[Operation Game Collection] Retrogames Collection Update 2018: Pre and Post Crash Computers n Smaller Systems Stuff?

Yes!  Smaller Systems!  These are machines that didn't make a big splash, I don't have much of, or only have the games because they are in one of my "Theme Collections" like Batman, Alien v Predator franchise, ect.  Or just titles I found super cheap.  See unlike many people I am totally cool with emulation but vastly prefer to own legitimate copies of my games.

Click for big if it gets your bytes megaed.

 Starting with the TI 99 computer here.  Not a whole lot honestly.  Its a system I might get some day if I can get it cheap enough.

The 3-5 Hunt:

Demon Attack (One of the best looking versions of this venerable classic.)

Car Wars (Because of the name even though it isn't the tabletop title.  Though Steve Jackson Games did some deal with TI to use the name.)

Microsurgeon (The definitive version of this classic probably.)

 A 2600 game I forgot about, and some Atari ST, Lynx, and Jaguar.  Given that the ST shares many games with both the Amiga, DOS PCs, Atari 800, and Commodore 64 I won't bother putting it in the Hunt.  And honestly the Jaguar is almost the same but its mostly just PC or Amiga titles since outside of Atari Karts nearly every other game worth a damn was a port anyhow outside of the Iron Soldier series and some of the modern homebrew stuff that require the infamous CDROM drive or are absurdly priced cartridges.  And even the Lynx is mostly ports of arcade games and a handful of exclusives.  So yeah.  No real hunt for most of Atari's Tramiel era machines.  

 The Commodore 64, aka THE MACHINE OF MY YOUTH.  A great platform.

The 3-5 Hunt:

Deathlord (A balls hard Ultima clone that goes for way too much nowadays.)

Transformers Battle to Save the Earth  (A not too good US released Transformers game because my dumb ass collects Transformers games.)

Wrath of Denethenor  (Another overpriced Ultima clone.)

 A system I have a fair collection for but still don't have the machine yet, the Tandy Color Computer family!

The 3-5 Hunt:

Downland  (A nifty Coco 1-2 only game in the old school platform explorer style.)

Gates of Delirium (An Ultima 3 clone.)

Poltergeist (Its based on that old horror classic.  Seriously.  I never knew such madness existed!)

My meager Amiga collection and my one and only MSX title.  Many Amiga drives and disks are varying levels of dead or dying.  And the MSX is an absurdly expensive system to collect for to the point NOBODY SHOULD BOTHER.

The 3-5 Hunt (Amiga)

Apidya (Its a pretty great SHMUP where you are a bug.)

Black Crypt (A US made Dungeon Master styled RPG.)

Agony (Its a SHMUP.  You are an owl.)

Shadow of the Beast III (The final game in the series and exclusive to the Amiga.)

MSX Hunt if Money Falls from the Sky

The Goonies (A really fun exploration platformer.)
Thexder II Firehawk  (The best version of this game.)

Aliens (A unique to this platform Alien game.  Its also kind of suck.)

  All these poor systems I don't have systems or a fully working system in the Amiga's case yet plenty of games I can TOTALLY PLAY IN AN EMULATOR ITS OK RIGHT?

  Otherwise I would have to delete the emulator image file within 24 hours!  :v

[Operation Game Collection] Retrogames Collection Update 2018: Pre Crash Consoles

EDITED ON 9 JULY TO ADD IN COLECOVISION.  BECAUSE I FORGOT.

 Yes it has been a while since my last post nobody really cared about.  But I am busy and yall get what you pay for.  (Nothing.)  But I am still collecting here and there when I find things and they are cheap.  Or I am just bored and drive 30-60 minutes each direction to a retrogame shop for the hell of it or because it is damn hot outside and my car has AC.  (I may have working ACs in my house but pulling them out, putting them in a window that fits, sealing them, and then finding a plug it can sit in and not cause a fuse to blow is too much work.  And I save on my electric bill while building character.

