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2022 In Games

Tuesday, December 13th, 2022

Another year, another look back at my game purchases…

2022 was an interesting year, and unique amongst all the years I’ve been buying games (since arriving in the US), in that I only bought games for a single system. Yes, this means no charts this year since there would only be one entry: the Switch! In total I spent $1286 bought 43 games for the system for an average price of $30. This is my third lowest ever total amount spent and number of games bought. The reason for only one system is we have not yet replaced our PS4, mostly since we have never seen a PS5 (or replacement PS4) for sale. However since the Switch has more than enough great games and the PS5 is – in my opinion – lacking compelling software, I’m in no hurry to buy one.

This is not to say my game playing saw a decline in 2022 – quite the opposite! There were some important releases this past year, and coupled with the fact we consume more and more media on our iPads, this meant lots of evenings playing the Switch and watching shows at the same time 🙂

Before to my usual ‘best of’ list, I’ll add that I made a third game sale this past year, a bit smaller than the previous, parting with my NES/SNES/N64 and Gamecube collections. I’m now down to about 1100 physical games and as with the previous chunks of my collection I sold, I don’t regret it one bit and am sure that one day I will sell more.

So, what did I enjoy most this year? No prizes for guessing the top spot:

Monster Hunter Rise Sunbreak (Switch)

This was a massive update to the base game that introduced several new monsters, loads of new weapons and armour and an entirely new difficulty level (what we used to call ‘G Rank’), and it was amazing. As with every MH game I devoured this, playing 16-hour days during Spring Break and reaching the endgame very quickly. The new fights were so much fun, and the added complexity of gear (especially creating sets around the vast amount of skills) was very satisfying. Looking back on Rise/Sunbreak as a complete game, this is without a doubt my favourite Monster Hunter ever, and I can only imagine where the series will go from here.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (Switch)

The third (or fourth…) game in this beloved series also came out in 2022, and once again it hooked me quickly and didn’t let go until about 150 hours later. With well-written characters, an engrossing story and a massive world to play around in this was another triumph of an RPG. This series is known for leaving some questions unanswered, but I’ll say the finale of this third and final game left me with a warm feeling. Now can we see a port of (or sequel to) Xenoblade Chronicles X?

Dungeon Encounters (Switch)

This was a surprise! I bought this one from Playasia since I wanted it on cartridge (it’s digital only in America), and didn’t open it for a few months. When I did I found a super old-school dungeon crawl in the Wizardry vein, only the dungeon is viewed from above and looks like a simple drawing on grid paper! Combat is turn-based and employs a simple gimmick involving two types of attack (physical and magic) and defense and at first everything seems a bit sparse. But very quickly the depth of the game becomes apparent, and 75 hours later when I beat it I knew it had become one of my favourite RPGs of all time. It’s very hardcore and certainly not for everyone, but I hope it does well enough for a sequel since it was absolutely my sort of game 🙂

Last year I wondered if 2022 would have brought a PS5 into our house and the answer was no. But I’ll make a prediction: 2023 will. I’m sure I’ll keep buying Switch games as well, but I think this time next year we’ll see both more games and more systems played in the annual round-up. Come back and see!

Posted in Blog, Collecting, Games, History | Comments Closed

LEGO Atari VCS

Wednesday, November 23rd, 2022

It’s ‘craft week’ this week (kls and I are using the days off to do a lot of craft kits we have), and I decided it was a good time to build this:

It’s the LEGO Atari Video Computer System, or VCS (later renamed the 2600). This kit looks like a remarkable reproduction of the original console only in LEGO, and has a few play features as well.

An immediate nice touch is the retro-style manual. There were about 20 of bags of pieces inside the giant box but as with all LEGO kits these days the bags were all numbered and assembly was easy and a lot of fun. All told it took me about 6-7 hours over two days.

It’s very big! I haven’t checked but it feels about life-sized and once finished it’s much heavier than the NES I made a couple of years ago. It also looks wonderful:

The switches all move, and the two on the right have rubber bands attached to they bounce back up like on the original 2600! This version however has a surprise: you can slide the cover forwards to reveal a nostalgic diorama:

Here’s some detail:

Look at the little me playing 2600 back in 1982 🙂

The controller feels life sized and it astonishingly accurate. The stick even moves (and due to rubber bumpers returns to the vertical position):

And of course the cartridges can be slotted in and out of the console or stored in the little caddy that is part of the set:

And lastly the set includes three small dioramas based on the three included games. These are cute but I would have loved this set even without them:

Overall this is an amazing kit. It looks great, it was great fun to build, and it hit all the nostalgia buttons. The only possible negative is that it’s quite large and I’m not sure where to put it!

With an NES and now a 2600 reproduced in LEGO do you think they’ve got more planned? If I were to make a prediction, I’d guess a first generation Apple Macintosh may be in the cards for a LEGO kit one day…?

Posted in Crafts, Games, Miscellaneous, Models, Toys | Comments Closed

My Collection: Nintendo 64

Sunday, July 17th, 2022

As a followup to the SNES, Nintendo released the Nintendo 64 (N64) in Japan in mid 1996, and in the rest of the world in 1997. Even at the time it was an unusual choice for the system to use cartridges for games (when the industry was moving to discs), and this ultimately doomed the console to lose in the market against the PlayStation.

I got my N64 early, since I had befriended the guy who ran the game company I would in time write reviews for, and he brought me back one from Japan in 1996. I had exactly one game for it, Super Mario 64, but this was such a groundbreaking and important game that it hardly mattered. I played it nonstop.

When the US version was released nine months later, I had to modify mine to play American games. Luckily this was a trivial process (I had to open the system and remove a piece of plastic) and I then had an N64 that could play games from anywhere in the world. Despite this I only ever bought one other Japanese game – Sin and Punishment – which was also fittingly the last N64 game I ever bought (in 2002).

