Pigeon Forge 2018 (Pick Ups and Arcade Review)

As a last hurrah for summertime, we decided to take a small weekend trip to Pigeon Forge TN to do some sight seeing, swimming, and of course shopping.

On Saturday afternoon we made our way to Control Freak Video Games to peruse some retro games. I actually hadn't planned on buying anything, figuring that prices would be way out of hand being in a tourist town and all but I was pleasantly surprised. They definitely knew what they had and what their product was worth but weren't charging an arm and a leg by any means. The selection was nice, with just about any common game you were looking for readily available and of course the rarer pieces behind the glass to draw your attention. I especially liked their case of rarer import consoles, which were of course for sale but not in my price range for what I had budgeted on this trip.

While they didn't have any games I didn't already have in my collection on the racks, I did find some neat souvenirs to bring home.

Poster Prints: R-Type and Chrono Trigger

Arnold Palmer Tournament Golf. This was a dollar complete and I didn't have it so I couldn't exactly pass it up but my main intention was to confuse my brother. Like "we're having a game night tonight and you're picking golf?" I also wanted to try out a Fantasy Zone related trick I heard about recently.

If you're curious, on the first hole try to take over 100 strokes before reaching the putting green for a surprise. It's a neat easter egg and also the game's way of telling you that maybe Golf isn't exactly your game.


Just click here to save yourself a ton of time.







I also snagged these Sonic and Tails decals. Not exactly sure what I'll stick them on yet. I'm bad about stickers this way. What if I don't like where I put them? They'll probably just end up in my folder with all the other sticker sheets I've found over the years. Anyone else have this problem?

Before grabbing dinner for the evening the kids were itching to get some go kart racing and arcade play in. This brought us to the Rockin' Raceway.

Now I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a go kart racing expert by any means. I can say that the karts handled well and I was able to go fast so that got an A plus in my book.\

The arcade on the other hand, well it's not exactly something that would please an enthusiast looking for the classics. Their main focus seemed to be aimed at ticket redemption, so we loaded up the kids with tokens and sent them on their quest for spider rings and candy that could be obtained much cheaper at a gas station.

That's not to say there weren't a few things here and there for the 30 somethings though. They had a nice Sega Super GT setup that felt like it was well maintained. They also had a couple of Sega 18 Wheeler Pro Trucker cabinets, though I never was much of a fan of these.

As we made our rounds looking for something engaging to play, out of the corner of my eye I caught sight of the Street Fighter 3 Third Strike character select screen, a personal favorite. The excitement grew fast but crashed and burned when I saw that it was actually one of those multicade machines that 9 times out of 10 look like they're built from leftover particle board. My heart sank even more when I saw the joystick layout.

This has got to be, hands down, the worst button layout I've ever seen.

So unless you have Hulk sized hands, rest assured there's no way to effectively play 90 percent of the games on this cabinet. But I thought, what the heck, let's give it a shot for laughs since it was only a single token to play. That's a token I'll never get back. Not only did my muscle memory have me pushing the blank spaces between buttons, but the controls had been setup backwards-kicks on top and punches on the bottom. 3rd Strike wasn't the only game that suffered; my brother took a shot at Capcom's Alien vs Predator and had similar difficulties.

So the Rockin' Arcade ended up being a bust for the adults but at least the kids had a good time. I obviously can't recommend it for anyone looking for the traditional arcade experience but I suppose it makes for a good enough break between go kart races. One bit of silver lining is that they still use their own unique tokens for the games, so I took one home to add to my token collection.

Overall it was a great weekend and it was refreshing to do one last mini vacation before going back to the day to day of work and school. There's plenty to in Pigeon Forge no matter what you're interested in and I'm sure I'll be back in the future.

Hello and Welcome!

Hello and thanks for stopping by! If you've never stumbled upon my blog before, this is pretty much my personal space for sharing my thoughts on old video games, comics, movies and other stuff I was into in the 80's and 90's.

Don't expect anything ground breaking from this post, I'm mostly just kicking the dust off and other tidying up of links and other pages. I've been thinking of getting back into blogging again and I was struggling with whether or not I should create a new one or pick this one back up. Strangely enough it looks like my old reviews still get a number of hits here and there despite my inactivity. So since I have a bit of content built here I decided to just pick things back up.

In the coming days I'll be posting some new reviews I've been working on. Maybe a bit of my junk finds and history as well. If you decide to stay and have a look around I apologize in advance if you see anything moving around or disappearing while I make sure everything is in working order.

Again thank you stopping by and I hope you'll come again soon!

Comic Review: Sonic Mega Drive #1

2016 saw the 25th anniversary of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise and with that two new game announcements in the form of Sonic Mania and the tentatively titled Sonic 2017. So of course with Archie Comics being the comic license holder for the past 25 years it's only fitting that they get in on the celebration too. What better way to do that than to take a step back to where it all began, the 16-bit classic Sonic era.

Sonic Mega Drive is an original story set after the events of the Sega Genesis/CD games that sounds like it came right out of an instruction manual from the time. Dr. Robotnik, now referred to as Eggman, is searching for mysterious relics known as the Ancient Gears to power a new super weapon, the Mega Drive, to dominate the world and get revenge for the Death Egg incident. That's it in a nutshell but Ian Flynn's hilarious dialogue and handling of the characters will keep you wanting more.