  But one thing I am finding out is my old way of listing my owned games and showing off my collection is both inefficient and a pain in the ass.  If I try to just show the spines of my boxed titles and the titles on cartridges that are nice enough to list what is on them I can fit a TON more in a smaller image.  Then throw the images on my Android phone not being used as a phone in a gallery titled COLLECTION PHOTOS and I have a handy mostly easy to use reference of what idiotic nonsense I don't really have the time, money, or space for.  So I don't rebuy games but don't miss one in wondering if I already own it.  Or have to carry around print out checklists or the like.

  So I share with all of you my images of my dorky buys and get to see what I have, reorganize them to not be some near unfindable mess, clean em up where needed, and make my collection of silliness more user friendly.

(And then uhh... want to buy MORE OF IT thanks to these things.  Yay.  On the upside I am very good about bills and stuff.  I don't really have any debts to speak of and am a cheap SOB.)

HOW THIS IS GONNA GO DOWN
I am going to show the images of my collection and then talk a little about 3-5 games I am sort of hunting for the platform in question.  Simple eh?  They are certainly not the only games I want but some of them.

Let us start with the first major game console anybody cared about and my first, the Atari 2600:

(As always click the image for larger, and don't complain about my mediocre photography.)

 My boxed titles and my titles with manuals.

 My loose carts, most of which I got back in the day from eBay with whatever machine I got.  (The Atari 7800.)

 Manuals I have come across for games I do not even own yet but manuals are kind of hard to come by as many kids and even adults never kept good care of their games.  And especially in the Pre Crash era you almost were required to have the damned things just to figure out how to play the damn things!

 And a sub theme I collect, Imagic.  Games I have loose, and the manuals next to them.

 Lately there has been cheap and easy ways to get the documentation for some games thanks to these Plug and Play units.  Why they have made their docs a separate book to buy I don't really know but it is nice and handy.  

And one of the games covered from the later Tramiel era of Atari.  (Also one that fits on a left and right two page spread.)  This book is a mix of manual and short history lesson on the games.  Which is kind of nice really.

Now the 3-5 Hunt:

Adventures of Tron (I had it as a kid and it was kinda fun!)

Dragonstomper (One of the first console RPGs.  It is a cassette game that requires the Starpath Supercharger device.)

Frankenstein's Monster (Its FRANKENSTEIN.  That's cool!)

Sprint Master ( It looks kind of fun and I like those sorts of old school top down racing games.)

GI Joe Cobra Strike (Always wanted it as a kid and I have the manual after all!)

Shall we continue on with the 2600's competitor the Intellivision?  Yeah we shall.

 My Imagic collection on the Inty!  I am missing 3 games and the box for Dracula to have every title they released on the platform.  See unlike 2600 people Intellivision owners seemed to care more about keeping their games boxed and complete.  Note I am not listing Imagic games in the Hunt bits below because I want them all so its kind of cheating.

It is hard to tell but that is Golf loose but complete in the top right corner with some catalogs.

Pretty much most of this collection came with my Intellivision when I got it off eBay in the late 90s/early 00s.  Otherwise there wouldn't be a lot of the sports games.  Especially since in the Pre Crash days many games required two players!  MADNESS.  NOT SHOWN:  Empire Strikes Back because it is with most of my other Star Wars videogames for yet another collection post.

The 3-5 Hunt:

Masters of the Universe: Power of He Man (I quite liked the 2600 port back in the day and it is much better here.)

Thunder Castle (I really like it on the various anthology collections I have and would like to have my own copy.)

Thin Ice (You are an ice skating penguin and its pretty good.  I love Penguins almost as much as Sharks.  Almost.)

Shark! Shark!  (See above.  Except sharks.  Its a good game already and its got Sharkies.)

Tron Deadly Discs (It is Tron and I like Tron.  Also I remember the Aquarius port was pretty good really.)

Now we move swiftly and shortly to the Atari 5200 which is like my beloved 8 bit Atari computers only with terrible and unreliable hardware on nearly every front.

