Zwinky Stardolls Outspark

I was in the electronics section of Wal-Mart when I noticed a wall full of "gaming" cards.  Although I know there are pre-paid cards for X-Box Live, and the PSN, and for Nintendo points I never realized there were gaming cards for online computer games.

So stupid me took the time to research these cards online.  I was embarrassed to look at them in the store because they look like they were marketed to 12 year old girls.  Take Zwinky for example.  From the Wal-Mart.Com website:

Create your own Zwinky avatar. Play games, shop, design your room. Gain access to premium outfits and collect furniture. Meet your friends in Zwinktopia - a fun virtual world. Worth $25 of Zwinky premiums and in-game items! Exclusive bonus: Zwinky Super Power.

Zwinktopia?  Collect Furniture?  Zwinky Super Power?  This just sounds stupid.  But lets move on.

Next up is Stardoll.  From the Wal-Mart.Com website:

With this Stardoll 10-Game Card, girls can go on a virtual shopping spree. They'll experience a world of fame, fashion, and friends with their very own Stardollars. Stardollars let you buy the latest clothes, bags, cosmetics, accessories and much, much more for your very own Stardoll.

Remember when girls used to play with Barbie?  I imagine this is similiar.  It's terrifying to imagine children wanting to invest money into this garbage.

And finally we have Outspark.  I'm not sure why I'm going to paste the description from the Wal-Mart.Com website, but here it is anyways: 

Have fun in a virtual playground! Enjoy free multiplayer games, meet new friends and explore awesome worlds. Use your SparkCash Card to get limited-edition in-game items like clothing, weapons, pets and more!

Do we see a pattern here?  I think so.  It seems all of the cards promise friends.  Which makes sense, since I can't imagine anyone wanting to buy these cards as having friends.  That criticism is probably mean and uncalled for.  But suppose you spend ten dollars a month on one of these games.  Each year you're blowing $120, and what do you get out of it?  Nothing tangible- thats for sure!

If you are desperate for a friend and you are willing to spend $10-$25 a month, I'll be your friend.  Cash only.  All sales final.  No Refunds.

What's Going On With VideoGamePriceGuides.Com?

What's going on with VideoGamePriceGuides.Com?  Well, if you've visited the site at all this Monday evening you probably noticed that it's re-directed to a weird JudgeVegas.Com site.  Although this wasn't intentional, in a small way, it kinda was.

You see the hosting for VGPG is shared with other domains that I run, including this one.  Way back in the day I started the judgevegas.com site and any additional site I created was technically an extension to judgevegas.com.  Well fast forward four years later and not only is it time to retire JudgeVegas.com, I also wanted to expand the functionality of VPGP.  This required VGPG to become the primary domain for my hosting.

Well, I asked the hosting company what all was involved in doing the switch.. and well, rather then giving me the details they decided to go ahead and do it!  DOH!.  So right now as I type this a backup of VGPG is being created, and will be migrated to the root domain.  So this time tomorrow it should be fixed.

Sorry for the delay!

Donkey Kong 3

I recently read in another blog a review about Donkey Kong 3. The author inferred that DK3 was Nintendo's biggest embarrassment until the Virtual Boy.

The argument for this remark was that DK3 departed from the platform gaming style of Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong JR. Although this is true, its difficult to fathom that a departure from a particular gaming design equates to an embarassment.

DK3 reinvented the existing space shooting genre that evolved from Space Invaders, Galaxian, Phoenix, Moon Cresta, Gorf, Galaga... the list goes on and on. Nintendo replaced the boring spaceship with Stanley the Bug Man- he still shoots up by the way, except with bug spray instead of boring lasers or missles. The enemy ships are now bees worms and other insects. The enemies in Galaga had tractor beams which would capture your ship. DK3 had a similar novelty but they were flowers captured by the enemy bees which could be rescued if shot down before taken to the hive. While all this nonsense was going on you were essentially fighting one intense boss battle with Donkey Kong in an attempt to force him to climb the vines.

Improving your weapon also mostly non-existent in the space games. Galaga allowed you to double your fire power and that was about it. DK3 allows you to shake loose a super sprayer that allows you to kill more faster.

DK3 also had music that fit the game perfectly. A pseudo "Flight of the Bumblebee", buzzing siren when a bee took off with a flower.


Donkey Kong would toss coconuts down on you if you ignored him which was also a challenge that the space games didn't have.

Magic Johnson's Fast Break and NBA Jam

I did another ten game purchase from PedroGames.Com.  There was nothing too exciting to report, however I did make an interesting observation with Magic Johnson's Fast Break.

I don't particularly like sports games, but there is the occasional sports video game I will play for good or ill.  The Fast Break purchase was a necessity since I am still trying to collect them all, but I certainly would not go out of my way to play this this title.

I also don't know anything about Magic Johnson, except I remember it being a big deal that he had HIV, and on two seperate occasions I ran into him at McCarran airport in Las Vegas.  The first was at the ticketing counter and the second was him departing a Southwest airlines plane a 2am.  He was one of the last people to depart and he seemed prepared to sign autographs but nobody seemed to care and he shrugged his shoulders and wandered off to the baggage claim.

Anyways, this Fast Break game could have been easily modified to be an NES version of NBA Jam.



NBA Jam was pretty neat at the time. Initially released in the Arcade it had an all star line up with digitized images of all of the playable players, plus codes and other stupid tricks would unlock other players (like the Clintons above)

Besides being a two-on-two basketball game like NBA Jam with a similiar feel, Fast Break has one other cool thing: PEPSI

Spelunker - What Happened?

