For the first month of 2022, it turned out to be quite Nintendo themed.
Nintendo Game Boy Color Universal Game Link Cable Set
The Universal Game Link cable makes it possible to connect machines together. This allows two people to play two-player games. Both players must insert copies of the same Game Pak into their Game Boy, and the Pak must have a two-player mode (the packaging of these games is marked with the appropriate symbol). The Universal Game Link cable is connected to the right side of Game Boy through the socket provided for it.
Rating – Boxed No Manual
Price Paid – £4.99 (Cash Converters Online)
Matchbox Emergency Patrol – Nintendo Game Boy Color
A children’s driving adventure game. Players will drive fire engines and police cars to protect the citizens of Matchbox city. The game is based in a city that has 5 distinctive parts connected by a freeway system. As the player successfully completes missions they are promoted to new ranks as firemen and police and given larger areas of the city to be responsible for. There are multiple mission types for each vehicle. There are two separate control schemes designed to make the title playable for young children while still remaining challenging for older gamers.
Rating – Complete In Box
Price Paid – £4.99 (Cash Converters Online)
Mortal Kombat 4 – Nintendo Game Boy Color
Once upon a time, the thunder god Raiden fought against another god called Shinnok who wanted to conquer the universe. Raiden won and banished Shinnok, but now he is back and continues his previous quest. Raiden calls together other warriors to a tournament which determines the one to challenge Shinnok.
Mortal Kombat 4 is a traditional one-against-one versus fighting game. Both fighters try to emtpy the opponent’s health bar with punches or kicks. Every fighter also has some special attacks which are triggered with certain button combinations. If the time limit of a round runs out, the fighter with more health wins.
The mobile version of this game has a few differences in comparison to its console/PC brother. It only has nine fighters (Raiden, Liu Kang, Scorpion, Reiko, Tanya, Fujin, Sub-Zero, Quan Chi and the unlockable Reptile) and less special moves.
Rating – Complete In Box
Price Paid – £14.99 (Cash Converters Online)
Star Wars Episode 1 Racer – Nintendo Game Boy Color
The game features 5 different planets with 4 tracks each for a total of 20 tracks. Only the first track from each planet is available from the start and the only available pod racer available to select is Anakin Skywalker’s. Winning races unlocks further tracks on each planet and allows the player to choose the racers of the beaten opponents. When all four courses from a planet are won, a duel against Sebulba opens up. Winning it unlocks Sebulba’s racer, but losing another race takes it away again. All racers differ in top speed, acceleration, turning rate and body strength.
Races are seen from a top-down view and are always one-on-one. Unlike in the film or the console game, there are no laps and the first racer to cross the finish line wins. When normal top speed is reached, a flashing light indicates that a turbo boost is available that allows the racer to reach its real top speed. The turbo shouldn’t be used for more than a few seconds, though, because overusing it damages the racer. Crashing into the opponent or track obstacles also causes damage. Too much damage causes the racer to blow up, but the only real effect is some time loss, since it is put back on the track after a few seconds. It is possible to repair damage mid-race at the cost of speed and acceleration.
The game offers a two-player mode via link cable and the cartridge has a rumble feature.
Rating – Complete In Box
Price Paid – £14.99 (Cash Converters Online)
WWF War Zone – Nintendo Game Boy
This version of WWF War Zone differs from its console counterpart. Due to hardware limitations, the game has 2D graphics, as opposed to the 3D of the console versions. The gameplay modes include singles, tag team, cage match, and WWF Challenge (tournament mode). Unlike the console version, there is no create-a-wrestler mode.
Gameplay mechanics have been simplified in this version, as all wrestlers share the same move set, with the exception of their finishing moves. The wrestlers Bret Hart, The Headbangers, or any of the secret characters are absent from this release as well.
Rating – Complete In Box
Price Paid – £6.99 (Cash Converters Online)
WWF Raw – Nintendo Game Boy
WWF Raw is a professional wrestling game featuring up to twelve superstars (ten in the GameGear, eight in the GameBoy version) from the World Wrestling Federation: Bret “Hit Man” Hart, Bam Bam Bigelow, 1-2-3 Kid, Diesel, Doink, Lex Luger, Luna Vachon, Owen Hart, Razor Ramon, Shawn Michaels, Undertaker, and Yokozuna.
