Retro Megabit

New Additions: NES, SNES and PS4 Indies

Posted by Sega Dude on June 24, 2016

Posted in: Collection New Additions, Games, NES, SNES. Tagged: Castlevania III, Donkey Kong Country 3, Dragon Warrior II, Might Number 9, NES, nintendo, ps4, Retro City Rampage DX, Secret of Evermore, Secret of Mana, Shovel Knight, snes, sony. 6 Comments

Pick-Ups NES, SNES and PS4
So as it happens, sometimes my job requires me to leave the office. My regular route takes me very close to my favorite local Video Game store (Game Centre). And of course, I always feel obligated to stop in. Even though their focus is not Retro Video games they always seem to have some good retro stuff.

Here’s what I found just a few days ago when I stopped in.

Below is my newly found Castlevania III Dracula’s Curse. Like all of the games below the price I paid is nothing special. I did better than I would have on eBay and I think I did OK considering I bought these games from a store that knows the popularity of Retro Video games.

Castlevania 3 cost me $40 CAD and it’s in great shape with a really nice label.

Dragon Warrior II is also in really great shape and it set me back $30 CAD.

They are not cheap games but they are really good NES games. And to help easy my concerns about the cost I texted Nintendo Joe and asked his opinion. He’s constantly hunting and buying Nintendo games. With his own experience combined with the price guides he uses I knew he’d be able to tell me how well or poorly I did. His response? “That’s not too bad!” So, I believe I did OK.

I also told him about two games I had passed on. I walked away from SNES Adventure Island for $35 and I also passed on SNES Donkey Kong Country 3 for $40. Nintendo Joe confirmed that I can do better on Adventure Island. But when he told me “DK3 you could have Lorded over me!” (meaning he did not have the game for himself.) I immediately went back to the store and bought it. All of a sudden $40 sounded like a bargain. Below is my copy of Donkey Kong 3; a game that Nintendo Joe does not have.

Next up is SNES Secret of Evermore. I also got this game at Game Centre but that was much earlier this spring. If I remember right it cost me $40. Again not garage sale prices but the JRPG was one of my favorite genre’s on the SNES and this action JRPG looks like it will be fun.

I played Secret of Mana back in the day and I loved it. It’s a great game that I believe Secret of Evermore will be similar to. I was very excited to get this off of the local classifieds (kijiji) for $60. I’ve been watching this one and $80 is a very common price tag. This new addition also joined the collection earlier this spring.

Yes, the following are not technically retro video games but I will not hold it against them. All of Mighty No. 9, Retro City Rampage DX and Shovel Knight are without question retro inspired games.

I am enjoying having physical copies of Indie games that really might have remained digital only. I would love to have a copy of Child of Light as well but that physical copy is a bit too expensive at the moment.

Both Mighty No. 9 and Retro City Rampage DX I bought new when they were released. Shovel Knight I bought used for $22.

I am really happy with these new additions… especially for Donkey Kong Country 3 for the Super Nintendo!

Save

More NES and SNES Manuals

Posted by Sega Dude on June 22, 2016

Posted in: Collection New Additions, Games, NES, Nintendo, SNES. Tagged: game, manual, NES, nintendo, snes, super nintendo. 2 Comments

So, in keeping with my philosophy of a small yet deeply classy Nintendo collection I’ve found a few more manuals for some of my games. As expected some game manuals come with a large price tag but surprisingly a lot of good titles are fairly fordable. Of the 11 game manuals below (ordered from DKOldies.com) the prices ranged from $4 USD to $18 USD. Of course as a Canadian shopper the exchange rate is still hitting hard and it’s why this order was a lot smaller than it could have been. The grand total after shipping and exchange was $150 CAD. Putting the average cost per manual at about $13.60 CAD each. After spending some time checking out prices for loose manuals at retro video gaming conventions I think I did OK. I have yet to find a manual for sale for less than $10 CAD and I bet a bunch of the below would sell for $20 or more locally.

Here are the actual prices (in USD) that I paid for each:

Adventure Island $10
Metroid $12
Double Dragon II $7
Mystic Quest $11
Final Fantasy $12
Super R-Type $4
Zelda $18
Final Fight $8
Castlevania $18
Faxanadu $6
Dr. Mario $3

What I dislike about buying retro gaming manuals online from stores like DKOldies.com and Lukiegames.com is that you don’t get to see the manual before you buy it. So some dude out there in the world is making decisions on what they hope I’m going to be OK with.

