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As collectors, we all face the inevitable scenario of duplicates. Some of us insist on keeping everything just in case something happens to the other one, but most of sell or trade off one of the others. I don't know about the rest of you, but I scrutinize both pieces and first check for any variations; assuming they're both the same, I keep the higher quality one and sell the lesser one. However, with my recent acquisition of a near mint boxed Power Pad, I've come to a serious dilemma. See, the problem is that I already have a boxed Power Pad, though the box is in poor condition.
So now, you're probably wondering what the dilemma is. Keep the near mint one and sell the crappy one, case closed. But here's the kicker; the poor condition is the one from my childhood, yep the same Power Pad little 3 year old NES_Rules used to play World Class Track Meet on, also the same pad I learned that you can "run" with your hands a hell of a lot faster than you can with your feet.
So, this week's dilemma is: what to keep, the treasured childhood memory or the near mint treasure that looks a lot nicer on the shelf. So, members of RF Generation, which would YOU keep? Of course, one could just keep both, but for the sake of argument, let's say you can only keep one.
Saturday was an awesome day of sales, there was simply too many to get to them all so we had to hurry at each one to get to as many as we could. In total, we drove 50 miles of garage saling. But it was worth the $8 in gas for all the stuff we got. The very first house we stopped at had this stuff:
The Captain N and the Double Dragon next to it are still sealed. Everything was marked $1 each, I got my normal 6 for $5.
It was kind of funny getting that stuff, the guy had boxes of VHS tapes, PC games (mostly edutainment), and books. I just happened to see the Sonic R and then the Battletoads VHS so I dug a little deeper and kept pulling out the video game related VHS tapes. Oddly enough though, he didn't have any other video games.
There was a neighborhood sale in the same area but they had one a few weeks ago and it was expensive junk then so this week it was 1/2 off junk. We didn't even stop at the majority of them.
It was a while before I got anything else, but it was worth the wait. For $2:
There's actually 3 copies of Sewer Shark, I have no idea why though. The other game in the jewel case is Sherlock Holmes: consulting detective vol. II. The Genesis games are all CIB and I have no idea what that USB cord is for. I paid asking price on that one. The lady was nice and friendly so I didn't feel like ripping her off more than she already was.
We went to another sale that I knew we have been to before (had nothing the last time) but we were already there so I went up to it anyway and came back with these:
Nothing amazing, but it was only $2 for it all.
Next up was a huge neighborhood sale, two streets long and nearly every house was participating. Of course a lot of it was junk but I managed to find a couple treasures.
These were actually from two different houses. Both are factory sealed although the GBA game is missing some of it's shrink-wrap. I paid the asking price on Trouballs at $1, I offered $1 for the other, we settled on $1.50. Once I got home and peeled off the Trouballs price sticker there was a $0.75 sticker under the $1 sticker. Wish I had known that before, I would have peeled off the $1 sticker.
Also from that neighborhood sale:
Paid asking price of $1 each.
At one of the houses, as we walk up to the garage the woman asks "are you here for the garage sale" we tell her yes, expecting her to say it was closed. But she said that everything in a large pile was free and there was more at the curb. So I went and got the truck and we filled it up with boxes and bags of kids toys. Some of it will go to my niece but we'll probably sell the rest to a guy at the flea market for a few bucks. There was a couple things in there for me as well. The video game related stuff:
Most of the toys are circa 2002 but the Luigi on the cloud is from 1989.
Unfortunately, half way through this neighborhood sale, my mom called us. We had to take some stuff to a golf course for an outing we were having. So we stopped and left my dad's truck (which was pre-packed the night before) there and we continued our expedition.
On the way back to the sales, there was a small unadvertised yard sale but it didn't look like much so my dad wanted to just drive by, and I agreed until I saw a small black fabric case on the table and some cords hanging down. I know I've seen N64 system/game cases before and I just had a hunch that that was what this was. So I backed up to the sale and took a look. The cords turned out to be an old walkman and the case wasn't an N64 one. I was so disappointed that it didn't say N64 on it, I almost didn't see "Sega Game Gear" embroidered onto it. I asked the price, he said $10, that's what I paid.
The games:
T2: the arcade game
the lion king
dynamite headdy
Ecco the Dolphin
Batman Returns
Greendog: The Beached Surfer Dude
Pac-Man
RoboCop versus Terminator
Star Wars
Taz-Mania
Sonic the Hedgehog 2: Sonic and Tails
Fatal Fury Special
IN noN video game related finds, I got some other goodies too.
For $1 I got this sweet trench coat:
Should be perfect if deer hunting season is as rainy as it was last season.
For $2.50 I got this sizeable box of miscellaneous wires:
She was asking $3, I offered $2, we settled on $2.50. I still have to go through it all. There's a lot of composite cables (some high end gold plated ones too), coax cables, and speaker wire.
CDs were from a couple different sales but were all $1 each.
And for $0.50 I got this antique coax switcher.
Will be perfect for my Genesis and 2600, no more unplugging and switching for me.
The flea market today wasn't spectacular but better than it has been in recent weeks. I'm seeing more and more vendors specializing in overpriced classic games though.
I did manage to get this off a woman for $4:
When I asked the price she whispered $4 and I thought she said $40 but when I asked her to repeat it, I heard her say $4, so I bought it for that. I was prepared to pay $5 for it though. The box is in excellent condition with just minor shelf wear and the pad itself is like new. Now I have to decide if I should keep this one or the one from my childhood which is not as nice condition. She also had what appeared to be a CIB Genesis 2 Core System, but it was $20 and boxed Genesis systems seem to be everywhere.
A few spots away was a guy with a bunch of random stuff but I spotted a PS1 with a couple games, he said $25 for it, I passed on it. But then I saw Caveman Games for the NES sticking out of a box, so I looked inside to see a pair of Genesis systems, a tangle of wires, and a few games. He said the whole box was $2, I didn't even bother looking to see what all the games were.
