That is the coolest thing ever. Can you swap out the games in it? or would opening it ruin it?

You can unlock it from underneath the dome, causing it to pop open.
From there you can change the game, the volume, and set the 'demo timer' (can be left off).
Closing the dome automatically locks it again.

So what happens if you accidentally leave the key inside...?
I can see my own stupidity coming, so we had spares made just in case.

Man I remember when the only place in my town that actually had one of those things that worked was Sears. A lot of places that should have had them either didn't, or they were never turned on. Of course Sears had the demo time down to about 2 minutes so it wasn't worth playing.

"Thank you for playing Nintendo 64. Who's next?!"

Something else I like to collect or I had at one time collected.

Sharp things

It sounds generic, but I have a collection of stamps that I inherited from my mum.
Now I only update the collection with new stamp releases and making sure they're still okay.

I also collect lanyards, for some reason that I still fail to discover.

I actually inherited a lot of stamps from my grandma. I don't continue the collection, but I've got her book of stamps.

The newest editions to my knife collection.

Magnavox Odyssey



[Link to Magnavox Odyssey Commercial]

I might as well quit right now, because it doesn't get any older than this.
The Magnavox Odyssey was the first home video game console ever marketed.
It was released back in 1972, making it 5 years older than the Atari 2600.
This thing also predates Pong by 3 years and actually inspired the concept.

The cartridges are all labeled with numbers. Inserting a cartridge powers on the machine.
The core game is built into the machine itself, the cartridges just send instructions.
Each of the cartridges are labeled with numbers. You could play such exciting games as '1', and '5'.
There were 10 cartridges made. Some can be used to play several different 'games'.

Each game comes with 2 screen overlays. These are for both 18" and 25" Television displays.
If you want to play tennis, you just slap on the Tennis court overlay and use your imagination.
If the ball (square) flies off the screen, you have to press the reset button to get it back in the middle.
There is no automatic score system. Players can move anywhere on the screen.
You have to make your own rules and keep tally of the score.

I got this thing complete in the box and relatively unused.
The box to the left is the original shipping box it came in.
The box in the middle contains all 6 extra games.
This is as complete and mint as I could have possibly hoped to get it.

The only thing missing is the Shooting Gallery gun set with cartridges 9 & 10.
I hope to find that accessory some time in the future.

Next time...
Space Invaders

Thats, thats just downright cool.

Wow! I remember my ex-dad telling me about Odyssey but I've never seen one before.

Space Invaders



Space Invaders was an absolute hit in Japan when it was released in 1978.
So much so that it created a temporary shortage of 100 yen coins.
Guinness World Records currently ranks it as the top arcade game of all time.
The pixelated alien sprites are still very popular in today's culture.

The original arcade version was only capable of displaying black & white.
In 1979, Taito released a new version, Space Invaders Part II.
The only difference was that the updated version could display this newfangled 'Color' thing.

Because the game was so popular in Japan, it started hurting other businesses.
Restaurants were complaining that people would spend more time playing Space Invaders,
then they would actually ordering and eating. Taito came up with a solution.


The Cocktail Table Cabinet



Released in 1980, Cocktail Cabinets offered a unique solution.
Customers could dine on the table while taking turns playing.
This way, restaurants could make arcade revenue without hurting sales.
Both sides of the table feature a set of buttons and a joystick.
When one player loses a life, the game flips over to the second player.



We came into possession of this arcade cabinet a few weeks ago.
It is fun to play competitively with my brother Flint.
The last ship is always the hardest one to get.

[Increase Speed, Drop Down, and Reverse Direction!!]

The Vectrex was created by Smith Engineering and released in late 1982.
This console used vector graphics, from which it gets its name.

There are two methods for displaying an image on a screen.
The first, which is used everywhere today, is known as raster.
These displays use an electron gun that scans down the screen
horizontally to create small blocks called pixels.

Vector graphics are drawn using exact X and Y coordinates.
As a result, vector graphics produce clean and crisp lines.
However, creating vector graphics with color is complicated
and drawing solid graphics is next to impossible.

Early arcade games like Space Wars and Asteroids used vector 'wire-frame' graphics.
The box for the Vectrex proudly states that it 'Brings Real Arcade Play Home!'
Back in the early 80s, the best console gaming could offer was the Atari 2600.
The detail of graphics that the Vectrex had to offer are absolutely stunning in comparison.

The Vectrex comes with a built in game, Minestorm, and a selection of over 30 officially made games.
Each game comes with a screen overlay that is meant to substitute for color graphics.
My console came with 18 games (19 counting Minestorm) and 2 extra controllers.



