Game Accesories: Saturn Multitaps

So... you have friends huh?

Maybe they're up for a game, but it's not that easy, not if you have more than one at least. So what you need is a multitap.


There it is, the US multitap, good for a few rounds of Three Dirty Dwarves or Bomberman, but although it is similar to the Saturn and looks well with it, there is always room for a little style.


They don't get any more stylish than this, the japanese version with Bomberman's face and all, the same functionality, but way much better looking. So once again we end up with the serious looking peripherals.

At least the US version has a longer cord, not that it's really useful though.

They are both similarly priced, and are often found on ebay or on forums, which is where each of these came from.

Anwsering the world's oldest question

Maybe not so old, but here it is:

Will Nights controllers work on a Dreamcast?

The answer is....





....no.


Not with this adapter at least, it won't work in neither analog or digital mode, not even in the bios screen.

Regular controllers do work though.



So if you were one of those who wanted to build a chain of adapters to use it on Wii, you will be disappointed.

My current Puyo Puyo obsession

I wasn't dead again, I was just gathering games and my current obsession (for a couple of years actually) is Puyo Puyo. As you may or may not know, Puyo Puyo is a blob stacking puzzle game that is very big in Japan but is almost totally ignored in the rest of the world for who knows what reason.

It all started a few years ago when I was asked to make a Puyo Puyo clone as part of a job interview, and luckily I had a copy of Sonic Classics that a friend gave to me back when I got my first Genesis.

Sonic Classics comes with Sonic 1 and 2 and also with "Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine" which I had seldom played until that point but had to in order to understand the game. That's when I got really into it and that quickly became an obsession.

So a while back I managed to get Puyo Puyo Sun for the Saturn



Pretty good game and it came complete with all the things a weirdo obsessive collector wants, not that I am one, but they're still cool to have.



First off there is this poster thingy I have no clue what it says but if you do let me know. OK that wasn't very exciting but I was too lazy to unfold it.



Second up is this sheet with stickers but not just any stickers, GLOW IN THE DARK STICKERS!!



Last but not least comes the spine card, why do people make such a big deal about spine cards is a mystery to me and probably always will. It comes with some writing I'll probably never be able to understand and a piece of artwork that is also on the CD case. I have known people that rebuy games online because the first they got didn't have this piece of cardboard that serves no purpose once you remove the shrinkwrap.

Anyways, some time passed and I managed to get some more games, starting off with Kirby's Avalanche, the US localization for Super Puyo Puyo.



Nothing too exciting, pretty much the same game, except Puyos are now "Ghosts" and the cast was replaced with Kirby characters.

Some more time passed and I happened to know someone who was in Japan at the time (the same person who sold me Puyo Puyo Sun), so the logical thing to do was ask for more Puyo games.



This is Super Puyo Puyo, the one Kirby's Avalanche and Dr. Robotnik's are based on. This one has a certain charm to it with all the original characters, at least more than the american releases.



Finally, there's Puyo Puyo Tsuu, my favorite of the old series, this one came cart-only, it's the one I play the most.



Finally, the cart that started it all, this one went through a lot back when my friend owned it and it shows, but I treasure it.

I have yet to get the Puyo Puyo Fever games but those ones are a bit though to find at a reasonable price.

If anyone has any puyo game that they're willing to sell don't hesitate to contact me!

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The invincible SMS!

About a year ago, I was at a yard sale and I found a dirty Master System, dirty is just an understatement, actually it was filthy as hell, as if someone just left it there in the rain for months, then some dogs took it and buried it with some dead animals and then someone dug it up some years later, I didn't even consider buying it at the time, but I asked the price to amuse myself anyways.

It was $1.50, still didn't seem worth it, but then the seller said I could take it for $1, still made me think about it but what the heck, I got it. I left it in my car, in the sun the whole day. When I got home, I opened it, cleaned part of it and decided to take it to my parents' house to finish there, but it took a fall on the way. I took a peek and the LED had come partially off and everything inside was bent. That made me put it in the trunk and forget about it for months until I cleaned my car and put it inside a box, making me forget about it another few months.

So finally, a year and a half later, I opened the box and saw it there, no screws and all forgotten, so I decided to check it out.

