Genesis Does!

Time to introduce you to another slightly embarrassing hobby of mine. Or maybe not, as I'm not as extreme as certain collectors out there. For some reason I started collecting all things Sega Genesis. I mean everybody's got a collection of something, why not Genesis games? It was cheap, fun, and I love the system to death. If you're part of my generation and you played video games you fell into one of three categories: You had a Sega Genesis, you had a Super Nintendo, or you were a spoiled rich kid and you had both. I, as you might have guessed, was one of the kids with a Genesis.

I'm not entirely sure why I hold this particular system in the highest regard in terms of nostalgia, I mean I had an Atari 2600 and a Nintendo Entertainment System well before I graduated to the mighty Mega Drive. I guess when I got my hands on the Genesis in the 4th grade I was just at the age where I was old enough to start really understanding video games. Then again my favorite system after the Genesis just so happens to be the Dreamcast, so maybe I'm just a Sega fanboy in denial.

Interestingly enough I've noticed a divide among gamers my age. The majority of those who had the Genesis are more into action oriented, arcade style games. Those with the Super Nintendo are more satisfied by adventure games and RPGs. This isn't really shocking considering those were the strong suits of their particular systems. You couldn't get the Genesis speed out of a Super Nintendo or the Super Nintendo graphics and sound out of a Genesis. There are of course exceptions and arguments for and against everything I just said but that's okay... let's continue.

Over the years I've collected 87 Genesis and 32X (an ill fated add on designed to deliver better graphics and sound) games and a bunch of peripherals. Some I'm proud of (Gunstar Heroes) and others... not so much (Batman Forever). My original intention was to collect all of the games I used to rent when I was younger and for the most part I've succeeded. I'm missing a few but a large chunk of my childhood has been safely purchased. The Genesis isn't the only system I collect for but it's been my main focus if only because it means the most to me. Also, let's not kid ourselves; it's the least expensive.

It seems strange, since I can just download the entire ROM collection for the Genesis and probably safely fit it onto one DVD but there's just something about having those little black carts and in some cases, their plastic clamshell boxes. I'm not that anal about collecting the boxes which raise their value since I don't aim to sell the games any time soon, however they are nice to have. It's a shame some great games like Vectorman were cursed with the late model paper boxes that don't look as good or hold up as well.

I also learned that collecting is a nice way to get involved in online communities (like Ken Horowitz's awesome Sega-16). It's fun to meet others and discuss what's good, what's terrible, what's rare, and what's so common you can find ten copies of it in your dumpster out back. I really like talking with people who share a common interest in something I enjoy and sometimes they can even help me find that stubborn piece of my collection I've been looking for. I found the act of collecting to be almost as exciting as the games themselves, if only for the old memories and the new friends.

Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately for my savings account, I've slowed down my collecting in the past few months. I've gotten almost everything I want except for a few pieces that are so rare and expensive I doubt I'll ever manage to get my hands on them, I have my limits (here's looking at you M.U.S.H.A.). I'd recommend to anyone out there who's bored to try starting a collection of something they enjoy, it's a really rewarding experience.

I'll be keeping my eye open for the missing pieces of my collection. Just remember if you ever see a creepy guy filing through those archaic black cartridges in the back of your game store instead of swooning over the newest incarnation of Halo, it just might be me.

Who Digs Giant Robots?

I thought I'd make my first real post about what I've been obsessed over the most lately, Giant Robots, Super Robots specifically. My interest in heroes of the technological nature started with three separate cartoons if I remember correctly. The first was Iron Man, on the Marvel Action Hour which also featured a great Fantastic Four cartoon that for whatever reason just didn't interest me as much. I don't know what it was about Iron Man, maybe I just didn't find other heroes all that believable. Cosmic Rays weren't going to turn me into a Stretch Armstrong and getting bitten by a radio-active spider would probably give me cancer instead of allowing me to stick to walls. Iron Man however was born of technology, an armored suit that gave an otherwise ordinary man incredible powers. That I could buy, that I believed in, and Iron Man became my favorite super hero from that point on.


