Category: Otaku

Video City

July 12, 2016

In 1983 Topps released a set of trading cards based on popular video games of the era. Here’s an advert:

As it turns out, two of the games mentioned in the marketing – Centipede and Q-Bert – were not even in the final set, called Video City. Here’s the single unopened pack I recently purchased for about $8:

It was in remarkably good condition considering the age, and the wax seal was also unbroken. When I opened it, I was pleased to see the stick of gum hadn’t adhered to any of the cards. Wherever they’d been, they were stored well!

Each pack contains 3 scratch-off game cards like these:

The instructions are on the back:

The packs also contain three sheets of stickers:

The game cards are lacklustre, but I’m very impressed with how vibrant the stickers are. They’d look great on postcards…

There were several video game themed trading card sets in the early 80s, including Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Dragons Lair (!) and Zelda. Although released by a few different companies they mostly all followed the same format of stickers and game cards. I’ve been trying to get a pack of some of these sets (especially Dragon’s Lair) a while with no luck. If you ever see one, keep me in mind 🙂

Cadash

May 22, 2016

Today I dug out my TG-16 for a bit of retro gaming. Before I knew it, I’d spent a couple of hours in one of my all-time favourite games, Cadash.

I played this religiously back in the arcades when it came out in the late 80s. It’s a ‘platform RPG’ heavily inspired by Dungeons and Dragons with a good level of challenge and lovely graphics.

Of the four characters, I was always partial to the Ninja. The game plays quite differently with each though, and they’re all fun. I remember back in the day beating this in co-op with MMN many times.

The above shot shows me fighting a stroper, which is lifted directly from the D&D Monster Manual. It doesn’t stop there though, since the game also includes ‘eyes of the deep’…

And even ‘galeb duhr’…

It was only ported twice to consoles, and the TG-16 version is far superior to the Genesis port since it contains all 4 characters and better graphics. However continuing is impossible, so finishing it is a good challenge!

There’s the unusual ‘turbochip’ cartridge, one of only five I have for this now obscure system. Back when I bought the Turbographix it was because of Cadash, and Even though I do it only rarely, I love that I can get it out and play it again whenever I wish 🙂

We Are Providence

May 13, 2016

We drove to Providence today, on day one of our little getaway. I’d been considering such a trip for years, but after recently reading the newly reprinted Ramsey Campbell book ‘The Thing In The Lake’ the trigger had been pulled.

It was finally time to pay my respects to Lovecraft.

The first stop was a wonderful store downtown that promotes the memory and legacy of H.P. Lovecraft, an author (mostly) obscure in his life but now recognized as one of the most influential American authors to have ever lived. His contribution to the genres of fantasy and horror can hardly be underestimated, and I’ve been a fan for about 30 years.

The store had some remarkable items, and the lovely proprietress gave us a map of providence with all the Lovecraft sights on it. Afterwards we walked a few minutes to a local library to see this bust (which had been partially funded by Guillermo del Toro):

And then we headed to our primary destination, the Swan Point Cemetary. Specifically this small and somewhat unassuming tombstone:

Lovecraft was poor in his time, and upon his death didn’t even get his own gravestone (the above was erected over 50 years later). Initially he was only on the Phillips tombstone, behind me when I took the above shot. (Yes, I placed the tiny Cthulhu on top, but you can see offerings left by others – including foreign coins.)

Ironically he wrote about this very cemetary in his stories, as he did about many other sights in Ptovidence. He was a somber man, very poor and (as he believed) unsuccessful. If only he could have known how famous he would one day be, and how in a cemetary packed with incredible edifices the one that most people would come to visit was the tiny stone with his name on it.

Mr Lovecraft: your imagination was boundless, your stories timeless and I’ll always be a fan.

It was late in the day when we finally got to our B&B and we’re gobsmacked by how beautiful it is!

That’s the dining room we’ll eat breakfast in tomorrow! Everything in here is beautiful, and it’s probably much fancier than I deserve 🙂

Tomorrow we’re off to the zoo, only a hop and skip from here. Expect photos of animals!

Robot Claw