The NES Days

2/10/2002

New computer, new updates! Well, taking a $1239 blow to my bank account, I have purchased a new 1.6 GHz Pentium 4 w/ 512 MB RAM... blah blah blah; I hope it will last me for at least 3 or 4 years, provided I do not "upgrade" (iow, slow down) the computer's Operating System at all. Win XP works fine enough, although it really freaked me out when I turned on the computer for the first time and noticed nothing on the desktop except the recycling bin!

Random Stuff:

A True NES Fan: http://www.fujikoma.com/misc/srxbabe-kristinbed.jpg

By the way, I've noticed the text is wrapping around the menu; I will try to correct this soon. Mario fans rejoice! Here is something I NEVER imagined would ever be released on DVD: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005UO76/qid=1012658601/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_14_2/102-8044575-2794527

Now maybe they'll get a clue and release the whole series on DVD, preferably in box set format :) There is also a Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog DVD (the ABC series) out as well.

Speaking of Sonic, the long bitter war is finally over... http://www.cinescape.com/0/editorial.asp?aff_id=0&this_cat=Toys+%26+Games&action=page&type_id=&cat_id=270351&obj_id=32758

And also, I found this random swf file online. It is weird and nes and yeah...

http://www.nesplayer.com/flash/movie.swf

Now then, to deal with my insanity, I've added a new section under loose papers to document my experiences in the realm of videogaming, titled ShadowMan024's Adventures in Gaming. It will both be about current and previous gaming experiences (and should I gain second-sight I'll tell you about the videogames I play many years from now :) ) I'm also working on a new section about NES games based off arcade machines. It will contains lists, but also some of the major [and subtle] differences between the different versions of the same games.

12/17/2001

New Editorial: Year 2001: My Take on the Console Video Game World

Hi! Well, my first semester of college is over and I am chilling at home until Jan 7th. I didn't update at all this semester and I feel pretty bad for it. Of course, the major problems with working on the site were 1) lacking a NES in the dorms and 2) not having a functioning computer. However, I COULD have still written fanfics or articles, which I didn't do. I think it's time I admitted that anime has become a more important hobby to me than NES, or even video games in general. I thought that when I would only have a handful of NES games left to own (I'm currently down to 28) I would become more excited, but the opposite as come true- a lot of the very rare NES games are utter pieces of crap and I can't bear playing them for more than a few seconds. It also doesn't help that I can only buy these few games on ebay for $30-$120 each. I don't even want to think about how much the Panesian games will cost me. I think also, on some level, I'm just getting bored with the limitations of NES games- both in terms of genre and presentation. During this past year I spent more time emulating ROMs with MAME than playing NES games. I don't plan on abandoning the NES, but my interest is wanning for sure. I think it may be helpful if I could find some great NES fan sites to read; I haven't been surfing for them in a while and last time I tried searching I didn't find any. If anybody could send me a link, I'd be most grateful. jonhertzog@aol.com

8/12/2001

Hi!. Today I go to college as an undergrad student at UGA (University of Georgia).

Wow.

Classes start on the 16th. And to think I've been a reborn NES fan since 1998 and THIS is what my fandom site looks like? :) Anyway, Due to a housing storage, I have no place to put my computer right now. I am expected to move into a normal place of my own in 1-4 weeks, although it could be shorter or longer than that. No computer, no updates. Sorry. I will return will an updating frenzy (and how many times have I said THAT one before!?) and content revisions hopefully in September. Until then, please look at what pleases you here. -ShadowMan024

8/10/2001

After a delay of nearly a year, I finished typing up the game manual for Ms. Pac-Man. Download it here

7/22/2001

Who is this kid?

I'm guessing his name is Ben, but other than that, I do not know.

I keep on thinking that this is only a mediocre NES fansite, and I need to improve the quality of the content somehow. After re-reading much of the material I've added here over the past three years, I think my current writing style has to change. I write for The NES Days in a pretty casual style. My skills have improved from the early 1999 articles and reviews, but I still feel something is missing. I could switch over to a complex analytical style, as if I were publishing a college research paper, but such a change seems to not reflect fandom for me personally...

Ha! Well, more updates in multiple sections. More updates always needed. It never ends, does it?

