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.

Masters of the Universal Game Cases

Remember in my last post when I mentioned how cool the custom artwork on the universal game case looked when I received my Bonk's Adventure cart in the mail?  Sure you do...you think about it every night as you go to sleep...tossing...turning...

Well anyway, I took the bait and bought a case of cases (as well as a couple of new printer ink cartridges) and got to work making some of my own.  When I say a case of cases, I mean that literally.  They only come in boxes of 100 - so I've got quite a few sitting in my living room at the moment.  Interestingly enough, they are called 'universal' in that they hold all kinds of discs and cartridges, EXCEPT for original NES.  I had to take a box cutter and pair of pliers to each one in order to knock out the little tabs standing in my way...

As for the artwork...there is a GREAT website that offers up customized lables for almost every system:   www.thecoverproject.net - I recommend scanning through their forums to see pictures of some great customized case collections.

The cases look really great all put next to one another.  I'm a sucker for the sleek, uniform look of all the cases.  NES boxes are all over the map in their design and color and quite frankly, they look a mess on the shelf.  Not to mention that many boxes didn't survive the more than 2 decades since they were printed, having since long disintegrated in landfills across America.  Boxed game collectors are having to bend over and open up their wallets to finish off their sets.  This is a nice looking, cheap alternative.

So this is what I've got so far.  I'll add some more eventually - these labels will kill an ink cartridge really fast, especially on my crummy printer, so I'm being selective in what I make a label for.  Right now I've got some of my more valuable games and some of my favorites, as well as a really awesome custom MegaMan set.

#743 - Bonk's Adventure

Game #743
Bonk's Adventure
NA
6/12/12

It was nice to find a response to my 'want to buy' thread on NintendoAge from yet ANOTHER Canadian (jeez, how many of them are out there?) with an offer to purchase a very nice condition Bonk's Adventure cart.  Dude gave me a very fair deal and even shipped the custom hard case along with the game.

I really like this case.  It's a universal game case with a couple of notches cut out to fit NES carts and a nicely printed custom label.  These look really neat, especially all together on a shelf - if it wouldn't cost literally hundreds of dollars and take up WAY too much space, I would consider housing all of my NES carts in such awesome plastic.

Bonk's Adventure is, of course, a port of the TurboGrafx-16 game.  In fact, Bonk was a mascot of the TG-16, so it's still a little strange to see the character on a Nintendo cartridge.  I guess nowadays that's not so big a deal, what with Sonic and Mario playing at the Olympics together every couple of years.

Now the collection stands at 743 NES games, 673 of them are officially licensed.  There are a total of 677 licensed carts - which means I have only 4 left to find.  It's exciting to be this close to finishing up the licensed set, but looking ahead at the price tags and lack of availability on what's left is certainly daunting.  Hopefully with a little patience and a lot of luck, I'll be able to mow down at least 3 of them this year.  In the interim I'll be adding more varied content to this blog - starting with a new link on the right side of the page.  Enjoy "Game Over" another collector blog from a fellow NA member.

#742 - Godzilla 2: War of the Monsters

#742
Godzilla 2
Collector's Cards & Games
5/21/12

So strange to find a boxed game this late in the game that's within my budget - but here sits Godzilla 2, fresh from a nice little shop in Florida.  The box is in not-so-mint shape, but I don't care much.  I was just glad to find this game for $30 - especially after the prices have all gone skyrocketing on eBay and Amazon.

Godzilla 2 is a weird strategy something or other game...I don't really have much interest in it beyond having it on the collection shelf.  Check out AVGN's video to get an idea of what it's all about.  I like the box art - it's red and orange and Godzilla looks PISSED with lightning striking him from all sides...

Now we're really down to it.  Only 5 licensed games left and the prices are STEEP to say the least (especially for the run-in-place game).  I'll hold out hope that I'll find a deal out there somewhere.

In the meantime, I'm considering ways to keep this blog going.  Just because all the little gray squares are getting snapped up doesn't mean we can't continue these sporadic musings.  So, as they say at the end of every TV season finale; 'to be continued....'

#740 & 741 - Stack Up & Dragon Fighter

#740 & 741
Stack Up & Dragon Fighter
NA & eBay
5/7/12

It's times like this where the whole 'collect every game' thing gets weird.  There have been games that I have no interest in playing (anything where you take turns to fight each other) or are duplicates of other games (Donkey Kong Classics), but at least those were games that I could play if I wanted to.  See that Stack Up game?  I can't even play that one.

See, Stack Up was the second and last R.O.B. game (Gyromite is the other) and it requires a special set of pieces to play it properly.  There are round blocks (if you can call a round shape a 'block'), special claws for R.O.B. and little trays that you hook onto him.  I have none of that stuff.  I don't intend to ever get any of that stuff.  Stack Up is, therefore, an unplayable game for me.  Yay?

On the bright side, Stack Up DOES finish off the 'black box' set - I have all but 4 in their actual black boxes (no Stack Up, DK Jr Math, Urban Champion or CluClu Land boxes).  So that's pretty cool.  Plus, I can just let R.O.B. play with the cartridge.  See?  He's having fun.

The other pickup is Dragon Fighter, which I got from eBay by offering and counter-offering and realizing I had a few bucks left on a gift card.  The 10 minutes of it I played was a decent experience.  You walk along, slashing monsters and snowflakes when suddenly...you become...a giant green fucking dragon!  Every play Michael Jackson's Moonwalker and get the comet to turn into Super Mecha-Michael Jackson?  Same kind of feeling you get in Dragon Fighter.


Cross your fingers, as I may have ANOTHER cart coming in the mail in the next week or so.  We're coming down the home stretch and this shit's getting REAL now.