Gaming History.. in your hands.

[felix]

K, this is kind of a spinoff off Wavelflack's topic, but it goes down a different path. I didnt want to get his thread off topic so I made my own.

Ok, I want you do do something. Go and grab one of your NES games. It can be boxed, loose, sealed.. whatever.. Just go get one.

Now look at it... Have you ever thought about where the game came from? Who owned it in the past? Why did they part ways with it? Was it yours from the getgo? My point is, a lot of fond memories go with these games. For me, I started playing video games with the NES system. I remember christmas morning, finding my NES system with the original Zelda and the Mario/duckhunt combo sitting under the tree. I didnt even know what Zelda was or the joy it would bring me in the following years. I remember walking down the isles of Toys R' Us and looking at their tabs on the racks that you had to take to the front to get your game. It was a whole new thing for me seeing that the only other thing I was interested in was Gi Joes. Of course, Gi Joes were a little easier to obtain with my $5 a week allowance.

Now look at this game that is in your hands.. Chances are that what you have in your hand brought some kid an EMENSE amount of joy. Some kid may have lusted after that game for months till his birthday came around and after that he may have spend a good chunk of his life creating memories that make characters like Link and Mario so desireable.

Now, this is the main reason why I collect. I feel every bit as happy when I get a padded envelope in the mail then I did when I was walking down the stairs on christmas morning. The Nostalgia is overwhelming and I love it. I think this is why a lot of us collect games. That game that you are holding in your hand has so much in its history that who wouldnt want to collect items like it?

[Videogamerdaryll]

where the game came from? Who owned it in the past? Why did they part ways with it?

I think about this all the time/when I buy used games at the flea market.Sometimes I'll get a game with writing on it and wonder the above.

With the older bartops I own=wondering just what Bar they were in on another side of the country(where they were used)...
Trying to find info on them,how many were made,where they were distributed/sold etc.

Wondering what Arcade/s did my Arcade machines sit in...

When I see big lots of games and systems at the flea market I think of the above,yet sometimes the stuff looks to have been items only a gaming "collector" would keep..That maks me wonder if I'm looking at,buying someone who has died stuff.

[Anthony1]

I wonder if anybody has gotten a used cart with the name "M. Jordan" on it.

Or "T.Woods".

You have to imagine that at some point, somebody super famous had some games back in the day with their name marked on them in permanent ink by their mom.

Of course, nobody will ever be able to prove that it's legit, but still.

In another 20 years the President of the United States will probably have a NES cart floating around somewhere with their first inital and last name on them.

Anyways, just one of those things to think about.


But getting back on topic, I also love the smell of padded envelope in the morning. Nothing like opening up a bubble mailer to see a cart that you had way back in 1989 being re-united with you.

It would be weird to see the life of a NES cart like Contra. I mean, I had Contra way back in the day, and it was brand new, and I bought it at the store, and I sold it about a year later to this dude. I'm sure he had it for a few years, and the probably sold it. I wonder where it might be right now? How many different hands have touched it and put it into their toasters? How many different mouths have blown on it to try to get the damn thing to work!!! The funny thing is that it's probably at some damn GameCrazy or GameRush or something in Idaho.

[Steven]

Heh, yeah I look at some of my Saturn games and shake my head that someone bought it for $60 on launch week but through numerous different owners it went til it came to me for $5... what a shame.

Heck, some copies have the receipt of Software Etc. (GOOD GOD it brings back memories seeing that receipt) where the owner charged his credit card $119.94 for 3D Baseball and Hardcore 4X4 on the SEGA Saturn.

I got those two games from him for less than 20. (and more too). What a shame.

LOL when I was 12 me and my bro sold off TMNT Tournament Fighters on SNES and I wrote a code in the manual how to access Rat King and the other boss. I even made a move list for them and called one of the girl's move "Hundrest Fist Attack of Fury!!!" or something 12-year-oldish like that.

I sometimes wonder... in that bleak vastness of a universe out there... whoever got to see that...

