Skippy B. Coyote

Whelp, time to lock the thread! I broke!

Fair enough. Though I did have an Unlimited Mox Ruby at one point, but Vintage (and eventually Legacy) got far too rich for my blood so these days I mostly just play Pauper. On a side note, for the love all of that is good and right in the world please don't let this thread become another Atari 2600 New in Box with unopened PACMAN thread. Some things are just not worth any amount of money. >_<

You are taking this far too personally, and there's really no need. I'm not trying to offend anyone here and I'm not telling you that $350 is the price you should pay for the game if you don't feel like it's worth that amount of money. I simply created a thread to gauge interest and see what the general consensus on the game's value was at this point. As far as I can tell the only person here who is being rude and insulting is you. To look at it from another perspective, one of my other hobbies is the card game Magic: The Gathering. Often times I'll buy cards that I want to play only to find that a year or two down the road those cards have become very highly sought after, and have gone up in value tenfold or more. Due to contractual obligations to stockholders the company producing the cards is forbidden from reprinting certain cards, so when a card that can't be reprinted goes up astronomically in value does that make it unethical for the person who currently owns copies of that card to sell it at the new higher value that people are wiling to pay for it? It may have only cost $20 when it came out, but if it's average market value is now $200+ then it seems ridiculous to expect someone to sell it for it's original $20 retail price. Telling someone they should sell it at it's original price when it's now worth ten times that is just absurd and irrational. I'm sorry you're taking my sale of this game as some kind of personal slight against you or the AtariAge community, but I assure you that is most certainly not my intention.

The Tiger R-Zone. My grandparents bought me one with Mortal Kombat 3 and Panzer Dragoon when I was a kid. At the time I actually didn't think the games were all that bad, but what I did hate was that the sharp pointy tops on the buttons would stab into your fingers and the monocle design of the system's eyepeice would make you go cross-eyed unless you played with one eye closed. Those stabby buttons though, man... I honestly cannot think of a worse button design in the entire history of video game controllers.

I think you're probably right on all counts. It really depends on who views the auction, how badly they want the game, and what they personally value it at. I'm guessing most AtariAge forum members probably wouldn't value it over $100, but on eBay things might be very different. At this point I think I'm going to let my BIN listing run it's course, and if it doesn't sell by the end of the month I might consider auctioning it off at somewhat lower starting price, but for now I could really use as much money as someone might be willing to pay for it so I think I'll just wait and see if the right buyer comes along. Earlier tonight someone just listed a boxed copy BIN for $600, and I think that should make my loose copy for $350 look a lot more attractive to any potential buyers who might be searching for the game. I suppose it's a matter of perspective, and I think you might be misunderstanding my situation and intentions here. I didn't buy my copy of Princess Rescue for $25 from the AtariAge store, it went out of production in 2013 and I haven't even been a member of this site that long. I traded for it earlier this year, and both my trading partner and I valued it based on the high prices it has recently commanded on eBay. I'm not a scalper or a reseller, just a collector who is a little short on cash for the bills and holiday season. Given that loose copies have recently sold on eBay for $400 it doesn't seem unreasonable to think that someone might be willing to pay $350 for it, even if it is only worth $60 in your personal opinion. If other people are willing to pay much more then it only makes sense to sell it for the higher prices that others are willing to pay, especially when money is desperately needed. Nope. My copy is priced at $349 and can be found here.

I had considered listing it like that, but there's just been way too many times that I've gotten screwed out of fairly substantial chunks of money by listing valuable items on eBay with starting prices of less than what they were actually worth. It's always a gamble when you list something at a low price with no reserve. Sometimes the bidding gets up to or exceeds the actual value of the item, and sometimes it ends up going for way less than what you should have gotten for it. It's a major gamble, and when I find myself short on money for the necessities and trying to sell something valuable I'd rather not gamble with my income. As far as the status goes, there were some people getting a little rude with their comments and I'd rather not have to deal with anyone's drama when I'm just trying to make a sale to pay the bills. Thus, status was locked and comments were deleted.

