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Over the last year and a half, we've looked at the best games from a variety of systems, and in that time more than 1000 games at least got some attention. The lists focused on retrogaming, and with nearly all the lists specific to a particular system, it meant that there wasn't many opportunities to compare games between systems.
For this list, though, we've looked at the best 2D platforming games, regardless of console. Mario vs Mega Man vs Samus vs Sonic and others in a match outside the Smash Bros Universe. One of the challenges in a list like this is to decide what it includes, so the question was left open-ended. Because of this, there were some interesting choices, including what to do with games that cross genres but include heavy doses of platforming.
Continue reading Top 20 2D platformers
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I love racing games.
[Pause for readers to double-check the avatar and realize the obvious]
Being a collector, you always want those special titles. I tend to gravitate to the harder-to-find games that usually come with at least a good recommendation. Part of the thinking behind the Top 20 lists was to get others talking about games that would be highly rated, even if some of them were obvious.
The other side is that for many games, especially the harder-to-find titles, it's become a harder and harder decision as to whether to try and pick up a physical copy or just find another way to play the title. For example, as of this writing, authentic copies of Final Fantasy III are selling on eBay in the $85-$95 range. I bring this title in particular up because not only is it a very highly rated game, it's available on a multitude of platforms.
Continue reading Everyone has a price
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In December 1982, over the holiday break, from my 1st year in school, most of us on my dad's side of the family gathered at the home of my grandparents, to celebrate Christmas. Like any year, it was a time filled with candy, kids playing in the living room, while the adults sat around the dining room table, regaling stories new and old, and of course, Christmas presents. And like every Christmas, though grandpa and grandma didn't have much money, their gifts were thoughtful, and their house full of love. Those times were always magical. Little did I know the magic I was to discover during this particular holiday gathering.
Continue reading Tribute To My Uncle David
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The Sears 1991 Wish Book. The stuff dreams are made of.
Sometimes, a fond old memory can come rushing back to the forefront of your mind with such force that, you get a similar endorphin rush experiencing that memory as you did when it was happening to you the first time. Good memories of a departed loved one spring to mind, and you're instantly transported back in time to a happy memory of you and them, and you get that warm, safe feeling that makes you smile. Perhaps you had a favorite sports personality as a kid, and meeting them to sign a baseball or take a photo with them was a highlight. Years later, you find that baseball in a box in your parents' basement, or come across that photo in an old album, and the memories come rushing back, giving you that same big smile you had when it first happened. For me, I have very fond memories of lying on the floor of my grandparent's living room, next to my younger brother, quietly perusing the Sears and JC Penney catalogs my grandparents received in the mail.
Continue reading Wishful Thinking - Reminiscing About The Sears Wish Book
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Pic from Kotaku and about a million bookmarks
Approximately a million years ago in Internet time, I wrote an article intended as a sort of clarion call about losing our gaming history. You can dust off the electrons and find it here.
This weekend, two events reminded me of that article. The first was reading about how Alan Wake, the Remedy developed atmospheric action game, was about to be delisted from digital sale from Steam and Xbox Live storefront due to music licensing issues. When smaller titles are released in only the digital format, they occasionally disappear and the lost content may be lamented on an equally small scale. (Not to claim irrelevance, just the level of awareness.) To have a decently successful IP such as Alan Wake become unavailable for purchase seven years after release may still seem pretty reasonable in our gaming economy. Every game goes out of print eventually, right?
Continue reading Saving Games...Continue?
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I had an interesting conversation with someone not too long ago about how they want to collect on a larger scale, but just get overwhelmed with the task and had given up multiple times. I had two pieces of advice to offer. The first, and probably the most important, is to take a good look at your goal and make sure it's something that you actually want to invest the time and resources into. Collecting something like a full library can take years and thousands of dollars. If you're not committed and have stalled or even gone backwards in that goal, is it really something that is important to you or simply something that used to seem enjoyable, but maybe isn't quite what you though it was? Even on a smaller scale, such as collecting all the games from your favorite series, can be a huge task. There are dozens of games across multiple platforms in series like Mario, Mega Man, Final Fantasy, Zelda, Pac-Man, Harvest Moon, Pokemon, etc. Beyond the time and money, you had better enjoy research and have the space available in your home to display or store them like you want to.
If all that checks out though, then my next suggestion is to enter the delightful world of Sub-Sets!
