Midwest Gaming Classic: Trip Report
March 27, 2010 by Tim · 5 Comments
Hey all, I hope if you’re anywhere near Milwaukee, WI that you had a chance to check out the Midwest Gaming Classic! (There’s still time tomorrow, if you haven’t.) I spent all day there today and figured I’d give a brief rundown. This year, it was at a new location in Brookfield, WI instead of Oconomowoc. It was a bigger location, which meant the show was able to expand a bit. All the old favorites, including the vendor area, the arcade and pinball machines, and the museum were back, but bigger and better.
I spent most of my time browsing the vendors and spending too much money, but I also spent a fair amount of time playing old arcade games that I don’t normally have access to — like Berserk, Battlezone (which is really cool with its scope cabinet), Centipede, Kangaroo, Ms. Pac-Man, and Outrun. I also tried my hand at the Super Mario Bros. speed run tournament. The goal was to get through level 1-1 as fast as possible, finishing with Fire Mario. I played three entries, but I lost the fire power the first two times through, so I had to play conservatively on the last try just to get a qualifying entry. It wasn’t a bad run, but probably not enough to win it. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find any final rankings, so I don’t know where I finished.
The highlight of the show for me was definitely meeting Eugene Jarvis, creator of Defender and Robotron: 2084. He was a fun guy to hear speak, and was super nice. I had him sign a couple copies of Retro Gamer for me — specifically, the “Making Of” articles for both Defender and Robotron. I asked him what he thought of all the twin stick shooters that have been coming out lately, and he said he thinks it’s great and that it’s just a really good play mechanic. I can’t say I disagree! Here’s a shot of my signed Retro Gamer mags:
Signed Retro Gamer mags
My other highlight was a game of Pong that I played in the museum where I pulled off a dramatic come from behind win, 15 to 14! It was like my own last second NCAA tournament win, or something… I dunno, I think I have an unhealthy love of Pong.
Anyway, here’s a rundown of everything I picked up today:
MGC Haul
Left to right, top to bottom:
- Various SNES and NES manuals
- After Burner (32X)
- Space Harrier (32X)
- Zaxxon’s Motherbase 2000 (32X)
- Mutant League Football (Genesis)
- Outrun 2019 (Genesis)
- Zero Tolerance (Genesis)
- Cosmic Spacehead (Genesis)
- Gunstar Heroes (Genesis)
- Zillion II (Master System)
- Sonic CD (Sega CD)
- Plok (SNES)
- Body Harvest (N64)
- Comix Zone (Genesis)
- Wonder Boy in Monster World (Genesis)
- Marble Madness (Genesis)
- Gargoyle’s Quest II (NES)
- Snake Rattle n Roll (NES)
- Transfer Pak (N64) (I don’t have any games that would use this, but for just $1, it doesn’t hurt to have on hand!)
- View Point (Neo Geo CD)
- Top Hunter (Neo Geo CD)
- Super Mario Land (Game Boy)
- Super Mario Land 2 (Game Boy)
- Alleyway (Game Boy)
- Tetris (Game Boy)
- Mario Clash (Virtual Boy)
- Several spare HuCard and Sega Card sleeves
Phew, that was a hefty list… And to think, I almost went for the Atari Lynx deal that GOAT Store had going — a Lynx plus 7 games for $60. Unfortunately, I wasn’t interested in a single one of the games, so I figured I’d hold off and get a loose one sometime for cheaper and get games I actually want.
Anyway, that about covers it for now. I had a lot of fun again, and will start looking forward to next year’s show! Just one final thought about this year’s show… What’s the deal with the hot sauce?
Getting ready for the Midwest Gaming Classic
March 20, 2010 by Tim · 4 Comments
Though work and school have been keeping me pretty busy, I’m going to make time for the Midwest Gaming Classic next weekend. If you haven’t been to it before, and you’re anywhere near Milwaukee, WI, I highly suggest attending. It’s a great place to buy and play all sorts of retro video games. Though the vendors are the main attraction for me, I always look forward to the speakers, museum, free-play arcade and pinball games, and tournaments.
