SNES

Pick-Ups – SNES and NES Games from eBay Auction

Posted by Sega Dude on January 16, 2017

Posted in: Games, NES, SNES. Tagged: Kirby's Adventure, Mega Man 4, NES, nintendo, snes, Super Mario RPG. Leave a comment

I started collecting NES and Super Nintendo games much too late to try for complete boxed games. Personally, the cost is too high now. But I’ve found that occasionally you can get manuals to go along with NES and SNES carts for reasonable prices but you have to be very patient. One of the last purchases I made on ebay before recently closing my account are the following games from a seller who appeared to be a collector that was unloading his collection. These three auctions were a little bit extra exciting because they included the original manual for each game. This is what I call ‘life simplified’.

Super Mario RPG gets a lot of hype as being a really good game so I went the distance and spent a good amount of money to get it in the collection with an original manual at a cost of $95 CAD all in.

I haven’t played all the NES Mega Man games and I’ve been told many times that they are not all made equal. But since Mega Man is such an iconic game for the NES I would like to have all six one day. This Mega Man 4 with manual which cost me $52 CAD.

And finally, Kirby’s Adventure with manual at a grand total cost of $24.50 CAD. Kirby feels like a bargain compared to the others above.

This was not a cheap purchase but they are some really good titles for the NES. And it wont be long before I have these games and manuals in some very nice looking aftermarket cases.

Pick-Ups – SNES Game Manuals

Posted by Sega Dude on October 22, 2016

Posted in: Collection New Additions, Games, SNES. Tagged: dkoldies, manual, nintendo, snes. Leave a comment

snes-game-manuals-banner

My online shopping for NES and SNES manuals has really slowed down. At the risk of sounding like a broken record I’m going to site the same old culprits; Retro Video Game prices are getting too hot for my wallet, the US dollar is too strong and shipping often delivers a hefty punch all on it’s own.

Coming to my rescue I got an email from DKOldies.com offering 40% off SNES manuals. It’s like this sale was tailored just for me. A 10% off sale would never get my attention but 40% is significant.

So I dove in and started browsing SNES manuals at Dkoldies.com. I was happy to see that there were a bunch of manuals that I wanted at prices that would be good after the 40% discount. Below are the non-sale prices for the games I picked-up.

Super Metroid – $30
Mega Man X – $20
Breath of Fire – $20
Final Fantasy II – $25
Act Raiser – $15
Donkey Kong Country 3 – $15
Cybernator – $15
Batman Returns – $7
Illusion of Gaia w/ map- $15

Minus the 40% discount of $64.80, plus shipping of $14.73 my grand total was $111.85 USD for nine SNES manuals. That’s close to $12.50 USD each or ~$16.50 each CAD. This is still not cheap but it’s pretty good. I went for this bunch at this price because they included some really good titles like Super Metroid, Mega Man X, Breath of Fire and Final Fantasy II.

As for the condition? They are all in good shape; some are in really good shape. The worst is Final Fantasy II with some marks on the cover but it’s still good. I am very happy with this score. Thank you DKOldies.com for putting on an actually worth while sale!

My Illusion of Gaia came with a map as a bonus. I was not expecting this but it was a very welcome surprise.

This map is like new! Very nice.

Despite this great discount I still passed on a few titles (notably Chrono Trigger) because even with 40% off they were still just too expensive.

When you order from DKOldies.com there is a field on the order confirmation page to add details or instructions. Every time I order I ask for good condition stuff because I just can’t help myself and each time my comment is highlighted to acknowledge that the message was received. I don’t know if this helps but so far I have been happy with my DKOldies.com orders.

Of a collection of 48 SNES carts I now have manuals for 38 of them. And I’ll be patiently waiting for the next super sale!

Pick-Ups – Waterloo Video Game Swap Sept. 25th, 2016

Posted by Sega Dude on October 9, 2016

Posted in: Collection New Additions, Community, Games, NES, Nintendo, SEGA, Sega Master System, SNES. 2 Comments

On September 25th Nintendo Joe and myself went to the Waterloo Game Swap as we’ve done many times now. And just like all of our previous visits we had a lot of fun digging through piles of retro video games.

This time I was a little concerned about how much money I might spend considering the fact that I had already spent $205 CAD on games from this very convention before I had even arrived at it. A friend of mine who was planning on selling at the Game Swap showed me a list of games he would be bringing. I fired off a wish list and he fired right back with some nice Bro Deal discounts and right away most of my spending money was gone!

Below are the 9 games I purchased from my friend and Sega Master System King Flavio!

