Retro Sunday - July 13, 2014 - Galactic Pinball

Ah, Sunday. The most retro of all the days. Today, we're going to take a look at a title that most people have never heard of, let alone played. The reason? It was on Virtual Boy.

Update: 50 by 4-19

Ah, yes! Much time has passed since the inception of my latest goal: to beat 50 games or more by the time April 19th is over. It is now April 20th, and what is there to show for my efforts? Let's find out!

As you can see, there were many games that I played in this time. The picture at left (which can be enlarged if you click on it) shows just some of the characters featured in the games I played over the last few months. See if you can guess who they are and what game they are from (the answers are listed below).

I started off really well at the start of the year. In fact, by January 4th, I'd already beaten 4 games, which put me a few days ahead of schedule. And then, oddly, I did not beat another game until January 18th. This may have been due to school, my own laziness, or because I started several games in this time and it took a few weeks to finish them. I don't remember which, so take you pick. In any case, once I did start beating games again, I was already a week and a half behind schedule, so I had to really focus on video games (what a hard life, right?) Then, finally, a month later, I caught up to where I needed to be. And I never looked back. Or did I?

There were two parts to my goal, both of which had to be completed if I wanted to consider the matter ended:

1. Beat 50 games (for any system) by April 19th.
2. Beat half of the unbeaten games for any system that had at least 10 unbeaten games.

To clarify, the second part of that goal was to put extra effort into beating games for systems with lots of unbeaten games. For example, at the start of the year, I had something like 22 unbeaten Gamecube games. Therefore, my goal was to beat 11 Gamecube games. The Wii had a similarly high number of unbeaten games, as did the N64 and NES. (My theory is that my console games get less attention simply because I can play DS or GBA games anywhere, but I can only play the Wii or other consoles at home.) So, I wanted to beat 12 Wii games, 11 Gamecube games, 7 N64 games, and 6 NES games. That makes 36 between those, so that gave me some room to throw in games from any other system, such as the insanely awesome DS, or the vastly underrated Virtual Boy. If that makes sense, continue reading. If it doesn't... that's not my problem.

So, in an attempt to seem like a valiant blogger and not a lazy turd, here is a list of some of the games I beat:

• Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
• Looney Tunes: Acme Arsenal
• Wario Land: Shake It!
• Mega Man 9
• Metal Slug 7
• NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams
• Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time
• Strong Bad: Episodes 3-5
• Pikmin
• Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney
• MK Mythologies: Sub-Zero
• Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project
• We Love Golf!
• Mario Party 6
• Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
• Sega Superstars Tennis
• Pilotwings 64

These are just some of the games I beat since the end of last year. Also, as a note, for me to call a game "beaten", it can be a few different things:

• Typically, a game is beaten when I get to the end, such as in an adventure game. This is often signified by the end-credits roll.
  
• "Beaten" can be different for a puzzle game. For example, there are still hundreds of puzzles in CrossWorDS, but I count it as beaten because I made some good progress and know exactly how fun the game is.
• If a game is too hard, I'll try some cheat codes. If there are no cheat codes and/or the game is still too hard, I call it beaten anyways. After all, the point of a game is to be fun. When it ceases to be fun, I cease playing it.

So there you go. And with that, a revelation:

I did it!

That's right, I beat 50 games in a few short months. In fact, I beat 54, so I went a little beyond the goal, and that's ok. That averages out to about one game every 2 days. Considering many of these games can take 40+ hours to beat, this can be difficult. But I balanced it out with shorter games, puzzle games, and a few NES beat-it-in-10-minutes games.

And now, for your reading pleasure, some random trivia and facts about 50 by 4-19.