Just to give you an idea of how dirty it is, here's a picture, notice the thick coat of dirt near the card and cartridge ports, I removed some dirt with my finger to make the difference more noticeable, there's also lots of lint everywhere and to top it off, the edges are entirely rusty.



Seemed like a lost cause, but I still had to give it a shot. I didn't even bother putting it back inside the casing, I just plugged everything in and crossed my fingers.


The game I tried was Ganster Town, the box has a cute picture of a kid firing a machine gun.


So here it was, the moment of truth, after all its been through, will it work?

It did! A truly amazing feat, but now, does it work with cards? The card made a scratchy sound because of all the dirt in the slot, that made me doubt that it would work.



But it works too! Both on the first try! I didn't see that coming. This poor SMS has had a very though life but its still kicking, unlike my Xbox that died on me just when I was about to beat Jet Set Radio Future, but that's a story for another day.

Now to finish cleaning it up, hoping I don't forget about it again.

DC T-Shirt!

There are very few things that can express your love for a piece of electronics from last century accurately enough, there's stickers, posters, altars, tattoos human sacrifices and all, but nothing says it better than a t-shirt, unless its one of those Hot Topic ones that all the kids wear now.

So the obvious thing to do of course is getting a Dreamcast t-shirt. Finding a DC shirt or jacket or whatever isn't too hard, if your size is something like XL or XXL or XXXL that is. In my case its M, so it took a while to find, and although it has an awkward fit; its too long and the sleeves too big, it still says Sega Dreamcast.

Sadly, this one came used, so I don't have the slightest clue who wore it before me, and it also cost much much more than anyone should pay for a used t-shirt (please don't ask), but once again, it still says Sega Dreamcast.



No, what you see isn't a myspace picture, but a picture had to be taken and I didn't feel like taking the shirt off just for the picture, so there.

I'll be updating lots more now, so stay tuned!

A find from the past

I went on a vacation and couldn't find any crazy game stuff, but that doesn't mean I don't have a few aces up my sleeve (or closet).

So what is it?

Is it any good?

Better than buying new stuff?

Oh it is good, behold: A SEGA CDX!!



That's right, another semi-obscure piece of SEGA's past, this came with a bunch of very crappy games, like two copies of Sewer Shark and a few of those Make My Video, after much arguing and haggling and begging and nearly crying, the guy decided to sell the CDX to me with all hookups and no games.

So what is so special about this one? Well, as the name suggests, it's a SEGA Genesis and a SEGA CD in one, with the huge advantage of having a single power supply, not having to swim in a sea of cables, compact size and it doubles as a "portable" CD player!



Just pop in a couple AA Batteries, plug in some headphones and Presto! Not too exciting in this day and age, but back then, I guess it was a cool feature and the first generation CD players were about as bulky and used more batteries.

As for the games part, it works just like a regular SEGA CD and Genesis, no cart and it reads off the CD. This one is also compatible with the 32x, but I have read that some are not, I tried to put the Power Base Converter, but it was bending the power cable, so that will remain a mystery until I decide to tear it apart.

And finally, the size part. A picture is worth a thousand words, so here are some comparison shots with all the other Gennys I have.



Genesis 3



The Genesis 2 and SEGA CD 2



Genesis 1 and SEGA CD 1



And last but not least, the almighty NOMAD! Or two for that matter.

Mega Bomberman

Last weekend was terrible, a friend came by and woke me up to go to the flea market with her, that is usually good except when being practically broke, first I saw a Saturn 3D pad, a bit pricey, so I decided to come back later. After a while, I saw yet another NOMAD, no, I kid you not, for some reason they have been popping up in my area lately, it had a damaged screen cover and the guy wanted $15 for it, could have haggled it to $10, but that is no use when all you have is $5, but not all was lost, sticking out on top of the NOMAD was, you guessed it........(or read the post title, or had a look at the picture below) Mega Bomberman!!



There you have it, Bomberman for the Sega Genesis, at long last, something I could afford! and finally a use for my Genesis multitap, the game, as you can see came with a Box, but no manual.

It's great party game, cute graphics and sports a cool cover, that guy was as bad-ass as you could get in the 90's, Mohawk, Sunglasses and a Skull belt, what more could you ask for?

