Sharp Nintendo Television - Ralph's Retrospect

RetroRalph·video·19m 30s·analyzed·Apr 23, 2019

Analysis

claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 · $0.020

TL;DR

Ralph's Retrospect explores rare Sharp NES TV and collecting culture through documentary storytelling.

Summary

A Ralph's Retrospect episode featuring discussion of a rare 1989 Sharp NES Television with RGB output, discovered in Wichita, Kansas. The hosts reflect on their collaboration model combining arcade and retro gaming content, discuss nostalgia-driven collecting, and promote their 2014 documentary 'Another Man's Treasure' featuring interviews with notable collectors including pinball enthusiast Shane Turgeon.

Key Claims

The NES Sharp TV was released in 1989 at a trade show and featured RGB output directly from TV to Nintendo
high confidence · Chris Gaisotti describing the NES Sharp TV technical specifications
Only a couple thousand Sharp NES TVs were made in America
medium confidence · Chris Gaisotti on rarity of the product
Sharp NES TV feet break easily during shipping and are fragile
high confidence · Chris Gaisotti describing documented shipping damage cases
At least two Sharp NES TVs exist in the same Wichita, Kansas neighborhood
medium confidence · Chris Gaisotti recounting discovery of aunt's neighbor also owning one
Items that come to Wichita tend to stay there because people don't leave the city
low confidence · Speculation by Chris Gaisotti about regional retention of goods
Nintendo World Championships came to Indianapolis in 1990, the same year Super Mario Bros. 3 and Batman were released
high confidence · Nostalgic recollection in documentary clip with Chris Gaisotti and brother Eric
Shane Turgeon is the founder and director of the Edmonton Collector's Pinball League
high confidence · Shane Turgeon self-identification in documentary interview
Shane Turgeon primarily collects vintage Star Wars figures in 3.75 scale with emphasis on prototypes and pre-production material
high confidence · Shane Turgeon describing his collection focus in documentary

Notable Quotes

“Oh my gosh, this is so neat... I noticed really quickly in the movie that I was more interested in the stories behind the collections than the collections themselves”
Ralph (host, Retro Ralph creator)@ 6:39 — Core philosophy of Ralph's Retrospect: prioritizing collector narratives over objects
“Collecting is nothing without the stories and the adventures and the friendships that come from it. If you don't have any friends that you're sharing it with, then what's the point?”
Chris Gaisotti (documentary excerpt from 'Another Man's Treasure')@ 8:19 — Central thesis of documentary on collecting motivation and community
“These things are so rare. They're just unicorns out in the wild.”
Chris Gaisotti@ 5:21 — Describes the rarity and appeal of Sharp NES TV as collector's item
“Every time I hear Mary Jane's Last Dance, I am reminded of Mortal Kombat 2... Every time I went there, every time I played Mortal Kombat 2.”
Chris Gaisotti@ 11:55 — Personal example of nostalgia-location binding in gaming memories
“I'm more about just having a nice refined collection, man.”
Shane Turgeon@ 15:43 — Philosophy shift from quantity to quality/curation in collecting

Entities

Chris GaisottipersonEric GaisottipersonRalphpersonShane TurgeonpersonSharp NES TelevisionproductRalph's RetrospectproductAnother Man's TreasureproductRetro Ralphproduct

Signals

?
community_signal: Ralph's Retrospect deliberately structured to combine arcade and retro gaming content to broaden community beyond Arcade One-Up modding enthusiasts
high · Chris: 'we're trying to build our base, not just around Arcade 1-Up, but just, you know, in video game in general' and Ralph's encouragement to cross-subscribe between channels
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community_signal: Edmonton, Alberta identified as notable pinball community hub through Shane Turgeon's leadership of Edmonton Collector's Pinball League
high · Shane Turgeon introduced as 'founder and director of the Edmonton Collector's Pinball league' with demonstrated expertise in collecting and community organization
?
event_signal: 1990 Nintendo World Championships in Indianapolis documented as pivotal nostalgic event that influenced subsequent collecting behavior
high · Documentary segment: 'It was the same year Super Mario Bros. 3 and Batman came out... it's actually kind of what inspired this Nintendo room'

