If you could turn back time...

[o2william]

Let's say you were granted the power to spend one day back in the past to enjoy some gaming-related activities. You can travel to any place and time you want, although standard sci-fi rules apply: You're not allowed to do anything that would seriously alter the future (so no going back and convincing Atari to market the NES, for example), but you are allowed to attend major events like a CES if you wanted. After 24 hours in the past, you must return to the present.

Important note: anything you purchase in the past will come back to the present with you! :D

You've got a chance to get your hands on some future rarities, to hang out at an '80s arcade, to witness gaming history unfolding firsthand! When and where would you go?

[Jibbajaba]

Maybe this is a boring answer, but I would love to go back to about 1989 or 1990 and check out the video game aisle at Toys R' Us, and maybe buy a few sealed games to bring back with me. It would be cool because it would be full of NES games, but also have some SMS games and the very first Genny games.

Chris

[JJNova]

Buy Microsoft stock at 5 dollars.

[Nesmaster]

buy some sealed games, and attend NWC 1990

[MegaDrive20XX]

Nothing, since I didn't read the fine print, thanks to JibbaJaba

[Steven]

The Greedy Me:

Go back to 1998 and buy 50 copies of Panzer Dragoon Saga. Turn around and sell each one sealed and mint for $150 shipped.

The Good Me:

Probably go back to the old days of NES where me, my bro and our uncle played Contra/Double Dragon II to death. :)

[Jibbajaba]

Save Atari by making them invest into Nintendo back in 1984 to produce the NES


You're not allowed to do anything that would seriously alter the future (so no going back and convincing Atari to market the NES, for example)

[MegaDrive20XX]

Save Atari by making them invest into Nintendo back in 1984 to produce the NES


You're not allowed to do anything that would seriously alter the future (so no going back and convincing Atari to market the NES, for example)


Ah crap, ok I'll change it

[Crush Crawfish]

I'd go back to the early eightes, and check out the golden age of arcades. I sadly never got to experience this as it was before my time.

I'd also stop myself from selling my copy of NES Bonk's Adventure. I'll smack myself with a brick if I must! LOL

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

I'd go back in time to around 1983ish or so, and hang out near the game room of a fishing resort in northern Arkansas, and sit back and watch my younger self and my mom pump something like ten bucks' worth of quarters into the Fantasy machine there. Just to see that again. Maybe take a picture. My fondest video gaming memory.

[neuropolitique]

Absolutely have to attend NWC. Maybe go back and slap myself for making fun of the NES top loaders instead of buying one. dumbass

[Daria]

I'd go back in time to around 1983ish or so, and hang out near the game room of a fishing resort in northern Arkansas, and sit back and watch my younger self and my mom pump something like ten bucks' worth of quarters into the Fantasy machine there. Just to see that again. Maybe take a picture. My fondest video gaming memory.

While you're doing that apparently I'll be busy being born- in Arkansas no less.

[Flack]

In the fall of 1985, I attended a birthday party at an arcade that was supposed to have 20 kids, but ended up only having 4 show up. So, the four of us each got 5 kids worth of tokens. That same weekend, our arcade got the brand new game, Gauntlet. The four of us spent what seems like several hours playing what seemed at the time to be the most awesome video game ever.

Gauntlet has been completely ruined by time -- if you've ever played it on a console or via MAME, you'll know what I mean. Once you can play for free, there's no art to staying alive. Just keep pumping in credits and away you go.

If I could go back to any day, I'd go back to that birthday party and experience Gauntlet all over again for the first time.

[suppafly]

I´d go visit the Nintendo Power headquarters back in 1988-1989 - 1990

[kjmontana]

I am old enough to have lived through the video game crash but I never had the money to buy the systems of that time until AFTER they did so. Anyway, I use to go to two cool arcades in Scottsdale, AZ: Video Roundup, just north of Thomas on Scottsdale Road; And an arcade at Los Arcos Mall(McDowell and Scottsdale Road), UNDER the main floor(right by my favorite Midnight Movie Theater!). Oh, the countless hours and quarters I spent after school and on weekends at these two pieces of heaven! I miss seeing crazy new arcade games weekly! Nowadays, the games are all sequels to an off-shoot of an idea from an '80's game, or so it seems. So, short story long: early '80's Scottsdale arcades, for me!

