Video Game Collecting Home Of The Original Video Game Price Guides

Rereleased Q*Bert

Q*Bert is a game that needs no introduction or explaination. It was popular for a variety of reasons and it's been mostly forgotten for a variety of reasons.

If Q*Bert has contributed anything to the history of videogaming it's not the 3D pyramid or the censored cursing but the gameplay of covering territory while being chased. City Connection had it's freeways whilst Q*Bert has it's cubes. At it's core both games are the same, they are just executed differently.

Sometimes the execution of a game can completely blind the player into thinking that they are not playing a clone but rather something new or different. Donkey Kong 3 is a clone of a variety of shooters, most notably Galaga while Popeye is a clone of the gameplay of Pacman. Yet side by side these games do not appear to be anything alike. But when you really analyze it there is no mistake about it... they are all clones of clones.

This industry continues to rehash classics. Earthworm Jim was recently re-released, Sonic 4 is right around the corner, and many more are coming down the pipe. It's amazing that for all of the millions upon millions of dollars going in to game development on the most cutting edge of technology we're still spending our hard earned dollars on games that do not offer any better of an experience than games release two and almost three decades ago. And sadly, side by side, these games require no analysis to find their inspiration because they look and feel the same. Of course if Q*Bert was re-released today it would cost 11 million dollars to develop with a crew of 45 people working six days a week for 18 months and an over priced voice actor to translate *$#! into "Mother F--!" and the consultation from a doctor specializing in reptiles to advise the artists on how a snake might bounce around on the pyramid. Oh and don't forget that Nine Inch Nails is doing the soundtrack and if you preorder the game from Gamestop you'll receive a voucher for the 'cool breeze' skin for the pyramid on XBox live and a poster of Q*Bert for PlayStation home.

Chris Kohler Of Wired Magazine

Chris Kohler of Wired magazine writes for the Game Life section.  Earlier today he had twittered that he was accepting questions so I jumped on the opportunity to ask three.  Two of the questions he answered which were about thrifting for video games:

What is your best/favorite find from a thrift store?

The best thing I ever found personally was a whole stack of boxed NES launch games -- with the original round seal stickers and Famicom adapters inside -- for $2 each. There was also a boxed Final Fight 3 in there. That was a pretty fantastic day.

My parents also found a boxed Vectrex with a light pen and tons of boxed games for $100 about a year ago. Everything together is worth more like $800.

How frequently do you thrift, and do you have a routine when you go?

I used to go every weekend, and yes, I had a routine -- there's a way to hit basically every Goodwill and Salvation Army in the city by looping up around through the Haight, the Mission, downtown and then back through the Richmond. These days I have a lot more to do on the weekends, so it's catch-as-catch-can.

Cool stuff eh?  The rest of the questions he answered can be found here: http://www.formspring.me/kobunheat

And the Game Life section of Wired magazine can be found here: http://www.wired.com/gamelife/

In case you are wondering the third question was about the Classic Gaming Expo...

GameSniped.Com

GameSniped.Com is cool for a million reasons.  Here's  a few:

• Complete DreamCast Collection (ebay via GameSniped) http://www.gamesniped.com/2010/08/15/complete-us-dc-collection/
• Remember that PlayStation prototype controller I saw at CGEXPO?  Yeah GameSniped found one for sale (ebay via GameSniped) http://www.gamesniped.com/2010/07/28/watch-list-wednesday-july-28th-2010/ The auction is done.  It ended at $338 - Dang!
• Billy Mitchell Hot Sauce - (via GameSniped) http://www.gamesniped.com/2010/07/08/biilly-mitchell-hot-sauce/ the comments on this post are particularly funny.

Want more?  Well duh!  visit www.gamesniped.com!

Destroyed PSP

A PSP Destroyed.

Giving Away A Free Copy Of Nintendo NES Hussy Golf

Remember Hussy Golf?  We'll I'm giving away another copy, read on for details...

To win this Free Nintendo Game Hussy Golf, simply follow salzmafia_com on twitter.  It's that simple!  On September 26th 2010, I will pick three (3) random followers and each will receive a copy.  There are some rules however.  1.) I'm only shipping the game to an address in the United States.  If you live else where and you know someone in the United States I can ship it to, then fantastic.  2.) I'm going to request that the winners do not sell the game or copy the label.  3.) You need to be of a legal age where I can ask you for your shipping information if in the event you are the winner.  Thats it!

SNK Book

I've been working on a book about NES games, specifically the SNK collection. It's being written in the spirit of the Official Nintendo Player's Guide. Enjoy the sneak peek of Ikari Warriors.

Fantasia For SEGA Genesis

Fantasio for SEGA Genesis... this games LOOKS BEAUTIFUL!

This was another thrift store find.  Cost a cool $2.  Based on the Disney Musical...

But despite looking cool, it plays like crap.  The controls are terrible.  You can kill enemies by using spells, or by jumping on them.  Just make sure you hold down when you jump on those enemies.  It won't change the animation any but its the only way you won't lose hearts.  It makes no sense!

The game almost feels like a demo to me.  Graphically, it's amazing.  The bottle in the picture below shimmers (obviously it's a static picture, but trust me it shimmers.)  There is also alot of foreground-paralax scrolling which really gives the game some depth.

The game shares some of the same songs and scenes from the movie.  The artists took alot of time to make this game look great.  Too bad the execution was terrible.

Strider For SEGA Genesis

Well it's about time I blogged about Strider for SEGA Genesis! As you might of read before I won Strider on eBay for cheap. The game was complete with manual, and case, in perfect condition!

I was first exposed to Strider in videogame magazines. It was advertised as a game to conquer all other games and at the time that seemed true (8 meg power!). It's also one of those games that was almost a perfect translation from it's arcade counterpart. Even the introduction of 2049 fading into the background was retained.

The AI is incredible and how some of the enemy robots 'walk' around the curved roofs in the game looks really nice. It's easy to tell the Strider programmers worked hard on this port.

Footage coming soon.

El Viento for SEGA Genesis

El Viento for SEGA Genesis... Spanish for 'the wind'. I bought this game from Electronics Boutique long before they became EB Games, and then GameStop. $20.

Aside from the fact that your character was a woman there was little to differentiate this title from any of the other platformers on the Genesis. It's basically a female version of Shinobi and it's sequels. You can jump, throw boomerangs, do magic, etc.

The story takes place in New York City in 1928. Basically the Empire State Building is nearing completion and a crazy guy named Henry plans to use it as a temple to an evil God named Hastur. You set out to kill Henry and his minions.

The sprites look nice. They are very detailed and animated but get lost in a cluttered background. The game play gets repetative and predictable. The American-Box art is terrible but the music is good.

The good news is if you pick up a complete copy of this game you'll have a case you can re-use for a game you appreciate more. The bad news is this game was made...