Videogame Collecting

It's Not The End Of SalzMafia.Com

2010-02-04T21:56:00.000-08:00

Google is ending FTP service with blogger in March. That means I'll no longer be able to host this blog through the blogger service. There is some good and bad to this, but mostly good.

All of this site's original pages made with blogger will remain intact. There will be no new content added through the old system. All of the original posts a new posts after this one will be migrated to Wordpress.

The domain will not be changing.

VideoGamePriceGuides.Com will not be effected directly. However, some of the posts on the main page of VGPG.Com are fed through through blogger so that code will need to be updated.

This post makes for the final blogger.com post for this blog. If you see a "I power blogger" icon on the right hand column near the bottom, then you're looking at a legacy page. Please visit http://www.salzmafia.com/ to view the new page.

The Fifteen Nintendo Games For $2 Each Experiment Part 2

2010-02-02T19:02:00.000-08:00

So here is the first follow up of the 15 Nintendo Games for $2 each experiment. The idea was to put 'Best Offers' in on 15 games for no more than $2 a piece. There were also some rules:

1. The seller must have a rating of 98.5 or better
2. It must be a game that I do not own
3. The label must be in reasonable condition
4. No counter offer will be accepted

So what were the results? After the first day I received counter offers on everything except the first four games. Which this was probably to be expected. On average it costs about $3.50 to ship a nintendo game, so at $2 a piece the seller is taking a loss of atleast $1.50 to break even on just shipping! We'll see what happens to the last four...

1. Al Unser Jr. Turbo Racing
2. WWF Wrestlemania
3. Swords and Serpents
4. RollerGames
5. Tecmo Baseball $3 counter offer
6. Solar Jetman $3 counter offer
7. M.U.S.C.L.E $4 counter offer
8. World Cup $4 counter offer
9. Bases Loaded 3 $3.99 counter offer
10. WWF Wrestlemania Challenge $3 counter offer
11. American Gladiators $4 counter offer
12. Rad Racer 2 $4 counter offer
13. Disney's Adventures In The Magic Kingdom $3.50 counter offer
14. StarTropics $4 counter offer
15. SmashTv $4 counter offer

The Fifteen Nintendo Games For $2 Each Experiment

2010-02-01T20:26:00.000-08:00

I did an experiment before in putting a bunch of random offers on Nintendo games. I achieved mediocre success ultimately winning a copy of Duck Tales and 1943. I decided to do another experiment with Free Shipping.

Using http://www.videogamepriceguides.com/ I isolated fifteen games that currently are being sold with free shipping and that have a "Best Offer" feature. The rules are:

1. The seller must have a rating of 98.5 or better
2. It must be a game that I do not own
3. The label must be in reasonable condition
4. No counter offer will be accepted

So let's deal. The fifteen games are as follows:
1. Al Unser Jr. Turbo Racing
2. WWF Wrestlemania
3. Swords and Serpents
4. RollerGames
5. Tecmo Baseball
6. Solar Jetman
7. M.U.S.C.L.E
8. World Cup
9. Bases Loaded 3
10. WWF Wrestlemania Challenge
11. American Gladiators
12. Rad Racer 2
13. Disney's Adventures In The Magic Kingdom
14. StarTropics
15. SmashTv

So there you have it. Tomorrow I'll post an update, and once more after the 48 hours have expired. It will be interesting to see how many are actually one. On average it costs between $2.50 and $3.50 to ship a game, so in theory any of these would force the seller to lose money. But a few of the Nintendo games came from the same seller.

Depending on the success (or unsuccess) we'll try this again but for $3 an item

Visit again for part 2

Nintendo Box Art: Arnold Schwarzenegger

2010-02-01T17:16:00.000-08:00

I can't think of a celebrity who graced the cover of more Nintendo games than Arnold Schwarzenegger (and I realize these are cartridge scans and not boxes, but its close enough.) It is a universal rule that movies converted to games almost always suck. Some of these titles are barely playable or have an impossible difficulty associated with them. One interesting thing to note is that each game (including Terminator and T2) were published by an entirely different company. I suppose one theory could be that a company could only afford the licensing rights once, and abandoned Arnold when they realized that his profitability in movies didn't necessarily translate into a profitable game.

The Terminator: Mindscape

T2: Terminator 2: LJN

Total Recall: Acclaim

Predator: Activision

Last Action Hero: Sony Imagesoft

Nintendo Popeye Bottle Glitch

2010-01-31T20:41:00.000-08:00

I finally captured video of the Popeye bottle glitch on the Nintendo NES. Normally jumping down on the see-saw will kill you if you get hit by a bottle on the re-bound. To avoid it, after you jump, press to the right and at the precise moment when the bottle should hit you press the punch button. Popeye's animation will not change but if you time it right you'll get the points and not die.

Rolling Thunder

2010-01-29T23:30:00.000-08:00

So if you have not figured out that Rolling Thunder is the game made when Shinobi met Elevator Action then... well you know it now.

I've never played Rolling Thunder. I've seen it once in the arcade. Watching the demo it looks as though the story goes like this... you are a spy or secret agent (Shinobi) and you're on your way to rescue a woman. You can jump to levels high above and below you (Shinobi). And you can go into rooms (Elevator action) to pick up items like ammo.

The girl in the game looks hot as does Tengen's box art.

Video Games Live

2010-01-29T19:56:00.001-08:00

6:17 - 6:58 is the most relevant part of this video:

A Small Pedrogames.Com Spending Spree

2010-01-29T19:42:00.000-08:00

I purchased a couple games from pedrogames.com tonight. My budget has been cramped recently so I had to be pretty selective.

The first game I bought was WWF: Steel Cage Challenge. I've always had an interest in wrestling games and have posted about them before (http://www.salzmafia.com/labels/wrestling.php). But two things occured that started to make me jones for this game. The first is I finally got to watch "The Wrestler" and it was an incredibly cool movie. I don't particularly like movies with alot of action and no dialog, but this movie was perfect. If you haven't seen it yet, there is a popular scene in the movie where the main character "The Ram" returns home (to a trailer) from the hospital after recovering from a heart attack. He now needs to take it easy and he's bored. Looking down below his TV he sees his Nintendo and invites a neighborhood kid over to play Wrestle Jam.

Wrestle Jam is a fictious game. It doesn't actually exist as a rom or cart that I know of and from what I read it was specifically programmed for the movie. Here are a few screen shots:

"The Ram" and a neighborhood kid talk about "Call of Duty 4" while playing Nintendo.

The title screen to Wrestle Jam. "The Ram VS. The Ayatollah"

The match begins!

Anyways The Ram beats the kid to a pulp, and the kid, bored, wants to go home. Well in reading comments on other blogs about this same story (which is two years old as of this posting) much of the comments compared the game to other wrestling titles on Nintendo. Wrestlemania is probably the closest:

So, I started looking at videos of all of the different wrestling games and I stumbled upon WWF: Steel Cage Challenge. The animations in this game really caught my attention which is the second reason why I wanted it. It was released in 1992, near the end of the life of the NES, so it's no surprise that it looks as good as it does:

We'll find out in less than a week if WWF: Steel Cage Challenge is worth it or not.

The next purchase is going to remain a secret for now. But I'll give a hint. If Elevator Action and Shinobi had a child together it would be this game.

RBI Baseball

2010-01-28T22:49:00.000-08:00

Man, I love RBI Baseball on Nintendo. There is sooo much to love about this game. I first played the original VS. RBI Baseball at a Pistol Pete's Pizza (which was like a Chuck E Cheese). It was in a dual Nintendo VS. Cabinet. Super Mario Bros. was on the left, and VS. RBI Baseball was on the right.

It's a shame that Nintendo and Tengen had to have their differences. The cool thing though was that a licensed copy was made for Nintendo prior to their legal struggles. Originally programmed by Namco, Tengen did an excellent job. Falling back on the less is more philosphy that I've spouted so many times on this blog, RBI Baseball provides exactly the bare minimum to be a true baseball game.

A nifty tune plays at the start, but the moment you have a man on base, woah boy watch out. The tune turns stressful. It doesn't matter if you're pitching or batting, you're engaged. You're committed. And that music doesn't help! Throw the ball and pray they strike out. Have the ball thrown to you and pray it's a homer.

RBI is quite possibly the greatest baseball game ever made...

Pac-eye Popman Popeye Pac-man

2010-01-27T22:34:00.000-08:00

Oh how I've missed Popeye on Nintendo. I promised myself last year to get the record and it just hasn't happened.

I was reading an interview with the creators of Donkey Kong and Popeye and they pointed out something that I have long forgotten... Popeye is Nintendo's Pacman. In Pacman you collect dots and in Popeye you collect hearts, notes, and letters. Pacman has tunnels but so does Popeye. Pacman has energizers but so does Popeye (spinach).

It's nice to see a game so radically different be in all actuality be the same...

Street Fighter 2010

2010-01-26T22:10:00.000-08:00

As I lay here on the couch it's hard to imagine twenty years have passed since I first played Street Fighter 2010 on Nintendo. If anything, I can definitely feel it in my joints. On a cool morning my hands and wrists sound like popcorn no doubt caused from investing my youth in videogames.

Anyways in this game we find "Ken" who had no interest in exploring the frontier until his friend and partner (perhaps he turned homosexual) was found as a "pile of jelly" on the floor. It's been years since Ken was king of the street fighting circuit but "that's nothing that a few bionics can't handle".

This game has great graphics and beautiful sound. It almost makes up for the dumb plot and lousy controls. Each stage is a glorified bass battle. You shoot a short range weapon and can do more moves by pressing in certain directions and pressing b. You can jump climb and throw your controller in anger because killing the bosses are pretty difficult.

I 've never beatened the game because after four or five continues on the first planet shouldn't be necessary. It's too difficult to be fun. In later stages the screen has to auto-scroll (like an airship level from Super Mario Bros. 3) and if you die on the boss you start over having to scroll through the level again.

I'll re-emphasize that this game is beautiful including the advertisements for a strip club. But outside of that the game is a few hours worth of aggrevation.

Video Game Rain

2010-01-24T21:00:00.000-08:00

Here in Las Vegas we've been getting the left over rain from California. Rain here is about as rare as it is to find in video games. Here are two very excellent examples. The first is from Fatal Fury on Tung Fu Rue's stage. Each battle in Fatal Fury has three scenes. Usually they are day time, dusk, and night depending on which round you're currently fighting in. On the "day" stage of Tung Fu Rue's the skies are cloudy with thunderbolts coming down on top of the buildings in the distance. Start round two and here comes the shower! The rain in itself isn't nearly as impressive as the splashing on the ground. It's a pretty neat special effect.

Next up is Ghouls 'N' Ghosts. The rain at the beginning of the second half of the first stage is pretty impressive. First you experience wind with an occasional leaf flying through the air and trees shaking violently in the background. Then you get a few random drops, and then you get the flicker of an intense shower pouring down on poor Arthur. The random drops continue and it breaks up what would otherwise be boring rain. Like Fatal Fury this rain works very well.

Tag Team Wrestling

2010-01-21T22:35:00.000-08:00

Tag Team Wrestling for Nintendo NES is just awful. And I hate to say that of any game, but there is no other way to describe it. If there was ever a low point in the history of Data East, this game has to be it.

It's pretty embarrassing. From the title screen press "Start" then you'll immediately hear "Ding!" and the match begins. The characters barely look like wrestlers, and the fact that they have two frames of animation (which is limited to moving legs) doesn't help any.

Half of the time I couldn't decribe to you what was happening on the screen. Seriously, concentrate on the screenshot. Where does one wrestler begin and the other one end? Why does the audience look like zombies? Actually it just looks like a bunch of heads on the floor.

There is at least one redeeming thing about this game and it's the box art. It reminds me alot of early Atari box art where a professional artist actually took the time to create something that captured the mood that the publisher wanted to convey in the game. It's just a shame that the game doesn't have the energy that the box has.

Toki Nintendo

2010-01-18T11:14:00.000-08:00

Taito is known for making some excellent arcade conversions. Toki for the Nintendo, which was originally manufactured by TAD for the arcade is an excellent adaptation. Although, I wish that Taito focused their efforts on making a version of Rastan...

The game was a sleeper, being released near the end of the life of the Nintendo NES in the United States. But it definitely shows what the NES was truly capable of hardware-wise. If games like this were released along side the launch of the NES, then I imagine the Super Nintendo could have been pushed off a few more years, sans competition from SEGA. There are alot of amazing things that can be done with a palette of 16 colors. It requires alot of creativity and patience.

So anyways, you're a caveman of sorts whose woman has been kidnapped by a "giant fist" which you set out to rescue. A wizard appears and turns you into a money/chimp/ape what have you. A bunch of enemies, including other apes attempt to attack you. As an ape you can spit fire and pick up items that will make you spit more fire. You can pick up a football helmet and wear it and you'll be invincible. As you can see, the plot is ridiculous. But who cares, the music, gameplay, graphics, and controls are fantastic.

Each stage is highly detailed and beautiful, so much so you can almost feel the jungle breeze and smell the ape dung. There is one drawback however. There is sooooooooo much flicker. A trade off could have been slowdown, which may have broken away from the gameplay, but if you can look past the flicker (or through it) this is an excellent platformer, and definately has an arcade feel to it.

Hahahaha, I can't believe I made a blog post about ape dung. It reminds me of the time I visited the Denver Zoo with a laser pointer. Apparently it's against the law to tease a gorilla with one. If I ever go back perhaps I'll bring a taser or pepperspray instead. I'm just kidding. Apes, chimps, meth addicts, and gorillas are people too -well maybe not the apes and meth-addicts. Speaking of meth-addics I've never seen a gorilla that was an amputee. Confused yet? I sure am. I'm just sad because Taito could have made Rastan but instead made Toki.

Nintendo Suicides

2010-01-14T23:25:00.001-08:00

14 Nintendo Suicides witnessed by children of the 80's

Time Lord Nintendo: Part 1

2010-01-12T22:24:00.000-08:00

Ever play Time Lord on Nintendo? No? Me neither. Many sites on the internet report it as being a lousy game. But the internet has been wrong before. At least once that I can think of. Maybe twice? I'm not sure. But what I am sure is that I'm going to play Time Lord here real soon. I received a copy recently from PedroGames.Com. It was a penny, and after looking at the screen shot of the title screen something tells me that the internet might be right! This game might suck! How do I conclude that from the title screen? Two Words: Milton Bradley.

What would it be like for Nintendo, or SONY to suddenly manufacture board games? Sounds stupid doesn't it? So why would Milton Bradley suddenly make videogames? Perhaps they were scared. Maybe they thought everyone would stop playing board games and would stick to Nintendo. Or maybe it was their way of making a quick buck? I'm not sure.

Either way I plan to sit down and play this game and I'm going to conduct an experiment:

With knowing very little about Time Lord, I plan to sit down and play the game until I beat it or get bored of it. Afterwards I'm going to write down what I believe the plot of the game is. (Perhaps their is dialog in the game that provides the plot? I honestly do not know.) Then I'm going to consult with the manufacturer's manual and box art to see if ol' Milton Bradley described the game accurately.

