Maybe it’s the curse of the collector to buy the crappiest of games and find thrill in it all, because that’s exactly what is happening right now. This week I picked up three games from Conspiracy Entertainment, arguably the worst publisher on the Wii, simply because of this infamy. If a game is terrible, maybe it’ll make for a collectible item in the future. In the near future it might even make for a fun video for this site: you never know! In direct contrast to Conspiracy’s lameness, I picked up two games from Zoo Games, which makes lesser known games, but Zoo’s games are actually decent. Outside of those, a nice DS game I found on eBay arrived this week, as well as a handful of super cheap DS games from GameStop. Overall a great week!
 Big Bang MiniDS Release Date: January 21st, 2009 Purchased at: GameStop (San Jose, CA – $1) An example of why you might not want to buy a game the first time you see it, earlier in the day (as in like, 2 hours before I bought this game from GameStop) I found the game at Goodwill for $6. I was intrigued, mainly because this Goodwill version was complete, but seeing that the game was regularly selling online complete for around $5, or at least under six, I decided to pass. Then as luck would have it I found myself at a GameStop shortly after and found this copy of the game for just a dollar! That’s a win in my book. |
 Billy the Wizard: Rocket Broomstick RacingWii Release Date: August 14th, 2007 Purchased at: GameStop (Sunnyvale, CA – $2) The first of the awful Conspiracy/Data Designs games is Billy the Wizard, or perhaps “Barry Hatter” as the back of the box seems to claim the protagonist to be. Seriously, if this game has a typo on the back of the box, or just a straight up switch of the lead character, then I have to imagine there isn’t any sort of play testing or QA at this company. As with most of the games by Conspiracy, the game suffers from terrible controls and poor visuals and repetitive gameplay/stages. Still though, I want to own all of those games so I can truly compare just how crappy they are. |
 Color CrossDS Release Date: May 25th, 2010 Purchased at: GameStop (San Jose, CA – $3) Ever since playing and absolutely falling in love with Picross 3D for the DS, I have been looking for something similar. Enter Color Cross, a game with similar puzzle-based gameplay, but instead of chipping away at panels you’re adding color to them to create an object. I wish the game would have come with the case and manual, but seeing as I haven’t seen this game in the wild ever before, I had to leap on the chance to buy it. |
 Dance Dance Revolution 2nd Mix (Japanese)Dreamcast Release Date: February 17th, 2000 Purchased at: Goodwill (Mountain View, CA – $6) Man, you could imagine my surprise when I saw this game sitting on the shelf at Goodwill. Not only do I love the DDR series (which is evidenced by my recent Top Ten DDR Songs), but I am actively trying to collect all things Dreamcast! There were other games on the shelf, but I actually already owned copies of each of them. But a Japanese version of any video game, Dreamcast or otherwise, is hard to come by here in the US, so you know I had to jump on that. And being a DDR game, which I love, and on the Dreamcast which is hella easy to play Japanese games on, this was a no brainer! |
 Disney Think FastWii Release Date: October 21st, 2008 Purchased at: GameStop (San Jose, CA – $3)I’ve seen this game in GameStop before, but always passed on it simply because I didn’t really care for a Disney themed trivia game. This time though, perhaps because I mulled it over for a longer time than usual standing in the store, I decided to buy it. At only three bucks it’s not a huge investment and I’m hoping the Disney named attached to it will make it worthwhile someday. For that matter, my previous Disney game experience, Guilty Party, was pretty damn awesome, so maybe this will be great too! |
 The Garfield Show: Threat of the Space LasagnaWii Release Date: July 8th, 2010 Purchased at: GameStop (San Jose, CA – $4)Much like Disney Think Fast, I’ve seen and passed on The Garfield Show: Threat of the Space Lasagna before: likely because it was at the same store as Think Fast. This time though, I decided to take the leap. It’s by Zoo too, so maybe that means it’ll be worth some of my time. The game itself is a collection of minigames based on the revamped TV cartoon series of the same name. Perhaps I was more inclined to buy it this time around because it supports the Wii Balance Board and I now am in possession of one. |
 InsecticideDS Release Date: March 11th, 2008 Purchased at: GameStop (San Jose, CA – $1)After doing some research I found out this game was also released on PC, where it featured a lot more content. Kind of makes me want that version instead, but nonetheless for just a buck I wasn’t going to say no. The game commonly shows up for me on my Amazon feed of games I might be interested in (good job, Amazon engineers, because I am/was interested!) and complete and new it only costs about $6. In all likelihood I will never find the case and manual without just buying the game, but maybe luck will shine on me and I’ll get a complete version some day. |
