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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

Sea Legs

Sunday, May 22nd, 2022

There were pernicious rumors a while ago that I was, shall we say, ‘weak to boats’. To put it bluntly, the rumors suggested I was a jelly-legged half-man that fainted at the first sight of a wave crest when sailing across the briny deep.

I scoff at these rumors, and today was proof of that!

I woke so early it was still yesterday and since I couldn’t return to sleep I read and sorted my luggage until sunup. Then I walked down to the pier at Circular Quay and bordered a ferry bound for Manly!

It’s only a 22 minute trip but for a couple of those minutes the ferry crosses the harbour entrance, which is famously choppy. At this point the boat bounced up and down and left and right and I rode it like a king. My sea legs were as sturdy as ever, and not even for one moment did I faint! And it’s not like the boat didn’t have the potential to sicken: I beheld some green-faced passengers who seemed to be praying for land, and I gave them a steely glance as I inwardly laughed at their pathetic weakness.

It was very early and nothing was open in the Manly shopping street, but the beach was beautiful and I walked it’s length before returning to ride a ferry back to the Sydney piers again.

Oh and check out the vending machine above: for only $2 you can buy a mask from a possessed girl with glowing eyes!

Back in Sydney I ate and wandered around and eventually ended up playing a ufo catcher machine in Chinatown. And believe it or not I won!

Not bad for about $30 wouldn’t you agree? 😉

Posted in Australia, Otaku, Trip | 1 Comment »

Retro Wax Packs (Part 2)

Saturday, April 23rd, 2022

It’s time for the second entry about opening old trading card wax packs!

Jaws 2 (Topps, 1978)

In 2020 the pandemic delayed most new release films and as a result our drive in played mostly older movies. We got to see the original Jaws on the big screen and it was incredibly good. At the time I felt I’d never actually seen the sequel and looking at these cards I’m now sure of this.

As far as trading cards go this is a competent set, but it’s an early one from Topps and they had yet to learn the lessons from the success of their Star Wars cards. This means no plot summaries, no die-cut stickers, and a poor puzzle on the backs of select cards.

As kids it was always fun to read the ‘movie facts’ on the backs of cards, since it wasn’t like we’d get that info elsewhere. But based on the imagery on the cards Jaws 2 was a film that perhaps didn’t need a trading card set 🙂

Here’s Bo (Fleer, 1981)

This is just a perplexing set. It purports to be a set of Bo Derek photocards, but the photos are all taken by her husband on what seems to be the set of the Tarzan film they made in the early 1980s.

It’s a bizarre selection of photos, especially since at the time she was a famous sex symbol selling lots of pinup posters. Surely they could/should have included a few of those images in this set?

The included poster is folded up many times and in this case had a sticker of flour-coated gum absolutely adhered to it. When unfolded it’s biggish considering the delivery system, but who would ever want to hang this on a wall?

Oh and the text on the back of the cards is very abbreviated and – to be blunt – creepy:

I can’t see who the audience for this set was!

Ghostbusters II (Topps, 1989)

I’m not a big fan of Ghostbusters, and don’t see the film as iconic as some people do. It was fun enough at the time, but I don’t recall ever being enthusiastic about a sequel, and when one finally arrived several years later I recall seeing it but remember nothing of the experience.

This card set is one of the latter ones that Topps released in wax pack form, and much like Robocop 2 (see the last wax pack post) is a by-the-books set with decent design and good print quality. The choice of a ‘wide screen SFX shot’ card is novel, but is the aspect ratio even different from the others?! The sticker card is shown in the middle, but there’s no explanation what the image is. As with other latter sets, by this time they’d stopped die-cutting the stickers which is a shame.

The film plot is summarized on the backs of the cards, which reminds me this was a baby-intensive film. Here’s a message to Hollywood: if you’re making a film in a franchise aimed at teenage boys, perhaps think twice about basing the plot around a baby 🙂

Howard The Duck (Topps, 1986)

A George Lucas film using a Marvel character?!? When this one came out in 1986 we went to see it with our cousins (Troy and Ryan) and I daresay we left the film even more confused than when we’d seen Caravan of Courage a year prior. This is a strange film for many reasons.