• Longest time without beating a game: 16 days (Jan. 4-20)
• Most games beaten in one day: 4 (Feb. 5 [Nightmare Creatures, Shadow Man, Episode 1 Racer, TMNT 3])
• Number of Mario games beaten: 2
• Number of Strong Bad games beaten: 3
• Number of pinball games beaten: 2

Games beaten per system:

• DS: 15
  
• Wii: 12
• GCN: 11
• N64: 7
• NES: 6
• PC: 2
• VB: 1

Top 5 best games of 50 by 4-19 (in no particular order):

• Rhythm Heaven
• Mega Man 9
• Wario Land: Shake It!
• Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time
• Strong Bad's Cool Game 4 Attractive People

Top 5 least best games of 50 by 4-19 (in no particular order):

• Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord
• WWF Wrestlemania Challenge
• Sonic Riders
• Milon's Secret Castle
• Sonic Heroes

Most underrated games of 50 by 4-19:

• Sega Superstars Tennis
• Wario Land (virtual boy)
• We Love Golf!
• NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams
  
• WarioWare Snapped!

Hardest games of 50 by 4-19:

• Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
• Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
• Pilotwings 64
  
• MK Mythologies: Sub-Zero
• Mercury Meltdown Revolution

And now, the list of the characters in the above picture and which game they came from (top to bottom, left to right):

• Mario, Luigi, Baby Mario, Baby Luigi (Mario & Luigi, Partners in Time)
• Strong Bad (SBCG4AP)
• Link (Zelda: Phantom Hourglass)
• Marco Rossi (Metal Slug 7)
• Mega Man (Mega Man 9)
• Samus Aran (Metroid Prime 2)
• Trucy Wright, Apollo Justice (Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney)
• Captain Olimar, blue Pikmin (Pikmin)
• Shanoa (Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia)
• NiGHTS (NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams)
• Boulder (Excite Truck)
• Sub-Zero (MK Mythologies: Sub-Zero)

There you are, friends: just more proof of how awesome I am. And in case you were wondering, I have not set another goal yet, and I may not for awhile, since school starts today and I will have considerably less time to play. But I will (probably) post some information here on games I've played and other crap. Oy maybe I'll be lazy. Hard to tell, really.

-benjamines

Currently Playing: Animal Crossing: City Folk, Okami, Wii Music

108 in 2008 Completion: Part 3

Sorry for the late entrance, fair readers. I slept in. Until 2. Well, almost. Oh, and then Word decided to not actually save my document. So… here we go again…

The first game to be beaten in this quarter was… Gunstar Super Heroes for GBA! It's a classic remake of run-n-gun Metal Slug-style action. Yahoo! All in all, I must say it's a fun game. It's not too hard (with the exception of the stupid end boss), it looks great, and it's just plain crazy. Cool!

Speaking of guns and explosions, the next game was Metroid Fusion. It's a Metroid game, so it's pretty hard. But it's cool. It has all the classic Metroid elements. Big guns, huge bosses… but it's done in a way that's not just violent to be violent. Go go Samus!

Coming up next is Worms Blast! It's one part Bust A Move, one part Worms, and two parts crazy. You use classic worms weapons to destroy colored bubbles within the time limit. It's done quite well, but there are parts where you wonder how anyone could beat the game without being a nerd. One wonders indeed…

Alright, so enough with the violence! Our next game is Yoshi's Story. Instead of protecting Baby Mario like in Yoshi's Island, you're simply on a quest to stop Baby Bowser from turning everything into a storybook. Sounds lame. But it's not! The graphics are a neat pseudo-3D and the music is fun to listen to. Usually Yoshi annoys me (in Smash Bros, Mariokart, etc.) But I gotta admit. This game is fun.

Well, that's enough of the fun games for now. Next we have Sonic Battle for GBA. It's one of those games where the designers decided to make it double hard just so some people would enjoy it more. But really, all they're doing is making other people enjoy it less. It's like this: You play as Sonic. You have to fight a bunch of people, and then they join your team. But instead of beating them once, you have to beat them all twice… in a row. I kid you not. It's like making a football team win the [extremely copyrighted phrase goes here] twice in the same day. Dumb!