In this game, player-controlled wrestlers attempt to pin the opponents to the mat by reducing their power meter until they can fight no more. There is a large number of moves to perform, including turnbuckle maneuvers and “illegal” acts such as hitting the opponent with a metal folding chair.
This game supports up to four simultaneous players, and has the following modes: One-on-One, Tag Team, Bedlam, Survivor Series, Royal Rumble, Raw Endurance Match, and Rematch.
Rating – Complete In Box
Price Paid – £6.99 (Cash Converters Online)
Star Trek Generations: Beyond The Nexus – Nintendo Game Boy
Beyond the Nexus is based on the seventh Star Trek movie and its story: Captains Kirk and Picard must team up to stop a mad scientist from destroying an inhabited planet so that he might reenter the mysterious Nexus energy ribbon.
The game has several different playing modes. The first is starship combat: seen from the main screen of the Enterprise (both the -B or the -D version) you navigate the ship through space, firing phasers or photon torpedoes at enemies like Tholians, Klingons and Romulans. Another mode has you navigating the ship to its destination by flying through rectangles in space.
On away missions, the view switches to a top-down perspective where you control a single character and can fire your phaser at enemies.
Finally, the game has two puzzle modes. In the first one, frequencies must be decoded: this is done by putting symbols into the right order. One can only guess the order at first, but after an attempt the game reveals how many of the selected symbols are part of the combination and how many are in the right place. Using logic, the right order can be determined, but there are only a limited number of tries.
Rating – Complete In Box
Price Paid – £14.99 (Cash Converters Online)
Lego Star Wars: The Video Game – Nintendo Game Boy Advance
This version of LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game differs in several aspects from its PC and console counterpart. The game uses an isometric perspective, and its levels differ in structure and design from those of the other release. One of the most notable differences is the exclusion of a second playable character. There are also fewer playable characters in this version, and fewer stages. Cutscenes are presented as still pictures. Blaster-using characters can charge the shot to pierce through several enemies; however, characters also have a reduced ability to deflect blaster shots.
Rating – Complete In Box
Price Paid – £9.99 (Cash Converters Online)
Charlie And The Chocolate Factory – Nintendo Game Boy Advance
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is based on the film of the same name by Tim Burton.
The first objective of the game is to help Charlie find money to buy a Wonka Bar to win a Golden Ticket. This is done at the beginning of the game while giving a tutorial of what controls will be needed during future stages.
The main part of the game takes place in Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory where the Oompa Loompas help the player through each level. By giving them commands Charlie finishes each challenge and progresses through the game. Each Oompa Loompa specialises in different tasks, such as harvesting, welding, and electrical work. Candy is scattered throughout the levels and when collected it boosts Charlie’s energy.
Each level has the following goals: Charlie must help Willy Wonka remove Augustus Gloop from the pipe above the chocolate river, roll Violet Beauregarde to the Juicing Room and juice her, follow Veruca Salt down the chute and save her from the incinerator, and free Mike Teavee after he shrinks himself by repairing the television-chocolate machine. Throughout the game the Oompa Loompas must help Charlie return the chocolate factory back to normal by fixing the mistakes that the self-indulgent children made, as well as deal with rogue robots.
Rating – Complete In Box
Price Paid – £3.99 (Cash Converters Online)
Need For Speed Most Wanted – Nintendo Game Boy Advance
Need for Speed: Most Wanted (GBA) is a handheld release of Need for Speed: Most Wanted developed by Pocketeers for the Game Boy Advance and made available in November, 2005.
In Need for Speed Most Wanted, you can try to become the most notorious street racer alive. Outrun both racers and cops to increase your reputation and move up the street racing blacklist. You can choose from a variety of vehicle types and destructible urban maps featuring shortcuts, traffic, and patrolling police.
