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Collectorcast Episode 28: A Gaming Festivus for the Rest of Us

Episode 28 discussion thread: http://www.rfgeneration.com/forum/index.php?topic=14865

Join Bil and Duke as they take a stroll down memory lane and discuss their childhood Christmas gaming memories. Also, our questions segment has grown, and we're glad to tackle the tough ones. Even the Crabmaster makes a small appearance for the holidays! So let the Feats of Strength begin, and gather round the Festivus pole to share some of your favorite holiday gaming memories with us.

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Show Notes
Music: Akumajou Dracula (Famicom Disk System)
Topic: 1:13:11
Outro: 2:03:46

Let the Festivus festivities begin. I've got a lot of problems with you people, and now you're going to hear about it!

[img width=700 height=413]http://urbanmilwaukeedial.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/festivus1.jpg[/img]

Careful, now; this guy's a lawyer, AKA an unholy minion of the Dark Lord Satan himself :evilhappy:. Disregard his threats at your peril! Let's not not be the unwitting creators of the next Jack Thompson, please.


Moving on: here's a little holiday gaming story to warm the cockles of your heart--

- Hey! Warm THESE cockles! OH!!!

Oh, put a sock in it, Dice!

ANYway, the 'rents were finally able to buy a house, and we moved into the new place a couple weeks before the '89 quake. Since the the down payment left them a little low on funds that year, I wasn't expecting a gift windfall for the Yuletide. A few days after the move-in, mom asked me if I'd like to get a NES for christmas. I responded, "sure, okay," in a tone that was rather underwhelming. I thought she was kidding. I said to myself, "Really? With what money?"

Her older sister's money, apparently. 'Cuz come that Christmas, a rather large box for me from one of my aunts contained the basic NES set with two controllers, zapper gun, and SMB/Duck Hunt game.      That gift resulted in the first thank-you card I wasn't guilted into writing and sending to a relative.

The next Christmas I got a copy of Super Mario 3, this time from the 'rents... as likely did most teenage NES players that year. I heard rumors there was gonna be a shortage of the game, but apparently the 'rents were somehow able to snag a copy. And it was a good thing too, 'cuz SMB3 was the first video game mom took some interest in. And when you get down to it, that's what the holiday season's all about: a little family bonding.


Cheers.

That story just made this little demon's devil-heart grow one size larger.

I loved having a "gamer mom". Every Christmas, she tried to include something videogame-related for me (and LEGOs, and Garfield...). When Ocarina of Time was coming out and she heard there was going to be a special gold cartridge version, she took off after I fell asleep on launch night and waited in line for 6 hours to guarantee she'd be able to get it, as well as the T-Shirt and Soundtrack bonuses that TRU was offering. I had no clue she had done it until I opened that present up that year, which made her day.

I think that T-Shirt is still in my closet at her house, but I've got the soundtrack and game still in my collection.

Zagnorch had parents? Seriously though, as a kid that grew up with meager funds, I know how awesome getting an NES for Christmas is. It sounds like you should send your Aunt a Thank You card every year for making you the man you are today (or maybe that isn't what she wants to hear).

@Shadow: I did the same thing for my little brother. I bought an N64 for my brother and sister for Christmas when it came out, and got Zelda from Kmart which also had the shirt/soundtrack offer. The shirt was too big for him, so that went to me, and the soundtrack eventually did as well. It was always a lot of fun to go back home and play N64 with them, although my brother usually just wanted to play wrestling games.

Bil is having triplets!  That's the secret.  I think Crab Master Flash doesn't like you guys any more.  What did you do to him?!

The N64 had some great wrestling games!  And seriously, the N64 was for you, wasn't it? :)  My parents didn't have much money when we were kids.  I asked for a NES for 3 years and never got it.  On the 4th year I was shocked when there was a NES from Santa.  We went to church and than my brother hooked it up.  That it also where this all began....

love the episode.  my favorite part was the barbershop duet of  you guys singing Castlevania tunes

I'm sure the recording contract offers will just start pouring in.

Good episode. Reminded me of a time, when I loved this time of year.

We would go to my Grandma and Grandpa's on Christmas Eve and they had an Atari 2600.  Frog 'N Flies was one of the most played games which is just like Frog Bog.  We would play the crap out of that.  Other hits were Yar's Revenge and Combat, with a little bit of the horrible Pac-Man mixed in.

