#browsing goodwill thinking if there's nothing worth saying about it then why did i write the story down in the first place

[cyclogenesis]

the emotional whiplash of 'it's so fucking over' after posting a fic to 'we're so fucking back' the moment i get one (1) nice comment made up of words

[oldnintendonerd]

Pickup Post #11 - Slim Pickins

It is officially that time of year. Off season.

Ugh.

Locked in to nothing but thrifting to find anything. Not necessarily a bad thing, the browsing can be done in a nice heated store, you’re out of the weather. But it does come with it’s limitations, you are sure to never come away with any real amazing deals. The chances of finding that giant box of goodies that says “$10 - Whole box” on it is zero, because it’s a retail location. You find a stack of 10 games you want, you are paying $2.99 times 10 plus tax. Granted the odds of finding a stack that big at one time that you like is also pretty close to nil. But, you can still find some stuff at thrift stores if you happen in at the right time.

Let’s get to it.

The first thing I ran across since the end of the last pickup post was, incredibly, a Dreamcast game. Unfortunately it was not complete, I’ll get that out of the way right now. The manual was not inside. Also missing was the second disc, which, fortunately is only a bonus soundtrack disc, it is not part of the game. At least that means the only game disc is there and it can be played in its entirety.

Grandia II - Found 2017.12.28 at Goodwill

It wasn’t even with the video games, or even with the CDs, it was tossed on the shelf over with the misc electronics. Typically where you’d see a console, or controllers or something. Unfortunately no console or controllers, but this is not a bad find. After grabbing this, I went back to the CD section and combed through it more carefully, just in case there were more that actually did make it into the CD section, and I did find two more games. But they were crappy sports titles that weren’t even worth a few bucks. I can’t stand most sports titles, so I left them. I was buying some CDs that day and had this in a stack of music. She counted down the stack, saw this as a double disc CD and charged me $0.99. Not a bad deal since it wasn’t complete. A buck though? I’ll take it. Great start.

Moving on.

Sealed Wii Fit Plus - Found 2017.12.29 at Goodwill

Sealed games are ALMOST always a good bet, especially if you find them at a Goodwill. This one seemed to be no different. Paid $3.21, and Pricecharting has new priced in at $19.97. More than six times the value. I honestly almost didn’t even check it figuring it would have to be nearly worthless. I mean, it’s WII FIT. Wii Fit. I recently sold a complete in box Wii Fit, with the board (very clean) and a mint copy of the game for $2. The person even had to think about it for a second too. So it is insanely hard to get rid of these in this area. I mean look at the shelf of another Goodwill.

Just thrown around like they are old bathroom scales (hah!). Those have been there for weeks. At $3.99 they don’t move. Apparently the Plus version is a little more valuable though. I’ll take it, it’s hunting money fodder there. Nothing special.

I did run across this guy the same day.

You can even see the Wii Fit Plus box where I set it down to snap a pic of the doll. Did a quick search on my phone, didn’t turn up anything spectacular, there was one on eBay that wasn’t selling, priced at $35 that had the sword and shield. This one, no sword, no shield, and had some significant wear on it. I passed. I’m not one to have a lot of figurines in my collection either. I’m about the games.

Moving on once again.

The holidays came and went. On January 9th I went into the Goodwill that is usually the most lucrative.

From afar I saw a nice stack of Wii games that were not there the last time I was in. Like 18 games. I got excited and hurried over to the shelf.

I was immediately let down.

I posted this on Instagram that day too. Terrible titles. All schlock. I couldn’t believe it. Either they had come in early that day or the day before and had been plucked clean of all the AAA titles (AKA anything First party, Mario, Donkey Kong, etc), or AA titles (AKA third party quality from Sega or Square, that kind of thing), so all that was left was what is in that picture, or the parents just had little kids AND a budget. I mean come on, iCarly? Rudolph? Smurfs? On and on.  Cmon, buy ONE good title.

Tucked behind them all though...

