Games That Go Bump in the Night! (Video Games & Computer Entertainment - November 1990)

If the title of this Halloween-themed article from the November 1990 issue of Video Games & Computer Entertainment (VG&CE) sounds familiar, it could be because it's very similar to the GamePro article I posted six years ago: Carts That Go Bump in the Night. GamePro's is a collection of console game reviews whereas this one from VG&CE is an overview of "scary" console and computer games.

Although the cover image features the fictional character Elvira, who is played by actress Cassandra Peterson, she isn't interviewed in the magazine, nor does she provide any insight on the games. She appeared in the computer adventure games Personal Nightmare and its sequel, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, and VG&CE included a sidebar about her career that appears across four of the article's pages.

Year 8: October Update

My last update post was in July and not much has changed since then as I still haven't done many videos this year. I actually haven't even played any games since July but I really should. Recently, I flipped through my comic book collection, something I've not looked at in quite some time. I was mostly looking for duplicates and recall what I have, and I did scan some ads from them. I'll have to do another video game ads backfilling post soon, probably for post #500 which I'm very close to. Vault 1541 began as a video game ads project so it's only fitting that I dedicate #500 to that. This blog update is post #497 and I'll have a magazine article scan for #498 this week.

A few months ago Hasbro announced a Transformer based on Knight Rider's K.I.T.T. Being a fan of both Transformers and Knight Rider, which ranks as one of my top five shows from the '80s, I think this is an awesome collaboration. However, the robot is named Agent Knight rather than K.I.T.T. It is set to release on January 10, 2025 for $49.99.

In other cool toy news, LEGO unveiled an X-Men mansion play set this month that releases November 4th for $329.99. Yeah, the price is a bit steep, though not unusual for LEGO toys. Despite the size of the 3,000+ piece set, the rooms in the mansion look rather cramped. Aside from the mansion build, it also includes a sentinel, Magneto, and nine X-Men mini-figures.

As far as video game news, Nintendo didn't announce a Switch 2 yet but it did show off an alarm clock which isn't software, it's an actual clock that is priced at $99.99! Unfortunately, one of the last video game magazines in the U.S. abruptly came to an end as Game Informer closed at the start of August. Last week I received an email from a video game website called SpriteCell that you might enjoy. The person that runs it asked if they could use some of my catalog scans, something the site specializes in. Finally, as I end every October update, here is the classic McDonald's Halloween sign:

Happy Halloween!

-Jonathan

Year 7: October Update

You may have noticed I finally removed the commercials from the YouTube channel. Back in June I lost monetization and the reason Google provided seemed to point toward the commercials but I had to wait three months to reapply so I waited to remove them. I've no idea if I'll qualify, however, as I have to get enough views to be approved again. As I did last December, I took a trip to Ontario, Canada this month though I didn't have time to visit another Toys "R" Us or I would photographed that one too. It's likely it would be very similar to the one in Oakville that I saw last year. Speaking of Toys "R" Us, the company that owns the property in the U.S. is going to make another attempt at bringing it back, this time with full size stores. In toy news, LEGO is teaming up with Nintendo again, this time it's bringing Animal Crossing into brick form.

There has been quite a bit of game news that's worth mentioning since my last update in July. Disney Speedstorm officially launched and it's not bad for a free-to-play kart racer. Gameloft will also be bringing Disney Dreamlight Valley out of early access in a month but it's no longer going to be free-to-play as was originally intended. A new G.I. Joe video game is in development which is always exciting news for myself. I talked a bit about the previous Joe game, IguanaBee's third-person shooter Operation Blackout, way back in the October 2020 update post, if you want to see my thoughts after three levels. Developed by Maple Powered Games (Monster Harvest) and set to release in 2024, G.I. Joe: Wrath of Cobra will be side-scrolling combat.

It took quite a while to complete but Microsoft does now own Activision which includes many classic IPs, Call of Duty, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, and Blizzard (WarCraft, Diablo, etc.). The Atari 2600 is returning as the 2600+ with HDMI and widescreen support, and it will work with the original cartridges. It costs $129.99 and is expected to ship in December. I'm not sure what happened to the Intellivision Amico though I have to believe it's dead. Two of the games that were in development for the Amico have recently released on Steam, Xbox platforms, and the Nintendo Switch, and at a higher price point ($14.99) than the Amico games were supposed to be. Available now are the new iterations of Astrosmash and Shark! Shark!.

I tend to post a blog update in October so that I can repost the classic McDonald's Halloween sign and so without further ado, here it is again:

Happy Halloween!

-Jonathan

Year 6: October Update

This year is flying by, as it always does, and although I expected to make less videos this year, I thought I'd be able to have more blog posts than I've managed. Comments are rare so I'm not sure if anyone looks forward to posts but I do apologize. Since my last update a few months ago LEGO unveiled an Atari 2600 set at the end of July that is now available for $239.99. Atari is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year and though the company itself has changed ownership numerous times since over the decades that I wouldn't call it the same company, it is the anniversary of its founding even if it is technically a renamed Infogrames these days. 

