Asheville Pinball Museum - Asheville, NC

Tucked away in downtown Asheville, NC is a very cool place that all pinball and video game enthusiasts must check out for themselves at one point or another, the Ashevlle Pinball Museum. Inside this building you'll find vintage pinball tables going back to the 40's all the way up to more modern tables. In the back you'll find two different rooms full of vintage arcade cabinets. There is also a bar if you get thirsty. Best of all, it's only $15 per adult for unlimited play!

This section of downtown Asheville is a little more upscale than I would have thought it'd be. Perhaps this is why this "arcade" is called a museum, so the city would allow it to be downtown. Don't get me wrong, there is a bit of preservation and history going on inside too. Above each pinball table is a small sign that gives you some history. 

When you first walk in you are greated to a little seating area right in the middle. Opposite are a bunch of classic tables from the 40's. These were just for display purposes. Many of these tables are so old that I imagine finding replacment parts is next to impossible.

 Arlington - 1937

The oldest machine in the museum, this one had a framed article that accompanied the table with some interesting information that I never knew.

History!

 Humpty Dumpty - 1947

 Marjorie - 1947

 Select-A-Card - 1950

Yacht Club - 1953

Four Million B.C. - 1971

 Sonic Mars Trek - 1977

Star Battle - 1978

On each side of the room were several tables lined up side by side for your enjoyment. On the left side of the room, the right side had several older tables that were set up for free play. I particularly found Buccaneer and Wizard! to the really fun.

King of Diamonds - 1967

Nip-It - 1973

Air Aces - 1974

Sky Kings - 1974

Wizard! - 1975

The card above this machine mentioned that Fonzy played this table on early episodes of Happy Days, even though the machine wasn't released in the mid 70's and the show took place in the 50's.

Capt. Fantastic - 1976

Opposite the 60's/70's tables were a collection of tables from the 80's/90's. This is where I started my journey around the room. The Creature from the Black Lagoon and High-Speed were my favorites in this section. The Twilight Zone was cool, but it was hard to follow as your ball would "disappear" on the table, only to shoot out from another area you weren't expecting it to come from. The Terminator table was cool, however the physics seemed off. The ball would jump all over the table. At times when I was playing the ball would hit the plexi-glass on the top of the table!

Space Invaders - 1980

This table was much wider than the others on the side aisle. Based on the same coin-op franchise, I thought this would be a great table to play. Sadly it failed to capture my attention and was hard to finish out one game. Next.

High-Speed - 1986

My first exposure to this pinball title was actually on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). I love the sound of the squeeling tires peeling out as you launch the ball. This table had some of the best sound effects, in my opinion, of all the tables in the room.

Taxi - 1988

I may not have watched much of the television show this table was based on, however I found it to be a pretty entertaining table.

 Terminator 2: Judgement Day - 1991

Creature from the Black Lagoon - 1992

Fish Tales - 1992

Twilight Zone - 1993

Across the front of the museum were a few more tables. Iron Man, based on the first two movies of the Marvel Comics character was located in the corner. It proved to be a popular table as one woman had to sit there and play it for at least 30 minutes straight. Once I got a chance to play, I was a little disappointed. It wasn't a bad table, just wasn't as good as I hoped. Thankfully some of the other Marvel based tables didn't disappoint.

Xenon - 1980

 Cyclone - 1988

Iron Man - 2013

The right side of the room had some of the best and newest tables to choose from, however there were a few older machines worked into the mix. X-Men by far was my favorite on this side, followed by the modern KISS table and Ghostbusters.

Pitch & Bat

This was an interesting game. I can't remember what year it was released, but you got to chose the pitch and then swing the bat ala pinball. I was horrible at it, but some younger kid kept coming back to this table time and time again while I was on that side of the museum and was much, much better than me!

Hercules - 1979

This table is pretty rare as only 200 tables were made. It was currently down for repair on my visit, but I overheard one of the workers tell someone that they hoped to have it operational again very soon. This machine was much larger than most of the tables and looked to be a lot of fun. I wished I would've been able to play it.

 Silverball Mania - 1978

When I first saw this game and is lavish, silver artwork I thought it was a table based on the cosmic Marvel character, the Silver Surfer. Turns out that I wasn't that far off according to the sign above the machine.

Back to the Future - 1990

Michael J. Fox didn't want his likeness used in the game, so the artist had to render the Marty McFly character on the marquee and on the table to resemble his son! This was a fun table, but I didn't get to play it as much as I would have liked as it was popular with many people there during my visit.

