Pitfall Harry

For what it's worth, my Ikari Warriors has the yellow NEW in the bottom RIGHT corner of the box instead of the left. -Ben

Your Famicom games don't have much value, I'm afraid. They are all bootlegs, and as such are not very collectible. But they are functional games, and I'd guess they are worth around $5 to $10 each to someone who wants them to play them. You might get a dollar or two more for the Mario game because, you know, it's Mario! I don't collect bootleg games, but I am interested in the Famicom/NES adapter. I used to have one, lost it, and now I've got a bunch of Famicom games I can't play until I get a new adapter. So would you be willing to sell the adapter by itself? I realize selling the adapter will likely make it even harder for you to sell the games. But if your Famicom games don't sell anyway, I'd sure like to buy the adapter. -Ben

Do prototypes count? I think Snow White or Save Mary would have a female lead. -Ben

I think the Alamagordo "fix" would have been the most elegant, if only they had dug that hole a little deeper and poured concrete. -Ben

How has everyone missed the obvious so far? Ms. Pac-Man! -Ben

Hi Jamie, Yeah, you can have it. Just find a way to send me your mailing address (does this website support private messaging?), and it's yours. EDIT: Or just send it to me an an email: ufoundben at yahoo dot com -Ben

Hi Jamie, Yeah, you can have it. Just find a way to send me your mailing address (does this website support private messaging?), and it's yours. -Ben

It's a flat, rectangular cardboard card that is folded in the middle. It has no cutouts or holes in it, and it is not an overlay. You can lay it flat on the console if you like, but you can just as well place it anywhere else. There is printing on one side of the card only, which gives a quick overview of all the Space Shuttle commands. It came packaged as an insert inside the Space Shuttle game box. -Ben

I have an extra one of these, if anyone needs it. Anyone on this forum can have it, but on one condition: you actually need the card to play the game or to complete the collection, not to re-sell it for an easy profit. That's right. Meet the above lone condition -- and be first to let me know! -- and it's yours for free. And I hope you like the game as much as I do. -Ben

I think that had Mattel Electronics thought of doing this in the first place, their sales figures would have been doubled. Sometimes there is a steep price to pay for "cheaping out." -Ben

Or at least there was such a proto at one time. Whether it still exists today is anybody's guess, unless you know something we don't know. -Ben

That's really funny. I had Montezuma's Revenge sitting untouched in my collection for years before I finally got around to playing it. And you're right. It is a gem, hidden or otherwise. I think having a title unfortunate enough to invoke images of being stranded in Mexico with violent, projectile diarrhea had something to do with it. What a surprise I had when I discovered just how good it is. -Ben

That's what I do too. I don't have the living space to collect and store over 500 boxes. The fact that I have over 300 of them now is just an accident that resulted from being unable to pass up a great deal when I see one. I do like having the boxes, though. I just don't know where I can put any more of them. As far as a lot of your hardest titles to find coming from one source is concerned, you've got to count it as a major victory no matter how you acquired them. -Ben

Ack! I forgot about BMX Airmaster. That's because I've made up my mind the equivalent TNT release of game will suffice. I know I will never be able to afford the luxury of buying the Atari release. Yet I still haven't tracked down the TNT release either. Yes, I already have Quadrun, Swordquest Waterworld, and all the rest. I acquired Quadrun via deft trading with another collector. I paid $0.40 for a SQWW I found in a thrift store 25 years ago. But after so many years past since, I don't believe I will ever get lucky enough again to duplicate those feats with the Atari release of BMX Airmaster. So I'll just have to wait until I do get my hands on the TNT release before I can claim I have "completed" the 134-game Atari set. That's not to say I am not on a sizzling roll right now. I just scored 15 shrinkwrapped Blu-Ray movies at my local thrift store at $2.00 a pop. Great titles, too! Man, digital physical media is going, going, gone. And if you don't grab all you can right now, you'll be paying $100 for your favorites on Blu-Ray in just a few short years. Just like Atari games. Streaming Service providers are gonna make you pay and pay and pay, every time you watch your favorite movies and you will be left with no affordable alternative. Act now, or just watch it happen. -Ben

Well, yes. It is easy for ME to remember I've played two mismatched wildcards, but a finished program shouldn't force you to keep track of the game state. It's the fact that this game does not necessarily have a conclusive end, that it forces YOU to declare the game over when it technically can still be kept on playing (and stupidly handing over points to the VCS as you do) that I find particularly unsatisfying. My SOLUTION would be to have the program remove the other copy of the image you paired with a wildcard from the game layout when you play the wildcard, just like they do on the TV version of Concentration. In this way, the game board is swept clean by game's end every time. -Ben