Okay, so I have a pretty good idea of what it is, I just want specifics!

Even with new AA batteries, this mysterious device refuses to work, so I will have to go off everything I know about it from memory (so some of this may be completely incorrect). A simplistic game containing a mere three levels, the goal of the game is to destroy all the enemies to advance to the next stage (each stage adds more enemies). April has been kidnapped and is being held in a cage, and it is your job to rescue her. Using the same background throughout the whole game (pictured), the extent of the graphics are black pixelated outlines that barely differentiate yourself from your foes. All else I remember is that the game was difficult due to the crappy and unresponsive controls.

Besides the 1989 copyright by Mirage Studios and Konami Japan, another way I know this game is old as hell is because each of the Ninja Turtles still sport their original red headbands, before they received their own colors. Anyways, I can’t find any details on this, so if anyone could help me out, that would be great.

The first box that I have gone through as part of my Garage Cleaning, as you can see I have a small variety of stuff here. We’ll start from left-to-right:

Snorlax Balloon:

I think I got this from a K-Mart or something around seven years ago. The stem broke off a while back, but surprisingly the balloon is nearly as full as it originally was. I’m probably more like Snorlax (excluding the weight thing) than any of the other Pokémon with my recent sleep schedule.

GameShark (PS2):

A GameShark for the Playstation 2. I never used it. It simply did not have the same appeal as the Game Genie did. This was also after a while that I stopped using codes for games. I can’t even remember why I bought it.

Pikachu:

Pika Pika! Although the battery is dead, it would say its name when you squeezed either of its paws, and I believe that its cheeks would light up as well. Pikachu died

Game & Watch Gallery 2 (GBC):

For some reason, I still own this although I have no systems capable of playing it. I don’t remember too much about it besides that I didn’t play it that much. I guess I will throw it up on eBay for 99 cents.

Lethal Enforcers II: Gunfighters (Sega CD):

Another game I am no longer capable of playing, the disc is housed in a Resident Evil: Director’s Cut (DualShock Edition) case. Unlike Game & Watch, however, I played this game a ton along with its prequel on the Sega Genesis. Excluding Duck Hunt, the Lethal Enforcers series are the only light gun games I’ve ever owned, and I have always treasured them for the unique play time they offered me. Mostly playing through the games with my brother, my light gun skillz are unparalleled, and yes, even when a civilian is shot in their face, it was intentional.

Paid to Play: An Insider’s Guide to Video Game Careers:

An excellent book that I recommend every person interested in landing a job in the industry reads. While I already knew everything they discussed about my particular interest, learning about the other multitude of jobs in the industry was not only enjoyable, but informative as well. A very entertaining book that eradicated boredom when I worked at a call center for a few months, you should definitely check it out.

Chef Aid: The South Park Album:

My brother’s disc that I should return to him, I don’t know why it is in my possession. Featuring a crazy mash-up of various artists, Chef Aid is certainly one of the more interesting albums I’ve ever heard. Along with Chef’s “Chocolate Salty Balls (P.S. I Love You)”, Cartman’s rendition of “Come Sail Away” is certainly the most famous of the tracks. I’ll have to burn this to my Zune later on tonight, although I could do without a few of the songs. I would have rather had more tracks by the characters from the show.

Bubsy in: Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind:

One of my favorite Sega Genesis games. I still have the original box and instruction book along with the game. I’ll be going into much more detail on this title in the future, but I will say that this game has a personality to it unlike just about anything else I’ve played. Dying in one hit resulting in a plethora of different death animations was one of my favorite aspects of the game, but there is a lot more to it than that. I would like to see this released over Xbox Live Arcade or the Virtual Console soon. Also, this is the only Bubsy game I’ve played, but I can see that Bubsy was widely mocked when I look him up on Google. I have a faint memory of the carnival level being one of my favorites, and I own the soundtrack on my Zune (weird, right?).

The Kama Sutra by Anne Hooper:

What a random find, especially since I didn’t buy it. But flipping through it, apparently I’m a fan of something called the Elephant Posture? Man, they really do have the best names for this stuff.

Nintendo Entertainment System:

An old NES, of which I have two of. What more needs to be said?

Pokémon 2.B.A. MASTER CD:

When I was heavily into the Pokémon craze, I ate up anything related to the franchise, and this included CD’s. I loved this CD when I was younger, but trying to listen to it now is a struggle. Unlike The First Movie soundtrack, the songs actually deal with Pokémon, and that isn’t necessarily a good thing. This CD is now only something I would play as a joke, like in the car with a bunch of friends or something.

Pokémon: The First Movie Soundtrack:

While barely any of the songs are related to Pokémon, the songs are easier to listen to, as they are just whatever the hit pop songs were at the time.

More Garage Cleaning to come!

