Mega Drive – New Addition (Battle Mania)

Posted by Sega Dude on October 27, 2013
Posted in: Collection New Additions, Games, Genesis (North America), Mega Drive (Japanese). Tagged: , , , , , , , . 17 Comments

battle-mania-banner

I really enjoyed writing this post 🙂

Not too long ago a very close friend of mine got married (to an awesome woman) and he asked me to be his best man. As if the honor alone was not enough he later told me he wanted to thank me for a fun stag night.
He knows me well so he came up with the idea of getting me a retro video game. He told me to find a game for $100 and he’d pay for it. Normally I avoid paying $100 or more for a video game (I’ve done this twice) because I don’t want to get comfortable with the practice and I really don’t think they’re worth that much.
My buddy liked the idea that he’d be able to get me something that I would love and would normally not get for myself.
I spent a lot of time hunting around on ebay and I found a game that I know always goes for at least $100 or more.
I found a mint copy of Battle Mania which ended up costing $110 USD after shipping.

This game is everything you can hope for in a Japanese title. It has very good and unique art work, it’s a good game and there is no language barrier.

In reality there is a Stripper out there somewhere who earned a copy of Battle Mania but I am happy that I’m the one who got the credit for it 😀

Thanks Chris!

Battle Mania

Battle Mania Gameplay

I actually have the Genesis version for Battle Mania which is called Trouble Shooter. I think it’s pretty rare too. Because I do love collecting for both the Genesis and the Japanese Mega Drive I really love having both of these. Specially considering how different the artwork is. And as usual the Mega Drive artwork is much better. Mostly because the Heroines don’t look like 80’s aerobic instructors.

Trouble Shooter

Trouble Shooter Gameplay

Did anyone notice that in the Japanese Mega Drive version a Super Famicom got totally stomped during the Sega Logo scene? 😀

The only real problem is that I now know there is a Battle Mania 2 and it usually sells for $200 or more! It’s tough business being a collector…

Here is my my excellent Battle Mania in the Collection!

Battle Mania in the Collection

Genesis – New Additions (World Heroes…)

Posted by Sega Dude on October 20, 2013
Posted in: Collection New Additions, Games, Genesis (North America). Tagged: , , , , , . 2 Comments

Very slowly my Genesis collection is growing again. It’s been so much more afordable to buy Japanese Mega Drive games that I found my Mega Drive collection has started to run away from my Genesis numbers. So it’s nice to finally start to inject the Genesis side with some reasonable titles. Nothing too exciting here but these are good for the book shelf 🙂

World Heroes looks a lot like all the other 2D fighters that aren’t as good as Street Fighter. It doesn’t look bad but I’m guessing it was over shadowed by many much better Fighters despite getting it’s own sequal. It’s likely that the original NEO GEO version was better. It’s complete and in Excellent Condition and pretty cheap at $9.50 including shipping.

World Heroes

World Heroes Gameplay

DJ Boy is normally the kind of cute action game that wouldn’t get much interest from me. But I believe this title was pretty popular and I think I’ll check it out someday. This copy is complete and in Very Good condition and cost $15 including shipping.

DJ Boy

DJ Boy Gameplay

I was excited to find Dashin’ Desperadoes only because I have never seen or heard of it before. This rarely happens. I definiately don’t have all Genesis titles commited to memory but for the most part I’ll reconnize any Genesis game at some level. And then to find a never before seen game at a local video game store complete and in Excellent Condition for $4 was a very cool surprise.

Dashin’ Desperadoes

Dashin’ Desperadoes Gameplay

I can thank my buddy Nintendo Joe at MyNintendoDimension for Dashin’ Desperadoes. He took me the store where I found this one. Four dollars!  😀

Genesis – New Additions (Stargate…)

Posted by Sega Dude on October 15, 2013
Posted in: Community, Games, Genesis (North America). Tagged: , , , , , , , , . 4 Comments

My good friend over at MyNintendoDimension loves Thrift Stores. And he’s pretty dedicated to the hunt. Which, as it turns out, has been good for me too.

Here are four Genesis games that he recently gave me. I think each cost him about $4 or $5 each. Not all are in great shape but I’m really happy to score some boxed Genesis games. I’m finding that it’s getting much harder to find Genesis games in good shape and for a price I’m willing to pay. *Free is an excellent price.

I loved Stargate the movie and the TV show was just OK. Somehow just OK was enough for me to watch all of it… and it’s spin-offs. And Stargate the Genesis video game? I don’t know. I’ve only watched the video clip below and like the TV show it looks just OK. I don’t think anyone who’s not into the show or movie would spend much time on the game. I’ll try it out sometime and revisit my impressions of the game. This copy is complete and in Very Good shape and it was Free!

Stargate

Stargate Gameplay

Taz in Escape from Mars has very nice looking graphics but the game looks frustrating and maybe a little boring too. I haven’t tried any of these four games myself so this just my impression from watching the video clips. This copy is missing the manual but it’s in Very Good shape and it was Free!

Taz in Escape from Mars

Taz Gameplay

Looking at Jurassic Park I got the exact same impression as I did from Stargate. I looks just OK. I bet the graphics looked pretty fancy back in the day but the game play seems a bit dull. The cover sleeve, manual and cart all have some damage so I’m going to say this one’s condition is just OK. But it is complete and again it was free 😀

Jurassic Park

Jurassic Park Gameplay

Even though I’m not very interested in video games that are older than the 8-bit era there’s no denying that there were some good games made despite heavy hardware restrictions. This is a very nice classic to have for the collection. It’s complete and in Excellent condition… and free!

Ms. PAC-MAN

Ms. PAC-MAN Gameplay

Thanks Jon! I know how badly you must have wanted to sell or trade these games away. Thanks for thinking of me!

