What I got with $5

I was browsing Craigslist today and happened to come across a broken NES system for $5.

It is in beautiful shape. It does have a bit of dirt on it like any 20+ year old system would be expected to have, but it doesn't have any blemishes that I can see! It does turn on, but the description of it's broken-ness was that it blinks a red light when trying to play a game. That normally means that the pin connector (or game you're trying to play) is dirty. I've gotten those replaced on other systems before, and I will more than likely be donating this to someone who does have a pin connecter. But how can you pass up a system that can easily be fixed?!

But that's not all. Without warning, the person who was selling this broken $5 NES system brought along this:

The guy was like "I just found this lying around, do you want it?" I was like "heck yes I do!". That's how I acquired my first NES advantage controller! It's like the NES with it's expected dirt. I haven't tested it yet, but even if it doesn't work I'm sure there will be some use for it. Pretty cool, huh?

Letter to Nintendo

Dear Nintendo,

Thank you for making awesome products that seem to last forever. I have an Original NES that I found near a dumpster around seven years ago that has does not give me any trouble unless I try to play a game that isn't cleaned first. I have a Game Boy Advance that was purchased when it was first released and it still works beautifully. The only trouble my Wii gives me is when I have to change the batteries in the Wiimote because I use it too much. I own more Nintendo systems than these listed above, but I believe that I have given the true meaning of this letter.

Games that have come out on your systems have been highly enjoyable, and many people must agree with me. Your systems have great libraries that are full of games that fun and not too complicated to play on the first try. Your games are not full of first person shooters and other boring games that I'm not interesting in playing.

Lately I have been trying other "modern" gaming systems only to learn that they will only let me down and not work correctly or be too complicated to use. I can always turn on any of your systems and use them the way I want to use them and have no trouble other than the issues I mentioned above.

Please continue to make your quality products and games. I will always buy your stuff.

Love always,
- Me

P.S. Feel free to send me free stuff.

Retrogen!

Yeah! I ordered this last Thursday and it was in town yesterday. Unfortnately I got too many packages in the mail at once and had to go pick it up at the post office. But look at this box! It just screams awesomeness! The box has velcro holding the flap closed and it's so fancy when you open it.

It comes with AV cables so you can hook up the system to the TV (which seems pretty pointless if you already have a Genesis) and a USB cable which is used to charge your Retrogen. The buttons look like their metal but I don't think they are. They feel really nice when you push them. And look at the screen...

Beautiful. The sound is not so great though. I can live with poor sounds though. I bought it from this site: http://www.gogamer.com/. And what do you know? They're on sale through that site! I paid a bit less than $30 for it including shipping. Most other sites sell it for $49.99 not including the shipping.

GO GET ONE!!!!!! NOWWWWW!!!!!

Choplifter for Sega Master System

Just look at that game case. A helicopter with bright headlights flying towards some barbed wire. When I first saw this, I was like "what the heck does that have to do with anything?" After I took some time to think about it, it makes total sense. Here's what I imagine in my mind: This helicopter is definitely looking for something. Of course in the game you are going to rescue hostages. And barbed wire? That usually indicates that you are going somewhere you aren't supposed to be going. And in the game you're in enemy territory blowing up buildings or whatnot to get to those hostages! So yeah, the cover certainly does do the game justice.

The intro screen, on the other hand, is a little misleading. Why do the people not have any legs? Why is the chopper shooting at the people? Who knows, but it's still cool.

Now I don't have any game footage because there were just major scan lines in the photos I took. But the game is pretty much perfect. All you do is dodge objects and get the hostages. I'm terrible at it. I can't even pass the second stage, but I've only recently played this game. I've never even heard of it until recently! And what a terrible thing. This game is great. It's great for the imagination. I mean look at what I thought of when I saw the game case! The music in this game is awesome. It fits the game perfectly. I feel the shooting sound effect is weird, but everything else is good. Too bad it doesn't have the talking and the screaming like the arcade version has.

All in all, you should certainly try this game if you haven't. And if you don't have a Master System, get a power base converter. But the Master System is so cool!

What's with this fake game?!

This is a game I found at Goodwill along with my previous goodies. It's Turok: Battle of the Bionosaurs for the Game Boy. But do you notice anything weird about it?

Seriously, how could a company make this and think that people out there would not notice that it's fake?! When I saw it at the store I noticed right away at the top it just says GAME instead of GAME BOY. It is extremely light too. And that is that up in the corner?

I know it's not a great picture, but I can't figure out how to get a better one with my camera. Sorry. But it says COLOR GAME BOY with some writing below it. I know I've seen this on other knock-off games but I can't recall which games and I'm having a hard time finding anything online about it. I found out what the lable on the game is supposed to look like:

I couldn't find a good image online, but remove the GAME BOY on the side and that's what the label looks like on the actual game. But what is the label that's on it now actually from? It's from the N64 game Turok: Dinosaur Hunter.

Weird, huh? I thought so. In looking through a gameplay video of this game, it looks identical to what I have. I was thinking maybe it was one of those strange multi-game carts that have multiple games in that are called other things, but no luck. So strange. I hope someone out there finds this post and can provide any information that may lead to this fake game's origin. I'm curious.

Master System and others

I did a bit of thrifting today and got a few goodies.

A Master System! Unfortunately it was just the system. No controllers or adaptor or anything else. Thankfully I can use my Genesis controller and AV cables as well as my adaptor that powers my NES and SNES. The original NES adaptor powered the system, but apparently not enough to make it work correctly (kinda like when I was trying to power my NES with my Yobo adaptor, it's not strong enough). Maybe I'll find a real adaptor someday as well as the controllers. We'll see.

Kind of funny how I find Game Gear games after I finally get one. I didn't find this game at the same store that I found the Game Gear game, but it was still a Goodwill. I guess it could be from the same person that donated the system, but who knows. It looks great. It has the case too.

I found one more item, but I will be saving that for my next post. I want to try and do more research on it first... Look for it tomorrow!

The past two weeks...

I've been terrible at blogging my thrift finds for the past two weeks. So here they are:

A couple Genesis games. Shining Force is missing the manual, but that Maximum Carnage is. Shining Force is apparently worth a bit. Whoo! I paid $3.99 for each of them.

From the same thift store. Starfox, Super Mario World, Buster Busts Loose, Bugs Bunny Birthday Blowout for Gameboy, and Kirby's Pinball Land. The Kirby game looked familiar when I saw it but I wasn't sure if I had played it before or not. When I tested it after I got home I recognized it instantly! It's always fun when I find games that I don't recognize at first but remember when I start to play it. I have a terrible memory, it just needs help sometimes! The SNES games were $3.99 each and the Gameboy games were $2.99. Good times.

Who knows if I'll thrift this weekend. We'll see.