HoshiChiri

The annoying thing about this question is, since time keeps moving forward & consoles keep changing, we constantly have to redefine the eras that came before. Plus, there is no definitive cutoff between these eras since there's always a system that's ahead (or behind) its time. For me then, at least, I tend to group things out by some quality that covers most of the major systems of the era, then add in whatever unstuck in time contemporaries those systems had. My head's landed on: -systems pre-NES, which largely ran on f-plug/TV switches. -post-NES cartridge systems, which (aside from carts) saw the rise of composite & the automatic RF switch. Plus the d-pad was standardized. -CD based consoles, fairly self-explanatory there -Internet consoles, which brought the idea of an always connected machine mainstream, as well as moving to HDMI as the standard connection. Is it a perfect system? Of course not. There's always gonna be issues with the outliers- the N64 comes immediately to mind. I put it in the CD era, despite it being a cartridge system, becuase that's what the competition was. As for where the cutoff from classic to modern is within those eras... right now, i put it in between cartridge & CD. You just don't see a whole of nostalgic excitement for disc-based machines yet. Keyword 'yet'- I think the Playstation's time is coming. Especially when the patents for these machines run out & clone units can come to market, increasing accessibility & awareness. First company to make a good multi-CD clone (ala retron 5, but without the shadiness) is gonna clean up!

Got this for the delay in my NES copy from Limited Run... but I don't have a Steam account, so have at it! For sake of others, please reply when the code's been used (since I can't check.) T0T5A-DP0AB-PQ280

4) AVICII Invector One of the ones I forgot- I picked this up when it was on sale for $5 from Gamestop... I paid $4 since I had my pro member coupon so I only needed to cover shipping. And it was SO worth it! The story is kind of pointless, but the gameplay is solid. Plus, I love the music- makes me a little sad that I never heard of this guy until this posthumous game. If you like rhythm games, this is a solid buy (especially given it's often on sale!)

I've got a friend on the hunt for a complete set of the Etrian Odyssey games. He's got a copy of the 3rd one, but no manual. Just seeing if anyone might have one they'd be willing to scan, or know a place to find a scanned copy so he can make a placeholder booklet (I don't think he's at the point where he'd want to buy loose manuals, given how much a rare one like this would go for.) Incidentally, if anyone has/knows where to buy a copy of the first game for under $40 with a case, let me know? Hell of a long shot, but I told him I'd look around.

I'm not sure- I mean, normal people don't spend millions on comic books, but tell that to anyone with a nice copy of Action Comics #1. I think the bigger factor is: how much will rich people care about variants? Going back to the above, Action Comics #1 is rare & worth thousands in any condition- the same is not true for Mario. There's a lot more games around, most everything that's pulled these big numbers can be had cart-only for a reasonable price. So- can someone who drops 6 figures on a rare sealed variant, get 6 figures of attention for having 'this special seal that means it was part of the New York Launch Stock?' It's not gonna look that different from a 3 figure-priced boxed copy. Plus the 10 dollar dump-bin cart will play the same. If it turns out interest is for the game itself, & not the object holding the data, then oh yeah- this bubble's gonna burst hard. Maybe I should get my sealed Minish Cap graded & turn profit while I still can!🤣

Pretty sure I've forgotten to enter one or two, so I'll just pick up from here! 2) Animal Crossing: New Horizons A great time killer during lockdown, but honestly? If it weren't for that I might not have picked it up. I usually avoid these kind of daily check-in games. It's not bad! Just not a staple of my gaming diet. 3) Yakuza Kiwami How did I not play this until now?! This is amazing! I have never played a game so familiar and so surprising all at once! You can go from cradling a bloody, dying loved one to racing toy cars to help a man get married within 30 minutes! It's ridiculous! It's fantastic! I already bought a copy of part 2! 🤣

That's why I specified 'may' & doing some research- I don't want anyone scrounging around for what's on hand & opting for brasso & a brillo pad, for example. I might need to look into some deoxit myself- I have a bottle of brite boy for the extreme cases (only needed it once so far), but it'd be nice to have a step between that & iso.

