A Welcomed Surprise

A fellow long time blogger reached out to me the other week to see if I had any interest in some video games they were planning on letting go. We exchanged several messages back and forth, then I sort of forgot about our conversations...until a medium flat rate USPS box showed up on my porch today. While most of the contents are not trading card related, I'm sharing it here since that is the common ground I and this fellow blogger share. Instead of doing a traditional post, I decided to do an unboxing video...which I've never really attempted before. Check it out...

I'm still blown away by this person's generosity. I was so excited to show my family the games once they came home from school/work today. As of this post I haven't had the time to sit down and play any of them, but I can't wait to do so. I've looked at some gameplay video on YouTube on a few of the games I wasn't as familiar with...like James Bond Jr. and Felix the Cat on the NES an they both look like fun games. I will have custom game cases made for each of these games as they will are a treasured addition to the gaming library.

Adventures in Video Games - A new journey/blog from yours truly!

One thing that I enjoy is sharing my thoughts of my many hobbies whoever is interested enough to spend a little time reading what I have to say. Each blog that I run was basically started as a creative outlet for said hobby and to hopefully get more enjoyment...whether that be trading cards, toys, music or now video games. Today I launch Adventures in Video Games!

I never envisioned myself as a video game collector, nor did I see myself with a room full of Transformers and other action figures one day. However games have always been one of those "distractions" that I've had around since I was young. With so many hobbies and what seems to be so little time, I'm always looking for ways to get more out of my hobbies and these blogs have been a great outlet for me to share my thoughts and opinions. Some have even forced me to enjoy things that I've put aside and ignored.

That said I felt a blog for my game collection was perfect as there are many games I own that I've never played or haven't touched in years. My hope for the blog is to sit down and play some of these games and share some photos of the games as well as my thoughts and opinions. I won't be doing any "Let's Play" YouTube videos or anything like that. Instead I'll be sticking to the tried and true "pen and paper" so to speak to share my content.

While it may not be the most entertaining read at times, I hope if you enjoy games like I do that you'll stick around, or at least drop in every once in awhile to check out what I have to share. My hope is that I'll be able to provide new content on a somewhat regular basis moving forward, yet while trying to still juggle my posting duties on my other sites. I'm excited to see where this journey leads me so here I go.

Pack Break: 1989 Topps Nintendo Game Pack

In a recent retro video game purchase I made came one sealed pack of 1989 Topps Nintendo Game Pack cards. I've seen packs of these cards at throwback stores and at card shows, but I've never purchased a pack, yet alone opened one. I've been meaning to share the contents of this pack for some time, but just have been busy with work and such. However the time for procrastinating is over!

I haven't opened a vintage wax pack in some time! Just opening this brought me back to my beginnings with baseball cards. Alright, 5 cards total - 3 scratch offs and 2 stickers...with top secret tips! 

It appears the scratch off cards are actually some type of game...fitting considering the overall Nintendo theme. Scratch off 3 bats and you lose, but if you can find 1 arrow plus either 2 kicks, 3 elbows or 4 punches and you win and advance. I guess there are multiple Double Dragon scratch off cards as it says Screen 4 of 10 underneath the game logo.

Super Mario Bros. 2 scratch off up next. Same premise as above. Scratch to reveal certain items to win the game and advance. This is Screen 3 of 10.

Wouldn't be a complete pack without something Zelda related. This game seems pretty forward. 3 swords and you win or 3 fireballs and you lose.

The stickers come with these hideous, yet cool all yellow backgrounds. Billy Lee here of Double Dragon fame. On the flip side is one of these Top Secret Tips the pack mentioned...however it's for Super Mario Bros. and not for Double Dragon?! Did you read the tip? That's not a Top Secret Tip! That is common sense!

The last card in the pack is a sticker card for Punch-Out!! I must have been the one kid growing up in the 80's that could have cared less for Mike Tyson's Punch-Out. Just never could get into the game. This card's tip is for the Legend of Zelda. At least this is something that not everyone may have known about when originally playing the game back in the day.

Overall this was a fun pack to open and now it's got me wondering how hard it'd be to find a sealed box of this stuff. Being that I'm a retro gamer and all it'd be fun to build this set. What do you think about these cards? Have you seen them before? Have any in your collection?

Fuji asks, I answer

We all know Fuji, right?  No no, not the old 35mm film - Fuji of The Chronicles of Fuji!  While going down my reading list I saw that Fuji had phrased the question:

Outside of the sports memorabilia genre, is there anything else you collect?

