Classic gaming memories/accomplishments of 2006

[Steven]

As the year quickly winds down, and you look back at 2006, what was the year like for you, in terms of classic gaming? I know some members like jumpman completed his NES collection... what was 2006 to you, and what do you see 2007 bringing? Do you plan to finally buy that Sega CD? Or maybe that Atari Lynx? Or are you maybe "shutting it down" for 2007?

2006 was an interesting year for me. I'll make a long story short(er). Jan. I got back into SNES and bought a TON of games, both NA and JP. I'm about 5-10 wants away, and honestly, 2006 was my last "splurge" year. The year I made a head first dash to the exit. I bought an NES, GBA SP 2 and Genesis this year as well. In total? I've bought probably close to 850 (!!!!!!!!!!) games this year.

In 2007 I'm going to enjoy being out of the rat race so to speak, I just don't have much left on the want list, and I now want to move to the point where I can enjoy what I've got, and begin to spend more time working on my goals than thinking about Game X and when it'll pop up on eBay.

I was wondering if anyone else is in a similar position as me, but I want to hear everyone's story.... how was 2006 to you, and what do you see in store in 2007, classic game-related?

[XYXZYZ]

I think the big thing for me this year was finally owning an arcade game. I've wanted one all my life, now I own two. It's true what they say, once you get one you can't stop. So, there will be more to come.

I also filled quite a few more gaps in the console collection, and I think my gaming skill has improved a little bit too; I can finish Life Force without dying now. If I have to set a goal for 2007, I think it would center around practicing and improving at playing video games.

[Dire 51]

Not much happened to me this year gaming-wise, except for one very important thing: I finally repurchased a decent chunk of my former collection (sold in 2004 for financial reasons). I didn't just replace them; these are for the most part the original games that I sold (what I got back consists mostly of NES, SNES, Genesis and PS1 games, although there were a few SMS and PS2 games in there too).

[Iron Draggon]

well I started the year off with a new GBA SP, so of course collecting GBA games became one of my priorities... and I've done pretty well with it... I'm up to 32 games for it now, including some of the really hard to find games like Muppet Pinball Mayhem... which I found while on vacation in San Francisco...

I also started the year off with some new rarities for some of the other consoles that I collect for... and that seems to have started a trend, because I'm still finding more new rarities now, and I've found quite a few throughout the year... gotta love that... filling in some hard to fill holes...

and I've managed to get just about current with my PC game collecting too... now I'm buying new releases as they come out, because that's about all that I have on my wishlist... I've finally gotten just about all the older PC games that I want, so I'm enjoying just looking forward to new releases for it now...

as for goals, I'd like to try and get some more of the super expensive Saturn games that I want... I haven't been buying very many imports for it lately, so I'd like to get back to focusing on that more, and in a much bigger way too...

[Pantechnicon]

Ups:

- Building my Virtual Boy collection to near complete-U.S. status including some hard-to-finds like Nester's Funky Bowling.

- Finally obtaining every R1 cart in the Atari 2600 library.

- Attending my first OVGE in the company of my son and Ubikuberalles and getting to meet face-to-face so many of you swell folks from DP.

- Winning the "Coke Wins" tournament at OVGE. Pantechnicon still pwns your Pepsi!

- Breaking my personal high score on Galaga with a new record of 366,530.

Downs:

- Having all of my classic handhelds collection, as well as the aforementioned Virtual Boy library, stolen when my house was burglarized in September.

- All the DP downtime. Necessary or unavoidable, but still a bit of a downer.

One More Up:

- Receiving a very generous care package from some DP'ers in sympathy for the burglary.


...Christmas Day 2006 will mark 25 years since I got my first Atari 2600, my silver anniversary as a gamer. Looking forward to the next 25 as well.

[Damaramu]

Let's see. This year I:

Received a boxed minty Virtual Boy with a stack of boxed games, including Nester's Funky Bowling free from a co-worker. (didn't know that was a rare one)

Bought my first PS2 import, Cho Jikuu Yosai Macross. I'm a major Macross geek.

Put together a decent sized GBA library for the GBA SP 2 I got last Christmas.