 MLB Power ProsWii Release Date: October 3rd, 2007 Purchased at: GameStop (Sunnyvale, CA – $3)Back in the days of Michigan City and Game Crazy I remember playing this game at a demo station for the PS2. I instantly loved the game’s quirky characters, simple gameplay, and fun overall experience. I have seen the game on Wii a lot before in the past, but this week I finally decided to pick it up. For just a few dollars I went ahead and got this one. I haven’t really been all that into baseball lately, and even for characters in 2007 when this game was out I probably couldn’t tell you who everyone is. As long as I can play as the White Sox, I’m set! |
 Myth Makers: Super Kart GPWii Release Date: December 18th, 2007 Purchased at: eBay (Online – $5)And the Myth Makers trilogy is complete! After just a few months I have been fortunate enough to track down all this bad games and added them to the collection. I think it’s novel for any game series, crappy or not, to use the same characters in multiple games in such a short amount of time (all of the games released in the span of four months). Well, now on to actually playing this games to see just what the fuss was all about. |
 Ninjabread ManWii Release Date: October 3rd, 2007 Purchased at: GameStop (Sunnyvale, CA – $1)Haha, oh Ninjabread Man. The infamous title that is at the head of the Wii’s awful shovel-ware “controversy”, Ninjabread Man is a rushed, boring, and glitchy adventure platformer. The characters and premise are actually kind of great, but horrible gameplay will hinder any and all games regardless of great ideas. I want to track down a copy of Anubis II now, because that game is often cited as being a direct copy of this game, just with swapped out visuals. I smell a side-by-side comparison video in the making. And sweet, delicious gingerbread, of course! |
 Prism: Light the WayDS Release Date: October 16th, 2007 Purchased at: GameStop (San Jose, CA – $1)What started as a mobile phone game I believe somehow found it’s way onto the Nintendo DS and then into my collection. I’m all for puzzle games, and you know I’m all for games that cost a dollar, but I’m not so sure this one will even hold my attention. It’s a basic puzzle game involving guiding lights to a goal. My hopes aren’t high for a DS game that started out on a phone. Hidden gem maybe? I don’t know… |
 QuickspotDS Release Date: March 13th, 2007 Purchased at: eBay (Online – $5)A really fast turnaround for this one. I just found out the game existed a week or two ago, and as luck would have it I happened to win the very first online auction I saw for the game at just five dollars. Quickspot is a brain-teaser puzzler similar in premise to the Brain Age games which track your brain activity. In this game, you are presented with two images on the two screens, and you have to spot the differences between the two as fast as you can. The reason I wanted it besides that sounding fun already, is that most of the artwork and images used are from hugely popular Namco games like Pac-Man, Mr. Driller, and more! The game also features some never before seen artwork as well! Hooray! |
 Space Bust-A-MoveDS Release Date: July 28th, 2009 Purchased at: GameStop (San Jose, CA – $5)At five dollars this game loose is kind of high, because I bet I can find the game complete online for just a couple bucks more. I still decided to bite, mainly because this version of the awesome puzzle game supports the paddle controller peripheral I so badly want! If you haven’t played a Bust-A-Move game you’re really missing out: it’s among my favorite arcade puzzle games ever. |
 SpectrobesDS Release Date: March 13th, 2007 Purchased at: GameStop (Sunnyvale, CA – $1)Another trilogy completed this week! I like how I was somehow able to get this games in reverse order, too. Interestingly, there exists a special edition of this first game in the series: it comes with some bonus cards and content! I really want to get my hands on that, but I probably will never see it in my life. I mean, who plays or knows of Spectrobes? Let alone has an intact copy of the special edition? A collector’s dream. *sigh* |
 Twin Strike: Operation ThunderWii Release Date: October 28th, 2008 Purchased at: GameStop (Sunnyvale, CA – $3)The last game this week is an aerial combat game from Zoo! I was excited to see it for so cheap at the store, because I didn’t know anything about it before I picked it up off the shelf. Seeing exploding action on the box and that familiar by now Zoo logo coupled with the price tag was enough to get me to buy. Here’s hoping it’s a decent shooter! |
Laters,
Jsick
