nrslam

I started in the early 90's focusing on carts for old computers (C64,VIC20, Atari 800/XL/XE, TI99, and CoCo). This was mainly because I had started with a C64 and was always curious about the path(s) not taken with the other machines, and stuff was easily found. I generally skipped disk/tape stuff as I lacked the appropriate drives and was mistrustful of old magnetic media. Pivot 1 occured in the mid 90's as I expanded to game consoles, mainly focusing on pre-NES stuff. Pivot 2, late 90s, I'd become obsessed with thrifts and garage sales and started just buying anything that seemed like a deal. Several times I came home with loads of stuff I didn't even recognize. Got lots of crap, and most of my best finds, in this period. It was also a prime time for trading. Pivot 3, early to mid 2000's, the rise of ebay corresponded with supplies drying up and increased competition for what was out there. I tried my hand at both buying and selling online but generally didn't care much for it. Pivot 4, around 2010. ebay had started down the we-hate-our-sellers path so I stopped using them. Now back to being a local-finds-only collector my acquisitions really slowed. On the plus side, I now had more time to play 20 years worth of pickups. Pivot 5, 2020, moved to the country. Hardly ever find anything now. Even more time to play.

Gave it a 7, as it seems to fit the criteria and I've played thru it a couple times. I'd have preferred they stuck with the Advance Wars series, but this was a nice alternative. As a series, I thought the earlier FEs worked best. The 3DS and home console entries never felt right to me, and I never bothered finishing them.

Not exactly authentic Lederhosen, but someone did buy me a pint for wearing these to Oktoberfest.

Not the lucky ones! Never wash those.

You drove 100 mph for 16 hours? You da man!

Tip of the hat from another longtime Mad subscriber.

Wouldn't call it wild, but it is a true story... I'd made arrangements to buy an Amiga 3000 from someone on Craigslist. They lived about an hour away in a very rural part of the state, so my wife went along for the ride. About 80% of the way there, I get a call from the seller; someone else had shown up for a different ad, spotted the Amiga, and offered $50 above the agreed on price. Seller said he'd save it for me, but only if I matched the higher offer. This didn't sit well with me, so I declined. Since we were already out in the country, we decided to drive around a bit, enjoy the sights, and get some lunch. Then I spotted a box sitting on the curb by an abandoned looking house on a little used road. Had an N64 sticking out of it and a "Free" sign. A quick u-turn and I grabbed the box, which also turned out to have a SNES, Genesis, Gameboy, and about 50 random games for those systems. Went to the house to give them some money (and ask if they had anything else) but the place was clearly abondoned. Didn't get anything rare, but free is free. Thanks, Amiga dude.

Yes, I'm content with the collection, but not with the way its stored. Takes too much time an effort to find anything specific. I've always enjoyed the hunt, going to garage sales, flea markets, and thrifts, and still get a little thrill when I find something good. It's been a great hobby, and like Tabonga, I was lucky to start collecting when stuff was cheap and plentiful. I did try online buying back when ebay was new and it didn't feel like everbody was out for a buck, but there was no sense of accomplishment buying that way. Nowadays, even though there are plenty of retro games I don't have, I feel no urge to shell out big bucks for any of it. If I don't find it in the wild, it wasn't meant to be. That's contentment.

Almost everything I own was bought in lots well after the given system was popular, so there really was no "first" game for most. A few exceptions: Atari 2600: Video Chess (before I knew it was famous for cheating). Commodore 64: Gridrunner 3DS: Fire Emblem something. Can't remember which one. WiiU: Pikmin3.

Nice! I've got experience with most of those that saw a US release, but not with several of the others. You must have a second storage spot for power supplies, cables, disk/tape drives and joysticks/mice/etc. I find trying to keep all that stuff handy more difficult than the computers themselves.

Could you give a rundown on what computers are in your retro cupboard? I recognize most of them but a few stump me.

I didn't know that. They don't seem to come up much 'round here.

Welcome! Nice to see another fan of old computers here.

2211. It's rare for me to like all the songs in one of these. None of the choices were easy.

I can't find mine (my filing system is lousy), but it looks like this picture I found on Google images, with the Cowlitz Gamers badge and all. I don't remember the poster, but then again I haven't actually looked at mine for a few years.

There were 35 (?) copies for sale at the 2014 Cowlitz Gamers for Kids show. I have one, with box & manual and will post photoes if I can find it. Looks different than the Euro version someone's selling on fleabay. You might try searching for the phrase "Cowlitz Gamers for Kids 2014" over on AtariAge and then contacting the author to see if he knows how to get one. Meanwhile, off to search for mine.....

There's a Spot Goes to Hollywood aftermarket release for the 32X. Doesn't count for set completeness, I assume? Anyhoo, nice set. I've enjoyed the Spot games I've played.

So, not a robbery? I was just in a thrift last week that had one entry area boarded up. Cashier told me someone had driven thru the storefront one recent night and robbed the place. Hard to believe you could steal enough worthwhile stuff at a thrift to pay for the car damage, but maybe it was a POS car.

This thread has become my favorite daily read. Keep going.

Personally, I wouldn't sell, just as I wouldn't knowingly sell to a flipper. No need for me to enable bad behavior.

Welcome. Don't know why, given that this is a gaming forum, but I saw your 'Budding Home Brewer' title and thought you wanted to talk about beer. But I guess making NES games is OK, too.

Really trying to get into this Xbox360 I picked up a few months ago. I've got it hooked into my classics setup with an old 25" CRT, and every game suffers from blurry, nearly unreadable text/menus/instructions. So I'm stuck playing Tiger Woods 07 as it's the only one I can figure out. I suppose a HiDef connection would help, but it's criminal that they would market a console that's compatible with standard def without providing a readable font for such connections.

1121. I admit I watched the Shakira video with the sound muted.

Only 4. Did better on the older ones.

Pandemic didn't really change my habits, but I did move from a big city suburb to a rural area so there's just not as much stuff around. Only 2 big thrifts in the whole county compared to over 20 in my old stomping grounds and proportionately fewer garage sales. Luckily I've already got more than any sane person could want. It has, however, become much harder to sell stuff locally, even when I advertise it for less than half the going online rate. Guess I'll just have be buried with it all.