CGCC Swap Meet Pick-ups (A little overdue)

So I'm finally off school for a few weeks, so I took a some time to put together what I bought at the CGCC Swap Meet in Cambridge back in November. So yeah, this is a little overdue, but better late than never I guess...?

This is everything from CGCC. I never thought I'd own Mario Paint; but it had the mouse and was at a very good price. The game itself is extremely common, but worthless if it doesn't include the mouse needed. If you've never played Mario Paint, it's pretty much MS Paint downsized onto SNES with a Mario theme to it. Kirby's Pinball Land isn't bad. Ranger X is a good mech shoot 'em up, with a high learning curve but boasting incredible graphics and special effects. Fun fact: Croc was originally pitched to Nintendo as a 3-d platformer starring Yoshi, but Nintendo turned down the idea and Argonaut released the game on Playstation instead. You can even see some resemblance between the Croc and Yoshi characters. Jokes on Nintendo, the game went on to sell a couple million copies and earn a sequel. Overall not bad, but I was a bit underwhelmed at the swap, not really a lot of stuff that genuinely interested me.

The day before the swap meet, I went to Milton to drop by Toyratt, a well-known video game dealer in the GTA. Tons of stuff there, definitely check it out if you're in the area. I mostly went there just to browse, see what they have, but something caught my eye: a complete copy of Metroid II on Game Boy. This is in fact, the only Metroid game I don't have complete in box, so of course I'm all over it. The owner of the store let me have it for $60, which in retail is an incredible deal when you consider it goes for around $100. I'm proud to say that I now have a complete Metroid collection!!! It pays off to get to know the employees and strike up conversations. Deals can be had, even in retail environments.

After the swap on Sunday (November 15) I figured I had time to check out a flea market, with a vendor I know who has given me deals in the past. He also sells tons of boxes and manuals for older games, as he bought up a lot of video store stock from when they were being liquidated. Here, I picked up the Sonic and Knuckles box and manual, and the Streets of Rage box. I already have both those games so it's nice to have the boxes for them. I also picked up the Ninja Turtles Hyperstone Heist box, though I didn't even have the game. I figured if I buy the box for $10 and find the cart for a reasonable price, I've landed a sweet deal. So in each of the boxes cost me $10 each, I'm fine with that.

A few days after that weekend, I had remembered something. Back on the Saturday, Toyratt had a copy of Hyperstone Heist, loose. I wondered if they still had it. I called them first, asking if they had the game, in case it saves me the hassle of driving up there and realizing they already sold it. So I drove up there after school and the owner even put it on hold for me, how nice. The game kicks ass, it's become one of my favourites on the Genesis; good gameplay, good graphics, great music, and it's 2-player simultaneous! While I was there, I decided to pick something else, an item that had caught my eye but I wasn't losing sleep over. That would be a complete F-Zero on SNES, a game that I've actually never played. And after playing it, it's become one of my favourites on Super Nintendo.

And one last cool find. I had a job interview on Black Friday morning, and afterwards I was in the area and dropped by the Value Village. As I walked to the showcase display, a clerk had just locked up something, a small purple box. I look in and see this: a complete copy of Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages on GB Color.... for $9.99. From that point that was an easy decision to make. At this time, I was incredibly lucky. I happened to walk in to the store just as this was being put on the shelf. I was at the right place at the right time. The condition on this thing is amazing: the box has some dings, but the manual is crisp, and upon cracking it open it was very fresh and felt like it had never been used. The cart is also mint: upon first booting it up, there was only a single save file on there, with no progress made whatsoever. No rupees, no items, no equipment, no weapons, nothing. The file would actually start from the very beginning of the game. So I'm going to believe that this had literally been played once, and then stored away to be forgotten about. I even started my own save file, and the battery still works fine, which is another plus. On average, a complete copy like this is worth around $60. Like I said, this is an example of when I was at the right place at the right time. 

Later days.

Busy busy busy

Sorry about any lack of content lately, I've been really busy with school work, assignments and exams the last few weeks. I'll have something new up after this is all done, by the end of next week. At least I'll try to.

