the_wizard_666

I hope so...only way I'll be able to afford to crack open a WATA game... You know, I gotta say that the icing on the proverbial cake here would be if I did just that, opened the game up, and it turned out to be a reseal. That's my biggest fantasy tbh - to crack open a slabbed sealed game and find out it was a reseal that made it through the grading process.

Not to mention a myriad of other tangents that tend to happen. This thread is turning into something to rival some of the old NA threads.

@karljobst Additionally, if there's something specific you are looking for information on, don't be afraid to post asking about it if you can't find an existing discussion. Many of us have discussed pretty much everything to death, but I don't think any of us old farts mind popping into a thread to help a new guy out. Whether you're interested in the hobby as a gamer, collector, or investor, or just doing research for a future video, we're typically all willing to help educate and enlighten.

Nope. Billy has a fantastic head of hair. Reminds me of back in the day when I used to be able to grow hair Probably the best thing about the man is his luscious locks.

Yeah, but if it only grows to a maximum of an inch or two, is it really a penis at all? Sounds more like a vestigial organ, which makes sense since you don't use it for anything...

This is actually a really good idea. Might I suggest expanding it a bit to an overall "technical" section? Can lump in things like repairs, repros, mods, etc. Probably a bit of work to add it into the forum, but I think it'd be worthwhile, as I haven't seen anywhere that would be a suitable place to ask about things like that.

As an aside, I went to find somewhere else to post for a while, but after looking through the "latest posts" list on the front page, this is literally the ONLY active thread right now. Definitely the legacy thread of the year

I'm so glad to hear he's doing well! Next time you talk to him, tell him I said hi!

Only thing I'll say about the moderating was the inconsistency, and that some users (ie me) got some preferential treatment. I never got so much as a warning, despite some of my posts being objectively worse (at least in my eyes) than some that got people banned. I doubt that was a universal thing, as many mods did a hell of a job, but it was something I noticed from my position on the outside.

I have no clue. Our last interaction was him messaging me about a Reddit thread about the NES Contents List. Only reason I have a Reddit account I'd rather not...then I'd have to talk to him

There's a ton of evidence pointing to the fact that at least one score tape was performed on MAME and not a legit cab. There is a separate category for MAME of course, but a lot of the super old timers look down on the entire category. Even if he achieved the score without any in-game cheats, he still attempted (and for a while succeded) to deceive TG by claiming a legit MAME score as an arcade cab score. That'd be like trying to pass off a Genesis score as a SNES one, or an Xbox score as a PS2 one. Because of subtle differences between the platforms (not to mention significant differences in input devices), it simply isn't fair to lump them in with each other (hence why MAME is a separate category). But yeah, Billy 100% cheated on at least one score, and likely multiples.

Well, I don't blame him for doing that...I mean, who wants a label free cart on the shelf...aside from @Paul of course Maybe when/if I message him I'll ask if he's still got it. I'd imagine if it went into circulation it'd be an obvious thing...high quality labels weren't exactly common back then. I have no interest in the cart mind you, so it may have just slipped under my radar

That's what you get for attaching your name to a www.poopsenders.com delivery Hmm...maybe someone should send a big ol' parcel to WATA...

Oh he can...if he can stop playing it safe and actually go for score. Which he can't

BOOM!

Nick Morgan. He was a minor at the time, probably didn't get actual hard time for the fraud. Don't think he got an NWC either. We gave him a chance on NA again, and then he got banned for trying to pass off fake Section Z maps as legit, which he flat out denies (he did make repros, and gave them to select people, who then allegedly claimed he scammed them and got him banned). Pretty sure I'm still friends with him on Facebook. He's pretty much out of the "scene," although I'm pretty sure he still has a small collection. Haven't talked to him in ages, I should see if he's still on there and pop him a message I know I was never a mod, but having been on NA since it started, I will say I don't recall BA being on the site for a full decade, nevermind being a moderator....

Oh, I wasn't attacking you there. I just didn't want someone down the road to see that and actually think I'm just jerking his ego. He's legitimately that good. Then again, he still refuses to try a serious run at The Punisher, so who knows for sure

/obligatory Spaceballs reference

I think this is the first time I've ever seen someone from Quebec refer to themselves as Canadian... In all seriousness though, welcome aboard! Always nice to see another Canadian pop up in the community!

I'm speaking from actual experience firsthand. He's an IRL friend. We game together most weekends, and he's a VERY competitive dude IRL. He's one of the best pure 8-bit gamers I know...of course, get him outside of his two-button world and he's almost completely lost Basically, I'm not basing my statements off of his scores posted, I'm basing it on firsthand experience playing with and against him in a variety of games, as well as watching him. Also, don't use Bomberman in the contests if he's playing. Trust me on this.

