Another year in the books, and what a year it was! My collection grew leaps and bounds this year, with some absolutely huge gets due in part to the first road trip I've ever taken to a gaming convention.
After many years of trying to convince me, I was financially stable enough to head to Wisconsin with my best friend to attend the Midwest Gaming Classic. I had always intended on doing a big write-up of the trip, but never got around to it, so I'll summarize some of the highlights:
- Disc Replay Runs. On our way to Wisconsin, we hit up no less than 10 Disc Replay (or Disc Traders, as they are also known in other states) stores. Some were chock full of exciting finds, and some were duds - namely the ones in Illinois - but the fun was in the thrill of the hunt.
- Meeting Jeff Lee, creator of Q*Bert, and Brian Colin, creator of Rampage. Both are classic arcade games, but Rampage in particular is one of my favorite games of all-time, hands down. Brian's distinctly cartoonish art style was used in other classics such as Kozmik Krooz'r, Xenophobe, Arch Rivals, and General Chaos on the Genesis. Both signed prints for a small donation.
- Meeting Michael Mendheim, lead designer of Mutant Football League (and the original Genesis Mutant League games) and the voice of NBA Jam and MFL himself, Tim Kitzrow. Both were extremely friendly, and kindly signed two posters.
- Meeting Philo Barnhart, a legendary animator whose work includes the Dragon's Lair and Space Ace laserdisc games (as well as providing the voice of the Red Queen in Dragon's Lair II), An American Tale, The Black Cauldron, The Little Mermaid, and my all-time favorite animated film, The Secret of NIMH. I purchased two beautiful signed prints, including a pencil sketch of Dragon's Lair II's Alice in Wonderland sequence.
- Billy Mitchell in the house! Fresh off the recent disqualification of his Donkey Kong world records, Mitchell made the rounds at MGC. We first spotted him at dinner our first night there, talking to some folks directly behind us, his feathered mullet as luxurious as ever. He was later spotted on Saturday in an all-white (save for his trademark American flag tie) get-up. In spite of the bad case of Saturday Night Fever, I can only assume the outfit was a statement that the former record-holder was ah-ah-ah-ah stayin' alive, stayin' alive.
- The Giant Arcade and Pinball Hall. Hundreds of beautiful pinball tables and classic arcade games, as well as some nifty new doodads such as Zen Pinball's all-digital pinball tables, all set to free play. But the real draw for us was the historical section, where old consoles and computers were set up for play. Everything you'd expect was there - the NES, Genesis, SNES, Turbografx 16, etc. - was represented, as were Japanese favorites such as the Famicom and Famicom Disk System (with Yume Kojo: Doki Doki Panic loaded, of course), the PC Engine (playing Castlevania: Rondo of Blood), the MSX, and the Sharp X68000 (again showcasing its own exclusive Castlevania game). The obscure microcomputers were the real stars. I knew about stuff like the ZX Spectrum and the Acorn, but there were dozens of little computers I didn't even know existed. The one and only (quite literally) Nintendo PlayStation was also on display, though it was enclosed in a case and not playable. It was a fascinating trip through gaming history.
- The Vendor Hall, of course! Who goes to a video game convention and doesn't buy a bunch of games?! I brought about $1,900 with me, telling myself there was no way I'd spend that much. After spending about $600 across all the Disc Replays we hit on the way there, I figured there would be no way I could spend $1,300 at the convention. Famous last words. In my defense, it wasn't all games. I bought a lot of artwork, ranging from awesome comic book style reimaginings of games from Rusty Shackles, to the aforementioned signed prints from Philo Barnhart, to some amazing shadowboxes from Artovision 3D, which hang proudly around my arcade cabinet. Of course, the games weren't half bad either.