First up are six PC-Engine games. In my experience you wont find PC-Engine (or Turbo Grafx-16) games very often out in the real world. Online is the only reliable way to get your hands on them. The two main highlights for me among the six are Wonder Boy III Monster Lair and Bikkuri Man World; which is actually Wonder Boy in Monster Land. I’ve always loved the Wonder Boy series and it will be fun trying out the PC-Engine’s take on these classics. I’ve already played Monster Lair and it is really good. Classic running and jumping just like the original Wonder Boy mixed with flying shooter style levels worked really well. Both the games visuals and sound are also really great.

As for the other 6 PC-Engine games… well, at the moment I can’t play them. I have a TurboGrafx-16 with the CD add-on. Being region locked I’m not able to play Japanese HuCards and because I only have the base System 2.0 card and not the Super System Card (or Arcade Card) my TurboGrafx-16 doesn’t have enough RAM to load the region free Japanese Super CD’s. The Super System Card for the TurboGrafx-16 is very rare and wildly expensive. I won’t be able to get one. But I have a plan. I’m going to region mod my TurboGrafx-16 so that it can play Japanese HuCards; which will allow me to use a Japanese Super Card or Japanese Arcade Card. At the moment those are more affordable. That project will be a post all on it’s own when I get around to it. Here’s the break down of what each game cost me: Bikkuri Man World $20, Fatal Fury 2 $10, Cyber Core $20, Street Fighter II $35, Monster Lair $40 and the Baseball game was free.

Next up are three Sega Master System games. It’s been a long time since I picked-up some SMS games and it feels good because the Master System is where my retro video gaming collecting started.

Here’s Mortal Kombat complete and in Very Good condition. -$30

Followed by Crash Dummies which is also complete and in Excellent Condition. -$25

And last is The Simpson’s Bart vs. The Space Mutants. The case and cart are in excellent shape but the manual is pretty beat up. However, it is complete! – $25

Just because he’s a good guy Flavio gave me some manuals I needed for Free. Someone colored in the title for Space Invaders but it’s still in good shape and both Air Rescue and Secret Command are Excellent. Only 12 more manuals to go for my current Master System collection of about 220 games. Not bad at all. 🙂 It’s a great feeling digging through your collection and completing a few games!

And so ends Flavio’s reign of terror over my wallet! I’m joking of course. I’m very happy with these games. Thanks Buddy!

Under my own steam I spent a few hours cruising around the convention occasionally bumping into Nintendo Joe. Surprisingly I didn’t buy a whole lot more. At one vendor I found a very good condition NES Bubble Bobble loose cartridge for $25 CAD and at another vendor I found a very good condition manual for Bubble Bobble which cost me $10 CAD.

I’ve been aching real bad for manuals for my NES Zelda and Zelda II and the same guy who sold me the Bubble Bobble manual also sold me the manual for The Adventure of Link for $10. Yeah, I don’t have original boxes but I still really do love what I have. Check it out. That Link looks soooo goooood!! 😀 I’ve been playing it very recently and it’s still a great game. I would not change a thing.

Every Waterloo Game Swap I’ve been to has always had a lot of cool door prizes. As it turns today was my day! I won a loose Game Boy Advance and a few loose carts. Below is the advertised picture of this door prize. What you see is pretty much what I won except I got a GBA instead of a Game Boy Color handheld. I do have a pretty awesome GBA collection with a nice Game Boy Advance SP and even though I’m not really interested in the older Game Boy stuff it was still a very nice treat. Thanks VGCC.ca and 1UP Games!

I usually just browse to see what people are selling never really looking for any particular game. But this time I had been asking everyone if they had ActRaiser for the SNES. Everyone who didn’t have it said it should cost $20-30. Everyone who did have it was selling it for about $50 – $60. So I held off and did not buy it. After winning the cool door prize I went back to the cheapest vendor with ActRaiser selling for $50 and I offered a trade. He was willing to give me $35 for my door prize. So I handed it over and an extra $15 and now I have a very nice loose cart of ActRaiser for the SNES.

What’s extra special about this score is that it’s a game that Nintendo Joe does not have and would LOVE to have in his collection. But on this particular trip Nintendo Joe exclaimed that he will only be hunting for NES carts and nothing else. So I didn’t have to snake a friend and I have this very cool game to lord over him for a while. That’s a win-win in my books!

Nintendo Joe managed a very large trade during this Game Swap. Check out his liquidation here.