Continue reading Collection Baby-Steps AKA Sub-Sets
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As my collection has been growing, my acquisitions have been slowing. It makes sense that at some point, you will eventually reach a saturation point in your collecting in which it's harder to find titles that interest you than it used to be when you had less games. However, I still really enjoy gaming and collecting so I don't want it to stop quite yet. Over the last few weeks, one of my collecting goals has been to update my rfgen wishlist. Sounds simple enough. Yet, I found myself pouring well over 50 hours into this project. I wanted to make sure my list was comprehensive and accurate. This meant reaching out to trusted friends with expertise beyond mine for certain libraries, doing a fair bit of research, and watching a ton of YouTube playthroughs before assigning a coveted checkmark to the wishlist box.
Continue reading Collecting Wishes
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Image by GeekTyrant.com
This blog entry is gonna be quite different than my usual ones. I'm looking for help from you guys this time around. I was recently offered a position to write for a local magazine. It has a small area of distribution, but regardless, I'm very excited about it. I get a whole page to write about gaming once each quarter. I can discuss something new, something old, board games, video games, RPGs, card games, and basically, whatever gaming related topic I want. The book will have an overall theme, and I have been asked to try and make my topic relevant to the theme for the issue.
My first article is already printed and out in public. I would like you guys to read over my article below and throw your brutal and honest feedback at me. I had very little time to put this one together, so I fully expect future articles to improve with more time to plan and revise. The theme of this issue was "Revolution." I used this broad topic as a way to introduce myself as a writer and my relevance to the subject matter. Please let me know what you think:
Continue reading Crabmaster Gets Published!
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Another year, another RetroWorld Expo. As a show organizer, it is an insanely fun and exhausting experience. It's amazing to see how the expo has grown in just a few short years. Let's take a look at RetroWorld Expo 2016.
Continue reading RetroWorld Expo 2016
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Running your own business can be very rewarding. It also comes with it's fair share of headaches. Shoplifting and theft is a constant problem for pretty much any retail establishment. Here are some of our stories regarding the subject.
Continue reading Blog Quest: Batman By Day, Game Store Owner By Night
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So many games and so few places to shove them. Atlantic shelves are decent enough, but they are expensive and made of particle board. Billy bookcases are solid, but way too deep if you are just storing games, and also on the expensive side. Is there a way to build nice, shallow wall shelving that will accommodate loose carts as well as boxed games, DVDs, and Blu Rays? Yes.
Continue reading Getting Organized and Staying Organized: Wall Shelves
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I consider myself a fair, upstanding, and generous person (*cough*) and I like that some people have that opinion of me. Collecting is an exciting hobby in that many of us see ourselves as Indiana Jones-like explorers who scavenge local garage sales, thrift stores, and "antique" stores in an attempt to upturn games and consoles at great prices and add them to our personal museums. Oftentimes, when we find duplicates or valuable items for games/systems we don't collect, we may turn these over to game stores, sell them on auction sites, or sell/trade them with friends to reinvest in our collections. Of all of these interactions, dealing with friends and people you are in contact with on a regular basis is the most personal, and can sometimes result in awkward or less than favorable interactions. I was recently involved in one of these "transactions" and this is my story. Ladies and gentlemen: "The story you are about to hear is true. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent."
Continue reading Buying From Friends: A Cautionary Tale
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So you own and/or work at a game store. Pretty awesome, right? You get to constantly be around the things that you love.....but do you actually get to enjoy them??
For the past 2 and half years, I've been running and working at Game Quest as well as a second full-time job doing night shifts. I knew it was going to be busy and cut down significantly on one of my favorite things, my gaming time. Our city had long been in need of a good gaming store, so I felt it would be worth the temporary (hopefully) cut in my free time. The plan was, and still is, to get the store to a point where it doesn't neccessarily need me around to operate so that I can continue to do the things I enjoy and still offer my city a place to sell, buy, and play games of all types.
Continue reading Blog Quest - Enjoying Your Hobbies
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The Handsome Group of Organizers Responsible For Power Up Prince George[/i]
Being in a relatively small town and this being our first event, we decided that it would be best to make sure the operating costs were as low as possible so that our goals would be very obtainable. We wanted nothing more than to have a fun event that could be considered a success so that we could make it an annual event. With that in mind, we wanted to have at least 100 people attend the event at some point during the day and raise at least $2000 for the Child Development Center.
Long story short we exceed both of our goals. But you want the long story so click the link below........
Continue reading Blog Quest: It's For The Children - Part 2
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Two years ago, we started Game Quest exclusively as a video game store. Now that we have the space, we've jumped into all sorts of other games. Many of these, like Magic and a lot of board games, I've played and am very comfortable with, but as we keep getting requests and bring in new products to try, I find myself exploring all sorts of new games, many of which have turned out to be a ton of fun!!
Continue reading Blog Quest: Look at all these games!!!
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