I’ve finally had some time to clean up that filthy, filthy game lot I mentioned in my previous post. Some folks have asked for a before photo of some of the stuff we bought, but unfortunately I’m really bad for taking those. There’s no particular reason why, but those pictures just never seem to get taken!
As you already know, we picked up a Sega Master System. The console was in excellent shape. So excellent in fact, its protective sticker film on the console branding (similar to what you get on new monitors or other screened devices) was still intact! It was only when we started scrubbing the outer shell in the sink that we noticed it starting to come up, so that part of the console is practically brand new! Along with the console, we got two controllers and the light gun, as well as three games: Altered Beast, Enduro Racer, and Action Fighter. I have never played any of these games, but I did watch some videos on Enduro Racer and Action Fighter. To me, Enduro Racer is somewhere between Excite Bike (NES) and Super Hang On (Genesis), while Action Fighter is an interesting adaptation of the gameplay from Spy Hunter (NES). All my boyfriend keeps saying to me whenever I ask him about Altered Beast is, “Rise from your graaaaave…” in a spooky voice, but I don’t know anything else about it at this point.
Below is a photo of our SMS spoils. Altered Beast was the only game that came with its manual, and unfortunately due to the fact that it’s one of the manuals that’s just paper with no glossy cover, it still feels grungy despite my best efforts to clean it up.
The second part of the game lot was an NES with some games. This console was also disgusting, so we threw the non-electronic components into the dishwasher for a pre-scrubbing. The NES with all its grooves and crevices is exceptionally hard to clean, and a good run in the dishwasher got rid of much of the dust and grime without me having to set off my allergies for no good reason. If an NES did come with dishwasher instructions, they’d likely be “top rack only”.
After the cleansing and reassembly, my boyfriend tested everything out to find it in working condition. The console came with two controllers, a light gun and five games: Super Mario Bros/Duck Hunt, Super Mario Bros. 3, R.C. Pro-Am, Tetris and Dr. Mario. Believe it or not, I’m walking on air, I never thought I could feel so free… there’s actually a game here that I don’t own yet, and that’s Tetris! I’ve got it for the Game Boy, but despite having a fairly expansive NES collection by this point, I don’t own the NES cartridge. I’m planning on keeping that and giving the rest of the games and the console/accessories away to a friend of mine who has been hankering for an NES for a while. Don’t worry – I don’t tend to sit on a million extra consoles and hoard them away. I send them back out into the wild for others to enjoy!
The last thing we picked up was an Atari 2600, and it came with a few cool accessories, some paddles, and one joystick. Truthfully, we already own 6 different kinds of Atari 2600s: A heavy sixer (one of the original Sunnyvale ones!), two light sixers (one of them is the Sears Telegames version and is missing its power cord altogether) a Darth Vader, and two different Atari 2600 Juniors. As preservationists at heart, we didn’t want to modify any of these since every single one of them was different. The new Atari 2600 we stumbled upon is another light sixer that we are hoping to modify with a composite output kit. The Atari 2600 normally only outputs in RF which is not only an ugly signal, but also doesn’t allow us to do any streaming or game capturing. I didn’t grow up with an Atari at all, so I’m looking forward to being able to enjoy it on stream with people once we get the mod kit installed!
Here’s a photo of the console and the various controllers we got along with it, as well as the regular RF connector.
Along with the console came 19 games with some fun storage accessories! One of them was a plastic unit that can hold 12 games that also has a manual slot, and the other was a binder-esque storage container that can fit 8 games. Both of them are super cool considering that the rest of our Atari games we own are stored in a giant clear plastic container. We don’t have nearly enough shelves to display them, so they stay tucked away for the time being. Below is a photo of the storage items. I absolutely adore the branding on the game binder. It’s a little faded, but it’ll look really great on the shelf!
We were also fortunate to get a wonderful pile of manuals with the games, as well as some Atari game catalogues. As someone who adores old game art and manuals in general, these were a wonderful addition to our Atari collection.
Though it was hell on earth to get everything tidied up, it’s wonderful seeing it all come together in a post, and in the Nerd Room. We paid $150 in total for everything, which in my humble opinion was an excellent deal considering everything we got. Now, it’s just a matter of going through and adding it all to the inventory. I swear it’s never-ending, but who’s complaining? I love me some video games.
I hope you’re all looking forward to a wonderful Family Day weekend. It’s supposed be super sunny and get above zero here, so I am very happy! Enjoy, everyone!
Thanks for reading, as always.
-GG
Nice haul! I picked up an old NES a little while ago (my sister appropriated the original “family” one we had and), but it’s sadly not working anymore. I tried cleaning the pin connector, but will have to do a little more extensive surgery to try and figure out the problem. I’m glad all your goodies are working right, though! Your friend will be happy to get such a well-outfit console 🙂
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Thank you! We had an NES that wouldn’t work, and it was as easy as replacing the 72-pin connector. You can order them on eBay for dirt cheap, and they’re pretty easy to replace!
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Yeah that was my next step. I’ve gotten mixed information about replacing the pin connector from different people, but it’s the next logical step before trying to replace the entire console! Thanks for the tip 🙂
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No problem! As someone who has watched that kind of NES surgery performed, I can say without a doubt that it’s super easy to do if you have the tools available (a long, skinny screwdriver that fits!)