With the holidays approaching I was going to recommend custom LEGO minifigures that had been in a testing phase earlier this year but I can't seem to find it now (you can make basic figures at LEGO.com but not the detailed ones with added text that I'm thinking of). Those were going to be around $11.99 if I recall correctly and maybe it will officially launch soon even if I don't see it at this moment. There are third-party companies that offer something similar for minifigures, however, they are not official. Another custom creation option are action figure from Hasbro that cost $59.99. The Hasbro "Selfie Series" requires using an app to take a photo and then have it digitized onto an action figure type of your choosing, such as Power Ranger, G.I. Joe, Star Wars, Marvel, and Ghostbusters. Also, as mentioned yesterday in the Quest for the Dungeonmaster post, Hasbro announced new action figures in a line called Dungeons & Dragons Cartoon Classics that features characters from the 1983 Dungeons & Dragons cartoon.

The Sega Genesis Mini 2 released on October 27th for $99.99. It can only be purchased through Amazon.com and orders are being fulfilled by Amazon.jp as Sega opted to only sell it through the Japan retailer. Apparently, this has to do with the shortage of electronic components and keeping the costs down, and so the system is likely somewhat limited, certainly more so than the first Genesis Mini. This one looks like the Model 2 but has upgraded hardware over the first Mini and actually has a dozen Sega CD games built-in along with 48 other games, including some that were never previously released on the 16-bit console.

When I was working on posts for Batman Day last month I did try to make a video for a Batman game but discovered my Batman Commodore 64 game is broken. I never understood how to advance past the first level as a kid and now with the Internet available I found someone else playing the game. In their video there is a platform that in my game is not complete as there is a graphics glitch that cut it in half and because Batman cannot jump (or swing in this instance), I cannot complete the level. I'd have returned the game back when I got it had I known it was actually defective; I just thought I was overlooking something. Oh well. 

I've probably already posted any Halloween related games or toys I own over the previous five years so I don't really have anything special for the holiday to share. However, I can post this McDonald's sign again that I must have used at least three or four times on the blog already...

Happy Halloween,

Jonathan

Year 5: October Update

As usual, I probably should have done more posts this month but I've been relaxing more or less and playing games. I should have a new toy video up this weekend though I haven't recorded it yet or even started the blog post so I could fail to get it done. Maybe I should be doing that instead of writing this but the month ends in two days and I need to get the monthly update done! The video will be about a few Tomy art kits from the late '70s/early '80s as it sort of relates to Halloween. I also chose them now because I recently received a comment on a previous Tomy video that indicated the person's interest in seeing more Tomy products.

Today I tried the Hot Wheels Unleashed game that released at the end of September. It has a fair amount of content, lots of cars and tracks to unlock, and there is a track editor. There aren't a lot of locations for the tracks, just a variety in each spot like maybe eight or more set at a basement, garage, college campus, skatepark, and skyscraper. You're basically driving the toy cars through full-scale environments. Not sure if I'll do a "Let's Play" video or not but I have posted gameplay footage on the Game Boys & Girls YouTube channel I run.

There was some interesting G.I. Joe video game news since my last update. Hasbro's Wizards of the Coast division has opened a game studio and its first project will use the G.I. Joe brand. That's about all the information there is on that so I'm sure it is years away as they are just getting started. The holiday shopping season appears to be starting next week based on the ads I've seen. Also, news reports indicate some toys could be hard to find due to all the shipping issues so you may want to get started soon. Since I have to mail my gifts to Arizona and I've also got to cover birthdays in November, December, and January, I have already begun putting together gifts. 

This month I watched a new documentary called Playing With Power: The Nintendo Story. It's from the same people that made Video Games: The Movie in 2014, and while I've not seen that one, it got a lot of negative reviews. However, I'd say Playing With Power is worth checking out, especially if you're a child of the '80s that had a NES. It's broken into five parts and about five hours long overall, and the first part is definitely my favorite as it details the early history of the company, shows a variety of Nintendo toys, and had a few tidbits here and there I didn't know. Most everything else is about the NES all the way up to the Switch and will likely be familiar to most knowledgeable gamers. 

The biggest disappointment is that there are no interviews with Nintendo of Japan employees, only those that helped build up Nintendo of America. Plus there are other people from the industry (Nolan Bushnell, Trip Hawkins, Phil Spencer, etc.) featured throughout, as well as Wil Wheaton and some people I'm not familiar with. A lot of the non-industry folks are there to recount their childhood memories about playing Donkey Kong, Mario Bros., and The Legend of Zelda for the first time. Of course, I couldn't relate to those stories as I had Sega and other platforms rather than a NES, SNES, or N64, but I still found it fun to watch. There are two hours of extras that don't add much as they are primarily about making the video and a few things are repeated. 

I've posted a McDonald's image a few times in the October updates and here it is again!

Happy Halloween!

-Jonathan

Video Games & Computer Entertainment: Spooky Software

For Halloween this year I've scanned an article from the pages of the November 1989 issue of Video Games & Computer Entertainment. While the first page of the article simply calls it Spooky Software, the table of contents refer to it as Spooky Software: Monsters, Mystery and Mayhem in Electronic Gaming. Although the cover of the issue states that these are games that will give you nightmares, the subtitle makes more sense as the article spends a fair amount of time on games featuring monsters, like Rampage and SimCity which obviously are not scary. It's the adventure games that still stand out since they rely on a well-written story to spook players rather than the simplistic graphics of the time period.