What did you buy today?.........

[What did you buy today?.........]

On 6/15/2019 at 10:28 PM, HoshiChiri said:

 

 

Holy cow Solatorobo! Amazing pickup! 😮

[Do you foresee Limited Run Games' aftermarket prices going up or down?]

5 minutes ago, Zap! said:

Lol nice! I wish I could do the same, I want to open Ys and Night Trap so bad but just can't. Maybe I'll get duplicates...

 

I suppose it just comes down to whether or not you plan to ever resell them. If you can't see yourself ever parting with them then the amount of money the game is worth sealed versus opened and played doesn't really matter, because you won't be exchanging the game for money. Even if you do think you might resell them someday, sealed copies of Limited Run releases for the Switch only fetch $10 or $15 more than opened and played copies as far as I can tell from looking at eBay sold listings. At that point it just becomes a question of whether or not you think you'd get $10 or $15 worth of fun out of playing the games if you opened them and then decided to resell them later on; and devaluing your game by $10 or $15 would save you a lot more money in the long run than buying a duplicate copy to play if you ever decided to resell them.

[Do you foresee Limited Run Games' aftermarket prices going up or down?]

1 hour ago, Zap! said:

You opened it? 😮

 

And already beat it once! I didn't buy it to look pretty on the shelf. 

[Nintendo Direct recap from E3 2019]

Now that E3 is over and we've gotten some more timeframe details for upcoming releases, my Nintendo Switch new game pickup schedule for 2019 has shaped up to look like:

 

Raiden V: Director's Cut Limited Edition - July 25th 
New Super Lucky's Tale - 3rd Quarter 
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening - Sept 20th 
Alien: Isolation - 4th Quarter 
Luigi's Mansion 3 - 4th Quarter 
Night in the Woods (Limited Run) - 4th Quarter 
Doom: Eternal - Nov 22nd

 

My wallet is cringing and I don't think I'm going to have much (if anything) in the way of funds to devote to retro gaming for the rest of the year, especially considering that there's a few Limited Run Games and Strictly Limited Games titles that I missed at the time of their release and am trying to track down copies of for a reasonable price at the moment, but there's definitely a ton of Switch games coming down the pipeline that I'm looking forward to picking up and playing!

[Do you foresee Limited Run Games' aftermarket prices going up or down?]

One down, four to go! 

 

[Hi-Score Today]

It's been a while since I played any game for a high score, but I'm pretty happy with this one.

 

 

Raiden Trad (Sega Genesis, Default Settings, One Credit Clear): 1,422,050

 

 

[Do you foresee Limited Run Games' aftermarket prices going up or down?]

Thank you for all the thoughtful replies everyone! It definitely makes sense that some Limited Run releases will go down in price and others will go up based on the popularity of the games in question, and unfortunately it seems everything I'm looking for is fairly popular. I think I'll make it my collecting goal for this summer to try and track down copies of the ones I want that I missed out on at the time of their release, capping what I'm willing to pay at 2X the original release price and seeing how it goes.

 

On the upside of things, Best Buy got stock of Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon and my local stores do have it in stock for $30 (the same price as it was from LRG) so that seems like a good place to start my collecting efforts. I'll head out to Best Buy this weekend to pick up a copy.

 

In the future I'm definitely going to be marking Limited Run releases for games I want on my calendar and making sure to set aside the money for them in advance, since it sure beats the heck out of paying double or triple to scalpers on eBay later down the line. You live, you learn.

[Do you foresee Limited Run Games' aftermarket prices going up or down?]

I've had my Nintendo Switch for 5 months now and I'm starting to feel like it may very well be my favorite console that I've ever owned, and I'd like to get physical copies of as many of the games that I really enjoy playing on it as I can. Of course some of those games were only released on a physical cartridge by Limited Run Games and Strictly Limited Games. From the Limited Run releases I'd like to pick up Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon, Dust: An Elysian Tail, Outlast: Bundle of Terror & Outlast II and from Strictly Limited the only one I'm looking for is Fox 'N Forests.

