Silverfleet

I love me some Castlevania. Been a fan since playing the first one on the NES back when it was new. Today, I have most of the games in the series, save for a few like Dracula X and the PCE CD Rondo of Blood. I actually got a PSP just to play Rondo of Blood! I recently picked up a couple of the later ones in the series: Judgement on the Wii and Lords of Shadow on the PS3. One of these days, I need to revisit Lament of Innocence and Curse of Darkness. I started playing them but didn't get very far. If I had to pick a favorite overall, it would probably be SoTN. I really dig the Metroidvania entries in the series, but the original is still my favorite out of those ones.

My 1st PS2 game was also TimeSplitters! Back when they released the PS2, they were perpetually sold out from before Xmas until around March. I remember going to all sorts of places for months trying to find one. Finally, I found one at a CompUSA, snagged it, and ran over to Gamestop to buy TimeSplitters and a 4 player adapter. Good times.

Some of my favorites: -Devil May Cry (just a ton of fun) -Timesplitters (lots of fun with 4 people) -Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3 (I like the car selection better than Zero) -Gran Turismo 4 (still looks decent even today) -Katamari Damacy (so weird, but so addictive!) -Capcom vs SNK 2 (great roster of fighters and awesome control) -Final Fantasy X (good story, good characters, and 1st big RPG I played on the system) -all 3 GTA games (because mindless fun!) -Auto Modellista (short, but had a ton of fun here playing and outfitting my garage) -ESPN NFL 2K5 (best modern football game!) -MLB Power Pros (old school controls and JRPG elements in a baseball game? Yup!) -The Taito Legends games (both are fantastic and packed with great games) -Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits (lots of people crap on this one, but I had a ton of fun with it, I really liked the combat system and the story) -Dark Cloud (fun and addictive early Action RPG/dungeon crawler) -Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance (easy to pick up and play dungeon hack and slash game, loved this one) I want to go play PS2 now! It's such a great system. There are so many more games for it that absolutely rule too.

The Wii is fantastic for emulation! It's easy to get going, for the most part. Right now, I have the following systems running on it: -Atari 2600 -Atari 7800 -Colecovision -NES -SNES -Game Boy/GBC/GBA -Sega SG1000 -Sega Master System -Sega Genesis -Sega CD -Sega Game Gear -Turbo Grafx 16/PC Engine -Some MAME games I've been trying to get N64, Neo Geo, and Turbo CD/ PCE CD working, but I'm having trouble running those. I really want to get the Turbo CD going, but I can't get the games to load... yet. But overall, it's absolutely awesome!

I think the price increase is two-fold: Demand and popularity. As a kid, I remember renting Mega Man very early on. I loved the graphics and music, but I remember dying a lot and getting frustrated, so I never sought it out and bought it. A little later, my friend introduced me to Mega Man 2, and from that point on, I was a fan. First one I actually got was 3 when I was a kid, and then happened upon 2 and 5 in a bargain bin at a big box store later on when the store was clearing out all NES inventory and snagged them. Yes, I still have 2 and 5 CIB! When I was in college in the early 2000's, I decided to start collecting more seriously. On my list was the rest of the Mega Man games I didn't have. After some hunting, I eventually filled out the rest of the NES collection at once after discovering a Play N Trade near my old job that had the missing games before prices went crazy. At that point (around 2007-08) I picked up Mega Man, Mega Man 4, and Mega Man 6 for like $60 total. I thought it was a lot back then, but I'm glad I got them! Man, I miss that place. With all the YouTube personalities, gaming channels, and blogs/forums upping the awareness of these games, especially in the past few years, prices have spiked. Like it or not, these are considered antiques now. They are the "baseball cards" our dads wish they kept that they told us about. People wanting to relive that nostalgia will pay for it. Sucks for the collectors, though. Another example of popularity and demand: the first three SMB games. I never thought I'd see the SMB games going for what they do now. I mean, everyone had those! Yes, they are classics, but none of them are rare by any means, but I still see them trading hands for $20+ now when they were relegated to the $0.99 bin at GameStop 10-15 years ago.

I'm still catching up on the last generation! While I probably will get a Xbox One at some point, I have a backlog of titles to play for my Wii, 360, and PS3. And then there's the pile of games for the PS2/GC/Xbox that I still need to play. I'm in no rush.