I guess this weekend was good enough to make up for the deplorable one last weekend. There wasn't anything one thing that was spectacular, but it was all priced very good and I managed to fill in a few holes in my collection so I guess it was a successful treasure hunt.
Well, this is my first blog post as a staff writer and I wish it could be more interesting than it is. However, this weekend was dismal for treasures, so I guess this post will be to show that even I have bad treasure hunting expeditions.
Well, without further ado, my treasure from this weekend's garage sales:
Yep, just two loose games, common ones too.
I paid $3 for both.
Non-gaming related finds weren't much better either:
The records were $0.25 each. The Bob Dylan CD was $1 and everything else was $1.
The sale that had the records also had a N64 with about 10 loose commons for $20 but I passed on it, if I had known this weekend would be so bad, I would have bought it.
What really bothers me is that I have no idea why the sales were so bad either. The weather was great, we shopped from 8:00-2:00, and put nearly 75 miles on the truck. There just wasn't anything good, there wasn't even much stuff at high prices. I fear the area is drying up.
The flea market today wasn't any better. I saw a couple Genesis systems with 1 game for $5 but I'm sick of seeing those things. I almost bought a sealed Mega Man 64 for $15 but decided against it. Another woman had a box of PS2 games (around 60) that she wanted $4-5 each for, I offered her $100 for the box full but she declined. One of the usual game vendors had a SMS with hookups and 2 loose games for $42, I really wanted it but that's just too much for me to spend on a system I know I can find for a few dollars eventually.
And to give a little more flesh to this post. I've decided I'm getting rid of all my duplicate games and systems in one fell swoop. I've got a potential buyer for it now for $1000 but if that doesn't work out I'm going to offer the deal to some of the flea market vendors. I think it's a really good deal considering it's over 300 games and 35 systems. But I just need to get rid of it and have more space.
Like last week, this weekend was another one for the record books. I didn't get a whole lot of games, but a lot of hardware instead. Including another system I never thought I'd actually find.
The day started off really, really bad. The first 5-10 houses were a walk up to the garage, see piles of baby/kid's clothes/toys and walk away. Neither my dad nor I found anything worth even looking at. Luckily, things got better for us both.
My first find of the day was a stack of PS2 games, there wasn't much I really wanted, but the prices were good, they were marked between $0.50-1.50, I didn't feel like adding it up and I don't think the woman selling them did either so I offered $10, there was about $14 worth as marked.
Continue reading Treasure Hunt Chronicles #13
After a horrible weekend of hunting last week, I got some amazing deals this week. Before we left the house I wanted to go to sale that had video games listed in the ad but they didn't open for another hour so we went to some other ones first instead and I was just hoping the games would still be there.
The very first sale we stopped at had this:
It was marked $10, so I offered $5. He asked his wife who was thinking about it, and they agreed on $7 and I reluctantly agreed but they apparently didn't hear me and then said $5 was fine. The SNES and games are for sale, some of the manuals too.
We went to a few more sales and I didn't find anything at them, but by around 10:00 we stopped at the sale that advertised games, I saw some overpriced PS2, Xbox, and GameCube games and figured that was what was advertised, until I notice another box with the lid half closed "PC games $0.50 each, PS games $1 each" was written on it. I looked through them and there was nothing I really wanted so I offered $5 for everything, they too $10.
And since I don't collect PC games, they're all for sale if someone wants them.
Zoboomafoo (CIB)
NASCAR 2001 (CIB)
Disney's Dinosaur (CIB)
Formula 1 '98 (CIB)
dora the explorer: barnyard buddies (CIB)
jumpstart: wildlife safari field trip (game only)
rocket power: team rocket rescue (box only)
rayman brain games (CIB)
land before time: return to the great valley (CIB)
my disney kitchen (game, box)
Gex 3: dep cover gecko (CIB)
army men 3D Collector's edition (game, box)
land before time: great valley racing adventure (CIB)
disney's hercules (CIB)
mort the chicken (game, box)
destruction derby 2 (game only)
NASCAR 99 (CIB, plus an extra box)
007 Tomorrow never dies GH (manual, game)
Tigger's Honey Hunt (CIB)
Crash bandicoot (game only)
Some other small scores:
NFL Quarterback Club 99 is CIB and even smells new, the game is still in the plastic bag and there was a Controller Pak in the box as well (paid $1). Carrier is the first DC games I've bought in a LONG time, I almost didn't even recognize it as a game when I saw it (paid $0.50). The Mario figure was $0.25.
Paid $2 for everything. Anyone know if the PS2 remote is worth anything?
$2 each, would have been nice if it was FF7 instead of 8, but I'm sure I can sell it for a profit. Both those games are for sale.
And the best find of the day and probably the best find of the year, maybe even my best find ever. This sale had some electronics I was casually looking at but couldn't find anything I wanted, but as I was about to leave I notice a brown paper grocery bag on the ground with a piece of paper on it. The paper was folded over and all I could read was "Turbo" and "Gaming System". I couldn't think of what it could be so I looked inside the bag expecting an old Pong system, boy was I wrong. Inside was a thing of beauty: A TG16 with a bunch of games. I didn't even check to make sure it was all there or how many games there were. I took the bag to the woman selling it and offered her $10 for (it was marked $15). She accepted my offer.
