Item Number 22: Game, Super Nova (SNES)

Time in possession: About 6 years

Description: Grey Super Nintendo cartidge, good condition.

Cost: Unsure, but I couldn't have paid more then 7$ for it. So, 7$ it is.

Description: You see, now here is an entry that points out some flaws in this whole project. Really, something as generic as generic comes: This game is a generic shooter that I bought simply because I was collecting SNES games and I enjoy shooters. There's nothing spectacular about it, no story, and no real personal connection to it whatsoever. In fact, it's one of those games that I might accidentally buy twice, not really remembering that I owned a copy in the first place.

What does that say about me? That I could own so many video games (and I do own hundreds of them, over 500 at last count, and climbing) that I can no longer appreciate them? When I was young and bought my first NES, the games I had for it were absolute crap: Mission Impossible, Werewolf, Wizards and Warriors 2 and, obviously, Super Mario/Duck Hunt. When the best game for your system is the one it came with, you've got something to think about. But you know what? I loved those games. I played them over and over, despite the fact that they sucked and that I sucked at them.

Now I've got hundreds of games that sit in shelves, having been played once, tested, and then put down, possibly forever. This is my childhood dream, come true. It's certainly not as cool as I hoped it would be.

What does that say about me?

Item Number 18: Game, Congo's Caper (SNES)

Time in possession: Probably about 3 years

Description: Grey Super Nintendo Cartridge. Good condition. Photographed really poorly. I mean, really, looking at is is giving me a headache. I'm so sorry.

Cost: I'm going to say something like 15$. It was bought in a wholesale lot off of eBay, so that's a decent roundabout price.

Story: Collecting Super Nintendo games was, for a good couple of years in my life, a bit of an obsession. It was one activity that managed to accomplish some of my favorite activities: Re-living the glory days of my youth, owning that which had previously been denied to me and adding to an impressive collection. In the end, it never really amounted to much, but the thrill of the chase, searching down an elusive game, that was definitely a different kind of high, something that made the occasionally frustrating and fruitless pursuit a little more enjoyable.

Congo's Caper here was one of the many games that I had read about in my childhood subscription to Nintendo Power, the pages of every issue quickly read and re-read dozens of times until they were reduced to mere tatters. As such, there was a romanticized idea of the game in my head with very little basis in reality, as sadly was not uncommon, as was evidenced with one of my previous entries, Robotrek. Perhaps it was because I was at least 20 when I got my hands on a copy, and when I was dying to play it at 12 my laundry list of video game ideals would have been quite a bit different.

Still, it's a handy game to have around, if only to toss at a little cousin or nephew when they grow tired of play Super Mario World.

Item Number 5: Game, Robotrek (SNES)

Time in possession: Around 4 years

Description: Super Nintendo Game cartridge, grey plastic. Label and contacts in good condition.

Cost: The exact cost has fallen from sight, although it was an eBay purchase, so something like 20$ plus shipping.

Story: The SNES was (and still is) my favorite video game console. I spent far too many hours playing away on it and think on it fondly. However, I didn't have a lot of money growing up, and while my family was well enough off, I would very infrequently get games as gifts. As such, when I would get my monthly issues of Nintendo Power (one of the few family sanctioned Nintendo products- It did, after all, encourage reading!) I would typically spend a fair amount of energy coveting the various games I would read about but never (at least in the near future) own.

And then I got a job.

While I've tapered off, as soon as I had a source of expendable income, I quickly began to spend it on all the fun toys I could never have when I was younger. This quickly amounted to a large collection of video games, the majority of which were for the Super Nintendo. Sadly however, it was also quickly apparent that my local pawnshops and game stores didn't have a ready supply of all of my sought after games, and so I had to look elsewhere. To make an already long story short, I bought this baby off of eBay.

The unfortunate bit is that when I finally got the game I wasn't all that enamoured with it. I mean, it's a decent game, but I pretty much played it for an hour to make sure it worked when I got it, and then put it away. It's on a list of games that I need to play that has been lost somewhere, but I don't see it coming off any time in the near future. There's a moral in there somewhere, but I don't know if I've quite got it figured out.