The Stupid Gamer » Retro

NES game collecting after day 1

Jeff Rivera — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 21:01:04 +0000

So yesterday I posted about how I was going to try to collect all the North American NES games. Well, things kind of got out of hand from there. A few hours later I went from a decent stash to owning 1/3 of the releases. Some of the games I picked up are unofficial releases, so I’m debating whether or not I want to keep them or to sell them to fun the purchase of official releases. I’ll make that decision later, but for now here’s a pic of the day 1 haul, which came in at just under 250 games.

It’s becoming more and more apparent that I might have issues.

Also, anybody interested in donating to my noble cause should feel free to contact me. I’m also interested in purchasing. Email me at jar155 [at] gmail.com.

I’m going to buy every NES (NA release) game ever made

Jeff Rivera — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 20:31:30 +0000

Yeah, it’s a stupid thing to try and do, but dang it, I’m going to try. Over the next few years I’m going to try to collect the entire run of NES cartridges that were officially licensed and released in North America. By my count that is 731 games that I’ll need to collect, though I already have around 100 of them. I’ve done some looking around and there are some rare ones that might give me trouble, but for the most part it isn’t too hard to do this sort of thing. The real challenge is just staying focused enough on it to make it happen. Obviously I’m not concerned about tracking down the games that only saw 4 or 5 copies leak to market, I’m talking about full scale releases.

I’m not aiming to do this as quickly as possible, so I’ll be pretty casual about picking stuff up. But be on notice used game stores of Utah, I’m going to be like a bloodhound each time I see NES carts for sale. Obviously resources like eBay will be a big help as I go about this, so if you have anything particularly hard to find, let me know.

Over time I’ll post updates about how this little project goes. I might set up a site to allow people to more easily track my progress, but we’ll see about that. I wonder how my wife is going to feel about this one…

The Stupid Gamer Podcast #46 – CGE Preview

Jeff Rivera — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 05:53:29 +0000

Not a standard episode exactly, but still great listening as I preview Classic Gaming Expo with Blake and Stephen. The Expo is in Las Vegas this weekend and Stephen and I will be attending and reporting back next week. Traditional Stupid Gamer podcast episodes will also resume next week. Enjoy the show!

January in Review

Jeff Rivera — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 06:38:16 +0000

January gave us a chance to play through all the goodies we picked up during the holiday rush or to catch up on backlog titles that have been waiting a long time to get some play in our rotation. Here are the games I completed in January, most of which were for the first time, others just for nostalgic reasons.

Bayonetta (Xbox 360) – This was a game I reviewed for Kombo and one I was beyond excited to get my hands on after getting a few short minutes with it back at E3 last year. The game turned out to be what I was hoping to be and I had an absolute blast with it from start to finish. With fluid controls, an excellent combat/combo system, and a wacky presentation, Bayonetta will more than likely be in my top games of 2010.

Assassin’s Creed (Xbox 360) – Yeah, it took me until early 2010 to finally finish Assassin’s Creed. Like many I became a bit fatigued by the repetitive nature of the missions, so when other releases started coming out that interested me I set the game aside. With the release of Assassin’s Creed 2, I needed to go back and wrap this one up for storyline continuity sake. In the end I enjoyed the game, but I’ll always be quick to point out that it has its fair share of issues.

Duck Tales (NES) – One of my favorite games ever made (look for an upcoming Best Game Ever feature on this), I will come back to this one for a few speed runs or high score challenges. Never do I put this game into my NES and feel like I’m only enjoying it for the nostalgia effect. This game is a timeless winner from Capcom and Disney.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (PS3) – Simply a fantastic game that deserved the many awards it picked up in all the game of the year voting for 2009. The action, story, presentation, and overall experience all combine to make Uncharted 2 a must play for all PS3 owners. The behind the scenes content on the disc is pretty fun to watch as well (you can also find the videos on YouTube).

Castlevania (NES) – Another game I commonly go back to for a quick play, Castlevania is a challenging title that tests my ability to stay sharp when it comes to retro gaming. Much like Ninja Gaiden on the NES, these old action games really keep the enemies coming nonstop and have very basic but solid level designs. This is definitely not the last time I’ll be playing through Castlevania.

King’s Quest VI (PC) – Ah, the Sierra On-Line classic. I was a big fan of the King’s Quest, Space Quest, Quest for Glory, and Police Quest games and I tend to play through one or two of them every couple of months. They’re great to have on your laptop to play on the go or to casually experience while watching TV. King’s Quest VI was probably my favorite in the KQ series, though they’re all pretty fantastic if you don’t recognize King’s Quest VIII (it NEVER happened).

So here’s what I’m working on in February so far, and I’m hoping to get to Dragon Age: Origins, BioShock 2, and Mass Effect (yeah, the first one) by the end of the month.