alien crush (game, manual, jewel case)
blazing lazers (game, manual, jewel case)
blody wolf (game, manual, jewel case)
boxy boy (game, manual, jewel case)
bonk's revenge (game, manual, jewel case)
cadash (game, manual, jewel case)
devil's crush (game, manual, jewel case)
fantasy zone (game, manual, jewel case)
galaga 90 (game, manual, jewel case)
impossamole (game, manual, jewel case)
jack Nicklaus turbo golf (game, manual, jewel case)
JJ and Jeff (game, manual, jewel case)
keith courage in alpha zones (game, manual, jewel case)
legendary axe, the (game, manual, jewel case)
ninja spirit (game, manual, jewel case)
pac-land (game, manual, jewel case)
r-type (game, manual, jewel case)
sidearms (game, manual, jewel case)
silent debuggers (game, manual, jewel case)
sinistron (game, manual, jewel case)
splatterhouse (game, manual, jewel case)
super volleyball (game, manual, jewel case)
takin it to the hoop (game, manual, jewel case)
tricky kick (game, manual, jewel case)
tv sports football (game, jewel case)
veiguues tactical gladiators (game, manual, jewel case)
vigilante (game, manual, jewel case)
world class baseball (game, manual, jewel case)
final lap twin (game only)
parasol stars (game only)
cyber-core (game only)
dungeon explorer (game only)
In non-gaming finds, I got a really nice, big Jim Morrison/Doors poster for $1, I don't have any wall space big enough for it however.
Also got one of those backpacks that you put water in and it has the tube to drink from for $2, needs a good cleaning but a very good price regardless.
One sale had a REALLY nice Remington 870 Wingmaster for $300 that I would have bought in a heartbeat but it was only a 20 gauge instead of 12.
All in all, this was a terrible week for treasure hunting.
On Thursday, I got my first paycheck of the summer worth over $500 so I figured I'd go on a little spending spree this weekend. Boy, was I wrong. Since Friday was a holiday I didn't have to work so I went to maybe a dozen garage sales, I was hoping for more but because it was a holiday not many people were having sales. I couldn't find a single thing worth buying.
Saturday wasn't much better. After a night of drinking on Friday, I left for home bright and early at 7:00 AM so I could get all the sales. Unfortunately, there was only a couple dozen sales listed and they were spread out pretty far. Ironically, the one sale I did buy something at wasn't even in the paper, we just happened to pass it on the way to another sale.
This woman had a little store set up in her garage; a lot of kids toys/clothes but a good selection of 80's/90's stuff. I found a small pile of games that I wanted.
Unfortunately, once I got home, I added them to my collection database, and put them away before taking pictures or making a list. From looking at all my games now, I think I have list of what I bought yesterday and took a picture of them but there may have been one or two others.
2 copies of Mario Paint (loose, amazing that I've been looking for this game since I started collecting and when I find it, there are two of them)
Mr. Do! (loose)
Bubsy (CIB)
Eternal Champions (CIB) I only bought it because my checklist I carry with me said I only had a loose copy, once I got home I realized I already had it CIB.
Last Battle (boxed)
Wonder Boy in Monster World (CIB)
Target Earth (CIB)
Zoom (CIB)
B.O.B (CIB)
The flea market today was pretty bad too for some reason. The weather was absolutely beautiful but there weren't a lot of vendors or buyers. One of the first spots had a guy with tons of games, he had 3 huge boxes in front. Two said "everything in box, $50" which one had probably 15-20 classic systems, dozens of broken/really dirty controllers and couple games as well as other miscellaneous electronics, the other contained newer "for parts" system/controllers. I would have bought the first box but there weren't any hookups in the boxes or at least not nearly enough for all the systems. The third box contained 7 NES systems for $50.
The rest of the market was pretty much the same old overpriced junk. Until I spotted a box on a table with a sign "91 Atari games, $25" I went over to it only to find 85 copies of Combat (the other 6 were other commons). I thought about buying them because they were sealed but I figured if this guy had this many then they must not be worth much. He said I could have them for $10 after I offered $1 but I don't really want that many copies of one game.
I didn't find a single thing to buy until one of the last vendors:
When I saw the games, I knew they would be cheap just by the way the stand was set up, but I thought it'd be a "all for $5" type deal (there was 15-20 other games), but they were priced individually. I paid $10 for all 4, a little more than I would have liked but I'm a sucker for gold NES games.
I also got four 4-packs of Duracell AAA batteries for $2. They were mixed in box that was "anything for $0.50 each or fill a box for $3" The guy said he didn't even realize the batteries were in there. I tried finding some more stuff from him so I could just get a box for $3, but he had nothing interesting.
Not a bad weekend, although the garage saling ended quite abruptly on Saturday.
The very first house of the day didn't seem to have much at all, but I glanced at the rack of books to see there was something decent (I've never been much of a reader, but recently I bought a Zeppelin book to read during the slow times at work and have gotten 300 of the 400 pages read in a couple days, so I was looking for something new) when I spotted these marked $0.50 each:
I paid $1 for them all. I started reading one of them, but got bored by page 4.
A few houses later had box full of NES games marked "2 for $1", I looked through them and there was only a handful that I needed, but the others were good titles. I offered $5 for everything, she accepted (a little too quickly actually, I probably could have gotten it cheaper).
Amazingly, this would be the most expensive purchase of the day.
Everything in the top 2 rows except Mickey Mouse is for sale.
The next house had a few PS2 games on the table, mostly ones I had or I wasn't interested in all were $3 each. I only picked up one:
Under the table, though, was a box of N64 stuff marked reasonably at $35, easily $50 worth of stuff but I passed anyway. They also had a boxed PS2 for $30, passed on it too.
At one of the last houses, the woman said everything had to go, so I new we could make some deals, but there wasn't much left. All I got was:
All for $2 (The SNES/N64 RF cord was $2, everything else was $1 each). Again, she accepted my offer too quickly, I could have had it for less. I really need to start my offers lower.
Right before this sale, we picked up some free firewood along the curb and took it home before continuing the garage saling. After we unloaded it, we went back out for round #2, which ended quicker than I would have liked. We came out from a garage sale and when I turned the key, nothing happened. The damn truck wouldn't start.
Now, this happened to me the other day when I was at the store, I had it towed home, my dad and I cleaned the connections on the starter and it started fine probably 100 times until this time. So, we had it towed again. My dad walked to another nearby sale because AAA said it would be an hour before the tow truck got there, but it was more like 5 minutes. So he had to run back before we left him.