On a cool NES note, Game Informer Magazine posted its issue this month of the Top 100 best video games of all time. Our old pal, the original 8-bit Nintendo, held the #1 stop on the charts with twenty of the Top 100 games coming from the classic system. Go NES!!!

5/21/2001

I am such a loser for updating only once or twice every month. Blame anime. BTW, due a 25 cent clearance of all Genesis games at an used video game store I visisted last week, I now collection Sega Genesis games too. I'll be in France from May 27th- June 7th, so no more updates until after then. To tide you over, I wrote an article, Games That Never Made It , about some carts that were never released in the USA. Also added some new reviews.

5/06/2001

Hi! I know I haven't been updating a lot recently. Sorry. I'm currently working on two fanfics, novelizations of Castlevania III and Mega Man IX, but I don't want to post any more of them online because I will probably make changes to them. I'm also working on reviews, captain n/zelda/smb3 pages, and of course, battle arena nintendo. I now have only 60 NES games to collect before I have ALL domestically released NES games { insert evil laughter here } and I may start collecting SNES games next, just because I cannot do something WISE with my money. I am also considering collecting Sega Genesis games, but I don't think they are very fun, yet it's a possibly. Also possible: nabbing the old Sega 16-bit arcade machines (i.e. Shinobi, Hang-on, Super Hang-on, Outrun, Turbo Outrun, etc... see the system 16 emulator on www.emux.com for a gamelist). I could buy each for about $200-$300, buy it would be kinda hard to fit them in a dorm room!

I had a major scare yesterday. I had bought Krazy Creatures, the one GOOD American Video cart, and I stuck it into my top loader and pressed the power slide up.

Nothing happened.

Of course, I panicked like the madman I am and tried again and again with no success. The system would not turn on. I disassembled my AC power adaptor and the RF switch and took the Nintendo to around it and set it up. I turned the power on...

Nothing happened.

But then I was having chest pains. I had no spare parts and my NES, for all I knew was busted. I had no spare AC adaptor and the one for the SNES and N64 were totally different and incompatible. A broken top loader is Hell on Earth; I would have to pray that Nintendo of America could fix it (for $35) because a new one would cost on ebay about $100 or more. In my frantic search online for information on troubleshooting the NES, I IMed Joesph Turbeville who reminded me that the RF switchs for the NES and SNES were identical. I thanked him, and raced to my basement to find my SNES. I took the other RF switch and reassembled my NES, turned on the power and...

The title screen appeared.

I immediately praised the NES Gods and burned a copy of a wisdom tree game to show my gratitude. Eviently the RF pin on my NES RF Switch had become wobbly, and it wasn't fully connecting to the TV anymore, so the power was on but no AV. I'm now using the replacement RF switch and very happy that I'm not NESless!

4/24/2001

Hi! Great Funcoland story: this past weekend I went there and lo! I saw the Aladdin Deck Enhancer with Dizzy the Adventurer for $2!!! I couldn't believe it. I gathered my reserves and tried to act cool, like nothing was wrong. I worried when the manager asked me what the story behind the cart was. I replied I'd tell her AFTER I bought it, for fear that revealing its secrets would cause a $50 price increase. It's was fine, however; she rang it up, I paid and told her about the cart designed to play 7 smaller carts. She told me that Funcoland could not accept the mini-carts without the Deck Enhancer itself. Just to buy an additional 6 games I lacked, I went to Video Game Connections and nailed the set of the Aladdin Deck Enchancer w/ all 7 games, everything complete in box never-been-opened for $80. SWEET!

And if you have no idea what I'm rambling about, the Aladdin Deck Enchancer will soon be under the accesorries section.

BTW, I may start adding a box art grade to games in reviews. I think I'll be semi-interesting.

4/8/2001

HI! Well, this month I played through a lot of Nintendo games with "C" as the starting letter. Whoo, they were BAD! Captain Planet, Challenge of the Dragon, Castle of Deceipt, Chiller and Cliffhanger, to name a few.

BTW, I'm kinda on a creative drought for new things to write about. Other than the reviews, battle arena, weird sh*t, and fan fictions, I'm not thinking of anything new to write and update the site. Suggestions welcome: jonhertzog@aol.com

3/26/2001

New Review of Fist of the North Star game and movie.

