The Gamer's Quarter

[Shapermc]

Let me begin at the beginning.

While spending the weekend with Mr. Toups I purchased a lot of older games (and systems) at an interesting used games and music store. The shop was not much larger than storage room and it is located in the same building as a shut down theatre with a shut down flea market next door. The parking lot which was once paved is now covered in small pebbles and rocks with only one car parked in the direction we are heading. It was eerie and run down. I was pretty sure we had made a mistake.

But we sallied forth, wallets full and spirits high. I was informed that there was a $5 copy of Dynamite Heady which Andy and I had sworn to knife fight each other for (like, for real), so at least there was at least one thing. The first items we looked at were used PS1, 2 and Xbox: either over-priced or same as other places. Nothing of any real interest there.

”What about the retro games Andy?”
“They are just kind of hidden everywhere. Dynamite Heady is in this cabinet over here…”

And there they were; stacks of moderately priced retro games. Only slightly cheaper than eBay, but no shipping and that whole feeling of instant gratification is there. The scales were leaned in my direction though as there was almost no SNES items of interest. It was like a used shop full of my childhood. Many Genesis games and NES games were stacked up about 4 ft. wide by 6.5 ft. high. There were some import Saturn games on the bottom (game of note: Enemy Zero, picked up by Toups) along with some Neo-CD and 32X games.

Just looking around this cabinet took quite a while, then I moved over to the check out counter display where an entire case of rare, older and retro game consoles are stored, this is going to take a while. I am just going to list a few items that he had, but there were even some I could not name (well, only one really and I am guessing that it was a version of the Atari VCS): Master System, Turbo Express, Turbo Duo, Odyssey 2 (boxed), 3DO, LYNX, Jaguar, Sega CDX, and other more common systems. Some he had multiples of in Wal-Mart plastic bags knotted up and stacked in a disheveled manner inside of a gray metal locker.

To the left of the counter was a poorly made ply-wood shelf that was most likely designed to hold vinyl. It was stacked deep with games for; Sega CD, Master System, and Jaguar as well as many strategy guides. Behind you were racks above the CDs holding Turbo Graphix, CDi, 3DO (mostly porn), PC and Master System games. Below the CD racks were crates of Fairchild Channel F, VCS, Odyssey 2 and Master System games. They just seemed like they were everywhere.

Now that I had a good idea of what was available I was ready to shop.

Items of note that I picked up were: Sega CDX, 32X (I received 3 32X games for free a while back), Fami-clone, New in box sealed Castlevania Bloodlines (GEN), Rainbow Islands (NES), Ristar (GEN), and Crystalis (NES). I also picked up many odds and ends games most $5 or less for the Genesis and NES. It was quite the haul.

From the point that I had decided on all my items to the point that both Toups and I had paid took over an hour (which was about 2.5 hours total). The guy had boxes and crates of accessories all over the place and tracking down the 32X connector itself was quite the hassle, let alone all the other stuff. Then connecting all the systems up and testing them was like pulling teeth with this guy; painful and slow. I was going to ask to test all the games, but after that ordeal I figured it would be easier to use their return policy if needed. After I did get home the only issue I ended up having was that the video cord which he gave me for the CDX was for (I can only assume) a first generation Genesis (which would explain why it did not work with your composite input on the VCR and the RF did in the store). I have to use my RF adapter for now, but I am glad that I have at least that.

We then proceeded to the mall to meet with DaleNixon at GameWare. After hanging out for a bit, purchasing some games, failing to find Big O II, and then forgetting to buy Animal Crossing: WW (Toups!); we went back to DaleNixon’s house to play hours of Guitar Hero (VIDEOS TO COME TONIGHT or later if I can’t figure out how to compress the footage). Our retro haul would have to wait until later to test out.

After staying way too late, and having way too far to drive with too much to do before Toups went on a road trip in 12 hours, we departed sleepy eyed and full of Animal Crossing (we were forced back to the mall).

The next morning, full of energy, we cleaned Toups’ room and then he played his piano tribute to Castlevania. It was gorgeous, moving and awe-some. In an attempt to not be gay for the Toups, I was modest with my praise. He still had packing to do and the trunk of my car was brimming with games that demanded attention: I had to leave.

The three hours of driving gave me a lot of time to think. I unfortunately wasted it being completely absent minded or singing poorly and loudly with Beck. I had one driving (!) goal and it was to play these damn games. But first I wanted storage for them. I had all these new games that I did not have room for and I still have the ones I brought with from St. Louis and a few more I wanted to tote around that were over a year old and still not played, with some even unopened. After a bit of shopping around (which is really difficult in a city that has half of its stores closed/destroyed) I bought a large plastic bin with wheels that is designed to roll under your bed. It holds everything perfectly.

