HoshiChiri

That's a heck of a deal! My Fairchild cost me $100, which is fairly steep... but, like a lot of folks, I'd never seen one in person before. Plus I really like the shop I got it from- they hook up everything to make sure it's working before you pay, and if it somehow dies on the way home they'll still let you return it. (Happened with my Atari.) The shop owner was surprised a) I knew what a Fairchild was, and b) how the controller worked. He admitted he wasn't even sure about that. I'd recommend Sonar Search (cart 14) for an early pickup if you don't go multicart. It's fairly common and one of my favorites so far. It's basically Battleship.

My take as well- if there wasn't something about a system/game I liked, I wouldn't buy it. Plus the experience playing varies so much from console to console and game to game... it feels unfair to try and narrow it down so much. I am willing to note two systems as sort of 'favorites'- the Fairchild Channel F and the Playstation Vita. These are systems I enjoy completely separate from their games. The Fairchild is such an odd beast- game carts that work kind of like an 8-track, with buttons to access different programs... and that controller! Simultaneously utterly foreign and strangely intuitive. It's just fun to see how different gaming was/could be before the standards gelled in. The Vita is at the other end of the spectrum. It's almost a perfect console- good weight, comfortable to hold, responsive controls and touchscreen. A Vita just feels good to use, even just putzing around the menu. The only real faults are the proprietary memory and the mildly annoying 'every game has its own bubble' menu. Well, and the poor support driving it to an early grave thing, but that's another topic.

My thoughts exactly- although I am going to complain a little bit, seeing as Gamestop selling this stuff again might dry up what little not-collectors priced stuff is around my area. Plus I don't like the whole 'online only, condition not noted' thing. If they can help set a baseline so prices don't rise too high though, it's worth it. Edit: Nevermind, I just found the listing for Bomberman: the 2nd Attack. There goes that idea...

Where would I acquire plastic polish, and for how much? I found a copy of Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves a few weeks ago in the bottom of a junk box with a long-forgotten pile of discs someone gave my sister back in high school. It doesn't work- it'll load the ADX copyright page for a second or two before going back to the Dreamcast's menu screen. The label side is fine and the scratches are superficial, so I'm assuming it's unrepairable heat and/or bending damage. Couldn't hurt to try the polish, though! OP- where the scratches are makes a big difference in playability. I have a copy of Evil Zone for the Playstation that had MASSIVE gouges in a ring around the center of the disc. Why I opted to disc doctor it instead of returning it, I don't know- but it does play! The cuts only damaged something in the sound files that makes background music or dialog cut out on occasion- otherwise it's perfectly fine. Alternatively, my pristine-looking Kessen 2 freezes at the same spot every time... 2 minutes into the ending cutscene. I beat that damn game half a dozen times and never saw the ending... I should look it up on Youtube. (That one I know is heat damage... learned the hard way not to buy games from flea market sellers who show up every week without a tent/tarp above their disc games.)

That's still an impressive number of systems to find in the wild- I live in a fairly tech-savvy area. It's nice because people have decent stuff. It sucks because everyone wants to keep it. It's rare for me to find games anywhere, let alone systems. I usually have to hit gaming shops and pay near-ebay prices if I want something that isn't a sports game.

That's honestly really impressive- having just finished getting my full list into vgcollect, I've honestly been stunned to see how little of what I own I actually purchased while actively collecting. Something like 90% of my pre-PlayStation stuff is gifts, giveaways, and holdovers from childhood. (the newer runs 25-50% not-purchased, depending on system.) I cannot fathom what it would have taken to get what I have if I had to actually hunt all of it down.

Thanks for the info! I have informed my brother- who now wants to find a second Atari Jr. to pair with mine and actually do this. I don't expect anything to come of it, but if he does find one I'll post the ridiculous photos.