 

In any case, every game I'd like to pick up from that little list was given a small print run and is no longer available from the manufacturer so eBay seems to be the only place to purchase them. With that in mind I've spent the last few days debating whether or not to pay the current going rate for these games on eBay (which tends to be between double and triple the original price from LRG/SRG) or wait and see if the aftermarket prices drop eventually, and I can't quite make up my mind.

 

So, where so you think the aftermarket prices for Limited Run Games' releases are going to go in the future? Would I be best off waiting to see if eBay prices go down eventually or should I just suck it up and pay the exorbitant asking prices for these games on eBay right now in case they only get more ridiculous in the future? I'd be interested in hearing you guys and gals' thoughts on the matter.

[Nintendo Direct recap from E3 2019]

For me the highlights of this E3 were a couple games shown briefly during the clip reel at the end of Nintendo's Direct presentation: New Super Lucky's Tale and Alien: Isolation.

 

New Super Lucky's Tale is an enhanced version of Super Lucky's Tale for the Xbox One (previously an Xbox exclusive) remade from the ground up just for the Switch with new content, new levels, and a 360° camera. The original Super Lucky's Tale is without a doubt my all time favorite 3D platformer so I'm beyond thrilled to see an enhanced version coming to the Switch, and on a physical cartridge no less!

 

 

 

As far as Alien: Isolation goes, well, if I had to pick a game to nominate for "best horror game of all time" this would certainly be the one. I'll be pre-ordering both New Super Lucky's Tale and Alien: Isolation as soon as pre-orders open up.

 

There's also the latest entry in my favorite first-person shooters series Doom: Eternal, a beautiful looking remake of my favorite Zelda game The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening , and Luigi's Mansion 3 (with the return of the awesomely adorable polterpup to boot!) that I plan to purchase day 1.

 

My wallet is crying, but I couldn't be happier with Nintendo's E3 this year! The two games that I so wanted to see ported to the Switch above all others, Super Lucky's Tale and Alien: Isolation, are both on the way and there's a heck of a lot more to look forward to as well!

[Any mature games coming to the Switch?]

Hey guys, just wanted to re-visit this as i'm playing through Resident Evil Revilations 2 for the second time.

 

I play on my break at work so though i do have a Xbone/PS4 now still looking for mature adventures for Switch.

 

Reccomendations for anything story driven, full 3D would be mucho appreciated.

 

Thanks!

 

There's Outlast 1 & 2 if you dig those style games, and I've read that Darkwood is quite good as well if you're looking for something with a bit more action.

[E3 2019: Xbox "Scarlett" Next-Gen Console Reveal Teased By Microsoft]

The thing that baffles me is that both Sony and Microsoft are touting 8K graphics at 120 frames per second on their new consoles coming out next year, but where are the televisions to support those kind of stats? There's not many TVs on the market that can handle 8K at 120 fps, and the ones that can cost $1,500+. So are Sony and Microsoft both counting on their entire player base running out and spending $2,000 or more on a new system and a new TV to play it on? I don't think the majority of gamers have that kinda money to burn.

[What have you ACTUALLY played tracker - Modern Edition (2019)]

It was an especially awesome week for gaming around here this past week, since I finally completed the project I've been working on for the past 4 months and rebuilt our old Sega Genesis Model 2 / Sega CD / 32X setup! In all the years that I've been buying and selling retro game systems I only ever regretted selling two things: My original Game Boy (which I got back earlier this year) and my Sega Genesis trifecta. Now that I've got them both back I'm feeling pretty darn content!




Ineligible
Raiden Trad (Sega Genesis) - 69 minutes
Resident Evil: Director's Cut (Sony PlayStation) - 318 minutes
Sonic CD (Sega CD) - 417 minutes
Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega Genesis) - 136 minutes

Game Boy Advance
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow - 129 minutes
Sonic Advance 3 - 86 minutes


Total Video Game Play Time This Week
1,155 minutes (19 hours 15 minutes) [215 minutes eligible]

Individual System Play Times This Week
Sega CD: 417 minutes
Sony PlayStation: 318 minutes
Game Boy Advance: 215 minutes
Sega Genesis: 205 minutes

[What have you actually PLAYED tracker for 2019 (Season 12)]

It was an especially awesome week for gaming around here this past week, since I finally completed the project I've been working on for the past 4 months and rebuilt our old Sega Genesis Model 2 / Sega CD / 32X setup! In all the years that I've been buying and selling retro game systems I only ever regretted selling two things: My original Game Boy (which I got back earlier this year) and my Sega Genesis trifecta. Now that I've got them both back I'm feeling pretty darn content!





