Pick-Ups – Super Nintendo Classic Edition

Posted by Sega Dude on November 6, 2017
Posted in: Games, Hardware, NES, New Release (Hardware), Nintendo, SNES. Tagged: , , , , . 4 Comments

When the NES Classic Edition launched in November 2016 I was super excited to get one. But I never did… stock was so limited and demand so high that the NES Classic Edition became a scalpers dream. I didn’t want to spend $200 CAD (~$157 USD) on an $80 (~$60 USD) product so I ended up empty handed.

More recently the SNES Classic Edition has launched and again it entirely disappeared before many of us could find one for ourselves. And again ebay, local classifieds and game swaps were the only places to find them but at greatly inflated prices. I felt like I was going to miss out yet again on what appears to be an amazing product. My wife even waited in line at a local brick and mortar shop in the hopes of getting one of the few they just received to surprise me with but she could not. In an age of simplified shopping it’s frustrating to fail so hard.

I was starting to think that Nintendo just wasn’t interested in meeting demand. I feel like the hype is more valuable to Nintendo than the money earned from these products.

So I caved. And I am a bit embarrassed to say I that helped legitimize the flipping trend by participating. On my local classified it was very easy to find the SNES Classic Edition for between $160 and $200 CAD. They are everywhere! So I found a seller that was actually walking distance from me and selling his brand new SNES Classic Edition for $180 CAD (~$140 USD). I sent an offer of $160 (~$125 USD) and said I could pick-up right away. He agreed.

We chatted for a little while and I asked how he got it. He said he pre-ordered two from Bestbuy with the intention of keeping one and selling the other. He told me the pre-orders were sold out in just minutes.

In Canada the retail price for the SNES Classic Edition is $100 CAD (~$78 USD). With tax that’s a total of $113 meaning that I paid a $47 CAD (~$37 USD) premium to get one. Not terrible but I still feel a little dirty.


So, how is the SNES Classic Edition? I don’t know yet. The wife has snatched it from me promising that I’ll get it back this December 25th. She finds it hard to buy for me and this year she wants to give me something that I’ll really like! *I was allowed to borrow it for the photo shoot.


What’s your experience with the NES and SNES Classic Edition? Were you able to find one? Did you have to take a hit to score it? How does it look and play on your HD TV? I would love to hear from anyone who wants to share.

Regarding the NES Classic Edition. There is hope. Nintendo is promising new stock this coming Summer 2018. Be ready!

“NES Classic Edition will return Summer 2018.”

Pick-Ups – Sega Master System World Games

Posted by Sega Dude on October 31, 2017
Posted in: Games, SEGA, Sega Master System. Tagged: , , . 6 Comments

The venue: the Oshawa Game Swap this past Sunday October 29th, 2017.

The entrance queue moments before opening: a massive line up of young adults, teenagers, children and parents.

At the front of the line-up in position number one and number two: two full grown middle aged men… Enter Nintendo Joe and the Sega Dude.

It was a small Game Swap but it was packed with vendors and shoppers. In fact the hard part was trying to get close enough to a table to see the goods. Tons of games to browse through and a thick crowd to contend with. But despite the quantity of very cool games I ended up only bringing one home.

A complete and excellent condition World Games for the Sega Master System for $40 CAD (~$31 USD). The game was priced at $50 and when I offered $40 the seller counter with $45 pretty quickly but when I really only wanted to pay $40 he took a good amount of time to consider it. I would have walked away if he wasn’t OK with $40 but he was and now it’s home and in the collection.

The game itself seems playable enough but it’s not super exciting. What’s more interesting is my list of 53 remaining games to complete my library of every Sega Master System title is down one to a new total of 52 games. Baby steps.

