Vectrex Protector

Felt you had to bid on something lovely, rare and expensive? How very nice, for here is your chance to grab a boxed Protector for the Vectrex. The cartridge and box are apparently in excellent shape. Oh, and do expect to spend a few hundred dollars on this one. 

The NES Collection

The humble Nintendo NES might not be the most exotic console ever glimpsed, but it definitely is one every collector and retro gamer should own. Especially when it comes with four controllers, 2 light-guns and 43 games that include Super Mario Bros. 3, Ninja Gaiden, Dr Mario, Super Off Road and Tecmo Super Bowl. Said NES lot can be grabbed via eBay. Seller ships only within the US.

ZX Spectrum +2 Action Pack

I keep forgetting that Amazon still has the odd treasure hidden somewhere within its huge site. This tasty boxed Spectrum +2 is a most impressive example, especially considering just how shiny its box looks. Also, I do believe the Amstrad produced Spectrum +2 Action Pack is the ideal bundle for the Spectrum gamer, what with it offering 128k of RAM, a built-in cassette deck, decent sound, a joystick, a light-gun and some decent games. 

A Japanese Commodore 64

Retro Treasures super-reader Boris strikes again with the discovery of this amazing, boxed and quite rare Japanese version of the Commodore 64 on eBay. You know, the one with the lovely Japanese character set that failed to battle the MSX. Oh, but you can find more about it here.

The Retro Treasures Classifieds

Have you noticed that lovely contact us! link on the sidebar of Retro Treasures? Well, you can now use it to sell your classic console, computer or games, as this very blog has just introduced its latest cunning plan: Classifieds. Just mail your ad, contact info and at least one photo and Retro Treasures will publish it. Free of charge obviously. The point after all is to help the retro gaming community exchange stuff without having to pay those eBay (or other) royalties... Hope you all like and support the idea!

Metropolis Street Racer (Dreamcast)

MSR, Metropolis Street Racer, for the Sega Dreamcast caused many a jaw to drop 10 years ago and, impressively, still looks great. It plays even better than that -MSR is among my five most played DC games- and you can grab it for the ridiculous price of £1.49 via rewind.

Original Night Trap Artwork

Night Trap might not have been a particularly brilliant FMV game, but it certainly did have its moments; yes, beside the hilarious acting and silly plot. Oh, and it caused quite a controversy too. Anyway, all you have to do to grab a piece of its semi-naughty artwork is follow this link to some Night Trap art @ eBay. Seller ships only within the US.

Katzmedia Pippin

If you thought Apple's failed attempt at a Power PC based console was rare, wait till you see the truly rare and beautifully black Katzmedia version of Pippin. Then try to imagine the rarity of this Katzmedia Pippin developer unit that has surfaced on eBay and was discovered by Retro Treasures veteran reader Boris. Seller ships to N. and S. America, Europe, Asia and Australia.

Turbo Grafx 16 & 63 games

Thanks to Chris, a rather recent Retro Treasures reader and gamer with an eye for quality retro stuff, you too can now go for this shiny TurboGrafx console that appeared on craigslist. It impressively comes with 63 (of 94) games, including such rare and wonderful games as Air Zonk, R-Type, Raiden, Bomberman, Turrican and even Legendary Axe. Oh, and it's a US only thing. 

Boxed ZX Spectrum +3

The ZX Spectrum +3 was the final Speccy ever released and the only one to feature Amstrad's 3" disk drive. Not much of a rarity really, though a Spectrum +3 (in a box) auction that ships worldwide isn't that common an eBay sight either. The computer seems to be in good condition, has had its drive belt changed, and comes with its box, manual, cables, two unused disks and one (equally boxed) game.

Adam Colecovision (boxed)

The Adam Colecovision (1983) was a generally intriguing, but ultimately failed attempt at turning the Colecovision console into a fully functional 8-bit home micro. Anyway. It makes for a great collector's item and is quite rare (-ish).

