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Deniz told me on a podcast that Wata is named after the Bruce Lee thing and immediately I just said "Ah, racial accent humor, cool." They should just pretend that's not where it came from

My near mint CIB copy of Garry Kitchen Presents Super Battletank: War in the Gulf is an investment

Yep, mixed in Pac-Man info and nonexistent info. That’s why I try to source as much as possible Thanks for the catch.

Shop Goodwill... so I look forward to checking this auction in 5 days and it's somehow going for $16,000.

I'd keep desirable ones unfolded for the novelty (Contra III). I wouldn't mind folding up random boxes, but like, what are you going to do with them? Get 100% inserts, then use that as an actual box? Upgrade an existing CIB then have a random loose box? Empty box on the shelf? Is that really any cooler than an unfolded box? Realistically I'd just keep them unfolded. I just don't know what to do with these kinds of boxes. I have all of mine just sitting in a bin. Not a very exciting place for a collectible thing.

All this because @hyrulevyse kept trying to hype Wabbit to me... and I wanted to find something even earlier. While there are some earlier borderline cases I don't think I found anything amazing besides Exidy Score which is pretty neat. The important games are still perhaps Ms. Pac-Man, Wabbit, and Metroid with a bunch of nonsense filling in the gaps.

I'm looking into very early playable female characters in games. Many lists are missing information because they intentionally discount various aspects (unnamed characters, not human, etc.) so I'd like to find as much information as possible to make my own determination of what matters or is interesting. 1983 and on playable female characters become much more common as either real characters, selectable characters, or just porn. I don't know how many of later games have any real historical relevance so I'm focusing on earlier ones. This is certainly far from the first such list, but please let me know if you know of other games. I have to start digging through more old computer games to see what I can find. 1972-1982 video games: 2 [Simon Says] (1972) Magnavox Odyssey, Magnavox Player 1 controls a boy on the overlay and player 2 controls a girl This is the first video game period where you can consider a player to be controlling a female character, even if it is just represented on the overlay Score (1977) Arcade, Exidy Sprite swap of Death Race where men chase women and vice versa. The first ever playable or depicted female human in a commercial game The game is "lost" right now with no ROMs or screenshots, although a cabinet at least exists somewhere Kid-Venture #1: Little Red Riding Hood (1980) Apple II, TRS-80, Adventure Interactive Non-interactive storybook software that includes a quiz mode where you can't actually lose. Probably the barest qualifier of being a video game, if it counts at all. Little Red Riding Hood is technically the protagonist, named, and depicted in-game, although you don't control her or make any choices for/as her. She isn't an original video game character, but a literary one Galactic Saga IV: Tawala's Last Redoubt (1981) Apple II, Broderbund Strategy game with the possible first named, off-screen female protagonist. Presumably you "play" as Benthi controlling her forces, although you don't actually control her. She is depicted in the manual Lady Bug (1981, December) Arcade, Universal The art for the game depicts you as a humanoid, although in-game you're just a regular ladybug The home port manuals refer to you as she and her. At least once it refers you as "Lady Bug" with no article or possessive (i.e. the Lady Bug, your Lady Bug), which could imply her name is Lady Bug, although this is a stretch and likely just an oversight. I would not personally consider this a human(oid) character, however I don't necessarily think discounting art and advertising as "not part of the game" is the correct approach either, especially for early, more abstract games. Ms. Pac-Man (1982, February) Arcade, Midway The first playable, named, female protagonist: Ms. Pac-Man Some sources (i.e. Polygon) don't consider her "named". I think she is clearly named Ms. Pac-Man. Also Ms. Pac-Man Plus in 1982, which was an official conversion kit might technically count as its own game. Pooyan (1982) Arcade, Konami/Stern You play as a mother pig named Mama Kangaroo (1982) Arcade, Atari You play as a mother kangaroo rescuing her joey Pac-Gal (1982, May) DOS, Al J. Jiménez Bad, early Pac-Man clone where you play as an IBM smiley face character, but due to the title she is technically female. Re-released as "Pac-Girl" Wabbit (1982, likely October) Atari 2600, Apollo First playable, named, human, female protagonist: Billie Sue Likely what you could plainly call the "first woman player character" of a video game. Despite being human... Ms. Pac-Man has more personality. Just sayin'! Beat'em and Eat'Em (1982, likely November) Atari 2600, Mystique Very early playable female characters: women... eating 'em. The first game where you can play as two female characters! Self-describes itself as having the world's first computer generated fart. More research may be needed. Honorable Mentions: Talking Eliza (1979, TRS-80). Ancient chat bot AI thing. Not really a game, and not really a playable female character, but maybe of interest. This is an implementation of ELIZA, researched and created between 1964-1966. Alien (1982, Atari 2600). You play as nameless, genderless humans, although you would imagine yourself playing as Ripley. Black Widow (1982, Arcade). The arcade manual depicts a black widow with an hourglass, which females usually have. While it sure feels like in a game named Black Widow, you'd be playing as the scary, dangerous, partner-eating sex rather than the harmless male, it isn't specified in any explicit way in the game or other surrounding materials. Games where the main character is "you". For example Santa Paravia and Fiumaccio (1978, TRS-80), a strategy game that predates most other games on this list. "You" are the ruler of Santa Paravia and the game asks your gender to provide gender-appropriate titles (e.g. Sir, Lady, King, Queen). A very early game that asks the player's sex is the HP2000 game Trek73 (1973). These would largely be hard to classify as the vast majority don't ask your gender, but could obviously be played by women. Mrs. Dynamite (1982, Arcade). An unreleased Universal game exhibited in 1982. It looked pretty neat. Chess... in general. The queen represents a female, so there's that. There is a long history of computer chess I am not bothering to go deep into. MicroChess (1976) and Video Chess (1979) are perhaps two important early video games. The Turochamp algorithm (1948), the first computer game to ever enter development, would be a hard one to go earlier than if you count chess. There are also old computer games that are not explicitly chess, such as the BASIC game 1QUEEN (1970). If you really consider chess and its variants to be the first appearance of playable female characters, this is it's own rabbit hole. Other games, 1983 and beyond: There are many, many more past 1982 I came across while researching. Here are some pre-1986 games are below, some years are approximate, and this is far from complete. Once games get more complex, you get things like Alien on Commodore 64, a game where you control all the members of the Nostromo including Ripley, so I guess that counts? There are likely many mid-80s RPGs or strategy games where you control a female character in a party that are not easy to find. Something like Ultima III has classes that are clearly represented by females in the art, but nothing in the game or manual mentions gender, so it can be hard to classify these too. 1983, Lady in Wading (Atari 2600) 1983, Bachelorette Party (Atari 2600) 1983, Jungle Fever (Atari 2600) 1983, Gigolo (Atari 2600) 1983, General Re-Treat (Atari 2600) 1983, Dishaster (Atari 2600) 1983, Halloween (Atari 2600) 1983, Dolphin (Atari 2600) 1983, Alices Abenteuer (Atari 2600) 1983, Ghost Manor (Atari 2600) 1983, Strawberry Shortcake (Atari 2600) 1983, Snowball (Many computers) 1983, Murder on the Zinderneuf (Apple II and others) 1983, Fay: That Math Woman! (Apple II, C64) 1983, Tropical Angel (Arcade) - First Japanese-developed human female protagonist. Also a notably realistic human compared to earlier Atari stuff. 