Just wanted to post a few new pics of the game room. I think it's coming along well. Not going to post all my pics on this blog, but am providing a link for the curious: http://s1029.photobucket....necrom99/Game%20Room%202/
You've come a long way baby.....
[img width=700 height=393]http://i1029.photobucket.com/albums/y359/necrom99/Game%20Room/DSCN0394.jpg[/img]
Entrance:
[img width=576 height=1024]http://i1029.photobucket.com/albums/y359/necrom99/Game%20Room%202/Entrance.jpg[/img]
Long view, with back wall and controller peg board (no Crabby, I haven't painted it black yet.....):
[img width=576 height=1024]http://i1029.photobucket.com/albums/y359/necrom99/Game%20Room%202/LongView.jpg[/img]
Console shelf, well it was wire-free for presentation, but I decided to hook up 10 systems to my TV and make it more function (hence wires). The Coleco is hooked up to the small Space Saver TV on the shelf. I have 14 systems in my house ready to go at any given moment. You will notice that since last time I added an upper shelf to give myself more room as I was running out of space.
[img width=700 height=393]http://i1029.photobucket.com/albums/y359/necrom99/Game%20Room%202/Systems.jpg[/img]
no lie....
[img width=700 height=393]http://i1029.photobucket.com/albums/y359/necrom99/Game%20Room%202/Flips.jpg[/img]
Work station table where I clean games and play 2600 and Vectrex. That orange thingy is a pretty cool 8-track player I found at a thrift shop. Maybe a few of you actually know what that is:
[img width=700 height=393]http://i1029.photobucket.com/albums/y359/necrom99/Game%20Room%202/VecTable.jpg[/img]
Drawers for handheld systems and games. These are opaque, but with the flash you can see through them a bit:
[img width=576 height=1024]http://i1029.photobucket.com/albums/y359/necrom99/Game%20Room%202/Gameboy.jpg[/img]
Probably my coolest local find:
[img width=700 height=393]http://i1029.photobucket.com/albums/y359/necrom99/Game%20Room%202/Gremlins.jpg[/img]
Classics:
[img width=576 height=1024]http://i1029.photobucket.com/albums/y359/necrom99/Game%20Room%202/Classics.jpg[/img]
Some of my 2600 collection:
[img width=700 height=393]http://i1029.photobucket.com/albums/y359/necrom99/Game%20Room%202/AtariShelf.jpg[/img]
My favorite collection VECTREX!!!!
[img width=700 height=393]http://i1029.photobucket.com/albums/y359/necrom99/Game%20Room%202/Vectrex.jpg[/img]
Fami collection. Yes, I do labels on the ends of the carts....what of it?
[img width=700 height=393]http://i1029.photobucket.com/albums/y359/necrom99/Game%20Room%202/Fami.jpg[/img]
Other random room stuff:
[img width=700 height=393]http://i1029.photobucket.com/albums/y359/necrom99/Game%20Room%202/Joes3.jpg[/img]
[img width=700 height=393]http://i1029.photobucket.com/albums/y359/necrom99/Game%20Room%202/DarkStalkers.jpg[/img]
[img width=576 height=1024]http://i1029.photobucket.com/albums/y359/necrom99/Game%20Room%202/Musberger.jpg[/img]
And last but not least. The best apology letter I have ever received from a seller in Japan. I ended up getting two games for free from this standup gent. It also came with some cantalope Halloween candy which of course I saved. Whaaaaaaa???
[img width=700 height=393]http://i1029.photobucket.com/albums/y359/necrom99/Game%20Room%202/Richard-san.jpg[/img]
When we last left off, our brave hero had ended his second run with 1,463,900 points with 3 lives remaining. On the following night, 7/23/12 I began a third run and ended with 2,208,300 points and only 2 lives remaining. After a solid first run, costly mistakes and an increase in enemy forces had caused my lives to dwindle down and I was at the edge of having to start over. It wasn't long into my 4th attempt, that I lost my remaining lives and finished with a score of 2,259,200..........to make things worse, I died at that damn waterfall stage.
Not to be discouraged, took a break for the rest of the night and came back on Tuesday to do a few practice runs and get a better feel for the game, to memorize unroaming enemy locations, and to get a better strategy for the final boss fight (where I was losing a few lives sometimes). I learned that I had a lot of success in keeping a spread gun and had learned where to locate one in almost every board. I also found a better route in the Energy Zone and pretty much mastered the level by slowing down a little more and being a bit more patient around the flamethrowers.
