Cruising Around Town in a 1972 Nintendo Lefty RX

This is the city.  I live here.


And this is my car.  1972 Nintendo Lefty RX.  Blue.  Only turns left.  Don`t ask why.

I like to cruise the streets with it.  Looking for trouble in all the wrong places.

 Anybody seen any trouble around here?

No?  OK, good.  No harm in asking.

Perhaps I should explain.  This cool blue car is a 41 year old piece of Nintendo`s past: the Lefty RX!

You can read a really good write up with all the details about its history and specs over on Erik`s awesome blog here. Basically it was a remote controlled car that, as the name perhaps suggests, could only turn left.  

 Mine is a really beat up one that is missing everything except the car.  Originally they came with a remote control and a bunch of other bits and pieces. 

 So mine is purely ornamental, but that is cool with me.  I like ornaments.

The Lefty RX is a pretty good looking car.  I`m not sure what it is modeled after, it looks like a cross between a Corvette and a Fairlady Z, but who knows?

I also like the fact that it has the old school Nintendo logo right on the hood. 

This isn`t a new purchase, I actually picked this up a couple of years ago when I was living in Fukuoka and have been meaning to do a post about it ever since.  They came in three colors - blue, gold and red.  I also have a gold one in equally beat up condition but I kind of like the blue one better. I hope to find a red one someday to complete the set.

 

I took these pictures on my way to and from work today.  It added a bit of fun to what are usually uneventful bike rides.

These are pretty hard to find, but they don`t seem to be too expensive, mine only cost 500 yen each (about 5$).  Ones in better condition with their boxes would go for quite a bit more than that though.

Either way, this is one of my favorite old Nintendo toys.  I keep these prominently displayed in my man cave, a must have item for the discerning Nintendo collector.

At the Kaiten Sushi Restaurant with a Turbo Twin Famicom

I found a cheap Turbo Twin Famicom at Omocha Souko today. As luck would have it the only reason I was at Omocha Souko today was that my wife and I were going to a local sushi place for dinner but arrived too early so we needed to kill a few minutes. The restaurant is right up the block from Omocha Souko so I suggested we spend a couple minutes browsing there.

Of course, when I found the Twin Fami they had just put out I had to have it, so we ended up lugging it to dinner with us.
And I just decided to take a few photos of it there because....hey, its not every day that you have a Twin Famicom at a sushi restaurant so why not make the best of a good opportunity?

It is a pretty cool restaurant. You order stuff from these video screens at the table and your food comes on these bullet trains right to you:
You aren`t actually allowed to take pictures in the place so I had to take these somewhat surreptitiously. Unfortunately that meant I couldn`t get many interesting angles or anything. I did make sure to get a shot with some sushi (actually beef) on the Twin Famicom though:
You don`t see that every day now do you?
Related Posts:
- I Nearly Died Getting a Red Twin Famicom Today
- Mega Bargain of the Day: Exorcising my Twin Famicom Demons

Spartan X

I'm sure every gamer has that one special video game. That one game that you used to watch the big kids play at the arcade when you were a kid, but never got to play yourself because you were a smaller kid and didn't have any quarters. All you could do was watch and yearn.
For me, that game was Spartan X. Well, actually it was "Kung Fu" as the game is known in North America, but for present purposes I'll refer to it using its Famicom title.
In the mid to late 80s my dad was stationed on an American air force base in West Germany. On base they had this rec centre for kids that I used to go to sometimes after school. Their biggest attraction was a Kung Fu arcade cabinet.
It was an extremely popular game. The bigger kids in Junior High or even High school had a virtual monopoly on it. Elementary school kids like me if we had quarters (I never did) would have to get in line. The best we could realistically hope for was to be allowed to look over the big kid's shoulders as they played.
I did a lot of that, watching and wishing I could play. I never played that Kung Fu game, but I knew it like the back of my hand just from watching the big kids sending those bad guys in their blue and purple jumpers hurtling off screen.

I think that feeling of longing - almost like unrequited love - really heightened my appreciation of the game. In my adulthood it evokes different, but equally strong, feelings for Spartan X when compared to games which I actually owned and played.
Twenty plus years later when I started collecting Famicom games I discovered that the same arcade game I had so badly wanted to play as a kid was released on the Famicom as Spartan X. It immediately became the game that I wanted most (after Antarctic Adventure which I wanted for my wife). Despite the fact that it is a relatively common game it took me a few months to find, though having already waited more than two decades at that point it wasn't such a big deal.
I finally found it one day at Omocha Souko. It was just so amazing. I raced home and immediately put it in. So worth the wait. The kicking. The punching. The.....well, basically just kicking and punching. But so MUCH kicking and punching!

Now I somehow have accumulated five copies of it, as you can see from these photos. In addition to being one of my favorite games to play, it is also one of my favorite carts. The purple looks brilliant, as does the look on Thomas' face as he kicks the henchman. Absolutely fabulous.