Well, last night was supposed to be my big night for playing Spelunker until the wee hours of the morning.  It didn't happen for a variety of reasons.  But in retrospect it was probably a good idea that it didn't: Man Died In Cave. It would have been in bad taste.

The Spy Hunter Experience

Title Screen To The NES Version Of Spy Hunter

I've lamented before about how videogames need to have an element of imagination to remain fun, and to instill longevity.  Spy Hunter is a perfect example of a game that is incomplete with out that element of imagination.

Consider the premise of the game: you drive a car in one direction and take on four enemies: a car with spikes, an armored car, a limo, and a helicopter.  There are three civilian cars that serve as obstacles and a weapons van that gives you weapons including oil, smoke, and missles to take on the bad guys along with your standard issue maching guns.  When the road forks, going left or right will decide which weapon is next, and eventually going left will take you to a "boat" level where it's the same premise before, except with a boat instead of a car.  And finally, the most iconing thing about Spy Hunter was the Peter Gunn theme, which was a song by Henry Mancini (the guy who made the theme to the Pink Panther) which was used in the TV show Peter Gunn which was about a Private Eye and not... a... spy.

Enemy With Spikes And The Weapons Van

So why is Spy Hunter called Spy Hunter?  Outside of having a vague resemblence of a chase scene from a 1960's or 1970's spy movie and a weapons van similiar to Knight Rider, there really isn't anything about the game that has to do with "spying".  This is where the imagination is important.  Any kid familiar with the game back in the 80's could give you a totally different yet compelling story line to the game.  Perhaps you're a spy who stole some top secret documents or maybe you've kidnapped back an important scientist working on a biologic weapon for a terrorist nation.  Who knows?  It doesn't matter because someone playing the game could convolute any story around the gameplay.  The lack of plot is what gives the game it's depth.

Let's look at the very opposite of a game that leaves nothing to the imagination: Metal Gear Solid.  But before I do so let me set the record straight:

I've played all four of the MGS games.  I've completed 1, 2, and 3, and am currently working on number 4.  It is of my opinion that the MGS games have alot of potential in certain aspects of gameplay and game design, and although I often pick on MGS on this site, it's purely to point out the shift in gaming over the past three decades and not necessarily to bash the game simply to bash the game.  There are plenty of other games that have similiar elements and as much as involved plot lines as MGS, it's just that I'm most familiar with MGS and is most easiest for me to draw a (lack of) inspiration from this particular title.

And yes, I realize that Metal Gear Solid and Spy Hunter are two totally different games, but I want to compare the "imagination factor" of both games.  In Metal Gear Solid the game begins with an introductory sequence giving you a brief explaination as to why you are where you are and what you're about to do.  Once you're fully deployed (by water in part 1, by bridge in part 2, by plane in part 3, and by truck in part 4) you start working your way through a pre determined story.  The story is driven little by the gameplay but more to the conversations you have over your codec (the radio you use through out the game) the people you rescue and the bosses you kill.  It seems every character in the game has some story or commentary to shove down your throat.

Codec From Metal Gear Solid On PlayStation 2

Some of the codec conversations involve explaining how to use a particular weapon or item in the game, or to tell you what to do next.  This wasn't necessary with Spy Hunter.  If I wanted the car to move I stepped on the gas, and if I needed to haul ass I'd shift to high gear and if there was one of those blue cars or a civilian infront of me God help them if they didn't have insurance.

Codec From Metal Gear Solid: Guns Of The Patriots On PlayStation 3

And just like the codec, there is also the cut scenes that are apparently a necessary part of the Metal Gear Solid games.  It doesn't matter who plays MGS, everyone is going to have the same experience.  Where as with Spy Hunter no two stories are going to be the same.

This also leads me to another topic of game design: adrenaline triggers.  When you played a game like Spy Hunter the action was non-stop.  You'd get a brief rest driving into the weapons van, and a brief rest driving down the road to the boat dock and that was it.  Drive further and further into the game and adrenaline starts to kick in.  Metal Gear Solid has a similiar experience.  The boss battles create an excitement as does do the battle scene, particularly in the 4th one when you're sneaking through the South American stage with the rebels fighting the security force and you're in between both of them.  The problem is after you clear each area there is a cut scene or a codec conversation which totally kills the adrenaline and you start over.  The only thing that should truly kill the adrenaline rush is a GAME OVER screen with a pocket empty of quarters.  The high you would get from Spy Hunter experience is like battery acid in the blood.

So whether you're playing Spy Hunter or even Metal Gear Solid, consider whether you want your imagination to determine a plot or if you prefer to drop $60 and have it spoon fed to you.

Nintendo NES Prices for November 2009

Here's an idea: let's keep a historical record of video game prices. I was inspire by my previous post about a Game Pro Magazine Scan that had an advertisement for "current" (current meaning 19 years ago) prices for Nintendo NES games.  Once a month I'll do a master update of the games and post the prices here.  Consider it a historical record.