The card set is quite good, with a lot of nice shots of Howard and a well written plot summary on the reverse. But did anyone enjoy the film enough to actually buy these cards?

What stands out from this set is the quality of the stickers! These packs were very cheap so I bought two and both stickers are amazing:

I’m tempted to even try to stick these on something! Overall this is a fairly good set for a distinctly weird film that is worth a watch if you haven’t yet seen it.

Black Hole (Topps, 1979)

From one weird film to another! I believe we saw Black Hole at the Gateshead drive in when we were grasshoppers, and I’m sure we enjoyed the robot scenes but were bored mindless by the lengthy exposition and insane ending. This is a relic of the era of rushing out anything with science fiction content to cash in on Star Wars mania!

Faults aside, the film is visually strong, and lends itself well to trading cards. I recall buying a few packs of these as a kid, and tossing all but the cards showing Vincent and Maximillian!

There’s a well written summary on the backs of some cards, and as usual with Topps in those days we get a subset of die-cut stickers:

Oh and I almost got enough cards in the pack to make a jigsaw puzzle:

Overall this is one of the better sets I’ve opened recently, and I think would have been worth collecting had I had they been available to me as a kid. And as a bonus – since I haven’t shown any this post – here’s a shot of the 43-year-old gum I found in this pack:

There’s one more installment of this mini-blog-series forthcoming, with six more weird and wonderful wax packs from the 1980s. Watch for it in a couple of weeks!

Posted in Blog, Collecting, History, Miscellaneous, Movies, Otaku, Retro, Trading Cards | Comments Closed

‘Imaginary Skeleton’

Sunday, April 17th, 2022

It’s time for another model kit, and yes I know this means two in two days.

This is a new Bandai Imaginary Skeleton kit of a tyrannosaurus. As soon as I saw this I knew I had to have it! (The omission of ‘rex’ from the name is likely due to this kit being an imaginative depiction of what may have been three separate species.)

The kit is notable for almost every piece being the same colour! It also has the biggest piece I’ve ever seen in a model kit (the base, see photos below) and is also one of the biggest kits I’ve ever made.

In addition to an instruction manual (in colour and with English instructions as well as Japanese) the kit also contains this 10-page booklet with the latest science about the tyrannosaurus. For instance, it shows how back in the 1900s we thought tyrannosaurus stood up like kangaroos but now we know they more likely lean forward and are feathered.

The head shown above contains ten individual pieces. While the kit doesn’t need glue, I used a bit here and there to keep the connections nice and tight.

From the booklet I learned that the head of a living tyrannosaur weighed about 500 kg, and had a brain that was unusual large compared to mammals. From this scientists believe they were more intelligent than most mammals, especially related to hunting since they had well developed vision and smell. Their longest teeth were 30 cm and had a serrated inside edge like a steak knife.

Look how long that tail is (and the kit in general)! The tail itself was nine pieces, but the rib cage was many more since each rib pair was a separate piece.

On the underside of the ribcage is a smaller inverted riblike structure called a ‘gastralium’. This supported the internal organs and itself was connected to a bone called the pubis which was likely used for support when the tyrannosaur lowered itself to the ground, since it was probably unable to lie down.

It was once believed that the tyrannosaur was clumsy and even slow, and as a result probably ate carrion. But these days we have a better understanding of the physics of the skeleton, and most researchers agree that tyrannosaurs were in fact agile, and could possibly even leap to attack prey (which this kit depicts). This was a creature up over three times the mass of an elephant that may have been agile and intelligent!

These beasts lived in North America about 66 million years ago. This was the last days of the reign of the dinosaurs, and some theorize that the tyrannosaurs were ultimately unable to achieve their full potential due to premature extinction. In other words, for as fierce a predator as this thing was, it may have only been a prototype of something even more deadly!

I love this kit. It’s easy to build, looks great when assembled and comes with a lot of interesting information. For a dinosaur-loving child, this would be an incredible gift.

Posted in Animals, Crafts, Models, Nature, Otaku, Science, Time | Comments Closed

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