 My loose carts.

My with manual and boxed ones.  Given how some games could come with overlays that almost nobody kept I cannot say they are complete with 100% certainty.  Or really CARE as many I later on replaced with their 8 bit computer cousins.  Or use owning this version as an excuse to just download the A8bit versions for my SD Card drive.  (In some cases the 5200 games got dumped and hacked back in the day to be played on the A8bits when they didn't get an actual home release.)

The 3-5 Hunt:

Adventure II (An Atari Age home brew game that looks really good.)

Jr. Pac Man (Jr Pac Man is pretty rad and again, if it doesn't have a legit port for the A8s it TOTALLY COUNTS AS ME BEING LEGITIMATELY ALLOWED TO PLAY IT RIGHT?)

Kangaroo: (See above.)

Yes the 5200 is kind of butt and a pain in the ass console.  Not a lot I want and what little I do is mostly because then Atari 8 Bit Computer.

The system I forgot to add because I don't actually own the system yet.  Plus the controller kind of sucks.  But I am a weirdo who is fine with emulation but really prefers to own the games legitimately.

Not exactly the most amazing of collections but its a somewhat uncommon system mostly made up of arcade ports and usually the more obscure ones.  But it has a good homebrew scene, albeit one that seems obsessed with porting and remaking existing games on it using a stupidly hard to get fan made system booster you have to basically spend a 100 dollars on and get on waiting lists for.  To play MSX ports and arcade games.  That you can play the legitimate arcade game of.  Yeah I don't get it either.

The 3-5 Hunt:

H.E.R.O. (The best version of one of the best Activision games.)

Antarctic Adventure (Its a game about Penguins!)

Pepper II (It is spoken about highly.)

But let us end with the 84 and then 86 BECAUSE OH CRAP NINTENDO IS KILLING US released Atari 7800 which is arguably a Pre Crash system but only sort of.  But close enough really.

Sadly the two loose carts are manual free right now but there are places to get them from besides just downloading a PDF which just isn't the same.

The 3-5 Hunt:

Alien Brigade (It looks like a pretty fun light gun game.  Apparently its pricey though.)

Bentley Bear's Crystal Quest (Another Atari Age homebrew joint.  Plus I like platformers and Crystal Castles is a personal favorite of mine.)

Midnight Mutants (Its an action adventure.  WHERE YOU HELP OUT GRANDPA MUNSTER.)

Ninja Golf (It is both videogame golf which I quite like.  Plus its hilariously stupid as they add in side scrolling Ninja antics.)

Super Circus Atari Age (Yet another Atari Age homebrew as AA tends to keep their stuff in some sort of print and it is like an improved version of the pretty fun Circus Atari from the 2600.)

AND THERE YOU HAVE IT!  All of my classic console titles I own a physical copy of collated into a nice suite of images with a fair bit of titles I am searching for.  Yeah in a lot of cases I can play these on anthologies or Plug and Plays but I like owning original copies even if I don't own the system or would much rathe just play in an emulator.  

I hope to continue this series but what to cover next?  Non PC and A8 bit computers?  8 bit portables?  NES and SMS?  (Yes my computer ANTHOLOGIES OF INTEREST is still coming.  I in fact had to move all of them off the storage tub my 5200 stuff is in to do this post.)

My Retro Game Store Trip

A person I am friends with on Facebook had a store "liked".  A retro game store.  One about a 90 minute drive away which is kind of three times what I am normally comfortable driving.

Well in the late summer they opened an expansion store 15 minutes closer.

Again, I have been lazy and hemming and hawwing about driving so far.

Even though both places have been showing such a wealth of awesome stuff I would love to have.  (Price permitting of course!)

Well last week the closer one put up a picture of new arrivals including a game I wanted dearly, like a Top Five goal for that platform.

