Between vacations and site down time my blogs have been fairly sparce lately. I'm feeling revamped after my hiatus though and ready to tackle some more NES goodies!
Because of the forum loss I dont have access to the list I had made with the difficult NES games I planned to tackle. Fortunately I had already finished most of the list. The two games I know I didnt finish before the crash were Hydlide and Arkanoid. Arkanoid was, and still is, giving me a fair amount of trouble so I'm going to put it on the back burner until I can get a Vaus pad to try out.
Hydlide on the other hand was fair game though and something that has been a thorn in my side since my 7th or 8th birthday. No longer though. I was finally able to slog though the mess of a game that is Hydlide. And it was righteous! If your one of those guys that likes seeing me die a lot this video will be one of your favorites. Since I didnt want to map it out myself again (I seemed to have misplaced the maps I made about 5-6 years ago) I used a map from gamefaqs in order to shorten the play time.
Just before I left on my trip I was also able to squeek out one more win on Godzilla. Duke and I had planned to get a commentary for it, but I was having some tech issues on my end. Unfortunately it didnt pan out.
NES Games Finished In 2012
(click on a title to view the video)
Silver Surfer
Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom
Double Dragon II: The Revenge
Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones
Ghosts n Goblins
Tetris
Pro Wrestling
Gradius
Zanac
Adventure Island
Karnov
Trojan
Excitebike
Baseball
Spy Hunter
Adventure Island II
Tennis
Battletoads
Shadowgate
Battletoads/Double Dragon
Pinball Quest
Section Z
Godzilla
Hydlide
Future Plans - Early next week I'll be starting another list of games based on a theme. I'm thinking about doing a Movie Marathon and playing a pile of movie licensed games. Shout out your favorites (or not so favorites) in the comments. Hoping to play stuff like: Die Hard, Dirty Harry, Predator, Back to the Future, etc.
I'm finally back home! A little bit sun burnt, but back. I recently returned home from 9 days in the Orlando, Florida area and a few extra days spread around some other areas. The purpose of the trip was just to have some good old family fun and get my wife to stop bugging me about never taking here anywhere 
Rewind back to the end of February and we dropped the dogs off at my parents house, loaded my son into his car seat and hit the road towards Seattle. Turns out driving down to Seattle for a flight was going to save us approx $2000 as opposed to flying from home. Its nice and close though, only about a 11-12 hour drive. So we got to the Seattle area fairly early and had most of a day to kill. We walked around the mall, went bowling and of course tried to track down a retro game store! Found 2 in the phonebook and punched them into the GPS. Turns out the first one we went to was no longer there. And neither was the second one  But wait whats that across the street! Its a Game....... Lobster?!?! A completely different one that either of the 2 we were looking for. Seemed like my kind of place so we went to check it out.
Tons of stock in the store. Only problem was that pretty much all of it was just in huge heaps everywhere. The NES stuff was actually organized in a display case though so we check it out first. The prices were very reasonable, unfortunately he didnt have a single cart that I didnt already own. So I sifted through his piles of beaten up games looking for something worth my while. Had a few loose systems I would have been interested in if they were a little bit cheaper (Jaguar, CD-i, Gold N64). Looked like he had some interested Saturn/SEGA CD and PS long boxes behind the counter. Asked him if I could walk to the back and check them out. He responded with "its probably to dangerous". I peeked a little further over the counter and saw massive piles of accessories and the like. After I little more prodding I got the clerk to clear a path for himself, bring a stool and climb up to the games I had spotted (he really didnt seem to impressed to help me). Prices were a litte higher on these items, but what the hell I'm on vacaction could be a cool souvenir to take home. EVERY single game I might have wanted was either: scratched to hell, missing manuals or missing inserts. Definitely not paying his sticker price for the condition they were in. So Game Lobster was a bust..... On to Orlando!
Spent the next several days at theme parks. Noticed a cool Little Nemo display right over a gift shop at Universal Studios. Checked the whole shop out hoping to find a cool item Nemo related item to toss into my game room, but unfortunately the didnt have anything for me.