Flea market on Sunday wasn't bad at all. There were a lot of people not at the flea market because it looked like it was going to rain, but it held off until after noon so I managed to get some deals.
For $2 each I got:
All stuff I needed, even some "rare" games in there. Strider is missing the manual unfortunately. Crystalis had some major dirt issues, but it's squeaky clean now.
For the first time in a couple weeks, the guy I trade with was set up while I was there so I was able to make a pretty good deal. I traded a loose Super Mario 64 for:
Madden '93 is CIB, but the other is missing the manual but has the poster. I didn't really want the Maddens but I would have traded just for the other stuff so they were free in my eyes.
The dumbass that is Adam Anderson had to use some permanent marker that will NOT come off, and he just HAD to write his name on there twice too.
All in all, turned out to be a great weekend for treasure hunting.
Not a whole lot on Saturday because we had a family thing at 1pm so the garage saling had to be cut short.
Best deal of the day was this:
When we walked up to this sale there were no adults, just two kids (had to be under 10) so I browsed slowly waiting for an adult so I could get a price on the GC and PS1 tucked under the table. After a few minutes no one was coming out so I just asked the kid, he ran inside and a few minutes later returned, and said they were $25, so I looked at them and asked if I could throw in a pile of wires that were nearby. He said "I guess so" and I paid him, but as I'm walking down the driveway, I ran into someone I know that lives nearby and we talked for a short while until the kid comes out. He basically said that he was mistaken on the prices and it was $25 for each system. So right now I'm pissed because I had to stop and talk, if I hadn't I would have been long out of there. So I walk the stuff back up to the garage and get my money back. But then, as I'm almost at the truck, the kid comes running back and tells me that he was mistaken again and they were $25 for both. WTF??? So I give the money back and get the systems (and the nice plastic bin in the picture) and ran out of there before he could change his mind again.
Indigo GameCube with hookups and platinum controller
PS1 model no. SCPH-1001 with hookups and 3rd party controller
RCA cables (one has to be 100 feet long)
coax cable
Another sale had boxes of junk lining both sides of the driveway (one of my favorite types) I picked out a PSOne power adapter from one and asked for a price. "$0.25" a woman replied. "All right, this stuff's cheap" I thought to myself, so I rummaged through a few more boxes and picked out some loose PS1 games, a couple more random cords, a deck of new playing cards, a PS1 3rd party joystick, and a PS1 3rd party controller. I take the handful of stuff up to the woman and offer $1. She actually laughed in my face and said "oh no, I remember how expensive those controllers were." Like I really care she was stupid enough to buy garbage controllers 10 years ago. So I put most of it back and got the remainder for $0.50.
PSOne power adapter
Mortal Kombat Trilogy
Namco Museum Vol. 3
At another sale, I picked up a box of miscellaneous wires, hookups, and adapters for $2 (marked $5). There's nothing I "needed" but all stuff I can use at some point in the future.
Saturday wasn't anything spectacular, but today was very, very good. Before we got to the flea market, we stopped at a couple garage sales. The second of which netted me some good stuff.
WWF Wrestlemania Challenge
Madden 99 (CIB)
MLB 2000 (loose)
MLB 2001 (CIB)
Crash Bandicoot 2 (manual, disc only)
Tiger Woods 99 PGA Tour Golf (CIB)
Tekken 3 (GH, CIB)
WWF WarZone (GH, CIB)
Crash Bandicoot (GH, box, manual only)
Crash Bandicoot Warped (Disc only)
Madden 2001 (CIB)
All for $2.50, there's nothing I really wanted/needed, but for the price, I couldn't resist.
I also got 30 classic rock albums for $4, some great stuff too. He had a couple hundred but I already had almost all of them, so I passed on the rest.
Once we finally got to the flea market, I found this at the very first table:
When I saw them, I looked at them and not much interested but I asked the price anyway, he said "$3 each, but I'll give you a deal if you buy a lot", so I (kind of jokingly) offered $10 for them all, he gave the response I expected "oh no, that's not enough" so I started leaving and he said "how about $12", I gave him the $12 and walked away happy.
Capcom's MVP Football with manual
Pac-Man 2
NBA Hang Time
Ken Griffey Jr. Presents MLB
John Madden Football '93
Jungle Book
Buster Busts Loose
Toy Story
WCE/NWO Revenge
Madden Football 64
NASCAR 99
WWF WarZone
Another guy had a couple large boxes of games with a sign saying "cartridge games $1 each" so I skimmed through them, but they were 99.9% sports games and common Atari games. But I decided to actually look at them all, and found a couple worth buying. I actually bought them just because I didn't own them, later I found out some are quite rare.I did find it funny though that while I was looking the vendor was talking to another buy about how much he loved sports games back then and that's why there were so many. I don't care how much you love sports, you don't purposefully buy 10 copies of Shaq-Fu.
Sonic 3D Blast (CIB) The box is bent up, but it's not too bad.
Ardy Lightfoot (SNES, R7)
The Faery Tale Adventures (GEN, R4)
Atomic Robo Kid (GEN, R5)
As I walked by one of the last vendors' booth, I spotted something out of the corner of my eye, looked like some old Pong unit, so I walked back to it. It was sitting with some overpriced vintage clocks, so I figured it'd be overpriced as well. But, it was marked $1 and I was ready to pay that, but I asked the guy if he had the power cord for it. He said "no, but I've got these other ones here and the cord ares the same" and he handed me a box with two more pong units. He said I could have them all for $1. So I paid him and left away with:
Bad news is that the power cords are not compatible. However, the Coleco (the one missing the power cord) also runs on 6 C cells so I was able to test it without the cord.
I also picked this up for $1.
Looks like it might have been new because the sticked on the clamshell is still there and just barely ripped open. Either some idiot potential buyer or the vendor opened it to see what was inside. Everything inside looks new also, even smells new.