[img width=659 height=493]http://teddieboi.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Contra-Energy-Zone.jpg[/img]
Tonight (7/25), I sat down in my gaming chair and decided that my opening strategy was to attempt a "no death" run on the first run through and try to do my best to stockpile lives, since the game gets harder. Though I had to reset the first time after losing a life on Stage 2, I lost only one life on my first full run. I was a little miffed (the perfectionist in me), but decided that this was fine since I had accumulated 746,00 points and started my second run with 11 lives (stockpiling  . The second run also went pretty well. I lost a few lives on silly mistakes, popping up too early in bases and a knucklehead jump at the Waterfall boss; however, I managed to get through it with 1,497,300 points and 15 lives (stockpiling an additional 4). I'll take it.
Though I was getting a little fatigued, I decided to give it another go. My third run started off pretty well; there were some deaths that couldn't be prevented (i.e. crouching under fire, while roaming enemies run up behind you), but I was playing pretty solid and made it through the Snow Field, Energy Zone, and Hangar with no deaths. I made it to the end of the Alien's Lair without dying, but lost a life in the battle pretty early and lost my spread. I tried to gain a foothold, but lost 3 lives total in that fight, which was a bit discouraging. However, at the end of the run, I had accumulated 2,242,300 points and now have 18 lives (banking an additional 3).
[img width=418 height=353]http://static.gamesradar.com/images/mb/GamesRadar/us/Features/2009/02/Killer%20Hearts/Hearts_Contra--article_image.jpg[/img]
I'm always skeptical about pausing, since I never know if I'll reenter the game with the same attention to detail as I had before. Since it's my only copy of the game, I can't really warm up on another TV and I can only hope to be as sharp was I was tonight. It might be beneficial to watch some end boss strategies, since I am still losing a few lives there and could possibly stockpile a few more with better play.
Tonight I had some extra time on my hands, the kids were asleep and the wife had gone to a "Dirty Dancing" 25th Anniversary party.....yeah, I'll never understand women, and why bother now? Anyway, I cranked up the ole NES2 and begin playing pretty loosely through a few levels to get my bearings and a feel for where all of the enemies were laid out. As most of you know who have played Contra, the boss battles aren't really difficult and it seems that you lose most of your lives to petty gunfire, or stray enemies bouncing onto the screen.
Though most of Contra is a side scroller, one particular level, The Waterfall, scrolls up and is filled with jumps and random enemies that spring from both sides of the screen. I noticed that in my second run through, the enemy foot soldiers were a little more plentiful than they were in the first; a trend I imagine will continue. In some areas, you are forced to the far left or right of the screen to advance and this really poses a problem with limited lives. After several runs, I found that I lost the majority of my lives on this stage and needed to be a little more careful by spraying the sides of screens with bullets before I proceeded upwards. On a good note, I found that I was particularly efficient on the "Snow Field" tonight and lost only one life on about 6 runs through it. I had similar success in "The Hanger," but the "Energy Field" gave me quite the headache on my final run of the night. It was quite the evening of up and downs.
[img width=620 height=405]http://bulk.destructoid.com/ul/145688-the-memory-card-67-scaling-the-waterfall/Contra%20-%20Waterfall-620x.jpg[/img]
After about 4 runs through the game, I decided to give a go at a solid attempt. The first run through was solid and I ended up with a total of 7 extra lives at the end. One particular thing I noted was that you average earning about one extra life per stage. My strategy/hope was to accumulate a comfortable amount of extra lives, as I had done through the first run, but my second run, was filled with several silly and costly mistakes, which I attribute a little to tiredness as the night wore on. At one point, I lost three men to the flamethrowers in the Energy Field. Not that this section of the game was tougher than it had been on the first run, I just found myself becoming a little impatient and trying to run through some of the flames with the initial invincibility at the start of each new life. After the Energy Field, I sailed through The Hanger and Alien's Lair with ease and ended the second run with 1,463,900 points and 3 lives remaining. My hope is that I don't come into my restart rusty and can finish a few stages untouched to build up my surplus of lives again. I'm also contending with a few nasty storms in the area and a dog who likes to lie a little too close to my NES, both of which threaten to reset my game.
[img width=480 height=360]http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m5uctkMBh91ro8ysbo1_500.gif[/img]
Until next time, "Nobody puts Contra in the corner!"
One of the games I remember most fondly from my childhood is Contra for the Nintendo Entertainment System. One of the first great shooters on the NES, it's a game that is a must for anyone's collection.
A friend of mine was having trouble with his NES cutting off during the middle of game play and I suggested he purchase a 72 pin connector and offered to install it for him. After completing minor surgery on his system the other night, I put in a copy of Contra to test it out. I figured a full run would be long enough to ensure that the pins were install correctly and that my friend's issue with his system was corrected. I consider myself a pretty good Contra player and typically never use the code unless playing with a friend (or on the rare occasion, my wife). Anyway, I ran through the game with ease the first time and began a second run with 5 men. I quickly finished the 2nd run and again, had more men than I started with (I estimate 8 or 9) and a score somewhere just over 1 million.
