DarkKobold's Game Library, set-by-set: Memorex/Radio Shack/Tandy VIS

[DarkKobold | 249]

So, I'm not sure I'm deserving of my own thread, but I figured I'd make one anyway. I thought it would be fun to go through my game collection, set by set, and talk about why it was fun to collect, the bad stories, the good stories, etc. To start, here's my complete US (114), complete Euro exclusive (168), and working toward complete Worldwide Sega Master System set. 

Putting together the US set was mostly uneventful. I got really lucky, finding a BIN lot with James Buster Douglas CIB mixed in with a bunch of generic SMS games for $300, in 2021. Otherwise, I don't really remember getting most of the set. I had Alf, Ys, and Phantasy Star early on, so the rest of the set wasn't hard to put together. 

The Euro exclusives, on the other hand, were a ton of fun. Trying to seek out deals all around Europe, finding anyone with underpriced games.... One of my favorite stories was finding Power Strike II - It was on some random Swedish game store website, for half the price of a normal CIB. However, there were no pictures, and no description. So, I emailed and asked the two main questions: Do you ship to the US, and is it complete? It is, I order it, and it shows up dead mint. Looks like it'd never been opened. Usually, stories like that don't turn out good, lol. 

Another fun story was finding Masters of Combat. I got an incredible eBay snipe out of Portugal, for around 30-40% of what the most recent auctions in the UK had been closing at. My heart is pounding through my ears, as for those that don't know, MoC is the rarest, most expensive game out of the set. Later on, I'm on twitter looking for other SMS posts to find deals.... but then, I see this tweet - 

My freaking snipe, being advertised to a following of around 4,000 people. I was sweating bullets. Was someone going to be backdooring me? Is it going to ship? Is the seller going to cancel my listing? I was beyond pissed. Obviously, the story ended well, but my F5 button broke due to over use on the shipping page. I eventually confronted him a year later, on youtube of all places, and he just replied with a sweat emoji. I wasn't still mad, but I wanted to point out what a crap move that was, for someone who apparently is seen as a price police. 

Those were the most eventful gets.  Now, for the downsides: Australian published SMS games suck. They use about 1/4" thinner cases, which stick out like sore thumbs, and they don't have real manuals, instead unfolding posters. I spent a lot of money on a lot of expensive Australian rare games, just to find that out. T2 judgement day is my last Australian release to replace. Also, SMS spines fade in about 30 seconds of sunlight. Seriously, finding nice spines for SMS games is brutal, because they didn't use very good ink. 

This was honestly one of the most fun sets I've collected. Having to find deals halfway across the world, trying to convince random game shops in the middle of nowhere England to ship to some weirdo obsessive in the US, scouring deals for games most of you don't care about, it was just a blast. Finally, I'll end with a flex picture: the heaviest of the set.

 

 

Edited January 7 by DarkKobold

[Ankos | 594]

6 minutes ago, DarkKobold said:

So, I'm not sure I'm deserving of my own thread

It's the Show Off board, I feel like members having their own threads isn't strange at all. What's the worst that can happen, the people who are into different stuff than you won't read your posts? You could even argue it is courteous if you are making a long post

Edited January 30, 2024 by Ankos

[Tyree_Cooper | 957]

hey i still remember that guy bragging about finding LOTS of brand new copies of the smurfs around the world game in a game shop somewhere, i think it was in czech republic or poland, somewhere around there, he posted photos of the location. he must have made good money reselling them.

your copy with the halifax sticker shows some copies made it to italy

[DarkKobold | 249]

4 minutes ago, Tyree_Cooper said:

hey i still remember that guy bragging about finding LOTS of brand new copies of the smurfs around the world game in a game shop somewhere, i think it was in czech republic or poland, somewhere around there, he posted photos of the location. he must have made good money reselling them.

your copy with the halifax sticker shows some copies made it to italy

I bought it from the guy in Italy who had multiple copies. I just checked eBay, It appears he finally ran out.  He must have found a pretty good stash somewhere. He did it the best way possible if you want to unload a rare game you have 30 copies of. He wouldn't negotiate a single dime off, he'd only list one at a time, he wouldn't tell you how many he had left, and he would usually wait 1-3 weeks before posting another one. He might have gone months with out a sale, but sometimes, when he'd list one, the pure FOMO would rule out, and someone would buy it immediately, which meant waiting weeks to find out if he had any left. The FOMO definitely caught up with me, and I bought it at full price. That stung, but... FOMO. 

