YPB: Episode 045 – Duck Hunt (1985) and World Class Track Meet (1988)

This week in Your Parents Basement, we are focusing on two pack-in games for the ole NES! From 1985, we’re playing Duck Hunt with the NES Zapper, and from 1988, we’re playing World Class Track Meet, both developed in part by Nintendo.

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TIMESTAMPS

0:00 – Intro, which features the title theme from World Class Track Meet.

39:00 – Emails! A special friend wants to guest on the show, and the return of a length emailer.

1:06:45 – Snifferoo. Next week, we’re playing a fun, esoteric game that makes Jurassic Park look cheap. (Well, not really. But it’s a fun game with a great soundtrack!)

SHOW NOTES

- According to Price Charting, loose carts of Duck Hunt are super cheap, and only cost $3.35. The same thing goes for the combo packs with Super Mario Bros. and World Class Track Meet. However, the Duck Hunt box adds another $100 on to the price, because it’s so rare. (I can’t remember ever seeing JUST Duck Hunt for sale in a store…) World Class Track Meet seemingly didn’t have a proper release, and it’s not really for sale on eBay as a result.

- Stadium Events, the game that World Class Track Meet was repurposed from, goes for an insane amount of money now. GameSpot has a good article on the latest $35,100 auction here.

- From YouTube, modern day teenagers try to play Duck Hunt. Hilarity ensues!

Buy My Crap: One decent Wii game, and a bunch of old Gamecube, Xbox stuff

Look at this majestic cart!

As I am sometimes wont to do, I am selling a bunch of stuff that I’ve acquired from yard sales and other places over the past year or so. You can check out my eBay page here, and all of the items via the link in the upper right hand corner.

As usual, I’ve also provided humorous / overly realistic item descriptions in an attempt to move some of the stickier items. Such as, “Super Mario Bros. – Free bubble wrap!” and “Winter Games – Cart only! It stinks!” Both them items now have bids, so imma be $2.25 richer once they sell. I have gotten two questions about this Gamecube copy of Sims 2 Pets, with one guy very concerned about whether it would still work because it was a gift for his daughter. I had to resist the urge to respond, “It would probably be a good gift to signify to her that you don’t love her enough, since you’re purchasing a used, $0.99 decade-old Gamecube game for her.”

Anyway! If you’re interested in anything, just bid, although if it’s after the auctions are over and the items haven’t sold, I’d probably just be willing to send it to you as long as you pay for the shipping. (A couple bucks, since the vast majority are just discs, no boxes or manuals.)

p.s. The one decent game is New Super Mario Bros. for the Wii. Although Super Mario Bros. 2 is also decent, because it’s an NES cart, you basically need a fake NES system to actually play it.

Selling and shipping things, with friends and without

First things first: My friend and frequent blog contributor Danielle is selling some of her photography on Esty. You can access her store thingy here. You might know her Tag Team columns with me on nannying or Glee or our shared mutual love of South Park. Anyway, if you can, please support her.

Secondly, I have a bunch of my own stuff up for sale on eBay and Half.com right now. You can check out my crappy auctions for comics on eBay here and here. My Half.com site, which is no doubt more interesting to all of you out there, is accessible here. Bask in my combination of cheesy wrestling books and books from my childhood that I no longer read!

And finally, at least two readers glancing at this are going to be happy, because they have a little something-something coming to them in the mail:



Oh, la and LA! If you also have a site you sell things on, let me know, and I'll edit it into this entry. You can find Alison's blog, wherein she talks about young adult literature and how badly she needs a tan (but mostly the literature thing), here.

Inexplicable Video Game Review: Mega Man Soccer

In honor of the World Cup and my love for retro junk, let's talk about Mega Man Soccer. Back in the 1990s, Capcom was basically known for two things - Mega Man and Street Fighter 2. They also had some minor successes, such as the Breath of Fire series, Final Fight, a bunch of fun Disney adaptations, and Ghouls and Ghosts.

Notice that there was not a sports game on that list, nevermind a soccer game. Yet for some reason, when Capcom thought of ways to spin off the Mega Man series, they somehow settled on soccer, of all things. This seems especially odd given that the game isn't that popular in North America or Japan, as compared to other sports. Why not Mega Man Baseball or Mega Man Football? In both of those games, having robot players would have a much greater effect.

