Post your happy gaming up in here.

[Gunstar Green]

Happy gaming thought... I found out today there are a fair more mech games on PS1 than I thought there were. Iron Soldier 3, Krazy Ivan, Space Griffon VF-9... even a decent port of Mechwarrior 2. I'm excited to give these games (and others) a try. Might as well, since I'm already planning on playing King's Field III TONIGHT YEEEAHHHHH. Time for some OG PlayStation lovin' up in the dorkcave.

PlayStation was really good to mecha fans. I really love it. I've been meaning to sit down with Iron Soldier 3.

MechWarrior 2 is a strange case with how they didn't just simplify the controls but completely throw out pretty much all of the simulation aspects and add action game tropes like item pickups. It's pretty bizarre. When they say "Arcade Combat Edition" they totally mean it.

[Key-Glyph]

So I flipped through what was installed on the machine and went into the photo section. I ended up finding photos of my two oldest nieces from their toddler years, and the last photos I took of my grandfather days before he passed. That is a sobering moment. I had no idea that the photos were on the machine. Seeing the now seven year olds as two year olds, and my grandfathers office as he left it.

Now I am off to play DS games.

Wow. I love this.

[Exhuminator]

MechWarrior 2 is a strange case with how they didn't just simplify the controls but completely throw out pretty much all of the simulation aspects and add action game tropes like item pickups. It's pretty bizarre. When they say "Arcade Combat Edition" they totally mean it.

You're absolutely right. I put an hour into it last night and finished about seven missions or so. Very arcadey indeed. You still feel like you're piloting a mech, and the complicated PC controls have been mapped to the PS1 controller surprisingly well, but the thermal management, weight management, all that sort of stuff is thrown out the window. It's got more in common with the MechAssault games on Xbox than its originator. MechWarrior 2 is also way harder than I remembered, this game will kick your ass right off the bat. It was still pretty fun though, I might even finish up one of its campaigns.

[Tanooki]

A few days ago I scored a lucky break on ebay. I've been for weeks now mulling over buying an original Gameboy and also the Pocket. I eventually felt it would be best if I could get the original stuff I grew up with close in quality as possible. I've been poking around and accidentally came across this gem of a Gameboy that wasn't exactly excellently listed or it would have been instantly gone.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/291663002756 "ORIGINAL 1989 NINTENDO GAME BOY HANDHELD CONSOLE DMG-01 "

I started digging through the images before reading up on it because I really was just after one that wasn't beat up with a clean lens over the LCD. I was very pleased to see what appeared to be a spotless Gameboy, but then the last couple images my jaw dropped. One ended up showing all the original manuals, booklets, warning sheets, extra paper to tell idiots to put the game in the right way, and the ad stuff for NP and the fold out poster for Gameboy too. If that wasn't cool enough the headphones and link cable are still twist tied and unused and the last picture, the BOX.

I got it in the mail today and was further shocked. The foam inside while a little damaged is totally there including the brittle top part. The gameboy itself is in fact spotless LCD and all. I wrote the seller about it before buying or as I got it (forget) they said back in 1989 they bought it for their daughter who used it for a very little and then went back into the box to be stored all these years (25 years~ of hibernation.)

If you know what these go for in nearly new condition you know I'm doubly happy on top of the shape it's in.

Just like Christmas I put in Super Mario Land before Tetris because that's how it happened back then and it's fun. I've got my kid awake at the moment but I got to relive it a little playing through the first world of Super Mario Land. The screen is dated but still enjoyable to use even if it's a bit of a pea green blur. It seems it's also not fond of my LED lamp on the desk here, it's harder to see under it's direct light than a bit away from it.

[Sarge]

Nice score there.

[Tanooki]

Might as well add to it since no one else is driving this happy gaming up in here.

I got stuck doing meetings in house (usually an hour and done) at work and I had some time before the kid was dropped off. I decided to take the back road out of downtown to my old favorite place Book and Music, which so happens a couple years ago to be the place I scored for $88 an 85+ grade worth sealed NES yellow Metroid among other slick things.

I was about to leave, started to turn, looked closer at the shelf behind the register and staring me in the face was an NES Gameboy Advance SP and it didn't look like crap inside. Asked to see it, and amazingly the outside is slick too other than a couple scratches on the battery cover. They had it for $60, I had a $10 off buyers reward so I got it for $50.

...and to put a lovely book between these Gameboy book ends of awesome, after netting the original Gameboy, lo and behold 3 days later...BAM! $46 shipped.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/321982921672

The original Gameboy Pocket, and by that I mean day one, plastic reusable snap case, no red low battery warning light GBP. Face of it is awesome, sides good, back mostly fine but a few deeper scratches up top in back where the game would rub going into it. The face plate mirror sticker has some aged glue peeking through but is replaceable for $5 so I don't care. Like the old GB it wasn't used much, case is great *foggy in image, cleaned up nicely from dust/smudges* and the manual/papers are still bagged up and never been out of it.

If anyone is still reading this or cares here's the original GB in better form: http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee16 ... qk6uo9.jpg

...and then the NES SP on the left, GBP in the box on the right.
http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee16 ... jklsoc.jpg

I'm super thrilled, I never have this luck anymore and I'm sure after hitting what is a good face horse racing trifecta here I'm probably done and the four leaf clover has shriveled, at least for now. The only thing I'd technically still need for a US 'set' would be a stock GBA and GBA SP (101) since I do have a CIB gray/black plate (and others in box) Gameboy Micro.

[Key-Glyph]

Hey Tanooki, here's something I've been wondering. I see your DMG-01 came packaged with Tetris. Did all original Game Boys come with that as a pack-in?

I'm asking because as a kid I had an unreasonable hatred for Tetris, and I asked the salesperson at Toys R' Us if I had to get that game with the handheld. I know that my first game was Wario Blast! -- I remember picking it out -- and that I did not acquire a Tetris cart until later in life, but... is this really possible?

I seem to think I had the option to buy the Game Boy without a pack-in cart, and then could simply choose any other game and the whole thing would come out to the same price as the Tetris bundle.

I'm just trying to figure out if my memories are correct, or if they're warped somehow (like maybe we bought the bundle but my parents sold the game for me or something).

[Exhuminator]

Did all original Game Boys come with that as a pack-in?

I don't know if every iteration did, but the Game Boy I got in 1989 included Tetris as a pack-in.

[Gunstar Green]

The original pack-in was Tetris. I seem to remember a Link's Awakening one much later down the line though I might be imagining things. My Pocket didn't come with a game at all.

[isiolia]

The original pack-in was Tetris. I seem to remember a Link's Awakening one much later down the line though I might be imagining things. My Pocket didn't come with a game at all.

There was the "Basic Set" that did not include a pack-in. Later in the original system's life though, they packed Link's Awakening in for free - it was the same box, just had a sticker on it to indicate that the game was included.