1983, Joshi Volleyball (Arcade) 1983, Bristles (Atari 8-Bit) 1983, Granny and the Gators (Bally) 1983, Otenba Becky no Daibouken (MSX) 1984, 40-0 (Arcade) 1984, Field Day (Arcade) 1984, Jenny of the Prairie (Apple II) 1984, Through the Looking Glass (Macintosh) 1984, Return to Eden (Many computers) 1984, Nausicaä's Close Call (PC-6001) 1984, Nausicaä's Forgotten Game (MSX) 1984, Nausicaä Adventure Game (PC-8801) 1984, Flicky (Arcade) 1984, Girl's Garden (SG-1000) 1984, Queen's Golf (MSX) 1984, Hole in One (MSX) 1984, Bionic Granny (C64) 1984, Alien (ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64) 1984, Tinka's Mazes (Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64) 1984, Beaky and the Egg Snatchers (ZX Spectrum, C64) 1984, Cabbage Patch Kids Adventures in the Park (Colecovision) 1984, Chelsea of the South Sea Islands (Apple II) - Very rare, possibly unreleased or limited release? Disk image exists. 1984, Lauren of the 25th Century (Apple II) - Very rare, possibly unreleased or limited release? 1984, Bird Mother (Commodore 64) 1984, Airbase Invader (ZX Spectrum) 1984, Cave Girl Clair (Apple II) 1984, Barbie (Commodore 64) 1984, Aerobics (Atari 8-bit) 1984, The Black Onyx (PC-88) 1985, Onyanko Town (Famicom) 1985, Twinbee (Arcade) 1985, Ninja Princess (Arcade, SG-1000) 1985, City Connection (Arcade) 1985, Baraduke (Arcade) 1985, Time Gal (Arcade) 1985, Flash Gal (Arcade) 1985, Onna Sansirou: Typhoon Gal (Arcade) 1985, Gauntlet (Arcade) 1985, Amelie Minuit (Amstrad CPC) 1985, Lode Runner's Rescue (Commodore 64) 1985, Lady Master of Kung-Fu (Arcade) 1985, Shadowfire (Commodore 64) 1985, Cauldron (Commodore 64) 1985, Doppleganger (Amstrad CPC) 1985, Mama Llama (Commodore 64) 1985, The Wizard of Oz (Apple II) 1985, Al*berthe (Matra Alice) 1985, Alice in Wonderland (Apple II) 1985, Alien Sector (Arcade, X68000) 1985, Elidon (Commodore 64) 1985, The Fairyland Story (Arcade) 1985, Night Nurse (Sinclair QL) 1985, Amelie Minuit (Amstrad CPC) 1985, The Secret of St. Brides (ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64) And also a couple games I've seen described as having a female protagonist but at a cursory glance don't appear to actually have them: 1984, Lords of Time (Commodore 64) 1984, Hustle! Chumy (MSX) 1985, Mach Rider (Arcade) Good Sources: http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/inventories/80sheroines.htm This HG101 article has information on many of the obscure Japanese games https://www.mobygames.com/game-group/protagonist-female/offset,0/so,1a/ This is the Mobygames list of female protagonists, although it is a little lacking and at least a few seem to be incorrect https://atariage.com/forums/topic/253620-girls-power-games-with-female-heros/ Lots of Atari games mentioned in this thread https://www.polygon.com/2021/2/11/22273073/ban-tran-atari-2600-wabbit-first-female-character-video-games-playable-history-apollo Polygon article about Score, Wabbit, and the search for information on female protagonists https://www.acriticalhit.com/video-dames-the-history-of-playable-female-protagonists/ A start to a planned 50-part series on female protagonists in games, however it only covers Exidy Score so far. Will likely be a very high quality, originally researched source in the future https://www.randomterrain.com/rt-atari-2600-game-index.html Random Terrain, the absolute best-researched source for Atari release dates