I got my first xonox double-ender in the mail the other day (Robin Hood/Sir Lancelot). Since my brother was around, I decided to show it off a bit. As I was explaining the concept, he asked a question that I'm genuinely curious about now. If you could somehow set things up to have 2 Ataris, one plugged into each end of the cart, could you run both games at the same time? I have no idea how the inside of the double-enders are set up, so I don't know if there's some shared circuitry that would prevent someone from doing this. Has anyone ever tried?

I have a lowly 27 carts (counting my xonox double-ender as 1)- partially from space constraints and partly from simply not knowing what's good to play on it... I have a lot of gaming folk around me, but I don't know anyone else into pre-NES to get suggestions from. I'm working on that part, but with 21 other consoles around to buy for it's slow going.

I got my 3 games today- a little dusty, but everything works. Packed great, too. I was honestly a little surprised it came so fast... Canada Mail tends to be kinda slow, at least from my experience.

I remember when my copy of Final Fantasy 7 was stolen just after high school. I bought a replacement for 20-30ish from Gamestop. Fast forward several years to the release of Advent Children... suddenly this beloved but fairly common title is over 100 bucks. It held that way for years... but checking it today, it's back down to the 30ish level again. It's just the nature of things... I'm sure this game too will come back down once the video gets buried under newer ones.

Two things come to mind- first is buying a controller extension for what I thought was Gamecube, turned out to be N64. Second is thinking I was buying Burgertime for the Intellivision and realizing at home it had the Atari bit on the end... and that I already had Burgertime for the Intellivison anyway. When your worst mistakes only add up to $20, you're doing fairly good. Or haven't bought enough stuff, I'm not sure. I'm running with it on the carts- I'm making sure when I get a Colecovision, I get Burgertime again, just to be silly. Burgertime everywhere! Actually, what those two instances have in common is shopping with a specific friend, we get so into discussing the various neat things on hand at the game stores I pay way less attention to what I'm doing than I should. So the REAL lesson is, exercise caution when game shopping with friends!

You definitely need to message the seller. Don't be mean, just explain the situation and go from their reaction. If they ignore you and/or refuse to rectify things, open a case. Ebay will likely issue you a full refund without requiring the item to be returned. As for why this happens, it's either ignorant sellers, or sellers counting on ignorant buyers. I have been asked more than once to write messages for family members who got ripped off and are getting the run-around from the seller, and want me to get them to give a refund. It's a keyword kinda thing... you tell a guy 'this dvd is bootleg, I want my money back', he may try to convince you it's an "international edition" so it's ok. You tell the same guy "this dvd was listed as the company x release, it isn't and therefore is not as described- please issue a refund", he just issues the refund. So, I guess basically sound like the terms & conditions page.

The Retrons are hit-or-miss... I read bad things about the early ones, but I know a few people with the new Retron 5 that say it's nice. The 5 plays NES, Famicom, SNES/Super Famicom, Genesis/Mega Drive, and Game Boy/Game Boy Color/Game Boy advance titles. Also outputs in HDMI. Might be worth your time if you're interested in more than just NES. I would definitely pick up a NES, though. It's such a major part of so many people's gaming experience- for good reason!- you'll find no shortage of quality, inexpensive titles around. Definitely check with people you know- odds are someone's got an NES in a closet they're willing to sell so you don't have to resort to Ebay. Any local secondhand shop that deals in classic gaming will have NES, too.

For what it's worth, I won 3 of Mr. Goat's auctions last week, got a combined invoice for shipping the next day, and got my tracking number yesterday. Looking forward to getting the games!

Does Lightening Force count as hidden? Great shoot 'em up, killer soundtrack. Gorgeous too. I also have a soft spot for Cyborg Justice. Not the best beat 'em up, but we loved the 'steal baddies parts at will' thing as kids. "I like your arm- gimme!"

I don't think it's fair to judge based on the art the OP picked, really- only 2 of those appear to be actual game art. Bad fanart and a horrible photo of someone's collection of... something on fire doesn't seem like the best judge of a whole industry. I will say, there has been a definite move from soft, watercolor style art to a brighter pop-art style... that's not gonna gel with everyone. There's still good stuff out there, though! Some things I like:

Hey, I like to read up on gaming stuff in general Nice to know why my PS1 Guncon has to be plugged into the video port! Also sad to know it too will not work when I upgrade to an LED TV. All the more reason to make sure my CRT is stored properly!