Finally picked up an Xbox and purchased a buttload of Xbox games over the summer!

Picked up some cool Saturn imports.

For 2007, I plan on:

Starting an import PS2 collection. There's just too much good stuff over there that never made it Stateside.

Getting a TurboDuo. Either from someone on DP or on Ebay.

Collecting the last few Genesis games I've been wanting.

Also doing the same for SNES games.

[MarioMania]

Well in 2006 I got

Mega Man X2
Mega Man X3
Ninja Gaiden Trilogy
Ninja Gaiden III
Bonk's Adventure - NES
Mega Man 1 - 6 NES
Mega Man 1 - 5 GB

in 2007..I want to try to get

Mega Man Wliy Wars - Mega Drive
Mega Man - Game Gear
Rockman & Forte -SFC

[vintagegamecrazy]

I don't have too many great accomplishments for 2006 either. I haven't had steady work this year so it's been tough. I have enjoyed collecting all the same.

My downside this year was having to sell so much to find extra cash and downsize on space.

One highlight was finally obtaining Odyssey 2 Power Lords CIB, not in great shape but good nonetheless

[s1lence]

I finally finished my 32x collection, complete in the boxes. Pitfall took me almost the whole year to find, and for 81 bucks it was mine.

[Nebagram]

Major ups- getting a Sega Nomad, Neo Geo AES and PAL FZ-10 3DO for a net total of about £80

[98PaceCar]

I finished my boxed 2600 Activision collection.
Managed to find most, if not all, of the R7 and up NA consoles with games.
Finally brought home a Star Wars cockpit.
Met a TON of DP members through the year.
Finally set up a proper console room of doom so I can enjoy my collection.

All in all 2006 was a great year!!

For 2007 I'm going to finish my North American console collection by getting the last few consoles I need. After that, I'll probably focus on my 2600 collection along with starting on some of the rarer Japanese consoles.

[bangtango]

Excellent topic, Steven, thanks for getting the input of your fellow members.

2006:

I spent the year acquiring every Playstation 1 (the original grey model) and Nintendo 64 console that I saw for less than $10-12. I also had a Sega CD fall into my lap, for well below the "market price", which was VERY exciting. Two or three months ago, I put in an obligatory bid for a top-loading model which was listed as part of a decent-sized Sega bundle on Ebay.

I tend to do this sometimes with certain items I spot, even when I know I might not win the auction. I always enter at least a lower-end bid just to "make an appearance." However, I sometimes catch other bidders (or the seller) "sleeping" and end up having the winning bid. That happens around 5-10% of the time. This was one of those lucky occasions. I ended up winning the Sega CD bundle for $25-30 below the typical Ebay value for the items that were included in the auction. Needless to say I was stunned and paid up quickly. So far, I've enjoyed the Sega CD.


2007:

I'd like to add to my Atari Jaguar and 3DO collections. If possible, I'd be interested in getting a "complete" Sega 32X. My primary interest will probably be padding my Sega CD library, since I only have 2 games at the moment.


Thanks for asking, Steven.

[Whiskey Mark]

2006 memories/accomplishments (not necessarily classic-gaming related):

Took advantage of GameStop's B2G1 sale(s) to bolster my PS2 collection a bit, picked up some nice titles which include Star Ocean: TTEOT, Suikoden IV, Radiata Stories, Legend of Kay, Zone of Enders, Xenogears ep.02, Viewtiful Joe 2, LaPucelle Tactics, among some others acquired at different times, MSG: Zeonic Front, Guitar Hero, FFXII.

I am also now the proud owner of Mario Party 1-7. Whee.

Along with the help of GrandAmChandler (or should I say Chris the Woodelf Ranger) and under varying degrees of sobriety, succeeded in playing through the Baldur's Gate clone, Champions of Norrath (dude, we pwned those ants). It might not sound like a huge accomplishment, but it took us something like 6 months for some odd reason. Probably because I have a slight OCD with making sure to break open each and every barrel, crate, etc.