I'm a big fan of compilation packs! I have quite a few in my collection. A few of my favorites are: -The Mega Man and Mega Man X ones on the PS2: There's no cheaper way to get these games all together on a real console, and the emulation is really nice. While I have all of the original NES cartridges, I was late to the game on the SNES games, and buying them now is just too much. And I dig the PS2 versions especially for the Mega Man X one because the controller layout is close to the SNES. I was actually playing the Mega Man X one yesterday! -Konami Arcade Classics on the PS1 and the GBA are both great. The GBA one is a little easier to find, but the PS1 version has more games. -All of the various Capcom ones that are out there are really great. The PSP had a few of them that were exclusive that were awesome. -Speaking of the PSP, there were a lot of these that were on there, which was nice to have on the go. The SNK Classics one, the Metal Slug one, and EA Replay were all pretty solid. -The Sonic Mega and Gems Collections were excellent in their time. The Gems one has a few games that are tough to find. -All of the Namco Museum games were pretty good on the PS1. I have 1,3, and 5, and always had trouble finding 2 and 4. Someday... -There are a few shooter comps that I have that I really love. Gradius III and IV, R-Types, and The Raiden Project are all awesome.

Well, my answer still stands. Like many of you, I have all of the systems on that list with the exception of the Neo Geo. There are games out there for each one of them that I like. I do like some of them better than others, though. The Jaguar and Intellivision are probably my least favorites, but I love them all. And like I said, when I see games for them on the cheap that I don't have yet, I buy them. From a collector's standpoint, the NES stands out as THE system right now. It's the hottest system on the collector's market, and there are tons of great games for it. If cost is not an option, start here. They get a bad rep sometimes because many of the consoles in the wild aren't working properly, but fixing them is cheap and easy. Sometimes, disabling the 10NES lockout chip and cleaning the connector and games is all that's needed, and that's basically free. A lot of the cartridge based consoles are bomb-proof. The first 2600 I got was a 4-switch model I got in college that was sitting in a random box at a flea market for who knows how long, and it still works great. Some of the controllers do break down over the years (like the 5200 ones) but that's about it. I also agree on the Everdrive and multicart comments if you are looking to play the games on their respective systems without taking out a second mortgage. If you are just starting out, the 2600, NES, Genesis, and PS2 are great places to start. I find more for those consoles than anything else in the wild. And yes, handhelds should be considered! The Game Boy, GBA, and the DS are all over the place and dirt cheap to collect for. The Game Gear is another option, but most need to be re-capped at this point.

Uhh... ALL of them? Around here, basically anything that's "old" goes for a ton, so if I see something for a reasonable price, I buy it if I don't have it yet. And when I mean a ton, people think their 4-switch woodgrain 2600's with a handful of the most common games is worth $150 or more.

The first console I ever played was the Colecovision. My sister had gotten it for Christmas in '82, and that was the year I was born. I used to watch her play it, and eventually picked up a controller for myself. Also, some of the games used to scare the crap out of me! The alien captain in Space Fury and the green tentacle monsters in Venture used to send me running. There was just something about the sound chip in the Colecovision that made some of the sound effects terrifying to me when I was very small. My favorite game to play on that system was Cosmic Avenger... I could play that for hours! My cousins also had a 2600, and while I remember playing it while very young, it didn't have the same effect on me. First game I remember playing on the 2600 was Air-Sea Battle. But the first console that was "mine" was the NES. I got the R.O.B. set in 1987 when I was 5, and I still play the hell out of it regularly. The NES changed the world back then. It was THE console to have. Kids would rate potential friends on what games they had. Stories were told on playgrounds all over about the triumphs and failures kids had experienced while playing the NES. Tall tales were told about how their cousin's friend's dads worked for Nintendo and could get free games... Maybe it was because I was too young, but I never heard people talking about other consoles like that. It was more than just a toy... it was a way of life. Then, when I was around 8 or 9, my neighbor got a Genesis. MIND BLOWING. He had Altered Beast, and the graphics and sounds were nearly identical to the games we played at the local arcade. I remember seeing a weird system once called a Turbo Grafx 16, and I wanted one, but the Genesis looked cooler and there were more games available for it. I eventually got my own around 1992. Sega fanboy status achieved! I was a late adopter to the SNES, but I played it plenty at friends' houses. Once I got my own around 1995, I snagged a bunch of the classics on the cheap. Side note: I did try and save up for a Turbo Duo back then. I kept seeing ads in Electronic Gaming Monthly for it for $199, but I could never find it in stores. Bummer. As I progressed into being a teenager, I picked up a Saturn from a friend for cheap. He got rid of it so he could get a N64, which didn't interest me at the time. I played the Saturn a little, but found myself playing the Genesis and SNES more. I missed out on a lot of the A+ titles, with the exception of Guardian Heroes, which came with my Saturn when I bought it from that friend. Man, that game was great! But once I saw that there was a new 3D Zelda game coming out for the N64, I had to have one. Other than Zelda, the N64 wasn't doing it for me, so I tried my hand at the PSOne. At this time, I was nearing the end of High School, and discovered Final Fantasy VII, Gran Turismo 2, and other games that were unreal at the time. I really feel that video games grew up in parallel to the kids my age. When I was born, games were primitive, but they grew up with me. The games now are unbelievably detailed and complex, just like the lives of other people my age. It's pretty cool to be able to say that!