[img width=700 height=933]http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk189/Crabmaster2000/P1000383.jpg[/img]
My son has been just recently getting into his Super Hero and Action Figure stage so Univeral Studios was really awesome for him right now. We hit a toy store on the way one day while he was sleeping and grabbed him a few of his favorites: Captain America, Thor and Iron Man. They were a hit, but he was a little sad that he slept through the toy store. We promised we would take him back later and he could pick something small to take on the plane with us home. After picking up and setting down an endless stream of recognizable characters he finally grabbed a pokemon toy and said he was happy with that. On the way out though something caught his eye and he bolted to the lowest shelf hidden off in the corner of the store. He quickly returned with a box of several Super Mario Bros toys! So proud.......
Since this was mainly for my wife I really didnt plan on having much time to hunt for games. I had already planned to meet up with Shadow for one day so I figured that would be my only gaming related time on the trip. As my wife was watching the local news she saw that there was a riot at the mall over the new Air Jordans. Thats right, we survived the great Shoe Riot of 2012! We were a little worn out from the theme parks and decided to check out the mall to see if there were any upside down flamming cop cars from the previous night  . While their I got to visit my first Game Stop. Shortly after entering I was approached by someone who asked if I had seen the new PSVita yet. Before I had a chance say anything "BAM!" it was right in my face. He actually did yell BAM at me as he held it up, lol. Checked it out a bit and asked a few questions. Seemed like there was one knowledgable staff out of the 3 that were on and he was easily able to answer my questions. Ended up picking up a copy of BlazBlue Continuum Shift and a Yoshi DS Game Case that my son wanted, and signed up for my first Game Stop Member Card. Chatted with the silly PSVita man for a minute about retro games and collecting. Overall Game Stop seemed ok to me for what it was.
[img width=700 height=525]http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk189/Crabmaster2000/P1000560.jpg[/img] [img width=700 height=525]http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk189/Crabmaster2000/P1000559.jpg[/img]
Fast forward a bit and we were busing getting lost in Mount Dora trying to meet up with Shadow. He eventually set us straight and came out to find me. Hopped in his car and spend off to his new home. Really nice place!! They had literally just moved in the day before so I mostly got to see boxes, but of course he had his 360 setup to go! After getting the grand tour and meeting his wife we sat down to some 360. He showed off Batman Arkum City Imposters for a bit. Beat me pretty thuroughly at Street Fighter 2 for a bit. Swapped over to BlazBlue shorty after. After getting the hang of the game I was able to redeem myself for the many Haduken's I had just eaten. Popped in Blood Bowl, which neither of us had played before. After a long clunky and mistake riddled game I was able to eke out a win with my one touchdown. And we finished up out gaming session by having me get beaten at Soul Calibur IV while Shadow went to get the door (thats right he just mashed some buttons in a different room and beat me )
After that we decided to head out to his local Flea Market and see if we could do any
damage there. After a little trouble finding the ATM and spotting a small handful of games at a couple vendors we finally made it to a dedicated game vendor and much to my enjoyment they had a buy 1 get 1 free sale on NES and SNES games! After several minutes scouring the entire store I ended leaving with: Ghost Lion, Legends of the Diamond, Kick Master, Sesame Street Hide & Speak, Slalom, Genghis Kahn, Skate of Die 2, AD&D Dragonstrike, Flight of the Intruder, Trog and a CIB - Gunvalkyrie (Xbox).
[img width=700 height=525]http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk189/Crabmaster2000/P1000561.jpg[/img]
We eventually made our way to another vendor peddling his retro-wares and I got second chance at scooping up some more NES games. Shadow and him chatted quite a bit and he was able to soften the guy up to give us some pretty sweet deals. I ended up pulling out around $55 of games (his sticker prices), but oops! I only had $36 left in my pocket. I mentioned tossing some of them back, but he told me he was fine with it. Nice! Ended up leaving that booth with: Arkista's Ring, Tom & Jerry, Qix, Space Shuttle Program, Star Trek 25th Anniverssary, Spelunker, Lode Runner, Defendor of the Crown, Whomp 'em, Grand Slam Golf, Treasure Master and a CIB - Junction (Gen). Played a bit of Sonic the Hedgehog while Shadow cleaned him out a bit more (sweet deal on the CD-i!!).