If you see this post and plan to be there, leave a comment and let me know! I’d love to meet up with a few people to play a few games in the Versus Room (like 10-player Saturn Bomberman). Or, just keep an eye out for me. I’ll have a badge with my Digital Press username (Mobius).
Videogames Hardware Handbook
January 30, 2010 by Tim · Leave a Comment
I’m a big fan of Retro Gamer magazine, despite how expensive it is to get here in the US (it’s a UK import). It’s a fantastic classic gaming mag, jam packed with lots of great content in every issue (the typical issue is 114 pages, with virtually no ads).
One of my favorite parts of the magazine is their recurring “Retroinspection” feature. With this feature, they give an overview of a particular gaming platform. They go into its history, its strenghts and weaknesses, relevance in the marketplace at the time, and oftentimes even interview key players involved with the platform in some way. These articles are a great introduction to the different platforms that are out there, and the “Perfect Ten” portions where they recommend 10 games everyone should play are a great way to figure out where to start when exploring a new system.
So, when Retro Gamer released a compliation of past Retroinspections over the holidays, I knew I had to have it — especially considering how interested I am in collecting hardware. Videogames Hardware Handbook: The Game Machine Collector’s Manual covers a 22 year timespan from 1977 to 1999 and covers everything from consoles to handhelds to odd British 8-bit computers that we never saw over here (but are crazy popular over there). You get info on all the platforms you’d expect, like the Atari 2600, NES, Genesis (or the Mega Drive, as they call it), plus some of the more obscure, like the 3DO, Jaguar, NEC PC-FX, and 8-bits like the ZX Spectrum and Dragon 32. Basically, it’s 256 pages of pure content covering 35 different platforms.
Unfortunately, though, it’s not comprehensive. Since this is a compliation of past articles instead of fresh content, anything that wasn’t already covered in a Retroinspection isn’t included. So, no Colecovision, no 32X, no Neo-Geo, and no PlayStation. Nevertheless, if you’re into retro game collecting, I’m finding it a fascinating compliation and a great value.
Note that I’m in no way affiliated with Imagine Publishing and this isn’t a paid ad or anything. I just really like Retro Gamer magazine and this special edition. I want everyone to know about it! And I want it to sell well enough that they make a second volume covering all the platforms that weren’t included in this edition…
What’s coming…
December 10, 2009 by Tim · Leave a Comment
Ah, it’s been a while since I posted a Sitegeist. Heck, it’s been a while since I posted at all, so let’s kill two birds with one stone here. Things are getting under control at work and I just wrapped up grad school exams, so maybe I’ll have more time to play games and post here? Here’s what’s in the pipeline:
- Part 2 of my Metal Gear impressions and review. My NES was out of commission for a while, but with a repaired 72-pin adapter, it’s good to go again. So, it’s time to finish this game!
- Rocket Knight Adventures review. It’s actually been a few months since I finished this game and a review has been sitting in the queue, ready to post as soon as I get some screenshots. It’s probably time for that.
- Top Gear 2 review. This is the one I tackled after RKA, so it needs a review, too.
- Castelian impressions. I’m going to play through Castelian while I work on Metal Gear, so those are coming, too. (In fact, I think I’ll post the first part now…)
So yeah, stay tuned!
(P.S.: I’m glad to see Nintendo finally caught up with Sega in the poll… Go Nintendo!)
Sega’s disjointed hardware strategy: A story in pictures
November 4, 2009 by Tim · 2 Comments
It’s no secret that Sega was all over the place towards the end of the 16-bit era in terms of their hardware strategy. There were two models of the base Genesis, two models of the basic Sega CD, the CDX combination system, third party hardware like the JVC X’Eye and other licensed devices, the Nomad, and, of course, the 32X. In other words, what a mess!
So, I always knew things had gotten complicated for Sega fans around the time of the 32X’s release, but now that I’ve picked up a new-in-box console myself, it’s really become clear how bad it really was. One of my favorite parts of getting an unopened gaming item from years past is looking through the stuff that comes in the box. Not just the game, systems, or manuals, but especially the advertising inserts. Opening these old games and systems is like a time capsule, and the 32X was especially interesting.
