Let me hate on Nintendo a little more.

No, I'm not collecting faceplates and I hate Nintendo for doing this. I've been hating Nintendo a lot lately. They are more concerned about making money in microtransactions with Pokemon Shuffle and Pokémon Rumble, selling 3DS wallpapers for 2 euros, making useless but addicting cool figurines called Amiibo and releasing a ton of faceplates. Now they announced a ton of new Amiibos and they will keep doing the same sh!t again of releasing them in very low quantities. The nightmare for Amiibo collectors will resume shortly. Thanks for being an ass, Nintendo. 

But I'm definitely not collecting these faceplates. Overall, they're annoyingly expensive, tagged at 14.99 euros each, not counting that wooden-like cover that goes for... 24.99 for no particular reason. Not to mention scubag stores that sell these for a higher price, such as Fnac. And I truly hate that store for charging more cash than things are worth and for being the only place where you can actually preorder these over here. The rest of the stores seem to be absolutely clueless about these things until they finally arrive, if they ever arrive.

I only buy a couple that I like the most, such as the Pokemon ORAS, Xenoblade, the two Zelda ones and that's all for the moment. Most of them are ugly as well and almost none goes well with the white New 3DS console, which is exactly the one I have because it's the only colour available for the Ambassador Edition. I wanted a black one and life sucks because I don't have a black one. It's already stupid enough to own a New 3DS because that thing is basically the same sh!t as before with a few extras nobody cares about. And the only game available is Xenoblade, which happens to be one of my favourite games ever created... And I still didn't buy it because the only store where I found it for sale is Fnac, which is asking 5 euros more than in most other places, as usual...

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There are more games of Pokémon than Pokémon in the games

This game isn't particularly interesting, at least to me, but it comes with a very nice accessory. A Nintendo DS Bluetooth keyboard, which is definitely nice. I had to wait for a major price drop in a UK store I could trust. It's just too bad Amazon doesn't protect everything as well as it should. At this point, I'm pretty sure the only Pokémon games I'm still missing are basically Rush and Conquest. Pokémon Rush is such an interesting game that I am still waiting for a bargain deal just to complete the series.

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No comments...

I was one of the first persons to complain about this new model when it was announced, and now I have both the regular console and the Limited Edition Majora's Mask XL model (that one will be posted later). I'm such a weirdo, I know. All I'm missing now is the Spirit Tracks model of the DS lite console in order to have all the Zelda-related models released in Europe (or so I think...). This is bothering me a bit, but the truth is that model is out of my price range and it's particularly rare. It's not something I can buy just like that, unfortunately. And since I'm complaining about Nintendo models I'd like to get, I'd love to find the Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire Limited Edition Paks too...

This move from Nintendo was unnecessary to be honest. They could wait to release a brand new, better console instead of adding just a couple of improvements that don't really affect the gaming experience. At least that's what I think, but then I'm stupid enough to actually support their decisions by buying two of these models as soon as they become available. What's pictured here is the Ambassador Edition, the model that's only available to a few selected Nintendo Ambassadors. Just in case you're clueless about what these Nintendo Ambassadors are, they're the people that bought a 3DS console in the early dates before the major price drop. In order to compensate those who paid a lot more cash for the console before the price drop, Nintendo created the Ambassador program, giving some bonuses such as free games and exclusive news. In order to enter the Ambassador program, all you had to do was access the internet with a 3DS model during a certain date before the price drop. The original compensation consisted of 20 Virtual Console games from NES and GBA I believe. It's been years since that happened and I thought that the Ambassador program was now useless, but I guess it was not. A few randomly selected ambassadors were  given the early chance to buy this exclusive New 3DS Ambassador Edition a few weeks before the official release date. I was not one those persons though, but someone gave me his chance to get this and I took it.

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Seems unfair...