Ineligible
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (Game Boy Advance) - 129 minutes
Sonic Advance 3 (Game Boy Advance) - 86 minutes

Sega CD
Sonic CD - 417 minutes

Sega Genesis
Raiden Trad - 69 minutes
Sonic the Hedgehog - 136 minutes

Sony PlayStation
Resident Evil: Director's Cut - 318 minutes


Total Video Game Play Time This Week
1,155 minutes (19 hours 15 minutes) [940 minutes eligible]

Individual System Play Times This Week
Sega CD: 417 minutes
Sony PlayStation: 318 minutes
Game Boy Advance: 215 minutes
Sega Genesis: 205 minutes

[Show me your Genesis!]

My new Genesis Model 2 VA 4 / 32X / Sega CD setup that I put together over the last 4 months. Apparently you can still find mint condition hardware for reasonable prices these days.

 

 

 

Plus my trusty old Model 1 High-Def VA6 and my various Genesis controllers.

 

 

[What did you buy today?.........]

Today I accomplished a goal that I've been working on for the last 4 months, and made the last major hardware purchase that I'll be making for the foreseeable future.

 

 

 

The Sega CD did need some minor internal work, but nothing too major. Just cleaning the old dried up grease out of the gears that drive the laser assembly, regreasing them with a little white lithium grease, then desoldering the old ML2016 save battery that wasn't working anymore and soldering in a new one. Pretty simple stuff all around, and the Sega CD works beautifully now.

 

Combine that with the Genesis Model 2 Rev. VA4 that I picked up back in March:

 

And the 32X that I scored last month:

Annnnnd...

 

 

Sega's 16-bit marvel is complete! In all the years that I've been buying and selling retro game systems I only ever regretted selling two things: My original Game Boy (which I got back earlier this year) and my Sega Genesis Model 2 / Sega CD / 32X setup. Now that I've got them both back I'm feeling pretty darn content, with my only remaining hardware wants being a Master System Converter II adapter to also play Sega Master System games on the Genesis setup and some HD Retrovision Genesis component cables to get the best picture quality out of everything. There's no rush on those though and neither are going to break the bank, so for now I'm just happy to have my Sega Clusterf**k back together!

[New Hyperkin Ultra Retron 64 coming ...]

I'd be thankful to just see Sega/Retrobit's resurrection of the Sega Nomad become a reality.

 

Nintendo, as we know, is a totally different animal.

I said the exact same thing when I saw this lol Where that Nomad at!?

[NEW Sega MD/Genesis Mini advert]

 

These (non-functioning, yet awesome) add-ons have been announced for Japan at JPY 3,980.

No Sonic 3 & Knuckles on the game list and yet they're releasing a little plastic non-functional Sonic & Knuckles lock-on cart for the system. Sega is just taunting us now

[What have you ACTUALLY played tracker - Modern Edition (2019)]

Ineligible
Fantasy Zone (Sega Master System, emulated on EverDrive GBA X5) - 17 minutes
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Sega Game Gear, emulated on EverDrive GBA X5) - 23 minutes
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Sega Genesis) - 184 minutes

Game Boy Advance
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (Game Boy Advance) - 833 minutes
Castlevania: Circle of the Moon (Game Boy Advance) - 228 minutes
Sonic Advance 2 (Game Boy Advance) - 161 minutes


Total Video Game Play Time This Week
1,446 minutes (24 hours 6 minutes) [1,222 minutes eligible]

Individual System Play Times This Week
Game Boy Advance: 1,222 minutes
Sega Genesis: 184 minutes
Sega Game Gear: 23 minutes
Sega Master System: 17 minutes

[What have you actually PLAYED tracker for 2019 (Season 12)]

I somehow managed to forget that it was Monday for most of the day, but better late than never!


