Holiday Shopping for Hardcore Gamers

Shopping can be stressful around the holiday season. There is so much stuff out there to buy that it can be confusing and time consuming to find the perfect gift. What do hardcore gamers really want? I have complied a few awesome ideas for the gaming obsessed friend or family member in your life (or even for yourself.)



GamesSNES PowerPak

The SNES PowerPak is a magical device. It can back up your entire SNES or Super Famicom collection on one cart. The cart saves games and looks pretty spiffy. If you love classic gaming, then this is a no-brainer. It can play FX chip roms, and even the huge Star Ocean rom with English translation. This cart can be found at Retrozone.

Link:http://www.retrousb.com/product_info.php?cPath=24&products_id=84


Ys: The Oath in Felghana - Limited Edition

Ys is a long running series that most hardcore gamers are at least familiar with, and the PSP is the new home for the series. Y's: The Oath in Felghana is an awesome action RPG and the limited edition includes the incredible soundtrack. XSeed did an outstanding job on the localization, so this is another no-brainer choice for anyone with a PSP.

Link:http://www.amazon.com/Ys-Oath-Felghana-Limited-Sony-PSP/dp/B00429E6KU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291083280&sr=8-1



Mega Man: The Wily Wars

The Megadrive game, Mega Man: The Wily Wars, never officially came to the US. It was on the ill-fated Sega Channel, but that is long gone. Game Reproductions has saved it from obscurity by placing the awesome, English rom on a Sega Genesis cart. It is a fun "lost" Mega Man game and this is the best way to play it in the original form.

Link:http://www.gamereproductions.com/products.php?product=Megaman%3A-The-Wily-Wars-%252d-Genesis
Super Mario all Stars: Limited Edition

Super Mario All Stars: Limited Edition is a Wii re-release of the SNES classic compilation of Super Mario 1-3 and Lost Levels. It is not the version with Super Mario World included, but the package has some great extras to make it up for this flaw. The game will include a History of Mario booklet, and a music CD that holds a song from every main series Mario game ever released. A nice treat for the life long Nintendo fan or Mario lover in your life. The game is budget priced at 29.99.

Link:http://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?sku=231063&loc=wiirt_marioall

Books
The History of Nintendo

The History of Nintendo Volume 1 chronicles the long history of Japan's gaming giant. The book tells the history that many gamers do not know, Nintendo was once a Hanafuda card game maker and toy company as far back as the 1800's. The book is 240 pages, and packs some amazingly rare information with over 2000 pictures of Nintendo's older products. The book is being published by Pix N Publishing.

Link:http://pixnlovepublishing.com/nextreleases/page1.html


Arcade Mania: Turbo-charged World of Japan's Game Centers

This amazing books covers the wacky world of Japanese arcades and the history of it's game centers. Each chapter covers a genre of arcade games from claw machines to music sims, and it is filled with cool interviews with arcade legends, like Street fighter's Daigo "The Beast" Umehara. This is a must have for fans of Japanese culture or arcades. The books was written by Kotaku's Brian Ashcraft.

Link:http://www.amazon.com/Arcade-Mania-Turbo-charged-Japans-Centers/dp/4770030789/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291079671&sr=8-1

DVD


Tilt: The Battle to Save Pinball

Taken from the description:
The SITUATION facing the pinball designers at Williams Electronic Games in 1998: come up with something new, or see the world's largest pinball manufacturer be shut down forever.

And Williams' designers did come up with something amazing: a brand new kind of pinball machine—"Pinball 2000"—that fused video with classic pinball gameplay, preserving what was great about pinball yet opening up all-new possibilities for a product thought to be on its last legs.

Yet soon after its successful and highly-profitable launch, Williams pulled the plug, leaving behind unanswered questions and abandoning one of the world's great design organizations. TILT: The Battle to Save Pinball is a documentary that tells the story behind one of entertainment's most mysterious failures.

Not just for pinball fanatics, TILT tells an account that any follower of technology, design, or business will find fascinating. Seen from the perspective of the designers that created Pinball 2000, TILT is a story about personality and passion, of bold success dizzyingly followed by stunning failure.

Link:http://www.tilt-movie.com/The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters


Taken from the product description:
In this hilarious, critically acclaimed arcade showdown, a humble novice goes head-to-head against the reigning Donkey Kong champ in a confrontation that rocks the gaming world to its processors! For over 20 years, Billy Mitchell has owned the throne of the Donkey Kong world. No one could beat his top score until now. Newcomer Steve Wiebe claims to have beaten the unbeatable, but Mitchell isn't ready to renquish his crown without a fight. Go behind the barrels as the two battle it out in a vicious war to earn the title of the true King of Kong.


Music


NIER Gestalt and Replicant soundtrack

One of the most underrated games of 2010 has an amazing soundtrack. You can buy the CD from import specialist, Play-Asia. The CD is 29.99.

Link:http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-8l-49-en-70-3rem.html


Rock Man 10 Official Soundtrack

One of the best retro soundtracks of the year came from Rock Man 10. It has some great classic tunes for the old school gamer. The CD also has a really great cover as well.

Link:http://cgi.ebay.com/ROCKMAN-10-MEGA-MAN-CAPCOM-JAPAN-GAME-MUSIC-CD-NEW-/380289476692?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item588b04e854


Zed Blade Sountrack

Here is my gift to anyone who reads this page, the obscure soundtrack to Zed Blade: Operation Raganorok. It fuckin' rocks, enjoy.

Link:http://www.mediafire.com/?j41zqb7dq463ygq


I hope this list helped someone. Happy shopping folks!