I just realized that, after all this talk, I still haven't posted a picture of my PS4 20th Anniversary model. I mean, it's nothing THAT impressive considering this is just a picture of sealed box... But still, so much tantrum over this thing and no pic? Nah, this needs to be posted. Ladies and gentlemen, this is what you'll be buying off eBay for exorbitant prices from now on... because you don't know what you'll be getting until you actually open it. 

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Greatness Arrived.

Just don't call me a Playstation fanboy. Call me an XBone hater instead, because that's what I am and I'm pretty sure I already wrote some stuff about it in a previous post. No, I didn't buy the super ultra limited edition of Titanfall. It wasn't even released over here. It was too expensive. The game wasn't included. I don't want anything related to XBone for the reasons I already described before. It's just pure hate I have for it, even though I've quite enjoyed the 360 and built a pretty big collection that equals or even surpasses my PS3 collection.

There, the blog probably lost some viewers with this rant.

Instead, I've decided to... well, I didn't really decide anything. The PS4 was supposed to be a Xmas gift last year, but unfortunately something bad and unexpected happened and I didn't get it. For a brief moment I didn't want to buy any games at all. On top of that, I promised I would only buy a PS4 if I found one that was made in Japan. Yeah yeah, I know what you're thinking: "that doesn't matter, Chinese units are just as good and the sabotage was just a rumour...". While the sabotage was not a rumour, only a batch of these consoles were actually sabotaged and they were probably never shipped to Europe. And yes, the Chinese models are as good as the Japanese ones because the quality parameters imposed by Sony are always the same, no matter if they are produced in China, Japan or in a different planet.

And yes, I do have a fetish for 'made in Japan' stuff. People can say it's the same and I'll just reply "no it's not, because mine says 'made in Japan' instead'' and I really don't care about what they think. When you're a videogame collector, you kinda become immune to some of the usual criticism, most of it becomes unoriginal after a while anyway.... That, and the old questions like "what if your house burns?" or "what if someone steals your collection?". Or the classic "what are you going to do with your collection when you get old?".

Yes, this model was made in Japan and officially released over here by Sony. I've been searching for one since the release date in most stores I visited and I gave up some time ago because I was unable to track a single model. All the consoles I picked up to this point were all made in China. I thought that the Japanese models only came in a small first batch that was sold out during preorders. Nope. I found this console (as well as another one) in a regular store where I've searched before since the release date. I was so used to pick the console boxes and check if they had the 'Made in Japan' sticker that I've kept doing that automatically with no serious intention of actually finding one. But I did find one, and I couldn't resist. After checking dozens of consoles in dozens of stores, I accidentally found one and confirmed that these models were indeed released over here.  

Yes I bought it, but I'm sure you've figured that out yourself if you've read this far. No, I didn't want to spend so much money. I didn't even had that much available in the exact moment. But who cares... I now have a PS4 and I'm in love with it, especially with the controller. The Xbox 360 controller was far better than the old design of the Dualshock 3, except the D pad which was beyond horrible for me. However, this PS4 controller is so sweeeet and feels so good. Too bad the analogue sticks' rubbers wear so fast... It doesn't make much sense because the quality of the whole thing looks neat.

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Merry Christmas everyone :)

And it's that time of the year again, when everyone goes out on a shopping spree. I like Xmas but not as much as I used to - all the confusion I find in streets, supermarkets and shopping centres when I go out regularly make me stay at home when I wanted to go out, look for games and meet a few friends, but I can't stand noisy, crowded places.

Anyway, this year was average at best. So many wrong things are going on over here and will probably get worst the next years to come (think positively they say... yeah right...) which makes me feel happy and sad at the same time. 

Please meet the new family member... a Wii U console! This is the last console from the last gen, even though some people consider it current gen on par with Xbox One and PS4 (I certainly don't). And this may pretty much be the very last console I will be collecting games for.

The good news are: I didn't buy the console. I won it in a regular competition with an incredible amount of luck involved. I was actually pretty happy because I would not be buying it any time soon but I already had plenty of games for it, at least half of all the ones I want.

