The first post in a new ongoing series where I share my retro game and sports memorabilia collection with Scorum.
Today is a special day, marking my first post in a continuing series called From My Collection. Like another of my series, From My Adventures, here I will share personal photos and stories about my time collecting games and sports memorabilia. I’ve been excited to start this series as I have a lot to share on the subject.
I wont have to explain sports memorabilia collecting to anyone, as I am certain everyone here is familiar with that. However, I will discuss a bit about retro game collecting.
Since many Scorum users come from all over the world, some countries and regions will likely have never seen or heard about retro game collecting. However, in the USA, Japan, and parts of Europe, retro game collecting is BIG business. Many of these old game and systems are worth a lot of money nowadays.
Please note: all the pictures appearing on my blog are my own photographs and were taken by me.
My Story
I’ve collected games since forever it feels. Having grown up in the late 80s/early 90s, I was there when Nintendo finally came to America, and it was the coolest thing we had ever seen. Sure before that we had arcades, game centers, and even Atari at home, but Nintendo and Mario was a different story. A new era had arrived.
As technology progressed to Super Nintendo, Sega, Nintendo 64, and so on and so on, I never got rid of any of my old games. As those retro games became undesirable, I started to collect them. People use to make fun of me because they thought no one is ever going to want those games again. They assumed it was junk. How wrong they were.
For many years I bought, sold and traded retro games online and in person. I made lots of money, and it fed my own collection. I even went to Japan bringing back lots of Japanese imports.
Now I don’t really collect anymore. Game prices have gotten so high that it’s not worth buying them anymore. I could always sell my collection for massive profit, but I don’t feel like doing that either. Anymore I mostly just play and admire my games, and I hope to begin sharing this side of my gaming life with you guys here on Scorum.
Excitebike (1984)
Starting with a well-known classic racing game. The game is a fun side-scrolling dirt bike racing game. One of the unique features was its custom track designer. I remember spending time as a young kid trying to make the most insane tracks in the game.
Something else important about this game is not so much the gameplay but the cover art. The sprite art cover, also called black-box games, are an indication that this game was a launch title and was released at the same time as the NES console. Thus, meaning any game with the sprite art cover was the first games released in the USA.
Ring King (1985)
A funny little boxing game. It comes across as a comical version of the sport. Boxing with the flair of wrestling. Players choose a fighter and try to take them to the World Championship. I haven’t played much of this game as there are funnier boxing games, Punchout being an obvious one. This game is known online for having a weird animation in the game in which it makes it look like the characters are getting oral sex. No joke.
Magic Johnson's Fast Break (1988)
Here we have such a perfect example of early NES brand licensing. Not only do we get the branding of Magic Johnson, but the game was also endorsed by Pepsi. Anytime you see advertising smearing across a game it should make you suspect. Usually companies did this as a way to make money with a game that was destined to fail, which was the case here. Outside of some good title screen music, everything else about this game is pretty much garbage. Thanks Pepsi. That’s why I drink Coke now.
Slalom (1986)
A good black-box release title here. Usually the NES release titles were pretty solid games. Remember the NES was already out for a few years in Japan before making it to the US, so Nintendo already had a nice library of good popular games. Slalom is a nice early version of downhill skiing. It includes a variety of disciplines and a few modes. Players are even able to do tricks while in the air. You’ve most likely played a version of this game on computer or some retro console.
Kung-Fu (1986)
A common and popular game. Growing up it seemed like everyone had a copy of Kung Fu. It’s remember fondly nowadays, but I remember hating it when I was younger. It was too basic and frustrating. Compare this game to Double Dragon which came out a year later in the US, and it’s not even close. The game was released in Japan as a tie-in to a Jackie Chan movie, although the game had nothing to do with the movie and was only a licensing cash grab. Without a doubt, it’s a classic NES release title, but I wouldn’t waste time playing it now. Grab Double Dragon and have so much more fun.
Game Over Man
I will end it here for now. I could go on and on about retro game collecting all day, and I will in more upcoming posts. But for the sake of brevity, today I only introduced the topic and give you a glance of what these upcoming posts will be like.
As I was taking pictures of my game collection, I snapped a quick selfie holding a Nintendo Zapper and working on Scorum just in case any of you doubt this is my collection 😝😝.
Be sure to let me know some of your favorite retro games, and if I have them, I’ll be sure to write about them in future posts. I have so many games, different consoles, controllers, and other collectables. If there is something you want to see, I most likely have it.
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