My 5 Favorite NES eBay Purchases of 2009

In order of purchase, not necessarily in order of favorites:

1. Contra (4/22/09)
This game was said to be worth $20.82. It was purchased for $10.99 with free shipping on a whim. The story behind getting this game is pretty funny because I didn't actually end up purchasing it. It was found under my login and was purchased under my login out of excitement of the good price. Intentionally purchased under my login? I think so. But I wanted the game, so it worked out in the end. This game brings back fun memories of my childhood, sitting and playing it with my brother for all hours of the day/night.

2. Mario Bros (NOT SUPER) (5/2/09)
The purchase itself was not anything spectacular, although I got it for an incredible price of $5.00 when it's worth around $20, but the memories that came with getting this game was worth it. I've played this game quite a bit with two players and it's been way too much fun. It's been quite awhile since I've played this game, but I enjoy thinking of the fun times I've had.

3. My First Multi-Purchase (from old_school_gaming_101) (6/20/09)
This purchase was not a lot, but games I purchased from the same seller in order to obtain reduced shipping. I don't recall if they were BuyItNow items or auctions, but that's not really relevant. In this purchase there was: Silkworm, Gyromite, Duck Hunt X2, Adventures of Bayou Billy, Pinball, and Tennis. This was a fun purchase because some of the games were not staying with me and I was excited to be giving games away. One title in paticular was one that was said to wanted and I was pretty happy to aquire it for a decent price. Unfortunately, I purchased Duck Hunt twice thinking that it wasn't already owned by the receiver... and it was. :(

4. BurgerTime (7/1/09)
I did happen to get this game for a decent price, but that wasn't the goal of getting this game. The purpose of getting this game was to WIN. That's right, if you haven't been keeping up with my blog, there is a lot of backstory to this game. If you're interested in reading the related posts, go ahead and click here. Long story short, I slowly built up my skill in the game, learned how to group, and surpassed the world record of the game posted at Twin Galaxies. Not by a whole lot, mind you, but I could get higher with a bit more practice.

5. 5 New NES Pin Connectors (10/23/09)
This purchase was payment for other things, along with getting my original NES fixed. I broke it with my first eBay purchase, Popeye, by sticking the super dirty game in the system without cleaning it. It sat in my living room, unused, for several months before I finally bought the connectors and got it fixed. Now it works beautifully and I don't have to push the game down to make it work! I also got the system nice and clean.

All the purchases I've made I've enjoyed since it's making my collection grow and grow, but these few stuck out in my mind (and when I browsed through my emails looking at each game I've bought). During 2009, I purchased at least 100 games through eBay. My goal for 2010 is to reach 200 for my collection, which means that I only need to purchase 74 games, or about 6 games a month. I also want to start working on my SNES collection and purchase some more Wii games. I don't really have a set goal for those two systems, but a nice outcome would be at least 10 SNES games and 3-5 Wii games. We'll see how that goes, but 6 NES games a month shouldn't be a problem since I like to look at lots.

Anyway, I hope everyone has a great New Year. Stay safe.

I Beat Super Mario Bros. 2!

That's right, I beat Super Mario Bros. 2! I'm not too sure I have ever beat this game before, but it's probably safe to assume that this time is my first.

 As you can see from this first screen shot, I definitely warped through the game. Honestly, I've never played through all the levels. I always watched my brother and my Dad warp through this game, so I warp. As you can also see, I only used Princess throughout the entire game. If I play as Luigi or Mario I end up landing places I don't want to land cause they jump all crazy. And Toadstool, the only thing he does well is pick up things quickly, and I don't really have a need to do that.

And here it is: The End. Stupid Mario and his stupid Dream. What a bunch of baloney.

At least I can change the status of this game on my Backloggery from "Unfinished" to "Completed". I'll save "Beaten" for when I actually go through all the stages. :)

Meet Crazy Otto

Meet Crazy Otto. That's right, this creepy looking "Hack" (for lack of a better term) Pac-Man thing is called Crazy Otto. It was developed right before Ms. Pac Man.

A couple of students at MIT in the year 1977, named Doug Macrane and Kevin Curran, decided to create what was called a "Enhancement Kit" for Missle Command since they had purchased machines for their school and money from the machine was starting to dwindle. They had created one and decided to call it "Super Missle Attack" and sell it across the country. Unfortunately, not only had the interest in Missle Command already peaked, but a lawsuit from Atari soon followed.

