SECRET SANTA 2K4: THE CAT'S OUTTA THE BAG!

[punkoffgirl]

Okay, boys and girls, cats and kittens, let's do this!

If you've managed to have some self restraint, and haven't ripped into your gift yet, go ahead and do it now!

Be sure to post and tell us what you got, who you got it from!

Best of all, Merry Christmas to everyone!

/me hands out eggnog

[Kroogah]

Got 4 awesome Saturn games from John Southern:

Virtua Fighter Kids
Valora Valley Golf
Darklight Conflict
Thunderstrike 2

All complete! Thanks man!!!

[Funk Buddy]

Ok, I needed something to lift my mood last night so I opened mine.

It was from Sniderman. I will get a picture tonight and post it, but this is off the top of my head.

3 Sonic toys
Sonic Plushie
Sonic Book
2 Sonic VHS tapes
4 Complete Genesis games
3 Complete Saturn games
CD with Sonic game music
Custom Christmas card
Custom Nights clock (I already bought one, but two is better!)

Thanks a million Sniderman!

[norkusa]

Maxlords was my SS. Got...

3 Stooges (PSX)
The Haunting Staring Polterguy
Broken Sword-The Shadow Of The Templars (GBA)...new & sealed!

Thank you very much for the goodies, Maxlords. Very nice grab-bag of games that'll keep me busy well into the new year!

[Rogmeister]

I must confess that I opened mine a bit early as I wanted to take photos...I took a shot as I took each item out of the box. My cat Cindy was there to supervise. Unfortunately, I don't know who my Secret Santa was...he didn't identify himself so all I can say is that the package came from De Soto, Illinois. Whoever he/she is, my Secret Santa either knows me or did his/her homework! Onward...


Silent Bomber for the PS1. I'm not familiar with this game but the DP Guide gives it a + so it must be fun!


Xenogears, also for the PS1. Like the above game, this gets a + from the DP Guide...and it's from Square so you know it's good. I don't think I asked for any of these two games (though I could be wrong). Since I have nearly 200 games for my PS1, my Secret Santa may have been taking a chance but luckily I didn't already have either of these.


Johnny Cash! This is a set of burned copies of the five discs from his "Unearthed" box set that came out earlier this year. He is simply my all-time favorite entertainer and I love the recordings he made with American Recordings. In fact, I already have this box set...but I still love getting these. I now have a set of these I can take to work where I have a portable CD player...


Robotron 2084 for the Atari Lynx. This is one game I definitely asked for and is one of the few games I still wanted to get for the Lynx. It's my favorite item of the actual games included.


Finally, here's a shot of everything (with my favorite model, my cat Shadow, in the background). If you'll notice, my Secret Santa even sent stuff for the cats! There's catnip, a catnip-filled flexible mouse and a Bungee Buddy doorknob dangling toy. Suffice to see, this has been my favorite Secret Santa exchange so far! Thanks, Santa!!!

[Gapporin]

bigdaddychester was my SS. Here's what he got me:

OPM Issue 83 with demo disc
PSM Issue 88
NewType USA Vol. 3 No. 8 (someone's been reading my posts, ha ha)
America's Army: Special Forces (PC)
Front Mission 4 demo disc with mini-strategy guide (PS2)
Syphon Filter: Omega Strain demo disc (PS2)
Black Fire (Saturn)
D (Saturn)
FIFA Soccer '96 (Saturn)
Minnesota Fats: Pool Legend (Saturn)
Panzer Dragoon (Saturn)
Virtua Fighter (Saturn)
Virtua Fighter II (Saturn)
HAL's Hole In One Golf (SNES)
Pilotwings (SNES)
Starfox (SNES)
Super Star Wars (SNES)
Sonic The Hedgehog 3 (Genesis)
...and last, but certainly not least, a jar of homemade apple butter! (Yum!)

A huge thanks to bigdaddy for all of these wonderful games! And thanks must go out to POG for organizing this another year! Merry Christmas everyone!