But anyways, on with the better games. Next up is Nitrobike, the highly under-rated extreme MotoX game. While I do agree that the game has a few large flaws, it's still a lot of fun, if nothing else for the bowling and online play. Plus, you can explode your bike! That's pretty cool.

Speaking of extreme, how about a little Mario Strikers Charged? That's soccer for those of you unfamiliar. Take Mario, add soccer, throw in a dash of awesome, and there ya go. My only complaint? Too hard. It's a lot of fun, especially multiplayer, but yeah, it's difficult.

Alright, so this quarter has an interesting stat: I beat 3 Wario games. I didn't even plan it that way. It just kinda happened. First, I played through Wario: Master of Disguise. It's a lot like the old Wario platformers, except that you can draw on new costumes that give Wario new powers, such as fire breath or low gravity. Then I played WarioWare Smooth Moves. It is by far the funniest game I have ever played. It is the wackiest, most ridiculous, retardedest, but hilariously awesome game you'll ever play. After that, I played the Gamecube Warioware. It is also highly hilarious. The main difference is that multiplayer on the GCN version is much better. All three of these games are fun, though. So yeah.

Alright, so there's another group of 'similar' games this quarter. These are the type of games that everyone needs to play. They help video games as a while branch out into new, creative markets. The first of these is Professor Layton and the Curious Village. You talk to villagers, solve their puzzles, get clues, unravel mysteries. Sounds strange, yes, but there are 150-some-odd puzzles and they use the touch screen brilliantly, such as circling the correct item out of a group, or drawing a line through a maze. Can't wait for a sequel! Next on cool unique games we have Boom Blox. It's Jenga mixed with explosions. And who doesn't love exploding Jenga, right? You use the Wii remote to throw bowling balls, bombs, or other random heavy items at teetering towers to make them fall. Sounds awesome, no? Trust me, it is. Ok, so moving right along… Trauma Center. Easily one of the best games on the DS. I got the sequel when it came out. And it did not disappoint! You get plenty more of the write-your-name-with-the-scalpel, inject-gallons-of-morphine, suture-nipples-to-belly-buttons action, plus you can do it the right way if you want! (You get further in the game if you do it right, I found out.) In any case, these games all show how awesome the DS and Wii can be with the right minds behind the controls. Here's hoping for more awesome new game types!

Well, this year had a seemingly endless supply of great games, and the downloadable games on Wii were no exception. Particularly entertaining is Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People. I played the first episode. Classic Homestar Runner humor? Check. Endless witty lines from Strong Bad? Check. Ability to insult and embarrass citizens of Free Country USA? Check, check, check. Here's looking forward to later episodes!

Well, another game I beat was Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games. Again! Just kidding. This time I beat the DS one. It's still fun, but it's not quite as fun as the Wii version. The Wii one seems more accurate, probably because you actually swing your arms to swim and run. It does have some cool events, though. Like cycling. And ping-pong. But if you do play this game, make for dang sure you have a screen protector. And use a good stylus. This game's a screen breaker.

Next on the itinerary is Sonic Gems Collection. It's a compilation of some old Game Gear Sonic games, plus a couple of extras thrown in for good measure. I used to own most of the games for the Game Gear back in the day, so this was a good dose of nostalgia for me. Some of the ones I hadn't played are pretty hard, but the game does let you save and load at any point, so that's nice.

This year, something awesome happened. I managed to get my paws on a Virtual Boy, Nintendo's highly underrated, but very, very fun gaming device. You put your head up the visor and everything looks 3D. It's all very cool. I also got a bunch of games with it. The first one that I beat was Galactic Pinball. It is, in my humble yet correct opinion, the best pinball video game ever, and the best game for the Virtual Boy. Enough said. The next game is Mario's Tennis. It's a fun little tennis game, and you can play as Toad! Yay! It does lack multiplayer, and it does get old after a while, but it's cool.

