FamiComplex Video Reviews - The Legend of the Mystical Ninja

Spoiler Alert: just go buy it right now. Seriously.

FamiComplex reviews The Legend of the Mystical Ninja for the SNES. Was the Ganbare Goemon series worth the wait, or should this have stayed in Japan?

Another Trip, More Goodies

I figured that, since I've still got my car this weekend, I'd take a trip to Salem for another tour of the numerous thrift stores down there.

As with most of my long thrifting day trips, I wasn't disappointed.

That's some serious hardware.

At the very first Goodwill I checked on the way down, I ran into this: A boxed Super Scope 6.  The box was hiding under a stack of other random boxes next to the register - seriously, guys, check every inch of your thrift stores, you really never know.

All parts for the gun are included as well as the sensor, but the Super Scope 6 cartridge isn't... but I've actually seen people giving the cartridge away, so it shouldn't be hard to track one down.  $24.99, and they go for around $30-40.  Also purchased here but not pictured: a new N64 memory card (or controller pak) for $4.99.  Off to a good start!

Can never have too many of these.  Why?  Bomberman, that's why.

At a Value Village, I picked up another Sega Saturn controller for $2.99.  This is a version one controller, and you can usually pick these up for $10 or so.

Where do these keep coming from?

Lastly, at the same Goodwill where I bought a bunch of 2600 games a few months ago, I found yet another stack.  Where are these coming from?  Is there an infinitely renewing fountain of Atari 2600 games nearby?  If so, where can I find this fountain?

The games are Space Invaders, Cosmic Ark, Demons to Diamonds, Warlords (finally!), Breakaway IV, and Riddle of the Sphinx.  These were $2.99 each, so yes, I grossly overpaid for almost all of them.  Breakaway IV, however, is worth around $5, so there was one decent deal.  I have no problem overpaying for a stack of 2600 games when, on the same trip, I massively underpaid for something else.  It all balances out, you see.

As it turns out, I already had a copy of Space Invaders.  I love overpaying for something I already own.  I can't wait until my Verizon service contract ends so I can activate this Virgin Mobile smartphone.  It'd be so nice to have access to my RF Generation collection list on the go.  There is actually an app for that.

Also, in this same trip, I picked up a Gamecube for $9.99... but that's a discussion for a few years in the future.  Happy hunting, everyone!

FamiComplex Video Reviews - Home Alone

'Holy Cow' is right, kid.

FamiComplexTV's first Christmas special is here with every Home Alone game! This can't end well.

A Trip Home, A Huge Collection Boost

I've just gotten back a couple of days ago from a trip to visit my family in Iowa for Thanksgiving.  I had a great time, but this isn't a blog about family, so let's talk games.

One of the things I like to stress here is that no matter where you are, you can hunt this stuff down.  I've visited tons of thrift stores and have always, always been able to find some gems... or at least some cheap junk.

In the Cedar Rapids/Marion area, however, I hit up 5 different thrift stores and found almost nothing.  One consignment store had an enormous selection of crappy sports games for at least 5 times their current value, but the rest were completely devoid of anything game-related.

Now, this may have been because I went thrifting shortly after Black Friday, but classic games aren't really a big ticket Christmas item... who knows.

So, thrift stores may not be the way to go, where you are.

That's better.

So, of course, I visited my local Goodwill upon returning home to wash that bad taste out of my mouth.  I left with a copy of Columns for the Game Gear, with a 1/2 off tag at $1.49.  That made me feel better.

That's not to say that the trip was not profitable from a classic gaming standpoint.  Firstly, my brother-in-law's mother found a stack of Genesis games in their storage.  He no longer has a Genesis, so they gave me this:

Neat, DreamWorks.

Wings of Wor for the Sega Genesis.  Next, I raided my parents' basement to retrieve the goodies within, as well as the games they had bought from me back when we needed the financial help.  What follows is a significant portion of my childhood games.

