Collector’s Log #2: What’s Old is New Again

I’ve talked about the move to upgrade copies of games in my collection, and this week’s arrivals generally do that— with a couple of exceptions that I’ll get to. Thanks to J2Games for these games, and for the team’s continued support as I build and refine my library.

Let’s dig in:

First up is College Slam, a game from Acclaim that utilizes the NBA JAM engine and adapts it to college hoops from the pros. You could almost call it a reskinned JAM, but there are differences. Instead of four quarters, there are two halves— which unfortunately dings the pace a bit. Halves feel too long, as opposed to the 2-3 minute quarters of JAM. There are different slam dunks, slightly altered commentary, and a fairly lengthy ladder to climb in order to reach the title. It’s really not a bad game… just… same-y, if that makes sense.

College Slam is a longbox title, and this copy is a definite upgrade to the copy I had up to now. This copy has a fully-intact hard plastic case and a pretty clean disc, as opposed to the broken-cased copy it’s replacing.

Next up is another longbox basketball game, this one from the original PlayStation’s earliest days. NBA In The Zone is an evolution (of sorts) of Konami’s Run and Gun coin-op and subsequent NBA Give & Go game for the Super NES. There’s more camera angles here than the baseline/behind the goal perspective, and the game continues to edge slightly more toward sim from Konami’s arcade roots.

Konami was definitely on a sports kick at the time. NBA In the Zone, NFL Full Contact, Goal Storm, The Final Round, and Bottom of the 9th were a mixed bag of offerings. I honestly have been meaning to check these out in earnest, to see what Konami was going for at the time. Maybe in 2026? We’ll see.

As with College Slam, NBA In the Zone is an upgrade to a less-than-great copy that I’ve had for years. Everything here is in pristine condition, and it’s helpful that the case is hard cardboard as opposed to the plastic case design that easily breaks.

Next up?

This is BursTrick Wake Boarding!! The exclamation points are part of the title, and not because I’m crazy excited about this. It’s a budget release— an arcade-style game that, at least based on the screenshots, has a passing resemblance to Street Sk8er.

I think I played this back in 2000. It’s probably an indictment on the game that I can’t remember a darned thing about it. For now, it’s a curiosity until I spend some time with the game. If I was a streamer or full-time content guy, I might have had to make myself play it sooner… but that’s not the case. I thankful for that.

This copy is another upgrade. It was the cheapest game in the order, and gets me a better-condition case, manual, and disc.

Moving on…

“They made Dark Forces for PlayStation?”

Yeah. It’s not great, but it was serviceable for its time. It definitely loses out to Nightdive Studios’ recent Dark Forces remaster of the PC original, but it’s important to remember that we didn’t have that option in late 1996– and first-person shooters on consoles were still coming into their own.

LucasArts was a decent supporter of Sony’s freshman console, as the publisher also brought Rebel Assault II over from PC and dropped a PlayStation-exclusive fighting game in Masters of Teräs Käsi. Dark Forces is probably the worst of these, but not the most infamous.

This is a new game to me, so I’ll reserve deeper personal thoughts until I play it myself. For now, it fills a home that I had in my library. I may be on the lookout for the Greatest Hits variant down the road, but it’s not a priority.

Speaking of new to me…

I’ve only heard bits and pieces about Urban Chaos for the original PlayStation. I’m more familiar with the Urban Chaos release for the PlayStation 2, subtitled Riot Response, which is considered a bit of a hidden gem.

That means that I’ll be going into this one blind, once I get around to playing it. I really don’t have anything else to add, except that it’s another game that I have access to that I’ll eventually be experiencing for the first time.

Finally, last but not least:

Jet X2O is yet another new-to-me addition, and it’s for the PlayStation 2– a console that I’m closing in on owning 1,000 physical games for.

I think what got my attention is the development team: Killer Game. Killer Game is a name I’m familiar with from its work on the NHL FaceOff series for the original PlayStation, so I have some curiosity about how this game is and how it compares to something like Rainbow Studios’ Splashdown.

That’s all for this time around. More games are coming, because Black Friday week, so look for more Collector’s Logs on the horizon.