Will the game live up to the hype that is on the back of the box?
Will the manual be detailed and complete about the game itself?
Are their hidden clues that reveals what Milton Bradley's motivation was to meddle in the software business?

Stay tuned for part 2...

LukieGames.Com

2010-01-11T20:52:00.000-08:00

Part 1: Shinobi

Some people associate personal memories and events in their lives from the popular music, movies, or world events that were happening at the time. With myself, I associate the events from my life with videogames.

Such is the case with Shinobi. I first saw the arcade game in 1988. It was at a 7-11 here in Las Vegas on the corner of Bonanza and Pecos. My elementary school was going to have a 4th of July fireworks stand in the parking lot and I went there to check it out. Instead of buying fireworks I blew a bunch of money on Shinobi. Eventually it was released on the NES by Tengen.

I played it once or twice on the NES at a friends house and I remember briefly owning a copy but now twenty years later, I don't recall what happened to my copy. Then about a week ago I thought about the game and remember how crazy stupid it was: The children of the leaders of the world were kidnapped and you need to rescue them! Awesome. The arcade game had a slightly different plot in that the children of Ninja's were kidnapped. Whatever. It does explain why all the kid's have Katanas behind them. Who cares, let's move on.

I decided that it was imperative to own a copy again, and besides... if I'm going to collect all of the original Nintendo games, I'd eventually have to get it. I thought I saw a copy at Play N Trade here locally, but it was a bust. It looked like their retro inventory was wiped out from the holidays.

So I went back to the one place I knew I'd find a copy: http://www.videogamepriceguides.com/

Shinobi was pricey. Too pricey! It seemed that many eBay sellers who didn't specialize in games felt a used, scuffed copy with a partial label was worth $40 or more. Some were more reasonable, and I was willing to buy it, even if I felt it was a little overpriced. PedroGames.Com, one of my favorite sellers, had copies for about $9 plus shipping. But I had already spent my Pedro budget, and had already exceeded my complete budget for January.

Part 2: LukieGames.Com

Then suddenly like the ninja in Shinobi... poof! There it was... a reasonably priced copy from highly rated seller LukieGames.Com. Like that Progressive Insurance commerical, sometimes PedroGames.Com is the cheapest, and sometimes it's not. (This doesn't mean I'm jumping the PedroGames Ship! PedroGames has a huge inventory, super fast shipping, discounted shipping, an easy to read and navigate eBay store, and oftentimes very competitive prices.)

If you've ever looked at retro games on eBay you've seen listings from LukieGames.Com. You had to of. They even have a website that isn't an eBay store. I've browsed through their listings many times before, but it wasn't until the reasonably priced Shinobi appeared that I ever paid that much attention to them.

LukieGames.Com... so is it pronounced "Lucky" or "Luke-E"? I was dying to know so I asked. Turns out it's "Luke-E" and the story of the name is pretty cute, but unrelated to this post, so I'll save it for them to explain.

So what is the verdict? Good? Bad? Otherwise? I'd say that buying Shinobi from LukieGames.Com was an A+ experience. The game arrived exactly as described. There was a little bit of grime on the label, but the game was released 21 years ago, and for the cheap price I got it for I don't mind cleaning it up a little. There was a sticker on the case, which in most cases I'd say is a big no-no, but the adhesive is so weak, and it wasn't on the label of the game so it wasn't a big deal at all. Perhaps it's used for inventory purposes, or maybe it's a neat viral way to advertise. Either way it wasn't a distraction at all.

I'm going to make a couple more LukieGames.Com purchases in the next couple weeks, and I'll share with you how it goes, but for now it's time to play Shinobi...

Refurbished NES Time Lapse

2010-01-10T19:03:00.001-08:00

This is a time lapsed video of a Nintendo NES being refurbished with a new 72 pin edge connector, then being tested with Super Mario Bros. 3. And then being cleaned up to prestine condition.

Lodi News-Sentinel - May 17, 1990

2010-01-09T16:45:00.000-08:00

Oh puh-lease. It must have been a slow news day for the Lodi News-Sentinel back on May 17th, 1990.

I don't believe the girl's story. Sure, it was 20 years ago, but it's this kind of ridiculous propoganda that forced the epilepsy warning to appear on all Nintendo products. Based on the article I'd suggest the girl just put a BANDAId over her eyes and she'd be cured.

Did you catch the hint?

Click to make the article larger.

The Southeast Missourian - Jun 21, 1981

2010-01-09T11:25:00.000-08:00

This article from the The Southeast Missourian from 1981 is great. Look at all of these great sexist remarks:

"Wife leaves laundry room for game room..."
"Going shopping now means going to the mall..."
"...she can spend several hours infront of the electronic screen without once thinking about cooking dinner."
"...I suppose she was thinking about putting it [the Pacman Machine] between the dishwasher and the microwave."

He also must have been high when he wrote it. Pacman doesn't have any popcorn. I'm surprise he didn't say lollipops, or beagles.

Daily Collegian Penn State University - Feb 14, 1980

2010-01-09T08:11:00.000-08:00

I obtained a game. A reasonably rare one. But it's going to remain a secret for now. But this post is a clue. Dare to take a guess?

This is an article from the Daily Collegian from Penn State University. Click the photo to increase it's size.

I like this article, because it was written around the true dawn of video games. I like how 'Sullivan claims that Vector beam' games will be the next rage. Do you remember when man walked on the moon? How about when the invaders from space came?

Did you find the clue? Did you want to take a guess at what the game might be?

Double Dragon Time Lapse

2010-01-08T13:56:00.000-08:00

I liked the Dr. Mario time lapse so much I decided to make one for Double Dragon

Dr. Mario Time Lapse

2010-01-08T09:44:00.001-08:00

Ever wonder what Dr. Mario looks like as a time-lapse video? Yeah, I figured you wouldn't. But here it is anyways.

PedroGames And Wayne Newton

2010-01-06T22:47:00.000-08:00

I received another buying spree from PedroGames.Com today. I have everything shipped to my P.O. Box for safety and convinience, and lo-and behold Wayne Newton - Mr. Las Vegas was a few customers in front of me. I wasn't surprised at first because celebrities are pretty common in Las Vegas but after thinking about it I'm not sure why he would go to the Garside Post office. It's the skid row of post offices and he lives less than a mile a way from the main postal hub for Las Vegas. Anyways I snapped the photo you see of him below.

The Pedro Games came in great condition. Bad Dudes had minor scratches but it and the other 9 were in great shape. I now only have two games outstanding.. Ghost Lion and Shinobi.

I didn't get to play them much outside of a quick game of City Connection.

Kick Master For Nintendo NES

2010-01-04T17:07:00.000-08:00

Kick Master for Nintendo NES arrived today. It was just a fluke purchase for a buck on eBay on New Year's day. There was some minor wear on the label as you can see above.

The back was cruddy too, but it was easily cleaned with a degreaser.

The insides had a very thin layer of film, but it wasn't too bad considering the cartridge is 19 years old. All in all I'm pretty satisfied with it.

VideoGamePriceGuides: Game Correction

2010-01-03T16:45:00.000-08:00

Some of the search parameters for Nintendo NES games were updated to include better results today. Some of the games included:

Ghost Lion (including "Legend of" prevented finding additional copies)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters (Too many words as part of the search)
Conan Mysteries of Time (Sellers were too lazy to include "Mysteries of Time")
Duck Tales II (which should be Duck Tales 2)
Town and Country Surf Designs II: Thrilla's Surfari (Not sure why zero copies would come up, but the search was changed to Thrilla)
Magic Johnson's Fast Break (the apostrophy delimited searches)
Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom (removed "In the Salad Kingdom")
The Adventures of Rad Gravity (Dropping "The Adventures of" yielded many more copies)

You should now be able to find more copies of these titles and a better estimate of their value and rarity.

Nintendo CABAL

2010-01-02T22:13:00.000-08:00

When I joined and left for the Army back in 1995 I had to fly to the Phoenix MEPS station. There are several of these located throughout the United States and they service three purposes:

1. Check your aptitude for military service
2. Check your physical qualifications
3. Check your background

Basically you do a bunch of mental and physical testing. They then tell you what you qualify for in terms of "jobs" and then you pick your "job" and any extras that come with your enlistment (initial station, foreign tour, etc.) This may have all changed by now, it was 15 years ago when I went through this.

So why am I wasting your time about MEPS on a videogame collecting blog? It's all about CABAL.

Cabal means to control things secretly. You usually hear about Cabals in South America as coups come and go as often as the rain. But it's also a game.

Cabal was the last game I saw and played before leaving for my enlistment. The game used a track ball which moved a site around on the screen and buttons allowed you to fire and throw grenades. It was kinda cool... and it kinda sucked.

Just look at this marquee:

Everything looks cool except for the soldiers with the red guns The artist shouldn't have even bothered. Let's look at the arcade gameplay first:

Looks kinda neat. You could destroy pretty much anything if you shot it enough times.

Now lets look at another similar arcade game, that also used a trackball, RAMBO III:

This was slightly a step up from CABAL. The only redeeming thing of RAMBO III the arcade game was that it featured RAMBO. If it was any other clown it would have been forgettable. But this style of gameplay would come back to haunt arcades once more with...

NAM 1975' For Neo Geo:

NAM was actually a pretty decent game.

Cabal eventually found it's way on the Nintendo, and it turned out to be a reasonable port...

Thankfully they found a better artist to create the box art. However this is another example of a war game where the players are distinguished by their colored bandana, and in this case their wrist bands. Perhaps these to are going to a tennis match after the war.

PedroGames.Com January Purchase

2010-01-02T17:37:00.000-08:00

I picked up another ten games from PedroGames.Com. What are they? What could they be? It will have to remain a mystery for now. How about a hint? BD. CC. LOK. TTW. TTSS. BD (again). 3DWR. A. LOTW. TL.

Burgertime: 295750

2010-01-01T14:06:00.000-08:00

This is what happens when you group the first three stages of Burgertime then choke on the next seven.

Best Nintendo Find Of 2010 Achieved January 1st 2010?

2010-01-01T09:55:00.000-08:00

Can't see the tiny writing on this picture? Then maybe you should click it to enlarge. You see... this is (was) an auction for Kick Master, by Taito, for the Nintendo NES.

Kick Master is averaging about $18.43 right now through http://www.videogamepriceguides.com/. A fluke perchance? Yeah, a little bit of one. There are a couple mint "complete in box" copies available. Hillybilly Media has it for about $8 + change. Videogamepricecharts.com says its worth about $2.99. Let's look at another authority: NintendoAge.Com. Their December E-Zine shows its worth about $7. What about our favorite seller PedroGames!? He has a copy for about $48 (but its one of the ones that are CIB).

Long story short... I scooped it up for a buck + shipping.

My 10 Favorite Posts Of 2009

2009-12-29T21:55:00.000-08:00

#10 Sega Genesis Collecting And Arms Dealing: See what happens when my son and I trade an air pistol for a SEGA Genesis. This was a favorite post because I caught it on tape, and that I did it with my son.

#9 Burgertime: I have alot of blog posts about Burgertime, but this post is significant because it was the first post that explained that I'm attempting to collect all of the licensed Nintendo games. What spurred me to to this was that the previous November I had finished my 60-in-1 arcade game. On it is Burgertime, but the machine was left at my in-laws house and I was craving Burgertime. Mmm delicious memories.

#8 Salzmafia Nintendo Price Chart: This post was all about creating the Nintendo Price Chart which eventually became http://www.videogamepriceguides.com/

#7 Nintendo Golf New Label: Remember Hussy Golf? This was my experiment in creating new labels for Nintendo cartridges where the original label was ruined. This inspired some additional ones, though I have not yet created them due to lack of time.

#6 Burgertime New Personal Best: Ever look back at old yearbook photos and ask yourself "What was I thinking?" Thats kinda what I think of now when I look at this post. What kind of loser score is 44,500 points on Burgertime? Breaking 100,000 on the first level is expected!

#5 How To Clean Your Nintendo Games: I love this post! So many people make cleaning a Nintendo game a chore, and it doesn't have to be. Also, many people think brasso and other ridiculous garbage will clean their game. Boy are they wrong.

#4 Videogame Box Art History: Racing the Beam is a pretty cool book, and the revelation of Activision's marketing was genius!

#3 Red Or Blue: Take a trip down memory lane and relive the importance of wearing an 80's bandana makes when you're a character in a Nintendo Video game.

#2 The Spy Hunter Experience: I preach it all the time: Less is More when it comes to a videogame. Read a real life example of how Spy Hunter has a greater depth than Metal Gear Solid IV due to the player's imagination

#1 Burgertime Grouping Performance: Yeah I know, I already have a Burgertime post mentioned in the top-ten, but this has to be my #1 favorite post of 2009. After struggling for months on Burgertime I was able to find a workable pattern for the first level that yields 100,000 each and every time (which 100k is not depicted in the video). Hear my excitement as I pull off the massive groupings.

Gradius Moai's And Ancient Aliens

2009-12-28T22:10:00.000-08:00

There is a documentary from the History Channel called Ancient Aliens. In it they explore the possibility that many ancient religions and possibly some modern religions were started by humans after being visited by alien species.

There is a brief mention of Moai's.. those statues on Easter Island and featured throughout the Gradius games. Perhaps the creators of Gradius were on to something. But even if the example of Moai's were not influenced by alien visitors it got me to thinking of what an alien species might think of a video game.

The Voyager space probe has a gold record with samplings of music from earth along with other pieces of information that defines our species. The hope was that if discovered by an alien race they would learn something about Earthlings. Perhaps a video game would have suited the voyage better... even if they were not common back then.

So this draws the question... what videogame cound an alien species play to learn about Earth and humans?

Sadly a game like Grand Theft Auto or Modern Warfare would be right on the money. Or maybe a game like Gradius would be a better choice. If the Aliens were hostile the Vic Viper or Lord British ships featured in those games might be able to scare them off into thinking we had this superior firepower and technology. Or maybe a game like Pooyan would be worth the chuckle.

Track And Field Online

2009-12-28T19:14:00.000-08:00

Track & Field Online is garbage as are most Flash games. What's worst is its not some punk kid who remade the game but it comes from Konami directly. You can play it, Double Dribble and some other Konami franchises from their site. But T&F has to be the worst.

You beat up your keyboard's arrow keys to get your athlete to run. It's slow. It's sluggish. It's missing frames of animation. It has all the sounds from the arcade version including the woman's voice that reads off your distance, and it has all the graphics plus more. "Plus more?" you ask. Yes. More. Apparently T&F online is being sponsored by McDonalds.

McDonalds always sponsors the Olympics, so why not right? Run past McRibs and Big Macs and other advertisements on your way to the gold! You know, I seriously doubt that any real athlete eats McDonalds.