[YoshiM]

For the second time since we started the DP Secret Santa, Queen of Felines got my name. So to keep myself out of my wife's and in-laws hair as they prepare supper for tonight I tore into the box today and received the following:

-Diablo Battle Chest (includes Diablo II strategy guide, Diablo, Diablo II and Lord of Destruction expansion for Diablo II) for PC (new/sealed)

-Sim City 3000 UK Edition for PC (new/sealed)

-Donkey Kong 3 for NES (complete)

-10 Yard Fight for NES (complete)

-Hogan's Alley for NES (complete)

-Normy's Beach Babe-O-Rama for Genesis (complete)

-ESWAT for Genesis (complete)

-Bimini Run for Genesis (complete)

Thank you very much Kristine! Very awesome!

[MarioAllStar2600]

I don't know who got mine, I only had his name and my dad threw away the box! So I have no clue who sent mine, will the real secret santa please stand up.

Well anyway this guy noticed my love for the DS and Nintendo and sent me an awsome package.

- Red Nintendo Lanyard
- Nintendo DS Lanyard
- Interactive Gamecube demo disk 13
- Gargoyles Quest 2 complete (nes)
- Nintendo DS beanie
- Nintendo TimeBoy pocketwatch (new)
- Bulbasaur pin
- Davis cup tennis complete (tg-16)
- TV Sports Basketball complete (tg-16)
- 4 kinder egg suprise candys, I have never had these before but man they were good/cool

Thanks a bunch. This present was awsome!

[maxlords]

Noahsmybro was my secret santa and he got me a nice minty copy of Feel the Magic XX/XY for the DS! Very cool!

[Qixmaster]

well... i gave in as well and opened mine as soon as i saw the email

anyways, my Secret Santa was Davidleeroth (although i figured it out since the package came all the way from finland )

Let me tell you this guy is great and very thoughtful! He knew that i was a nut for nintendo and it shows in my gift

I recieved:
Complete in box Japanese Vtetris for virtual boy
Nes Max Controller
Swamp Thing for the NES (this game has elluded me for quite sometime, thank you so so so so much )
Solomon's Key 2 PAL (VERY COOL and very neat artwork! my fourth Pal game )
Three packs of Nintendo Sticker Cards with bubble gum from back in the day unopened and from europe
Super Jeopardy Complete in Box for the NES
a David Lee Roth Finland Exclusive CD signed Merry Christmas to Qixmaster on the cover
and what looks to be a BRAND NEW IN BOX NI Fighter Quickjoy NES Joystick. I collect NES joysticks and i have never seen this bad boy, could it be Euro release only? It is AWESOME! thank you SO much Davidleeroth, you have made my 1st secret santa expericence a VERY memeroible one.

Pics are below





Once again i thank you davidleeroth, your gift was well recieved

-Josh

EDIT: Just so you guys know he went out of his way and wrapped each gift individually. Also, a big thanks for going out of your way (if you did) to get me NTSC games. I just checked my list and those two (swamp thing and super jeopardy) put me at EXACTLY 100 NES games away from a complete NTSC collection (not including sachens)

[Lady Jaye]

My secret santa was Sph1nx. He wrapped my gifts into one big box with Care Bears wrapping paper!

His note apologized for not having more than one item from my list, but it doesn't matter: the whole package was just so perfect!!! There was:

Killer Instinct complete sealed (at last! it only took me 8 years to get it!)
Super Star Wars SNES (which I already had, but it's okay, it's a great game)
Shockwave for the NES (never heard of the game, but sometimes you can find gems among little-known titles)
Game Genie for SNES (I already had the NES one, so I'm now all equipped to use the GG with all my NES/SNES games)
2 Christmas tree ornaments (which went into the tree)
a Mario "I (heart) video games" sticker
Sealed packs of trading cards for the following: Robocop 2, Back to the Future 2, Super Mario (the movie) and Ghosbusters 2 - NEAT!!!!

And, last but not least, my favorite part of the whole gift: a ziploc bag containing about 20 mini buttons, mostly pertaining to videogames (there was also a Care Bears one and a GI Joe one...) These are really amazing!!!!!!

Sph1nx, thank you, thank you, thank you!!! That was a great SS gift!!!