[img width=700 height=525]http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk189/Crabmaster2000/P1000562.jpg[/img]
Still wanted to grab a modern game as a souvenir so we hit a different Game Stop by the place we were staying at. Another cool staff member finished dealing with some pretty annoying customers and helped me track down a copy of sealed Hyperdemension Neptunia. Or so I thought...... Turns out I graded MK2 which I didnt even know existed. Still happy with my pickup, just means I still need to search out the first game though.
[img width=700 height=525]http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk189/Crabmaster2000/P1000565.jpg[/img]
Being the awesome guy that he is Shadow hooked me up with a nice private tour of the EA Sports studio he works at. One of his co-workers/friends gave my family and I a great tour of the place! One of the highlights of my trip for sure. We checked out the wicked ball filled boardroom, showed me some of the stuff the dev-kits were capable of, explained what he was responsible for in their new game in depth (he gets to work on the Cheerleaders!), toured the work areas, tried to track down Shadow (he was away from his desk though ), checked out the recording studio and he let us know all the changes on each floor that had been made since he had been there. It was a blast. And of course we ended the tour in the gift shop! It was the employees only EA store which he said we could pick something up in if we wanted. Turns out I didnt need to grab that copy of HDN MK2 afterall.....oh well . Picked up a copy of Mass Effect 2 took a nice family photo outside and went on our way.
[img width=700 height=525]http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk189/Crabmaster2000/P1000537.jpg[/img] [img width=700 height=525]http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk189/Crabmaster2000/P1000538.jpg[/img] [img width=700 height=525]http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk189/Crabmaster2000/P1000539.jpg[/img] [img width=700 height=525]http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk189/Crabmaster2000/P1000540.jpg[/img] [img width=700 height=525]http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk189/Crabmaster2000/P1000541.jpg[/img] [img width=700 height=525]http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk189/Crabmaster2000/P1000544.jpg[/img] [img width=700 height=525]http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk189/Crabmaster2000/P1000542.jpg[/img] [img width=700 height=525]http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk189/Crabmaster2000/P1000566.jpg[/img] [img width=700 height=525]http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk189/Crabmaster2000/P1000567.jpg[/img] [img width=700 height=525]http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk189/Crabmaster2000/P1000545.jpg[/img]
Finished up our time in Orland and started making the long trek back to Seattle. Drove up BC stopping in Abbotsford to visit some famly briefly and then again in Vernon. While staying with my Uma and Dziadziu in Vernon I always have to check out a cool little store called Ebeneezers. When I was quite young I would go there with my cousin to check out comics. Each trip afterwards they would typically have some cool new product like magic cards, action figures, movie memorabilia, etc. and eventually started getting in old games! Checked out their expanded game area and ended up picking up a goodie for my buddy Duke.Togo. Hes getting close to the end of his NES journey so its getting harder and harder to find new games he doesnt have. I was more than happy to scoop up a copy of Death Race to help him out.
[img width=700 height=525]http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk189/Crabmaster2000/P1000563.jpg[/img]
Later that night while still in Vernon, my wife was lamenting that she didnt really have a big souvenir yet, just some small odds and ends, and the trip was almost over. We went out for a little drive and ended up in Wal Mart. After looking around she decided she was in need of a new 3DS. I swear I didnt promote the idea. I even tried to talk her out of it and into something she might appreciate more in the years to come. Try as I might she had her heart set on it though. We ended up heading over to Future Shop to see if they had any different games. Didnt see any games at either store that interested her so we just left with the system. The rest of the ride from Vernon to Prince George was filled with laughter and the sound of raspberries as my wife and son played some competitive games of New Super Mario Bros across their DS and 3DS systems.
[img width=700 height=525]http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk189/Crabmaster2000/P1000558.jpg[/img]
After all that we finally made it home. And waiting for me their, besides my pets, was a nice little parcel on the kitchen table. Darkwing Duck, Dragon's Lair, Krion Conquest, and Day Dreamin Davey I had bought off a racketboy member before the trip. Great way to end a great trip!!