VB game #3 is nester's Funky Bowling. It looks pretty cool, but I've played better bowling games on my phone. Seriously. But, you can take turns in multiplayer. That's pretty cool. Anyways, next we have Panic Bomber, a puzzle game starring Bomberman. This is one of the more fun VB games, plus it looks extra cool. It's kind of like Wario's Woods, for those familiar.

So, getting to the bottom of the VB games… Virtual League Baseball and T&E Golf. Both cool-looking sports games. And both of them too hard. Virtual League Baseball looks amazing. But the computer obviously spends all its time playing in its mom's basement, cause it's too good to beat. And T&E Golf requires about 10 button presses each time you swing. Yeah… that can get annoying. In any case, the last VB game is Vertical Force, a space shooter that looks really cool, but can get old after a while. But I don't feel bad that these games aren't that fun. They were cheap and they're in 3D! Isn't that all games needs nowadays anyways?

Well, there were a couple of GBA games in the latter part of this quarter. The first was Jazz Jackrabbit. The original Jazz games for DOS were tons of fun. They were a lot like Sonic games, but you had guns. Double win. This GBA version is quite a bit different, but it's still fun. It's like if someone asks you if you like to eat at Wendy's and at Dairy Queen. Of course you say both! The other GBA game is Worms World Party. Obviously, it can't compare to the PC version. But still, they did a decent job of getting classic worms gameplay onto the tiny, but doable GBA hardware. I enjoyed it.

Ok, so finishing up here, we have Mario Super Sluggers. It takes the awesome gameplay of the GCN version and adds pretty good motion controls. And, it's not too terribly hard. It's way over-the-top, too, which makes it really fun. I would highly recommend it.

Then, to finish up, we have Kirby Super Star Ultra. It's like the original, only better. Basically, it's a mix of some short versions of Kirby games all rolled into one. Plus, if a friend has the game you can play at the same time. How cool is that? Additionally, it has some of the classic mini-games built in. I submit that this game is coolness!

Ok, so there you go! Only a few more to go and my documentation of my goal has been completed. Feel free to leave comments or compliments. Also feel free to send Wii points or gift certificates. Or candy. Candy is good, too.

-benjamines

Currently Playing: Trauma Center New Blood, Wario Land Shake It!, Line Rider 2 Unbound

Fall Cleaning!

Most people have Spring Cleaning. I have Fall Cleaning! I'm gonna review three Virtual Boy games at the same time! Ready, go!

The game I can remember best from the Virtual Boy's short lifespan is Galactic Pinball. You may think that this is no better than any other pinball game, but you would be wrong. It takes advantage of all the great features the Virtual Boy has to offer.

Instead of a ball, you actually hit a puck. As it comes closer to the flippers, it seems to actually come closer to you. There are also special modes that the game has to offer, such as protecting the spaceship from asteroids, which come flying at the screen as you shoot them down.

Essentially, the game employs several minigames that would simply be impossible to recreate on an actual pinball table. Plus, (and this is a big one), the game is actually fun! It may not be the best pinball game ever, but it's dang near the top.

This game has earned a Blatantly Biased:






Those who remember the good ol' days of Nintendo Power magazine will remember an exclusive comic featuring Nester, the clumsy but adorable Nintendo fanboy. The Virtual Boy gave him an unforeseen opportunity: to star in his own game!

Nester's Funky Bowling is like many other video game bowling games. An arrow moves back and forth across the lane, and you stop it at the right time to throw at the pins. Then you stop the power meter at the right time to allow you to hit as many pins as possible.

The game offers nothing that any other bowling game has, with the exception of funky ol' Nester. But, it does have something no other Virtual Boy game has... multiplayer! You take turns! Crazy!

This game has earned a Blatantly Biased:






One type of game that has been around for long time, and will likely continue to exist are space shooters. The screen scrolls at a constant rate and you shoot the crap out of everything in your way. But, not all space shooters are created equal.