Cactus Jack's - 1991

Bram Stoker's Dracula - 1993

 X-Men - 2012

X-Men was one of my favorite tables to choose from. It had multiple levels and paths for the ball to travel and on many occassions I found myself having to keep up with 3 or 4 balls at the same time.

Metallica - 2013

It was really loud in the museum so it was hard to tell if this Metallica table was playing the band's music. I'm not a fan of the band so I didn't find this table to be as entertaining as another legendary rock band's table.

Ghostbusters - 2016

One of the more popular tables in the museum was no doubt Ghostbusters. My wife enjoyed this table too. At one point she scored a certain point level were the table let out this blood schrilling scream that startled her! I later heard it as I was playing the X-Men and I couldn't believe how loud it was.

Opposite Dracula and Back to the Future were three MAME machines. Each cabinet had the monitor set up in vertical orientation and contained a lot of different games. There were a ton of different Pinball FX tables, but oddly enough there were also several shooters (shmups) to play. Too bad the joysticks just weren't responsive enough to really enjoy these games.

The front corner of the museum featured a few machines that always seemed crowed. I had to constantly wait for these tables to open up for a change to play.

The Incredible Hulk - 1979

This table looked awesome, but wasn't as much fun to play as I hoped. It's noted for being the first super hero themed pinball table.

KISS - 1979

KISS has never shyed away from marketing themselves on just about anything. This appears to be one of the first pinball machines that featured their likeness. It was a fun table to play, but couldn't hold a candle to the more modern version.

Haunted House - 1982

My first first discovered this game and couldn't wait for me to try it out. This was the only table that had 3 layers of table. The ball once launched would end up in a small graveyard like area. There was one small flipper in this area. Once the ball dropped out, it would go down to the 3rd and bottom layer. Here the table was reversed and the flippers were at the top of the table. If you missed, the ball would then come up to the main level where you had 4 flippers to control. Keep in mind you had two sets of flipper buttons on the side of the machine so remembering which button operated which level's flippers could be trying at times!

KISS - 2015

If X-Men wasn't my favorite, this more modern KISS table would be it. After you start you game and before you launch the ball, you can use the flippers to select the song you want to play. Detroit Rock City, Rock 'n Roll All Night, Shout It Out Loud and many others could be chosen. This made the table that much more enjoyable, at least to me. Funny how I knew more KISS songs than I thought after playing this table multiple times.

 Checkpoint - 1991

Game of Thrones - 2015

These two tables were wedged in on the right side of the museum. Checkpoint was one of the few tables I saw that wasn't from Bally, Stern or Midway, but from the now defunct company Data East. This table had several features that I didn't see anywhere else. Instead of a simple start button, you had a car key to turn to start the game. While you played, the table would vibrate and shake as lights would go off all over the table. It was a cool feature, but a little distracting at times.

 Star Trek - 1978

Doctor Who - 1992

Star Trek: The Next Generation - 1993

The only machines that I didn't get around to playing were these three that were in the front left corner of the museum, near the bar. I'm not a fan of either Doctor Who or Star Trek so I didn't feel too bad not giving them a try.

If pinball wasn't your cup of tea, there are two rooms in the back that house several different vintage arcade cabinets. I believe every game is in it's original cabinet, or at least has the original graphics on the side of the cabinet. I found this to be visually appealing to my eyes. 

The first room several games, such as Crystal Castles, Defender, Frogger, Q-Bert, Tron, Dig Dug, Pole Position and Joust to name a few.

The far back room had some great games and is the area I spent the most time (between these two rooms). My wife and I played Area 51 all the way through to the end. I also enjoyed playing Time Pilot and Commando. There was a cocktail table Ms. Pac-Man that I played with my wife. I was surprised at how well I did considering I haven't played Ms. Pac-Man in the arcade in a very long time. Right before my wife and I left, I played one last round of the X-Men pinball. While I was playing this little kid came up and asked me if I knew what Street Fighter was. I said "yeah". He then asked if I was any good. I said "well it's been a long time since I've played". He then asked if I'd play him. I went to the back and we fired up a two player game. We played probably 10 rounds and I won 8 of them. Mind you this was the non-Turbo edition of the game so pulling off moves was tougher than I thought it should've been. We talked about games and such since he liked fighters. I asked him if he had a Sega Saturn or Dreamcast and he uttered at the top of his lungs "I wish!" Then he said, "those are old" (pauses and looks at me) and said "how old are you?!"