Nintendo NES Prices for November 2009

Title	Price
10 Yard Fight	$3
1942	$12
1943	$8
2-in-1 Super Mario Bros/Duck Hunt	$3
2-in-1 Super Spike V'Ball/World Cup Soccer	$5
3-D Worldrunner	$5
3-in-1 Super Mario Bros/Duck Hunt/World Class Track Meet	$4
720	$4
8 Eyes	$5
A Nightmare on Elm Street	$16
Abadox	$5
Addams Family, The	$7
Addams Family: Pugsley's Scavenger Hunt, The	$15
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Dragonstrike	$33
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Heroes of the Lance	$9
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Hillsfar	$38
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Pool of Radiance	$21
Adventure Island	$7
Adventure Island II	$12
Adventure Island III	$25
Adventures in the Magic Kingdom	$4
Adventures of Bayou Billy, The	$3
Adventures of Dino Riki, The	$3
Adventures of Gilligan's Island, The	$12
Adventures of Lolo II , The	$23
Adventures of Lolo III , The	$32
Adventures of Lolo, The	$8
Adventures of Rad Gravity, The	$5
Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle and Friends, The	$6
Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The	$5
After Burner (Tengen)	$7
Air Fortress	$3
Airwolf	$4
Al Unser Jr.'s Turbo Racing	$3
Alfred Chicken	$24
Alien Syndrome (Tengen)	$6
Alien3	$14
All Pro Basketball	$3
Alpha Mission	$4
Amagon	$4
American Gladiators	$5
Anticipation	$2
Arch Rivals: A Basket Brawl!	$4
Archon	$7
Arkanoid	$16
Arkista's Ring	$7
Astyanax	$3
Athena	$5
Athletic World	$6
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes	$9
Back to the Future	$4
Back to the Future II & III	$7
Bad Dudes	$4
Bad News Baseball	$6
Bad Street Brawler	$4
Balloon Fight	$10
Bandai Golf: Challenge Pebble Beach	$2
Bandit Kings of Ancient China	$39
Barbie	$7
Bard's Tale	$11
Barker Bill's Trick Shooting	$5
Base Wars - Cyber Stadium Series	$6
Baseball	$1
Baseball Simulator 1.000	$4
Baseball Stars	$7
Baseball Stars II	$19
Bases Loaded	$2
Bases Loaded II: Second Season	$3
Bases Loaded III	$5
Bases Loaded IV	$26
Batman	$18
Batman Returns	$7
Batman: Return of the Joker	$10
Battle Chess	$5
Battle of Olympus, The	$7
Battle Tank	$5
Battleship	$10
Battletoads	$12
Battletoads & Double Dragon: The Ultimate Team	$25
Beetlejuice	$10
Best of the Best: Championship Karate	$15
Bigfoot	$4
Bill & Ted's Excellent Video Game Adventure	$6
Bill Elliot's Nascar Challenge	$3
Bionic Commando	$8
Black Bass	$7
Blades of Steel	$3
Blaster Master	$5
Blue Marlin	$10
Blues Brothers, The	$20
Bo Jackson Baseball	$5
Bomberman	$13
Bomberman II	$50
Bonk's Adventure	$136
Boulder Dash	$9
Boy And His Blob, A	$6
Bram Stoker's Dracula	$17
Break Time: The National Pool Tour	$6
BreakThru	$4
Bubble Bobble	$14
Bubble Bobble: Part 2	$57
Bucky O'Hare	$16
Bugs Bunny Birthday Blowout, The	$5
Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle, The	$6
Bump 'n' Jump	$4
Burai Fighter	$5
Burgertime	$5
Cabal	$5
Caesar's Palace	$4
California Games	$6
Captain America and the Avengers	$10
Captain Planet	$6
Captain Skyhawk	$3
Casino Kid	$4
Casino Kid 2	$33
Castelian	$8
Castle of Dragon	$7
Castlequest	$4
Castlevania	$12
Castlevania II: Simon's Quest	$7
Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse	$15
Caveman Games	$8
Championship Bowling	$3
Championship Pool	$12
Chessmaster, The	$4
Chip 'N Dale: Rescue Rangers	$7
Chip 'N Dale: Rescue Rangers 2	$47
Chubby Cherub	$17
Circus Caper	$6
City Connection	$5
Clash at Demonhead	$5
Classic Concentration	$9
Cliffhanger	$13
Clu Clu Land	$10
Cobra Command	$4
Cobra Triangle	$4
Code Name: Viper	$4
Color a Dinosaur	$19
Commando	$5
Conan: The Mysteries of Time	$14
Conflict	$21
Conquest of the Crystal Palace	$5
Contra	$16
Contra Force	$45
Cool World	$19
Cowboy Kid	$27
Crash 'n the Boys: Street Challenge	$13
Crystalis	$12
Cybernoid: The Fighting Machine	$3
Dance Aerobics	$7
Danny Sullivan's Indy Heat	$14
Darkman	$8
Darkwing Duck	$12
Dash Galaxy in the Alien Asylum	$4
Day Dreamin' Davey	$13
Days of Thunder	$4
Deadly Towers	$3
Defender II	$4
Defender of the Crown	$5
Defenders of Dynatron City	$9
Deja Vu	$8
