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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

Ancient Me

Monday, July 11th, 2022

While in Australia, an email from a cousin of mine revealed that she had found letters I had written her when we were kids! Even more surprisingly, she scanned and sent them to me. Here I share them with you: three letters I wrote between 1982 and 1984!

This first one is a postcard and was sent in 1982 (as dated by the bridge comment). The Sydney excursion was Bernard’s year 6 trip, which means I was in year 5 (which once again dates this to 1982). It has the feeling of something written by a child (I was 10) who was being forced to write to his cousins, since I seemed to have simply transcribed what I read in an encyclopedia!

But then we get to the bizarre non-sequitur last line: My hobbies are basketball and stamp collecting. Basketball?!? I don’t remember ever being interested in basketball, and certainly not to the extent I would describe it as a hobby. I once ever played the game at a stadium (for kids) but didn’t enjoy it and never returned. I don’t recall ever watching a game, or even owning a ball (much less throwing a ball at a hoop). What a puzzling inclusion!

The description of my confirmation and the issue date of the Aerogramme used dates the above to 1983. immediately it dives into long-forgotten memories: I participated in three acts of a school concert to celebrate a nunnery!?! I wonder what I did? And was I even in the bible dramatization? Surely I would have played Jesus? I wish I could go back and whisper in my ear to write a few more details in the letter

And while it’s good to know Bernard ‘likes’ high school, I’d love to know more about that excursion (ie. school trip) to Sydney. Could that have been the one at which PM broke his arm immediately after going out on an ice rink thus robbing our class – some of whom were still getting our skates on – of the chance for a fun afternoon of ice-skating?

Krull was released in August 1983 in Australia. I loved it then and I love it now. You’d have thought I may have mentioned as much in the letter, but perhaps it was enough to have said I saw it. Maybe I asked Dad if he thought I should write anything else but he didn’t hear me due to half-deafness (no, I don’t remember anything about that), so the end of the letter leaves us all hanging. I even blatantly say I can’t think of anything else to write! I suppose I had other things on my schedule that day

This last one is dated to December 1984, which means I was 12 and in my first year of high school. I’ve become a bit more sophisticated by now and have switched to cursive, which is a puzzle to me since I never liked using cursive and (as I recall) abandoned it as soon as possible. Perhaps in those days school was forcing us to use it, or perhaps I thought it may make the letter look a bit more posh?

In the very first paragraph I boast about skipping school (I was only 13!) and having a ‘good time’ in town (playing video games no doubt). I wonder who those two friends were? My guess is MMcN and MT, which were two of my partners-in-crime in those days.

I find it amusing that I knew what my Christmas gift was. We got cassette players (‘tape recorders‘) each and it was the first time we had our own, which lead to an explosion in us purchasing cassettes. Of all the Christmas gifts of my youth, that’s probably the one I remember most fondly.

I don’t remember the teacher I describe in the letter (apologies to Miss Mackenzie if she is reading this), but I do remember not enjoying any language classes in school. I don’t remember ever going to Luna Park but I fondly recall the trips to Nabiac (yes we did go again as described in this letter) including falling off a horse and getting stung by wasps!

I wish I’d written more about specific interests in this letter. What games I was playing and music I was listening to. Of course I remember (more or less) but it would have been fun to read my opinions at that age.

Martina mentioned that when the earliest of these letters would have been received by her she would have barely understood English, which means she probably had someone translate. And I imagine her responses to me were in German and translated by Dad. I didn’t keep any of them, or any of the other letters sent by other cousins. Back in those days the thought probably never would have occurred to me, but I imagine they’d like to read their own words 40 years later and enjoy them the same way I loved re-reading mine.

Posted in Blog, History, Time | 3 Comments »

Life’s Great Adventure

Thursday, May 12th, 2022

How many times have I traveled internationally? And where have I gone? The list has become long (and old) enough that I’m starting to forget. Time to refresh my memory!

My first trip was when I was a swaddling babe, and we went as a family from PNG to Germany (that’s us upon arrival in 1972), staying for several months and then jetting back to Australia to live. I don’t of course remember this, but until I left Australia at age 21 this was the first time I ever flew.

In 1993 (when the above was taken), I jetted to the USA with a suitcase full of books and records and very few clothes! I don’t remember much of the trip now, but it remains the only one-way air ticket I’ve ever bought myself. It would be seven more years before I flew again.

In late December 2000 I flew back to Australia, and what a trip it was! The years had changed me, but looking at the above photo (taken in early January 2001) I can’t say for sure what I had become! I had a great time and – since this was pre-blog – even wrote a mini travelogue book about it. I knew this wasn’t to be my last trip abroad, and the travel bug had most definitely bitten.