Among the titles I picked up between the stores and the vendor hall were King's Quest (Sega Master System), The Adventures of Batman & Robin (Genesis), Sparkster (Genesis), B.O.B. (Genesis), Gain Ground (Genesis), Chiki Chiki Boys (Genesis), Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle (Genesis), Mega Turrican (Genesis), Prince of Persia (Genesis), Last Battle (Genesis), Dragon's Revenge (Genesis), EGG: Elemental Gimmick Gear (Dreamcast), Cyberbots (Saturn import), Space Ace (Sega CD), Loaded (Saturn), Grid Runner (Saturn), Night Warriors (Saturn, to replace my original copy ruined in the fire), Last Gladiators: Digital Pinball (Saturn), Rayman (Saturn), WipeOut (Saturn), Dark Legend (Saturn), Alone in the Dark: One Eyed Jack's Revenge (Saturn), X-Com: UFO Defense (PlayStation, longbox), Warhawk (PlayStation, longbox), Operation Thunderbolt (SNES), Dragon View (SNES), and on the final day Castlevania: Dracula X (SNES) for half what the same vendor was charging during peak hours.
All told, it was a fantastic trip. The only gripes were the lack of anything else near the hotel, including restaurants, and the awful snowstorm we got caught in on Sunday. We decided to leave earlier than anticipated to beat the weather, but we still had to white-knuckle it for a few hours until we got further southeast.
This year, we plan to attend Too Many Games in Philadelphia. Cheesesteaks will be had, games will be bought, and my bank account will cry for mercy!
But I digress. This is about 2018, and how my collection stands, so let's get to the breakdown, shall we?
ATARI 2600 VCS
Total Games: 75 (+5 from 2017)
Not a lot of additions for the ol' 2600, and most of them happened towards the end of the year when local shops had B1G1 or B2G1 deals running. Millipede, Ice Hockey, and Donkey Kong, Jr. were among the games purchased.
Colecovision
Total Games: 9 (+8 from 2017)
You may recall I accidentally purchased the Coleco version of Frogger II, mistaking it for the 2600 cart, a few years ago. Luckily, a Disc Replay near me had an excellent condition Colecovision console for sale for under $100, so I not only expanded my collection of consoles, but games for said console. The CV is a nice machine, with much stronger graphical capabilities than the competing 2600, and with the adapter (sold separately, naturally), you can play almost all of your 2600 games on the Coleco! Unfortunately, the controller really puts a damper on things with its stiff and unwieldy joystick, awkwardly placed buttons, and number pad. Still, the ports of Donkey Kong and DK Jr. are much more faithful to the arcade, and additional games such as Cosmic Avenger, Gorf, Lady Bug (an excellent Pac-Man-esque game), Omega Race, Pepper II, and Zaxxon fill out my meager collection thus far.
Dreamcast
Total Games: 135 (+17 from 2017)
I've reached a critical point in my Dreamcast collection where there aren't many games left I still want, but they're mostly expensive. I did flesh out the collection a bit with games like Carrier, Heavy Metal: Geomatrix, Spawn: In the Demon's Hand, Looney Tunes: Space Race, Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, Spider-Man, Star Wars Episode I: Racer, and Street Fighter III: Double Impact.
Famicom
Total Games: 1 (+1 from 2017)
I don't own a Famicom, per se, but I do own an adapter that lets me play Famicom games on my NES, and for now that'll do. I do want to get an actual Famicom, but in the meantime the adapter allows me to enjoy games like Duck Tales 2, which sells for a fraction of the cost of the domestic release.
Game Boy/Game Boy Color
Total Games: 57 (+12 from 2017)
Not much particularly noteworthy, but I picked up the Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle trilogy, Kirby's Block Ball, the extraordinarily impressive GBC port of Dragon's Lair, and The Simpsons: Night of the Living Treehouse of Horror.
Game Boy Advance
Total Games: 34 (+2 from 2017)
I have no recollection of what I picked up for the GBA, so it must have been pretty unremarkable.
Game Gear
Total Games: 31 (+6 from 2017)
Not a bunch of additions, but one of the GG's best - Arena: Maze of Death - joined the collection, along with Batter Up, Captain America & The Avengers, Road Rash, Shinobi II: The Silent Fury, and Psychic World.
GameCube
Total Games: 38 (+2 from 2017)
Once again, not much of note.
