Tuesday, May 31, 2011

The great Atari - Tiger.com bundle

And now for something truly impressive the excellent Game Set Watch just discovered: the greatest Atari Jaguar, Atari Lynx and Tiger.com bundle you ever seen, the complete GoAtari.com stock, is up for grabs. All you have to do is click yourselves over to GoAtari and make the best offer you can for items with an estimated value of over 300,000$. You will then be ready to open your very own retro gaming shop or spend a lifetime putting things up on eBay, as this huge bundle includes a staggering amount of items. Here are some of the more impressive examples: 149 Lynx consoles, 241 Jaguar consoles, 85 Tiger.com handhelds, 4940 (!) Jaguar controllers, 312 copies of Myst on Jag-CD, 145 copies of Tournament Cyberball (Lynx), 7 copies of Aliens vs Predator (Jaguar) and 332 copies of Resident Evil (Tiger.com). Impressive, eh?

Maniac Mansion NES

Ron Gilbert's pioneering Maniac Mansion was such a hit with the home-computing and PC crowd that it eventually found its way to Nintendo's NES, thus becoming the first (and one of the few) truly quality point-and-click adventure to ever hit a console. Yes, despite being heavily and ridiculously censored. What's more, it isn't the most common game you'll ever grab, especially in its complete, boxed version which you can grab via this Maniac Mansion eBay auction. Seller ships only to US addresses and you'll be getting the cartridge, the game's box, a protector sleeve, the manual, a hints & tips poster and a Nintendo Power pamphlet.  

Monday, May 30, 2011

Codemasters CD Games Pack

When the Codemasters CD Games Pack was released back in 1989 it sounded too impressive to be true. I mean, it was the era of amazingly expensive CD-ROM drives, and here was a company telling us that a simple audio CD and an already aged 8-bit computer were all that was needed to enter the age of CD-based gaming. Shockingly it was telling the truth, though that truth was less impressive than it sounded. The CD Games Pack, you see, came with a cable and software that let you actually connect a CD drive to your 8-bit micro, allowing you to play one of the 30 -standard- games available on disc. They loaded better and faster than your average tape-based game, and the novelty was impressive, but truth be said the thing's price was a bit over the top for a mere collection.

You can find out more about the CD Games Pack here and see a most insightful video here. Oh, and you can grab a gloriously boxed and rather rare Codemasters CD Games Pack for the ZX Spectrum via eBay. It contains the CD with 30 games, the CD-cable, a headphone adaptor, a manual and the neccessary software tape. Seller only ships within Europe.

Friday, May 27, 2011

ColecoVision & Expansion #1

Care to try your luck on a cheap ColecoVision bundle? Well then, this lovely Colecovision & Expansion #1 & games should be of interest. You will biding on a boxed console with two controlers, the boxed expansion that will let you play Atari VCS/2600 games and 7 cartidges (including Donkey Kong, Zaxxon and Smurf rescue). The only problem is it comes with a damaged TV-connector and could thus be considered a gamble. Seller ships only within the US.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

The Pravetz 8D 8-bit micro

As far as Oric Atmos clones go, the Bulgarian Pravetz 8D must be the most interesting I've ever encountered. It was first released in 1985, sported 48k of RAM, 16k of ROM, a pretty standard AY-3-8912 sound chip, decent graphics and a most reasonable price-tag.  The micro could be connected to a TV, cassette player and even a disk-drive, while retaining its compatibility with the Oric Atmos. Oh, and it's quite an obscure rarity too these days.

Happily, you could grab one via this Pravetz 8D eBay auction. The computer is in working order and the seller is shipping to both the USA and Europe.

The Guide to Classic Graphic Adventures

Hardcoregaming101 has finally presented the world with the best book on classic adventure games so far: The Guide to Classic Graphic Adventures. It's an excellently written and well illustrated 772 pages behemoth of a book that covers over 250 games from the 1984-2000 era, in what can only be described the closest thing to an adventure encyclopedia we've ever had. Every Sierra, Lucasarts/Lucasfilm and Legend game is obviously covered, as are classic games from all major developers (including Infocom, Microprose, Revolution, Cyan, Access) and major contemporary and indie releases. You can grab the book via Amazon. It is an essential read for all adventure game gamers and collectors.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX

As far as Link's 8-bit, handheld adventures go, The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX for the GameBoy Color is one of the finest and indeed rarest available. It also is a great Zelda action-RPG and its Japanes edition comes in a lovely box. Oh, and you can now grab a discounted Link's Awakening via Play Asia; remember that it can be played an GBCs of all regions.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Supervision & TV Link

The Supervision TV Link is a true rarity and the only proper Supervision accessory ever sold. What's more it was a wildly innovative peripheral for its pre-Super Game Boy time, as it allowed gamers to play their Supervision cartridges on a full-size TV; in four glorious colours and with a lovely on-screen border too! You can grab a Watara Supervision handheld complete with its TV Link add-on via this eBay offer. Seller ships worldwide.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

BattleSphere for the Atari Jaguar

Despite being released in 2000 -a mere 11 years ago- BattleSphere is both one of the best and one of the rarest cartridges for the Atari Jaguar. It was after all released by a small company (4Play/ScatoLOGIC) during a period when Jaguar cartridge components were extremely scarce. Rumour has it that only a few hundred copies of the game were ever sold. You can find out more about the game here and try to grab a copy via this BattleSphere auction. Seller ships only to US addresses. 

