Rhindle The Red

The Shodown starts next week. If you want a particular character to have a chance of being in the running, you'd better add your list soon!

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Okay, just about two weeks left in the nomination process for the Shodown. If you haven't already, head on over to the 2007 Vintage Character Shodown Nomination Thread and list your nominees. Please remember to read and follow the rules. Nominations that do not comply will just be tossed. (Not the whole list, only those that don't fit.)

Looks like some of both:

eBay says no.

Again, be sure to add your nominations to the 2007 Vintage Character Shodown Nomination Thread! You'll just be bitching later if your favorite character doesn't make it! So, DOA. Discuss.

The only thing I will add to this is that the lack of a box is one of the main reasons I don't buy more homebrew games. The numbering and such (maybe a bonus item or two) is fine for limited editions, but without something to put on my shelf next to my vintage titles, the thrill of ownership is diminished. I won't buy a used Game Boy game for $5 if it doesn't have a box, so it's hard for me to pay $40 for a game (especially with all that stuff) and no box to put it in. I realize that boxes are probably the most annoying and time consuming part of a classic game project, but I feel that they make a package complete, even more than maps, magnets, etc.

Okay, everyone! Here's where we're going to choose the characters that will be in the big Showdown this Summer! So, list up to ten vintage characters, numbered from 1 - 10 (with 1 being the favorite and 10 being the least favorite). Be sure to mention the game and platform in which the character first appeared. Some rules: Must be a real character, not a generic enemy. So Evil Otto from Berzerk counts, but the nameless robots don't. (Nameless hero characters can be included, however.) The character must have appeared in a video game that saw release in North America prior to the "Great Video Game Crash" (we'll be a bit forgiving here, but basically we want pre-NES era characters). No ties. (i.e. don't say "my number 1 & 2 are...") Character must originate in the game (no licensed characters, like E.T. or anything) No more than two characters per game per entry One entry per person Lists can be edited up until the topic is closed. And here's how your list should look: Rhindle the Red Dragon (Adventure - Atari 2600) Luigi (Mario Bros. - Arcade, etc.) Donkey Kong (Donkey Kong - Arcade, etc.) Lord British (Ultima - Home Computers) Pac-Man (Pac-Man - Arcade, etc.) Pitfall Harry (Pitfall - Atari 2600, etc.) Roderick (H.E.R.O. - Atari 2600, etc.) The Wizard of Frobozz (Zork II - Home Computers) Bounty Bob (Miner 2049er - 5200, etc.) Frogger (Frogger - Arcade, etc.) Any questions?

Yes, that was a very strange novel. It was clearly an Adams story, but filtered through Terry Jones, it never comes together. For those who don't know the story of that one: Jones was doing some voices for the video game and he was amazed at the technology behind it all and wanted to do anything he could for the project. "Got anything else that I could do?" he asked Adams. "Want to write a novel?" was the reply. You see, the publishers of Starship Titanic were keen to have a novel to tie into the game (seeing as Adams was a novelist and all), but Adams (as always) had no time to write one. Getting Jones to do it seemed the perfect solution. So you end up with the very strange title of: DOUGLAS ADAMS's STARSHIP TITANIC A NOVEL BY TERRY JONES

Okay, we're going with the character Shodown. Nomination process to be announced shortly.

Ummm....since Mario Bros.

I love that box text! "Mario Mario Mustache #1 in the World!" "10 pixel (approx.) high sprite" That sounds like it was written by a high sprite. Depending on the cost, I'd almost be willing to keep it for that stuff alone! What's that little box marked "Everyone" say?

And the radio show came before the book.

The game came first.

After years, and I mean years of collecting for the Atari 2600, I finally found a Supercharger game in the wild today. Phaser Patrol - $.50

So, have you ever read a novel based on a video game? I admit that I have read at least one of those "Doom" books. There are others based on Tomb Raider, Halo, Resident Evil... Heck, a whole slew of 'em are out there. Have you ever partaken? Which one(s)? What did you think?

Want to leave a link to the auction? I'm curious about how it was listed. Was it supposed to be new? Often a clear indication of a bootleg is a "new" item that has a box, but no instructions. Anyway, it could very well have been a mistake. Not everyone is as sharp as to what is a bootleg and what isn't. Hopefully it will work out for you.

Not yet.

I think that would take it too far outside the realm of the "vintage". So far, it seems clear most people want another Shodown and the comments make me lean towards the character one. I'll decide some time next week.

Um, no.

As for which characters would qualify, as long as they are a distinct character (meaning Evil Otto from Berzerk would count, but the "robots" would not) and they first appeared before 1984, they're in. I'd probably limit the number of characters per game, though, to the top two or three, just to increase the number of games represented. We would have a nomination process like we did last year (although I may refine the process itself).

The same type of deal, only with a cutoff, as I said, of '83. So this one would be wide open, since neither Link or Cloud would qualify. Also, we'd have a nominating process, unlike GameFaqs. I'm never sure where the characters or their seeding comes from. (I seed randomly.)

Last year, we had the "Atari Shodown", in which titles from the classic Atari systems battled it out for domination. Should we do another one this year? If not, why not? If so, what should we do? Here are the possibilities: "Classic Gaming Shodown": like last year, but including titles from the INTV, Colecovision, NES, etc. "Vintage Character Shodown": characters from the classic era, including Pitfall Harry, Pac-Man, Adventure's Hero, etc. Can be done either as one big tourney or with "hero" and "villain" categories. Character creation cutoff would be the crash of '83. "Classic System Shodown": pit the various classic consoles against each other. (I think we know who'd win, still...) "Atari 2600 Shodown": Pitting just Atari 2600 titles against each other. Four divisions: Atari, Activision, The Big Boys (Mattel, Coleco, etc.) and the Also Rans (everyone else). Now, I don't want you to think that I'm going to go by the straight vote, here. Arguments for or against are more important. If "No" wins the poll narrowly, but no one makes a good argument against the Showdown, I'll probably go ahead. Likewise, if one Shodown narrowly leads, but the arguments for another are stronger, I'll go that way. So, whaddya think, sirs?

Mii: Rhindle Code: 0186-5015-8648-4854 Lots of other Miis in there, too.

Oh, my Zelda collection is at least as impressive. I've got action figures (open and sealed), T-shirts, books, comics, CDs, etc. As for the games, I've got virtually every single US release (though not *every* variant), complete with boxes and stuff, including two copies of "Ocarina" (gold and grey carts), two copies of "Majora" (lenticular and "Not for Resale" carts) and both of the "Link's Awakening" releases. The only release I don't have yet is "Twilight Princess" for the Wii because I didn't have a system at the time of launch and played it for the GCN. As I'm not worried about TP for the Wii being difficult to come by in the future, I feel I can hold off for the time being. As far as Japanese games are concerned, I only get ones that have notable differences with the US versions, so I have "Mask of Mujula" because of the different save system and "Four Swords +" because it has the "Tetra's Trackers" game that was cut from the US and European versions.