What's Been Lurking in My Basement

A while back I'd mentioned how I was sorting through all of the boxes in my basement, and though the process has been incredibly slow, over the past few weeks I've gotten to about a dozen containers marked "video games" and "electronic games."



With a million more important projects to deal with, organizing my mountain of electronic toys is a low priority, but I've gotta admit... it's been fun.

We moved from Southern California to the Portland area about four years ago, and it was then that most of this stuff was boxed up.

Nearly twenty years worth of collecting has given me a decent selection of computer and game systems, stacks of carts, a weird variety of accessories, and all sorts of hand held games.

Back when I started picking this stuff up at thrift stores and garage sales, it had only just begun to find its niche as a collectible. I mean... it wasn't that I was the only person out there buying old video games, but it was much easier to find a vintage boxed system fifteen years ago.

Today I rarely find anything at all.

While digging around, I've had a chance to relive two decades worth of casual, but definitely compulsive collecting. Games are a great thing to collect, because the future always promises more entertainment.

I'm looking forward to dusting off each and every item, and then eventually playing around to see what still works.

Dungeons & Dragons

There was a time when by admitting that you played Dungeons & Dragons, you could bring the look to a persons face much the same as if you'd just admitted to eating your own poo.



Happily, things have changed to where the average D&D; player is now either met with blank stares, or a kind of sad acceptance. More often than not that acceptance is something you'll get from the people who've played the game, but other times it's those like my parents, who watched as huge chunks of my early teen years vanished like a halfling thief with a cloak of invisibility...

"If you'd spend as much time studying, as you waste playing that game, you'd have straight A's in school."



The longevity of the game is a true testament to its value as a form of entertainment, and though I haven't tossed a twenty-sided die in over twenty years, I look back fondly on that time well wasted.



If "level of obsession" could be rated on a scale of sorts, mine would have been just a few points shy of infinite. The manuals, modules, lead figures and dice; not to mention time spent building characters or creating my own adventures, all contributed to a kind of textbook D&D; addiction.



But at least this RPG addiction kept me off the streets and away from trouble--a claim that was made up until my late teens, when I discovered just how much fun it actually was to wander the streets in search of trouble.

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Marvel Universe: Moon Knight

I can vaguely remember when the Moon Knight comic book series started in '80, and though I wasn't really thrilled by it at first, I ended up following it for a year or two. It was fun. I haven't read any of those books in over twenty years, but he's a character that sticks with you.

The new 3-3/4-inch Hasbro version of Moon Knight is memorable as well. At first I wasn't thrilled by it either, but it's grown on me, and in just a short while now I've come to consider this one of the better figures from the Marvel Universe series.




It's actually surprising just how well they've handled a character that's as simple looking as this one.

The overall sculpt is good, and the minimal paint is handled well, which is really the best thing about this figure. It's a fun toy to play with, but given the character's nature, I'm thinking that his articulation is somewhat lacking. I look forward to the day when Hasbro might come up with a better design for hip and leg joints.

It's also kind of weird how they included an extremely small crescent dart, but no place to store it... and to be honest, as tiny as it is, I'm expecting it to get lost pretty easily.



Ultimately, I think that I like this small Moon Knight more than the 6-inch version that Toy Biz put out for the Marvel Legends line. I hated the fact that I couldn't find the all silver "chase" version from that line, and though this Marvel Universe Moon Knight has been a little scarce, it's worth hunting for.

"I Am Programmed To Beat You."

With the ominous threat of computerized defeat printed on the box, it's a wonder that anyone ever bothered to play Milton Bradley's Comp IV at all.



The fact that it's a painfully boring game would also seem to be a hefty deterrent, but what Comp IV lacks in action and excitement, it more than makes up for by being Star Trek-ishly cool looking.



Comp IV is one of those classic '70s electronic games that relies mainly on slick packaging, futuristic design, and bright LED lights to sell you on the promise of incredible computerized fun. But the sad truth is that the box is ten times more fun than the game itself.

The challenge is to guess a randomly generated number in as few tries as possible, while Comp IV gives you clues. The game comes packed with a stack of special notepads--which should serve as a warning, because notepads aren't fun--that are designed to help you work out the secret number.

Awesome! (I'm being sarcastic.)



But, okay... before I'm accused of being a jaded twenty-first century gamer, I'll admit that there was a time thirty years ago, when I would have been perfectly content to sit and fiddle with an LED calculator for hours on end. I'd punch in numbers and stare with big wide eyes--like a caveman seeing fire for the first time--at the miracle before me, so it's probably true that I would have also played the heck out of a Comp IV if I'd owned one in 1978.

...or maybe not.