I was quite shocked to see this Konami classic in the corner. I still can't fathom why a port of Aliens never made it to home consoles in the 90's. This run and gun game was a lot of fun to play, however being an arcade game that is meant to eat quarter after quarter you have to be prepared for a tough challenge.

At some point during our 4 hour visit to the Pinball Museum, my wife headed to the ladies room. When she came back she couldn't wait to show me the decor inside the restroom. Wonder Woman adorned the walls and there was even a small pinball table there. Not sure if it was playable. 

Overall this was an excellent afternoon I spent with my wife. We both got a lot of enjoyment out of our visit and we definately got our money's worth in our opinion. I don't know how often they change out the tables or arcade machines in the museum, but I wouldn't hesitate to pay them another visit at all. The staff was very nice and you could tell they took pride in keeping the equipment in top condition. If you are a fan of pinball and vintage arcade games I don't see how you couldn't enjoy a visit to the Asheville Pinball Museum. Once your done playing and you've worked up an appettite, there are plenty of great places within walking distance to grab a bite to eat or get a drink. Look them up on Facebook if you want more information.

Retro Store Visit: 1Up Video Games - Greenville, SC

I've been going to the Greenville, SC area for work for close to a year now and I never knew of 1Up Video Games until recently. I thought I had searched "retro video games Greenville, SC" on Google before, but I guess not. I'm glad I checked again however because my trips to the store were worth it.

The store was small and in a small shopping center off of Anderson Rd. in Greenville, SC. I drove right by it the first time I was looking for it and had it not been for GPS I may not have found it. As you can see the store front is modest, but the large "VIDEO GAMES" sign hung in the window helped draw my attention that way.

Once inside the I found the store to be well stocked with games for several different systems. Immediately on the left there was a large glass case that housed several portable games such as Game Boy and GB Advance. I didn't see anything that caught my eye so I kept browsing. I started on the left side of the store and was greeted by a long wire wrack full of original Xbox games, along with a few Wii U, several Wii and GameCube games.

Opposite this long rack of games were some smaller displays that held the retro consoles that were for sale. Not sure why I didn't snap a pic. They had in stock a nice boxed Atari Jaguar, loose Sega Saturn and a Super Nintendo among other things.

Personally I was impressed by the sheer number of original Xbox games they had in stock. I haven't seen this many to choose in any of the other shops I've found while traveling for work. Prices ranged from $2.99 for some of the more common titles to $24.99 for Godzilla. I ended up grabbing a few games while I was there that I hadn't see elsewhere. My only complaint with the selection of games was that there wasn't any rhyme or reason to the way the games were organized. The OCD in me couldn't stand that they were alphabetized. Part of me wanted to stand there and put them in order myself!

The back left corner, opposite the original Xbox games, was probably an 8 foot section of Xbox 360 and Xbox One games. Usually the 360 section is chocked full of games so imagine my surprise when the original Xbox games out numbered the two more modern Microsoft libraries.

At the back of the store was a bin that housed random controllers. Most of them were official, but there were some 3rd party controllers. I was surprised to see not one, but two Stunner light guns for the Sega Saturn.

Wrapping around the back end of the first rack and I found a row of games for various Nintendo consoles. N64, SNES and NES.

Selection on these consoles were pretty average, though there were more N64 carts than for the other two systems. Like most retailers have found, it's hard to really display loose N64 carts with their shape and lack of end labels. There were a few complete, boxed NES and SNES games to choose from, but the majority of them were loose carts.

Opposite the retro Nintendo games were Sega games. This section put a smile on my face. There was a decent selection of Genesis games, several Sega CD and Saturn games in the original long jewel cases. A nice little selection of Dreamcast games as well. The top shelf had a few boxed Atari games, including two Jaguar games (Trevor McFur and Zool). Had I had more time and money I may have bought a few Genesis games, but I settled for a boxed copy of E-Swat while I was there.

The end of the Sega row is where the Dreamcast games were as well as the loose Genesis carts. I really didn't pay attention to those loose carts which is a shame. I generally don't buy loose Genesis games, but at times I've come across a gem if I keep looking.

The back side of the Sega section was all Playstation 1 and Playstation 2 games with a few PSP. There was a good selection of both, but I'm not the biggest Sony fan so I just quickly browsed this section. I did grab Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks for the PS2.

The back right corner of the store had two different displays that housed a nice selection of reproduction games. 