Next came The New Adventures of Gigantor on the Sci-Fi channel. At this point I didn't even know what anime was, or Japanimation as my friends and I originally called it, and just saw the show as any other normal cartoon. There was really nothing shocking or out of the ordinary for American television and it could have easily passed as your average cartoon. Gigantor (Known as Tetsujin-28 back in Japan) was my first giant robot, and my first foray into the Super Robot genre. Every episode was predictable with young Jimmy Sparks and his remote control commanding a mechanical behemoth to pound the living hell out of whatever giant robot was unfortunate enough to be the villain of the day. Though simplistic and silly, I was young and impressionable and Gigantor hammer punched his way to my heart. I just recently got to see a bootleg of this series again (since sadly no official DVD exists) and I was surprised by how much I actually remembered about this show. It struck the same cord as Iron Man (coincidentally Tetsujin-28 is Japanese for Iron Man-28), technology seemed the most plausible way for me to dream about super powers which probably branched off into my interest in science fiction in general. The impression this show left and the idea of fighting the forces of evil with a giant mechanical titan stayed with me for a long time, and was only strengthened by a brief obsession with Saban's Power Rangers like most male children my age. Despite not being as complex I still think Gigantor is cooler than the Megazord.


The third and final reason for my giant robot obsession was Robotech. Cartoon Network wasn't carried by my cable network for very long before the block called Toonami was created (It was much better in its original form than it is today). Robotech had been around for a while before then, but this was the first time I was able to see it. I know you otaku out there are screaming, "But it's three bastardized anime that are inferior in their Robotech form." I understand all that but for nostalgia purposes, the Robotech version of Macross is what influenced me, not the original (Which I also enjoy but that's not the point right now). I don't feel like explaining what all that means here so check out the wiki if you don't know what the heck I'm mumbling about. Despite Toonami showing another Super Robot show in the form of Voltron it was Robotech that caught my interest, the first Real Robot show I was ever exposed to. The soap opera like story telling was different than anything Western animation had provided me with thus far. Robotech challenged my beliefs in hero archetypes. This was a cartoon where no one was perfect, the bad guys weren't outright evil, and the goodguys sometimes lost or even died. This was mind-blowing for me at the age I watched it, almost incomprehensible. The action was fast and vicious and anything could happen to anyone. The robots themselves were as vulnerable as any other war machine instead of the invincible techno-gods I was used to (and the fact that they transformed into cool jet fighters didn't hurt either). After Robotech my love for all kinds of robot heroes flourished, in the hope of recapturing some of the magic I felt watching those earlier shows.

So let this post serve as a warning, if I ever get bored you might find me writing some reviews for robot shows or video games and rambling on about rocket punches and invincible super alloys.

Intarwab Two Point Oh

Welcome to my little blog, documenting my last year of college and beyond. Here-in you will be exposed to the ramblings of a geek just trying to find some place to publish his thoughts and interests. If people decide to read along with whatever I'm obsessed over on a day to day basis then so be it, if not that's fine too.

In any case, I'll skip the introductions because at this point nobody is reading and it'll be easier to get to know me through what I write about. You might be wondering about the title, it's just a play on words that partially pokes fun at by aversion to blogs or things like MySpace, LiveJournal and Facebook. I used to think those things were pretty vain, people using the Internet for all the wrong reasons. Blogs and online diaries just seemed like joke to me, like some futuristic version of a journal except the people you were talking to were real instead of imaginary. It just seemed unnecessary . I didn't get the point of publishing my thoughts on the web, who am I to jump online and make pages designed to boost my feeling of self-importance? I'd seen too many people make fools of themselves and get trolled off the net and I really didn't want to be a part of it.

Well I'm a little older and perhaps wiser now, and I've decided a blog might be a good place to publish my thoughts, even if nobody else is reading it's psychologically satisfying to believe someone else is. Over the next several weeks I plan to write about whatever I'm thinking about at the time while offering you, the great Intarwebs, an insight into the mind of an anonymous and geeky English major heading headlong into one of those nasty transitional moments in life.