[junglehunter]

Whenever I get a cart with the name of someone sliced into it with a razor (read: NES carts), I'm usually thankful the kid didn't slice that into himself. LOL

Actually, on second thought I kinda feel bad for the NES game. Someone took their frustrations out on that poor piece of plastic. :(

When will the MADNESS cease! :P

[Emily]

I showed up at my favorite thrift to find a bunch of very well kept NES carts mixed in with the other tattered ones.
I bought a bunch of games, and when I looked them overlater I noticed they all belonged to the same chick.
I didnt notice that the same name was on the back of all my carts; I usually ignore permanant marker since its easy to remove.

This person took exceptional care of her games labels, and all her games were carosion free!!!
They obviously cared about their games. So I wonder, why did she decide to sell it all off one weekend?
A new XBox, or PS2 perhaps?

Someday Im sure Mary Harrison will regret her decision. Mabey she'll show up here someday....

[Slate]

Actually i haven't thought of this too often.

But i Do wonder about it. I do end up buying games that have Permanent marker on them. Mostly NES games:

"S.Withers" - SMB
"Jack & Mary" - SMB/DH
"E" - Raid on Bungeling bay

When i bought 68 NES games at once for less than $25, I wondered Who owned these before. At first i figured maybe a collector, Then i figured perhaps a Game store donated them.

Now i'm thinking maybe some rich kid donated them?

Or perhaps someone won them in a contest.

The options are almost Endless.

[TeddyRuxpin]

I used to do that on my SNES & GameBoy games. Years ago I sold/traded in a few games that had my writing on them.

I regret getting rid of my Super Mario RPG. Not sure if I wrote on that one or not. I recall paying $10 for it with the box, at BlockBuster around 1997 or 1998. I beat it, then traded it in for near nothing in store credit elsewhere. Now I see it selling for $20+. :(

[Dr. Morbis]

One time I opened up a newly acquired NES game to clean it and, low and behold, there was a white sticker on the inside of the plastic that said something like "This game belongs to so-and-so and if you are reading this then you better be me". It was sort of a shock, but it did give me the idea of writing info inside my repros (like who made it for me and the date I acquired it).

[Policenaut]

Good memories and a lot of nostalgia is what makes games collecting part of us. We all have fond memories of something in life related to our videogames hobby. I have great memories of the very first time I saw the Sega Master, for me it was the best in the world. Or when my best friend had all the good Genny, Sega CD and SNes games and told me he wanted to sell the games to get other, newer games and I bought them because those games were good part of our great relationship as friends. I still have those Sega CD Lunars, Dark Wizard, Revenge of the Ninja ( he beated that game without watching the scenes, he got oriented by the sounds of the game and that way he knew where to go....simply amazing).

A lot of times I feel sad when I have to depart from a game, even if it is a dupe on my collection, but I mostly know where are they going, to the room of doom of a great DP'er and I feel relieved that the game is in the good hands of a collector I know.

[dan2357]

Maybe we should start a topic where everyone can check there lets say NES carts for writing on them. Then have them post what cart and what name is on it. It would be interesting to see if anyone has part of someones collection and so does someone eles. Even more so if there in different states etc.

I love when I buy boxed games and they still have reciepts in them, $50 for a nes game or such. My FF6 for super fami has a price tag of $149.95 on it I think I paid $1.99 for it in a thrift.
At the same time I bought a bucnh of SNES games and the ones with save files on the were from the same person, same file name on each cart.

[dan2357]

double post.
Is the fourms running slow for anyone else?

[ShinobiMan]

I got an NES cart recently with the name Katherine Burns on it. I used to know a Katherine Burns. Strange to think it might have been hers.

Felix, (you wonderful cat you) you may have stumbled upon the very reason why all of us retro gamers demand to relive our lost childhood. I have experienced the same feeling you have when finding such games and it brings me much joy to play the games that made me so happy as a kid.

I'm willing to bet that most of us here had a wonderful childhood, a childhood mostly surrounded by Video Games. Then again, there are the older gamers who discovered gaming as a teenage refuge, but one must remember, up until recent years, video games were publicly considered merely "kids" stuff.