3/19/2001

Hi! I'm now at a new server provided by my good friend, and evil bootlegger :) JD. Tripod/Angelfire have officially gone insane; they have become Napster-phobic and are deleting ALL fansites off their server claiming copyright infringement. Please protest Tripod/Angelfire by hacking their servers or uploading child pornography on them :) Thanks.

I've given the reviews a face-lift. Basically, I had to replace some bad links and I regraded replay value so that it more accurately reflects how often you'll want to play a game.

3/14/2001

Hi! There's nearly an update in every major section. Just read through the site and you'll find all sorts of new stuff! I will posting the new battles for Battle Arena Nintendo and more Castlevania III Novel next week!

2/12/2001

New Reviews and more Battle Arena Nintendo. My remastered Zelda tapes were sent out so I should have those up for public use in a week.

2/3/2001

NEW: Battle #26: Toxic Crusaders VS. Captain Planet. Review of Bo Jackson Baseball Updated the NES Cartoons. I used my Editorial on the decline of Nintendo Power's Players' Pulse as my essay on my application to college. I'll let you know in a month on whether it worked or not. I was playing thousands of arcade ROMs last weekend when I found Mighty Bombjack World, which is MUCH better than the NES game. Cute, too. Not NES related, but today I got all 46 episodes of Sailor Moon Season 1 in Japanese with English subtitles (real translations, not that DiC dubbed crap) after a 6 week wait! It includes the uncut episodes and even the 6 "banned" episodes! I RULE!!!

2/1/2001

Hi! This is just a teaser, the real update will be posted saturday or sunday. Ordering from the funcoland online store, I bought 17 NES games. Interestingly enough, this means I only have 102 games left to go, but more importantly I now have exactly 666 NES games. I AM THE DEVIL!!! :) Due to my travel schedule, I've decided to work on The NES Days on the weekends I am at home, and on the weekdays if I will be traveling on the weekends.

I also got all 34 episodes of Captain N today on 6 VHS Tapes. I haven't watched all the episodes yet, but the quality ranges from Excellent to Fair but all the episodes are watachable with no huge red lines or crap like that. They are in MONO however. Still, it's the best Captain N on tape I've ever seen. Season 1 takes 3 tapes. Season 2 takes 3 tapes, and Season 3 takes 1 tape. However, please don't ask for Season 2 yet because I'm getting higher quality tapes of Season 2 within a week. Yah! I still have no idea when I'm getting Zelda, SMSS or Mega Man, sorry.

Dragon Warrior and Dragon Warrior 2 reviews.

Well, due to extensive vacation, I've only played DW2 for about 8 hours, but I'm almost done with it. On the most excellent side, I picked up 17 new NES games while in California, which leads to bad news: I'm out of space to put them. My room is about to undergo a serious change to display all the 600+ games I have. Right now, I only have about 120 NES games to go. Since I confirmed that Funcoland will stop buying NES games from their suppliers in early Summer, I'm trying to buy 10 games a week. Also, while not a NES game, Mega Man X5 is coming out for Playstation 1. Sweet!

12/22/2000

Merry Christmas, everybody!!! I'm really happy that I just finished my school semester. Right now, I'm playing Final Fantasy 2 and Dragon Warrior 2 for NES, so I'll be busy for awhile and not updating until after the New Year. I will say one thing, in DW2, it's just strange that the characters are pictured with swords and shields even if they don't have any...

12/12/2000

Well, I watched the Ninja Gaiden Anime Movie and it is sweet. Or... sweet compared to the other NES-turned-movie products. Read the review

12/11/2000

I finally got a copy of the Ninja Gaiden Anime Movie, in Japanese with English subtitles. It's currently available for distrubution. See NES Cartoons for details. And to be super insane, I will give a free copy of it to the first person who requests it from me. Send your request to jonhertzog@aol.com with "ninja gaiden anime" in the title. Some new Reviews and a new Battle!