As you can see there were all sorts of fan made reproductions ranging from the Game Boy, NES and SNES. These games were a little on the pricey side, but really not much more than what your final price would have been if you purchased it online and had to pay for shipping. This was a nice touch as you don't usually find stuff like this out in the wild. After speaking with the shop owner for a little longer on my 2nd trip, I learned that he planned on setting up some TVs and consoles so customers could test out some of these games. I look forward to seeing if that idea is implemented in the near future.

The shop owner was very nice and easy to speak with. We struck up a short conversation during both of my visits. While talking about YouTube video game shows and such he had asked me if I had been to any shows. I commented that it seems that the east coast gets the shaft as most of the shows I hear about are out in the mid-west. It's then he told me about the Southeast Game Exchange coming to the Greenville area later this year. He only had one post card left so I just took a picture for future reference and left the card there in the store for others. It's still early for me to know if I'll be able to attend, but I'm glad to finally know of something like this on the east coast.

All in all I found the store to be pretty cool. Good selection of games for a wide array of consoles with decent prices overall. The owner was very cool and you could tell he was passionate about games. He told me that they have been open now for about 3 years and business must be good because each time I dropped in his counter was full of trade ins he was working on getting priced and out on the shelves. They have a Facebook page if you want to check them out. If you find yourself in the Greenville, SC area you owe it to yourself to check them out. Give yourself a good 30 minutes at least if you want to browse the entire store. It's not huge, but there is a lot to look at.

New Acquisitions: March 2017

It's been a busy past two months. You may have noticed (or not) that I didn't have a New Additions post for February. Part of the reason is that I didn't buy much due to saving up for the launch of the Nintendo Switch on March 3rd. However I've got two months now to play catch up and show what I picked up so here we go.

Obviously the pick ups are a little lighter than normal due to cost of the Switch, however I still was able to get some good deals.

 

I love finding original Xbox games that I don't own, especially when they are as good as Guilty Gear X2 #Reloaded. I found this one at a used DVD store in Asheville, NC while traveling for work. Fighting games aren't always my favorite genre, but this is one of those that really caught my eye when it was new. My single largest game library is for the Xbox 360. I found one lone copy of Resident Evil Revelations 2 brand new for $9 at my local Walmart. It's been awhile since I've played a Resident Evil game, so I'm looking forward to sitting down with this one.

  

Finding non-sports Sega Master System titles in the wild is getting harder and harder, however the local G2K Games store in my area will occassionally have some new Master System games. I vaugely remember playing this game at a friends house growing up. Don't remember much else aboutthe game, but it was complete and $5 so why not?!

I love Sega so anytime I can pick up new Japanese Saturn or Dreamcast games is a good day. I grabed Nissan GT Over Drivin' R from Viink courtesy of his GameGavel store. Arcade racing titles are always fun and this is one I didn't know about until recently. Sturmwind, the much lauded shmup for the Dreamcast is one I've hard on my radar since it was released. It's high price tag has kept me away, but back in February I got an email from Play-Asia.com and I noticed the game was on sale for $24.99 I believe. Needless to say I jumped on that opportunity. 

This odd Super Famicom game came from GameGavel as well. It's called Same Game and is a puzzle game developed by Hudson Soft. In the game you try to match up lines of the same Hudson characters. It's shaped like the Super Game Boy because you could insert special, smaller cartridges to change up the characters in the game. I have the cartridge with Bomberman and Bonk,

I've been eying these little Nintendo characters in the check out lanes at Walmart, but never have I purchased one...until I saw that a Metroid was included in one of the latest assortments. I checked the display on each check out lane until I found one. Look for a post on this little figure soon.

With the Switch now being on the market, some retailers are starting to clear out their Wii U software. I grabbed this Captain Toad w/ the Toad Amiibo for $20 from Walmart's website. Surprisingly the game's outer box game in great shape, something that isn't given these days.

...and finally my new Nintendo Switch, Pro Controller and the Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. I have been playing the Switch pretty much any time I've had a chance for the last month. I only have Zelda and Blaster Master Zero, but that's OK as I've been more than happy with the time I've been putting in Breath of the Wild. In fact, I finally beat the game earlier this week, but I wasn't satisfied with the ending I got so I reloaded my autosave before I fought Ganon and left the castle. I still have Shrines to find and side quests to complete before I'm ready to fight Ganon again and move on to another game. The Pro Controller, while a little expensive, has been well worth it. It's a very comfortable controller and feels very good in my hands. I love the 360 controller and this controller reminds me of Microsoft's controller.