[Tyree_Cooper | 957]

Probably not the same guy, because I clearly remember the shop was in eastern Europe, and no Halifax sticker on them. This is most likely another unrelated stock from Italy.

[DefaultGen | 5,957]

Masters of Combat seems too cool to be the rarest game in the set. Aren't we supposed to idolize sports game and boring exertainment games?

Edited January 30, 2024 by DefaultGen

[final fight cd | 257]

cool to see a collection that isn't ninendo related!

[nrslam | 501]

Very impressive. I look forward to future sets.

[T-Pac | 8,443]

@DarkKobold I know people like to hate on the packaging for SMS games, but that looks soooo nice all-together as a set.

How did you approach games released in different formats for different regions?
(Just dipped my toes into the Master System myself, and I had to get a German copy of Transbot since the US release was exclusively in card format and I only have a cartridge-reader.)

[T-Pac]

[DarkKobold | 249]

4 minutes ago, T-Pac said:

@DarkKobold I know people like to hate on the packaging for SMS games, but that looks soooo nice all-together as a set.

How did you approach games released in different formats for different regions?
(Just dipped my toes into the Master System myself, and I had to get a German copy of Transbot since the US release was exclusively in card format and I only have a cartridge-reader.)

[T-Pac]

Absolutely, 100% agree, SMS sets look amazing when you rainbow sort them. (As a spoiler, I do a ton of rainbow sorting in my collection.)  I really dislike when people mix the few off-color boxes into the set. In fact, I made sure to use PAL boxes for Bomber Raid, Galaxy Force, Rampage and Cyborg Hunter, because they're the correct  colors for the shelf!  I have duplicate US versions for everything but the poorly colored Red US Rampage. Also, I did not care about getting US UPCs for the 4 imported PAL games. 

Originally, I just went cart-only on everything, so PAL versions for all the US cards. Then, I gave in, and went ahead and got the US cards as well. Also, as silly as it is, I got Heavyweight Champ, James Buster Douglas, and George Foreman KO Boxing, despite them all being the same game with different titles. Same with Great Soccer and World Soccer, those are the same game, but confusingly Great Soccer (card version) is a completely different game. 

Finally, there's some things you could say I'm missing, depending on how you define the Euro-exclusive set. There's the Hang On card version, which was mostly a console pack-in, but a very rare boxed version exists, and is insanely expensive for what amounts to a piece of paper inside a case. Next, I'm missing the esportes gamebox, which is a 3-in-1 version of other games I already own, but technically was a European release, only available in Portugal. I'd like to get these, but they're not a priority in my collecting. I did make sure to get Sapo Xule in the purple box Portugal format, as opposed to the Brazillian Tectoy version. 

As this post demonstrates, I could babble endlessly about what counts towards a set, and what shouldn't. 

 

 

[GPX | 1,439]

@DarkKobold, congrats on your SMS set so far! I collect for Pal only and I would agree Masters of Combat is one of the rarest ones, if not the rarest. That along with Buggy Run and Power Strike 2. 

I liked reading your horror-turned-good stories. Much better than the horror-turned-horrific ones!

[xelement5x | 162]

It does look so great with everything lined up there, nice and clean!

I think SMS is such an interesting system to collect myself. The US set is pretty simple except for a handful of expensive ones and the UK sticker versions, but the Euro spread with different languages, styles and manuals, plus the TecToy stuff makes it something that is not easy to locate stuff for. 

[DarkKobold | 249]

I recently finished the MSX LaserDisc Collection, so I figured I should update this thread. I was fascinated by these games the moment I learned about MSX LaserDisc setup. Playing LaserActive games is always a trip, because you get 16-bit graphics overlaid on high-ish resolution videos. However, the MSX LD is even crazier - what if we put sub-NES graphics over high resolution videos? Games like Cosmic Circuit are a trip to see. After seeing that game, I felt I had to go for the complete set. It was just too weird to ignore. 

Technically I'm missing the 3 pieces of educational software, but I'm not sure if those should count. If they ever come up on YAJ, I'll go for them, but I'm considering this set complete as-is. This set was fairly easy to put together. Esh's is the rarest, and it still comes up multiple times a year. Anyway, enjoy this set of 12 whole games. 

 

 

[fcgamer | 5,124]

1 hour ago, DarkKobold said:

Playing LaserActive games is always a trip, because you get 16-bit graphics overlaid on high-ish resolution videos. However, the MSX LD is even crazier - what if we put sub-NES graphics over high resolution videos?