Vertical Force uses some of the Virtual Boy's cool features in gameplay. The most noticeable is that you can not only move from left to right and front to back, you can move towards and away from the screen. Essentially, it gives depth to a depth-less style of game.

This feature can come in handy when there are tons of enemies flying all over. You can escape death by moving away from the action. Or, you could shoot stuff and get points. Who does that?

In any case, the game plays well and is actually quite fun. I can't say that it's the best shooter ever, but I can definitely say it's the best one available for the Virtual Boy.

This game has earned a Blatantly Biased:

Wario Goes Guff! Guff!

I know you're all starving for another award-winning* installment of BB's very own GFGF Awards. Well, too bad.

Just kidding. Since the brand-new WarioLand Shake It! is coming out soon for the Wii, now seems appropriate to give out a GFGF Award (Greatest Freakin' Game in the Franchise) to the Warioland series.

The first Wario Land game was for the original Game Boy and it was actually called Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3. I don't know why Mario was in the title, cause he wasn't really in the game, except for the very end when he came and stole your treasure. In any case, the original Wario Land was a fantastic game. It wasn't too hard, it wasn't too easy. There was plenty of treasure to find, and plenty of enemies to keep you from it. It changed up Mario's classic run-and-jump platforming a little by making Wario slower (have you seen his legs?), but also much stronger. Plus, if you manage to find some items along the way, you can increase that power. Some items, such as Garlic, make you stronger and faster. Plus you get to wear a sweet Viking Helmet. Other items, such as the Dragon Hat, let you breathe fire and burn things. You can't get much better than that.

Wario and Mario are two very different people. Mario is in it for everyone. He's always saving the Princess or fixing drain clogs. Wario is in it for himself. He's always trying to get more and more treasure. Not that that's a bad thing, because come on, he's Wario. Besides, that's where half the fun in the Wario Land games is. You go through it once to beat all the levels, but then you go back to find all the treasure. The replay value for these games is actually quite high.

In any case, the next Wario Land game came just a year later, and it launched with the Virtual Boy. Many consider it to be the VB's greatest game. I'm not sure I agree, but it's certainly in the top 14. Either way, the game is a lot of fun. It took the same great Wario Land platforming action, and added 3-D elements, such as being able to jump from background to foreground.

Then, in 1998, the game went back to it's Game Boy roots with the cleverly titled Wario Land II. This one added a new twist by making Wario invincible. Now you may be saying, "That's stupid! What's the point of a platformer if you can't die?!" First of all, there are lots of platformers where you can't die.** Secondly, the game was not made any easier by lack of death. For example, there are levels where you must climb around on nets. These nets are ridden with pointy bugs that will knock you off if you touch them. Basically, you're going to be going across those nets more than a few times. Trust me, the invincibility is for the best.

Wario Land II was also interesting in that there were multiple endings in the game, depending on which treasures you found. This gave the game even more replay value than before, letting you go back and find all the treasures, and in turn, all the endings.

But, like many TV shows and game franchises, Wario didn't hit his stride until his 4th installment. That's right, Wario Land 3. Released in 2000, it was everything Wario Land needed to be, plus more. It gave you everything from the previous games, plus a freakin' sweet golf mini-game and some of the coolest music since Mario Bros. 2.

Each level in Wario Land 3 has 4 treasures to collect. But you can't get them all in one shot. Certain conditions need to take place first. For example, one of the treasures in a level might be a light, which turns on the lighthouse, which lets you go to the level near the ocean. So some levels need to be completed before others can be played.

The level designs in WL3 are fantastic. Plus, the powers you can get accomodate a lot of strategy. Some levels have thin floors, which you can only pass through if you are a zombie. To recover from being a zombie, you need to get into the sunlight. Some areas can only be accessed by breaking through the floor, which can only be done by eating a donut and gaining a disgusting amount of weight. Don't worry. Wario has a lightning fast metabolism, letting him simply walk the fat off. These elements make for a great game all around.