[Sanriostar]

If I had the $:

Get some cherry Arcade games (Pac-Man, Wizard of Wor, Robotron, Tempest, Donkey Kong) and bring them back.

Get SW'ed rarities and bring 'em back.

Take large-format color negative pictures of a 'magnet' arcade: the type with 200+ machines, from around 1983.

[Richter]

The Greedy Me:

Go back to 1998 and buy 50 copies of Panzer Dragoon Saga. Turn around and sell each one sealed and mint for $150 shipped.I'd go when TRU were clearencing them at $20

[Graham Mitchell]

I'd go back to about 1990 and buy all the Turbografx/Supergrafx/CD Rom stuff I could get my hands on. I have such fond memories of that system, and there's so much for it that I never got to see, not to mention the games I had that I would love to have a crack at again (Dungeon Explorer or Military Madness...anybody got one for sale/trade?)

I'd also make sure I could get ahold of all the imports for that machine that caught my eye. It was a great console, RIP,

[Cmosfm]

I gotta say, go back and attend NWC 1990....after first spending a grueling 6 week training period on the games. :)

Either that or go back to when arcades were booming and spend hours there without a care!

This topic made me think of the song by Cher - If I Could Turn Back Time. ROFL

[Azazel]

I'd go back to about 1990 and buy all the Turbografx/Supergrafx/CD Rom stuff I could get my hands on. I have such fond memories of that system, and there's so much for it that I never got to see, not to mention the games I had that I would love to have a crack at again (Dungeon Explorer or Military Madness...anybody got one for sale/trade?)

I'd also make sure I could get ahold of all the imports for that machine that caught my eye. It was a great console, RIP,

There's some flaws with that statement. Mainly cause you can get most stuff especially imports much cheper now a days than you could back in the early 90s.

[captain nintendo]

Buy Microsoft stock at 5 dollars.


Yep , just enough to live like I do now without working :D


Or I would go back to a date from 91 - 93 and buy all the close-out NES stuff along with some other key purchases ;)
Of course I wouldnt sell all of my items at once because that would flood the market :P

Either that of I would go back to the time I played Gauntlet and got to level 426 (I think, maybe it was higher) on one quarter :D Of course I couldnt finish because my mom came and pulled me away from the arcade :(
I was nowhere close to death either.

[QBert]

I too would go back and buy all the games that were suddenly so cheap and I didnt understand why at the time.(Or have the $$$$)

Kick myself for selling past consoles to upgrade to the new ones.

Kidnap Billy Mitchell. :)

[dcescott]

The year was 1982 or 1983. There is a place in Riverside CA, called the Castle, 3 stories of video games. EVERYTHING was there. Old games and the new ones. I have not seen quite a spread since then. Gamewise it was about 3 to 4 times the size of Gameworks or similar places nowadays. I havn't been out there since 96 but I'm sure it's still around.

[wberdan]

id like to go to that bar that they debuted pong at and just watch and play that sucker all night long over a few beers.


willie

[Graham Mitchell]

There's some flaws with that statement. Mainly cause you can get most stuff especially imports much cheper now a days than you could back in the early 90s.

Yeah, but where? (Other than Ebay). I've lived in both Seattle and Chicago in the past 10 years, and this stuff is totally gone, along with Sega Master System. Nobody carries them at all. I had assumed that either they just didn't sell or collectors had gobbled them all up. Atari products pop up, and so do all the 32-bit abortions like 3DO, but never anything from those two.

I started collecting with records, and a big part of the fun for me was making a "find". Buying stuff off the internet, though occasionally necessary, isn't as cool or exciting to me as finding it in a store. I wish I could find TG-16-related stuff in stores is maybe more what I was trying to say.

[Push Upstairs]

This topic made me think of the song by Cher - If I Could Turn Back Time. ROFL

I thought the exact same thing. That should be this threads theme song LOL


I would go back to 1992-1993 and play "Turbo Outrun" one more time and also chat with my past self.


Bring on the time paradox!

