Nintendo Collection

This is my current collection. I update it as I obtain new titles.

P.OW: Prisoner Of War

I received a bunch of games this week and I'll follow up later on this week's NES collecting progress, but I wanted to point out this awesome gem. P.O.W: Prisoner Of War is a perfect example of how I feel a game should be made. The combat system is fairly simple- simpler then that of Double Dragon but certainly higher then say Kung Fu. I mention this first because it would be my only criticism.



Otherwise lets start with the music. It's fantastic. It has a hint of urgency that really sets the pace. The next time you are racing home from work because you feel explosive diarhea coming on just think of this game's music. I promise you'll make it in time.



Lets talk about items. Beating to death the guards in the barracks and trucks earns you gear. Body Armor: Cool. Brass Knuckles: Instantly turns your enemy into a quadralepligic. Machine Gun: Your mother would be proud.



Graphics? Detailed stages with a layout requires no convincing that this is a prison camp. Parts of the environment scrolls in front of you adding depth that many platformers miss.



That's all I'll mention about this game. Its badass. It's a testament to the spirit of any American Veteran P.O.W. Make sure you play it on Veteran's day. And be thankful that real life P.O.W.s sacrificed a lot so we can have the freedom to play this gem.

Super Mario Bros. 2 Wall Mural

It just so happened I was on the east side of town today, and I figured I'd stop in the parking lot of Game Repair to snap a photo of their Super Mario Bros. 2 mural. It looks like it was drawn by a little kid, but its pretty accurate to the game.

Back in the late 80's early 90's Game Repair was the source for used Nintendo games in Las Vegas. The last time I was in there was probably 92. Now it seems you can find a GameStop on every corner.

Popeye Progress

Having a little time to practice Popeye I learned something new. The counter that represents the rounds changes to letters on the tenth round. This brings up a curious possibility: what happens after round Z? Does it wrap around to 0? Will it start displaying funky symbols? Will the game crash?

I also learned that the sea hag will only throw one skull when the barrel is still hanging. Drop it and she starts throwing three at a time.

SEGA Genesis Collecting and Arms Dealing

My son and I have fun pretending to be arms dealers and trading a BB Gun for some SEGA Genesis stuff. Watch the three chapters with Sexy results!


Part 1: Waiting For The Customer



Part 2: The Deal Goes Down



Part 3: Following Up On Some Other Business

NES Collecting: April 23rd Progress

Below is a list of my current progress of collecting NES games. On the original list I have (which needs some cleaning up) I currently have 4.1% of all of the games. I hope to hit eBay hard in the coming days.

Adventure Island
Baseball
Baseball Stars
Burgertime
Commando
Crystalis
Desert Commander
Donkey Kong Classics
Double Dragon
Double Dragon II: The Revenge
Dr. Mario
Dragon Warrior
Excitebike
Friday the 13th
Ghosts 'n Goblins
Kung Fu
Life Force
Major League Baseball
Metal Gear
Popeye
Rush'n Attack
Section Z
Sky Shark
Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario Bros. 3
Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt
Tecmo Bowl
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game
The Legend of Zelda
Track & Field
Track & Field II
Wrath of the Black Manta

Popeye

It's finally arrived! The Popeye cartridge came in excellent condition. There was no manual but it did come with a sleave. I was also able to negotiate a trade of an old computer for Dragon Warrior, a 2nd copy of Dr. Mario an additional copy of Super Mario/Duck Hunt, two RFU adaptors, 1 power cord, and 1 SNES controller which I'll probably toss.

Now I can officially start on the record.

eBay eXcuses

I'm currently in the process of collecting every NES game officially licensed and released in the United States. I've taken a casual approach by handpicking good deals from eBay for specific games I want now. I figure I'll eventually pick up the junk games later. Of the four titles I've already puchased one has arrived. One should be delivered tomorrow and the remaining two... well two are in limbo it seems. I've reached out to both sellers and one gave me some reply about being in the process of moving (the transaction occurred a week ago.) The other has not replied (today was day ten.)



This craziness has pushed me to check local game stores but it seems they are way over priced. $35 for a copy of Contra? Was it originally owned by Jesus Christ?



