really well and similar to the GB Wario games. The graphics were really nice and the controls were smooth. I'll definitely get around to playing this some time down the road.

3D Tetris seems ok, though I only tried it out for a few minutes. It seems kinda slow and a bit bland. But a lot of the classics from the 2D era made the jump to 3D, so who is to say Tetris didn't deserve a shot at it. Still, I prefer my Tetris in glorious 2D.

So that is all for my weekend game hunt. I'll definitely be getting some more the weekend after next, but should have some more stuff coming in from the friend who hooked me up with the VB. Until then, game on!