He’s also given me a beat up cart of Barney’s Hide & Seek Game but made up for that by also giving me a complete copy of Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker.
We have a healthy Retro friendship. I’ve given him a few games too. Most recently Final Fantasy II, Super Mario Kart, Contra III the Alien Wars and others like a bunch of Genesis and Master System games.

Now that Jon has a site I’ve added him to my Links page. I’m sure he’s honored 😛

MyNintendoDimension

Volgarr the Viking Gameplay!

Posted by Sega Dude on September 25, 2013
Posted in: Community. Tagged: , , , , , . 3 Comments

Finally we can all enjoy Volgarr the Viking!

On September 13, 2013 Volgarr the Viking was released and it is Amazing. This beautifully retro themed platformer is all about solid mechanics and rewarding gameplay. If you’ve read anything about Volgarr the Viking since it’s release I’m sure you’ve read that it is very hard. And yes, it is. But I’d like to say that I feel it’s perfectly hard. If you persevere it will not take long to understand how you have failed Volgarr and you will learn what you need to make everyone in your path crumble to bones.

Only after a about 20min of playing the official release of Volgarr the Viking I decided to record some of my gameplay. I thought it might be fun to watch someone who hasn’t mastered the game trying to figure it out. If you’re a purist and don’t want to see anything before your own first experience then stop here. But aside from that there isn’t much in the way of spoilers. I don’t know any special tricks or secrets and I didn’t even make it to the end boss. I got close but I didn’t know it. This is just me talking about a game that I am really enjoying.

When I purchased this game during its kickstarter campaign I ended up getting an extra copy that I could give away as a gift. Would you like a free copy? 🙂
If you’re interested in a free copy of Volgarr the Viking leave a comment and tell me why you want this game (don’t say because it’s free!). I’ll put everyone who comments into raffle and email the download code to the winner. *I’ll leave this offer open to comments until Saturday October 5th, 2013.

There are a few things I say that were miss-leading or wrong in the video. When I talk about the shield taking damage and breaking; at that moment I had the Hammer Shield which can actually block any number of hits without breaking. It’s only the wooden shield that will break after two hits.
Also, I believe for the first week of release the game sold for $10 USD. It is now $12. Which I believe is still a fantastic deal.

Volgarr the Viking (bkgrnd)

Game Swap!

Posted by Sega Dude on September 17, 2013
Posted in: Collection New Additions, Community, Genesis (North America). Tagged: , , , , , , , , . 12 Comments

My good friend over at NintendoDimention and I went to a Game Swap this past Sunday. The event was renting tables for $25 and because we had so much stuff we chose this option.

What I didn’t expect was that this event was really a vendor show where sellers would come out and sell their retro video games. With the exception of packing up many boxes of my doubles I was entirely unprepared. For the first 20 minutes there I was setting up my stuff on the table. Then at 12:00 noon the event opened the doors and I was bombarded with “how much is this?” and “what are you selling that for?” My reply was… “Uh uh uh…”

All doubles and extras!

Packed up and ready to Go!

In the end I settled on selling Sega Master System games for $10 if they were missing the manual and $15 if they were complete. These weren’t rare or super popular titles but there were definitely some good ones. I did the same for my Sega Genesis games but with a few more exceptions.

I ended up selling Phantasy Star II complete with hint guide for $35 and a SNES Zelda (cart only) for $35 as well. All in all, after buying some games and selling some I went home with an extra $220.

I also did some trading. I traded four Genesis games (Valis, Light Crusader and two other common titles; all complete) for a Sega 32x with the hookups and 3 carts. If I end up liking my new 32x I’ll be happy with this trade. I was a little uneasy about letting Valis go. I never really wanted to spend $50 or more on a 32x so I thought this was a good way to finally get one for the collection.
I picked up ‘AAAHH!! Real Monsters’ and ‘Cool Spot’ both complete and in excellent shape for $5 each.  The SNES games were $10 each and the NES were $5 each. The N64 Rogue Sqaudron was free from my buddy 🙂 Thanks! *I’ve gotten a lot of goodies from him.

Sega 32X

Some cool additions.

This next trade might sound crazy but I am so very happy with it. I traded a complete excellent condition Sega Master System in the box for one single Genesis game. Just one!

The Punisher. Complete and in excellent condition. *Not really complete. It does not have the tatoo that once came in the box. But I’m OK with that.

The Punisher

I think the guy I traded with did well and I’ve had this 2nd boxed Master System for years and I was thrilled to get a game that consistently lists for $100 or more on ebay for no money at all. Sure I spent money on my SMS but if I were to guess I might have paid $30-$40 for it back in the 90’s from a hock shop. Maybe even less I can’t remember.

During the day when I first saw Punisher he was selling it for $90 and I offered to pay him $60 if it hadn’t sold by the end of the day. He said he already had the same offer but for $70. So later I suggested he come by my table and see if there was anything he wanted from my stuff. And there you have it 🙂 A very happy SegaDude.

RAIDED!

Posted by Sega Dude on September 2, 2013
Posted in: Community. Tagged: , , , , . 3 Comments

I haven’t done much with my Nintendo collection yet despite having plans to take it online like I have with my Sega collection but that hasn’t stopped it from getting noticed.
Over the weekend my collection was Raided! It was deliberate, carefully planned and had a singular objective.

Click Image to Watch

I didn’t get to enjoy my boxed and complete Contra 3 for long before it was taken away from me and added to Jon’s collection. This all went down while I was upstairs BBQing for Jon and our friends. He’s very smart… Food is one of the few ways to get me out of my basement.

Belloq
The ‘Deleted Scenes’ video above will give you a nice sneak peek of Jon’s Retro Video Game collection and even his G1 Transformers collection too. Slowly he’s starting to come around to the idea of getting his collection online. We might get to see more soon.