Super Double Dragon

I own quite a few video game posters (since they were included with so many 8-bit and 16-bit games), but somehow I forgot to post my favorite poster from my collection. 

This one managed to slip my mind.  It's sitting in my closet, stored safely in a cheap (but handy) frame.

I got this Super Double Dragon poster off ebay back around 2000.  I probably paid $20 at most.  This thing is huge.  Too big, in fact, to fit into a standard SNES game box.  So I have no idea where this poster originated.

There's also some printing on the backside.

If anyone knows where this poster came from, I'd love to hear about it.

New Desk

Everyone needs a good desk.  My old one was nice, but the PC wouldn't fit in the designated spot (since it's a larger, custom-built computer, unlike my prior HP).  So I had to put the computer directly on the carpet, which I didn't like.

I finally found a new desk that could get the computer off the floor and provide a similar style to the last desk.  This one is darker too (almost black), so it fits my black motif much better.  It took me three hours to assemble, but I enjoy doing that stuff.

Cables are everything

For a little while I had noticed that some of my SNES captures would have clearly visible diagonal lines running through them.  Others didn't.  I thought that perhaps it was an interlacing issue (capture cards pick up 240p signals as 480i, even if you're recording directly from the console), but it turns out I was wrong.

The problem was the cables.  I was using cheap third-party cables that I had picked up off eBay.  So I did a quick search and found the official S-video cable from Nintendo for the SNES/N64/GameCube.  It wasn't cheap.  I had to fork over $50 to a seller in Japan, but I got the box and a pristine set of cables.

Unlike the cheap third-party cables I was using, the official cables don't have a composite plug on them.  It's S-video only, and I hear that's higher quality than having a cable with both composite and S-video connectors.

These cables were apparently only sold in Japan.  However, I recall seeing an order form in the Super Nintendo instruction manual where you could order these cables straight from Nintendo.  So Nintendo must have sold these directly to consumers in the U.S. and not to retailers.

I've already run some tests and the quality is incredible.  No more diagonal lines.  All of my future SNES and N64 uploads will use these cables and I'll be uploading new playthroughs of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Super Metroid.  I also wouldn't mind redoing the Super Scope 6 footage.

Oh, somehow I forgot to post this.  I got these games some time last year (I think toward the beginning/middle of the year):

I'd love to do some two-player playthroughs, but considering their difficulty, I don't know if that will be possible.  We'll see though.

I love new old stock

If developers are going to continue to try to shove clunky dual analog controls and Call of Duty clones down my throat, then screw them, I won't buy any new shooters.  Instead, I'll buy old ones, like this!

There's nothing like getting a brand new old game.  It's wonderful.  Only $40 too!  You can't really tell from that picture, but the logo is actually embossed.

Back when this game came out Nintendo Power ran a review in which they said it was a real shame that the game would undoubtedly get overshadowed by Perfect Dark.  Unfortunately, they were right.

Well, I can rectify that problem for myself by playing this for the first time.  I hope to get some four-player action going.

More shooters

I decided to pick up some more old school shooters.

Operation Wolf and Operation Thunderbolt were arcade games that were ported to the NES and SNES.  Both games have light gun support (since the arcade cabinets had positional guns), so that's why I picked them up.  Operation Thunderbolt is one of only two SNES games that supported both the Super Scope and Mouse simultaneously (T2: The Arcade Game was the other one).  Expect an upload in the near future.

I tried a little bit of Quake II so far.  I really like the graphics, especially with the Expansion Pak.  This one looks to actually be more fun than the first Quake, which I still need to finish.  Oh how I missed out on N64 shooters back in the day.  Stupid me, I thought Perfect Dark was all I needed.

Even more new purchases

After a long time I finally decided to pick up an SNES Mouse, as well as a few old school FPS games.

The Mouse wasn't sold by itself in America (it apparently was in Europe though), so I had to buy a copy of Mario Paint if I wanted to get a Mouse brand new.  That box may look a little beaten up, but the contents inside were untouched and still wrapped in their plastic bags.  Oh, and it has its original price tag as well. 

I had thought about picking up Doom 64 for quite a while, but after Keet picked up his own copy, I knew I had to get one too.  There are a lot of classic FPS ports that I never paid attention to as a kid.  My only real console FPS experience during the N64 era was Goldeneye, Perfect Dark and a little bit of Turok.  Aside from that I didn't real bother with other shooters, and that's a real shame.  But I can certainly catch up now.  I'll be picking up more shooters for sure.

Wolfenstein was a game I never noticed or thought about getting on the SNES.  I never even knew there was an SNES port.  But when I went looking for games that support the Super NES Mouse, I saw Wolfenstein on the list and decided instantly that I had to get the game.  It turns out the Mouse works great with it.  I'll have a playthrough uploaded soon enough.

With all these new SNES and N64 games, I've been running out of space in my game storage drawers that I showed before.  So I decided to pick up another one of the drawers, except this time it's the larger 24-game model.  I got the box too.  That was helpful since I use these larger boxes to store all my games boxes and keep them safe.

I forgot to take a picture of this before, but I picked up another DVD tower for when my current one gets full (it's really close).  I found the same model dirt cheap at K-Mart and decided to pick it up just in case it gets discontinued.  I really like these things because they swivel and you can put your controllers on top of them.  Of course I'll have to assemble it when the time comes, but I actually enjoy that.

One of my Youtube subscribers asked about the CRT TV and the new Toshiba DVD Recorder that I'm using to upconvert old consoles for use on the Hauppauge HD PVR.  Here they are stuck in the corner to the left of the HDTV.

More New Purchases

I love all sorts of different controllers, but one type that I never had growing up was a steering wheel.  I remember seeing Interact's V3 steering wheel for the Nintendo 64 back in the day, but I never really had any interest in buying one... until now.

This thing is pretty cool.  You can configure just about everything on the steering wheel, including sensitivity and button assignment, and it will remember those settings even if you turn the system off.

It's a little difficult to use because it's essentially adapting an analog stick to be used as a steering wheel, but I don't care, it's still fun!  So far I've tried World Driver Championship (really difficult with the V3, but only because the game is itself incredibly difficult) and Hydro Thunder (really fun, makes it's feel more like the arcade), as well as this game:

I played Off Road Challenge several times in the arcade (it seems like the arcade machine is everywhere) and I think I even rented it once.  It's a decent arcade game, but nothing to write home about.  However, I like off road racing, and arcade games are a perfect fit for the V3 (since arcade racing games are designed to use steering wheels), so I'll be uploading a full playthrough of this game on my Youtube channel using the V3 some time in the near future.  But from what I've played so far, it's a lot of fun using the wheel.

Some versions of the V3 apparently had built-in rumble, and while mine has a rumble light on it, I can't figure out how to get the rumble to work (the manual doesn't say anything about it).  If anyone knows how to turn the rumble on, I'd love to hear how.