Hey there guys and gals. I'm posting here because I'm trying to get an accurate idea of what the current market value for a new/sealed cart & manual copy of Princess Rescue is. I did see a copy on eBay recently go for $400, and being a little short on cash for December rent and Christmas gifts this year I decided to put my copy up on eBay for the same price as a 7 day auction. The short version of the story is that it got a lot of watchers but no bids, so I re-listed it "Buy It Now" for the same price and after another week of waiting it still hasn't sold. Since I'm still short on cash for the necessities this month I'm looking to get my copy sold ASAP, but I don't want to end up letting it go for less than it's actually worth so I'm hoping you fine folks might be able to advise me on what a fair asking price for this game would be. I've currently got my copy marked down to $350 but it still hasn't sold yet and I'm starting to get a bit nervous about my financial situation. Do you guys/gals think that's a fair asking price? Also, if anyone here would like to make me an offer via PM I'd be happy sell my copy to someone here on AtariAge rather than through eBay.

I'm feeling the same way about all the GameCubes in this thread. If any of you guys happen to have a black one in good condition that you do decide to get rid of I'd be happy to take it off your hands, with or without a Game Boy Player.

I'm keeping things pretty simple this year and asking the misses for either an original Game Boy with an olive green colored backlight installed in it or a grape colored Game Boy Color with the front light from an AGS-001 GBA SP installed in it. I don't know if I'll get either, but I'm just happy that she at least knew what I was talking about in regards to both.

Now that is a hard one! If I could only have three systems I know straight off that one of them would be the original PlayStation, but the other two are much harder to decide on. I'm tempted to say the Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance SP (the backlit AGS-101 model) but part of me really wants to drop one of those two for a GameCube with a Game Boy Player attachment. I really love the ergonomics and screen on the Game Boy Color, but I know that I could still play all my Game Boy and Game Boy Color games on the GBA SP too for handheld gaming fixes; and there's just too many amazing games on the GameCube to pass it up (including ports of most of my favorite Sega Genesis games). So, if I really had to pick just three, they would be: Game Boy Advance SP (AGS-101 backlit model) GameCube w/ Game Boy Player PlayStation

Oh man, all those poor unloved GameCubes! This was a really difficult question for me to ponder, but if I'm being completely honest with myself it would be my Atari 2600; and it's all this thing's fault. Ever since I got that multicade last summer I've noticed my Atari 2600 play times going down and down, because 98% of the time whenever I want to play a game on the 2600 I remember that I can play the same game with better graphics and sound on the multicade. There are a couple gems on the 2600 that I can't play on the multicade, but even those rarely get played because half the time my Atari 2600's picture just turns to complete white out static after a few minutes when I try to play a game on it. I've been through four different Atari 2600 systems over the last 2 years and I've yet to find one that worked right for more than a couple months before something went horribly wrong with it; and frankly I'm just kinda fed up with the unreliable hardware and having to fix or replace the system all the time. So, of the systems I currently own (Atari 2600, NES, Sega Genesis, PS1, Wii, Game Boy Color, AGS-101 Game Boy Advance SP, and a Centipede bartop multicade) if there was one I had to get rid of it would be the Atari 2600. Which is a darn shame, since I own more games for the Atari than any other system; around 140 the last time I counted. But between the fact that I can play the original arcade versions of all the Atari games I like the most and all the trouble I've had with the hardware of 2600 systems it would be the one to get the boot... and I'd use the money from selling it to buy a GameCube with a Game Boy Player.