[img width=500 height=394]http://cdn.meme.am/instances/500x/57506238.jpg[/img]

Wow... Duke's childhood memories with his TI-99/4A are remarkably similar to my childhood memories with the Commodore 64. Though I didn't quite have the passion for playing around with my computer as he did with his; I was a lot more casual. Also, the 'rents bought it more for themselves for practical purposes, but I ended up putting more time on it than the both of them combined. None the less, those were some pretty good times. BTW how's that new TI computer of yours holding up, bud?  ;)

UPDATE: Just heard Bil's comment about having to see every Mike Tyson fight back in the day. I found him more interesting for his out-of-the-ring antics than his fights... which were pretty one-sided in the first few years, which I found rather boring. But then his self-destructive personal problems caught up with him, and he became a pretty interesting guy. I caught both Tyson-Holyfield pay-per-views at  my best friend's house, including the whole ear-biting thing. It was Tyson being interesting again...

I got a C64 for Christmas later as well, but I saved that story. I loved it, but unfortunately it didn't live very long. It's funny how much BASIC programming stuck with me through the years. I recently finished up a programming course that was really easy for me because of what I learned way back then.

I'm trying to free up a spot for my C64 so I can get back to trying my hand at programming, even if it's a very primitive form of it. Fortunately, the lot came with a bunch of how-to guides, so I'm good to go in that department. I only wish I could find a few back issues of Bay Area Computer Currents...

You might want to check out archived copies of the big computer mags at the time like RUN: https://archive.org/details/run-magazine for some BASIC programs to enter. I found that by inputting other people's programs it would teach me about the techniques used.

Aw man, I missed the Amiibo talk?!?

I remember switching the way I stored games in dust sleeves when I found out they originally (as Duke stated) came opposite of how I was currently storing them. I eventually found out that I could just get rid of dust sleeves all together and squeeze another couple games on the shelf though ;)

I'm thankful that my grandmother held onto the CIB Sega Genesis that we used to play when visiting her. She bought it when the PS was out so none of my other cousins would play it when we visited, and I was the only one who would dust it off and hook it up when at her place. My other similar aged relatives wouldn't really touch it because it wasn't "cool" anymore. They are at the point in their lives that they are starting to piece out a lot of their possessions now so that when they pass it there wont be a huge burden on the family members. She put a piece of tape on the side with my name on it and made sure it went to me. Its not something I ever plan to part with.

Mega Man 3 always cheers me up on a rough day :)

Isn't your Castlevania accapella duet called Vampire Killer? Stage one on Ninja Gaiden is my go to NES track that gets me all pumped up.

That's so awesome that we got enough donations to host the show!! And yes OTC are fantastic!!

Sorry to hear about your Grandfather Chris, awesome memory you shared about him and the Intellivision.

We missed you on the show, buddy. Let's make sure to get you in the next one.

That is a great story about your Grandma. It's funny how those little things make such a big impact on us as children.


Nope. Wicked Child:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emuZIp1JMVw

Dudes...... I have 1 Amiibo.....seriously. I bought a Samus just to put on my shelf or decoration and am looking for a Little Mac, Pit, and probably Mega Man, when it comes out. For me, it's just decoration and I take them out of the blister packs. I like having figurines on my shelves of some of my favorite NES games and figures of Little Mac and Pit from any other source is pretty rare.  I agree that people who don't have WiiU's are buying these things just for collecting purposes, but I'm a pretty poor example of these types of collectors. Ha!

Who needs acapella? HINT: It's both Wicked Child AND Vampire Killer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umvDK_q4UzE

Every time I get blue at work I like to pop in my earbuds and listen to Videogame Quality, which features NES music 24-7.  When I get blue at home I used to love playing on my MAME cabinet, but these days I've been playing either Popeye or Frogger on my C64.  I need to get Zaxxon for it too (just not having fun with the Coleco port).

Does anyone know if you get the extra sound channel when playing Akumajou Dracula on a Retron 5?  Just curious.

I thought that game was on Playstation?

Akumajou Dracula is an FDS game, so you can't play it on the Retron 5. You will get extra sound channels on carts that have it, like Akumajou Densetsu. Also, Akumajou Dracula doesn't use the FM synth from the FDS, so it's the same as Castlevania, just with a save feature.

Im listening to this podcast for the first time. I agree, I dont care about Amiibo whatsoever. I saw them at Target the other day and was like "meh"

sounds like a cool show. ill keep listening

You don't care about Amiibo? Wow. Looks like you have something in common with Nintendo of America

LOL

Well I just finished this podcast episode. It was surprising to me how much in common I had with the one guy with the deeper voice. I too was raised Irish Catholic and have a ton of aunts, uncles, cousins. and I'm sure most of us had that experience of being very small and seeing the 12 year olds playing NES and viewing them as gods. I know I did. I'm too young to remember seeing brand new NES games in the store though. I was born in 89.

very entertaining stuff. I'll be listening to the next episode.

LOL