As I mentioned this was a system hamstrung by the choice of cartridges. It was technically competent and had a great controller – the first true analogue controller for a home console in fact – but gaming was maturing from simple 2D graphics and games needed far more data storage. Publishers faced the choice of inexpensive CDs for PlayStation versus expensive cartridges for N64 and it’s unsurprising the discs won. As a result the N64 was the last non-handheld console to use cartridges until they returned for the Switch over 20 years later.

I only ever bought about 25 N64 games, and traded many of them in in the early 00’s when EB Games offered too-good-to-refuse prices. My remaining collection is above. Despite the small number of games there were some true classics on the system, including Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time, which is a wonderful Zelda game that pioneered many advancements that countless games utilize today such as lock-on targeting and a user-controlled camera.

Ultimately though this system must be remembered as a failure which lost Nintendo control of the industry. It’s followup – the GameCube – didn’t do well either, and it wasn’t until the phenomenal success of the Wii that they would return to the top of the market. I loved the N64 when it was the current system (I always preferred it to the PlayStation), but in retrospect it’s unquestionably my least nostalgic Nintendo console.

Which is one reason why I’m now saying goodbye to mine. I’m about to sell another large chunk of my collection, and will this time say goodbye to my NES, SNES, N64 and GameCube games (and hardware). Lots of memories will go with it all, but the time (and price) is right and I feel comfortable parting with it. I hope the next owners get as much joy from the games as I have over the years 🙂

Posted in Blog, Collecting, Games, Otaku, Retro, Tech, Time | Comments Closed

My Collection: SNES

Wednesday, July 13th, 2022

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) was released in Japan in 1990 and worldwide starting in 1991. In those days, still in Australia, I knew about the SNES but was content playing NES and PC games. It wasn’t until shortly after I arrived in America (in 1993) that I bought my SNES.

These days this system is renowned for a large library of high quality games. In particular it heralded the arrival or best installments in many famous series including F-Zero, Mario Kart, Castlevania and Metroid. The first (and only!) Mario game on the console – Super Mario World – is considered to be one of the best platform games ever made, and the system includes many famous and beloved RPGs in its library.

In time I would buy 35 games for the system, most of which are shown above. For several years the SNES and Game Boy were my only consoles, and I have very fond memories of long nights playing epic RPGs such as Final Fantasy 6 (one of my favorite games of all time) or Wizardry 5.

Games were expensive in those days! The above game cost me $74.99, which is about $150 today! I recall I used to save up for games and treasured every one I got 🙂

Due to the quality of the library, the large amount of RPGs, and the fragility of the cardboard boxes the games were sold in, the SNES has become arguably the most collectible console. Some games have skyrocketed in value, and very rare ones are bought and sold these days for thousands of dollars. If you wanted to collect a full library of SNES games today, you’d need very deep pockets.

I don’t have any of the super rare ones, but a few of mine are worth a tiny fortune these days. The above game, Chrono Trigger, is probably worth ten times what I paid for it in 1995, or possibly even more since I’ve kept mine in pristine condition!

For me the legacy of the SNES are the very happy memories it has given me. This was the system that really got me into console gaming. The system that hooked me on Japanese RPGs. And the system that inspired me to start my fanzine which eventually led to a job (of sorts) playing and reviewing games. The SNES represents the foundation of one of my personal stories, and for that reason will always remain special to me.

Posted in Blog, Collecting, Games, History, Otaku, Tech, Time | Comments Closed

Ultraman Vital Bracelet

Thursday, March 31st, 2022

I bought myself this for my birthday:

This is a limited Ultraman version of Bandai’s Vital Bracelet electronic toy. Think of this as Fitbit meets Tamagotchi. I didn’t know too much about it when I preordered it (for $70) on Bandai’s collectors site, but since my birthday was on the horizon I couldn’t resist.

The bracelet came with a memory card containing five of the Showa-era Ultra’s, and it is these you can take care of in your bracelet.

After putting it on and initializing it my first Ultra was born… and it was a disturbing baby in a swaddling cloth:

Very quickly this child evolved twice into Ultraman himself:

The device has a pulse detector on it and a vibration-based pedometer. However they are both wildly inaccurate and it’s made very clear the values measured ‘are for game purposes only’. Ultraman seems to gain energy as you wear the bracelet, and this powers him up and eventually evolves him into advanced forms. After a week or so mine is now Taro:

You can do missions (fight battles, walk a lot of steps) to power him up, and the bracelet has a NFC chip so you can get in battles by moving a phone near it, but it’s all a bit random and less interactive than I thought it would be. For instance the battles are completely non-interactive, over in seconds and are against other Ultramen. They could have at least added some monster graphics!

I think he will eventually evolve again, and I also think there’s other options that become available when he gets to a higher level, but since there are no English instructions (this is not intended for an English market) I’m going by the ones they translated for the similar Digimon device that doesn’t seem to have as many features as this one. There’s also an app available that somehow connects to the device but it’s not on the US App Store so I don’t have it. Of course these devices connect to each other as well and you can battle your friends, but since I’ll never ever know anyone else with one that feature may as well not exist for me!

So far I have to say this is a cool little toy, and I’ll certainly keep wearing it until I’ve seen more Ultras, but it’s certainly less functional than I expected. Because of that, and since the battery life is awful (it needs daily charging) I suspect the attraction will fade sooner than later.

That said the collector in me likes this thing for what it is, and if I ever see the chips with the other Ultramen on them I may be tempted to pick one up 🙂

Posted in Blog, Games, Miscellaneous, Otaku, Tech | Comments Closed

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