RSM loot part I – Atari Lynx!

May 24, 2015 by stopXwhispering

At this years RSM (Retrospelsmässan) I came home with a bigger haul than any previous year ;D In total it was 6 consoles and 60 games o_O That’s the main reason why I’m dividing the loot into several posts, since I’ve only had time to go through and photograph parts of it so far ;D

First up, I came to RSM with the ambition to find an Atari Lynx and a ZX Spectrum. I’ve wanted an Atari Lynx for a long time since I’ve had a few games for it but no way to play them >_< After going through the vendors I didn’t seem to find one though, until I spoke to Martin who claimed to have seen it at a table behind him. This is where I found the first Atari Lynx console, a bit worn on the backside and dirty, but it cleaned up nice and it was cheap ^__^ Somebody else had snagged an Atari Lynx from the same seller just minutes earlier, one in better condition >_< But I’m happy with finding it ^_^

A couple of hours later I showed my Atari Lynx to likilato, and he told me he had seen another Atari Lynx, boxed! So he showed me to the table where I had missed this beauty! This one was the Atari Lynx 2, in box, with power adaptor and a bunch of loose games with it! I couldn’t help myself, had to get this one too!

They’re quite different and both have their pro’s and cons. I’ve spent some time this week trying them out ^_^ The first edition of the Atari Lynx has much louder and way better sound (in my opinion) but the second one has a better screen. The first one is heavier and lies well in your hands, the second one feels lighter and bit cheaper, I like the design better of the second one though ^_^

I already had some of the games that came in the boxed Atari Lynx package though, and I had already bought a few at RSM before I found it as well! There were a few ones I didn’t have though, like Gauntlet, Warbirds, Blue Lightning, Batman Returns, California Games, Electropop, Viking Child and Checkered flag (however this one came in doubles >_<) It kind of bugs me that they’re not boxed though.. since the rest of the ones I have are…

Here’s some of the other Atari Lynx games I picked up at RSM! :D I really enjoyed Gates of Zendocon and Zarlor Mercenaries ^__^ Out of the cartridges I also liked Gauntled (Gauntles is always awesome!), Xenophobe, Batman Returns and Electropop. Electropop had a really cool 3D depth in it! It was a sidescrolling platformer where you could also move forward and backwards into the screen to enter various rooms ^_^

Kung Food – Atari Lynx

Zarlor Mercenary – Atari Lynx

Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure – Atari Lynx

Gates of Zendocon – Atari Lynx

Robo Squash – Atari Lynx

S.T.U.N. Runner – Atari Lynx

Steel Talons – Atari Lynx

I’m very happy with my new Atari Lynx collection which I can finally play!!! I didn’t find a ZX Spectrum though :( But I found a BUNCH of other cool things! :D I will make another post soon with the rest ;D

Sharp’s Twin Famicom and the Twin Famicom Turbo!

March 7, 2015 by stopXwhispering

The japanese Famicom is the equivalent of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), they later released a Disk System to go with the Famicom, and after that Sharp produced this Twin Famicom which had the Disk System integrated with the console so you didn’t have to have two power adaptors. It was first released in 1986 :)

I recently bought three more Twin Famicoms! Don’t ask me why I need to have four Twin Famicoms, but they are just all so pretty! And I really love the Famicom so I just figured I’d collect the hardware as well ^_^ The Twin Famicom is definitely my favorite Famicom system :) Then again, I don’t have the toploader to compare with yet.. I think I’m only missing one Twin Famicom now though :)

Two of the consoles are Twin Famicom Turbo systems :D This means that the controllers have built in Turbo buttons. One of them is pale orange, I thought it was sunfaded but was told it comes in this color! The one I had before is brighter red. They also have different colours on the controllers. You can see the difference here, the right one is my old one, the left one is the new Twin Famicom Turbo:

I will call it orange from here on. The orange Twin Famicom Turbo from Sharp has a darker red eject-button and beige / blue-grey elements. This one is called Sharp Twin Famicom AN-505.

Another system I got was the darker version of the Twin Famicom Turbo. This one is black with green and grey-purple elements. This one has the same name as the orange one, Sharp Twin Famicom AN-505.

