Friday, November 26, 2021

1989 Electronics Boutique Holiday Catalog

It's already been four years since I last posted an Electronics Boutique (EB) catalog on the biggest shopping day of the year. Like the 1991 winter catalog, I can't actually find a year on this one but based on the new games in it I'd say it is definitely 1989. I've mentioned in one or two other posts that I consider 1989 to be one of the best years in gaming as that year saw both the Nintendo Game Boy and Sega Genesis debut in the U.S., and SimCity released as well. Unfortunately, despite a mention of the Genesis and handheld games on the first page, none of those console games are actually shown here. The catalog is predominantly computer software, plus there are a few pages of Nintendo Entertainment System games. Also, the last two pages are torn as Electronics Boutique often had a coupon on the back that I'd clip or, in this case, tear out.












Thursday, November 25, 2021

Year 5: November Update

Last year I posted a lot of food ads on the blog's Facebook page for the holiday but I don't think I have anything special for today, there or here. I did scan another Electronics Boutique catalog recently that I need to put into a post for the big shopping day tomorrow. Other than that, no videos are currently in the works. This month on the YouTube channel I played Ghostbusters on the Sega Master System to tie into the launch of the latest movie (the video is included in the previous post). Too bad I'm no good at the fast shooting/dodging final stage and so I couldn't show the ending. Although I'm a fan of the first two films, I never owned much Ghostbusters merchandise. Along with the game I have a children's book with stickers and a Ghostbuster II book with various activities that I did post a few scans of on Facebook last year in this album (look toward the middle between Garfield and The Flintstones).

On November 12th Disney announced a lot of new content in the works for its subscription service and the one that stood out the most to myself is a continuation of the X-Man animated series from the '90s. Being a fan of Marvel's mutants, that's one of my favorite cartoons so I'm looking forward to more episodes, not that the show will be out any time soon (scheduled for 2023) and it will probably have a new voice cast. As for games, Warner Bros. showed off MultiVersus, a Smash Bros.-like free-to-play title coming in 2022 that will feature characters from a wide range of properties, such as DC Comics, Looney Tunes, Scooby-Doo, and Adventure Time. Last week Bandai Namco revealed an upcoming game called Pac-Man Museum+, a compilation of 14 Pac-Man games with a customizable arcade area to access each game from. I've never really enjoyed Smash Bros. types of fighting games so I'm much more interested in Pac-Man even though I've already played some of the classics that are included.

This month marks the 20th anniversary of the original Xbox console and a couple weeks ago I joined a Xbox Fanfest trivia event to celebrate. I thought I'd do better than I did but the first few rounds had a lot of tough questions that weren't even necessarily Xbox-themed. However, I made the first cut which was for the top 2,500 and that was good for a $10 gift card to the Xbox gear store. Unfortunately, I didn't make it into the top 1,000 though I kept playing until the end for fun. There was never any indication of how many people were actually playing or where I ranked overall. I'm not a super fan of Xbox or of any one company or platform; well, aside from Sega back in the day. Coincidentally, I did get the first Xbox because of Sega as Shenmue II was only available on Xbox in North America and I had to play it!

Happy Thanksgiving!

-Jonathan

Sunday, November 14, 2021

[YouTube] Ghostbusters

https://youtu.be/6QFBSBB8Mh4

With the new Ghostbusters movie upon us I've scanned old magazine coverage of console video games based on the 1989 movie and the sequel. There are a number of other games based on the franchise, including another in the '80s and '90s based on the cartoon The Real Ghostbusters, 2009's Ghostbusters: The Video Game which features an original story set after the second movie, and an overhead shooter that released alongside the 2016 film. I've played a fair amount of the Master System game which is more or less the same game that appears on many platforms and follows the first movie's story. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any articles on that one but you can watch me play it in the video above. I don't own the Genesis game but did rent back when it was new and most of the scans below are of this game. It was published by Sega and exclusive to the platform, and has a story set after the first movie. Although the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) game appears to be below average, overall the Ghostbusters games tend to be decent to good, something most older movie tie-in games are not. Also worth noting, the NES game is called Ghostbusters II but is based on the first film whereas the Game Boy game is actually based on the second movie. 

Nintendo Entertainment System

Video Games & Computer Entertainment (VG&CE)
May 1990
Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM) #10


Game Boy

Game Player's - October 1990














Sega Genesis

GamePro - June 1990
Sega Visions - Oct/Nov 1990

VG&CE - June 1990
Mega Play











Electronic Gaming Monthly #11
Electronic Gaming Monthly #11

Game Player's - July 1990