Later days.

Vanark (Playstation) Review

North American cover art

For my first review, I've decided to pick a little known, obscure game, called Vanark. Whether you're a collector or just enjoy playing retro games, there's a very good chance that you've never heard of this one, and it's part of a sub-genre that is quite few and far between when it comes to the amount of games available. Enjoy.

Vanark is an on-rails shooter developed by Bit Town Inc. and originally published in Japan by Asmik Ace Entertainment in 1999 for the Playstation, where it was titled Astro Trooper Vanark. Later on it was released by Jaleco to North America in 2000, as Vanark. Even with the slight name change, it still says "Astro Trooper" at the title screen. It plays similar in fashion to other rail shooters like Sega's Space Harrier and Nintendo's own Starfox series. To start, I would go as far to say it's the Playstation's equivalent of Starfox 64 (which, by the way, is one of my all time favourite games). But this isn't a bad thing at all. It may come off as a late release budget title, (which in some respects it is) but it gives a quick, fantastic shooting experience. You play as aspiring pilot named Shun as he and his crew members must protect Mars against a rising biological alien army, a pretty cliche story, but in this tale the plot takes backseat. 

As in any traditional space shooter, you control a spaceship that can move in all directions on the screen, as you shoot up enemies and dodge any environmental objects. Your ship can equip 2 different weapons, a simple laser shot and a selection of missiles, which are able to lock-on to a certain amount of enemies, depending on how many upgrades you've gained. Both of these are selected before beginning a mission. Also, you choose a different crew member before each stage, each can help you out during battle, such as giving you weak points during boss fights or show you alternate routes to take during levels. The ship can slow down, and boost to speed up, like Starfox, however barrel roll maneuvers can't be performed (Peppy would be so sad). The game begins with a quick training stage, however the mechanics don't require much learning, it's basic and easy to pick up. The controls are silky smooth and there's never an issue maneuvering throughout a stage. 

SPOILER ALERT: First mini-boss.

Let's get to the gameplay, this is where Vanark truly shines. It is fast paced, loaded with enemies and there is always something to keep you on your toes. A lot of the boss fights are intense, and each is unique with their own attacks and patterns, which are fun to learn. The level designs are nothing that special; your typical water, lava, space, and desert themes, but I can let that pass, regardless they all look great, and I don't mind seeing this in shooters - in fact, this is something I almost expect. Some of the levels do have different paths to take as mentioned earlier, so that can add a bit of replay value. The challenge is a little high but never too frustrating, it's just right. There are no health pick-ups in game, and three difficulty levels to choose from. You're given 5 continues and then it's game over.

Graphically, the game looks amazing for a late, low-profile release on the aging Playstation. Bit Town knew what they were doing when developing this and certainly knew their way around the system's architecture to produce great aesthetics. The textures look good, with little amounts of noticeable pixels and jagged lines, a trait the PS1 is notorious for. The game runs at a very smooth frame rate without any slowdown or hiccups to add on. The lighting effects are also well done and add a great touch, especially in stage 2 where you are transitioned underwater and sunlight shines through the water surface down to the ocean floor. It adds a great sense of realism to these alien worlds as you destroy everything in your path. All of the enemies and environments look great, with each stage having it's own sort of theme.

The audio is decent for the most part. The music is fast and upbeat. It's nothing very memorable, but it gets the job done. The sound effects are solid. Lasers, explosions, and crashes are loud and intense. It's always satisfying to hear a huge explosion after destroying a tough enemy. However, an annoying sound plays whenever your laser hits a target, it's like a weird metallic-y pipe sound. Another noise, what sounds like a loud humming noise, plays whenever your laser hits anything that isn't a target, such as the environment. After a while these sounds only get slightly annoying, but that's really my only complaint with any of the audio.

Vanark plays as good as it looks.