It's no longer appropraite to laugh at a grown man playing his PS2 or Xbox. It's like the parents from the 50's hating rock music and not understanding their children. Like rock, video games have become excepted in pop culture.

[felix]

I got an NES cart recently with the name Katherine Burns on it. I used to know a Katherine Burns. Strange to think it might have been hers.

Felix, (you wonderful cat you) you may have stumbled upon the very reason why all of us retro gamers demand to relive our lost childhood. I have experienced the same feeling you have when finding such games and it brings me much joy to play the games that made me so happy as a kid.

I'm willing to bet that most of us here had a wonderful childhood, a childhood mostly surrounded by Video Games. Then again, there are the older gamers who discovered gaming as a teenage refuge, but one must remember, up until recent years, video games were publicly considered merely "kids" stuff.

It's no longer appropraite to laugh at a grown man playing his PS2 or Xbox. It's like the parents from the 50's hating rock music and not understanding their children. Like rock, video games have become excepted in pop culture.


Exactly. If you really think about it. For most of us here, we are gamings "chosen" generation. Think about the first system you have owned. For me it was the NES I got for christmas. I had dabbled in the Atari a little bit but nothing really got my attention until the NES came around. I remember wanting one but having the basic understanding that I wouldn’t get one unless I struck it rich with the tooth fairy or unless Santa was feeling generous that year. Well a few months later, I was blessed with a brand spanking new nes. It was coupled with Zelda, Smb and duck hunt.

Back then; I think I was 5 or 6 years old. I had a basic understanding of how to play most of the games, but then again, there were only 4 buttons. 1 of them did nothing but pause for most games. The other often times did nothing at all. If you look at me, my life was simple.. I had 4 daily tasks.. 2 of them had to do with school. The other one of them was sleep. The 3rd was poop..about as useful as the select button.

As I grew up, it seemed like so did video games. The target age for the NES generation was 5-16. The games were all PG rated, simple and fun. There was no "Artificial Intelligence" back then past (bad guy goes 3 steps to the left, then 3 steps to the right, the 3 steps to the left, then etc etc etc. Or the magical badguys that came from the "unknown" part of the screen.. The part you couldn’t see (ie any badguy from SMB). They didnt get out of the way when you shot them, they didnt try to flank you or try to outsmart you, they didnt even scream @#%! you and your @#%#@% F@#%@ @#%@ @#%hole!! like they do in GTA. Things were simple in my life and the games I played complimented it.

As I got older, I guess I had a really good year with Santa because he dropped a SNES under the tree! The games were more advanced, blood was introduced into games (thank you Midway), and it seemed like my life was in the same state. There were now 8 buttons! Two of them stayed the same and did much the same thing (start/select). My life reflected much in the same way. Little Jennifer was all of a sudden looking very different.. I wanted her kooties and well.. back on subject, my life had also become a little more complicated. I still pooped and slept (much the same as select/start stayed the same) but I grew up a little. The target age for the SNES was around 8-23.

Now im all grown up. Im turning 24 on Wed, have a very complicated life and am trying my hardest to just "get by". The systems have gotten more complicated (but start/select stayed the same ), Games have become more complicated: it seems like you cant achieve "best seller" status without some kind of blood/sex/decapitation/foul language etc. The original nes controller has evolved into what now looks like a chunk of colorful coral reef **im sure that Darwin is rolling over in his grave right now**.. Videogames are now smarter than us and mimic real life. Little Jennifer has grown up to be some baby’s momma and I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT HER "KOOTIES" ANYMORE!! The target age for gaming companies is now 18-35.


I think back to the simple days, 4 buttons, Glorious x-mas mornings and the joys of simplicity. I think that we all long for that again. It was the happiest time in my life and buying these older games bring that back to me as im sure that it does for all of you.

[ShinobiMan]

Exactly. If you really think about it. For most of us here, we are gamings "chosen" generation. Think about the first system you have owned. For me it was the NES I got for christmas. I had dabbled in the Atari a little bit but nothing really got my attention until the NES came around. I remember wanting one but having the basic understanding that I wouldn’t get one unless I struck it rich with the tooth fairy or unless Santa was feeling generous that year. Well a few months later, I was blessed with a brand spanking new nes. It was coupled with Zelda, Smb and duck hunt.