I did find something that was really surprising to see at a local retro video game swap. And man, I really wanted it. I found a complete and excellent condition Pulseman for the Japanese Sega Mega Drive. It’s not pictured here because the seller wanted $400 CAD (~$310 USD) for it. That is significantly cheaper than 6 listings I found on ebay but at the same time there were also no recently sold listings for Pulseman. I’m not surprised that people just aren’t buying. At the start of the show I offered the guy $200 CAD (~$155 USD) for Pulseman and he was not impressed. I thought it was a good chunk of change for one video game. But he was a store and not a collector and he was not having it.

So as I continued to browse around I found that I kept thinking about Pulseman. And I started to think about the most I’ve ever paid for a Sega game. That honor belongs to Gleylancer for the Japanese Mega Drive at $260 CAD (~$200 USD). So, close to when Nintendo Joe and I were about to leave I went back and offered the seller $260 CAD for Pulseman. He said he’d sell it for $300 CAD (~$233 USD) but I just didn’t feel good about spending that much so I passed it up.

Maybe the paths of Pulseman and the Sega Dude will cross again some day. You never know.

Pick-Ups – Guelph Video Game Swap 2017 Plus

Posted by Sega Dude on October 22, 2017
Posted in: Games, Genesis (North America), NES, Nintendo, SEGA, Sega Master System. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , . 4 Comments

A few weeks before this years Guelph Video Game Swap Nintendo Joe and I went to visit one of our favorite retro video games stores; Retro Game Bros. Nintendo Joe has decided to purge many of his old video games and he brought a lot of stuff to trade. Click here for all his ‘Retro Game Bros.’ and ‘Guelph Video Game Swap’ trade details which include some pretty exciting NES scores.

As for myself I brought in just a few games for trade. Three or four common Sony PS Vita games plus Herzog Zwei and Thunder Force II (both complete) for the Sega Genesis. I traded them all for Galahad for the Sega Genesis and Bloody Wolf for the Turbo Grafx-16.


The price tag on Galahad was about $60 CAD (~$48 USD); which is higher but close to recently sold listings on ebay. Bloody Wolf’s $60 price tag was also similar to it’s recently sold listings on ebay. So the prices I paid weren’t great. But undoubtedly those ebay listing would have come with additional ‘Global Shipping Services’ fees driving the ebay cost higher than what I paid. And with Retro Game Bros I was trading in games and not handing over cash which really does feel better when you’ve got stuff to unload. Also, being a brick and mortal shop Nintendo Joe and I got to chat up some equally potent retro dudes; which is a fun bonus. In fact we kept the Retro Game Bros late; well past the regular closing time for the store. I’m sure they wanted nothing more than to go home but Nintendo Joe and I would have none of it. It was a wonderful evening.


The Guelph Video Game Swap was very small but it didn’t matter because we knew Flavio would be there. Who’s Flavio? He’s a friend who regularly buys large lots of games for his own collection and then sells the doubles at game swaps. It’s common for Nintendo Joe and I to have Flavio put games aside for us that we later collect at these swaps.


Both Ecco the Dolphin and Ace of Aces cost me $25 CAD (~20 USD) each. I’m really happy with these prices especially considering the like new condition.

Daffy Duck in Hollywood is harder to come by and it cost me $60 CAD (~$48 USD) while James Bond 007 the Duel cost $25 CAD (~$20 USD).

Again the condition of these games is really good. Part of the reason for this is that Flavio will always let me swap cases, manuals, cover art and carts for better ones. He’s really a driving force in keeping my Master System collection pristine!


Flavio also sold me Adventure Island II (NES) for $25 CAD (~$20 USD). Both James Bond and Adventure Island II I bought from him well before this swap. I just didn’t get to blogging about them until now.

The next two games from the Guelph Game Swap didn’t come from Flavio. For a long time I’ve seen Jurassic Park Rampage Edition list for a lot of money ($50+) and I never understood why. So for a long time I have been passing it up. Then at this game swap I got a nice complete copy for $20 CAD (~16 USD). And after checking sold listings on ebay it feels like $20 is the new going rate for this game. Personally, $20 for a complete good condition Genesis or Master System game is a real sweet spot for me. It’s hard to pass up a game with such a friendly price.