Transcript

youtube_groq_whisper · $0.058

0:30

Oh my gosh. Like, hey, this is Ralph's show. Where's Ralph? Well, I guess this would be a good time to kind of talk about that real quick. We can talk about maybe how we met, and then I'll talk about how this even came to be, the whole Ralph's Retrospect thing, if that's okay. Absolutely. Go ahead. All right. So how I met Chris was that we were both entrenched pretty deep in this whole arcade one-up modding community when that first kind of started. And I had seen a modification that Chris made, and I was like, oh, my gosh, that's so cool. And I was starting this, the Retro Ralph YouTube channel. It didn't really even exist much yet. And I asked him, hey, you know, I think that's really neat. I'm really impressed by what you did. Would you mind like featuring it on the channel? And then when, you know, he's, oh yeah, sure. You know, and, and the funny thing is, is Chris sends me back this video and it was like pretty well made and I'm all, hmm, like this isn't some guy with like his phone. He was like pretty detailed and it was really good. So, um, you know, that kind of started our, our relationship and, and we realized we had a lot of commonality works in technology. I work in technology. So it was pretty interesting, um, you know, way to get the relationship started. And then we just kept working with each other more and more. And I thought Chris has a lot of, um, you know, he has a lot of knowledge about things in gaming that I don't. And I thought, wow, you know, maybe I hit more of the arcade side, but Chris is like really entrenched in NES and NES collecting and things like that beyond that. But, um, but I thought it would be fun for us to collaborate and have like kind of two channels in one, if you will, with Chris covering, you know, different content than what I would typically cover. Yep, yep, and I really do. I guess we're trying to build our base, not just around Arcade 1-Up, but just, you know, in video game in general, because, you know, you can only take the Arcade 1-Up stuff so far, and, you know, the video gaming scene is just so much bigger and so much more inclusive and that kind of stuff, so. Yeah, so many depths of it, right? There's a lot of levels. Yep, yeah, so today's retrospect, we actually want to talk about the NES Sharp TV. Alright, so the NES TV itself was brought out in 1989, and it was released at a trade show, and also one of the big things about the NES TV is that it had RGB built directly from the TV to the Nintendo itself. So the image is really crisp, really sharp, and it's very vibrant. If you've played NES any length of time and you look at this, you're like, wow, that is really interesting also the system came with two black controllers they were they look a little different from the normal ones and they go for about 80 bucks online and the one thing about these particular NES TVs is that they have these feet on them there's four different feet and they break real easy that's you know kind of sad because these things are really rare to begin with there's only maybe a couple thousand that were made here in America And, you know, I saw a guy who was shipping one, like, in this crate, and he had the feet tied down to these boards, and when he shipped it, like, all four feet broke. And that's, like, really sad because, again, these things are so rare, and when you do see them up on eBay, a lot of times at least one of the feet are broken, if not more, and they were just really fragile. but like I said the story behind this one in particular is that um you know my friend uh was in Wichita Kansas where his aunt lives and he sent me a text and that's kind of explaining what happened with in the intro is that a true story where he his uh he texted me and said hey my aunt had this in her closet for 15 years and it's not doing anything you know can you guys can you take a look at this and tell me if it's worth anything and I saw it and I was kind of floored because I never thought I'd actually seen one in real life I had seen uh you know the gaming historian I think did a video on it and it's one of the things I always thought was like wow that'd be so cool to own but never thought you'd ever actually see one and you know apparently some people had gotten flown out from Wichita to Vegas to see this trade show and some people bought it from Wichita And this was the one that he brought back and I picked it up from him for a good price and it was really neat It was just really cool. And it turns out, more to the story, is that there are other people in Wichita that still have these. There's at least one other one that his aunt's neighbor has one. And I was just like – there were two in the same neighborhood. I was like, this is crazy. These things are so rare. They're just unicorns out in the wild.