Gran Turismo 3 A-Spec - Found 2018.01.09 at Goodwill

In very good shape, the reason I bought it was not just that, but it was also complete. I have a copy of this already but it is just the disc and the case, I did not have the manual. The most ideal situation here would have been if this case happened to be empty, they would have given me the case and manual for free. Honestly, I could have taken the disc out, left it in the store, and gotten a free case, but I’m not like that. If I were I could have a crap load of free games. Take the discs out and either pocket them, or put them into other cases and double up the discs. Pay for half the games you buy, walk out of the store with the other half “free cases” and then pop the games back in once outside. They don’t ever check the cases I am buying. But again, I’m not like that. It’s charity, and $3 for a game, especially when you can get them in very good shape like this, is really a good price. Had I bought this game on eBay, a quick search turns up a recently sold copy for $5.97, complete, tested, and shipped. They don’t show the disc so you don’t even know if it would be as nice as the one I got, you just know it should work. I’d rather the hunt, and ultimately, the better price.

Anyway, back to my copy of the game. My current, incomplete copy disc is maybe a B, and this disc is an A-, much better condition. The other copy can be bundled or traded at a later time. Some people don’t care about the manuals. Me, for some reason, I just love handling a copy of a game, and it having that weight of being complete.

Call me weird. Moving on.  

Went back a couple days later on the 11th. Found the stack of schlock Wii games drastically reduced in size. Someone else must have had some little kids that could be into those types of games. Who knows. Maybe three remained from the 18. There were a couple added Wii games, including this next one.

I’d actually already found this one at another Goodwill in very mint condition, so I didn’t need a copy, but figured since this one was sealed, I might as well snag it. Sealed usually fetches anywhere from double, on up to quintuple or more of the normal CIB price. 

Sealed Wii Play - Found 2018.01.11 at Goodwill

I was right, couldn’t pass up a sealed copy. Pricecharting has it at $5.25 CIB, and $15.99 sealed at time of writing. So about triple price of CIB, and almost exactly quintuple what I paid, of $3.21. Not as good as the payback on Wii Fit Plus, but I’ll take it.

On top of Wii Play, there were several PS2 games that were not there before. Which was exciting at first. But that was quickly dashed when I realized what I was looking at. Probably the tail end of a lot that was brought in the day before, and been picked over already. A lot of the games were even OK (i.e. not Madden games, or other sports schlock), but were left because they were scratched. I mean looks like someone used them for a hockey puck on a sand paper rink scratched. Horrible. There were two Dragonball Z games, and couple others I don’t remember (I will try to start snapping more pics while I’m hunting), but do recall thinking “damn, why do they have to be so scratched!?” Because I probably would have picked them up otherwise.

You really do have to hit these stores daily so as not to miss anything. I just don’t have the time to do that.

I managed to find a copy of Star Wars Battlefront among what was left that was not too scratched, and was fairly confident that my PS2 would be able to play it.

Star Wars Battlefront - Found 2018.01.11 at Goodwill

I’m not a huge fan of the Star Wars franchise in general, but these are pretty well known, and well liked games, for $3, and black label, I figured why not add it to the collection. Case and manual were at least in good shape, and the disc... I’d give it a C+. It does play in my fat SCPH 39001. Also installed to the HDD just fine. So... Winning.

I do have SWBF II in the collection as well, but it isn’t complete, so it is hovering in the void between “in the collection” and “available for bundles or trade”. As I mentioned before, I really only like to have complete games in my disc based games collection, hence why I decided to buy a whole other copy for GT3, just to complete it. Cart based is a little bit too tall of an order to want complete games. The budget just doesn’t allow for it. If I happen to stumble across a decent priced copy of Super Metroid, or Link to the Past complete, and its in nice shape, I’d get it to display. But I’m not seeking them out, its just too much.

Anyway, that’s it for this round. Nothing stellar, but not complete crap either. Which is honestly what I thought these months would bring.

Hopefully get some hunting money back in the bank once I list a couple of these items along with a couple others I have that need to be sold.

Official business. We had $96.09 after I sold the PS2 at the end of the last post. The first find was Grandia II, that was $1.06 after tax taking the total to $95.03. Then Wii Fit Plus takes us down another $3.21 totaling $91.82. After that I picked up GT3 for another $3.21, takes us to $88.61. The sealed Wii Play and Star Wars Battlefront purchase came to another $6.42, which puts the total at still a respectable $82.19.

$82.19 game hunting money remaining.

2018.02.06