Pigeon Forge 2018 (Pick Ups and Arcade Review)

As a last hurrah for summertime, we decided to take a small weekend trip to Pigeon Forge TN to do some sight seeing, swimming, and of course shopping.

On Saturday afternoon we made our way to Control Freak Video Games to peruse some retro games. I actually hadn't planned on buying anything, figuring that prices would be way out of hand being in a tourist town and all but I was pleasantly surprised. They definitely knew what they had and what their product was worth but weren't charging an arm and a leg by any means. The selection was nice, with just about any common game you were looking for readily available and of course the rarer pieces behind the glass to draw your attention. I especially liked their case of rarer import consoles, which were of course for sale but not in my price range for what I had budgeted on this trip.

While they didn't have any games I didn't already have in my collection on the racks, I did find some neat souvenirs to bring home.

Poster Prints: R-Type and Chrono Trigger

Arnold Palmer Tournament Golf. This was a dollar complete and I didn't have it so I couldn't exactly pass it up but my main intention was to confuse my brother. Like "we're having a game night tonight and you're picking golf?" I also wanted to try out a Fantasy Zone related trick I heard about recently.

If you're curious, on the first hole try to take over 100 strokes before reaching the putting green for a surprise. It's a neat easter egg and also the game's way of telling you that maybe Golf isn't exactly your game.


Just click here to save yourself a ton of time.







I also snagged these Sonic and Tails decals. Not exactly sure what I'll stick them on yet. I'm bad about stickers this way. What if I don't like where I put them? They'll probably just end up in my folder with all the other sticker sheets I've found over the years. Anyone else have this problem?

Before grabbing dinner for the evening the kids were itching to get some go kart racing and arcade play in. This brought us to the Rockin' Raceway.

Now I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a go kart racing expert by any means. I can say that the karts handled well and I was able to go fast so that got an A plus in my book.\

The arcade on the other hand, well it's not exactly something that would please an enthusiast looking for the classics. Their main focus seemed to be aimed at ticket redemption, so we loaded up the kids with tokens and sent them on their quest for spider rings and candy that could be obtained much cheaper at a gas station.

That's not to say there weren't a few things here and there for the 30 somethings though. They had a nice Sega Super GT setup that felt like it was well maintained. They also had a couple of Sega 18 Wheeler Pro Trucker cabinets, though I never was much of a fan of these.

As we made our rounds looking for something engaging to play, out of the corner of my eye I caught sight of the Street Fighter 3 Third Strike character select screen, a personal favorite. The excitement grew fast but crashed and burned when I saw that it was actually one of those multicade machines that 9 times out of 10 look like they're built from leftover particle board. My heart sank even more when I saw the joystick layout.

This has got to be, hands down, the worst button layout I've ever seen.

So unless you have Hulk sized hands, rest assured there's no way to effectively play 90 percent of the games on this cabinet. But I thought, what the heck, let's give it a shot for laughs since it was only a single token to play. That's a token I'll never get back. Not only did my muscle memory have me pushing the blank spaces between buttons, but the controls had been setup backwards-kicks on top and punches on the bottom. 3rd Strike wasn't the only game that suffered; my brother took a shot at Capcom's Alien vs Predator and had similar difficulties.

So the Rockin' Arcade ended up being a bust for the adults but at least the kids had a good time. I obviously can't recommend it for anyone looking for the traditional arcade experience but I suppose it makes for a good enough break between go kart races. One bit of silver lining is that they still use their own unique tokens for the games, so I took one home to add to my token collection.

Overall it was a great weekend and it was refreshing to do one last mini vacation before going back to the day to day of work and school. There's plenty to in Pigeon Forge no matter what you're interested in and I'm sure I'll be back in the future.

Highlights of 2016: Retro Gaming and Other Stuff

Since I didn't post anything during 2016, I thought I'd share some highlights on some of my favorite pick ups from last year. I can at least say 2016 was good for my retro gaming hobby.

Sega Master System Games

All found in the wild, except for Sonic 1. I don't like to resort to eBay but I couldn't pass it up for 10 bucks from Europe.

Comics

If you haven't had a chance to read the Sonic Mega Drive mini series by Archie you need to get on that. Especially if you're a fan of classic Sonic. Expect reviews of these soon.

Sonic Lego Dimensions

My kids and I have joined the Lego Dimensions crazy with Sonic of course being my favorite of the series. It's a lot of good silly fun. I'll be doing a review of this in the near future as well.

Old School Sonic Fan Art

I discovered this fan art folded up in a cheap complete copy of Zero Tolerance, along with a bunch of passwords. It's really cool to see some classic Sonic fan art from back in the day. I wonder if I can ever find the original owner, haha.

