racketboy.com

prfsnl_gmr wrote:Today, I found a copy of the Tiger Electronics Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest LCD game at an antique mall. I am pumped to add this weird piece of Castlevania history to my collection!

That rules.

I love "spin-offs" like that. Ones that are so obscure most folks don't "really" consider them part of the series. I'd love to have the old Zelda Game & Watch, for instance.

Thanks! I tried it today, and it works (and sucks)!

There’s a Comtra one too, apparently, and I may try to track down some others that tie into other classic video game series.

2021 Pick-ups:





32. Joe & Mac (SNES)
33. Cybernator (SNES)
34. Chrono Cross (PS1)
35. ESWAT: City Under Siege (GEN)
36. Street Fighter II: Special Champion Edition (GEN)
37. Fatal Labyrinth (GEN)
38. Wild Arms (PS1)

Here are my pick-ups from July! I had a chance to check out a few different game stores, which is my first time going out to shop in person since the start of the pandemic. In my area in NY I came across Joe & Mac, Cybernator, and Chrono Cross. I'm aware of the mixed reviews of Chrono Cross, but since I'm towards the end of Chrono Trigger, I thought I might as well give it a shot later on.

While visiting a friend in CT, I found a few cheap Genesis games that I was interested in and fit the theme of July's TR. Used to play this version of SF II at a childhood friend's house, so was glad to come across that game in good condition. I'm a fan of action platformers, especially the 16-bit Shinobi games, so was also glad to find ESWAT. Fatal Labyrinth is a curiosity for me, as I never heard of the game when originally released but I saw some gameplay footage a few years ago.

Wild Arms is another title that I played a lot of at my childhood friend's place at the time of release, but I never owned myself. Look forward to revisiting this one, as I really enjoyed the graphics style, soundtrack, and atmosphere of the game.

Wild Arms is a classic and well worth the price.

For Chrono Cross, the best description I've heard of the game is: "Fantastic Soundtrack, Average Game, Terrible Sequel." If you take the game as a standalone game, then I think you will enjoy it more. If you think the game as the next step in the Chrono Trigger story, then you will be completely disappointed.

But, both of those are great games and congratulations on finding them both!

Markies wrote:Wild Arms is a classic and well worth the price.

For Chrono Cross, the best description I've heard of the game is: "Fantastic Soundtrack, Average Game, Terrible Sequel." If you take the game as a standalone game, then I think you will enjoy it more. If you think the game as the next step in the Chrono Trigger story, then you will be completely disappointed.

But, both of those are great games and congratulations on finding them both!

See, 'Fantastic Soundtrack, Average Game' is how I would sum up Wild Arms personally.

...some really nice pickups there Note. I still remember getting ESWAT from KB Toys back in the day, I picked it over Strider and Phantasy Star II b/c I was a kid and didn't know any better and also b/c I thought it would be like the arcade game Well it isn't, but I still had a blast with it, it's still in my collection, and I still play it w/my kids. The music is pretty good imo and the gameplay is cool once you figure out the best weapons to get the job done. Other than seeing Fatal Labyrinth in an issue of Sega Visions I can't say I know a lot about it, you'll have to post some impressions when you get a chance.

My Olsen twins library is almost complete. I also picked up a boxed copy of Toejam & Earl 2, Panic on Funkatron and a loose copy of Konami's Kid Dracula.

Markies wrote:Wild Arms is a classic and well worth the price.

For Chrono Cross, the best description I've heard of the game is: "Fantastic Soundtrack, Average Game, Terrible Sequel." If you take the game as a standalone game, then I think you will enjoy it more. If you think the game as the next step in the Chrono Trigger story, then you will be completely disappointed.

But, both of those are great games and congratulations on finding them both!

Appreciate the input on both games, Markies! Especially for Chrono Cross, as I don't have expectations of it to mach up to the greatness of the first game, but I'm still looking forward to playing it. In regards to Wild Arms, used to love playing that game at my friend's place back in the day. Can't wait to sit down with it to try and finish it later in the year.

Syndicate wrote:...some really nice pickups there Note. I still remember getting ESWAT from KB Toys back in the day, I picked it over Strider and Phantasy Star II b/c I was a kid and didn't know any better and also b/c I thought it would be like the arcade game Well it isn't, but I still had a blast with it, it's still in my collection, and I still play it w/my kids. The music is pretty good imo and the gameplay is cool once you figure out the best weapons to get the job done. Other than seeing Fatal Labyrinth in an issue of Sega Visions I can't say I know a lot about it, you'll have to post some impressions when you get a chance.

Thanks, Syndicate! That's awesome you got ESWAT from KB Toys back then. I'm a big fan of the Shinobi series, and the gameplay for ESWAT looked similar so I wanted to pick it up. I actually wasn't aware of ESWAT until a few years ago and hadn't come across it. I've been able to get up to Stage 4, but haven't completed that level yet. The music in the game is awesome IMO. I don't think you could've gone wrong with any of those games, at the time.

Fatal Labyrinth's interesting, as its Sega's take on a rogue like dungeon crawler. The difficulty really depends on the items you find early on and the type of enemies you have to face against in the first few rooms. The combat also seems to be like the early Ys games, where you are just running up to the monster to attack. One big issue I have with the game, is inside the dungeon, there is only one song playing on loop the whole time! And the song isn't even good. Big mistake IMO, there should have been a different song for each level of the dungeon.

NotLuke wrote:My Olsen twins library is almost complete. I also picked up a boxed copy of Toejam & Earl 2, Panic on Funkatron and a loose copy of Konami's Kid Dracula.

Nice pick-ups, NotLuke! Let us know how you like Toejam & Earl 2. I'm a big fan of the first game, but I haven't played the sequel. I realize it's a platformer and a much different game, but I'm interested.

prfsnl_gmr wrote:Today, I found a copy of the Tiger Electronics Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest LCD game at an antique mall. I am pumped to add this weird piece of Castlevania history to my collection!

I remember playing that game to death on the long car rides from long island to the bronx when I was a kid. I don't collect tiger handhelds but if I did this would be the one I would start with, awesome find

Acquired in 2021 so far - 114 Games; 92 physical, 22 digital

January (7 Games Acquired; 3 physical, 4 digital)


February (12 Games Acquired; 8 physical, 4 digital)


March (6 Games Acquired; 3 physical, 3 digital)


April (12 Games Acquired; 8 physical, 4 digital)


May (15 Games Acquired; 12 physical, 3 digital)


June (41 Games Acquired; 38 physical, 3 digital)


July (16 Games Acquired; 16 physical, 0 digital)


August (6 Games Acquired; 6 physical, 0 digital)


New for August 7
Super Robot Wars X (Switch)
SD Gundam G Generation Cross Rays (Switch)
The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa (Switch)
Metal Slug XX (PS4)
Samurai Shodown VI (PS4)
atooi Collection (3DS)