I figured a few other people out there might be interested in seeing some of the same things, so here are a few shots of what came in the 32X box, which really emphasize how much of a mess Sega’s hardware strategy really was.
Let’s start off a little easy. First of all, we have a flyer for the Genesis six-button controller. This controller did a nice job of segmenting the Genesis market. There were those who had the three button controller and couldn’t make the most of the hottest games of the time: fighters. Mortal Kombat? Street Fighter II? Eternal Champions? Forget it, if you didn’t have a six-button controller. Sure, you could play them, but why would you want to? I give Sega the benefit of the doubt on this one, though. The three-button controller was well past its prime and six buttons were practically required. Besides, controller changes are almost always for the better. This one was a fantastic upgrade, just like the NES dogbone controllers, and the Xbox S and Saturn revisions that would follow.
Six Button Flyer
Sure, an upgraded controller segments the market, but it was probably a good business decision in general, since the older controllers were so lacking. But this next one is odd. Did Sega really need to get into the business of making power strips? Well, they were kind of forced to. After all, if you had a Genesis, Sega CD, AND a 32X, then you’d have three separate AC adaptors. The best part? Most standard power strips can’t fit three separate AC adaptors… So, Sega was there for its devoted fans:
Sega Power Strip
So, getting all your systems plugged in is a bit difficult, huh? Well, that’s nothing compared to this next picture. Just think about all the different possible hardware combinations those power supplies were feeding. In fact, there were even different cords required for attaching the 32X to different base combinations! This picture sums it up nicely, but actually underestimates the problem. Where’s the X’Eye? Where’s the LaserActive?? Oh, and remember that the number of combos doubles once you add in the 32X!
Too many Sega combinations
The best part of all this? Even Sega themselves couldn’t keep their different hardware combinations straight. As the next two pictures show, there was some definite confusion over the CDX. Was it supported or wasn’t it? It seems they thought it was, but at the last second, decided it wasn’t, so they slipped a warning card into the box and a sticker on its front to correct the out of date printed instructions. Oh, and how were people supposed to know that the 32X audio might not work properly for their model of Genesis if gamers only got to see this warning card after buying and opening the system?
32X Warning Card
Conflicting Information
Ahh, that was fun. I hope you get as much amusement out of all this as I did. It’s sad to see Sega out of the hardware business, but when I see stuff like this, it’s obvious they have nobody else to blame but themselves. Can you really hold it against consumers for being skeptical when Sega released the Saturn? As great as the system was (and really, the Sega CD and 32X aren’t awful platforms, either), I can understand why things turned out the way they did.
Oh, and as for my Genesis/CD/32X setup? Yeah, it’s a mess, too. To make matters worse, the system just ends up flat out freezing when I play anything on the 32X. Fun! Notice the extra A/V cord for the Model 1 Genesis, the otherwise useless piece of spacer plastic for the Model 2 Genesis, and the two totally different controllers. Plus the Sonic & Knuckles with lock-on Sonic 3! Maybe “disjointed hardware strategy” is an understatement…
Sega 32X'Eye
A new addition to the family (Sega 32X)
October 24, 2009 by Tim · 3 Comments
The latest addition to my console collection arrived today — a brand new, still in the box, complete, unopened Sega 32X. I was an SNES guy back in the 16-bit days, and it’s really only recently that I’ve come to love the Genesis, too. There’s really a lot of good stuff hidden beneath the mountains of old sports games!
But anyhow, my point here is that I’m exploring more of the Genesis era, so I recently purchased an X’Eye, and now I have the 32X. With all that in tow, I now have access to the entire Genesis/CD/32X library. Now I just need to get some 32X games, and more than one Sega CD game!
RetroTube: Bound High video (Virtual Boy)
October 3, 2009 by Tim · Leave a Comment
Now that I’m starting to do more with the site the last few weeks, I figured I’d start up some of the old features I used to post. So with that said, I have a new RetroTube for you. This isn’t exactly new or groundbreaking footage or anything like that, but I stumbled upon it for the first time a couple of days ago and thought it was really interesting — especially since I’ve been recently reacquainted with the Virtual Boy after repairing mine last week.
