PixlBit

Hey Pixlbit, for today’s trip in my game library we are heading through more classic plastic but this time its going to be three different consoles. All three consoles I started buying games for happened after their run, one of them while on a Wednesday trip to a San Diego Kay Bee Toys. Sound like fun? Let’s get started!

 

SNES

In high school there was two camps the Sega Genesis and the SNES. I didn’t have a dog in the fight but I sided with the Genesis especially after my brother got one for Christmas. The only “fanboyish” discussion I got into was which version of Mortal Kombat was better: the blood happy A,B,A,C,A,B,B Genesis, or the gray sweat of SNES. There was also the debug code which I think was Down Up Left Right A B Start or something like. Anyways the SNES was nothing more than the console my cousins had that I would occasionally play. A couple of years ago that changed a bit when my cousins who no longer wanted their SNES gave it to me. I have since added maybe 4 games from Thrift Stores (who knew SNES games were hard to find). My collection is small but once I get a working SNES or one of those multi-console units, I’ll probably add more to my collection.

 

 

These are my games. It’s a small collection but there are some memories connected to these games. Street Fighter II: this is the game where my 6-year-old cousin kicked my behind quite a few times. All he did was play fighters so he was good. Thank goodness for button mashing to get some wins in there. Super Mariokart was freaking hilarious when played with friends. I have a soft spot for Mariokart because of this. Gradius was the fun shooter that I actually played before the NES game (hopefully I am thinking of the right shooter). I would get maybe one or two levels in before burning through all my lives and I had to give up the controller. I still think the Genesis version of MKIII is better. Donkey Kong Country: How great was this game? It looked 3-D but wasn’t, and props to the developers for such a good-looking game that I would play today. Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball is one of the best baseball games I played. This game I actually played at a friend’s house because he was into sports games.

 

The next console I bought in college on a whim for $25. The local Kay Bee toys had a couple of them along with random accessories in a clearance bin, and I think I spent a total of $40 on the console and two games. That day I became the proud owner of an Atari Jaguar. Oh that controller was huge with the crazy keypad and I guess certain games had overlays for the keypad. I don’t know what happened to my controller but I still have the console and a couple of games

 

 

Cybermorph was this polygon shooter. Think Star Fox minus the cute mascot. I didn’t play this game much because I had more interesting flying/shooter games on my Playstation. Checkered Flag I played a bunch of because I used to play the original version at the local mom & pop shop. This version was a more updated version but I still loved playing it. Looking back I should have picked up more games but I didn’t because I was still just getting back into video games and Playstation games were a bit pricey for a college kid.

 

The final console I wasn’t exposed to until college because one of my friends got one for Christmas. I was firmly in the Playstation camp at this point but I liked trying out different consoles. My one regret was not buying the Pikachu theme N64 at the local Toys R Us when it was $50. My friends came down from LA to visit and we ended up at Toys R Us. One of them bought a Sega Saturn for $100 and I debated on the N64 but ended up passing on it. Oh well. Anyways as for my games I don’t have a lot of games, which isn’t an accident. As much as I think the N64 isn’t a bad console, the only games I would probably get are Nintendo exclusives. Everything else I feel is better on the Playstation.

 

 

I can’t remember if my cousins also gave me their N64 games. Actually I think they made the jump to Playstation as well. I haven’t fired up my N64 in a while so some of these games I’m a bit rusty on.

I bought two Banjo Kazooie’s because either I forgot I already own it or because I just wanted one with a better label. I liked the SNES Starfox and I wanted to have Starfox 64 in the library. Yeah I had no idea I owned Zelda OoT until I took this picture. Its amazing what you find at Goodwill. I still don’t get Smash Bros. but people love this franchise. I thought about getting it on the 3DS but passed because I’m never going to play it. F-Zero is such a solid franchise and I wish it had made its way onto the 3DS. I do like Star Wars Pod Racer and it feels good with that wonky N64 controller. Goldeneye: So I only played a little bit here and there, nothing too in depth. Before I owned my N64 my then girlfriend bought one from a thrift store for Mario 64. Her older brother then bought Goldeneye and proceeded to practice, tell me how good he was, and kept challenging me. I didn’t care about the game and I would always say next time (why hang out with the brother when you’re there to visit the girlfriend?) Anyways he said the universal words that make anyone play a game “What’s wrong, you scared?” Yes it was game on, and I spent the next 10 minutes just owning this kid (by kid I mean he was 5 years older than me, and has never heard of Counter Strike. I used to play that a lot). Yeah it wasn’t even a close match and I think I got into his head because he stopped challenging me in any game after that. Mariokart 64 I used to get my butt kicked. My brother, my cousins, and everyone else I played knew all the tricks, shortcuts and other things. I didn’t care because I thought the game was good. Kobe Bryant NBA: this was the one game my friend got with his N64 and I played a bit with him. He kicked my butt (I like to blame the sun in my eyes, it wasn’t the right condition, gravity, etc.). Perfect Dark was such a cool FPS game. I bought it again on the 360 (both remake and original).

 

 

Ok so apparently I have three copies of Banjo Kazooie. This has to be before I setup my Backloggery account. Pokemon Puzzle League was such a fun match three game with Pokemon. I actually think I passed it over the course of a week. I am a sucker for arcade drivers which is why I own California Speed and Crusin’ USA. I am a fan of the Crusin’ games. They were fun in the arcades and they are fun at home. Mario Tennis I actually played through the tournament over a weekend. If you strip away the Mario franchise it is a solid tennis game.

 

I have a couple of N64 boxed games

 

Pokemon Snap I found at Goodwill for $2. I never understood this game. You go around and take pictures of Pokemon. I watched my cousins play it and wondered what the hell was wrong with them. The two hockey games were from a local Blockbuster blowing them out for $5 each. A little pricey but it came with the box and c’mon the old school Coyotes jersey with Keith Tkachuk is awesome. Hated the Coyotes but love that jersey.

 

Well Pixlbit I have a bunch of blogs to read so we shall end our chat here.

 

That’s all for now, more later!

-Chris