Video Game Price Guides 2009 Goal

2009-12-28T11:58:00.000-08:00

With 2009 finally coming to a close I thought I'd mention some of the forth coming changes you'll be able to see in 2010.

1. On the game price pages the "additional" page links will be added to the bottom. No need to scroll all the way back up to the top to see the next page of listings.
2. The YouTube videos will be moved back up to the top as well. They were moved to the bottom for testing purposes.
3. The prices will update from the game-prices page and not the period. This was simply a matter of logistics. Clicking the game-prices page will update everything in the database.
4. A recommended title feature. Imagine looking at one game and getting a recommendation for a nothing title to look at. IE: You're looking at Ninja Gaiden and their is a recommendation to look at Ninja Gaiden 2.
5. Games by price: Rather than looking for games by title you can get a listing of games within a price range. This will be perfect for bargain hunters or budget conscious visitors.
6. Expanded game library: There are a lot of systems and titles that still need to be added.
7. Comments and ratings. Why not? Every other site seems to have them.

So there you have it. There is actually a soft timeline in place to get all 7 of these implemented by the end of the first quarter.

Burgertime Arcade Grouping Stage 1

2009-12-23T22:20:00.000-08:00

There's always time for Burgertime... except when you're working on making a full length movie about it. Anyways I've been working closely with the arcade version, and have been concentrating on the differences in it, and with the Nintendo version. It seems the AI does have a few subtle yet dangerous differences. Mr. Egg changes direction for no reason at all... Mr. Pickle acts drunk or high. And then there is the rouge Mr. Hotdog who made the following video a pain.

You see, I'm convinced you can group the arcade version with a simliar strategy on the NES version. The problem is there is a Mr. Hotdog on the first stage that always seems to go rogue when there is a camera on. 15 takes later I finally capture it. Finally!

Double Dragon 2 Box Art Revisited

2009-12-23T20:02:00.000-08:00

Remember this post about Double Dragon 2 box art: http://www.salzmafia.com/2009/12/double-dragon-ii-box-art.php? Uh... yeah, anyways below is an Americanized version of that same box art. Looks like it was for the Atari ST version of the game.

It speaks for itself why Americanizing Box Art is a BAD idea. More examples coming soon...

Elevator Action II

2009-12-21T22:30:00.000-08:00

How do you improve perfection? You can't! Thank goodness that Taito knew this and released Elevator Action II as an entirely different game than the original. Actually the only common ground the original and the sequel have are some elevators and bullets.

You still clear out enemies and search for stuff, but the heart of the game is killing rather than... well... stealing stuff. Elevator Action lets you pick from a cast of three. They each have different strength and weaknesses though most people play as the girl because she is hot. Basically you enter a building and look for bombs. Bad people and dogs try to kill you. There are explosions and other stuff. There is nothing special about the plot (the game violates the less is more rule. In the original game your imagination dictated the plot, where as this game tells you exactly what's going on.)

The redemption of Elevator Action II is the graphics and animations. They are GOOD! Shell casings bounce around, dying dogs flop to their death -the artists made it very realistic in terms of physics and human movement. This is refreshing since most new 3D games don't need true arists. Instead they just need a guy in a suit and a computer to capture movements.

Anyways you probably won't ever see this in the Arcade but it is available on the Taito Legends 2 disc for PS2.

Cool Refreshing Centipede

2009-12-19T14:30:00.000-08:00

So... this is what an Atari Centipede glass looks like before and after a dark refreshing soda is poured in. Hard to believe a Centipede could lower the temperature and sweeten a drink so easily. You know, in any other context drinking from a glass with a bug on it would be nasty.

Atari Glasses

2009-12-18T16:01:00.000-08:00

Ok, I couldn't keep these bad-ass Atari pint glasses a secret any longer... so kablammo! This is what they look like. I won't share the exact price but let's just say this purchase isn't gonna change the misfortune of Music 4 Less any time soon.

Each glass is adorned with the original arcade art of Asteroids, Missle Command, Centipede, and Tempest. Pour in a dark soda and make that art stand out!

Music 4 Less

2009-12-18T12:03:00.000-08:00

Music 4 less overcharges... on everything! Games included. But karma has caught up to these people. I bought something from them finally. It's next to me in a bag right now. What is it? What could it be? It's not the Nintendo backpack I eyed for years. Sure, I could have gotten that. But instead I got something "cooler". Infact it's making me thirsty just thinking about it... It's amazing how the art of a video game, specifically three pre-1985 arcade games can grace an item and get pludered from an ill managed music store.

Double Dragon II Box Art

2009-12-14T22:11:00.000-08:00

Double Dragon is a genre in itself. The characters in the original game told a story that was much deeper than a simple kidnapping. But what was so great about Marian that she had to be kidnapped?

Anyways Double Dragon is a good example of where "less is more" can back-fire. Since the game was so popular it would have been financially irresponsible not to create sequels. Unfortunately the game was exploited to oblivion and the story line had gotten too stupid or distorted.

To me, the franchise ended with this box art for Double Dragon II: The Revenge. It tells an interesting story. You have this hot woman with her skirt nearly tore off and Billy (or maybe Jimmy) fighting off goons who are desperate to show her the business. The goons infact have a spectacular view of Marion!

It's clear that this street fight is on the roof of a building, and without ever playing the game you cannot determine if the chopper is friend or foe.

Incidently, Marion is gun downed at the airport so technically this box art is an anachronism to say the least. But it sure is cool!

Into The Valley Of The Space Invaders

2009-12-12T15:09:00.000-08:00

I stumbled upon this documentary on youtube. I believe it was made around 1982. It captures the energy of a REAL arcade...

Four Pack Of Burgertime Zippys

2009-12-12T13:22:00.000-08:00

If one Burgertime zippy was unbelievable what does four in a package mean?

Burgertime Zippy

2009-12-12T12:31:00.000-08:00

There are some people in the world who question the existance of a Burgertime zippy...

Escaping The Burgertime Level 3 Trap

2009-12-10T17:51:00.000-08:00

The third level of Burgertime demands that you start running to the right and then up the ladder narrowing escaping the egg. Hesitate for even a second and the egg will kill you. This little manuver is what to do if you wasted that second and are now in danger of losing a life. It's also the first half of the setup for grouping on the third level which I will share another time.

Nintendo Ad - December 20th 1987

2009-12-09T20:49:00.000-08:00

From the bowels of the internet comes the ad you see above for Nintendo, it's games, and even the Nintendo Advantage joystick. This ad was pulished for Fred Meyer, in the Register-Guard in Eugene Oregon on December 20th, 1987. Mint Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! for $29.97? If only we knew then what we knew now!

Burgertime Level 4 Grouping

2009-12-09T20:08:00.000-08:00

It's been quite awhile since I posted about Burgertime. As you can see I had a loose grouping and it quickly fell apart. I ended with a quite dismall score, which isn't too bad I suppose since I really haven't practiced in weeks.

Mario Bros. Not Super!

2009-12-09T13:49:00.000-08:00

When it comes to Mario games a lot of people will spew boring and beaten-to-death trivia about the franchise. There really isn't any "new" ancient history about the franchise left to be discovered, so with that in mind what could I possibly post that would be of any interest to anyone concerning a Mario game?

The controls!

Some could argue that controllers on modern systems have gone too far. Many games, especially first person shooters will often utilize all of the controls on say... a Dual Shock 3 controller for PS3. The game manuals are bloated with instructions surrounding the controls, and many games will have an in-game tutorial or a practice mode to get used to them. That's all fine and dandy, except like I've mentioned repeatedly on this blog: when it comes to videogames less is always more.

When you look at fine art there generally is only enough information to invoke an emotion or to promote a message. The artist does this on purpose because whether it's art, music, or even videogames the imagination fills in the blanks and the imagination will always be more vivid and detailed despite anyone's talent or what technology brings us.

So let's get back to the Mario Bros. controls. Of all of the Mario games including Donkey Kong, regular original Mario Bros. has the simplest of controls: left, right, jump. (Even Donkey Kong had up and down). Infact, when you consider a minimilist approach to game controls Mario Bros. is on par with Pong and Breakout. On a paddle controller like you'd find with pong you can only rotate left or right to move the paddle up and down (or left and right ala Breakout or Arkanoid). The buton mearly launches the ball. Perhaps the next evolutionary step in controls in gaming would be that of Space Invaders, which again would be left, right, and shoot.

You could use a paddle controller with Mario Bros. (or even Space Invaders) and there is no reason for it not to work (in principle, not literally!). The controls are the same. Yet, Mario Bros. with it's origins in the arcade had the simplest of controls that did not hinder the depth of the game. For example, the goal of Mario Bros. is to clear out sewer after sewer of four enemies: the turtle, the crab, the fly, and the ice monster. You clear them out by flipping them upside down to immobilize them and then you kick them off the screen. You can also utilize a POW block which flips all of the enemies at once. You also need to avoid red, purple, and green fireballs that will chase you around if you take to long to clear a stage. You also can collect coins. The depth of play though really shines with the controls. Both Mario and Luigi have a certain inertia to them as they walk. They require a running start to get up to full speed, and letting go of the controls takes the brothers a few frames of animation before they stop. This running start, and full stop inertia is what makes and breaks the game. If you can't master either, then you'll probably die quickly because you'll keep misjudging your jumps and landings. This is pretty in-depth for controls that only have a left, right, and jump!

Now imagine the same game, with the same controls, but with a paddle controller for precision. Gently turn the wheel to the left or right to make Mario and Luigi tip-toe left and right. Mash the wheel a hard left or right kinda like a woman driver (just kidding :-) ) and make Mario and Luigi haul ass! It's the same controls, but with more precision!

Wrestlefest

2009-12-05T22:49:00.000-08:00

ideogames, believe it or not, can serve as a legitimate record of history. For example, if you watch a movie made in the 1940's you can see the particular feel of that era. The same is true with music, but not only will music reflect a particular era, but the technology used to make the music is a reflection of the time as well. Intentional or not, movies and music archive a legitimate record of history. The same is true for videogames and I have an excellent example.

What made me think to post this? An article on FoxNews.Com titled "Pro Wrestlers Come And Gone" was probably the inspiration. Now mind you, I am not a fan of Wrestling. At least not now anyways. In the 80's and early 90's it was a completely different deal. I was also 20 years younger and had completely different priorities. For me, Wrestling died a few years before WWE.

To me, the best wrestling videogame ever made was Wrestlefest by Technos (1991). That year of manufactuer is very significant. In fact, any arcade game manufactured in 1991 and 1992 is probably equally significant. If you went out of your way to play Street Fighter II in an arcade when it was first released then you remember Wrestlefest. The reason why is because most arcades had Wrestlefest, and if you walked into an arcade that had 20 quarters waiting on Street Figher II you had nothing better to do to kill time then play Wrestlefest or any of the other miriad of arcade games available at the time.

So in reading the article on FoxNews.Com I was a little shocked. I was a little surprised. And here is why:

Wrestlefest featured 12 WWF wrestlers. The line up was as follows:

Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, Mr. Perfect, Earthquake, Ted DiBiase, Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Big Bossman, Sgt. Slaughter, Smash (Demolition), Crush (Demolition), Hawk (Legion of Doom), Animal (Legion of Doom).

This was an impressive line up, and what was more impressive is that the characters looked like the actual wrestlers. Some of the images were digitized, which to some degree that might be cheating when it comes to creating the likeness of an actual person in a video game, but the majority of the images were clearly hand drawn and done well. But then again, I'd expect nothing less from Technos.

Anyways the death roster from FoxNews.Com was as follows:

Mr. Perfect: The man known as Mr. Perfect passed away on Feb. 10, 2003, from an acute cocaine intoxication. His father says steroids and pain killers also contritubed to his death. He was 44.
Earthquake: Earthquake retired from wrestling in 2004 after he revealed he had bladder cancer. The disease took his life on June 7, 2006. He was 42.
Big Bossman: Ray Traylor, a former prison guard, made his wrestling debut in 1985. He joined the WWE in 1988 as the Big Boss Man. He died on Sept. 22, 2004, after suffering a massive heart attack. He was 41.
Crush: Brian Adams began his wrestling career in 1986 and debuted with the WWE in 1990 as part of the tag-team Demolition. In March 1995, Adams was arrested for purchasing steroids. He died August 13, 2007, at the age of 44. Authorities believe nandrolone, testosterone, and HGH played a part in his death.
Hawk: Hawk battled through drugs and alcohol most of his career. He passed away Oct. 19, 2003, from an apparent heart attack. He was 46.

So 5 out of the 12 are already dead. Hulk Hogan is still trying to get his life turned back around. Ted DiBiase does alot of Christian work I hear, Jake "The Snake" Roberts entered rehab at WWE's expense, Sgt. Slaughter doesn't have any relevant gossip (although in relation to this videogame blog he did appear on the Super Mario Bros. Super Show along with follow Wrestler Captain Lou Albano who played Mario, who is also dead). The Ultimate Warrior started a blog http://www.ultimatewarrior.com/ which is worth a good laugh, and as for the rest of them... who really gives a damn?

The point is that a videogame captured a moment in history, when these 12 men were on top of their game, with their names and likenesses to be found in almost every arcade in America. And now they are just filler material on a slow news day for FoxNews.Com. 18 years from now will the rest be dead?

New Splash Page At VideoGamePriceGuides

2009-12-04T01:05:00.000-08:00

The splash page for VideoGamePriceGuide.Com is now live. After several days/weeks/months/ a more user friendly site is starting to take shape. In less than a year VGPG went from a blogspot blog to a wordpress blog, to a redirect to the VideoGamePriceGuide.Com labels on the SalzMafia blog. None of the previous layouts seemed to... well click! It's 1:00am on my 'Friday' night, after a very busy week, so I hope this post makes sense. Time for sleep...

VideoGamePriceGuides: Change Over Complete

2009-12-01T18:49:00.000-08:00

The hard part is over! After the moving of a ton of files, changing configuration files and a million other things, http://www.videogamepriceguides.com/ is finally resting in its new and correct home. What does this mean? It means that Google will soon be able to see more of the 7000+ pages of content that are available on VGPG.

Here is proof of concept: http://www.videogamepriceguides.com/nintendo/game-crisis/21/1/old/false/2/adventure-island/

Notice there are no "?=" parameters. Whew! There is still alot of coding that needs to be done on the back end but the hard part is finally over!

Zwinky Stardolls Outspark

2009-11-30T21:42:00.000-08:00

I was in the electronics section of Wal-Mart when I noticed a wall full of "gaming" cards. Although I know there are pre-paid cards for X-Box Live, and the PSN, and for Nintendo points I never realized there were gaming cards for online computer games.

So stupid me took the time to research these cards online. I was embarrassed to look at them in the store because they look like they were marketed to 12 year old girls. Take Zwinky for example. From the Wal-Mart.Com website:

Create your own Zwinky avatar. Play games, shop, design your room. Gain access to premium outfits and collect furniture. Meet your friends in Zwinktopia - a fun virtual world. Worth $25 of Zwinky premiums and in-game items! Exclusive bonus: Zwinky Super Power.

