Diary Entry #2: Extreme Haggling and More Survival Horror Madness

                Today my girlfriend and I headed out of normal stomping grounds to go display some of her artwork. Her eyes lit up when she spotted a flea market, so we headed inside. I had no intention of buying any games, but there were a ton of great stores. I bartered down a copy of 1080 Snowboarding to $2, which I felt like was a bargain. I’ve always wanted to get a copy of it, but usually I find something much more worthwhile. He had a copy of Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine for the N64 for $10, but I didn’t have the cash on me to get it. I keep thinking about that game randomly; Indiana Jones in A Tomb Raider Clone sounds great, but I’m not prepared to spend anything more than five bucks on it. I’ll probably stumble upon a Windows 98 copy of it someday and play the hell out of it.

                In another store, I was blown away when I saw a copy of Alone in the Dark: One Eyed Jacks Revenge for PS1. I knew it had to be mine! Alone in the Dark 2 is probably my least favorite in the series, but I bet I’ll somehow wind up loving it on a PS1. Unfortunately, I only had $4 and the clerk would not barter down. I quickly offered to trade the aforementioned 1080 Snowboarding cartridge as well, but he refused to budge: “Just go to the ATM. It’s like two dollars to withdraw cash.” I stormed away pissed. As a sane man, I refuse to spend $2 dollars to gain access to my hard earned money, so my girlfriend and I scrounged in her purse for another dollar in quarters. I returned with a demeanor of confidence, placing the five dollars and copy of 1080 Snowboarding on the counter and boasting “this is all I’ve got.” The clerk looked at me like I was an idiot, but instead of just saying no, asked his boss if the exchange was alright. The guy looked at the money and game like they were the biggest disappointment of his flea market career, but he agreed, showed me the disc, and sent me off on my merry way.

From Alone in the Dark: One Eyed Jacks Revenge.
This is probably what the flea market guy will do to me
if I ever meet him in a dark alley.

                Alone in the Dark 2 is just one of the non-Resident Evil rip-off survival horror games I’m interested in at the moment. Another is Evil Dead: Hail to the King for Dreamcast. Actually, Hail to the King is a Resident Evil clone, so never mind. I’ve played through the Evil Dead PS2 games, both of which feature some amazingly stupid action. I think one’s called Fistful of Boomstick and the other’s Regeneration, but they're so similar they might as well just be called Generic Evil Dead Action Game 1 and 2: run forward, shoot some guys, cutscene, shoot some guys, run forward, etc. I used to adore those Bruce Campbell one-liners, but as I grow older, I doubt they’ll appeal like they did back then.

                I played more of Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare. I feel like all I’m ever doing is running through hallways with lots of doors that I can’t open. One of the interesting features that I absolutely adore is that almost every room I enter is really dark, so I either have to find a light switch or use your flashlight. Personally, I prefer the light switches. I know the flashlight has an infinite battery in the game, but hey, that’s what I’d do in real life.

Screenshot courtesy of Mobygames. If I was her, I'd flip
that light switch right now.

                Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare was also ported to the Game Boy Color, which is a game I've picked up and tried to play over and over again. It looks awesome and it appears to be remarkably faithful to the Dreamcast version, but I just lose interest and pick up Nail 'N Scale or something instead. What I like is that it has battles akin to Parasite Eve in which the viewpoint switches and you have to start gunning down all the enemies around you. It rules.

Aiming at nothing in particular. Courtesy of Gamefaqs.

                My girlfriend is playing this game called Chibi-Robo for the DS. Most of the game seems to be spent dancing and plugging your butt into sockets. It's cute, and it also was the subject of a random issue of Nintendo Power that I used as a bathroom reader. My girlfriend and I recently acquired every issue of Nintendo Power from 2002-2008, so I've been perusing a lot of them for new games. I'm making a lot of Game Boy Advance game discoveries; I really want to try out Kid Klown in Crazy Chase, an SNES port, and the King Kong game both look awesome. The latter looks like a Zelda clone where humans wander around in a forest. You occasionally turn into the Kong himself and start punching the hell out of everything around you. Unspeakably awesome written all over it, buddy. Evidently there's another King Kong GBA game based on an animated series, but Nintendo Power only described it in a sentence fragment blurb, making it seem like they had little faith in its potential. 

King Kong for GBA. Jack swings wildly at
a crab while Carl and Ann could care less.

                I'm going to stop typing so I can play some more games. My plan is to try Evil Dead: Hail to the King, start Alone in the Dark: One Eyed Jack's Revenge, and continue Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare. I've never actually played the original New Super Mario Bros, and I've kind of been itching to play it. I also broke out my Dingoo and started playing the original NES version of Final Fantasy 2 and a puzzle game called Fire And Ice. Let's do this thang!