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My Collection: Genesis

Sunday, September 17th, 2017

Sega released the Sega Megadrive in Japan in late 1988. About a year later it was released in the US as the Sega Genesis. I can recall when the PAL version came out in Australia back in 1990, but was still so entrenched in arcade gaming that I didn’t think much of it.

When I came to America KLS owned one, and that system is still in our possession today. Usually when I do these posts I list all sorts of details about when it was purchased and how much I paid for games and that sort of stuff, but for mysterious reasons virtually all my Genesis games were omitted from my game collection database, so I can only say the bulk of my Genesis games were purchased ‘before 1996’.

The system itself is very large and very black! Ours is a first-generation, which means only RF outputs on the back and quaint additions such as a headphone jack and volume switch right on the console! I don’t have a CRT TV anymore, so I have to connect the RF signal to an LED flatscreen which isn’t ideal… but at least I get a picture! You can see me playing Wonder Boy above, which is a fantastic game. I only wish it were arcade perfect like the Master System version 🙂

The Genesis for me always felt like a strange bridge between Japanese and European gaming. Take Alisia Dragoon for instance, which is a Japanese action-platformer featuring a female protagonist that owes no small debt to Turrican. The box art for the US version is a classic in my opinion, and while (slavishly?) adherent to the game itself suggests a lot more than what’s in the box. The game itself, like all action games of that era, is brutally difficult. I thought I did pretty well in stage one but the game said I was only a ‘worm master’:

The vast majority of my collection are RPGs. KLS and I purchased some of these in 1993, but I suspect others made their way into my collection as I was reviewing for Working Designs. A few have stickers on them that show I bought them used, but many games are near mint condition, obviously bought new. I recall owning (and playing) many more games than what’s in my collection right now, which means some were traded in back during that regretful period in the late 1990s. I wonder how many and which ones?

Here’s my current collection in entirety:

There’s some giants in that box, including Phantasy Star II, III and IV, the first three Shining games, Landstalker, Wonder Boy in Monster Land, Shadowrun and Beyond Oasis. All of these games have aged well and are extremely playable today.

Amongst the very few items related to the Genesis that were in my database are the date of the last game purchased (Shadowrun for $20 in 1996) and the purchase of this item in early 1996 for $149:

That’s a Nomad, or portable Genesis. It was a spectacular failure for many reasons including high cost and dreadful battery life (about 2 hours on 6 AAs). Mine is in great condition as you can see, and I could easily sell it for more than I paid for it 21 years ago 🙂

Here’s a closer look at the blue boxes on the bottom of the collection photo above:

That’s my Sega-CD game collection. The Sega-CD was an add-on for the Genesis that was released in 1992. We have the second version released in 1993 that changed the form factor to sit alongside the main console. You can see it on the right in the photo at top. It was an exciting addition way back then since games on CD were very new and promised a lot. Sadly they rarely delivered, and the CD add-on was never much of a success. Mine still works, and I played a few of the games last weekend. I was pleasantly surprised by the fast access speed and short load times, especially compared to what I remember.

Some of my Sega-CD games incidentally are quite valuable. I should get around to the post about my priciest games one of these days…

I was recently watching a Youtube video and they commented the release of the above game, Fatal Labyrinth, was ‘immoral’ since the game itself is so unplayably bad. This gave me an idea, and I am seriously debating visiting this single roguelike game in detail in a future post. Interested?

The Genesis is a classic and important system in the history of home consoles, and was home to a great many absolutely fantastic games. Sadly I own few of them and because of my stubbornness about emulation will forever be deprived from playing them because I’ll not pay $750+ in any hurry for Slap Fight on the Megadrive! But I’m glad I have what I do, and will continue to keep the old Genesis safely tucked away until next time I set it up for some retro fun.

Posted in Games, Otaku, Retro, Time | Comments Closed

My Collection: XBox

Tuesday, August 29th, 2017

I received my XBox as a Christmas gift back in 2003. This was more than two years after it had been released, and by then there were many games already available. I actually owned one, D&D Heroes, that I had bought several months earlier. I guess I knew what Santa was bringing me for Christmas that year 🙂

While I didn’t buy an excessive amount of games for the system, I played it fairly frequently for the next 2.5 years and remember enjoying it. Some games, such as Morrowind and the Otogi series were particularly good. But the last game I purchased was in early August of 2006. Since I never had an XBox 360 or an XBox One, that day ended my time as an XBox player.

That is the sum total of my XBox collection (except the console, of course); 38 games for which I spent (in total) only about $450. I very rarely spent full price for an XBox games, and many of them cost me under $10. One of them cost only $5 new and a certain trilogy cost even less:

Those are the three Burger King games released in 2006. They retailed for $4 apiece but I recall there was a deal when you bought all three at once (maybe $10 for the set). They’re simplistic – today they’d be called ‘mobile games’ – and little more than curiosities, but a memorable part of my collection.