Zwinktopia? Collect Furniture? Zwinky Super Power? This just sounds stupid. But lets move on.

Next up is Stardoll. From the Wal-Mart.Com website:

With this Stardoll 10-Game Card, girls can go on a virtual shopping spree. They'll experience a world of fame, fashion, and friends with their very own Stardollars. Stardollars let you buy the latest clothes, bags, cosmetics, accessories and much, much more for your very own Stardoll.

Remember when girls used to play with Barbie? I imagine this is similiar. It's terrifying to imagine children wanting to invest money into this garbage.

And finally we have Outspark. I'm not sure why I'm going to paste the description from the Wal-Mart.Com website, but here it is anyways:

Have fun in a virtual playground! Enjoy free multiplayer games, meet new friends and explore awesome worlds. Use your SparkCash Card to get limited-edition in-game items like clothing, weapons, pets and more!

Do we see a pattern here? I think so. It seems all of the cards promise friends. Which makes sense, since I can't imagine anyone wanting to buy these cards as having friends. That criticism is probably mean and uncalled for. But suppose you spend ten dollars a month on one of these games. Each year you're blowing $120, and what do you get out of it? Nothing tangible- thats for sure!

If you are desperate for a friend and you are willing to spend $10-$25 a month, I'll be your friend. Cash only. All sales final. No Refunds.

What's Going On With VideoGamePriceGuides.Com?

2009-11-30T17:56:00.000-08:00

What's going on with VideoGamePriceGuides.Com? Well, if you've visited the site at all this Monday evening you probably noticed that it's re-directed to a weird JudgeVegas.Com site. Although this wasn't intentional, in a small way, it kinda was.

You see the hosting for VGPG is shared with other domains that I run, including this one. Way back in the day I started the judgevegas.com site and any additional site I created was technically an extension to judgevegas.com. Well fast forward four years later and not only is it time to retire JudgeVegas.com, I also wanted to expand the functionality of VPGP. This required VGPG to become the primary domain for my hosting.

Well, I asked the hosting company what all was involved in doing the switch.. and well, rather then giving me the details they decided to go ahead and do it! DOH!. So right now as I type this a backup of VGPG is being created, and will be migrated to the root domain. So this time tomorrow it should be fixed.

Sorry for the delay!

Donkey Kong 3

2009-11-28T17:02:00.000-08:00

I recently read in another blog a review about Donkey Kong 3. The author inferred that DK3 was Nintendo's biggest embarrassment until the Virtual Boy.

The argument for this remark was that DK3 departed from the platform gaming style of Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong JR. Although this is true, its difficult to fathom that a departure from a particular gaming design equates to an embarassment.

DK3 reinvented the existing space shooting genre that evolved from Space Invaders, Galaxian, Phoenix, Moon Cresta, Gorf, Galaga... the list goes on and on. Nintendo replaced the boring spaceship with Stanley the Bug Man- he still shoots up by the way, except with bug spray instead of boring lasers or missles. The enemy ships are now bees worms and other insects. The enemies in Galaga had tractor beams which would capture your ship. DK3 had a similar novelty but they were flowers captured by the enemy bees which could be rescued if shot down before taken to the hive. While all this nonsense was going on you were essentially fighting one intense boss battle with Donkey Kong in an attempt to force him to climb the vines.

Improving your weapon also mostly non-existent in the space games. Galaga allowed you to double your fire power and that was about it. DK3 allows you to shake loose a super sprayer that allows you to kill more faster.

DK3 also had music that fit the game perfectly. A pseudo "Flight of the Bumblebee", buzzing siren when a bee took off with a flower.

Donkey Kong would toss coconuts down on you if you ignored him which was also a challenge that the space games didn't have.

Magic Johnson's Fast Break and NBA Jam

2009-11-28T13:08:00.000-08:00

I did another ten game purchase from PedroGames.Com. There was nothing too exciting to report, however I did make an interesting observation with Magic Johnson's Fast Break.

I don't particularly like sports games, but there is the occasional sports video game I will play for good or ill. The Fast Break purchase was a necessity since I am still trying to collect them all, but I certainly would not go out of my way to play this this title.

I also don't know anything about Magic Johnson, except I remember it being a big deal that he had HIV, and on two seperate occasions I ran into him at McCarran airport in Las Vegas. The first was at the ticketing counter and the second was him departing a Southwest airlines plane a 2am. He was one of the last people to depart and he seemed prepared to sign autographs but nobody seemed to care and he shrugged his shoulders and wandered off to the baggage claim.

Anyways, this Fast Break game could have been easily modified to be an NES version of NBA Jam.

NBA Jam was pretty neat at the time. Initially released in the Arcade it had an all star line up with digitized images of all of the playable players, plus codes and other stupid tricks would unlock other players (like the Clintons above)

Besides being a two-on-two basketball game like NBA Jam with a similiar feel, Fast Break has one other cool thing: PEPSI

Spelunker - What Happened?

2009-11-26T12:29:00.000-08:00

Well, last night was supposed to be my big night for playing Spelunker until the wee hours of the morning. It didn't happen for a variety of reasons. But in retrospect it was probably a good idea that it didn't: Man Died In Cave. It would have been in bad taste.

The Spy Hunter Experience

2009-11-21T22:38:00.000-08:00

Title Screen To The NES Version Of Spy Hunter

I've lamented before about how videogames need to have an element of imagination to remain fun, and to instill longevity. Spy Hunter is a perfect example of a game that is incomplete with out that element of imagination.

Consider the premise of the game: you drive a car in one direction and take on four enemies: a car with spikes, an armored car, a limo, and a helicopter. There are three civilian cars that serve as obstacles and a weapons van that gives you weapons including oil, smoke, and missles to take on the bad guys along with your standard issue maching guns. When the road forks, going left or right will decide which weapon is next, and eventually going left will take you to a "boat" level where it's the same premise before, except with a boat instead of a car. And finally, the most iconing thing about Spy Hunter was the Peter Gunn theme, which was a song by Henry Mancini (the guy who made the theme to the Pink Panther) which was used in the TV show Peter Gunn which was about a Private Eye and not... a... spy.

Enemy With Spikes And The Weapons Van

So why is Spy Hunter called Spy Hunter? Outside of having a vague resemblence of a chase scene from a 1960's or 1970's spy movie and a weapons van similiar to Knight Rider, there really isn't anything about the game that has to do with "spying". This is where the imagination is important. Any kid familiar with the game back in the 80's could give you a totally different yet compelling story line to the game. Perhaps you're a spy who stole some top secret documents or maybe you've kidnapped back an important scientist working on a biologic weapon for a terrorist nation. Who knows? It doesn't matter because someone playing the game could convolute any story around the gameplay. The lack of plot is what gives the game it's depth.

Let's look at the very opposite of a game that leaves nothing to the imagination: Metal Gear Solid. But before I do so let me set the record straight:

I've played all four of the MGS games. I've completed 1, 2, and 3, and am currently working on number 4. It is of my opinion that the MGS games have alot of potential in certain aspects of gameplay and game design, and although I often pick on MGS on this site, it's purely to point out the shift in gaming over the past three decades and not necessarily to bash the game simply to bash the game. There are plenty of other games that have similiar elements and as much as involved plot lines as MGS, it's just that I'm most familiar with MGS and is most easiest for me to draw a (lack of) inspiration from this particular title.

And yes, I realize that Metal Gear Solid and Spy Hunter are two totally different games, but I want to compare the "imagination factor" of both games. In Metal Gear Solid the game begins with an introductory sequence giving you a brief explaination as to why you are where you are and what you're about to do. Once you're fully deployed (by water in part 1, by bridge in part 2, by plane in part 3, and by truck in part 4) you start working your way through a pre determined story. The story is driven little by the gameplay but more to the conversations you have over your codec (the radio you use through out the game) the people you rescue and the bosses you kill. It seems every character in the game has some story or commentary to shove down your throat.

Codec From Metal Gear Solid On PlayStation 2

Some of the codec conversations involve explaining how to use a particular weapon or item in the game, or to tell you what to do next. This wasn't necessary with Spy Hunter. If I wanted the car to move I stepped on the gas, and if I needed to haul ass I'd shift to high gear and if there was one of those blue cars or a civilian infront of me God help them if they didn't have insurance.

Codec From Metal Gear Solid: Guns Of The Patriots On PlayStation 3

And just like the codec, there is also the cut scenes that are apparently a necessary part of the Metal Gear Solid games. It doesn't matter who plays MGS, everyone is going to have the same experience. Where as with Spy Hunter no two stories are going to be the same.

This also leads me to another topic of game design: adrenaline triggers. When you played a game like Spy Hunter the action was non-stop. You'd get a brief rest driving into the weapons van, and a brief rest driving down the road to the boat dock and that was it. Drive further and further into the game and adrenaline starts to kick in. Metal Gear Solid has a similiar experience. The boss battles create an excitement as does do the battle scene, particularly in the 4th one when you're sneaking through the South American stage with the rebels fighting the security force and you're in between both of them. The problem is after you clear each area there is a cut scene or a codec conversation which totally kills the adrenaline and you start over. The only thing that should truly kill the adrenaline rush is a GAME OVER screen with a pocket empty of quarters. The high you would get from Spy Hunter experience is like battery acid in the blood.

So whether you're playing Spy Hunter or even Metal Gear Solid, consider whether you want your imagination to determine a plot or if you prefer to drop $60 and have it spoon fed to you.

Nintendo NES Prices for November 2009

2009-11-21T17:06:00.000-08:00

Here's an idea: let's keep a historical record of video game prices. I was inspire by my previous post about a Game Pro Magazine Scan that had an advertisement for "current" (current meaning 19 years ago) prices for Nintendo NES games. Once a month I'll do a master update of the games and post the prices here. Consider it a historical record.

