Skippy B. Coyote

Yes and yes. The details confirming the answers to both questions are all in the press release.

When I first heard about the NES Mini this morning and read the list of included games I thought that it had to be a joke, because I didn't think there was any way that Nintendo would not only release a plug and play console like this but also go through all the trouble and expense of getting Capcom, Konami, and Namco on board for the project. But then I found out that it wasn't a joke, and suffice it to say my mind was blown. The game lineup is just awesome in every regard and the only standout title really missing is Tetris, but then again the Game Boy version of Tetris is much better known by the masses than the NES version so maybe they're just saving Tetris for a Game Boy Mini if the NES Mini turns out to be a big success. I also love that they made the controller and ports compatible with the Wii Classic Controller, since that means I'll be able to use the included NES controller with the NES emulator on my Wii and my wife will be able to play the NES Mini with her custom Wii Classic Controller arcade stick. The HDMI output will also make it nice to play on modern TVs, so all around I think it's just a fantastic little package and will definitely be picking one up.

I'm very curious about this as well. My gut instinct says that the NES Mini will lead to prices for the included games dropping, since there will be a new and easy plug-and-play solution on the market for people to enjoy these old games with no hassle or fuss. However, exposing new audiences to the NES by way of the NES Mini could lead to a good number of those people deciding that they want to graduate to the real original system and start collecting NES games; and that new demand for original NES cartridges would surely increase prices. So it could really go either way. The NES Mini could satisfy casual demand for NES games and lower original cartridge prices, or it could lead to a price increase by turning more people on to the NES.

I've got mixed feelings about Pokémon GO. On one hand I'm really glad that Nintendo's profits are back up and that they've got a new product out capturing the imaginations (and wallets) of the masses. Nintendo really needed something like this to recover from the failure of the Wii U and boost consumer confidence before the unveiling and launch of the NX. On the other hand, it's a "free to start" phone game. That distribution model is basically the video game equivalent of Admiral Ackbar standing up and shouting his signature phrase, and definitely not a direction that most Nintendo fans would want to see the company go in. It will be really good for the company in the short term, I just hope that it doesn't make too big of an impact on their long term plans and business decisions.

Nice! I don't mind getting import titles either if the US version is expensive, as long as the game is in English and I can read all the text (or at least any text relevant to playing the game or understanding it's story) I'm fine with saving a few dollars to get copies from other regions. Once I have the physical game in my hands I usually play through it once right away before it goes on the shelf or in the game drawer. I say "usually" because if it's something that will take me more than an hour or two to play through and beat (like RPGs and such) then it usually goes straight to the drawer, with a mental note to play it at some point during the winter when it's too cold to go outside or do anything else other than sit indoors playing video games.

This thread has gotten way off topic, but for what it's worth I suppose I'll chime in on the new current topic of ROM usage. To put it simply, if you're worried about the legal ramifications of being in possession of ROMs that you don't own the original cartridges for then just don't download them. Personally I can't see any government entity going after people downloading and playing several decade old games that companies aren't trying to make a profit off of anymore, but if that is something you're concerned about then it's easy enough to just stick to playing games off their original cartridges or disks. For me ROMs have been great because they let me try games before I buy them. Just in the last month I've bought the original cartridges for 6 games that I know I wouldn't have bought had I not tried them out via emulation first and found out that they were great little hidden gems. They were all really good games, but I had never seen anyone talk about them before so I had no idea whether or not they'd be worth spending money on them until I downloaded the ROMs and tried them out for myself. I think for me the biggest risk that comes with playing ROMs of games I don't own is the risk of going over budget by feeling the need to run out and buy every game that I try the ROMs of and like. That said, there are some systems that I do have full ROM libraries for and know that I'll never buy physical copies of the games to go with them. Systems that I enjoy playing but just have no desire to collect for. But again, I'm not too worried about it. I may be proven wrong some day but I'm pretty sure that the government has more important things to do than go after people downloading decades old games that aren't being sold at retail anymore.