Those lil' black lines on your contacts? Not supposed to be there- that is the oxidation/corrosion mentioned. Basically, keep cleaning your cart. A lot. Over & over. I have literally spent DAYS with new carts doing this. Clean. Play. Clean. Play. If you want to speed up the process, you can try a corrosion remover/polish of some kind- deoxit, brite boy, white vinegar... but keep in mind these can have the potential to take off a microscopic layer of the contact metal. It's usually fine, but there is a VERY small chance you could take out too much, sever a connection, & kill your cart. Do a lil' research on your chosen method before you do forward! Otherwise- just keep cleaning. You don't have to remove the lines entirely- just enough to get the connection solid again.

No one here has any foresight becuase we don't know the full lineup! We've been told time & again the retro angle is only a small part of the overall plan. We can't sit here playing armchair analyst & expect accuracy becuase we're missing too much information. The only relevant consideration right now is: Am I excited enough about the retro titles shown so far to spend $300 dollars on this thing? And if the answer is yes- you're not gonna care if it turns out to not have much else. You got what you wanted. If you're not happy with it yet- don't buy one yet. I haven't. (I want more gameplay footage & a controller breakdown first).

Actually, the best selling console is the PS2, the DS is second & the 3DS doesn't even crack the top ten. (I did look.) Just becuase Minecraft is the top selling game doesn't mean my 6 year old niece will play it- I'm not sure she could figure out how. Perhaps your nieces & nephews are a game-savvy bunch who need something more substantial than old-school button mashing. Mine don't typically play games, and as such need that simplicity. They struggled with Mario Kart, for crying out loud! This isn't a console trying for top of the mountain. This isn't aiming for the kids already engrossed in modern consoles. It's a CASUAL system. It's the plus one of the entertainment center. It will be similar to my old Wii that migrated to my parent's family room TV- a source of party entertainment, especially when folks with kids show up. It's not going to replace one of the major consoles for someone inclined to play on such a system. It's an alternative for someone who'd like some casual play without dropping $500+ dollars for a machine and 1 or 2 games. I'm not looking for the next Breath of The Wild on this thing- I'd be stoked if Jackbox came over. Yes, so far, most of what we've seen is the retro lineup. Is that so surprising? It's an easier bunch of games to get to a presentable stage. It suits the demographic of this website. You expect Atariage to get hyped over an edutainment trailer? That's going on the mommy blogs if/when such a thing is made. We get retro- clearly, that's enough for a lot of Atari agers. Don't assume what 'interactive experiences' I've had. I've conversed with a sarcastic fish. I've yelled commands into a microphone to move an army away from a pinballing giant rock. I've used a plush doll as a controller. I've ridden plastic horses. I've dangled 2 stories in the air, dreading the inevitable drop when my balloon would finally get hit. And I STILL enjoy a game that's played with just a knob. I'm allowed to be excited for a console that COULD do more, but hasn't yet, if what it's done is enough for me to have fun with it.

Learning to READ Japanese, and learning to SPEAK Japanese, are two very different things. Pronouncing Japanese words is really pretty simple since there's not a lot of odd linguistic tricks you'll have to learn. Take a basic Japanese class somewhere, once the teacher's explained what vowels sound like and the few hiragana with quirks you'll be able to say any words you learn pretty easily. Reading is harder becuase of kanji, since there's so many of them- that's just gonna take time, period. If you do opt to put effort into the reading though, do yourself a favor- try & avoid textbooks that use a lot of romanji (Japanese words written in the roman alphabet.). You'll want to spend as much time with kana/kanji characters as possible so the words come more naturally- using romanji just forces you to re-learn words once you start using the proper characters.