[img width=700 height=525]http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk189/Crabmaster2000/P1000564.jpg[/img]
I am on spring break and I am back at home for a little while so I figure I would take some pictures of my wondervision for everyone to see. I will try to upload them to my blog if I can. I took many pictures, including the box and a screen shot of the only game it came with, baseball (plays in color, but may be hard to see becasue it is too bright). Currently though, I can not figure out how to post the pictures on RFgenerations. Here is the link to my photobucket account with the photos: http://s1159.photobucket..../Wondervision%20Pictures/ .
Ok guy so I my be new to the site but im a gamer never the less. i plan on doing many video game walkthrews like final fantasy call of duty halo blue dragon breath of fire and so many more and if you want to see them here a link to my channel www.youtube.com/deathmog91
right now i only have part of final fantasy 6 up but that not going to well because my computer crash on me so i will start over. If you like yugioh i have over 50 game upload already. I hope to see you guys on my channel
www.youtube.com/deathmog91
I know it's not over yet, but this sure has been an interesting weekend. Not quite as diverse as I originally thought, being that I only played Super Mario Brothers. If I played it on multiple formats does that count? No?
My first goal this weekend was to try to find a way to capture the gameplay. This was inspired by our own Crabmaster2000 (of course), as well davidr64yt, who has over 400 videos of his gameplay to watch (with audio commentary).
At first I decided to try capturing the gameplay with my old capture device. The video was nice but the lag was so great that it was unusable. Basically it would be great for a traditional JRPG but it is useless for action. Next I tried using a VCR, but no usable VHS tape busted that (which is ironic considering that at my current work I find old VCRs all the time). My final was to record it while playing on an emulator. I'm not super hip to this, mainly because NES games just don't interest me unless I'm playing with an original controller (though I don't have this problem with any other platform). While I was able to get some usable video in this manner, I'm not going to post it, due to the fact that it is ugly (the colors are off).
While I did spend a large amount of my gaming time jerking around with production, I did manage to sneak in some SMB action. Despite my confession of not playing it in a long time, when I picked up my NES controller it felt like I never put it down to begin with. Within a few moments of adjustment (primarily to get the controller into a comfortable playing position) I was able to play quite competently. I did have some difficulty remembering where the second set of warp pipes were located (though I found the third quite easily). Once I remembered (watching a speedrun of the Vs. SMB game jogged this memory) I was able to skate to the end pretty quickly. I still haven't beat it though. For some reason I can get to World 8-2 very quickly, but once I get there die. Usually I can get to 8-4, but once that happens I die again, loosing my fireball, then I waste the rest of my lives (which are usually three) at Bowser.
I think that I end up using the VCR option to record, though I would love to find an encoding box under $60 that can record in real-time (probably hopeless). I think from now on I will start recording gameplay the first time I fire up the game, just for fun. Any tips that you, the fine folks of RF Generation, would like to share would be much appreciated.
Have you ever wanted to use your Game Boy Game Genie on your Super Game Boy, but found that you couldn't because it wouldn't fit? Well, today, I'm going to teach you how to mend that with this extremely simple Mod. It's so simple, that even I can do it, and I know this, because I did do it.
1. Take note of the circled points in this picture. Use a pair of Pliers, preferably Needle Nose Pliers, to tear those parts off of the Game Genie.
[img width=700 height=501]http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a136/DarkTheThief/Point.png[/img]
2. Once they're off, your done! It should look like this:
[img width=700 height=933]http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a136/DarkTheThief/Picture005.jpg[/img]
[img width=700 height=933]http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a136/DarkTheThief/Picture006.jpg[/img]
[img width=700 height=933]http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a136/DarkTheThief/Picture007.jpg[/img]
3. The Game Genie will now fit into your Super Game Boy and work perfectly!
[img width=689 height=910]http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a136/DarkTheThief/Picture008.jpg[/img]
Simple, right? I hope someone out there can make use of this tutorial.