I know Casino Games is not very exciting but when it comes to Sega Master System games; if I don’t have I want it. For $20 (my sweet spot price point!) and in amazing condition I was happy for this addition. I’m pretty sure the seller was also happy to unload it.

This last game was a surprise find at a local store called Game Center from earlier this fall. It wasn’t cheap at $45 (all-in) (~$36 USD) but cheaper than current ebay sold listings. And this also completes my TMNT trilogy on the NES.


Recently Flavio commented that I must be getting close to a full Sega Master System library. Over all these years of collecting I’ve never paid any attention. Now, after working on a list for Flavio of the remaining games that I don’t have I know that I’m 54 Master System games shy of having every title for the system. Although this is not a pure set. My collection is mixed with US and Euro versions. Canada typically received European releases because Canada requires both English and French on product packaging. And it was easy enough to end up with US releases simply because of Canada’s proximity to the USA. This mix doesn’t bother me. I’m just after the games. A bunch of these will be easy to get and others will not. I’m curious how close I will get and how long it will take.

Here’s what’s left on my Sega Master System Wish List:

Adams Family
Andre Agassi Tennis
Arcade Smash Hits
Assault City (Both Versions)
Astro Warrior/Pit Pot
Asterix Great Rescue
Ayrton Senna GP
Bank Panic (card) *I have the cartridge version
Bart vs. the World
Buggy Run
Championship Hockey
Chase HQ
Cheese Catastrophe
Chuck Rock 2
Cosmic Spacehead
Dr Robotnic Mean Bean Machine
F16 (cart) *I have the card version
Fantastic Dizzy
George Foreman KO Boxing
Great Soccer (card) *I have the cartridge version
Home Alone
Impossible Mission
Incredible Hulk
Krusty’s Fun House
Line of Fire
Master Games
Masters of Combat
Micro Machines
Mortal Kombat 2
Ms Pacman
My Hero (cart) *I have the card version
Olympic Gold
Ottifants
PGA Golf Tour
Power Strike 2
Putt Putter
Robocop 3
Sega Chess
Sega World Tournament Golf
Sensible Soccer
Smurf’s, The
Smurf’s Travel the World, The
Sonic Spinball
Speedball 2
Star Wars
Streets of Rage 2
Summer Games
Super Off Road
Super Tennis (cart) *I have the card version
Superman Man of Steel
T2: Arcade Game
T2: Judgement Day
Tecmo World Soccer 93
Ultimate Soccer
Winter Olympics
World Cup Italia 90
World Games
WWF Steel Cage Challenge

I have my work cut out for me! And I’m guessing it will take me a few years to get there.

Pick-Ups – Boxed Sega Control Stick

Posted by Sega Dude on October 7, 2017
Posted in: Hardware, SEGA, Sega Master System. Tagged: , , , , , , . 4 Comments

Wow, A&C Games is really expensive. I am opening with that comment despite the fact that I did buy something from this retro video game store that I feel was over priced. Which technically implies that they priced it right… but never you mind such logic. I’m sticking to my guns. A&C Games is really expensive.

I was in their neighborhood and I had time to kill so I went into A&C Games to have a look around. To their credit their inventory of retro video games is huge… but like I said; they’re expensive.

While browsing a shelf of boxed retro consoles and accessories I found a boxed Sega Control Stick for $55 CAD plus tax (no manual). I actually have a boxed Sega Control stick but mine is missing the Styrofoam packaging from inside the box. This one from A&C Games (pictured below) still had it’s Styrofoam.

I’m sure you know where I’m going with this. I spent a total of $62 CAD (~$51 USD) just to get the Styrofoam packaging. Even if I turn around and sell the spare box with the actual Control Stick for a more realistic price of $20 CAD I’ll still have spent $42 on Styrofoam. Plus whatever my original boxed Control Stick cost me all those many years ago.

“You FOOL! Oh why?! Why did you do it?!”