Back then; I think I was 5 or 6 years old. I had a basic understanding of how to play most of the games, but then again, there were only 4 buttons. 1 of them did nothing but pause for most games. The other often times did nothing at all. If you look at me, my life was simple.. I had 4 daily tasks.. 2 of them had to do with school. The other one of them was sleep. The 3rd was poop..about as useful as the select button.

As I grew up, it seemed like so did video games. The target age for the NES generation was 5-16. The games were all PG rated, simple and fun. There was no "Artificial Intelligence" back then past (bad guy goes 3 steps to the left, then 3 steps to the right, the 3 steps to the left, then etc etc etc. Or the magical badguys that came from the "unknown" part of the screen.. The part you couldn’t see (ie any badguy from SMB). They didnt get out of the way when you shot them, they didnt try to flank you or try to outsmart you, they didnt even scream @#%! you and your @#%#@% F@#%@ @#%@ @#%hole!! like they do in GTA. Things were simple in my life and the games I played complimented it.

As I got older, I guess I had a really good year with Santa because he dropped a SNES under the tree! The games were more advanced, blood was introduced into games (thank you Midway), and it seemed like my life was in the same state. There were now 8 buttons! Two of them stayed the same and did much the same thing (start/select). My life reflected much in the same way. Little Jennifer was all of a sudden looking very different.. I wanted her kooties and well.. back on subject, my life had also become a little more complicated. I still pooped and slept (much the same as select/start stayed the same) but I grew up a little. The target age for the SNES was around 8-23.

Now im all grown up. Im turning 24 on Wed, have a very complicated life and am trying my hardest to just "get by". The systems have gotten more complicated (but start/select stayed the same ), Games have become more complicated: it seems like you cant achieve "best seller" status without some kind of blood/sex/decapitation/foul language etc. The original nes controller has evolved into what now looks like a chunk of colorful coral reef **im sure that Darwin is rolling over in his grave right now**.. Videogames are now smarter than us and mimic real life. Little Jennifer has grown up to be some baby’s momma and I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT HER "KOOTIES" ANYMORE!! The target age for gaming companies is now 18-35.


I think back to the simple days, 4 buttons, Glorious x-mas mornings and the joys of simplicity. I think that we all long for that again. It was the happiest time in my life and buying these older games bring that back to me as im sure that it does for all of you.

Couldn't have said it better myself. I feel the same way. Well, maybe not about Jennifer... :D

[vulcanjedi]

Hmm

Have had similar thoughts running through my head over the last few weeks about my entire reasons for collecting.

I may be a bit older than most people here because I was 20 in 1981 when my parents bought my little sister an atari 2600. And by 1983 when I bought my own Coleco my sister only had about 10 games. My parents didn't play games then. My sister never got a NES she got an atari computer instead. And all my Father ever played was poker and The Hitchhikers Guide.

Buying new games for the coleco at $30 a pop was a big deal. Same with the Master System and the Genesis when I got them. Getting a used game for less than $10 was rare unless it was a bad game or from a yard sale.

Now 20 years later I am in deja vu with a second family. And the game collection has quadrupled and some games can be had for a $1 and I watch a 6 year old decide what he is going to play from over 250 games. 32X and Genesis, SNES and N64. Him and his older sister are either playing a Sonic game or a Pokémon game or putzing around a completed Super Mario World map without really playing.

They tried a 2600 and a coleco but don't like them. And it wouldn't surprise me if someday they release an atari flashback with 500 games in it. The days of hoarding cartridges will be long gone by then. Or will they?

VJ

[TeddyRuxpin]

To me, the "TV Games" (ie: Atari Flashback and other many-in-1 things) will never replace the real thing. So what if they make one with 500-in-1 some day? I could do that and more on a PC. But it's not the same as owning and playing the real thing.

I get a thrill out of taking apart and cleaning a front load NES so that it works like new again with none to very little "flashing "on games (assuming the game is clean).

I've also done minor soldering repairs on several Sega Genesis system's AC Adapter port, as well as an Intellivision's RCA RF port that had a wire come loose.