These two games are the highlights of my collection:

The Otogi series is a magnificent set of two games set in mythical Japan. Complex and challenging, they are mission-based action games featuring absolutely beautiful graphics, destructible environments and lots of intricate combat. Developed by From Software, both games contain elements that would resurface in the Souls series, and in my opinion these two are important milestones in the history of the action-RPG. They are so good in fact, that these two games along justified the XBox for me. Neither were released for any other console, or have even been rereleased or remastered.

As for strangest game, that award would go to a demo I have of a Magic The Gathering action game from 2003:

Entitled Battlegrounds, this is a terrible RTS-style game where you frantically summon creatures and cast spells to defeat your opponent in real time. There’s no cards, or even decks, and it only has superficial resemblance to an actual game of MTG. While I’ve only got the demo, I obviously wasn’t (and aren’t) impressed enough to buy the actual game!

The final XBox game I ever bought was this one:

Since I had the system out and connected for a bit of nostalgia, and since JJ were visiting, it seemed like a good time for an old fashioned retro gaming tournament! So once again KLS, JBF and myself sat ourselves down and answered the question of who was the superior videogamer. The ‘standard rules’ applied (one game each, no practice, winner goes first on next game) and we – as always – only played games with a score.

Here’s the per-game result:

And here’s the cumulative score result:

It seems I haven’t lost my mojo!

Anyway the XBox has now been boxed back up and returned to ‘deep storage’ where it will remain for at least another decade or so. Unlike almost every other system I own there are no games for the XBox I’ve always been after, so if and when I get it out it will probably just be for another go at Otogi or maybe Solomon’s Key. Who knows if the system will even work then…

Speaking of old games tourneys, we’re off to NH for another visit to Funspot this weekend. Watch this space for photos…

Posted in Games, Retro | Comments Closed

My Collection: NES

Wednesday, May 17th, 2017

I owned an NES way back in prehistory (ie. ‘The Australia Era’) and – at the time – played to death all the classics like Super Mario Brothers, Zelda 1 and 2 and Metroid. A couple of years after arriving here in the US, with the SNES in decline and the Playstation and Saturn already released I bought my second NES. It was September 24, 1995 to be exact, cost me $49.99, and I also spent an additional $90.50 buying up a library of 15 games.

I unpacked the NES from deep storage last weekend for a whirl and was pleasantly surprised to find that it still worked, that I actually had a TV that I could connect it to (a non-trivial exercise in this day of HDMI-only ports) and that – most incredibly – the batteries on every single game still worked!

The NES was released way back in 1983, and discontinued in the USA in 1995. I actually bought mine in a fire-sale after it had been discontinued, and therefore mine is the last version of the console ever manufactured. It’s amusing to me that I owned both the first and last versions, and wish I still had the one I bought back in 1987 (when it was first released in Australia).

After the initial flurry of purchased in September 1995, I bought the odd game here and there over the next six months and then stopped. I remember playing it avidly during this time, and the save files on my games support this, with most of the RPGs having maximum-level parties saved. But I suspect somewhere during 1996 I packed it into storage and moved on to the 16-bit CD-based machines.

With the unusual exception of Christmas 2002 (on which day someone gave me Ultima 2 NES for a gift!?) I hadn’t purchased any new games until a couple of weeks ago, when I got these guys for $5 apiece:

This was mostly because I watch lots of retro gaming online, and wanted to try out some shooters on the NES. These three are all ports of fondly-remembered arcade games and are brutally difficult on the NES. I was laughing out loud as I was in some cases getting game overs within a minute of starting, and remembering how such difficulty was the norm rather than the exception in those days 🙂

Then I dug out the RPGs…

That’s my actual party in Ultima 2, strangely named after the noble gasses! The game is a reasonably faithful port of the old PC classic but runs so slowly as to be almost unplayable by todays standards. I found this to be true for almost all of the ‘CRPG-type’ games (such as Bards Tale, Ultima, Wizardry etc.) and since the games can’t be accelerated when played on original hardware I doubt they hold much appeal today.

There are however certain exceptions, such as this still-playable and wonderfully-packaged Japanese installment in the Might and Magic series:

Or Solstice, a game that has become a bit of a cult-classic among certain aging ‘isometric‘ fans 😉

This latter one is ludicrously difficult, and yet I recall spending hours upon hours playing it way back when!

Here’s a photo of most of my NES library:

Almost everything in the above photo cost me $5, with a few (DW4, Startropics 2, FF1) costing $10-15. About half of the boxed games were new (you can still see the plastic wrap on many) and include all the manuals, maps etc. Needless to say these are in pristine condition. Even many of the used games came with most of the inclusions as well, and everything in the photo still works and (if applicable) has a working battery.