Including the above trip, and in the years since, here’s where and when I’ve traveled internationally. I’ve listed this chronologically, and the Australia trips usually span the end of the listed year and into the next:

Australia (2000)
Canada (2001)
Japan (2002)
Japan (2004)
Japan (2006)
Australia (2006)
Puerto Rico (2008)
Australia (2008)
Japan (2009)
Australia (2009)
England (2010)
Australia (2010)
Australia (2011)
Australia (2012)
Japan (2013)
Canada (2013)
Australia (2013)
Australia (2014)
Ireland (2015)
England (2015)
France (2015)
Germany (2015)
Australia (2015)
England (2016)
Australia (2016)
Japan (2017)
Australia (2017)
Scotland (2018)
Australia (2018)
Japan (2019)
Australia (2019)
Japan (2020)

2015 was a year wasn’t it?! I visited five countries, and flew over 70,000 miles in that year alone! Looking at this list makes me regret not signing up for frequent flyer rewards a long time ago, but in my defense I always hopped airlines going with the cheapest, whereas these days I choose comfort instead!

That’s a lot of international trips, and the list includes 40 long-haul Pacific flights. I have memories of all of these, although to be true the many Oz trips tend to blur into one! Critics may say I go to the same places too often (Australia 14 times! Japan 8 times!) but I go where I want to be, and I hope the many trips I will take in my life return to those destinations again

Here’s where I’ve been in map form:

And since you’re wondering, travel snaps can show how my look changed during these years…

There’s me in Japan in 2006. I chose this photo because I was astonished to learn I still have this shirt!

Here’s me in Canada in 2013, playing with a photo mode of the digital camera I had in those days. My head looks fat!

England in 2016. I’m growing into my mature self here. And I wish I had those fish’n’chips in front of me right now!

And that’s me on my last day in Japan in 2020. You can tell in my eyes I knew about Covid at this point, and I was wondering when I’d be able to travel again after returning to the USA the very next day. I doubt I would have believed it would be over two years.

After a failed attempt last December, next week will be the day I once again hop on a plane and jet off for foreign shores. For the fifteenth times since moving to the USA, I will once again return to Australia. For obvious reasons the trip will be different from the usual, but I hope not drastically. As usual, you can read about my adventures here on the blog.

Posted in Blog, History, Time, Trip | 1 Comment »

World Book

Thursday, May 5th, 2022

Back in the late 1970s dad briefly worked as a door-to-door salesperson for World Book encyclopedia. In those days World Book was sold exclusively via door-to-door sales and the company actively recruited teachers since the encyclopedia was marketed toward families with children in schools. Dad apparently wasn’t great at the job, but it led to our family receiving a full set of World Book, which would have likely been prohibitively expensive for us otherwise.

Recently I found in an ‘abandoned book’ pile a copy of the 1964 edition of the F volume of World Book. Flipping through it brings back a lot of memories since when we were kids this was our Wikipedia. If ever we needed to know anything, the answer was in our World Books!

F is 512 pages long, most of which are black and white, and the above is representative of most entries. The writing is succinct and the vocabulary easy, and it’s clear this attempts to be a comprehensive reference that doesn’t bog down with technical details.

Since it’s catered (if not aimed) at children, the entry for fractions is many times longer than the one for force and organizations such as 4H and Future Farmers of America have much longer and detailed entries than I would have expected.

As a child I read all the volumes voraciously, and especially loved the lengthy showcase entries with lots of colour. Examples in this volume include flag (there’s more than a dozen pages like the above), flower and fish:

Farm has a long and comprehensive entry, but perhaps surprisingly the longest one in this volume is furniture with 16 pages.

The most spectacular entry is frog, since it includes an anatomical drawing featuring transparent overlays. I remember several volumes had these in them and as a child these were dazzling (and the plastic hadn’t warped as it has in this nearly 60-year-old volume).

Of course this was a legitimate encyclopedia, and not just intended for school report projects. As such it includes plenty of entries perhaps not of interest to the average child:

It’s also a time capsule of 1960s America. I only skimmed through it, but I found quite a few items that would likely be different in a 2022 edition, such as this introduction to fur:

Or a six-page article on fallout and fallout shelters:

There’s also an article on faith healing that very nearly flat-out says it is legitimate medicine, and the entry on Florida mentions (factually, in 1964) that it was the most politically democratic US state. An article on factories discusses how they can beautify neighborhoods and the free enterprise article goes into some detail about how Americans are the most prosperous, healthy and happy citizens in the world…

Warts-and-all, World Book was an incredible resource to us as children, and I have many happy memories of reading the volumes almost cover to cover. In preparing this entry I was astonished to learn it still exists as a physical resource, and you can buy the 2022 edition today for a mere $999!

One of the joys of using these as a child was reading all the other articles you pass by on the way to the one you’re looking for. I hope that kids today, with Wikipedia likely the principle resource for their school reports, haven’t lost the joy of learning just for it’s own sake by browsing through an encyclopedia.

Posted in Blog, Books, History, Retro, Time | 3 Comments »

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