Gallery: Weekend Thrifting: Diabetic Elephants and Other Odd Videogame Finds
01atari-ultra-pong
SAN FRANCISCO — From archaic hardware to bizarre characters, you never know what you'll find when you go digging through the bins at thrift stores and flea markets. Here are some of the latest obscure gaming collectibles I've found in my Weekend Thrifting expeditions. __Above:__ Atari Ultra Pong Doubles ------------------------ Atari made a lot of different Pong machines, but [Ultra Pong Doubles](http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=3&c=1279) was the king. If you owned this gaming console, you could enjoy the ultimate video tennis experience. It boasted four detachable controllers, for goodness' sake. It stunned with [crazy rainbow backgrounds](http://www.old-computers.com/MUSEUM/software2.asp?st=3&c=1279). It delivered an array of variations with tantalizing names like *Hyper Barrier Hockey* that covered up the fact the games were all just Pong with slightly altered rules. All this advancement was made possible because Ultra Pong Doubles was released in 1977, the same year as the [Atari Video Computer System](http://www.atarimuseum.com/videogames/consoles/2600/A2600.html), which quickly rendered solid-state Pong machines obsolete. I still probably wouldn't have bought this (these ancient pieces take up a lot of room) except for the fact that it came with--
02atari-2600-games
Atari 2600 Games ---------------- For a mere $10, I got the Ultra Pong Doubles console plus this stack of four Atari Video Computer System games. They are some of the most common titles available on the system: Pac-Man, [Space War](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_War), Defender and [Combat](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combat_(video_game)). The cartridges themselves are barely worth their weight in silicon. The packages are in exceptional condition; they look as if they've been opened once, then put away. Even that doesn't do much for their collectors' value, though: Brand-new copies of [Pac-Man](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pac-Man_(Atari_2600)) sell for about $17 on eBay, and opened copies usually end with no bids. Atari made a *ton* of some of these games, and even now they're extremely common, even in pristine condition. In the end, $10 was such a rock-bottom price that the whole package was a good deal, but any more expensive and I'd likely have walked away.
03game-boy-games
Game Boy Games -------------- It's not too hard to find Game Boy cartridges scattered throughout people's belongings at flea markets if you're prepared to really dig. The trick is knowing what to buy. A few bucks each got me [Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castlevania_II:_Belmont%27s_Revenge) (which, like [Kid Dracula](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/gamelife/2011/05/weekend-thrifting-sky-skipper?pid=1123), would be worth big bucks if it came in the original box), [Marble Madness](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marble_Madness) and [Survival Kids](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survival_Kids) (the innovative Game Boy Color game about children lost on a desert island that eventually spawned sequels on DS and Wii called [Lost in Blue](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_in_Blue). Two more interesting games round out this thrift-store find: The in-store demo version of [Donkey Kong Land 2](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donkey_Kong_Land_2), which would have been placed in a Game Boy kiosk on a store counter and bears the "Not for Resale" label. And a pirated "32 in 1" Game Boy game. It doesn't work: When you turn it on, it just starts a bugged-out version of [Super Mario Land](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Mario_Land). You may note that the Os in Game Boy and Nintendo have been replaced with thetas. Flipping it over, we find this wonderful notice:  That's right. Surely it would throw Interpol off the scent of our pirating operation if we led them on a wild goose chase through the country of "Japam."
04spelunx
Spelunx and the Caves of Mr. Seudo ---------------------------------- I probably have too many old PC games (not to mention floppy disk games for the original Macintosh), but I can't resist buying them sometimes. Especially in this case, when it's [Spelunx](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spelunx), one of the games that [Cyan Worlds](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyan_Worlds) created before Myst. "Big-box" PC games are becoming more and more collectible these days, although the number of people collecting them would seem to be considerably smaller than in the console space.
05bootleg-street-fighter-comics
Bootleg Street Fighter Comics ----------------------------- Demand for [Street Fighter](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_Fighter)-based comic books must have vastly outstripped the supply of legally produced material in China, or Taiwan, or Hong Kong or wherever these came from. Lord knows I can't read them. But the designs of familiar characters like [M. Bison](http://streetfighter.wikia.com/wiki/M._Bison), which seem to have been drawn by a completely different person in every panel, are worth staring at in utter incomprehension.
06packy-marlon
Packy & Marlon -------------- I'm just going to quote from this Super Nintendo game's box text, as you would never believe me otherwise: > Oh no! Packy and Marlon, two pachyderm pals with diabetes, are in heavy trouble. Summer camp has been raided by rats! The pesky critters have stolen food and critical diabetes supplies. Can Packy and Marlon find the food and supplies? To do it, they have to blast vicious varmints with peanuts and water. They have to remember to eat healthy stuff, check blood glucose levels, and take insulin! It's super learning about diabetes. And super fun! So eventually, reading this, you start to understand that [Packy & Marlon](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Packy_and_Marlon) is an *educational* game and not just one with a totally inappropriate premise. Apparently [playing the game did help kids manage their diabetes](http://www.nytimes.com/1999/04/06/health/managing-ailments-through-video-games.html), according to a 1999 story in The New York Times. The publisher, Raya Systems, made three other educational games: [Rex Ronan: Experimental Surgeon](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rex_Ronan:_Experimental_Surgeon) (about the dangers of tobacco), [Captain Novolin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Novolin) (diabetes again) and, most charmingly, [Bronkie the Bronchiosaurus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronkie_the_Bronchiasaurus) (asthma). All are tough to track down with their boxes, which is why I was excited to find this one still sealed (if crushed on one side).