Ha, that's funny as I was just doing things yesterday with that sort of art style, something of which I personally like, wondering if others also liked the style or not.

[DarkKobold | 249]

And now, the Worlds of Wonder Action Max, the first REAL action game system. This is either my dumbest set, or a close second. 

Calling this a video game console is really an insult to quality video game consoles such as the VM Labs Nuon or Mattel Hyperscan. For those who don't know, this system requires a VCR to "play" the games. You watch the movie, shoot at prompts on the screen, and then the system tells you a score at the end. It is so insanely non-interactive, it's amazing they bothered to make it. 

I feel like so many other youtubers have shit on this system, there's not much new I can say about it. That said, this is a complete collection. Like every other gaming platform ever made, it has one super rare title, Blue Thunder. I managed to snag a copy for super cheap before I ever owned the system. I eventually gave up and bought the system and the rest of the set all at once, after not finding one local for years. 

 

Edited November 19, 2024 by DarkKobold

[nrslam | 501]

Congrats, I guess. I found everything except Blue Thunder many years ago, then never found that one missing game and didn't want to spend money on it. Don't think I've ever actually hooked it up.

[RH | 5,413]

I’ve literally had a Blue Thunder, generic search up on eBay for years. At least 4, maybe 5, and I’ve yet to see a copy. I see every new copy of the movie on VHS but never, ever have I seen an Action Max copy.

I have sealed copies of all others and I want a sealed copy of that one, but I’ll probably have to settle for buying any copy.

I know it exists and, oddly enough, before I started collecting, other Action Max collectors said Blue Thunder shows up about once a year for sale. Well… it hasn’t for me.

Edited November 19, 2024 by RH

[DarkKobold | 249]

19 hours ago, RH said:

I’ve literally had a Blue Thunder, generic search up on eBay for years. At least 4, maybe 5, and I’ve yet to see a copy. I see every new copy of the movie on VHS but never, ever have I seen an Action Max copy.

I have sealed copies of all others and I want a sealed copy of that one, but I’ll probably have to settle for buying any copy.

I know it exists and, oddly enough, before I started collecting, other Action Max collectors said Blue Thunder shows up about once a year for sale. Well… it hasn’t for me.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/226428168731

Sealed is definitely going to be difficult - but there's copies that sell pretty frequently. Maybe your search is set up improperly? I got mine for $10-12, but that was a BIN snipe. Also found this one on Terapeak. Never saw it live. Seems like someone got a steal. 

[RH | 5,413]

3 minutes ago, DarkKobold said:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/226428168731

Sealed is definitely going to be difficult - but there's copies that sell pretty frequently. Maybe your search is set up improperly? I got mine for $10-12, but that was a BIN snipe. Also found this one on Terapeak. Never saw it live. Seems like someone got a steal. 

It's literally an eBay search for "Blue Thunder VHS". I get a message in my inbox every day. I have, rarely, had hiccups where it's ignored some results. But wow... this is up to $300. When I started, $50 would have been more than reasonable, but we are living in a post-COVID boom world. Jeez... I'm going to need to re-evaluate my goals.

 I actually started collecting for this because my cousin had this system as a kid. We played it once, and tried to beat each other's high score and that was it.

[DarkKobold | 249]

This is a complete set for the Tandy/Radio Shack/Memorex VIS, a multimedia/video game system. It's so obscure, it makes the Philips CDi look common place. This is all 72 ga... 72 software titles. Less than 1/3rd are actual games, with the majority being more edutainment or informational software. I'm amazed the library is so large, given how insanely obscure this system is. This collection definitely competes with the Action Max as far as silly collections go. As far as I know, there's only 1 or 2 other complete sets out there, so I hope you enjoy seeing this.

Around 3 years ago, I went to a local video game store, and the owner, a good friend of mine, offered me an incredible deal on a system and nearly half the library in one go. He assumed I was one of the only people stupid and crazy enough to collect for this, and he was right; it set me on a fun adventure. I got another big lot from https://oldsoftware.com/, a local Radio Shack clearance center. Reid Swenson, the owner, hand delivered my purchase and toured my collection, which was a ton of fun. The remaining 10 or so was just waiting for some obscure titles to pop up on eBay. I got the coveted Video Movie Guide 1993 when I saw it in a lot of software with a system, and asked the seller to part it out. The entire lot was overpriced, but he gave me a stellar deal on the rarest VIS title. 

Edited January 7 by DarkKobold