Blockbuster World Championship

[thetoxicone]

Since I began posting here I see post here and there about people playing in the NWC but never any stories about the blockbuster world championship so I figured I'd include mine and see if anyone else has any.

For the first championship they had in 1994, A friend and I decided to try the Genesis division and I ended up winning for the whole state of South Dakota and got a trip to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida for the World Championships. I remember getting 40 something in a half in NBA Jam for the first week, Some insanely high score on Sonic 3 the next (thank god for the bonus stage), and a fair time in Virtua Racing the last week. The only thing that really mattered was getting a high score in Sonic since that made up for any errors on the other games.

In going to Florida for the championship I amassed a small pile of interesting items that I have never seen anyone else have. This includes a duffle bag, t-shirts, and a hat with the world championship logo, many different folders of information that was sent ahead of time to let you know which games would be played and what would be expected, and also promo items for various games (clayfighter tournament edition shirt, boogerman sticky ball, nintendo play it loud hats (one of which ended up being worn by my grandpa for a long time since he found it laying around and started wearing it) and other things like that.

I totally bombed in the championship part in Florida but it was still a great experience since I got to play a bunch of stuff that wasn't released yet and got loads of free stuff.

On a side note, when I started a job two years ago, I found a guy that was in my training class that ended up placing second to me in the state so he didn't get to go to Florida because of me.

Anyone else take part in this and have any stories?

[thetoxicone]

Look at me...I'm bumping my own 3 year old post, but I am adding some pictures. This includes the duffel bag, my player number I had to wear on myself when competing, the schedule I received, the folder stuff came in, and some press info on upcoming games.

I should stumble upon the shirts and hats soon enough and I'll take pictures of them as well.

[thetoxicone]

One more picture

[PixelSmasher]

That's some really cool stuff. I was checking out the itinerary; did they actually put you up at a hotel and all that for you to compete?

[DigitalSpace]

Thanks for the story and pics! What do you remember playing at the Florida championship?

[thetoxicone]

Thanks for the story and pics! What do you remember playing at the Florida championship?

I don't remember everything so I'll take a look at some of the other paperwork because I know there are lists on it.

That's some really cool stuff. I was checking out the itinerary; did they actually put you up at a hotel and all that for you to compete?

Yep, they flew my mom and I, since I was only 14 at the time, from Aberdeen, SD to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

I really surprised no other people around here had any experiences with this.

Here's a couple more pictures, first is a boogerman promo sticky ball I got at one of the booths there and second my hats I got there (actually I had another Play it Loud nintendo hat but my grandpa used to wear it...kinda funny seeing a 60 year old man wearing a play it loud hat)

[DigitalSpace]

That Boogerman sticky ball is pretty cool.

[PixelSmasher]

...nintendo play it loud hats (one of which ended up being worn by my grandpa for a long time since he found it laying around and started wearing it)...

That's pretty rad.

[MachineGex]

That is a great story. I really wish they would do stuff like this again. Without E3(the real E3), this type of nation-wide competition could be worth it for a company like Blockbuster or Gamestop.

[NeoSNightmarE]

That is pretty cool, I was living in South Florida at the time and remember the commercials for the competition. Thanks for sharing.

[thahurricanegame]

I sometimes scratch my head and ask the same questions as well..why does Blockbuster EBgames etc have these types of competitions now a days? I understand back in the day it was not only just competition but a WICKED source of marketing and in this day in age why waste money on advertising when there are cheaper and easier avenues..but with the constant threat and revenue loss from bootlegging a company like Blockbuster could afford to allocate some money towards something like this again.

From my above paragraph one can probably deduce I am from the old school gaming generation...I too have plenty of pics to post for you guys...I have a vast array of swag I collected as well that floods the closets of my house these days..I will try and do my best to get pics up.

Right now my digi cam is dead and I am heading out shortly but I did end up using my PDA to get a few pics for you guys enjoy and I will post more..wow I am suprised nobody else has found it onto these forums from "back in the day" I wonder where the champions are for the SNES and Genesis formats from 94 would be good to see them chime in...

[thahurricanegame]

I am going to try and post pics I hope it works..for now just put up with the crapp pics..my scanner is not at my house..and I took out my old pictures (shot with a standard camera back then in the 90's) and took pictures of pictures with my PDA lol...enjoy though it will bring back memories....more pics to come...

I forgot to add some comments

the first pic - that the finals for my country (canada) taking place at the famous Hockey Hall of Fame..I beat the living Sh%t out of over 10 people seems like I had to play like 15 to 20 it was a LONG competition but I came out on top and there were some people who were pissed lol.

The second pic - there were many people hired by different brand names to market their products those two guys represented one fighting game from the 90's I am sure you all can name...

