Browsing all 54 articles in Journal.
Regulars of the Racketboy site will know that I get quite interested in those hard-to-find games. And while collector’s box sets are rather common in today’s industry, they were rather uncommon in the 1990′s. Because of this, it’s hard to find solid documentation on some of them. Fortunately, these rare sets sometimes end up on eBay and the sellers want to take plenty of pictures in order to maximize their return (and avoid disappointment when the buyer receives [...]
Originally written in 2007 / Updated in 2012 When the average gamer sees someone who claims to be a retro gamer, they tend to think of them as someone who is a classic gaming elitist that shuns anything new and flashy. They may also think that classic gamers are stuck wearing “rose-colored glasses”, remembering games from their childhood as better than they really are. I’ve decided to break that stereotype by sharing my view on retro gaming and why I [...]
A few months ago, I made by first visit to Colorado. (Lovely state, by the way!) As usual when we are visiting a new area, my wife and I often do a little research to see if there are any interesting gaming locations in the area. We found an indie game store, but I wasn’t a fan of the pricing and the selection didn’t blow my mind, so I didn’t find it worth a full tour. However, there is a [...]
I may not be a Neo-Geo expert, but I’ve ran this site long enough to know that there’s a number of SNK fans that aren’t keen on Dion Dakis. The co-founder of NeoGeoFreak pushed the buttons of a lot of American Neo-Geo collectors with his online antics and personality. Last summer I had a trip out to Las Vegas and I worked it into my schedule to sit down with Dion Dakis for an evening and talk about the last [...]
It has been quite a while since I’ve done a product review, but since I’ve been offered some review copies of some Retro Gaming books, I thought I’d give the concept another whirl. Personally, I’m quite an information junkie – especially for topics I enjoy. My love for curating information is a big part of why I started this site in the first place. This first book I’m reviewing, Classic Home Video Games, 1989-1990 (see previous entries in the series) [...]
Up until recent years, the Atari 2600 game, Red Sea Crossing (see its mention in our guide of the Rarest and Most Valuable Atari 2600 Games) was a bit of a mystery. A recent seller, however, did include the following advertisement from the October 7, 1983 issue of Christianity Today, which may be the only marketing ever released for the game. We have yet to see the game in any form other than just the cart, but the advertisement states that [...]
It is very easy to get overwhelmed when collecting vintage video games. It can be tempting to attempt to collect full console libraries of games, but sometimes focusing on a certain sub-category of a particular library can often be a more practical (and many times more enjoyable) experience. This is the first of a series of collecting guides that will focus on a subset of games that are popular with collectors. The launch titles for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) [...]
Even though retro-styled games are making a comeback of sorts, important establishments that are part of retro gaming culture such as arcades and stores that stock retro games and gear are still on the decline. Since these establishments are becoming such a rarity, we need to keep retro gamers educated where existing places are located and make sure they are supported sufficiently. We just started taking nominations for the best remaining arcades in the world, but for this post, I wanted [...]
You might remember my interview and store tour with Jason from Trade N Games (based in St. Louis, MO area) (See our interview here). Well anyway, I wanted to share an extra video segment from that day where he shared his thoughts on sealed games and how you can spot fake sealed games in the wild. I also thought I’d round up some other tips to share with you in case you are on the lookout for sealed games. Sealed [...]
For those of you that are old-school Sega Junkies (especially fans of the Dreamcast), you may have heard of Sega’s simulation adventure that puts you in control of the (at the time) beloved hardware and software maker. Segagaga was filled with lots of fanboy humor and put you on a mission to beat Sega’s competitor, “DOGMA” (which is a parody of the PS2-era Sony). Sounds like a Dreamcast fanboy’s dream come true, huh? Well, the only problem is that [...]
A little over a week ago, I attended PAX East in Boston for the second time and was able to attend a few very interesting panels that were related to retro gaming. My favorite panel of the bunch was entitled “Ten Games You Need to Play: The Digital Game Canon” put on by the IGDA (International Game Developers Association). The title is a bit misleading as the panel didn’t really talk about the “Ten Games You Need To Play”, but [...]
Check out the Racketboy Youtube Channel and Facebook Photo Set for related media As we all know, arcades are disappearing around the world – even in the largest of cities. I know that here in the Midwest part of the US, there are only a handful of quality arcades and not many “mega arcades” . Since I was making a trip out to California to visit my brother, I wanted to make a special detour to Santa Cruz to revisit [...]
From an eBay Auction in October 2012: “What I have here is an Atari 2600 game made by Rob Fulop. This game is extremely rare.Rob was working for Imagic at the time,but the game was never released.Rob eventually sold the game himself.There were only 50 ever made.Each cartridge was signed and numbered.This is #44.Included with this sale is the original letter from Rob about the game,also included is the packing envelope and game instructions.The letter and envelope both have Robs company [...]
The holiday shopping season is in full swing now and I thought it would be a great time to round up some products that would be useful for not only building up your own wishlists, but also might be some good gift ideas for other gamers in your lives or for friends that just need a little friendly re-introduction to retro gaming. As an added bonus, I invited the Racketboy staff members to share their recommendation for this gift guide. [...]
I get a real kick out of talking to owners of independent game stores. They always have so many interesting stories to tell, and often, cool things to show off. During my visit to Trade N Games while in St. Louis this past summer, I was treated to lots of both. I actually recorded about 80 minutes of footage while I was there and had a hard time cutting it down to fit it into the one Youtube clip I [...]