For the first time in a long while (possibly all year), this week 100% of my household's gaming time is tracker eligible! Game Boy Boggle Plus - 10 minutes Disney's TaleSpin - 17 minutes Faceball 2000 - 22 minutes Jack Nicklaus Golf - 158 minutes Super Battletank - 31 minutes T2: The Arcade Game - 27 minutes Tetris - 21 minutes WWF Superstars 2 - 23 minutes Game Boy Color Ballistic - 6 minutes Grand Theft Auto - 98 minutes Grand Theft Auto 2 - 87 minutes Hollywood Pinball - 54 minutes Mario Golf - 123 minutes Puzzle Master - 67 minutes WCW Mayhem - 31 minutes WWF Wrestlemania 2000 - 38 minutes PlayStation Dino Crisis - 485 minutes Total Play Time This Week 1,308 minutes (21 hours 48 minutes) [1,308 minutes eligible] Individual System Play Times This Week Game Boy Color: 504 minutes PlayStation: 485 minutes Game Boy: 319 minutes For me this week was yet another week of trying to wrap up and fill in any blanks in my 350+ Game Boy & Game Boy Color Games Worth Playing buyers guide (you might notice that it's increased by 50+ games since I last mentioned it here lol), and doing a some comparative analysis of Game Boy / Color games that I already knew I liked. For my big list project I realized that there was one popular sport missing from my Sports game section recommendations, and that was professional wrestling. I haven't been into wrestling for a good 20 years so I had no idea what the good wrestling games out there were, but for the sake of completion I decided to spend a fair bit of time researching and reading reviews of every single wrestling game ever published for the Game Boy and Game Boy Color; then took the time to play the best critically reviewed games for the two systems to verify their quality before adding them to the list. And, much to my surprise, in spite of the fact that I'm not a wrestling fan I still had a really good time playing them! I guess you're never too old for button mashing violence. I also added the rather poorly reviewed Grand Theft Auto for the Game Boy / Color to the list since, in spite of a few somewhat significant flaws (not many cars on the street, slightly annoying music, dying too easily to gunfire, and having to hold the down arrow most of the time you're driving to keep the car's speed under control), it's still utterly amazing just to be able to play Grand Theft Auto on the original gray brick Game Boy with all the missions and locations from the PC version fully intact. At the time when it came out it wasn't well received due to not being quite on par with the PlayStation and PC versions of the game in terms of control and difficulty, but looking back on it now I think that the sheer novelty of being able to play a game like Grand Theft Auto on the old green and black screened original Game Boy far outweighs any of it's design flaws and puts it firmly in the "must play" category for original Game Boy collectors and enthusiasts. Also worth noting is that it's sequel, Grand Theft Auto 2 for the Game Boy Color only, fixes every single issue that critics panned the original for and is definitely an all around great game. For non-list project gaming I did take a fair bit of time to play both Jack Nicklaus Golf for the Game Boy and Mario Golf for the Game Boy Color to see which I liked better, and honestly it's a hard call. Jack Nicklaus is a much slower paced game and quite a bit more realistic in it's design, but Mario is still great for filling a few minutes here and there when you might not have time to dedicate an hour or two to play a full 18 holes against 2 or 3 computer opponents. Overall if I had to choose a favorite Game Boy / Color golf game it would be Jack Nicklaus Golf for the original Game Boy, but Mario Golf is still a fantastic game due to it's abundance of features and game modes. You really can't go wrong with either. To wrap up my gaming for the week, I also played several unconventional shooters for the Game Boy; including Faceball 2000, Super Battletank, and T2: The Arcade Game. Much like my feelings regarding Grand Theft Auto, it absolutely amazes that there even are first person shooters like Faceball 2000 and Super Battletank on the Game Boy at all, or a light gun game like T2 for that matter. T2 was tough as nails but still pretty fun, and the other two were just plain awesome in every respect. I liked all three of them so much that right after I played them emulated on the Wii I hopped on eBay and purchased the best condition physical cartridge copies of them that I could find! There were a few other games I played this week that I'm really itching to get physical copies of too (Grand Theft Auto and Puzzle Master namely) but my budget is a bit tight for the time being so those will just have to wait until another week. Lastly, as far as the misses' gaming time for the week goes, she spent every minute of it blasting dinosaurs and solving puzzles to make her way through Dino Crisis on the PlayStation. She actually just finished the game earlier this evening and had a really great time with it! Such a good time in fact that she's looking forward to playing through Dino Crisis again one or two more times to see the other two of the three possible endings in the game that she hasn't gotten yet, which I imagine will make up the bulk of her gaming time next week if she doesn't decide to give a different game a try instead. And me, well, my complete in box copy of Faceball 2000 for the Game Boy should be arriving in the mail tomorrow so I'm pretty sure that I know what I'll be playing next week!