One thing that should be noted about this game is what happens in between flying stages. After completing a stage, you are brought back to your crew's mothership for briefings, watch some story scenes, and even explore the ship. This is done in a Resident Evil fashion, by controlling polygon characters in front of pre-rendered backgrounds. It's pretty bizarre to see this in a shooter game. Hell, you could see this style used in almost any other genre but shooters. These sections do ruin the pacing of the game, because after sifting through dialog you're left to wander the ship, where you will walk around in frustration just trying to advance to the next stage. Luckily the ship isn't very big so you shouldn't get lost easily. The pre-rendered backgrounds look good, with nice touches in the lighting and details. The characters themselves look kind of bad, especially when compared to the flight stages. They don't have much detail, and are rendered with a low polygon count, additionally Shun's movements seem stiff and kind of jerky. There's even a minigame to play, where you have to disable a bomb on board the ship, by guiding a very small dot through a maze. And trust me, this is much, much more difficult than it sounds. If the dot touches any of the walls, the bomb goes off and it blows up your ship and you lose! Actually, it just takes away all weapon upgrades you had gained up to that point. The dialog between characters is kind of boring and uninteresting, however it does have some bad Engrish sprinkled throughout. The text translation overall comes off as poor. Just be glad there's no voice acting, because that probably would have turned out just as choppy as the text translation.

Earthworms become mutated in the future. Wait, would
they be earthworms if they're not on Earth?

Unfortunately, Vanark doesn't stay it's welcome for very long. There is only 6 stages, and the game can be completed in under an hour, with little reason to go back. However there is some variety; such as the choice of weapons, your crew is customizable, as well as branching paths during levels, so those can add some replay value. You even pilot a speeder-bike vehicle in stage 3 for a change-up. The Resident Evil style segments should have been scrapped entirely as all they do is slow down the pace of the game, and feel like they were added in at the last minute to artificially increase the length of the game. It would have been better to add another flying stage or two instead.

To sum it up, Vanark is very decent. It excels in delivering an action-packed shooter while pleasing to the eye. I think if it was a little bit longer I would like it much more. It's the perfect game to pull down from the shelf and play once in a while. However due to it's late release on the system, (Playstation 2 was just around the corner by the time this released), as well as low sales, it quickly faded into obscurity but should be remembered as an interesting take on the shooter genre. It's very, very uncommon and I would even say it's rare, considering copies of the game almost never show up in ebay auctions; a huge indicator of a truly rare game. (As of this review, the most recent ebay auctions for a complete copy have ended at over $80 CAD) So if you see this for cheap, go for it. You'll get to enjoy one of the finest hidden gems the Playstation has to offer.

Later days.

CGCC Game Swap this Sunday November 15

So this is happening November 15 and I plan on going. It's taking place in Cambridge and it's open 1-4pm. I'll be bringing a lot of stuff to trade so hopefully I can use that without spending a lot of cash. Never been to this swap before so it should be a good time. 

Some of my favourite games.

A quick, simple post I thought I'd do. Just showing some of my favourite games for each respective system. Are any of these games your favourites?

Later days.

Welcome to Declaritive's blog

Hello there, my name is Mike Decleir (aka declaritive) and welcome to my blog that I have made. I'm your average Canadian twenty-something working his way through college to go into architecture, and in my spare time one of my favourite things to is play modern and (mostly) retro video games. I love to both play and collect video games ranging from Nintendo, Sega, Playstation, Xbox, PC and even Atari as I've been recently delving into that. I've been a gamer since I was only 7 when I received a Game Boy Advance for my birthday. Still have it to this day. I love collecting games and seeing my collection grow, trying out new games on other systems or catching up on other games I missed out on is a great way for me build a collection. However, I identify as a gamer first, and a collector second. I don't go for complete sets, such as building a full NES collection or the like, it's not my style, I'd rather own a handful of really great games instead of owning hundreds of potential crap. Though, I will admit, I have considered going for a full set of Playstation 1 games, but I made a choice for the better as there's only about 1400 more games I would need to reach that feat.

