Advice Column 1: Tips for New Retro Game Collectors

Advice Column 1: Tips for New Retro Game Collectors

Jim again.  I know every blog I say that I am going to keep this short, but this time I may stick to just that.  Today I want to talk about something that I do as a hobby, but in no way do I consider myself an expert.  Today we are going to be talking about retro game collecting, where to buy, how to check for problems, etc.

Building a new collection

For new collectors looking to build their own collections, my best piece of advice would be to strike at the end of a videogame lifecycle.  As of this writing, the PS4 and XBOX ONE are under 6 months old, and game stores are looking to dump inventory fast.  Even a huge monoply like Gamestop is dumping last-gen games for cheap, crazy cheap.  In fact, they now have a $10 and under section for all of the old systems, including the Wii, X360, and PS3.  The best part is, many of these games are really good, not just shovelware.  Two weeks ago, I bought Brutal Legend, Mass Effect 3, and 2 other games for 14 dollars...that is insane.  

Besides the big chain stores, there have been a number of smaller, local game stores to pop up lately.  Retro game collecting has turned into a viable business model, and dedicated gamers are turning their passions into profits.  Here you will be able to find more of the games of yesteryear, and also some cool peripherals.  I have seen control sticks and custom controllers at places like this that I would have never thought existed.  Also, you can find some decent deals from time to time.  Many of these places base their prices off average ebay or amazon sales, which is never exactly a golden find, but makes finding hard games easier.  Also, many of these stores can restore old systems that you own, which can help extend the lifespan of your collecting.

Another good way to get games is through the usual spots: thrift stores, garage sales, and flea markets.  Each of these can be easy ways to find golden deals, but this day and age I would not expect great things.  Obviously, garage sales and flea markets are seasonal events and based heavily on climate conditions.  Right now it is the middle of the worst winter we have seen in ages, so it is safe to say that there have not been any events going on.  Not only that, but people tend to stay in more, a lot more, during the winter, so thrift stores go dry around December, and don’t kick in again until April.  Keep this in mind if you are starting, you will need to wait until spring before you really delve deep into it.  The biggest problem with this approach though is the fact that retro games are no longer for a niche market.  Retro game collecting has exploded lately, and people are constantly combing markets and garage sales for hours a day each weekend for a chance to find something special.  It is this saturation of the market that makes a game like Earthbound so hard to find, and so expensive to buy online.  You will never find a cart of Nintendo World Championship at a garage sale, but it hasn’t helped keep it from going for over 100k on Ebay.

Ebay, Craigslist, and other sites can also work, but you tend to take a big risk with these.  Prices on sites like this will tend to be higher than anything you can find in person, depending on the game, condition, or if some asshole decides to turn something into a bidding war.  Not only that, if you overpay to get stuff shipped to you, you are going to eat that money.  At least with a garage sale or flea market you can get a game for a dollar or two tops.  Easy sales on Ebay can come in at around the ten dollar mark, and that doesn’t include shipping.  The best thing to do is bid on big collections of games.  You can sometimes get crazy deals on large sums of games.

Preparing Used Games Before Playing

This can be one of the toughest one for a new collector, and I only recently discovered this.  No matter where you go, buying an old game is a bit of a risk.  For the most part, old cartridge based games hold up pretty damn well over time.  Hell, my brother has an Atari 2600 that still works, with games that still work, and he has never one who was careful with his things.  That being said, when you buy a used retro game, there is no guarantee that it will work, but there are ways to avoid some unnecessary aggravation when playing your recent purchase for the first time.

For any game: from HUE cards, to cartridges, to CD’s, cleanliness is of the most importance.  It does not matter how well a game works, if it is dirty, there will be problems.  Rubbing alcohol is a game collector’s best friend.  I won’t bore you with the finer details, but there is almost no problem that cannot be solved with a Q-tip and some rubbing alcohol.  Before trying any recently purchased game, CLEAN IT FIRST.  

Take a look at this picture, this is what can come off of a game cartridge that has not been cleaned in a while.

This came off of a copy of Contra that I bought a local used game store.  At this store, they repair old systems and sell all kinds of game memorabilia.  One of the big selling points of their store is that they restore retro games, and even theirs can look like this if they sit out for too long.  If a game that comes from a store can look like this...imagine what is on games that aren’t properly cared for.  