Genesis
Total Games: 250 (+61 from 2017)
The biggest increase of any console in my collection. My Genesis shelf is officially full, including a row of games on the top of the shelf, and is spilling over onto my Saturn shelf - which is also full. In addition to the games mentioned above in the MGC trip, I added Battletoads & Double Dragon: The Ultimate Team, Bimini Run, Blades of Vengeance, Crack Down, DJ Boy, Double Dribble: The Playoff Edition, El Viento, Fatal Rewind, Garfield: Caught in the Act (don't sleep on this game - it's a really fun platformer), Generations Lost, Hardball '95 (the best baseball game on the Genny, for the record), Jewel Master, Lightening Force, some various cheap sports titles, OutRun, Saturday Night Slam Masters, Scooby Doo Mystery, Thunder Force III, Ristar, Turrican, Rolling Thunder 3, The Punisher and Splatterhouse 3 - to name a few.
Nintendo Entertainment System
Total Games: 217 (+13 from 2017)
Not a huge increase, but some excellent games were added like Adventures of Lolo 2, Baseball Stars II, Little Ninja Brothers, Rad Racer II, Kiwi Kraze (aka The New Zealand Story), and R.C. Pro-Am II! I also picked up the semi-official US release of Holy Diver from CastleMania Games. While it's not a licensed Nintendo product, it was produced with the full support of the game's developer, Irem, making it no different than the old Tengen NES carts, thus, worthy of inclusion.
Nintendo DS
Total Games: 16 (+1 from 2017)
Puzzle Quest 2, moving on...
Nintendo 3DS
Total Games: 24
I'll be frank and just say that my DS/3DS collection probably isn't going to grow very much anytime soon. I recognize there's a large library of outstanding games, but I simply don't play handhelds that much anymore.
Nintendo 64
Total Games: 39 (+1 from 2017)
I have no idea what that one game even was.
Nintendo Switch
Total Games: 15 (+5 from 2017)
Things slowed down a bit for the Switch in 2018 after an outstanding first year, but that's not to say it's on the decline. For all the "Nintendo is doomed!" naysayers on the internet, the reality is it had another very strong year, which saw several high profile releases and exclusive releases from Limited Run Games. I actually sold my copies of DOOM and Skyrim, simply because I'm finally over the need to have everything portable, but I picked up Katamari Damacy Reroll, Mutant Football League: Dynasty Edition (the fifth time I've purchased that game - Steam, PS4 digital, Xbox One digital and physical, and Switch physical), Octopath Traveler, Yomawari: The Long Night Chronicles, and a little game called Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
PC
Total Games: 193 (+41 from 2017)
There's just something about Big Box PC games. They're so beautiful to look at, honestly, and they carry such a strong sense of nostalgia for me - walking into Babbage's or CompUSA and browsing the shelves. The only problem with collecting them is space concerns. I've filled two shelving units already, and no have no place for a third unless I begin moving games downstairs. After the Great Flood of 2014 where a great deal of my games were water damaged, including some unsalvageable BBPC titles, I'm reticent to do that again. Like last year, this was one of my primary focuses, and like last year I added some incredible titles to the collection: Outlaws, Day of the Tentacle, Call of Cthulhu: Shadow of the Comet and Prisoner of Ice, Half-Life (the original box, not GotY re-releases), Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith, Quake, The Chaos Engine, The 7th Guest and its sequel The 11th Hour, The Legend of Kyrandia: Fables & Fiends, the stunning LRG release of Thimbleweed Park, Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers, Thief (in the trapezoid box), Shivers II: Harvest of Souls, the original foldout release of StarFlight, and Rise of the Triad: Dark War for a meager $30 (in MINT condition, I might add) were among the goods.
PlayStation
Total Games: 172 (+33 from 2017)
Man I love the PS1. As much as I tried to deny if when I was a stalwart Saturn support in the 90s, Sony's first console is a machine just overflowing with incredible games. I snagged a few key titles this year such as The Adventures of Lomax, Grandia, Suikoden and it's even rarer sequel, Suikoden II, along with some cheap but fun classics like Need For Speed 3: Hot Pursuit, Namco Museum Volume 1 (in the original packaging), Rollcage: Stage 2, Gunfighter: The Legend of Jesse James (an outstanding lightgun game in the vein of Time Crisis, but set in the old west), and a few obscure titles like Elemental Gearbolt and Project Horned Owl.
