13 to go!!!

So it’s official… my NES collection is down to a mere 14 games.  Of course there are the big 5 very heavy hitters left to acquire:  Little Samson, Flintstones 2, Panic Restaurant, Bonk’s Adventure, and Power Blade 2.  My goal is to get all the other games besides these 5, and sit on my collection for a few years.  I have a strong feeling that the price of these rare retro NES games is trending downwards.  I see them all the time at game shows, but only once have I seen a sale at what I consider these ridiculous prices.  I did see three guys all pony up to buy a copy of Dinosaur Peak… but how does that work… who gets it when… and do any of these dudes truly have this game?!

Please don’t get upset, but I’ve never played the NES version of this Sega classic.  On the Master System I thought Fantasy Zone part 1 and 2 were fantastic games!  Such vibrant colours, interesting music, and surreal (clearly drug induced) graphics… I always thought it would be really cool to design a remake of this game, but with more realistic graphics as opposed to cartoonish.  You know, make Opa-Opa a really bad ass killing machine!  That would be awesome!  And YES I actually did beat this game in front of an audience for verification purposes… exactly the kind of difficulty I look for in a shooter… or any game for that matter… hard but not impossible.  That being said, have you every played the arcade version?  It’s damn near impossible!  The Turbo Grafx 16 version is slightly more forgiving, but also very very difficult!

Jimmy Connor’s Tennis… is thankfully the last of the sports games I needed on the NES.  I bought this game in great condition on Ebay for $55US; expensive as it is kind of rare because it came out near the end of the NES era.  I would definitely say that this game is in the top 10 sports games that only “mostly suck”… which is the best honors a sports game can get (besides Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out which is awesome!).  By no means am I saying this game isn’t a complete turd, but it is playable.  The graphics are very basic and lame, but the music is decent.  The sound FX are like Atari 2600 and there is no voice over which would have been a nice touch.  The controls are pretty good, and the fact that you just have to push a button to serve is nice.   Considering this game came out so late in the NES’s lifespan I think a lot more could have been done here… even for an 8-bit game.

SEGA Corner:  I talked about Fantasy Zone at the beginning of this post… what more do you want?!  Hail Opa-Opa!

Please follow me at #nintendojoe1985

and at #ultimate_megatron on Instagram… my G1 collection is now “complete” in that I have all the toys minus the pretenders, micromasters, and action masters… these were just abominations and were designed when Hasbro was out of ideas!

 

She’s Going Down!

I’ve just done a recalculation of my collection… and for all my wheel and dealing, I’m lucky if I broke even at today’s prices!

The above games are an example of what I overpaid/traded for.  Collectively I traded $850 dollars worth of merchandise for these three games… which was an exceptional deal at the time!  Now collectively, these three games sell for around $610… that’s a 29% decrease in price since two years ago.  This is the reason I’m holding off on selling a lung and kidney for games such as Little Sampson, etc.!  I’m like a water : camels compared to NES games : Nintendo Joe.  I can wait dude!

I was missing these guys, so picked them up at the last Barrie Game exchange for a total of $30.  Not the best deal, but I haven’t seen them very often.  Honestly these games blow, but as I said they have been very elusive to my collection.

Back in the day, a guy offered me a mint condition version of this game for $125. Clearly this game was meant only for rich people!  I thought he was out to lunch… am I really going to pay that much to fight bloody carrots?!  Nope, I was going to pay $250 for the experience 4 years later and this was actually a deal even at today’s prices!

Maybe I’m getting old, and am thinking about my retirement in 20 years, but these games are just so damn expensive, and are going down in value!  If only I had invested in Google and Amazon when their stock was low I could quit now!

NintendoJoe1985 and Ultimate_Megatron on Instagram:)

 

 

Nobunaga No More!

I was on my way back from Quebec and somehow managed to convince my wife that we should stop off at P Market Buy&Sell in Belleville Ontario.  It was my first time visiting Peter’s store as Belleville isn’t exactly across the street.  I must say I was rather impressed with not only all the cool retro video games, but also all the retro toys.  Unfortunately he didn’t have any of the G1 Transformers that I need:(

He did however have 4 of the NES games that I need.  One was a mint copy of Power Blade 2, however that came with a $600 price tag which is too rich for me at this point.  I did score a copy of Nobunaga’s Ambition 2.  The game itself is just okay, but it’s an  uncommon cartridge and I was given a deal that I couldn’t pass on.