Assassin’s Creed 2 (Xbox 360) – Wow, what an improvement over the first iteration in the series. I put this disc in almost immediately after finishing the first game and right away I could tell they had upgraded the graphical engine. The first game looked nice, this one looks fantastic. The free running feels more accurate and the mission variety is way better. More importantly, the game really does a great job at urging you to explore the landscape, but there are also plenty of helps to make it an easy going experience rather than a frustrating one.

Retro Game Challenge (DS) – A funky little game that came out a few months ago, this is one I’m glad I didn’t pass on. It’s hard to explain this one in a few words, but basically you’re playing retro style games to meet specific challenges laid out for you such as a high score to beat or to achieve a number of kills in a certain manner or time period. The game has tons of nods to classic games, magazines, and industry professionals. It’s just a great package overall.

Star Control II (PC) – I come back to this game a lot. A lot.

Enduro Racer coming to Virtual Console

Jeff Rivera — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 17:23:43 +0000

That’s right, suckers, Enduro Racer is coming to the VC this week! For the lamers not in the know, Enduro Racer was basically Sega’s version of Excitebike on the Master System. The main difference is that Enduro Racer allowed you to build up your bike and race on a variety of tracks with an isometric view. Ok, so the games are extremely different when you really think about it, but Enduro Racer was a must-own for Master System owners.

Dust off your Wiis and download this gem, retro fans. This was a pretty cool take on a genre that typically didn’t translate very well from the arcade to the home consoles.

Extremely rare Atari 2700 prototype sells on eBay

Jeff Rivera — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 05:18:27 +0000

It’s pretty awesome seeing ultra rare and collectable stuff show up for sale, and this one is a true gem. Earlier today, an Atari 2700 prototype sold on eBay for over $5,000. It sounds crazy that someone would bid that much, but the winning bidder is definitely going to be in possession of something they don’t have to worry about finding over at their buddy’s house any time soon. The seller apparently was a game developer from Atari and was given the 2700 as a gift from Leonard Tramiel himself. The auction can be seen here: eBay auction.

Oh, and yes, those are wireless controllers. For something that’s 25 years old, it’s pretty cool technology. To find out more about the 2700, check the Wikipedia page: Atari Remote Control VCS at Wikipedia.

Nintendo of Canada auctions off sealed NES, SNES, and GB games

Jeff Rivera — Fri, 30 May 2008 16:24:47 +0000

Originally reported by Joystiq, Nintendo of Canada is auctioning off a ton of new and sealed games for the NES, SNES, and GameBoy. These are all in perfect collector’s condition, so they’re going at a high price. All the proceeds are being donated to charity, so feel free to indulge. There’s a good mix of both 1st and 3rd party offerings, as well.

Here’s the link: http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZnocl604

The Vectrex is Coming!

Jeff Rivera — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 15:14:50 +0000

No, there’s not a new version of the Vectrex being released, and no, a successor isn’t in the works. What is happening is that I picked up a Vectrex along with 8 games, and it’s on its way right now to my humble little home. The Vectrex will take up residency in the arcade room, right between Donkey Kong and Ms. Pac-Man on a table (which also has a Virtual Boy fighting for attention).

I’ve always loved the vector games and how impressive they look in person. I’ve never owned a Vectrex, so this is going to be quite the treat for me. Ever since I added Asteroids to my arcade, I’ve been itching to get more vector-based games. While the Vectrex isn’t exactly an arcade machine, it’s pretty close.

Now if I can just get my hands on that Star Wars arcade game I’ve been chasing around…

Starting an MVS Neo Geo collection

Jeff Rivera — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 05:13:24 +0000

The first of many Neo-Geo MVS titles arrived in my mailbox today and I was all giddy as I hefted the carts and checked them out. While I still don’t have a cabinet to play the games in, I’m working on resolving that very soon. I’ve always been a big Neo-Geo/SNK fan, but I’ve never owned either an AES or MVS system. My exposure to SNK had been through console ports or within the arcades themselves. So for me, it’s all very exciting. I already have more games on the way, and I have a good line on a cabinet source, so here’s hoping it all comes together soon.

Oh, here are the two games that showed up:

Ninja Combat

Samurai Showdown II

Oh, and here’s some awesome SNK-inspired art. Enjoy!

Awesome compilation videos

Jeff Rivera — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 15:39:41 +0000

Retrotastic! Check out these YouTube videos that showcase 100 games in 10 minutes each for a specific system. I almost forget just how great some of the libraries were on these gaming platforms. Enjoy!

100 Commodore 64 games in 10 minutes!

100 Amiga games in 10 minutes!

100 NES games in 10 minutes!

100 SNES games in 10 minutes!

Thanks to FoxHimself for the find.