Demon Sword	$4
Desert Commander	$7
Destination Earth Star	$4
Destiny of an Emperor	$25
Dick Tracy	$3
Die Hard	$33
Dig Dug II	$6
Digger T. Rock: Legend of the Lost City	$9
Dirty Harry: The War Against Drugs	$5
Donkey Kong	$21
Donkey Kong 3	$12
Donkey Kong Classics	$10
Donkey Kong Jr.	$12
Donkey Kong Jr. Math	$13
Double Dare	$8
Double Dragon	$5
Double Dragon II: The Revenge	$7
Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stone	$13
Double Dribble	$2
Dr. Chaos	$4
Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde	$5
Dr. Mario	$3
Dragon Fighter	$39
Dragon Power	$4
Dragon Spirit: The New Legend	$4
Dragon Warrior	$5
Dragon Warrior II	$29
Dragon Warrior III	$42
Dragon Warrior IV	$69
Dragon's Lair	$11
Duck Hunt	$4
Duck Tales	$11
Duck Tales II	$14
Dungeon Magic	$5
Dusty Diamond's All-Star Softball	$45
Dynowarz: The Destruction of Spondylus	$4
Elevator Action	$8
Eliminator Boat Duel	$9
Empire Strikes Back , The	$14
Evert & Lendl Top Player's Tennis	$6
Excitebike	$4
F-117A Stealth Fighter	$7
F-15 Strike Eagle	$5
Family Feud	$10
Fantasy Zone (Tengen)	$12
Faria: A World of Mystery & Danger	$28
Faxanadu	$4
Felix the Cat	$16
Ferrari Grand Prix Challenge	$6
Fester's Quest	$3
Final Fantasy	$19
Fire 'N Ice	$38
Fisher Price: Firehouse Rescue	$11
Fisher Price: I Can Remember	$6
Fisher Price: Perfect Fit	$6
Fist of the North Star	$9
Flight of the Intruder	$6
Flintstones, The	$10
Flintstones: The Surprise at Dinosaur Peak, The	$199
Flying Dragon: The Secret Scroll	$4
Flying Warriors	$8
Formula 1: Built to Win	$10
Frankenstein: The Monster Returns	$17
Freedom Force	$5
Friday the 13th	$4
Fun House	$8
G.I. Joe	$21
G.I. Joe: The Atlantis Factor	$17
Galaga	$7
Galaxy 5000	$16
Gargoyle's Quest II	$19
Gauntlet (Tengen Licensed Only)	$3
Gauntlet (Tengen Licensed/Unlicensed)	$7
Gauntlet II	$6
Gemfire	$33
Genghis Khan	$20
George Foreman's KO Boxing	$5
Ghostbusters	$7
Ghostbusters II	$6
Ghosts 'N Goblins	$7
Ghoul School	$10
Goal!	$4
Goal! Two	$10
Godzilla	$6
Godzilla 2: War of the Monsters	$45
Gold Medal Challenge '92	$7
Golf	$2
Golf Grand Slam	$11
Golgo 13: Top Secret Episode	$4
Goonies II , The	$5
Gotcha!	$3
Gradius	$8
Great Waldo Search, The	$14
Greg Norman's Golf Power	$5
Gremlins 2: The New Batch	$6
Guardian Legend, The	$7
Guerilla War	$5
Gumshoe	$8
Gun Nac	$30
Gunsmoke	$7
Gyromite	$6
Gyruss	$5
Harlem Globetrotters	$5
Hatris	$18
Heavy Barrel	$6
Heavy Shreddin'	$4
High Speed	$5
Hogan's Alley	$6
Hollywood Squares	$8
Home Alone	$4
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York	$4
Hook	$7
Hoops	$3
Hudson Hawk	$8
Hunt for Red October, The	$4
Hydlide	$4
Ice Climber	$11
Ice Hockey	$2
Ikari Warriors	$5
Ikari Warriors II: Victory Road	$6
Ikari Warriors III: The Rescue	$17
Image Fight	$8
Immortal, The	$6
Incredible Crash Dummies, The	$10
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade	$25
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (Taito)	$29
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (Tengen Licensed)	$6
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (Tengen Unlicensed)	$0
Infiltrator	$4
Iron Tank	$5
IronSword: Wizards and Warriors II	$5
Isolated Warrior	$8
Ivan Iron Man Stewart's Super Off-Road	$6
Jack Nicklaus' Major Championship Golf	$3
Jackal	$6
Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu	$15
James Bond Jr.	$15
Jaws	$3
Jeopardy!	$3
Jeopardy! 25th Silver Anniversary Edition	$2
Jeopardy! Jr. Edition	$2
Jetsons: Cogswell's Caper, The	$22
Jimmy Connors Pro Tennis Tour	$0
Joe & Mac	$7
John Elway's Quarterback	$2
Jordan vs. Bird: One-on-One	$3
Journey to Silius	$4
Joust	$4
Jungle Book, The	$15
Jurassic Park	$6
Kabuki: Quantum Fighter	$4
Karate Champ	$2
Karate Kid	$4
Karnov	$4
Kick Master	$15
Kickle Cubicle	$10
Kid Icarus	$15
Kid Klown in Night Mayor World	$23
Kid Kool	$6
Kid Niki	$7
King's Knight	$4
Kings of the Beach	$3
King's Quest V	$14
Kirby's Adventure	$4
Kiwi Kraze	$10
KlashBall	$8
Klax (Tengen)	$6
Knight Rider	$3
Krion Conquest, The	$13
Krusty's Funhouse	$10
Kung Fu	$4
Kung Fu Heroes	$3
Laser Invasion	$7