Now I'm taking another approach. This morning I posted a Craigslist ad that stated I was willing to trade an old computer for an original Nintendo and atleast 4 games. I got a promising reply and hopefully the trade will complete tomorrow. This has motivated me to see what else I can trade for old Nintendo games. So now I'm looking forward to trading a computer scanner and a BB gun for one as well.

Setting A World Record: Popeye for Nintendo

I've decided to attempt and achieve a WR score on an NES game. I've narrowed it down to one of two games. The first being "Original" Mario Bros. (not super!) or Popeye. Although I enjoy both games it seems the real challenge has been finding the games. After scouring eBay I finally have a copy of Popeye on its way. Finding Mario Bros. has not been as successful, and therefore Popeye will be WR of choice.

As with most things that I involve myself in (specifically WR scores) I like to pick apart the approach necessary to achieve the record or the desired end result. In this case, I obviously had to do a little research. For starters the current record for Popeye is 1,485,610 points set by Tom Votava on 12/01/2005. I don't know Tom Votava personally but I'm going to assume that this is probably a pretty substantial score because 1.) Tom Votava has plenty of records already, and 2.) the second place score for Popeye is 212,250.

Now that I know what the goal is, the next thing I like to do is determine how long it would be necessary to play the game to achieve the record. In this case I'll either benchmark the game by timing a few levels and recording the score, or in this example of Popeye, I'll refer to http://www.youtube.com/ for a reference. When bench marking any game that has repetitive levels such as Popeye or Mario Bros the longer the bench mark is the more accurate of an estimated time of completion you can come up with in achieving the record.





I decided to use the above video for the benchmark. The player in it takes a casual approach missing opportunities to point press. When benchmarking always take the casual players time and score. You don't want to compare yourself with a relative expert because you'll burn yourself out. After the first level the player scored 10,430 in about 1 minute 25 seconds. He completed the second level in about 1 minute 7 seconds with a score of 5,600 points more then what he had at the end of the first level, and he completed the 3rd level in 2 minutes 38 seconds earning about 16,700 points. All in all, in about 5 minutes 10 seconds you can easily earn 32,730 points.

To complete the bench mark you take the world record and divide it by the total points for all three levels. In this case it would be 1,485,610 divided by 32,730 which equals about 45. This means at an exaggerated minimum it would take completing all three levels 45 times to get the record. Determining how long it would take involves multiplying 45 by however long it took to complete the three levels (which in this case is about 5:10) which adds up to about 3 hours 52 minutes.

Now that I know how long I'll have to play for the next step is determining my availability to practice. Setting a recording isn't as easy as simply sitting down and playing, especially when you have a full time job and a small boy. Those two things obviously take precedence. So a little creativity will be necessary to pull this off. This is where I'll turn to my Nintendo DS. Without going into the exact details I can play the original Nintendo version of Popeye on my DS. We'll just leave it at that. The DS has similiar controls to an NES controller so for the most part it should be seamless in terms of practice and game play. Now, if necessary I can practice anywhere. Well almost anywhere- although my employer probably wouldn't mind me playing games at work (it is part of what we do here) they might not take too kindly if we were playing on a competitors system.

LifeForce

I picked up LifeForce at a used game store. I have fond memories of the arcade game. "Destroy anti-biotics" and "pulse lazer" would echo at the drugstore where I played it frequently. The game reminds me alot of that movie "InnerSpace".

BurgerTime

I've decided to start collecting original Nintendo games and I just received BurgerTime in the mail. It was a spur of the moment purchase from eBay and it plays perfectly.

Rastan World Record Finally Acheived

Well I was finally able to reclaim the record on PS2 Taito Legends: Rastan with a score of 848,000. Back in September 2008 I had recorded what I thought would be the world record for this version of Rastan at www.twingalaxies.com. I knew that submitting a score could take a few weeks to actually be reviewed then to appear on the site. After I mailed the video I didn't bother to watch the score on the site. Then all of a sudden I noticed that after the day I had submitted my original score of 478,900 someone had submitted a score of 763,800.

It took about six months and finally on April 12th 2009 I was finally able to reclaim the record. I actually could have reclaimed it when I acheived 792,400 but I wasn't recording the performance and I had to pause the game which would have disqualified the performance anyways.

So there it is: 848,000. Eventually I'll get my hands on an arcade board set and set the record on it.