PlayStation 2
Total Games: 137 (+21 from 2017)
Not a whole lot of amazing pickups, save one: Rule of Rose. One of the PS2's more expensive games, I finally snagged a complete copy for under the average going rate (ironically, there was a copy on eBay that was already bid up more than I paid for buy it now price). Not that everything else I purchased was trash. Bloody Roar 4 isn't going to change the fighting game landscape, but it's a fun button masher, to my disbelief, I didn't own any of the original Devil May Cry titles, so I rectified that and bought all three, I found a copy of God Hand for a great price, I discovered EA Big's overlooked arcade racer SHOX, replaced my black label copy of Silent Hill 2 that I foolishly sold off when the Xbox port came out, and right before the end of the year I found a nice copy of Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil.
PlayStation 3
Total Games: 93 (+7 from 2017)
It's better than nothing, which is what I added last year. Everything was cheap, common games such as inFamous 1 & 2, Midway Arcade Origins, The Sly Collection, and Folklore.
PlayStation 4
Total Games: 171 (+42 from 2017)
Again the PS4 continues to be a powerhouse with a wide array of excellent titles. 2018 saw three extremely high profile exclusives released - Quantic Dream's Detroit: Become Human, Insomniac's Spider-Man, and God of War, which convinced me I needed to own a PS4 Pro just to experience its beauty in 4K. Not only was God of War my third favorite game of 2018, the top two also appeared on the PS4 - Motion Twin's addictive Roguevania Dead Cells, which was also released on other platforms, and the absolutely mindblowing Tetris Effect. I cannot say enough about Tetris Effect for there simply are not enough words to express my love for it. It's a game that puts me in a distinct state of rapture. I feel elated and calm, even when the pace quickens. The audio and visuals work together in such beautiful harmony that it puts the player in a state of near-euphoria, not unlike the game's Zone mechanic where everything else fades away and you're focused on the pulsating lights and slick beats. In VR, the visuals surround you and draw you in deeper. Tetris Effect is, in no uncertain terms, a perfect game. But that's just a small taste of the greatness that awaited the PS4 in 2018: Astro Bot Rescue Mission and Moss both proved VR is about more than short, gimmicky (albeit, often enjoyable) first-person experiences. The former is being heralded as VR's "Super Mario 64 moment," and that's not inaccurate. For those who do enjoy the first-person immersion of VR, there was a port of Home Sweet Home, a terrifying Japanese horror adventure. 2018 also saw some oddball titles come to PS4. Bendy and the Ink Machine is a flawed but dark and engaging first-person puzzle/action/horror title. The visual novel detective story Death Mark saw a limited release in the West. We got an awesome port of the critically acclaimed PC RPG Divinity: Original Sin 2 (also on Xbox One), as well as Dragon Quest XI, which many longtime fans have declared the best Dragon Quest ever. There was a new Fire Pro game, as well as an extremely fun and over-the-top Fist of the North Star title. Mega Man 11 proved Capcom still knows what makes a great Blue Bomber game, and helped erase the memory of creator Keiji Inafune's spiritual successor, Mighty No. 9. Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom revived the long-dormant Wonder Boy franchise in superb fashion with an insanely gorgeous, fun, and challenging non-linear adventure. The Yakuza series continued to grow with its sixth installment. Those are all games released just this year and doesn't include past releases or Limited Run Games titles!
PlayStation Portable
Total Games: 4 (+1 from 2017)
I didn't pick up a PSP in 2018, but I did pick up Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins for when I do.
Saturn
Total Games: 131 (+22 from 2017)
Honestly, I'm shocked to see such a big increase. The Saturn market continues to rise and games that were once $20-30 titles are now $50-80. Only the most common of games remain extremely cheap, which is why I didn't realize I'd bought as many Saturn games as I did. A good portion of them were already listed in the MGC pickups waaaaay above, but I do remember also picking up In The Hunt, Robo Pit, Three Dirty Dwarves, imports of X-Men vs. Street Fighter and Thunder Force V, as well as some common sports titles.
Sega 32X/32X CD
Total Games: 19 (+2 from 2017)
It's hard to believe there are even still a few games for this failed peripheral/system that I still needed, let alone on my wishlist still, but there you have it. I picked up Shadow Squadron, and the 32X CD re-release of Night Trap holds the honor of being my 2,000th game.
Sega CD
Total Games: 57 (+5 from 2017)
In addition to Space Ace above, I added Cobra Command, Lords of Thunder, The Adventures of Willy Beamish, and Flink to the collection.
