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Pick-Ups – CIB NES, Kirby’s Adventure and More…

Posted by Sega Dude on September 13, 2020

Posted in: Games, NES, Nintendo. Tagged: Dobule Dragon, Final Fantasy, Gauntlet, Kirby's Adventure, NES, nintendo. 3 Comments

I made some recent sales on my local classified as I downsize my loose cart collection of Nintendo NES and SNES games. I then took that money straight to Retro Game Bros. in the hopes of finding some nice complete Super Nintendo or NES games.

I’ve decided that I want to chase complete games rather than loose cartridges and because that means spending more money I’ve decided that I’m OK having less games in the collection.

Of course I would love all my complete games to be like new and in super mint condition but I know that’s not realistic. Complete and mint games are hard to find and will be very expensive. And with the somewhat recent trend of ‘Graded’ games prices seem to have no upper limit.

So I’m truly content with having games that show some ~~wear~~ love.

But this does not mean I’m left scraping the bottom of the barrel. Below is my new Complete in Box (CIB) Kirby’s Adventure. Right away you’ll be able to see where it’s aged but all in this is a very good copy of the game.

Thanks to the Video Game documentary series called High Score I’ve learned that our beloved Bald and Pink Kriby was named and imaged (in a fashion) after the attorney John Kirby who successfully saved Nintendo from Universal Studios in a dispute over Donkey Kong and his similarity to King Kong. Thank you John!

In order to help judge retro video game value I’ve been using two web site: www.pricecharting.com and gamevaluenow.com.

I’ve started to notice a trend where these two site don’t always show a similar value for some games and most times when this happens GameValueNow will show a higher value. Sometimes the spread between the two values can be significant. So I’ll often take an average between the two to give myself something to work with.

In the case of Kirby’s Adventure there is a small different of $10 CAD between the two sites; giving the game an average CIB value of $75 CAD (~$57 USD). RetroGameBros. asking price was $80 CAD. But that is not what I paid. Without even asking they were slashing prices left right and centre for me. They’re good like that 🙂

Their sticker price for the four games I purchased were as follows:

Kiryb’s Adventure $80 CAD (~$60 USD)
Final Fantasy $80 CAD (~$60 USD)
Double Dragon II $50 (~$38 USD)
Gauntlet $25 (~$19 USD)

For a total of $235 CAD (~$178 US) and I paid $200 CAD (~$152 USD).

Also consider that Final Fantasy’s averaged online value is about $130 CAD (~$99 USD). With Double Dragon II at about $68 CAD (~$52 USD) and Gauntlet at $33 CAD (~$25 USD).

Next up is the first ever Final Fantasy. A game that the developers Square thought would be their last before going bankrupt. But instead it sold extremely well and we’re still getting Final Fantasy games 20 years later.

Thanks to the box cover I can see that I am missing the Game World and Dungeon map as well as the Monster Chart. I’ll have to keep an eye out for those.

Should I have gone for a near mint graded Final Fantasy for a cool $1,500 CAD (~$1,140 USD)? Hells no!

I wasn’t intending on adding Double Dragon to the collection but after seeing the price and how nice the condition is I decided to go for it.

I guess this means I’ll be hunting for Double Dragon 1 and 3 as well.

Gauntlet is another iconic video game and also not a game I was planning on buying for that price it was hard to say no.

The outer box shows the most wear of all four of these games but it’s nice to see that inner sleeve looking so new. This is very different from the standard dust cover sleeves that most NES games came with making Tengen’s Gauntlet a bit unique.

Speaking of cartridge dust covers. The three I received with these games look like aftermarket non-Nintendo sleeves. But it won’t be long before I can swap them out. My buddy Nintendo Joe has a pile of authentic Nintendo dust covers that he’ll be giving to me.

Nintendo Joe is getting very close to having a complete NES game library. Check him out on Instagram.

Pick-ups – CIB NES. It has begun!

Posted by Sega Dude on February 4, 2020

Posted in: Collection New Additions, Games, NES, Nintendo. Tagged: CIB, Excite Bike, Ice Hockey, legendary wings, Mario Bros., NES, nintendo, Super C. 5 Comments

So, I’ve jump down yet another rabbit hole.

As I’ve been down sizing my Super Nintendo and NES collection the idea has started to grown in my head that I’d like to get the games I really want in my collection ‘complete in box’ (CIB). This past weekend I now have my first five CIB NES games.

And thanks to Retro Game Bros. it was so much easier than I expected!