I've run through four games so far this year: Golden Axe (Arcade via MAME on my Wii): I was bored the other day and wanted to run through Golden Axe, so I popped this on. I like the ending on this one, where all the enemies escape the arcade and the heroes run after them! Golden Axe II (Genesis): I kept rolling after beating the 1st one and ran through Golden Axe II. I used to have a lot of trouble with this game as a kid, but it was no problem now. Chiki Chiki Boys (Genesis): Love this game. I bought it when I was a kid at KB Toys out of the bargain bin because I liked the cover, and that turned out to be a great decision. One of my favorite platform hack and slash games, and a ton of fun to play. Street Fighter II: Special Champion Edition (Genesis): Does this even count? I played through with Ken, so I had to watch him get married at the end.

It's strange, when I was a kid, I beat Castlevania II. I know the translation is absolutely terrible, and I fumbled through much of the game, but I remember beating it. I must have read Nintendo Power or something. I distinctly remember going to the wall and crouching to get the tornado to appear while messing around. I had no idea what was going on! That said, the Redacted version is AWESOME. It basically fixes everything that sucked about the original.

I remember the very first time I played Castlevania. I must have been 5, and it was at my cousin's house. It was brand new at the time, too. I remember I was sick at the time, and I thought the bats were flying livers. But after that first time, I was hooked. I picked up Castlevania II when it came out, and I remember being shocked at how much different it was than the first one with the RPG elements, but I loved it. I later picked up the first game, and up until recently, I could never beat the game. I don't remember my copy ever glitching out, either. My favorite of the three originals? Probably the 3rd one. The similarities to the first one with the innovation of new characters, plus the awesome music and graphics round out the package. And the Japanese version's music is a lot better because of the added sound chip.

Picked these two up off of eBay around Xmas: I had originally won an auction for Hyperchase. My wife's earliest gaming memory was playing this game at her dentist's office, which is weird, but awesome at the same time. But she always said that she wanted to play it again someday, so I thought I'd surprise her for Xmas with it. Well, the package came, and Clean Sweep was in the box. I immediately messaged the guy. He shipped out the wrong game, and he gave me two options: I could ship it back at his expense while he sent out Hyperchase, or I could pay for Clean Sweep. He offered it to me at a reasonable price, so I took the deal! Both games are boxed with overlays, but only Hyperchase has the instructions. Came out to roughly $20/game, which isn't the best deal in the world, but I'll pay that all day to relive the memories with the wife. Plus, boxed Vectrex games are getting tough to find! Oh, and no pics, but someone gave my dad 2 original Playstations at the town "swap shop" at the transfer station where he volunteers after talking about how I collect old games. Both are early consoles with all the ports and even the covers. One had NHL 2000 in there, and they both came with non-analog controllers. Free is free!

Gyruss is one of my favorite all-time games. Every time I go to Funspot in NH, I run upstairs to play that first and try to set the high score for the day. That said, I have the 2600 version and the NES version. The 2600 version is pretty damn impressive, and plays well. The music is definitely a standout on this version. I also really like the NES version. It's definitely different than the original arcade version, but I consider it to me more of an update, kinda like Galaga '88 (or '90 on the TG16) is to the original Galaga. I actually found myself playing it a few nights ago! I died one warp away from Earth.