As with much of my game collection a lot of this material has gained value over the years. While I didn’t exhaustively check, Castlevania 3 as an example cost me $5 new (the price tag was still on the wrapper!) and now would fetch twenty times that. Amusingly my most ‘valuable’ game may be Godzilla 2 (which was also purchased new): boxed copies on ebay sell for over $200!

If you’re wondering about the major gaps in my collection – SMB, Metroid etc. – I have ports of them on other systems so never felt the need to get them for the NES. As you can see I prioritized RPGs, and as such ended up building a collection worth a nice amount these days. But I’ve got no plans on selling it, and back into storage it will all go.

By the way if you have any requests for the next one of these posts let me know. There’s a great many systems left to cover (basically I own everything since the NES excluding the 360 and XBox1) and I do plan on getting to them all eventually.

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

Youtube Retro Gaming

Sunday, April 30th, 2017

If your a 21st century boy like me, you’ve turned your back on television and now watch content delivered almost entirely via internet streaming. As in Youtube and/or Twitch. I’m taking a moment here to plug some of my favourite creators, because you may enjoy them too.

A brief description though for the luddites out there who don’t know what I’m talking about (ie. born before 1970). It’s fairly common now for people to have ‘cut the cable’ which means no longer pay for television. In the USA almost no-one uses (or even knows about) TV delivered over the airwaves, so if you don’t pay for cable TV, you basically don’t have TV. This isn’t a problem though since many shows are available via the internet and you can watch them on your TV by connecting an internet-connected computer (or similar) to your set.

But in recent years people have been moving toward watching material created by ‘normal’ people and distributed via Youtube or a popular gaming site called Twitch. Viewership of these non-traditional entertainment channels has been skyrocketing and now rivals or (for certain demographics) exceeds viewership of traditional TV. And I suppose I am now one of these viewers. So here’s what I watch on Youtube…

Mamemeister

Mamemeister is a gaming geek in his mid 40s that lives in Scotland. He has created hundreds of Youtube videos about all sorts of games and game systems dating from the very early days to the relatively recent, with an emphasis on 8-bit UK computers. He’s relatively prolific, releases videos in numerous different series, is quite a character and reminds me a lot of myself. He’s also not very good at games, which can be a bit alarming to watch sometimes but quickly became part of his appeal for me.

Some representative examples:
– One of his worst game ever videos (for Green Beret on C+4)
– A chronicle of C64 game loaders (so much nostalgia!)
– One of his ‘They did what’ series videos (Llamasoft in this case)

In addition to the above he’s done massive series on arcade games by year, on shooters by letter, and many different ’10 minute mashups’ where he just plays a random game for 10 minutes. I’ve watched almost everything he’s done and he’s probably my favourite streamer.

Kim Justice

Kim is another game streamer, again with an emphasis on 8-bit classic computing but very much inclusive of the 16-bit and later years. She produces immaculately researched, edited and scripted videos which range from relatively simple game reviews all the way up to lengthy multi-part documentaries on game companies, series or individuals. Incredibly watchable; try some of her videos if you have even a passing interest in video games.

Examples:
– A documentary on ZX Spectrum cover tapes
– 75 minute documentary about Psygnosis
– List of best/worst wrestling games

Much like Mamemeister, almost everything Kim does is worth watching. His multi-part documentaries in particular are fascinating, with subjects such as Peter Molyneux, Gremlin Graphics or Jack Tramiel. He’s also done a lengthy ‘A-Z of video games series’ which is equally great. If you like the above three I’m pretty sure you’ll like it all.

The Spectrum Show

This is a 60-episode series all about the ZX Spectrum. The creator – Paul Jenkinson – has done a fantastic job and although the content may be a bit dry for most, I binged it all (probably 40ish hours) in only 4 days! He goes into exhaustive – obsessive maybe! – detail about all things Spectrum, and it’s a wonderful celebration of nostalgia and love for the computer I most wanted to own but never did.

Example episodes:
– An entire episode dedicated to Spectrum magazines (Episode 40)
– A review of weird hardware (Episode 51)

Despite the above examples, if you are interested in this show I suggest watching in order. I myself can’t wait for the next series!

Nostalgia Nerd

All about computing nostalgia, this youtuber (as with the others) creates documentaries and showcases of old hardware and software, again with a UK slant. He strays away from gaming more than the others, but at the same time tends to feature more obscure or interesting one-off videos. He may not produce as much as say Kim or Mamemeister, but I still watch almost everything he does.

Examples of his more unusual videos:
– Creating and testing a thermometer attachment for a C64
– Connecting an ancient phone to the internet
– Running a Y2K test in 2017

Although I didn’t include any examples, his game content is top-tier too. Check out his recent doco on the ‘Rise Of The Triad’ game for example.