Rating – Complete In Box
Price Paid – £8.99 (Cash Converters Online)
Crash & Spyro Super pack Volume 1 – Nintendo Game Boy Advance
Crash & Spyro Super Pack Vol. 1 for the Gameboy Advance consists of two games:
Game number one from Crash & Spyro Super Pack Vol. 1 for the Gameboy Advance is crash Bandicoot 2 – N-Tranced:
The infamous N-Trophy has returned, and of course that doesn’t mean anything good. Together with his new ally N-Trance, a master of hypnosis, he kidnaps Crash’s friends and brainwashes them so that they can be used against his archenemy crash. Will Crash be able to win back his friends? Or will he lose her to the villain duo forever? The Game Boy Advance Link option provides you with a host of additional extras: Two-player mode: Challenge a friend to compete in special multiplayer levels. Link Crash 2: N-Tranced with Crash: X / S and unlock Crash X / S bosses for the multiplayer mode in Crash 2: N-Tranced. Reach 101% in Crash X / S and Crash: N-Tranced to unlock a secret level
Game number two from Crash & Spyro Super Pack Vol. 1 for the Gameboy Advance is Spyro – Season of Ice:
After defeating the Wicked Witch, Spyro and his friends are looking forward to a well-deserved and hopefully trouble-free vacation in Dragon Shores. Meanwhile, the simple spellbook librarian is seizing the chance he’s always been waiting for: accelerating his career. In his huge collection of magic books he finds a transformative spell that transforms his poor figure into a new mass of strength and brains. Unfortunately he is holding the book the wrong way round and now Grendoc has two heads and a really nasty migraine! He needs 100 elven wings for a healing spell! So he takes Zoe prisoner and freezes all elves in Elfenland. His comrades go out to collect them. Zoe uses her very last magic power to send a magic balloon for Spyro’s help.
Rating – Complete In Box
Price Paid – £9.99 (Cash Converters Online)
WWE Survivor Series – Nintendo Game Boy Advance
Based on WWE’s annual pay-per-view event, WWE Survivor Series is the sequel to WWE Road to Wrestlemania X8. Players choose from one of 16 WWE superstars in a variety of matches including Single, Tag, Cage, and Lumberjack as well as the 3 Stages of Hell, Tournament and Royal Rumble.
The game has a story mode where your aim is to win every title and become a WWE legend. You can choose whether to be on the Raw or Smackdown! brand and then choose which superstar from that brand you want to be. In the story mode you go through a series of matches while listening to advice from your General Manager; successfully following his orders increases your popularity level which improves your chances for a title match.
Rating – Complete In Box
Price Paid – £6.99 (Cash Converters Online)
Millipede & Super Break out & Lunar Lander – Nintendo Game Boy Advance
A compilation of the classic arcade games Millipede, Super Breakout, and Lunar Lander brought to the Game Boy Advance.
Rating – Boxed No Manual
Price Paid – £4.99 (Cash Converters Online)
Yoshi’s Wooly World – Nintendo WiiU
Yoshi’s Woolly World is a 2.5D side-scrolling platformer starring the anthropomorphic dinosaur Yoshi known from many Mario games. The game uses a visual style where all characters and the environment look as if they are made out of cloth or yarn, similar to Kirby’s Epic Yarn by the same developer. Many Yoshis live together peacefully on Craft Island in the Handmade Ocean. One day the evil wizard Kamek arrives on his broom and turns all the Yoshis into bundles of yarn. Only two are able to hide and they need to rescue their friends.
Yoshi typically attacks using his tongue to swallow enemies and produce eggs, but in this game balls of yarn are produced instead. About six can be carried at all times and they have various uses. They can be launched at enemies, aiming with a reticule, to ensnare them. In other sections they are used to interact with the environment, to activate platforms or reveal hidden sections, or to reach and grab items that are far away.
Rating – Boxed No Manual
Price Paid – £9.60 (Cash Converters)
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker – Nintendo WiiU
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker is a puzzle game featuring Captain Toad of Super Mario Galaxy’s Toad Brigade. On his treasure-seeking quest, Captain Toad visits many different levels to collect diamond, coins and stars.
Each level appears as a page in a story book with specific goals to complete. Each stage has three hidden diamond to collect and one special objective, such as collecting a golden mushroom, avoiding or defeating all the enemies, or gathering a set number of coins, to complete. The main objective is to reach the golden star at the end of the levels. To do so, the player controls Captain Toad (or Toadette) through mazes, platforms and tunnels. Completed objectives are then checked on the storybook page, and a stamp appears once all objectives are met.
Rating – Complete In Box
Price Paid – £8.00 (Cash Converters)
DayZ – Sony Playstation 4
DayZ is a commercial, standalone version of what was started as a modification with the same name for ArmA II: Operation Arrowhead. It is a multiplayer open world survival horror game with zombies in a persistent environment, the fictional post-Soviet state Chernarus after a zombie apocalypse. It consists of different cities and smaller towns, large plains and forests. It is a sandbox environment with no direct goals, instead the player has to survive as long as possible. Threats are offered through AI-controlled zombies that roam the environment and other players. Players can choose to work together in small teams or temporarily alliances, but can also kill each other for loot.