Nintendo NES Prices for November 2009

Title	Price
10 Yard Fight	$3
1942	$12
1943	$8
2-in-1 Super Mario Bros/Duck Hunt	$3
2-in-1 Super Spike V'Ball/World Cup Soccer	$5
3-D Worldrunner	$5
3-in-1 Super Mario Bros/Duck Hunt/World Class Track Meet	$4
720	$4
8 Eyes	$5
A Nightmare on Elm Street	$16
Abadox	$5
Addams Family, The	$7
Addams Family: Pugsley's Scavenger Hunt, The	$15
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Dragonstrike	$33
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Heroes of the Lance	$9
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Hillsfar	$38
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Pool of Radiance	$21
Adventure Island	$7
Adventure Island II	$12
Adventure Island III	$25
Adventures in the Magic Kingdom	$4
Adventures of Bayou Billy, The	$3
Adventures of Dino Riki, The	$3
Adventures of Gilligan's Island, The	$12
Adventures of Lolo II , The	$23
Adventures of Lolo III , The	$32
Adventures of Lolo, The	$8
Adventures of Rad Gravity, The	$5
Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle and Friends, The	$6
Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The	$5
After Burner (Tengen)	$7
Air Fortress	$3
Airwolf	$4
Al Unser Jr.'s Turbo Racing	$3
Alfred Chicken	$24
Alien Syndrome (Tengen)	$6
Alien3	$14
All Pro Basketball	$3
Alpha Mission	$4
Amagon	$4
American Gladiators	$5
Anticipation	$2
Arch Rivals: A Basket Brawl!	$4
Archon	$7
Arkanoid	$16
Arkista's Ring	$7
Astyanax	$3
Athena	$5
Athletic World	$6
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes	$9
Back to the Future	$4
Back to the Future II & III	$7
Bad Dudes	$4
Bad News Baseball	$6
Bad Street Brawler	$4
Balloon Fight	$10
Bandai Golf: Challenge Pebble Beach	$2
Bandit Kings of Ancient China	$39
Barbie	$7
Bard's Tale	$11
Barker Bill's Trick Shooting	$5
Base Wars - Cyber Stadium Series	$6
Baseball	$1
Baseball Simulator 1.000	$4
Baseball Stars	$7
Baseball Stars II	$19
Bases Loaded	$2
Bases Loaded II: Second Season	$3
Bases Loaded III	$5
Bases Loaded IV	$26
Batman	$18
Batman Returns	$7
Batman: Return of the Joker	$10
Battle Chess	$5
Battle of Olympus, The	$7
Battle Tank	$5
Battleship	$10
Battletoads	$12
Battletoads & Double Dragon: The Ultimate Team	$25
Beetlejuice	$10
Best of the Best: Championship Karate	$15
Bigfoot	$4
Bill & Ted's Excellent Video Game Adventure	$6
Bill Elliot's Nascar Challenge	$3
Bionic Commando	$8
Black Bass	$7
Blades of Steel	$3
Blaster Master	$5
Blue Marlin	$10
Blues Brothers, The	$20
Bo Jackson Baseball	$5
Bomberman	$13
Bomberman II	$50
Bonk's Adventure	$136
Boulder Dash	$9
Boy And His Blob, A	$6
Bram Stoker's Dracula	$17
Break Time: The National Pool Tour	$6
BreakThru	$4
Bubble Bobble	$14
Bubble Bobble: Part 2	$57
Bucky O'Hare	$16
Bugs Bunny Birthday Blowout, The	$5
Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle, The	$6
Bump 'n' Jump	$4
Burai Fighter	$5
Burgertime	$5
Cabal	$5
Caesar's Palace	$4
California Games	$6
Captain America and the Avengers	$10
Captain Planet	$6
Captain Skyhawk	$3
Casino Kid	$4
Casino Kid 2	$33
Castelian	$8
Castle of Dragon	$7
Castlequest	$4
Castlevania	$12
Castlevania II: Simon's Quest	$7
Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse	$15
Caveman Games	$8
Championship Bowling	$3
Championship Pool	$12
Chessmaster, The	$4
Chip 'N Dale: Rescue Rangers	$7
Chip 'N Dale: Rescue Rangers 2	$47
Chubby Cherub	$17
Circus Caper	$6
City Connection	$5
Clash at Demonhead	$5
Classic Concentration	$9
Cliffhanger	$13
Clu Clu Land	$10
Cobra Command	$4
Cobra Triangle	$4
Code Name: Viper	$4
Color a Dinosaur	$19
Commando	$5
Conan: The Mysteries of Time	$14
Conflict	$21
Conquest of the Crystal Palace	$5
Contra	$16
Contra Force	$45
Cool World	$19
Cowboy Kid	$27
Crash 'n the Boys: Street Challenge	$13
Crystalis	$12
Cybernoid: The Fighting Machine	$3
Dance Aerobics	$7
Danny Sullivan's Indy Heat	$14
Darkman	$8
Darkwing Duck	$12
Dash Galaxy in the Alien Asylum	$4
Day Dreamin' Davey	$13
Days of Thunder	$4
Deadly Towers	$3
Defender II	$4
Defender of the Crown	$5
Defenders of Dynatron City	$9
Deja Vu	$8
Demon Sword	$4
Desert Commander	$7
Destination Earth Star	$4
Destiny of an Emperor	$25
Dick Tracy	$3
Die Hard	$33
Dig Dug II	$6
Digger T. Rock: Legend of the Lost City	$9
Dirty Harry: The War Against Drugs	$5
Donkey Kong	$21
Donkey Kong 3	$12
Donkey Kong Classics	$10
Donkey Kong Jr.	$12
Donkey Kong Jr. Math	$13
Double Dare	$8
Double Dragon	$5
Double Dragon II: The Revenge	$7
Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stone	$13
Double Dribble	$2
Dr. Chaos	$4
Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde	$5
Dr. Mario	$3
Dragon Fighter	$39
Dragon Power	$4
Dragon Spirit: The New Legend	$4
Dragon Warrior	$5
Dragon Warrior II	$29
Dragon Warrior III	$42
Dragon Warrior IV	$69
Dragon's Lair	$11
Duck Hunt	$4
Duck Tales	$11
Duck Tales II	$14
Dungeon Magic	$5
Dusty Diamond's All-Star Softball	$45
Dynowarz: The Destruction of Spondylus	$4
Elevator Action	$8
Eliminator Boat Duel	$9
Empire Strikes Back , The	$14
Evert & Lendl Top Player's Tennis	$6
Excitebike	$4
F-117A Stealth Fighter	$7
F-15 Strike Eagle	$5
Family Feud	$10
Fantasy Zone (Tengen)	$12
Faria: A World of Mystery & Danger	$28
Faxanadu	$4
Felix the Cat	$16
Ferrari Grand Prix Challenge	$6
Fester's Quest	$3
Final Fantasy	$19
Fire 'N Ice	$38
Fisher Price: Firehouse Rescue	$11
Fisher Price: I Can Remember	$6
Fisher Price: Perfect Fit	$6
Fist of the North Star	$9
Flight of the Intruder	$6
Flintstones, The	$10
Flintstones: The Surprise at Dinosaur Peak, The	$199
Flying Dragon: The Secret Scroll	$4
Flying Warriors	$8
Formula 1: Built to Win	$10
Frankenstein: The Monster Returns	$17
Freedom Force	$5
Friday the 13th	$4
Fun House	$8
G.I. Joe	$21
G.I. Joe: The Atlantis Factor	$17
Galaga	$7
Galaxy 5000	$16
Gargoyle's Quest II	$19
Gauntlet (Tengen Licensed Only)	$3
Gauntlet (Tengen Licensed/Unlicensed)	$7
Gauntlet II	$6
Gemfire	$33
Genghis Khan	$20
George Foreman's KO Boxing	$5
Ghostbusters	$7
Ghostbusters II	$6
Ghosts 'N Goblins	$7
Ghoul School	$10
Goal!	$4
Goal! Two	$10
Godzilla	$6
Godzilla 2: War of the Monsters	$45
Gold Medal Challenge '92	$7
Golf	$2
Golf Grand Slam	$11
Golgo 13: Top Secret Episode	$4
Goonies II , The	$5
Gotcha!	$3
Gradius	$8
Great Waldo Search, The	$14
Greg Norman's Golf Power	$5
Gremlins 2: The New Batch	$6
Guardian Legend, The	$7
Guerilla War	$5
Gumshoe	$8
Gun Nac	$30
Gunsmoke	$7
Gyromite	$6
Gyruss	$5
Harlem Globetrotters	$5
Hatris	$18
Heavy Barrel	$6
Heavy Shreddin'	$4
High Speed	$5
Hogan's Alley	$6
Hollywood Squares	$8
Home Alone	$4
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York	$4
Hook	$7
Hoops	$3
Hudson Hawk	$8
Hunt for Red October, The	$4
Hydlide	$4
Ice Climber	$11
Ice Hockey	$2
Ikari Warriors	$5
Ikari Warriors II: Victory Road	$6
Ikari Warriors III: The Rescue	$17
Image Fight	$8
Immortal, The	$6
Incredible Crash Dummies, The	$10
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade	$25
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (Taito)	$29
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (Tengen Licensed)	$6
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (Tengen Unlicensed)	$0
Infiltrator	$4
Iron Tank	$5
IronSword: Wizards and Warriors II	$5
Isolated Warrior	$8
Ivan Iron Man Stewart's Super Off-Road	$6
Jack Nicklaus' Major Championship Golf	$3
Jackal	$6
Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu	$15
James Bond Jr.	$15
Jaws	$3
Jeopardy!	$3
Jeopardy! 25th Silver Anniversary Edition	$2
Jeopardy! Jr. Edition	$2
Jetsons: Cogswell's Caper, The	$22
Jimmy Connors Pro Tennis Tour	$0
Joe & Mac	$7
John Elway's Quarterback	$2
Jordan vs. Bird: One-on-One	$3
Journey to Silius	$4
Joust	$4
Jungle Book, The	$15
Jurassic Park	$6
Kabuki: Quantum Fighter	$4
Karate Champ	$2
Karate Kid	$4
Karnov	$4
Kick Master	$15
Kickle Cubicle	$10
Kid Icarus	$15
Kid Klown in Night Mayor World	$23
Kid Kool	$6
Kid Niki	$7
King's Knight	$4
Kings of the Beach	$3
King's Quest V	$14
Kirby's Adventure	$4
Kiwi Kraze	$10
KlashBall	$8
Klax (Tengen)	$6
Knight Rider	$3
Krion Conquest, The	$13
Krusty's Funhouse	$10
Kung Fu	$4
Kung Fu Heroes	$3
Laser Invasion	$7
Last Action Hero	$19
Last Ninja, The	$12
Last Starfighter, The	$6
Lee Trevino's Fighting Golf	$3
Legacy of the Wizard, The	$4
Legend of Ghost Lion	$16
Legend of Kage, The	$5
Legend of Zelda, The	$9
Legendary Wings	$4
Legends of the Diamond	$9
Lemmings	$23
L'Empereur	$33
Lethal Weapon	$15
Life Force	$6
Little League Baseball: Championship Series	$8
Little Mermaid, The	$6
Little Nemo: The Dream Master	$6
Little Ninja Brothers	$22
Little Samson	$151
Lode Runner	$5
Lone Ranger, The	$12
LoopZ	$4
Low G-Man	$4
Lunar Pool	$4
M.C. Kids	$8
M.U.L.E.	$15
M.U.S.C.L.E.	$10
Mach Rider	$5
Mad Max	$5
Mafat Conspiracy: Golgo 13 II, The	$5
Magic Darts	$6
Magic Johnson's Fast Break	$2
Magic of Scheherazade	$11
Magician	$16
Magmax	$4
Major League Baseball	$2
Maniac Mansion	$11
Mappyland	$5
Marble Madness	$4
Mario Bros.	$17
Mario is Missing	$18
Mario's Time Machine	$39
Marvel's X-Men	$7
Mechanized Attack	$8
Mega Man	$26
Mega Man 2	$12
Mega Man 3	$11
Mega Man 4	$18
Mega Man 5	$36
Mega Man 6	$25
Mendel Palace	$5
Metal Gear	$7
Metal Mech	$5
Metal Storm	$19
Metroid	$7
Michael Andretti's World Grand Prix	$3
Mickey Mousecapade	$3
Mickey's Adventures in Numberland	$14
Mickey's Safari in Letterland	$12
Might & Magic: Secret of the Inner Sanctum	$27
Mighty Bomb Jack	$6
Mighty Final Fight	$34
Millipede	$4
Milon's Secret Castle	$4
Mission: Impossible	$3
Monopoly Parker Brothers	$5
Monster in My Pocket	$10
Monster Party	$5
Monster Truck Rally	$12
Motor City Patrol	$21
Ms. Pac Man (Licensed/Unlicensed)	$21
Ms. Pac Man (Namco Licensed)	$33
Muppet Adventure: Chaos at the Carnival	$6
Mutant Virus, The	$8
Mystery Quest	$4
NARC	$3
NES Open Tournament Golf	$5
NES Play Action Football	$2
NFL Football	$3
Nigel Mansell's World Championship Racing	$13
Nightshade	$9
Ninja Crusaders	$11
Ninja Gaiden	$6
Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos	$6
Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom	$20
Ninja Kid	$6
Nintendo World Cup Soccer	$4
Nobunaga's Ambition	$9
Nobunaga's Ambition II	$60
North and South	$22
Operation Wolf	$2
Orb-3D	$5
Othello	$2
Overlord	$6
P.O.W.: Prisoners of War	$5
Pac Man (Licensed/Unlicensed)	$7
Pac Man (Namco Licensed)	$27
Pac Man (Tengen Licensed)	$5
Pac-Mania (Tengen)	$16
Palamedes	$6
Panic Restaurant	$120
Paperboy	$7
Paperboy 2	$14
Peter Pan & the Pirates	$5
Phantom Fighter	$6
Pictionary	$4
Pinball	$3
Pinball Quest	$4
Pinbot	$5
Pipe Dream	$6
Pirates!	$14
Platoon	$3
Popeye	$9
Power Blade	$7
Power Blade 2	$114
Power Punch II	$15
Predator	$6
Prince of Persia	$15
Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom	$31
Pro Sport Hockey	$59
Pro Wrestling	$3
Punchout!! (Mike Tyson's)	$19
Punch-Out!! Featuring Mr. Dream	$8
Punisher, The	$8
Puss 'N Boots: Pero's Great Adventure	$0
Puzznic	$10
Q*Bert	$7
Qix	$22
R.C. Pro-Am II	$43
R.C. Pro-Am Racing	$5
Race America	$23
Racket Attack	$3
Rad Racer	$2
Rad Racer II	$5
Raid on Bungeling Bay	$5
Rainbow Islands	$35
Rally Bike	$7
Rambo	$6
Rampage	$7
Rampart	$12
RBI Baseball (Tengen Licensed Only)	$4
RBI Baseball (Tengen Licensed/Unlicensed)	$5
RBI Baseball 2 (Tengen)	$6
RBI Baseball 3 (Tengen)	$8
Remote Control	$4
Ren & Stimpy Show: Buckaroo$, The	$11
Renegade	$4
Rescue: The Embassy Mission	$3
Ring King	$6
River City Ransom	$21
Road Runner (Tengen)	$7
RoadBlasters	$3
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves	$4
RoboCop	$3
RoboCop 2	$10
RoboCop 3	$11
Robowarrior	$4
Rock 'n Ball	$4
Rocket Ranger	$3
Rocketeer, The	$5
Rockin' Kats	$21
Roger Clemens' MVP Baseball	$3
Rollerball	$3
Rollerblade Racer	$9
Rollergames	$4
Rolling Thunder (Tengen)	$4
Romance of the Three Kingdoms	$9
Romance of the Three Kingdoms II	$31
Roundball: 2 on 2 Challenge	$6
Rush 'n Attack	$5
Rygar	$6
S.C.A.T.: Special Cybernetic Attack Team	$22
Section Z	$4
Seicross	$3
Sesame Street: 123	$6
Sesame Street: ABC	$5
Sesame Street: ABC/123	$8
Sesame Street: Big Bird's Hide & Speak	$4
Sesame Street: Countdown	$9
Shadow of the Ninja	$10
Shadowgate	$7
Shatterhand	$10
Shingen the Ruler	$6
Shinobi (Tengen)	$8
Shooting Range	$7
Short Order/Eggsplode	$9
Side Pocket	$4
Silent Service	$2
Silkworm	$8
Silver Surfer	$9
Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants, The	$5
Simpsons: Bart vs. the World, The	$7
Simpsons: Bartman Meets Radioactive Man, The	$8
Skate Or Die	$4
Skate Or Die 2	$7
Ski Or Die	$8
Skull and Crossbones (Tengen)	$6
Sky Kid	$5
Sky Shark	$4
Slalom	$4
Smash T.V.	$6
Snake Rattle 'n Roll	$5
Snake's Revenge: Metal Gear II	$12
Snoopy's Silly Sports Spectacular	$6
Snow Brothers	$80
Soccer	$4
Solar Jetman: Hunt for the Golden Warship	$3
Solomon's Key	$6
Solstice	$4
Space Shuttle Project	$8
Spelunker	$6
Spider-Man: Return of the Sinister Six	$9
Spot	$4
Spy Hunter	$5
Spy vs. Spy	$6
Sqoon	$19
Stack-Up	$47
Stadium Events	$466
Stanley and the Search for Dr. Livingston	$12
Star Force	$5
Star Soldier	$4
Star Trek	$13
Star Trek: The Next Generation	$22
Star Voyager	$4
Star Wars	$13
Starship Hector	$5
StarTropics	$7
Stealth ATF	$4
Stinger	$4
Street Cop	$21
Street Fighter 2010: The Final Fight	$5
Strider	$6
Super C	$13
Super Cars	$14
Super Dodge Ball	$11
Super Glove Ball	$3
Super Jeopardy!	$5
Super Mario Bros.	$12
Super Mario Bros. 2	$10
Super Mario Bros. 3	$8
Super Pitfall	$6
Super Spike V'Ball	$4
Super Sprint (Tengen)	$4
Super Spy Hunter	$9
Super Team Games	$4
Superman	$11
Swamp Thing	$23
Sword Master	$37
Swords and Serpents	$4
Taboo: The Sixth Sense	$3
Tag Team Wrestling	$3
Tale Spin	$9
Target: Renegade	$4
Tecmo Baseball	$3
Tecmo Bowl	$5
Tecmo NBA Basketball	$5
Tecmo Super Bowl	$13
Tecmo World Cup Soccer	$0
Tecmo World Wrestling Tecmo	$3
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles	$2
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game	$7
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project	$12
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters	$0
Tennis	$5
Terminator 2: Judgment Day	$4
Terminator, The	$7
Terra Cresta	$12
Tetris	$3
Tetris (Tengen)	$39
Tetris 2	$10
Three Stooges, The	$5
Thunder & Lightning	$11
Thunderbirds	$7
Thundercade	$4
Tiger-Heli	$2
Time Lord	$4
Times of Lore	$23
Tiny Toon Adventures	$6
Tiny Toon Adventures 2: Trouble in Wackyland	$8
Tiny Toon Adventures Cartoon Workshop	$7
To the Earth	$5
Toki	$24
Tom & Jerry	$7
Tombs & Treasure	$12
Toobin' (Tengen)	$10
Top Gun	$2
Top Gun: The Second Mission	$4
Total Recall	$3
Totally Rad	$6
Touchdown Fever	$7
Town & Country II: Thrilla's Surfari	$0
Town & Country Surf Designs	$4
Toxic Crusaders	$11
Track & Field	$6
Track & Field II	$4
Treasure Master	$7
Trog	$6
Trojan	$4
Twin Cobra	$5
Twin Eagle	$4
Ultima: Exodus	$9
Ultima: Quest of the Avatar	$13
Ultima: Warriors of Destiny	$32
Ultimate Air Combat	$27
Ultimate Basketball	$3
Uncharted Waters	$34
Uninvited	$33
Untouchables, The	$10
Urban Champion	$4
Vegas Dream	$3
Vice: Project Doom	$5
Videomation	$3
Vindicators (Tengen)	$3
Volleyball	$3
Wacky Races	$30
Wall Street Kid	$4
Wally Bear and the NO! Gang	$24
Wario's Woods	$17
Wayne Gretzky Hockey	$5
Wayne's World	$38
Werewolf: The Last Warrior	$6
Wheel of Fortune	$3
Wheel of Fortune Family Edition	$3
Wheel of Fortune Junior Edition	$3
Wheel of Fortune: Featuring Vanna White	$8
Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?	$8
Where's Waldo?	$5
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?	$6
Whomp 'Em	$9
Widget	$8
Wild Gunman	$14
Willow	$6
Win, Lose, or Draw	$3
Winter Games	$3
Wizardry II: The Knight of Diamonds	$18
Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord	$6
Wizards and Warriors	$4
Wizards and Warriors III	$16
Wolverine	$9
World Champ	$16
World Championship Wrestling	$5
World Class Track Meet	$3
World Games	$6
Wrath of the Black Manta	$3
Wrecking Crew	$8
Wurm: Journey To The Center Of The Earth	$8
WWF King of the Ring	$14
WWF WrestleMania	$3
WWF WrestleMania Challenge	$3
WWF WrestleMania: Steel Cage Challenge	$4
Xenophobe	$3
Xevious	$3
Xexyz	$4
Yo! Noid	$6
Yoshi	$7
Yoshi's Cookie	$6
Zanac	$6
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link	$11
Zen: Intergalactic Ninja	$15
Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II	$8
Zombie Nation	$39

Twin Cobra

2009-11-17T22:27:00.000-08:00

Three "top-down" helicopter games easily come to mind when thinking about the Nintendo: Tiger Heli, Twin Cobra, and Twin Eagle.