[Lady Jaye]

I'd go back sometime between 1987 and 1989 and would go back at playing the Atari 2600 and the NES with my friend Seb, watching The Super Mario Bros. Super Show (and Zelda on Fridays!) with him after school in junior high... All the time spent together trying to see if there's an end to Donkey Kong (2600 version)... Playing Baseball Stars and building a team based on the 1989 Expos (my team) and on the Detroit Tigers (his team), and firing the Expos' Zane Smith during every game.

Now, those were MY good ole days! :D

[fishsandwich]

I'd take back those words that hurt you and you'd stay.

Fish Sandwich

[blissfulnoise]

Going to list a couple of events I'd like to re-experience as myself.

Go back to Chuck E Cheese circa 1983 and tear into Robotron, Food Fight, Crystal Castles, and Sinistar while eating bad pizza. Once a month our parents would treat me and my brother out. Sometimes our cousins would go with us. We had so much fun tearing through that place. I had to stand on a milk crate to play games, but I'd still crush the scores of people four times my age.

Revisit the summer of 1991 when we lived in Colorado Springs and go back to The Boardwalk next to Burlington Coat Factory. A huge arcade complex that had all of their machines converted to take cards instead of coins/tokens. During the summer, it was play all day as much as you wanted for 15 bucks. Midnight Resistance, Kid Niki, MERCs, Quartet, APB, Toobin, STUN Runner, DJ Boy, Final Fight, Wrestlefest, Rampage, Ninja Gaiden... It was awesome to just walk away from games when you got bored. Every machine had like 30 credits in it.

May of 95', the first E3. Also my first trip away from home by myself. I was 16 and got in as press via a semi-professional Fanzine I wrote for (Video Game Time). We had friends at a few companies who got me hooked up but I was told to tell everyone I was 18. When I walked through the entrance way, I literally dropped to my knees. This was heaven. This was the world. I felt such unbelievable glee being there. I was told to leave twice by security (I really looked like I was 14) but I flew in my heart. 3 of the best days of my life.

9/9/99. I doubt I'll ever be that excited about a console again. The wash of adrenaline when playing Soul Caliber for the first time... the feeling that maybe Sega could win the video game war with superior games AND superior technology.

So many people have said they want to go back and buy rare games for cheap. That'd be cool and all, but hell, you can buy rare games now. It's events like the above that no amount of money can bring back. That's how I'd spend my day in the time machine.

[Kid Ice]

I'd go back to 1980 and give myself all the stuff I have now.

2nd choice: Go to the late 80s and hoard discounted 2600 games.

3rd choice: Go to an early 80s arcade.

[JJNova]

Well since no one laughed at my above post. I guess I will be serious like everyone else.

ALthough I have been gaming for a while, my most memorable day is Mortal Monday.

It's the Day my brother waited outside of Toys R Us, to spend 80 Dollars, and Bring home Mortal Kombat. Played that game nonstop for about two days. It's a warm memory that I have. Not for the blood and guts and playing a game that is controversial, but for having a Family member and me spend that much time together.....without really ripping each others spines out.

[RetroYoungen]

I'd save my pennies, get more cash than I would need, and go back to the heyday of arcades, just to drop quarter after quarter of the best arcade game of all time (in my opinion): Tempest.

Oh, and if I had enough cash, maybe buy my own brand new cab of it. :D

[rbudrick]

Well, we can't seriously alter the future, but we can bring back whatever we buy.....hmmm, that's a paradox.

Whatever we buy can seriously change the future, depending on rarity, worth and what we end up selling it for when we get back. Example: If I go back in time and buy 1000 copies of (sealed) Stadium Events, not only did I drastically change the rarity and value of those left, but I made a fortune slowly selling what I had. So, I drastically changed my future and the futures of all NES collectors looking for that game. Plus, we aren't including the butterfly effect of these actions...sigh...that could really balloon..

Sorry. I"m a party pooper. Start flinging the tomatoes.
:D

BTW, I would have taken Head Nintendo Game Play Counselor Ben Smith's offer of buying an NWC cart when I saw him holding one at the NWC 1990 in Worcestor, MA. Yeah, it was grey and he wanted 3gs, but I coulda got it autographed by a few bigwigs, increasing it's value I'm sure...and got pics. But oh well.

-Rob