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

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

 

More Than Meets The Eye!

I know this is primarily a Nintendo blog, but recently I’ve had some life changing experiences (African trip) and have finally decided to complete/finish my other “uncompleted” collection.  Believe it or not, my first obsession was not collecting NES games, but rather G1 Transformers from back in the 1980’s.  To be more specific, my collection runs from 1984 – 1987 with a few select figures from the 1988 line.  I am in no way into the Pretenders, Actionmasters, and Micromasters which I believe were introduced in ’88 – ’89 and as it was readily apparent that Hasboro was out of ideas, the series was quickly discontinued.  Thankfully the American Transformers TV show did not include these, however the Japanese series went nuts and included everything with a piece of metal in it!  I own a copy of the Japanese Headmaster series on DVD, but after this it went too far for me.  Don’t even get me started on the live action Transformers movies!!  Thanks to these abominations, director Michael Bay is on my blacklist along with George Lucas for his Star Wars prequels.

Back in 1984 as a kid you basically had two choices.  Were you a GoBots or a Transformers fan?  I had a few of both… however in the beginning, school playground rules stated that Transformer toys were too “powerful” to play with GoBots and were therefore unwelcome in the playing scenarios at recess.  Fortunately we realized very quickly that GoBots were lame, and Transformers were superior!

Before the TV show premiered, there was only a few action figures available, and perhaps by fate I was drawn towards Soundwave who is to this day my favorite Transformer!  As a kid, I obviously had no income other that the $2 a week my parents gave me as an allowance.  Soundwave was $25 at Kresge’s (a long ago vanquished chain of Walmart type stores).  My dad purposed a difficult choice to a 9 year old kid… I can buy the official Soundwave at full price, or I could buy a knockoff version (which was identical minus the Decepticon logo and box art) for $16.  That is one hell of a difference in price when you have very little income.  I had saved $18, so could buy the knockoff out rightly, or I could go into allowance debt for several weeks and get the official action figure.  Duh, of course I chose the official version as I didn’t want to be labelled a loser in the playground!  Soundwave along with his cassette companion Buzzsaw was mine… how cool was I!?!  Then the TV show premiered, and Soundwave had the best voice of all the Transformers.  It was a synthesized voice by the same guy who did Megatron’s (Frank Welker)… and it was AWESOME!  Also the fact that the character was the most loyal Decepticon of them all which was proven in the 1986 movie when he picked up a defeated Megatron from the battlefield and carried him onto a ship to escape the Autobot wrath!

Anyways my family wasn’t “first world rich”, so I was only able to acquire a few transformers back in the day (they were actually really expensive even at 1984 prices!).  For my birthday I opened an Optimus Prime, which basically secured my number one position in the playground as; kid most desired to play with!  I was THAT awesome… too bad I peaked in popularity at such an early age:(

Fast forward to 1986 with the release of Transformers the Movie.  This was an epic event in my childhood.  I wasn’t allowed to go to the movies by myself yet, so thankfully my friend Sonny and his mother offered to take me to this larger-than-life event.  I was devastated… they killed off my hero Optimus Prime along with 90% of the other Transformers!  It wasn’t until high school that I realized that Hasboro did this only to introduce a new Transformers toy-line as they figured they had already profited as much as they could during the past two years.  In other words, everyone who could afford the Optimus/Megatron figures had already bought them.  But you must understand… losing all these beloved characters was devastating!  Thankfully Galvatron and the Sharkticons were awesome enough to carry on the series for another two years!

However by 1988 I had officially decided to put my toys away and pursue my other interest… the opposite sex.  On this topic I had decades of study and research to do!  The Transformers (and GI JOE) were put on hiatus in the attic until years later.

Near the end of high school, and at the beginning of university I had realized how much I had missed my original obsession of Transformers (and GI JOE), so started unofficially collecting again.  Fortunately back in the mid-90’s Transformers weren’t that sought after and I was able to get so many for no more than a song!  For real, some dude sold his whole collection to a store called Eyeball Soup, and for about $200 I was able to pick up over 90 of the now highly sought after toys!  Now the prices are crazy high, and starting a complete collection feels out of reach.

Then came July 2nd, 2007.  The Canadian release of Transformers the movie.  I have so many issues with this movie’s director,  producer, and writers that I don’t even know where to begin other than saying it ruined the franchise.  This will perhaps be another blog entry.