Trading with friends means I have access to pretty much every item I want right now... but that doesn't mean I won't find things I want! I only found out a few days ago you could get a shaved ice maker, for example. Right now the one I covet is the strawberry & flowers cake. I have since learned it's a random thing your 'mom' mails you on your birthday, it can't be bought, & there's 6 versions of mom's cake so no guarantee you'll get a specific one. *grumbles*

I think also, with so many game stores closed due to stay at home orders, many people are seeing Ebay as the only game in town right now- so they're just paying whatever Ebay is charging. Not surprisingly, most of the collectors I know have largely stopped buying new games & are waiting for things to 'normal out' a bit.

Just checking in to see how this is progressing- not expecting much with how weird things are. But, since I'm now 6 weeks into being fully furloughed (job 2 closed a couple days after job 1), I figured I might as well figure out what things I've paid for might ship soon. I mean, it's this or more Animal Crossing 🤣

Time for a lil' thread revival so I can pick ya'lls brains. I grabbed the Persona Endless Night collection on clearance recently- I don't know who decided 'stacked discs in a digicase' was a good idea, but I hope they got fired. Anyway- I was hoping to find a protector to fit this (it's a bit taller and wider than a standard blu-ray), but I'd love it to be a bit thicker so I can slip in a 2-disc slim blu-ray case to store the discs better. There's a lot of collector's edition the right thickness, but the height/width is wrong. Anybody got any ideas?

How they heck did I miss this thread? I picked this up a few days after release, sliding into the space between my state going into lockdown & Amazon delaying non-essential shipments. As for MY island rating... When Isabelle showed, my island rating went up 1 star daily til 4, then it took a week or so of tweaking to get 5. My advice is: remember the 3 Fs (flowers, fencing, furniture), don't cut down trees unless you need the space for the above immediately, & work on your infrastructure (bridges/inclines). As soon as I get my hybrids grown, I can take down my flower breeding pens & build my arcade!

I've never had to, no- I've voluntarily gotten rid of things here & there, and my non-gaming collections have had massive purges. It's always been by choice though- sort of a 'between shelf space & having this DVD set, I choose shelf space'. For games it's not been an issue as, by the time I could afford to really amass stuff quickly, I was already at the point of finding the space first, then getting the new thing. I think having a Steel Battalion controller would be neat, but I've nowhere to put that behemoth, so I don't buy one. As a result, my game collection's grown much more slowly- the higher costs help too. I may find myself downsizing in the near future, but I don't see much coming out of the game collection, quite frankly.

I think it's gonna be more like the Switch's Devil's Third- something that got touted as being rare during the system's lifetime, so collectors grabbed it up. It'll have value just due to low print run, but nothing like the Holy Grails of the NES era- whose value comes from people not caring so few copies survived to today. I'm honestly not sure we'll see anything modern reach those kinds of numbers, just becuase too many people these days are actively collecting so more copies are being kept instead of used, ruined & thrown away. Maybe that poop game on the PS4, since no one believed it was real so practically none got out to the public.

The only box I can think of that I threw away over condition is an Odyssey 2 console box that was wrinkled/warped & popped apart on several seams. In all honesty, a dedicated soul might've kept it together, but I lack the storage space for something that kind of big & delicate, nor do I know anyone close by to give such a thing to. Game boxes are pretty simple- pop it in a box protector & treat it like any other copy. I'm not immediately aware of anything I've had/have with mold issues, but I can't imagine I'd keep one. Too risky, both for personal health & keeping the rest of the collection clean.