Pick-Ups – NES Super Mario Bros., Duck Hunt and SNES Knights of the Round

Posted by Sega Dude on August 28, 2016

Posted in: Collection New Additions, Games, NES, Nintendo, SNES. Tagged: duck hunt, knights of the round, NES, snes, super mario bros.. 2 Comments

NES and SNES Additions 01
So, this might be a good indicator that I haven’t been a die-hard NES colletor. I’ve only just recently bought Duck Hunt and Super Mario Bros. for $10 CAD each from Retro Game Bros. These are two early NES titles that are still fun games to play.

And yes, I do have a NES Zapper and a beautiful CRT TV too. Duck Hunt will get some play time!

Eventually I’ll get some manuals and aftermarket Stone Age Gamer BitBoxes for these carts and this very affordable chapter of my NES collection with be closed.

Regarding my NES and SNES collecting I’ve decided to be financially responsible (I can hear my wife laughing right now… or is that crying I hear?). I’m only looking for games that have a lot of nostalgia for me and for games that have stood the test of time and are still really fun to play.
Which, admittedly, is a terrible segway into my next purchase…

My poor buddy Nintendo Joe went on vacation to enjoy the sites and shop for a some retro video games… he did all that and then he got robbed! Passports and retro games were gone. So on his return we went out for some therapy shopping (straight back to Retro Game Bros.). I dropped (by far) the most amount of money I’ve ever spent on a SNES game. I picked up a good condition loose cart of Knights of the Round for $120 CAD. Nintendo Joe also treated himself.

I played Knights of the Round for about 30 minutes and it is a cool beat’em up. I love the theme and even though the game is generous with lives and continues there is a real challenge to be found here. The only down side are the sound effects which are a bit flat and don’t live up to the very nice look of the game. Despite the fact that I am going to keep Knights of the Round I don’t feel it’s worth $120 if you’re just into playing. However, demand for retro games seems to say otherwise. Fortunately there still many great retro games out there with much more fordable price tags.

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Stone Age Gamer BitBoxes Vol. 3

Posted by Sega Dude on July 18, 2016

Posted in: Collection New Additions, Games, NES, Nintendo, SNES. Tagged: bitbox, NES, nintendo, snes, stone age gamer. 7 Comments

Yes that’s right! At this moment all of my loose NES and SNES cartridges are safely stored, each in their own Stone Age Gamer BitBox. True my Nintendo collection is not as authentic as my Sega collection in their original cases but ‘Wow!’ I really do feel my Nintendo Collection is look’in great.

There is nothing wrong with leaving your game cartridges loose. They look fine and they will take up the least amount of space but they will lack some polish and panache!

I’ve lost track of some of the prices I’ve paid for the above games but here are the details I do remember:

01) Mega Man 2 $??, Manual $22 USD
02) Contra $55 CAD, No Manual
03) Faxanadu $10 CAD, Manual $6 USD.
04) Adventure Island Traded, Manual $10 USD.
05) Double Dragon II $15 CAD, Manual $7 USD
06) Ninja Gaiden $20 CAD, No Manual
07) Ninja Gaiden II which sold with the manual for $25 CAD
08) Wizards & Warriors $8 USD, Manual $3 USD
09) Dr. Mario $10 CAD, Manual $3 USD
10) Life Force $13 USD, Manual $6 USD
11) Gradius Free with Lukie point, Manual $8 USD
12) Karnov $8 USD, No Manual
13) Pro Wrestling $5 CAD, Manual $2 USD
14) P.O.W. $10 CAD, No Manual
15) Ice Hockey $5 CAD, Manual $2 USD
16) Dragon Warrior II $30 CAD, No Manual
17) Castlevania III – $40, No Manual

This is my third order for BitBoxes from Stone Age Gamer and I know I’ll keep ordering every time I add some naked NES, SNES or even Super Famicom carts to the collection.

Oh my, just look at that image below. Now they really Pop! Sure, BitBoxes are not original NES/SNES cardboard boxes but they are pristine and vibrant. It would be difficult and expensive to get these games with good condition original boxes. Plus, there is a custom BitBox cover-art insert ready for download for almost every single NES and SNES game. And the fact that these custom covers use the original artwork helps keep this aftermarket solution looking as authentic as possible.

I do have manuals for a few of my games so in they went into their respective BitBox. I enjoy completing the package with original manuals when I can find them for a reasonable price.

Most of my NES and SNES manuals I’ve been finding at LukieGames.com. Every now and again I’ll search for affordable manuals for under $10 USD and if I find a few I might add in one expensive manual if it’s for an extra cool game and maybe pay $20-$25 for it.

I had only nine SNES games that needs BitBoxes. Two of them being Super Famicom games. Both Pariudus Da! and Pop’n Twin Bee never got a release for the Super Nintendo so I’m happy to have the Japanese versions of these fun shooters. The same BitBox that holds a single SNES cart can alternatively hold a Super Famicom cart. Which gives a nice extra bit of versatility to the SNES BitBox.

