My Retro Gaming Merch #3: Nintendo Monopoly Collector's Edition

Welcome all to chapter three of my retro gaming merchandise blog posts! So with this post I'm combining the giants of gaming, Nintendo, to one of the big boys of board games, Monopoly. I'm going to assume that you've all played at least one version of Monopoly before as it's probably the most famous board games to hit the shelves. If you've haven't, I strongly recommend you do so as it's a very enjoyable one...and quite long too, so be prepared to sink hours into this thing if you want to play it the proper way. Each version of Monoploy is essentially only a re-skin anyway. There aren't any new rules added to each version (as far as I'm aware), so pick your favourite franchise, because odds are there will be a Monopoly board game of it, grab some friends and start playing!

I'm not really here to talk about the rules of the board game, but rather explain the details which can be found in this particular Nintendo edition. So first of all lets take a look at the unique collectable tokens which come with this particular version. They are all made of metal, as you would expect from any Monopoly game, and you can see the tokens are very finely detailed and are of good quality; they don't feel cheaply made and do have a 'collectable' type feel to them. Of course the tokens also come from a few of Nintendo's popular franchises. So the playing tokens are:

• Super Mushroom (Super Mario franchise)
• Starman (Super Mario Franchise)
• The Master Sword (Legend of Zelda franchise)
• Samus' Helmet (Metroid franchise)
• Captain Olimar's Ship (Pikmin franchise)
• Gyroid (Animal Crossing franchise)

Talking about franchises, most of Nintendo's most popular franchises are present and correct here as you don't explore the board buying properties but rather characters from the Nintendo universe. For example Mario is the most expensive and is the Mayfair or Broadwalk (if you're from the States) of the game; the cheapest being Waluigi. But don't worry, as I said the game features multiple Nintendo characters and not just ones from the Super Mario universe. So you'll find the likes of Link, Samus, Tom Nook, Kirby, Donkey Kong, and more all up for purchase. Chance and Community Chest cards also take the form of question mark blocks and brick blocks from the Mario franchise once again. Most Chance and Community Chest cards contain the same sort of rewards and punishments (depending how lucky you get) as the rest of the Monopoly games. However, they try and tailor them to gamers to make it feel that little bit more authentic. For example, instead of winning second prise in a beauty contest and winning money you win second place in a gaming contest instead. Each card has a retro, almost steamboat Willie style picture of Mario on the card too adding to the charm. The game board itself is what you'd expect from a Monopoly game and feels quality and is laid out in the style as the original.

If there were any negatives to say about the game I would say that some Nintendo franchises go missing. I understand they can't include every character on here but some key characters are missed. The main two which stand out for me are Pokemon and Star Fox. The reason Nintendo probably missed out these franchises was down to Pokemon having its own Monopoly game and Star Fox not being that popular enough at the time the game was released. However, the Zelda franchise has its own Monopoly board and some of the characters still feature on here (which I'm very thankful for by the way.) I just feel there are a bit too many Mario characters featured on here, and some of them could of made way for other lovable Nintendo franchises. Again the reason probably behind the over-inclusion of Mario is probably down to his popularity and enticing people who aren't all that popular with Nintendo's other franchises to purchase it. Apart from this small gripe though the game is great. If you're a fan of Monopoly and Nintendo then I strongly urge you to go out and purchase it! Even if you're just a casual gamer you'll probably enjoy the ride as the rules haven't changed since the original and the game is still is as fun to play today as it was all those years ago, except this time you're buying famous characters you know and love rather than random streets you either haven't heard of or have no connection to.  

Console Wars (Blake J Harris) book review

For this particular blog post I'd thought I'd do something a little different and review a book! Shock! Don't worry though, I haven't lost my head completely as the book is still about video games; the famous console battle between Nintendo and Sega to be precise. So is it a book worth picking up and reading on those spare moments you're not glued to your console screens? Let's find out shall we?

So as mentioned previously, the book is all about the events which happened in the late 80's leading up to the mid to late 90's; the famous battle between gaming powerhouse Nintendo and the cool newcomer, Sega. It ultimately tells the tale in great detail from various key people involved in 'the war', not just employees/employers of Nintendo & Sega but people from various companies and backgrounds who were involved in this important piece of gaming history. However, most of the story, and yes that's how how the book is set up, part novel and part factual history book, takes the Sega perspective of events as the 'main character' (if you want to call it that)Tom Kalinske, who became president of Sega Of America during this key point.

