Eric Dude's Thrift Hunting Thread
I had a very solid Memorial Day Sale haul, crowned by this little gem right here:
Ten. Bucks.
YES!!! The funny thing about this find is, I actually saw it in the hands of the Value Village employee as he was going to put it on the rack, and I literally snatched it up the second he hung it up! My heart was pounding, I couldn't believe my good luck! I actually encountered a few setbacks at the beginning of my hunt that set me back a little bit, time-wise, and it just feels like fate put me there at Value Village for a specific, awesome reason. Yeah, overly dramatic I know, but the timing truly couldn't have been any better. As for the condition of the game, the box and cardboard insert have some wear and tear, but still look very decent. No map or inserts for me (did this game come with a map, or a poster?), but I'm happy with the manual and the cart looking beautiful. Whatta find!!!
(weird side note: For some reason, there were two Super Mario World manuals crammed in the box, too...)
On to the rest of the haul:
I spent about eight hours scouring the Seattle area with my cousin and my wife's cousin, hitting a total of 8 Goodwills, 3 Value Villages, 1 St Vincent De Paul, and 1 Half Price Books. Very pleased with this loot, as it's a pretty good assortment, and was pretty cheap overall. Prices and such:
Woody Pop (GG) $3 - Never heard of this game, but the label looked hilarious, and possibly awesome. Turns out it's an interesting variation on Arkanoid. Cool.
Hybrid Heaven (N64) $5 - I really knew nothing about this game either, and I might've paid just a little too much, but from what I've now read, it sounds pretty cool.
Earthworm Jim (PC) $2 - Just picked it up to see how the different version stacks up to the rest.
Soul Calibur (DC) $3 - Complete, why not?
Bust-A-Move 4 (DC) $2.50 - Also complete, so again, why not?
Dynasty Warriors (PS2) $3 Complete - I've never owned a Dynasty Warriors game, so now I do. I hope I picked a good one.
The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night (GBA) $2 - I'm actually very happy with this find, because I've been looking for this one for a while. Supposed to be a pretty fun game, somewhat different from the rest of the series. I found it while halfheartedly digging through a pile of electronics junk. I love when that pays off!
Space Raiders (GCN) $2.50 Complete - I dunno, this game just looks like an interesting "next gen" follow-up to Space Invaders. I have high hopes; let's hope they aren't dashed!
Blowout (GCN) $2.50 Complete - Normally I'd pass on something with an unoriginal title like this, but looking at the back kinda changed my mind. It looks like it could be some sort of run-n-gun explosion-fest, possibly in the vein of Shattered Soldier? Maybe I'm just a dreamer.
Shanghai II: Dragon's Eye (SNES) $10 Complete - It does feel like I paid too much for a Mahjong game, but it is a little harder to find around here, so I grabbed it since the box is near mint. Came from the same Value Village as SMRPG.
Yoshi's Cookie (SNES) $2 Complete - This was with the rest of the SNES games at that Value Village too (I passed on Pac-Attack and Ms. Pac-Man for $10 each), so I'm assuming this was a pricing error. Even though I already had the cart, I couldn't pass on the box for so little. My cousin got the extra cart.
Donkey Konga Bongos (GCN) $1 - They're kinda dirty, but they were only a dollar.
GamePro's Official Mortal Kombat Strategy Guide $2 - In pretty good condition, and it still has the poster. I'm no huge MK fan, but I love strat guides.
Mortal Kombat Super Book Collector's Edition $4 - Found it right next to the other MK guide. Cost a little more, but a much nicer and thicker guide, and it still has the collector's pogs in the back! Hahaha! Covers MK and MKII very in-depth.
Resident Evil 4 Strategy Guide $3 - A good price for a detailed guide.
Some preeeeeeeeeetty good finds! Anybody else have luck with Memorial Day sales?
Ten. Bucks.
YES!!! The funny thing about this find is, I actually saw it in the hands of the Value Village employee as he was going to put it on the rack, and I literally snatched it up the second he hung it up! My heart was pounding, I couldn't believe my good luck! I actually encountered a few setbacks at the beginning of my hunt that set me back a little bit, time-wise, and it just feels like fate put me there at Value Village for a specific, awesome reason. Yeah, overly dramatic I know, but the timing truly couldn't have been any better. As for the condition of the game, the box and cardboard insert have some wear and tear, but still look very decent. No map or inserts for me (did this game come with a map, or a poster?), but I'm happy with the manual and the cart looking beautiful. Whatta find!!!
(weird side note: For some reason, there were two Super Mario World manuals crammed in the box, too...)
On to the rest of the haul:
I spent about eight hours scouring the Seattle area with my cousin and my wife's cousin, hitting a total of 8 Goodwills, 3 Value Villages, 1 St Vincent De Paul, and 1 Half Price Books. Very pleased with this loot, as it's a pretty good assortment, and was pretty cheap overall. Prices and such:
Woody Pop (GG) $3 - Never heard of this game, but the label looked hilarious, and possibly awesome. Turns out it's an interesting variation on Arkanoid. Cool.
