Video Game Appreciation 101 (Random Import Version): Bing Bing! Bingo

Mention Bingo to the average younger gamer and you’ll probably get a blank stare for a few seconds until they remember either that goofy song about a farmer and his dog or recall passing a local senior center or church with a photocopied sign or fading poster announcing weekly play sessions geared towards more mature gamblers looking to rake in a few extra bucks. Of course, leave it to Japanese developers and publishers to do something wacky and fun with what’s basically seen as an old folks’ time-sink here in the US.

Released in 1994 for the Super Famicom in Japan by KSS, Copya Systems’ Bing Bing! Bingo was an offbeat blend of mini-games makes for an interestingly wacky diversion as it presents Bingo from seven different perspectives across an island vacation paradise of sorts.  Granted, if Bingo had big-eyed ladies in skimpy outfits and a spandex clad hero called Bingoman as part of the draw, I’d bet those churches and union halls turned into minor vice dens for the elderly would be packed with hipsters and of age young folks looking to rake in those bucks a few winning cards at a time.

Continue reading

Gallery: N64 Library (Plus)

What’s left of my N64 and Famicom/Famicom Disk collections plus some loose Super Famicom games I didn’t add with the boxed stuff a while back. As with all of the library pics, the collections here are much smaller than they were a few years back, but I’d say the Famicom stuff has been condensed the most overall, as it was around 150+ games at one point. I do miss my N64 imports (Bangai-o, Wonder Project J2 and Neon Genesis Evangelion among others) and most of the bunch of other stuff I don’t have these days, but that’s the way that ball bounces, I suppose. Oh well – once I’m rolling in loot from my world domination plans, I’ll grab a plane to Game Central and clean out a few places again. That is, provided the world doesn’t blow up before then…

Gallery: Super Famicom Library

OK, I was going to save posting there until I woke up in a few hours, but I decided to stay up an extra half hour just for you guys. Anyway, I figured that since I went to all that trouble to photograph my MD/Genesis collection, I may as well break out the stepladder and get the Super Famicom stuff down just to get it done. Here you go – enjoy.  I’ve a bunch of loose carts as well, but I’ll get to those at some point when I have more time. Before you ask, my large SNES collection got sold off a few years back, save for a handful of extra loose carts and manuals I held on to.