So those are some of my favorite finds of 2016. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you find your way back here for the upcoming reviews. Until then!

Flea Market and Retro Gaming Finds All New 2016!

Since it's been a while since the last time I reported on my flea market finds I thought I'd just compile all the things I've found since August of last year. Special thanks and shout outs to @Retro_Brandon, @FZenbeast and @PhaserPulse for accompanying me on the flea market and local hunts.

It's been so long that I can't remember the timeline for when I got this stuff exactly, so we'll just run through it as I snap pics.

Various Sega Master System games.

Special thanks to @Mark16bit for hooking me up with the handy dandy Power Base Converter!

The Sega Light Phaser.

Various Sega Genesis games. Special thanks to @Retro_Brandon for helping me complete my Valis collection with Syd of Valis.

Another Game Genie with code book and code update booklets.

Stack of Sega Visions magazines. The Sonic 3 issue was the only one I can actually remember from being a kid though I had several.

Sonic and Knuckles standee. My dad picked this up from his work after the release of Sonic and Knuckles. I lost track of it after moving a few times and luckily my brother @FZenbeast found it in the family storage. Thanks bro!

 

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Retro Gaming Finds Week of August 15th through the 23rd

The past couple of weeks have been lucky for me. Well, when it comes to my gaming hobby anyway. Check out my latest finds.

On Saturday the 15th my Dad came upon a yard sale with the following Sega lot for 10 bucks:

Sega Genesis Model 2 (with 3/4 heat shield)
Earthworm Jim
Paper Boy
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
Rolling Thunder 2

The other day I was digging through some old boxes from back when I moved out of my parent's house and happened upon the following gems I hadn't seen in some time:

Mega Man Legends
Final Fantasy II

Finally this past weekend I made the trip out to a new shop that opened in town here called Pop Culture where I made a trade for another Sega Master System and game lot. Now before you judge, I've finished both games dozens of times each so I felt it was time to pass these great titles on to the next player.

Sega Master System and all hook ups
Shinobi
Black Belt
Thunder Blade
After Burner
Monopoly

As a bonus, not only was Shinobi CIB but it also included this sweet Master System poster. I may have to get this framed:

Thanks for stopping by!

Retro Gaming Finds Week of July 27th

Had some pretty sweet finds this week. Thanks to my good friends @Retro_Brandon, @tnam0s, and my brother @RetroGeorge84 for making the trip out with me to the flea markets and the grand opening of the new G2K Games location. I think we all had some pretty great pick ups and I can't wait to go again.

Here are a bunch of CIB Sega Genesis titles I snagged for some pretty sweet prices:

Valis III Japanese Mega Drive version $20
Shadow Blasters $6
Last Battle $5
Madden 95 $Free! (Thanks 2 Dudes!)

Next is a copy of Sonic 3D Blast for Sega Saturn I found at an unlikely booth for $5 and the pack-in copy of Virtua Cop for $2.

Very special thanks to @Retro_Brandon for hooking me up with this copy of Valis 1 to help my Valis collection along.

Finally, we all received free t-shirts for being some of the first retro gaming enthusiasts to visit the new G2K location. Mine has a sweet image of Harley Quinn We were also entered in a drawing for a free Xbox One later this week. Wish us luck!

Thanks for stopping by!

Retro Gaming and Flea Market Finds - June 2015

I'm a little late on this one because I've been feeling under the weather. Better late than never though. Here are my flea market finds from June.

First up is possibly the most incredible find. Digging around in a tub full of controller spaghetti at a game shop I unearthed a Sega Master System they weren't even aware they had. They didn't really know how to price it either so I was able to take it home for only 10 bucks. Quite a steal! Unfortunately all I have for it right now are some sports games and Ghostbusters but I hope to start collecting some gems for it soon.

Next are some controllers. The first is a Sega Control Stick for the Sega Master system I found for a dollar. The Justifier was given to me by my good buddy @Retro_Brandon who snagged a set of 2 with his purchase of Lethal Enforcers 1 and 2 at 2 Dudes Gaming (that's a lot of 2's). Thank you for enhancing my Snatcher experience dude!

I feel like I'm forgetting some games (it's been a long month) but I did find a copy of Kid Chameleon for only 3 bucks.

This is a first for this blog, but I found myself some nerdy kitchen ware. I found the Leonardo and Raphael Ninja Turtles cereal bowls for only 50 cents a piece. I loved these as a kid and had the whole set of turtles back then. You could only get them in certain boxes of the TMNT cereal so I'd imagine they're sort of rare. Hopefully I can find Donatello and Michelangelo out there one day.

I also found this sweet set of Sonic the Hedgehog glasses for 10 bucks. I'm struggling on whether or not to actually use them.

