Video Game Collecting

This evening I got to spend more time with Double Dragon for Atari 7800.  I had anxiously waited for this game and thus far I’ve been pretty impressed.

Tonight I got more experience with the controls – they are unique from all other versions of Double Dragon sans the Atari 2600 which has a similar control scheme.  In the arcade version you have your standard punch, kick, and jump button and pressing certain buttons together creates additional moves.  Since the 7800 has only two buttons the additional moves are performed by holding the controller in a particular direction then pressing a button.  For example a head butt is performed by pressing down and towards an enemy and pressing punch.  The spinning kick is performed by pressing down and away and pressing the kick button.  The whole system is kinda clunky but I blame the controller and not so much the game.  The 7800 joystick controller is not very forgiving and this game, being as action packed and quick as it is can be brutal.  To my dismay and out of desperation I did find a cheap way to advance in the game… Simply keep doing spin kicks, especially on the lower left hand side of the screen.  The enemies will crowd there and you can beat them quickly.

Yeaterday I posted that I was impressed this version could have three enemies on the screen at once, but early in stage 3 you can have four enemies on the screen!

Using my cheap trick I made it to the third stage.  The layout of the second and third stage is near exact to the arcade – something the NES version could never claim to have.  You can climb the chain link fence and jump over the broken bridge.  The second stage didn’t have the industrial theme however – instead it was the forest theme from the third stage and the third stage had the music from the first stage.  But mentioning the music reminded me that the game has the boss theme music from the arcade – again something the NES version didn’t have.

I also got to experience weapons, the knife, the whip and bat to be exact.  They were functional but didn’t help me kill the enemies any quicker.  I did not encounter any barrels or dynamite.

I fought Lindas tonight and the green boss at the end of the second stage – again taken from the arcade version.  There is very little difference between the bodies of the Lindas and the other characters except they show more skin.  Abobo looks great but boss Abobo looks even better.

Since I got to see more of the game I have concluded that the backgrounds in this game are above par.  The programmers made good use of contrasting colors in the sky scrapers and tree lines to really give you an illusion of depth and distance.

I will need to play Double Dragon for Atari 7800 more to make a final conclusion about it but outside of the clunky controls it has been a skull crushing adventure!

As promised, Double Dragon for the Atari 7800 has finally arrived.  Here are some quick impressions: 1.  The controls are awkward – not saying they are bad but when you’re used to NES controls you have a specific expectation.  2. The game has spirit of the arcade game – you can feel the programmers put an honest effort into it.  3. More enemies than the NES version… This has three at the same time, the NES had only two.  4. The music is limited and repetitive but its Double Dragon no doubt.   More details soon…

It’s almost that day of the year again: Super Bowl Sunday.  While most Americans are feverishly getting ready for the big game I am getting ready for my 2nd annual Super Bowl Sunday Swapmeet Retro Game Hunt.

Last year I got some good stuff, namely a bunch of SEGA Master System games.  I hope this year will yeild treasures as well.  Perhaps some TurboGrafx-16 games or a rare(r) Atari 7800 title.

I finally obtained a copy of Double Dragon for Atari 7800.  I have never played it and have only seen a few seconds of video from it.  I am looking forward to the experience but for now I am loving the box art.

Crafted by Activision, this box art is scary in a good way.  It has a comic book feel to it – it is really dark and drips of danger.  I can’t tell if these guys are truly thugs or washed up members of a metal band.  Either way they look as though they just finished off several Heinekens and bags of Corn-nuts.

Marian is going to need more than the morning after pill once these thugs are done working her over.  She doesn’t appear to be fighting very hard against her captors and her club-wear was asking for trouble.  And I suspect that this is exactly what the defense attorney for the Shadow Warriors (or in this case the Black Warriors)  will say.

Peace Vatos!  We shall meet for the first time in few days!

Last year we celebrated the 25th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda and the year before that Super Mario Bros.  But this year belongs to California Games for Atari 2600 and several other platforms.

California Games on the 2600 is significant for several reasons.  This game pushed the 2600 to the limit.  It is basically four minigames: hackysack, halfpipe, BMX, and surfing.  Each game could have been a blockbuster for the Atari had it been released several years earlier because each game had wonderful colors, fantastic animations, intuitive controls, and a huge replay factor.

Although your character is a bit stiff, the hackysack event really dances on the screen.  Several tricks and unpredictable elements make you believe the event can be mastered but I have yet to see someone play the entire event and not make a single mistake.  Small details like the drifting clouds and pinetrees are an excellent touch though palmtrees would have made more sense.

The half pipe has several tricks as well but they are the most difficult in the game to pull off.  There is also an element of speed to the skateboard which if you’re not careful you’ll smash your skull into the sky and come falling down to your presumed death.