Anyway, there are several fundamental problems with Mega Man Soccer. First and foremost, the soccer action really sucks. It's almost impossible to dribble any significant length of the field, which is also truncated as compared to a regular soccer field. The regular shots also suck, and it's impossible to score unless you do it on a rebound.

There is little difference between the robot players, except that they have different special power-up shots that you can use. For each team you beat, you get access to a player, which gives you more special shots and makes things easier. However, the game is pretty easy anyway, since you can go up by a goal and easily play keep-away the rest of the match.

Frankly, Mega Man Soccer sucks. However, because it sucked, it didn't sell that many copies, but because it's got Mega Man in the name, some people still want to play it. Therefore, it sells for $20 to $100 on eBay! Speaking as someone who has played and beat the game, its actual value is about $2.50, as any of the FIFA games for the SNES are far better.

Buy My Crap - Littlest Pet Shop Beach Friends

So, I occasionally review video games. I had thought I sold this one months ago, but the guy / gal who won the auction never paid me, which is a problem. To clarify things, I have never even played this game - I got sent a pair to review, but the reviews were later pulled, but we were told we could keep the games. So, whatever! If you think you might be interested, or have some little siblings that might be, feel free to do as the title says and buy my crap. Surprisingly, it has gotten really good reviews on Amazon and Google. And to clarify, this is a game for the Nintendo DS.

If you want to buy my copy, my eBay auction is here. And as usual, if someone from here does buy it, I don't mind throwing in some other cheap-o game I have.

Buy My Crap - Bakugan for the Wii and The Book of Basketball by Bill Simmons

In an effort to shill more of the crap on eBay that I don't really need any more, I offer two things to you today: Bakugan for the Wii and The Book of Basketball by Bill Simmons.

- Let's start with the video game. Bakugan is a kind of Pokemon-like game that relies on you collecting and powering up cards. These cards allow you to throw a ball on to a playing area, with the goal to land two balls on an area to win that card, or to battle an opposing player for the card.

It's nothing groundbreaking, but if you have kids, they'll probably enjoy it. It is definitely aimed at kids from ages 8 to 15, as it has a very "Saturday morning anime cartoon" feel to it. You can find my eBay auction for it here. I'm also doing a review of it for Blast, and I'll link to that when it's done.

- On the contrary, I imagine quite a few people reading this are familiar with The Book of Basketball, the latest book from Bill Simmons. Some people love him and others hate him, but this entire book is basically about Simmons obsession with basketball, and especially NBA basketball. Given his encyclopedic knowledge on the subject, I think it reads a bit better than his day-to-day column work.

All that being said, I imagine I'll have a full review at some point in the future on this blog. You can find the eBay link here.

And as usual, if any of you buy my crap, let me know and I'll package some free crap in there for you. Crap, crap and crap, fun times!

Buy My Crap - Spyborgs

In an effort to sell more of my crap, my latest eBay auction is for Spyborgs, a Wii "bash everything in sight" game. I actually didn't care a ton for it, giving it a 6.8 over at Blast, but hey, maybe you REALLY like this type of game! I promise, I won't judge you... that badly...

To sweeten the pot a bit, if anyone from here buys it, I will autograph your instruction manual. If that STILL isn't enough of an incentive - as if! - you can have a throw-in game from my PS2 library. Don't expect anything super cool; we're talking like an old version of NCAA hoops or Crazy Taxi. But hey, it's better than nothing.

Note: I realize this is a lame post, but as usual, I'm running behind on the massive, super awesome undertaking that is the Weekly Football Picks column. It'll be up a little bit later today.

Buy My Crap!

This post is a little light, but hey, you got plenty of content yesterday and Friday to sort through, so whatever! I might as well pimp the game I'm selling on eBay, which would be Guitar Hero 5. You can see the listing for it here. It doesn't come with the instruments, or the Van Halen game coming out soon.

You will also be glad to know that you don't have to worry about Courtney Love coming to your house and assaulting you for Kurt Cobain on vocals for inappropriate songs. That's because in my rock band, Election Fraud, he is on the drums. He was on bass before, but then I got Johnny Cash, so I moved Kurt to drums. Shirley Manson is my singer, and we all know how much more talented she is than the former frontman for Nirvana.

The image of Johnny Cash is taken from IGN here.