Hybrid Heaven (N64) $5 - I really knew nothing about this game either, and I might've paid just a little too much, but from what I've now read, it sounds pretty cool.
Earthworm Jim (PC) $2 - Just picked it up to see how the different version stacks up to the rest.
Soul Calibur (DC) $3 - Complete, why not?
Bust-A-Move 4 (DC) $2.50 - Also complete, so again, why not?
Dynasty Warriors (PS2) $3 Complete - I've never owned a Dynasty Warriors game, so now I do. I hope I picked a good one.
The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night (GBA) $2 - I'm actually very happy with this find, because I've been looking for this one for a while. Supposed to be a pretty fun game, somewhat different from the rest of the series. I found it while halfheartedly digging through a pile of electronics junk. I love when that pays off!
Space Raiders (GCN) $2.50 Complete - I dunno, this game just looks like an interesting "next gen" follow-up to Space Invaders. I have high hopes; let's hope they aren't dashed!
Blowout (GCN) $2.50 Complete - Normally I'd pass on something with an unoriginal title like this, but looking at the back kinda changed my mind. It looks like it could be some sort of run-n-gun explosion-fest, possibly in the vein of Shattered Soldier? Maybe I'm just a dreamer.
Shanghai II: Dragon's Eye (SNES) $10 Complete - It does feel like I paid too much for a Mahjong game, but it is a little harder to find around here, so I grabbed it since the box is near mint. Came from the same Value Village as SMRPG.
Yoshi's Cookie (SNES) $2 Complete - This was with the rest of the SNES games at that Value Village too (I passed on Pac-Attack and Ms. Pac-Man for $10 each), so I'm assuming this was a pricing error. Even though I already had the cart, I couldn't pass on the box for so little. My cousin got the extra cart.
Donkey Konga Bongos (GCN) $1 - They're kinda dirty, but they were only a dollar.
GamePro's Official Mortal Kombat Strategy Guide $2 - In pretty good condition, and it still has the poster. I'm no huge MK fan, but I love strat guides.
Mortal Kombat Super Book Collector's Edition $4 - Found it right next to the other MK guide. Cost a little more, but a much nicer and thicker guide, and it still has the collector's pogs in the back! Hahaha! Covers MK and MKII very in-depth.
Resident Evil 4 Strategy Guide $3 - A good price for a detailed guide.
Some preeeeeeeeeetty good finds! Anybody else have luck with Memorial Day sales?
Comments
Its an awesome game for 10 bucks, not to mention cib. 10 bucks alone is worth the minigame (psuedo top down shooter) in that game.
cjkwon: Let's see, I hit Goodwills in Ballard, South Seattle, Shoreline, Lynnwood, North Everett, South Everett... huh, musta been only six. The Value Villages were in Everett, Lynnwood, and Ballard. Pretty much covered North and South of Seattle, although I did miss the U-District stuff (GW, HPB).
I also just played Blowout, and I'm pleased to say this game is about as bad-ass as I expected it to be. Not quite Contra, it's much heavier on exploration, but there is a good amount of blowing shit up. Pretty good voice acting, too!
Man, I'm such an uber-dork, but my heart was quite literally pounding in my chest as I clutched the game in my hands! I could barely speak to my cousins, I just pointed to the game and made googly eyes! Haha!
cjkwon: Let's see, I hit Goodwills in Ballard, South Seattle, Shoreline, Lynnwood, North Everett, South Everett... huh, musta been only six. The Value Villages were in Everett, Lynnwood, and Ballard. Pretty much covered North and South of Seattle, although I did miss the U-District stuff (GW, HPB).
i would've had the same reaction except i would've needed a new pair of pants as well
I'm actually live in the U-District, so I hit up the Half-Price and Goodwill often. The Goodwill there has never given me anything good except for a copy of Vagrant Story for PS1. I've gotten a handful of good deals at the HPB though.
Good to see another Seattle-ite around! Looks like I'll have to be more aggressive on my hunts haha
I remember I picked up Blowout when it first came out for $10. Its not a good game by any means but it kills time. Its a straight ripoff of Alien 3 gameplay if you've ever played that.
I dunno, I'd say it's dangerously close to being a good game. If you said "it's not an amazing game by any means", then I'd be more inclined to agree with you. But yeah, I haven't played Alien 3, so it feels somewhat new to me.
First and foremost, this is the FOURTH time I've come across one of
these valuable Namco Playstation arcade sticks in the wild. This was my
most expensive one yet, at $25, but still well worth it (even with an X
button that likes to stick sometimes). Needs some cleaning up, but no
biggie (though I might need to procure a weird driver bit).
The rest of the stuff:
Guilty Gear X (PS2) $4 disc only - Yeah, no case or manual, but it's a pretty good fighting game at that price anyway. I made a trip to one of the Game Crazy closeout stores, and since there was nothing else, I figured I might as well grab this.
Super Mario 64 (N64) $4 cart only - I actually don't own a copy of this right now, so I was happy to find this cheap and in good condition.
