NES Pickups - March 29th, 2015

"Life moves pretty fast.  If you don't stop and look around once in a while you could miss it." - Ferris Bueller

Sometimes I'm amazed at the speed of life when the internet intervenes.  Less than 24 hours ago I was enjoying a Marilyn Manson concert and bumped into a friend of mine there.  She knows that in addition to loving music I am also a nintendo game collector.  She promised to comment with my name every time she saw someone selling NES games through Facebook and today she did just that.  I looked at the ad she was pointing me to and found that the seller was looking for offers on about a dozen or so NES titles.  Looking at the picture that was posted two titles jumped out right away.  I was happy to see Silk Worm available, but when I saw that he was offering Battletoads I was dumbfounded.

That slippery little sucker has eluded capture by me for a long time.  I have had it on the line before a time or two only for it to wriggle its way off the hook before I could reel it in.  I think 3 or 4 such ads have gone up and I was either a day late or a dollar short on them. I thought for sure when I contacted him he would say it was already sold; in fact my past failed attempts at getting this game have made me think that the only way it would grace my shelves was if I bought it on eBay.

What I found equally shocking was that the seller gave me a great deal on the two games. The whole transaction took place in the doorway of his house and was over quicker than a Mike Tyson bout (during his prime). I walked back to the car a mere 30 seconds later still shaking my head that Battletoads was mine!

Even though my Collection app lists Silk Worm as the more rare title of the two Battletoads seems to be among those upper echelon games like Contra, Zelda and the Megaman Series that resellers know the value of (and quickly snap up) and that even casual NES fans covet highly (and thus hang on to). For these reasons and countless others I thought for certain this game would continue to be a pipe dream.  So glad I was mistaken.

Nes Carts:  469

Licensed games:  434/687

Unlicensed games:  35/90

NES Pickups - March 21st, 2015

Today was a little different than most pickup days because it consisted of two trips to my favorite game seller/trader's house.  The first trip I went with some cash in hand and came home with 5 new games (2 in boxes).  During the first visit I had mentioned, in passing, that I'd really love some of his other boxes and manuals and might have some games at home I would be willing to trade.

A few hours later, armed with about 10 of my doubles, I returned to barter my way to one more boxed game, about 24 loose boxes and 16 game manuals.  There were several stand outs in this lot not the least of was the box, manual and 3-d glasses for the game rad racer.  I also got Jurassic Park which is one I've been on the hunt for for awhile.  With these additions I think I stand at about 48 CIB games now (a collection I haven't really been trying to get but have came across through happenstance here and there).  As with anything that is the better part of 3 decades old there is a varying degree of wear and tear on the boxes and manuals, but I'm going to chalk it up to the proverbial character giving thing. I also got a near mint Gyromite with box and manual! New games acquired are as follows:  F-15 Strike Eagle, Jurassic Park, Wheel of Fortune: Vanna White Edition, Dirty Harry and Smash TV.

Since the boxes and manuals are too numerous to mention here I've provided some pictures below:

 

 

NES Carts:  467
Licensed games:  432/687
Unlicensed games:  35/90

NES pickups - March 5th, 2015

Well another thrift store gauntlet under our belts and I'm beginning to realize that the proprietors of these establishments either know the value of these little gray plastic boxes or collect them too because I have done the local circuit more than a few times in the past months and have come up empty handed.  My wife, seeing my puppy dog woe-is-me eyes, told me we should stop in at a few pawnshops as well and look for carts and so at the 2nd such stop I actually found a few little gems to add to the collection.  Nothing extremely rare in this lot but still nice to find.  I picked up the unlicensed game: Dudes with Attitude, The Great Waldo Search and I think the final WWF wrestling game I was missing for the collection:  WWF Steel Cage Challenge.  The games all show their age in different ways, but despite their flaws they will be welcome additions!

I suppose the irony of these finds compared to my last entry is that I got all 3 games today for about the same price as I paid for the one game in Kamloops (and I didn't travel several hours to get them).

NES Carts:  462
Licensed games:  427/687
Unlicensed games:  35/90