There are a couple of holy grails in the Virtual Boy “scene” (what little scene there may be). Right before the system was killed off, a second generation of games was nearing release that were supposed to take better advantage of the hardware and really make the system shine. The two most anticipated games were Dragon Hopper and Bound High. Both were nearly (if not totally) complete, but were never released. As such, Virtual Boy fans still crave the games to this day, but with only a few accounts of sightings at tradeshows and a handful of low-quality screenshots to whet their appetites. Well, it turns out that Bound High has actually made it into the hands of at least one member of the public, and he’s posted the only extended video footage of the game that I’ve ever seen:
And a second (shorter, lower quality) video with a sample of the game’s sounds:
Maybe Dragon Hopper will be next?
A Virtual Spanish Surprise
I recently bought a few Virtual Boy games off of eBay and they came in the mail yesterday. The interesting thing about this transaction is that I bought them from a seller in Mexico. The set came with Panic Bomber (loose), Wario Land (complete), and Teleroboxer (complete). Well, when they arrived, I discovered that not only were Wario Land and Teleroboxer complete, they were still sealed! But then, on closer inspection, I noticed they weren’t quite sealed. Both games were very purposefully slit open at the top. Collectors sometimes do this to keep everything in the most pristine possible condition, so I didn’t make much of it. Until I noticed that, strangely, the shrinkwrap wasn’t cut enough to actually open the flaps and get the games out. What was the point of that?
Well, once I opened them the rest of the way (yes, I’m a dirty sealed-games opener), it became obvious. Remember, the games came from a seller in Mexico. They’re identical in every way to the US release. In fact, they probably are the same as the US releases, except for one thing — someone went through and slid a printout of Spanish-language instructions into them! It’s pretty trivial, but as an enthusiast, I found it to be an interesting discovery. In fact, it made me realize I hadn’t even considered Mexico as much of a gaming market. I wonder if this is how they get most of their games? Hand-me-downs from the US, stuffed with Spanish instructions as almost an afterthought?
Anyway, for you collectors out there, I guess there are a few extra pieces of official documentation you have to pick up to have a complete set! Have a look:
Now using The Backloggery
September 2, 2009 by Tim · 2 Comments
Ahh, it’s been another long hiatus, but fear not — I am still playing old games (in fact, my collection has expanded significantly since my last post). On top of that, I’m making actual progress in a few games!
And that’s where this comes in handy… I discovered The Backloggery a few weeks ago, a site that is obviously after my own heart. I guess I’m not the only one out there with a massive backlog of games to play through. Apparently, there are enough of us to gear a whole social networking site around the concept!
So check out my profile, where I’ll slowly be listing my collection and my progress in each game. If you have an account (or create one after this), drop me a line and add me as a friend! In fact, if you were following me, you’d already know that I just beat A Boy and His Blob for NES a few minutes ago! (So hey, maybe that means a new review will actually be posted soon…)
RetroTube: Video Power
May 27, 2008 by Tim · Leave a Comment
Alright, I haven’t posted a RetroTube in a while, and I’ve been sitting on this one for some time now. For the longest time, I had these vague memories of a game show where two kids face off in video game competition and the winner gets to run through a room full of games where they get to grab anything they want and stick it to their velcro suits and helmets. I wanted so badly to run around and pick up all those free NES games like those kids got to do.
But what was it called!? The years had worn away my memories of the show, but finally, with the help of a friend, I managed to remember its name: Video Power! Man, I loved that show… Of course, the venerable YouTube has a clip! I figured I’d share and maybe stir up a little nostalgia for the rest of you. Doesn’t this show look like fun? I feel a little bad for the kid that won the Neo-Geo, though. I bet nobody told him that he’d never be able to afford a single game for it!
(Note: Be sure to turn your volume all the way up if you want to hear it, this clip is really quiet.)
Enjoy this few minutes of hokey nostalgic game show fun. I have something even better in store for next time…
Polls
Loading ...