Slashdot Mirror
The Holy Grails of Console Collecting
Retrogaming with Racketboy has up a feature looking at some of the 'holy grails' of console collecting. These are titles worthy of long, hard searches through auctions and used game stores ... both for their quality and their rarity. From the article: "16. Star Fox: Super Weekend/Donkey Kong Country Competition Cartridge, Estimated Price (Loose): $200. If there was a big one-two punch in Nintendo's fight against Sega's Genesis, Star Fox and Donkey Kong Country would be it. While the main retail games may not be rare at all, there was a special package that is quite desirable. The Star Fox: Super Weekend and Donkey Kong Country Competition cartridges were used by Blockbuster Video in tournaments held within the store, and never received a true commercial release. The winners of the tournaments would receive prizes such as jackets and sometimes even vacations."
No mention of Video Ouija?
There;s a DaVinci Code joke in there somewhere. But being a mere male, I am unable to conceptualize.
certified elipsis abuser
Anyone out there still own a working unit? Was/is it fun to play?
They left of Duke Nukem Forever for the Atari 2600.
liqbase
From the Dictionary of Christian Theology:
The Holy Grail of Console Collecting refers to the Nintendo Entertainment System that Jesus Christ and the twelve apostles played after the last supper. The exact fate of this relic is unknown, but many medieval churches have claimed to possess a joystick or a cartridge or other component of this legendary system. The most convincing relic is the Drop-Lid of Turin which is an angled piece of plastic that is purported to be the "door" from the front of Christ's Nintendo. Carbon dating of the artifact has been inconclusive.
Unknown host pong.
I thought these titles were supposed to be worth tracking down? Atlantis II, for example, is not much different from the original. As such, it's just a collectors item rather than a really fun game. Pepsi Invaders is just Space Invaders (not even that different from the original 2600 version), and the NES Compo Cart is simply a timed game to get the most points in Mario, Rad Racer, and Tetris. (Ah, I remember actually competing on this cart. Memories.) Basically, I don't see why you'd spend money on these titles unless you're a more of a collector than a player.
For games that are actually fun, here's my list in no particular order:
1) Shuttle Orbiter (2600) $50 - $80
2) H.E.R.O. (2600) $10-$20
3) Diner (Intellivision) $50-$100
4) Galaxy 5000 (NES) $10-$20
5) Thin Ice (Intellivision) $20-$50
6) Killer Bees (Odyssey 2) $10-$15
7) Dreadnaught Factor (Intellivision) $10-$30
8) Happy Trails (Intellivision) $10-$15
The Intellivision is sort of a leader in this space as some of their best titles were released after Mattel Electronics folded. As a result, these titles are very hard to get ahold of. I've only named one's I've played. I'm sure that Stadium Mud Buggies and Thunder Castle are lots of fun too. (In fact, I've been forcefully told as much by others.)
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
FOr those who don't crave writeups..
20. Panzer Dragoon Saga (Sega Saturn; NTSC-U, PAL)
19. Psychic Killer Taromaru (Sega Saturn; NTSC-J)
18. Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega Master System; NTSC-U)
17. Congo Bongo (Intellivision; NTSC-U)
16. StarFox: Super Weekend/Donkey Kong Country Competition Cartidge (SNES; NTSC-U, PAL)
15. Magical Chase (TurboGrafx 16; NTSC-U)
14. Myriad 6 in 1 (NES; NTSC-U)
13. Bounty Bob Strikes Back! (Atari 5200; NTSC-U)
12. Mine Storm/Mine Storm II (Vectrex; NTSC-U)
11. Bubble Bath Babes (NES; NTSC-U)
10. Metal Slug (Neo Geo; NTSC-U)
9. Atlantis II (Atari 2600; NTSC-U)
8. Virtual Bowling/SD Gundam Dimension War (Virtual Boy; NTSC-J)
7. Air Raid (Atari 2600; NTSC-U)
6. Stadium Events (NES: NTSC-U)
5. Bangai-O: Prize Edition (Sega Dreamcast: NTCS-J)
4. Pepsi Invaders (Atari 2600; NTSC-U)
3. 1990 Nintendo World Championships: Tournament Cartridge (NES; NTSC-U)
2. Kizuna Encounter (Neo Geo; PAL)
1. 1990 Nintendo World Championships: Gold Edition (NES; NTSC-U)
Goes for outrageous prices on eBay. On the rare occasion one can be found.
...by holding onto my original Chrono Trigger with instructions (the box is somewhere in my closet in my parents house). You can get ~100 for that on ebay from time to time.
I'm not surprised it didn't make the final cut but in the honorable mentions, the Tengen version of Tetris for the NES deserves a nod.
And that Battlesphere isn't on here makes me scratch my head but someone else already brought that up.