It was a pretty huge week for gaming around my household, but for once I actually don't have a mile long list of games and play times to type up this week! Game Boy Boggle Plus - 43 minutes Game Boy Color Battleship - 13 minutes Monopoly - 905 minutes 1942 - 38 minutes PlayStation Tenchu: Stealth Assassins - 260 minutes Tomb Raider II - 688 minutes Sega Genesis Golden Axe II - 96 minutes Total Play Time This Week 2,043 minutes (34 hours 3 minutes) Individual System Play Times This Week Game Boy Color: 956 minutes PlayStation: 948 minutes Sega Genesis: 96 minutes Game Boy: 43 minutes In spite of having logged just over 34 hours of play time, there actually weren't a whole lot of different games played here this week. I finally got started playing through Tomb Raider II on the PlayStation like I had been planning on doing for the last few weeks, while my wife ended up trying out Tenchu: Stealth Assassins on the same system. She had Tenchu sitting in her library for the better part of the last year and hadn't played it yet, and after all the frustration she was having with the final GDI mission in Command & Conquer she really needed a break from the RTS genre. We've both been enjoying our respective PlayStation games, and spent a bit of time taking turns playing Golden Axe II on the Genesis with a friend who came over one afternoon, but what really consumed the bulk of my gaming time this week was the Game Boy Color rendition of the classic board game Monopoly. I've always liked video game takes on tabletop and board games, but I had no idea just how much I was going to love this one when I snagged my copy for a mere $8 on eBay a few weeks ago! After spending an utterly ridiculous amount of time playing Monopoly on the GBC in nearly every spare moment of my free time this week I still just can't seem to put it down. I've only won three of the more than a dozen games I've played, but I feel like every time I play I get a little better and learn to trade properties more effectively so I don't end up getting screwed in the long game. The computer AI has been really enjoyable to play against, and I love how there are 8 distinctly different computer opponents to chose from with their own play styles and how you can choose whether you want to play a 2, 3, or 4 player game. I've been going for 3 player games against the two easiest (I.E. "Most wiling to trade at a loss") computer opponents the majority of the time, but 4 player games with more challenging opponents have been a lot fun too. I think I could ramble on for a good page and a half or so about how much I love Monopoly for the Game Boy Color, but I'll spare you guys and gals the monologue and just say that I think Monopoly is one game that should be in absolutely every Game Boy Color owner's library! With Monopoly and a Harvest Moon game in your Game Boy collection you'll never lack for a way to pass large swaths of time. lol Lastly, to wrap things up, this week I finally managed to beat 1942 on (you guessed it) the Game Boy Color! Man was I ever stoked to have finally beaten such an iconic shmup title! I think I've kind of made it my mission to acquire and beat every quality vertical scrolling shmup for the Game Boy and Game Boy Color, and 1942 was a really fantastic one to add to that list. I think what I enjoyed the most about it was that it was actually substantially less difficult than the arcade version (which I have on my 60-in-1 multicade) and the addition of a password save system was greatly appreciated. I played this one on and off for a few months before I finally beat it, but now that I've finished it I'm really looking forward to going back and playing through it again in the near future. Slightly grating music aside, it's just a wonderful game all around and well worth the somewhat high price that cartridges of it tend to go for. Any shmup fan with a Game Boy Color really owes it to themselves to have a copy of 1942 in their library. That's all the news that's fit to print for this week!

All awesome games! I haven't played the TI games, but I have heard really good things about them, and I'm very happy to see someone else who appreciates Faxanadu! That has to be one of my favorite NES games and is really what I always thought that Zelda II should of been. Thinking back a bit more, I'm pretty sure that over the course of my life the game I've probably logged the most time of all in is Doom. From the original DOS shareware and the full Ultimate Doom PC game, to the handheld Game Boy Advance port and the Xbox 360 digital release of Ultimate Doom, I'd be surprised if I had logged any less than a thousand hours playing all the various iterations of Doom over the years.

