fishsandwich
05-04-2005, 10:58 AM
Back in the day (and I am carbon dating myself now) I played the heck out of the Atari 2600 (which was still popular and in stores.)
I asked my parents for a 5200 for my birthday... must have been 1981 or 1982. I didn't know if I'd get one or not. Me and my mother went to pick blackberries and she opened the trunk to the car while I was standing next to it. There, supposedly "hidden" in the trunk, was my new 5200. I had to wait several weeks to get it, but I can't tell you how nice it was to know that I had it coming.
Of course, my parents didn't know that the pack-in game "Super Breakout" wasn't so good. I still played the hell out of it on those shite controllers.
I saved my allowance and birthday/Christmas money to buy games. I'd go to Sears or Zayre's every few weeks (or months as it were) and buy a new game. I don't remember how long it took me to build a collection, but I do remember buying Star Trek and being very disappointed when I finished it that day. I do remember thinking that the quasi-3D graphics were super-cool, though.
I think I collected at least 30 games, and I saved all the boxes and instructions.
I remember having great fun with Miner 2049er, Pac Man, and especially James Bond. I actually beat that game and didn't know until much later that most people think it sucks and that it is too hard.
Anyway, fast-forward to 1987 or so. I have a NES and my 5200 is sitting in a box in a closet... the games are loose and are hanging out in with the console in the cool smoked plastic & turtoise shell console holder (with lid) my dead grandmother bought me, all the boxes and instructions are in the attic in a bag.
I befriended a pitiful girl who was 16 and whose mother had just paid the rent for their apartment for two months, left a $100 bill and a note on the kitchen table, and then abandoned her 16 child. She did not return until years later. Karen and I worked at a car wash together, and I would give her rides and wash her laundry at my house once in a while.
She eventually moved in with another girl and asked if she could "borrow" my 5200 and games to have something to do while she tried to kick her cocaine addiction. I agreed, brought over the 5200, ALL the games, the cool console hutch, and the spare controllers that my dear mother had bought in her infinite wisdom when she realized how quickly they broke and how shitty they really were.
The collecting bug had not bit me yet, and I really didn't care that she kept it for a long time. She eventually got married (and asked me to be a groomsman, even though I hardly knew the guy.) She eventually got a nursing degree. I have not seen her in almost 20 years and I have no idea where she lives or what her married name is. I never saw my 5200 collection again. I hope it's ok.
About 10 years ago, I went up to the attic and what did I find? A big old bag FULL of 5200 game boxes and instructions. Most all of them were in very good shape. Several of these boxes were for pretty rare games. What did I do with these 30 pristine 5200 boxes and instuctions?
I crammed them all into the bloody TRASH CAN and some dude pulled them up a few days later in a smelly truck and took them to the city dump.
:bad-words:
:duh:
I have one witness to my idiocy... the box and instructions for Frogger somehow made it through the holocaust. It must have fallen out. I still have it to this day as a reminder of my stupidity.
:puke:
ps. I have a 5200 multicart, and I know I could buy everything I threw away on Ebay. It's not the same thing.
I asked my parents for a 5200 for my birthday... must have been 1981 or 1982. I didn't know if I'd get one or not. Me and my mother went to pick blackberries and she opened the trunk to the car while I was standing next to it. There, supposedly "hidden" in the trunk, was my new 5200. I had to wait several weeks to get it, but I can't tell you how nice it was to know that I had it coming.
Of course, my parents didn't know that the pack-in game "Super Breakout" wasn't so good. I still played the hell out of it on those shite controllers.
I saved my allowance and birthday/Christmas money to buy games. I'd go to Sears or Zayre's every few weeks (or months as it were) and buy a new game. I don't remember how long it took me to build a collection, but I do remember buying Star Trek and being very disappointed when I finished it that day. I do remember thinking that the quasi-3D graphics were super-cool, though.
I think I collected at least 30 games, and I saved all the boxes and instructions.
I remember having great fun with Miner 2049er, Pac Man, and especially James Bond. I actually beat that game and didn't know until much later that most people think it sucks and that it is too hard.
Anyway, fast-forward to 1987 or so. I have a NES and my 5200 is sitting in a box in a closet... the games are loose and are hanging out in with the console in the cool smoked plastic & turtoise shell console holder (with lid) my dead grandmother bought me, all the boxes and instructions are in the attic in a bag.
I befriended a pitiful girl who was 16 and whose mother had just paid the rent for their apartment for two months, left a $100 bill and a note on the kitchen table, and then abandoned her 16 child. She did not return until years later. Karen and I worked at a car wash together, and I would give her rides and wash her laundry at my house once in a while.
She eventually moved in with another girl and asked if she could "borrow" my 5200 and games to have something to do while she tried to kick her cocaine addiction. I agreed, brought over the 5200, ALL the games, the cool console hutch, and the spare controllers that my dear mother had bought in her infinite wisdom when she realized how quickly they broke and how shitty they really were.
The collecting bug had not bit me yet, and I really didn't care that she kept it for a long time. She eventually got married (and asked me to be a groomsman, even though I hardly knew the guy.) She eventually got a nursing degree. I have not seen her in almost 20 years and I have no idea where she lives or what her married name is. I never saw my 5200 collection again. I hope it's ok.
About 10 years ago, I went up to the attic and what did I find? A big old bag FULL of 5200 game boxes and instructions. Most all of them were in very good shape. Several of these boxes were for pretty rare games. What did I do with these 30 pristine 5200 boxes and instuctions?
I crammed them all into the bloody TRASH CAN and some dude pulled them up a few days later in a smelly truck and took them to the city dump.
:bad-words:
:duh:
I have one witness to my idiocy... the box and instructions for Frogger somehow made it through the holocaust. It must have fallen out. I still have it to this day as a reminder of my stupidity.
:puke:
ps. I have a 5200 multicart, and I know I could buy everything I threw away on Ebay. It's not the same thing.