{"id":3082,"date":"2014-07-23T22:09:09","date_gmt":"2014-07-23T22:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/?p=3082"},"modified":"2014-07-23T22:14:48","modified_gmt":"2014-07-23T22:14:48","slug":"and-were-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/?p=3082","title":{"rendered":"AND WE&#8217;RE BACK!!!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>After a bit of downtime, the CPB blog is up and running!<\/p>\n<p>As a celebratory first post, I\u2019ve decided to write with a slightly different focus than I usually do.\u00a0 Instead of looking at one or two games in particular, I\u2019ve decided to look at one of the most underrated video game companies from my youth &#8211; Taito.<\/p>\n<p>There are several publishers this entry could have been about; Sunsoft, Jaleco, Taxan, Data East, Hudson Soft, the list goes on.\u00a0 There are some fantastic games strewn among each of these publishers, and a few of them landed on my Top 100 countdown.<\/p>\n<p>In recent years, \u201cvideo game hunting\u201d has become a fun hobby of mine.\u00a0 I\u2019ve read countless articles about game collecting and watched a ton of YouTube videos about it, and there\u2019s just something about the search for rare and hard-to-find games that get the blood going.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/RaekyiQcW28\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>As I built myself a wish list of games I should try to keep an eye out for, I couldn\u2019t help but notice that every Taito game on it seemed to be way out of my price range.\u00a0 In fact, of the top ten rarest and most valuable *<strong>licensed<\/strong>* NES games, half of them were released by Taito!<\/p>\n<p>With that in mind, I figured I\u2019d try and shed some light on the games they released, and why some of them are so hard to find today.<\/p>\n<p>Taito was the company responsible for the massive arcade hit <em>Space Invaders<\/em> in 1978, but to me, they were always known as the makers of <em>Bubble Bobble<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3084\" style=\"width: 330px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Bubble_Bobble_NES_US_box.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3084\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3084\" src=\"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Bubble_Bobble_NES_US_box.jpg\" alt=\"Surprisingly don\u2019t see this one around too often, considering how popular it was. $25 cartridge only.\" width=\"320\" height=\"440\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Bubble_Bobble_NES_US_box.jpg 320w, https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Bubble_Bobble_NES_US_box-218x300.jpg 218w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3084\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Surprisingly don\u2019t see this one around too often, considering how popular it was.<br \/>$25 cartridge only.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>There were so many hours of my childhood spent playing that game with my father and my sisters, humming that non-stop music, bubble-hopping my way up to higher platforms, and shrieking in fear at the sight Baron von Blubba.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3088\" style=\"width: 210px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/baron-von-blubba-410.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3088\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3088\" src=\"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/baron-von-blubba-410.jpg\" alt=\"I had nightmares about this guy...\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/baron-von-blubba-410.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/baron-von-blubba-410-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3088\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">I had nightmares about this guy&#8230;<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Bubble Bobble<\/em> had a quasi-sequel in the form of a similar-looking (but human) protagonist in <em>Rainbow Islands: The Story of Bubble Bobble 2<\/em>.\u00a0 Instead of bubbles, you shoot rainbows at your enemies as you climb vertically-scrolling stages up high into the sky.\u00a0 The controls were almost identical to the original, and I had quite a bit of fun stomping on the rainbows to make them fall and take out any enemies below.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3090\" style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/NESRainbow-Island-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3090\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3090\" src=\"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/NESRainbow-Island-1.jpg\" alt=\"Not the rarest game, but definitely not easy to find. $40 cartridge only.\" width=\"400\" height=\"550\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/NESRainbow-Island-1.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/NESRainbow-Island-1-218x300.jpg 218w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3090\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Not the rarest game, but definitely not easy to find.<br \/>$40 cartridge only.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This is going to sound strange, but have you ever had a memory tied to something, and it was only a brief visual image?\u00a0 Like, I know I had just rented the game somewhere nearby, but why on Earth does this specific place stick out in my mind?\u00a0 In any case, I remember being excited to play <em>Rainbow Islands<\/em>, and looking at the cartridge label while at this very intersection.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3094\" style=\"width: 1032px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/intersection.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3094\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3094\" src=\"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/intersection.png\" alt=\"This is near the Oromocto, NB hospital, just outside of Fredericton.  We so rarely went there to rent games, so we must have been there for some other reason...  road trip?  ER visit?  Whatever it was, I can't recall.\" width=\"1022\" height=\"472\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/intersection.png 1022w, https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/intersection-300x138.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1022px) 100vw, 1022px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3094\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">This is near the Oromocto, NB hospital, outside of Fredericton. We never drove to Oromocto to rent games, so we must have been there for some other reason&#8230; road trip? ER visit? Whatever it was, I can&#8217;t recall.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>One of the first NES games I was ever witness to was actually one I was told I was too young to play.\u00a0 <em>Renegade<\/em> was one of my friend St\u00e9phane\u2019s games; he and his family lived in Shediac, New Brunswick, and it was he who first introduced me to the NES.\u00a0 <em>Super Mario Bros.<\/em> and <em>Duck Hunt<\/em> blew my young little mind and had me hooked for a while, but it wasn\u2019t long after being left alone with the console that I \u201cbroke the rules\u201d and popped in <em>Renegade<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3097\" style=\"width: 428px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/renegade_12.