This seems to be the circle of life with my Nintendo and Neo Geo games. Every now and again as I get more loose NES, SNES or Neo Geo MVS cartridges I then buy aftermarket cases and covers for the games.
Below are Neo Geo MVS Shockboxes and cover-art that can be purchased from Southtown-Homebrew.com (I had my covers printed locally). Each Shockbox costs $8.55 USD plus shipping. But the last 20 (give or take) I’ve been lucky enough to find used locally for about $8-$10 CAD each; which saved me about $5-$7 CAD each.
And what about the games I got these aftermarket cases for?
Normally I don’t really want boot-leg multicarts but the Neo Geo has a few games that I can’t find for affordable prices. So for $70 CAD (~$55 USD) I picked up the ‘Super N in 1’ multicart with 120 Neo Geo games (some are ROM hacks). Now I can play games like Pulstar, Twinkle Star Sprites and Ganryu; which often sell for hundreds of dollars each. So far, Pulstar is an amazing R-Type rip-off. I love it! My buddy Evil Kalman and I played it for several hours recently. It’s punishing but we did OK.
Nightmare in the Dark is a fun two player puzzle/platforming game similar Bubble Bobble and Snow Bros. I traded my Neo Geo Pocket Color Rockman (complete) for this MVS Nightmare in the Dark.
For $165 USD (~$210 CAD) all in with shipping for both I got Captain Tomaday and Neo Turf Masters from a fellow gamer. I don’t recall the exact break down for each but likely it was about $100 USD for Captain Tomaday and $65 for Neo Turf Masters. Captain Tomaday is a fun shoot ’em up starring a cute flying mutant Cherry Tomato. As for Neo Turf Masters; many hardcore Neo fans will boast that this game is the best golf game ever. Is it? I don’t know, I’m not that into golf.
Sengoku 3 I managed to score locally for $100 CAD (~$78 USD) from my local classifieds (Kijiji) earlier this summer. The graphics are very good but the gameplay is a bit slow. It takes a long time to beat up the baddies. They can take a pounding! I have to learn the combo system much better before I’ll be able to pick up the pace.
Next up are some pretty common NES games.
*These after market BitBoxes for both NES and SNES can be purchased at StoneAgeGamer.com.
Ring King, Double Dragon and Super Mario Bros. cost me $10 CAD (~$8 USD) each. With Hogan’s Alley coming in at $5. I have a lot of good memories playing Ring King back in the day with a good friend. It’s no Punch Out but it’s still a fun boxing game.
The next two cost a fair bit more with Adventure Island II at $25 CAD (~$20 USD) and TMNT III for $45 CAD (~$36 USD).
With my NES collection at just over 50 games I’m very close to having all the titles I want. The collection will grow at a much slower pace now.
My SNES collection is similar in size at a bit over 50 titles.
For me the most exciting SNES additions here are Axelay and Lufia which cost me $50 CAD (~$40 USD) each. At the time everyone was selling these games for $100 CAD each so this felt like a good buy.
Now these newest Nintendo editions are ready to join the collection.
And the Neo Geo MVS Games also assimilated into the collection.
Those MVS clamshells are a must. They have such a commanding presence too.
I’m right there with ya. These cases really look amazing compared to loose carts. And the size is pretty imposing compared to everything else!