About a year ago I found these awesome retro game stores in Houston called
Games Plus, and a couple of months back I found out that one of the store managers used to work for my father! But, any ways there are about 4-5 locations around Houston and some of the coolest retro stuff is housed in there. Last time I was there they had a freakin Neo-Geo home console with 2 controllers and Samurai Showdown but sadly it was much to expensive for my tastes. They also had a damn near mint Atari 2600 and EVERY game for it, an Odyssey 2, a wall of NES, SNES, MEGA DRIVE and up. Also, they had the GBA remakes of Mother 1+2 and 3, and a still in the box copy of Super Mario RPG!!! One last thing that i would like to point out is that every thing is in really good condition when you buy it, cases look new games play well disks are nice, but if you are looking to trade stuff in don't bring them junk. But enough about that, go Google the store name and check it out for yourselves.
So lets kick this off with the NES games!
First up we have Final Fantasy 1, Deadly Towers, 1942, and Castlevania. Final Fantasy was one of my first finds in the store and I squealed like a little girl and had a nerd-gasm. Also, the Castlevania was in great condition too! LOL Deadly Towers is for me to take to SGC and have the AVGN sign it, or possibly shit on it.
Next up is Zelda 1, Strider, Dragon Warrior, Metal Gear, Mega Man 6, and Metroid. First off the copy of Metroid is f*cking mint! I was so happy! Also, Metal gear was the other game I got with my Final Fantasy (along with an original Nintendo blaster which is not shown) The Zelda plays well but looks like ass, but i got it from a half price book store of all places :-P The Strider, Dragon Warrior and Mega Man are just for show as I never really got into those series.
Moving on to my most recently acquired systems, the Sega Mega-Drive/Genesis (Thanks to my buddy George who gave me the system because he had 2 of them but didn't have the cords for this model which i believe is a model 1, the one with the volume knob on the front. But, all is good cause my old Master System cables work with it. Also, i got my controller for the Genesis from Games Plus too!) But anyways we've got Urban and Jungle Strike (which i am giving to George cause he needs them for his HUGE Genesis collection) Sonic 2 in the case with the booklet and the poster, Art of Fighting 1 and a Game Genie. (also there is an un-pictured Sonic and Knuckles) The Art of Fighting game is just for show (because i suck at it) and the game genie is for Sonic games for infinite lives.
SO here come the big guns, the SNES games. Most of them I got from games plus but some i had to get off of amazon (another really good place to get classic games) From the top left we've got Super Tecmo Bowl, NBA Jam T.E., F-Zero, Donkey Kong Country, Killer Instinct, Jurassic Park, Star Fox and Super Castlevania 4. I should have split these guys into 2 piles but what-ev. Super Tecmo Bowl I bought because one of my bosses at Best Buy was talkin mad smack about how good he was at it and i had to prove him wrong, but sadly I never got the chance. Ah NBA Jam, the ONLY basket ball game i will play because, well, ITS THE BEST TO THIS DAY! Also, Bill Clinton and Fresh Prince rule! But could some one enlighten me on the difference between normal and TE editions? I remember renting F-Zero like 5 billion times because mode 7 IS THE PWNZORZ!!!1! Donkey Kong Country is a classic and even though i thought Super Mario World was a better platformer i Still had to purchase it. Killer instinct was the second fighter i ever played after Street Fighter 2. Jurassic Park I bought in memory of my brother, my father, brother and I would sit around on Sundays and try to figure out how to beat this damn thing! Star Fox I bought because it is the only game my father was better at then me, and i still cant get further than him. Lol and Super Castlevania 4 i bought because i loved Castlevania: SOTN
Here are my gems, my babies. Final Fantasy 6 (jap import with box not pictured) and Super Metroid, both damn near mint and play great (even though Final Fantasy 6 is impossible to play because its all in Japanese ><) What can i say about Final Fantasy 6, probably my 3rd or 4th favorite in the series. And to tell you the truth, i bought Super Metroid cause i missed out on it as a child, and apparently everyone says its the best game on the system.
Here we have my Nintendo 64 games. 007 Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Turok 2 and NFL Blitz. I remember playing hours of golden eye after school trying to get really good at it, but never really did. Then the much better sequel came out, Perfect Dark. And boy sis i get good at this game. Me and my friend Joe would play for hours on end against Dark bots and pwning them in the face (until they cheated and got the x-ray sniper thingy) Next is Turok 2, which me and my friend Danny used to play all the time, to bad the new one blew balls. Also, NFL Blitz s the best NFL licensed game evar!