Related Posts:
- Planes, Trains and North Korean Propoganda
-Tour d' Excitebike

Mario Bros. Game and Watch Hits the Road

As I indicated in my previous post, we got a dog. More specifically, my wife got a dog. This means that I am entitled to some equalization purchases of my own and so I've been buying stuff not out of the junk bins but out of the glass cases of this lovely city's retro game and toy shops this week. One recent purchase was the Mario Brothers Game and Watch.
This is a great game. It is nothing at all like the Mario Bros. Famicom game. You basically just have to pile boxes on a conveyor belt and, controlling both Mario and Luigi, get them to the top of the screen where they are loaded onto a truck. If you drop one, your boss character comes out and yells at you. It is great.
I bought this at Omocha Souko. They had a grand total of two Game and Watches, this one and Donkey Kong 2. Originally I intended to purchase Donkey Kong 2 rather than Mario Bros. as I'm quite taken with the look of that one. After my experience buying a broken TV Game 15 from them, however, I decided to bring my own batteries to the store to test them before forking over my cash. The staff member was not at all cooperative with this request ("just let me put the batteries in to see if it works"), but it turned out to be a good idea as Donkey Kong 2 did not work at all. They were selling these "as is", but with prices high enough that they really should have been tested and working. Mario Bros. was 4500 yen and Donkey Kong 2 was 5500. Those are reasonable prices for working ones, but a complete rip off for a broken one.
I'm very satisfied with this one though. It works perfectly, is in nice condition (some minor surface wear but that is it) and it is a great game that fits right into your pocket. I took the scenic route on the way home from Omocha Souko and took these photos at various points along the way.
So if you are looking for a fun Game and Watch, I give Mario Bros. a thumbs up!

Related Posts:
- The Unveiling (Drum Roll): Donkey Kong Hockey!

One Hour Famicom Beach Vacation

Spring is here! Winter is gone! Thank god for that.

I've grown tired of being cooped up indoors during the cold months. I hate cold. Tragic that I should have been born a Canadian with such an affliction. Southwestern Japan with its semi-tropical climate that only has a relatively short cold season is ideally suited to a person of my tastes.

So when I saw that today would be a warm sunny day, my mind turned to taking to the open road on my bicycle - my favorite warm weather activity. There is nothing better in the world than living in a place like this with a day all to yourself and two wheels beneath you. The feeling of freedom and the fun of having a massive expanse of coastline, cityscape, mountains and other things to explore is a feeling like none other.

Unfortunately today was not such a day. I'm just too busy these days to take a whole day off, tempting though it is. I had things to do downtown in the morning and then a ton of work waiting at home for me when I got back. But I knew I could squeeze an hour in between of idly doing nothing in the sun, and that would have to suffice.

I also knew that my schedule would take me to the vicinity of Momochihama, where one of the nicer beaches in town is. And finally I knew that none of my Famicoms had never been to the beach even though they look like they would really enjoy the experience. Thus an idea was born:

One Hour Famicom Beach Vacation!!!

So I tossed one of them into my backpack and, after my morning errands were taken care of, we headed off to the beach.

First stop: A picnic table where I sat down for lunch overlooking the islands of Hakata Bay:
Then: The sandy beach. Incidentally, never do this with a Famicom you care about. Sand really does get into everything.
Then: Out onto the breakwater for a better view of the Bay:
The island in the background of the above photo is Nokonoshima. There is a ferry that leaves from near this beach and only costs about 200 yen. Its a really great place to take a day trip - lots of beaches, hiking trails and nature. The missus and I love the place.

Anyway, after that another breakwater, but this time looking back at the beach:
The tall building is Fukuoka tower, the tallest structure in Kyushu. For 800 yen you can take an elevator to the top, but we gave it a miss this time.
One last item of interest at the Momochi beach is this fake church. It is a wedding hall made to look like a Spanish colonial church. Despite being consciously designed to look like a religious establishment, it has no religious significance whatsoever. I didn't take a picture of the Famicom with it, I thought this facade would completely upstage the Famicom:
And that was the end of our one hour beach vacation. Its a shame that more people don't do outdoor things with their consoles. I guess its the lack of outlets to plug them into. Nonetheless, I'd like to nominate March 4th as "Take your retro console to the beach day".

And with that idiotic though expressed for all to see, I'm off to work again....

Planes, Trains and North Korean Propaganda: Tour de Super Mario Brothers 2011

OK, I promise not to do this too often.

Its January. Its raining. Its cold. I have a camera, five Super Mario Brothers Famicom carts, a bit of free time and a penchant for taking pictures of stuff I have five of.

Having done something very similar with my five Excitebikes a few months ago and not wanting to go to the same creative well too often I was a bit hesitant to do this. But the handwriting was on the wall: time for another Famicom cart tour. So off we went.

First stop: the library.
A shelf of English translations of ancient Japanese poetry caught their eye:
Then, an old newspaper from 1931 lying on a shelf. Early Showa retro meets late Showa retro:
But that wasn't really why we were there. They wanted the good stuff. You know. The North Korean propaganda section!!! Whoa yeah!
In their naivety the Super Mario Brother carts believe that North Korea is some sort of amusing lair run by Dr. Evil, who they are a real fan of. They've got it all. They're own Frau Farbissina:
Accordian lessons:
And absolutely immense quantities of lipstick for their performing artists:
So they really like to break open the old North Korean propaganda literature that our library - for god only knows what reason - has a whole shelf devoted to:
Oh and the collected works of Kim Il Sung:
Oh how they do enjoy the library:
After that, outside to the trains!
They fit just perfectly in here:
This shot I like:
Next stop: Planes!And then the rain started again so I went home.