Golden Sun, Mario Tennis Power Tour (GBA) $5 each, cart only - Two solid GBA games for five each isn't bad, though I'm not sure just how good Power Tour is. Also, some of the Golden Sun label came off when I took off the store sticker.
Kwirk, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (GB) $2 each, carts with snap cases - I've been looking for a cheap copy of Kwirk for a while, so I got pretty excited when I saw this one. Such a solid puzzle game, even on an archaic handheld. Attack of the Killer Tomatoes is just silly, and I couldn't pass it up. It runs pretty slow, though.
Virtua Racing (32x) $3 cart only - I might be getting a 32x from a relative for cheap soon, so I picked this up in anticipation of that. I've heard it's even better than the Saturn port.
Super Mario Bros 3 (Famicom) $3 CIB - Now THIS was an interesting find at Value Village! I didn't even know what it was at first, having never seen the boxed fami version. Speaking of the box, it's pretty beat up, but everything else looks pretty good. Oh, and it was bagged with a card game called Hit the Deck, too! Haha!
Sol Divide (PSX) $5 complete - I had never heard of this one, but judging from the back, it was a fantasy-themed shoot-em-up. I'm a sucker for cross-genre games, and this one thankfully turned out to be pretty good.
Bloody Roar (PSX) $5 complete - I was going purely for the kwirk factor, here. It's not a bad game, just not all that different from other fighters from the same era. I was gonna buy Twisted Metal Small Brawl at the same Goodwill, but that disc ended up being gone.
The Magic of Scheherazaegeddasfdasdf (NES) $5 cart only - I probably paid too much for this, cuz I don't know if it's any good. The fact that I can't spell the name of this game added to the mystique factor.
Full Throttle (PC) $5 Super-Duper CIB! - Very cool find here, as I love the Lucas Arts adventure games. The box isn't too beat up, and it's got all the good stuff inside: strategy guide, promo insert, ref card, Lucas Arts catalog, and the disc of course.
A very good collection of finds, but I'm probably gonna have to take a hiatus from hunting for a while, because it's getting back to that point where it's almost taking over my life. I'M NOT AN ADDICT, BABY, THAT'S A LIE!!!
Kinda wish I had all my SNES stuff back. Although I do have a CIB Mario RPG.
Baseball Stars - NES $5.50 Complete - Obviously this is the STAR of the bunch! It's in beautiful condition all around, and even has the little styrofoam spacer. I don't find CIB NES games at thrifts that often, so it's almost impossible for me to pass them up.
Battle Grand Prix - SNES $2.50 cart only, decent - One for the collection, since it's cheap and I've never seen it before. Could be decent since it's Hudson Soft.
Foreman For Real - SNES $2.50 cart only, decent - Same as above, except it's probably a bad game. I saw a screenshot; looks pretty ugly.
Taz in Escape from Mars - GG $1.50 cart only, good - Eh, I dunno. It was cheap, I guess.
Sonic the Hedgehog - GG $1.50 cart w/ case, good - Surprisingly I don't have this one yet, and the music is by Yuzo Koshiro. Probably the only reason I picked it up.
Original Game Boy w/ official carrying case - $4 kinda dirty - The Game Boy itself is in decent condition (still has the battery cover), and the carrying case is cool cuz it's official and probably one of the very first ones they made. It's kinda dirty and smells a little like smoke, but not bad anyway.
Battle Grand Prix is actually a pretty fun F1 game.
-J
Wow, your Value Village has amazing prices. Any loose cartridge at mine is $5.99.
Yes, I'm very fortunate in that this is the closest one to where I live, and their prices are almost always pretty fair. Carts are often under $5, sometimes as low as $0.99. I picked up a copy of Mario 64 for $5 last week, which is good since they only marked it up a buck or two for being a Mario game.
I'll have to check out Battle Grand Prix when I get home tonight. I'm curious. Oh, and Sonic the Hedgehog for Game Gear is actually really, really good! And Taz really, really sucks. Not that either of those things should come as much of a surprise.
Nothing too amazing here...
King's Quest: Mask of Eternity - PC $2, jewel case & disc - This is the only King's Quest game I didn't own yet, so I grabbed this to complete the series for me.
Homeworld - PC $3, jewel case & disc - It's a RTS that I've never played, by Sierra, so I figured it might be somewhat interesting for a few bucks.
Destruction Derby - PSX $3, longbox w/ manual - Already mentioned earlier. Not a bad find. I think it's funny that there are actually three distinct varieties of longbox Playstation cases, this being the more box-like one (in addition to the big jewel cases and the flimsier cardboard ones).
Mastering Pac-Man - Book $1, decent shape - I'm no huge Pac-fan, but this could make for interesting reading material. It's pretty in-depth, actually.
La Pucelle: Tactics - PS2 $5, case no manual - I love tactics games. Seems like a good price for this one.
Super Strategies for Nintendo - Book $2, excellent condition - I love this!!! I used to get these from my elementary school book order forms all the time, and this one has some pretty awesome games covered: Princess Tomato, Totally Rad, and Metal Storm to name a few. Also, this cover is fucking insane; no point to it.