$130 for a jacket?

Gonna be a looooooooooooooooong 2026 for New England sports fans. Celtics with an epic choke job. Bruins were never good (and it’ll be worse next season). Red Sox are an epic disaster. VrabelGate looms over the Patriots, whose schedule will crush them this year (after getting demolished in SB LX).

Top Gun NES is a relatively easy game, in reality— until the bosses/end targets, where bullet spam and one-hit-kill missiles ruin your day. Landings/refuelings can be tricky, but far from difficult. They aren’t the problem. Also: 90% of the game is flying above/avoiding enemy engagements.

I initially didn’t start buying Game Player’s magazines until well into the 16-Bit Era… so it’s been neat leafing through these late NES Era issues and seeing what I missed back then.

I sadly didn’t go to PowerFest ‘90, as I didn’t yet have an NES and wasn’t as into it as I would go on to become… but I treasure this related piece of history that I own.

I’m hoping that my colleagues in EdTech are polishing their resumes, because the Anti-Chromebook movement is going to displace a lot of us as it spreads across the country. I’m already pivoting (thankfully) to another IT focus in my school building, deprioritizing classroom software a bit.

This would look so good on my wall.

Today was just what I needed after a really tough week at the office. Found some cool stuff today for sure. Too bad I gave up doing YouTube videos. The NES/Genesis shelf would make a fitting backdrop.

It’s been a fun afternoon. Here’s the top highlights.

Getting back into NES and Genesis gaming, I looked around the App Store today to see if there were any apps that tracked high scores and progress. There are gameplay trackers, but they're more geared toward "beating" games and completion percentage-- not high scores and best efforts.

It's my favorite movie. I've seen it dozens of times. Is it high art or award-winning cinema? Heck no. Are there issues with story-telling and game-related things? Heck yeah. But seeing Nintendo & its games tied into the film always takes me back... and that Super Mario 3 showcase is (still) epic.

Checking my PlayStation controllers.

313K playing NES Gyruss. I should’ve done better, but made dumb mistakes early to lose a couple of lives.

NES games 154 and 155 arrived today. Monster Party is… well… it’s an action game. It’s got some weirdness to it that makes it stand out. It’s also a tough nut to crack. Palamedes is a “hidden gem” of a puzzler. Players are tasked with creating the best Yahtzee-like combinations from rows of dice.

J.D. Roth after spending too much time at Kenny Rogers’ Roasters. (Fun House, NES)

I haven’t done a Retro Room walkthrough in a bit, so I thought it would be a good time to do so since I’ve recently added NES and Genesis to my setup. Obviously, the original PlayStation game shelves are still the highlight… but there’s other cool stuff, too.

Filing this under "Screens I Can Hear". The Genesis/Mega Drive absolutely has better golf games, but this one holds a place in my heart & mind. The music washes over any frustration, and I always have fun playing it-- even if the play controls aren't great. (This game is en route to me via mail.)

There's a neat parallel going on in my life right now. As a student, on school days, I would count down the time until I got to leave & play video games for a bit. Now, working in school EdTech/IT, I count down the time until the end of the school day so I can go home & play video games.

Can't spell "American" without "I" and "me". Selfishness and greed aren't necessarily indicators of abject stupidity. That's just the American Way. "F*** you, I want mine." None of these narcissists want to pay taxes until it affects them directly.

April sure was a busy month for video game collecting. This Collector's Log entry talks about what's new, and what's to come.

Collecting observation: There’s a significant shift going on for me recently. I’m actively curating/narrowing certain console game libraries (PS2, GCN) and putting the proceeds into NES and (now) Genesis. Some games that I’m moving have been sitting, unplayed, for a decade.

I saved these manuals from being discarded back in 1999 while working for FuncoLand. The rule was that stores got rid of a lot of boxes and manuals to save space— and all carts were sold loose. Now, in 2026, I have the games to go with them… so they’re doubly nice to have.

My NES library grew some more today, too— up to 153 carts.