Man, I love the PS2! I bought my original early on, when the 2nd wave of them became available in early 2001 after being sold out for months. I remember going from store to store constantly striking out until a random CompUSA (remember that place?) had one. I felt like I hit the lottery! I hustled over to GameStop and bought TimeSplitters and a multi-tap to play it with friends. It was glorious. When that original one died, as many of the early ones did from Disc Read Error disease, it was replaced by a Slim. That thing is still kicking butt. I also have a few working "Fat" PS2's tucked away, just in case. I amassed a large library of games over the years, and I still have a few games for it that are new/sealed. At this point, they may stay that way, as some of them (Grandia III, Viewtiful Joe, MGS3, and Gradius V among others) are probably worth a few bucks now and will be considered classics in the future. I also have a ton of games that I stockpiled when they were beginning to disappear from stores that I haven't played, and I'll go back to them later. Is it a "classic console" yet? I don't think it's quite there yet. It's in that middle phase before becoming a retro console, if you ask me. It's one of the best consoles ever made. I still play mine all the time. But what makes a console? THE GAMES! There were so many great ones on the PS2. Some of my favorites: -MLB Power Pros: Hidden gem of a baseball game. Combines old-school pick up and playability with a weird JRPG. -Final Fantasy X: Completely blew me away at the time, great game -Neo Contra: Often overlooked, but a ton of fun and completely ridiculous, especially with two people -ESPN Football 2K5: the best modern football game ever made. So good, it forced EA to buy the exclusive rights to the NFL license. -Gran Turismo 3 and 4: spent so much time with these two. GT3 was mind blowing at the time, and the 1000+ cars in GT4 was great. -Dragon Quest VIII: Such a great RPG. The score, story, and visuals were fantastic. I did get stuck in this one, and I'll return to it someday. -The GTA series: You know why it's awesome. Complete game changers. -Burnout 3: Takedown: this one is a ton of fun, and the graphics still hold up today. Great with friends, too. -Virtua Fighter 4: I spent a long time with this game, trying to master a few of the characters. -The TimeSplitters series: These were among the best FPS's in their day. The 3rd one was especially great. -Capcom VS SNK 2: Probably my favorite 2D fighter of that console generation. You could play through it 100 times and still want to play more! Then there are the multitude of "Collection" compilations... those were all fantastic! I especially loved the Capcom and Taito ones. There are a ton more too, but those are just some in my collection that I love.

I picked up one toward the very end, around 2001 or 2002 at a Gamestop for $20 used. I remember seeing them in Toys R Us around the launch date and being blown away, but I still had my hands full with my N64 and PSone. After I picked one up, I stocked up on cheap games while you could still get them! I picked up some great games like Giga Wing 2 and Grandia 2 (still have it sealed, already had the PS2 version by that point) for next to nothing. I picked up a second $20 bargain bin Dreamcast, a Sega Sports console, but it later got stolen. Fast forward to around 2009, and a coworker offered to sell me his entire game collection for really cheap. In that collection was a minty boxed Dreamcast with a ton of great games that I didn't have yet. As of right now, I have 3 Dreamcasts and a pretty good library of games. The shooters and fighting games on the DC are excellent, and Shenmue was a ton of fun back then too. And then there's the DC Emulation scene...

Glad you guys liked that story! Interestingly enough, that's not the first time we found gaming stuff at a junkyard. One time, my friends found a NES console with about 30 games in the back of a conversion van, also for free. I wasn't there for that one, but my friend still has it to this day. Another time, I found another completely random find: a Sega Nomad battery pack on the passenger seat of one of these: If there's any car that should have gaming stuff in it, it's a Subaru XT Turbo. I mean, this is what the interior looks like: So yeah, every time I go to the junkyard, I go game hunting.

I have a few moments that stand out. -About 6 years back, I saw an ad for some Atari stuff at a nearby yard sale. I went there to check it out, and the guy had two 6-switch Telegames consoles, around 10 boxed games (some were sealed!) a bunch of loose games, and a sweet Atari hardshell briefcase that housed a console, joysticks, and games. Everything was minty. He also threw in a random copy of Red Faction for the PS2 with a strategy guide. Got it all for $40! -My Sega Master System pickup. I used to hit up a Play N Trade after work that has since closed, and they always had awesome deals. I went in there one night, and they had just taken in an original SMS with two controllers, the gun, and a ton of boxed and complete games. Got all of it for right around $50. Man, I miss that place. -Getting Chrono Trigger in cartridge form on the SNES. This is by far my favorite RPG of all time. It's the first game I pulled an all-nighter with, and even though I had it on the PSone as part of the Final Fantasy Chronicles compilation (and not to mention a SNES emulator), it just wasn't the same. I picked up a copy for $50 loose at a local game store: still the most I've ever paid for a retro game, but there's nothing like playing it on it's intended console. The DS version is pretty awesome, too, but I got that a little later on. -My all time greatest pickup is also the most random one I've done. I was at a junkyard with some friends looking at some old cars, and we spot a 1966 Rambler in nice shape. As we are checking over the car, my friend opens the back door and says "guys, check out this weird little TV!" and he pulls out a VECTREX from the back of the car!!! And it was in nice shape! After explaining to him what it was, he hands me the thing and tells me it's all mine. I bring it up to the office and ask what they want for it. The guy says "take it, that way we don't have to pay to recycle it!" Wow... I got it home and it worked fine. I've since picked up a few games for it, most recently Hyperchase and Clean Sweep, which I love. I never thought I'd ever be able to snag a Vectrex, especially after years of hunting for one, and yet somehow, I found one in the back of a 1966 Rambler for free.