This is largely where I sit- current, or even last-gen games are largely off limits unless there's no legal way to obtain them (Scott Pilgrim being a famous case). When a game is young, it makes the most money, & the people who created it deserve to get paid. Last gen titles are typically only available secondhand so they aren't getting a cut, but keeping some value in the secondhand market is good for said creators- many people only pay full price becuase they know they can sell later. Anything older is largely fair game becuase access, if available, is prone to change- use the wii virtual console! Nevermind, pay again to have it on Wii U! Nevermind, buy an online subscription & we'll hook up with some stuff! Plus, most of the time these games are being peddled after the ROM's been out some time. You're not getting that horse back in the barn, so to speak. Of course, this is all a moot point because I'm one of those folks who'd prefer to muck about with old hardware then fiddle with ROMs. I've considered picking up/"commissioning" someone to make a Retro Pi for my sister- she gets the retro bug from time to time & has a retro duo (or similar machine)... but she's tight on cash & has a VERY small apartment, so a tiny box with every old title she could ever want would be a great thing for her. Of course, many of the people who'd actually set up such a thing for me are shady & probably not worth dealing with, so I haven't seriously looked into it.

Behind as usual, but- I'm just under the impression at this point that they never spend any serious time with kids. I gave my six year old niece my old Galaxy S4 so she'd quit stealing her parents phones, and filling up their SD cards with new games from the app store- she doesn't always play them, she downloads whatever strike her fancy. Now, I password-locked & hid the appstore icon on this phone- and she still more than doubled the apps tied to my account in 2 days (since this was an S4, you've got an idea of how many years I've had the account.) Similarly, my mom let her borrow her tablet- I asked her if that was a good idea, did she lock down her accounts? "It's fine", she says, "I don't think I even have Google Play on this." A couple hours later, niece goes home & mom checks her email- DOZENS of app download confirmations. From Amazon. Which wasn't locked down- kid spent $20 (thankfully not everything she got was paid.) You tell me there's a doo-dad I can give this kid, to play mobile-type games, where she CAN'T go hog-wild in the app store? This is a selling point for me! I'm honestly a little bit impressed these guys can't see any sort of market for this... it's not gonna change the world, but there is an appeal there.

That's handy, but it doesn't necessarily solve the problem- it just means I now have to decide what's enough time to give for them to see & decide, versus how long I'll have to wait if they flake & ignore it. I'd personally love a 'revoke offer' button so if a better option comes along I can just cancel out. Might make some of the offenders reconsider if they know they don't have a guaranteed window of time to wait for a better offer.

I don't know about a $50 limit, but I agree it should be under Ebay value. The odds that the store took the time to properly test an item is unlikely, assuming there's even someone with the knowledge to do that in the building. Plus, Ebay has a better return policy. But, that's on them- either someone's willing to pay it or they get no money at all. If they wanna gamble on a big payout they can. Yeah... here's the thing- those 'unfortunate individuals'? Usually less unfortunate & more complete jerks. Think of it this way- a lot of people who end up in a thrift, are people who can't handle working at McDonald's, & only company policy prevents them from getting fired. Things I have heard about include: -employees in donations taking stuff they want home before pricing the rest -people taking 1 hour breaks, 3 hour lunches, or just leaving mid-shift -refusing to work on anything a manager asks becuase they're female and/or poc -refusing to do anything at all becuase they haven't been promoted (usually within a week of starting) -actively arguing with a customer & accusing them of lying/stealing becuase they found a double charge on their receipt And so on. This is ignoring the managers who tried to frame my sister for their embezzlement years ago, I imagine that one was an outlier. Not saying they're aren't genuinely hard workers in these places- usually people who are disabled, still learning English, or just had something put a gap in their work history that needs to be filled. But I'd wager about half of these employees are people who are literally too selfish to hold a job.

Because thrift store pricing is INCREDIBLY arbitrary. One person's 'rare collectible' is another's '$1 junk disc'. As a result, only people that actually get some training on pricing are usually allowed to do it (or at least have to look things over for a final OK.) If that pricer isn't available, the cashier isn't supposed to fill in just in case someone intentionally popped a tag off to get a better deal- or worse, is having their friends do it so they have an excuse to mark down merch for them. My sister-in-law used to be a backroom manager at a thrift, so all the sorting/pricing stuff was in her wheelhouse. Honestly? Knowing what goes on behind the scenes, it's a miracle thrift stores can run even remotely smoothly!