And for $18 USD I think I would not have purchased the Zelda manual that I received from DKOldies.com. The cover has a few wrinkles and has general wear/rub on the front and back. $18 should have gotten me something better.

But it did come with a map. I had either long since forgotten or didn’t know that Zelda came with a world map. So this was a nice unexpected surprise.

Inside the manual every page is in excellent condition. So despite my grievances with the cover it is a good manual. However (and surprisingly) after doing a quick price check on eBay I found that this manual very regularly sells for a lot less money than what DKOldies.com sold it to me for. I suppose I wont be able to snag the best deal every time but it shows that it’s important to always be diligent.

The Zelda map has a lot of tape holding it together. The upside is the tape was very carefully and neatly applied. So it’s not in great condition but it is good and I’m pleased to have it.

Pouring over the Zelda manual and map has spark a lot of interest in playing this game again. I did play it a lot back in the day but I never beat the game. Maybe it’s time 🙂

Despite a few boxed SNES games that have come my way by chance I’m not really trying for complete games. But I find that I really do enjoy having both a Stone Age Gamer BitBox and manual for each of my NES and SNES games.

Wonder Boy the Dragon’s Trap Remake

Posted by Sega Dude on June 7, 2016

Posted in: Community. Tagged: Lizardcube, remake, sega, Wonder Boy the dragon's trap. 4 Comments

Wonder Boy the Dragon’s Trap is easily among the best games in the Sega Master System library. And now it’s getting remade and a whole new generation of gamers will get to experience it.
…and, of course, us older generation Dudes will be all over this release too!

A big thanks to “Destroy all Fanboys!” for giving me the heads-up on this news.

The caliber of this remake looks extremely high and I am very excited for the yet to be announced release date. The game will be available for consoles and PC. Below are a few details direct from lizardcube.com.

Description

A good curse makes a good game (or so they say)! turned into a half-human, half-lizard monstrosity by the Meka-Dragon, a lonesome adventurer is facing the challenge of a lifetime! In search for a cure, our mutated anti-hero will explore the many traps of Monster Land… and defeat many stuff-throwing, curse-wielding dragons. How many more transformations can one hopeful body survive, as it turns into a Lizard, a Mouse, a Piranha, a Lion, and a Hawk… The six different forms of our shape-shifting hero make up the cast of this non-stop action-adventure platformer!

Featuring

A huge interconnected world!
6 playable forms for our shape-shifting hero, with different abilities!
Dragons of all kinds! A Zombie Dragon! A Mummy Dragon! A Samurai Dragon!
An eye-patch wearing shop-keeper pig who may or may not provide a sense of warmth and direction!
Beautiful, hand-drawn animated graphics!
A memorable soundtrack, based on Shinichi Sakamoto’s originals, re-imagined and recorded with classical instruments!
…and more to be announced!

Prepare to be dazzled. Wonder Boy the Dragon’s Trap is looking very very good.

WonderBoyTheDragonsTrap-03

WonderBoyTheDragonsTrap-04

WonderBoyTheDragonsTrap-05

WonderBoyTheDragonsTrap-06

Four screen shots above where you can see the fire breathing lizard is the area in the world which acts as your hub between levels. I recognized it right away; this really is Wonder Boy the Dragon’s Trap!

And now for some bedazzling. Seeing the game in motion rocked my world. The game really does appear to be very faithful to the original Sega Master System Wonder Boy III while at the same delivering some really stunning graphics.

This announcement came as a surprise considering that not long ago Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom was also announced as a spiritual successor paying homage to Wonder Boy.

I don’t know why we’re so fortunate to have two new Wonder Boy games coming our way but it’s a trend that I really hope continues. Sega has a lot of game franchises that I’d love to see return.

NESathon 2K16 HD, Streaming Live June 3rd, 2016

Posted by Sega Dude on June 2, 2016

Posted in: Community, New Release (Hardware). Tagged: AVS, Charity, Multiple Sclerosis, NESathon 2016 HD, retroUSB, waterloo game swap. 4 Comments

During my recent visit to Waterloo for the Waterloo Game Swap I was very pleasantly surprised to find a real live AVS by RetroUSB. If you haven’t heard about the AVS, it’s newly made Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) console created by RetroUSB. It does not use software emulation and offers an HDMI port so you can play your NES games on an HD TV.

Unfortunately is was not for sale. The reason the AVS was at the Waterloo Game Swap was to promote the imminent NESathon 2016 HD. In support of Multiple Sclerosis Research the NESathon will be taking donations during this 50 hour video gaming marathon.

