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Freakin Frankie’s Home Video Store

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We have featured a number of Blockbuster Video stories on here, so it is friggin cool to see our very good friend, Freakin Frankie, emulate his very own Blockbuster Video Store right in his dining room!

Before we start drooling over his setup, we have been aware of Frankie’s love of movies and his growing collection ever since we met many moons ago, but to see his vast collection in the below pics has totally blown us away – but wait, there is more……

Once Frankie put out his initial tweet about embarking on the massive task of presenting his collection of 3,500+ titles, we put down our our bowl of Cheezels and took note! The follow up tweet thread of his home video store setup was impressive to say the least! As collectors ourselves, we can quite easily say that Freakin Frankie’s Home Video Store setup is darn awesome and impressive. Frankie mentioned that he opted against double stacking (as he wanted the authentic video store feel) and decided to sort his collection in alphabetic order, which works very well for our OCD brain – now where is that Akira DVD at?!

Ok, now you can start drooling!

Frankie’s old setup

The tough part – sorting through the massive library!

Experimenting with the video store setup!

And now, the finished product – welcome to Freakin Frankie’s Home Video Store!

images used with permission from Freakin Frankie

 

Yo Ausretrogamer, Show Us Your Collection!

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Show us your collection - Australian Retro GamerI was contacted recently by RetroGamesCollector (UK) who asked if I would like to be interviewed in his new retro gaming collections feature, ‘Show us your collection’. I didn’t need any time to think about it – I jumped at the opportunity!

If you want to take a gander at the collection and read the interview, then head on over here

 

Where it all started: my first TV gaming system

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It was 1984 when I got this baby. No – it wasn’t an Atari 2600 or an Intellivision (I wish I had one of these at the time!) – it was the Hanimex 666T.

It was basically a home version of Pong. The larger paddle contained the system hardware and the main game controls. These controls were used to select the type of game, the bat size, auto or manual serving, and speed of the game. I never understood the 40 / 20 angle switch as it didn’t make a difference to gameplay as far as I could tell. The smaller paddle could be detached and used by a second player.

I was a sore loser when playing on this system. My sister would start to win and I would get mad and would reset the game only to be beaten again. I eventually got better and started kickin’ ass – that’s when my sister stopped playing video games with me.

This was my introduction to owning a TV gaming system. It served its purpose until I got into the ‘real’ home consoles and computers in the 80’s. The last ‘Where it all started‘ feature will be on the first true 8-bit gaming system which I acquired in 1986. Could it be the Nintendo Entertainment System, the Sega Master System, or the Commodore 64 ?

Welllllllllll, you will just have to wait and see……….

 

Where it all started: Retro Lovin

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Like every other retro gamer, the love of video gaming started early in my childhood. I recall yo-yo’s being the biggest fad back in the early 80’s. I had the Fanta and Coca-Cola yo-yo’s. I thought I was so cool being able to ‘walk the dog’.

Soon enough though, my attention turned towards electronic gaming. The Nintendo Game & Watch series and the various table top games took my fancy. This was a time before Atari became big in Australia – and the NES was still years away (it was released here in 1987). I was totally mesmerised by these Game & Watch and Table Top games my friends were playing and I became hooked. Little did I realise this would grow into a life long love of video gaming, in particular, old/retro games and systems.

I still have my first Game & Watch and Table Top games – and that is where it all started for me. Here they are for your viewing pleasure:

A big thank you to hunksparrow for giving me the idea to write about my collection, and in particular, where this video gaming love all started for me.