Ineligible
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (Game Boy Advance) - 833 minutes
Castlevania: Circle of the Moon (Game Boy Advance) - 228 minutes
Sonic Advance 2 (Game Boy Advance) - 161 minutes

Sega Game Gear
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Emulated on EverDrive GBA X5) - 23 minutes

Sega Genesis
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 - 184 minutes

Sega Master System
Fantasy Zone (Emulated on EverDrive GBA X5) - 17 minutes


Total Video Game Play Time This Week
1,446 minutes (24 hours 6 minutes) [224 minutes eligible]

Individual System Play Times This Week
Game Boy Advance: 1,222 minutes
Sega Genesis: 184 minutes
Sega Game Gear: 23 minutes
Sega Master System: 17 minutes

[What did you buy today?.........]

It's been a while since I posted any gaming pickups, so here's my one big purchase from last month. A nice Sega 32X starter set!

 

[NEW Sega MD/Genesis Mini advert]

The reveal date for the final 10 Sega Genesis / Mega Drive Mini games has been announced, June 4th. With the reveal less than a week away, what games would you guys and gals like to see on the list that haven't been included yet?

 

I feel like Sega has done a really amazing job licensing almost all the most popular and quite a few "hidden gem" games for the Genesis Mini, but personally there are still 5 games that I'd love to see make the North American game list:

 

Crusader of Centy

Mortal Kombat

M.U.S.H.A.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3

Sonic & Knuckles

 

Of the 5 I'm hoping for M.U.S.H.A. has already been confirmed for the Japanese Mega Drive list but has been absent from the US game list thus far, so I feel that it's not likely we'll see that one stateside. Sonic 3 & Knuckles has always been my favorite Sonic game so I'd be thrilled to see it make the list, but for some reason (music licensing issues or otherwise) those two games have been absent from most of Sega's recent Genesis compilation releases so I'm not holding out a ton of hope for them being on the Genesis Mini.

 

The original Mortal Kombat was a real system seller for many 90's kids and was the main reason I talked my parents into getting a Genesis instead of a Super Nintendo back in 1993, but given that it would probably earn the Genesis Mini an M rating from the ESRB and limit sales potential I don't imagine Mortal Kombat will make the cut either; which pretty much just leaves Crusader of Centy as the only reasonably plausible addition from my wants list.

 

How about you folks? What games are you still hoping to see make the final 10 games list?

[Things you dislike about CV: Symphony of the Night]

The inverted castle blew my mind. Especially since I thought I was finishing the game. It didn't feel like backtracking to me, but rather an interesting way to make the game richer. They did change enemies and bosses if I remember correctly.

In fact I suspect it may be another map altogether, but they created it by inverting the original one. Not sure. What I mean is that it's not some lazy programming trick, they visibly put effort in it.

The only other time I was so pleasantly suprised was Infinite Space. I didnt know from reviews the game was so much longer than it seemed.

Same here, the inverted castle is one of my favorite parts of the game on account of all the new enemies, weapons, and armor to find. Another game that blew my mind in the same kinda way was Ōkami. Just when I thought I had beaten the game the developers were like, "Nope! That was only half the story, now it's time for part two." A very good thing in my opinion, since I really didn't want the game to be over yet.

[Things you dislike about CV: Symphony of the Night]

Nothing.

Having had two years to reflect on the subject, there are actually two things I dislike about Symphony of the Night.

 

1. It's bloody expensive. Even the Greatest Hits release on the PlayStation is going for $64 and up right now.

 

2. It hasn't been ported to the Nintendo Switch yet.

 

 

Other than that, no complaints. It's still my favorite game in the entire Castlevania series and I feel like no other Castlevania game has ever managed to top it's aesthetic, pacing, character design, difficulty curve, soundtrack, story and any other details I might have forgotten to mention. It's just the perfect Castlevania game in my opinion, and I sure need to get another copy someday since my last one was lost in a big unemployment collection purge many years ago.

 

 

Castlevania III is still my favorite, and I'd hoped SOTN's focus on Alucard meant a return to CV3 from the 16-bit games on genesis/snes that I didn't care as much for.