Now, don't get me wrong. I think all the Wario Land games are fun. But it is clear that some are better than others. The GameCube Wario World was a fantastic piece of fun, whereas the DS Wario: Master of Disguise was good but not great. Either way, Wario Land 3 sits cleanly atop the pedestal of Wario branded adventures. Therefore, Blatant Bias proudly bestows its highest honor to Wario Land 3 for the Game Boy Color. Congraturations!


Agree? Unagree? Let us know in the comments!

-benjamines

* Yeah, right.
** But I can't think of any.

Still Waiting For: Looney Tunes B-Ball (SNES)

Welcome Back!

Sorry about the delay, Biased Fans! But fear not! I am returned!

This past week has been absolutely crazy! The new semester started, so there have been about a billion students coming in and needing help getting their wireless configuration working. But now that I'm not working 40 hours (cause I'm in school), I should have time to sneak in my blogs while the teachers blather on.

Well, he last week has been fun. Wario Land for Virtual Boy showed up, so I had a good time playing that one. Wario Land is amazing. In fact, there's a fantastic new one that comes out on the 22nd for the Wii. It's even hand-drawn for some amazing 2-d fun!

But despite all the great games I've been playing, there will always be crappy ones. Case in point, a week or two ago, I had the privilege (read: misfortune) of playing the epically terrible ET for Atari 2600. All I have to say is wow. Total. Crapfest. But as bad as it was, I have played worse games. So here are some crappy games that I own.

Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (NES): Doesn't he look delicious? This was the second game that I ever had for my very own. I believe it was a birthday present. I even picked it myself, cause it sounded cool. And while the first few minutes were ok, it never got much more playing time than that. It's not that it's stupid, it's just that it's hard. I mean, there are old men who leave bombs in random places. There are dogs who chase cats and both of them hurt you as they run by. And don't forget the birds who fly by and drop cinnamon-roll sized turds on you. But you have a weapon. A cane. And you can use it on one thing. A bee. And that's all. This game sucks.



The Ignition Factor (SNES): One time, I was playing someone's SNES and they had this great game called The Firemen. At the time, I couldn't remember what it was called. So when I saw a fire-fighting game at CD World, I bought it, hoping it was the right one. Alas, it was the McDonald's to The Firemen's Wendy's. While the concept is cool, the game itself is simply retarded. I'm gonna be honest... I had way more fun letting everyone burn to death than fo through the tedium of saving their annoying hineys.




Resident Evil 2 (Game.com): Tiger's Game.com was a semi-decent attempt at a game boy. The commercial showed Duke Nukem talking! And he does! But that's about as far as the system capabilities take it. Resident Evil 2 takes everything that's great about the franchise... and throws it in the toilet. Take, for example, the screenshot at left. Frightening. The first level involves you wrestling away several zombies who cling to your head and make the same stupid sound effect until you're dead. I think you actually die from deafness before they manage to sonar their way into your brain. Stupid zombies.


Fighter's Megamix (Game.com): I could put just about any Game.com game on here and it would fit. They mostly all sucked. Fighter's Megamix is one of those games that sucks so hard, it could put a hickey in a chrome bumper. You can play as characters from various Sega fighting games, plus the addition of characters from non-fighting Sega games. Like the car from Virtua Cop. No, I'm serious. You play as a dang car. And don't bother trying to figure out what's going on. With a staggering 2 frames of animation for every character, you better take a break every 2 or 3 minutes to keep the screen from getting burned in. Oh, did I mention the game sucks?


Bill Laimbeer's Combat Basketball (SNES): Ok, so I don't actually own this game, but I just had to put in on here, because in my opinion, it's the worst game ever made. The cream of the crap, if you will. With the success of NBA Jam, other companies started trying to make basketball even more extreme. Then some idiot with a .20 blood alcohol level suggested robots. Come on, seriously? But they weren't just robots. They were people in robot suits. Wow. The cleverness (or lack thereof) is simply astounding. I think that's where the creative process ended. Because the game plays from an over head view. See, that can work, in a game like Gauntlet. But basketball? Really? Oh, and because everyone has a robot suit, don't bother trying to actually, you know, run. Expect to score no more than 4 points per quarter.