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Definitely! When I open it up again, I’ll have to take some picture haha
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Oh man, I LOVED those Atari game folders! Had quite a few of them myself, but they were brown.
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Great photos of the Atari stuff! I highly recommend tracking down most of the games made by Activision, Parker Bros., and Imagic. Try to nab a copy of Fathom if you can find it. It’s trippy, and awesome!
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I’ve got a growing list from all your recommendations 😀
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As soon as I’ve seen the pictures of the 2600 my eyes went heart shaped. Then I turned to my 2600 and I told him to look at the screen to see his older brother (Yes, I’m totally crazy in the morning…). It’s a great deal 150$! If I were able to clean everything as you did with your consoles I would buy some lot at chep prices too, but I think if I tried it would end up in a mess…
BTW if you manage to find all the Imagic collection for the VCS buy it! Only the box and the labels are worth the price!
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Hahaha awwww, I am glad to know your eyes were heart-shaped!
The stuff isn’t too hard to clean, but you just have to remember how to get things back together after you’ve taken them apart. I’m sure you could swing it by taking photos at each step!
I will keep my eyes peeled for the Imagic collection. Are those PAL region games I wonder?
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I’m not really sure about it. Anyway is for this reason I’m looking for an easy and cheap way to hook up an NTSC Atari to a PAL TV. I know they made some game specifically for the american market so, first of all, I need to find an NTSC Atari or a way to run NTSC games on a PAL console…
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I don’t know much about that 😦 If I find an NTSC Atari for cheap, I’ll keep you posted! I would be happy to send one your way.
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Wow, thanks! Even if I think the shipping cost will be tremendously high…
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I’m sure we could work something out. I’ll keep an eye out 🙂
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Thanks a lot! Obviously in case you need something for your collection let me know! I’ve noticed sometimes for some strange reason in Europe there are games way cheaper than in America…if you look for something I think I will go for a session of Atari and NES games hunt on monday……
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Oh wow! I love the Atari game binder. A great way to keep things organized for sure. All that for $150 sounds like a steal to me 🙂
Enjoy your long weekend!
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😀 Thanks! Enjoy yours as well. I hope you guys are getting some wonderful sun like we are! It’s up to 8 degrees here!
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It’s suppose to be 6 and sunny here tomorrow 🙂 It’ll take a while to melt the 80 cm of snow we got this week though, haha.
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Looks like you got a great deal there! That Atari binder is really cool.
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It was honestly my favourite part :D!
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What a great haul! Omg that Atari with the controllers and the game holder brings back SO many memories. We had one of those in addition to a TV/VCR stand that was filled with Atari/Coleco games *happy gasping* When you said “Spy Hunter,” the music for it immediately popped into my head. Such an ear worm! I remember The Enforcer with his big black car. I would love to play that game again.
Ew grime. I’m not really that much of a neat freak or a germ-o-phobe, but anything unknown and sticky makes me want to recoil in horror. I absolutely hate old, chewed gum or things like that. You know it’s been in someone’s mouth and anything sticky just holds on to all the germs. I know smooth surfaces do, too (the sink counter in a public bathroom is rife with them), but stickiness just mitigates the ick factor me me. Throwing the NES Into the dishwasher was a good plan, and I agree: top shelf only :p
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I loved your happy gasping 😀 I’m sad to say we never had an Atari growing up at all, so I don’t have as big of a connection with it as some people do. I did have a Vic 20 though, which my parents gave away on me. That’s about as close as I got to it!
And trust me… I also hate sticky things for the exact same reasons. There’s nothing worse than sitting down at a table and running your hand over some gum on your chair arm!!! What gets me about these old filthy consoles is the dust and the animal hair! We have no animals in the house because we both have allergies to them, and it’s a sneeze-fest to get this stuff clean.
Spy Hunter does have pretty rockin’ music! I need to go listen to it right now!
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It laid such a strong foundation for gaming, and I think you’ll really enjoy playing it! I haven’t heard of a Vic 20 *tries to remember to look it up*
Ugh so icky! My husband used to work for EB Games in the warehouse a decade ago when we first started dated. They’d have to open up and clean out old systems. I don’t even want to talk about the horrible things they’d find in them D:
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“Power up!”
“Welcome to your Doom!”
Altered Beast
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So much vagueness… now I will have to play it!
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I said this before on Twitter, but I absolutely love that NES in the dishwasher, haha!
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😀 I honestly can’t stress enough how much it saved me from having a sneeze-fest trying to clean it by hand. It was still a little grimy after the dishwashing, but it was much more manageable. I think the NES in the dishwasher tickled a lot of people, yet it’s something we do often. So often in fact that it has started to feel normal… you know you’ve collected and cleaned too many consoles when you start putting unconventional things in your dishwasher on a regular basis!
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That Super Mario 3! I freakin love this game, i have it too for the NES!
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I love it. I have so many fond memories playing through it with my mom as a kid, and it’s still one of the games I love to sit down and play through completely every so often. I still use the cloud to get past the dungeon in Dark Land, though.
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