07williams-classic-arcade
Williams Classic Arcade ----------------------- Released in 1994, Williams Classic Arcade was a line of emulated arcade games for the Mac. These emulated versions of [Joust](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joust_(video_game)) and [Defender](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defender_(video_game)) were Digital Eclipse Software's first releases, and I have it on good authority that they were in fact the first ever commercially released emulations of original arcade game code. [MAME](http://mamedev.org/), the freeware arcade game emulator, didn't arrive until three years later. By that time, Digital Eclipse was carving out a niche for itself creating emulations of arcade titles for a variety of platforms. These two games were a great find for me personally, as I know several designers who came up from Digital Eclipse. I'm told that these particular releases have fetched a good amount of money in the past from collectors because of their awesome box designs, which look like foot-tall arcade cabinets.
08columns-iii
Columns III ----------- *The scene: The Vic Tokai offices, sometime in 1993:* "So we're gonna put out [Columns III](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columns_III) and we have to come up with a cover idea. I don't know if we just want to put a bunch of multicolored gems on the box again. This is the '90s. We gotta be edgier." "How about we put Frank on the cover?" "Who?" "You know, Frank from Accounts Payable." "Kinda paunchy guy?" "Right, right." "Going prematurely bald?" "Yeah, Frank from accounting." "This is *the best idea we have ever had*."
09nes-karateka-pro-sport-hockey
NES Games --------- These two games are the only items in this edition of Weekend Thrifting that I bought online. The first is a copy of [Jordan Mechner's Karateka](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karateka_%28video_game%29) for the [Comboy](http://www.siliconera.com/2008/02/09/korea%E2%80%99s-nes-n64-and-super-comboy/), the Korean version of the Nintendo Entertainment System. You don't see these games very often, and what intrigued me about this particular release is that it's done in the style of [Nintendo of America's "black box" games](http://www.gamespite.net/toastywiki/index.php/Games/G5-BlackBoxGames), the original run of releases that all shared a similar packaging style. Sadly, it doesn't work on an American NES. I bought it thinking it would be interesting to own a single example of a Korean NES cartridge. Also I love the name "Comboy." Jaleco's [Pro Sport Hockey](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pro_Sport_Hockey), meanwhile, was released late in the NES' life and is thus a little harder to track down than most games on the system.
10iron-and-blood
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons® Iron & Blood™ Warriors of Ravenloft™ ----------------------------------------------------------------- I bought this copy of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons® Iron & Blood™ Warriors of Ravenloft™ because it is burdened with a fantastically overwrought title. Can anyone cite a PlayStation game with a longer name? Apparently [Advanced Dungeons & Dragons® Iron & Blood™ Warriors of Ravenloft™ is pretty horrible](http://www.gamespot.com/ps/action/ironandblood/review.html?tag=summary%3Bread-review). I have not had the courage to try it.
11pro-action-replay
Saturn Pro Action Replay ------------------------ The [Sega Saturn](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_Saturn) was kind of a mess in the United States; although the PlayStation competitor did OK in Japan and benefited from a large software library, games were few and far between in the States. Enter the [Pro Action Replay](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_Rep). It was a Game Genie-style cheat device, yes, but most importantly it let you play imported Saturn games just by popping it into the system's cartridge slot. Thanks to the receipt still inside the box for this one, I know that the original buyer got this at a now-defunct San Francisco games store along with a copy of [Hang On GP](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hang-On) and spent a whopping $179 in 1995 money for the privilege of [playing it a few months early](http://www.gamefaqs.com/saturn/573963-hang-on-gp/data). I know the feeling.
12comics-on-cd-rom
Comics on CD-ROM ---------------- The world after the popularization of the CD-ROM seemed like one of endless possibility. Why, with more than half a gigabyte of space available, you'd surely run out of content before you ever came close to filling one up! A few CD compilations of magazines and comic strips used the extra space for bonus features like unreleased art. This rare version of [Art Spiegelman's masterpiece Maus](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maus) is prized by completists, but I know absolutely nothing about the Doonesbury collection.
13infocom-treasures
Infocom Treasures ----------------- The great [masters of interactive fiction at Infocom](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infocom) produced among their many notable works a graphical text adventure based on [James Clavell's novel Shōgun](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sh%C5%8Dgun_%28novel%29), which I was pleased to find among a stack of games for a couple of dollars. Once Infocom passed into the hands of Activision, its new corporate owners released most of its classic adventure games on CD-ROM compilations. These are not nearly as collectible as the classic Infocom games but are still hard to find, like [The Zork Anthology](http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/the_zork_anthology).
14terminator-super-tetris
Tetris and Terminator --------------------- By the time [Tetris](http://www.tetris.com/) fever had taken over America, publisher Spectrum Holobyte (which had taken to dubbing itself "The Tetris People") released a brand-new version in a spiffy box with an acetate overlay. On the right, the PC version of [The Terminator](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Terminator_video_games#The_Terminator_.28DOS.29). This came with a free gift; as I opened up the box, a tiny cockroach came skittering out of it. All in a morning's work for the hard-core flea market shopper. What's really interesting about this game is that it was developed, as shown on the bottom right of the box front, by [Bethesda Softworks](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Bethesda_Softworks_games).
15loom-7th-guest
Dead Media Bonanza ------------------ We close with two games that came with interesting packed-in bonuses. Having already filled their video CD-ROMs with data, the makers of [The 7th Guest](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_7th_Guest) produced a making-of video on a VHS tape, included with the first run of their groundbreaking puzzle game. And the soundtrack to the LucasArts graphic adventure [Loom](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loom_%28video_game%29) was included in the box for this floppy disk Mac version on an audio cassette tape.