Ultimately, the Video Game Crash of 1983 is was what brought an early demise to this console.
The market was being saturated with bad games made by start up companies with low budgets.
There was no way to tell which game was good or bad. Consumer interest was sharply declining.
Toy retailers were convinced that video games were a passing fad, so everything was put on clearance.
It wasn't until Nintendo cautiously entered the market in 1985 that video games would be viable again.

There is still a very active homebrew community for the Vectrex.
I've actually decided to order one such game, known as Vector Pilot.
Below is a link to a video of the game, which showcases what the Vectrex can do.

[Link to Vector Pilot Video]
-----

Do you think that maybe I should take this to another forum/thread?
I feel I may be undermining the main purpose of this thread.
Perhaps my posts would be better suited for Media Median.

No, you're using it perfectly!

About collections, my family have 504 DvDs and A LOT CDs(I don´t count them yet). =P

Here is all but one (because I forgot it) of my blade collection:


I also collect: Pocket watches, old tools, old radios, amethysts, and other shiny things that catch my eye.
I have wooden and thrown together stuff in my weapon collection as well along with a new age training dagger
made from polypropylene. I've also started collecting armour to which I have only pauldrons so far, I don't like
guns but got a free air rifle from a friend... I also collect coins, old ones mostly.
And a bit of a manga collection though I don't go out of my way to find them, like maybe 50 - 70 lbs worth

I'm also curious as to what "The Grey Wolverine" said, are you by chance the AVGN Flint?

I have a large collection of DVDs. I have not counted them in a long time but when packed as tightly as possible, they fill 6 printer paper boxes. 90% of them are horror and monster movies. I also still have a fair number of VHS tapes. I would like to get some laser discs just for the sake of having a few.

I also have a sharp thing collection. It is not very extensive though.

I have a big comic book and graphic novel collection. I have been collecting comics since I was about 5 or 6 years old. My uncle let me read his comics and I was hooked. At first I just read superhero comics, but them branched out into other genres. My love of horror also extends to these.

I have a collection of vinyl records and CDs. Unfortunately about half my CDs were destroyed (don't even keep them in a keep case. I is a slow death of scratches). My most prized vinyl is a first pressing of "Live After Death" by Iron Maiden.

I also have a small collection of toys. Most of them are horror themed like my werewolf and Godzilla toys. I also have stuffed animals of Egyptian Gods.

I would like to have a gun collection but from some research they are an expensive habit.

I see RennisTora is in to sharp pointy things like me... I collect knives and Ninja weaponry, and these are my latest.

Bo staff and 26" Ninjato.

I use the Ninjato to practice Martial Arts with, but I haven't got a chance to use the Bo staff very much.

Daaaang, Rennis. And that super-ornate sword doesn't look too practical.

The demon one? yeah it's
like the ones you see in B-movies that flop when held

Oh and if anyone has questions about some of them feel free to ask, I just didn't feel like posting a big list

A note from one collector of martial weapons to another, anyone living in Canada like myself should read this article (if you aren't already familiar with it that is) as well as the related links to criminal codes early in the writings.
The article is titled The Legality of Martial Arts Weapons In Canada: http://ejmas.com/tin/2004tin/tinart_agnew_0104.html
Reading that cleared up a lot of the questions I had about the subject.

Today, I came across a copy of Final Fantasy VII with a rare misprint.
Apparently some of the very early copies had a minor mistake on the back.
I wasn't even aware of this until I found out about it this afternoon.



Notice anything suspicious?
The 'i' in masterpiece is out of place.
This adds considerably to the value of the item.

It is rather funny to think that something this trivial makes an item more collectable.
But I suppose it is an indication of a very early copy. I'm happy with it regardless!

that's minor? looks pretty big to me. it isn't even just in the wrong place within the word, it's like it just hopped out of the word to go on a solo career, leaving a vacant spot in the word.

it's like "**** you guys, I'm outta here."

I finally received my Nintendo Famicom from Japan.
This is the Japan equivalent to the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES).
It was unbelievably hard to find one without yellowing, but here it is.

A lot of the original Japanese titles were very different from their American and European ports:
• Contra has animated backgrounds and cutscenes between levels.
• Zelda 1 & 2 have a lot of sound differences, as well as a completely reworked leveling system in Zelda 2.
• Super Mario Brothers 2 is well... a completely different game. It was first released as Doki Doki Panic in Japan.

It is very interesting to play the original Famicom games to see all the differences.
Then of course there are a ton of excellent games that were only released in Japan.
I will be looking for a local game store that carries Famicom imports. I've only found a few so far.