Stan really is a great dude. he was one of the old-timers when I first joined the online community on NESWorld back in '03 or '04. A lot of what I know in this hobby either came from him, or was contributed to by him. I also kinda feel proud that I've contributed to his Atari collection. When he was hunting Zellers releases I pulled a couple off the shelf for him. I also remember him giving me some Master System recommendations when I got my borked console up and running and didn't know what to get for it. Wish he was around more...think I've seen him on AtariAge a couple times while I lurk there. Not sure if he's still around though. I'll skip Portnoyd until the next bit... Hounder really saddened me. I have long said I don't care about the money I lost. I considered him a friend, as did most of the guys he scammed. He contributed so much to the community, from variant talk and rarity discussions all the way to contributing to the Sealed Contents thread (both by opening games himself and by selling sealed to myself for bro rates). I always just wanted an explanation from the horse's mouth as to what happened. One of those mysteries that I'm bound never to know the answer to, but I hope it was something major that drove him to it and not just simple greed. Oh I know! I think the biggest problem with him is that he lacks tact and has an abrasive personality (at least online, can't speak to his offline personality). I think a lot of what he's said over the years was bang on, but said in a way that even people who agreed with his positions would get pissed off about it Also, the Log Blog was pure gold!

@rdrunner is one of those crazy good gamers that are rightfully in the upper echelon of NES gaming. @BeaIank fits there too, as should anyone who can no-death Ikari Warriors And I'd argue @Crabmaster2000 fits the bill as well...maybe he doesn't get the competitive scores that Tom does, or the insane feats that Bea does, but legitimately beating almost the entire library is a feat that shouldn't be ignored. And frankly, I think everyone has at least one game they'll dominate the competition at any day of the week. Mine would be The Punisher, as the past Weekly Contest I participated in shows...it's to the point that it's specifically left out when @Dr. Morbis challenges me to "any game in the collection"

Ghosts 'n Goblins has two different endings. GI Joe, for example, has the same ending three times, with some challenge text afterward. Aside from that text, there is no difference in the endings of the three quests. Per AdamL's endings FAQ: When you finally finish Quest 3, Mission 6, Stage 2 and defeat Cobra Commander for the 3rd time, you get the regular ending, showing the chopper leaving the exploding mountain, a congratulations screen, credits which show each boss of the game, a screen showing a password and high score and finally a screen with text from the game's programmer Ken Lobb stating how he is impressed and that the final quest is programmed for experts. A cool reward for finishing all 3 Quests! Basically, you get the same ending with a different text at the end. A far cry from what is shown in Ghosts 'n Goblins, and why I would say only one quest is needed to "beat" the game in GI Joe, but both quests for GnG. All that said, odds are the end of Military Madness isn't gonna change, but unless someone actually does the second loop, or can find a Let's Play or some other source that shows the ending on subsequent loops, we won't truly know where it sits. If such evidence can't be turned up though, I would be inclined to mark it as done until such evidence comes forward, if in fact there is a different ending.

Over the course of nearly 25 years of collecting, I've seen every NES cart aside from Stadium Events and Myriad 6-in-1 in the wild, and plenty of others as well. As far as rares I picked up over the years, Little Samson springs to mind ($40 was a great price for an $80 game ), as does the SMS version of Buster Douglas Boxing (traded a bunch of NES dupes in to a pawn shop for it). Also got Sculpter's Cut in a trade, but that was with @Krunch ages ago, so I'm not sure if y'all would count that as "in the wild," even though the swap happened in my basement and not online. Of course, I subsequently sold it to a local reseller when I needed quick cash, and saw it a couple times at his booth at a few local events, so that may still count in that regard

L'Empereur is on my short list of games to beat as well after I got so goddamn close a few years back (battery crapped out on me just as I'd defeated Russia and just had England to deal with). Of course, I'm still feeling spiteful so there's no way I'm gonna post when/if I beat it, so that point is moot. But in the interest of helping, Genghis Khan is definitely the easier of the two though. I'm not sure if there's a requirement to play through the Mongol Conquest first, but it's the best way to go for a new player. The map is smaller, the foes are somewhat easier, and there's a bit less to deal with overall - it's kinda like a tutorial mode. The bonus is that you can choose better generals to take with you to World Conquest than you would default to by starting there, plus you'll start WC with a better position (and possibly even earlier timewise) than by starting there. As for L'Empereur, I would also start in the first scenario. Only the fourth gives an ending (the rest progress into the next one), but by playing the long game you will be eased into game mechanics, and likely have a better overall position by the time you make Emperor.