The biggest problem that comes with dirt is with the pin connectors on cartridges.  The biggest way that pin based carts do not work is because of a problem with the pins.  In extreme cases, the pins break off, rendering the game a useless piece of plastic.  The most common problem is that the game is dirty, and it makes playing a game almost as hard.  If the connections aren’t all there, the games won’t play.  Not only does the dirt mess up the game, but it also messes up the pins on the system, which are a lot harder to get to.

I never had a NES growing up, and did not buy one until a few years ago.  When I got it, it did not work.  Luckily, the system powered on, but it gave nothing but static on the screen and a blinking red light.  After doing a quick YouTube search, I discovered that this could have meant one of two things, either the CPU chip was blocking me out (North American systems have a block to prevent the play of unlicensed games) or the pin connector was messed up.  Lets just say that over the next two weeks, I learned how to take apart a NES in my sleep.  At the end of the day, the pin connector was the problem, and all it took was a $4 replacement to fix.

The problem of cleanliness isn’t just limited to cartridges either, take a look at this GameCube disk…

It might be hard to see here, but the game was dirty and smudged to all hell.  In fact, after the startup screen for the system, the disk was considered unreadable.  I thought I had bought a 20 dollar dud.  Luckily, some common glass wipes fixed this issue, and it plays perfectly.  

The worst thing you can do is make a situation worse before it gets better, so cleaning off your games before playing will save you a lot of headaches in the future.  Also, you will greatly improve your chances of having it work the first time.  NOTHING is more disheartening to a retro collector than having a purchase not work.  

That’s all for now, but we will have more advice columns in the future.

Flappy Bird and the Problem with Digital Only Games

Flappy Bird and the Problem with Digital Only Games

 

Hey guys, Jim here, and today’s blog won’t be as long as the others, but is definitely more topical as far as the state of gaming goes.  Before this current (next) generation of games, a big controversy going around was the prevalence of digital only downloads for video games.  In fact, before they changed their mind after public outcry, the Xbox ONE was planned to be digital only, forsaking the physical copies we all know and love.  

Before I go into digital only games on consoles, I want to talk about Flappy Bird for a second.  For those that have not heard by now, Flappy Bird was recently removed from the App Store and Google Play.  It was a very simply designed, yet extremely difficult and addicting game that drew the ire of both critic and gamer alike, but was played by many people.  Basically, the player uses their finger to guide a bird through a series of pipes.  It sounds simple, but was extremely twitchy and difficult.  Gamers all over the world uploaded angry reaction videos, and there were reports of multiple devices being broken because of the game.  

This past Monday, February 10th, the game was removed from IOS and Google Play by the developer.  Even though the game was downloaded over 50 MILLION TIMES, it wasn’t enough for the developer, Dong Nguyen, who couldn’t take the constant ire he received through email and social media.  As of this writing and it’s removal, it was one of the most downloaded games in the world.  And now it’s gone.  That, my friends, is the problem with digital only media.

Say you are an average gamer, who is now interested in this.  How are you going to play it?  Well, for one, if you have a friend who had the game, you can play it off their device.  Then again, if you are a collector, do you know what you need to do now?  You need to buy a device that has it.  As of February 11th, over 4000 listings are now up on EBAY for devices that that have the game.  The highest bid is now close to $100k.  I severely doubt that anyone will pay that, but God damn.  We are now in the age of collectable apps, which is a phrase that I would have never thought of until yesterday.

This, in turn, is the biggest problem with digital download only games.  Luckily, this game was free, so anyone who downloaded this didn’t lose anything.  Still, if I had a phone that had this game, I would never update my phone again, because there will come a day when an OS will not agree with the game, and it will be useless to you.  There is no more support for it, this moment in time is the last way you can play it.  All because a guy said, “I can’t take this anymore, I’m done.”

While I had never played the game, I too have been bitten by the removal of digital content.  Last week, while hanging with Brian, we decided to play some old school arcade games that I had on XBOX LIVE.  We played Contra, X-Men, and some others, but one game seemed to be missing.  A game that I had paid 10 dollars for.  What game was this?  The Simpsons Arcade Game, the Konami classic.  Apparently, both this and X-Men had been removed from the PSN, but only the SImpsons was removed from XBOX.  There was no warning, Microsoft never made an effort to contact the owners of the game, they just removed it.  As of this writing, I am seeing if I can get my money back, but the issue remains….the game is gone.  

