there's treasure everywhere

On a routine stop at the local thrifty store, I ususally find something awesome.

At the electronics section(ha. I have to stop there. I sometimes laugh even considering some of that crap electronic), I saw the usual pile of Nintendo Gamecubes and like twelve Playstations, and a N64.

Sidenote: I pretty much abandoned Nintendo and jumped on the Playstation bandwagon in the late 90's. The games were better in my opinion. I never really played N64, but they had some nice enough games. If I could, I would probably get one, just for the cartridge nostalgia. All the abandoned Gamecubes are a result of everyone getting a Wii, which also plays Gamecube games.

But then I saw something incredibly rare: three NES's sitting there. After some scrutiny I picked the one that looked the least beat up, found some power cords and TV connectors and took it home.

So the NES needs some TLC. I cleaned it up, and powered it on. The red light blinked so that's a good sign. A lot of old consoles have faded or yellowing plastics from UV exposure. The NES I picked up has some UV fading on the front and left side of the unit, which is pretty awesome considering how old it probably is. Who ever owned it probably just left it on the shelf. My SNES looks terrible, almost like it was baked in the sun. It has something to do with the cheap plastics that were used in Japan, and after 10 years or so, most of them deteriorate. The 72 pin connector inside the unit is probably dirty and corroded like most Nintendos. I'm going to have to open it up and replace it with a better one, or try and clean the contacts on the games I have. An old NES is a temperamental beast, but I think I can resuscitate this one.

Now I just need some controllers and games. That shouldn't be too hard. I've looked for my old NES at my parent's house, but it was probably lost when we moved to UT. All the cords and connectors were probably lost too. I did manage to find four cartridges though, and with some cleaning, I can probably get them playing soon.

post 555

My brother has been running. He even attempted his first Ultramarathon last month, completing 30 miles before he had to DNF. He finished the half marathon that Halloween and even got a medal. I do not run. I prefer to walk/jog to the pantry to eat Oreo cookies like they're going out of style. I hate running, and I don't think that I'll be finishing an ultarmarathon anytime soon. I've got other plans.

This weekend is the El Tour de Tucson bike race. The 109 mile race circles the perimeter of my old hometown. It actually passes by close to where I used to live. My dad rode the El Tour a long long time ago on a crappy mountain bike, and I think there's an embarrassing photo of him from the early 90's somewhere. My goal is to be ready for next year's race, and I think I can do it. I just need to keep riding.

I'd like to try the Utah Lake Century before I go down to Tucson next year. I guess my real goal is to try and finish a century next year. That'll show my stupid running family.

the ride there (again)

I had a hard time riding into work this morning. I don't know if it was breakfast or if I just didn't get enough sleep. I made it into work ok, but felt really tired. Here's a song that I had in my head this morning, and the video works because it got me pumped up for my ride.

Remember Nada Surf? They had a hit or two in the late 90's and then fading away like everything else. This song "Whose Authority" came out a couple of years ago and features Michael Moronna of Pete of Pete fame riding his bike throughout NYC as a bike messenger. Enjoy.



(edit: on the ride back I saw two girls smoking pot and walking a goat. It was crazy. I found out that my rear wheel was rubbing on my frame or brake pad... That's why I had a hard time this morning. I was flying on the way home. Whoa.)

the ride there

Rode my bike 10 miles into work this morning. It was the first time in a long time (I might get rained on the return trip). There's always a sense of urgency on the way to work... like I'm not going to make it on time. I pulled into work almost 20 minutes early.

Some things that I saw on the ride:

A pirate skull and bones eyepatch.
A stuffed bunny
A phillips screw driver
Multiple dead animals
and a girl who got pulled over by the Lehi PD.

I put my iPod on shuffle:

1. Transmutation - MDFMK
2. Hang on - Dr. Dog
3. Spoonman - Soundgarden
4. I Can't - Radiohead
5. Inside - Moby
6. Pet Toy Designer - Bud Light Real Men of Genius Radio Commercial (I have over a hundred of these)
7. Change Clothes - Jay Z + Danger Mouse
8. Over Now - Alice in Chains
9. Burned - Better Than Ezra
10. Minarets - Dave Matthews + Tim Reynolds
11. Alone, Together - The Strokes
12. Uncle Johnny - The Killers
13. Rental Car - Beck
14. Quake Theme - NIN
15. Obscured - Smashing Pumpkins
16. Daylight - Coldplay
17. Right Start (unfinished outake) - Talking Heads

I need to clean up my my ipod. I usually hit shuffle to see what comes up. I hope the ride back has a good mix.

night

Here's a quick pixel doodle I finished a while back. Some of the most interesting things I notice while playing old Nintendo games are the textures that someone painstakingly programed to make buildings, floors, walls, and bricks. It isn't as easy as it looks.

I like the cold weather.

That's it.

blah

I don't know what to blog about.

I'm tired.

Famicom? what?!

Today. I had another awesome day with my son, but I felt like we had to brave the rain and get out of the house. Beware the wall of text that follows...

I went to the local thrifty store today. I went and checked the usual spots: records, gadgets, bikes, misc stuff, books, etc. I ended up with two awesome blue ties, an Elton John album, and a very old, near mint copy of Nintendo Power. It is the May/June 1989 issue with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the front cover. When I came home and flipped through the issue, it brought back some great memories about the NES which I'll talk about later... But yeah- the magazine previews the first TMNT game, Mega Man II, and other things. I found it funny that people would actually write the magazine for tips on games like The Legend of Zelda, Metal Gear, and other classic video games. An eight page strategy guide for Ninja Gaiden totally made me smile.

I also forgot how awesome some of the artwork was. The magazine extensively used the talents of Katsuya Terada and others to bring some... life to these 8-bit games. His creative concept art for The Legend of Zelda is some of the best:

This was kinda brought on by my recent re-interest in chiptune music.

I'd like to get my grubby hands on an original NES, as I believe that my old Nintendo was probably thrown away a long long time ago. I'd also like to get a Commodore 64 (and I almost did... but chickened out at the last moment). All these old consoles and computers are put to good use by new music software that take advantage of the sound chips found within. blah blah blah. Here's a song from BitShifter:

In my research I found out that the Japanese Famicom had extra sound channels that were utilized in many games, but it was not used in the North American version of the NES. The Famicom Disc System had an extra sound chip. Did you ever look on the bottom of your Nintendo and wonder why there was a unused adapter on the bottom? Yep. That was it. Never used.

Disappointed? Yes I was after I found some sound examples that showed that some of my favorite games had inferior sound quality and music when compared to the Famicom versions. The solution? Get a Famicom of course. ha.

Here are a few examples:

Here's the Japanese version of Metroid.

Here's the American NES version. You'll notice a difference.

One more example. A mix of both versions:

Castlevania 3 is one of the best examples of the sound quality differences between Famicom and NES. After watching footage of other games, it just makes me sad. Sound effects, and the sonic components of the games are no where to be heard. I would definitely go back and play the Japanese versions of these games just to see the differences. I just need a plane ticket to Tokyo where all this stuff sells for a few hundred yen.

ha

Well I'm not sick anymore. That totally sucked by the way. I hate being sick.

Now I'm just hoping that someone calls me back for a job interview. Hopefully.