2012 - Year in Review

Thankfully the world didn't implode this year under the rule of a resurrected ancient Mayan overlord.  But, for every right there must be a wrong...news that the world's least talented baby will be born out of the joining of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West means that 2013 will offer up its own end-of-the-world speculators.

As far as this blog is concerned, it has come to this - a limp clip show to end the season.  No new retro games were under the tree this year and rightfully so.  eBay resellers can bite me.  So instead, I offer up the dirty twin of year-end top 10 lists, a 'year in review' article!

Collecting Nintendo got ever more difficult this past year.  Prices on the rare and fun games jumped (in some cases by 400%) seemingly out of nowhere.  There are way more collectors out there now than even just 3 years ago, and NES-era games are by far the most popular.  Some, like me, are nearing the end of a complete NES set, so the last few hard to find titles are getting quite difficult to obtain at a reasonable going rate.

That said, I was able to add 14 NES games to the collection this year.  In order:

TMNT: Tournament Fighters
Dragon Warrior IV
Baby Boomer (unlicensed)
Fire 'n Ice
Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers 2
Cowboy Kid
Robodemons (unlicensed)
Zombie Nation
Bandit Kings of Ancient China
Stack Up
Dragon Fighter
Godzilla 2
Bonk's Adventure
Stunt Kids (unlicensed)



It's funny to me, because when I first started collecting I could go to the local retro game shop and make use of 'buy 3 get 1 free' deals on $3 games and walk out with a sack of a dozen carts at a time.  Now it's taken a whole year to pick up just 14 - goes to show how difficult it is to finish off a set on a budget.

Of the games I acquired, Zombie Nation was probably my favorite for a couple of reasons.  First, the story behind the game is weird and fun - fly through cities as the head of a samurai warrior spirit and take down the possessed Statue of Liberty?  Yes, please.  In addition, I picked up the game off eBay literally only a few days before the price on it somehow tripled.  No kidding - sellers online are asking $150 or more for this game when I believe I picked it up for around $50.  Just goes to show you the advantage of going after open auctions vs. 'buy it now' options.

With the lack of true-blue NES carts to be had, I expanded the collection in other ways.  The 'How to Score More Points' VHS starring video game CHAMPION Skip Rogers is a nostalgic favorite for me and many others my age that were in to Nintendo back in the early '90s.

Speaking of nostalgia, I was reunited with my good 'ol robotic operating buddy, R.O.B. thanks to a sweet Craiglist deal.  Sure, he's no fun to play with, but he looks great sitting beside the TV in the nerd cave, which I also took a photographic tour of to mark the first anniversary of Little Gray Squares.  Looking at the analytics of the blog itself, the post regarding Universal Game Cases is my most popular - mostly from people Googling the cases and somehow being directed here.

Add in a couple of oddball carts - a Transformers game for the Japanese Famicom (that I still don't have an adapter to play) and a reproduction of the cancelled Star Trek: The Final Frontier game and you've got my NES collecting for 2012.  All in all, it was a great year, and I'm very lucky to have the ability to collect something as frivolous as obsolete video games.  Hopefully in 2013 I'll have the good fortune to stumble across one of the final four carts I need to finish off the set - maybe under a pile of old magazines in some crazy lady's flea market booth or in some misspelled eBay auction that nobody but me sees.

In the meantime, I'll try my hand at this new Nintendo WiiU...I hear you can play Super Mario Twins on it!

#744 - Stunt Kids - Where Are You, Nick Powell?

#744 - Stunt Kids
NintendoAge.com
11/19/12

It's been nearly 5 months - FIVE MONTHS! - since I've added a new cart to the collection, not counting the odds and ends I've picked up in that time.  As you could probably tell by reading the last year's worth of updates, I've lost some interest in the unlicensed collection.  The games I have left to add to that set are at once rare, expensive and crappy in terms of quality gameplay.

But just because I've slowed down in actively seeking the bastard games of companies like Color Dreams and Active Enterprises, doesn't mean I wouldn't pick one up if the chance arose.  Recently I was in the mood to play Millipede after I played in a tournament at the Houston Arcade Expo.  After cleaning and scrubbing the pins on my copy of the game yielded nothing but a garbled digital mess on my TV, I figured I needed to go ahead and repurchase the game.  Luckily, Millipede is only a couple of bucks.  Double-luckily, a member on NintendoAge was selling his copy along with a list of other carts.  Stunt Kids was on the list, the price was right and I saved on shipping by buying the two games together.

As a game, Stunt Kids reminds me most of Excitebike with cartoonier characters and more obstacles to navigate.  It's made by Camerica/CodeMasters, who as far as unlicensed game companies go, are second only to probably Tengen in terms of quality.  Most of the oddball gold and silver carts from their catalog are decent enough with a good variety of games - sports, action, platformers, etc.

Also, Nick Powell - I have your game.