And finally, what on earth is "1990 Nintendo World Championships"?
"but gamers everywhere know very well of it's existence." (Except for me apparently.)
and a Sean Kelly multicart that has just about every vectrex game ever produced. Still, what's most desirable in the Vectrex world are those colored overlays to place over the screen. *Very* hard -- and expensive -- to obtain. But the game system is remarkably fun to play if you dig old vector games like Asteroids, Star Castle, or Tempest.
I'm just curious what their take on DRM will actually be with the final shipped product.
/., Sony is the only one going region free, Sony said they'd support Linux officially again, and they even mentioned allow homebrew development.
For all the Sony hate on
One could easily argue that the PS3 then would have by far the most lax DRM restrictions of the consoles.
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
Who could forget Doom for the Atari 2600?
Sometimes my arms bend back.
Go through a list of Good named roms, and you'll find there are plenty of unlicensed, pirated carts out there. On the Atari 2600, licensing didn't exist because no one made games for other people's hardware before. There was no such thing as third party initially. But when games like Space Invaders, Pac Man and the like became huge hits, other companies released knock-offs that were really the exact same game. Atari sued and lost, and thusly we have third party development today.
There is a game I've seen screenshots of, Origin confirmed, but I can't find any info on. It is rarer than rare. Origin was making SNES and NES ports of many of their PC RPGs. Some are decent and some are horrible (Ultima VII on the SNES for instance). They were dumbed down versions more often than not.
However, the original Words of Ultima: Savage Empire was built using the Ultima VI engine. Origin worked on redoing the game using the Ultima VII engine with all new graphics. The only screenshots and info I've found was for a Japanese Super Famicom version, but it was never officially released.
That would be a rare cart.
Within the Ultima series you've also got the Lost Vale addon for Ultima VIII that was finished, but never released. Even the staff who made the game say they have no idea what happened to the files, but they might be floating around. For years collectors have looked for anything related to it, and just last year the single existing copy of the box prototype popped up on EBay, was confirmed as legit by Origin staffers, and sold for thousands of dollars.
When an empty box sells for thousands, the software itself would be holy grail worthy.
There is also the original 2D isometric Ultima IX that got scrapped, but that was also unreleased.
For a rare released title, there was an FM Towns version of Ultima VI with full speech. Try finding that.
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
#20 on the list is Panzer Dragoon Saga which is one of the finest RPGs ever made. Other rare post-NES classics that need to be rereleased include:
:(
Sapphire for the PC Engine which is so rare that counterfeits sell for over $60. The ever-popular Akumajo Dracula X: Chi no Rondo is another great PC Engine game. Besides the previously mentioned PDS, the Saturn also had Shining Force III and Radiant Silvergun.
There are plenty of classics out there that are just so hard to get a copy of these days.
You can run GBA homebrew code on a GameCube. You cannot run GBA homebrew code on a Wii because, as far as the public knows, the Wii has no Game Boy Player.
Is that picture of Number 14 actually how it looks,or is it a lame photoshop (in the verb sense...if this is what it looks like, I'm thinking more like an intern with MS-Paint) because they couldn't get an actual picture? The label looks off-center and it appears another can be seen below it.
Unpleasantries.
In 1990, Nintendto held "tournaments" in various cities (including many in the U.S.). Players played SMB, Tetris, and Rad Racer for timed periods, and players won or lost based on the number of points they accumulated. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_World_Champi onship for more information
I participated in one of the 1990 tournaments and was successful enough in the lower rounds to get to play on the "big" stage which was modeled after the one used in the Wizard. It was great fun for a 10 year old.
http://www.benheck.com/ - Ben Heck's XBox 360 Laptop. Only one in existance and it probably sold for several thousand considering it cost $1,200 in parts alone to make.
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
I bought the starfox tournament game about 10 years ago at a pawn shop... I was pissed because I thought it was the regular version and I could only play it for 5 minutes.. Apparently it's worth $200 now. Any ideas on how to sell it? I'm not sure e-bay is a good idea since i want to get as much as possible for it, and I don't think there's a very big market for it..
The chart is missing the most valuable game of all: Earthbound for NES. Unlike other prototypes, that one had the final ROM image. It was approved for release but marketing did not want to (see Wikipedia).
By the way, I thought there were a lot of those Star Fox competition cartridges. Is this some special version that also had Donkey Kong Country?
meow
"Screw Sun, cross-platform will never work. Let's move on and steal the Java language." - Visual J++ Product Manager
It's not the holy grail of console collecting, it's the holy grail of soundcard collecting.
The Innovation SSI-2001, ISA soundcard based on the C64's SID6581 sound chip.
If someone has one, or know where to find one, please contact me. I have almost every other main soundcard (sb-compatibles aside) on my Soundcards Museum.