It’s a fair comment. Here’s how I was able to justify it to myself. I’ve been in the hobby for a long time now and from visiting local game shops and retro video game conventions over the years I know that finding something like this with any amount of it’s original packing is hard to come by. I’m also a bit of a sucker when I’ve already got something in my collection that’s not 100%; either not in good enough condition or not complete. I’ll sometimes feel compelled to go that extra mile to make that something whole whereas if I didn’t have it at all I might just be content to forget it entirely.

So, while leaving sound financial judgment far behind check out my now boxed and complete Sega Control Stick with it’s amazing Styrofoam packaging material!

Before I try to sell my double (and slightly crunched) boxed Control Stick I went to the forums on Sega-16.com and posted it for trade. I was hoping to swap this box and joystick for an original Sega Master System Model 1 power supply. Nothing has come of this yet and if after some time no trade materializes I’m sure I’ll sell it for cash. But at the moment I’m more interested in trading.

Now that I’m talking about my Sega Control Stick accessory I might as well show off my other boxed Sega peripherals and consoles.

The Sega Light Phaser. Totally cooler looking than Nintendo NES Zapper!

This boxed Light Phaser I purchased from ebay a very long time ago. I don’t remember what I paid but it wasn’t expensive and it’s in really great condition.

My boxed Sega 3-D Glasses were one of the first things I found when I got into collecting for the Master System. I found it in a Hock Shop for $20 CAD in 1998.

I also have two boxed Sega Master System Consoles to go with these peripherals. The first being an early Master System release:

And this second one being a later release. I still need a manual for the included Hang On & Safari Hunt and a power supply before this second Sega Master System is complete.

There are quite a few accessories for Sega Master System such as the rapid fire unit and sport pad controller; which I have loose. And there a bunch more that I don’t have at all. The accessories pictured above are likely the most common and I don’t expect to find any others boxed and complete.

Pick-ups – Four Very Nice Sega Genesis Games

Posted by Sega Dude on August 19, 2017
Posted in: Games, Genesis (North America), SEGA. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

When is rains it pours. I really hope that this is a sign that Sega Genesis games are slowly starting to re-appear out in the wild. I don’t mean the mountain of sports games that never disappeared in the first place; I mean the good stuff.

Sure if you want to pay top dollar you’ll find just about anything on ebay (which I’m still done with by the way) but locally it felt like things had dried up. Until these past few months when I’ve been finding a good handful of complete good condition Sega Genesis games on my local classifieds (Kijiji).

The first two games came from one seller. Both are fighting games. $70 CAD (~$55 USD) total for both Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighters and Mortal Kombat 3.


Recently sold listings on ebay.ca showed me that  a complete good condition TMNT Tournament Fighters have been selling for a minimum of $60 CAD (~$45 USD) all in (with shipping and import fees). While Mortal Kombat 3 would have costed me no less than $40 CAD all in (~$30 USD). I was going to include some ebay screenshots for sold listings but at first glance the ebay prices looked good. It’s not until you drill into each individual item and check out the the shipping and import fees where you then see how any value that might have been there is totally snuffed out. This might be a unique problem for Canadian buyers and hopefully US gamers (where most of these items appear to come from) are having a better experience shopping on ebay.

My TMNT Tournament Fighters is in excellent shape. And Mortal Kombat 3 is in good shape. The Mortal Kombat 3 case is a wee bit scratched and I had to re-glue the top of the cartridge label to keep it in place. Admittedly $70 CAD is not amazing. It’s just OK. But I am happy that I managed to do 30% better than ebay’s best. I also like the local pick-up option and having the chance to see games first hand before buying.


The next two; Herzog Zwei and Thunder Force II are in great shape and I bought them to replace/upgrade the current ones that I already have. They also came from a single seller and in total they cost me $90 (~$67 USD) for the pair.