Oh yeah, this is the good stuff, right here.  The NES Action Set I was given for Christmas in one of the best Christmases ever, the badly yellowed SNES which was the first thing I ever bought with my own money, and the Game Boy Color/Camera/Printer I purchased in high school.

Shadowgate Classic and Tetris DX for the Game Boy Color, as well as Pokemon Blue, Castlevania Legends, Metroid II, Final Fantasy Legend III for the Game Boy.

NES games: Shinobi, Karate Champ, Friday The 13th, Demon Sword, The Empire Strikes Back, Kung Fu, Time Lord, Days of Thunder and Legacy of the Wizard.

Bigger ones in this group... Magician, StarTopics, Super Team Games, Dance Aerobics, Ghost Lion, Action 52, Dragon Warrior and Dragon Warrior II.  Once upon a time, I had Dragon Warrior III and IV as well, but they seem to have vanished.  Shame.

SNES games: Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts, Raiden Trad, Mario World, Zoop, The Adventures of Dr. Franken and Battle Blaze.  Decent haul - but whatever happened to my better games?  A Link To The Past, Donkey Kong Country, Super Metroid?  They've disappeared.

A stack of manuals, mostly for the Game Boy stuff.  Looks like I've got a StarTropics manual, too.  No letter, of course.  I doubt I'll ever find a copy with the letter intact.

Here's something I tend to forget when dealing with retro games - PC games!  Here we have Avoid The Noid, the freeware game Sleuth, Captain Blood, Megaman, and Win, Lose or Draw.  Also, a copy of Prowler that's a hybrid PC/Commodore 64 disk.  Score!

Lastly, we have Drakkhen, Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego (a demo, I think), Gauntlet II, Ms. Pac-Man, Moraff's World, Pool of Radiance, The Dark Half, Populous and Populous: The Promised Lands.

With so many PC games, maybe we'll look at doing some DOSBox reviews.  I've also got a nice stack of CD-ROM-era PC games I'd love to tear into again... we'll see.

Another Great Craigslist Haul, Plus a Little Goodwill Hunting!

Mario RPG!

The summer sale season may have come and gone here in the Northwest, but I've still got another great Craigslist haul to report tonight!  For $50, I picked up Super Mario RPG, Ninja Warriors, The Jungle Book, Earthworm Jim, Mystical Ninja and Zombies Ate My Neighbors for the SNES.

The value of these games is almost twice what I paid, so I'm very happy about that, especially after paying full Amazon price for my review copy of Zombies Ate My Neighbors just a few weeks ago and winding up with a beat-up, rental sticker-covered monstrosity.

2600 games - most are true classics, too.

After driving all the way out to Salem, I figured it'd be a good idea to check the nearby Goodwill as I don't make it out there very often.  They had a whole stack of Atari 2600 games, all labelled $3.99, but each and every one was half off due to the color tag sale.  That's better than most retail stores, but I took a loss on the value of these cartridges.  So, there was a small loss, but after the earlier victory, it all balances out to a pretty great day for my collection.  The titles were Space Attack, Super Breakout, Asteroids, Yar's Revenge, Adventure, Centipede, Reactor and Atlantis.

Happy Halloween, everyone!

While not as 'special' as originally planned due to illness, time constraints and a very late-arriving camera, enjoy the first FamiComplexTV Halloween special: Zombies Ate My Neighbors for the SNES.  Is this classic run-and-gun a monster good time, or will it send you crying to mummy?

Portland Retro Gaming Expo 2011 Pickups!

This list of pickups is so big, I decided to do a video as requested!

I babbled on for over a half hour - though I managed to cut it down to just under four minutes.  Put together quickly and unscripted, you'll notice my kittens yelling, microphone gain drops and more fun.  I promise, the next video will be of better quality.  Enjoy!

Fami-complex Video Reviews - ActRaiser

ActRaiser: The First Fami-complex video review!

As promised, FamiComplexTV kicks off with our first video review, ActRaiser!  Is it awesome?  Awful?  Leave a comment and influence future episodes!

