Its yard-sale season again

Great finds. Rarely see anything in the wild around my community any more. Goodwill has recently produce some good buys. But it is usually maybe one GBA game or an N64 cart. And that is every few months.

As far as yard sale, roadside flea markets go, occasionally I see a couple of stray XBOX 360 games but never any XBOX. And also PS2, but never any PS3. I rarely see any portable games in the wild. For some reason I see a lot of Leapfrog game carts. So not interested in those.

I am fortunate to have a local media store that carries a lot of video games. They are fairly new. Only problem is that they are sometimes higher than eBay. So I have to compare pricing on anything I see. They have a lot of retro stuff. I have purchased a lot of N64 games from them, at equal or less than eBay. And some NES and original GB.

Rare opportunity, at a Local Goodwill.



I got it for $2.99.

I know about the expensive part all to well. In purchasing some of my N64 collecting I have opted for Japanese game carts. Super Smash Bros, Puyo Puyo 3 Sun, Puyo Puyo 4, Susume! Taisen Puzzle Dama, Pokemon 2 & 3, Custom Robo, are some of my recent Japan purchases. On the US side it has been Xena warrior princess, Deadly Arts, War Gods, Mortal Kombat Trilogy, Fighter Destiny 2. I have been playing through N64 fighters recently and blogging reviews over at Wordpress.

There are a few expensive ones that I am about to pounce on. They are not as expensive as Bangai-O N64 which I threw down $85. That is the most I have ever paid for a game and I still feel like that I got my money's worth. Best game ever.

I love shooters. That is were I developed my love for video games. Part of what makes Bangai-O so fun to me is that it has that Treasure touch. They made good games. And paying $85 was not that much over the original retail. Mine was complete which is usually going for sometimes as much as $200. $200 is excessive. There was only 10,000 copies which makes it a collectors thing and ruins it for gamers. Not everyone that owns an N64 can have a copy. I have wanted this game for a very long time. When I saw it for $85, that is the lowest that I had seen it at the time, I jumped on it.

Part of the fascination is having a game like this on the N64. In a crowded library of me-too 3D games is a 2D shooter. Showing that the N64 was very capable of doing 2D gaming.

There is some strategy to what looks like chaos in clearing each level and progressing to the next. But then again, it is like every other shooter in that it is repetitive. It is also the flavor of the gameplay. Every shooter has its own unique feel. There is a Dreamcast, XBOX Live Arcade, and a DS version of the game. They are variations, with differences, of this game. Although they are fun in that they are improvements in certain ways, I prefer this original version. N64 version is obviously more expensive than any of those versions.

What you see is the game being played on the youtube videos. What you don't see is the "playing the game." Like any other game, for example, watching someone play a Puyo type game on youtube. You see the pieces falling and going into place, but you don't see the "thinking and maneuvering" of that player, the fun. I would rate this game up there with the likes of Gradius, R-Type, Raiden, etc. Classics. But it can be owned a lot cheaper by settling for one of the variations.

Aaaahhh... Blazing Lazers and Soldier Blade, I have logged many hours on those two. The Turbo Grafx system is my favorite console. And it is my favorite due to the many shooters contained in its library.

Super R-Type and Gradius on the SNES were the only game I played whenever I first got the system. I wore them out. Even though I gradually purchased other game they occupied my time as being most played on the system. Only Street Fighter 2 edged in at one point trying hard to pull me away. Those were some good days back then.

I think there are people who are hunters out there which are targeting yard sales and then selling the stuff on ebay. They may, or may not, be gamers but they know the value of retro games. I don't think the average person would fool with selling on ebay. The average person may find the local mom & pop video game (or media) store in their area and there dump their games. Like the one that has popped up in my area. They seem to have a steady supply of NES games and in very good condition. Which means that people have hung on to their games. People are still hanging on to their childhood stuff? Suddenly they have gotten to an age, or life changes, and are ready to let go?

I have been gradually picking up GBA, NES, and N64 game carts at my local mom & pop.