The Final Four

Many apologies for the total lack of updates for the past month...and for the sporadic updates lately in general.  Trust me, I haven't lost interest in writing for this blog, and I've definitely had my eyes peeled for the remaining NES carts I need for my collection.  But as it goes, I haven't picked much of anything up in the last few months.  Ask any Nintendo collector and they'll tell you that the market has exploded in the last year and a half and prices have gone crazy.

So what I thought I'd do today is reveal the remaining 4 games I would need to obtain to consider my licensed NTSC Nintendo collection complete.  Here they are, in reverse order of likelihood that I'll ever get my greedy little paws on them.

Stadium Events

For NES collectors, this is the grail game for the collection.  According the story that by most has been accepted as truth enough, Stadium Events was given a limited release by Nintendo licensee Bandai.  The game was meant to be paired with the Family Fun Fitness pad that allowed players a new control experience.  Once the big N saw the possibilities ($$$) in such a peripheral, they purchased the license for the game and pad, pulled Stadium Events off the shelves and replaced it with World Class Track Meet (same excat game, different title screen) and the Power Pad.  If you're like me, then you have fond memories of cheating at the game with your cousins by getting down on your knees and using your hands to break world records in the 100 meter dash and pissing off your parents downstairs with all the noise.

So there you have it - an early release, the requirement of a peripheral to play plus a short shelf life equals a rare game.  It's estimated that only a few hundred made it out into the public's hands before the recall, and of course even fewer would have lasted the 25 years since then.  Prices for carts are a sure 4-digit proposition.  I have a mortgage and two car notes - so unless I stumble upon one in an old lady's flea market booth, then this one won't be adorning my shelves.

Flintstones: Surprise at Dinosaur Peak

Here we have another rare game with an interesting story.  From what I've read and heard, F2, as it is shorthanded by the collector community, was a late-era release for the NES that was only available as a Blockbuster rental exclusive.  Any carts that you see now are former rentals that were either sold to the public after Blockbuster began to liquidate their NES stock, or were taken home by employees.

Because of the ex-rental nature of the game, collectors of boxed or (gasp) sealed games have fits with this one as very few copies stayed partnered with the cardboard.  In the last 18 months I've seen the price online jump 300% for just the cartridge - way out of my range.  However, it is common looking enough that it has been obtained rather cheaply from retail stores unwise to its value, or in pawn shops/flea markets/garage sales at a bargain.

Panic Restaurant

Taito published some of the best games on the NES.  Bubble Bobble is a top 5 favorite of mine, PowerBlade is sorely underrated and Arkanoid is hypnotic and frustratingly difficult, but extremely fun.

But Taito collecting is a double-edged sword.  Games like Bubble Bobble Part 2, Little Samson and Power Blade 2 have all seen massive spikes in value and are often among the last to be added to a complete collection.

Panic Restaurant falls into that category - about 2 years ago it could be had for $75 whereas nowadays they fetch $150-200 - yet another victim of reduced availability and being a highly playable platformer.

I've come close a couple of times to getting a hold of a copy (in the wild even!) but as of now I'm still waiting.

Nobunaga's Ambition 2

Goddamn strategy games.  I could've picked this one up ages ago for $25 which I didn't feel was extroardinarly high, but I put it off because quite frankly the game didn't interest me much.  I figured I could just pick it up later any time.  But then something happened.  All of the copies (there used to be many) online dried up.  eBay, Half.com, Amazon, etc. all ran out of stock.  I'm convinced, though I lack any solid proof, that some jerk bought up all the copies and manipulated the market.  Explain how else the price of the ONE copy on eBay would be posted up at $150+.

Look, I'm all for someone making a buck and getting the most they can for the goods they are selling.  But if I'm right then this just takes the fun out of collecting games.  I try my best to give reasonable deals to others on the rare occasion that I sell off some games.  If I use eBay I usually start my auctions at .99 cents.

So that's my rant on Nobunaga 2.  Game that I have no interest in playing, therefore I'm not going to spend a big chunk on it.  I'll trip on it one day at the flea, pick it up for a buck and be done with it.

Thank you for reading Little Gray Squares.  I hope to have more content for you in the future - if I can add to my collection you'll know about it soon enough.

What Does God Need With a Nintendo Game?

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
9/6/12
www.gamereproductions.com 

Another little oddity to add to the collection; what you see here is a reproduction cartridge of the abandoned 1989 game based on the fifth (and crappy crap) Star Trek movie: The Final Frontier.  Actually, saying that The Final Frontier is a crap movie isn't fair - it's not a bad movie, just a not-as-good movie as the others in the franchise (of which I am a huge nerd fan).  It has it's good moments, it has it's not good moments, but it's a movie I've seen a few times and never really hated the way many people seem to.

The game on the other hand?  Well, I played through the first couple of levels after opening the package today...and it's...um...not great.  Star Trek V is one of those games that suffers from lack of creativity and imagination.  You run to the right and shoot bad guys.  There's not much variety (so far).  Maybe things get spicy in later levels, but I haven't gotten that far yet.  It IS kind of fun to see the typos - particularly playing as "Scotto" in stage 2.