If you haven't guessed from the cover, the stars of the story are Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and a more confident and capable Amy Rose than when we met her in Sonic CD. Much to my personal delight the SatAM and original Archie characters are nowhere to be seen. Not that I don't like those characters post-reboot of the Archie universe (that's a discussion for another time), I just feel that if you're celebrating the anniversary of the games this is the way to go.

The artwork in this issue, with pencils by Tyson Hesse (@boxerhockey) and colors by Matt Herms (@MattHerms), is just stunning. It reminds me of the art style of the Sonic CD cut scenes and the Sonic OVA touched with Hesse's personal flair. The poses and expressions used give the characters such fluidity it sometimes seems like you're looking at stills from a long lost animation. I would kill for a new animated feature in this style.

I highly recommend picking up a copy of Mega Drive for all 16 bit gaming fans looking for a nostalgia trip outside of playing the games themselves. If you're a Sonic the Hedgehog fan you simply can't miss it, even if you're not a comic collector. The cover art itself would make an excellent backdrop for a Japanese Mega Drive cart collection, don't you think? You can really tell each page of this book was a labor of love for this franchise and I would love for this to become a stand alone series outside of the Archie universe on a long term scale. Bravo!

Review of the next issue, Sonic Mega Drive: "The Next Level" coming soon.

Highlights of 2016: Retro Gaming and Other Stuff

Since I didn't post anything during 2016, I thought I'd share some highlights on some of my favorite pick ups from last year. I can at least say 2016 was good for my retro gaming hobby.

Sega Master System Games

All found in the wild, except for Sonic 1. I don't like to resort to eBay but I couldn't pass it up for 10 bucks from Europe.

Comics

If you haven't had a chance to read the Sonic Mega Drive mini series by Archie you need to get on that. Especially if you're a fan of classic Sonic. Expect reviews of these soon.

Sonic Lego Dimensions

My kids and I have joined the Lego Dimensions crazy with Sonic of course being my favorite of the series. It's a lot of good silly fun. I'll be doing a review of this in the near future as well.

Old School Sonic Fan Art

I discovered this fan art folded up in a cheap complete copy of Zero Tolerance, along with a bunch of passwords. It's really cool to see some classic Sonic fan art from back in the day. I wonder if I can ever find the original owner, haha.

So those are some of my favorite finds of 2016. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you find your way back here for the upcoming reviews. Until then!

Flea Market and Retro Gaming Finds All New 2016!

Since it's been a while since the last time I reported on my flea market finds I thought I'd just compile all the things I've found since August of last year. Special thanks and shout outs to @Retro_Brandon, @FZenbeast and @PhaserPulse for accompanying me on the flea market and local hunts.

It's been so long that I can't remember the timeline for when I got this stuff exactly, so we'll just run through it as I snap pics.

Various Sega Master System games.

Special thanks to @Mark16bit for hooking me up with the handy dandy Power Base Converter!

The Sega Light Phaser.

Various Sega Genesis games. Special thanks to @Retro_Brandon for helping me complete my Valis collection with Syd of Valis.

Another Game Genie with code book and code update booklets.

Stack of Sega Visions magazines. The Sonic 3 issue was the only one I can actually remember from being a kid though I had several.

Sonic and Knuckles standee. My dad picked this up from his work after the release of Sonic and Knuckles. I lost track of it after moving a few times and luckily my brother @FZenbeast found it in the family storage. Thanks bro!

 

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Saying Farewell to 2015

2015 sure was a wild ride to say the least! It had its ups and some downs that I never saw coming but that's what makes life such an interesting journey. I can say with confidence that I grew a lot as a person this year and despite those ugly down times I feel like I've come through with my head above water for once.

So, to keep it short and sweet, so long 2015 and hello 2016. To everyone out celebrating tonight, please be safe and don't risk driving if you've had anything to drink! See you next year!

Updates and New Stuff

I know, I've been majorly slacking lately. It seems like this blog continues to get lots of hits per day even though I haven't been posting any new content since August, so I want to thank everyone that continues to visit and browse my reviews. It really means a lot!

I'm juggling a lot of things in my personal life at the moment so updates may continue to be sparse for the next month or so. I do have some game reviews lined up though, so I hope you'll stop by for those as I find the time to finish them. You may also notice some changes as I tweak some things here and there.

Let the rock in this image represent the struggles of adult life.

Haha, maybe it's not quite that bad. If you know me you know I always try to look to the more positive side of things. You've just got to keep moving forward against whatever obstacles life may throw at you.

In the meantime I'd like to invite you to check out my brother's new forum, The Mega Base. It's not out to become the next big gaming site or anything like that, just a place to hang out and chat with other like minded nerds and retro gaming enthusiasts.

I'd also like to give a shout out to Star Powered Gaming. If you live in the Southwestern region of Virginia or Eastern TN I encourage you to check out their Facebook page. They host weekly gaming tournaments in just about anything that can be played competitively. If you can make it out it's definitely a community you want to be a part of.

Thanks again for stopping by!