 

When I was in Roanoke after Heroes Con, my buddy Rob introduced me to a store there called 5 and under, where nothing in the story is priced above 5 dollars. There I snagged volume 1 of the Regular Show comic and Regular Show for 3DS, both for under 5 each. A real steal because both of these items still retail for 15 at Books A Million and Gamestop.

 

 Lastly is an Ecto 1 from the original Ghostbusters and the only reason I'm sharing it is because it didn't cost an arm and a leg. It doesn't have all of the stickers and is missing a door, but that usually doesn't keep the price down with most toy vendors. I managed to snag this one for 8 bucks.

Thanks for reading!

Retro Gaming Finds - Week of May 25th 2015

Check out my latest flea market finds from last week. I was very happy to add these new jems to my growing Sega Saturn collection.

Golden Axe: The Duel
Dark Savior
Street Fighter Alpha 2

Also slightly unrelated. Since I do not own a manual for my copy of Legend of Oasis I went ahead and made a standard dvd box for it. Turned out pretty nice, though I despise the official cover art of the game. I'll probably be going this route for all my other loose games for the Saturn.

Thanks for stopping by!

Retro Gaming Finds - Week of May 11th 2015

Here are my most recent retro gaming pick ups from the last week gone by, as well as some shout outs.

First thank you to 2 Dudes Gaming for the incredible deal on my new Sega Saturn and games. I've been wanting Legend of Oasis for years. Daytona USA and Virtua Racing were icing on the cake thanks to my soft spot for arcade style racing games. If you live in the south western side of Virginia or eastern Tennessee you need to check these guys out. They actually know their stuff and their prices are fantastic. You can't say that about many retro gaming shops these days.

Next I gotta give a shout out to @Retro_Brandon for hooking me up with this pristine Rocket Knight adventures cartridge. I'm a huge fan of the series and unfortunately misplaced my childhood copy in one of my moves. Feels good to fly again. Thanks dude!

Lastly I found the Sega 6-Pack and Lethal Enforcers for uber cheap during my last trip to the flea market with @Yoshieggpic. Had a great time and I can't wait to go hunting again.

Thanks for reading! 

Retro Gaming Finds - April 2015

 Here are some of my finds from the month of April, including some gifts.

First up, my awesome buddy @SemeteryRocker gave me these gems for my birthday:

Shinobi III and Maximum Carnage, both excellent titles I had a lot of love for growing up. If you're reading this, thanks again man, I absolutely love these.

I found the following titles at the 2 Dudes Gaming store in Elizabethton TN. If you're in the area definitely give them a visit because their prices are amazing and they're the most friendly and well knowledged guys you could ask for in dealing in this hobby.

X-Men 2: Clone Wars
OutRun
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie

I also found a Sega CD model 2 expander on eBay that was actually priced appropriately. I don't like to do my retro gaming shopping on eBay because it takes the thrill out of the hunt, but I couldn't pass up an expander for such a good price.

Now my Genesis no longer hangs awkwardly off the side of my Sega CD

Seriously this is just a piece of plastic that helps your Model 1 Genesis/Model 2 CD hookup look more aesthetically pleasing, that's all. Don't pay any more than 10 dollars for this, and shame on those who have them and are selling them for 30 dollars or more. You're just being a jerk. Glad I got lucky.

As always, thanks for reading and good luck on your own hunts.

Retro Gaming Finds - March 26th 2015

Here are some more retro gaming finds I've been meaning to share from last week.

For around 50 dollars I found:

Ghostbusters
Sol-Deace
Streets of Rage 2
Shadow Dancer The Secret of Shinobi

Been spending a lot of time on these the past week. You can't go wrong with any of these.

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Retro Gaming Finds - and Other Stuff - March 21st

Here are some things I picked up at the flea market over the weekend. Over all it was a pretty good trip.

I managed to find a non tmss Sega Genesis Model 1 for the low price of 10 bucks which is pretty awesome find compared to how these things have inflated on eBay. I was having trouble hiding my excitement when they turned it on to test it and no tmss message popped up. Score!

When shopping for a non tmss Model 1 this is the model number you're looking for on the bottom of the console.  Always, ALWAYS have them test it though because I actually own another Genesis with this same model number on the bottom that does have the tmss message pop. 9 times out of 10 if you see this you've found what you're looking for.

Here are some games I found for a couple of bucks each. I haven't had a copy of Altered Beast since I was a kid so it was way over due.

 

I rescued these guys from a bin of Happy Meal toys for a quarter each. Maybe I can get lucky again and find a Charmy Bee one day.

Now these aren't related to the flea market at all, but I was able to find them as a part of an online bundle for only 3 dollars each. That's a steal on these graphic novels.

Thanks for reading!