For whatever reason, the game was cancelled before it was released.  I've heard it's because the movie didn't do that well (even though it grossed more than $70 million worldwide) and/or because the game wasn't that good (which is true, but that didn't stop whoever was responsible for letting 'Adventures of Tom Sawyer' out of the bag).  So all those teases for a new Star Trek game in the 'coming soon' section of Nintendo Power (RIP) were for naught.

But no matter!  All it takes to get a copy now is a PayPal account and an email to a NES reproduction artist - in this case it was www.gamereproductions.com.  What most repro makers do is take common existing carts, remove the circuit board, whip up some voodoo magic, slap on a new customized label and voila!  New Nintendo game.  The whole process is really cool - I wish I had the gadget know-how to pull them off myself.  Sure, most of the ROMs that the repro makers used can be found online for free, but there's something fun about holding an actual cart in your hand and playing the game on a real NES.

This was the first reproduction cart I've purchased, and I'm impressed with the quality of the construction (fun factor of the game notwithstanding).  I'll probably look into getting a few more - there are some PAL and Japanese exclusives and more unreleased games that I'd be interested in playing.

The only other cart like this that I have is the homebrew title Battle Kid: Fortress of Peril.  I loved this game - it's a cross between I Wanna Be the Guy, MegaMan and Metroid, programmed by one dude and manufactured with 100% new parts and released by www.retrousb.com.  Any NES fan owes it to themselves to purchase a copy and give it a spin.  Battle Kid is better than most officially released NES games that had entire development teams working on them.

Transfamicom!

I'm down to the last 4 licensed and 21 unlicensed carts necessary for a 'complete' NES collection.  That's 3% of the set, which means that there's not much left to find, and what IS left is out of my cheap-ass price range.  I've been tracking one game that shall remain nameless that went for $25 a year ago, but now is listed above $100 (and not selling at that price).  A recent auction ended at $37.  I don't which are dumber, the sellers or the buyers.

So that's the main reason why I haven't had any collection news over the past month or so.  Well, that and I haven't really gone hunting at the fleas or resale shops.  AND the unhealthy number of hours I've spent watching classic '80s Transformers cartoons over the past 6 weeks.

About a week ago I checked in to Player One Video Games in Friendswood, TX and took a quick scan across their import selection.  I'm not big on collecting Japanese games - that would be opening a whole new can of worms - but one Famicom cart did catch my eye.  The notorious Transformers: Mystery of Convoy.

By all accounts the game is and overly difficult and uninspired piece of garbage.  Still...I want to play it because the Transformers are awesome.  Unfortunately, I don't have a Famicom or a converter.  Several of the older NES carts have a converter in them...but opening my extra copy of Gyromite revealed no such golden ticket.  So what I have is a display piece.  Eventually I will find a way to play it - but for now it goes on the shelf.

NintendoAge E-zine

Sure is quiet around here lately.  As we go through this little dry spell, I invite you over to NintendoAge.com - if you're one of the few who haven't arrived here to my blog from that site, then I encourage you to sign up (it's free) and join the discussion.

In addition, as a member you'll have access to the semi-regular e-zine.  The last two issues have included articles written by...me!  Enjoy.

#743-B - Metal Storm (again)

#743-B
Metal Storm
ecrater.com
7/5/12

Dammit.  I already had Metal Storm.  I picked it up about 3 years ago in a big lot of games I bought from a dealer at an indoor flea market for $2.  At the time I had never heard of it and had just started collecting NES, so it got thrown onto the shelf and sat while I played Duck Tales.

Then about a year ago I was watching a series of videos by LordKat called "Until We Win" - where the guy basically plays through difficult retro video games until...well...  His video on Metal Storm was entertaining and piqued my interest in giving the unknown game a shot.  Aaaaaand then the damn thing wouldn't work.

Catridge based video games are usually resistant to the torture they endure during their lifespans.  Grubby little kids, animal encounters, blazing sun, freezing cold and general lack of care can really grime up the plastic, but usually a little elbow grease and a lot of rubbing alcohol can clean the contacts enough for the game to boot up and play.

Unfortunately, Metal Storm (the copy on the left in the picture above), seemed clean on the outside, but wouldn't start up.  Swab the contacts with alcohol...nope.  Clean out the NES with a toothbrush...nope.  Take the cart apart and deep clean the board...nope.  Look up replacement copies on eBay...sigh.  Since the game is apparently fun and apparently uncommon, therefore the copies online were pricey and since I already had a cartridge, a replacement wasn't very high on my priority list.

Cut to now and after a few recent eBay sales to build up my Paypal account I decided the time had come to right the wrong.  Ecrater.com is a new site I hadn't used before - I'm not sure if it's eBay related or what...but either way I can now play Metal Storm (the copy on the right).  And yes, it is as good as advertised.