I have a true gamer's "Holy Grail" in my beloved wife, and I'll tell you why.

This year's CCAG (Classic Console and Arcade Gaming) show was the best since I began attending a few years ago.  I got to chat with dozens of fellow vendors and collectors, play ancient computer games running on systems I still don't own, support a few home-brewers, actually check for data rot before purchasing (I had to put back over fifty games, including half a dozen different copies of TG16 Addams Family), actually play the pinball table 'Sorcerer' and see if my Pinball Hall of Fame mastery carried over to the real world, (Protip-nudge/tilt button moved to a weird Wii-like waggle maneuver) and best of all, I bought a bunch of games.

Maybe too many games.  Way too many games.  Like this many games:





In the back there is why my beloved is way cooler than maybe any wife ever, and her milkshake does, in fact, bring all the boys to said yard.

That lovely Neo Geo AES plus a few games was a present from my Love, bought at CCAG, for a way early Fathers Day present.

Yeah, she's that cool.  Stay away, I already put a ring on it.
 
Her, not the AES.

Here's a breakdown of what was gained for the good of the collection Saturday, in no particular order:

Neo Geo Pocket: Gals Fighters

A Neo Geo AES with Baseball Stars Pro, Riding Hero, Ghost Pilots, Nam 1975, and Super Sidekicks 2

Saturn: Gex (no I), Magic Knight Rayearth, and imports: Virtua Fighter CG Portrait Series Vol.6, World Advanced, World Advanced Daisenryaku: Kotetsu no Ikusakaze, Layer Section, House of the Dead, Digital Pinball Necronomicon, Cyberbots Limited Edition

Sega Master System: Castle of Illusion, Ghouls and Ghosts

Genesis: Warsong

Neo Geo CD: Samurai Spirits

Super Famicom: Waku Waku Ski Wonder Shoot

A PC Engine RX, (with the 6 button controller), Tengai Makyou: Fuun Kabuki Den, Tengai Makyou II: Manji Maru (disc only), Burai: Hachigyoku no Yuushi Densetsu, Legion (probably the first shooter for Turbo that I don't like at all), and a professional homebrew (professionally pressed disc, case, instructions, etc.) called Insanity.  It's basically Berserk for the Duo.

PC Engine: F1 Circus, Formation Soccer on J League, Power Eleven, J. League Greatest Eleven, Cyber Cross (J. League Soccer games are apparently Madden to the Japanese)

PSX: Project Horned Owl.  Gotta love light gun games.  And Baby Universe, an import that looks like a Windows 95 Screen saver.  I kid you not.

NES: A markered-up SEI variant of Impossible Mission II, and my girl found a nice copy of Operation Secret Storm.  'Cause, at the risk of sounding redundant, she's awesome.

SuperGrafx: Battle Ace.  My first game for the system, and I'm already at 20% of the library.

Gameboy: Mach Go Go Go.  Proving that I don't like Speed Racer in portable form either.

Atari 2600: Private Eye, Crypts of Chaos, and a complete copy of Big Bird's Egg Catch.

Coleco: Victory, War Room

Other coolness:  An Action Replay Plus 3 in 1 (I can finally play the 4 meg Saturn imports, yay!) Trizeal OST sampler, a Saturn SG Tornado Pad, and four World of Power novels based on NES games and all written by some guy calling himself F.X. Nine, who apparently wrote them all over a weekend.  I ate these up as a kid, fun times to revisit them and remember how absurd they were/are.

There was one vendor in particular who brought mainly imports, and I scoured literally hundreds of Saturn, PC Engine CD, and PSX imports before pulling out a nice tower I would have liked.  Check after check and I've come to confirm that disc rot (see previous blog entry) is as overly common on PC Engine CDs as much as their American Turbo CD cousins.  Had to put back quite a few Saturn goodies too.  But its probably for the best, because I had to be cut off somewhere.  As it was, I still ended up buying three discs with holes (not in picture, I don't count them as part of the additions) and I'm praising God that I didn't find more at home even after checking at the convention floor.  Thankfully those three weren't any expensive ones, and the high-powered LED flashlights my wife and I brought made all the difference in checking on the spot. 

Poor thing, she went from table to table finding games we didn't have, checking, and then finding holes and having to put them back, all while I was going through the import guy's stuff.  Lets hear it for dedication   Though I've learned not to bring up disc rot around the vendors unless asked or risk seriously offending people, it horrifies me how many folks walked away with damaged 'mint' cd games.  Like I mentioned, I had to put back at least fifty, not counting my wife's finds.  I did strike up a few conversations with open minded vendors who confirmed my disc rot issues, and one guy's eyes went wide because he suddenly realized why his purchased-as-new and still scratch-less games began giving him problems over the years.  I'd hate to be that guy going home and checking his stuff.  I was there once.

But back to the happy.  The cherry atop a very delicious treat came in the form of a package my buddy Tyranthraxus77 sent while I was gone.  He shipped me a bunch of xbox and 360 games he finished, just because he's cool like that.  I'll be sending him back his own goody box, and the cycle continues.  I feel a little bad that his kind gifts were overshadowed this time, but still appreciated. 

So, to recap, I had an incredible CCAG haul, the best early Father's Day present since my actual kids, and the love of my life goes beyond encouraging our hobby. 

Life and God are good.

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