(Shadow of the Beast, Turbo Grafx Super CDROM.  It basically fixes all the flaws with the overly hard Amiga version, improves the graphics AND music, plus gives continue and life options to make the game a bit less hard.  While keeping proper speed.  Compared to the US Genesis version which runs too fast and is pretty impossible even when slowed down.  And has less pretty graphics.  The Turbo Super CD or FM Towns versions are THE definitive and best versions of this classic Amiga game.)

Heck, have some screenshots of the Genesis and Turbo versions from emulators.
(I tried getting some Amiga shots but Amiga emulation is fussy.  I really need to invest in Amiga Forever.  I bought a version way back when but like a real Amiga emulating it can be trying.  Its like the Genesis version pretty much just your character is more grey and turns around SLOWLY.  And 1 button control meaning Up on the joystick is Jump as was the wont of so many UK Microcomputer games.)

Genesis version which is very close in looks to the Amiga original. 

Turbo version!  More colors and detail to the sprites!  Tighter control!  More forgiving collision detection!  MUCH faster turning than the Amiga original!  More animation frames on everything!

 Not only that, but in Genesis and Amiga Shadow of the Beast Life Points are maxed at 12.  In Turbo you can start with more or less and either way some healing potions take you beyond your starting level.  Plus Credits for extra continues!

They usually just have "call for pricing" which sort of irks me and made me wonder if the prices would be rather.. high.  Like upper end ebay high.  (Not Amazon reseller high because that is being stupid.)

I decided to go down and check it out.  Just because.  It was mostly a straight run there on the highway, albeit an hour and fifteen minute one with no stops.  And I had errands to run.  (I ended up being out and about for 7 1/2 HOURS total all things considered.)  Luckily the mall I go to was on the way so I could stop in and get a bite to eat at the food court and check out their retro stores.  (Which are usually more expensive than Ebay for the popular or rare stuff.  More reasonable on the middle of the road stuff.)

Got myself some chow and even an action figure.  (The Alien ReAction.. Alien Xenomorph.  Picture a late 70s Kenner Star Wars.  Now picture Alien's cast done up like those.  These are basically the figures Kenner was supposed to put out but didn't because it was the late 70s and an R movie.  Toys weren't for us idiot manchildren back then.)

Back on the road and past New Haven and I was there.  (Thank goodness for the iPod Touch and podcasts!)

(CLICK FOR PICTURES FOR LARGER IF YOU WISH.)

 Its in a nice little commercial plaza in an area packed with such things. Unlike this photo, it is quite classy.  A bridge I took near New Haven was really cool looking.  Nice concrete cylinder suspension styled bridge or something.

 What treasures will I find inside?  (Short answer: PLENTY.  Long: DAMMIT THE ATARI 8 BIT COMPUTER STUFF IS ALL IN THE WESTPORT STORE NOT THIS, THE ORANGE STORE.)

 Some of the more popular games are under glass, but with large pricing stickers so people like me don't have to ask as many stupid questions when we forget our glasses in the car.  (Or like one of the mall stores, even with them on my face I couldn't tell most of the prices!  BIG STICKERS.)

Thankfully most of the stickers come right off the cart or case.  The prices were very competitive and reasonable with those mall stores, and in some cases cheaper than Ebay or website forum sellers!  

(Sadly seeing this picture already makes me want to go back and buy MORE.  And I am not even a big NES guy!)

 Import games!  Atari 2600-7800!  Intellivision!  Coleco!  

 They obviously carry modern stuff too.  But Wii games or oohing over the arcade cabinets?  Yes I think we all know which one matters.  (Its the arcade cabs.)

 A Sears branded Pong game system!  Is it wrong I kind of want it?  (Yes but no.)  And if its not obvious they also sell some toys at this store.  

 This is the first time I have EVER seen a Microvision in the wilds.  The first portable game console.  Reasonably priced.  Sadly these machines are generally all doomed to die in the long run.  A fair price on the woodgrain 2600.  But I have a 7800 that I think just needs a new power cable.  (They had quite a few power and video cables here but I don't recall seeing any 7800 ones.)