Atari decided to not only drop the suit against the developers, but in 1981 decided to hire these men. During the 1981 lawsit, Macrane and Curran thought that Pac-Man had flaws and wanted to create a harder version of the game. The original Pac-Man had the same set of boards and the enemies were too easy to predict in their eyes. After deciding to create more boards, make the fruit move instead of stationary, adding in some animated sequences, making the algorithms of the enemies random, and throwing on some legs and feet, Crazy Otto was born.

This time, Macrane and Curran decided to take the idea directly to Midway (Namco had contracted the US rights of Pac-Man to Midway) to avoid another lawsuit. Midway did not like Crazy Otto, so after some revisions of the main character, Ms. Pac-Man was born! Apparently, Ms. Pac-Man originally had red hair and Namco said to remove it immediately.

If you'd like to read more about this weird guy, there's a blurb on the Game Informer's website along with some video of the original Attract Screen and animated sequences. The misses in the Crazy Otto rendition of Pac-Man was red and kind of creepy looking...

Ms. Pac-Man Was Once A Man Named Otto.

If you want to read the rest of the story.. you'll just have to pick up a Game Informer Magazine.

I hope you've enjoyed my brief description of this funky game.

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays... I'm going to play Balloon Fight.

Ring King

That's right. I have acquired this game. I have not played it really, but it does work and looks great. I love how this game has a nice green background. I can't recall any other games that have a green background like this one.

The only thing I really know about this game is that is has an indecent cut scene in between rounds. If you don't know what I'm referring to, Youtube it. Also, there's a character on there that looks like they're from the 80's.

I will try this game out soon.

Ballon Fight!

Yessss! I've wanted to get this game for awhile now, and I finally got it!

I decided to browse videogamepriceguides.com to look for an inexpensive copy and *BAM*, very first copy is $5.99 with free shpping! So I bought it IMMEDIATELY! The price guides has it worth $11.77, so I got it for about half the price! Whoo hoo!

Now some of you may be wondering, didn't I have this game before? Yes, yes I did. I traded it for another NES game, but I can't recall what for. Maybe someone could refresh my memory, but I remember parting with it was painful cause I wanted to keep it so bad! But it's mine again, and I don't have to trade it! Ha ha ha!!! :)

Pac Man Ornament?

Will I win the Pac Man Ornament from Ebay tomorrow? Lets keep our fingers crossed.

*** Update ****
I did not win. :(

New X-Mas Ornament

Don't you wish your ornament was awesome like mine!



And it makes noise!

Bones: The Gamer In The Grease

So I heard about this episode of Bones called The Gamer In The Grease that is supposed to somewhat reflect the competitiveness shown in the movie "King of Kong". If you have not seen "King of Kong", you're crazy and go buy the movie (I got my copy at Target).

Basically the episode talks about Steve Rifton, who stole the world record of Punky Pong, who was found dead in a vat of oil. The prime suspect is Billy Gabel who rants on an online video saying that Steve cheated. Long story short, Steve did cheat and Billy wasn't guilty.

The other thing that was pointed out to me was how the charaters were portrayed in the show. Here are their photos, Billy then Steve.

 If you want to see this episode, the link is at the top of the page.

Waka Waka Waka

Oh yeah, sporting my new PacMan PJ's I got at Wal-Mart! Cost me a whole $11! It came with a beanie and some cheap slippers as well.

Now keep in mind, these are men's pajamas, so they fit a little weird... But they're comfy!

Vacation

This weekend I spent out of town spending time with my family and enjoying a Christmas Party. The only thing I really have to share is this photo:



My Uncle is explaining to my Aunt how to play Guitar Hero while my two cousins rocked out. I thought it was entertaining to watch them huddle around the Wii playing games.

Also, I walked by a cart at one of the malls that has a bunch of those Super Joy controllers! Here I thought they were hard to find and there was a bunch of them just waiting to be sold. Boo hoo.

City Connection Reloaded

This game is ridiculously hard! You have to go into the options menu to figure out what the keys are. I'll list them here for you:

A turns left
D turns right
H jumps
J is turbo
G shoots oil cans

This game is a pain. After reconfiguring the keys, I can get to the 3rd stage. It's fun. I wish this wasn't shown to me! If you want to try it out, here's the game:

10 daily flash games at gamesforwork.com