Last Action Hero	$19
Last Ninja, The	$12
Last Starfighter, The	$6
Lee Trevino's Fighting Golf	$3
Legacy of the Wizard, The	$4
Legend of Ghost Lion	$16
Legend of Kage, The	$5
Legend of Zelda, The	$9
Legendary Wings	$4
Legends of the Diamond	$9
Lemmings	$23
L'Empereur	$33
Lethal Weapon	$15
Life Force	$6
Little League Baseball: Championship Series	$8
Little Mermaid, The	$6
Little Nemo: The Dream Master	$6
Little Ninja Brothers	$22
Little Samson	$151
Lode Runner	$5
Lone Ranger, The	$12
LoopZ	$4
Low G-Man	$4
Lunar Pool	$4
M.C. Kids	$8
M.U.L.E.	$15
M.U.S.C.L.E.	$10
Mach Rider	$5
Mad Max	$5
Mafat Conspiracy: Golgo 13 II, The	$5
Magic Darts	$6
Magic Johnson's Fast Break	$2
Magic of Scheherazade	$11
Magician	$16
Magmax	$4
Major League Baseball	$2
Maniac Mansion	$11
Mappyland	$5
Marble Madness	$4
Mario Bros.	$17
Mario is Missing	$18
Mario's Time Machine	$39
Marvel's X-Men	$7
Mechanized Attack	$8
Mega Man	$26
Mega Man 2	$12
Mega Man 3	$11
Mega Man 4	$18
Mega Man 5	$36
Mega Man 6	$25
Mendel Palace	$5
Metal Gear	$7
Metal Mech	$5
Metal Storm	$19
Metroid	$7
Michael Andretti's World Grand Prix	$3
Mickey Mousecapade	$3
Mickey's Adventures in Numberland	$14
Mickey's Safari in Letterland	$12
Might & Magic: Secret of the Inner Sanctum	$27
Mighty Bomb Jack	$6
Mighty Final Fight	$34
Millipede	$4
Milon's Secret Castle	$4
Mission: Impossible	$3
Monopoly Parker Brothers	$5
Monster in My Pocket	$10
Monster Party	$5
Monster Truck Rally	$12
Motor City Patrol	$21
Ms. Pac Man (Licensed/Unlicensed)	$21
Ms. Pac Man (Namco Licensed)	$33
Muppet Adventure: Chaos at the Carnival	$6
Mutant Virus, The	$8
Mystery Quest	$4
NARC	$3
NES Open Tournament Golf	$5
NES Play Action Football	$2
NFL Football	$3
Nigel Mansell's World Championship Racing	$13
Nightshade	$9
Ninja Crusaders	$11
Ninja Gaiden	$6
Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos	$6
Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom	$20
Ninja Kid	$6
Nintendo World Cup Soccer	$4
Nobunaga's Ambition	$9
Nobunaga's Ambition II	$60
North and South	$22
Operation Wolf	$2
Orb-3D	$5
Othello	$2
Overlord	$6
P.O.W.: Prisoners of War	$5
Pac Man (Licensed/Unlicensed)	$7
Pac Man (Namco Licensed)	$27
Pac Man (Tengen Licensed)	$5
Pac-Mania (Tengen)	$16
Palamedes	$6
Panic Restaurant	$120
Paperboy	$7
Paperboy 2	$14
Peter Pan & the Pirates	$5
Phantom Fighter	$6
Pictionary	$4
Pinball	$3
Pinball Quest	$4
Pinbot	$5
Pipe Dream	$6
Pirates!	$14
Platoon	$3
Popeye	$9
Power Blade	$7
Power Blade 2	$114
Power Punch II	$15
Predator	$6
Prince of Persia	$15
Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom	$31
Pro Sport Hockey	$59
Pro Wrestling	$3
Punchout!! (Mike Tyson's)	$19
Punch-Out!! Featuring Mr. Dream	$8
Punisher, The	$8
Puss 'N Boots: Pero's Great Adventure	$0
Puzznic	$10
Q*Bert	$7
Qix	$22
R.C. Pro-Am II	$43
R.C. Pro-Am Racing	$5
Race America	$23
Racket Attack	$3
Rad Racer	$2
Rad Racer II	$5
Raid on Bungeling Bay	$5
Rainbow Islands	$35
Rally Bike	$7
Rambo	$6
Rampage	$7
Rampart	$12
RBI Baseball (Tengen Licensed Only)	$4
RBI Baseball (Tengen Licensed/Unlicensed)	$5
RBI Baseball 2 (Tengen)	$6
RBI Baseball 3 (Tengen)	$8
Remote Control	$4
Ren & Stimpy Show: Buckaroo$, The	$11
Renegade	$4
Rescue: The Embassy Mission	$3
Ring King	$6
River City Ransom	$21
Road Runner (Tengen)	$7
RoadBlasters	$3
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves	$4
RoboCop	$3
RoboCop 2	$10
RoboCop 3	$11
Robowarrior	$4
Rock 'n Ball	$4
Rocket Ranger	$3
Rocketeer, The	$5
Rockin' Kats	$21
Roger Clemens' MVP Baseball	$3
Rollerball	$3
Rollerblade Racer	$9
Rollergames	$4
Rolling Thunder (Tengen)	$4
Romance of the Three Kingdoms	$9
Romance of the Three Kingdoms II	$31
Roundball: 2 on 2 Challenge	$6
Rush 'n Attack	$5
Rygar	$6
S.C.A.T.: Special Cybernetic Attack Team	$22
Section Z	$4
Seicross	$3
Sesame Street: 123	$6
Sesame Street: ABC	$5
Sesame Street: ABC/123	$8
Sesame Street: Big Bird's Hide & Speak	$4
Sesame Street: Countdown	$9
Shadow of the Ninja	$10
Shadowgate	$7
Shatterhand	$10
Shingen the Ruler	$6
Shinobi (Tengen)	$8
Shooting Range	$7
Short Order/Eggsplode	$9