Collecting a Complete Set

As I've expanded my video game collection over the years, I've really enjoyed talking with other collectors online and watching YouTube videos on how people collect and what people collect. YouTubers like the Immortal John Hancock, Adam Koralik and the guy from the documentary, Nintendo Quest (that I just watched last night); while entertaining to follow and learn more about I don't get it.

Now before anyone spews hellfire and brimstone at me, let me try to explain myself. I'm a collector...of a lot of different things. Just check out my various other blogs and you'll see that I collect trading cards, comics, toys, and music to some degree. The idea of collecting doesn't escape me, but that's not what I don't understand. I've never been a completionist with many of my hobbies. I nearly amassed a full original Transformers Generation One collection of toys, before I realized that I really didn't care about (most of) the Action Master toys that released at the end of the series run. However as a trading card collector (or comic collector) I get the idea of wanting all of the cards/comics in the series...it just makes sense. Video games however are a whole different animal.

I've had this inner debate before of whether I'm more of a gamer or a collector. Part of me loves acquiring new games and putting them on display. Just take a look at part of my shelved collection below. I have a good many games spread out over a lot of different systems.

I know I have more games than I have time to play, however I don't see the point in buying a game I know I'm not going to play. Outside of the occassional baseball game, I don't care for sports titles so it doesn't make sense for me to buy a sports game because I know I'm not going to play it. The idea of collecting an entire set of games for any one console just seems meaningless to me. Now I'm not going to tell someone how to collect or how to spend their money. Lord knows I couldn't have made smarter choices when it comes to my expendable income, however I only have so much money to spend on my hobbies (have you noticed how many hobbies I have?!) and I only have so much space for said hobbies in my home.

To me, and only to me, it just seems like a waste of money and space collecting games that you know you aren't going to play. I guess this could be extended to those who collect variant versions of the same game (different regions, etc,). If I'm going to spend my hard earned money on anything, I want it to be spent on something I know I'm going to enjoy. Now I guess people that collect for their favorite system do it because they have fun. Hey, more power to ya! I just don't get it.

Surely I'm not the only one with this opinion. It's not a slam against anyone. I'm just one guy with a blog and an opinion. I would however like to get some feedback on this topic. Why are you trying to complete a full set for (fill in the blank) console? Is it the thrill of the chase and hunt that makes it so entertaining? Or why don't you fell it's necessary to buy every game for (again, fill in the blank) console? Thanks for reading my rambling words. Peace.

March 3rd - Nintendo Switch (U.S.) Launch

What a weekend it has been! March 3rd has come and gone and that means the Nintendo Switch has officially been launched in the U.S. for a few days now. From what I've been reading in social media, Nintendo and retails have been really happy with the strong sales numbers at launch, but what are the consumers saying?

launch day haul

Back in January when Nintendo unveiled the Switch via their webcast, being on the east coast I had to stay up later than I would normally do on a work night to watch it. I was impressed, though like many others I had questions. I thought many of the games that were showcased looked fantastic, but was disappointed that some games weren't going to be in the launch line up. At that point, I really had not paid The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild much attention. When the presentation was over it appears that most rushed to their favorite retailer online to put down their pre-order. I did not. I still was on the fence. After all, I don't normally buy consoles on launch day...for several different reasons.

The next morning I awoke to some crazy stories on social media of how fast the pre-orders were selling out. Out of curiousity, I checked Best Buy to see what their stock was like and surprisingly the standard gray console was still available for pre-order. I went ahead and placed my order, for Zelda too. Then the wait began. Over the next 2 months we would hear all sorts of stories about battery life, frame rate dropped while in handheld mode, the lack of games, etc. I do have to admit I was not prepared to hear all the negative news and comments, but then again this is Nintendo we are talking about. It seems as if people love to hate on Nintendo.

Then finally, March 3rd came and I was anxious as ever to pick up the system. My little Best Buy didn't participate in the midnight launch, which was fine by me. Instead I opted to wait until the store opened up at 10 AM Friday morning. While I was waiting, I went to the nearby Walmart and Target to see what was going on over there. Walmart still had the big cardboard display up that the Switch was coming 03-03-17...no games or accessories were on display. I did however find that their stock of 30th Anniversary Zelda Amiibos were on clearance. I picked up the Wind Waker 2 pack for $12. Next I ran over to Target and at least they had games and accessories on display. I grabbed a travel case for $20 and went on my way. There was a small line waiting outside Best Buy. About 10 people maybe ahead of me. I believe they only had 5 or so Switch consoles that weren't already spoken for and were handing out tickets prior to my arrival. Just inside the store, they had set up a table with all of the games and accessories available. I basically just jumped in line to pick up my pre-order so I could go about my day.