Console Wars definitely manages to differentiate itself from other history/factual written works as the majority of it is written as a story as previously mentioned. Harris went on dozens of interviews and trips to question the key players in order to gain the information they had and to understand what went on from their prospective. He then used the information he obtained to weave it altogether into a story. The book essentially tells the story of how Tom Kalinske became president of Sega of America (SOA) and how he lead the way in transforming the company into one of the most famous names associated with video games. The book spans across several years covering key events such as the creation of Sonic The Hedgehog, Sega's overtaking of Nintendo in terms of sales and market-share and the launch of the Saturn and its downfall plus more! The book isn't all about Tom Kalinske's and Sega's journey though. The book flips back and forward to multiple people who were instrumental during this time, such as Minoru Arakawa, Howard Lincoln and the rest of the Nintendo of America team to Olaf Olaffsson and his pioneering efforts to bring Sony on board into the video game market and ultimately go on to create the Playstation. There are so many first source stories and information contained in this book that even the most dedicated video game fans and historians will learn something new.

So that's what the book contains but is it any good? Does it translate well into a story? Are all the various viewpoints from different people make it too hard to read? Well I'm happy to report the book is very good. In fact I own quite a few gaming history books and I would say this one is my favourite precisely because it is told as a story rather than a generic historic documentary. And even though Harris flips back and forth between various people's viewpoints in the story, it still doesn't feel chaotic or hard to follow; it just feels like a story book with multiple characters helping to tell the same story. The book contains so much inside information that a gaming fan, especially one who loves either Nintendo or Sega.. or both, will very enjoy. The book goes in depth about some of the great and curious aspects of gaming such as how the employees of SOA had to battle against the employees of Sega of Japan  (SOJ) to create Sonic in the way he is known today, or the details of how Sega nearly patterned with Sony following Nintendo's rejection but ultimately just missed out or why Sega decided to use aggressive advertising; it's all here! It is a fantastic book filled with all the facts and events which Sega put in place to challenge Nintendo and how they did it.

In conclusion then, the book is a definite must have for any retro gaming fan or any gaming historian really. The book is laid out so well and documents the various events in so much detail that, for me personally, It is my favourite piece video game history documentation. The way it is written as a story just adds that extra flourish. If you've ever been interested in the great battle between Nintendo vs Sega then this book is a must have for your shelf!

Final score: 9/10

My Retro Gaming Merch #2: Mario & Link Japanese collectable figures

Name of Merch:  Super Mario & Link Collectable figures

     Purchased From: Unknown small gaming store in                                        Paris (France)

                        Price: 15 Euros each

Without harping on about it too much, as anyone who's read some of my last blog posts will know I went to Paris for a few days last week. Even though most of the trip was full of all things Disney, I still found time to have a look around a gaming shop - and a retro-orientated gaming shop at that! Result. There were a load of items in there which took my fancy from SNES and N64 bibles (all in French though, sadly) to low cost Amibos, with some going for the equivalent of around £8.00! I allowed myself a 15 Euro limit though and my girlfriend very kindly said she'd give me a gift up to 15 Euros too. I did buy her some Minnie Mouse ears before though! So in the end I went for these two NES themed collectors figures.

The figures I spotted were actually outside of their packaging in a glass display case. There were three which I spotted and all NES themed: the two you see here from Super Mario Bros. and Legend Of Zelda respectively, and also a Tanooki suited Mario from the amazingly popular game Super Mario Bros. 3. As you can see I went with the 'Super Mario' one and the Link figure. It was bloody hard to choose though! Seriously, we must have been in that shop for at least 45 minutes trying to choose what to buy! I was very close to buying an Amibo and figure, but in the end I figured I would never be able to collect every single Amibo and these figures did look amazing in addition to being something I had never seen before.

It's obvious due to its packaging that the figures were originally from, or at least manufactured in Japan. On the Link figure it even says 'Hyrule Fantasy' which was the Japanese name for the original Zelda game for the NES. (Not sure if that's still the case now or did Nintendo change it to Legend of Zelda for later games in the series like the rest of the world? I wonder.) It would of been nice to get them out of their packaging and to show their detail a bit more, but sadly as most people know tearing the box open greatly decreases the value in the product so I had to leave them in their boxes for the pics I uploaded. What you can see from the photos though is that the detail very much captures the look of both characters as they were depicted in their NES days; right down to Mario's inverted red overalls to Link's very, um.. Christian shield. Not sure if the figures were made during the NES era or whether they were made later, but regardless of this particular fact the figures still very much show off the vintage detail of both characters. Both characters are mounted on stands too, so you would be able to stand them up without them getting toppled over.  Whoever designed these figures did an amazing job in my opinion. It's just a shame there weren't more characters to choose from! Although, if there were, that might of presented me with a greater problem and thus I would have never left the shop to see Notre Dame...

One more thing before I sign off. Whilst in the shop trying to make a choice, I saw a boy of about 8 to 10 years old. The boy put my faith back in humanity that day when he bought a Game Boy Colour for himself along with a copy of Pokemon Silver. Just goes to show the appeal that the Game Boy still has many years later with a different generation of kids bought up with tablets and smart phones. Man, I feel old! But it did put a smile on my face. Hope that kid manages to catch 'em all and feels what I felt playing that game for the first time.