The Official "Thrift finds" Thread

[cybercylon]

It's not quite that rare, I looked into it over the spring- it's $20-30 for a Sony brand cable. Still a great deal at $4.

 

There were some third party versions of that PSP component cable too. Don't know if there was ever such a source for the GC.

[KreatorKat]

 

There were some third party versions of that PSP component cable too. Don't know if there was ever such a source for the GC.

 

There was not; that is why GC cables are $250+ and rising. The port on the GC is Digital and the Analogue to Digital circuit is in the cable. Nintendo never allowed anyone else to see the design for this circuit, so duplicating is an enormous challenge.

[icemanxp300]

 

There was not; that is why GC cables are $250+ and rising. The port on the GC is Digital and the Analogue to Digital circuit is in the cable. Nintendo never allowed anyone else to see the design for this circuit, so duplicating is an enormous challenge.

 

How hard is it to open it up and see what it looks like?

[+FujiSkunk]

Since it involves a digital signal, you'd need a little more than a magnifying glass to see what's going on. At minimum it would take capturing the digital signal, figuring out how the digital video data is formatted, and then designing an alternative circuit to process the data into the necessary analog signals for component video. That's assuming the digital signal isn't encrypted, which it likely is.

[KreatorKat]

Since it involves a digital signal, you'd need a little more than a magnifying glass to see what's going on. At minimum it would take capturing the digital signal, figuring out how the digital video data is formatted, and then designing an alternative circuit to process the data into the necessary analog signals for component video. That's assuming the digital signal isn't encrypted, which it likely is.

This is pretty much it. I don't know all of the specifications, but I have heard that trying to "crack the code" of the GC component cables is like searching for needle in a haystack; essentially a game of guess and check. There is a company who has made an internal FPGA based solution that uses this digital video however.

[cybercylon]

I guess we have gone way of topic, but is probably easier just to buy a BC Wii. I doubt those are very rare though I saw some stupid BINs on eBay.

[KreatorKat]

I guess we have gone way of topic, but is probably easier just to buy a BC Wii. I doubt those are very rare though I saw some stupid BINs on eBay.

They are indeed very cheap. The expensive cables do look slightly better and most importantly can be used with the Gameboy Player, but I for one will not be buying them anytime soon

[Iwantgames:)]

My latest thrift find isn't a game, but I can play games on it

 

19" HDTV - $10

 

[Silverfleet]

Small find over the weekend: found a copy of Motocross Maniacs Advance for the GBA when going to donate some stuff to Savers. Paid like $3 for it. I've been looking for this one for a while, so that makes me happy.

[icemanxp300]

A local collector I have traded with for years sold me this lot for $500. Everything should be complete except Gradius 3 has no manual.

 

The second pic is factory sealed but I am unsure about the cat in the hat and rugrats as they have no seams, so those may be resealed.

 

 

...

[Asaki]

The second pic is factory sealed but I am unsure about the cat in the hat and rugrats as they have no seams, so those may be resealed.

But who would reseal licensed shovelware GBA games?

 

Unless they were store returns that got resealed and thrown into a bargain bin.

[icemanxp300]

But who would reseal licensed shovelware GBA games?

 

Unless they were store returns that got resealed and thrown into a bargain bin.

 

That's exactly the problem. The store he got his games from while they did have some factory sealed, they resealed a lot. They did not reseal to pawn off as original but mainly to keep people from opening the games and such. These games were re-sealed long before sealed was a collector item. The store in question had taken over an old EB games in which in a lot of cases they simply took old stock that EB had and just popped it in their cases w/the EXACT same pricing LOL. Lets just says I got a complete N64 stunt race for $15 like 6 years ago.

 

It sucked I had to inform him last night that about 6 games he had were resealed. I am extremely knowledgeable in factory sealed especially nes, snes, and N64, but I do admit my Gameboy knowledge is lacking. I felt bad for him because he has a Pokémon emerald that I had to inform him was a resell. He paid like $140 for, and this had to have been like 5 years ago because the person who sold it to him quit like 5 years ago.

 

The rugrats has vent holes on the front and back but no h-seam. It is a 3-sided seal and I'm just not thinking those are factory seals. I'm def. leaning to reseals on those too. The rest are good. I questioned the taz a little at first because while it does have a the majestic fat seal it goes horizontal and not vertical. It probably would not have thrown me off to much but he had 2 other snes games w/horizontal seals that looked just like it. Just like it except it wasn't really sealed at the overlap and you could literally lift the shrink wrap and touch the box. I had him open those and the one he started swearing when he seen a rental sticker on Porky Pig LOL.