This is an image you will not see on XBox Live again

With the PSN, it turns out that the license ran out.  The X-Men game had a 3 year license, but the Simpsons game had only been out for about a year.  It is crazy to think that, one day, an entire catalog could potentially be gone from a major media outlet for any number of reasons.  Whether it be the developer, creator, publisher, or someone else, there are so many ways that we could potentially lose out on games that we paid for, with little to no explanation at all.  What happens if a developer goes out of business, doesn’t get bought out, and there is no one left to pay for the license?  While the game companies and publishers may hate the used game market, it is a mecca for gamers and collectors alike.  Why?  Simple, there will be copies of games to be found.  Some may be priced out the ass because of rarity, demand, or both, but they will still at least be around in some form.   

I don’t have the biggest game collection in the world, not even close, but I do have over 300 games that are on display in my game room.  If everything is digital only, then I have no game room, and I lose a big piece of the hobby I love.  Don’t get me wrong, there are more people than not who only want it digital, because honestly, there is more you can have with way less hassle.  It is the way of the future, I just fear many of the ramifications that can come from it.  I’m butthurt and I only lost a 10 dollar game.  I don’t want to think of how bad it could potentially get.

Memories of Summer Break - Part 1: Jim

Memories of Summer Break - Part 1: Jim

Hey everyone, Jim here.  With our blogs we try to do something different than our standard reviews or histories of things.  We like to make these a little more personal, and talk about stuff that comes to the top of our heads.  This time, we are going to be going back to our youths, when most people play video games the most.  If you are anything like us, this should be a topic that is very relatable.  

When I was a kid, I played video games all the time (shocking I know).  I played video games all the time, but I never had more time to than during the summer.  Looking back, I feel bad for my poor parents, who tried to get me and my friends to go outside, but all I was interested in was playing through a certain game or type of game.  Back then, my friend Ryan and I would lock ourselves up in a room and play a game for hours on end.  We would either spend an entire summer trying to beat 1 game, or just playing one type of game over and over.  Below are the games that I remember playing the most, and certain memories to go with them.

Streets of Rage 3

Streets of Rage 3 is pretty much the black sheep of the franchise.  Though each game in the series is different, this one just had a different overall feel to it.  The basic gameplay and sprites were the same, but there was always something...off about it.  

That being said, it is still a great game, and easily the hardest game in the series.  In fact, the North American version of the game was made harder than the Japanese version.  Why is that?  Hell if I know, but it turned a series that can be beaten in under an hour into a marathon of memorization and skill honing.  Knowing your surroundings, proper character strategy, and quick reflexes were musts.  If you beat the game on hard, it would end after level 5, giving you a false ending.  Beating it on easy is no cakewalk, and beating it on medium is a test.  Not only is it tougher, but on the last boss of the game you have a time limit.  If you don’t stop the boss in time, the city gets destroyed by randomly placed bombs.  

When I was a kid, we would play this for hours, getting a little better each and every time.  We would get farther and farther, but fall just short of the later levels.  After a while, we developed a strategy where I would play the first 5 levels, hopefully only on my first continue, and he would join in after, fresh with 3.  Even doing this, it was never easy.  I only beat the game on normal once, and that is after hundreds of tries.

Goldeneye / Perfect Dark

There isn’t a lot that I need to say about this.  Everyone knows these games.  Like Streets of Rage, we spent entire summers playing this game, one summer on each.  With Goldeneye, Ryan, his brother Chris, and I would constantly play through the levels, trying to unlock everything and completing each secret objective.  From there, we would play multiplayer for hours at a time.  The late 90’s were a great time to grow up with videogames, and the N64 was the king of local multiplayer.  None of us were PC gamers then, so this was our FPS of choice, and really, was the best out there until HALO came around.

Perfect Dark had a similar summer.  We didn’t play the single play as much (except for Chris) but we played the hell out of multiplayer.  It may seem weird, but setting up matches against bots (called SIMS) never got old.  Back then, we didn’t know any better, so the slowdown and lag caused by explosions and blurry punches were not game breakers.  Unfortunately, the game does not hold up.

Super Smash Brothers Series

Yet another game I played the hell out of, especially with the Lynch brothers.  Both of these games are fun as hell, with loads of unlockables.  We all took turns trying to unlock stuff, and the multiplayer fights never got old.  Not much I need to say about these games either.  

Melee was when the obsession started.  The night they got a Gamecube, they got Melee and Fifa 02 I believe.  Of course, most of our time went toward Smash.  We all had our favorite characters, and I was almost always Link.  No specific memories come out, but we might have spent two summers playing this.  

Brawl was much of the same, but added more characters and way more unlockables.  Also, the fun of the ultra moves added a new dynamic that could change the course of the game.  Chris was by far the best, and with Snake he was goddamn unbeatable.  