All this being said… I don’t wish to end this on a downer, so I won’t.  G1 Transformers rule!  Here is a list of the G1 action figures I need to have what I consider a “pure” complete collection before they were bastardized by the Pretenders and company.  At the price NES games are going for right now, perhaps my Transformer collection will be complete first!

Needed Transformers (and all accessories)

Roadbuster (Deluxe Vehicle) $75

Power Dashers x 3 (mail order set) $20 each

Seachlight and Wideload (Throtttlebots) $6 each

Misfire (Tagetmaster) $55 – 90

Fizzle, Guzzle, Sizzle (Sparkbots) $10 each

Scoop (Target Master) $25

Hosehead, Siren (Headmaster) $50 each

Joy Ride and Slapdash (Power Masters) $50 each

Cindersaur, Flamefeather, Sparkstalker (Firecons) $10 each

Windsweeper (Triggercon) $12

Needlenose (Targetmaster) $40

Fangry (Headmaster) $35

Darkwing (Powermaster) $65

S.T.A.R.S. Autobot Command Centre $65

Total = $739

 

Until next time,

Nintendo Joe

 

N64 Pick ups… really?!

I’ve recently had a bit of luck at Value Village and with Kijiji, but nothing that will blow your socks off.

I picked up these games for the Nintendo 3DS and Wii for $4 each.  They aren’t really that big a deal other than I love Mickey Mouse, and though this isn’t the best game, it isn’t the worst either.  Pilotwings Resort I purchased because I want to use my 3DS more.  I think that it is a fantastic little handheld system… I have the XL unit… no big deal;)  I look forward to playing both of these titles, and if they are complete garbage then I can always trade them later.

Another pick up from Value Village.  Nothing spectacular other than I don’t have it.  Honestly though I’ve never really been into driving/racing games… if I want to drive a car I’ll just go out and do that in real life!  Some of my friends are really into these types of games… especially one on the PS4, but I couldn’t care less.  This game was complete and in great shape though so I figured what the heck, and spent the $4 they wanted for it.  It isn’t worth very much at all… maybe $8??… but I’ll probably trade it anyway.

 

 

Now onto the Kijiji hunt.  I’m still astounded by how much people want for their retro games on Kijiji/craigslist/Ebay.  Every now and then however you stumble across a deal which I suppose is what keeps me coming back regularly.  Seeing the same ads though over and over again drives me crazy… if it isn’t selling, then your price is too high dude!

So I came across this one guys ad for a bunch of NES games.  I had them all except for Adventure Island 2 and offered the guy $20 for the game (he wanted $25).  I think this is a fair price for this title and apparently he did too as he accepted my offer.  It’s not the rarest game out there, but it is made by Hudson Soft and is a pretty good platformer.  It also completed my Adventure Island trilogy on the NES.  I’m not sure why (other than it must have been a licensing issue) they didn’t just call this series Wonderboy as this is exactly the type of games they are?!  In fact, on the first title, the only thing different is the sprite of the character you play… everything else is spot on Wonderboy.

Again on Kijiji I came across an ad a guy had for a bunch of Nintendo 64 games.  Now I know that I’ve poo pooed the N64 several times in the past but these are actually decent games (a rare thing on the N64 as most games on this system are total crap).  Plus it nearly completes my Mario party collection… I’m missing part 9 on the Wii, and 10 on the Wii U.  However unless I find these two games at a yard sale I doubt I will ever own them.  Come to think of it… I’m missing the disc to Part 6 as well… I purchased a mint case and manuel from a Salvation Army last year for $4.  JJgames.com actually has a “disc only copy”, but they want too much for it; like $59US!!  The game is okay, but not that good:(  To me it is worth $15 – $20 for the disc, and even that is pushing it

I’ve been thinking for a while now though about selling/trading my N64 and games.  I just never play it (partly because the system stinks) and there isn’t really that many good games out for it.  That being said there is “only” 311 games to collect for the N64 and none of them command the hundreds (or in some cases thousands) of dollars that some NES titles go for… and many are sports titles; there are nine wrestling titles alone!  So maybe it’s worth hanging onto the “good” games for now.  I mean after all if I am going to ever complete my NES collection, then I’m going to need some major trade bait.  No one seems to be giving away Panic Restaurant or Little Sampson for a song:(  And this is too bad as I write some pretty awesome music… unfortunately very little of it is appropriate for this site:(  I miss recording music with my cousin!