Imagine my surprise when I discovered a disc titled “Charlie’s CD” on the top with permanent marker, placing it in my computer to find all of the old Word documents I made back in 2000 that detailed every single game I owned, completed, and wanted to get for all the systems I still played games for (and even those not released). I even made documents for the Playstation 3, years before we knew a single detail on the console. I was prepared for the future, though I didn’t stick with this little project of mine, as evidenced by several of the documents being completely empty. It’s amusing scanning through the lists I had made of games that I planned on getting. Many turned out crap and most I never bothered to play. I looked up the release dates of all the titles on IGN, and many of them were never accurate. Changes happen so frequently in the industry that it is hard to keep up, and these lists are a reminder of that. The following images are of all the lists that actually had content in them. I started out with every intention of having the most accurate information possible, but that isn’t how it turned out to be. You’ll see: (more…)

I discovered this little gem during my Garage Cleaning. A press kit for Metal Gear Solid 3, this item was handed out in limited quantities approximately every 15 minutes during E3 2004 (the game came out about six months later in November). What is it exactly? It’s a CD containing the main theme of the game, “Snake Eater”, that is held in the center of a fake cardboard vinyl record that matches the 60′s theme of the game.

That green square shaped object is the “album cover” that encloses all of this. When you open it up, you get a nice large screen of Big Boss with his croc cap (pictured at top), traveling down that gorgeous scene in Ponizovje South after your fight with The Pain, where we are first introduced to the enemies using hovercrafts. On the far right are the lyrics to “Snake Eater” along with the credits. Contained in the sleeve of this “album cover”, along with the cardboard record, is a mini-poster. On the back of this poster are screens from the game, along with background history on the Snake Eater theme, the score of the game, important events that occurred in the early 60′s before MGS3, and information on the game itself. I’ve left the picture large enough so you can read it all.

It really takes me back to see all of this. Metal Gear remains my favorite game series of all time, and this discovery only makes the wait for Guns of the Patriots even harder.

This is what I was talking about before. I wonder how many of you remember these? If you do, please let me know!

These ones in particular are for the NES, back when cheating was actually fun. I enjoyed inputting the codes almost as much as I did using them, especially when I would type in a bunch of useless letters and make them explode by pressing B. The book on the far left was a 1990-91 release, Volume 3. I adored these little booklets. They made the games more enjoyable, and they allowed me to complete them if I needed the assistance. Come the Playstation era, I stopped cheating to complete games after a horrible experience with Final Fantasy VIII. I used GameShark (not nearly as cool) to max out my HP and such, and I made it to the last bit of the game, and even with the cheats I wasn’t able to complete it. After that, I vowed never to cheat again to help beat a game, and I restarted and played it properly. The time I stopped using codes period, however, was when I used the crazy ones they had for GTA3, which ended up wrecking my memory card along with erasing all of my fantastic Metal Gear Solid 2 photos. That was my fault for saving though. I would still use them on the GTA games every once in a while, but I turned off the system straight afterwards.

The new generation of systems has seemingly made codes (on a widespread scale) a complete thing of the past. Now if they released a cool device like the Game Genie again (don’t ever see that happening), then maybe they could make a comeback, but games are so different nowadays that I don’t think that experience could ever be brought back. In a world of autosaves, achievements, and hard drives, there are too many risks involved that ward off many players from doing so. Or maybe it is just me, but just from scanning forums I see a lot of people sharing my views.

Back to the Game Genie and the booklets themselves, it was rare for me to load up an NES game without one of these beside me. As you can see in the pictures above, this book in particular had plenty of codes for a ton of different games. My brother and I would highlight the ones we used most, as shown below. Games in particular include Alien Syndrome, Batman, Battletoads, Dr. Mario, Godzilla, Platoon, Super Mario Bros. 3, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game. I now find it humorous scanning the games that I never played until I was much older. This includes titles like Metal Gear, The Legend of Zelda, Joust, and Paper Boy (the last three thanks to the Wii and 360). If only I knew about them then…

The smaller booklets came in the mail via subscription, a fact I either never knew or forgot about until I looked at the back of one of them to discover our old Georgia address, a place I have not lived for 14 years. As you can tell by the Volume 1 booklet, it had plenty of codes for us to use. The Volume 2 booklet, however, is in much better condition. Some of the inner pages are damn near mint, with no highlights or anything. Some booklets were a hit or miss based on our collection, and this one was obviously the latter. Some of the booklets also had an “Ask The Genie” section, where you could submit questions for publication and receive an answer from the team. Check below for a question about the Game Genie for the Sega Genesis before it was released.

As you can also see in the last couple of pics, each booklet had an explanation for the code symbols at the beginning, so a person could easily skim the book for something specific, like codes to make the game more challenging, or codes involving infinite ammo. I never really used codes to make the game more challenging, I was more into infinite ammo and lives, as evidenced by the highlights in the large booklet.

We purchased the Game Genie for the Sega Genesis when it came out too, although I don’t believe I have it anymore. I do know for certain that I have more of these booklets, and I’ll post them up once they are rediscovered. For now, I leave you with the final picture: the order form located at the end of the booklets for those wanting back issues or wanting to renew their subscription. I hope I’m not the only one who remembers/has these.

As some of you may know, I just returned from Kansas with ALL of my stuff. This is the first time I have had everything of mine in one location for about seven years, and there is barely any room to walk in the garage as of now. All of my comics, toys, cards, books etc. are with me, and they are already bringing back a lot of memories. Garage Cleaning is the new category that will be cataloging my adventure! I’ve already found something cool to post about, so expect that later on. I’m sure I will be bringing up a lot of fond memories for some of you…