Since my wife will be working the entire weekend, I've declared a Weekend of Gaming for all in my household. While my son observes this every weekend (and many days of the week), in between taking care of the items on my honey-do list and scraping my daughter off the ceiling I plan on sneaking in a few hours at the least, assuming that the power stays on in this windstorm. I guess we will see, huh?
I don't know exactly how long it has been since I played Super Mario Brothers, but I'm getting some serious 1986/87 flashback twinges. Even playing the Virtual Console version (which I don't remember buying) and playing on the Wii-mote is making me nostalgic. There is one odd thing though: is the game supposed to be that fast? I'm thinking it might be a combination of the television (a 40" LCD) and the Wii (which I swear must be using some sort of smoothing), but it seems just too fast. I'm not a big fan of smoothing and graphical enhancements on my old games (generally), so I might hook up my NES to an old CRT I have laying around and see if my theories pan out tomorrow.
I just may end up throwing in the towel on Stellar-Fire. I've hit a snag and can't seem to progress. Worse, I'm having serious problems getting past the second stage, even though I had already progressed to the fourth. Either the game is just too inconsistent or I really suck at it.
On a additional note, while looking through the janked-up Netflix menu on Wii (without much hope, I might add), I couldn't help but see Stephen King's Bag of Bones down near the end. Could it be possible that they made a movie (actually a two-part series) of one of my favorite King novels without me knowing? I guess so (obviously). I've decided to click on the damn movie and see what happens, though I won't be expecting much. I mean, I really loved It and Rose Red, but... I don't know. Why do we even want to watch movies made from our favorite novels? If some crazy bastard managed to secure the rights to Mark Z. Danielewsi's House of Leaves or Dan Simmons' A Winter Haunting or even [insert favorite novel here] would you go see it?
I'm going to stop being a cynical jerk now and just watch the movie.
UPDATE: The movie sucked. Oh, well.
Hey everyone!!! Here is another Game Hunt Chronicle! My brother and I went shopping today and decided we wanted more NES games!!! Originally we were just going to get Rainbow Islands in box for $38.00 but my bro decided he wanted more! And well so did I! We bought a few brand new games. Addams Family, Silent Assault, Wall Street, Caesar's Palace, and Shinobi!! All at low prices in comparison to eBay and Game Gavel. As you all are away my brother and I are on a Capcom kick so we also purchased complete in box in great condition 1943! We need the box for 1942 if anyone has it!!! I know I have done a list but I am more awake today so I will do so even though you can see the games in the pictures.
"Our Favorite Place" Purchases:
*1943 - CIB - $35.00
*Addams Family - BRAND NEW - $40.00
*Addams Family: Pugsley's Scavenger Hunt - CIB - $16.00
*Bug's Bunny's Birthday Blowout - CIB - $10.00
*Caesar's Palace - BRAND NEW - $25.00
*Defender of The Crown - CIB - $6.00
*Gauntlet II - CIB - $17.00
*Infiltrator - CB - $8.00
*Legacy of The Wizard - CIB - $10.00
*Rainbow Island - CIB - $38.00
*Shinobi - BRAND NEW - $35.00
*Silent Assault - BRAND NEW - $35.00
*Tombs & Treasure - CB - $10.00
*Wall Street Kid - BRAND NEW - $20.00
We Also Purchased a Brand New Game Boy game from "Our Favorite Place"
*Brain Drain - $10.00
Now on to our eBay Purchases these were pretty sweet deals I bought a few instruction manuals we needed cheap one including Mega Man 2. Sorry no picture for those I forgot. I have a few more things on the way so keep an eye out for that blog soon! My brother purchased these from eBay:
*Ultima: Exodus
&
*Ultima: Quest of The Avatar (bought together) Both are CIB!!! for a whopping $32.00!!!!
* Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego? - CIB (YES even has the World Almanac!) - $16.00!!!
I Purchased another copy of Jetson's because it came with the manual that I needed to complete my box copy (keep an eye out we are going to be selling this and quite a few others on eBay. We will be posting a blog on what is for sale and where you can go to get them! Most will be BIN and some Bids).
