The Retro Gods Giveth – Kirby, Yoshi and The Simpsons

The N64 console is not something I grew up playing, so I don’t have a lot of nostalgic attachment to it or its games, but I know that the system did have some successful installments in big-name franchises that I’m familiar with like Zelda, Super Mario, Kirby, etc.  When I’m scouring shelves in thrift stores or hock shops, it’s those games that stand out to me the most.  Our N64 collection is quite small compared to what we have amassed for the other early Nintendo systems, but unlike a lot of collectors, we only collect games that we’ll actually want to play at some point.  I am not interested in owning entire libraries of games or “shelf pieces”.  I only want to own games that I’ll play.

Recently, I came across Yoshi’s Story and Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards in a hock shop.  Given how much I like the earlier Kirby games and Yoshi’s Island for SNES, it was an easy decision to pick up both.  This was one of my first impulse buys in a while.  I normally research games in advance and at least know the approximate going rate for them online before jumping in.  There’s nothing that bugs me more than getting home and seeing that I got gouged on a price for a game.  For example, I’m still feeling bitter about trading too many games for my bad label copy of Earthbound.  At least in this case, although I’m pretty sure I overpaid a little (both cost me $40 and are filthy as sin, though it doesn’t show much in the photo), I was content with the purchase.  The guy I bought from is someone I normally haggle with, so once in a while I feel like I should try to throw him a bone and respect his pricing.  Here’s a photo of both games!

Today I got a nice tip from a friend that works at the thrift store telling me that there were some boxed NES games there.  We hurried over and saw four of them in the glass case.  One was some weird basketball game I had never heard of, and another was Skull & Crossbones.  The latter is a horrible action adventure game that focuses on some pirate folk.  I’ve watched a review on it before and it seemed ridiculously difficult, so we passed on both of those.  Of interest to me was a boxed copy of Kirby’s Adventure and a boxed copy of The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants.  The Kirby game didn’t come with its manual, but with the swap coming up soon, I feel confident I can find one there for $5.  The Simpsons game came complete with all its parts, which I was pretty happy about.  My childhood neighbour owned the game and I haven’t had a chance to play it in years.  I can’t wait to put on my x-ray specs and look for some aliens!  We got the Kirby game for $30, and the Simpsons game for $25.  Here’s a shot of our findings:

Both games are in absolutely excellent shape.  There is virtually no wear at all on each of the boxes, and the game labels are in pristine condition.  It’s really nice to find games that have been well taken care of!

I would love to play something tonight, but my boyfriend is obsessed with Neo Turf Masters!  I can’t seem to sneak in even for a brief moment to take over the Nerd Room for myself.  Hopefully I’ll at least be able to test these four beauties before putting them to rest on the shelves.

Have a lovely evening, and thanks for reading.

-GG