I've got a question this too, is this a variation of the one already in the database (
http://www.rfgeneration.c...ics.pl?ID=E-040-S-05000-A). The UPC is the same, but the part #'s are different, mine is 79096-05. Also mine has a little piece on the cover that says "Limited Edition include free souvenir booklet" and has a large white oval sticker that says "For play on Sega Genesis and Sega Mega Drive"
I don't know if there's anyone out there who waits fo this each week, but in case there is, I'm sorry it's late this week. I haven't quite gotten use to 40 hour work weeks yet, so this was on the back burner until now.
Not a bad weekend, much better than I was expecting it to be actually. On Thursday, my sister called me to ask if I would house/dog-sit for her while she and her husband went away for the night. I didn't really want to, but I agreed because their fridge is always stocked full of beer. Although, there was nearly no food in the house...
Anyway, on Friday evening, I see a post on FreeCycle from a guy who is always posting good stuff that I never manage to get, this one entitled "Assorted Game Pads" I figured it was a bunch of dirty/broken Atari joysticks and paddles, but since I was at my sister's house, I was only a few minutes away, so I sent a reply and hoped for a response.
As Saturday came around, the plan my dad and I had made for garage saling went to shit. He was supposed to pick me up at 8:30 and then we'd head out for the sales. By the time 10:00 rolled around he still wasn't there, so I called him and he said that he didn't think I wanted to go. He finally arrived at 11:00 and our first stop was to pick up the "assorted game pads." Once I got there, the guy showed me the box of controllers, I was content with it and agreed to take them of his hands. But then he tells me he has a box of disks too, and asks if I was interested. Of course I told him I was and he pulls out a huge box full of old computer games. I glanced through them and chatted for a little bit, giving him the limited information I knew about them. So I walked out of there with:
Suncom Tac 3 joystick
Set of Atari paddles
2 Gemsticks
500XJ Epyx Joystick
Wico joystick
Playstation power cord and AV cable
RCA cable joiner
Where in the world in is carmen sandiego Deluxe edition (CIB) Mac 6 3.5" floppy disks
Super Bowl Sunday (CIB) Commodore 64 5.25" floppy
The hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy (CIB) Commodore 64 5.25" floppy
Invaders of the lost tomb/dark tower (CIB) C64 5.25" floppy
Kids on keys (CIB) C64/Atari 800 cartridge
Spitfire Ace (CIB) 5.25" floppy
Q*Bert (CIB) C64 cartridge
Gunship (CIB)C64 5.25" floppy
High Roller C64 (CIB? It's like a folder, kind of similar to a record jacket) 5.25" floppy)
The Bard's Tale (CIB? same as above) 2 5.25" floppies
Music Construction Set (Missing disk, same as above) 5.25" floppy?
Castle Wolfenstein (CIB) C64 5.25" floppy
Blue Max 2001 (CIB) C64/Atari 5.25" floppy
Battle Chess (CIB) C64/128 5.25" floppy
Club Casine (box, disk only) Mac 3.5" floppy
Kinder Comp (CIB) C64 cartridge
Geoworks Ensemble (CIB) PC 5 3.5" floppies
California Pro Golf (disk only) C64/128 5.25" floppy
Karateka 5.25" floppy only
L.A. Swat/Panther 5.25" floppy only
The rocky horror show 5.25" floppy only
The Hulk 5.25" floppy and paper sleeve only
Spider-Man 5.25" floppy and paper sleeve only
The fourth protocol 5.25" floppy and manuals only.
Final Fantasy IX Online strategy guide
Few dozen copied game 5.25" disks
Dozens of 5.25" floppy files/programs, mostly copied stuff.
Despite the fact that we only had a couple hours of saling time left and the scattered rain showers, the rest of the day didn't turn out too bad.
Slim PS2 with hookups, DualShock, and Outrun 2006 Coast to Coast (no manual) for $10. The guy said make an offer so I just randomly said $10 thinking he would say "oh no that's not nearly enough", but amazingly he accepted. All I could think was "damn, should have said $5"
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
LEGO Racers
Prince of Persia: Warrior Within
Sonic Mega Collection
Aquaman (This thing has a Gamestop, Pawn Shop, Game Crazy and garage sale price sticker on it, took 5 people for it to find a permanent home)
Starfox Adventures
All CIB and in excellent shape, paid $20 for them all. They had some PS2 games too, but they were beat up pretty badly, the kid must have like the PS2 more than the GC.
And in non-gaming finds, I got this stuff.
All in all 75 .50 caliber muzzleloader bullets and a nice blaze orange sweatshirt
(not pictured) for $10. The bullets on the left are nearly identical to what I use now, so they'll be for hunting, the others are for target practice. I was really excited when I saw the sweatshirt because it was marked $0.75 and fit me perfectly, and it was the first thing on a rack of nice hunting clothing. Unfortunately, it was the only thing on the rack priced cheaply. I was tempted to buy another pair of brush pants, but they weren't insulated and not that cheap ($15).
Also in the trash, I got a table-top air hockey table which I'll probably sell for a few bucks, and a 2 video cables from a pair of PC monitors and a power cord. I'll splice the VGA cables together, so I can use my LCD TV as a PC monitor.
On Saturday afternoon, my sister called to say they were staying an extra night, which meant I had to stay another night, but I planned on going to the flea market on my way home Sunday morning. But they ended up coming home at 11:00 that night, and they blocked me in the driveway, so I couldn't leave until they got up around 10:00 so by the time I got to the flea market it would have been around 11:00 which is really too late for good deals, so I didn't bother.
However, my dad did go and he picked me up a PlayStation Mad Catz MC2 steering wheel he got from the trash. The cable that connects the pedals to the steering wheel is cut though, so I need to find out which wires go to which pins so I can solder on a new plug.