Side Pocket	$4
Silent Service	$2
Silkworm	$8
Silver Surfer	$9
Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants, The	$5
Simpsons: Bart vs. the World, The	$7
Simpsons: Bartman Meets Radioactive Man, The	$8
Skate Or Die	$4
Skate Or Die 2	$7
Ski Or Die	$8
Skull and Crossbones (Tengen)	$6
Sky Kid	$5
Sky Shark	$4
Slalom	$4
Smash T.V.	$6
Snake Rattle 'n Roll	$5
Snake's Revenge: Metal Gear II	$12
Snoopy's Silly Sports Spectacular	$6
Snow Brothers	$80
Soccer	$4
Solar Jetman: Hunt for the Golden Warship	$3
Solomon's Key	$6
Solstice	$4
Space Shuttle Project	$8
Spelunker	$6
Spider-Man: Return of the Sinister Six	$9
Spot	$4
Spy Hunter	$5
Spy vs. Spy	$6
Sqoon	$19
Stack-Up	$47
Stadium Events	$466
Stanley and the Search for Dr. Livingston	$12
Star Force	$5
Star Soldier	$4
Star Trek	$13
Star Trek: The Next Generation	$22
Star Voyager	$4
Star Wars	$13
Starship Hector	$5
StarTropics	$7
Stealth ATF	$4
Stinger	$4
Street Cop	$21
Street Fighter 2010: The Final Fight	$5
Strider	$6
Super C	$13
Super Cars	$14
Super Dodge Ball	$11
Super Glove Ball	$3
Super Jeopardy!	$5
Super Mario Bros.	$12
Super Mario Bros. 2	$10
Super Mario Bros. 3	$8
Super Pitfall	$6
Super Spike V'Ball	$4
Super Sprint (Tengen)	$4
Super Spy Hunter	$9
Super Team Games	$4
Superman	$11
Swamp Thing	$23
Sword Master	$37
Swords and Serpents	$4
Taboo: The Sixth Sense	$3
Tag Team Wrestling	$3
Tale Spin	$9
Target: Renegade	$4
Tecmo Baseball	$3
Tecmo Bowl	$5
Tecmo NBA Basketball	$5
Tecmo Super Bowl	$13
Tecmo World Cup Soccer	$0
Tecmo World Wrestling Tecmo	$3
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles	$2
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game	$7
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project	$12
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters	$0
Tennis	$5
Terminator 2: Judgment Day	$4
Terminator, The	$7
Terra Cresta	$12
Tetris	$3
Tetris (Tengen)	$39
Tetris 2	$10
Three Stooges, The	$5
Thunder & Lightning	$11
Thunderbirds	$7
Thundercade	$4
Tiger-Heli	$2
Time Lord	$4
Times of Lore	$23
Tiny Toon Adventures	$6
Tiny Toon Adventures 2: Trouble in Wackyland	$8
Tiny Toon Adventures Cartoon Workshop	$7
To the Earth	$5
Toki	$24
Tom & Jerry	$7
Tombs & Treasure	$12
Toobin' (Tengen)	$10
Top Gun	$2
Top Gun: The Second Mission	$4
Total Recall	$3
Totally Rad	$6
Touchdown Fever	$7
Town & Country II: Thrilla's Surfari	$0
Town & Country Surf Designs	$4
Toxic Crusaders	$11
Track & Field	$6
Track & Field II	$4
Treasure Master	$7
Trog	$6
Trojan	$4
Twin Cobra	$5
Twin Eagle	$4
Ultima: Exodus	$9
Ultima: Quest of the Avatar	$13
Ultima: Warriors of Destiny	$32
Ultimate Air Combat	$27
Ultimate Basketball	$3
Uncharted Waters	$34
Uninvited	$33
Untouchables, The	$10
Urban Champion	$4
Vegas Dream	$3
Vice: Project Doom	$5
Videomation	$3
Vindicators (Tengen)	$3
Volleyball	$3
Wacky Races	$30
Wall Street Kid	$4
Wally Bear and the NO! Gang	$24
Wario's Woods	$17
Wayne Gretzky Hockey	$5
Wayne's World	$38
Werewolf: The Last Warrior	$6
Wheel of Fortune	$3
Wheel of Fortune Family Edition	$3
Wheel of Fortune Junior Edition	$3
Wheel of Fortune: Featuring Vanna White	$8
Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?	$8
Where's Waldo?	$5
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?	$6
Whomp 'Em	$9
Widget	$8
Wild Gunman	$14
Willow	$6
Win, Lose, or Draw	$3
Winter Games	$3
Wizardry II: The Knight of Diamonds	$18
Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord	$6
Wizards and Warriors	$4
Wizards and Warriors III	$16
Wolverine	$9
World Champ	$16
World Championship Wrestling	$5
World Class Track Meet	$3
World Games	$6
Wrath of the Black Manta	$3
Wrecking Crew	$8
Wurm: Journey To The Center Of The Earth	$8
WWF King of the Ring	$14
WWF WrestleMania	$3
WWF WrestleMania Challenge	$3
WWF WrestleMania: Steel Cage Challenge	$4
Xenophobe	$3
Xevious	$3
Xexyz	$4
Yo! Noid	$6
Yoshi	$7
Yoshi's Cookie	$6
Zanac	$6
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link	$11
Zen: Intergalactic Ninja	$15
Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II	$8
Zombie Nation	$39

