Moving Sale

Once in a while, great shops come and go.  One of my favourite local shops was at risk of picking up and skipping town, but I was very grateful to hear that they found a new home for their storefront within city limits.  As a result of the move, the store is being forced to massively downsize, which meant for a huge liquidation of much of their stock, video games included.  All of the games/gaming accessories were half price, and we definitely made out pretty well on a few games I’ve been wanting to buy, but never wanted to pay his prices for.  The store-owner’s son bought up all his NES and Sega games, but I had picked over most of those in the recent past anyway.  Here are some of the games I got for screamin’ deals!  I love discounts!

The first were some Sega CD games.  Unfortunately the discs for all three games are pretty beaten up, but for a few dollars, I didn’t see a risk in buying them and trying to get them resurfaced at some point.  We already have a copy of Sewer Shark, but the Sega Classics and the Ecco game are both new to us.  Hopefully the resurfacing will restore them to a useable condition.  You can never go wrong with Sega CD games, though some of the ones I acquired recently just don’t work.  Deterioration of disc media is something I’m really nervous about when collecting disc games, but thankfully many of the disc-based systems I own are modded to play burnt discs, or do so without requiring a mod (Sega CD, Dreamcast, etc.)

This copy of Dragon Age II is something I had been eyeballing at the store for months.  I’ve never seen it anywhere for less than $10, and this copy had been no different until the sale.  It was half price at $5, so I snagged it.  Unlike the Sega CD games above, this one is in nearly perfect condition and game with all its goodies inside.  I’ve played through the first game and liked it quite a bit (thinking of you, LightningEllen), so I am pretty excited to finally add the second game to the collection.  I’ve heard it’s not as good as the first, but heck – I can bring my Grey Warden into this next world now if I want to!

It was apparently LightningEllen day at the store because I also got my hands on Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Lightning Returns.  These, along with the Star Ocean game were also only $5 each.  I almost passed on XIII-2 because it didn’t have its manual, but for the price, I couldn’t say no.  These discs were also in excellent condition.

Another PS3 game I stumbled upon was Tales of Xillia in its Limited Edition form.  I’ve always been interested in collecting this series and have a reproduction of Tales of Phantasia for SNES as well as the GBA version, and Tales of Symphonia for GameCube.  The Limited Edition of Xillia was $10 after the discount was applied, so I figured I’d bite the bullet and go for it.  My tiny PS3 collection is slowly expanding.

This copy of Final Fantasy II for PSP was calling my name!  It’s one of the loathed games of the series, but I have a soft spot for the underdog in this case.  It’s good!  It’s a fresh take on the typical for turn-based RPGs, and if I can love something as punishing as Miracle Warriors, FFII is like an angel descending from the clouds.  I’ve never gotten around to finishing this one, but it’s something I’d like to play through again from the  beginning one of these days.  I’ve got the Final Fantasy Origins compilation for PS1, but I’d like to see what changes were made for the PSP.  I was thinking of CheapBossAttack when I found the Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions game just sitting there in one of the huge game stacks.  It’s apparently quite good from what I’ve heard, and though I’ve only ever dabbled in one tactical RPG (Warlocked for Game Boy), I think this game will be really good.  These were also $5 each.

Taito Legends 2 with its adorable Bub (or Bob?) on the front was like a siren in the rocks.  This collection has lots of great arcade games of old, many of which I do not have for another system at this point in time.  I love compilations like this – the Sega Genesis collections are some others I would like to own for various consoles.  Though there are three different Space Invaders games on this disc, the rest of the games look pretty great (Rastan 2, anyone?)

Another PS2 game I actually had to go back for on another day was Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits.  I don’t own any of the earlier Arc the Lad games, though I’m hoping to get my hands on them eventually.  Two summers ago someone was selling the PS1 collector’s edition but wanted something heinous like $200, so I passed.  I know the series to be interesting and held in generally positive ranks, so I couldn’t stop thinking about this later installment when I had passed on it the first time.  I’m glad I went back for it since the disc and book were nearly perfect.

I never like to pass up on boxed Atari or Intellivision games, especially in this condition.  I already had a copy of Frog Bog loose, but this game box and its contents look practically untouched.  The controller overlays are immaculate, and the game looks as if it’s never been inserted into a system at all.  It was refreshing to see this since many of the boxed games I own for these older systems are quite beat up.  Also, I love the cover art of this game.  Someone really put a lot of effort into making it realistic!

There were a fewMagnavox Odyssey 2 games on the shelves as well, without manuals, and I grabbed them before another person looking at that shelf did.  Since I was trying to move quickly to maximize my purchase potential (the store was flooded with people!) I didn’t take too much time to look at the titles.  Unfortunately these are two of the same five games we already own for the Odyssey 2, but maybe I can pass them on to someone that wants them!

It was strange to find an Atari Lynx game tucked away in the shop.  It was high up on a shelf behind the cash, and even though I’d scanned those shelves hundreds of times, it’s a game I never seemed to see before now.  We don’t own a Lynx, but given the condition of the box/game/instructions, it was another thing I wanted to pick up for the future, or to maybe pass along to someone that really wants it.  This is the first example of a game that I’ve personally seen with a poster for an instruction manual.  I love the art style of the panels.

Lastly, we got a Game Gear Game Genie!  This was right after I watched the AVGN’s Game Boy Accessories video and was surprised to see the GG version sitting around in the emptied Nintendo cabinet.  It had the super tiny codebook in a super tiny compartment in the back of the unit, so it was a no-brainer to pick it up.  By the time I found this, I had a huge stack of games and I kept almost dropping the Mickey Mouse game, so I put it into the Game Genie for safe keeping.  I think we accidentally got the game for free since I forgot I had stuck it in there until after we got home.  I figure when the owners have moved, I just won’t haggle with them sometime and pay an extra few dollars to make up for it.  If I am remembering correctly, this contraption only cost us $10.

Sometimes you just happen to stumble upon these kinds of deals, and boy do I ever appreciate a discount when it comes around!  I’m sorry for the slow posting rate these days, but there’s just not much out there.  I scour the classifieds several times a day, and people just aren’t posting as much anymore!  Do not fear.  My collecting quest is far from over 🙂

Hope you’re off to a great weekend!  Thanks for reading!

-GG