Some people think it's a waste of time, but I feel I'm preserving and restoring a little piece of history for future generations to enjoy. Every time an old system gets completely junked, that platform becomes more rare. Sure, it may take a long time for NES to become rare because there are so many still but maybe SOME day, a long time from now, it may be rare.

The Famicom Disk System is rare to begin with, compound that with the cheap band/belt that's in the drive and it becomes even more rare to have a working one.

I bought a broken and otherwise maimed FDS off ebay for $5 + combined shipping with other items from the same seller. They had sold the adapter part and had the near destroyed FDS drive that they said a "friend" tried to fix but couldn't, and they lost most of the screws to it. It had several wires pulled loose (2 to the LED and one to the MOTOR!)

I got a spare piece of wire and soldered it to the motor and then mended the original wire to the extra piece. The original wire was JUST long enough to each the motor before it was pulled loose, so now it couldn't each without extra length added. I documented my soldering repairs: http://www.illiop.com/pics/FDS/

I found the adapter portion by itelf for (as I recall) about $40 with shipping. All it needs now (as far as I know) is a band and a FC-to-NES adapter to go with my NES + Game Genie, and maybe some more screws. Some PC drive screws worked for holding some of the curcuit boards down and I found ONE I had to fit the triange piece over the gears.

[Damon Plus]

Exactly. If you really think about it. For most of us here, we are gamings "chosen" generation. Think about the first system you have owned. For me it was the NES I got for christmas. I had dabbled in the Atari a little bit but nothing really got my attention until the NES came around. I remember wanting one but having the basic understanding that I wouldn’t get one unless I struck it rich with the tooth fairy or unless Santa was feeling generous that year. Well a few months later, I was blessed with a brand spanking new nes. It was coupled with Zelda, Smb and duck hunt.

Back then; I think I was 5 or 6 years old. I had a basic understanding of how to play most of the games, but then again, there were only 4 buttons. 1 of them did nothing but pause for most games. The other often times did nothing at all. If you look at me, my life was simple.. I had 4 daily tasks.. 2 of them had to do with school. The other one of them was sleep. The 3rd was poop..about as useful as the select button.

As I grew up, it seemed like so did video games. The target age for the NES generation was 5-16. The games were all PG rated, simple and fun. There was no "Artificial Intelligence" back then past (bad guy goes 3 steps to the left, then 3 steps to the right, the 3 steps to the left, then etc etc etc. Or the magical badguys that came from the "unknown" part of the screen.. The part you couldn’t see (ie any badguy from SMB). They didnt get out of the way when you shot them, they didnt try to flank you or try to outsmart you, they didnt even scream @#%! you and your @#%#@% F@#%@ @#%@ @#%hole!! like they do in GTA. Things were simple in my life and the games I played complimented it.

As I got older, I guess I had a really good year with Santa because he dropped a SNES under the tree! The games were more advanced, blood was introduced into games (thank you Midway), and it seemed like my life was in the same state. There were now 8 buttons! Two of them stayed the same and did much the same thing (start/select). My life reflected much in the same way. Little Jennifer was all of a sudden looking very different.. I wanted her kooties and well.. back on subject, my life had also become a little more complicated. I still pooped and slept (much the same as select/start stayed the same) but I grew up a little. The target age for the SNES was around 8-23.

Now im all grown up. Im turning 24 on Wed, have a very complicated life and am trying my hardest to just "get by". The systems have gotten more complicated (but start/select stayed the same ), Games have become more complicated: it seems like you cant achieve "best seller" status without some kind of blood/sex/decapitation/foul language etc. The original nes controller has evolved into what now looks like a chunk of colorful coral reef **im sure that Darwin is rolling over in his grave right now**.. Videogames are now smarter than us and mimic real life. Little Jennifer has grown up to be some baby’s momma and I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT HER "KOOTIES" ANYMORE!! The target age for gaming companies is now 18-35.


I think back to the simple days, 4 buttons, Glorious x-mas mornings and the joys of simplicity. I think that we all long for that again. It was the happiest time in my life and buying these older games bring that back to me as im sure that it does for all of you.