Looks incredible

This kind of research is always fun to do. If they have a serial number starting at 000000001 that's a pretty baller copy.

I only send and accept concealed cash in white envelopes.

TBH I couldn’t decide if I wanted the CIB or LE version, so bought neither. It’s something pretty on the edge of my interest to begin with though. The CIBs look better than the stock black box LRG LEs but the LEs are supposed to be the premium version. I’ll probably just get the Famicom releases if I do want them in the future so I don’t have to decide between the two.

7, honestly like this movie aside from all the Nintendo stuff that gives it a boost. “He touched my breast!” What a classic line.

Hey, you do you man. Don't let other people tell you what to enjoy. I hear there are whole niche communities of people out there who are way into P.

Obvious 10 I think. Maybe not the million percent best, more varied library of games, that's likely PS2, but it's the library I like most. It went from Popeye and SMB to Kirby's Adventure and Gimmick. What other console has genres that evolve as much as Popeye to Gimmick? Maybe Atari 2600 which went from <Platform genre doesn't exist> to Pitfall II? But that couldn't go as far for things like RPGs, shooters, and adventure games. It brought the d-pad to consoles. Oh my god, forget the dumbass joystick controllers of the past. Can you imagine the NES controller, the perfect icon of a video game controller, gets released - then later you, Atari, release the Atari 7800 with a joystick like it's still 1977? Jesus. Yo, where's the edge of a platform? Oh I'm playing NES, it's this pixel right here. And I have to keep my 4px wide leg from running off this? Wow, that's so precise! It's fucking perfect. This feels amazing to play! Yo, its 1994, where's the edge of a platform? I have NO FUCKIN' IDEA! Because we decided to make games look like Hannah Barbara cartoons with giant ass sprites, lumbering animation cycles, and natural landscapes rather than the blocky-ass pixel platforming perfection of the Mega Mans and Castlevanias of old. HOW DO MOST GAMES FEEL JUST A LITTLE WORSE NOW EVEN THOUGH WE'RE IN THE FUTURE? It's also a top tier console for modern games, with tons being released these days. The other consoles vying to the top spot (PS2 and SNES IMO) have little by comparison, because it's way harder for one guy or small hobbyist teams to make games befitting the hardware.

The #12 of 12 things to do in Hanover? I'll be sure to check it out if I run out of literally everything else to do in Hanover.

Nah, the Nintendo stuff is cart only just trying to get good stuff CIB. NintendoAge made you have complete complete sets. VideoGameSage has low standards for their badges!

I'm no Pokeman expert, but it should have a Player's Guide offer right? Which goes for about $50 alone? People put a bigger premium on Wata grading than they do on 100% CIB games. Same thing happened with Tyson, people were paying huge premiums for Wata copies compared to copies on Ebay that actually included the letter. Grading the minimum possible thing Wata will grade as CIB rather than 100% CIB games, especially when grading is so god damn expensive is just b-a-n-a-n-a-s to me. But if you're just chasing that flip it somehow works.

Spend a day of your life entering codes into the post office obtain all the items and you too can beat Animal Crossing https://www.speedrun.com/ac/run/y21ejk7z

Here are some more date codes. Not sure on the exact variants, just a pic I stole from IG.

9/10, the most charming game. My only gripe with the series is that every release has been only incremental upgrades on the first game. The sum total of those upgrades in New Horizons is pretty significant now but we never got a "wow!" sequel like the first game wow'd me. Maybe it's just because of how I played games at the time, but I was a lot more relaxed-do-whatever when I played Animal Crossing, compared to how I play New Horizons where it's grind for bells, do my dailies, oh I lost a villager, gotta grind out islands for hours until I find a desirable villager. Maybe there's just too much information out there now.

Stated reason would be insurance, real reason is both insurance and because they can.

I love IGS so much. Their cases that are intentionally poorly sized in them name of uniformity. Their stock, completely incongruous army stencil font that the owner just picked because he thought it was cool. Naming your company "Investment" anything and the first thing on their website is a Pirates of the Caribbean blu-ray. The fact that the guy on Ebay grades his own stuff, then debates his his self-given grades in his Ebay item descriptions. The cornucopia of subgrades. All around, just *chefs kiss*

I was on the PSX train when that was in fashion, then they made too many numbered Playstations so I went to PS1, and now I don't like including a "1" that isn't actually there so I'm on team PS.

I try not to think of console names too hard because so many of them are awful. The Wii and Wii U. The 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, a console with awkward multiplayer capabilities that's mostly known for its single player games. The dumbness of calling an X-shaped box "Xbox" to the Xbox One... the third Xbox to the mega dumbness of the Xbox One X Series X-Box 2.0 X-X Box Live Verxion X. What the hell is a JVC X'eye?? A marketing guy actually let them release a product named that?? I think we peaked early: Magnavox Odyssey Vectrex RDI Halcyon

Wow, I didn't know there was a Pokemon game on SNES.