Slackur's Obscure Gaming Theatre

Posted on May 12th 2010 at 07:17:29 AM by (slackur)
Posted under Collection, Fathers Day, CCAG, Neo Geo, Awesome Wife, Collecting

I have a true gamer's "Holy Grail" in my beloved wife, and I'll tell you why.

This year's CCAG (Classic Console and Arcade Gaming) show was the best since I began attending a few years ago.  I got to chat with dozens of fellow vendors and collectors, play ancient computer games running on systems I still don't own, support a few home-brewers, actually check for data rot before purchasing (I had to put back over fifty games, including half a dozen different copies of TG16 Addams Family), actually play the pinball table 'Sorcerer' and see if my Pinball Hall of Fame mastery carried over to the real world, (Protip-nudge/tilt button moved to a weird Wii-like waggle maneuver) and best of all, I bought a bunch of games.

Maybe too many games.  Way too many games.  Like this many games:



Photobucket

In the back there is why my beloved is way cooler than maybe any wife ever, and her milkshake does, in fact, bring all the boys to said yard.

That lovely Neo Geo AES plus a few games was a present from my Love, bought at CCAG, for a way early Fathers Day present.

Yeah, she's that cool.  Stay away, I already put a ring on it.
 
Her, not the AES.

Here's a breakdown of what was gained for the good of the collection Saturday, in no particular order:

Neo Geo Pocket: Gals Fighters

A Neo Geo AES with Baseball Stars Pro, Riding Hero, Ghost Pilots, Nam 1975, and Super Sidekicks 2

Saturn: Gex (no I), Magic Knight Rayearth, and imports: Virtua Fighter CG Portrait Series Vol.6, World Advanced, World Advanced Daisenryaku: Kotetsu no Ikusakaze, Layer Section, House of the Dead, Digital Pinball Necronomicon, Cyberbots Limited Edition

Sega Master System: Castle of Illusion, Ghouls and Ghosts

Genesis: Warsong

Neo Geo CD: Samurai Spirits

Super Famicom: Waku Waku Ski Wonder Shoot

A PC Engine RX, (with the 6 button controller), Tengai Makyou: Fuun Kabuki Den, Tengai Makyou II: Manji Maru (disc only), Burai: Hachigyoku no Yuushi Densetsu, Legion (probably the first shooter for Turbo that I don't like at all), and a professional homebrew (professionally pressed disc, case, instructions, etc.) called Insanity.  It's basically Berserk for the Duo.

PC Engine: F1 Circus, Formation Soccer on J League, Power Eleven, J. League Greatest Eleven, Cyber Cross (J. League Soccer games are apparently Madden to the Japanese)

PSX: Project Horned Owl.  Gotta love light gun games.  And Baby Universe, an import that looks like a Windows 95 Screen saver.  I kid you not.

NES: A markered-up SEI variant of Impossible Mission II, and my girl found a nice copy of Operation Secret Storm.  'Cause, at the risk of sounding redundant, she's awesome.

SuperGrafx: Battle Ace.  My first game for the system, and I'm already at 20% of the library.

Gameboy: Mach Go Go Go.  Proving that I don't like Speed Racer in portable form either.

Atari 2600: Private Eye, Crypts of Chaos, and a complete copy of Big Bird's Egg Catch.

Coleco: Victory, War Room

Other coolness:  An Action Replay Plus 3 in 1 (I can finally play the 4 meg Saturn imports, yay!) Trizeal OST sampler, a Saturn SG Tornado Pad, and four World of Power novels based on NES games and all written by some guy calling himself F.X. Nine, who apparently wrote them all over a weekend.  I ate these up as a kid, fun times to revisit them and remember how absurd they were/are.

There was one vendor in particular who brought mainly imports, and I scoured literally hundreds of Saturn, PC Engine CD, and PSX imports before pulling out a nice tower I would have liked.  Check after check and I've come to confirm that disc rot (see previous blog entry) is as overly common on PC Engine CDs as much as their American Turbo CD cousins.  Had to put back quite a few Saturn goodies too.  But its probably for the best, because I had to be cut off somewhere.  As it was, I still ended up buying three discs with holes (not in picture, I don't count them as part of the additions) and I'm praising God that I didn't find more at home even after checking at the convention floor.  Thankfully those three weren't any expensive ones, and the high-powered LED flashlights my wife and I brought made all the difference in checking on the spot. 