I really love Herzog Zwei (Duke 2). It just might be the first RTS (Real Time Strategy) game for consoles. With good graphics, amazing music and two player action it really stands out from the crowd. The last time I played head-to-head it was against my good buddy EvilKalman and I totally crushed him 😀 I didn’t say that to his face but he did get monumentally owned.

I managed to record some game time with Herzog Zwei. After all these years this game is still really fun. I picked the level with my favorite tune and cranked the difficulty to Max just to see if I’m still a Top Gun!

*Does anyone see the mistake in the artists interpretation of the cover art for Herzog Zwei? You’ll only ever see a maximum of two fighter jets or two humanoid Mech robots or one of each at any given time. The players (in two-player games) or the player and the AI each control one fighter jet that can transform into a Mech robot. The cover art depicts two of each which wont ever happen in the game. Maybe the artist was expressing the infinite lives the player and AI have as their Fighter-Mech continually gets reconstituted back at base each time they are destroyed. Regardless the cover still looks fantastic.

Aside from both games being awesome their gameplay is very different. Where Herzog Zwei is an over head RTS, Thunder Force II is both an over head and side scrolling shooter. I highly recommend both of them.

I also recorded some gameplay for Thunder Force II which is not a game I played much back in the day. My good friend Nintendo Joe played it a lot when it was new and I remember how good he was. I’m sure I tried it all those years ago but this still felt like a new game to me. It’s a fun shooter. I can see why some people don’t love the over head levels but I didn’t mind them at all. It was good fast action and felt like it complemented the side scrolling levels well.

I’m going to need some practice!

Seeing these games side by side it’s interesting how similar the cover art is for Herzog Zwei and Thunder Force II.

These two also cost me much less than ebay pricing and I’m happy to have found them in such great shape. Herzog Zwei would have cost between $100-$150 CAD (~$80-$112 USD) all in and Thunder Force II would have landed at about $60-$80 CAD (~$48-$60 USD).

I’ve put my previous copies on my local classifieds for $80 CAD total for the pair. They’re complete and in good shape; just not as good as the above replacements. I’d like to pass along a fair price while at the same time making this upgrade very affordable for myself.

I’ve also been noticing more Sega Genesis and Sega Master System games showing up at Retro Game Swaps; which is really nice to see. I’m hoping this trend continues.

Pick-Ups – Local Classifieds, Sega Genesis Games

Posted by Sega Dude on August 10, 2017
Posted in: Collection New Additions, Games, Genesis (North America), SEGA. Tagged: , , , , . 16 Comments

I don’t watch my local classified (kijiji.ca) religiously but I do look every now and again. And on occasion I do find games that I would like to have. The three games below were from one seller and they were listed for $180 CAD for all three. I thought that was very expensive. To get a better idea of their value I searched for recently sold listings on ebay for each title. I was surprised to see that they have recently sold for amounts that would add up to about what this sellers was asking for.

pick-ups-the-flintstones-plus
But since ebay is not a healthy indicator of value I still was not compelled to pay the $180 asking price. I sent an offer of $100. I was pretty sure that I was at risk of offending the seller. So I said something to the effect of ‘here’s my offer if you find these aren’t selling please let me know’. I did not have to wait. I got a quick counter offer of $120 for all three.

You know what happened next. I bought them. $40 each doesn’t feel like a steal but it’s still affordable enough for complete good condition games.

sega-genesis-the-flintstones
The Flintstones is in very good shape. The plastic case photographs well but it does have some nicks and dings.

sega-genesis-uncharted-waters
The next two games feel similar in genre and style. I’ve heard good things about both. Uncharted Waters and Pirates Gold are in similar condition. Both are in good shape while the manuals have some wear and Pirates looks like the cover might have some mild sunfade.

sega-genesis-pirates-gold
I spent some time speaking with the seller and I found out that he’s leaving the country and selling his games that he feels are not his personal essentials. Hopefully he’ll be able to keep everything that really matters to him and get some cool stuff with the money made.

And I will enjoy having some new games for the Sega Collection.