Friday was a hot and miserable day, I think it was over 90 for the majority of the day, but it was probably my last Friday to go garage saling this season (or at least for the next 10 weeks) so I had to go. In the end, the only thing I came home with was a wheelbarrow I picked up in the trash. It's actually in good shape, but not something I needed.
Luckily Saturday was a little better, although just as hot.
We started out by going to a somewhat large community sale, I didn't find much but my dad got some stuff.
The only thing I brought home was this:
It's complete, even has 3 extra plastic dots (yes, I counted all 71 of them) paid $0.25 for it. It actually came from a Sportsman's club I didn't know existed and I might end up joining because it was pretty nice.
Some other boring stuff:
Paid $1 for it.
Just 2 more reasons I should get an Xbox. Paid $0.60 total, both CIB. I would have offered $0.50 for both but it was a kid selling them and he had them priced so cheaply anyway. And they're in really good shape for kid-owned games.
The joysticks were marked $1 each, so I offered $1 for both, she accepted and then asked if I had seen the game in the garage. I told her that I did but wasn't interested in it but she told me I could have it and actually insisted I take it. It had a $2 sticker on it but was marked down to $0.25.
The controllers are just about garbage unfortunately, they both have the grips on the sticks ripped off and the sticks are loose on both, one so badly that it really doesn't work. The system powers on and the game plays but the controller ports don't seem to work. The only good thing is that it has the digital video output (those are still in demand, right?) and it was $5 for it all.
Today was a good day at the flea market, despite the fact that the indoors part of it burned down Thursday afternoon. And damn, it was burnt all the way down, the only thing left of the 80-something year old building were the bent and twisted steel girders. In the end of the building where the fire started you could see some any of the metal stuff inside that hadn't moved, like the metal shelving, washers & driers, it was kind of creepy looking actually. They even had security guards posted around the remains to keep people from stealing the scrap metal!
Anyway, what I brought home:
The SEALED Game Boy Rechargeable Battery Pack/ AC Adapter was $5. This is now the 4th sealed GB accessory I own, I wonder where they're coming from and why I can't find any sealed NES stuff. The Super Mario Galaxy (CIB) was $25, I'm very excited for that because I was going to get it for $40 at GameStop sometime this week.
The woman selling this stuff wanted $3 each but said she'd give a better price if I got a lot of stuff, so I made up my own little pile of Genesis games and asked for a price, she was thinking about it, so I offered $10 and then she said $8 at almost the same time. So I picked up the PS1 game and gave her $10. She had a Japanese Soul Calibur II for GameCube also and I thought about buying it but I've got no way to play it so I didn't and I'm not sure if it was her or another guy looking, but one of them had really bad BO and I had to get out of there.
Overall, this was a great weekend for treasure hunting. Hopefully now that June is here, the bargains of summer will continue non-stop until Autumn.
I only had a couple garage sales lined up for Friday, but it turned out to be an awesome day. There was a small street sale that they have a couple times every year, but it's always junk and I wasn't going to go, but I had to drive right by it anyway, so I stopped. Nothing video game related but I did get some great music stuff. The Beatles' Second Album and Ratt - Dancing Undercover, both marked $0.50 each, and I was happy to pay that when I see a CD entitled "Rockin' Down The Highway" marked $0.25. It's a compilation of driving/car songs. Anything with Foghat is worth a purchase. I offered $1 for everything, she accepted.
The last sale of the day didn't look too good, but I notice an old guy looking through a box and asks about some Playstation games. The woman says $0.50 each, he looks through them, most have the game and case separated, he picked out all the ones that had the discs in the case. It took him a good 20 minutes, meanwhile, I'm waiting patiently to look over his scraps and see a Mario Kart 64 on the table for $0.50. When he finally finished getting the good games, he goes to pay and the woman says "oh, how much did I say these were?" he responds with a "$0.25" He pays that and is on his way, the asshole was obviously a reseller looking for easily sold games, because he didn't notice the best thing in the box. But I did.
Absolutely Complete Green Hose Game & Watch - Manual, Styrofoam, warnings, even the little stickers to seal the battery compartment to keep babies from eating them - it's all there and in excellent shape.
DK Jamz - DKC Soundtrack - CIB
Mario Kart 64
Driver 2 - case, manual, Disc 2 - Perfect for the loose Disc 1 I had.
Splinter Cell - case, manual
GTA: VC - case only
Ape Escape Demo - CIB
Playstation Magazine Demo Issue #68
Metal Gear Sold disc 1
Mortal Kombat 4 GH box, manual
Syphon Filter 2 disc #1
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 box, manual - Perfect for my loose copy.
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 box, manual
WWF Warzone box, manual
Itchy & Scratchy Comics #3
Simpsons Comics $25
Simpsons Illustrated Summer '91
Beavis & Butthead Comic - Special Summer Fun Issue
Grand total: $5.
Saturday was a damn good day, for the first time this season, we came home with a truck full of stuff. My dad got a vanity, medicine cabinet, a bag of mortar cement, and some bathroom accessories for $10 for the rental house, he was pretty happy about that since it was all stuff we needed.
For me, the day was also quite good, not a lot of stuff, but very good prices.
One of the first sales had a large Rubbermaid box full of NES stuff and an N64 organizer, so asked how much it was, she said to make an offer. I said $5, she accepted. I should have said $1, she probably would have taken it.
Adventure Island
Super Dodge Ball
Burgertime
Ghostbusters II
SMB/DH
Solomon's Key
Skate or Die
Willow
6 dust sleeves
NES with hookups, 2 controllers, Zapper
Link's Awakening DX (GBC) manual
"System 3" N64 organizer, the top opens up to old the system and 13 carts, the bottom is a drawer to hold controllers and other stuff.
It was all dirty, definitely stored in a basement or garage, but cleaned up well.
Another sale had a ton of GameCube, PS2 & Xbox games, most were marked decent, but I only picked up a couple, I think these system's games are going to hit rock bottom prices this and next year.