BMX is my favorite because its the fastest of the four events.  Basically you roll down hill doing tricks and dodging rocks, stumps, cattle skulls, and mud.  Flags are check points and gives you more time to complete an event.  Although the track never changes, it’s long and difficult to master.

Surfing is very similar to the half pipe except the timing is a bit more liberal.  There are several tricks in this event as well.

Again, California Games for the Atari 2600 is an amazing piece of work and 25 years later still impresses the hell out of me.

This might sound familiar: these are what I consider to be my top ten video game posts of 2011. Some of these posts were not necessesarily popular to my visitors, but they were popular to me. Enjoy!

#10: Pedro Games VS Lukie Games VS NES_Head_Quarters – What’s not to like about this post – here I pit three of my favorite game sellers to a competition to the death!  Which one reigned supreme?

#9: 30 Days Of Gaming Challenge - Rather than writing for 30 days, I summed up all 30 days in one post.  This has been one of my more popular posts of the year.

#8: Super Mario Bottle Cap – Found in the backyard of a house I’ve owned for only two years, the Super Mario Bottle Cap brought back memories from my youth when Nintendo and Pepsi teamed up for the greatest promotion known to mankind.

#7: Macho Man Randy Savage In Video Games - I couldn’t help but pay homage to the Macho King Randy Savage.  The world lost one of the greatest men ever.  I will forever be inspired by him.

#6: Photo Of Osama Bin Laden’s Body - The moment it was announced that Osama Bin Laden was dead I took advantage of posting a picture from Prince of Persia on NES and labeling it as Osama Bin Laden’s death photo.  It brought the highest amount of traffic to the blog then ever before since I was apparently the first person to post an erroneous photo.  I consider the experiment a success.

#5: Suicide By Tetris - Never had I inspired so much angst or anger than I did with the announcement that I was going to try and kill myself by playing Tetris non-stop for 24 hours.  Although 90% of my friends support the decision and event I later learned that 0% of my family support the decision.  Regardless the event didn’t happen.

#4: 30 Days Of Atari 2600 Reviews - Actually 30 posts, the 30 Days of Atari 2600 Reviews demonstrated 30 of my favorite Atari 2600 games.  Sadly my 30 days of SEGA Genesis Reviews didn’t even make it to day 10.

#3: Weird And Recognizable Nintendo Patents - I research patents pretty often, mostly for inspriration and for “exploded” drawings of devices.  In this post I show off some of Nintendo’s most famous patents, and a few you’ve never seen.

#2: GameBoy Screen Repair – Remove Lines - If this wasn’t one of my favorite posts of 2011, it was definately one of my visitors top posts.  Of all of my videos on YouTube, this one gathers the most attention.  In this two part series I demonstrate in specific detail how to remove lines from a GameBoy.

#1: Swap Meet Video Game Finds - By far one of my favorite posts of all times, I show via video a day in the life of the BroadAcres Swapmeet.  Great Times.  Great Music!

My 2012 Video Game Collecting Goals will be different than previous years for a variety of reasons:

1. For most of 2011 I simply did not have the cash like I had previous years to splurge on games, it’s just been a bad year. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, as it has forced me to become more frugal and creative in my collecting endeavors. It has also given me the opportunity to play, appreciate, and learn more about the games I love.
2. The Classic Gaming Expo didn’t happen this year. It’s supposed to happen in 2012 though, and I’m going to be ready for it. I have a plan that I hope will make 2012 better than 2010. 2010 was exhausting, but it’s going to be Downtown which is less than 12 minutes away from where I live.
3. Before my thrifting/swapmeet ventures were mostly arbitrary. “Maybe I should go to the swapmeet this weekend” or “I’m bored, I think I’ll thrift.” Was usually the only planning I would do. This was great, except I’d go so frequently that I’d either find nothing, or I’d feel rushed and wouldn’t take my time searching or pondering the treasures I’d might acquire.
4. Less common game prices have gone up significantly. There are a couple reasons for this. The first is Stadium Events. Ever since Yahoo ran an article about it a few years back sellers have dug into their back closet thinking that there are riches to be found there. Also, at least two different “storage” shows had the gall to say an original NES was worth a few thousand dollars and likewise for an original Atari 2600 (which in the video wasn’t the original). Of course those clowns on TV were way wrong, but fans of the shows, like the people who think Anticipation and Super Mario Bros. 3 are “rare” because they saw an article on the internet have artificially inflated the prices. Further complicating this is Goodwill (at least here in Las Vegas) have suddenly started pricing game consoles and games in the double digits. What the heck is going on?

So this is what I figured out: I’ll plan my game collecting in 2012 like I plan stuff at my job. First I’ll simply plan out my thifting/swapmeet adventures months in advance. Second I’ll update the code at videogamepriceguides.com to twitter/email me the best deals AS they occur. Third I’ll determine a budget for all game collecting, and forth I’ll find an alternative to revenue generation which will be the gatekeeper for all shopping.