WWF Superstars 2 (Game Boy) WCW Mayhem (Game Boy Color) WWF Wrestlemania 2000 (Game Boy Color) This afternoon I came to realize that my ginormous list of Game Boy & Game Boy Color games worth playing didn't include any wrestling games in the Sports category, so in spite of not being a wrestling fan myself I ended up spending most of the afternoon reading reviews of every wrestling game published for the Game Boy then playing the best of the bunch via emulation on the Wii to familiarize myself with them. Much to my surprise it was actually a pretty good time!

It depends on the system for me. For most systems like the Atari 2600, 7800, ColecoVision, NES, Master System, SNES, and Genesis I'm perfectly content to play the entire library of games on the system via flash cart or emulation, but for the couple systems that I have a soft spot for like the original Game Boy and Game Boy Color whenever I try a new game for them via flash cart or emulation and decide that I like it I make it a point to add the game to my lengthy list of games to track down physical copies of. Either that or I just go on eBay and buy a nice condition copy right away, depending on my budget at the time. As far as the new GBA EverDrive goes, for me there's not much point in buying one since I already own the original cartridges for every rare and expensive GBA game I want, and all the rest I'm still looking for are really cheap. I could probably complete my collection of GBA games worth playing for less than it would cost to buy the new EverDrive, but it's still a cool item for those who have yet to buy the pricy GBA games that they want or are just a big fan of the system and want to have their entire system library with them wherever they go. I'm more of an original Game Boy and Game Boy Color fan myself though, and I definitely don't use my GBA often enough to warrant the purchase of an EverDrive. It usually just gets broken out a couple times a year when I feel like playing Doom or Doom II on the bus.

Nice find! At this point I only own a couple import games for the Game Boy / Color on physical cartridges. From Japan there's the first Dance Dance Revolution GB for the GBC and BeatMania GB for the GBC/GB (which is hard as all get out, but hey, it's a rhythm game that you can play on the original DMG ), then from Europe I have SWiV for the GBC and Gauntlet II for the GB. I don't think there's any real difference between the US and European releases of Gauntlet II, the European one was just what I happened to stumble on at a local shop. Thinking more about BeatMania GB though, there are a few GBC/GB games that made it on my list of recommended games just for the sheer novelty of being able to play a game of their genre on the original DMG. Games like Grand Theft Auto, which well not necessarily a "good" game (since it does have some issues like too few cars on the street, somewhat annoying music, dying too easily to gunfire, and having to hold the down arrow most of the time you're driving to keep the car's speed under control) are still utterly amazing simply because they can be played on the DMG. Even if they do have some significant flaws, it's just kind of mind blowing that you can actually play a huge open world action game like Grand Theft Auto or a rhythm game like BeatMania on the original Game Boy. Getting back on topic though, I don't own the GBC/GB version of Space Invaders yet, I only have the original GB version, but I'll have to pick it up at some point in the not too distant future. I still need to get an EverDrive GB at some point too, but in the meantime I've taken to trying out all the Game Boy / Color games I don't own yet by emulating them on the Wii using a Classic Controller and either VBA GX or Gnuboy GX depending on the game. It works pretty darn well, but I'd still like to get an EverDrive GB to be able to "try before I buy" on original hardware.