5:25

That's so weird. Yeah. I didn't realize Wichita was a hotbed for the – and the STV. Yeah. And it's funny. He says when things come into Wichita, like Wichita is – the next big city is several hours away. And that when things come to Wichita, they just don't leave because people don't leave Wichita. so and they're just still everything that comes in there just stays there so it's really interesting at this particular thing happened so but that's kind of one of the things we want to talk about too is that you know it's not just the NES TV because if you wanted to watch any video on the NES TV there's plenty of videos out there to talk about it but the one of the cool things that we try to focus on that I've been focusing on the past several years are stories behind these you know collectors pieces these unicorns that likes that are out in the wild how do people get them like what's the story behind them And, you know, in sharing that with people, I say that we've been doing this for a couple of years because back in 2014, we came out with a movie called Another Man's Treasure, a collector's movie. Ralph, you got a chance to see it. What do you think about it? Yeah, no, I really enjoyed the movie. You know, it was one of those things where I don't really think of myself as a collector. And, you know, so I was a little reluctant to watch. And then I started watching it. I'm going, oh, my gosh, this is so neat. And I noticed really quickly in the movie that I was more interested in the stories behind the collections than the collections themselves, although the collections were really impressive. And then it made me kind of do a little self-reflection, too, on am I maybe a collector in denial? You know, like as I do, I love arcade games. I tend to I do tend to collect arcade games. So, you know, so it was it was kind of interesting. And then there's other elements of the movie that were really, really cool, too. There's some sentimental things in there that have to do with your own family, which they were touching to me. And so it was just a great movie. I really enjoyed it. Oh, thanks. Yeah, and that is the point. It was more about the stories behind the collections. Yeah, the collections were cool. It was really nice to see those things. But it was connecting with those people on an individual basis and understanding. Like, they want their stories told. They want people to hear the stories. And, you know, also we talked to a psychologist about getting into the minds of collectors and things like that. and before we get into all that I would like to actually go ahead and share with you guys the trailer for the movie just so you can maybe get a feel for it it's cool to see even in just this little endeavor what people have what we've uncovered so the real question is does George Lucas know he's the father of the laser tag industry laser tag I am your father every piece to people's collection has a story behind it You're like, wow, you're the guy who made Batman, and I love Batman. It's awesome, right? These really cool stories of either how they got it or how it was made or how, you know, just the history behind it that just nobody knows. Yeah, to be honest, you know, like collecting is nothing without the stories and the adventures and the friendships that come from it. If you don't have any friends that you're sharing it with, then what's the point? My name is Chris Gysot. I work as an IT specialist in Indianapolis. I have a wife, two daughters, and a huge collection of video games. It's been such a huge part of my life, and it's something I love talking to people about. It's a story that has shaped who I am, and it's an experience many others share as well. Oh, and if that's not bad enough, I started getting my kids into the love of video games, and oh, the monsters I've created. Taking to the road, my brother and I talk to everyday people, gathering all the stories that people have for collecting, whether it's about the art of perceived value, the preservation of history, or just really cool stories. There's nothing like a good guitar, man. It's sexy. And it was Robert Hanley's collection that proved that. So it's a big, big deal. That's amazing. That's really cool. Why do you want to collect that? I have no idea.

9:37

So, will you ever stop collecting? Hey What would you say matters most to you in your life Thanks for watching Yeah, so it's hard to believe Farron, she was three in that movie, and now she's, she just turned eight like a month ago. It's just crazy how long it's been. Can't believe it's almost been five years. She's so cute. She's gonna appear in another video too, huh, coming up? Yeah, actually she's in the next retrospect video. Um, so yeah, you'll get a chance to see kind of how she's aged a little bit, but, uh, very proud of her. She's, she's, she's doing really good. One of the cool things about this whole endeavor is just the feeling that it brings up this, these nostalgic feelings. Um, you know, as far as showing off my collection and, you know, even your collection, you know, you collect video games too. And, you know, there is that feeling of nostalgia in there. When you start to play a specific game, you, you, you're taken back to another time. You're taken back to these specific feelings. Like what were you doing at the time when Super Mario 3 came out and Batman came out and you know all these other things yeah i'm sure you can speak to something like that right yeah yeah i mean a lot of mine end up going back to arcades to be honest so like even though i have memories of console games a lot of it like i just did a video on on light guns and i can't tell you how many quarters i pumped into terminator 2 the arcade game you know the stand-up light gun game and uh just like my friends and i we were so enamored with terminator like terminator 2 was like such a technological marvel of a movie and and like the fact that there was a game i just remember us like we couldn't wait to go to the arcade to play it but that was a those are cool memories because these were kids i grew up with where we built these like long-standing relationships it's just really neat and and a lot honestly chris a lot of it has to do with a lot of even why i do this in general is totally about nostalgia bringing back those feelings because you're only a kid once And, you know, those are some pretty magical moments usually. And you want to go back to them. And it's interesting that you can tie these games to those particular points in your life. Absolutely. You know, you talk about arcades. I used to go to every arcade like every day, like all the arcades around Indianapolis, like every day. And whenever I hear Tom Petty, anytime I hear Tom Petty's Mary Jane's Last Dance, I am reminded of Mortal Kombat 2, as odd as that sounds, because it's always playing at Fun City. Every time I went there, every time I played Mortal Kombat 2. Every time I hear Mary Jane's Last Dance, I hear Mortal Kombat 2. That's a weird one, kind of, but cool. Yeah, it is weird. But it's just one of those things. Again, it goes back to nostalgia. It's like, oh, man, but that was such a great time. I was learning fatalities and stuff and teaching other people how to play and stuff. It was such a great time in life, man. It was such a great time. And, you know, it's funny. In our movie, when we talk about nostalgia, we talk to this guy named Shane Turgeon. He's one of the most knowledgeable people we talk to. He's a very notable collector in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The clip I actually want to show you guys has to deal with nostalgia and kind of the feelings and stuff. He brings into perspective a lot. So you get a chance to see a little bit of my collection and, you know, some of the things he had to say. It was really cool.