12/4/2000

First update in a long time. Some scary facts about me: I have 80% of all US-released NES games, 26% of all US-released anime DVDs, 150 books I own but haven't read yet, and I have 130 VHS anime and cartoon videotapes that I have not watched yet. And, by my count, I'd have to write 100 article for this site to make up for my lack of updates. Ah, the burdens of being busy student by day and a cocaine dealer :) (jk, I'm not really a cocaine dealer, don't call the FBI). I'm currently working through Final Fantasy 2 on the NES, or FFJ2 as some people call it. It's cool, but I feel awkward about the skills system. Since there are no levels, you have to use skills again and again to increase your stats. For example, if you attack 120 times with your sword, your attack power and sword skill will increase, allowing you to do up to 10X hits. To make this happen though, you can select fight, then cancel your command, and still receive the skill points. While this could be considered "cheating," the game's enemies are so hard to beat that it's pratically like I'm forced into it. Oh well. After 2, I will conquer FF 3,7,8, and 9, all of which I haven't played yet.

10/26/2000

NES Cartoons. Reviews of BomberMan, BomberMan 2 and Baby Boomer. While Mega Man 7 is a SNES game and not an NES game, I just got a complete version of it, played it, loved it, beat it, and wrote an essay about it. New Weird Sh*t

10/24/2000

Hi! Since I haven't been updating for over a month, it is time for me to answer a couple of questions. First of all, I am NOT DEAD. Please stop emailing me asking me if I am, it's just getting annoying now. I have not been in a major accident. This site is also NOT DEAD. many seem to think since gai-den.com went down, this site did with it but this is simply untrue. The NES Days will remain on Tripod until further notice. If you looked at the marquee, I bet you want to know what I meant by "it's time to end the game." I haven't been purchasing NES games for the past two months, and I'm back with a vegeance. This weekend I went on ebay and two videogame stores and bought about twenty games. My current total past 600 unique and working NES games. I've decided that I must now make the final push to possess ALL of the remaining domestically released NES games (this excludes protos, pirates, and imports.) I would like to collect the remaining games before January 1st, but I don't think I can come up with the fiscal resources to do so, considering these last games are pretty rare and I do want the rarest of them all complete.

Of course, when I collect all the 769+ games, I will become GOD, so you'd better help me out now unless you want me to send you to Hell when I recieve the Ultimate Power. According to the ancient scrolls I read, when I surround myself with all the games, bolts of lighting are supposed flow through my body à la Highlander, just like what happened when I acquired all the NES choose your own adventure novels and all the issues of Nintendo Power. Anyway, I will forge myself and invincible suit of armor out of gold spray-painted Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt carts. All who sell/trade me games will recieve these gold carts with which, if held to the body, will grant eternal life.

By the way, if you couldn't tell, the last paragraph was a joke. I do, however, want those remaining games. My list of games left to collect can be found HERE. If you have something you're willing to part with for immortality, anime, modest finicial compesation, or anything else* please email me shadowman024@yahoo.com to let me know.

*Legal restraints prohibit me from receieving games for sexual favors.. While I probably would be quite willing, travel expenses also make it uneconomic to prostitute myself :D

9/30/2000

I'm back on tripod because gai-den.com stopped its services. I got it all 26 episodes of the SMB3 show on 3 tapes. The quality looks really nice. I'm currently making an update.

9/17/2000

Review Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu

9/16/2000

Changing Interests

Since I haven't updated in a month, I feel I have some explaining to do. Without going into a long, personal and boring story, I've had some problems with my time management. Ironically I've had the least amount of work I've had to do for school in years, but my interest in anime has increased greatly, and I've been spending less time with NES related activities. Combine this with my dwindling source of income, which becomes alloted more to anime purchases because 1) I really love watching anime 2) I've cleared out all the funcolands around me of their NES games and 3) I refuse to buy hideously overpriced NES games on eBay (Yes, I realize the contradiction that I'm not willing to spend $21 on Bandit Kings of Ancient China, yet I'm spending $200 on anime DVDs monthly.) Combine another factor: My free time not spent watching anime transforms into spending time with my friends in the real world and Internet time, and on the Internet I'm starting to get really distracted by AIM and side links. My goals of usually checking 5 email messages turns into a two hour experience after which I can't even remember what the hell I did. Combine another factor: gai-den.com has seemingly gone to hell. I can't get a response from HiryuX about activating the links of the homepage. Combine yet another factor: I haven't talked to anybody about the NES on the Net for such a long time (virtually three months, although my IRC chatting has declined for over a year) that I'm almost totally lost. Just today I checked the NEScity Message Board to find that it had been totally abandoned. I'm not proud of my NES neglected and I wish I become more motivated and rekindle my passion in this system. I figure I can't quit now, I possess 586 too many of these damn gray carts!!! :D And, oh well, I guess I screwed the long, personal and boring aspect of this announcement. Anyway, the positive announcements are below this winded essay. Enjoy!

