Retro Megabit

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 – An Unexpected Bro Deal

Posted by Sega Dude on September 17, 2016

Posted in: Collection New Additions, Games, Mega Drive (Japanese), SEGA. Tagged: Alisia Dragoon, ebay, mega drive, Rockman Mega World, sega. 10 Comments

This is what I like to call retro-karma. It’s similar to the more common expression good-karma except retro-karma has more to do with luck and innate goodness of gamers.

In my previous post called ‘Pick-Ups – Sega Mega Drive, Almost Spectacular!‘ I found a way to get good prices on what are otherwise wildly expensive games. Part of what I did in ‘Almost Spectacular!’ was use ebay to see if I would be able to find the missing components that I would need before diving into that previous purchase. During that search I stumbled onto two other ebay listings from the same seller for different yet equally elite Japanese Sega Mega Drive games which are also very desirable and hard to obtain.

If I remember correctly each of these games were listed on ebay for $230 CAD each. Which is about half (or a bit more than half) of what I’ve come accustomed to seeing them list for. So I did what every cheap bugger would do and I messaged the seller offering $300 CAD for both; even suggesting we could take the deal outside of eBay.

I received a very polite ‘no’. A ‘no’ backed-up with sound reasoning that I could not argue with. Because just like the seller I also believed he would be able to sell these games for his asking price.

We exchanged a few messages and at one point the seller suggested that I look into emulation or Everdrives (flash carts) not realizing how Sega crazy this particular Dude is.

Oh well… you know what they say ‘better to have low-balled and lost than to have never low-balled at all’.

Some time later I received a message in my personal email from this seller. Previously when I suggested a deal outside of eBay I did sneak in my email address into the ebay message system. To my surprise the seller messaged me and was pleased that I didn’t blow up over failing to make a deal and he seemed satisfied that I wasn’t looking to flip these games.

I got a counter offer; $350 CAD plus $20 shipping for both.

That really is a lot of money. But being apart of the Mega Drive scene for many years I knew right away that this really is a great price. And the counter offer was just 14% more than my offer. Should I walk away and wait for retro fever to die down? Or tack on some more money to an already large sum and just do it?

So, for $185 CAD (~$144 USD) each I now have Rockman Mega World and Alisia Dragoon for the Japanese Sega Mega Drive.

Before you scroll down and bask in the glory that is an authentic Rockman take a moment to check out Nintendo Joe’s post where he tries to lord his Reproduction Rockman Mega World over me 😛

The back of the Rockman cartridge is the first time I’ve noticed a variation as to where the rear sticker is placed. Is it unique only to this CAPCOM game? I don’t know.

I do have the North American version of Alisia Dragoon and as good as the Genesis Alisia Dragoon artwork is the Mega Drive version is better in my opinion.

Years ago I remember repeatedly passing on Alisia Dragoon when it was still commonly below $100. I had no idea that retro games would explode like they have. Who knew?!

And just like I did when I blogged about Gley Lancer and Slap Fight I decided to have a look at eBay to compare prices with these recent purchases.

The lowest price I found for Rockman Mega World was $312 CAD. Which means the price I was lucky enough to receive was 40% lower than eBay’s best. And a whopping 65% lower than the highest ebay price! It really makes me wonder if these games ever sell at those prices.

The first ebay listing for Alisia Dragoon (see below) I’m going to dismiss. It’s so sun-faded that it’s almost a white sheet of paper. However, the second listing is even cheaper and in much better shape. Once again the best price is coming from Singapore at $237 CAD. While Japan is again laying on a really heavy price tag.

This time I’m receiving a 22% discount compared to eBay’s best. And a 58% discount compared to ebay’s highest price.

In both cases above my ebay search results returned very few matches (as I expected). But don’t let this scare you in your own video game hunts. Right now in 2016 many games are expensive on ebay but are not truly rare. The prices listed by the above Japanese sellers are common and are what I’m accustomed to seeing for these kind of Japanese Mega Drive games. Try as best as you can to resist there are other options!

I really do feel that this post does a great job demonstrating how much of a premium you’re likely going to pay when shopping on ebay. Patients is the key.

You never know when a better price will come along or when a perfect stranger will decide to give you a bro deal that you did not deserve.

Thank you for the fantastic games! If the Universe is listening then there will be plenty of good-karma coming your way.