Thunder Strike:Operation Phoenix (PS2) $3
Bionicle (GC) $2
For being kid owned games, they're in very good shape and complete.
One of the last sales of the day was a guy that has a sale every couple months, but always has video games. First I notice a "free table" with a Colecovision and several Gameboy carry cases, so I snatched them up. But I didn't see anything else I really wanted, but felt guilty about taking the free stuff without buying anything so I picked out a few Genesis games I didn't have. After I had those, I saw some things I really did want, so I got those too.
NFL Football '94 (CIB)
College Football's Nat'l Championships (CIB)
Greatest Heavyweights
LOZ: MM & Banjo Tooie preview video
Hot Newz 64: DK64 & Jet Force Gemini video
Intellivision with 1 controller and no hookups, I really only wanted it for the controller anyway.
2 Joysticks for Intellivision
3 GB carry cases.
Total: $2.75
In non-gaming finds, I found the following records for $0.25 total.
John Ono Lennon & Yoko Ono Lennon - Wedding Album, there's no jacket, but disc is in a sleeve and has the little pictures of John and Yoko and a photo of a piece of cake.
The Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour, disc only
Mike Oldfield - Ommadawn, I never heard of this guy, but it looks interesting.
The Beatles - "The White Album" It's got some water damage, but the vinyl is good and the poster is there, I want to frame it so bad, but I need a frame.
Pete Seeger Sings Little Boxes & other broadsides My dad made me buy this one, I'm not against Folk, but the jacket is also water damaged.
Stephen Stills - Manassas Also water damaged jacket.
I also got a 7.5VDC 1Amp AC-DC adapter and a hole puncher for free at that sale.
At another sale I got a set of Optimus Pro-100 Wireless headphones with all hookups for $5.
I don't know why, but I also got a camo hat that says "This is my gun jamming, dog losing, deer missing, hunting cap" for $0.25. It's also got an anti-smoking pin on it.
Today was an alright day at the flea market. Tons of people and a lot of people selling games at decent prices, nearly every game I saw was priced at $4 each for some reason. The only thing I picked up was a sealed ECW Hardcore Revolution (N64) for $4. The box has a puncture on the top, but it's brand new, I couldn't pass it up.
Well, the site was down last weekend, and coincidentally, so was I. Friday evening, my dad and I went to work on the rental house, but I couldn't leave right when he did, so I left an hour or so later and rode my bike since it's only 4 miles, we did all we wanted to and I loaded the bike into the truck and rode home. Now is when the trouble began, I rode the bike from the driveway to the porch, and I was feeling energetic so I thought I would jump off the bike instead of getting of like a normal human being. I cleared the bike fine, but I landed kind of weird and my knee went sideways and the rest of my body went the other way. Next thing I know I'm on the ground and I know that I've twisted my knee AGAIN (this is the third time now). After laying on the porch for a while in pain and waiting for help (which never came) I hobble inside and hope I'll feel better for garage sales in the morning. But I didn't feel better at all Saturday or Sunday (so no flea market either). So I had no finds whatsoever that weekend.
Luckily, this weekend was a little better, but didn't start off well. I woke up at 8:10 to see my dad driving out the driveway, so I get up and ask my mom why I was left. She said he said he was going to a couple close ones because I apparently take too long to get ready. At around 9:30 I'm getting pissed and call my dad to see where the hell he is. He says he's at a garage sale and they have a GameCube for $20 and wanted to know if he should buy it. But, we get horrible cell phone reception here so I could only hear every other word and he could only hear every other word, so I just told him to come get me NOW. Basically, he went to an entire neighborhood sale without me. I ended up buying the Gamecube and when we were on the way to another sale, we passed a sale he had been to but it looked like a box of PS2 games sitting there but he said there wasn't anything good there, so I dropped it. We ended up going by again and I made him stop, sure enough a box of probably 50 PS2 games. After that, the day was normal, except he actually drove for once instead of me.
Platinum Game Cube with the Game Boy Player, bought mostly just for the GB Player.
GameCube games
Time Splitters Future perfect (no manual)
NFL Street (CIB)
Def Jam Fight for NY (CIB)
True Crime New York (no manual)
ATV quad power racing 2 (loose)
4 Mb InterAct memory card
All for $20. I tried getting it for $15 and the kid was going to take it but his mom stepped in and gave the "that thing cost hundreds new" and I didn't feel like explaining the games were scratched to hell (they did end up all working though) and the systems were nearly worthless with the Wii's backward capabilities.
That sticker on the GC was one hell of a pain in the ass to take off. I spent nearly half an hour getting it off.
PS2 games (all CIB)
Star wars battlefront II
Cabela's dangerous hunts (GH)
Godzilla Save the earth
Driver Parallel Lines
Jak II
Paid $20 for all 5. There was an entire box (maybe 50) for $5 each but I just picked out the ones that looked the best.
I also picked up this really weird plug n play, the system looks like a penguin and it comes with 111 in 1 Famiclone cart, the label shows games like DK64 but in reality, it's all NES era games, but there is actually 111 different games, which really surprised me. Also comes with a light gun and something I'm not sure what it is; it's a set of 2 LEDs on a little plastic bracket connected to a headphone-like plug. But there is no place to plug it into. The system also has a wireless controller which is nice.
That's it for gaming stuff, not much, but much better than last week.
CDs
Neil Young - Decade
Michael Stanley Band - Right back at ya (1971-1983)
WASP - Double Live Assassins
Double albums were priced $2, singles were $1. But she didn't realize WASP was a double album, so I got them for $4. I debated getting the Neil Young album because I already have it on vinyl, but it was worth $2 to not do the digital conversion.