Merry Christmas everyone :)

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Back to the purples...

Some time ago I wrote a few messages about the purple Master System games only released in Portugal. It's been a while since I've completed the full set of these with the console included, so I decided to take my time and make yet another group picture with all the titles and the console. Hope you enjoy it.

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Mega Dri... wait, what??

Ecoplay, previously called Ecofilmes, is one of the biggest Portuguese distributors since the Sega ages. They are responsible for a number of barbarities in the Portuguese market, including high prices, used copies being sold as new (because they open all copies), the IGAC stamp, the Master System Tec Toy Purple releases and even the Mega Drive games with european covers and Genesis cartridges inside...

And to end with all the story, we have a "bootleg" console that rumours say it's actually licensed by Sega, called the Mega Game II, which was exclusively released in Portugal. It seems to be the case, because the console is actually made in Japan, it has a patent number and the best thing about it it's the fact that it's region free and it can run any type of game. That is certainly cool. It was a low cost version of the Mega Drive that hit the market when Mega Drive was almost done for. It's kinda tough to find at the moment, even though I still know a couple of stores that had a few brand new ones for sale. Unfortunately the condition of the boxes was pretty messy and the owner of the store is a stupid old guy who doesn't know how to keep his word so I had an argument with him once and never entered that crappy store again.



I was only able to buy this console very recently, and unfortunately is missing its instructions manual, but the outer box is in a  fairly good condition and so is the console. The price was very good too so I couldn't miss the deal because I didn't have the console yet and I really wanted it.

But there's also a little extra I found at a boot sale and seems to be ever rarer than the console itself  a boxed control pad. I have never found one before and I didn't even know it existed. The box is in average condition with general wear and tear but it was cheap and considering how tough it is to find one of these nowadays, there was no way I would let it go.

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VITA comes out and what did I get?

Yeah, I'm boycotting VITA.

...

Not really, I just don't have the money and I really don't feel like buying that console because it didn't impress me that much when I tried it at a demo kiosk... If I had some spare money I'd probably pick it, but unfortunately there's NO WAY I have the money to pay for the console and all the accessories and memory stick knowing that so many things will be coming out in recent months. I'm leaving this console behind. But to be honest, there's another thing that suddenly became a little hard to find in a brand new condition... Mine's an old store stock, but it's new and remains untouched thankfully. I'm talking about the PSP Go. It became a little hard to nearly impossible to find over here and it was discontinued by Sony as you already know. I thought it would be best for me to buy one before it was too late to find one new...

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New member: Xbox 360 Slim MW3 edition

As I said before, my Xbox 360 Elite just died on me while I was playing Mass Effect. This thing happened exactly after the new year celebrations, when I decided to play at 1 a.m. I didn't even have the chance to play for 5 minutes before those heartbreaking red lights started to flash. That was nasty. I mean, I've been hearing these stories and watching vids for a vrey long time, and when it finally happened to me it I nearly sh*t bricks.

Before I even decided to buy a slim console, I tried to fix my elite model by myself - I know this could happen again even if I fixed it but I still tried because I wanted to make sure I could save my files, remove my Mass Effect disc from the console and  at least make sure the console is working before putting it to rest inside its original box. I did fix the console and it's now working. Then I went out and bought an Xbox 360 Slim. The best ppackage was in fact the Modern Warfare 3 limited console, with two controllers, headset, 320 GB and the game. I picked it and I'm certainly not regretting. I how have an Xbox 360 Slim version in my collection =)

But then... I just found out something terrible... actually, two things. First, this console I just bought did not come with an HDMI cable. WHAT THE... And secondly, if I wanted to pass the data from my old disc into the Xbox slim, there were several ways and the easiest required me to buy a cable that costs 20 euros. TO HELL WITH YOU MICRO$H*T. I bought the cable for half the price from a local Gamestop. The cable was CLEARLY used but they were selling it as new. Why? Because the cable was either used by an employee or some butthole costumer bought it just to do his stuff and returned the cable. But I don't fall for that sh!t and noticed it had been opened. I am seriously offended by this kind of attitude from shop owners. Seriously.