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Henshin Engine The GAME – Kickstarter for PC-Egine/TG-16 and PC Physical Release

Posted by Sega Dude on September 13, 2016

Posted in: Community, Games. Tagged: Henshin Engine The GAME, kickstarter, pc-engine, turbografx-16. 2 Comments

What started out as a cool web comic is close to becoming a full fledged action platformer video game with a ‘physical release’ for the PC-Egine / TubroGrafx-16 and PC.

“Henshin Engine is a mixed-media project created by Sarumaru and the Henshin Engine Committee. The project Inspired by the PC Engine video game system and games of the 8-bit and 16-bit gaming eras.

This story follows gamer-gal Yuki Shirokawa who just started an apprenticeship for the Jipang Electronics Corporation (JEC). Her favorite gaming console is the FX-Engine, a product of JEC. She later discovers something crazy about her beloved FX-Engine that would change her life.”

What’s this Sarumaru? Yes, ok… I’m listening. Please continue!

“Henshin-Engine : The GAME continues where the comic leaves off. Henshin-Engine for the PC-Engine/TurboGrafx-16 is set to release in the first quarter of 2017. a 2D action platformer running on REAL classic gaming hardware for a true Retro-Experience!”

As soon as I saw the game in action I pledged and added my contribution to this fantastic looking Indie game.

<<WARNING>>
Your money is at risk if you watch the following Demo of Henshin Engine The GAME:

With a full 22 days left in the Kickstarter Campaign Henshin Engine The GAME is getting very close to becoming a reality.

Are you a Retro Gamer? Do you love your PC-Engine / TurboGrafx-16? Help support this game.

The first Stretch Goal for Henshin Engine The GAME is a release on the Sega Dreamcast in addition to the PC-Engine / TurbGrafx-16. That should help reach a lot more gamers as I’m guessing a lot more of us have the Dreamcast. There is even a chance via the 3rd stretch goal for a physical cartridge release for one of Super NES, Sega CD/Genesis/MD, GB etc. To be determined by vote.

Feel free to rock out with some ‘Henshin Engine The GAME’ music while supporting the Henshin Engine The GAME Kickstarter.

Stay current with Henshin Engine The GAME on Facebook.

And there is no need to wait. Try out the playable Henshin Engine The GAME demo today!

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Pick-Ups – Sega Mega Drive, Almost Spectacular!

Posted by Sega Dude on September 10, 2016

Posted in: Collection New Additions, Games, Mega Drive (Japanese), SEGA. Tagged: gley lancer, japan, mega drive, sega, slap fight. 6 Comments

Pick-Ups - Mega Drive Additions 01
If you’re a Japanese Sega Mega Drive collector you might be looking at these two game pick-ups below and thinking ZOMG!! These are not quite ‘holy grail‘ additions but they do rank pretty high.

These are very hard games to get and in the case of Gley Lancer it’s also a really awesome shooter.
So, what’s all this “almost spectacular” talk?

Well… You see, they’re each sorta missing something.
The actual game…

I came across a fellow gamer on the neo-geo.com forums who had been amassing game manuals and cover art with the intention of at some point completing them. I’m amusing that he completed some through out his time collecting but more recently he decided to sell off the ones that never got re-united with a matching cartridge.

So, what does the Sega Dude think a couple of authentic and very pricey Japanese Mega Drive games are worth that are missing the actual game?

I paid $50 USD for the above empty Slap Fight and $60 USD for the above empty Gley Lancer (plus $20 USD shipping total for both). Yes I know, those prices sound like common prices for complete Mega Drive games. But these two games are truly hard to obtain. I am particularly excited about Gley Lancer which I have wanted for a very long time (and technically I still don’t have). Hunting down some loose carts will be so much easier than trying to find a reasonable price on complete versions.

And as for the cartridge hunt; I’ve already managed to track one down at a price I was willing to pay.

I found the listing above and I made an offer of $80 USD which was accepted. So a loose cart of Slap Fight cost me $87 USD (~$103 CAD).

So if I include shipping, the case, cover art and manual which cost me $60, plus the $87 cart I’m sitting at $147 USD for a complete good condition and authentic Slap Fight. Wow, that is a lot of money for Sega Mega Drive game! And it’s a new record for me on most money spent on a single Mega Drive game. The previous record belonged to my Panorama Cotton at $120 USD ($120 CAD at the time). With the exchange rate as it is now Slap Fight cost me about $190 CAD all in.

