Man, it sure does continue to be quite the shocker to see what movies manage to make it to the 4k Ultra HD blu-ray format, doesn’t it? Despite the fact that physical media sales have been on the decline for many years now, some real deep cuts and cult classics are surprisingly given the restoration treatment thanks to all kinds of little boutique companies from around the world. Typically, this means the discs are printed on demand or limited to very small quantities; but more often than not they will be given the really tricked out “collector’s edition” treatment with gorgeous packaging and overflowing with extra features. And now, here it is: the infamous Super Mario Bros. from 1993 recently made the jump to 4k and you just know I couldn’t let my personal thoughts and feelings toward it let me pass this one up!

Now that Nintendo World Championships has arrived on Switch (my overpriced deluxe set is in the mail courtesy of ebay), I thought it was time to take a look at another odd and highly elusive piece of tournament software: An extremely obscure little shooter called Summer Carnival ’92 Recca. Developed by Naxat Soft (?) for the original NES, this speedy little bastard was originally created specifically for some Japanese gaming festival you’ve never heard of back in 1992. As such, not very many copies of the actual cartridge exist and it has since become a highly sought after collector’s item for nerds. Well, it managed to make it’s way onto the 3DS virtual console back in 2012 and I of course instantly scooped it up at the time and whooo boy, this game is cray cray.