Christophero Sly

Not anyone here!? The myth of 5 million E.T. carts was endemic here. It was practically institutionalized. For evidence of that, have a look at the "Did You Know?" section of the E.T. listing here in the rarity database.

Exactly.

Proof of 5 million E.T. carts? Surely you jest.

Guardian?

Breakout?

No. I'm sorry. I'm sure you meant well with that comment, and I rather step in a bear trap than revisit the old arguments of this thread, but that comment perpetuates a intolerable distortion of the record, and I cannot let it go unchallenged. There is only one member of Club #3, and he isn't Marty. Marty (and I) will have to be content with membership in Club #2.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (PS2) Solid puzzle-platforming. Sketchy combat. (7/10)

Onimusha: Warlords (PS2) I've tried to get into this game--I don't know--probably a half-a-dozen times over the last decade, each time making it up to about the first boss fight before the ineffectual narrative, lousy dub, and obstinate "tank-style" controls finally convince me that I'm wasting my time. I don't know what motivated me to give this game yet another go, but I'm glad I did. Making it to that first boss fight again, I decided I was going to power through it, no matter what, and see what lay on the other side. It took several attempts, but in the course of those attempts, I was finally able to get a handle on the tank-style controls, and I realized that the problems I was having with them were the result of me simply over-thinking things--Ninja Gaiden this is not. Actually, once I got used to the tank-style controls--shock of shocks--I actually grew to enjoy them and never struggled with them again. In fact, I don't think this game would work anywhere near as well as it does with a different control scheme. After that first boss fight, the atmosphere and aesthetics of the game began to pull me in almost immediately. This is a wonderfully immersive game. I'm really impressed that the game was able to take the stale and tired formulaics of old-school survival horror--tank controls, item gathering, health rationing, backtracking, etc.--and make them feel completely fresh for me. The game is remarkably well-constructed, the difficulty is well-balanced, and the pacing is almost perfect. Unfortunately, the narrative, while it does get a little more interesting, remains rather flimsy throughout. However, I think a lot of that has to do with what I suspect is a sparse and deficient translation, as well as an obviously lousy english dub. Anyway, great game. Looking forward to the sequel. (8/10)

Ratchet and Clank (PS2) This one caught me by complete surprise. I had it in my head that this was just another conventional and derivative 3-D collect-a-thon mascot-character platformer--a genre I've never cared for--but Ratchet and Clank turned out to be an incredible experience, and nothing like I expected. There are so many positive things I could say about this game that I really don't even no where to begin. However, if I were given the opportunity to highlight only one of those positives, it would be the game's level design. Masterful stuff. The game puts on an absolute clinic in that regard. The game's only negative is a camera that develops a mind of it's own in certain situations. Ratchet and Clank is an outstanding game; the best I've played on the PS2. (9/10) Triple Play '96 (Genesis) The game tries very hard to look the part of a AAA game, but the gameplay is, frankly, defective. The game is riddled with fundamental design flaws and there are holes in its AI large enough to drive a truck through. (3/10)

Zorks 1-3 were available on the TI-99/4A and TRS-80.

Bump.

Roger Clemen's MVP Baseball (Genesis) Roger Clemen's MVP Baseball makes a lousy first impression, has a relatively steep learning curve, lacks depth, and exhibits some peculiar physics, but underneath all that, there resides a solid game. There are 16-bit baseball games that, objectively, do just about everything better than MVP Baseball, yet, fundamentally, aren't anywhere near as playable and engaging. (5/10)

Bump.

Hardball! (Genesis) One of the most aggravating games I've ever played. And probably more aggravating than it's worth. Being forced to play defense blindfolded essentially breaks the game. The primary challenge in the game is seeing how well you can work around constant fielding errors. One bad play can cost you the whole game. It's a shame, as there is a lot to like about Hardball!, and with one small addition to the gameplay, it would have been a total gem. (4/10)* *I'm switching over to the 10-point scale outlined in Sega-16's review manifest.

Yeah, I'm afraid that is my one and only copy. Time to let some things go.

Updated 10/20

USA only. Paypal only. Shipping will be actual cost. Items tested. PM if interested. Game Boy Player (w/startup disc) - $40 Metal Gear Solid w/manual - $25 (Battery is holding saves) Art of Fighting - $5 Williams Arcade's Greatest Hits - $4 Star Fox - $11 Donkey Kong Country 2 - $16 Out of this World - $7 (label nicks on top and back) Fatal Fury Special - $7 (scratch on front and top label nicked) Gauntlet IV - $11 Tower Toppler - $5

It's a true H6'er, no doubt, no worries. There has been plenty of speculation, but the reason why these units (I have one myself) carry two stickers and have no letter suffix in their serial #'s remains a mystery. It's always nice to see another one show up though.