Then those people at Gamestop thought this cable was for the older Xbox models only and wouldn't work with the slim consoles - or at least the guy who sold me the cable said that, even when its package already had the slim design. I still bothered trying to buy a brand new cable but it was nearly sold out and the only one I found was still selling for 20. No way.

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Game and Watch Reborn

Managed to grab this Nintendo DS console press kit. Looks pretty good, the only problem is that it doesn't come with games. It's basically a dossier with pages that contain information about some of the exclusive titles, such as Trauma Center, Braintraining, Tetris and a few others. Some of the games have their own press disc included in the dossier, which is great! Loved it

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Happy Birthday Zelda =)

25 years after the amazing legend was born, we received a special edition 3DS Console to celebrate. I'm not the sort to collect limited edition consoles, but there are too many Zelda nut fans and I decided I should buy this thing before those nut fans go nuts again and prevent me from getting a goodf deal for this console in the future. Better now than ever.

And it's not just the console alone, there's also a special edition of the game with a wiimote bundle. For the price being asked and knowing this is a Zelda game I'd be stupid if I let it go. I have been playing the game and it's pretty good in fact. However, I can't get used to the controllers so for this particular reason the game is not as enjoyable as it could be. Graphically speaking it's good but not THAT good, after all we've been recently spoiled by a game called Xenoblade and its amazing scenarios. The character design in Zelda is quite better though, at least in closer view. Overall, if I was a reviewer I wouldn't give this game the uber scores it's been getting but I'd still put it on my Wii all time favourites chart. I'm halfway through the game already and I'm enjoying it! This game, Xenoblade and hopefully the upcoming titles in Europe (Pandora's Tower and Last Story) will certainly be the best moments on the Wii for me =).

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Say hi to the THREE new members of the family!

I am still missing some of the main consoles. but in the last few months I was able to get some of those I was missing.

First of all, the Mega CD II. I really don't like Mega CD to be honest, but it still has some pretty good games. Not many, but those few are really worth the system alone. Snatcher should probably be the number 1 title for that console in my opinion.

Seccondly, the Mega Drive I. I already had a few models of Mega Drive II but I was never able to find the first console in good condition and for a good price. I finally found it, and I am very glad that I bought it!

And finally, probably the rarest and most important of them all... Something I did not even know it existed until last year and I never expected to find it so soon: a PAL version of the NES Top Loader. I am so glad that I was able to get such a console in my collection. I did not expect to find one so soon, really!

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Opening the pandora box

And two years after I made this purchase, it finally arrived in the mail: the Pandora portable system, running linux. I still did not have the time to test it, but once the weekend arrives I'm gonna play a little!

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After taking a break... a new update!

Little time and patience to update this in the last couple of months. I had to make plenty of decisions of what to get and what not to get. As you will probably notice I can't keep up with all the limited stuff that's being released, some of which are sold out even before the release date. Prices for press editions on ebay are also rising a lot and that prevents me from getting them. Times are tough for collectors with less money when some foreign buyers pop up and pay 100s to get their hands in particular editions, increasing their prices to ridiculous amounts, far more than they are actually worth. Speculation on auctions sites right now is pretty nasty thanks to crappy sellers whose purpose is to get easy money from people that really care about particular items. And that sucks. It just plain sucks. I've never seen so many ridiculous buy it now prices before.

It's nearly impossible for me to keep up with this, so yes, I am leaving plenty of stuff behind. I hope that in the future my collection sees better days. I also have a personal life and I simply can't spend a lot of cash right now. I don't think that I will be getting those fancy editions I was used to right now, but I won't give up and I will deffinitely get them in the future. I've left a few behind and they will not be easy to find in the future. I've came this far in my collection and I'm sure I will be able to find them some day.