Then we have Cruisin USA/World , Killer Instinct Gold and Turok. I loved the arcade racing feel of the Cruisin series, to bad exotica wasn't very good ;_; Also, the music was great! Ooh-Yeah! Then we have Killer Instinct Gold which i bought because i played the original and loved it, and figured that I would love this one too! And i did!!! And last we have the original Turok, best in the series, with probably the coolest weapon evar! The Bow and arrow!
Now we get into the generation that made me the gamer i am today. A lot of these games inspired me to want to be a developer and one of them changed the way i viewed video games forever. First up we have Front Mission 3, Bushido Blade 1/2, and Castlevania: SOTN. Front Mission is probably the second/third best TRPG game out there and i highly recommendit to any one who even slightly like mecha and or TRPGs. (PROTIP: Dual wielding machine guns and shotguns with double shot means you win!) MMMM Bushido Blade, Samurai andd Squaresoft, this game was an insta buy for me and to this day i still play it! I love the no life bars mechanic. NO WHERE THE HELL IS THE THIRD ONE! Castlevania: SOTN best Castlevania game to date, I will fight this to the death. Awesomecharacters (Alucard, no matter how cclichéd is a total pimp!), great, no ONE OF THE BEST SOUNDTRACKS IN GAMING HISTORY, and terribly-awesome (e.g. AWFULL) voice acting. Add in the fact that you could gather about 300-400 weapons and armors (totally just pulled that number out of my ass) and the ability to level up! 2-D side scrolling perfection! CAPCOM I DEMAND SOTN2
Now we are getting into the really good shtuff! Final Fantasy 8, Parasite Eve, and Xenogears. Final Fantasy 8, probably being one of my least favorite Final Fantasy's (along with #2) is still a great RPG. Yeah squall might be emo as shite and towards the end of the game the most random shit starts to happen but there were some awesome elements to this game. The gf's where great, i LOVED the junctioning, Quistis is just f*cking sexy (oh please god whip me!) and the music and CGs where top notch. OMG Listen to me NAO! If you even remotely like the horror genre and or the RPG genre, stop reading this, goto amazon.com and buy Parasite Eve. Done? Good, you will thank me. One of the weirdest stories to date, along with a hot assed main character totally customizable guns and an turn based action-rpg fighting system, mix that with a resident evil-esque story and you have one of the ps1's most under rated games. Then came Xenogears. You know what? If i start writing about this game i will go all night. Basically, if you do not own this game you suck and need to go buy it. Not to be confused with the un-succesfull (e.g. SUCKFEST) "sequels" Xenosaga, Xenogears is a brilliant masterpiece that, even though it never got fully completed still blows away most of its competition. Battle system to confusing ass plot line every thing was damn near perfection. (Also, Citan needs to learn how to STFUAJPG sometimes)
And last but certainly not least is Tobal no.1, Legend of Dragoon, Resident Evil 2, and Final Fantasy 7. Lol, you know why i bought Tobal? Cause it had a demo of Final Fantasy 7 and that is "collectors" to me. Played the actual game like twice. Legend of Dragoon is another essential if you like RPGs. Funny story though, when i first started to play the game i absolutely HATED it. Don't know why but i just couldn't stand it, and it wasn't until recently(e.g. 4 years ago) that i fell in love with it. WHERE THE HELL IS NUMBER 2 SONY! Resident Evil 2 has some back story to it for me. I NEVER played these games as a child (i was a pus), but i actually ENJOYYED watching my friend Danny play them for hours (this is including #1). Also, we actually reenacted these frequently, as we were like 10 at the time but the funny part was that we used his grandfathers REAL FING SHOTGUN to play with. It's a surprise I'im still alive! Final Fantasy 7. BEST. GAME. EVAR! OK so maybe I am totally a fan boy but i don't care, to me it is the best, and you want to know why? This game single handedly changed my perspective on video games. Emotionally, psychologically, and physically. (e.g. I cried like a bitch when Aeris died and still get a little weepy to this day... SHUT IT!, I totally flunked out of a year of high school cause i NEVER did my home work i just played the hell out of this game, and well i stayed at home and played this game so i am whiter than white and chubby as hell ><) Basically, i became serious about video games after this game. Plus you can't deny what this game did for the industry.
So what do you all think? I am opinionated and maybe even a little biased but this is my blog dammit and I will cry if i want too. This is only part of the collection and i plan on adding my more current gen stuff along with my Master System collection that i missed. Also i want to do a shoot about my systems and possibly anime/movies. Anyone interested? Let me know in the comments!
Also, I am Thinking about doing another one of my Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes! article, let me know what you think because i want to become more active in the comunity.
Until next time here are some kitties!
Also, cocks.