Now, you're probably wondering, what do I plan to do with this blog? Well for one, I plan on doing written reviews and articles of video games that have got less attention. The whole "youtube gamer" or "angry reviewer" persona has become extremely cliche in this day and age, but I would like to just do in-depth articles, and I hope to improve my writing and critique, which may not be the greatest when starting, but it's something I really want to work on. All constructive criticism is welcome, this is the internet, right? As far as games and subjects go, I plan to discuss lesser known, more obscures games that get less coverage, not the typical, "Durr hey guys today I'm going to be reviewing this underrated hidden gem called 'Legend of Zelda'. Anyone ever heard of this nostalgic gem?!" At this point in time on the internet I think it's better to discuss more overlooked games instead of games that have been talked to death already. In fact, I already have in mind some Playstation 1 titles that I plan to talk about, and their ones that don't seem to get much attention. I plan to post a review or two in the near future. 

Now let's look at the collecting side. I haven't actually done a total tally of games I own, but I'm going to say I own about 400 games spanning over a dozen different consoles and handhelds. Like I said, rough estimate. At the moment, I really like collecting for Genesis, Playstation 1, 2, and 3, Gameboy, and even some Nintendo stuff in there. Over the past year I've slowly moved away from NES, SNES, and N64 for two big reasons:

1: Ever since retro games took off in popularity around the early 2010's (I'd say 2012 is when it really hit) retro games have been at all time high prices on the second market. The most popular it's ever been. Of all this, Nintendo has increased the most. It's no surprise, though. It's arguably the most nostalgic type of classic thrill for millions of gamers, and whenever you think of retro video games, Nintendo is almost always the first brand to come to mind. Because of this, prices have skyrocketed. Furthermore, I have mostly got away from Nintendo collecting, as one great piece of advice for collecting I like to remember is, "when everyone goes right, go left." Essentially, as hipster-ish this may sound, when something else is really popular and pricey, go for something else that not many people are paying attention to. It's going to be cheaper and possibly easier to find. This is why I've moved to stuff like Genesis and Playstation. Sure, they're already rising in value (especially Genesis, Playstation's starting to) but compared to Nintendo there's many affordable titles for the systems. Also because of this, I've already acquired some of the more rare/sought after games for the systems, like El Viento, Grind Stormer, and Mega Turrican on Genesis, and Einhander, Mega Man Legends 2, and Tomba for the PS1 as examples. It's gotten to the point with Nintendo that people on Kijiji (good place to find games, not always) hoard dozens of copies of popular games for all systems. Every Zelda. Every freaking Mario Kart. I live in the Burlington area of Ontario and I would say our neighbour Hamilton is the worst for this. Sure, you can say, "it's capitalism" or "it's a free market". Those are both valid and I can't deny it, but when it gets to a point that people are hoarding tons of copies and asking insane amounts of money is when it's going too far.  Basically, Nintendo stuff in general is getting ridiculously expensive and I've moved to other systems. 

2. I have mostly every game I want for NES, SNES, and N64. I can safely say I'm done with N64. Unless I can find a complete copy of Quake, for like, $10. There's still a couple of NES and SNES games that I'm after, such as Link to the Past (which I used to own, but traded for a SSB Brawl, yeah I know not a great move) or Metal Storm on NES (pricey game, cart only goes for ~$100). And even then those are games that I could live without. If I had an oppurtunity to trade them or buy them for a good deal, maybe, but I'm fine without them. I don't even own anything exceedingly rare or valuable, maybe my Metroid Yellow Label cart, or my complete copy of Super Metroid, (I don't think I've mentioned yet how much I like Metroid) but that's about it. 

...Wow. That was long. Okay then. To add more, I'd like to upload pictures of my collection to show what it looks like. I've finally organized most of it and looks great. I look forward to having an output to just share this somewhere. I'll also probably do pick-ups or cool finds, I know, a little cliche, but I'll mostly share games or systems that I find in thrift stores, pawn shops or Kijiji deals. I'm not going to share every game I buy, but mostly interesting ones or the ones that have an interesting story to their finds. I'm also going to give any opinions on gaming/collecting news, as well as some of my own collecting tips, for any of you aspiring collectors and gamers. I hope to try and have something new up once a week. A little slow perhaps, but I think it's a reasonable goal to start off with.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading this, and stay tuned. There's more on the horizon. Later days.