There's no real way to say- the game itself has very little value, Sonic 2 is quite common- and gaming autographs just aren't something you find for sale terribly often. The auction noted in the listing was for a limited 10th anniversary dreamcast system, complete in box- which adds a fair bit more value than a common Genny cart. Having spent much of my convention time over the years at autograph sessions, I can tell you right now- there's no telling what demand is. Most of the people getting autographs (at least at my cons) are more interested in their 30 seconds of face time than the actual signature. I know I'm not willing to just buy a signature if it's going to add any significant cost. If you want to go by a 'cheapest way to get about the same thing today' kind of thing, there's a signed copy of Sonic Heroes with a buy it now of $200 up right now. Aside from that... it's worth what someone wants to pay for it.

Thanks for the tips, guys! It's literally been years since I last bothered to try a zapper- long enough that the only one I have left is my CIB grey (one I know I sold, but I have no idea where the orange one went...) But with your advice, I successfully played a few stages of Duck Hunt While I'm sure the controller port thing was probably an issue at some point- most of my NES stuff came from my sister, who would assume broken without checking into things- but it's really a mix of things. Light glare is definitely an issue with my setup, and since I could only score hits from certain angles, it seems to be coming up here. I do know I'm definitely holding on to those test patterns- I'll be in the market for a new TV shortly, it'll be nice to have those then!

All the old art is like that- they didn't flip the colors until Mario 3, actually!

So, after not being able to take down a single duck with 3 different zappers, I have long just assumed my flat-tube CRT was too new to work with light guns. I figured someday I'd get something older with the proper curvy screen instead of the slightly curved one under flat glass I have. A few months ago, I added a Sega Master System to my collection. I got the Light Phaser today on a lark- I didn't expect to use it, I just kinda wanted one anyway and it was only 10 bucks. Since my SMS has Safari Hunt built-in, I plugged it in for kicks. The damn thing works! The aim is weird (you have to point under things), but I did successfully get to level 2 after a couple tries, so it's definitely working. So, what I'm wondering now is: why can't I get a Zapper to work? Is there something different in how the phaser works? Did they age better than zappers? Did I just get "lucky" and land 3 non functional zappers (my understanding is, that's not so odd)? I've never really looked into the light guns, so I'm not that knowledgeable on them.

Let's see... Atari 2600 Jr. Intellivision Channel F NES Toploader SNES Nintendo 64 Gamecube Wii U Master System Genesis model 2 Sega CD model 2 Dreamcast Playstation 2 Playstation 3 Xbox 360 Game Gear Game Boy Color Game Boy Advance- purple Game Boy Advance- pink Game Boy Advance SP- blue Nintendo DS Nintendo 3DS Sony PSP PSVita For a total of 24! I also have a Pong C-100. That's currently in the care of Atari-dna, who's working on repairing it for me. I don't want to officially count it until it's back and working, since everything else is.

Old consoles/games can just get quirky after awhile. My sister had an SNES once that wouldn't play Super Mario World. Anything else was fine, but no cart of that specific game would load at all. She took it in to the game store and they tried over a dozen copies! I'm in the 'good cleaning and see what happens' camp. Check your pins, too- maybe's something bent funny in there or something.

On the rare occasions I buy a new game on release, it's pretty much always the deluxe version. Unless deluxe just means digital stuff- I normally could care less about codes for some silly outfits or a gun I'll quit using a few levels in. Buying secondhand, I rarely bother- the effort of finding a reputable seller with a good condition and complete LE (because let's face it, there's no point in going LE otherwise) who isn't charging an arm and a leg compared to the standard edition isn't worth it. I'd consider it for a favorite game that came with something really cool- but if that's the case, I probably bought it new anyway!