Have you played Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon yet? Because if you haven't then it's the Castlevania III sequel you've waited all these years for.

[What have you ACTUALLY played tracker - Modern Edition (2019)]

Way to go on the absolutely enormous gaming time this past week Wongojack! That's like, what, 9 hours plus of Morrowind every single day!? Bonkers! Our gaming routine has started to get back to normal around here this past week, with quite a bit of time logged on both myself and the misses' parts.

 

Ineligible

Castlevania (NES, played on Classic NES Series: Castlevania for Game Boy Advance) - 50 minutes

Panorama Cotton (Sega Genesis, English Fan Translation, emulated on Nintendo Wii) - 166 minutes

Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega Game Gear, emulated on EverDrive GBA X5) - 226 minutes

 

Game Boy Advance
Castlevania: Circle of the Moon - 202 minutes
Metroid: Zero Mission - 282 minutes
Sonic Advance 2 - 90 minutes
Sonic Pinball Party - 122 minutes

 

 

Total Video Game Play Time This Week

1,138 minutes (18 hours 58 minutes) [696 minutes eligible]

Individual System Play Times This Week
Game Boy Advance: 696 minutes
Sega Game Gear: 226 minutes
Sega Genesis: 166 minutes
NES: 50 minutes



It was a really fun week for gaming, but the unusual thing is that this was the first week in quite a long while that every game we played was either emulated or on a EverDrive; no physical copies involved! For my gaming time this past week the first game I played was Sonic the Hedgehog for the Game Gear, which looked and played just beautifully on the EverDrive GBA X5 and the Game Boy Advance that I installed a backlit screen in last month. I think the screen size for Game Gear games emulated on the GBA is a touch smaller than the original Game Gear screen, but getting to play them on a really sharp looking backlit screen with no motion blur and not having to change the batteries every few hours feels like a fair trade off.

The first Sonic for the Game Gear ended up being a great game, and I was pretty pleased that I was able to beat it and collect all the chaos emeralds on my second try. It's basically just the Sega Master System version of Sonic the Hedgehog with a zoomed in view and a slightly more vibrant color palette, but that's not a bad thing at all since Sonic on the Master System is a great game! After beating Sonic for the Game Gear I spent some time checking out Sonic Pinball Party and Sonic Advance 2 on the EverDrive GBA as well, both of which were a ton of fun, then finally got around to finishing the game of Metroid: Zero Mission that I had been working on for quite a while.

To wrap up the week I did a quick play through of the original Castlevania on the GBA while I was riding on the bus to run some errands yesterday, and I gotta say that the EverDrive GBA X5 is probably one of the best portable gaming purchases I've ever made. Having every Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Color, original Game Boy, NES, Game Gear, and Master System game that I could ever want to play all on one cartridge has turned my Game Boy Advance from a system that I only picked up and played every now and then into an all-purpose retro gaming portable that rides with me everywhere I go. In fact, it was the only system I played games on all week this past week. The only tough part about having over a thousand great games in your pocket is picking a game to play and sticking with it, but I feel like I've been doing a pretty decent job of that so far.

As far as the misses' gaming time went, she spent a fair bit of time using the EverDrive GBA X5 in our GameCube's Game Boy Player to continue her play through of Castlevania: Circle of the Moon and at this point only has one boss left to go before Dracula. She spent a couple hours yesterday just level grinding and searching for better armor though, so I don't think she's quite ready to take on the last couple bosses just yet. In addition to Circle of the Moon on the GBA she also fired up the Genesis emulator on the Wii and tried out the recently released English language fan translation of Panorama Cotton. She's always liked Space Harrier style games and after beating Panorama Cotton on her second try she declared it the best game of that genre that she's ever played, and insisted that we absolutely have to get a physical copy of the English translated version for our Genesis collection. I played it for a little bit and thought it was pretty darn amazing as well (I had no idea that the Genesis could do half the rotation and scaling effects this game makes it do), though I only made it to the third level since I've never been particularly skilled at these sort of games and my reflexes are still a bit off kilter.

All in all it was a great week for gaming around here, and next week looks to be shaping up to be just as much fun. Until then, and as always, best wishes and happy gaming to you and yours!

