I’ve had one of the busiest Septembers I can remember in a long while. I wish I could say that it has been one of the busiest with respect to finding some new (used) games, but alas… this was not the case. I am sad to report that a spontaneous and highly inconvenient onset of the common cold kept my boyfriend and I from travelling to a swap this month. I was really, really sad about that. The swap we missed was a repeat of an event from earlier this year that we both had an amazing time at. To add more insult to injury, it was the second last swap of the year that we were planning to attend. The very last swap of the year for us is next month and I’m less than excited for it. We went last year it was hands down the worst game exchange experience I’ve had to date. I could rant away about why it was a negative experience, but I’ll spare you all.
Despite a general game-finding slump, I have had a little bit of luck tracking down a few interesting things. The first that I found was a PSP for $15 at the thrift store. It has a tiny crack at the top left corner of the screen (you can see this in the photo below) but came with a screen protector and its charging cord. The handheld had also been tested before being put out on the sales floor, but it didn’t come with any games at all.
One game that I’m really interested in picking up (maybe for the PSP) is Innocent Life: A Futuristic Harvest Moon. With the recent reawakening of my Harvest Moon obsession (you can thank the actual September Harvest Moon and my playthrough of Spring in Harvest Moon 64 for that…), I am just itching to get my hands on more farming fun! I am debating between the PSP and PS2 versions, though. Does anyone have any recommendations for good PSP games? I’m totally in the dark here and will appreciate any help I can get, as always!
I also managed to get my hands on Actraiser and Actraiser 2 for the SNES. Funnily enough, I saw these games in town at a pawn shop about a month ago and scoffed at the (what I thought to be outrageous) prices of both games. When I travelled to the last swap, the prices for those games were even steeper there. I spent a long time debating whether or not to buy from this particular pawn shop because I’m not a fan of the owner. The few times I’ve tried to negotiate with him, he has told me that if I don’t want to pay his price that someone else will (great sales tactics, eh?) When I finally decided to bite the bullet and try to haggle with this guy, I lucked out and dealt with a different salesperson altogether. He actually dropped the price for me and waived the taxes! I got both games for $60, and they’re both in top condition. Actraiser 2’s label looks a little gooey right now but after slightly fading a label trying to remove goo in the past, I’m inclined to leave it for the time being!
I don’t know why I’m so bad at doing my research lately, but I was under the impression that Actraiser 2 would have all the same gameplay elements as Actraiser: side-scrolling platforming sections as well as a city builder component. Although the platforming stages seem fun and lovely to look at, the city building/RPG aspect was what I was really interested in with these games. Much to my dismay, Actraiser 2 got rid of all the city building and just has more of the platforming with some added bells and whistles. It still looks fun and I don’t regret buying it, but it’s definitely not at the top of my list to get into for the moment.
Among other discoveries were an unmodded Xbox for $10 without cords, two modded Xboxes with cords/controllers for $50 (these will make some mighty fine Christmas gifts), and a GameCube memory card for a screamin’ deal of $5. You can never have too many memory cards! That about sums it up, though.
I am also hoping to post soon about our successful quest to obtain a Broadcast Video Monitor (BVM, which I always want to call Brofessional Video Monitor in my head.) It’s always been my boyfriend’s dream to build an arcade machine, and our latest acquisition has allowed this to come to fruition. I will try to pry his “in progress” photos away from him and post something about that soon. We are really excited about it!
I hope all is well for you all. Thanks for reading!
-GG
hungrygoriya 
Ooh nice! I would so get a PSP at that price, so you really lucked out! ActRaiser and its sequel are also great finds! I haven’t played the second one, so again, lucky! Although, being sick isn’t so lucky so I hope you’re feeling better!
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Thank you! I’m definitely on the mend now. I still sound a little sick, but I don’t feel like I’ve been hit in the head with a sack of bricks. Hooray!
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You always find such cool stuff!
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Thank you! I guess my city is just rampant with people purging old video game hardware and games.
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You beat me again. I was looking to a PSP too but it’s impossible to find here such great deals. It’s wonderful your boyfriend planned to build an arcade machine and I look forward to see some pictures!
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That $15 for a PSP is a great deal especially with the cord and protector! The crack doesn’t look too bad, but this is coming from someone who’s had a severely cracked iPhone for like two years now so relatively speaking lol. Still a great find! The only games I ever played for the PSP were FFVII: Crisis Core and Final Fantasy IV. The former is the reason I bought it. I didn’t finish the game though because the voice acting of a later introduced character was so awful I couldn’t get past it. FFIV’s remake for the PSP is really nice. I had the version with the Interlude and the After Years (though I think that’s what the remake comes with). It’s significantly easier than the original, which I need to level up to beat.
I adored the first Actraiser and also had no idea the second was so different! I loved the world building aspects of the original, and the side scrolling platforming was a nice balance between that. Hopefully, you’ll still enjoy II.
Being sick is no fun. I blame the shift in the weather. I’ve been sniffling and sneezing a lot more, which may be due to allergies more than anything else.
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Ohhh thank you so much for the recommendations. I knew there was an FFVII-related game but I couldn’t for the life of me remember its name! I need to play FFVII first, though! I’m also glad that I can continue to grow my love for FFIV. I can’t seem to get enough of that game!
I’m looking forward to Actraiser for sure, and I hope I can learn to love Actraiser 2. I like a lot of games that involve some aspect of running and killing things, but I like them to have some kind of RPG elements too (like Faxanadu, for example!) I’ll live.
I’m feeling much better now. I truly hope your allergies have settled down!
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Definitely play FFVII first! There’s a version that you can modify tot have “better” graphic, but I’d recommend playing the original with the polygons that are of course outdated. Once I get used to it it doesn’t even bother me. I hope you won’t have the same issues I did with CC. I loved that they delved into Sephiroth’s backstory (Zack is cool, but my Seph!), but I really detested Aeris’s voice actress grrrr. I’ve ranted about that before so I won’t clog up your comment section with my spleen. I never finished or saw the ending to The After Years. Hopefully I’ll change that soon!
Faxanadu was one of my first RPGs and it’s how I got into watching Let’s Plays!
Mine are a bit better though I was sneezing a lot today. I don’t want to blame my cats, buuuuut I’m probably a little bit allergic to them. Not that it will matter. I love my cats more than I hate my allergies 🙂
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Nice finds! Common colds suck… I’m sorry it made you miss out on the swap event.
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Thanks for your kind words! I’m feeling much better now. We are trying to scope out any other swaps happening in the province before the snow settles in (I’m being a bit premature about the snow, but I’ve seen it on Halloween before, so I wouldn’t be surprised!)
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