Techmoan

This guy had loads of subscribers and you may already know about him. He makes video documentaries about ‘the best and worst of technology’ which are exquisitely made and extremely watchable. I particularly enjoy his videos on old or obsolete technology. If you have even a passing interest, check him out and get hooked.

Example of obscure tech documentaries (he covers brand new stuff too!):
– Minidiscs (I was a big fan!)
– A calculator watch from 1977
– Atari music visualizer (this one is just for you Sue!)

Don’t you love the crisp, white backdrops he uses? Techmoan is a strange name though, he obviously loves it all; the weirder and older the better 🙂

There are a few others I watch, mostly system specific stuff (such as Xyphoe for Amstrad) but these are the ones for which I pretty much watch everything they put out. Between all of them there’s a few hours every week, so it’s an easy replacement for TV.

We’re also getting a bit into Twitch streaming as well… but that’s another post 😉

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

Ten More Treasures

Thursday, April 20th, 2017

I’m in the middle of a lengthy reorganization of our ‘library’ room, which contains 6 bookshelves and loads of books, toys and other stuff. I spend a lot of time in this room doing my crafting and hobbie stuff and I’ve wanted to reorganize it for years.

This has entailed throwing away some books (and magazines, of which I had scads), putting others in storage, and generally moving stuff around. It’s taken ages, been harder than I thought, but has at the same time been a lot of fun since I’ve ‘rediscovered’ so much stuff I had almost forgotten I owned or simply hasn’t had the attention it deserved.

This then is a post containing ten items that live in the room. All unusual, all treasured, and all still getting a featured position in the reorganized library 🙂

PS2 Slime controller (2005). This is a fully functional PlayStation 2 controller modeled after the famous slime from the Dragon Quest series. I bought it when it came out but never used it much since it’s uncomfortable to hold. Over the years it’s become a bit sticky since it has a rubber surface and while it’s appreciated in value it’ll just sit smiling on my shelf for ever 🙂

Viewtiful Joe bobblehead (2003). This was a promotional item given away with early purchases of the game. It’s ceramic, looks like a bootleg and the head is a bit too heavy for the spring. It’s weird and has been a shelf fixture for over a decade. Amusingly this item is now ‘worth’ more than the game on eBay!

Darth Maul cookie jar (1999). I’ve mentioned this before on the blog; it was my first (and last? ever QVC purchase and is still my favourite piece of Phantom Menace merchandise. It’s fairly large (about 20 cm tall) but impractical for storage so for me it’s always been decorative. Another item that has appreciated in value.

A tiny castle (?). I don’t know where or when I got this but it may very well date to my teenage years. Items like this (and little dragons) were somewhat common decades ago and I always liked them and used to own a few. Alas this is my only one now and I love it. Incidentally if you ever see anything like this (the very small size is important) it may make a good gift…

Bootleg R2 droid figure (?). I got this in England last year, specifically by trading tickets for it in an arcade in Margate. I like R2 figures, and something about this one – with its wrong colours and mismatched leg lengths – is endearing. Although 100% bootleg, this is a key item in my Star Wars collection 🙂

Burger King bobblehead (2006). These were sold at Burger King to promote the Super Bowl over a decade ago! It’s so weird I love it. Another item that is ‘worth’ (on eBay) several times what I paid for it.

R2-D2 plastic mug (2012). This was sold (and may still be today) at the Disney movie park in Florida. It’s gigantic, and yes I found space for it in my suitcase when we visited 5 years ago 🙂

Dragonlance stained glass (1997). These were sold for $90 exclusively at the Gen-Con convention in 1997. I bought this a couple of years ago for much less at a local shop, and the seller had had it since she bought it at Gen Con back when they were sold! It’s quite pretty, made of painted glass with real metal lines between the colours. I’d like to hang it but it’s quite heavy and I don’t have an appropriate window so it rests against the wall. It’s tough to find these (there were three designs) for sale now but they seem to go for a premium.

Darth Maul glass ornament (2010?). It’s hard to find info on this online. I’m pretty sure I bought it at Target, which means it should have been fairly common, but I can’t find any on auction or sold online so I’m not exactly sure when it came out. It’s a highly detailed blown glass Christmas ornament modeled (again) after Darth Maul from Star Wars. It’s super creepy but also lovely and another treasure in my SW collection. No I’ve never put it in the Christmas tree!

This Doctor Who trading card (1996). This is card #26 from the 1996 Cornerstone Doctor Who card set. I’ll admit my memories of how I obtained this are clouded… can one of you fill me in? (No I didn’t write that outrageous slander on the card!)

My next goal is to organize the attic. Lord knows what I may find up there! If I ever get around to it, you can expect to see some very unusual ‘treasures’ here once I’m done!

Posted in Blog, Games, Miscellaneous, Otaku, Retro, Toys, Trading Cards | 2 Comments »

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