Similiar to what every great adventurer discovers – it’s the quest and not the treasure that matters!

Race Drivin’ for SEGA Genesis is the greatest most realistic driving simulator ever known to man kind!  Seriously!  Some have described Gran Turismo 5 as a skid mark left on the driver’s seat of the arcade version of Hard Drivin’.  It is that good!

Well maybe not.  The SEGA Genesis port is an excellent version of the arcade game which was an arcade smash and showed the world what the future of driving simulators would look like.

The game retains the faithfulness of the arcade version: the choice of manual or automatic transmissions, a time extension model where by you keep passing check points for additional game time, a speed and stunt course, a ramp and a loop de loop, and a barn and a cow that says moo.  Oh and lets not forget the phantom photon who will race your best time if you complete the course in a certain time. 

The game does lack the frame rate of the arcade game so it seems choppy at times and some of the polygons are missing details but for what Tengen set out to do with this game they did an excellent job.  Comparitively the arcade version uses a few powerful processors to render the environment and the steering feedback which obviously isnt available in the home versions.

Most people will not like Hard Drivin’ because like the arcade game it is difficult to handle.  You will spin out frequently.  The controls require a feather touch and if you exceed the speed limit you will suffer.

The good news is this game is easy to find and not expensive at all.  Recommended but spend no more than $2 loose and $5 complete.

Ghouls N Ghosts for SEGA Genesis is a masterpiece.  I remember as a kid there were two pre-Sonic games that the magazines raved about.  The first was Strider and the second was GNG.

Like most pre-Sonic games, GNG is an arcade port.  A Capcom arcade port to be exact and if you noticed on the title screen Capcom gets credit but it is clear that this title was reprogrammed by SEGA.

I don’t know the exact answer to this but I have two theories: 1. Nintendo strong armed many of their third party publishers into not developing games for their competition; or 2. The SEGA Genesis was still new and was slow to push out the NES – perhaps Capcom didn’t want to invest in developing titlea for a system what wasn’t quite successful yet.  But who cares really?

This arcade port is almost entirely spot on.  It’s missing the opening cut scene and there are a few graphical changes but it’s easily 99% intact.  I know this to be a fact because I’ve beaten the arcade version many times and everything including the timing of enemies and jumps are perfect.  Master one and you’ve mastered the other.

Anyways GNG is the sequel to Ghosts N Goblins.  Your mission as Arthur is to rescue a princess kidnapped by the Evil Loki.  A room sized demon who sits on a throne and shoots lazers at you.  The game play is similar to Goblins with a few enhancements: there are new weapons that can be found in hidden chests and new armor that allows you to cast magic such as lightning, clones, and explosions.  You can also shoot up and down if you jump or are falling.

Game play is mostly scrolling right to left with a few areas of up and down movement.  You can climb ladders and ride platforms.  Lose your armor and you are naked.  Lose your skin and you are dead.  Trade weapons by picking up a new one.  Easy peasy.

The graphics are beautiful and gross!  Pigs on the first level puke on you and one of the bosses is a huge disgusting house fly.  The environments are well drawn with little hints of mother nature like wind, rain, and flying leaves.  Burning windmills shed glowing embers and crystals reflect light.

The bosses are huge but are pretty beatable.  Complete the game and in the tradition of the series youll need to do it again but faster to receive the ending.

Ghouls N Ghosts is an excellent game.  I recommend it!  Pay no more than $8 loose or $14 complete.

Flicky for SEGA Genesis was the second game I received for my Genesis.  It was $20 purchased new from Montgomery Wards.

The game is an arcade port, and like most pre-Sonic games on the Genesis there is a special charm associated with it.  You are Flicky the blue bird and you are going to pick up chicks and lead them to an exit door.  Meanwhile cats and lizards and other critters get in your way.

The game vaguely reminds me of Mappy.  And this game (or the mechanics at least) hasn’t been forgotten because Rub A Dub on the PlayStation Network is basically the same game.

The game is tough, mostly because of the physics, but it’s solid.  The music fits even though it repeats often.  The graphics are bright but simple and the animations are effective.

I recommend this game.  $5 loose or $9 complete.  Be warned though that the instructions are printed on a single sheet of paper.

Flicky doesnt need a drawn out review but there is a bonus I’d like to point out.  In recent months Nyan cat has become a huge internet celebrity.  Most did not realize that ‘nyan’ is a japanese onomonopia for ‘meow’.  But anyways the attract screen for.the Japanese version has the cat named nyannyan.

Hint: if you own a Retron 3 you can flip the region switch in the back on many Genesis games to play the Japanese version.