Poor thing, she went from table to table finding games we didn't have, checking, and then finding holes and having to put them back, all while I was going through the import guy's stuff.  Lets hear it for dedication Wink  Though I've learned not to bring up disc rot around the vendors unless asked or risk seriously offending people, it horrifies me how many folks walked away with damaged 'mint' cd games.  Like I mentioned, I had to put back at least fifty, not counting my wife's finds.  I did strike up a few conversations with open minded vendors who confirmed my disc rot issues, and one guy's eyes went wide because he suddenly realized why his purchased-as-new and still scratch-less games began giving him problems over the years.  I'd hate to be that guy going home and checking his stuff.  I was there once.

But back to the happy.  The cherry atop a very delicious treat came in the form of a package my buddy Tyranthraxus77 sent while I was gone.  He shipped me a bunch of xbox and 360 games he finished, just because he's cool like that.  I'll be sending him back his own goody box, and the cycle continues.  I feel a little bad that his kind gifts were overshadowed this time, but still appreciated. 

So, to recap, I had an incredible CCAG haul, the best early Father's Day present since my actual kids, and the love of my life goes beyond encouraging our hobby. 

Life and God are good.


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Comments
 
That is a great haul!  I love in particular this line from your post:

"SuperGrafx: Battle Ace.  My first game for the system, and I'm already at 20% of the library."  Smiley

I was supposed to go to the CCAG (I am one of the sponsors) this past weekend but my lady friend  needed a hand with a work project and I wasn't able to attend.  I swapped emails with Mike afterwards and he let me know that the turnout was incredible.  I am sorry that I missed this show.

Your wife is definitely a trooper!
 
Gratz on the massive score(s)

And the not only supportive but actively helping wife is amazing. Best part of the above tale IMO.
 
@Izret101: I brag about her a lot, but without her I just couldn't maintain the hobby like I do.  Gaming with a friend is fun.  Collecting with a hot chick who knows the difference between Menace Beach and Sunday Funday is exciting.  Put the two together for life and its hard to imagine enjoying any hobby more. 

And Mr. Terry and Mr. Mike, I wonder how many times we've crossed paths at CCAG and never knew our respective digital personas!  My wife and I are chatterboxes there so I'm sure we've met in some capacity.

I'm a super-social gamer, so if you ever want to get together, PM me!  I'm always looking for an excuse to get classic gamers, and especially collectors, together.  Most of my collector friends moved off Sad  But we still have pretty active weekends.



 
My fiancee came by work to pick me up one night and told me she had a surprise. She told me not to be upset at the amount she spent, so I was trying to figure out what it was. She opened the trunk of the car, opened up a box, and inside was a 3DO FZ-1 w/ two binders full of games! She got it from the local PnT for a nice deal, considering that the owner wanted it out of his store.

She claims that's what started up the collection habit again Smiley
She also happens to collect Atari games. She recently got an Atari tattoo on her ankle and I had to use a vendor's Pac-man cartridge as reference art for it.

Isn't it great when the love of your life not only supports your endeavor, but also shares it with you? I'd hate to be the person shoving everything in closets or storage, hiding it away.
 
@Shadow Kisuragi: "I'd hate to be the person shoving everything in closets or storage, hiding it away."

I just finished sticking a bunch more of my stuff into closets and spare drawers :-/

My fiance doesn't exactly support it but she tolerates it. And she does buy me a game every now and then Wink
 
My fiancee keeps telling me to stop purchasing stuff so that we can purchase shelves to display it. We just cleared out a room to make into a Room of Doom, but it's almost full now!

...so, next step is a new house Smiley
 
Amazing haul, congrats!
 
Does your wife have a sister?...j/k I have a pretty good girl as it is, she lets me game and do pretty much what I want. You had some amazing hauls there.
 
Great finds, and sounds like the greatest find of your life... your wife. Mine sounds exactly like link41 has posted, lets me game and collect as much and whenever I want, but most of the time does not participate in it.
 
@Shadow Kisuragi: That's awesome about the 3D0 collection!  And very cool that your girl collects Atari.  I wanna see that tat!  My girl collects NES and Dreamcast, and she's responsible for several of our better finds for those lately.  And we're actively looking to buy a house this year, and one of the main prerequisites is a Room-o-Doom potential.  Its going to have to be very massive Wink

@Izret101: You know, I think getting games from someone who isn't really into it, especially a significant other, kinda makes it more special in a way.  If she makes that special effort, it seems she cares about your interests, which is always positive Smiley

@Link41: You know, she does have a sister, and going to her wedding inspired my blog entry about not finding anything gaming-wise down South.  My sister-in-law is more of a casual gamer, though she did share a classic gaming past (NES, Genesis) with my wife.

@CKsGallery: Couldn't agree more, she is my greatest find. Wink  And somewhat ironically, I found her while we were living down south ;p
 
That looks like it was a heck of a show. Those are some great games you picked up and congrats on the Neo Geo!

Having someone to share in a hobby is great, I'm just discovering how awesome that can be.

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