I wanted to take the day off from work so I could enjoy launch day that much more, but I work from home most days so I thought I could still sneak some play in. Well the universe was against me that day. If things could go wrong at work, they did and so I had to handle them. I believe it was closer to 4 PM before I even unpacked the system and plugged it in for the first time.

I knew about the day one update that activiated many features of the Switch. I wanted to get this started as soon as I could because of course I was anxious to play Zelda. The initialization menus were easy and straight forward, however I had a hard time getting the Switch connected to my wireless internet for some reason. Once I did and got the system update running, it again kept losing signal. I finally restarted my router and problem solved. I believe the update took about 30 minutes or so, not terribly bad at all. While it was updating, I hooked up the dock to my TV. Once the update was done, I moved the AC adapter over to the dock and gave TV mode a try for the first time. It took about 3 seconds for the image to transfer from the Switch to the TV (but the other way around is near seamless). I set up a profile for my wife and browsed the eShop, but wouldn't you know it...dinner time.

After dinner was done and cleaned up and the kids were in bed...finally it was game time. Let me start off by saying that I'm not a big Zelda fan. I guess you could say I'm just a casual Zelda fan at best. I've played the original NES game a few times (never beat it). I bought Twilight Princess at launch with my Nintendo Wii (which was the last launch day console I bought) and I really enjoyed the game (dispite the tiring motion controls) up until I got to a fishing scene where I couldn't progress. Needless to say I was excited about playing Breath of the Wild, even though up until this point I still had stayed away from pouring over the content of this game. I guess you could say I didn't want to be spoiled and I wanted to discover everything for the first time...the first time.

Up until Sunday afternoon, I've put in about 20 hours into the game...and I'm not tired of it yet. I am absolutely loving exploring the open world and find out what is around the corner, on top of the mountain and across the sea. The puzzle elements in the shrines are starting to give me a fit, but overall I've enjoyed every minute of the game. I'm sad the weekend is wrapping up as I won't have as much time to play during the week.

Overall I've found the Switch to be another marvelous Nintendo system. However it's not without flaw. As many outlets previously reported, the left Joycon has a habit of de-synching itself in the middle of your gameplay (TV mode only). It will usually come back on by itself, but there were a few times I died playing Zelda because I'd try to walk to the edge of a cliff and Link would simply keep on walking...right off the cliff! It also seems as if there is anything in the way of your controller and the dock while playing in TV mode you'll notice some horrible lag, or downright unresponsiveness. At one point last night I crossed my leg and rested my foot on my knee...and the controller started acting up. I put my leg down and the controller was fine. This pretty much confirmed for me that I'm buying the Pro Controller as soon as the funds allow.

I've only used the Switch in table top mode a short time. I do like that option, but maybe it's just me but I found it difficult to open up the kick stand on the back. Perhaps that Hori table top cradle they've made is a worthy purchase in the future? I took the Swith with me to church earlier today to show my older brother and I ended up playing it in handheld mode in the car on the way to and from. I usually reserve my Sunday afternoons to get caught up on my comic reading, but wouldn't you know I sat on the couch for at least 2 hours (if not longer) playing. My guess is I got in at least 3 hours of play before I got the first low battery warning. For a game as powerful and large as Zelda, I'm OK w/ 3 hours. I most likely won't be playing it in handheld mode as much, but man I do love having that option.

The launch lineup was a little sparse, but I know that Zelda will keep me occupied for some time. I do want to download Snipperclips as I showed that to my wife, hoping that it would lessen the scowl of hers when I told her I had the Switch pre-ordered already! Not surprisingly, she does agree that could be a great co-op game for us both...and maybe even my 2 young daughters?

Next week I'll be downloading the new Blaster Master Zero for sure. The original in the NES is one of my all time favorites and despite the few successors it's had, none of them have been able to capture the excitement and feel of the original. Hopefully this one won't disappoint.

Of course before I go and download anything from the eShop I need to pick up a Micro SD card for myself. I'm not thrilled with the news that there isn't any way to transfer saved data from the console (at least, not yet), but I won't be downloading my games as I'm still one of those that perfers physical releases. Is the Nintendo Switch perfect? Nope, but it's the best new Nintendo platform I've played in a very long time and I'm really looking forward to what the future brings. I hope this is the first step in repairing relationships with third party developers because I would love to see the likes of Capcom and Konami bringing back new versions of their classic IPs (and new ones of course) to the Switch. I guess now only time will tell.