I am far too impatient. I decided to go straight home to eat rather than stop for food (I should note that I only have canned tuna and bread to eat at home). It took me 5 trips of carrying things back from the car to get everything in the house. Hell, I had bought too much. I first organized all the games I plan to take with me (for when the movers unload everything from the house and I am homeless) in the new storage bin. I then grab all the games and systems that I just got, stack them up, and begin to test each one.

After a dozen NES games and about the same Genny games I had a stack that I needed to clean and re-test. Rubbing alcohol and Q-Tips at my side, I decided to test some of my favorite games on the Fami-clone too look for compatibility problems. Most worked well; unfortunately the music in Crystalis in the overworld renders the game unplayable, and after resurrecting my Dragon Warrior cart from childhood found out I had named my hero “Nada.” What the hell? I have no idea why I named my hero that, I mean I was like 8 years old when I got it free from Nintendo Power, and I remember the first town so well that the flood of nostalgia was surreal and almost frightening, but the name confuses the living hell out of me.

After some dicking around and testing everything (they all worked) I had to decide what to play. I went with Castlevania: Bloodlines, which was not only the most expensive game, but close to the last of the Castlevania games for my “collection.” [I should note that I do not have every Castlevania game made, nor will I. Now I only have to either find my copy of Simon’s Quest or buy a new one, then buy CVIII: Dracula’s Curse.] I have played the game a few times with emulation, but I never took it seriously apparently. I mean, I had missed so many details to the game.

The music itself is sub-par with the sound effects being near atrocious. The graphics are alright though. Some of the play mechanics are outright strange and the use of gems over hearts is weird too. The things that I failed to notice most was how excessively gory this game is over its brethren. When you whip a zombie you knock off his upper torso and his lower torso will fall over spilling his guts and blood. Killing a crow will leave it to actually twitch on the ground before disappearing. The wolf boss of the first level will explode with blood, flesh and gore flying when defeated. And this is only what I noticed of the first level.

It was at this point that I remembered the odd rating on the cover of the game. It was rated GA for general audiences by the V.R.C. Having no idea how this game got such a family friendly rating I decided to look into it further. This also made perfect sense as to why the ESRB is now in place.

V.R.C. stands for Video Game Rating Council which was introduced to America in 1993 by Sega. It was an in-house rating system which came about as a result of national debate over games such as Mortal Kombat, Splatter House and Pit Fighter. Many inconsistencies were noted by people but were never explained by SoA. This and the formation of the ESRB (which is an independent ratings board) led to the V.R.C. being dissolved. For the better I say. Initially I was not sure if the V.R.C. even had a Teen type rating and perhaps if there was just GA, MA and AO that GA would be the best category, but they did have MA-13 which should have been given to Castlevania: Bloodlines.

So this weekend was a great time to say the least. I uncovered some interesting games history, bought a nice amount of stuff I have been looking for, for a while and replaced two consoles which were on their death bed. I wish Mr. Toups the best of luck in Little Rock and hope I did not bore the living hell out of anyone. This kind of got out of hand in length [I have not really written anything in a while so this is likely just due to blockage and buildup.]

[DaleNixon]

I had a ton of fun Saturday... can't wait to see those videos and pictures.

[Lestrade]

I love Bloodlines. It's one of those late-generation Konami games (like Contra: Hard Corps) where the development team got their shit together, tweaked the system to do things it shouldn't do (all the fake sprite rotation, etc.), and provide one hell of a good game in the end. I only played it via an emulator, which unfortunately rendered the last level unplayable, so I haven't beaten it yet.

I am quite envious of this very nerdy, very successful pilgrimage. I can't wait to see the video! (I will exchange with photos of some of us here playing DDR.)

[SuperWes]

Damn. That DOES sound like fun. When you get back in town maybe we can hang out with EMX. He lives in St. Louis.

-Wes
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[BrokenFiction]

Major jealousy from those of us who are limited to scrounging through EB and GameStop for older gems. If there are any backroom gin joint-type places around me, I don't know about them.

[Shapermc]

[Mister Toups]

[Mister Toups]

Also upload those damned videos, man!

Dessgeega probably knows how to compress them!
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where were you when nana komatsu got a wii?

[DonMarco]

winzip should be more than enough.

I've had a similar knife fight over Gunstar Heroes and Shining Force II bought at a Blockbuster for $3 and $20 respectively. Shining Force has been drained of all worth, I say.
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Collector of over 1,538 strategy guides. That's weird, right?

[dessgeega]

[Pijaibros]

Stories such as this is what makes me love gaming. Hunting for gems is always a fun diversion and the above is also what made me finally register here. My most recent find was Bloodlines as well (this was well over a year ago, however)! I found it at a local Toys R Us brand spankin' new. It is a rather gory (yet fitting) title, but I found the music to be rather nifty. The graphics on the other hand were atrocious, yet detailed enough for me to appreciate those little animations abound.

Anyway, I'm not as wordy like most folk around here, but I can attempt (rather poorly) to be cognitive if the need arises!