A character always spawns near the coast of the map with some clothes and a flashlight. Basic supplies such as food and water need to be scavenged from villages. Animals in the environment can be hunted to acquire raw meat and cook it on a fire. Weapons and other items are mainly found in the villages, stores in large cities or in military bases and airports. The game has a full inventory for the player to customize the appearance, clothing with perks, and equipment. Crafting items from various materials is extensively used. Medical supplies are needed to bandage wounds and to resist diseases caused by eating spoiled food. It is also possible to transfuse blood, but only when the blood type is compatible or the character dies. The game has both melee and long-ranged weapons with various attachments. There are also vehicles that can be used to get around. The game encourages direct voice communication with other players and the volume is determined by the distance.
Rating – Boxed No Manual
Price Paid – £16.00 (Cash Converters Online)
Mario Kart Live Home Circuit
Race a real-world Mario Kart through your home! Use the Nintendo Switch system to control your kart and watch as it reacts to what’s happening in the game as you boost and drift to victory. Your in-home course comes to life on-screen with a view from right behind the driver’s seat.
Place gates and customize courses in the real world, then see them come alive with different in-game environments like jungles and snowscapes and obstacles like Piranha Plants. Use objects from around the house to customize your courses and add challenge, then watch the game transform your home into the Mario Kart world.
Bring along some friends to race around your custom course in Custom Race or Grand Prix! Just make sure each player has their own Nintendo Switch system, the Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit game and a Mario kart or Luigi kart.
The magic of augmented of reality doesn’t just mean you’ll see your course and opponents come alive on screen. Hit a boost in the game? Watch as your real-life Mario Kart speeds up. Get hit by a Green Shell? Look out, because your kart will slow down! If you’re worried about straying too far from the course (or your living room), Smart Steering will help guide you along.
The races you progress through in Grand Prix mode are varied—the windy environment might push your kart to the side, while the in-game Piranha Plant gate will bite you if you pass through the wrong side. As you play, you’ll unlock more speed settings, costumes, environments and more! These can all be used when you want to create your custom course. Even Rainbow Road makes an appearance!
Whether you want to race Bowser Jr. and the Koopalings in Grand Prix mode, customize an elaborate course, or do laps around the living room with family members, Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit is your window into a new type of Mario Kart experience.
Rating – Boxed No Manual Or Insert (Mario), Complete In Box (Luigi)
Price Paid – £110 (Cash Converters, Amazon)
Banpresto Famicom Memo Paper Case
An official mini memo pad in the shape of a Nintendo Famicom console. Made in 2004 by Banpresto. Ice Climber version
Please see here for more pics
Rating – Complete In Box
Price Paid – £9.00 (retrogames.co.uk)
Banpresto Famicom Alarm Clock
A 1990s official Japanese alarm clock in the shape of a Nintendo Famicom console, with a mock up of the Exicebike famicom cartridge as the clock display. Made by Banpresto and part of the Nintendo Prize Collector Series released only in Japan
Please see here for more pics
Rating – Complete In Box
Price Paid – £40.00 (retrogames.co.uk)
Banpresto Famicom Phone Charm
An official Phone Charm in the shape of a Nintendo Famicom console. Made by Banpresto
Rating – Complete
Price Paid – £40.00 (retrogames.co.uk)
Nintendo DS Lite – Brain Training Starter Pack
Please see here for more info
Rating – Boxed No Insert
Price Paid – £21.99 (Cash Converters Online)
Brain Training – Nintendo DS
Designed to help people young and old to stay mentally sharp, Brain Training gives you quick mental tasks that will stimulate your prefrontal cortex. You’ll start off by taking a test of what your current brain is at. The ideal age to shoot for is 20. To get your brain age to the mental sharpness of a 20 year old if you’re not there yet, you’ll need to fire up the game daily to do daily training. With the use of the stylus and touch screen, or in some tests the microphone, you will go through tasks as fast as you can like solving simple math problems, memorizing the placement of objects on the screen, memorizing a list of words and having to recall as many as you can, and more. As the days go by the professor will unlock different puzzles for you to tackle to keep your gray matter as sharp as possible.
This games is part of my Top 10 Quest
Rating – Complete In Box
Price Paid – £0 (Came With Console)