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3097\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3097\" src=\"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/renegade_12.jpg\" alt=\"Easily found, probably because it wasn\u2019t that great a game. $10 cartridge only.\" width=\"418\" height=\"601\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/renegade_12.jpg 418w, https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/renegade_12-208x300.jpg 208w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 418px) 100vw, 418px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3097\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Easily found, probably because it wasn\u2019t that great a game.<br \/>$10 cartridge only.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Compared to the other games I had been playing that night, the controls for <em>Renegade<\/em> felt awful, and I wasn\u2019t very good at it at all.\u00a0 I can still play it today and not make it past that first screen (the one where they\u2019re down in the subway station).<\/p>\n<p>It was one of the first games I had ever played, and because of that, it will forever hold a special place in my mind.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3098\" style=\"width: 1032px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/drivein.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3098\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3098\" src=\"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/drivein.png\" alt=\"Stephane\u2019s family\u2019s house was in a subdivision next to a drive-in theatre\u2026  I remember seeing its screen tower over the houses in front of it! (This isn't nearly as huge as I remember it...)\" width=\"1022\" height=\"558\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/drivein.png 1022w, https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/drivein-300x163.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1022px) 100vw, 1022px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3098\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Stephane\u2019s family\u2019s house was in a subdivision next to a drive-in theatre\u2026 I remember seeing its screen tower over the houses in front of it!<br \/>(This isn&#8217;t nearly as huge and amazing as I remembered&#8230;)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Another random Taito game from my childhood was <em>Kiwi Kraze<\/em>.\u00a0 This was the first time I heard about a kiwi being something *other* than a small, fuzzy fruit I was too fussy to eat.\u00a0 You play as a small yellow bird \u2013 a kiwi \u2013 that shoots spikes and travels from one end of New Zealand to the other to save all his kiwi friends.<\/p>\n<p>So, it\u2019s a game where you play as a kiwi, and the goal is to save all your Kiwi kiwi buddies.\u00a0 Yup!<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s pretty straightforward and easy, but I enjoyed it.\u00a0 I\u2019ll always associate it with being downstairs in our unfinished basement, playing the game, then turning it off to watch shows like <em>DuckTales<\/em>, <em>Fun House<\/em> and <em>Tiny Toon Adventures <\/em>on CTV\u2026\u00a0 ahhhh the 90\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3099\" style=\"width: 372px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/kiwi.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3099\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3099\" src=\"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/kiwi.png\" alt=\"I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever seen this game in my travels, actually. $30 cartridge only.\" width=\"362\" height=\"521\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/kiwi.png 362w, https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/kiwi-208x300.png 208w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 362px) 100vw, 362px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3099\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever seen this game in my travels, actually.<br \/>$30 cartridge only.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve already made a post about one of my favourite Taito games, <em>Power Blade<\/em>, so the last remaining Taito game I remember playing is <em>The Flintstones: Rescue of Dino and Hoppy<\/em>.\u00a0 I\u2019ll save the talk of the extra-rare games for my next post!<\/p>\n<p>In any case, this <em>Flintstones<\/em> game is actually quite good.\u00a0 It\u2019s a platforming game where you play as Fred and bash enemies over the head with a club.\u00a0 You can hang from ledges and pull yourself up, and the level design takes advantage of that mechanic a little bit.\u00a0 I always found the graphics to be nice and colorful, and even though I didn\u2019t watch the cartoon at all, I definitely enjoyed the overall feel the game had.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m not sure if my memory for this game comes off as creepy or not, but I\u2019ll share it anyway!<\/p>\n<p>When we rented the game for the first time in Baie-Sainte-Anne, the instruction manual came with it.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure why, but it seemed that one of the game\u2019s previous renters had sprayed some kind of woman\u2019s perfume on the manual.\u00a0 Now\u2026\u00a0 instead of being grossed out or repulsed by it, I couldn\u2019t stop sniffing it.\u00a0 It smelled fantastic!<\/p>\n<p>I mean, I didn\u2019t rub it all over myself and wear it as a perfume of my own, but I\u2019d definitely wave the booklet around in between levels to get a good whiff!\u00a0 It just smelled so good.\u00a0 If I were to ever smell that same scent today, I\u2019d be like \u201cGET ME TO AN NES WITH FLINTSTONES, STAT!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3101\" style=\"width: 381px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/flintstones.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3101\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3101\" src=\"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/flintstones.png\" alt=\"Great game.  I\u2019ve seen it around here and there, but without the smell. $20 cartridge only.\" width=\"371\" height=\"518\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/flintstones.png 371w, https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/flintstones-214x300.png 214w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 371px) 100vw, 371px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-3101\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">I\u2019ve seen this one around here and there, but without the smell.<br \/>$20 cartridge only.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In the next post, I\u2019ll talk about those Taito games that, for one reason or another, have managed to increase in value since they were released 20 years ago.\u00a0 Stay tuned!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After a bit of downtime, the CPB blog is up and running! As a celebratory first post, I\u2019ve decided to write with a slightly different focus than I usually do.\u00a0 Instead of looking at one or two games&#8230; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/?p=3082\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104,105],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-publishers","category-taito"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3082"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3082\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3108,"href":"https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3082\/revisions\/3108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}