Monday, May 16, 2011

Marble Madness (Amiga 500)

Back when Electronic Arts was still trying to be different from the rest of them corporate game makers, it released games in a truly unique and utterly brilliant way that was directly inspired by the music industry. You can see a fine example of these album/LP-boxes above and then click on the link to actually grab the complete Amiga version of Marble Madness. It's a pretty excellent arcade port too, mind. Seller ships worldwide.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

A complete Commodore 64

The venerable Commodore 64 remains the best-selling computer ever released and a glorious 8-bit gaming machine. What's more, it's generally cheap both to grab and to collect for, and this amazing C64 setup on eBay is a fantastic way to get started. You'll be getting the C64 itself, the necessary and bulky disk drive, a monitor, all cables and necessary bits, a cartridge, a primitive touch-pad (!) and a ton of floppy disks. Seller ships only to US addresses. 

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Sinclair ZX80 - boxed, mint and working

The Sinclair ZX80, the first proper Sinclair micro, was a lovely, simple and very cheap machine. Today, it remains lovely and simple, but is far from cheap. It is instead highly collectible, especially when discovered in mint, boxed and working condition; just like this particular Sinclair ZX80 @ eBay. Seller ships only within the UK. 

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Die Hard Trilogy (Sega Saturn)

The Die Hard Trilogy, a 1996 Probe offering, was one of the first truly successful, properly entertaining, modern movie adaptations for consoles. It featured three distinct game-styles (3rd person shooter, on-rails shooter, GTA-like driving bits) and was generally very well received. Apparently the thing seems to have also achieved some sort of cult status. Anyway. What matters is the fact that you can now grab a most decently priced copy of Die Hard Trilogy (for the Japanese Saturn) via Play Asia.    

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Heathkit ET-3400 Microprocessor Trainer

The Heathkit ET-3400 Microprocessor Trainer that can these days be grabbed via eBay (US only) -the one you see above- is as vintage a retro home-computer as they get. It was released back in 1976, was based on the Motorola 6800 processor, and according to its creators was "designed as a learning tool to teach microprocessor operation, programming, and applications". You can find out more about it here, here and here.

Monday, May 9, 2011

The Dark Queen of Krynn (PC)

SSI's The Dark Queen of Krynn, an Advanced Dungeons & Dragons CRPG in the company's famed Gold Box series, was released back in 1992 and was one of the first games of its genre to support 256-colour VGA graphics. Its version of Dragonlance is indeed beautiful, whereas the plot and of course gameplay itself haven't really aged a day. Oh, and you can grab a complete, boxed  and most probably very cheap copy of The Dark Queen of Krynn via eBay. Seller ships worldwide.

Friday, May 6, 2011

Ultimate Play the Game - The Collected Works

As far as ZX Spectrum games go (and, well, compilations) The Collected works of Ultimate Play the Game are more than desirable. A digitial, 8-bit Holy Grail of sorts. A rare Speccy rarity and even more so when it's the +3 disk version we are discussing. You can grab it via this Collected Works auction. The compilation is complete and boxed, meaning you'll be getting both 3" inch disks, the manuals and the tips pack. As for the included games, they are all classics: JetPac, Pssst, Cookie, TranzAm, Atic Atac, Lunar Jetman, Knight Lore, Alien 8, Nightshade and Gunfright. Seller ships worldwide. 

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Nintendo 64DD Randnet

Just like the SNES before it the N64, or to be precise the N64DD, came with its very own online service: the Randnet. The service allowed players to game online, browse the web and download unreleased games. It utilized the N64DD data storing abilities, the N64 4-Mega RAM expansion and the N64 modem to provide with a pretty lovely online gaming experience.

Interestingly, you can now grab a complete and rare Nintendo N64DD Randnet system via eBay. You'll be getting the 64DD Randnet System Starter Kit itself, the N64 modem, the Randnet disk, 8 games, a mouse, a microphone, the capture cassette, a bag, promo documents and more. Seller ships worldwide.  

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Two hardcopies of Vectrex source code

Now, that's an interesting rarity: a pair of binders with the original, printed source code for two Vectrex programs. It's the code for the internal "executive" ROM and the built-in -and rather excellent- game Minestorm. That's almost 200 pages of code, that is, and both collectors and homebrew Vectrex programmers should love it. To bid, do try this not particularly cheap Vectrex Source Code auction. Seller ships worldwide. 

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Anarchy in a Box

Anarchy, a 1990 Psygnosis release for the Commodore Amiga 500, remains a truly great horizontal shoot-'em-up. A lovely 16-bit clone of Defender, that sports some intriguing parallax scrolling and frantic gameplay.  Better grab this complete boxed copy of Anarchy @eBay then. Seller ships worldwide.

Monday, May 2, 2011

The Sharp X68000 Pro

When Sharp released the 16-bit beauty that is the X68000 it knew it had a winner in its hands. That's why the updated X68000 ACE and X68000 HD were promptly released, only to be surpassed by the X68000 Pro with its new OS, lovely GUI and extra expansion slots. To grab one of these wondrous home micros, you could do worse than checking out this X68000 Pro @ eBay. Seller ships worldwide and has bundled the computer with its keyboard, a VGA cable, the OS and 10 boxed games (including Wanderers from Ys, The New Zealand Story and Pacmania).

Nintendo Famicom Disk System

We all have to thank Retro Treasures stalwart reader Boris for discovering this pretty amazing Famicom Disk System auction. The add-on seems to be in excellent condition and comes with its original box and power adapter. Seller ships throughout Europe and seems incredibly sensible with shipping costs too.