[Querjek]

SoulBlazer was my Secret Santa. I can't express how happy I am from my package... all of the things that I got are now scattered throughout my collection now, but I'm most thankful for getting a copy of Dog's Life (PS2). THANK YOU!!

EDIT:
1) Dogs Life -- PS2
2) Animal Crossing #1 sealed pack
3) Famicom Sports mini CD
4) Nintendo Power -- don't know the number, with the full review and coverage of Super Mario RPG, plus the cover
5) Animal Crossing Guide from Nintendo
6) Nintendo Advance #1 guide from Nintendo
7) Martin Gothic -- PS1
8) NES Game -- I don't recall which one, sorry. It was loose
9) Kings Bounty for Genesis
10) Outlaw Red Hot Volleyball --XBox
11) GameCube demo disc and book -- Christmas 2002
12) Sealed Konami demo disc for PS2 -- from last month
13) Game Genie for NES -- loose
14) SNES game -- again, don't recall which one. Loose
15) Atari Anniversary -- PC
16) 3 Pokemon Game Reader cards for the E-Reader
Very great stuff from a very great guy.

Oh, and I realized that I forgot to add a note for Blackjax's SS package. That was from me

[downfall]

I apologize in advance to whom I sent my Secret Santa gift for the horrible rush job of wrapping I did, as well as the "wrapping paper" that I had to use! A big stack of Spider-Man 2 PS2 case inserts does not make good wrapping paper, but it's all I had!

YoshiM was my Secret Santa!

I knew it was from him even though there was no name on the outside of the package, simply because I remembered a thread titled "Holy Sheboygan".

Anyway, thanks Dan! You made my day when I opened my gift!

EGM - August 1994 - Again, perfect! I love my classic gaming magazines!

GB - Super Mario Land 2! - I haven't played this for years!

GBC - Bust a Move Millennium
PC - Phantasmagoria

Haven't played either of those two games before, but they both look like fun!

The two coolest things in the whole box though:

N64 - Winback: Covert Operations - Awesome. I'm always looking for boxed N64 games - that's the only collection I really care to complete, and this is one that I've never even seen around here.

GBC - Super Mario Bros. DX - Could've just sent me this and I would have been thrilled! Completely unexpected - I've been wanting to give this a shot for quite some time!

Awesome! Thanks again Dan!

Hope everyone else received as cool of a gift as I!

[Cmosfm]

Well, my Secret Santa experience requires telling a story.

When I made my Wish List for my Secret Santa, I included a list of items I want ranging from 5.00 - 50.00. I also included my collection list, I stated that I'm not too picky, I will take anything I don't have, but I only collect NTSC games.

Well, I get my package last week, I was too hyped NOT to open it, it was a decent size so I was pretty stoked. I tear into it and notice most of it is newspaper, but my gift was at the bottom, it was...

PAL version NES game Corvette Challange
Bubblegum Crisis VHS - Part 2 of an 8 part series

...Yeah, so my Secret Santa didn't follow my rules, sent me two items that I really don't need. I figured I'd let it go, but than it started to bug me, seemed as if my Secret Santa just sent me some trade fodder so he could get a free gift. I'm not one to complain, even if I got a simple 5.00 NES game I needed I would have been satisfied. I PM'd POG with my concerns.

She got in contact with my Secret Santa for me, my Secret Santa turned out to be Blackjax. Seemed as if he was having some money problems, which is 100% understandable, but still it's something that should have been somewhat anticipated before he decided to participate. POG told me that he felt bad once he was contacted and wanted to send another gift and that I should get in contact with him and handle the situation from there.

I PM'd him explaining that I understand his situation, and to not worry about sending me another gift. I let him know that I was a bit upset with what he sent be, because there was no effort put into it. Well, In a matter of...5 days I believe...I've sent him 2 PM's and he hasen't responded to a single one, even though they are not in my sentbox anymore, so he has recieved them.

So anyways, that's the end of my story, Blackjax seems to be ignoring my PMs. Either way, in the end, I didn't really get a gift that I wanted or needed so I'm pretty bummed about it. Don't think I'm just being ungrateful here or greedy or anything of that sort, the whole idea behind secret santa is to get another user something they want or need, and I got neither.