My brother purchased from Shopgoodwill.com - Age of Empires III Complete Edition with EVERYTHING! For $37.00!!
Then we went to GameStop and Purchased Atelier Rorona: The Alchemist of Arland - Premium Box for $30.00 Brand New sadly a GameStop "gutted" copy.
SO here are the pictures! Please spread the word around and Please Comment!! Thanks!
[img width=700 height=526]http://i861.photobucket.com/albums/ab172/niceguy1283/ComicCityPurchases3-2-2012.jpg[/img]
[img width=700 height=526]http://i861.photobucket.com/albums/ab172/niceguy1283/eBayPurhcases2-28-2012.jpg[/img]
[img width=700 height=526]http://i861.photobucket.com/albums/ab172/niceguy1283/ShopGoodWillAgeofEmpiresIIICollectorsEdition.jpg[/img]
[img width=700 height=526]http://i861.photobucket.com/albums/ab172/niceguy1283/AtelierRoronaTheAlchemistofArlandPremiumEditionFront.jpg[/img]
[img width=700 height=526]http://i861.photobucket.com/albums/ab172/niceguy1283/AtelierRoronaTheAlchemistofArlandPremiumEdition-Back.jpg[/img]
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Posted on Mar 2nd 2012 at 03:47:59 AM by ( SirPsycho) Posted under Beer, beer, booze, pale ale, 8 bit pale ale, 8 bit, 8, bit, pale, ale, awesome, can |
So I visited my place of employment today and go to check the backroom to see if there are any new systems I need to fix that totally aren't Red Rings. My eyes quickly gaze upon a box full of these and my first thought is, "My boss ordered Mario energy drinks?" I pick one up only to find that the truth is much better than I possibly imagined. These were brought in by a local brewing company (so local its in the same town) and I can't wait to film myself trying one of the cans. I grabbed 2, I'm keeping one for posterity. Enjoy.
Hey everyone! Going to keep this short but sweet. Today I decided I wanted to buy some more games especially NES games in their boxes! My brother and I decided we really need the Mega Man's complete in box on NES to complete our Capcom NES collection. ALSO if anyone has an extra Mega Man 5 manual I would be willing to buy or trade for it, and I need a Complete Mega Man 1 & 6, so if anyone could help out that would be great. But today I went to what I am going to call my NES heaven store and purchased Gun.Smoke CIB, T&C Surf Designs CIB. Then I went to it's sister store and purchased Mega Man 2, 3, & 5 CIB. Then I went to CD Tradepost and purchased Mario Is Missing on NES Cart only, and Diablo in minty condition for PS1. My brother purchased a couple of Super Famicom games on eBay Monopoly and Sim City CIB. Today I purchased on eBay for $40.00 Mega Man 4 CIB. So anyways hope you all enjoyed this blog!!!
Here are the pictures and please comment!
[img width=700 height=526]http://i861.photobucket.com/albums/ab172/niceguy1283/CDTradepostComicCityPurchases2-28-2012.jpg[/img]
[img width=700 height=526]http://i861.photobucket.com/albums/ab172/niceguy1283/ComicCityPurchases2-25-2012.jpg[/img]
[img width=700 height=526]http://i861.photobucket.com/albums/ab172/niceguy1283/eBayPurchases2-25-2012.jpg[/img]
Well, after a long time, it seems I'm finally gonna get back to writing some more (maybe).
To start out, I thought i'd bring up a recent strike from the backlog: Pinball quest
if you are not familiar with pinball, come back and read this when you turn 5.(and on a related note, wait a little longer...im pretty sure swear words will lurk their way in here somehow)
I picked pinball quest up right before Christmas at my local game store (....shameless plug => http://levelupentertainment.com/) since i had some extra $ on me and it looked pretty bad ass (and for 2.99 you really cant go wrong)
Bad ass this isn't.