Oh boy is this any easy topic for me!  Question is where do I start?!  The first part of the main question is what is the collection and how long have I collected.

If you didn't already know my other hobby is collecting Transformers - toys, cards, Happy Meal boxes/bags, games...anything really that has Transformers stamped on it.  I even started another blog to showcase my Transformers collection (and other toys).  I grew up with Transformers when they first hit the U.S. retail stores in 1984.  I wouldn't say I collected them though as I was still young.  I did amass more TFs than any other toy (save Hot Wheels), but I didn't start collecting until perhaps 1994 when I caught the tell end of the Generation 2 series at retail.  Since then I've been collecting strong...although I'm starting to re-prioritize some of my collecting habits, but that is a story all it's own and for later.

As for my favorite piece in my collection?  Oh boy is that a tough one.  For starters I'll say Sunstreaker from the original line.

Sunstreaker was the first "deluxe" Transformer I had growing up.  I was never a car lover or gear head, but what kid didn't think a Lamborghini wasn't cool?  Sadly I don't still have my original Sunstreaker toy, but when I delved back into collecting he was one of the first Autobots I sought out.

Flipping over to the Japanese series of G1 Transformers I'll say my favorite is Metalhawk.

I loved the Pretender concept so when I found out that Japan had released a Pretender that was exclusive to their country I freaked.  I've actually owned this toy twice now.  The first time I bought him before knowing of his existence.  I paid $50 for him complete in his original box via an old toy newsgroup.  There wasn't a picture so I didn't know what I was buying other than the fact that it was a Transformers Pretender figure that I didn't already have.  The 2nd time I bought him I was equally lucky.  I purchased the toy complete in the inner tray, but without the box for $50.  A few short weeks later I found a seller selling just the box that I grabbed for a song and a dance.  Today this figure can easily sell for over $350+ on the secondary market.

Above is an image from my IKEA display case w/ some of my Japanese TFs including Metalhawk.

While my collection of Transformers was starting to grow so was my collection of video games.  I'm not sure I ever made a conscience effort to really collect games/consoles, but the more I learned of older systems the more and more I ended up with.  Like my Transformers collection I've bought and sold a lot of different things.  At one point I had 14 different consoles hooked up to two televisions in my living room.  This of course was before I was married and had kids!  Today I own a fraction of what I used to and that is OK with me.  As much as I enjoy gaming I find it harder and harder to play.  In fact I was set to pop in the most recent Castlevania game this evening before I got sucked in by this blog topic!

As you can tell from this picture of the rack that sits behind my computer desk, I'm into both vintage and modern gaming.  I've got a decent NES collection, but what really has captivated me recently is building my 8-bit Famicom collection of games.  I sought out a new Famicom A/V console and the disk drive add-on in the last few years.  I'm also a big fan of NEC's PC Engine.  I don't even want to begin to tell you how many different PC Engine and TurboGrafx-16 consoles I've owned!  Now I just have the grey PC Engine w/ the Super CD-ROM 2 add-on.  My collection of games is mostly shooters at this point in time.

Growing up I was a Nintendo fan boy so I snubbed Sega and everything they did.  Boy what an idiot I was. I missed out on some great consoles and games.  I only recently discovered this in the past 5 years or so.  I now own a model 1 Genesis w/ Power Base Converter for all those great Master System games.  The Saturn is probably my favorite Sega system thanks in part to all the great games released in Japan.  I love import gaming on the Saturn.  I also have the black Sports edition Dreamcast...not because I like sports games (I actually loathe sports video games), but for the reason the black console blends in better.

I was late to joining the Sony Playstation party too so I don't have near as many Playstation games that some may have, but what I ended up keeping are pretty good.  I still haven't taken the plunge and bought a PS3 so for now I just have the original model PS2.  My recent Playstation purchase however was the PS Vita during it's launch weekend.  Great little system - just needs MORE games!

Getting back to Nintendo I had to buy the 2nd model SNES because I found it easy to alter to allow Super Famicom games.  I also camped out in front of a local Target on the night before the Wii's launch.  Only now it collects dust as I prefer the Xbox 360 as my modern gaming platform of sorts.

As for my game collection I'd say my favorite console is the PC Engine.  I'm a huge fan of the old school shooters (or shmp) and they reigned supreme on the PC Engine platform.

So there you go.  Now you know a little more of my collecting habits outside of sports cards...especially if you've never visited my other blog!