14:30

I primarily collect vintage Star Wars figures in 3 3 GI Joe with an emphasis on prototype and pre material from those lines But I also dabble in a lot of other 70s and 80s toy lines comic books and original comic book artwork What are some of the cool prototypes that you have? In the Star Wars world, I have a run, which is basically what a lot of pre-production collectors will try to do is put together as many examples of something from the development of one particular action figure or toy, and that's called a run. And I have a run on a droid animated character called Thal Jobin, where I have pretty much every known example of pre-production material, everything from the original wax sculpt to several hard copies, different first shots, the original packaging painting, several packaging proofs, and every known prototype for the coin that came with the figure. So my collection is not very big, but it's full of mind-blowing things. so in terms of just sheer numbers I have a complete loose set of vintage figures and a complete set of G.I. Joe figures from 1982 to 1989 and that's really about it I don't really go overboard in terms of finding having thousands and thousands and thousands of figures anymore I'm more about just having a nice refined small collection Man, Shane knew so much about collectibles I asked him why he thinks I collect for my kids and this is what he told me I think it's that familiarity thing where you can relate to your kid in that they like this item and you grew up with that item, and then you can have that bond and you can share that. There's a really big reason why brands like Star Wars, Transformers, Masters of the Universe, My Little Pony, are resurging again and are at the top of the toy charts because that generation that grew up with them is now having those kids and they loved those toys then, So now they get to share that experience of loving that toy with their children now. Yeah, I guess that is true. I think maybe that is what I'm trying to do is find that common ground between us. That is a good point. So that was basically Shane's take on why we collect some of the things that we do. And I felt like everybody we talked to had a great aspect on that. And we definitely wanted to get different perspectives on it. And I think we did that pretty good throughout the whole movie. so I highly suggest if you guys are interested go into three one seven films calm and checking it out I would absolutely love for you to get your eyes on it and let me know what you think about it it'd be really cool so and you know again bringing it back to the you know the unicorns out in the wild all these hard to find items you know they have great stories and you know we want to hear from from you guys if you guys have found things in the you know in the you know out out there collecting it maybe it's different stores and you or maybe you found something in a garage sale or you know at your aunt's house you know something like that you know we'd love to hear those kinds of stories comment down below let us know what you think and it would be really cool to be able to you know hear those stories and build our community around those kinds of stories I mean that's how we get to get to know each other better and you know kind of get delve into each other's and each other's lives and building great friendships I mean that's how we you know you and I got it got a chance to, you know, be friends. So, yeah. And I think the only thing I'll add there is I do feel like this sense of community that we've, you know, this community that we've developed, I want it to broaden. And I think that was part of the reason why Chris and I click so, so much is because he's just got such, he finds out all these really unique things. And I also appreciate the depth of which he finds, you know, digs into them and try to find more information about like this rare and unique things around video gaming and other stuff. So I want to encourage people that enjoy the Retro Ralph stuff to just cross over. And it's on the same channel, and I've made playlists for it. So there's a Ralph's Retro Spec playlist. Go check it out. I think you'll probably find that there's a lot of really unique things in there and maybe stuff that you didn't even know about. So I just want to encourage you to take a look at that. And I think vice versa. We have people that are now more Retro Spec fans that can go over and check out the Retro Ralph stuff. So, um, but anyways, I, I appreciate number one, Chris, for all the stuff he does and, um, and for all of you guys for watching, because if it wasn't for that, then we wouldn't be here. So sure. And we're going to do more collaboration videos. You know, it's going to be more, there's going to be more stuff where Ralph and I get a chance to talk about stuff and, and dive into really cool videos. And I may even come visit Chris. Maybe you never know.