The last article I wrote about my ridiculous collection of old games and consoles was written back in July, and since then I have either purchased or been lent a large number of 'new' games. How large? Well, this is my collection three months ago:

This is what it looks like now:

As you can see, my collection of NES, SNES, Master System, Mega Drive and N64 games has increased dramatically. Eagle-eyed viewers will be able to spot not one, but two Super Gameboys, the first being on top of the GameGear and the second being on the left of the Gamecube/Wii stack. I got the second as part of an eBay bid for a bunch of SNES games - I don't actually need it, but the guy was selling a lot of stuff for a fraction of the price you usually get on eBay, so I couldn't really say no. Ok well maybe I could have said no, but I'm a geek, so there.

Next up, it's that crazy handheld I didn't have in my house last time:

That's right, it's the original, chunky Nintendo DS! I actually bought this off a friend who'd got it from America a few months before it came out in the UK, so that makes me pretty cool (in geek circles, obviously). Despite looking like a glasses case when you close it and despite not having the massive LCD screen that the PSP has, the DS is easily my favourite current-generation handheld. Not only does it have some awesome games, but the touch screen has genuinely breathed some fresh air into the handheld industry - Nintendo are all about revolutionising the game industry these days and while it's still uncertain how far the Wii has succeeded in this aim, the DS is without doubt a complete success. Chuck in a ton of third-party support, free Internet play and the far sexier DS lite and it looks like Nintendo have pretty much urinated all over Sony's bonfire in the battle to dominate the handheld industry.

As a side note, I also have around 15 Gameboy Advance games (the DS can also play GBA games, which is pretty sweet) including a flash cart, which is sort of like a memory card. I've put a NES emulator on it, which means I can play Mario Bros 1-3, Contra, the original Metroid and Bomberman 1 and 2 on my DS - badass! I've also picked up a number of highly dubious game cartridges from Turkey which currently seem to work fine, even if I'm not 100% certain about their legality. A friend of mine (Dave) also attempted to buy some GBA games with me in Turkey, but he got the raw end of the deal - when he bought the new Pokemon game and took it back to the hotel, it turned out to be something like Pig Farmer 3. When he went back and returned it, he purchased another copy of Pokemon which actually was Pokemon, except the internal game battery was dead and so he couldn't save his game. Ever tried completing a Pokemon game in one sitting? No, neither have I.

Let's move back to consoles with probably the best two purchases I've made in some time:

Most of you are looking at this photo and thinking 'I have absolutely no idea what this is', so I'll explain. Basically, the big chunky thing slotted into the SNES is a Universal Adaptor, which lets you play American and Japanese (NTSC) SNES games in a European (PAL) SNES - it works by letting you put a European game in the back and the import game in the front, and basically makes the SNES think it's running the European game when actually it's running the foreign one. Sneaky! So why would I buy this, you ask? Well, some excellent SNES games that came out abroad didn't come out here, my favourite being Super Bomberman 5 (the game you can see above). I've only ever played it on an emulator before (not that I condone the use of emulators, cough cough) and it is simply the best Bomberman game ever made. When I found it on eBay recently I was of course a little excited, so I coughed up £35 and had it shipped from some American store. Since getting it, I've hardly played any other SNES game (besides Super Metroid), mainly thanks to Bomberman 5 containing a multiplayer game that is not only near impossible to beat in terms of sheer fun, but also supports simultaneous play for 5 players. I have honestly had friends who usually don't remotely enjoy video games actually call me up to ask if they can come round and play Bomberman 5 - I am being completely serious, it is that good.

However - and this is a big however - the world of retro gaming is not always full of classic games that can even rival today's hi-def epics like Gears of War. Indeed, sometimes old games can remind you exactly why they don't make them like they used to, and I can demonstrate this best by reviewing the worst game I have ever played in my life. I present you with my review of Dark Castle.