Unfortunately Tiger Heli and Twin Eagle leave a lot to be desired. It's kinda funny how all three (and Cobra Command) all feature an animal in the title.

The Bubble Bobble I Did Not Want

2009-11-17T18:44:00.000-08:00

It was bound to happen sooner or later. The VideoGamePriceGuide.Com had finally prevailed and provided a reasonably inexpensive Bubble Bobble for Nintendo" $5.01. Throw in $3.71 for shipping and you have a copy of Bubble Bobble. Except...

I don't need a copy of Bubble Bobble. I alread have one, that I received for a reasonable price (though not as cheap as this one.) Unfortunately the winning bid was placed on the eBay mobile site and I could not see that there was writing on the game. I don't know who Kathy Higgins is but if you're reading this: thank you for not writing your name on the label!

I've established how to clean Nintendo Games before so permanent marker on a label is no match for a dry-erase one. The real challenge will be to get rid of the damn thing.

A Data East Collection

2009-11-17T16:40:00.000-08:00

I had mentioned in an earlier post about a recent PedroGames.Com spending spree. This was mostly specific to Data East games. Data East was an incredible publisher. Burgertime doesn't require any further explaination (http://www.salzmafia.com/labels/burgertime.php) But what about the other gems? There are plenty, and these are three I received:

The first was Heavy Barrel which I already spoke about here. There are similiarities between it and Shock Troopers for sure, but my interest in Heavy Barrel actually stems from an entirely different game: Time Soldiers by SNK. Time Soldiers had a neat plot: Your comrades were sent back to time, so you need to go back and rescue them. The problem is you warp right into a battle field of the respective era. WW2, Ancient Rome, even some weird caveman battle with spears. Neat stuff. It's kinda like Ikari Warriors meets Time Pilot.

Time Soldiers allowed you to administer Vigilante Justice on a dinosaur

Next was Side Pocket. Billiards video games are cool for one very specific reason: They are timeless. Think about it... has Pool changed much in say the last 10 years? 25 years? 50 years? It's still the same game! So a Pool video game manufactured in the mid-80's is going to be just as relevant as the same game manufactured to day. Perhaps the fancy pants processor in the PS3 or X-Box can render a cueball to look --OMG- so REAL!

Kinda hard to improve perfection...

Last but not least, Ring King. There wasn't many boxing games for the NES, and most people will either remember PunchOut!! or Ring King. Ring King is something that just has to be experienced. The between round perversion was awesome, and for Data East (or perhaps Namco) to spit in the eye of Nintendo and release such a spectacle is pretty cool (Don't know what I'm talking about? Look it up!). But what I think is neat about this game is the audience and the announcers. Most sports games from this era had terrible sterile audiences where it was the same head over and over. In this game there is some variety to it. And the announcers are extremely animated between rounds (probably outraged over the perversion hinted at above.)

New Features For VideoGamePriceGuides.Com

2009-11-17T16:05:00.000-08:00

There is a whole bunch of new features coming to VideoGamePriceGuides.Com. As mentioned in an earlier post eBay is changing the way data is pulled for sites such as the video game price guide. As such, I've started to rebuild the system that pulls that data.

This has led to a couple new features. For example, you will be able to limit the list to auctions or BuyItNow only items. You can filter out only Free Shipping items and you will be able to see up to 100 pages of items instead of the 6 that the original site allowed. You can still sort by Ending Soonest, or by Newly Listed.

Some of the other great features will still be there. The Google calendar reminder will still be there, as will the YouTube videos. The flames that indicate an auction is ending: within the hour and the two men arguing over a price to indicate a BestOffer item will still be there as well:

There are few other features coming as well including the Seller's name and a possible count of additional items they have available as well. We're also looking to make BestOffer auctions a delimiter (or filter) as well.

Although the changes are not fully operational you can use most of them.... right no! However, they are currently only available on the Nintendo NES price guide. Simply go to that portion of the site (http://www.videogamepriceguides.com/nintendo/) and notice the periods after the names of each of the games. The name of the game will take you to the legacy VGPG.Com site, and the period will take you to the new system.

The Joys Of Owning A Table

2009-11-14T13:17:00.000-08:00

For the past several month all of my game play has been conducted from the discomfort of the floor. In preparation for my Spelunker adventure I decided that a table would be a must! Only 11 more days unti the adventure begins!

Heavy Barrel

2009-11-13T00:57:00.000-08:00

I recently had another spending spree with http://www.pedrogames.com/. This time I concentrated on Data East titles. I'll have post about that later, but one of the games I purchased was Heavy Barrel for Nintendo...

I don't ever recall seeing this game in the arcade, though I've always known one existed. My prior experience with Heavy Barrel was the DOS version which sucked terribly. But the Nintendo version is just dandy.

Heavy Barrel isn't the first angled-top-down war game. Ikari Warriors and Guerrila war (and even Commando) had pretty much perfected the genre. But Heavy Barrel is unique to me because it resembles the NeoGeo game "Shock Troopers". Take a look and decide for yourself:

Commando Nintendo

2009-11-11T23:32:00.000-08:00

If there was ever a game that fueled the imagination of a kid playing war then Commando would have to be it.

In the past ten years first person shooters have become gravely popular. In the past five or so years a handful of war themed FPSs have came out and have been hugely popular... Call of Duty and Socom easily come to mind. Those games are pretty accurate in what a battlefield could feel like. They don't necessarily glorify war but it's presented in a way that is meant to be realistic.

Thank God for that! Can you imagine if war was like Commando? I played for no more than ten minutes this evening and counted more than 200 kills!

I'll never forget the first time I saw Commando in the arcade. Mid-80's. Grocery Store. Inserted Quarter and pressed 1up. Suddenly the grocery store started to rumble as the helicopter from the game floated up the screen. What kind of sick operator cranked the volume up to max? I was embarrassed but I'd be damn to let the opposing army take my quarter without a fight.

Super Joe lept from the chopper and waved it good-bye and I started my shock and awe campaign against the no-name grey army. I didn't care that the politics in the region escalated into this all out war. The thoughts of returning home and being called a baby killer and being spat on never crossed my mind either. My mission was to kill, and that quarter was part of my allowance! I'm paying for this battle and I was ready to get my money's worth!

Unlimited bullets! Grenades picked up from the battlefield! It was the only two weapons a true soldier needed -unlike the heroes of Socom and Call of Duty!

The battle didn't last long and America lost three of it's finest in a span of about two minutes. I'll never forget those palm trees that waved under the windy blades of my chopper or that jerk that kept firing mortars. Or that nice man I rescued.

Commando reminds me of army men, in an army world; a life of plastic, it's so fantastic. I can kill a guy or make grenades fly... Uh... yeah... those are the lyrics to the Army Man Credo...or Barbie Girl... or something. Nevermind I'm going to bed.

The End Of VideoGamePriceGuides.Com?

2009-11-11T18:09:00.000-08:00

When researching the implementation of a new feature for http://www.videogamepriceguides.com/ it was brought to my attention that eBay is changing the way searches are done on the backend. The notice was vague indicating the specific feature I currently use to pull items for the price guide is going away July 1st, 2010.

So what does this mean for VGPG.Com? Is it going away?

Yes... at least the way you see it now. I haven't read through all of the documentation available from eBay and although it seems many of the search features will be still be available... they will just be available differently. This isn't necessarily a bad thing but finding the time to rebuild everything is going to be difficult.

There is one positive note to this... with this change over being 9 months away I'll have the opportunity to re-code everything, and to re-code it in a way that will make more sense to me. The original code was a mashup I had found from a variety of sites, and although it works and works well it is not documented in any reasonable format, and thus adding features can sometimes be a pain.

Anyways I'll start pecking away at the new version as my time permits, but will not be adding any new features to the existing price guide, nor will I make changes or corrections to the database until the version is functionally implemented.

The Legend Of Kage

2009-11-09T21:47:00.000-08:00

Ahhh... The Legend Of Kage... don't you dare pronounce it as The Legend Of "Cage" because you'd be wrong. Dead wrong. Its "Kah-gay". This is kinda like a cross between Ninja Spirit and Kung-fu, though I believe Ninja Spirit came out a few years later.

Most people wouldn't recognize this game and I believe "The Legend of Zelda" robbed this game of any chance of glory. The two would sit side-by-side on a store shelf because... well... alphabetically they come next to each other. And who would want this Kage game when it sits next to a gold cart anyways?

The box-art features that cool yellow to green to red fade that Taito used for a handful of games including Elevator Action and Arkanoid. But then you have some yutz with a princess in an embrace!

Actually Kage is pretty cool. It uses a full palette of colors with earth tones that create a misty and mysterious feel to the game. Throw stars and swing a sword while leaping from tree to tree ala Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. Kill opposing Ninjas and Monks!

The music has a neat Asian twang to it which helps set the mood and reminds you of Kung Fu movies. There is none of the techno you'd find in games like Ninja Gaiden.

If anything Kage lives up to the hyperbole of being a legend. It certainly has an arcade fel to it that only Taito could pull off.

Spelunker HD

2009-11-08T16:49:00.000-08:00

As my Big Spelunker Adventure approaches, I happened upon a video of the PSN remake:

Which is kinda ironic considering my original rant complained about DLC and Firmware Updates, and basically the essence of the PSN...

Video Game Price Guide From 1990

2009-11-07T22:57:00.000-08:00

If you click this photo you can see it full sized. It's a scan from Gamepro Magazine Issue 6, Feburary 1990. Its for 1-800-Toy-Club. This interested me simply because it was a primitive form of a video game price guide. Some of the games are ridiculously overpriced, even for the time, but what's really interesting is that it shows what they sell a game for new, used, and what they are willing to buy a game from you for. I spent a few weeks looking for this ad, but there is actually a "newer" one probably six months newer than this that had ridiculous prices for Ms. Pac-Man, and Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

Gaming Traditions

2009-11-03T22:39:00.000-08:00

Traditions are important. Throughout history they have remained one of the defining differences between humans and animals. Animals have instincts and reactionary habits which are necessary for their survival. If anything, the importance of tradition to humans isn't necessarily the act of a tradition but rather the rememberence of an event, a way to preserve history without writing it down.

Thanksgiving is an excellent example of this. It's not necessary for the survival of humans but every year millions of Americans fulfill their holiday traditions. I have a Thanksgiving tradition, it involves watching Rambo the night before.

This year I am breaking tradition. I am in desperate need for an escape to simpler times...

Ever looked at a PS3 Dual Shock 3 controller? Up, down, left, right, triangle, square, circle, x, l1, l2, l3, r1, r2, r3, analog left, analog right, select, start, ps button, pressure sensitive, motion control... I doubt the space shuttle has this many buttons.

My holiday escape will be in the dark caverns of Nintendo Spelunker. I ranted about the game before and have decided it will serve as the perfect platform to escape with. I plan to go deep into the bowels of the earth and retrieve riches. I plan to start late in the evening and continue until I complete the game or the sun rises... whichever comes first. I won't be playing through the whole night though. I plan to take breaks and to snack and sleep during my journey. I don't plan on having a spiritual moment like some people allege occurs after marathon gaming, but if in the rare chance one does happen I'll be sure to blog about it!

River City Ransom, Pacman, Punchout!!

2009-11-02T20:10:00.000-08:00

The Video Game Price Guide pulled through with an epic win this evening! Licensed Pac-Man, Punchout!! Featuring Mr. Dream, and River City Ransom! In the last 7 seconds of the auction I pulled through with a grand total price with shipping for $16.50. KABLAMMO!

As of this evening licensed Tengen Pacman is going for $5.50, Punchout!! is going for $9, and River City Ransom, which is the bread and butter of this auction is currently going for $20 on average (currently there is a buy it now for about $15 after shipping).

I already have another copy of Punchout!! that is supposed to ship this coming wednesday. I guess I'll just have to trade it up for something else...

Funny Ustream Advertisement Spy Hunter

2009-11-01T14:19:00.000-08:00

Recently I streamed and recorded some Spy Hunter footage for the NES. With Ustream.TV, they generate revenue based on contextual ads. Contextual you say? Yes, contextual. Apparently the ads it shows are based on the the next in the chatroom as I have seen it where if someone for example complains about stomach pains suddenly there will be an ad for stomach medication.

Well, recently I played back the Spy Hunter footage and got a nifty ad for an Accident Lawyer!

Nintendo Gauntlet

2009-10-29T08:30:00.000-07:00

I finally received Licensed Gauntlet for Nintendo today. And like most games I receive I try to disect what the programmers were thinking when they make a game. Gauntlet for Nintendo is unique. Anyone who has played it knows the screen can fill up with enemies really fast. And when I say fill I seriously mean fill! On some stages it seems there is an enemy in every space of the screen!

This got me to thinking... why isn't there crazy amounts of slow down in this game? You consider a game like Super Mario Bros. or Bubble Bobble and if you have more than three or four enemies on the screen you'll either suffer crazy slow down or flicker.