Records
$0.50 each for:
J. Geils Band - Freeze Frame
Meat Loaf - Dead Ringer
U2 - under a blood red sky
All for $4:
Poison - look what the cat dragged in
Kansas - Power
Cinderellla - Long Cold winter
John Cougar - American Fool
David lee roth - skyscraper
Heart - Heart
Fleetwood mac - tango in the night
bruce springsteen - tunnel of love
david lee roth - eat 'em and smile
We also stopped at this new store called ReStore which is basically a GoodWill for building supplies, to look for stuff for the rental house we're remodeling. It's a really nice place with good prices, but they've got a free section run by my school and I snagged me some 3 ring binders for next semester. What was funny though is that they have you sign a paper saying that you won't hurt yourself with the stuff you take.
Flea Market was terrible, many people but no deals. There are now 3 vendors selling video games, one guy I like because he trades with me and his prices are reasonable and always has new stuff, the other two charge at least eBay prices and have the same sun faded crap week to week, but they also walk around buying anything of value before I can get there.
The only thing remotely interesting I saw was a CIB Mattel Electronic Football game, the box was a little beat up, but not bad. I turned over to see the price sticker: $45. I offered $1 but he ignored me.
This weekend was very bad for garage sales, I only found a couple gaming related things at garage sales and nothing at the flea market. So I was planning on postponing this until next week and do 2 weeks at once, but I got a little surprise when my cousins came to visit last night.
I don't know why the garage sales were bad, but they were, we went to maybe 30 garage sales and this is all I came home with.
A football PS2 skin and a Naruto demo DVD. I didn't even want them, but that's how desperate I was to buy something. I thought the Naruto DVD was a playable demo, but its not. They were $0.50 each.
In non-gaming finds, I did get this really nice bike,
It had two flat tires when I bought it, one just needed air, the other had to be patched. Other than that it's like brand new, almost like the kid rode down the drive way, hit a nail and didn't want to get the tire fixed. Paid $10 for it. It's not the type of bike I was looking for, but it shifts through all the gears unlike my current bike and I'm sure I'll be able to sell it for a profit when I find a good road bike.
I also got a box of around 50 records plus some odds and ends for $2. It's mostly junk records but some good stuff as well as stuff that I don't recognize the band's name, so those are always interesting to get, discovering new bands is awesome.
And now, for what made me make this blog today. Some free Genesis stuff! This has a kind of interesting story behind it too.
Last summer, I went to a garage sale next to my aunt's house and while I was there she stopped by. She asked what kind of stuff I was looking for and I told her old video games. She said her son had an old Sega somewhere in the house that I could have, but she had to find it first. Weeks went by and I never heard anything about it again, but I was expecting it to be a small group of sports games and a bare console and didn't really care.
Now, a few weeks ago, I find out she gave the Sega stuff to my cousins. Luckily, they come over my house often and enjoy my game room a lot, and since they didn't want a Genesis, they decided I could have it. I still wasn't very enthused about it, but willing to take it off their hands. Several weeks went by but every time they came over, they forgot to bring the goods, so I was starting to think I'd never get it. But last night they surprised me and walked in with a box with a picture of a Genesis on it and a box of CIB games. I was amazed when I saw the Genesis box and games, much more than I expected. I immediately let them in my game room and let them play Wii Sports and their favorite, Warlords, while I sifted through the stuff.
2 Genesis 1 units
Genesis 1 AC cord
Genesis 2 AC cord
RF Switch
2 3-button controllers
2 6-button controllers
6-button High Frequency controller
2 Jurassic Park posters
Toejam & Earl poster
Sonic 2 poster
Sonic (Not For Resale, CIB)
Sonic & Knuckles (boxed)
Castle of Illusion starring mickey mouse (CIB)
Contra Hard Corps (CIB)
Ecco the Dolphin (CIB)
Shadow Blasters (CIB)
Aladdin (CIB)
Madden 95 (CIB)
Eternal Champions (CIB)
NBA Jam (CIB)
WWF Royal Rumble (CIB)
Sonic 2 (CIB) I think this is by far the most interesting thing in the lot because it is the Mega Drive version, I have no idea how it ended up here in the States, I guess this is my first import. Will this work in my US Genesis or will it need a mod to work?
Friday wasn't all that great in terms of finds, mostly because of a threat of rain kept people from having a lot of sale. But I did have a somewhat unusual find.
While at a garage sale looking through a stack of $1 NES games, the guy selling the games is talking to his buddy about Nintendo. And basically, the guy said he was looking to buy an NES but was having a hard time finding one for sale, so I stepped in and told him that I had one I'd sell. I told for $30 I'd bring it on Saturday because I knew I'd be in the neighborhood again. Unfortunately, when I went back on Saturday, he didn't have the money to pay for it. I gave him my email and told him to let me know when I could drop by with it next Saturday because I'll be in the area again, so we'll see what happens.
I did buy some games from the guy though, a little dirty, but for $1 each, I won't complain.
Rampart
Guerilla War
Base Wars
Star Wars
Championship Bowling
Exodus: Journey to the Promised Land
Days if Thunder (I forgot my lists and I didn't think I owned it, but I do.
3 PS2 games for $2. I talked them down from $2 each.
Corvette (missing manual)
American Chopper (CIB)
Ultimate Spiderman (CIB)
Today, it was little bit cold this morning and it kept a lot of people away from the flea market, but I managed to find a couple things.
NES games:
Orb 3D
Trog!
Yoshi
Donkey Kong Classics
Airwolf
I traded a loose DKC2 + $10. Maybe not the best deal, but I'm sure I only paid a buck or two for the DKC2.
The guy also had a Deluxe NES in the box with everything but the Gyromite cart for $100. I almost had it for $50 though. He was trying to call his son to get a price on it, but he wouldn't answer so he was going to give it to me for $50, but just then his son called back and he upped his price to $100. That kind of irritated me, because he didn't know what the DKC2 sold for and didn't call to get a price check on that. I didn't want to bitch about it though, because he's normally good to me and likes to trade.
