Hock Shop Madness: More Zelda and Some Pokemon!

First and foremost, happy Canada Day! Right now it’s raining where I live, but I’m hoping that the weather clears up for the fireworks display later this evening.  There’s nothing quite like watching fireworks over a beautiful lake.  Onwards!

A few years ago, I bought my boyfriend a WiiU for his birthday.  We had the option of a free download at the time, and the choice was between The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, a Metroid game, and something else that I can’t recall at the moment.  I had excitedly pressed for Wind Waker since it was one of the Zelda games I had never owned or played.  After downloading it, I blissfully played through over half the game before having to put it down earlier this year to concentrate on work and other commitments.  I’ve recently developed an interest in collecting GameCube games.  Because I already owned Wind Waker in virtual form, I wasn’t itching to buy it, but thought that if I came across it for the right price and in great condition that I might consider it.  I had seen it come and go on buy and sell sites and locally in hock shops, but it was always too expensive or was not complete/in poor condition.  There was one copy of it that I had kept my eyes on over the course of a few months: a local hock shop had a copy for the price of $35 with a beautiful manual and the game’s Nintendo Power subscription insert.  I decided to bite the bullet the other day and asked the store’s owner if he’d take $30 for the game, and he agreed.  Dealing with him was a nice change.  I’ve normally dealt with one of his regular employees, and she is literally the angriest looking lady I’ve ever seen.  Her actual personality matches her grumpy exterior, and she has been extremely unpleasant to deal with in the past.  I was pleased to be dealing with someone other than her, and he gave me a deal.  Go figure!  I will vehemently avoid buying from the store when she is working in the future.

I wonder if I can still order this T-shirt.  It looks pretty cool.  I’d also like to know what they meant by, “get in the pink” in their opening line in their little blurb there.  It sounds a little nasty to me.

In other news, my boyfriend and I were driving through downtown the other day and saw a Pikachu doll peeking out of one of the store windows.  Intrigued, we pulled over and walked into the store to find that it was a brand new venue that would soon be filled with nerdy things.  We met a pleasant, shy man who told us he was just getting started with his retro-everything business.  He had a small inventory consisting mostly of comics and Magic cards, but he had two retro games: Total Carnage for SNES, and a copy of Pokemon Ruby.  I had no interest in spending $45 on that particular SNES game, so I inquired about his Pokemon game.  He said he wasn’t sure if it saved or not, but to support his venture, I decided to pick it up.  I already own a copy of Pokemon Sapphire that came in a lot of Game Boy games I got ages ago, but for $20, I felt good about helping this guy get going.  The game still saves, but the battery won’t keep track of time in the game. Here’s a photo of new Ruby, old Sapphire, and my Game Boy Advance SP.

I’d also like to mention that one of my favourite things I like to do after picking up a used game is check out the names on the save files.  Not only does it let me know that the game can indeed save, but it sometimes renders a kind of hilariousness that is pretty unique.  I always put some thought and planning into what I’m going to call myself in a game.  I feel it’s a personal and intimate decision, and I find myself using nicknames or terms of endearment that not everyone I know would normally know about.  In this case, I was tickled to find the save file named “Dr. Ass”.  I wonder if there is a Namingway-esque character in this game that can change your name for you if you have regrets later.

Well, I suppose I should go and figure out a backup plan in case this rain doesn’t stop tonight.  Have a safe and lovely day, everyone!

Thanks for reading!

-GG