I know what! a plastic case, the box is cardboard, resembling more the NES and SNES boxes, than the durable genesis boxes, small detail, but with a game this good, it doesn't matter.

Miniature DC and ST Key

A couple days ago, a friend went to the post office to check my mail and what was awaiting there?

No less than a miniature SEGA Dreamcast!!



Here it is in all its glory, It belongs to a series called Sega History Collection. It's very detailed, comes with 2 VMU's with caps (now easier to lose than the real thing!), a detachable modem, Space Channel 5 complete with case, and of course a controller.

This thing is just so cool that the VMU's even fit inside the controller, however you cannot link them, the SC5 disc fits inside the console and the controller can be plugged in.

Everything comes in very accurate proportion, except for the controller cable, the real one unfortunately is much much shorter. The whole thing is very small, check out the comparison shot with the other thing I got....



A ST Key for the SEGA Saturn, this, as you probably guessed, is an import loader, not much to say here, except for so far, so good, all you have to do is plug it in, wait for the SEGA logo, the ST Key splash screen, press a button and presto!, imports on your Saturn.

And where did these wonders come from? From the racketboy forums, grittykitty is selling lots of cool stuff right in this thread at great prices, mostly japanese Saturn and DC stuff, as well as the complete miniature SEGA set.

So there you have it, sorry for the blurry pics, hopefully I'll get a camera soon.

Some NES games..........and a NOMAD!

Today there was a good loot, first a few crappy beat up NES games, all in poor condition but working, they are: Anticipation, Rollergames, NES Play Action Football, Tecmo Bowl, Gotcha and Al Unser Jr. Turbo Racing, out of the whole lot perhaps only Kung Fu and Rollergames are worth more than 10 minutes, but the guy wanted 3 dollars for the lot, anyways, this isn't about those ugly games, its about that other thing I found.

......A SEGA NOMAD!




Yes, that ill-fated, not-so-portable Genesis that SEGA released in the old days. I just love it, this is the third one for me, but one got stolen, that thing is so huge I wish I could beat the guy who stole the other one with it, that would do some serious damage.

Anyways, back to this NOMAD, the screen isn't too scratched, unnoticeable while playing thanks to the battery draining backlight. It came with no battery pack, I've actually never seen a NOMAD battery pack and there is no place in it to put regular batteries, but I've read those things only give you like 2 hours of play time and that you are better off with the AC adapter, which thankfully is the same one as the Genesis 2, 3 and 32x, so it isn't very hard to find.

The NOMAD's screen looks great.......as long as nothing is moving, Sonic looks like a blur in it, which is actually kind of normal, but Eric Lecarde of Castlevania does too and also the bullets from Contra, and pretty much every sidescrolling hero, but most games are pretty much playable, like Street Fighter or Puyo Puyo, er...Dr Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine.

Another cool feature of the NOMAD is that it has a controller port at the bottom and an A/V out jack at the top, also like the ones on the Genesis 2, 3 and 32x so you can hook it on a TV and play with a friend.

Definetily recommended if you are a Sega or at least a 16-bit fan.

And it begins.....

Hey everybody, if anyone, this is where I'll post my findings as a game collector and collector of random weird stuff, and it will also serve as a way to keep track of what I have and how much my hobby costs me.

This thing just got started, so sorry if everything's too crappy now or stays crappy, tips and criticism are always welcome.

Hopefully I'll update frequently with new findings and things I bought before starting this.

So here it goes.......



Price: $13.50

This is a Sega Master System, The SEGA 3-D glasses, a Light Phaser and quite a few games, most of them boxed and a stack of loose carts, no AV cable or RF Switch and no AC Adapter, but being a collector for a while, I have a few spares.

Everything is in good condition and most of the games have manuals and some promo posters. The games are:

(Boxed)
Maze Hunter 3-D
Poseidon Wars 3-D
Black Belt
Great Basketball
Rambo First Blood Part II
Hang On/Safari Hunt (x2)
Shinobi
Great Basketball
Pro Wrestling
California Games
Gangster Town
Rocky
Out Run
Miracle Warriors

(Unboxed)
Double Dragon
After Burner
Time Soldiers
Altered Beast
Lord of the Sword

And a monopoly box and manual with no game.

Everything is great, but I'm still hoping for the day I find Golden Axe Warrior.