-----

The unit on the bottom is a Famicom Disk System.
Back in 1986, Nintendo released this add-on as a way to save money on manufacturing games.
Rather than using cartridges, this add-on used proprietary floppy disks to store data.
These disks were cheap to develop, held a lot more data, and were capable of saving, which wasn't possible with cartridges.

Players could take their games to a disk writing kiosk to have new games written to their disks.
Nintendo also had kiosks placed that would let customers load down their high scores for entry into contests.

Eventually, the price of developing cartridges went down as their data capacity went up.
Batter Backup was invented as a way to allow cartridges to save as well, and more reliably.
Games that were released solely on the Disk System (like Zelda), were ported to the Famicom.
By the end of the 80's, Nintendo was no longer producing FDS titles.

Is that the thing Diskun was the mascot for? The guy whose trophy was really hard to get in Super Smash Bros. Melee?

My friend got me a postcard from New Orleans {Louisiana} during her visit last week. X3 I think I only need about 18 more states in my postcard collection. =]

Oh, and my state quarter collection is complete. I have most (if not all) of the territories too. :3

Yes, he was the mascot for the Famicom Disk System.
I believe you had to turn your language settings to Japanese for that trophy?

I don't think so. Not sure.

Nintendo Playchoice 10


The Marquee is actually red and white, but I couldn't take a good picture with the lighting.

The Playchoice 10 was an arcade machine manufactured by Nintendo in the mid 1980s.
Originally, the machine was intended to showcase upcoming games and build hype.
Super Mario Brother 3 was released on the Playchoice 10 well before it was brought to the NES.
It became very popular and eventually many existing games were brought to the unit.

Store owners could set the time limit on the console, with the default being 300 seconds for 25 cents.
Players weren't bound to one game. By hitting the reset button, they could easily switch to a different one.
My unit is set to free play, as demonstrated by the 9999 on the timer in the top right hand corner.

The games come on PCB boards which are attached to the main board, inside the cabinet.
As the name suggests, you can interchange up to 10 game PCBs. There were 54 games made available.
They play exactly like their NES counterparts, but with an extra 8KB of ROM to display the hint menu.

One of the available games, called "The Goonies", was never made on the NES home console.
Instead, the cult classic "The Goonies II" was released, skipping the original all together.
This created a lot of confusion as players wondered if the game had anything to do with a sequel.

While the games may just be NES games, there is a certain charm to playing them in on arcade machine.
Flint and I have been challenging SMB3 one World at a time, using warp whistles to restore our position.
We are currently anchored at World 7. I don't think we have what it takes to take on World 8 though, haha.

The Cabinet currently has the following games:

• Super Mario Brothers 3
• Dr Mario (x2)
• Punch Out!
• Tecmo Bowl
• Rescue Rangers
• Baseball Stars
• Double Dragon
• Rygar
• The Goonies

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! AHAHAHA!!!!! Haha...

Sorry but I saw the title and I'm like "What DON'T I collect?"

Actually you guys have said a few things I don't collect but most of them I have considered or want to in the future. I collect game boys and game boy games, I have at least one game boy of each generation, I collect coins by year, coins by special event, coins from overseas, I had a collection of ANZAC Day pins but I can't find them since I moved house, I collected tazos when they came in chip packets, I have various TCGs all over the place, Doctor Who DVDs, I used to collect rocks and books about rocks so I've got bags of them, classic literature and generally old books, and just for something random the ring pulls off cans. I really want to collect all of the Nintendo Game and Watch games but people want so much for them on eBay and other people are willing to pay it. And for the OP I too would like to collect watches, more so pocket watches but again, at the moment too expensive and no-where to start.

For those not from Australia, ANZAC Day is a day for us to commemorate Australians and New Zealanders who fought and fight in wars.

In addition to a former post...



My name etched on the Fielder XL by SOG!!

I went to my local pawn shop today to ask about the old systems they kept in the back.
The owner has known me for a while, so he said he'd sell them to me for a dollar a piece.
So of course the only logical choice was to buy all 124 of them.

... Yeah, I don't even know.

So how many work?

Unlike your Xbox 360s and PS3s of today, these are highly resilient consoles .
With some cleaning and tender loving care, they'll be back in good shape.

then how do I have a broken Genesis? can't be all that resilient.

What is wrong with it? A lot of problems have simple fixes.
This excludes cases of having smashed your console with a hammer.
I don't know a remedy for that one.

It's probably some loose connection inside.