This boxed and almost complete (it does lack the controllers) Adam Colecovision auction, might turn out to be quite a bargain. The computer hasn't been tested, though everything looks to be in great condition. The box includes: a smartWriter (Daisy Wheel!) printer, the introductory manual; the built-in SmartWriter word processing program with its reference guide and manual; the SmartBasic manual and the SmartBasic digital data pack, Buck Rogers Planet of Zoom by SEGA Super game pack w/ manual, and all necessary cables. Seller ships only to US addresses.  

Xerox Alto Computer

The Alto Computer, a 1973 Xerox creation, was a hugely innovative beast, that could easily be described as the first proper workstation and the grandfather of modern computing. Years before Apple got, uhm, "inspired" by it, the Xerox Alto offered an amazing GUI complete with file folders and bitmap icons, WYSIWYG word-processing and design software, a 3-button mouse, ethernet support, a built-in e-mail app and even a removable hard disk. The thing was also home to the ground-breaking Maze War game, that was the first online FPS ever.

You could (and should, really) find out more about the Xerox Alto here, here, here, and here. You can even try and emulate it via the rather lovely though not 100% ready Altogether simulator.

As the Xerox Alto was quite the computing behemoth and never got itself commercially sold, it is most definitely a particularly rare mini computer. This Xerox Alto Vintage Computer that has appeared @ eBay might just be a great chance to grab one, provided of course you have your very own and fully equipped vintage computing museum. Seller ships only within the US (this is a truly heavy machine).

Mystery House for the Apple ][

If this Mystery House (Apple II) eBay auction isn't some kind of fraud -and let's face it, it does look pretty legitimate- then retro gamers and lovers of classic adventure games worldwide will have a chance to own a piece of gaming history. Mystery House, you see, released in 1980, was the first game On-Line Systems developed before it eventually evolved into Sierra, the first adventure designed by Roberta Williams and quite possibly the first adventure game ever to feature graphics. It also is quite a rarity, and should you decide not to bid on the thing -it wont be cheap- you can freely play it online. 

1UP (HEART) Retro Treasures

In a most touching web-based moment, the Artful Gamer was kind enough to let me know that our dear, hopelessly-stuck-in-the-past Retro Treasures blog has been in included in 1UP's 101 Favorite Gaming Sites. No, really, just click here and smile broadly; also do check those other 100 gaming sites suggested. Thanks a ton 1UP!

Fun Home Entertainment Systems

Time for one more lovely guest post; this time focusing on Nintendo's ground-breaking NES console. Mind you, there are many NESs to be found on eBay.com and eBay.co.uk.

When the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) was released in the United States in 1985, it revolutionized video games. The graphics and game play blew away everything else at the time. The console would permanently change video gaming by the time it was discontinued in the US in 1995. It has to be considered one of the best video game systems of all time. Growing up in the 1980’s meant growing up with video games and especially Nintendo. Families that did not have the NES console knew someone who did, and it was a highly coveted.

The graphics on the NES were far superior to anything else available at the time, offering many more colors and greater detail to images. Many games included iconic characters such as Mario, Donkey Kong, and Link, in the Legend of Zelda series. The combination of graphics improvements and unique characters made the gaming experience engaging for those of all ages. While the console came with two controllers, some games were meant to be played as a single player and others offered a two player mode. The games were interactive and competitive.

By the time the NES was discontinued, Nintendo reported that it sold almost 62 million units. Some of its best selling games belonged to the Mario franchise including over 40 million copies of Super Mario Brothers that was often packaged with the console and Super Mario Bros 3, which sold 18 million copies. This franchise is one of several that remained popular on following consoles from Nintendo. The establishment of unique, colorful characters is a part of what makes this system successful.

About the author: James Mowery is a computer geek that writes about technology and related topics. To read more blog posts by him, go to monitors.

8 issues of Interface Magazine

A beautiful site and a UK only rarity, but I simply couldn't avoid linking to this excellent Interface magazine eBay auction. You'll apparently be bidding on 8 issues, mostly covering the Sinclair ZX80 and ZX81. Lovely.