But the real find of the day was a VHS copy of Transformers the Movie!  See I needed a $10 bill to make exact change for the deal I made on Kijiji and only had $20 bills.  So I went into Value Village on my way to meet this guy, and this was the only thing that I wanted in the entire store.  I love G1 Transformers and have a fairly substantial collection, including every episode on DVD and a complete Fortress Maximus, but for some reason I didn’t own a VHS copy of the movie… at least not with this cover art.  Anyways it was $1 so I’m not that worried about it.  Then again that dollar could have gone towards one of these coveted titles below:(

This game goes for around $540! Thus why I don’t own it:(

This game goes for nearly $1200… YIKES!

 

3DS XL!!!

As the name of the post indicates I was able to get my hands on a Nintendo 3DS XL.  It came with a hefty price tag of $140, but they guy threw in an in a boxed Link Amiibo with the deal.  I have no idea how to use the thing other than that i believe it goes with Super Smash Bros..  How ever you use it, it looks in the collection.

For whatever reason I just can’t get into the Smash Bros. games.  I have the N64 version, and Brawl on the Wii, but the games just seem rather pointless.  Knock your opponent off the cliff… only to have him/her come flying right back to do it all over again..  Where is the fun in this?  This isn’t to say that I don’t want them all for my collection, but that’s just because I’ve become obsessive about Nintendo.  The other day I was at the Swap Shop (a local pawn store) and they had a pretty good copy of Melee, but for a whopping price of $79!  He asked it I was interested, and I was like “no way dude”.  

With the 3DS XL, I also scored a copy of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, and Project X Zone.  I have yet to play either, but I hear the latter is kind of like Final Fantasy Tactics (which is a great game) except they use Capcom characters.  I really hope you get to play some of the villains as well as heroes.

So apparently I have to start collecting Amiibos now… in the box no less.  This is why I got into collecting Nintendo in the first place… it would be unending.  My collecting obsession started back in university with G1 Transformers.  Thankfully I got into these before they became super popular, and I managed to score most of my 250+ figures for not a whole lot.  What I’m trying to get at is that the Transformer collection is pretty much done.  I have no use for the Pretender, or micro series as you have to set your limit somewhere.  Nor do I have much use for the new remade figures except a few select ones (Optiumus and Megatron) for these two look glorious.

Anyways this blog isn’t about Transformers, but they still are really cool.  Someday I will make a list of the ones I need and actually complete the collection.  My wife even gave me permission to do this, so perhaps I should do this quickly before she can change her mind!

 

I had some store credit to use so I bought up the N64 title Clay Fighter 63 1/3, Double Dare and Peter Pan for the NES.  It’s not really a big deal, but I have been hanging on to this credit for over eight months now.  I was hoping to trade it for something good like putting it towards a copy of Earthbound or one of the Mega Man X sequels, but the guy just wasn’t getting in games of this calibre.  While there I did notice that he had a copy of The Legend of Zelda Collectors Edition for the Game Cube that had been evaluated/rated as to the overall condition of the game… thus why it carried a price tag of over one hundred bucks.  To me this feels like a waste of money.  All I care about is that it is complete and in great condition.  To have some guy tell me that my game is a 9.1 instead of a 9 really doesn’t interest me.  I think this particular copy was a 9.8, but who really cares?!

In other news, I think I’ve given up on the Secret of Mana.  I’ve invested over 20 hours into this game, but I just can’t do it.  Over all this was a really cool game, but I had a heck of a time navigating around in it or trying to figure out where to go next… without cheating, and this made it lose all it’s fun.  The game became especially difficult once you acquired a dragon which transport you around the world.  While it looked really cool, I became lost so often that I couldn’t make up from down.  I can see why this game was so popular back in it’s day, but I just don’t have the patience for a game like this anymore.  The graphics were pretty good, the spells were fun (as were the way you levelled them up), and the menus were really efficient… even the story was interesting and translated well for a JRPG.  There were however several things that really annoyed me.  First and foremost while you controlled three characters at the same time, you really only had control of one.  When you select a character, the other two become NPCs with absolutely no intelligence whatsoever.  I applaud Square’s effort at designing a game in this manner, but it just didn’t work well for me at times.  Either way, I enjoyed my time with Mana, but it might be time to move onto other games.

Sega Corner: No updates at this time:(

That’s all for this edition.

Nintendo Joe 🙂