Review of A Boy And His Blob, some new Weird Sh*t, more coming soon!!!

I will reopen the NES cartoon distrubution in a few weeks. I am in the process of receiving high quality episodes of all of the following NES cartoon series: Captain N: the Game Master (ALL 34 episodes); Mega Man (UNCUT ALL 27 episodes + the demonstration trailer); Super Mario Bros 3 (ALL 26 episodes); and Super Mario World (ALL 13 episodes). No word yet on Super Mario Bros Super Show or Zelda.

The Mega Man cartoon is now back on Fox Family Channel 7:00 AM EST. Check your local times. Of course, FFC (not the Govt agency) still censors the show. Idiots. Like having robots occasionally punch each other or blow up is SO much worse than the violence on Digimon.

I've also decided not to buy games at Microplay anymore. They are just getting way too expensive and inflated. I got some semi-rare working stuff like The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Donkey Kong Jr. Math, but the average cart price there is now $6 and $8-10 for a rare game. And you thought Funcoland was bad! Speaking of which, I have three funcolands within 20 minutes driving distance of my house, as opposed to a year ago when there weren't any with a 500 mile RADIUS of my house. I've totally cleaned out the biggest one; I must now target the others for my Second Coming. Since they must manually enter NES games into their computer, the employees will suffer greatly as they are judged :) Sadly, if I haven't had gotten a DVD player and subsequently purchased $900 worth of Discs at Amazon.com, I would have probably finished my collection by own. (I'm not kidding about the $900 either!)

4/17/2000 Hi! This is my first update in a little under a month. Please do not play Name That game; it is closed and I'll have new questions in a week. I've been busy with work and pursuing other activities of interest; I haven't even played a video game since the beginning of March. Luckily, I'm on vacation now so I have time for a massive update! I now have ALL of the 34 episodes of Captain N: The Game Master and now I have ALL 12 Nintendo Adventure Books and also ALL 11 Worlds of Power Books. As expected, lighting bolts surged throughout my body when I got them all. THE WORLD IS MINE!!! MWAHHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!! :)

Hi! This is my first update in a little under a month. Please do not play Name That game; it is closed and I'll have new questions in a week. I've been busy with work and pursuing other activities of interest; I haven't even played a video game since the beginning of March. Luckily, I'm on vacation now so I have time for a massive update! I now have ALL of the 34 episodes of Captain N: The Game Master and now I have ALL 12 Nintendo Adventure Books and also ALL 11 Worlds of Power Books. As expected, lighting bolts surged throughout my body when I got them all. THE WORLD IS MINE!!! MWAHHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!! :)

1/18/2000 I just bought a ton of more games from Funcoland. Got a big surprise: the copy of The Mutant Virus I bought had part of the sticker pulled away and had pubic hair stuck to it. Someone out there is very, very sick.

6/23/99 I'm undertaking a new project: making a links list of all active NES sites on the World Wide Web. Please refer to the Links section for more information. Also, I'm trying to find all the broken links to my pages on this site. If you find a broken link, please email me.

The Super Mario Brothers are back on TV! Check out Super Mario World and The Adventures of Super Mario Brothers 3 on the PAX channel sunday mornings, 6 to 7 A.M. in all time zones.

Here are the manuals I'm typing up. If this manuals are already on-line, please tell me so I don't have to spend more time typing these.

Athena, Dragon Power, Excitebike, Gumshoe, Heavy Shreddin', Karnov, RBI Baseball, Rad Racer II, Rampage, Shadow of the Ninja, Spider-Man: Return of the Sinster Six, Stinger, Tetris 2, Tiny Toon Adventures 2, Top Gun, Track & Field 2,Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and Wrath of the Black Manta.