Lets start out at the top: you have 3 separate, multi tiered levels which handle like basic nes pinball games should, albeit a little choppier. The real meat and potatos is the "RPG mode"
[img width=256 height=224]http://www.thealmightyguru.com/Games/Docs/NESReligion/PinballQuest-1.png[/img]
This screen above me is where you will spend most of your time...trying to hit that damn left ramp! Once you pass that, you have to kill some skeletons...which 9-10 times bump you back down after 1 hit. Then after you kill all of them, and the giant skeleton king that pops up, its on to the shop with its over priced stuff!
[img width=204 height=179]http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTLtJ6NONdD2uOeT9o54kPcGh4yahRUwhTFtxWgKdsF0ylwKWQOjmXvWx5gFw[/img]
as you can see, "steal" is actually an option: and it becomes a requirement...
after the shop, you fight a witch, who is impossible without upgraded flipper damage...she keeps healing, and although you can break her healing fountain, you just keep getting knocked back >.>
eventually, my game devolved into fighting on the first two screens, and trying to steal from the shopkeeper in between. eventually, i stole the permanent blockers and the best flippers in game....which made quick work of everything after that...kinda felt like cheating though.
for the 3$ i spent, it was funish...if nothing else, it makes a decent paperweight.
Till next time, stay classy San Diego
~ Neo
Backlog = 239
[img width=484 height=482]http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wLkb9r0WiUo/T0RkHHlvo_I/AAAAAAAAAMk/YBdSeaqH7_A/s1600/Pinball+Quest.bmp[/img]
I haven't been playing very much in the way of games this past week. Part of it is because I upgraded from a basic cell to an Android phone and the rest is lack of sleep due to my daughter's illness. I've spent a lot of time watching Netflix and Youtube (Gamecenter CX and Crab's videos) while sitting in a rocking chair. And thinking.
I want this to sound not like a confessional but a realization: I may have been neglecting my retro roots. I have been neglecting my retro roots. This came to me in the forums when Apollo.Boy kept telling me how much better older games look on a good CRT rather than an LCD. While I was trying to think of another way of reinforcing my point I began to wonder: when was the last time I really enjoyed playing a retro game on an old television. When was the last time I enjoyed playing a retro game at all? I had no idea. Sure, I've playing a lot of games (some of them old), but I was looking more at my backlog as a whole then as individual games. I was playing my games with the goal of completion, not enjoyment. This was the essence of my problem with Stellar-Fire, I think.
In the spirit of this I will be republishing two of my earlier articles, neither which appeared on RF Generation (that I can tell). I will also be once again be revamping the way I choose games to play. From now on I will choose both a game that closer fits with the overall spirit at RFG as well as a game that is more in character with, well, me.
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Post Mortem
GTA: Episodes from Liberty City: I haven't finished these games yet, but yet I have. Let me explain. Because of the content I cannot play these games around my children I am limited to after they are asleep, which basically means that I am playing about two missions a night. I am satisfied with this, so I feel that I can put these games on the Post Mortem list and walk away. Anyways, I think I have more pressing issues to confront.
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Games For This Week
Stellar-Fire
Platform: Sega CD
Purchase Date: 1998
Cost: $1.00
Despite what I wrote at the beginning of this article, I still firmly believe this is not a good game in any capacity. Regardless, I shall strive forth. I've found a somewhat decent recorder (Hypercam 2), but I am having some sound issues. Below you will find one of my earlier experiments with Hypercam (as well as Stellar-Fire). Sorry about the fumbling sound.
The goal for each level is to collect a certain number of crystals scattered about the landscape while fighting and avoiding enemies at every turn and finally facing a boss. The problem is that the crystals are scattered in a very non-linear pattern that only gets more spread out with every level, eventually bordering on the ridiculous. To add to the difficulty there is no compass, so you are forced to rely on the background landscape. Very interesting. If I can ever beat this game I plan on writing a FAQ.
Title: Super Mario Brothers
Platform: NES
Purchase Date:2002
Cost: $1.36
Like many of you, this was the first game I ever played on the NES. I first played back in 1987 after a friend, who spent many days mowing lawns and selling rebuilt bicycles, purchased one. Initially I sucked quite a bit at this game, despite my arcade experience. I kept dying at the elevators in World 1-2. Later when I received an NES for Christmas I was able to get better, but only a bit as I also received The Legend of Zelda as well.