Select button as useful as poop... sir, you´re a genious LOL

[PDorr3]

I once bought a box of 3 genesis and 3 nes systems for $5 at a yard sale. Now for someone to own all of those systems must have had a reason, but why sell so cheap?

[TeddyRuxpin]

Maybe they were owned by son or daughter of the people havnig the yard sale and the parents were cleaning house and assumed the systems weren't wanted anymore, and didn't know the value? LOL

[CartCollector]

Good points ShinobiMan. However, this does raise a big question... Originally, the audience was pretty young. That audience still exists. However, there are few good (emphasis on good) games made to target this audience. This is why we have so many children with those two evil games (you know what I'm talking about, the media bitches about them all the time). If only a developer were to come in with a game that would really work with this audience... They'd be very well-off, because they'd have basically no competition!

[Crush Crawfish]

Cool thread. I've thought about this many times, but with one game in particular: My copy of Benkei gaiden for Super Famicom. I was checking it out, and I found a small piece of paper with some hand-written japanese on it. I can't for the life of me figure out what it says, but it intrigues me to no end. I think it might be a list of the previous owner's characters or something. I gotta get that translated someday.

[§ Gideon §]

One time I opened up a newly acquired NES game to clean it and, low and behold, there was a white sticker on the inside of the plastic that said something like "This game belongs to so-and-so and if you are reading this then you better be me". It was sort of a shock, but it did give me the idea of writing info inside my repros (like who made it for me and the date I acquired it).
I leave notes behind in some of my carts. None of them are so harsh, though.

[Gzilla23]

I have thought of this in reverse. When I was younger I had a Sega Genesis and since I didnt have a ton of games for it I took amazing care of the ones I had. I kept eveything in the case including registration cards. But as a youth the new systems came out and with my limited funds the only way to get them was to trade in my collection. I did and now I kick myself for it. I always wondered what happened to my old games. I wonder if the people that got a hold of them took good care of them or if they ended up as coasters. Now I buy games for evey system in all kinds of conditions (as long as they play) and do my best to clean them up and keep them looking great. I enjoy collecting to play these wonderful games and to preserve them. It's too bad I didn't think to keep my games when I was younger.

[Steven]

My copy of Benkei gaiden for Super Famicom. I was checking it out, and I found a small piece of paper with some hand-written japanese on it. I can't for the life of me figure out what it says, but it intrigues me to no end. I think it might be a list of the previous owner's characters or something. I gotta get that translated someday.

Better get it translated quickly. Who knows, it might even be a prophecy! Maybe "I will launch a bomb raid on Kobe, Tokyo on 12/25/05"???

OK that's a stretch but yes, get it translated. It's probably about the game but intriguing nonetheless.

It could even be a little diary about his ongoings with his current crush, heh heh.

[ubersaurus]

I wonder that all the time, quite honestly. It's part of the reason I love collecting-I like to know the stories behind the games, even behind specific, individual copies. Not that I can know those, but I can make stuff up.

[Ed Oscuro]

I was checking it out, and I found a small piece of paper with some hand-written japanese on it.
I wish...all the notes I found were in the box, rather than ON the box...or the cart...people use the strangest things as writing surfaces, and these are games outta Japan, too.

Whoever put that note on the inside of a cart was badass. Awesome idea.

[Crush Crawfish]

My copy of Benkei gaiden for Super Famicom. I was checking it out, and I found a small piece of paper with some hand-written japanese on it. I can't for the life of me figure out what it says, but it intrigues me to no end. I think it might be a list of the previous owner's characters or something. I gotta get that translated someday.

Better get it translated quickly. Who knows, it might even be a prophecy! Maybe "I will launch a bomb raid on Kobe, Tokyo on 12/25/05"???

OK that's a stretch but yes, get it translated. It's probably about the game but intriguing nonetheless.

It could even be a little diary about his ongoings with his current crush, heh heh.

LOL I don't think it's that significant of a note, but it's still really interesting. If I took a picture of it, could anyone here translate it for me? That'd rock! 8-)