Saturday, December 29, 2012

New Year Update: Retro Gaming Withdrawal Symptoms

 As I mentioned, by way of explanation for my four month absence from blogging, I had a big move/ job change back in October.  Sadly, since that time, I have been almost completely out of my beloved retro gaming loop.  I just plain don`t have the time that I used to back in good old Fukuoka.  Moreover I don`t have the good Famicom shops conveniently located right next to my place.  Oh Omocha Souko....how I do miss you!

Our new apartment is really great, but sadly I have had to put most of my retro gaming gear collection - the Intellivision, Super Famicom, PC Engine, Color TV Game 15, Sega Mark III and about half a dozen other vintage consoles - into storage due to lack of space.  The only thing I was able to salvage was my AV Famicom, which now sits in a little piece from IKEA, and about 200 of my favorite Famicom carts.  Yup, that means that even the bulk of my Famicom collection is in storage too!

Sadly this also means that my much beloved Famicom cart shelf fashioned out of dish drying racks that I was so proud of a couple years ago also is no more.  We had to make some hard choices while packing up and this was placed into a box that was carted away by a truck headed to a recycling centre a couple days before we left.  It did, I should say, prove its usefulness for those two years so I stick by my original post in which I recommended putting one of these together.
On the plus side, not all is lost.  Today I received in the mail a copy of Maniac Mansion, the first new cart I have added to my collection since the summer.  So I am slowlygetting back on the horse.  Once again my resolution for the coming year is to get a few carts closer to that goal of collecting them all:)

Happy New Year everyone.  And a belated Merry Christmas.

15 comments:

  1. Happy new year! Here's hoping you can post more and get closer to completing your collection. (I'll keep working toward my far more modest "get every NES black box game" goal)

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  2. Yay! Another post :) Sorry to hear you're too busy to blog and play games these days. Is the work situation one that will ease up eventually, or is this how it's going to be for you for some time?

    Also, I'm sorry to hear that you no longer have enough room in your apartment to display your gaming stuff. At least you have room for your trusty AV Famicom and a good number of Fami games, though :)

    BTW, do you mind me asking where you guys moved to? I'm guessing you're no longer in Fukuoka regardless?

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  3. It's nice to see you post again, I hope you have more time in 2013? W**k gets in the way of everything! :( Wishing you Happy New Year :)

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  4. Just keep hanging in there, Sean. All's well that ends well, right? Just keep your spirits up and your love of games alive, and I'm sure things will work out. Also, happy new year!

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  5. Hi, how did you mount the racks that held the famicom cassettes at you old place? Nails?

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  6. I usually only read you’re RSS feed on my phone so I’ve never commented before, but as someone who is interested in classic non-US games I wanted to chime in to say that you’re one of my favorite resources on classic Japanese games (especially since I actually got to visit Japan and see the gaming shops myself). I only discovered your blog a few months before you went on semi-hiatus but I wanted to let you know that you bring an excellent mix of excitement and the desire to educate to your writing and it’s much appreciated. I honestly get excited every time one of your posts appears.

    Don’t worry about slowing your posting down due to your non-gaming life catching up with you (as it does to most of us as we get older). Good luck over there and I’m looking forward to anything you may write in the future.

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  7. Sorry to hear things are still really hectic for you there Sean! Your blog is fantastic and has been missed but there are bigger priorities I guess, right? :) Looking forward to more posts but only when you have the time and motivation!

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  8. Thanks Bruce, Lukey,Skyrunner, Simon!!

    Bryan - thanks! I`m not in Fukuoka anymore. I don`t mind you asking where I am at all, though for work reasons I`d rather not post my new location publicly. Still in Japan though :)

    Steven - actually I was just using thumb tacs (lots of them though). Nails would work better.

    Marc - thanks for the kind comment, it is much appreciated! Hopefully I have a few more decent retro game posts left in me!

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  9. That sucks, Sean. Out of my many consoles, I can only get three at a time due to the fact there's not much space on the TV rack. I really need to get that N64 out some time.

    Well, I hope that doesn't get in the way of showing your stuff. Happy new year, best of luck!

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  10. Such is life, huh? We visited Japan back in October/November and had a blast, but can definitely understand the lack of space around the place and can appreciate that work's making a dent in your time for blogging and retro shopping. I certainly can't talk, as my blogging has really slowed down this year, and I'm taking my sweet time getting my Japan travel diary entries on my site too!

    On the up side, it sounds like things are positive at your end with life at the moment, so I hope all continues to go well!

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  11. Kaibun -I feel your pain! My dream is to one day have a man-cave of my very own with a whole wall devoted to my retro gaming stuff.

    Sean - indeed :) I saw some of your Japan posts, hope to see more! Lack of space is a big problem for the Japan-based gamer, at least in the city.

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  12. Hey Sean, do you have a 3DS, or have you considered getting one?

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  13. Nah, I don`t do new gaming stuff, only retro!

    Well, actually I do have an iPad that I sometimes play Angry Birds on, but that is as far as I`ll go :)

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  14. Hi, if the site owner reads this, any chance you can get in touch? I'm a reporter doing a story on retro gaming collectors. drew@psipublishinganddesign.com

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