[img width=400 height=350]http://lvls.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/contrafinal.jpg[/img]
I started thinking.....how high does this game score and is it possible to roll it over? Well, after a quick Google search, I discovered an article on a guy who scored 6,553,500 points. Hmmm.... After two quick runs and what seemed to be no increase in difficulty, I thought that surely I could beat this score if I put the time in. My next move was to take it to the source and check Twin Galaxies. Wouldn't you know it, there are 15 other people with the same score..... With the impossibility of 15 people reaching an endgame with the same score, I figure that the game's score is cut off at this amount.
Though disappointed, I figure why not still give it a shot. Hopefully, I'll be posting this score soon, stay tuned.
I recently found and sent CrabMaster2000 a power adapter for his Atari 2600 so that could finally fire it up and join me in some retro gaming. Before I sent it, we talked about playing against each other for high score once it arrived. Well, it arrived today and I looked over his list of games to determine what we would play first. I have decided on Phoenix as the first game. After thinking about it (for oh, let's say 5 minutes), I decided to blog about this challenge and open it up for anyone on RFGen who is game. Scores can be posted as responses to this blog. Of course we are going by the honor system here, so please, no made up scores or other forms of cheating. The challenge will run until the end of the month, October 31 at midnight. Hopefully, we will have enough participants and be able to make this a monthly event. Good luck!
[img width=600 height=850]http://www.scottdecker.com/video_games/atari_2600_phoenix_ad.jpg[/img]
A new arcade/game store just opened up in my area, and needless to say, I've become a pretty frequent customer since its inception. The guys that own it are really nice and have been very helpful in introducing me to new games and systems. Along with several standup and sit-down machines, they keep a nice stock of pinball machines going (always ten at a time and they frequently swap them out). As a result, I've been bitten by the pinball bug and am working on saving toward my first machine. Luckily, there is a fairly strong pinball community in my area and I should benefit from knowing some of its members in my local search. Unlike video games, pinball is something you have to work to find locally, unless you have unlimited funds to blow. For my first machine, I though I might go with something more nostalgic to me. I was a big fan of the Williams machines of the late 80s/early 90s, such as Taxi, Cyclone, and Whirlwind, so I am going to start there, since those machines tend to be more affordable than the newer dot matrix models.
Continue reading The Pinball Bug
[img width=700 height=393]http://i1029.photobucket.com/albums/y359/necrom99/Converter/DSCN1108.jpg[/img]
TODAY, TOMORROW, & YESTERDAY
A few weeks ago, I was informed by a friend that a new video game store/arcade would be opening in town. I became really exciting after learning that the guys opening it were former employees from a used book/music/game store that I regularly frequented and I knew they were really into gaming. This past Saturday was their grand opening and needless to say, I've already been 3 times....did I mention they were closed on Sunday? They have an array of arcade cabinets/sit downs, 10 pinball machines, and an incredible variety of games for modern and retro gamers alike, including a very nice selection of Famicom games.
Continue reading For the Love of Famicom!
[img width=300 height=400]http://www.theoldcomputer.com/game-box-art-covers/Atari/2600/Box-Scans/f/Frankenstein%27s%20Monster%20%281983%29%20%28Data%20Age%29.jpg[/img]
SPECS:
Game: Frankenstein's Monster
Year: 1983
Publisher: Data Age, Inc.
Developer: Data Age, Inc.
Designer(s)/Programmer(s): unknown
Rarity (according to AtariAge): 5 = Rare
Controls: Joystick
Number of Players: 1 to 2 players (turn based)
Average Cost: approx. $10 - $25 loose depending on condition
Also Available On: exclusive to the Atari 2600
Tagline: "In the cold dark night you make your way through the ghoulish castle of Dr. Frankenstein. There you must prevent him from his completing his creation. Your only chance is to gather stones from the dungeon and bring them to the tower where you must build a barricade around FRANKENSTEIN'S MONSTER before he has accumulated enough energy to come alive. To succeed you will have to move fast, avoiding poisonous spiders, vampire bats, and terrifying ghosts. Complete the job and the village will be safe forever."
Continue reading Frankenstein's Monster
[img width=359 height=504]http://cdn1.gamepro.com/box/box_138001-hd.jpg[/img]
Specs:
Game: We Love Golf!
Year: 2008
Publisher: Capcom
Developer: Camelot Software Planning
Controls: Nintendo Wii Remote
Number of Players: 1-4
Average Cost: $5 used - $20 new
Also Available On: Exclusive to the Nintendo Wii
Continue reading We Love Golf!
Update #3 of my game room.
I added a peg board for my controllers to the near wall. It turned out a lot better than I thought it would.
