If you have something "retro" that you found in a box, or on top of a shelf, or in your Grandma's garage, post about it here. Something that made you flashback for a few moments that you just want to share.

 

I am going to start with a couple of items that I found across the street from my office, where I have a massive stash of things I'm not currently using or am just storing there to get it out of the house.

 

XBand

 

 

The XBand was a device that was used to connect your Super NES to the internet and play against fellow SNES owners in your favorite multiplayer games. It used a 2600 baud modem (wow),  your phone line, and the game cartridge of your choice (that worked with the XBand).

 

 

As you can see, the box for mine still has the shrink wrap covering most of it. Taking it out of the box produces a familiar (if not a bit musty) smell. I still have the unit along with the original literature. You'll notice I paid about $30 bucks for the unit from EB when it was first released. You also had to pay a monthly fee plus your phone call expenses.

 

 

Here you can see a jack for your phone line and the on/off switch for the unit. Also, around front, you'll notice the indicator lights; much like you would find on an ordinary modem.

 

 

This page inside the instruction manual shows screens for matchups. Of course, the taunts you normally saw were not nearly as innocent as these. It was with my use of the XBand that I began using the moniker Vaporman for all of my online accounts. I started out as Mr. Vapor and then changed my name to Vaporman before XBand signed off for good. I just kept using it for everything related to the internet, and still do today.

 

 

Just for the fun of it, I dialed this number. I was given a strange message stating that I did not have permission to access this number or something. Maybe the government is using it as a top secret line for the President. Yeah.

 

EGM2 - Premiere Issue

 

 

Because one EGM subscription was apparently just not enough for some people. During these years, I was inclined to purchase just about anything that was the "premiere" or "first" issue of something. So, I left this one in the wrapping. That's right. It's unopened. But... if you guys can give a convincing reason to open it up and show you some pages, I may be persuaded to do so.

 

 

Yup. I paid a whopping $4.95 for this bad boy at Babbage's. It's no wonder so many magazines are leaving print and heading to the web. Still, I wish some would stick around for the novelty of it. And no, you can't have my Twix.

 

 

 

I sure am glad we got this site hosted image option right now. LOL. This was a July issue as you can see. Of course, Canadians get hosed, pricewise.

 

 

Apparently, the editors of EGM were declaring July the month of SEGA. Change my Genesis into an arcade???!!! Yes please! And then you buy the 32X and realize they meant an arcade... FROM THE 70's.

 

 

Flip around the mag and you'll find an insert magazine devoted to SEGA, promoting the idea that the Sega Saturn was the "brightest star on the horizon". Then they proceed to list a bunch of dud games, with the exception of a couple fighting sequels. No, EGM had no SEGA biases. Don't be silly.

The Super NES had it's own internet adapter? I never knew that.

I would like to know more about the magazine

This is very cool, thanks for sharing. I never knew the SNES had an internet adapter either.

The biggest issue with XBand was the major lag. Games like NHL Hockey and Mortal Kombat which require quick reflexes and good timing, suddenly became games of "thinking ahead" to your next move. Since your movements took a good half a second or more to actually show up on screen, you had to be sure to plan out your movements.

This, of course, lent itself to "cheating". These games were not meant to be played online. So, glitches and cheats resulting from the lag were extremely common.

This was especially true of NHL Hockey (the game I played most on XBand). There was a certain position near mid-ice where, if the puck was fired, the goalie would NEVER stop it. So, you had to take it upon yourself to be sure and get a man in front of the shooter.

Too bad things like xband don't exist now, only using cable connections. That would be retro and new

Vaporman87 wrote :
This, of course, lent itself to "cheating".

Nothing has changed since then. It's just the cheating happens at a much quicker speed.

raptor wrote :
Nothing has changed since then. It's just the cheating happens at a much quicker speed.

The cheating is far more sophisticated too.

A picture of my castle greyskull that I keep stored in my parents garage

Ahhh.

That brings back some memories. I played with my He-Man/MOTU figures religiously.

I don't remember there being so much black on the front though. It looks... odd.

Here I am presenting a few bits on the 1st issue of the '94 season of Nintendo Power.

 

For this issue, the publishers added a foil cover over the actual cover, featuring Mega Man X for the Super NES.

 

 

 

This issue is packed with some nice breakdowns of games like Mega Man X, Flashback, Claymates, and others.

 

One of the more interesting spots in this issue was a small feature on games that were not published in North America, but were in Japan.

 

These titles included one called "U.S. Presidential Election". Why Japanese people would be so enamoured with our election process as to purchase 65,000 copies of the Famicom game are beyond me.

 

 

As you can see, the game is chock full of candidates from the 1988 campaign (albeit with slightly manipulated names; George Push and Jesse Zeckson for example). Simply... odd.

 

Beyond this, we have another title in Japan only called "Bar Code Battle".

 

 

I can only label this as just - beyond words. The pack comes with the "Bar Code Boy", an attachment for your GameBoy that allows you to scan bar codes on special cards that contain information on the creature you will use in a monster/fighter/RPG style game. Reminds me a great deal of Pokemon.

I wonder how much the "Bar Code Boy" is going for on Ebay?