Here's the first thing I got before last Xmas... a Limited Edition Black Wii Console. I thought the price was pretty good, the console looks nice, it was a good purchase.

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I told you I would not resist for much longer...

...and I kept my "promise". I just could not really stand that one of my recent favourite consoles (probably due to its scarcity) was the only one without its original box. I've spent a couple of years trying to get the box alone but then I figured I'd do better if I'd just get another one complete as the box alone is nearly impossible to find.

Even though it was not the best moment to spend more money for me, I just couldn't resist, so I picked it.

Yes, I am talking about the beautiful Sega Multi-Mega Console. Finally, The only unboxed console I've had is no longer unboxed :). I did act like a 6 years old receiving his xmas gift when this came but I don't even care about that.

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Meet the new members of the family =)

Finally, the older syster of my first consle ever has made it to my collection. I'm quite glad I bought this piece of history. This ones the "Plus" pack, which comes with the extra gun. There's also a similar pack for SMSII.

Yes it's true, up to this point I missed one of the most important videogaing pieces ever. The original Gameboy with black and white screen. I was never given this little gem when I was a kid and it took me plenty of time to get it because I had other priorities. Now that a good chance came up, I decided to buy it.

Okay so this might not be as old as the other two, but it's a very interesting item. The most beautiful PS2 console in my opinion. I felt in love when I first saw it, and now I finally have one in mint condition with a near perfect box :)

I'm happy to say that my console list is nearly completed. I'm missing only Megadrive 1 and both mega CDs as well as one Gameboy Pocket from the older consoles. However, my top priority will be getting a complete Multi Mega console. It will take some months because I'm more concerned with this terrible wave of new releases during the Xmas season and so little money available right now. Once I get all the games I want from this season within the next 4 months or so, I'll search the whole world for a complete MultiMega.

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Another one of these?

Yep... I did not resist to buy the white PSP Final Fantasy Dissidia Limited Edition. Might have been a stupid decision to spend s much cash in a console I hardly even play, but considering I already had the Crisis Core edition and I'm a real Final Fantasy fan, I decided to spend some cash. At least this was released in Europe. Too bad the original Japanese boxes are much better. Instead we get a regular commercial package instead of the fine box with the logo on it. But at least it was released over here, which is good considering the majority of similar editions never leave japan! The collector's edition of the game alone is already heading my way as well.

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Slim line now available.

Now that the PS3 slim finally came out, I stumbled across this mint condition PS2 slim model. It's used, but if you're well informed you already know the differences between this and the current PS2 slim on sale. I expect to get the newest model too, but not any time soon.

I won't be buying the PS3 slim now, not even close. The PSP Go is also coming soon but I am not really that big a psp fan to buy yet another PSP especially knowing it will be DL-only without any physical support. I an a fan of physical media. It will be impossible to collect downloadable games when there's no physical support. I understand that the production of millions of games and discs wastes way too many natural resources, and we have to get used to that because soon enought most consoles should all be like this in the near future, meaning it should be the end of physical software, no matter how much we like it or not. So basically, for me, PSP GO and PS3 Slim are out of the question.

PSP Final Fantasy Dissidia version was just released and I expect to buy that console next month. It will be what I call a waste of money in an expensive current gen portable system with little or no use at all. I wanted to buy the Red Resident Evil 5 Xbox 360 but I am currently struggling with so many things coming out at the same time that it is impossible to get a hold of everything. So, once again, I have to make decisions and sacrifices (if it's not a sin to apply this word when talking about videogames...) and decide what I really want to buy.

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Playstation taste

The latest Combo packs and limited editions I've found for the old sny console. Still searching for others I'm missing. I naver gave much importance to PressKits but currently I decided to get a few of these boxsets. They were quite common back then, but now it's kinda hard to find a god condition pack.

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