Other games I've beaten/mastered this year: Renegade (NES), Paper Mario (N64), Fable (XBOX), Super Smash Brothers (N64, on Very Hard without losing one life), Resident Evil 4 (GC), Castlevania: LOI (PS2), among others that I'm surely forgetting.

Out of sheer boredom invented (I think) what will now be referred to as the Random NES Challenge. Requirements: 2 or more NES consoles and a monitor, tv or some display device per console. Find yourself a wide array of random level or stage-based NES games (ex. Astayanax, Mystic Ring, Ikari Warriors, Dash Galaxy in Alien Asylum). The idea is to choose games that aren't sports or rpg games. Platformers, side scrollers, shooters, or puzzle games work best. You basically give each competitor a randomly selected game and then start each game at the same time and see who can complete theirs first. Believe it or not, it's actually quite the fun time. I chose NES as the console because it has a huge game library (consisting of relatively short, yet challenging titles) however, feel free to substitute the NES with whatever console you have multiples of, :P

Snagged up a psone (white, small model) and I am looking to buy an official LCD screen for it, PM me with a reasonable offer if you're trying to get rid of one.

From various lots on shopgoodwill.com, I have won a few items I've been looking for to help flesh out my console collection, a Genesis 3, a Power Base Converter, an Inty 1, a Colecovision, and a Game Gear.

Arranged my RoD to a point where I would *almost* have the courage to submit some pics.

Made appearances at one of the NAVA get togethers and several South Jersey game nights, and got a chance to meet a ton of DP folks.

[PentiumMMX]

Here are my great acomplishments of 2006:

- Getting a DS
- Finally finishing Final Fantasy VII
- Discovering that Rareware is working on a remake of Diddy Kong Racing (w00t!)

What I plan on doing next year:

- Finally get Pokémon Crystal (I finally got one, but it's save battery was dead and I couldn't get the case open)
- Get a Sega 32X (Already have Knuckles' Chaotix!)

[.Goomba24]

Well, this year I basically sculpted my collection sicne I didn't even collect too much in '05 (I am what you may call "new to this")..I got a dedicated console, a couple of NES and N64 systems, and a crapload of classic manuals and games. I am happy for what I got. I have one goal, and that is to get more SNES games, since I only own somewhere around 10 (I know, I know..)..

[Abman]

As far as games go 2006 was a pretty good year. It was the first year I had an eBay account which started my online buying. This really got me into collecting instead of just hoping to find stuff at yard sales. I started collecting complete games instead of loose games also.

The two major additions to my collection was a Sega Saturn and an Atari 2600. I enjoy both systems very much, and I am planning on expaning my collection for both systems in 2007.

I'll probably start doing some importing for the Saturn in 2007. I also am aiming on getting 60 plus complete Atari games. I also would like to get a lot of Saturn games like NiGHTS Into Dreams, Sonic Jam, and Dayton USA. All pretty common games, but I'm sure there are going to be rarer games mixed in.

Besides the Atari 2600 I'm probably going to focus mostly on Sega sytems this year. I played mostly Nintendo when I was growing up, and nowadays I find Sega systems to be much more appealing then Nintendo systems. I will probably improve my SNES collection a little though.

It should be an exciting year for me as far as gaming is concerned.

[RJ]

Got a Colecovision 2 months ago & a YOBO this past summer & (re)discovering many games I missed out on 20+ yrs ago. These classic carts are right in my price range too! Gyromite for a penny, Nintendo Golf for a nickel, $3 for CV Mr DO!- I cant go wrong.

I also got rid of quite a few PS & PS2 games which I came to realize I'd probably never play again/could do w/out- we're talking maybe 2 dozen games altogether- some I ebayed, some traded in for $, used for the Yobo. I took inventory of my remaining games & noted which titles I'll probably never get rid of.

I also realized (w/ the help of the above systems) I'm not interested in the newest systems & likely will not buy/collect past PS2. It may come as a shock/sacrilege to some but I'm done- the new systems dont hold much for me. The new stuff is waaay too expensive & not worth it to me IMO & I still have tons of games (& fun) waiting for me on systems I already own.

All those new-fangled FPS games? Hell, I still have fun playing Jaguar DOOM.