[What have you actually PLAYED tracker for 2019 (Season 12)]

Our gaming routine has started to get back to normal around here this past week, with quite a bit of time logged on both myself and the misses' parts.


Ineligible
Castlevania: Circle of the Moon (Game Boy Advance) - 202 minutes
Metroid: Zero Mission (Game Boy Advance) - 282 minutes
Sonic Advance 2 (Game Boy Advance) - 90 minutes
Sonic Pinball Party (Game Boy Advance) - 122 minutes

NES
Castlevania (Played on Classic NES Series: Castlevania for Game Boy Advance) - 50 minutes

Sega Game Gear
Sonic the Hedgehog (Emulated on EverDrive GBA X5) - 226 minutes

Sega Genesis
Panorama Cotton (English Fan Translation, Emulated on Nintendo Wii) - 166 minutes


Total Video Game Play Time This Week
1,138 minutes (18 hours 58 minutes) [442 minutes eligible]

Individual System Play Times This Week
Game Boy Advance: 696 minutes
Sega Game Gear: 226 minutes
Sega Genesis: 166 minutes
NES: 50 minutes

 

 

 

It was a really fun week for gaming, but the unusual thing is that this was the first week in quite a long while that every game we played was either emulated or on a EverDrive; no physical copies involved! For my gaming time this past week the first game I played was Sonic the Hedgehog for the Game Gear, which looked and played just beautifully on the EverDrive GBA X5 and the Game Boy Advance that I installed a backlit screen in last month. I think the screen size for Game Gear games emulated on the GBA is a touch smaller than the original Game Gear screen, but getting to play them on a really sharp looking backlit screen with no motion blur and not having to change the batteries every few hours feels like a fair trade off.

 

The first Sonic for the Game Gear ended up being a great game, and I was pretty pleased that I was able to beat it and collect all the chaos emeralds on my second try. It's basically just the Sega Master System version of Sonic the Hedgehog with a zoomed in view and a slightly more vibrant color palette, but that's not a bad thing at all since Sonic on the Master System is a great game! After beating Sonic for the Game Gear I spent some time checking out Sonic Pinball Party and Sonic Advance 2 on the EverDrive GBA as well, both of which were a ton of fun, then finally got around to finishing the game of Metroid: Zero Mission that I had been working on for quite a while.

 

To wrap up the week I did a quick play through of the original Castlevania on the GBA while I was riding on the bus to run some errands yesterday, and I gotta say that the EverDrive GBA X5 is probably one of the best portable gaming purchases I've ever made. Having every Game Boy Advance, Game Boy Color, original Game Boy, NES, Game Gear, and Master System game that I could ever want to play all on one cartridge has turned my Game Boy Advance from a system that I only picked up and played every now and then into an all-purpose retro gaming portable that rides with me everywhere I go. In fact, it was the only system I played games on all week this past week. The only tough part about having over a thousand great games in your pocket is picking a game to play and sticking with it, but I feel like I've been doing a pretty decent job of that so far.

 

As far as the misses' gaming time went, she spent a fair bit of time using the EverDrive GBA X5 in our GameCube's Game Boy Player to continue her play through of Castlevania: Circle of the Moon and at this point only has one boss left to go before Dracula. She spent a couple hours yesterday just level grinding and searching for better armor though, so I don't think she's quite ready to take on the last couple bosses just yet. In addition to Circle of the Moon on the GBA she also fired up the Genesis emulator on the Wii and tried out the recently released English language fan translation of Panorama Cotton. She's always liked Space Harrier style games and after beating Panorama Cotton on her second try she declared it the best game of that genre that she's ever played, and insisted that we absolutely have to get a physical copy of the English translated version for our Genesis collection. I played it for a little bit and thought it was pretty darn amazing as well (I had no idea that the Genesis could do half the rotation and scaling effects this game makes it do), though I only made it to the third level since I've never been particularly skilled at these sort of games and my reflexes are still a bit off kilter.

 

All in all it was a great week for gaming around here, and next week looks to be shaping up to be just as much fun. Until then, and as always, best wishes and happy gaming to you and yours!