 The first time I have ever seen a PC Engine SuperGrafx game in the wild.  If I had the machine I so would have bought it.  A couple of the mail order era INTV Intellivision carts (I think), and some Genesis and Master System heat. Loose TG16 cards.  (As I was looking at the boxed ones above.)  I kind of want Gunboat, Falcon, and Ordyne but I more want boxed versions.  Reasonable prices for the loose ones though!

 A picture more for my friends on IRC to see.  I went on a date with a lady once.  She complained about walking to this bookstore from this viewpoint.  That was a terrible date.  My driveway is longer!

I am not showing everything in the store just because that would be creepy, possibly useful for crooks, and kind of boring.  

I spent some time talking with the nice people working in the store and thankfully left with a lot of loot!

Let's look at it eh?

 Two of the games I got with my NES for Christmas 1986 back in my hands!  The criminally underrated Gyromite (which is a great game without the ROB robot toy it was designed to work with), and Hogan's Alley a light gun title.  (I have a composite monitor, and a couple RF tube TVs.  I am set to still lightgun for years to come!)  Magic of Schezerazade which is a great RPG and Zelda styled action adventure combined into one fun game.  And Track & Field II which is my favorite of the "Button Masher Olympics Game" genre.

 A little Atari 2600 love!  Finally I have a set of Paddles for Kaboom and uh.. Gi Joe!  (Whenever I get them.)  A boxed but no manual 2600 Space Invaders.  Which may be the first videogame I ever played.  EVER.  (Its at least my first memory of videogames.  I was like 5.)  Haunted House which is a good little game, and a nifty metal Space Invaders arcade cabinet with a tiny baggie of candy inside.  

(An IRC friend of mine known only as "Acid Police" would probably store.. other things in there.. :P)

It will go great with my existing Pac Man Candy Cabs:

Gamera likes Pac-Man.  He can play it with one hand.  Stupid monsters hurting Gamera.

 Quartet and Ghost House for the Master System!  And said Shadows of Beastly things.  Plus the nifty little back of the store's info card.

 The front of the info card down at the bottom.  And they had a deal going for some platforms of BUY 2 GET 1 FREE.  5 bucks each for C64 Times of Lore, Knights of the Old Republic, and a Quake II Mission Pack?  And one game is FREE?  Yes sir, I think I will do this.

(If I had more money to burn I would have bought a LOT more.  But bills and responsibility over fun.  Because its just smarter that way!)

 A couple clue books!  Another one for my Dragon Warrior/Quest collection, (the one main line DQ series game I don't actually own!) and La Pucelle Tactics a fun SRPG I need to get back to some day.

The prices were overall good, the staff was great, the store looked nice.  I will certainly go there again!  (And maybe get a group to go down and also stop at the Westport store so I can grab all of their sweet sweet Atari 8 bit computer goodies.  That I can afford!)

See?  Some of us LIKE old computer games.  These are some of my more recent computer game pickups but not from the above run.  (Some I have had for months now.  I am bad about updating my collection pictures.)  Epic Pinball for DOS!  The legendary Age of Adventure single or multiplayer RPG duo!  Field of Fire another SSI wargame.  (This one basically SSI's equivalent to the legendary Squad Leader hex and chit wargame I don't get to play nearly enough.) Loose cart Atari 8 bit computer carts I mostly got because they were cheap.  And cheaply bought Skyrim for modern PCs.  15 bucks NOW beats whatever price it originally retailed for.

See I buy cheap to play and own and enjoy and share with the Internet via these sorts of blog posts or my photocomics or my few Youtube Let's Plays.  I buy cheap new games or old and try to get value and FUN for my money.  As the prices above show, its worth skipping a couple silly Lattes for hours of gaming fun. Or how absurd going to the movies is nowadays.

Retrogaming is FUN.  Exploring a new store and going places you would never go just to see what they have is all part of it.

Now to plan for another trip to this store and the one beyond...