“NESATHON 2K16 HD will take place:
Friday June 3rd at 3:00PM EST and run through until Sunday June 5th!
We will be playing NES games for 50+ hours in HD (thanks retrousb.com) and streaming the whole thing live to raise funds for Multiple Sclerosis Research.”
http://nesathon.blogspot.ca

NESATHON 2K16 Official Trailer

You can find all the details here: nesathon.blogspot.ca

Although it was brief I did get some hands on time with the AVS. I was able to play Super Mario Bros. 3 for about 5 minutes. And during that time my impression of the AVS is that it does as advertised. The image was very clear like you’d expect on an HD display and I did not notice any input lag at all. The instant I pressed the button Mario would jump. Super Mario Bros. 3 seemed to play just as well as it would on an original NES.
I asked (who I believe is) the NE$ Pimp if he’d be willing to turn on scan-lines. He did and there was a very noticeable difference. I do believe I prefer the scan-lines. It really made Super Mario Bros. 3 look more authentic while still being an HD image.

My already elevated excitement for the RetroUSB AVS is climbing higher. I am very eager for news of a release date.

Below are a few pictures I of took at the Waterloo Game Swap including some pictures of the HD AVS.

Check out the line to get into the Waterloo Game Swap! Nintendo Joe and I were about half way when I took this picture. And it did not take long to get in once the doors opened.

What you see below is not quite half the size of the event floor. Nothing but piles of retro video games everywhere.

What’s this? The retroUSB AVS?! It was great to get a chance to try it out first hand.

The photo doesn’t show it off very well but this is Super Mario Bros. 3 is being displayed with scan lines. I really to prefer this option on.

Now’s your chance to see what the HD AVS can do and see NES games played in glorious HD. Tune in to the NESathon 2016 HD, watch some fellow retro fans play the heck out of the AVS and help a good cause while you’re at it.

…I wonder if the NE$ Pimp realizes that he met the Sega Dude?

Local Retro Pick-Ups, Genesis and NES

Posted by Sega Dude on May 31, 2016

Posted in: Collection New Additions, Games, Genesis (North America), NES, Nintendo, SEGA. Tagged: AT@Games, CRT TV, garage sale, nintendo joe, Sega Game Gear, Sega Genesis Ultimate Portable Game Player. 6 Comments

Local Retro Pick-Ups

During a lunch break last week I popped over to my favorite local video game store just for something to do. The weather was very nice and I wanted to get out.

I was hoping to find a cool Sega Genesis, NES or SNES game but their inventory had not changed much since my last visit and I found nothing… Until I looked up, way up at a shelf right near the ceiling and saw a boxed ATGames Sega Genesis handheld.

ATGAMES Sega Genesis
I already had the older orange model and I knew this newer blue version would have a different selection of games. The price was $40 CAD and I decided to pick it up. I discovered that this newer blue model has 40 built in games whereas the orange has 20 built in games. There are some duplicates but the variety is pretty good. Each handheld supports SD cards so really you could be walking around with the entire Genesis / Mega Drive library.

It was interesting to see the original retail price of $80 (when it sold at HMV). And at some point HMV marked it down to $60.

The ATGames Sega Genesis Ultimate Portable Game Player is certainly not ‘Ultimate’ but it is good. The screen and emulation is good enough, the sound is just OK and the battery life is actually amazing. The biggest fault is that this device will not support saving. Any game that has the save option is crippled on this unit. So long as you can come to terms with loading it up with only those games that do not need saving then it really is a very nice way to make your Genesis games mobile.

Just this past weekend my wife and I and a bunch of friends went out garage sailing at a large neighborhood event. Despite not finding much it was a great day and I did find this wonderful 14″ perfect flat CRT TV complete with original remote for $10. It was manufactured in 2005 and it supports composite, s-video and component video. Someday I’ll get around to adding s-video ports to some of my consoles to take advantage the improved video quality.

But! The Sega Genesis still looks pretty good just using composite. I used Space Harrier and Chakan to test the TV when I got it home.

14inch CRT TV
I do have a giant 32″ CRT TV where I do most of my retro video gaming but I plan on finding some small corner somewhere in the house for this new 14″ CRT. Sometimes I loose access to my basement and I’d like to have a backup plan.

Also, during this past weekend Nintendo Joe and I went over to a local video game store called Retro Game Bros. I found a complete and great condition copy of Greendog the Beached Surfer Dude! for $15 and a loose Contra for the NES for $55.

Crontra Greendog

The cost of Contra stung a bit but I do not think I’ll find it for less. Popularity for NES games is just too high these days. This is why I believe my NES and SNES collection will stay relatively small.