Well, there you go friends. Avoid these games at all costs. Or even better, buy them and show your friends so they can further cement in their mind your status as a total nerd.

Have a crappy game? Let us know in the comments!

-benjamines

Currently Wanting to Play: Looney Tunes B-Ball, Smash Bros. Brawl, Mario Super Sluggers

Rarer than a straight Yoshi

Well, I may have been the lucky purchaser of a quite rare piece of video game goodness yesterday. I'm not going to say what it is yet, because I still have no idea if the person will actually send it. You see, there have been times when I bought a hard-to-find game and the seller, for whatever reason, decided not to/refused to sell it. Which is simply ludicrous. If it's on eBay for people to bid on, why would you not sell it. I'm sure such people will burn in hell.

In any case, I believe the items will arrive early next week, so expect me to get all giggly like a school girl when it happens. You shan't be disappointed.

With that in mind, today I'd like to share with you some of the rarest of Nintendo games. Behold!

#5 - Pikmin 1 & 2: These insanely popular games were developed late in the Gamecube's life cycle, and many people did not get a chance to enjoy them (myself included). When Smash Bros. Brawl came out this March, Captain Olimar (the main character in Pikmin), was included as a playable character. Many of the trophies described how the game worked. This caused people to want the game, so the prices skyrocketed. While the prices have gone down some since then, they are rare to find outside of internet auction sites. I was extremely lucky to find one 'in the wild.'

#4 - Dance Dance Revolution Mario Mix: This one has a rather strange history. Nintendo only produced a few hundred thousand copies at first. Then they discovered a problem with the dance pad, so they stopped making them. Then, when the public clamored for more, they reprinted more copies, but it was never enough to satiate demand. And, not only is the game hard to get a hold of, it's fun to play, making it that much more difficult to get. Typically, copies of the game go for at least $50 on eBay, without a dance pad. I was able to get a pretty good deal on mine, but it was still more than the original price.

#3 - Megaman X3: - The third entry in the difficult but fun Megaman X series was going for around $70 or more on eBay five years ago, so who knows where it's at now. This is likely another example of an under-produced, over-popular SNES game. Other include Chrono Trigger, Earthbound, and Kirby's Dreamland 3.

#2 - Jack Bros. (and other Virtual Boy games): Ah, Nintendo's short-lived, but crazy-fun 3-D system. It has two screens and you put your face right up to it. Each eye looks at a different screen, giving the illusion of 3-D. But don't be mistaken: despite poor reception, the thing was a stinkin' blast to play. There were speakers near each ear for good surround sound, and the thing was portable (if you had some way to strap it to your head). There were only 14 games, many of which are nearly impossible to get anymore. Mario Clash is one of more hard-to-find ones.

#1 - Nintendo World Championships: - This is easily the most difficult (and expensive) Nintendo game to find. The Nintendo World Championships were a series of contests in the early 90s. Major cities would hold tournaments using a specially-made cartridge with timed versions of Super Mario Bros., Rad Racer, and Tetris. The further you got on each game, the more points you would earn. The winner of each city tournament was given a standard gray-colored copy of the game. Those people would go to the National Tournament to compete for $10,000 and a new car. These gray cartridges now sell for about $6,000 each. But that's not the end of it. Nintendo Power held a special contest where they gave away 26 copies of a gold-colored cartridge. These are considered the Holy Grail of video game collecting. Only 12 of the 26 have ever surfaced. It is extremely unlikely that you will ever see one, let alone be able to afford it. But if you can, I congratulate you, young Nintendo Freak.

So there ya go. Rare games. I have some of those games (and with any luck, I shall have more soon). Have any good rare games? Let us know about them in the comments.

-benjamines

Currently Awaiting: something awesome