The Estate Sale That Time Forgot

Yesterday, I took a long drive through the countryside of Oregon, through insanely twisting roads with unnecessary hairpin curves, past berry farms and orchards.  I saw places such as a stable with a sign featuring a frolicking horse, jumping over some flowers like, "Yay I'm a horse!"  It was awesome.  Also, an alpaca farm.

Alpacas: Never not funny.

Also, there was a sign that said:

TIMOTHY

HAY!

I'd like to think there are better ways to get Timothy's attention.

Anyway, on to the sale.  The first day, I had $40 in my pocket and wasn't expecting much.  The ad had listed some SNES and NES games, as well as an SNES system.  I went in expecting to find a bundled Super Nintendo and some games, likely outside of my price range.  I always try to pick up an SNES bundle where I can, because I can sell the system and any games I already have, keep the new games and make back what I spent.

I wasn't really prepared for what they had.  When I arrived, the games were the first thing I saw, I didn't even make it through the rest of the sale.  The Super Nintendo was priced at $49, individually.  My first reaction was to whine internally about how the SNES and games weren't bundled with a fixed price.  For some reason, something in my brain balked and decided at that moment that this wasn't going to be a worthwhile sale.

Then, I noticed the games.  Like, really noticed them.

This wasn't your average yard sale fare.  This wasn't a bin of loose cartridges with random accessories thrown in.  This was a box - alphabetized and orderly - of boxed and complete games.  Not the kind of smashed up boxes you occasionally come by... many of them were absolutely mint.

My brains poured out of my ears as I started looking through the box.  Soon, I'd made a stack, handed the nice lady $40, and walked back to my car in a daze.  Thankfully, I did not drool on the games.

Look at them.  Just look at them.

For the NES, I picked up Metal Gear, Contra, and Turtles II The Arcade Game.  Have I mentioned they're gorgeous?

Did I mention I was a Ninja Turtles fan?

For the SNES, Contra III, Star Fox, Super Street Fighter II, Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighters, and Turtles in Time.  Great games, great condition, except for Contra III which was a little bit smooshy.

I made it home at around the time the estate sale was set to close, and told my wife all about the wonder and glory that I'd just experienced.  She looked over the games, and said something I'll probably never hear again.

She told me to go back and buy more.

See, my wife is supportive of my collection.  She knows it's important to me, but she's also the smart one in this relationship.  I respect the budget, and she respects my need for shiny new cartridges.  It's compromise.

So, the following day, I woke up at the crack of dawn.  Not by choice, but because I was just so excited to get back there and pick through the games again.  Armed with $150 and a list of games I intended to pick up, I returned to rural Oregon for round two.

The people running the sale asked, "Back for more?" as soon as I walked up.  I smiled and agreed, going straight for the games.  The list of games I'd wanted to buy dissolved in my mind as I again reverted to a 10 year-old kid who'd just mowed 15 lawns on a Mountain Dew high.  The money was all mine, and I could have anything I wanted.  I would be the coolest kid on the block.  I would be the god of this sale.

The resulting pickup is one for the history books.

A thing of beauty, that.

I picked up the boxed SNES, sold with "the cleaning kit and an extra controller", which were both for the NES.  The Super Nintendo is complete, down to the inserts - even the original twist ties are still in the box!  It's yellowed, but we can reverse that.

My brain shuts down just looking at the picture.

For the NES, Super C, Robocop, Shadow of the Ninja, Double Dragon II, Double Dragon III, Street Fighter 2010, Rollergames, Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project, Snake's Revenge, Punch-Out!! and Godzilla.

ActRaiser!

For the SNES: Final Fight, Final Fight 2, Super R-Type, Magic Sword, ActRaiser, F-Zero, Super Double Dragon and a Game Genie.

So, I said goodbye to the alpacas, said "HAY" to Timothy and returned home triumphant.  These games are just beautiful, I can't say it enough.  Amazing condition and almost all are complete, down to the inserts.

Today, it's a day later and I'm still reeling.  What an amazing find.