Finally, this past Sunday Nintendo Joe and I went to the neighboring city of Waterloo for the Waterloo Game Swap.

I never intended on playing or collecting for the Sega Game Gear (in part because my Game Gear is broken) but over the years Nintendo Joe has continually been giving me Game Gear games that he’s found out in the wild. A lot of these games actually look like really good titles. So when I saw this really nice boxed and complete game gear I decided to see if I could work down the price. I had brought with me a bunch of loose SNES carts. I showed them to the guy selling this Game Gear and I ask for $10 off for every cart he wanted. He ended up taking Wizardry V and Ultima the False Prophet. I added $30 CAD and the deal was done.

Boxed Sega Game Gear

What really surprised me at the Waterloo Game Swap was finding complete and really good condition Genesis games that I did not have. This was a nice treat. The three Genesis games below where priced at $50 total. Again I was able to strike a deal and paid the seller $25 and a loose cart of Total Carnage for the SNES.

Genesis and NES Games

I wasn’t able to pull off any trades for these NES games. Mega Man 2 cost me $35, Ninja Gaiden II with manual for $25 and Ninja Gaiden for $20. I did offer $30 for Mega Man 2 but that didn’t fly. I came back later after Nintendo Joe said it was a fair price.

So in the end the Sega Dude had a great retro weekend! Hopefully the summer will bring more of this goodness.

My good buddy did significantly better than I did at the same garage sale event. Check out Nintendo Joe’s loot here.

Had any nice finds yourself recently? I’ve love to hear about it!

AVS, the HD NES by retroUSB

Posted by Sega Dude on May 14, 2016

Posted in: Community, Hardware, NES, New Release (Hardware), Nintendo. Tagged: AVS, clone, emulation, HD, NES, nintendo, retroUSB. 7 Comments

The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an awesome video game console and the only place where there is any room for improvement is in longevity.

Thanks to retroUSB we’re getting exactly that and more.

If you’re a retro Nintendo enthusiast you’re likely to have seen this news all over the Internet. Despite the many third party re-invented Nintendo consoles that we’ve seen appear over the years (such as the Hyperkin Retron 5) the AVS by retroUSB has generated a lot of excitement for me for one very specific reason. It does not use software emulation. Which suggests that the AVS has the potential to perform exactly the same as our original NES consoles; without any of those varied anomalies in visuals and audio that we see with software based emulation.

So why not just stick with your classic and 100% authentic NES Console? Well, you should. Keep that gem in the nerd cave hooked up to that beautiful CRT (Tube) TV. The retroUSB AVS belongs upstairs hooked up to your HD TV via HDMI. This is where longevity kicks in. Slowly old CRT TV’s are disappearing as people continually fail to see their value! Now, thanks to retroUSB we can continue playing the NES in what I’m hoping to be a very authentic way on our modern TVs. With the one exception being vastly improved visuals that composite video used on the original hardware could never deliver.

Below you’ll see a brief list of the AVS’ features and a video demonstration.

SPECS:
Video: 720p Wide Screen HDMI output, 60Hz (NTSC) and 50Hz (PAL)
Audio: 44.1kHz HDMI output with expansion audio from carts.
Display: Variable pixel scaling including integer options (1:1, 4:3, 5:3) with optional darkness scanlines.
Carts: Front loading NES, Top loading Famicom
Ports: Built in NES Four Score Pro, Famicom Expansion Port
Ports: HDMI Type A for video and audio, USB Mini B for power and data.
Cheats: 5 cheat code slots with built in code database supporting Game Genie, Pro Action Replay, Pro Action Rocky, and raw formats
Online: NA Scoreboard online score system through USB
Updates: Upgrade FPGA configuration and menu system through USB

If you’re an Uber Nerd you know about RGB mods that can very significantly improve the video quality of your original NES.
How does the retroUSB AVS stack up against RGB mods and high quality upscalers? Have a look at this excellent video from My Life in Gaming:

For a time I did own a Retro-Bit Retro DUO but the cheap plastics and imperfect emulation compelled me to sell it and stick with my original NES and SNES. I was very tempted to buy the Retron 5 but I never did. Despite seeing it in action (thanks to Nintendo Joe for the loan!) there were enough… differences (I don’t want to say flaws) that held me back from loving it.

At the moment I am very tempted to buy retroUSB’s AVS. It’s not yet available for sale but I believe there will be more news on a release date closer to the end of June 2016. So far it’s been hinted that the cost of the AVS will be under $200 USD.

Are you tempted? Is the retroUSB AVS for you?