The third pic - this was one of hundreds of shots my family took of the gaming stage on the stage there (hard to make out because i took pictures of pictures with my PDA for now) we have the competition getting read to kick off..

[thahurricanegame]

I forgot to add I placed in the top six in Florida..I made the stupid error of changing up my strategy and or game play almost in mid game to compete with the others..had I stuck to my original strategies I practiced for some games a month or so leading up to Florida I might of been playing against the SNES champ.

All in all though it was a fun experience..even though I missed the chance at GamePro's grand prize..visit theier headquarters and get to have your image put in an actual game...I was the talk of my city and almost across my Province (state as you guys in the US would say) I was in the news..paper and local news..fun times..

[thahurricanegame]

Nobody else has pictures? Competed in this thing and has stories for us?

[thahurricanegame]

Bump this mofo : )

[evilbean]

Wow. I am so glad to find this post and meet another member of the elite 230ish people from around the world (mostly US) who went to the 1994 Blockbuster World Game Championship. I represented RI for Super Nintendo, I'm 25 now so I was 12 or so when I went. Our group was called the "Dream Team 3". I was late getting to the hotel so they ended up just putting me in a group with a bunch of older guys (probably 17years bc the cutoff was 18). I think the group that won the whole thing (group contest, not individual) was called the "Immortal Kombatants"

During the months beforehand, participating at the Blockbuster stores I remember getting 49 points in NBA Jam using the Detroit Pistons, two weeks later was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighter, and then Clayfighter.

They sent me to the district finals for NBA Jam which I lost immediately. I didn't think anything of it until weeks later I got the huge packet telling me that I was the RI representative. My parents thought it was a mistake and found out I wasn't even supposed to go to the district event.

Going to Ft. Lauderdale was incredible. They paid for room and board, plus you get that huge dufflebag full of awesome stuff. When you walked around the convention center you got to play all the games that were brand new or hadn't been released yet. They exhibited the XBand for Super Nintendo, Pitfall-The Mayan Adventure and tons of others. There were Mortal Kombat 2 Arcade games all over the place.

Celebrities that were there were Jonathon Taylor Thomas-- talking about the Lion King, and Six from Blossom (she sat behind me). It was awesome.

There were boxes of collectors edition sealed PEZ things that you could continuously grab over and over. They gave everyone free Blockbuster Cards and took us by bus to use at the Blockbuster Golf and Games Arcade and driving range.

I did horrible in the finals (probably got last place), but it was definitely a great memory. No one will probably remember this but there used to be a Nintendo Game show (the person who won got to run through isles of video games and velcro them to their suit then shoot up a ramp and slide down a tube) and I think the guy who hosted that show hosted the main event. I even asked him as I was walking off and he said I was glad I was a fan and that the show was coming back (the show never came back).

If anybody has any questions, feel free to email me. I'm sure my parents still have the pictures somewhere..

[SegaAges]

Middle pic = Hello Kitty Adventure Island, right?

jk, that is pretty awesome dude.

I am going to try and post pics I hope it works..for now just put up with the crapp pics..my scanner is not at my house..and I took out my old pictures (shot with a standard camera back then in the 90's) and took pictures of pictures with my PDA lol...enjoy though it will bring back memories....more pics to come...

I forgot to add some comments

the first pic - that the finals for my country (canada) taking place at the famous Hockey Hall of Fame..I beat the living Sh%t out of over 10 people seems like I had to play like 15 to 20 it was a LONG competition but I came out on top and there were some people who were pissed lol.

The second pic - there were many people hired by different brand names to market their products those two guys represented one fighting game from the 90's I am sure you all can name...

The third pic - this was one of hundreds of shots my family took of the gaming stage on the stage there (hard to make out because i took pictures of pictures with my PDA for now) we have the competition getting read to kick off..

[slicky2]

thanks for the story.

[nestlekwik]

No one will probably remember this but there used to be a Nintendo Game show (the person who won got to run through isles of video games and velcro them to their suit then shoot up a ramp and slide down a tube) and I think the guy who hosted that show hosted the main event. I even asked him as I was walking off and he said I was glad I was a fan and that the show was coming back (the show never came back).

Of course someone remembers it. I used to watch Video Power in its competition form all the time when it ran on WGN. My local affiliates never carried the G4-Tech-TV-type shows with reviews, cheats and interviews, so I had to watch those editions at my grandparents' house when we made the travel. The host your thinking of went by the name Johnny Arcade and if you dig around, a lot of '90s Internet archives have a few good things on the show:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ap-_v...eature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMvP_...eature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezbeH...eature=related
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Power
http://www.nesplayer.com/television/...iles/power.htm

Sadly, I also was never able to have an affiliate carry GamePro TV or The Power Team cartoon Acclaim threw together.

[rbudrick]

Yes, please post any and all pics!

-Rob