Alright guys, I think we get the point. You really like emulation and are puzzled by why some people might not. I'd appreciate if this whole conversation got taken to a different thread dedicated to the subject of emulation vs physical media, since that's not really what this thread is about, but to clarify some confusion I will address—from my personal individual point of view—why I like to stick with physical media. For me this one is pretty simple. It's the same reason that back in the day I went out and bought a cassette tape or CD of an album I liked rather than have a friend make a copy of theirs with a dual deck cassette player and blank cassettes or a CD burner and CDRs. If there's something I like then I want to own the real version of it, not a bootleg copy. To me that's just what ROMs are: bootlegs of real games. Someone takes a real game, uses some software to rip the game data off the cartridge or disk, and uploads a bootleg to the internet. For my personal enjoyment as a gamer and collector there's just no satisfaction in owning bootlegs. Sure, the game might play the same as the real physical copy, but it's still a bootleg and because of that I don't get any sense of gratification from owning it. I think it's a matter of perspective. I learned long ago through other hobbies that as soon as I had everything I wanted for that hobby I quickly lost interest in it. For me at least half the fun of being a collector is always having something to hunt for, to keep an eye out for good deals on, and to always have new games to strive to add to my collection. If I could instantly have every single game I've ever wanted in my collection I wouldn't want to, because there wouldn't be any point to my hobby anymore. I've had other hobbies wherein I managed to collect everything I could ever want for them, and before long I found myself getting depressed and losing interest hobby because there weren't any goals to pursue anymore. I think part of what it means to be a collector is to always have something more that you want, some holy grail that you've yet to get your hands on, because once you've collected everything you could ever want and there's nothing more to collect… well, you can't really be a collector anymore at that point. On a somewhat related note, I've always loved waiting for packages to arrive in the mail from eBay. When you're a game collector waiting to get something in the mail it's like Christmas every time a new game arrives. It's something that breaks up the monotony of the day to day routines of our lives as adults, and rekindles that spark of childlike exuberance and excitement that we all used to feel around the holidays or our birthdays as a kids. The same goes for hunting around for physical copies of games you want at retro game stores. It's a fun and exciting way to take a break from the routine of daily life. Instant gratification isn't always a good thing, in my eyes at least. I'm not usually one to use YouTube clips or captioned meme images my feelings about something, but in this case I don't think there's any better way to put it than:

I can't speak for everyone who only plays their games on original hardware, but personally I usually spend around 17 to 20 hours a week playing games. And yes, I do have way too much free time. I'm also finding it pretty amusing, as someone who has a pretty strong dislike for emulation, that a thread I started has pretty much turned into a "Emulators! F***k yeah!" thread. It's alright though. I'm certainly not opposed to other people using emulators if that's the way they enjoy playing their games the most. The whole purpose of playing video games is to have fun, so as long as you're having fun then there's no right or wrong way to play your games. Personally I'm just kind of incompetent when it comes to trying to setup and configure things on computers so I appreciate the simplicity of "Just stick the cartridge in the system, flip the power switch on, and away you go." My consoles may require a little maintenance here and there (the Atari 2600 and NES mainly, I've never had problems with the other systems I play often) but I feel like it's a worthwhile tradeoff to not have to deal with the headache of trying to play games on a computer. I'm also one of those weirdos who loves the visuals from a good CRT TV set and analog video connections. There's just something about the pure digital signal from emulators and modern HDMI connected multi-consoles like the Retron 5 that just looks off to me. Yeah, the pixels are all sharper and cleaner, but there's always something in the back of my head going "That's not how that game is supposed to look!" And yes, I do know that there are artificial scan line filters and all that jazz for emulators to make the games look like they would on a CRT setup, but again, I'm kinda inept when it comes to computers so for me the path of least resistance and frustration is just using original hardware. I'm also a huge fan of light gun shooters, and (as far as I know) a CRT TV and original hardware is really the only way to play those kind of games. Plus labels! There are few video game related things that bring me more joy than finding (or just pulling out of my cabinet and admiring) a game I enjoy with a beautifully clean label on it. I love holding the real physical cartridge in my hand, admiring the label artwork, reading the paper manual, and just… oh man, it's just this intangible kind of happiness that I can't put into words. I've got a lot of love for physical media in general, and I appreciate the fact that the original physical releases of games will always play perfectly with no lag, graphical or audio errors, or anything like that. You always get the real authentic game experience every time, with no setup or technical knowhow required. But again, that's just me. And as I said earlier, everyone should play their games however they enjoy playing them the most. It doesn't really matter whether your playing them on original hardware or using an emulator, the only thing that matters is that you're having fun and enjoying your hobby to the fullest.

