Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project - Complete

And with this I now own all four major Ninja Turtles games that were released on Nintendo's home consoles back in the 8-bit and 16-bit era:

Just like with TMNT IV, I had to acquire the inserts separately from the box, manual and game.  But it wasn't too difficult to do.  I never knew about this game as a kid even though I had played TMNT II on the NES and TMNT IV on the SNES.  I'll enjoy playing this game for the first time.  I hope to get a two-player playthrough posted on Youtube.

Here are some more shots of the awesome box.

Contra III: The Alien Wars - 100% Complete

I picked up my prior copy of Contra III for the SNES back in 2012, but the condition wasn't quite what I wanted, and it was missing some inserts.  I found a deal that I just couldn't pass up, so here's my new copy.

This copy is incredible.  It has everything - even the plastic bag for the cartridge.  Just look at that box.

But that's not all.  It includes the original receipt and price tag from 1992. 

How can I possibly top that?

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time - Complete

Keet has reminded me that I still need two Turtles games for my Nintendo systems (III and IV, respectively), so I finally got around to picking up Turtles in Time for the SNES.

This game was not cheap.  It cost me $130 just to get the box, manual and cartridge with no inserts whatsoever - not even the inner tray.  And even at that price I got lucky.

I then had to assemble the remaining inserts from various auctions to create a complete copy.  But the effort was worth it.

I now possess a 100% complete copy of this amazing game (well, minus the plastic bag which I could still easily acquire).  This is probably the second or third most valuable game in my collection right now across all systems.  Based on current ebay prices (as in, what people are actually paying), this copy has a value of more than $200.  Retro game prices are getting out of control, but I knew I had to get the game before it gets any more ridiculous.

I played this game at least once as a kid.  I think my brother and I rented it, and as I recall, we beat it.  It's not a very challenging game, but it is fun!  I look forward to uploading a two-player playthrough this year.

Recent game purchases

I've gone on a bit of a retro shopping binge recently, so I have some nice new additions to my collection.  This means more potential Youtube uploads.

First, I decided on some new light gun games.  To the Earth for the NES looked interesting, so I decided to pick up a copy.  Lucky me, I found a sealed copy for only $24.  Other people may not care about these games, but I love them!  That just just means less competition on Ebay.

I haven't tried the game yet, but expect an upload this year, probably within the next few months.  I hear it's a tough Zapper game, but it probably can't be any harder than Operation Wolf (which was really hard).

I also decided that I needed some more two-player cooperative games, so I picked up Shadow of the Ninja and Life Force for the NES.  Two-player cooperative games are my favorite type of games, so I couldn't resist. 

I don't think I've played Life Force before, but it's a two-player sequel to Gradius.  Drew and I played it a little bit and it's a lot of fun, but very challenging.  I'll need to practice quite a bit to memorize the patterns.  It will be tough to do a two-player playthrough, but I'll work on it.

I heard about Shadow of the Ninja in a Nintendo Power retro feature from a few years ago.  I have a vague memory of playing a two-player ninja game as a kid, so that might have been this game.  In any event, the game has some similarities to Shatterhand, and it has two-player simultaneous gameplay.  Too cool!  I definitely want to upload this one.  The game wasn't cheap though.  It set me back $100 for a complete copy.  I think it's worth it.

I also picked up a couple more SNES games.  I said above that I picked up more light gun "games" (i.e., more than one), and the second one is for the SNES. 

It's Bazooka Blitzkrieg, a somewhat rare Super Scope game.  It looks interesting and I can't wait to upload it.

Also, after too many years I have finally picked up Super Punch-Out!! complete in box.  I never knew anyone who owned this game back in the day and I never played it before now.  For whatever reason, I just never paid attention to the game despite my love for Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!  I've tried the game a little and so far it feels easier than its NES counterpart.  But it's fun.  I'll need to upload that for sure.

I also picked up some other gaming-related items, but I'll get to those things in another post.