Meet the Collectors - #7 - Alex Crowley

In previous episodes of this blog's Meet the Collectors series, we have already seen some of the best collections out there that are dedicated to Nintendo's history.

But even though these consisted of wonderful displays of Game & Watches, vintage toys and retro video games, there is one department that has been seriously underexposed here so far: arcade games.

Arcade games are an important part of Nintendo's history and heritage. Key Nintendo characters and game franchises were born in the arcade. Many of today's Nintendo collectors first got exposed to Nintendo through these games. Most of us love them for it. I know I do.

But collecting arcade games is a different matter altogether. They are big and heavy. Their monitors and printed circuit boards are sensitive to technical problems (contrary to consoles and handhelds, which are virtually indestructible). Most arcade game have been out in the field for many years, resulting in wear and tear. So they usually require tender love and care to restore, get working and maintain in top shape.

It takes some special dedication to build your own home arcade. In today's episode we will meet Alex, who has done just that. Even more exciting is the fact that he created a Nintendo arcade! Alex loves his arcade so much that he gave up an extensive collection of Game & Watch for it. Talk about dedication!

Alex posing justifiably proud in his personal hall of Nintendo arcade history

"Hi! My name is Alex Crowley. I am from Twickenham London, 42 years old and I am a brickwork specialist."

Nintendo toys in Animal Crossing New Leaf

As regular readers of this blog will know, Nintendo has a long and intriguing history that spans close to 125 years. Since the 1960s, the company has developed a culture that remains to this day: a strife for innovation mixed with an understanding and appreciation of its heritage. Nintendo as a company never forgets where it comes from and what went before, and this is passed on to new staff when they enter the company.

One of the ways that Nintendo honors and celebrates its past is by including references to it in new games. Most recently, this happened in the 3DS game Animal Crossing New Leaf (とびだせ どうぶつの森), released in Japan in November of last year and in the rest of the world in June of this year.

Animal Crossing New Leaf - Japanese box art

In this popular life simulation game, many items can be earned or won by performing certain activities at certain times. Included in the huge selection of items are five vintage Nintendo toys, that are great representatives of the entire "toys period" of Nintendo, from the mid 1960s to the early 1980s.

Some of the items that can be won in Animal Crossing New Leaf,
including the five vintage Nintendo toys (items D to H shown here)

The vintage Nintendo toys included in Animal Crossing New Leaf are:

• Ten Billion (テンビリオン) originally released in 1980,
• Love Tester (ラブテスタ) from 1969,
• Ultra Hand (ウルトラ ハンド) from 1966,
• Ultra Scope (ウルトラ コープ) from 1971, and
• Ultra Machine (ウルトラ マシン) from 1967

Although they may look a bit dated now, each of these was very innovative in their time.

Meet the collectors - #6 - Fred (update)

It is time for another episode of Meet the Collectors. We are once again traveling to France, where we meet Nintendo collector Fred.

I already posted some pictures of Fred's collection yesterday, but he has just sent some more recent pictures. So here's an update, with the promised interview.

The core of Fred's interest is Game & Watch. But that is not all. There is more. A lot more. His collection includes many of the older Nintendo games and toys. There is so much to see here, your eyes are not sure where to look.

So, let's go meet Fred.

"My name is Frederic, I'm 42 and I live in the south-eastern part of France, near Nîmes."

"I am passionate about Game & Watch and Nintendo, but I also collect motor bikes (I have a dozen Japanese motorcycles) and French and German cars from the period 1960-80."

"Back in 1982, when I was 11 years old, I received a Game & Watch Donkey Kong as a Christmas present. This was the only Game & Watch that I had at the time, and I played it for hours and hours on end!"

Nintendo Copilas - part 3 (コピラス, 1971)

In two previous posts on this blog, the 1971 Nintendo Copilas (コピラス) photocopier was introduced and its use demonstrated.

This machine was sold at a then revolutionary price of only ¥9,800, barely providing a profit margin on the hardware. Like many printer companies these days - that practically give away printers in order to make handsome profits on the ink cartridges - Nintendo also intended to make most of the money on providing a continuous supply of paper and developing agent to the Copilas users.

The initial standard Copilas machine was produced in quite large numbers, so finding one these days is not very difficult (various follow-up models were created that are much rarer). However, finding original supplies needed to run it is much more difficult now. These were either used back then or discarded. So, I was happy when I was able to add some of these to my collection a little while ago.

Nintendo Copilas photo sensitive paper

The photo sensitive paper (感光紙) was sold in two standard sizes: B4 and B5.