I've only been keeping accurate time logs of the time I spend playing games for the last 6 months or so (for the What have you actually PLAYED tracker for 2015 thread), but here's my Top 5 most played games since I started keeping track: 1. The Pinball Arcade (Android) - 33 hours 50 minutes 2. Harvest Moon 2 GBC (Game Boy Color) - 11 hours 47 minutes 3. Boggle Plus (Game Boy) - 10 hours 32 minutes 4. Resident Evil: Survivor (PlayStation) - 8 hours 21 minutes 5. Resident Evil (GameCube) - 8 hours 12 minutes There have been some games that I played a lot more than anything on that list of games I've played over the last 6 months, but I never logged my play times for them. The ones I've spent the most time playing over the course of my entire life are probably The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion for the Xbox 360, which I know I've logged over 200 hours in, and Resident Evil: Director's Cut for the original PlayStation. Not sure exactly how much time I've spent playing RE: Director's Cut, but I know I've played through it over 20 times so if I had to guess I'd say somewhere in the area of 70 to 100 hours.

54. Monopoly (Game Boy Color) It took me three attempts and around 4 hours of time, but I finally won a game against the two computer opponents Penelope and Ollie! I really enjoy this version of board game classic and I think the next time around I'll try a four player game. Not a bad way to spend a Thanksgiving afternoon!

I am way overdue for an update to my games beaten list! It's been over a month since I posted in this thread and I've managed to beat quite a few games in that time, so here's the update. 46. Kung-Fu Master (Atari 2600) Not only one of the best looking games on the Atari 2600, but a darn fun (and challenging) one to boot. I can't say I've ever played the exceedingly popular NES version of Kung-Fu, but the Atari one definitely rocks. Beating this game and rescuing your character's girlfriend involves a fair portion of luck in addition to skill, and it usually takes me three or four attempts to pull it off whenever I sit down to play Kung-Fu Master, but it's always a satisfying experience when you do finally make it past that final boss. This is one game that I highly recommend to any beat 'em up fan with an Atari 2600 in their gaming center! 47. Operation C (Game Boy) It only took me two decades of practice, but I finally one credit cleared Operation C and man was I ever pleased about it! This is definitely my favorite Contra game by far, and now that I've really conquered it I feel like I just have to pick up Contra: The Alien Wars for the Game Boy and have a go at that one pretty soon. I had it as a kid but I don't remember much about it other than that it was tough as nails; which is kind of par for the course with any Contra game. lol 48. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Atari 2600) Kind of a cheap addition to the list, since this homebrew title can be easily beaten in 20 minutes or less by anyone familiar with the Lord of the Rings books or films and even a modicum of deductive reasoning skills. Still, I did beat it so on the list it goes! 49. Super Cobra (Atari 2600) To date this is my favorite horizontal scrolling shooter on the Atari 2600 and it definitely offered up a pretty substantial challenge when I decided to sit down and try to beat it. I did end up having to use a couple continues to do it, but victory still tasted sweet when I finally finished that last stage. 50. Haunted House (Atari 2600) Another fairly cheap and easy addition to the list, but I did spend a fair bit of time playing Haunted House on Halloween and ended up beating game modes 1 through 4. None of them were terribly challenging, but I still had a good time with it nonetheless. 51. Ghost Manor (Atari 2600) I played through this game several times as well on Halloween, and ended up beating every game mode in the process. It's a fairly simple and straightforward game, but I've always enjoyed the variety of stages and the elaborate (by Atari 2600 standards) graphics. The ability to choose between a male and female character is pretty neat too, and I think this might be the very first video game to let you choose the gender of your character. A fun one for the history books! 52. Duke Nukem (Game Boy Color) Now we're getting back to games that really provide a long and substantial challenge! I've always enjoyed the original two side scrolling Duke Nukem games put out by Apogee Software, so when I found out that there was a very similar looking Duke Nukem game released for the Game Boy Color I just had to get it and play through it. This was one seriously tough game, and there were a few points during it that I had to reference a strategy guide online to figure out how to beat a couple of the bosses, but ultimately after a little more than 6 hours of playing I was able to defeat the final boss (without using a strategy guide no less) and watch the credits roll. Duke Nukem for the GBC didn't receive the greatest critical reception, but as a longtime fan of the original Duke Nukem games I thought it was a brilliant homage to Duke's roots. This is one that I'll definitely be playing through again some day! 53. 1942 (Game Boy Color) I just finished this one a few minutes ago, and man was I ever stoked to have finally beaten such an iconic shmup title! I think I've kind of made it my mission to acquire and beat every quality vertical scrolling shmup for the Game Boy and Game Boy Color, and 1942 was a really fantastic one to add to that list. I think what I enjoyed the most about it was that it was actually substantially less difficult than the arcade version (which I have on my 60-in-1 multicade) and the addition of a password save system was greatly appreciated. I played this one on and off for a few months before I finally beat it, but now that I've finished it I'm really looking foreword to going back and playing through it again in the near future. Lackluster and slightly grating music aside, it's just a wonderful game all around and well worth the somewhat high price that cartridges of it tend to go for. Any shmup fan with a Game Boy Color really owes it to themselves to have a copy of 1942 in their library.