I already have most of the NES titles I want, but they are loose cartridges (some with their manual). Finding just a box for sale is really hard to do. I thought I’d be stuck re-buying games just to get a box. But as I was browsing and chatting at Retro Games Bros. I was told they would be more than happy to take a cartridge out of a complete game and sell me just the box and manual. This is a first for me!

I’m not sure how long I stood there blinking but when the shell shock wore off I pulled a few games off the shelf. And what Retro Game Bros. did was subtract the value of the cartridge from the price and I ended up with the following:

Super Mario Bros. 3 box and instructions cost me $30 CAD (~$26 USD). Because Nintendo decided to go with cardboard boxes and because of the age of these games I’ve set my expectation that my NES collection will not be as pristine as my Sega collection. Which I’m content with and as you can see my new CIB Super Mario Bros. which is not mint is still in really good shape.

Hey, did you notice that black circular sticker at the top edge of my Super Mario Bros.? According to Wata Games that little variant is going to be worth millions and retire me! I can’t hardly wait…

OK, yes, Super C is not quite as exciting as the original Contra but this box and manual was still a great score at $35 CAD (~$26 USD). The condition is not quite as good as the above Super Mario Bros. 3. But it is good and hopefully someday it will be joined by Contra!

Who knew Excitebike was getting harder to find complete? Just like the Mario games Excitebike holds a lot of nostalgia for me. It is such a fun game! Nintendo has always been great at finding really fun game mechanics. This Excitebike box and manual cast me $40 CAD (~$30 USD) and again you can see these games are far from mint but I don’t mind at all.

Legendary Wings wasn’t on my short list of NES games that I want but it is a good game and for $20 CAD (~$15 USD) for this box and manual I couldn’t pass it up.

Believe it or not Ice Hockey was on the short list of must have games. Like the Mario games and Excitebike it holds a lot of nostalgia for being one of the first games I played at a friend house when the NES was new. Also, with a price tag of FREE there’s no downside here! Thanks Retro Game Bros.!

Ice Hockey had a few Toys R Us stickers and I was OK with them being there as there from the games original retail days. But in the end I decided to try and remove them. Armed with my wife’s hair dryer I went to town. It took a really long time. These stickers were old and that glue did not want to let go.

But with lots of patience’s it worked out very well. Once the stickers were removed there was some residue left over. I applied a very tiny amount of WD-40 to a paper towel and gently rubbed away the residue. This worked because the cardboard boxes are glossy. This would not work on plain paper like a game manual.

Here’s the short list of my NES games I’d like to make CIB someday:

Baseball
Castlevania
Contra
Ghost ‘n Gobins
Kung Fu
Metroid
Punchout (Any version)
Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario Bros. 2
The Legend of Zelda
The Adventure of Link

What does CIB mean for you?

For me I’m happy with Cartridge, Instruction Booklet and box. I believe for some CIB means Complete in Box. And does your version of ‘complete’ mean absolutely everything that came with the game originally (dust cover, plastic bag, pamphlets, etc)?

Pick-Ups – To be this good takes Analogue

Posted by Sega Dude on January 19, 2020

Posted in: Article, Hardware, SEGA. Tagged: 8bitdo, Analogue, genesis, mega drive, Mega Sg, NES, nintendo, retro-bit, sega, snes. 4 Comments

So I did something crazy and it feels great! I purchased the extremely high-end and very expensive Mega Sg by Analogue.

Easy now, stop your gasping. I did get the wife’s permission first.

I’ve been borderline desperate to get my hands on this (dare I say) perfect Sega Genesis / Mega Drive replacement console since it’s release on March 25th, 2019. However, the steep price tag of $190 USD plus $50 USD shipping had held me off. I just could not justify the ~$310 CAD grand total; regardless of all the high praise this modern 16-bit wonder has been receiving.

It’s true, a tremendous amount of skill and a quality has been poured into the Mega Sg and I do understand that this product has a very niche audience. I cannot criticize the price tag. It feels appropriate. But at the same time I could not justify it to myself.

So what happened? I found a used Mega Sg. In fact since it’s release this is the first Mega Sg I’ve seen for sale on the second hand market. I didn’t get away like a bandit but I do feel I did well and scored it for a fair price of $240 CAD (~$184 USD). Saving $70 CAD (~$54 USD) really helped. But buying it used also did more. It spared me the risk of duty. Had I purchased it direct from Analogue and had I been charged duty I would have been hit with another $88 CAD (~$67 USD) according to borderbuddy.com. Leaving me with a grand total of $390 CAD (~$300 USD). Ouch…

As a very nice gesture the seller included this retro-bit 6 button arcade pad for free. Which I can use on my new Mega Sg or my original Sega Genesis. Of course the Sega Dude is all wireless now but this was still a very nice thing.

