Sunday, March 27, 2011

Spring Break & Video Game Treasures!

The beach...where we didn't spend Spring Break!
     Three weeks ago my wife and I, along with our son, flew to Louisiana to visit family over my Spring Break from college.  Our original flight was canceled due to mechanical issues, so we left a day late, on March 3.
     While we were down, we visited both my family and Mrs. Coffee's family, over a period of 5 days.  The weekend we were there, we stayed with my wife's family.  Her older brother owns a PS3 and had been enjoying Call of Duty: Black Ops, and he ended up going to his house Friday night, and bringing the PS3 and Black Ops over.
     While my wife fell asleep on the couch early(11-ish probably) Friday night, I stayed up until about 3AM with her two brothers, playing Black Ops online.  We would take turns, and play one round each, then pass the controller off.
     We played Black Ops Saturday during the day some, and then late Saturday night as well, until about 3AM again.  Earlier Saturday evening, Mrs. Coffee's older brother went and purchased another PS3 controller, so we could play splitscreen online multi-player, and we had a lot of fun doing it.
     The reason this post has been delayed for 2 weeks is because I was trying to get a video from one of the multi-player matches that was played in Black Ops over that weekend, but I haven't had any luck getting it with Call of Duty's Theater Mode.

     So, after spending time with Mrs. Coffee's family, and playing Black Ops on Friday, Saturday, and little Sunday afternoon, we headed back to my parents' house.
     I think it was Monday night, the night before we were leaving, that my brother came into the living room holding a shoe box.  The shoe box was treasure chest of video games that had been sitting in my closest for probably the last 10 years!
     "What video game treasures were in the shoe box?"  I'm glad you asked!  Take a look:

     If you can't read the games, and don't know them by the game cases, they are:
  • Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES)
  • Donkey Kong Country (SNES)
  • Madden NFL '94 (SNES)
  • Star Fox (SNES)
  • Super Mario World (SNES)
  • Street Fighter II Turbo (SNES)

     "What'd you do with those video game treasures?"  Glad you asked, again!  Like any good pirate(or bad pirate?), I stuffed them in my carry-on, and they made the return trip with us.  The only problem now, is finding a NES and SNES to play them with, as our systems are AWOL for the moment.

     Now, not only did I acquire the treasure chest of games while we were down, but a good friend came to visit us while we were at my parents' house, and he brought two PS3 games for me to have...they are:

     Madden NFL 09 and Far Cry 2, both for the PS3.

     We enjoyed the trip visiting family and friends, minus the canceled flight cutting a day out of it, and I really didn't think I would be returning with eight video games, but I guess they'll help me with more stories on the site perhaps!

     Have any of you ever re-discovered video games, that had just been sitting in a box, perhaps for years, like I did over my Spring Break?

8 comments:

  1. Haha, what a find! Especially DKC - I remember playing that game for the first time as a youngster - still remember being so wowwed by how awesome it looked...

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  2. Excellent set of finds, hopefully that helps make up for the delayed start to the trip. That's never any fun. I've maybe had a game or two turn up here or there over the years, but I've generally kept all of my systems and games 'at hand'. I'm pretty good at cleaning up and fixing smaller issues, and generally replace broken systems over time, so I've never really had much cause to stow away a half dozen games or so, though. Glad you guys had a good time overall!

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  3. Man, finds like this are what makes life worth living! I have a box in the top of my closet that has variety of treasures, including:

    - Chrono Trigger (SNES)
    - Secret of Evermore (SNES)
    - Super Mario World (SNES)
    - Two (2) copies of Secret of Mana (SNES)
    - Two (2) copies of Final Fantasy III (SNES)
    - Earthbound (SNES) WITH ORIGINAL PLAYERS GUIDE, a crown jewel of my collection
    - Double Dribble (NES)
    - Tecmo Bowl (NES)
    - A working, though battle-worn, Nintendo Entertainment System
    - Two peripherals from the SNES days who shall remain unnamed because they be the stars of an article I am working on... *mystery*

    It is quite the treasure trove, as far as I'm concerned.

    You lucked out, my friend. Enjoy those games! Perhaps some "Ten to Twenty Years Later"-type impressions are in order?

    -BitNick

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  4. Out of @coffee's list we had 5 of those games (Only Madden we no longer have, though I have no doubt I played it in the past - I've skipped 3 or 4 years of madden since its release is all).

    @BitNick - That's a nice list. We have a few of those (no duplicates), though the players guide for Earthbound is sweet. Of those, Chrono Trigger is probably my favorite. I played through that one and immediately played it again when I first beat it. I have some very fond memories of that game in particular. :)

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  5. found my old snes recently, including a copy of Super Metroid and R-Type III :0

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  6. Vacation, gaming AND free games to boot? That's what I'm talking about.

    Those are some classic gems and hopefully you can recover your SNES at some point. I've been enjoying smb3 and super Mario World on VC lately even though I'm pretty bad at them.

    As for classic games, I've been re-discovering the memories of them over the past few months with a co-worker. It's been an interesting journey with what I've remembered and forgotten about. It's also been interesting to run into classics that I never had a chance to play back then like Zelda III.

    After refreshing my memory about Dungeon Explorer ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5vH6_Ewx7Y ), a favorite from 20+ years ago, I've been on the hunt for my old TurboGrafx-16 and NES, but unfortunately they are both AWOL. (permanently I suspect) Virtual Console will have to do for now...

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  7. Gotta love DKC and Star Fox!!!

    I got 101% on DKC and could beat Star Fox on regular missions with one life.

    nicodemusatnite.com

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  8. great find! i occasionally find some great deals on older games at pawnshops, thrift stores and yard sales.. we usually don't keep them though. there is a few places in town that give great trade in on them.. so we usually get some newer stuff with it. glad you had fun and found some great games!

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