Game collecting

With the exception of a few years in the mid 00s, I've played games for most of the last 30 years. I never really considered collecting as part of that hobby until recently. Thanks to Jason Jasicki (who has a great game blog at http://jsicktheslick.wordpress.com/, and is a Splitckick.com contributor), Dan Tolin (also a Splitkick contributor), and an incredibly lucky snag on Freecycle a few months ago, I finally took the dive into collecting.

I don't collect for the sake of collecting. I don't have the money or the space for that. But I started to think of all the series of games that I've loved over the last 30 years and decided to focus on those. Final Fantasy, Metroid, Zelda, Castlevania, and Metal Gear are the big ones. I've recently thought of doing the PS1 Squaresoft games like Vagrant Story, Parasite Eve, etc.. Stuff like that.

When I stopped gaming around 2004 I thought I was done. I hadn't bought a console or a game in years and I hardly ever played games (except for long sessions of Everquest). So I sold all my games and consoles. They were in pristine condition and complete with boxes, manuals, maps, etc. Some of them are nearly impossible to find, and if you do they're outrageously expensive. I couldn't have anticipated getting into gaming again, let alone collecting. While the sale of those classic games was for a great cause (an engagement ring, and she said yes), when I decided to collect those were the very games I wanted.

Unfortunately I can't walk into most stores around town and expect to find the games I want. So I scour Freecycle and thrift stores for games. Any games. I don't often find the ones I want, but I'll if they're cheap I get them anyway. I found a handful of Dreamcast games at a Goodwill recently for $1 each. I posted them for trade on VGFive.com (a great game trading site). I'll use the points I get there to request games I want. And just this week I got an original XBox with 5 games off Freecycle. I didn't want an XBox, but the trade in value of the console and the games is around $40 at eStarland (an awesome local game store). That's plenty of money to pick up a more expensive classic game that I want for my collection.

I pretty much take any game or console I can find (and if anyone reading this has some to get rid of, please let me know!). The lucky snag from Freecycle that I mentioned above really got me in the collecting spirit. Someone posted having an NES, to which I quickly responded to claim. I was thrilled that I was soon going to have an NES in the house again, but when I picked it up I was surprised that the bag contained not only an NES (with 2 controllers, a Zapper, and all the cords except for the AC adapter), but also an SNES (with controllers and cords), 2 SNES games complete in their boxes w/ manuals, and 4 NES games, including a barely used copy of Super Mario Bros. 3 with the box and manual. It's worth a short trip across town for a surprise like that. And making connections with people on Freecycle has paid off. One person was giving away a bunch of old PC games. I wasn't fast enough to email her to get them, but she said if she found more she'd let me know. Well that same day she found more and I got them. Most of them were junk (an Italian copy of Diablo 2 for example), or CD-R copies of games, but some were great and I was able to trade a few for some games I really wanted. Then last week she emailed me after she found 5 Sega Genesis games and I got those too.

My collection isn't a big as some. But part of the fun is in the hunt, and in getting that last game to complete a series or a set. And getting my hands on a dozen games I couldn't care less about only to find a store will give me $10 in credit for one of them is a thrill.

If you have even the slightest inclination to start collecting, I highly recommend Jason's Game Hunter series of videos. They're on his blog above, and the first has recently been posted on Splitkick.com (another favorite site of mine). And as I said before, if you're reading this and aren't a collector but have a bunch of old games to get rid of, let me know. I'll take em off your hands (or pay a reasonable price for them). 


My Final Fantasy collection as organized by Evernote.

Gaming memory - Super Metroid

Chris, one of my oldest friends (maybe the oldest friend I have), reminded me of one of my favorite gaming memories the other day. Way back in the SNES days we occasionally played games while talking on the phone.

We were (and still are) huge Metroid fans and happened to be playing Super Metroid around the same time. One day we managed to be on the phone when we reached Mother Brain. There was a lot of "Oh crap!" and "Dude!" back and forth as we battled her. Somehow we managed to beat her at about the same time. Then it was the mad rush to escape.

We started our escape, with more yelling and screaming at our TVs. As the timer ticked down, I made it to Samus' ship. Chris did not. As I yelled, "YES!", I heard an agonizing "NOOOO!" from the other end of the phone. Chris had gotten to the ship but overshot it when he jumped, with only seconds left. As I was flying away victorious, he was starting the escape over again. 2nd time was the charm.

30 Years of Gaming: The Beginning

It's been more than 4 months since my last post, so I figured I should probably write something. I started a post on Everquest a few weeks ago (that will be coming soon), but today it randomly crossed my mind how long I've been playing video games. And if my math is correct (which is should be even though I was never very good at it), then I've been playing video games for 30 years. 30. Years. Wow. 

For those who don't know, I'll be 38 this year. I have two younger brothers (35 and 31, I think). I'm married with a kid. So technically, I'm a grown up. Hence the name of this blog. The thought that came to me today might become a series of posts on various games I played in my youth. Games that made an impact and turned me into a lifetime gamer. I'll probably alternate a few of these posts with posts of games I'm currently playing (Diablo III!!). We'll see.

So the game that came to mind today was for the Atari 2600. It's the first system we got when I was a kid (maybe 8 or 9). I honestly don't remember the game that came with it (if it even came with one), or what the first game we got was, but the first game I remember was Demon Attack. There's really not much to it. The cover art on the box (see below) had robot looking space ships. Apparently they were actual demons or something. But it didn't matter. I spent hours and hours shooting these things from my mostly stationary ship. I remember getting to the last level, beating it, and the game starting over. The good old endless loop of old school games.

There's not really much to tell about it. It was a simple game, as most were in those days. We had more games, but I really don't remember what they were. I'm not sure why Demon Attack stands out in my mind. Some of my friends might have their theories.

In the years that followed a coworker of my Dad's gave us a Commodore 64. The only game I remember playing on that was called Black Magic. Which was okay because Harry Potter hadn't made Christian parents everywhere scared to death of fictional magic. But the best days in gaming for me were yet to come in the form of a little white box. The Nintendo Entertainment System.