What really made all this fall into place is a little bit of downsizing I’ve been doing. Just a few days after my Mega Sg purchase I managed to sell some Super Nintendo carts. I’ve decided that I want just some of the AAA titles complete with box and manual. As a result I’ve recently sold the following:

Axelay $65 CAD
Super Mario All-Stars (with BitBox Case) $30 CAD (with manual)
Super Mario RPG (with BitBox Case) $70 CAD (with manual)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV Turtles in Time (with BitBox Case) $60 CAD
The Legend of Mystical Ninja (with BitBox Case) $40 CAD
Parodius Da (Super Famicom with BitBox Case) $15 CAD
Pop’n TwinBee (Super Famicom with BitBox Case) $15 CAD
Super Genjin 2 (Bonk 2) (Nintendo Super Famicom) $20 CAD

Netting me $315 CAD which more than paid for my $240 CAD Mega Sg.

You’ll see a few games that I still have for sale in the images above. My prices have all been in-line with pricecharting.com; adding a bit extra if I had a game manual to go along with the cartridge.

I use to buy BitBox cases because I found it hard to find fordable complete SNES and NES games. But now that I’m reducing and looking for just some core games I’m letting go of some great games in favour of a smaller more complete Nintendo collection.

Below are the top three SNES games I’m hoping to track down complete someday:

Super Mario World
The Legend of Zelda
Metroid

I still feel Bitboxes from StoneAgeGamer look great but for me personally, I’m starting to change gears.

So, how is Analogue’s Mega Sg console?

I haven’t had it long so I can’t really praise it as 100% perfect yet but at first glance it seems like it could be. I’ve been testing my Mega Sg with Ghouls ‘n Ghosts and Tanglewood. I picked these two games because I’ve spent a lot of time with them very recently on my original Genesis console with my trusty CRT (tube) TV. The hope was that any differences on the Mega Sg connected to my HDTV would be easy for me to spot.

Of course there is a difference. The image quality of these 16-bit games running on the Mega Sg is off the charts. They run crystal clear as if running from emulation on a PC. And I love it! But that’s it. Everything else feels so incredibly authentic to the original hardware.

I am a very happy Retro Dude these days!

Barrie Game Exchange 2019

Posted by Sega Dude on September 16, 2019

Posted in: Collection New Additions, Games, Genesis (North America), Nintendo, SEGA, SNES. Tagged: Final Fantasy II, nintendo, sega, sega cd, Shining Force CD, snes, Super Mario World 2, super nintendo. Leave a comment

It feels like it’s been a long time since I’ve picked-up any retro video games. Looking back at my own blog it was March 2019 when I last scored a few Sega games.

And what a great way to break a near 6 month dry spell with Shining Force CD for the Sega CD. Fortunately I had time enough to save up for this $200 CAD addition (~$150 USD).

It’s in excellent condition and I knew this is about as good a price as I’d ever get. I saw three Shining Force CD’s at this game swap; all priced between $240-$250. I offered one seller $200 and he was willing. Thank you sir!

It’s actually been a long time since I’ve played Shining Force and I’m looking forward to this Shining Force Gaiden and Shining Force Gaiden II remake. If I had to pick I’d say my all time favorite turn-based strategy game is War Song for the Sega Genesis (known as Langrisser in Japan).

Looking back to July 2018 I found my old Sega CD wish list and to my surprise I’ve manage to cross a bunch off the list in just over one year:

~~01) Dungeon Explorer~~
02) Earthworm Jim
~~03) Flashback~~
04) Hook
05) Keio Flying Squadron
~~06) Lords of Thunder~~
~~07) Mickey Mania~~
~~08) Mortal Kombat~~
~~09) Prince of Persia~~
~~10) Road Blaster / Road Avenger~~
~~11) Road Rash~~
~~12) Shinning Force CD~~
13) Space Adventure
~~14) Time Gal~~

I’m not holding my breath for Keio Flying Squadron or Space Adventure. When my list is down to two they will be the last two (permanently) on the list.