I've never actually beaten this game. Did I say that already? I've seem most of the game, but for some reason I never saw it to the end. Very strange, though I have been assured by a friend that this is actually pretty common. I am reluctant to believe him, but I guess it could be true.
While I will be challenging this game on my NES, I might do a playthrough on an emulator so I can record it.
Title: Boku No Natsuyasumi 4 (My Summer Vacation 4)
Platform: PSP
Purchase Date: 4/2011
Cost: $45
The Boku No Natsuyasumi series revolves around a boy (Boku?) visiting relatives during summer vacation in Japan. The game is considered very nostalgic and features many games and activities Japanese men would have enjoyed during their childhood in the eighties (such as bug collecting, beetle-fighting, and toy collecting). There is a story, but since I don't understand Japanese I don't know it, though I've been told that the series is perfect for those wishing to learn to read Japanese.
I've never tried to beat the game, but instead just putter around the island, collecting things, sticking my nose into everything, and enjoying the atmosphere of nostalgia the game creates (even though I don't have a cultural reference for it).
Will there ever be a game about a nerdy kid in the eighties as he trolls around the woods and roadside looking for returnable bottles so he can play arcade games at the laundry-mat and 7-11? I sure hope so. Then again, there is always Shenmue.
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In The Bag For 2012
Alan Wake - 1/25
Dead Space 2 - 2/4
Portal 2 - 2/10
Enslaved - 2/17
This is truly an amazing world we live in - modern technology allows us to carry around in our pockets a device which would make the tricorder from Star Trek seem out of date. Our televisions are 1/2" thick and 80 inches across. Our video games look so real that someone stepping out of 1982 probably would not be able to distinguish real combat footage to that of Modern Warfare 3. But today I'm astounded by how small we've made our world through travel.
I dropped my wife off at the airport here in Dallas this morning at around 9:30am and went to work. At 12:45 I received a text on my better-than-Star-Trek iPhone telling me that she's landed and taxiing to the gate, but of course I knew that already. I use the Flight Tracker websites that are fairly abundant on the internet to see exactly where the plane is in real time. It took her McDonnell Douglas MD-80 approximately 18 minutes to cross the entire state of Mississippi! 18 minutes!! She crossed a STATE in less time that it takes to make Au Gratin potatoes in the oven! She crossed the remaining states of Alabama and Georgia is just over 45 minutes! I can barely get home from a Dallas Cowboys loss in that amount of time!
Watching that tiny jet-shaped icon move across the states in real-time like that illuminated to me how much we take travel for granted. The flight from Dallas to Jacksonville, Florida had a gate-to-gate time of 1 hour 56 minutes. This would have taken the pioneers 2 weeks or more! Our great- grandfathers in their locomotives could make that trip in a "speedy" 2 days. I have driven much of this country on vacations and would never give up those road trips for anything, but knowing that my 17 hour drive from Las Vegas to home would only take me 2 hours is always tempting.
You may be asking yourself "what the heck does this have to do with gaming??" Well, nothing really. But I did flashback to playing early Flight Simulators on my Atari 400 computer in 1984, and when I get home from work tonight, I am going to sit with my two boys and pull that Atari out of the closet. We will pop in some vintage games, maybe play some Submarine Commander or Beach Head. But eventually I'll pop in the Flight Sim so I can see how far we've come from playing a game that simulates showing you real-time flight stats to watching my wife fly from Texas to Florida in a true "God's Eye View".
Hey all, this is my newest series! Here's the first episode! I hope you enjoy it!
You read that right, but may not be thinking about it correctly. As much as I would love to go to Japan one day, I don't know Japanese, nor will I probably ever have the funds to do it. That being said, I must resort to Video Games that let me explore Japan. The problem? I don't know too many.
Noting that, could some of you recommend games that let you explore Japan? I know Shenmue, Yakuza, and Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3 (that one only sort of lets you) let you do it, but I need more than those. So...anyone?
P.S.
If I can customize the Character in the game/Make my own Character, even better! 
On another note, here's an excellent song from Wangan Midnight!
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