Treasure Master is not in any way a good game but what I thought  was really cool was the MTV contest that occurred after the game’s release in 1991.  Apparently the game was unbeatable… literally you could not access the last level!  However at 12 o’clock noon on April 11th, 1992, MTV announced a code that would allow you access.  If you completed the game before midnight of the same day, you were given a code that you called into a hotline and were awarded different prizes…. including a completion certificate!  Imagine that in your portfolio!

I haven’t really been giving this blog much attention lately as I’ve been busy working on my two Instagram accounts.  #Nintendojoe1985 is my NES account, and #Ultimate_Megatron is for my G1 Transformers collection if you wanted to check them out.

Until next time,

Nintendo Joe

The God’s Must be Crazy!

The Original Flintstones for $440?

Now I know for sure that the video game God’s have gone completely insane… JJgames.com was charging $440USD for the Flintstones:  Rescue of Dino and Hoppy several weeks ago!  The game usually sells for no more than $20, and that’s pushing it as the title isn’t rare, and isn’t that good!

I’d like to say that JJgames got it wrong, and realized their error in that it wasn’t Surprise at Dinosaur Peak, but here we have the reduced price of $90USD for the same game a few weeks later?!  I’ve ordered from these guys before as if you really scan their website there occasionally is a deal to be had… but 99% of the time I feel that they way overcharge… that being said they’ve been around for a long time, and if they are getting their asking price, more power to them!  In fact I no longer see this game on their website… does anyone want my copy of the original Flintstones for an unreasonable price?!

This is a screen shot from Lukiegames.com.  Again I’ve ordered from them before several years ago, but seeing as I only need rare titles for my NES collection I doubt I’ll be doing business with them again.  In the above picture, you can see that they are charging $276.47USD for Bubble Bobble 2.  This is actually a semi-reasonable price considering that it usually goes for around $300USD according to my collectors app, and videogamepricecharting.com.  I sent them a request to check the condition of the label, and they replied that they wouldn’t bother.  I requested again and told them that this isn’t a $5 game we are talking about… and was still rejected (reading between the lines I can infer that it isn’t even worth their effort)?!  WTF?!  Do they not care about customer service even for higher priced items?!  I want to be wined and dined for this kind of cash!

When I was in Miami several years ago I asked if I could see the Lukie Games warehouse, and was told that it wasn’t possible.  Here I am 1,500Km away from home, and they still wouldn’t accommodate me?!  It’s not a difficult decision to cut them off from my business and recommendations!  Suck it Lukie Games!

The trend on retro game prices still seems to be declining though… I can wait for my $400 copy of Little Samson!

Nintendo Joe

New Haul!

Last weekend, we went to the Barrie Game Exchange (my wife stayed in the car).  I was able to pick up two NES games that I needed for the collection

This title is the last of the “super cheap” games that I needed.  By super cheap I mean under $10.  Nothing remarkable.  I thought this might be like the board game Taboo which can be a lot of fun, but no this is a game of Tarot cards.  In fact the instructions say not to play this game if you are under 14, and not to take the advice given to you seriously… Nintendo’s way of covering it’s ass if you do something bad based on what the game told you to do.  The music is actually pretty good, but that’s where it stops.  I can see why this is an under $10 game, and can’t believe people actually bought this thing at full price back in the 1980’s.

The game play in Pugsley’s Scavenger Hunt actually isn’t the worst title out there, and this is a way better game than the earlier Addam’s Family.  The controls are actually a lot like Mickey Mouse and the Castle of Illusion on the Sega Genesis in that it’s a platformer where you jump and sit on enemies to dispatch them.  The weird thing is that there is hardly any music in this game, and that’s a major bummer!  Overall I’d give the game a 5/10.

Over all the show was worth the drive, but I don’t understand why dealers bring their very rare/expensive games if they don’t want to actually sell them?  I mean one dude had Little Samson at $1800?!  What moron would fork out that kind of cash?  I’m waiting on the advice of Pat the NES Punk who predicts the game should take a drastic dive in price.  Also this guy had Stadium Events (that wasn’t even for sale) whom said he was going to get graded first.  He valued the game at around $14,000US… I think he’s either extremely high, or that he’s REALLY proud of it! Pricecharting.com values it at under $2700 Canadian dollars, and my collectors app has it at just over $3300 for a good condition copy.  Even this is outrageous considering the same game can be bought with a different label for under $5!  Essentially you are paying for a sticker…. a rare sticker, but just a sticker!  The guy also said that there were only between 35 to 50 copies out there.  Weird how they keep coming up?!!  Every where I look online tells me that the low estimate is 2000 copies.  Oh ya, this guy was real proud of it!