This Slap Fight is not in perfect shape but it’s good or maybe even in very good condition. The manual has a curve running down from top to bottom and the there is also a very fine crease running the entire length on the top edge of the cart label. Despite this I’m really happy with this addition. Specially considering how much money it would have cost if I tried the ebay route for a complete copy. While I was working out the purchase of the case and the cartridge I did a search on ebay for complete listings of Slap Fight. Check out what sellers believe this game is worth:

So the cheapest option at the time was about $530 CAD (~$410 USD). Making my now complete Slap Fight with all it’s imperfections $340 CAD cheaper than ebay’s cheapest complete listings. Assuming that each Slap Fight listing above is in Mint condition I still, far and away, prefer my Slap Fight with it’s massively lower price tag.

Regarding the gameplay for Slap Fight. It’s not that great. It suffers from being plain and repetitive. The original Slap Fight was an arcade game from 1986 and I believe it was very highly regarded at the time. It has a pedigree and will be more of a trophy for the collection than something I’ll want to play.

Gley Lancer is a similarly priced game:

That Australian listing for $437 is the lowest I’ve seen Gley Lancer on ebay in a long time. However, it’s still just too expensive. And before I bought my empty Gley Lancer for $60 USD I did offer the Australian ebay seller $220 CAD for their complete copy but it was rejected. I wasn’t surprised and I can’t fault them for wanting more. Other peoples stuff is theirs to do with as they like.

So, the hunt continues for a loose good condition Gley Lancer cartridge for the Japanese Sega Mega Drive!

On a side note. Does anyone remember my previous post titled To eBay or Not to eBay? Well, I managed to go about 6 months before signing up again for a new eBay account. What got me to come back to ebay? 8bitdo Bluetooth NES30 joysticks for $25 each with free shipping. In this case eBay offered the best price I could find for this particular item. I’ll write more later on the NES30, SNES30 and their corresponding Retro Receivers. But the short answer is you should run out and buy one right away 🙂

No no… don’t hold back. Please let me know how crazy you think I am!

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Pick-Ups – NES TMNT 2 and Legendary Wings

Posted by Sega Dude on September 3, 2016

Posted in: Collection New Additions, Games, NES, Nintendo. Tagged: legendary wings, NES, nintendo, teenage mutant ninja turtles II the arcade game. Leave a comment

Nes Additions Pick-Ups
Ah, the Internet. What a bounty of games! I found myself two more very cool NES games.

I love a good beat’em up game and for me this style of gameplay seems a better fit for a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game than the platforming style of the first NES Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. So ever since Nintendo Joe made me aware of this genre switch in the franchise I’ve been looking for the NES TMNT II and III. Then while recently shopping at Lukie Games for inexpensive NES manuals I found two games at reasonable prices. One of those being the NES Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II The Arcade Game. It’s in great shape and cost me $19 USD for the loose cartridge.

The next find was Legendary Wings for which I found both the cart and the manual. The game cost me $13 USD and the manual $4 USD. With $5 shipping these three new additions cost me about $55 CAD all-in. When compared to ebay the cost was very close to the same except for the fact that my total included shipping. So I did a bit better than ebay but more importantly I avoided the dreaded ebay ‘Global Shipping Program’ where paying duty is 100% guaranteed instead of a 99% chance of not having to pay extra duty fees without ebay’s entirely unneeded ~~money-grab~~ service. But I digress…

When playing TMNT 2 it felt a little repetitive but it played well. And that repetition might be cured with two players; who together might be able to rumble through a level faster. Which is an exciting prospect that I may have to recruit Nintendo Joe for.

I bought Legendary Wings because I have often heard that it’s a very good game. And so far it has not disappointed. It is a solid shooter with good controls, varied power ups, optional levels, secret levels, top down levels and side view levels. There is a lot going on in this game. I also enjoyed how when you get hit you lose one level of your current power-ups instead of being instantly obliterated. It’s also less common to have a shooter that is not Sci-Fi (Space Ship) themed making Legendary Wings a refreshing change.

Although my NES and SNES collection will likely stay much smaller than my Sega collection I am really enjoying picking up some of the many classics Nintendo has to offer. With any luck it wont be long before I find a few more standout games for the NES.

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