Twin Cobra

Three "top-down" helicopter games easily come to mind when thinking about the Nintendo: Tiger Heli, Twin Cobra, and Twin Eagle.

Unfortunately Tiger Heli and Twin Eagle leave a lot to be desired. It's kinda funny how all three (and Cobra Command) all feature an animal in the title.

The Bubble Bobble I Did Not Want

It was bound to happen sooner or later.  The VideoGamePriceGuide.Com had finally prevailed and provided a reasonably inexpensive Bubble Bobble for Nintendo"  $5.01.  Throw in $3.71 for shipping and you have a copy of Bubble Bobble.  Except...

I don't need a copy of Bubble Bobble.  I alread have one, that I received for a reasonable price (though not as cheap as this one.)  Unfortunately the winning bid was placed on the eBay mobile site and I could not see that there was writing on the game.  I don't know who Kathy Higgins is but if you're reading this: thank you for not writing your name on the label!

I've established how to clean Nintendo Games before so permanent marker on a label is no match for a dry-erase one.  The real challenge will be to get rid of the damn thing.

A Data East Collection

I had mentioned in an earlier post about a recent PedroGames.Com spending spree.  This was mostly specific to Data East games.  Data East was an incredible publisher.  Burgertime doesn't require any further explaination (http://www.salzmafia.com/labels/burgertime.php)  But what about the other gems?  There are plenty, and these are three I received:

The first was Heavy Barrel which I already spoke about here.  There are similiarities between it and Shock Troopers for sure, but my interest in Heavy Barrel actually stems from an entirely different game: Time Soldiers by SNK.  Time Soldiers had a neat plot:  Your comrades were sent back to time, so you need to go back and rescue them.  The problem is you warp right into a battle field of the respective era.  WW2, Ancient Rome, even some weird caveman battle with spears.  Neat stuff.  It's kinda like Ikari Warriors meets Time Pilot.

Time Soldiers allowed you to administer Vigilante Justice on a dinosaur

Next was Side Pocket.  Billiards video games are cool for one very specific reason:  They are timeless.  Think about it... has Pool changed much in say the last 10 years?  25 years?  50 years?  It's still the same game!  So a Pool video game manufactured in the mid-80's is going to be just as relevant as the same game manufactured to day.  Perhaps the fancy pants processor in the PS3 or X-Box can render a cueball to look --OMG- so REAL!

Kinda hard to improve perfection...

Last but not least, Ring King.  There wasn't many boxing games for the NES, and most people will either remember PunchOut!! or Ring King.  Ring King is something that just has to be experienced.  The between round perversion was awesome, and for Data East (or perhaps Namco) to spit in the eye of Nintendo and release such a spectacle is pretty cool (Don't know what I'm talking about?  Look it up!).  But what I think is neat about this game is the audience and the announcers.  Most sports games from this era had terrible sterile audiences where it was the same head over and over.  In this game there is some variety to it.  And the announcers are extremely animated between rounds (probably outraged over the perversion hinted at above.)

New Features For VideoGamePriceGuides.Com

There is a whole bunch of new features coming to VideoGamePriceGuides.Com.  As mentioned in an earlier post eBay is changing the way data is pulled for sites such as the video game price guide.  As such, I've started to rebuild the system that pulls that data.

This has led to a couple new features.  For example, you will be able to limit the list to auctions or BuyItNow only items.  You can filter out only Free Shipping items and you will be able to see up to 100 pages of items instead of the 6 that the original site allowed.  You can still sort by Ending Soonest, or by Newly Listed.

Some of the other great features will still be there.  The Google calendar reminder will still be there, as will the YouTube videos.  The flames that indicate an auction is ending: within the hour and the two men arguing over a price to indicate a BestOffer item will still be there as well:
 

There are few other features coming as well including the Seller's name and a possible count of additional items they have available as well.  We're also looking to make BestOffer auctions a delimiter (or filter) as well.

Although the changes are not fully operational you can use most of them.... right no!  However, they are currently only available on the Nintendo NES price guide.  Simply go to that portion of the site (http://www.videogamepriceguides.com/nintendo/) and notice the periods after the names of each of the games.  The name of the game will take you to the legacy VGPG.Com site, and the period will take you to the new system.

The Joys Of Owning A Table

For the past several month all of my game play has been conducted from the discomfort of the floor. In preparation for my Spelunker adventure I decided that a table would be a must! Only 11 more days unti the adventure begins!

Heavy Barrel

I recently had another spending spree with http://www.pedrogames.com/.  This time I concentrated on Data East titles.  I'll have post about that later, but one of the games I purchased was Heavy Barrel for Nintendo...

I don't ever recall seeing this game in the arcade, though I've always known one existed. My prior experience with Heavy Barrel was the DOS version which sucked terribly. But the Nintendo version is just dandy.

Heavy Barrel isn't the first angled-top-down war game. Ikari Warriors and Guerrila war (and even Commando) had pretty much perfected the genre. But Heavy Barrel is unique to me because it resembles the NeoGeo game "Shock Troopers". Take a look and decide for yourself:

Commando Nintendo

If there was ever a game that fueled the imagination of a kid playing war then Commando would have to be it.

In the past ten years first person shooters have become gravely popular. In the past five or so years a handful of war themed FPSs have came out and have been hugely popular... Call of Duty and Socom easily come to mind. Those games are pretty accurate in what a battlefield could feel like. They don't necessarily glorify war but it's presented in a way that is meant to be realistic.

Thank God for that! Can you imagine if war was like Commando? I played for no more than ten minutes this evening and counted more than 200 kills!

I'll never forget the first time I saw Commando in the arcade. Mid-80's. Grocery Store. Inserted Quarter and pressed 1up. Suddenly the grocery store started to rumble as the helicopter from the game floated up the screen. What kind of sick operator cranked the volume up to max? I was embarrassed but I'd be damn to let the opposing army take my quarter without a fight.

Super Joe lept from the chopper and waved it good-bye and I started my shock and awe campaign against the no-name grey army. I didn't care that the politics in the region escalated into this all out war. The thoughts of returning home and being called a baby killer and being spat on never crossed my mind either. My mission was to kill, and that quarter was part of my allowance! I'm paying for this battle and I was ready to get my money's worth!

Unlimited bullets! Grenades picked up from the battlefield! It was the only two weapons a true soldier needed -unlike the heroes of Socom and Call of Duty!

The battle didn't last long and America lost three of it's finest in a span of about two minutes. I'll never forget those palm trees that waved under the windy blades of my chopper or that jerk that kept firing mortars. Or that nice man I rescued.