Sega Master System
Total Games: 37 (+4 from 2017)
Another slow year for the Master System: King's Quest, Wonder Boy in Monster Land, Time Soldiers, and Gangster Town were the only new additions.
Super Nintendo
Total Games: 92 (+16 from 2017)
I'm happy to see prices for SNES games are on the decline. I managed to snag a few awesome games. On top of the MGC gets, I crossed Metal Warriors off the wishlist two days before the close of the year for significantly less than eBay prices (and yes, I checked, it's legit). I also took a gamble on a copy of Ghoul Patrol, the semi-sequel to Zombies Ate My Neighbors, that was all the way in the Middle East but was a price too good to pass up. Not only did it arrive super fast, it's 100% legit and works great! Realm, Rock 'n Roll Racing, Super Batter Up, Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest, and the underrated Mary Shelley's Frankenstein movie tie-in helped round out some great additions.
Wii
Total Games: 35 (+6 from 2017)
Remember when we were all stoked on the Wii? Now I'm mostly buying $3 tripe like Alien Syndrome. I picked up Guilty Gear XX Accent Core while on vacation over the summer, and Phantom Brave: We Meet Again, but I'll be damned if I remember the other three.
Wii U
Total Games: 16
Always 16. Now and forever, 16. No more, no less, but only 16.
Xbox
Total Games: 167 (+13 from 2017)
Again, mostly cheap, unremarkable games including failed mascot Blinx: The Time Sweeper, but there were a few gems like Guilty Gear X2: #Reload, The House of the Dead III (with the Mad Catz Blaster), HeadHunter: Redemption, and NBA Street Vol. 3.
Xbox 360
Total Games: 73 (+17 from 2017)
Another instance where I was surprised I bought as many games as I did. What those games were is mostly anybody's guess. I do recall Captain America: Super Soldier, Full Auto, Namco Museum: Virtual Arcade, Project Sylpheed, Serious Sam Collection, and the infamous flop, Too Human.
Xbox One
Total Games: 32 (+32 from 2017)
The other new console added this year, the Xbox One X is a technological powerhouse, offering a true 4K experience with high dynamic range lighting, UHD blu-ray playback, and the innovative Game Pass service, which allows access to over 100 games across the entire Xbox family for just $10/month. The X has become my go-to console for most multi-platform releases, as performance and visual fidelity is consistently the best in class. To that end, I bought a handful of games over just to experience them in true 4K, but there were plenty of additional experiences I missed out on over the past few years that helped me flesh out the collection on the cheap. I picked up both Assassin's Creed titles - Origins and Odyssey, Burnout Paradise Remastered, Destiny 2 (which was given out free by Best Buy with any game purchase), Diablo III: Eternal Collection, DOOM, Forza Horizon 2, 3, and 4, which is arguably the greatest racing game ever made and inarguably the most stunning to look at, Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, Killer Instinct, Mirror's Edge: Catalyst, Mortal Kombat XL, Mutant Football League: Dynasty Edition, Okami HD, Onrush, Ori and the Blind Forest, Rare Replay, Red Dead Redemption 2, Sega Genesis Classics, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Shenmue I & II, Shining Resonance Refrain, Sonic Mania Plus, SoulCalibur IV, Sunset Overdrive, Super Bomberman R: Shiny Edition, Tom Clancy's The Division, We Happy Few, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt: Complete Edition, and Yoku's Island Express.
One last thing of note: 2018 also saw me get into the repro game. I have no intention of buying reproductions of expensive but commercially available domestic releases, but as someone who enjoys playing on original hardware whenever possible, I did pick up a few translations and PAL-to-NTSC repros. These are NOT included in my totals, because they were never commercially available in the US, and they are not official releases unlike imports, but if you're curious they include: Final Fantasy II (NES, English translated), Final Fantasy III (NES, English translated), HeroQuest (NES - unreleased prototype), Sweet Home (NES, English translated), Alien Soldier (Genesis, PAL conversion), Golden Axe III (Genesis, Japan-only), UndeadLine (Genesis, English translated), Monster World IV (Genesis, English translated), and Oh No! More Zombies Ate My Neighbors (SNES, fan-made sequel).
Total Games in Collection as of 12/31/2018: 2,370
Games Added in 2018: 396