I know why this happens in those games... with more enemies on the screen the Nintendo has to draw more sprites. The system can slow down or the sprites can be drawn less frequently (causing flicker) to keep the game moving. both of those options suck.

So why is it that Gauntlet can have a screen full of enemies and no slow down and no flicker? The answer is pretty unique. Now before I go explaining it I may have my terminology wrong, and if I do feel free to correct me in the comments.

The enemies in Nintendo Gauntlet are not sprites. Instead, they are part of the background! Huh? Consider Super Mario Bros. for a moment. Mario and the enemies move around on the screen on top of a static background that does not change. For each frame of animation the Nintendo draws the curent background and then the enemies and Mario are drawn on top of it. Once the picture is finished it is then displayed on the screen. I believe its called a "frame buffer". If the Nintendo didn't do this our eyes would literally see the sprites get drawn on the screen and the background drawn on top then the sprite drawn on top and repeating over and over and over (I believe this is referred to as "tearing"). The frame buffer prevents this but the system is still limited in the number of sprites it can draw before slow down and flickering occur.

Since the background is drawn once for each frame of animation the programmers were smart enough to make the enemies drawn as part of the background. This would mean that there would never be slow down or flicker associated with it no matter how many enemies are on the screen. Whether it was drawing a ghost or just a floor tile it would take the NES the same amount of time to draw it.

When watching the game this makes perfect sense. The enemies do not move smoothly. Instead they move around in a kind of choppy fashion. The backround is composed of "tiles" and they each have a fixed position. The enemies move in all directions at the same distance of the width of the fixed title. So instead of drawing a sprite for each of the enemies, the programmers are having the background tiles drawn to look like the ghosts, orcs, etc.

There is one exception to this rule: Death. Death moves smoothly like your avatar does. So Death is a sprite and not a background.

I wouldn't be surprised if other games used this same technique. Late in the life of the NES there were some incredible games that seemingly did not have slow down or flicker, and its quite possible this technique is what over came the hardware limitations.

Free Nintendo Game Giveaway

2009-10-27T13:30:00.000-07:00

Remember this? It was a special label I made for Nintendo Golf! You might recall that I planned to give it away at http://www.videogamepriceguides.com/ but life happened and I wasn't able to. But now I am.

So how can you win this special edition of Golf? Very carefully:

Leave a comment on this post with a link to your personal website, blog, Facebook, Page, Twitter Page, etc. Or send an email to agent@videogamepriceguides.com

It's that simple. I'll pick a random winner from the entries that are provided. The last day to post will be November 30th, and I'll pick the winner on December 5th 2009. You don't need to mention my site on yours either (but if you did it would be cool!)

Anyways, you can learn more about this label by following the thread of posts here: http://www.salzmafia.com/labels/nintendo%20golf.php

PedroGames.Com And 72-pin Edge Connectors for NES

2009-10-27T09:25:00.000-07:00

Those ten Nintendo games I won from eBay from pedrogames.com arrived yesterday. I ordered them on Thursday evening, received the Invoice and paid for them Friday morning, and received them yesterday on Monday. I'm not sure if pedrogames.com is in cahoots with the Postal Service, or if the Postal Service is just suddenly efficient because I also received Hook for Nintendo from another seller as well, with the same circumstance. Though his game came from Missouri and not North Carolina. In either case, it was a reasonable turn around time for both. (I also have Licensed Gauntlet (in the grey cart) on it's way as well.)

I should also be receiving the Nintendo 72-pin edge connectors soon (I am not receiving them from Pedrogames.com as the title of this post might lead one to believe). I've a handful of NES's that could desperately use them and the method to fix them is pretty well known on the web so I'm not going to post instructions or anything about that here. I do want to point out that one of the systems I'll be fixing with the edge connector came from a thirft store for $5. The NES itself looks like junk. It's filthy and there is an ugly "chip" on one of the corners in the front. But, a new 72-pin edge connector, and some Windex should clean it up nicely.

I also have plans to restore an NES controller that has been abused by years of cigarette smoke back to it's original grey color. I was at a thrift store recently where I saw alot of controllers where the buttons were tight and felt great, but the controller itself was deplorable. The scratches were pretty bad but the yellowing... SHESH.. Anyways, if I can restore one (and I do have a plan for this) then I might start buying messed up controllers to see how many can be restored to a reasonable condition. Funny... the thrift store that had these wanted $2.99 a piece, yet about two years ago I bought a BRAND NEW Nintendo controller from there for 25 cents.

Pedrogames.Com Spending Spree

2009-10-26T17:49:00.000-07:00

This past Friday was celebrated with another pedrogames.com spending spree. There were a handful a games with this purchase including Terminator 2, Total Recall, Spelunker, Tiger Heli, Mickey Mousecapade, Volley Ball, Mad Max, Spy Hunter, Dig Dug 2, and Touchdown Fever.

With the purchase of Touchdown Fever, there will be only two games left for me to complete the SNK collection: Lee Trevino's Fighting Golf and Little League Baseball. Little League wasn't appearing on the video game price guides site, but I fixed it, along with a bunch of other issues effecting the Nintendo list as I had mentioned in a previous post (plus the addition of the Tengen games).

VideoGamePriceGuides: Dreamcast Priceguide and Gameboy Priceguide

2009-10-26T13:13:00.000-07:00

Today I've added the SEGA Dreamcast price guide and the Nintendo Gameboy price guide. The SEGA Dreamcast guide looks pretty accurate. There are alot of games that are obscure to me (which would probably be expected since I've never owned a Dreamcast). The Nintendo Gameboy list is huge. It contains the original Gameboy games and Gameboy color.

There are few more price guides I hope to add over the next couple days including Nintendo Gamecube, Colecovision and possibly PSP.

Tengen Nintendo Games

2009-10-25T19:59:00.000-07:00

Well, today was a busy day for http://www.videogamepriceguides.com/ . In addition to adding the Nintendo Wii price guide, I had also added the Tengen games (licensed and not) to the Nintendo price guide.

I was hesitant to include them originally, but I had recently added Mike Tyson's Punchout!! which wasn't part of the original list (it isn't officially recognized by Nintendo on http://www.nintendo.com/). I included this because it was, at one point in time, an officially licensed Nintendo game. Simply because Nintendo moved on doesn't mean the game never existed, thus I included.

This would also mean I'd have to include the Licensed Tengen games as well. Pacman, Gauntlet, and RBI Baseball were all licensed at one point in time. Simply because Tengen and Nintendo had some bad blood doesn't mean they shouldn't be included. Besides, it's not like the games were terrible. The truth is that the majority of the Tengen games were way better then some licensed titles. Many people praise Tengen Tetris for allegedly being superior to the Nintendo version.

Also alot of the Nintendo games were corrected. In case you never noticed, any game that had an apostrophe in the title wouldn't appear. It would show as "0" available. Well, this has finally been corrected!

VideoGamePriceGuides.Com: Wii Price Guide

2009-10-25T12:55:00.000-07:00

I've added the price guide for Nintendo Wii to the videogamepriceguides.com website. You can also visit it using the link near the top of this page.

The list of games was lifted from Wikipedia, and its possible that there might be some omissions, and some games that are listed even thought they have not been released in stores.

Section Z

2009-10-21T22:36:00.000-07:00

As you start to collect more and more videogames and really start to understand themes from particular publishers it's easy to understand where certain inspirations come from.

Take for example Section Z for Nintendo. This was, at one time, a very popular game. So much so it was mentioned on an episode of Oprah- NO LIE! But I'll get to that here in a minute.

Anyways both Section Z and Side Arms are developed by Capcom. Both have a similar feel to them although Side Arms had more depth to the game. So it begs the question... did one game inspire the other or vice versa? Could it be that Side Arms was the brain child from the creator of Section Z? Maybe the NES wasn't technically powerful enough to realize the full vision of Side Arms and Section Z was the best the developers could do? If I were to look at the copyrights of the games I could probably solve this mystery... ok ok ok. Enough is enough. What was the scoop on Oprah and Section Z?

In either late 1989 or 1990 the Oprah Winfrey show featured an episode on videogame addiction. The episode being two decades old kinda leaves my memory foggy but I remember a father who Alan Jackson reminds me of complaining about how his wife or kids unplugged Section Z as he was nearing the end of the game. I don't remember if the wife had a shiner or if the kids were turned over to the state, but what ever indignity this man indured by his family pales in comparison to the embarrassment this clown had to feel moaning about his precious Section Z to Oprah. What a loser!

Collecting Videogames For The First Time

2009-10-20T22:41:00.000-07:00

Next year is 2010. Which reminded me of the movie 2010 which is a sequel to 2001. The 2010 movie spawned a game 2010 for Colecovision. It was the first used game I bought... ever! The year would have been 1988. My mom would take my sister and I to an open air swapmeet here in Las Vegas called Broadacres.

Back then Nintendo was popular and me, being a poor kid, could easily afford used Colecovision games because no one played them. To this day I remember buying the game. The vendor had two rows of games. $5 each. I bought it and... well... the game kinda sucked.

Fixing circuits before crashing into the sun is boring. Though trying a new game... that wasn't boring. That was priceless. There was a challenge all to its own... trying to figure a game as obtuse as 2010 without a manual.

Many used Colecovision games would follow: Popeye. Ladybug. Frontline. Carnival. Each were a conquered quest of ownership all to its own. When ownership of my first Nintendo finally game on December 9th 1990 my Coleco and her games were silently put out to pasture.

Platoon Nintendo

2009-10-19T20:52:00.000-07:00

I played Platoon on Nintendo the other night. I hadn't touched it in 19 years. I don't think anyone else on Earth has either. That's not to say it's a terrible game because it's not, but there are definitely some rough edges.

Loosely based on the Movie, you work across four levels to eventually escape the jungles of Vietnam. In the first level you need to find explosives and blow up a bridge. Then you rob the villagers of their supplies and start level two underground. There you play a mini First Person shooter game.. it's very primitive to group it in that category but I don't know how else to describe it. After escaping the tunnel you find yourself in a bunker shooting away at ghostly black images that creep up on you slowly. Nice concept and the music fits nice.

And finally with the fourth level you are on the clock. A Vietcong shoots at you and you travel through the jungle and escape. You have a compass but I don't remember if it matters which way you go. It probably does, but after two attempts it was game over for me.

With the exception of Vietnam, this game doesn't resemble the movie much. Label it as something else and no one would probably make the connection that it was based (or inspired) by the movie. But this might be a good thing since most videogames to movies and movies to videogames suck.

The game does have two redeeming features. The first is the music. It's actually very good and sets a mood that would have been difficult to tolerate considering the theme of the game. The second is the graphics. Though the animations could be better the lush jungle and opening cut scene was done very well.

VideoGamePriceGuide.Com New Feature: Sort By Ending Soonest

2009-10-18T20:36:00.000-07:00

Sometimes when using the http://www.videogamepriceguide.com/ it can be difficult to know what auctions are ending soonest. Sure, I've already implemented a feature that shows those that are ending in an hour with some cool flames, but what about the ones that are ending later today, tomorrow, or on payday? To make things easier I've included a sort by ending soonest link.

This is a soft-launch and the feature is only available on the Nintendo Game Price guide here: www.videogamepriceguides.com/nintendo

Once all the bugs are out I'll include it on all of the game pages.

Burgertime Movie

2009-10-13T22:54:00.000-07:00

Is there a Burgertime movie? Not that I know of. Is there a movie about Burgertime? Yes... sorta. Over this past year I've come to realize that Burgertime is much more than a game. It's a piece of art. It's an enigma. It represents qualities that are no longer found in games. Could you imagine Burgertime as a first person shooter? Today's youth wouldn't understand it. I'm willing to bet many teenagers would dismiss it as stupid. But despite having only six screens three enemies and one weapon it contains a depth that rivals any game you can play today.

Take for example Metal Gear Solid. Four games, and three of which I completed in less than a week and never touched since. Lets dissect MGS for a moment. The story starts out like this... oh... wait a minute. There's the problem right there: a story. We're talking videoGAMES right? Seems to me that the word STORY doesn't fit well with a game... I mean think about it... what's the plot behind tic tac toe? Poker? Baseball? Football? Chess? Is there some salacious plot behind bowling?

That's not to say games with a story are not entertaining... they are, but the are more story than game. Many games are not particularly challenging nowendays because they are bound to a story. The game needs to be easy enough so that the purchaser can complete the game and finish the story.

If you consider the plot to any early 80's videogame my point becomes clear. Donkey Kong: avoid obstacles to rescue your girl friend. Pac-man: eat dots and avoid ghosts. Paperboy: Deliver papers and avoid obstacles. Now consider current games. Metal Gear: Destroy Metal Gear located on Shadow Moses Island which has been taken over by terrorists. Collect weapons and rations and interact with people through cutscenes. PS if you die don't worry about it. Just continue. Grand Theft Auto: Steal cars go on missions attack people watch cut screens count your money avoid cops. PS if you die just continue. Neither of these games sound like videogames... they sound like videoWORK! If you go to a job everyday and you mess it up you get fired then find another job and repeat (continue). Isn't that work?

So a game like Burgertime is not work. If you play chess and you mess up it could mean game over and if you throw a gutter ball you're not gonna score 300 and if its the bottom of the 9th or final seconds of the forth quarter and you lose... you are done. There are no continues.

So anyways the story of Burgertime needs to be told, and what better way to tell it than through a movie? More details coming soon...

Nintendo Screw Driver

2009-10-10T19:09:00.000-07:00

I made another bit to open Nintendo carts with. All you need is an old thin straight slot screw driver bit and the use of a Dremel or other rotary tool with a cutting blade. Cut a gouge into center of the bit about 1/8th an inch. Then working from the center out slowly cut away the center. Eventually the bit will open enough to wrap around the screw. Sometimes though the bit is too thick to fit into the tiny grooves of the screw. If this is the case sharpen the points until they do fit.

What will I do with the extra bit? Probably throw it away. Oh well.

Broken Arcade Machine

2009-10-09T13:23:00.000-07:00

I'd like to believe that with the move over I have less to worry about. But the truth is that my mind is clouded with so many stressful things that the move should have been a welcomed distraction. Unfortunately it was not.

All of the games and machines survived except for the iCade 60-in-one. It unfortunately suffered heavy injuries. The foam bezel was destroyed. And the sheet metal header... disappeared. I'm not quite sure what happened to either, but both it and the Pac-Man cocktail are now safe and sound.

Discounted Nintendo Games: Update 1

2009-09-27T20:18:00.000-07:00

Earlier I posted about an eBay experiement to win some discounted Nintendo games... so what were the results? Well Battletoads had a counter offer of $10. Maniac Mansion's offer was declined. I never heard back on Thunder and Lighting or Clu Clu Land.

Ducktales was accepted, as was 1943, which I didn't mentioned in the original post. Each were accepted for a total of 4.99 a piece (including shipping!)