Thanks for the suggestion CatPix! When I made the first post in this thread I was wondering whether I should mention that I'm not interested in getting a GB Boy Colour (the wrong aspect ratio, overly fast clock speed, and incompatibility with original Nintendo Game Boy Color replacement parts kill it for me), but I know some people do like them so I'm glad you brought them up. There is something to be said for playing Game Boy / Game Boy Color games on a backlit screen, but I already have a AGS-101 model backlit Game Boy Advance SP for that and I really prefer the ergonomics and aesthetics of the Game Boy Color system; which is why I'm thinking about getting a front lit GBC. Still, thanks for the recommendation. I'm sure some people would find the GB Boy Colour acceptable, but I'm too much of a perfectionist.

From what I can tell the seller uses a Kitsch-Bent front light kit (http://store.kitsch-bent.com/product/frontlight-kits) and applies LOCA glue between the screen and front light, which should even out light distribution and eliminate the banding problem. The only potential concern is how carefully the person doing the modification applies the the LOCA glue and how they handle the screen and light panel beforehand. If there are any fingerprints or any dust particles on the screen or the underside of the light panel before it's applied then they're going to be there permanently once the glue is applied, and I definitely don't want to end up with a system that has poor quality visuals due to fingerprints or dust in the picture. Also, if the person doing the install doesn't carefully check the glue for micro air bubbles when applying the front light kit to the screen then those bubbles are going to be there permanently once the glue dries; and I definitely don't want a system with air bubbles between the front light and screen either. I'm very sorry to hear that your undoubtedly very expensive custom GBC from Rose Colored Gaming turned out to be so disappointing. I had a similar experience last year when I ordered a pretty pricey custom backlit Game Boy Advance from 8bit Evolution and it showed up with dust and fingerprints all over the inside of the glass screen lens. I informed them about it and requested that I be allowed to return the system for a refund or replacement, and they were really understanding about it and replaced the system with a new one that they guaranteed would be cleanly put together with no dust or fingerprints. When the replacement arrived there was even more dust and more fingerprints on the inside of the screen lens than the original they sent me, so at that point I just gave up and put it up for sale on eBay to recoup most of my losses. Ever since then I've been very wary of buying custom modified handhelds, since all the ones I've bought so far were not put together to an acceptable standard of quality.

Just wondering if anyone here has purchased one of the front lit Game Boy Color systems from http://www.ebay.com/usr/thegodofgaming on eBay before? I'd really like to get myself a front lit Game Boy Color so I don't have to break out the Nyko Worm Light or use the smaller screen of the AGS-101 Game Boy Advance SP every time I want to play a Game Boy/Color game in an environment that isn't incredibly well lit, but I'm a little wary of shelling out money for a product that I can't find any reviews of. Have any of you ordered systems from this person before? If so, were they clean and free of dust or fingerprints on the screen and inside of the glass front light panel? I'd love to pick one of these up, but I don't want to waste the money if it might arrive with fingerprints or dust between the screen and front light system. Any feedback from previous buyers would be greatly appreciated!