As I become more and more disenchanted by modern console video gaming, I’m turning back to older consoles. Welcome (back), SEGA Genesis! I’m going to enjoy getting back to my sports video gaming roots. Oh, and Greendog, because @gamesack.net.

I know nobody likes to hear it, but simply saying "I'm all physical, this doesn't concern me" are missing the point. By giving Sony ANY of your money-- which happens when you buy ANY new video game for PS5-- you support this, as Sony receives a cut (either as a publisher or a third-party licensor).

I’ve been sitting on these NES posters for years— since I rescued them during my time at FuncoLand in 1999. Now that I own a house, have my own “retro room”, and have started building an NES library… it’s time to take them out of storage and think about where to put them up.

Killing licenses if PS5 consoles don’t “check in” online is classic Arrogant Sony. And yet scores of people happily bend over and and take it, no lube. “Just buy physical!” Nah. If it’s me, I wouldn’t give anything PS5-related one cent of my hard-earned money moving forward.

Spent some time this evening shuffling things around to add a third shelf for my NES game library. It’s *supposed* to be 11 games per column, but silly OCD me wouldn’t break up a series between columns… so, yeah. I am all in on NES right now. I haven’t felt this energized about collecting in a bit.

Mondays usually suck, but not this Monday— because seven more NES games came in the mail today, bringing my library to 134 carts. Starting to get a little tight for two shelves. Expanding to a third is a soon-ish project. Rollergames and Gun.Smoke are the two I’m *most* geeked about from these.

Yoshimitsu is my main.

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YOINK

Of all of the Dragon's Lair-alikes that came along during the early 1990s to take advantage of CD-ROM tech, Revenge of the Ninja is my favorite. Ninja Hayate's expressions are hilarious-- and reflexes are definitely tested in making the right move fast enough.

Gonna eat ‘em all.

The last time I had these? 5th grade. 11 years old. The corner store near the apartment we were living in had them— they used to be a regular allowance purchase. (See also: David Pumpkin Seeds.) The grape ones are still my favorites.

Not me sitting here looking at Pokémon-branded Goldfish. Nope. No sir.

I don’t “finish” or “beat” many games, but I did finish the DuckTales Remastered campaign for the first time in more than a decade today. It was a good time.

I’d open a retro video game store with a gameplay arena so we could have weekly high score tournaments. Maybe even video game trivia nights. It would be a very niche crowd and I’d wind up in a big money hole early from spending money to stock some inventory.

Nah, the Red Sux don’t fire their manager and coaching staff after getting swept by the Yankees. They wait until after a 17-1 win. This team is a freaking disaster, from ownership down. The GM should’ve been gone, too.

Today’s mail call brings my NES library to 127 carts. There’s nothing earth-shattering here, though Paperboy is a game I’d had an eye out for. It’s not as good as the coin-op, but it’s not bad either.

Evidence that I’m not cut out for modern action video game mechanics: I cannot get past the first boss in Pragmata. I wasn’t ready for that kind of difficulty spike (for me, anyway). (Please don’t with the “How are you struggling? That was easy!” responses.)

“You’re not going to preorder now? Wrong move. Do it, Mark.”

“Damn. That is the LAST time I eat those MrBeast Feastables.”

So we won't see the protagonist climbing a shit-ton of towers to expand his map? Cool.

That one time DK and Junior ate mushrooms instead of bananas.

If you were fortunate enough to have visited an arcade during the 1980s, you likely remember how all of the game sounds and music blended and yet stood out. It is aurally chaotic, and yet-- for me, anyway-- calming and soothing. Arcades were my safe places. Hearing that cacophony always eased me.

I used to hear people call this "True Crimes" at game stores all the time. Not as egregious as "Banjo-Kazookie" or "Evil Residence", but still wrong-- unless you're looking for both games in the series.

I'm psyched that this game is on its way to me. After playing the coin-op version (via Capcom Arcade Cabinet / Capcom Arcade Stadium), I'm hoping to develop more appreciation of an NES game that I overlooked for whatever reason.