Final Fantasy VII

Sorry, I never physically owned this game, so no picture

While I never played this at the time, Ryan was absolutely obsessed with this game.  Even though I didn’t appreciate it at the time, I would sit there and follow the story as Ryan played through it.  I will say this, sitting through random encounters can be painful, but it was still such a new experience in gaming at the time.  I think he played and replayed this game for about a year straight.

Resident Evil: all until 4

That’s right, during the course of a summer, we played through every one of these games.  This summer was the reverse of FFVII because I would play the game, while Ryan was happy watching and helping me figure out puzzles.  During the course of a summer, I played through Resident Evil’s 1, 2, 3, Zero, Code Veronica X, and the GC remake of 1.  It remains one of my favorite game series of all time, and one that Brian and I will go into great detail to in the future.  In a later summer, I also played 4, but the Wii version of all things.

Twisted Metal 1, 2, & Black

This one was a definite favorite of Ryan and I, especially 2.  We played two for hours, with my favorite being Mr Grimm, and Ryan’s being Axel.  Axel was always so damn cheap in 2, but that’s why I was always the little guy who could hit big and run.  Back then, we didn’t even have the original Twisted Metal until much later, but played the hell out of the old EGM demo.  Black was more of my favorite, and wasn’t quite as fun in multiplayer, but we dabbled in that together as well.  Still, nothing beats a Twisted Metal 2 marathon, even to this day.

 

Hot Shots Golf 3

 This one has a special place, since it is a game I played all the time with my dad.  We would spend hours on this game, and played damn near every day.  We both spent a ton of time playing through the tournament mode, and would play against each other all the time.  I never went easy on him, but after a while we were neck and neck every time we played.  

StarCraft: Broodwar

I really doubt there is anything I need to say about this game, considering it is a national sport in Korea.

I played this a lot with Ryan, and my friends Jerry and John.  In fact, for a number of years, I would wake up early every Saturday and log in with Ryan and play for hours.  I would have an old 13 inch CRT tv next to me, as cartoons and then bad tv would be playing in the background.  When I say bad shows, I mean bad FOX saturday afternoon tv (Beastmaster, Stargate SG1, etc).  

With Andrew and Jerry, it was all about UMS (Use Map Settings) games. These were almost all user created maps, and each one was creative. Test of Terran/Toss, Swarm modes, Turret Defense...it was all here.  We also did a ton of comp stomps, eventually getting to the point where we could beat 6 computers within a few hours...damn lag.

Mario Kart 64

I think I played this to death with every group of friends that I have had.  To this day I am still way too good at this game.  

San Francisco Rush / 2049 Stunt Modes

This is a game that many today don’t know much about, but back in the late 90’s you would be hard pressed to find an arcade that did feature one of these games.  They were fun racing games, if not anything overly special, but it was the console versions that had the ace, Stunt Mode.

In San Fran Rush, I would play this with my Dad and Brother a lot.  We would each keep developing new strategies to have the new high score, and we would write it down every time.  In the end, we all wound up just going off the same jumps, but it was fun every time.

In 2049, my group of high school friends and I (John, John, Ryan, Kurt, Dan, Rob) would play this all the time in between poker nights.  My basement was the hangout spot for a while, and we were obsessed with this and poker.  Basically, once someone got eliminated from a round of Texas Hold Em, we would start playing this or Mario Kart.  This mode had different play mechanics, but we all wound up going off the center pyramid every time.  

Guitar Hero / NHL series

I am not going to go too far into this because I just wrote a huge article on it, but this was probably the last game that I played during a summer break.  I took a lot of summer classes, and worked internships, so summer breaks were pretty much done for me by the time I was 19.  I would play this with my friends Ryan (a different one), John, John, Rob, Dan, Kurt, and others, though some played way more than others.  It was also around this time that we discovered just how awesome the NHL series of games were by EA, and we would get in heated marathons to see who was the best that night.  This was also probably the last hurrah of local multiplayer gaming, because getting old makes that harder, but we can still have summer anytime over XboxLIVE and PS Network.  One thing was always for certain...if it went to a shootout...I would lose.  I was the Ilya Bryzgalov of NHL video games.  

I have a lot of games that I play with a bunch of other friends since then, but none that I can classify under summer break.  The times I spent with friends and family playing these games will never go away, and keeps all of these fun (well, except for Goldeneye and Perfect Dark).  Even better, as you can see, I still own the original games that I played back then, so you can imagine how precious they are to my collection.  Next time Brian will share many of his memories.