SEGA Corner:  Coincidentally after buying Pugley’s Scavenger hunt on the NES and comparing it to Mickey Mouse, I ended up paying $40 for a complete copy of Castle of Illusion.  This game is awesome… great graphics, sound, and game play… just some good wholesome fun!  I remember back in the 1990’s when I bought it (at full price!) that the Sega Dude thought I was crazy.  Well the jokes on him as this was one of my favorite games on the Genesis!

Retro Game Bros. Score!

If you’ve been paying attention to this blog (and judging by my views, you haven’t), you’re aware of my two Instagram accounts @nintendojoe1985 for games, and @ultimate_megatron for my g1 Transformer collection.  Well the reason I finally signed up for an account came true the other day.  The Retro Game Bros. also have an account, and they showed a recent haul of NES games… one of which I needed!  We negotiated a price, and all that was left was for me to pick it up.

I actually think I’ve seen Die Hard in their store before when I first started collecting, but as it is a rare game and kind of sought after the price tag was probably too high.  I just wasn’t Die Hard material yet.  But honestly this game is in great shape, and I’m proud to have it in my collection…. sort of.  Let’s be honest, this is a terrible game!  The graphics aren’t much better than an Atari 2600 title.  It reminds me of Berserk except there’s a reason to be playing other than simply surviving.  The music and sound effects are awful and the game is really hard right from the moment you begin.  NES had a lot of great titles, but this one’s a turd!

I had missed this game in the Retro Game Bros. list, but saw it in the store and inquired as to the price.  The price tag on the game wasn’t theirs, but rather from the collector who bought it.  I sure as hell wasn’t paying that price!  Without any negotiation, I was offered a way more than fair price, and I’m a cheapskate!  The offer was better than anywhere I’ve seen including retro video game shows.  Thanks boys, you made my day!  My wife has finally started to respect me now that I own this title.  The best part is that this game isn’t a turd… in fact it is the complete opposite.  It’s very similar to the first Chip and Dale game… just an extension for those of us who loved the original.  Now here’s the thing.  Remember in a previous blog entry I had said that I had a complete Capcom NES library,… and then later on I realized I had made a mistake when I added Ducktales 2, and Snow Brothers I NOW had a complete collection…. well I forgot about this guy.  So now, for REAL-ZEE I have a complete Capcom NES collection.

This Sunday April 7th is going to be a great day.  There is a retro video game exchange in Barrie, as well as a retro toy show in Mississauga.  It will be a full day, and I’m really excited for it… even if it means I’ll miss a mortgage payment or two!

SEGA Corner:  The action at the Retro Game Bros. didn’t stop with the previously mentioned NES titles.  I’m also on the lookout for Sega Genesis games I remember playing with the Sega Dude back in high school.  However they not only need to be in great shape, but also complete which drives the price way up!  I was accused by a guy that “Nintendo Joe shouldn’t be looking at the Sega pile”.  He as a point, though that being said I do stray from time to time… it keeps my relationship with NES fresh, and in the end I always come home.  Nintendo and I have an “open relationship” and often invite other partners into our fun!  I’m not a big fan of beat ’em ups, but Golden Axe was actually a lot of fun.  I didn’t like the sequel as much as it was just more of the same with slightly better graphics.  Forgotten Worlds is a classic two player game that I actually played semi-recently and thought that it stood the test of time.  The false god you have to defeat is way cooler though than the final boss!

Until next time… hell maybe even after the game exchange next week!

Nintendo Joe

Emergency Surgery!

You’ll have to excuse me, but I’m just coming out of surgery and I’m happy to say it was a complete success!  In my last post, I had mentioned that we were expecting a special surprise to be delivered in the mail, and last Monday it arrived!  This was much quicker than expected, as usually mail from the U.S. takes forever to clear customs.  I’ve had instances where it’s taken five weeks to be delivered to my house.  The dude I bought it from, Armageddon Potato at Nintendo Age was great at communicating with me, and completely upheld his end of the bargain.   I wouldn’t hesitate to do business with him again in the future!

This is it… Cowboy Kid!  Don’t be deceived by the label… I must say it looks like that of a pornographic film!  This is an RPG-like game that reminds me of a wild west version of River City Ransom.  You make your way around, collecting loot, upgrading weapons, and defeating enemies.  It’s actually one of the more underrated games on the NES that not that many people have.  I can’t blame them though as the price tag was quite high for a piece of plastic from 1992.  However Armageddon Potato was willing to part with it for a reasonable price that was far from top dollar… and now it’s in the collection!