Picked up this little package recently: The games are nothing spectacular rarity-wise, but I needed them for my collection. Gyruss is one of my all-time favorites, and I had never played it on the 2600. It plays nice! The real star here is the Coleco Expansion Module #1, which I have been searching for in the wild for a long time. I picked up the entire package for $25. Also picked up some early 80's rock classics: A little more on that Expansion Module. Guy said it was untested. And it was GROSS. And after some cleaning: And it works great!

Shameless Self Promotion Ahead: I haven't posted on here in a long time (I need to change that!), but I actually wrote a piece recently that is relevant to this thread for a car blog I contribute to: http://bangshift.com/general-news/remember-ancient-atari-game-dragsters-still-playing/ I picked up a Colecovision Expansion Module #1 recently, and while testing it, I was playing Dragster. That's when I realized that it is still one of the best Drag Racing games in existence. As simple as it is, it takes a lot of skill to hustle that drag car down the track. I honestly sat on the floor, smashing that reset button every 10 seconds or so trying to cut a better time and master my launching skills. There are a few Drag Racing games out there, but this one actually holds up well, even in the current gaming era. Pole Position and Enduro are also standouts in my book. Pole Position is a surprisingly decent port of the arcade classic, and I really like the varied environments in Enduro.

I just missed out on a Heavy Sixer with about 20 games and a Telegames game caddy for $25 at a yard sale. While I was debating the purchase, an older couple snagged it. It was filthy and needed some serious clean-up, so that's ok with me. Besides, the people were very happy to relive the "old days", so no hard feelings.

A morning of yard sale hunting with the fiance only turned up a fat PS2 in nice shape with a controller and memory card for $10 as far as gaming items go. Of course I bought it, which brings me up to 4 PS2's now. We did find some other interesting stuff though. We found a bunch of old prints of sailing vessels from the 19th Century, a print of an old fire pump, a pretty much worthless but cool looking print of a painting, and two early 1900's Gettysburg Address prints. Those Gettysburg address prints are interesting, and the one that has a date was printed in 1927, The other looks to be earlier, but they are pretty cool looking. I know that prints of the address were popular in the early 20th century, so they might be worth something today. All of those were framed and cost us $16 total. Even if they are worthless, they'll look good on the walls of our house someday. Edit: I just found one of the two prints for sale for about $100 on ebay and another online retailer. Theirs are in a little bit nicer shape, but not bad!

I hit up a Savers yesterday, and scored 3 NES games and a nice regular Saturn controller. The 3 games were Dr Mario (boxed, no instructions), Road Runner (also boxed with no instructions) and Arkanoid (loose, but with instructions). No, the Arkanoid controller wasn't there. I paid $18 for all of that. I figured it's worth it because Arkanoid seems to be getting scarce, and I haven't seen a boxed Tengen game in the wild since I bought Gauntlet brand new back in grade school. I passed on some other stuff, like a $2 PS2 Eye Toy and a $7 Gamecube.

My fiance's getting really good at the whole thrifting thing. Last week, she got bored while I was at work and hit up a Goodwill that's up the street from her house. This Goodwill is usually hit or miss, but she ended up getting me a minty NES Double Dragon and a pretty interesting Star Trek: The Next Generation PC game. It's called Star Trek: The Next Generation - A Final Unity. From what I gather, it's hard to find. It's a point-and-click adventure that has all of the TNG cast as voice actors. It came out in 1994, and this copy is absolutely mint and complete in the box. She paid $0.45 for Double Dragon and $1.50 for the Star Trek game. It will fit in well with my Star Trek collection.