Again I can’t recall all the prices that I paid for this bunch:

Chuck Rock $?? , Manual 4 USD
Donkey Kong Country 3 $40 CAD, No Manual
Secret of Mana $60 CAD, No Manual
Final Fight $??, Manual $8 USD
Secret of Evermore $40 CAD, No Manual
Gradius $??, Manual $8 USD
Kirby’s Alavanche $12 USD, Manual $4 USD
Paroduis Da! $15 USD, No Manual
Pop’n Twin Bee $9 USD, No Manual

And here are my SNES carts look’in good in their new Stone Age Gamer BitBoxes.

Just like the NES games I also have a few SNES manuals.

Here’s a closer look at Parodius Da! and Pop’in Twin Bee. If you’re into shooter and haven’t heard of them you should check them out.

For this Stone Age Gamer order I received 35 BitBoxes and 35 Document strap (straps hold the manuals). 10 BitBoxes for SNES and 25 for NES. I haven’t yet used all 35 but I don’t mind having a few extra on hand. Each BitBox worked out to about $5.10 CAD per BitBox with a document strap. It’s really much more cost effective to buy BitBoxes in bulk. The discount is significant.

And don’t forget the cost of a print job for the cover-art which is not a default included in the cost of a BitBox. I get my print jobs done locally at a professional shop because I intend to have them for a long time I want them looking their best. My cost for each print job (and the cutting service) is about $3.30 CAD each.

Bringing my grand total to $8.40 CAD per BitBox. It is very expensive but I do love the end result.

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New Additions: NES, SNES and PS4 Indies

Posted by Sega Dude on June 24, 2016

Posted in: Collection New Additions, Games, NES, SNES. Tagged: Castlevania III, Donkey Kong Country 3, Dragon Warrior II, Might Number 9, NES, nintendo, ps4, Retro City Rampage DX, Secret of Evermore, Secret of Mana, Shovel Knight, snes, sony. 6 Comments

Pick-Ups NES, SNES and PS4
So as it happens, sometimes my job requires me to leave the office. My regular route takes me very close to my favorite local Video Game store (Game Centre). And of course, I always feel obligated to stop in. Even though their focus is not Retro Video games they always seem to have some good retro stuff.

Here’s what I found just a few days ago when I stopped in.

Below is my newly found Castlevania III Dracula’s Curse. Like all of the games below the price I paid is nothing special. I did better than I would have on eBay and I think I did OK considering I bought these games from a store that knows the popularity of Retro Video games.

Castlevania 3 cost me $40 CAD and it’s in great shape with a really nice label.

Dragon Warrior II is also in really great shape and it set me back $30 CAD.

They are not cheap games but they are really good NES games. And to help easy my concerns about the cost I texted Nintendo Joe and asked his opinion. He’s constantly hunting and buying Nintendo games. With his own experience combined with the price guides he uses I knew he’d be able to tell me how well or poorly I did. His response? “That’s not too bad!” So, I believe I did OK.

I also told him about two games I had passed on. I walked away from SNES Adventure Island for $35 and I also passed on SNES Donkey Kong Country 3 for $40. Nintendo Joe confirmed that I can do better on Adventure Island. But when he told me “DK3 you could have Lorded over me!” (meaning he did not have the game for himself.) I immediately went back to the store and bought it. All of a sudden $40 sounded like a bargain. Below is my copy of Donkey Kong 3; a game that Nintendo Joe does not have.

Next up is SNES Secret of Evermore. I also got this game at Game Centre but that was much earlier this spring. If I remember right it cost me $40. Again not garage sale prices but the JRPG was one of my favorite genre’s on the SNES and this action JRPG looks like it will be fun.

I played Secret of Mana back in the day and I loved it. It’s a great game that I believe Secret of Evermore will be similar to. I was very excited to get this off of the local classifieds (kijiji) for $60. I’ve been watching this one and $80 is a very common price tag. This new addition also joined the collection earlier this spring.

Yes, the following are not technically retro video games but I will not hold it against them. All of Mighty No. 9, Retro City Rampage DX and Shovel Knight are without question retro inspired games.

I am enjoying having physical copies of Indie games that really might have remained digital only. I would love to have a copy of Child of Light as well but that physical copy is a bit too expensive at the moment.

Both Mighty No. 9 and Retro City Rampage DX I bought new when they were released. Shovel Knight I bought used for $22.

I am really happy with these new additions… especially for Donkey Kong Country 3 for the Super Nintendo!