One more Commodore 64 lot

We all know that the 8-bit Commodore 64 still is the most popular computer ever, don't we? Well, now we definitely do, and the US-based readers of Retro Treasures might want to give this Commodore 64 auction a look. It sports a boxed C64 with an equally boxed disk drive, a printer, a joystick, four cartridges (including the incredibly handy Fast Load cart) and a variety of mostly pirated games.

Fighting Vipers (Sega Saturn)

Fighting Vipers, Sega's excellent fighting game for the Japanese Sega Saturn, has gotten a huge price reduction over at Play Asia and you can now grab it for less than 8$ / 6 euros, which, quite frankly, is a true retro bargain. Seems like a limited time offer, mind.  

Deluxe Paint III (Amiga)

It's a pixel artist's retro dream and quite possibly the best graphics and animation creator that can run on your Amiga. It's Deluxe Paint III by Electronic Arts and you can now grab it in its original box for a more than reasonable price with a little help from the Attic Bug. Seller ships worldwide. 

Classic Retro Gaming Machines Revisited

Well, we never had a guest post at Retro Treasures, but that's about to change, as a friend of this blog, James Mowey, shares his thoughts on classic gaming.

What is it about retro gaming machines that make them so popular? Today, when you watch a television commercial that promotes the newest and best game on the market, you are completely blown away by the sound, video, and graphics. You would think this would make people forget about the classic games of the past such a Donkey Kong, Berserker, or Centipede. So, what is so appealing about these gaming systems that invigorates so many to keep collecting them? Well, the answer is no different than the reasons why classic movies are so popular: they are classics. That means they are timeless. Ironically, in addition to being timeless, they also remain time capsules to an era that was long ago.

Many people may have fond memories of playing on an Atari 2600 on a black and white television. Such imagery harkens back to the early 1980s and nothing that leads you to think back into the past exists in a vacuum. In other words, you do not merely re-experience the game play. You also experience the sights, sounds, and feelings of the prior era. This is why so many older people have a love for collecting the older retro gaming machines (both arcade size and home entertainment models) and investing more than a little bit of leisure time playing them. You could consider the experience something akin to a feel good therapy sessions. That is, such games allow the person to drift back to a simpler time in their life. Granted, not everyone taking part in playing these retro games will realize what is occurring. The impact may be subconscious but the pleasure sensation it yields will be there. Either way, it is all good. Such gaming sessions can be a great deal of fun which is why they are so popular. Yes, what is old is new again.

About the author: James Mowery is a computer geek that writes about technology and related topics. To read more blog posts by him, go to led tv.

Atari Jaguar: A Developer's Flash Cart

What you see above is the rare Atari Jaguar Flash Cart. These were originally developed for a trial program Atari ran in Florida that was to allow gamers to download games broadcast over the cable TV network to one of these cartridges. Unfortunately the plan, cunning though it was, never got anywhere, as the required hardware combination would have been ridiculously expensive. The flash carts themselves were handy enough to be used internally for development reasons. They were often used to take demo and beta games to trade shows, or to send to gaming magazines as review copies. When Atari folded at the end of the Tramiel era all remaining flash carts and development kits were recalled to Atari for destruction - only very few survived. One of them can be grabbed via this Atari Jaguar Developer Flash Cart auction. Seller ships worldwide.

Arcade Phantom-1 (Neo Geo)

If you are the proud owner of a Neo Geo AES you'll have already noticed just how expensive the games for your console are, especially when compared to their MVS arcade versions. Well, that's a problem the !Arcade! Phantom-1 can, despite its relative rarity, solve, as it allows for MVS games to played on AES cosnoles. You can bid on one via this intriguing and US only !Arcade! Phantom-1 eBay auction.

Atari Lynx II & Games

This Atari Lynx II @ eBay seems to be in great condition and might even turn into a bargain. Seller ships only to E.U. addresses and has thrown a carrying case and two classic games (Klax and Gauntlet) into the mix.