Two Months Worth of Game Hunting

It’s always quite shocking to me when I come back to write up a post and realize it has been several months since the last one.  I knew things had slowed down but I didn’t realize quite how much they had slowed!  Anyway, I’ve finally managed to amass enough games to put a post together.  I had been hopeful toward the end of summer that I’d be able to make it out to a few swaps in the fall, but one of the ones that we normally go to didn’t run this year.  That left me mostly at the mercy of classifieds and the occasional eBay purchase or thrift store perusal, but nonetheless, here are some things I tracked down over the past couple of months.

If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you’ll already know that I’m an enormous fan of the Master System.  Even though I only discovered the platform a few years ago, it has quickly become very near and dear to me and I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to buy a boxed system, especially not for $100.  Before buying this, I wasn’t really aware that there were many, many iterations of this console released in the US and Canada, and this particular model was one of the first released in Canada, specifically.  It comes with controllers where the cord comes out of the side rather than the top, but nonetheless, I’m glad to have it.  The box itself is a little beat up at the enclosure, but overall, everything else was pretty well maintained.  The only problems I ran into so far were needing to clean some of the “melted”(?) styrofoam off of some of the wires. The rest of the items cleaned up quite nicely.  I’m pretty sure that the weird backwards joystick shown in the photo didn’t come with this system, and I’m not sure what the missing item might be.  The space does look pretty perfect for a game box.

Next up is a handheld console: a Game Gear! I’ve never had one of my own before, and although this one looks just fine from the front, there are some issues with the battery door and a bit of cracking in one of the corners.  Though it’s not in the greatest shape, I got it for $10 with the hopes of maybe sending it away to be modified at some point for A/V out so I can stream with it.  There are a few people online that can do the mod, but I’m secretly hoping my boyfriend might be able to try it out himself.  I’ve heard it’s a tough procedure, so I’ll start shopping around soon to see who is performing such duties out in the world just in case a home job doesn’t work out.

Onto some games! I did track down a few Game Boy / Game Boy Colour games in the last little while, and one of those is Cosmo Tank.  I first heard about this game from a YouTube video and decided to explore it a bit further.  Even though the ad listed an English copy of the game unfortunately the seller sent me a copy of the Japanese version instead.  I’ve heard that it’s still very playable regardless, so I didn’t bother trying to send it back.  Mario Tennis was also something I had been wanting to find given that some of the Mario Golf or Tennis games sometimes come along with an RPG-inspired single player mode.  I tried it out for a few minutes and had my ass handed to me, so I definitely think I need some practice!  Last but certainly not least here is Mega Man V!  In a previous post, I was complaining about an overpriced copy of the game for $119 + 13% sales tax at a local thrift store. I amazingly bought this one for $70. It’s still more than I wanted to spend, but this is only the second time I’ve seen this game ever and decided to strike while the iron was hot.

Getsu Fuuma Den is a Famicom game that is filled with a play style along the lines of something like SpellCaster’s action sequences: a sidescrolling platformer.  Though this game was touted to be English-friendly from a friend online, I’m not so sure that I’ll be able to play it without using some sort of guide.  It was extremely cheap at around $5 shipped from eBay, and low prices tend to be the trend for Japanese games for the most part.  At the very least, the label art rocks!  Am I allowed to still say “rocks” or does that make me sound too much like a 90s kid?  All I know is that I get a ThunderCats vibe from it, and that makes me happy.

Tucked away on a thrift shop shelf among many, many sports games, I happened to find Wario Ware: Smooth Moves for the Wii.  This game was an absolute steal at $2, and it’s in near perfect condition.  There is no sign of a single scratch on the disc, and the manual and registration card are crisp and minty.  I’ve been assured that Wario games are a lot of fun, and if it’s anything like the other Wario games, I’m sure it’ll be a good time.  I’m still feeling traumatized from one of the mini games in Wario Ware for the GBA where you spray a tiny, smiling brown star with what can only be a portable bidet…

I’ve always been a fan of Mickey Mouse games, with my first love being Word of Illusion on the Sega Genesis.  Since I didn’t grow up with an SNES, I missed out on all the Mickey Mouse games for the system.  I’m happy I stumbled upon an ad for The Magical Quest Starring Mickey Mouse, a game that has received relatively positive reviews as far as I can tell.  I love fantasy worlds and when a world is revolving around some of my favourite cartoon characters, things only get better and better.  I’m looking forward to this one!

Speaking of the Genesis, I found some games for that system at a pretty good deal as well.  The first is X-Men, which came with its case and manual.  The manual seems to have gotten wet at some point and the game also seems to smell a little bit like laundry detergent.  This seems to be a common theme for games I’ve picked up.  They’re either filthy and damp-smelling, or they smell like laundry.  Where do you guys store your games?  I’m genuinely curious!  Either way, X-Men is supposed to be pretty decent and the rest of the game was in fairly good shape.  Sadly, there was no poster inside. No maps or hints for me!

A second set of games we picked up for the Genesis were The Ooze and Mutant League Hockey.  I had never heard of The Ooze previous to purchase, but a friend of mine did a brief review of Mutant League Hockey that sold me on the game.  I don’t normally tend toward sports games, but this one looks like too much fun to pass up.  You can likely tell from the photo below that the game’s art has been sun bleached, but I’ll let you in on a secret: I got this game for $15!  The guy who sold these things to me also sold me Mega Man V and he decided to let me have first pick of some of his collection he was parting ways with.  Mutant League Hockey usually goes for much more money, but he knew it was going to a good home and didn’t mind selling it to me for much less than regular asking price.  I’m pretty grateful for this!

And last but not least are some NES games!  I’ve expanded my NES library quite a bit in the last little while because of a certain streamer I’ve been watching, The ReNesance. He has a penchant for puzzle platformers, and Milon’s Secret Castle is a game I think I might be able to manage after watching him play through it.  He also played NES Open Tournament Golf lately, and that was a game I had never really looked at seriously before.  Both of those games were $10 each.  And I’m sure you’re not truly believing your eyes, but I finally, finally managed to track down Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom!  I used some eBay bucks and a promotional code to snag this one, and though it’s still more than I wanted to spend on the game at $100, the game is in really, really nice shape.  I’m happy to finally put the search for Princess Tomato to rest.

So given that winter is pretty much in full swing out this way and highway conditions have quickly deteriorated for travel, I’m going to continue to rely heavily on classifieds ads for most of my game hunting.  Wish me luck!  I hope your game-hunting and game-playing adventures are going smoothly.

As always, thank you for reading.

-GG