I’ve had the cartridge and manual for Final Fantasy II for a long time now so when I came across an empty Final Fantasy box with cardboard insert for $15 CAD (~$11 USD) I was pretty sure it was a good deal. My thanks to Nintendo Joe for making sure I pulled the trigger on this one. The front is a bit sun-faded and it is certainly showing some wear but the price was right. And now I have a complete Final Fantasy II which for me is one of those SNES games that holds a lot of nostalgia.

Now that I have a taste for boxed SNES games I’ll show you a fine gift from Nintendo Joe. As Nintendo Joe continues his quest for a 100% NES set he was nice enough to give me a boxed Super Mario World 2. And like my Final Fantasy II it’s also showing some wear but it’s still really great to have.

Nintendo Joe has been more active of late on Instagram where he’s devilishly close to becoming a bonafide influencer. Check him out @nintendojoe1985 or @ultimate_megatron if G1 Transformers are your Jam.

But do not watch his Live Action Donkey Kong video. Seriously, you’ve been warned.

Pick-Ups – Local Game Swap Buying and Selling

Posted by Sega Dude on October 24, 2018

Posted in: Collection New Additions, Games, Genesis (North America), Nintendo, SEGA, SNES. Tagged: Alf, Bare Knuckle, genesis, master system, mega drive, nintendo, sega, snes, Star Fox, streets of rage, superman. Leave a comment

This past Sunday October 21st Nintendo Joe and I hit up a local Retro Video Game Swap. This time around Nintendo Joe was just shopping; hoping to scoop up the last few affordable NES carts towards his goal of a full NES set. While I setup shop with our mutual friend Flavio to both buy and sell.

Flavio is a bit of a Titan when it comes to selling. He’s constantly buying large lots of games and re-selling at these kinds of events. Over the years he has really helped me bolster my Sega Master System collection. In fact, for years now he has become my only source for Master System games.

If you’re hunting for Retro Video Games be sure to visit Falvio’s Facebook page.

This Sunday was no exception; for $110 CAD (~$84 USD) Flavio sold me a complete and truly mint condition ALF for the Sega Master System.

Occasionally Flavio and I would take a break from our sales table and leave the other to man our station solo so that we could each browse around and do some game hunting. On my first go around the event floor I found a really excellent condition boxed Star Fox for the Super Nintendo. It was missing the manual but everything else was there, the condition was fantastic and it was selling for $25 CAD (~$20 USD). But because I didn’t bring any money with me I promised my self I would come back and snap it up once I had sold some stuff.

I had a few common Genesis games and some consoles for sale and it didn’t take long for a few items to sell. I dashed back for my Star Fox as soon I had the cash in hand.

Part of my excitement was because I knew I had a Star Fox manual at home so now this excellent game is complete and close to pristine.

When I was paying for Star Fox I saw this same seller had a complete Death and Return of Superman for the Genesis for $80 CAD (~$60 USD). That was about $20 less than the best I’ve ever seen for this title; so again I felt some urgency to sell more stuff.

When all was said and done I had sold a Model 1 Sega Genesis, a Sega Dreamcast, an original Xbox, some old Taiwan bootleg carts, an At Games handheld console and a few common Genesis games… and maybe a bit more that I’m forgetting about. All in, everything I sold was enough to pay for Alf, Star Fox and Superman and still left me with $70.

As we were nearing the end of the show and when things had really died down a lot, I found it. Something I so very rarely find at these local game swaps. A Japanese Sega Mega Drive game. I love these things! And this one game just happened to be a fantastic title that was not among my 200+ Japanese Sega Mega Drive game collection; Bare Knuckle III (or Streets of Rage III on the Genesis).

And with $70 burning a hole in my wallet I was a bit concerned when I saw the price tag of $200 CAD (~$150 USD). The event was done and there was no more time for selling. So I asked they guy selling Bare Knuckle III if he wanted to check out my table and see if I had anything he wanted to trade for it. Honestly, I was a bit concerned when he glanced over my remaining wares, looked at me and said ‘how much cash you got?’. This guy was going to clean me out. Straight up I told him I had $70. So he suggested my two Nintendo DS Lites, Mario Kart and New Super Mario Bros. (both for the DS) and my $70 cash. I did a lightening quick calculation in my head trying to compare the total value of my stuff next to his game. I panicked and all I could process was Bare Knuckle III + Bare Knuckle III = awesome. So, I said ‘awesome’ and he took my stuff.

Did you know that Bare Knuckle III came with a ‘move list’ sheet that is separate from the manual?

