the_wizard_666

Arthritis is a bitch when it comes to shooters. As is carpal tunnel. As is homework

SHUT UP AND PLAY SOME ALPHA MISSION!

Also note that I even said I was turning into a $50 game as I opened it. If I only knew then what I know now...well, I still would've opened it, I just would've waited a few more years to sell the paper

So I don't see what's in the Sachen lot, nor do I see prices...or do I have to PM for that?

AKA my niece's birthday...

I've known Basil a LOOOOONG time. He's gotta be the most hyper-competitive person I know, and he HATES being wrong It's all semantics, but essentially it comes down to the interpretation of the wording. As written in the rules I understood it correctly, as did everyone other than him, but as far as his thinking goes, he's technically not wrong, simply incorrect. His interpretation is entirely valid, the word "wrong" implies that it is not. He felt it was ambiguous enough to seek clarification, and he did. Now we're all on the same page, so let's just play some damn Alpha Mission!

I had to look up how the game was played. It was the only one that didn't make sense to me. For some reason I had a pain in the arse beating Scorpion, which is usually one of the gimmes when I play it. For whatever reason it didn't want to give me a win. I spent a solid 6 hours off and on trying to get it.

When it comes to NES games, ALWAYS read the manual. I mean, it's not as mandatory as with Atari 2600 games or anything, but there's always something in there that makes it worth the few minutes it takes. But yeah, I found the shield completely by accident. The thing is though, once you select an item, it's gone until you pick another one up. Fire is almost a necessity for the first boss, so I usually don't use the shield until after I kill him, just so I have it at the start of level 2. But now I'm starting to feel like maybe I should use the shield for the first boss, and save the fire for the second because I don't always end up finding another one, and it's MUCH harder to kill by just shooting him, and then hoping to find a shield again through the second level so I have it in the third. I'm not sure really. It seems part of the challenge is knowing where and when to use each power up because you never know when you might need it, and you don't want to need them and not have one available.

So did I, multiple times. I'm slowly improving, but it's a hard ass game, especially if shooters aren't your forte. You've done better than I did my first dozen attempts

Spot: The Video Game is done.

And a much easier game of New Chessmaster later, and that one's off the list as well. Too bad I don't have the regular one or I'd knock that off too.

Took most of a bloody day, but Solitaire Funpak is done. I even did a round of Poker just for the hell of it.

I would even go so far as to argue that it was known since it was released, what with it being printed in Nintendo Power when it happened

The years Scary included them, that's pretty much what he did. The games were listed separately, and the leaderboards were listed in a way that showed the full total, as well as the licensed/unlicensed split. Had no problem with it that way at all. And if that's how it was done, I would've still been here plugging away every New Year's and beyond. But still, I like the idea of the community being polled on it, especially if it's yearly (either in December or shortly after completion, whichever comes first) to decide the following year. If nothing else, it'll seem less arbitrary, especially to those of us old timers that will never understand how unlicensed games suddenly stopped counting for the majority of newcomers

I blame concussions Honestly, I'm not surprised. And yeah, the last few years probably would've been rough with the whole NA going bye bye and all. I'm just glad to see it still going strong after all these years. I don't remember if it was two or three years that I ran it initially, but either way, it's over a decade and still going strong.

But I started collecting when I was a teenager, and games were cheaper than dirt back then. I actually remember buying games at garage sales for 50 cents, and taking a literal jar of pennies to Gold Video to buy up a bunch of games when they went out of business for a quarter apiece. So neither nostalgia nor monetary gain were motivations for me. And frankly, if every game I owned was still worth a buck or less, I'd still have my collection. Hell, it'd probably be a LOT bigger

@KhromakThat's actually a perfect idea. Especially with how it goes. Maybe even do the poll yearly, every December, so that new participants can weigh in, and people that have moved on no longer have their vote swaying the decision. I'd honestly feel better personally about it if it was a community decision as opposed to the arbitrary decision of the guy running it. And I'll even concede a "No Active Enterprises" option to eliminate the broken Action 52 and the similarly broken Cheetahmen II. I just feel that there are a ton of quality unlicensed games that people forget about, because they mentally picture the worst of the worst. Giving the participants a voice for the following year's inclusions is probably the perfect outcome. And if the community voted against it, I'll probably rejoin, as again, it would be the decision of those who are actually playing as opposed to a one man ruling.

You know I've been out of the CIB game for years Boner But even a small premium is still money in his pocket, which would be an overall win, even if it wouldn't normally be worth the price. It'd be different if he were doing more than one or two titles to see if he likes having them like that, but given the situation, my statement is still valid - if he makes $20 more for his graded copy than he pays for a non-graded one, should he decide he'd rather have it ungraded, then it wasn't a complete waste. I do agree that it's not a great idea overall - grading a collection to make a few peanuts is a lot of hassle for a comparable pittance. My statement was simply with regard to his current situation.

Also of note, Bronty purchased his sealed Stadium Events only a couple years prior, for the then asinine price of $3000 (carts were only around $500-600 or so at the time). Ah, the good ol' days.

Still, it's a huge conflict of interest, but thanks for the clarification. That's bloody awesome too...if only I owned an internet capable computer before 2003

I dumped them in like 2011. What went to VGT was just the same boxes that got picked over for 10 years since then. You weren't missing much. Although I may still have a few of Jeff's rejects around...but yeah, all the good shit was long gone before you even started collecting EDIT: Also, I didn't even know you until last week

Thanks for paying me more than I paid for the sealed one Although I do wish I'd hung on as a CIB collector for a couple more years before parting everything out...

You're collecting PS2? Damn dude, that's a HUGE challenge! Not in terms of cash mind you, just sheer quantity! How far along are you? I've only dabbled, but I'm still over 400 personally (I'm an "everything" collector myself). Any highlights?

Mike Etler was the first guy to compile a list of NES games and graded their rarity. There were a slew of inaccuracies, including the aforementioned Asterix blunder, but other major ones were listing Stadium Events as a B rarity (it was a couple years after the list was compiled when it was found to be much, much rarer, in fairness to it); the listing of Cheetahmen II as a top rarity when in fact it was an unreleased game that was purchased by Mike Etler from a warehouse that was clearing out it's trash through an auction, where he got every known copy and the boxes, packaged it all up, and sold on Digital Press and in the game shop he owned - a clear conflict of interest who's ramifications are still felt to this very day; and listing the Aladdin Deck Enhancer games as top rares in much the same way - a conflict of interest as he was the sole source at the time. Ever wonder why Cheetahmen II has no manual? Now ya do. And if you doubt me, go to Google and look up NES rarity list. Two of the links on the front page go to his list - one to an updated version from 2002 that someone else did to fix a few errors, and the other to v.4 of the list, which includes all those blunders and more!

I feel like that can't be your sole motivation, at least at first. If all you wanted was a complete set, you'd have selected something like the Virtual Boy, or another tiny library. I'm assuming that the motivation for completing the set was driven by a love of the system when you first started collecting, otherwise the drive for completion wouldn't be powerful enough to keep you going.