Nice find. Welcome to AA. One question: Does your H6er have two serial# stickers, one applied right over the other? I suspect it does, but it's hard to tell in the photo. *EDIT: BTW, if it does have two stickers, do not attempt to peel the top one off.

Sad. Lode Runner is one of my favorite games of all time, like Top-3. Love that game; one of the pillars of the whole Apple II experience for me. Thanks, Doug.

Crysis (360) Apparently, when it was first released, Crysis looked spectacular on state-of-the-art PC's. Seven years later, shoe-horned onto the 360, it's nothing special, and regardless of whatever technical merits the game once possessed, aesthetically, it's uninspired, generic, and dull. Likewise, the gameplay is shallow and shockingly unsophisticated. I don't know how Crysis earned a reputation for open-ended gameplay because it's entirely linear and offers almost no opportunities for emergent, free-form gameplay. Crysis' other claim to fame--the "nano-suit"-- contributes nothing of real substance to the gameplay, amounting to little more than a tedious exercise in constant energy management. Topping it all off, the story is lousy. Crysis is the most overrated game I've played in a long time.

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (PS2) A bit on the short side, but a surprisingly decent third-person shooter. More of a straight-up run-and-gun due to brain-dead enemy AI and the lack of a cover system or any sort of stealth mechanics. There is some minor platforming in the game, however. The game has an appealing cyber-punk sort of vibe to it, but I had trouble following the convoluted plot. Fans of the anime would probably get more out of that aspect of the game than I did.

Though I will probably go back and see just how far I can actually get on 1 credit, I have no interest in attempting to 1CC Exed Exes either. Deus Ex: Invisible War (XBOX) This game scored well with the critics, but it seems to have a terrible reputation among fans of the original Deus Ex. Having never played the original, I can't speak to those opinions, but having played my fair share of disappointing sequels, I can certainly relate to them. Nevertheless, considered in a vacuum, I thought this game was actually pretty good. It has some clear flaws, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I really need to play the original someday. Fable (XBOX) -- Beat this one back in May, I think. Fable is much more of an action-adventure game than an RPG. The visuals and art direction are outstanding, and the first half of the game, when I was still exploring the gameworld and piecing together the plot, was quite charming. Some time after the mid-point, however, it became increasingly clear that the game is actually a rather shallow affair and most everything it attempts to offer to the player is decidedly undercooked. The framework for a great game was here, but, ultimately, Fable turns out to be a disappointingly thin experience.

OK.

Right on! I'd be interested to hear your impressions of it sometime. Final Fight (Arcade (PS2)) Guy's, Rolento's, and Katana's appearances (and all the other cameos) in SFA2 got me thinking about this game, so I pulled out the Capcom Classics compilation and decided to have at it. I've never been all that great at beat-em-ups, and I've long since been out of practice with this particular one, so I had to burn through a few continues in order to finish it. I would have done better had I realized that Guy's jumping spin-kicks were eating away at my life bar. I'm going to keep messing with the game on-and-off and see if I can manage to finish it using just two continues. Even at my best, I don't think I can do better than that. Exed Exes (Arcade (PS2)) After Final Fight, I found myself messing around with some of the obscure games on the Capcom Classics compilation that I'd never heard of, and ended up getting sucked into this game for about 2 hours. It's like a cross between Xevious and Galaga. It's a vertical shooter that consists of a variety of different waves of enemies and boss battles that are mixed together in various patterns to create longer "rounds". The game is difficult. You have to do a lot of dodging and your ship is not very agile. Also, your primary weapon has limited range. In the single-player game, you will eventually be worn down by attrition, no matter how skilled. However, I suspect that two-players (simultaneous) might fair much better. I would probably write the game off as a typical arcade quarter-eater, but it does have an interesting dynamic that, tweaked, could have made this game something memorable. You're given a limited supply of "crash" bombs that when triggered destroy all enemy projectiles on screen. When I built up a large reserve of these bombs I was able to get into a very satisfying rhythm with this game were I could go 5-10 minutes without dying. As soon as my crash bombs were gone, however, my lives followed in short order. Giving you unlimited crash bombs, but limiting their use to once every 10-12 secs. (through some sort of charging mechanism or something) would have made this game semi-amazing. It would have preserved a requisite need for skill, but given those sufficiently skilled the necessary tools to sidestep all that hopeless attrition. Anyway, the game has 16 unique rounds, after which it starts over at round one, though it's called round 17. I burned through however may continues it took me to reach round 17, saw the congratulations message, and called the game beaten. Oh, and the repetitive BGM just about drove me over the edge. Neat parallax though.