For some reason Castlevania and the original Sonic the Hedgehog series are the only platformers I can think of that I've ever been terribly good it, but maybe that's just because I like them the best and have spent the most time playing them. I've really tried to like Ninja Gaiden and the Shinobi series but never could get more than a few levels into them. There's just way too may "an enemy flies in out of nowhere and knocks you off a ledge" type of situations in those games and I always find myself getting really frustrated with them in short order. Castlevania is a challenging game for sure, but I feel like it doesn't demand the same kind of lightning fast reflexes that Ninja Gaiden and Shinobi do. Once you memorize where everything is in Castlevania you can play through it at a pretty leisurely pace without having to react too fast to anything you know is coming, whereas in Ninja Gaiden and Shinobi you'll still knocked off that ledge even if you know the enemy is coming if you don't have ultra fast reflexes and react the split second the enemy in question enters the screen. I think the only reason that I've been able to 1CC Castlevania is that it is so slow compared to the other challenging platforms out there. Anyway, to get back to the subject of the thread, some other good games that are worth their high price (IMHO): Pretty much any popular game on the GameCube. It seems like GameCube games in general have just rocketed up in value over the last few years, and most of the popular and well known titles are in the $40 to $60 CIB area these days. All the Zelda games, Star Fox Adventures & Assault, Killer 7, all the Resident Evil titles, Mortal Kombat: Deception, Mario Kart: Double Dash, and Mario Party 4 to name a few.

Don't feel too bad about it. I could never even dream of beating any Ninja Gaiden or Shinobi game, let alone 1CC them like you have. We all have game genres we're just not very good at, and for me that's platformers. If you're looking for an easier but still really good shmup to sink your teeth into I recommend Thunder Force III for the Genesis, Solar Striker for the Game Boy, Project S-11 for the Game Boy Color, or Iridion II for the Game Boy Advance. Those are all games that should be a bit easier than the majority of well made shmups out there.

I'm a pretty big fan of shmups and even I don't think Truxton is worth the price it's going for these days. I ended up reselling my copy a few days after I beat it, because I never want to have to play through that final level again. Thunder Force III and Raiden Trad on the other hand are totally worth the $20 to $30 price they command, at least for the Genesis versions (I haven't played their SNES counterparts). In the more costly departments, I think Diablo for the PlayStation is completely worth the $40 to $50 price tag if you enjoy that style of dungeon crawler. The same goes for Doom and Doom II on the Game Boy Advance and Resident Evil: Gaiden for the Game Boy Color. I think the GBA versions of Doom and Doom II are my favorite console ports, and RE: Gaiden is absolutely worth it's high price tag if you're a fan of the Resident Evil series. It's very different from most Resident Evil games but well suited to the Game Boy Color, and it's definitely one of my favorite Game Boy Color games in general. Kid Dracula for the original Game Boy is another that is not to be missed if you enjoy Game Boy games. Lastly, while it's not exactly a game cartridge or disc, I can't talk about expensive video games that I think are worth the money without at least mentioning the iCade 60-in-1 JAMMA arcade PCB. I ended up getting one (in a bartop sized Centipede cabinet from http://doxcade.com) earlier this year and I think it was worth every penny that I paid for it. MAME tends to be the most popular way to go for home arcade setups, but a good MAME setup can cost a small fortune—especially if you're having someone else build it for you—and I think the iCade 60-in-1 PCB is a much more cost efficient way to enjoy the luxury of playing the real arcade versions of the vast majority of the most iconic games of the 1980's in the comfort of your own home. It'll still set you back a fair chunk of change ($400'ish for a complete bartop sized machine running the PCB, plus an additional $40 or so for a trackball for Centipede and Millipede and another $80 if you want a spinner for Arkanoid and Super Breakout) but if you love arcade games then you'll be hard pressed to find a more simple and affordable way to enjoy most of the big hits of the 80's on a real arcade machine of your own.