[img width=576 height=1024]http://i1029.photobucket.com/albums/y359/necrom99/Game%20Room/Update31.jpg[/img]
[img width=576 height=1024]http://i1029.photobucket.com/albums/y359/necrom99/Game%20Room/Update32.jpg[/img]
I also bought some gallon sized ziplock freezer bags and put the hookups for each individual system inside of them and labeled them by writing with permanent marker on each bag. I bought another drawer system so that I could keep them organized. Row #1 and #2 console hookups are in the first drawer, Rows #3 & #4 are in the second drawer. Third drawer is for misc. additional accessories (Power Pad, Wii driving wheels, and nunchuks are in there).
[img width=576 height=1024]http://i1029.photobucket.com/albums/y359/necrom99/Game%20Room/Update33.jpg[/img]
As suggested by Crabmaster2000, I organized the hookups that I could and for the hardwired systems, I wrapped up the chords so that they would not show behind the display. It looks much nicer now.
[img width=700 height=393]http://i1029.photobucket.com/albums/y359/necrom99/Game%20Room/Update34.jpg[/img]
The wife is ordering me a nice gaming chair for Father's Day and I'm going to buy a few comfortable beanbags for the floor. All I need now is some posters and other memorabilia to display!
So, I'm old and summer doesn't quite mean what it use to mean to me anymore (i.e. sleeping in until noon and spending countless hours playing video games). Now I'm 34, employed full-time, married, with a 3 year-old-kid, and another due this Saturday...... So what better way to spend my free hours (*minutes*) than participating in ye olde 2011 Summer Gaming Challenge as brought to the attention of RFGen members by noiseredux (http://www.rfgeneration.c...Gaming-Challenge-1748.php). Though I'm only choosing NES games for my list, since I don't want to waste any game time by hooking up multiple systems, I tried to pick a variety of games, including a few I never played or even hated growing up. Here's the list:
Continue reading Summer Gaming Challenge: Singlebanana
In anticipation of a new addition to our family, I've been working non-stop to get my new house in order. Among these projects is my upstairs game room, which I've posted a few pictures of when I first moved in. Well, after a lot of hard work, I've gotten most of my collection organized, except for determining what to do with displaying all of my controllers and housing my hookups so that I can locate them easily. Please feel free to comment on the pics and as always, any advice is greatly appreciated.
Continue reading UnoNanerCade Update #2
[img width=370 height=444]http://vectrex.playntradeonline.com/ppf.jpg[/img]
Specs:
Game: Pole Position
Year: 1983
Publisher: General Consumer Electric (a Milton Bradley company)
Developer: Namco, Ltd.
Designer(s)/Programmer(s):
Rarity (according to RarityGuide.com): rare - 80% out of 100%
Controls: Vectrex Control Panel
Number of Players: 1
Average Cost: around $100+ CIB
Also Available On: Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 8-Bit, BBC Micro, Commodore 64, DOS, Intellivision, TI 99/4A, VIC-20, ZX Spectrum, arcade cabinet, and various Namco gaming compilations.
Tagline: Do you possess the skill, dexterity and courage to pull out from the crowd for qualification in one of the exclusive starting positions or will you end up as an also-ran?
Continue reading Pole Position - Vectrex
I want to begin by apologizing for my lack of production on the blogs recently, but some current life changes (i.e. moving into a new house, a family plagued with upper respiratory infections, and the preparation for a new baby) have forced my hand into worlds of both joy and displeasure. However, on a more fortunate note, the new house came with a gigantic playroom on the 3rd floor (a converted, fully-finished attic) for the kiddos and a nice separate "office".....errrrr, game room for yours truly. So in the midst of all the moving hubbub, I have decided to chronical the progress of my game room from start to finish. The purpose of this blog is to communicate with other gamers about ideas for my room to help me decide what the overall finished product will be. Hopefully, with all of the experience on this site, I will determine what changes might benefit my room and ultimately what things other people have tried that didn't work, which I can avoid. I hope this portion of my blog is a slight bit entertaining and please....please give any feedback you feel is necessary.
To start off, I'm just going to provide pictures of different parts of the room and give you my ideas as to what I think may happen over time. Any suggestions/warnings are greatly appreciated.
Continue reading UnoNanerCade 2011
Many of you in this community probably know me, for better or worse, primarily as "that Atari 2600 game reviewer guy." My love for the 2600 stems from my love of the system as a youth, and the notorious "Christmas Incident of '82," in which I had asked for an "Atari" for Christmas and woke up Christmas to a brand new 5200 system with 6 new games..... Why notorious you ask? Have you ever played a 5200, or know what it's like to be the only kid in town with this piece of s#*t non-backwards compatible system? So why the love for the 2600 due to my hatred for the 5200? That's probably a better question for someone like Freud to answer.
Dear child, I can feel your anger running through you....good
[img width=700 height=512]http://lh6.ggpht.com/_RpfvgSWrX6U/TSEDFjou98I/AAAAAAAArek/JsbTBH9tU7A/image15-1.jpg[/img]
Continue reading The Band is Not Breaking Up....
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