The third one I got a bit earlier is a regular Twin Famicom without Turbo buttons on the controllers. This one has a matt finish in dark grey with pale red and green details. This one has the same “Famicom” text on the top as my old red one. I like the design of this text better than the straight one on the Turbo’s. This one is called Sharp Twin Famicom AN-500B. The name differs from my first red one which is called AN-500R, but I’m not sure what the technical differences are.

What’s interesting is that all the Twin Famicoms have led lights in the power button, except for my red Twin Famicom. Here’s the various fronts of the consoles:
Edit: The dark grey Twin Famicom is supposed to have a red power button without the light, it’s been modded ;)

And here’s some more pictures to compare the versions:

Now I just need to find some space for all these beauties in my game room ;D Also if you wanna see some more pictures of my red Twin Famicom that I got a long time ago you can find them here >>

So which one is your favorite? :D

Cartridge Comparison: NES vs Famicom

July 28, 2013 by stopXwhispering

I don’t usually intend to buy games for various platforms if I already have them for one, unless I know that there are major differences in the game. However, sometimes it happens that I buy a game I already have since the name and label are completely different, making me think it’s a completely different game..

Here are some examples where I haven’t realized it was the same game until I actually played and recognized it! :)

Xexyz VS Kame no Ongaeshi Urashima Densetsu
Xexyz is the american NES release, and in Japan it’s called Kame no Ongaeshi Urashima Densetsu.. I did not see that one coming ^_^ It’s great platforming fun though!

Rockin’ Kats VS Nyankies
Rockin’ Kats is the PAL NES release, and when I got Nyankies (which it is called in Japan) I first thought it was some sort of sports game, since it made me think of the New York Yankees (I think that’s a team in some sport.. not my field of expertise though) ;D Man was I happy to realize it wasn’t a sports game but a fun platformer, a bit less exciting that I already had it though … >.<

The Krion Conquest VS Magical Kids Doropie
Here I actually got the Famicom game first. I had never seen it before and got really excited when I discovered a copy on eBay.. I paid looots of moneys for it >_< It was fun though! Kind of like a female Mega Man, but harder. Just like a month later I found The Krion Conquest, never heard of that one either, and bought it quite cheap at the Swedish Retro Gaming Exhibition.. when I popped it in I realized it was the same game that I had just spent a fortune on >-<

Dino Riki VS Shinjinrui
Here’s another example of the same game bearing a totally different name. In this case however the cover has similar artwork, a boy raging on a dinosaur haha ^_^

Air Fortress VS Air Fortress
Of course sometimes I do buy games knowing I already own another version of it.. just because it’s a good game at the right price, or perhaps because I’m curious to see if there are any differences in game play ^_^ Like Air Fortress, I enjoy it and didn’t mind owning it on the Famicom as well.

Famicom pirate games #1 – The Last Ninja

February 22, 2013 by stopXwhispering

I’ve never been very interested in collecting pirated games for any of my retro consoles. I have always preferred original games, however lately I’ve accidentally come by a few pirated Famciom games. Like the Super Mario IV Armadillo hack, which is basically just the Armadillo game changed to have Mario as the main character, and Caveman Games, which is a NES release ported on a cart for the Famicom.

I know there’s a lot of people that prefer pursuing those rare pirated games, and lately I’ve begun to understand why that is. It’s quite charming, it’s a game just like all the other games I’m collecting, and somebody made it, made an effort to re-code an existing game to their liking, and it’s always intriguing since you never know what to expect form a pirate game. The pirated games are more rare as well, and usually unique, since they weren’t mass produced like many other original releases.

The Last Ninja was a game I saw on Ebay and it intrigued me since I wasn’t completely sure which game it was and also, my best friend NinjaBrite loves Ninjas! So I bought it hoping that she would enjoy trying it ^_^

So I cleaned the game up a bit and tried it briefly to make sure it worked and it worked perfectly on the first try ^_^ I looked it up as well and found out that The Last Ninja was actually released for the NES by Jaleco however the game was also firstly released on the Commodore 64 but it was called The Last Ninja 2.
I compared some screenshots from this version and the version on C64. It is lacking a lot of the details from the C64 version. Here’s the comparison of sceneries: (click to enlarge)