Famicom Games, A Sega Master System And The Weakest Thrift Trip Yet

So, in response to a Craigslist ad, I took a trip out a bit farther out of the way than I usually go, and picked up an awesome deal.  I'll come back to that.

While I was out, I also took a run to my usual day-trip thrift shops.

I've had a sort of unspoken superstition for a while. In every playlist I make before I head out, I sneak in Sievert's Party Dog, the song I use as the theme for my videos. If the song plays at random during the trip, it'll be a good trip.  Well, today I proved there's some merit to that - the song didn't play before I reached my first shop.

No matter how many stores I went to, it was the same. Common games or no games at all. Every single place, nothing. No consoles, no accessories, and no games.

I even stopped at The Bins (the Goodwill Outlet store) and picked through everything they had.  Nothing.  Nothing at all.  Finally, just as I was about to leave and call the whole trip a bust, I found this hiding in the display case.

My favorite Game Boy game, when I was very young. Also I didn't have a Game Boy.

Yes, it generally goes for about 50 cents less than I paid, but damn it, I conquered the stores tonight. I found something, and therefore I won. So there.

I'm kidding, of course. I love taking these trips, even if I find nothing at all. There's a thrill in the hunt; digging through the trash and finding the hidden treasures.

Next, I received an awesome package from Japan.  4 Famicom games for $26 shipped, from Sean at http://famicomblog.blogspot.com.  None of the markup you usually get on these games... seriously, check eBay.  Anyway:

My first 4 Famicom games - pretty good choices so far.

The games are Final Fantasy II, Final Fantasy III, Tower of Druaga and The Goonies. You can't beat $26 for these games, when you figure how much you're usually charged just for shipping from Japan.

So, on to the big Craigslist score, and the reason for the trip out today.  The listing was for a Sega Master System, several controllers, and some games.  He said he couldn't get it to start up but didn't have the correct AC adapter, so I figured I'd give it a shot, since I've got two of them.  Fired it up when I got it home... and it does not start up.

Looks like I've got a new repair project.

EDIT: A small update - I've found out the original owner tried to start it up with an NES AC adapter, which is a very, very bad idea. The NES adapter puts out AC and is converted internally, whereas the SMS adapter converts to DC. Plugging in an NES adapter will fry your Master System. Just don't do it. I know it fits, but that doesn't mean it works. If you have a Sega Genesis Model 1 AC adapter, that'll work just fine.

Now, we buy a replacement voltage regulator.

One of the controllers is an Epyx joystick, which makes me smile.

The games are the reason I went for it, though.  Well, one, in particular:

Global Defense, Monopoly, Golvellius, Rescue Mission, Missile Defense 3-D and Alf.  Believe it or not, Alf is a very rare and difficult to find game, netting around $40 boxed.

How much did I pay for the whole set?  $25. Even with a non-working Master System, I still win the day.

Yard sale season starts up again soon, though. Get ready, I've got a feeling this year's going to be a great one.

Another Great Craigslist Haul, Plus a Little Goodwill Hunting!

Mario RPG!

The summer sale season may have come and gone here in the Northwest, but I've still got another great Craigslist haul to report tonight!  For $50, I picked up Super Mario RPG, Ninja Warriors, The Jungle Book, Earthworm Jim, Mystical Ninja and Zombies Ate My Neighbors for the SNES.

The value of these games is almost twice what I paid, so I'm very happy about that, especially after paying full Amazon price for my review copy of Zombies Ate My Neighbors just a few weeks ago and winding up with a beat-up, rental sticker-covered monstrosity.

2600 games - most are true classics, too.

After driving all the way out to Salem, I figured it'd be a good idea to check the nearby Goodwill as I don't make it out there very often.  They had a whole stack of Atari 2600 games, all labelled $3.99, but each and every one was half off due to the color tag sale.  That's better than most retail stores, but I took a loss on the value of these cartridges.  So, there was a small loss, but after the earlier victory, it all balances out to a pretty great day for my collection.  The titles were Space Attack, Super Breakout, Asteroids, Yar's Revenge, Adventure, Centipede, Reactor and Atlantis.

A Killer Craigslist Score

There hasn't been much movement in my collection lately - but, a couple of days ago, I bought a pretty fantastic grab bag of video games on Craigslist, all for $40.  Here goes:

That's two NES systems, one apparently a repair project.

First off, two NES systems, both of which seem to have been serviced.  Sadly, though, they seem to have been serviced by someone without the slightest clue what they were doing.  One had a faulty latch in the cartridge tray which he 'fixed' by removing the springs so the cartridge just drops.  Ugh.  The other... I'm not really sure what he was trying to do.

Regardless, one reconditioned cartridge connector later, one of them is in perfect working order.  The other will be in working order once I replace the defective cartridge tray.

Games included were Star Wars, Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt, Super Mario Bros. 2, Super Mario Bros. 3 and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project.  Also included but not pictured was a grey Zapper - no controllers or AC adapters included.

Woo, PSOne with LCD!

The stars here are the Playstation One with LCD, and another black label misprinted Final Fantasy VII.  This one is in far better shape than the copy I had, so this one goes in the collection while the old one goes to ebay to recoup my costs.  Also included was a Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX, in a Crash Bandicoot Warped case for some reason.

The original model Playstation pictured here is an enigma.  Consider this:

...huh?

You can see in the picture above that our previous owner installed a chip.  Vertically.  Since the case wouldn't fit back on with this vertical chip in place, he cut a hole in the case and wrapped the edges in electrical tape.

So, okay.  People make mistakes where soldering irons are involved.  It's ugly, but it works, right?

Yes, this is a real thing I own, thanks to an old friend who knows me very well.

Well, no, not really.  I popped in my copy of 'Minimoni Shakka To Tambourine Da Pyon!' and got the familiar "Please insert a PlayStation format disc' screen.  I also tried a burned disc, which also did nothing.  My copy of Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete booted right up, though, faster and smoother than my old Playstation.

So, the question remains - is it installed badly, or does it just not do anything?  I don't care enough to dig in and find out - this thing has no resell value and will be relegated to the parts pile.

As a side note, the PSOne LCD's backlight doesn't work, and something seems to have come loose internally and is just flopping around inside.  The PSOne has also been opened; the warranty seal has been breached.  I'm terrified to open it up - who knows what manner of badly installed devices I'll find in there?  The LCD repair, however, will be a topic for another blog entry some time later.

Also, Sega stuff.

Lastly, this grab bag of stuff also included Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine (AKA Puyo Puyo), Sonic The Hedgehog 2 and Bust-a-Move 4 for the Dreamcast.  I already own Sonic 2, and it has little value, I'll be hanging on to it in case I need something to give away with a later Genesis repair and resell.

Also of note, there was also some great PS2 stuff, but that's a little too new for our tastes.  Next generation I'll come back to it.

Had a great Craigslist experience?  Tell us about it in the comments!