Commando reminds me of army men, in an army world; a life of plastic, it's so fantastic. I can kill a guy or make grenades fly... Uh... yeah... those are the lyrics to the Army Man Credo...or Barbie Girl... or something. Nevermind I'm going to bed.

The End Of VideoGamePriceGuides.Com?

When researching the implementation of a new feature for http://www.videogamepriceguides.com/ it was brought to my attention that eBay is changing the way searches are done on the backend.  The notice was vague indicating the specific feature I currently use to pull items for the price guide is going away July 1st, 2010.

So what does this mean for VGPG.Com?  Is it going away?

Yes... at least the way you see it now.  I haven't read through all of the documentation available from eBay and although it seems many of the search features will be still be available... they will just be available differently.  This isn't necessarily a bad thing but finding the time to rebuild everything is going to be difficult.

There is one positive note to this... with this change over being 9 months away I'll have the opportunity to re-code everything, and to re-code it in a way that will make more sense to me.  The original code was a mashup I had found from a variety of sites, and although it works and works well it is not documented in any reasonable format, and thus adding features can sometimes be a pain.

Anyways I'll start pecking away at the new version as my time permits, but will not be adding any new features to the existing price guide, nor will I make changes or corrections to the database until the version is functionally implemented.

The Legend Of Kage

Ahhh... The Legend Of Kage... don't you dare pronounce it as The Legend Of "Cage" because you'd be wrong. Dead wrong. Its "Kah-gay". This is kinda like a cross between Ninja Spirit and Kung-fu, though I believe Ninja Spirit came out a few years later.

Most people wouldn't recognize this game and I believe "The Legend of Zelda" robbed this game of any chance of glory. The two would sit side-by-side on a store shelf because... well... alphabetically they come next to each other. And who would want this Kage game when it sits next to a gold cart anyways?

The box-art features that cool yellow to green to red fade that Taito used for a handful of games including Elevator Action and Arkanoid. But then you have some yutz with a princess in an embrace!

Actually Kage is pretty cool. It uses a full palette of colors with earth tones that create a misty and mysterious feel to the game. Throw stars and swing a sword while leaping from tree to tree ala Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. Kill opposing Ninjas and Monks!

The music has a neat Asian twang to it which helps set the mood and reminds you of Kung Fu movies. There is none of the techno you'd find in games like Ninja Gaiden.

If anything Kage lives up to the hyperbole of being a legend. It certainly has an arcade fel to it that only Taito could pull off.

Spelunker HD

As my Big Spelunker Adventure approaches, I happened upon a video of the PSN remake:



Which is kinda ironic considering my original rant complained about DLC and Firmware Updates, and basically the essence of the PSN...

Video Game Price Guide From 1990

If you click this photo you can see it full sized.  It's a scan from Gamepro Magazine Issue 6, Feburary 1990.  Its for 1-800-Toy-Club.  This interested me simply because it was a primitive form of a video game price guide.  Some of the games are ridiculously overpriced, even for the time, but what's really interesting is that it shows what they sell a game for new, used, and what they are willing to buy a game from you for.  I spent a few weeks looking for this ad, but there is actually a "newer" one probably six months newer than this that had ridiculous prices for Ms. Pac-Man, and Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

Gaming Traditions

Traditions are important. Throughout history they have remained one of the defining differences between humans and animals. Animals have instincts and reactionary habits which are necessary for their survival. If anything, the importance of tradition to humans isn't necessarily the act of a tradition but rather the rememberence of an event, a way to preserve history without writing it down.

Thanksgiving is an excellent example of this. It's not necessary for the survival of humans but every year millions of Americans fulfill their holiday traditions. I have a Thanksgiving tradition, it involves watching Rambo the night before.

This year I am breaking tradition. I am in desperate need for an escape to simpler times...

Ever looked at a PS3 Dual Shock 3 controller? Up, down, left, right, triangle, square, circle, x, l1, l2, l3, r1, r2, r3, analog left, analog right, select, start, ps button, pressure sensitive, motion control... I doubt the space shuttle has this many buttons.

My holiday escape will be in the dark caverns of Nintendo Spelunker. I ranted about the game before and have decided it will serve as the perfect platform to escape with. I plan to go deep into the bowels of the earth and retrieve riches. I plan to start late in the evening and continue until I complete the game or the sun rises... whichever comes first. I won't be playing through the whole night though. I plan to take breaks and to snack and sleep during my journey. I don't plan on having a spiritual moment like some people allege occurs after marathon gaming, but if in the rare chance one does happen I'll be sure to blog about it!

River City Ransom, Pacman, Punchout!!

The Video Game Price Guide pulled through with an epic win this evening!  Licensed Pac-Man, Punchout!! Featuring Mr. Dream, and River City Ransom!  In the last 7 seconds of the auction I pulled through with a grand total price with shipping for $16.50.  KABLAMMO!

As of this evening licensed Tengen Pacman is going for $5.50, Punchout!! is going for $9, and River City Ransom, which is the bread and butter of this auction is currently going for $20 on average (currently there is a buy it now for about $15 after shipping). 

I already have another copy of Punchout!! that is supposed to ship this coming wednesday.  I guess I'll just have to trade it up for something else...

Funny Ustream Advertisement Spy Hunter

Recently I streamed and recorded some Spy Hunter footage for the NES.  With Ustream.TV, they generate revenue based on contextual ads.  Contextual you say?  Yes, contextual.  Apparently the ads it shows are based on the the next in the chatroom as I have seen it where if someone for example complains about stomach pains suddenly there will be an ad for stomach medication.

Well, recently I played back the Spy Hunter footage and got a nifty ad for an Accident Lawyer!