Well guys, Merry Christmas to all, I really hope my Secret Santa enjoys all the gifts I sent him. I put a lot of effort into it! Hopefully everyone else got something they wanted.

[Mr.FoodMonster]

DavidLeeRoth, I was your SS, I forgot to put a note in there.

Well, my gift was from A Boy, and here is what I got.
Gradius V (PS2)
Megaman Collection (PS2)
General Chaos (Genesis)

Thanks a lot, I'll be having LOTS of fun with these

Next year, I'll try and put some more... 'mmph' into my gift, I had no idea how all out you guys went with this!

[Ninja Blacksox]

DavidLeeRoth, I was your SS, I forgot to put a note in there.

Well, my gift was from A Boy, and here is what I got.
Gradius V (PS2)
Megaman Collection (PS2)
General Chaos (Genesis)

Thanks a lot, I'll be having LOTS of fun with these

Next year, I'll try and put some more... 'mmph' into my gift, I had no idea how all out you guys went with this!

Sorry I couldn't land you the instructions for "General Chaos," man. Having you ask for that game brought back memories! I was a HUGE fan of that back in middle school... I'll have to pick it up for myself sometime.

As for my gift, I forgot who it was from... I threw away the packing loooooong ago. Anyhoo, I got "North and South" CIB. Thanks much, whoever you are!

-A Boy

[Mayhem]

I don't know who my Secret Santa was, as he didn't put his forum name on the package! So whoever it was, let me know to say thanks

I got...

Robot Panic loose (Vic20)
Actraiser complete (SNES)

Which at least WERE two things that were on my list!

@A Boy - that was my gift... admitedly I didn't have a lot to work with, FDS titles aren't easy to find and I could find some of your NES stuff but only PAL around my way. So I had hoped to get more US NES titles, but could only really find this one. Glad you liked it though

[junglehunter]

Not sure exactly who my SS was but they're from Illinois, I believe.

I got:

- Super Mario Bros. Party Invitiation
- Nintendo Sticker/Decal
- Set of Acclaim Wireless Controllers (NES)
- Bucky 'O Hare (NES)
- Escape From Monkey Island (PS2, big want)
- Katamary Damacy (PS2, sealed)

I want to say thank you to my SS (whoever you are). I am really happy with what I've been sent. You didn't have to go through all of that trouble though.

Thanks!

[Achika]

Cmosfm: It's called tact. And where did the spirit of "it's all about the giving, not the recieving go".

Atar1G1rl was my Secret Santa and I LOVE IT ALL!!!

Ratchet & Clank PS2 Demo
Double Dragon VHS
Galaxy Fight for Saturn
Playstation sticker & window cling
Hello Kitty Notepad
Power Up by Chris Kohler
Great Basketball for SMS
Whitmans mini Chocolate Sampler
Pac Man stickers & rub off game cards
Spyro Topper thingy... (is this for a pencil or an antenna :P )

and last....

most important...

biggest suprise...

the best thing in the package...


ORIGINAL SLY COOPER PS2 DEMO

Ok, for some people this may not be a big deal since it's a demo for a game that was released years ago. But this is by far one of the best games I've ever played. I love the series, I've got the games, the demo for the second one, and I've got the polo shirt for the first one. However, when the game first came out I borrowed the store demo to play from the GS that I worked at, since we only had one I gave it back although my manager even though he said I could keep it. I wanted it played in the demo unit. I left for college and by the time I came back months later, of course it was gone! So getting this was a really pleasant suprise

THANKS LAURA!

[Jibbajaba]

I don't know who my secret santa was, but they rock! I got:

Nintendo Sticker
Bug! for Saturn
Mortal Kombat for Game Gear
Dr. Robotnk's Mean Bean Machine for Game Gear
Marble Madness for NES ( I REALLY wanted this one!)
Kung Fu for NES
Sonic 3 for Genesis
A CGE pass from 2002 (put it on the lanyard with my CGE nametag from this year)

And the Coup de Gras: Splatterhouse 3 for Genesis!!!! Freakin Awsome!!!

Whoever my SS was, please make yourself known. Many thanks!

Chris