 

So yeah especially knowing where these games came from and looking at the seal, I am def. leaning toward re-seal on the rugrats and cat in the hat games.

[thadsilverfox]

My latest thrift find isn't a game, but I can play games on it

 

19" HDTV - $10

 

KIMG0693.JPG

I have that exact television sitting in my closet. It quit working after 5 years, so the $10 you paid for it is about what it should have been worth when I bought it brand new.

[+FujiSkunk]

One of my regular stops recently had a Sony Playstation 3D TV last weekend, sans 3D glasses. It looked like a nice little display, shaped like a giant PSP, but for now I've got enough TV's in my house, so I left it for Some Guy.

[+FujiSkunk]

This is the culmination of three different pick-ups from my store:

 

 

The game and portal were with a batch of Wii games, and then the following week I noticed Sadness in the toy section. Then this weekend, all the other figures were in a toy bundle ready to be put on the floor. My roommate spied it and asked me if they were what he thought they were. They were. We rescued them from getting sold as toys and now I have a pretty good Infinity bundle to sell... or perhaps buy myself. Sadness is from Series 3.0, which I don't think this particular game and portal support, but all the rest go together, at least.

 

Also this past weekend, another regular stop had recently got in a PlayStation with games and accessories. The console itself is somewhat broken, which they already knew: the hub responsible for anchoring and spinning the disc is missing, which I'm told is a fairly easy fix. The games weren't anything too special, at least not at the price; Rayman, Spyro 2, Driver, Resident Evil Director's Cut and Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation were among the 20 discs. I paid $65 for the lot, not the most spectacular deal, but I was in the Christmas spirit and the shop owner has been battling health issues lately. Then when I got home, I spied these mixed in with the accessories.

 

 

Sega-branded controller extension cables, which I assume can be used for any system with 9-pin ports. Not a bad little bonus!

[HoshiChiri]

 

This might be kind of pricey for a Wii, but a Wei? I'm surprised it didn't sell immediately!

[SnapCraft]

I swear, the late 2010's will go down as the Dark Days of retro collecting.

 

The Wei. Wasn't that the code name for the prototype? You might have passed on gold!

 

Other than that, Merry Christmas!

 

 

 

 

This might be kind of pricey for a Wii, but a Wei? I'm surprised it didn't sell immediately!

 

[briwayjones]

whoops

Edited December 31, 2016 by briwayjones

[briwayjones]

crap

 

Sorry it wasn't quoting a post properly.

Edited December 31, 2016 by briwayjones

[briwayjones]

 

I am extremely knowledgeable in factory sealed especially nes, snes, and N64, but I do admit my Gameboy knowledge is lacking.

 

How do you tell factory sealed from resealed? Do you have a thread on it? Or have you thought of making a thread about it?

[icemanxp300]

 

How do you tell factory sealed from resealed? Do you have a thread on it? Or have you thought of making a thread about it?

 

Unfortunately besides telling the simple things like h-seams and what not. I decided about 8 years ago I was not going to divulge that information to the public. The less scammers know the better. I am by no means calling you a scammer just explaining why I do not share much of that information publicly.

[briwayjones]

 

Unfortunately besides telling the simple things like h-seams and what not. I decided about 8 years ago I was not going to divulge that information to the public. The less scammers know the better. I am by no means calling you a scammer just explaining why I do not share much of that information publicly.

 

I understand

[StopDrop&Retro]

 

 

This might be kind of pricey for a Wii, but a Wei? I'm surprised it didn't sell immediately!

 

 

You don't understand, it's a charity drive for a man named Wei, whose life will be complete once he gets a Wii and games.

[Jumpman1981]

I gotta say, in the town I live in, Thrift Stores are terrible, they practically have ​​0 classic games, the closest is a Wii balance board, and maybe a dust cover if your lucky, thankfully, there is a Video Game store near me that stocks NES, SNES, SMS, Genesis, Turbografx16, Game Boy (original, Color and Advance), 3DO, 32X and Sega CD

[omegadot]

I gotta say, in the town I live in, Thrift Stores are terrible, they practically have ​​0 classic games, the closest is a Wii balance board, and maybe a dust cover if your lucky, thankfully, there is a Video Game store near me that stocks NES, SNES, SMS, Genesis, Turbografx16, Game Boy (original, Color and Advance), 3DO, 32X and Sega CD

 

Thrifts have long been sparse and mostly ransacked by resellers if they get anything. I think most of the good finds here are largely craigslist, community transactions via FB groups and forums, or yard sales / flea markets. I still pop into thrifts from time to time but rarely do I see much worth while. I did get a pristine N64 with Nintendo brand expansion pack a few years ago for 20 or less and I think that was the last one that felt pretty good.