There was however a bit of a scare.  When I shook the cartridge (as I often do), there was a big rattle.  Something was jarred loose, and it made me sick with worry!  Was the game going to make it?  Only time would tell.

The worst thing was, I didn’t have the necessary tools to perform surgery on this NES cart.  I needed to order a 3.8mm retro gaming screwdriver from Amazon… and somehow ended up with an Amazon Prime free trial account.  But at least my baby wouldn’t have to suffer for long, as Prime customers get expedited shipping for free.  It took two days for these surgical instruments to arrive, and not a moment too soon!  Now as this was my first procedure, I didn’t want to practice on an expensive game like Cowboy Kid.  As such, I selected a very expendable game from my collection (Wheel of Fortune) and tried out the procedure first on it.  It was a success, and I felt confident.  I tried it on Cowboy Kid, and I’m happy to say it was a complete success.  In fact you can see in the picture above what was causing all the ruckus.  A piece that helps to hold in the circuit board had been jarred loose somehow.  It wasn’t a big deal, as games can survive with this being removed.

The game is all patched up, and well on it’s way to recovery in my basement!  We are all relieved over here, and welcome a new healthy game to our collection.

SEGA Corner:  I cam across this video and thought it was kind of funny.

Until next time,

Nintendo Joe

Instagram Influencer!

Last January my wife and I went to the Ontario Collectors Con in Mississauga and had heaps of fun!  My only complain was that it was a little Star Wars heavy… I mean nearly every booth had Star Wars something or another.  Don’t get me wrong… I love Star Wars (except The Last Jedi which is trash), but there were hundreds of other great toys too… and video games!  Unfortunately while there were quite a few vendors selling NES games, there were none that I needed for my collection.  This was a shame as many of the dealers had great prices.  For example, Super Mario 3 went for $12 at one table which is a pretty good price for this game!  In fact Super Mario 3 is my bench mark game.  When I walk into a store or retro game show, I’ll look to see how SM3 is priced.  If it’s priced well/fairly, then I’ll look a lot more closely at what the vendor is selling.  If the price is too high, then I know not to really bother as his/her other games are probably over priced as well… this results in merely a quick skim of the merchandise.  Alas there was nothing I needed.  There was tons of Genesis games for sale, however the Sega Dude had them all so there is no news on that front.

What I did find was these two G1 Transformers that have eluded my collection all these years!  This is Scoop and Needle Nose.  The plastic is in great shape, however many of the decals have seen better days.  Plus they are missing their weapons, and as they are both Target Masters that’s kind of a big deal… but at $15 for both it wasn’t really a big decision to make.  The purchase also sparked an interest in Instagram so I’ve started two accounts.  One is nintendojoe1985 which is obviously about my NES collection, and the other is ultimate_megatron which features my G1 Transformers.  It’s not really that big a deal (other than since I was a little boy I wanted to be a Instagram influencer/sensation), however it allows me to relive the memories and gives new meaning to the games/toys.

A new NES game has been purchased, and should be on it’s way from the United States.  If you thought Color a Dinosaur was good (it isn’t)… this one blows it out of the water!  I’ll post about it when it arrives!

Sega Corner:  I was over at the Sega Dude’s house the other day, and he showed me this game on his PS4.  It looks amazing and I’ll have to give it a go some day!

Until next time,

Nintendo Joe

 

New Acquisition!

Wow have I ever been getting hits from Australia… G’day mate, how about we toss another shrimp on the barby!  Sorry, even though this Paul Hogan travel advertisement is SOOOO cliche, it not only dates me, but is still kind of funny?!  I mean after all, Crocodile Dundee put Australia on the map for most of us North Americans… well that and that Lex Luther, the evil villain from Superman wanted to rule the continent!

I picked up this little bad boy from JJgames.com.  It was advertised as “stickers on cartridge”, and I wish I only paid what the sticker asking price was (probably in the 1990’s).  Unfortunately, this worst ever Nintendo Entertainment System game goes for A LOT more these days!  That being said, the advertised price was fair for today’s value, plus I had a discount as a repeat customer, so it made the price even better!  But ya, it is a really dumb game where you actually have to shade in different dinosaurs… I believe within a time limit to win the game, but then again I’m only speculating as I’ve never played it, and never will!

While we are on the topic of JJgames, it is of note to mention that they sold their copy of Little Sampson for an asking price of $1350US… now this doesn’t include any discounts they may have offered to certain customers, but even at my rate the game was too expensive!  C’mon Pat (whose an NES punk!)… let your prophecy come true!  It’s a $400 dollar game, no more, no less!