Now that the transaction is done I can more casually reconstruct what happened. I remember that I was trying to sell my two boxed DS Lites as two bundles; each coming with one of the Mario games. My price was $60 CAD for a completed Boxed DS Lite and one complete Mario game. So both bundles had a value of $120 plus my $70 cash for a total of $190 CAD. Had I found an interested buyer there is a good chance I might have been talked down to $50 for each bundle. So the cost of my Bare Knuckle III comes in at somewhere between $170 and $190 CAD (~$130 – $145 USD). Which is not amazing, not terrible but just about right. And I do like that I managed to unload some gaming stuff instead of paying for it all in cash.

Now after decades of collecting games for the Japanese Sega Mega Drive I have the complete Bare Knuckle trilogy and that just kicks-butt.

Be sure to check out my Instagram @ www.instagram.com/retromegabit where you can find more funky retro game photos from my personal collection.

Pick-Ups – Sega Power Adapters and Two Nintendo Carts

Posted by Sega Dude on January 30, 2018

Posted in: Collection New Additions, Genesis (North America), Hardware, NES, Nintendo, SEGA, Sega Master System, SNES. Tagged: genesis, joystick, master system, Mega Man 6, NES, nintendo, power adapter, sega, snes, TMNT, Turtles in Time. 5 Comments

On June 2017 I purchased a nice boxed Sega Master System on my local classifieds (Kijiji.ca) for $100 CAD (~$80 USD). It was almost complete with just two manuals and the console power adapter missing.

It didn’t take long to find the missing manuals but I was concerned that finding an original Master System power adapter could be much harder. But while searching my local online classifieds again more recently I got lucky.

Not crazy lucky, just normal lucky. I found a post that said something like ‘Misc Sega Cables’. I had a closer look and I saw that this seller was offering 1 Sega Genesis Model 1 power adapter, 1 Sega Master System power adapter, 1 3-button joystick and 1 expansion port cover for a Model 1 Sega Genesis. Asking $45 CAD (~$37 USD) for all.

What struck me as pretty amazing is that I had use for every item included. I have a Master System without a power cable and a Genesis which is missing it’s power cable and the expansion port cover. …OK, I don’t really need the joystick but you can never have too many joysticks on hand.

I clicked on the sellers location with the intention of heading over as soon as I could only to discover the seller was in a neighboring province and not at all close to my home city. Looks like my search was too broad!

But this little misc. bundle felt too well matched to my needs to just let go. So I messaged the seller asking if they would take $50 CAD (~$40 USD) and ship to me. They agreed and below is what I received:

Yeah, they look a little banged up but that is normal. I spent some time removing some thick tape residue and dirt and I was left with some pretty nice looking hardware.

The joystick still has some missing details; like some of the white arrows around the Directional-Pad have been rubbed away and there are scratches that don’t show in the photo. I did test the joystick and it works very well and that’s what matters most. I was pulling of Revenge of Shinobi double jumps like a champ! I am curious to try some plastic polish and see if that might be an easy way to really clean up old joysticks and consoles.

Of course I also tested the power adapters and they both work. It was gratifying putting that power cable into the box and making my 2nd Boxed Master System 100% complete!

OK, technically it’s not totally complete. I had a peek in the manual and Sega did not skimp on video connection accessories. Hidden from site under HangOn & Safari Hunt (Pictured below) I do have the very common Coaxial RF Audio/Video cable but originally Sega also included a Composite Audio / Video cable, and two small adapters to help connect your Master System to your TV’s UHF connectors. Composite is not a great video standard to use but it’s beats the RF and UHF so I should find a Composite cable for the box someday. But as is, this boxed Sega Master System has everything required to connect to to a CRT (Tube) TV and play. So of the $50 CAD spent I’m going to say each power brick is worth $20, the joystick $10 and the expansion port cover nothing. Which means I’ve put $120 CAD (~$97 USD) into this boxed Sega Master System. Check out my first post about this boxed SMS here for more details and pictures.

I totally love that this Sega Master System power cable found it’s way home; once again nestled gently in original Styrofoam packaging.

Next up, I went over to my friends house to buy a few games and to continue to chip away at the few remaining NES and SNES games that I would like to have. This buddy of mine regularly buys large lots of games, takes what he wants and sells the rest. And over the years I’ve picked up quite a few games from him.

First up, is Mega Man 6 for NES. Leaving only Mega Man 1 and 5 on my hit list. I have been told that 1 & 5 are typically the most expensive Mega Man games.

The only other game I scooped this time is TMNT Turtles IV Turtles in Time. I love a good brawler and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are always a good time.