So after weeks of being too busy to game hunt, I finally made it back to Broadacres Swapmeet on Saturday. It was the first time I had ever left empty handed, and it was entirely due to my stupidity.
Normally I prefer to go on a Sunday because there always seems to be more games, so I already had mixed feelings when I arrived early and most of the vendors were not even ready. But I approached one guy who had a bunch of games, and some mint condition original NES games. They included Zelda II with ZERO CHIPPING of the paint, and Bomber Man, Mike Tyson’s Punch Out, Wild Gunman, Gum Shoe, and a bunch of others. The point is they were perfect.

So I asked the guy how much he wanted. He said $7. Ugh. He barely spoke English so I thought I’d try to talk him down. I offered 2 for $12. He said $7 each. I was pissed and marched away.
Since it was early I decided to do a second lap. By then the rest of the vendors would be mostly opened. I spotted a few more games but nothing that really caught my eye. I decided on a new strategy.
Less than thirty minutes later I was back at his booth. “Would you take $20 for four games?” He didn’t hesitate, he said “ok.”

Awesome, except the games I wanted were gone. I was so annoyed I left, but before I did I asked how much he wanted for the top loader. $34 he said. Boo!

Does Wrestlemania Challenge really need two posts?  Does any of the Wrestlemania games need two?  Probably not.  Having acquired all three WWF games for the Nintendo NES I can say that this one has the best wrestlers but the most awkward gameplay.  The ring is isometric which makes the game silly in many respects.

Part of what makes a videogame great is it’s presentation.  When you watch wrestling rarely do you see the ring from a top down position from the corner.  It’s always presented from the side.  So why make it that was in a game?  Who knows.

Of the three WWF games this one seems the most rushed.  The characters are small and their distinguishing features are so tiny it doesn’t really make a difference.

But the game rocks with it’s soundtrack.  The theme for Ravishing Rick Rude is spot on.  Hearing that 8-bit glory makes me want to thrust my hips and fling sweat at the screen.  The other themes are great too but only invoke some toe tapping and nothing more.

In part 2 of this post I’ll tear this game apart more but for now enjoy Rude destroying The Ultimate Warrior’s baby maker.

Super Spike V’Ball for Nintendo NES is one of those sports games that if you played as a kid you would actually have a genuine interest in volley ball… For about five minutes.

Don’t get me wrong -this is a great game and probably the best volley ball game on Nintendo.  The music is perfect and the difficult of the computer progresses at a good pace.  Yoh can slam the ball in your opponents face and send them flying into the sand.

The score announcer is hot.  Especially of you were a 12 year old then this game came out.  Being able to play as Billy and Jimmy from Double Dragon fame was a nice added touch as well.

Had Nintendo or Technos (the company that made it) put women in the game instead of men there might be more of an interest in volleyball today!

It’s amazing the difference a paddle controller makes.  Arkanoid for Nintendo NES is no exception.  If you follow my videos then you know I recently acquired a Vaus controller from a thrift store.  It looked beautiful except it didn’t work… well.

The paddle was jittery on the screen so I opened her up.  I thought perhaps the circuitry would be simple like an Atari 2600 Paddle but it wasn’t.  Multiple IC chips and a tiny potentiometer were at the heart of her.  I was sad and depressed that I couldn’t figure out exactly what the problem might be.  I suspected the potentiometer, but a quick cleaning of it with WD-40 didn’t improve anthing.  So I decided I’d take it apart. 

This was dangerous.  If I broke the potentiometer what would my chances be that I’d find one of similiar size of the same ohms?  I worked slowly, but then I realize the problem.  The pins were broken.  Two of them.  It was jittery because the potentiometer wasn’t making good contact with the board.  So I desoldered the potentiometer and recycled the pins from an un-used NPN transistor.  They were the perfect size for soldering into the potentiometer and then back on to the board.

I nervously reassembed the Vaus controller.  I put Arkanoid back in the system and fired the Nintendo up.

It worked.  Perfectly.

A “hot tip” left as a comment on this blog leads to a thrift store with a handful of games for SEGA, Nintendo, Atari, and Intellivision.

Come to find out the Predator game WAS faded. Boo!