Ants Ate My NES Game – Part 2 + Cybertron & Miniso Finds
3Rad Chaser back again with the continuation of the strangest saga I’ve had in collecting for a while: the “Ants Ate My NES Game” series. If you saw Part 1, you know the story — I cracked open one of my NES games and discovered ants had been busy turning the styrofoam block inside into their own personal fixer-upper.
They left frass everywhere, which is basically insect sawdust, and it was one of those moments that really makes you stop and think about what can happen to even the most carefully stored retro collection. You expect water damage, marker writing, yellowing, maybe even rental stickers you can’t quite remove — but ants trying to set up shop inside an NES box? That’s a new one.
🏪 Cybertron Collectibles – Altamonte Springs, FL
Cybertron is one of those local Florida staples where the air just feels different when you walk in. The walls are lined with retro and modern games, consoles, action figures, and the kind of stuff that can instantly derail your budget in the best way possible. It’s one of those shops where you might go in for one specific game, and come out with an armful of things you didn’t know you needed until you saw them. It’s a collector’s cave, plain and simple.
Here’s what I walked out with this time:
• Metaphor: ReFantazio – This one immediately caught my eye. Atlus just knows how to do stylish RPGs, and this feels like the spiritual successor to the Shin Megami Tensei / Persona lineage. It’s got the turn-based RPG DNA mixed with that modern Atlus flavor. It’s wild finding something like this out in the wild when your brain is still halfway stuck in NES land.
• Ring King (NES) — Clamshell Rental Store Box Only – Now here’s a curveball. Ring King is a quirky boxing game for the NES, remembered as much for its pixel charm (and that infamous in-between rounds animation) as for the actual gameplay. The fact that I found just the rental clamshell box version feels like a slice of history. Rental boxes were the lifeblood of local video stores, protecting carts as they cycled from customer to customer. Finding one intact is like holding a little piece of 80s/90s Friday night in your hand.
• Back Issues of Game Informer – These didn’t come from Cybertron specifically but from a random GameStop pit stop, and I couldn’t pass them up. Game Informer has been one of the longest-running video game magazines in North America, and even in the age of YouTube and online reviews, flipping through old issues is a time machine. You get the old ads, the early takes on games that became classics, and the “upcoming releases” sections that are now just snapshots of gaming history.
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🎁 Miniso – Altamonte Mall
Next door to Cybertron is Miniso, which is like the opposite end of the spectrum but somehow makes sense as part of the day’s chase. If you’ve never been, Miniso is a Japanese-inspired lifestyle brand and variety store with over 5,000 products that range from plushies, blind box collectibles, phone accessories, kitchenware, toys, stationery, and home décor. The Altamonte Mall location is packed with colorful displays and cute items everywhere you look.
It’s the kind of place where you can grab a Miffy plush, some Marvel-branded earbuds, and a Gudetama mug, all while your friend is checking out keychains or blind boxes. It’s not a “game store,” but it taps into that same collector gene. You don’t go in needing anything, but you come out with something that feels like part of the chase. And after a weird day of dealing with ants and NES styrofoam, browsing Miniso felt like a nice palette cleanser before heading home.
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🐜 Wrapping It Back to the Ants
The ant situation is still on my mind, though. Sugar ants being attracted to styrofoam is something I had to look up, but apparently the texture and environment can mimic conditions they like to burrow in. Combine that with old cardboard boxes that might have trace sugars, dust, or who knows what after decades of being passed around — and boom, you’ve got uninvited roommates. It makes you think: preservation isn’t just about keeping games from sunlight and moisture. Sometimes it’s about keeping nature out.
But here’s the silver lining: stories like this, as annoying as they are in the moment, end up becoming part of the larger adventure. Years from now, I’ll probably still be telling people about “the time ants tried to colonize my NES game.” That’s what makes collecting such a rollercoaster.
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✨ Why We Chase
At the end of the day, it’s not just about what we pick up. It’s about the places we go, the laughs we share, and the random detours that keep things interesting. From ants to Atlus, from NES clamshells to Miniso plushies, the chase is always unpredictable — and that’s what makes it so much fun.
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🎶 Original music by Tokyo Elvis — check him out at tokyoelvisofficial.com
#RetroGaming #CybertronScores #NESCollecting #AntSaga #MinisoFinds #GameInformer #RingKing #AtlusGames #RadChaser #sonofradchaser #nostalgiacore #80s #90s