For Christmas, I bought a download of Cuphead for the Segadude and I must say that I have really enjoyed playing it with him!  The graphics are in a 1930’s cartoon style are so much fun!  Now I must admit that as a big time old school Disney fan, I’m a bit bias, but I love it!  It is boss heavy, very difficult, yet super fun… if you have an Xbox One, I highly recommend it!  I will not rest until I have collected all those souls!

There has been an article in the Toronto Star about video game addiction… well as far as I’m concerned suck it up dude!  It’s not like you are sticking a needle into your vein!  Just stop playing!  I’m sure easier said than done, but c’mon, fortnite isn’t THAT good!  I must say though that it has inspired some pretty cool dance moves that all the kids know almost professionally!  The article about video game addiction… specifically related to fortnite can be found here.

Anyways, apparently the Sega Dude has a bunch of extra blank cases that have a tab on the top… I guess that is a big deal?!?  Anyways I’m supposed to bring over all my Sega Master System games over to his place soon so I can upgrade them!  Awesome!

Until next time,

Nintendo Joe

Change in Direction?!

Lately I’ve been pondering where this blog is going.  I haven’t exactly been keeping up with the theme of Nintendo, or even retro video gaming in general.  The reason is that my NES finds are very few, and far between.  If I posted only an acquisition, I would likely have a biannual entry.  That’s why I’ve been talking about current events and goings on along with my hobby news… and while I haven’t received any criticism, I’m not sure it is appreciated among my legions of loyal followers.  Although I’m not usually needy, I’m asking for feedback in the comments section.  While I get extremely excited about new NES acquisitions, I also really enjoy putting out there what I think about the current climate.  What I might end up doing is putting the retro video gaming section news first, and my additional comments later so you aren’t forced to read them.  Here it goes.

I’ve noticed a flaw in my “mint” Gaiares game for the Sega Genesis that I picked up last week.  There is a slight gouge on the back of the cover through the UPC code.  It is a very minor flaw, but honestly I’m not sure I would have picked it up (even at the discounted rate) if I had been aware.  I’m usually better than this, but I must have been caught up in the big discount.  Perhaps I’ll swap the cover for the Sega Dude’s when he isn’t looking!

My wife gave me the news the other day that they have made a Primus themed pinball machine.  While I appreciate pinball for it’s arcade nostalgia, I never really was into it.  That being said I loved Primus in high school!  That Les Claypool has to be one of the best bassists in alternative rock.  My favorite song has to be Tommy the Cat, but I think Jerry was a Race Car Driver would be a better theme for the pinball machine.  Honestly, the machine looks rather weak in it’s play-field, but a Primus themed version lead by front man Les Claypool who played a fretless bass guitar and tuned the thing as part of the song’s progression gives it reason to notice.  He might not be the best bass player of all time, but at least he was the best of the music genre!

Have you checked out the copy of Little Samson on JJgames.com lately?  It’s actually gone UP in price for no apparent reason.  It currently sells for $1873US on the site… what’s going on over there?!  In fact all of the major online retro gaming sites have outrageous prices… jjgames.com, lukiegames.com, gamestreet.ca, goodtimegames.ca…. I mean if they are getting what they are asking, then more power to them… but there is no way in Hell I’m paying those prices!

That’s me on the right on Halloween.  I went out as the infamous manager of the heavy metal band GWAR, entrepreneur extraordinaire, Sleazy P. Martini.  That guy has confidence like no one else!  If you need anything… and I mean anything!  You have but to ask Mr. Martini.  He ran for president back in the 1990’s, and the country would have been run into the ground even faster than Donald Trump is currently leading it!  That takes dedication!

 

What do these women all have in common?  All four of them are token female NFL correspondents during regular broadcasts on various channels. My wife and I argue about this all the time, but as most of you know, I am a feminist…

Pvt. Vasquez

… for as you know (if you are a follower of this blog), Private Vasquez is my favorite Colonial Space Marine from the movie Aliens!  I’m a fighter for female equality, and personally I’m offended that these female NFL correspondents get such a lousy role!  I mean if the NFL was serious about incorporating women into their broadcasts, there would be at least ONE in their main sportscasters!  Now before you jump all over me, not all the great ones are ex-players.  I don’t believe the infamous Joe Buck every played on an NFL team… yet he is one of the premiere announcers.  Now honestly I don’t mind a dominantly male cast calling an exclusively men only league, but let’s not pretend to care about diversity when it’s so bloody obvious that they don’t!

That’s all for now,

Nintendo Joe