This is good news as it would mean that 20% of the games offered at $4.99 were accepted. It could just be a foluke, I don't have a large enough data sample to conclude this... but it is encouraging. So lets try it again...!

eBay Luck

2009-09-26T18:51:00.000-07:00

Well it seems that my eBay experiment resulted in crazy results... so what exactly did I win? Hmm find out soon.

Discounted Nintendo Games

2009-09-26T00:43:00.000-07:00

Several months back after I added the "Make As Offer" icon to http://www.videogamepriceguides.com/ I had a wild idea of making ridiculously low offers on a bunch of games to see what kind of return or response I would get.

To do this experiment I've decided on the following rules:

The Nintendo game must have an average price of $5.00 or more
Shipping for the game must not be more than 3.99
There must be 25 copies or more available
The seller must have a rating of 98.5% or better
No offer will be for more than $1 unless the price with shipping is less than $4.99
The game must be located in the 48 states

Anyways, I don't have the worlds largest budget so I'm going to limit this experiment to five games only. The ones I've picked are as follows:

Game #1: Battletoads... averages about $10. Shipping is free, so I'm offering $4.99
Game #2: Thunder & Lightning... averages about $11. Shipping is $2.92 so I'm offering $2.07
Game #3: Duck Tales... averages about $11. Shipping is $1.90 so I'm offering $3.09
Game #4: Clu Clu Land... averages about $12. Shipping is $3.00 so I'm offering $1.99
Game #5: Maniac Mansion... averages about $12. Shipping is free, so I'm offering $4.99

Best offers can run on for 48 hours. I'll post an update after all five offers expire...

Burgertime Level 2 Grouping

2009-09-25T21:22:00.000-07:00

Below are instructions on how to get a tight grouping on level 2 of Burgertime for Nintendo. A couple things to keep in mind: 1.) Do not attempt this grouping on a full stomach (you'll learn why later.) 2.) As soon as the level starts you need to start walking so already be pressing up when you complete level 1. As you follow the path do not hesitate or pause, the timing needs to be perfect! Do not stop moving until you get to the yellow dot in the 2nd screen shot below.

Begin by pressing up then going left as shown below. Go down then cut across to the right. Start running up the ladder. When you get to that platform with the lettuce, go right and be ready to go up the blue ladder that will be to your right... It will look like you will be killed by a hotdog that will be running up to the same platform you are standing on. If your timing is perfect, and you have not hesitated he will not kill you. The top of his head will touch your feet, but just keep pressing up and you will be ok. Again, make sure you have not had a full stomach before attempting this grouping because that hotdog will make you pollute your underwear...

Once at the top run to the right then go all the way down. Now before you start running to the left there will be a hotdog and an egg on the same platform getting ready to run up that blue ladder.. the same blue ladder you started to run up at the begining of this screen shot... Follow the pattern going down the green ladder, across half of the cheese, then down the blue ladder in the middle of the screen. Once you get to the platform with the two bottom buns walk to the left and stand between the green and blue ladder (indicated by the yellow dot.)

Wait here, and a group of hot dogs and an egg will come down the ladders and follow the yellow arrow. There will be one hotdog that will be lagging a little behind. Wait for the precise moment where he gets down the blue ladder and starts to walk to the left... that is your cue to run up the blue ladder (indicated in red) face down and pepper those bitches. You'll need at least 3 (three) peppers to group them. Once grouped have them follow you on to the lettuce and the'll be grouped. I'll post a video when I have time.

How To Clean A Nintendo Game Part 2

2009-09-25T18:47:00.000-07:00

I mentioned in an earlier post about cleaning NES games that the best thing to do is to open the cartridge and use a pencil eraser on the contacts. I don't advocate any type of actual cleaner, and using brasso on a video game is bad because brasso contains an acid.

So what happens when you get a game where there is oxidation on the contacts? Well, first of all what exactly is oxidation? It's basically rust. It happens when an electron is lost between two elements. It can actually happen to many different things, and not just metal.

Oxidation in a cartridge can only come from two places... the first is from people blowing into the cartridge. Your saliva is wet and it's gonna ruin the contacts. The other is simply from living in an extremely humid environment. It could be because you simply live somewhere humid, or your home is humid such as from a swamp or evaporation cooler. It would take a few years of this exposure to actually show the oxidation, but since Nintendo games are around two decades old its a common problem to find.

So how do we fix it? Well with my cheap Terra Cresta I received I had to resort to desperate measures. The contacts were oxidized... BADLY! One of the worst I had ever seen. So rather than sand it off with a nail file like I've seen elsewhere, I chose to resort to a modification of a tactic I mentioned earlier about cleaning labels. Your Thumb! It is one of the most abrasive things in the world (as is all of your fingerprints) They are constantly being regenerated, and for the purposes of cleaning a cartridge.. well if it doesn't hurt your finger it probably won't hurt your cartridge.

All you need to do is open the cartridge. Take the board out and set it somewhere. Pour some Comet or Ajax cleaner into a cup or on a paper plate. Next, wet your thumb under the sink. It needs to be wet, but not dripping. The moisture is only to make the cleanser stick to your finger. The moisture is not meant to "clean" the cartridge it simply acts as a "glue" to make the abrasive powder stick. Infact, once you press your wet thumb into the powder, the powder should remain looking dry. If it darkens because of the wetness then you're thumb was too wet!

With your powdered thumb start rubbing the contants avoiding any area in the green and above. Go slowly. Go in circles. Repeat if necessary. This will not scratch the contacts at all, and it should leave them super shiny with all oxidation removed. Use a dry cloth to remove any excess powder that remains.

Thats it, thats all you need to do! Go clean your Nintendo games. Do it. Now!

Burgertime Explaination

2009-09-24T06:02:00.000-07:00

Ok, so as you can see it's the start of level three of Burgertime. 100k was achieved on level 1. 75k was achieved on level 2. 12 lives in reserve. Notice that I didn't say earned. Also notice that the screen shot looks different from previous ones. That's because it was achieved on the Nintendo DS. That's right, NES Burgertime on the DS. Don't ask how or why. Just know that I can't and won't claim the score to be legitimate. It's all part of my method to decypher the grouping for level 2.

Rygar and Wrecking Crew: Another Pedro Games Spending Spree

2009-09-23T23:14:00.000-07:00

I just bought Rygar, Wrecking Crew and a few other games from http://www.pedrogames.com/. 5 games = $10 shipping, which isn't that bad since most sellers (including Pedro on single games) will charge $3 - $4.

I've been thinking about re-tiling my bathroom with the sunset from Rygar... it just looks so cool:

The NES version kinda looks like a pink football...

The SEGA Master System version (which I never knew existed) kinda looks like an evil pumpkin:

The arcade one looks the best! But it would probably take thousands of tiles, and I'm lazy, and I'll probably mess it up some how. So maybe Rygar wouldn't be the best way to decorate a bathroom... because....

The Japanese art for the game speaks for itself!

Burgertime 2nd Stage Grouping

2009-09-23T17:42:00.000-07:00

I promised I wouldn't post about Burgertime for a week... well it's been a week! A long one- and I've filled it with stage 2 grouping.... I might have it perfected... It's going to be critical to break 200k and the eventual TwinGalaxies record.

Nintendo Advertisement Sudden Death

2009-09-22T09:34:00.000-07:00

When thumbing through an old copy of Gamepro Magazine, I stumbled on this advertisement for Goal! on Nintendo. I don't know anything about the sport of soccer, but this advertisement teaches me alot. First of all it teaches me that a kick to the crotch is an acceptable move. I'm being sarcastic of course, but if this was true then soccer just got interesting...

Now does page two of the ad imply that the kick to the crotch has resulted in the fatality of the Goalie? Sudden Death should be the name of this game.. Not Goal! Nintendo ads are the best.. and this one just gave me an idea for a new label... details later.

Bubble Bobble For NES Cheap

2009-09-21T22:54:00.000-07:00

There are a handful of original Nintendo games that are overpriced for reasons I'll never understand. Contra and Bubble Bobble always come to mind. As of this post there are over 100 copies of Bubble Bobble available on eBay and the same goes for Contra as well. Bubble Bobble is averaging about $17, with contra just a few cents under $17. I've seen both of these games easily go for $20 in game stores.

This is where http://www.videogamepriceguides.com/ has proven to come in handy. Just browsing through the list I saw a BuyItNow Bubble Bobble for less than $12 with free shipping. I bought it. Why wouldn't I?

The same evening I bought Bubble Bobble, I saw a copy of Terra Cresta (BuyItNow), for $2 (it's currently around $16). There was also a copy of Lolo for $2 as well (http://cgi.ebay.com/Adventures-of-Lolo-1-Nintendo-NES-Game_W0QQitemZ200385170261QQcategoryZ139973QQcmdZViewItem) This is currently averaging $14. I have too many games pending right now to buy it, but it makes me wonder why some games are so inflated. I can kinda understand Terra Cresta... there were only 8 copies available, so the supply might be what's increased it's value. But this doesn't explain Bubble Bobble or Contra. Were these great games? Absolutely. But doubtfully worth $15+

VideoGamePriceGuides.Com

2009-09-21T22:13:00.000-07:00

I started Video Game Price Guides after deciding to collect all of the original Nintendo Games. I started looking up random games from a list I had compiled and then eventually just started doing random searches on eBay for lowest priced Nintendo games and working backwards. I looked at Nintendo Rarity guides and other sites that claimed to have an accurate price guide, but nothing ever seemed accurate. So I decided to compile my list of NES games, and make direct links to eBay to make it easier to not only find the games, but to peg a rarity on them and an approximate value.

This went so well, that I expanded it to other systems including Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, all three PlayStations, TG-16, the SEGA systems, and more. I decided to include a blog for the site that was meant to include updates and another information, but with updating the http://www.salzmafia.com/ blog and a few other sites I'm responsible for I've decided that its time to pull the plug on the http://www.videogamepriceguides.com/ blog. The site will still function as the Price Guide for Video Games, but with out the silly blog to update. Besides, I've done many posts on this site concering VGPG that it seems silly to run two sites. So anyways, in a few weeks, the main splash page to VGPG will change to the archive
of pages related to VGPG that I've posted here.

I also hope to update the games list and to add the rest of the missing consoles. There are some errors on some of the pages that are coding related that need to be cleaned up as well (I've only recently figured out how to fix the YouTube code.)

Pedro! Games PedroGames.Com

2009-09-21T13:10:00.000-07:00

I've mentioned Pedro! Games frequently here and with good reason: this is currently the only eBay seller I can truly recommend. My first experience was with Iron Tank, which ended up being a penny auction. It was a purchase made on a whim, but it was worth it. The game was in perfect condition, and it was delivered promptly. Even if it came from North Carolina, all the way to Las Vegas.

But Iron Tank wasn't the only excellent purchase I've made through Pedro!. Thus far I've purchased 11 titles, and all of them have come in perfect condition. This says alot since many of these titles are around two and a half decades old.

I found PedroGames.Com originally through the site I created (http://www.videogamepriceguides.com/), and although I do occasionally purchase from other sellers I know I can do no wrong with Pedro!

Anyways, with a major change coming to http://www.videogamepriceguides.com/ I did not want this feedback about Pedro! Games to be forgotten, therefore I've included to original reviews below.

Pedro! Games

VideoGamePriceGuides.Com not only provides you, the user, with game prices, but we also use the guides ourselves. Recently we purchased IRON TANK for the NES from frequent power seller Pedro! on eBay.com.

Anyone who has searched for games on eBay will have no doubt noticed that Pedro! sells tons of games. Not only does he sell vast quantities of games he also seems to always have some fairly rare games as well.

In this instance we bought IRON TANK. It was an auction and it ended for a penny. That's right, one-cent. The game isn't really popular at all, and for a penny with $3.95 shipping we figured it would be an easy purchase to get an idea of Pedro!'s service. The way a seller treats a cheap sell is a good indication of how they treat everyone. Anyways the auction ended on Thursday May 28th. Within minutes of the close of the auction we received the invoice.

It's All Yours! Now Just Send Us A Payment...

It doesn't get much more direct then that does it? There wasn't any delivery confirmation or tracking purchased along with IRON TANK so we can't verify a direct date of shipping, however we did receive an email from Pedro! within an hour of making the payment indicating that 1. positive feedback was left for the buyer, and 2. you should expect to receive your game soon.

Now We Wait...

I have confidence in Pedro! As of writing this he has a score of 18852 with a rating of 100%. My only concern at this point is that Pedro! shows screenshots of the game (with a Pedro! watermark) and not a picture of the actual cartridge. I thought of emailing and asking Pedro! for the condition but with that 18000+ track record I have a hard time bringing myself to believe that the cart will be in deplorable condition.

While we wait for IRON TANK to arrive check out his listings at http://www.pedrogames.com/

Pedro! Games Part 2

Well for an auction that ended Thursday May 28th, and paid for on May 29th, we were amazed that our one cent copy of IRON TANK arrived on Monday June 1st.

The game arrived First-Class in a well protected envelope complete with the Pedro! Games logo on it.

But what about the IRON TANK cartridge? We professed a minor legitimate concern with the first part of this seller review that Pedro! Games shows screenshots of the games rather than the actual cartridge itself. So what was the condition like? Although not 100% mint perfect, the cartridge itself was acceptable. Very acceptable. There was a negligent amount of wear on the label, but not bad considered the cartridge is around two decades old. The pins were shiny and appeared new.

So what criticisms if any did we have? Actually none. This isn't to say we should judge a seller on the basis of one good sale, but in this case we were very pleased, and as an advocate for video game collectors www.videogamepriceguides.com was impressed by this transaction.

Crash N the Boys Street Challenge

2009-09-20T21:56:00.000-07:00

I reluctantly visited a local Play N Trade after I was told the original store I went to closed. My experience with the first store was terrible and I would not be surprised if it's demise was some how related to the pushy punk kid who worked there.

Anyways I visited the other store and checked out their NES selection. To my surprise there wasn't fifty copies of Bases Loaded, Fighting Golf, Goal, or Astynax. They had a surprisingly diverse selection. I picked up Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Crash N The Boy Street challenge for $5.00 each. Street Challenge is pretty neat. It's basically Track N Field but from a High School thug's perspective.

It's made by Technos and they are notorious for games featuring cute thugs. The best event is the swimming. The object is to drown your opponent by beating him up and pulling him under water. The coolest thing about this is the fact that the swimmers swim towards you while the scenery floats backwards it's a pretty neat effect!

Mechanized Attack By SNK

2009-09-16T22:03:00.000-07:00

As mentioned earlier I got a good deal on Mechanized Attack for Nintendo. I found the auction through http://www.videogamepriceguides.com/. It's not particularly rare but it has seemed to be frequently over priced.

Seeing the title screen is enough to fall in love with this game. I imagine it's the largest Uzi to be featured in a Nintendo game. The game came out in 1990 so the reference to an Uzi is not surprising. Operation Wolf which clearly inspired this game featured an Uzi. There is something genuinely empowering in holding one.