Congo The Movie Sticker Album

 Here we take a look at Congo: The Movie sticker album from Panini, which was released to tie in with the film in 1995. I went to see this movie in the cinema when it came out and thought it was great. It is still one of my favourite movies. I know it didn't get a good response from critics, but I thought it was a good adventure yarn set in the wilds of the African jungles, something you don't see a lot of in movies these days. It also had a number of good actors in the cast, while Tim Curry hams it up good and proper as the villain, though villain is too strong a word for his character really.
The screenplay was adapted from a Michael Crichton novel of the same name, so I think people were expecting a special effects extravaganza along the lines of Jurassic Park.
I never completed the album unfortunately (anyone got any spare stickers?). They don't really make sticker books for movies like this anymore. These days it seems to only be animated or comic book movies which get collections.

It's always nice to get sticker No.1

Spoiler* Bruce Campbell doesn't last long in the movie, but he gets a lot of stickers!

Only 168 stickers in the book, but I never completed it.

I was never too sure about Tim Curry's Romanian accent, I was convinced he couldn't be trusted!

A close up of the Killer Ape!

 There was a 4-page fold out poster in the centre of the album which held a number of stickers. I'm afraid the minute it was completed it was taken out from the centre pages, probably to be stuck to a wall or a door somewhere. Either way, now I have no idea where it is!
I also bought this film on VHS tape when it came out and I'm sure I have it on DVD laying around the house here somewhere too.
On top of this I also got my hands on the Congo videogame for the SEGA Saturn. It was only released in America I believe. It is a rather good Doom-type game, if you like those sort of games (which I do).


The trek to find King Solomon's Mines will be hard and dangerous.



What's worse than killer apes? Missing one sticker to finish a page!

Tim Curry's Herkermer Homolka just wants those diamonds!

 

Ernie Hudson is great as guide Munroe Kelly.

Last page, and they escape the volcano in a balloon.

The Back Cover, and the album only cost 60p!

Sonic The Hedgehog Sticker Album

A look now at the Sonic sticker album from 1994, back when Sonic was the only game in town and everyone and their mother was playing Sonic 3. Nowadays in 2010 there is a new Sonic sticker collection for us to get excited about (or not) as it seems to offer less game screenshots and more coverage of all the friends Sonic has acquired over the years. I remember when the addition of Knuckles seemed like too much.

But it got me thinking, there has been so many Sonic games released in the last ten years that it would probably be far stranger for people to see a Sonic game that didn't include a million wacky characters. For all I know Sonic Riders could have sold more copies than both Dreamcast Sonic Adventure games put together.

Wooooah there Sonic! By the end of the year we should be able to download Sonic 4, it looks pretty good from the videos and screenshots. Plus it only has Sonic in it, so far anyways, but it remains to be seen if this is a game like the Sonic games of old or a game that just reminds you of what you liked about those games while brazenly taking your money and blinding you with speedy HD craziness.

 

Sorry, where was I? Ya, the sticker book, its wall to wall Sonic game screenshots, almost, there are also some Sonic the cartoon stickers in there with the odd foil sticker. Not forgetting the 4-page pull-out poster that came in the centre of the book. At the back there is a puzzle page, containing a wordsearch, a maze and some spot the difference pictures.

I never filled the whole album, there is nearly always one missing on every page. So frustrating! So has anyone got any spares? Maybe I will pick up that new Sonic album if I come across it after all.

Thats it for the videogame related albums for now. Next up, I make an impassioned plea for help to complete my Saved by the Bell sticker collection!

Street Fighter 2 / Super Street Fighter 2 Sticker Albums

Now a look at both Street Fighter Sticker Albums, first the original. This album has some great Oli Frey artwork all the way through, whether as the background or as some of the stickers. Frey did a lot of Street Fighter covers for various games magazines at the time too.

Like everyone else at the time I played the arcade version, then couldn't wait for the home conversions. Unfortunately the one button C64 tape version I got didn't quite match the arcade machine. I still played it to death though.

But later I got the Special Championship Edition for the Megadrive and played that to death! I would also go as far as to say that it's the better of the two.

Not long afterwards Capcom released Super Street Fighter 2 and Merlin were hot on their heels with the sticker book. This Super SF2 release introduced us to four new characters. Boring caricatures in my opinion, except for Cammy because she's only the second female in the game.

 

Gone was the Oli Frey artwork, replaced with pictures and screenshots from the game, interesting if you loved playing Street Fighter, ... but not that interesting.

It did have some Ryu artwork at the back showcasing various iterations of the game. No Commodore 64 version this time sadly. And no Super Street Fighter 4 stickers to collect after this years big release. What ever do the kids collect these days?

Mortal Kombat II Sticker Album

A quick look at the Mortal Kombat II sticker album this time, I didnt get too many stickers for it so only a few scans . I always preferred Street Fighter as my fighting game of choice back then, Mortal Kombat just never impressed me.

 Stickers were mostly screenshots with the odd hand drawn character foil sticker, so nothing too interesting then.

Each page has an action packed scene from the Mortal Kombat game (kind of) as a background. The art is fine but not as good as the Oliver Frey art you find in the Street Fighter 2 sticker album, which I will post up later.

I always picked Johnny Cage, then they went and killed him! Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 would be my favourite of the MegaDrive games and I haven't really played any after that. There must be a million characters in the MK universe now but no sign of a new sticker book.

Nintendo Sticker Album

Back in the day sticker collecting was hugely popular (is it still popular?). Here is a look at some pages from the Official Nintendo Sticker Album. It was released around the time of Super Mario Bros 3 and the release of the original Gameboy. This must have been one of the first videogame related sticker albums, as it predates all the other ones I had, Sonic, Street Fighter 2, Mortal Kombat 2 etc. but we will get to those later.


 
It acted as a guide to all the Mario and Zelda NES games along with some of the Gameboys early releases, it was usually stickers of screenshots of the game with some gameplay hints, some stickers were of the characters in the games, some drawn better than others!

This is the centre page, I only managed to get one foil sticker for it, how embarrassing! The next page was of various NES and Gameboy games you could buy right now, don't you just hate missing only one sticker on a page.

Golf on the Gameboy, has anyone got sticker No. 244? Super Mario Land, some pages had a map of the game to help you see screens that you had to play through.

The first Zelda, the maps were a great help, no more aimless wondering. I don't remember the old ladies being this creepy in the game though!

Zelda 2. Note the lack of best scores written in, I never had this game as a kid, it looked good in the sticker book though.

Can some one tell me is Mario drunk/in love/stoned or what?

After 20 years I've finally given up hope of completing the album, the local shop that I got my packets of stickers from probably wont be ordering them in again as it closed down about eight years ago.