There’s been a lot of activity in the few weeks since the last Collector’s Log entry went up, with games for many consoles being added to my library, so I’m going to whirlwind through what’s new with images and comments before summing things up at the end. Let’s go!
There’s an interesting mix of stuff here, most of which came from a Retro World Games visit on July 31st. Granstream Saga is an upgrade to a loose disc that I’ve had for awhile, and I also landed a strategy guide (not pictured) for it. Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped has the lenticular cover, which is a variant of the game I didn’t yet own. Michael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City was an “It would be cool to own that!” pickup. Final Fight is a nostalgic pickup; I remember playing it at a then-girlfriend’s house back in the fall of 1991; it’s not at all the “best” version of the game, but memories sometimes skew reality a little bit. Blaster Master is a game that I’ve never really been good at, but that soundtrack is memorable and I’ve tried so many reboots and remakes over the years that owning the original is kind of a given.
Then we come to the two complete-in-box games. Beetle Adventure Racing for the Nintendo 64 was talked about in my BlueSky circles a few weeks back, and seeing this complete copy was too coincidental to not pick up. The N64 certainly has a good supply of racing games, and this is one of the better ones. It has been a hot minutes since I’ve played it, though, so I’m going to need to reacclimate myself.
Finally, there’s Final Fantasy III (or VI, if you want to get semantic about it). I genuinely never thought I’d own this complete again… and there’s a bittersweet history between that game and myself. When the game released in the fall of 1994, I was still in a long-distance relationship that had begun prior to my getting laid off from my job and having to move back in with my paternal grandmother while trying to find another job. She loved RPGs. I got the game for me, sure, but I knew she’d love it, too. So when I’d drive out to see her on weekends, I’d watch as she played. Sadly, the distance was taking its toll and we split a few weeks later. I was crushed, and left the game with her. I’ve played it in other forms, on and off, since… but never finished it and certainly never owned the game as I used to own it back then. Until now. It felt weirdly familiar opening it up and checking out the contents. How will I feel when I pop the game into my SNES Jr.? I’m not sure.
Moving on…
Legend of the Mystical Ninja was a standalone purchase. I don’t know that I’d put it on the “Certified Konami Bangers” list, but I sure did buy it back when it was new and have played it some in the years that followed. The music from this game has occupied space in my head since then, and I’ve always found the game to be interesting to play– even if I never really got too far in it. It does scream early 90s to me, and that time will always be special to me. First time not living with family, first full-time job, first car… a lot of firsts. I took up interest in this game again because I have the two related/later sequels for Nintendo 64. Maybe playing it now, I’ll get a bit further through the game.
Speaking of Konami…
The thing about my regular visits to Retro World Games is that I never know what I’ll find from visit to visit. On July 24th, I spotted a copy of Sunset Riders for the SNES in the display case– and it was almost fate, given that I had just recently been playing the coin-op version of the game on Switch 2 thanks to HAMSTER Corp.’s Arcade Archives series of releases. I prefer the SNES port over the coin-op original, I think. It’s a blast to play, the music is great (even epic at times, like during boss battles), and it still looks really good. Timeless stuff.
As for Vandal Hearts, it’s typically not the kind of game I play. I’m pretty terrible at strategy/tactical RPGs, but it’s a game that I didn’t have yet. I’ve heard and read some mixed things about it, so finding out for myself made sense. Finding this game also rekindled a spark in picking up original PlayStation games that had been cooling for a bit. I think I kind of needed this one to get back on track some after focusing almost exclusively on NES/SNES/Genesis for the last few months.
Speaking of 8-bit and 16-bit…
I’ve talked before about my love of old sports video games, so it should be no surprise to see that some of the games that I’ve been picking up have included them. Of particular note here, though, is the unexpected arrival of a sealed copy of Madden NFL 96 for the SNES from Steel Collectibles. When I ordered the game from that store, I never imagined that I’d get one of these. It’s really neat.
