DVD/Game Cabinet

While I was at Target I spotted a DVD cabinet that looked really cool.  My prior swiveling DVD tower was nice, but it got dusty all the time, and some of the game cases were getting faded by the sun.  It's not a huge deal, but I'd rather avoid those two nuisances.

So I decided a newer, enclosed storage option was in order.  It took all afternoon to put together, but I'm really liking the look and functionality of the new cabinet.  This does an excellent job of keeping my games from getting dusty and sun bleached:

There's still plenty of storage space too, so I hope to fill this thing with a lot more Wii U and 3DS games:

Here's a better picture of my modern game collection (from the GameCube generation forward):

Up next I'll be posting some of my recent retro game purchases.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past - 100% complete in box

Starting a couple of years ago I began completing my game collection by obtaining boxes and manuals for various games I owned.  I was missing most of the boxes for my NES games and several for my SNES games.

As I said in the description for my Link to the Past playthrough on Youtube, I received the game for Christmas of 1992 with my brand new Super Nintendo.  However, sadly, my family must have thrown away the boxes almost immediately because I can't remember ever having the game box (or even the system box) except for that single Christmas morning.  The only thing we managed to keep was the cartridge and the manual (which is pretty worn out).  That cartridge is in good shape though.


In early 2012 I managed to pick up an excellent condition box, manual and some inserts for A Link to the Past (without the cartridge, since I didn't need it) off ebay for only $28.  Can you believe that?  I got lucky.  A few of the inserts were missing (the Nintendo Power flyer and the Master Sword poster), but I was happy enough to have the box and a better manual.

Starting this year Keet got me to pay more attention to the little inserts that came in various games, so I began obtaining those missing parts.  Well, once again luck was on my side, and I found the two remaining parts to a Link to the Past.

What you are looking at below is a 100% complete copy of A Link to the Past.  Even the plastic bag for the cartridge is there:

From what I have seen, there were some variations on these inserts though (before the Player's Choice version was released).  The "I Brought Light to the Dark World" insert is hard to find and appears to be unique to this game (based on the SNS-ZL-USA code printed on it), but some copies of A Link to the Past seem to have come with "I Turned into Bowser's Worst Nightmare" instead.  Also, some copies may have come with a more generic poster with square pictures of various SNES games instead of the Super Scope/Master Sword poster.  But I prefer the inserts I have here since they go with Zelda.

This is definitely a huge treasure in my collection.  A Link to the Past is probably the hardest standard Zelda game to obtain 100% complete because of all the inserts and the skyrocketing resale prices.  I'm not counting special edition releases, of course.

Anyway, I thought people might like to see that, especially if they try to obtain a complete copy themselves.

Oh, here's my old, original manual in all its beat-up glory:

Nintendo Power

Did I mention that I own every issue of Nintendo Power?  I guess I forgot to mention that.

I was a continuous subscriber since Volume 52 (the Super Mario All-Stars issue), although my subscription temporarily lapsed around 2009 for some reason.  I think Future US forgot to inform me to renew or something.  But oh boy did I love that magazine.

Although I had seen Nintendo Power in the late '80s/early '90s, I never asked my parents to get it for me.  Then I came home from school one day to find the Super Mario All-Stars issue sitting on a table.  I was told I could read it once I finished my homework.  I quickly became addicted to the magazine and eagerly awaited each new issue.  Magazines were just plain fun to read and Nintendo Power was how I got my gaming news for the longest time.

You could actually back order the old Nintendo Power issues in huge batches for several years (there was an order form in the back of the magazine), but sometime in the '90s Nintendo ran of stock of their old issues, so I wasn't able to take advantage of that in time (kids don't have a lot of money, of course).

Around 2000 or so I acquired all the remaining issues (1-51) off ebay in some massive batches.  They were dirt cheap back then (it was amazing that they had no resale value) and in excellent condition.  I had to buy issues 1 and 2 separate though. 

I managed to pick up an excellent condition first issue for maybe $20 at most - with the poster and all the inserts intact.  Issue 2 was much cheaper.  Those days are now long gone and the prices have spiked due to increased game collecting and Nintendo Power ceasing publication.

All of my issues have their posters intact, and many still have the detachable inserts.  My earlier original issues (around volume 52 or so) had the posters cut out so I had to replace those.  But my issues from about Volume 60 forward are originally mine.

Anyway, I keep all the magazines stored in the closet in two huge boxes.  This one holds the earlier issues and a bunch of Player's Guides:

This other, smaller box holds that last bunch of issues and some more recent guides from Prima:

Here is just one stack of magazines from the large box (spread out into smaller stacks):

Here's a neat photo.  The first and last issues, side by side:

And the backsides:

For those aren't too familiar with the magazine, Nintendo included fold-out posters in the earlier issues, but they didn't detach easily at all.  They were part of the magazine itself and had to be cut out (which sucked).

This is the fold-out poster for the first issue:

Nintendo Power printed regular pages on the other side of the poster, so if you cut them out, you literally ripped out standard pages with guides/maps on them.  Not good.

Here's the backside of the first issue's poster:

Earlier issues also had neat contests that you could enter.  Nintendo would enter you in that issue's sweepstakes if you mailed in the accompanying postcard voting for your favorite games and whatnot (that's how the magazine gathered votes for the monthly Player's Poll games charts).

Here's the intact postcard from the first issue:

Here's the intact subscription card from the first issue (Nintendo gave away the first issue to get people to subscribe):

Here are some of the other early issues (Volumes 2 and 3 pictured here):

And here are Volumes 4, 5 and 6:

I won't post every issue since that would take too long, but I figured I should at least show off some of the earlier ones.

I also own several Player's Guides, so I may get around to posting those as well.