That is really cool! There were so many odd and unusual Game Boy accessories (like a sewing machine and a blood glucose meter) but this is one that I had actually never seen before. It's a shame that the Gameshark BBS email service that it used has been long discontinued, since I'd honestly be pretty inclined to pick up a Shark MX and try it out if it was still functional. A nifty bit of kit though in any case, and a really interesting historical find.

The original list I posted didn't have them, since I wasn't quite as done as I thought at that point, but later in the week I did go back and add about 50 more games worth playing and the two Bonk games were among them. And yeah, the original GB version of Space Invaders is the only game I know of that unlocks an entirely new game made just for the Super Game Boy if you plug it into one. When played on any other hardware it also offers a much more arcade authentic Space Invaders experience than the GBC/GB black cart version, which is more of a modern reimagining of Space Invaders with different ship options, power-ups, boss levels, and other goodies. Though there is a code you can input to play a port of the classic arcade version of Space Invaders on the GBC/GB black cart game, I think both are still worth owning and/or putting on your Everdrive.

Finally! Yes! This is sooooo going to be a day 1 pickup for me. I've been crossing my fingers for a portable Atari Flashback with an SD card slot for years now, and it's finally coming!

The Atari Flashback 2 and Sega Genesis Model 2 system have both been sold!

For me it's IGN by far. These days I only read gaming magazines for the game reviews and I've always felt like IGN's reviews were spot on. I did have a subscription to Nintendo Power when I was a kid and teenager though, back before gaming news and strategy articles were readily available on the internet, and I always looked forward to reading it every month to see what new Nintendo games and systems were coming out. Even as a kid I could tell that their reviews were a little biased, but I still loved that magazine and read it cover to cover every month. Edit: And how could I forget about Official PlayStation Magazine! Getting those PS1 demo disks that came with the magazine in the mail every month as a teenager just made my month, and majorly influenced my video game purchases during the PS1/N64/Saturn era. Half the time I think I just tossed the magazine aside and never even read it, but I'd spend hours and hours exploring every corner of every game demo on those monthly demo disks.

Heck no. I'd wait until 5 or 10 years after the games were released and the majority of gamers had moved on to the next generation of systems, then pick them up for pennies on the dollar. I don't think I've paid full new retail price for a game since 2006. lol I guess it's kind of irrelevant though, since these days additional content for most games gets released as digital downloads rather than revised physical releases. It'll be a darn shame for collectors in a decade or two when they go to add a copy of Super Smash Bros. to their 3DS or Wii U library and can't play with any of the extra characters not built into the game from the start, or get the patches for all of today's games that are shipped loaded with bugs.

That could actually be kinda cool, if they went the Smash Bros. route and started adding in new characters from popular Nintendo and third party franchises every year. The new characters would need to have some kind of special moves or abilities that made them play differently from the rest though, otherwise the whole thing would be about as pointless as it initially sounds. I would kinda like to see who would win in a game of golf though, Samus Aran or Sonic the Hedgehog?

Unless it has "Mario" in the title.

Super Battletank (Game Boy) Faceball 2000 (Game Boy) T2: The Arcade Game (Game Boy) Doing a tour of the unusual Game Boy shooters today, and I liked them all quite a bit. It's kind of amazing that there are first person shooters like Faceball 2000 and Super Battletank on the Game Boy at all, or a light gun game like T2 for that matter. T2 was tough as nails but still pretty fun, and the other two were just plain awesome and will probably see a lot of play from me in the near future.

The ColecoVision Flashback has been sold!