Video Game Collecting

Another awesome SEGA Genesis find from a local Thrift Store.  This time Salvation Army.  You wouldn’t believe the gall of some people.  I found this copy of Vapor Trail, along with several other SEGA Genesis games hidden amongst a bunch of VHS tapes.  This woman stood right behind me and made some sort of crass remark about how I was snatching them up.  Shesh.  Some people.  Earlier that day I swore that same woman flipped off a fellow motorist.

Anyways my Video Game Price Guide reports Vapor Trail as being worth about $21.  I only had to pay $2 for it.  I also picked up Evander Holyfield Real Deal Boxing or some crap, and a Joe Montana Sports Talk ’94 nonsense title.  Why did the SEGA Genesis have to have so many sports games?

Hands down it seems the best place to get any retro game hardware is the thrift store.  In 7 days time I’ve witnessed a $3 Model 1 SEGA Genesis (with no cables), and then just yesterday at the same thrift store I found a $15 Model 1 SEGA Genesis with all of the trimmings (two licensed three button controllers, RFU adaptor, and licensed AC adaptor).  It seems those AC adaptors are becoming more and more difficult to find, and used game stores don’t seem to be aware that the original model Genesis is not compatible with the 2nd and 3rd generation adaptor.  Some even think an original Nintendo NES AC adaptor will work because it fits and its the same voltage, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. 

You see the Nintendo AC adaptor spits out its power as AC and converts it to DC inside the Nintendo itself.  The Genesis requires the voltage to be DC.  A lot of the games stores assume it works when they turn it on because the light on the SEGA Genesis comes on.  But the reason why it turns on is because of the alternating current.  That red light is an LED (light emitting diode).  It will only turn on if voltage is flowing in one direction (DC).  If an LED is connected to a power source incorrectly it will not turn on.  When its connected to an AC powersource it will turn on regardless of which wire is connected to which lead.  The alternating current occurs so fast that the light appears to remain solid, when infact its actually turning on and off super fast.

With four diodes you can actually convert that AC current into DC, and theoretically the AC adaptor should work.  The diagram below kinda demonstrates that.  The red light indicates the + and the black indicates the -.  Notice how the current alternates (red to black then black to red) the terminals on the right stay their same color (and therefore their same polarity).  The diodes that turn gray are indicitive of the voltage being blocked.

So it might be possible with just four simple and cheap diodes make an adaptor (or a permanent modification) to an existing NES AC adaptor and convert it into one that is compatible with a SEGA Genesis.  Sounds like a weekend project for sure.

Genesis Does Strider…  I remember Strider.  I remember some punk kid in a local game store going ape-spit when the owner said he didn’t have a copy, only to pull it out after the worthless snot started to cry.  The ad alleges that it’s the most powerful game – EVER because it’s 8 megs.  Perhaps the largest game ever (at that time) but memory capacity doesn’t equal strength… aww.. naive public.  It’s a damn good port, just like Ghouls ‘N’ Ghosts.  I only seen it once in an arcade and that was at the Showboat Hotel and Casino.

I’ve had plenty of fun recreating Nintendo labels. You see about a year ago had a wild idea to make new Nintendo labels for games where the labels have been ruined to such a degree that they would not be salvagable. Hussy golf came from that experiment. Anyways I now have the need to make a “good” label for RBI Baseball 3 for SEGA Genesis. This used copy I have is in sad shape. Four labels have raped this poor cartridge. The curent price sticker, an inventory identifier, a barcode for the Wherehouse, and a security strip you see at the top of the photo. This was the worst sticker and even though the paper came off well the magnetic strip ripped the label. Dammit. That’s ok. Stay tuned as I create a repro!

 

1993. Las Vegas. 9th and Fremont Street. The Western Hotel and Casino… Growing up in Las Vegas you had the advantage of abundant arcades. While the rest of the nation’s arcades disappeared in the mid to late 80′s their departure was slower from the Las Vegas valley because casinos had to have some place to dump the children of gamblers.

This wasn’t a bad thing for me per se, but almost every Friday night I’d go with my grandmother to The Western and play in their dinky arcade into the wee hours of the morning.

Their game selection was fairly weak. While the rest of the nation enjoyed Super Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat 2 they had a Road Blasters cockpit, VS Dr. Mario, Rygar in a converted Star Wars cabinet, a dilapitated Pac Man, some weird Capcom or Konami side scroller, and in the center of the filthy chaos was DJ Boy. Prior to The Western I had never seen DJ Boy in the wild. I remembered ads for it on SEGA Genesis but that was all I knew about it.

Every review I’ve read or watched about DJ Boy rates it as a terrible impossibly difficult game with ugly graphics a stupid plot and out and out -a waste of silicon. But in typical SalzMafia fashion I disagree. Let me set the scene…

The Western is located east of downtown Las Vegas. It’s technically the last casino on Fremont street until you reach the Boulder Strip. The property is surrounded by hourly hotels (which competed directly with The Western’s 16 bucks a night special), liquor stores, and empty lots. The casino caters to an unusual clientele: mostly locals with a mix of day laborers, retired people, drug dealers, pimps, prostitutes, and other weirdos. The place was always popular and crowded because the slots were cheap and loose. Everyone smoked it seemed and a thick layer of ash was everywhere. The front entrance opened to Fremont street and the slightest breeze carried the stale cigarette smoke into the streets. Spend 30 seconds or longer in the place and you’d leave to go shopping for shampoo and an oncologist.

