schuwalker

I was thinking about this the other day. I recall getting the Master System of Shinobi at a Kmart by Dads work; the other Kmart we sometimes shopped at, I never recall seeing SMS games there, they had Genesis games though. Sears was the same way, one had pc games - no console stuff, but in the other mall… one store was selling Ps 1 games when first released. I wonder if this was a store by store decision. We didn’t get a Walmart here till the summer of ‘86, it was all NES centric store. Anybody recall if Walmart or Target, for that matter, sold Sega products? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I wasn’t enamored with the launch titles initially for the SNES. I think at this point in time for me I was Super Mario Bro’d out. I rented the system once or twice as new titles came along… Super Castlevania, Final Fight and Gradius to name a few. It’s when Super Ghouls n Ghosts was shortly released that I caved and purchased one. I was a big Capcom fanboy circa this era. Might’ve picked up UN Squadrun too. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

CC, you have to sell me on this one. Many cite this one as being the worst in the Imagic catalog - including myself. I had this one bitd and really didn’t care for it back then. The potential is there for good gameplay if you drop the timed aspect and make it more action oriented. I find the lesser known titles for Imagic being more fun than the popular ones. Love Laser Gates and No Escape. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I’m pretty sure after the sales crash, my Sears, Montgomery Wards, Kmart et.al nixed their console section till the NES era. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I don’t recall any with this scenario with the exception of toy stores like Toys r Us and KB Toys. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Snapped a pic of my PAC-Land panel today. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The ps2 version started out good, as you went on though, it didn’t feel like a Rygar game at all. That was my big complaint - no reference to the NES version at all. Like you, I didn’t play the arcade version at least a year I first played the NES version. And I still don’t care for it. I think at that time it reminded me of Rastan which was the superior game. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Definitely a top 5 Game for me on the NES. I really wished Tecmo would’ve pushed for a sequel in the NES or even the SNES lifespan. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I own a Pac-Land arcade upright. My favorite of the PAC series. Pac-Land was a staple of many of the Aladdin’s Castle arcades I went too. Even one had a Professor Pac machine. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Great comments here... I believe the majority of us when you first start collecting a niche hobby - we want to obtain *everything*. As we get older and more pragmatic, that mantra about getting everything loses it's luster. As others stated here, I'm focusing on particular items that had a heavy hand of nostalgia in my life. Not necessarily meaning to one game, it even could be a certain company or manufacturer. Those late '70s Sears Telegames releases brings right back to childhood and my first entry into home gaming. Seeing that box art brings me back to the electronics department at Sears in the late '70s with dad, hopefully picking out the next game purchase! (I wish I hadn't scoffed at Sears Math Gran Prix - last one I need boxed.) I have the same emotional attachment with the early NES black box series of games. Dad is no longer around, to think about it, the majority of these stores I picked these games up from are no longer around. That's why for me... seeing these boxed and displayed on shelf, I get a memory of dad playing or what store I recall getting it. Something emulation can't replicate for me... Crazy Climber, it's nice to see another arcade collector on here.

While it technically wasn't the 2600, I still had the Colecovision hooked up with the 2600 adaptor. Pretty sure the last 2600 game I picked up (not counting eBay purchases) was the 2600 version of Atari Star Wars arcade the summer of '85. I got a deluxe NES set in Feb. '86; Colecovision was stored after that... I think that point in time around the '86 era, 2600 and Colecovision product was getting tougher to find.

I played tons of Looping at our local arcade bitd. I'm trying to ascertain by the pic if that's some bootleg cocktail version. The instruction card on the upright is right on the control panel artwork - this pic doesn't fit that m.o.

Gameplay sound awfully like Looping Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Jealousy x 3

I believe that was Micronics that made that one too...

I think the glitches even irked me more than made it more enjoyable. I was just hoping for more of a Pitfall III with sorta of the same graphical style as the first. The bigger world is a plus but I never been on board finding items essential to gameplay just by randomly jumping at spots or hitting a bird lol.

What makes you think that though if the game tested poorly on location?

I loved the c64 port of this game - so many memories. The zenith version for me was the Master System and the nadir was the NES - hardly shocking.?