It’s not just sports games, though. RoadBlasters for the Genesis is a game that I didn’t really have on my radar until I watched some YouTube gameplay videos and saw how close to the coin-op original it was. It’s not a throwaway port. Pit-Fighter, on the other hand, is a willfully bad decision… for the SNES version, at least. That’s the version I rented from a local Blockbuster back in 1992 and recall returning it within an hour. It’s as close to “objectively bad” as a video game can get. But I also landed the Genesis port, which is apparently… not awful? I’m looking forward to finding out myself. This weird interest in Pit-Fighter was powered by a Matt McMuscles video on it:
Next up:
There’s some sports stuff here, too. With the 2026 NFL season right around the corner, I’ve been loading up on football games. I can confirm that Konami’s NFL Football still stinks as much as it did back in the summer of 1993 when I first bought it at launch (on the same day as Street Fighter II Turbo, in fact). The original John Madden Football for SNES is… not great, but I still played the heck out of it when I got it originally. I haven’t played Emmitt Smith Football since I reviewed it for Pat Contri’s Ultimate Nintendo: Guide to the SNES Library 1991 – 1998 book a decade ago. I remember that it wasn’t very good.
A pair of Genesis arcade game ports are also here. My interest in Space Harrier comes from Joe Redifer, aka the illustrious Game Sack. I haven’t played much Space Harrier II, but I can rectify that now. I have played the original quite a bit, thanks to its plentiful appearances in the Yakuza series, but not the sequel. Alien Storm is a game that I should probably like quite a bit. For whatever reason, I tended to glance past it in compilations… and that’s probably a mistake.
It’s no longer the 90s, but it’s always time for Klax. The NES port was the way I was originally introduced to the game, so it’s a bit of a homecoming to own it again after so many years. I’ve given some thought to going after the entire subset of Tengen’s unlicensed releases for the NES– Tetris is way up there on my want list– and it seems as though I’m making my way to this goal gradually. I still have not played much of the coin-op original, though I should since I have several compilations with the game on it.
Finally, there’s a couple of more original PlayStation games here. Sports-related, but still new to me and new to the library in general. They’re pretty basic budget releases. And speaking of the original PlayStation…
I’ve come back around to adding more games for it. Even though I’m running out of finding new things (unless I pay an arm and a kidney), I get lucky every so often with a variant I’ve been missing or some titles that I initially passed over and now warrant second looks. I’ve not played any of these, but have heard from a few people that ATV Mania might be a hidden gem type of game. Extreme Go-Kart Racing is another budget-ish racing game, but has been creeping up in value recently. Finally, Iron Soldier 3 seems to be a mech game, and still commands $30 or so.
It was also nice to find some more OEM memory cards. I can never own too many of these, especially given the number of games in my library. Sports games tend to take up lots of room on their own, with some requiring all 15 blocks on a memory card. The translucent ones certainly look cooler, but the common gray ones match my console better, so… I tend not to be too picky. I do need to figure out how many I have at some point, but I don’t see myself backing off of picking these up when I see them.
Finally…
I grabbed this pair of shirts from Amazon. The memory card shirt is one that I initially found on Hot Topic’s site awhile back, but they quickly sold out and never restocked. When I saw it up on Amazon’s site, it was a given to grab it before it went away again. The Super Nintendo shirt is a exact duplicate of a design I have on a hoodie, and I’m trying to build up my collection of SNES shirts (as I only have two).
Now we’re caught up. A few more things are coming in the mail this week, but after that, it’s time to hit the Pause button for a bit so I can build up funds for game hunting at RetroWorld Expo next month. I know some things I’ll have my eyes open for, and they are not inexpensive. Axelay for SNES, Tengen’s Tetris for NES, maybe Road Rash 3 for Genesis… and there’s always some games that catch my eye when I visit conventions.
If you made it this far… congrats, and thanks for reading. More stuff will be posted soon.
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