Anyways, the place was miserable. And the attracts sound and music of DJ Boy was a welcomed break from the clank clank clank of penny slots and the frequent oxygen wielding fossil who was choking up chunks of lung. Wolfman Jack narrated the game and if you don’t know who he was all you need to know is that he was a syndicated radio DJ many many years ago. In his gruff wolf-like voice he’d yell DJ BOY! On the screen was a vampire with bats. It seemingly had nothing to do with the game but I later learned the vampire is based on a DJ in Japan.

So I’d drop my quarter in and start the game. What an interesting opening. You are a guy wearing dated roller skates break dancing when suddenly some thugs steal your boom box. And in typical Double Dragon fashion you set out to rescue your precious tape deck! Awesome!

Some of the screens scroll automatically and some are static. The first stage takes you through the harbor and past street cars where a hot woman tossed sticks of dynamite at you. A large variety of enemies would work you over as you’d kick the crap out of them. The game is surprisingly filled with racist ennuendo and toilet humor – especially the bosses. This was toned down on the Genesis version.

The real gem was the music. Fast beats that kept pace with the action. To me I thought the graphics were excellent. The enemies were not proportional to each other and it looks like the designers didn’t consult with each other when making the characters in the game, but it and the urban scenery looks good together.

I want -nay… I NEED this game. There is only a Genesis version that I am aware of. I’ve read reviews that lead me to believe that it’s an incomplete conversion, and that much of the story and character design has been changed.  This could be true, but I wouldn’t know because I DON’T HAVE A COPY… yet.

I finally had an opportunity to fire up the SEGA Genesis. You don’t know how big of a pain in the ass that was. But the point being the five dollar thrift store Genesis works!

So naturally there is but one game to play: Double Dragon. With the exception of almost non-existent noise the game is true to the arcade version.

I’d like to thank the person who chose not to throw the Genesis controller away. Yay! …

You know that bat is bad-ass!

#10 Sega Genesis Collecting And Arms Dealing: See what happens when my son and I trade an air pistol for a SEGA Genesis.  This was a favorite post because I caught it on tape, and that I did it with my son.

#9 Burgertime: I have alot of blog posts about Burgertime, but this post is significant because it was the first post that explained that I’m attempting to collect all of the licensed Nintendo games.  What spurred me to to this was that the previous November I had finished my 60-in-1 arcade game.  On it is Burgertime, but the machine was left at my in-laws house and I was craving Burgertime.  Mmm delicious memories.

#8 Salzmafia Nintendo Price Chart: This post was all about creating the Nintendo Price Chart which eventually became http://www.videogamepriceguides.com/

#7 Nintendo Golf New Label: Remember Hussy Golf?  This was my experiment in creating new labels for Nintendo cartridges where the original label was ruined.  This inspired some additional ones, though I have not yet created them due to lack of time.

#6 Burgertime New Personal Best: Ever look back at old yearbook photos and ask yourself “What was I thinking?”  Thats kinda what I think of now when I look at this post.  What kind of loser score is 44,500 points on Burgertime?  Breaking 100,000 on the first level is expected!

#5 How To Clean Your Nintendo Games: I love this post!  So many people make cleaning a Nintendo game a chore, and it doesn’t have to be.  Also, many people think brasso and other ridiculous garbage will clean their game.  Boy are they wrong.

#4 Videogame Box Art History: Racing the Beam is a pretty cool book, and the revelation of Activision’s marketing was genius!

#3 Red Or Blue: Take a trip down memory lane and relive the importance of wearing an 80′s bandana makes when you’re a character in a Nintendo Video game.

#2 The Spy Hunter Experience: I preach it all the time: Less is More when it comes to a videogame.  Read a real life example of how Spy Hunter has a greater depth than Metal Gear Solid IV due to the player’s imagination

#1 Burgertime Grouping Performance: Yeah I know, I already have a Burgertime post mentioned in the top-ten, but this has to be my #1 favorite post of 2009.  After struggling for months on Burgertime I was able to find a workable pattern for the first level that yields 100,000 each and every time (which 100k is not depicted in the video).  Hear my excitement as I pull off the massive groupings.

Well I’ve updated the Video Game Price Guide to include SEGA Genesis games. Although there were plenty of games released for the SEGA Genesis there really wasn’t that many games that interested me to the point that I’d want to start collecting them. On the otherhand, SEGA Master System games always interested me as it had a multitude of SEGA Coin-Op conversions. The flipside to that being that many of those conversions sucked. But not all. Besides where else am I gonna get a legal version of Quartet, and a conversion of the arcade version of Choplifter?

On the Nintendo Collecting front, I’m still waiting for Iron Tank, Toki, and Donkey Kong Jr.

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