Super Pitfall does top my worst list. Even though it was done my Micronics (I never had issues with their 1942 or Ikari Warriors ports), there is something about following the 2600 version of Pitfall II with even a worst version for the next touted superior console. Agree with on Temple of Doom... I was playing tons of the arcade version around the same time I rented this. I really don't mind if you deviate gameplay but the dreadful controls and the way item select was done were mind boggling. Hard to believe it was the same crew that programmed the arcade version did this awful port.

Release date for Japan... I ran into a NES *internet* expert that claimed he had a Zelda cart in late '86. He mentioned that he lived in the L.A. test market and that's how he obtained his copy early.? Thought it was interesting reading the comments here... I swore up and down, I purchased mine in July of '87 (I correlate that date since we moved into our new home.) I'm seeing here, August seems more like the official date of release.

I'll tie some purchases with some of the stores mentioned. All Chicagoland area... Sears: Atari 2600 system itself came from here, majority of the Telegames releases, Chopper Command Kmart: Donkey Kong, Smurfs, Berzerk, Mattel Air Raiders (this was in Aurora, Il.) Zayre: Swordquest Fire & Earthworld Jewel/Osco: Mrs. Pacman Dominicks Foods: Defender Montgomery Wards: Deadly Duck Woolco: Checkers, Star Raiders Gaylords Department Store: Pacman (this was also in Aurora, Il.) Mcdades Catalog House: Venture Hornsbys: Seaquest (this was in Yorkville Il.) K&B Toys: Name this Game, Firefly (lol) Toys by Rizzi: Imagic games: Riddle of the Sphinx, Firefighter and Trick shot (anybody else recall this toy store?) Toys r Us: Empire Strikes Back, Keystone Kapers Camelot Music Store: this is where most of my Activision titles came from..., Frankenstein's Monster and Frontline I'm not sure if I've ever purchased a game through JC Penny. Not even sure if the stores I came across had a videogame section. Service Merchandise is another one I don't think I purchased anything till the Sega Master System days. It's incredible how I remember some of these after ALL these years

Arcade industry magazines: Playmeter and Replay usually did reviews of new games coming down the pipeline.

I was there when my local operator purchased this kit and a kit for 1943. I was chomping at the bit to play Ghostbusters. Needless to say, 1943 got the majority of my tokens and Ghostbusters became second fiddle. Ghostbusters started life as another game. Data East got the license... you know the rest of the story. Gameplay is really monotonous and redundant; theme from Ghostbuster played over and over and over. There's not even a true head boss in this game. I did see the three player version down the road at Aladdin's Castle - really didn't care at that point.

There's something back then that even the crappiest of the crap games, you still went back and played. A lost feeling in todays gaming world with the amount of sources out there. Looking back, I did have some dog and many people consider dogs. Some games come to mind: E.T. (even enjoyed back then), Donkey Kong (didn't care if it was missing levels), to the really low points like Swordquest games, Imagic Firefighter, and heaven forbid - Firefly. Even something about the last games I mentioned... I still played, not going to throw the enjoy feeling there, and I still never thought about returning it. Hell, I even picked out and bought Firefly at K&B Toys. Now that this topic was brought up, did people here that waited in line and purchased Pac-man on release date, return it since it didn't meet your arcade expectations? I was one of the fortunate, or should I say unfortunate, to live through the crash as well. Little did we know that buying these games uber cheap would result new games of our favorite systems coming to a halt. I did have a bad feeling when department stores like Sears, Zayre, Montgomery Wards and Kmart did not have a videogame section anymore after the fact. Only places I knew to purchase games back then were toy stores: Toys r Us and K&B. Most of us that lived in that 1985 era know how much of a wasteland it was for the console gamers; I even resorted to hanging out with a kid with a C64 - not saying that was a bad thing, hated the kid but liked his c64 lol.

I'm going with Galaxian here Namco was such a power house in the early '80s. I played the majority of their hits... the big two were Xevious and Bosconian for me. After that golden age of arcades, going into the jamma era, they were definitely hit and miss. I don't think most of these titles even made it in the states. Pac-land was huge and my favorite of the Pac-series. Rolling Thunder was another big one for me. They had three in '87: Pac-mania, Galaga '88 and Dragon Spirit that seemed to do o.k. - Dragon Spirit is my personal favorite. The last big hit in the '80s had to be Assault. Didn't really care for their library in the '90s, the only one I played was Dragon Saber (sequel to Spirit) but that was a kit game and a rare one at that.