Goodwill Hunter
03-13-2004, 02:50 AM
This was adapted from my recent postings, but what the heck, this is for recent systems…
February comes in like a Donkey and goes out like a Fox
Started February 2004 hunting for longbox Playstation titles. To that end, I went to a few Gamestops outside my usual territory. Found a complete Jupiter Strike at one, and as I was bringing it up, I saw the employee toss what looked like a Chrono Trigger box under the counter.
I of course asked, "Hey was that Chrono Trigger?" He said yes, and I asked to see it. He pulled a box full of SNES carts out from under the counter and handed me the game in question. Unfortunately, the box was trashed and there was no book, so for $30 I passed. But I asked about the other games in the box, and he explained that those carts are the ones worth 10 bucks or more, kept behind the counter to prevent theft.
I asked to see the rest, and he put the box up on the counter. There was a boxed Super Metroid in there with 2 layers of loose carts underneath. Saw several Final Fantasy and MegaMan carts in the top layer, but nothing I needed. I broke into the bottom layer, and right away a text-heavy end label grabbed my attention:
"Resale/Rental of the Game Pak is Prohibited!"
I recognized the familiar front label as I pulled it out, and thought I had a Donkey Kong Country demo cart...until I saw what was waiting for me in the upper right corner of the label:
COMPETITON CARTRIDGE!
I calmly flipped it over, handed it to the employee price tag side up, and said, "I'll take that too." It was $11.99 before the discount…pretty good for a cart that had only 2500 made.
When I got home, I of course did what any good gamer would do…I bragged about it on Digital Press! Of the many replies I got, the one that stuck in my head was the one that found the title of my post, “Found my first Competition Cart tonight!” a bit too optimistic. The respondent’s phrase “…as if he's expecting to find more!” got me thinking. And so began my quest with a simple question, “Well, why couldn’t I find another one!?”
For the rest of that month, in addition to my usual search for games, I obsessively combed through every stack of SNES games I could find….Gamestops, used game stores, thrifts, etc. The only fruit this labor produced was one Donkey Kong Country demo cart...until February was almost gone.
It was February 27th, and I walked into a used game store that provides a find from time to time, but the more rare stuff has prices that lean in the ebay direction. I scanned the loose SNES games in the front case, but didn’t see anything different from the other times I’d been in there that month.
As I walked past the SNES boxes (most are overpriced and don’t have manuals), for some reason I checked out the plastic boxes on the bottom shelf. When this store gets a loose SNES game that deserves more promotion than getting tossed in the front case, they make a color copy of the label, insert the copy in a plastic game case, write the name of the game on the spine, and put it out with the regular SNES boxes.
There were 2 plastic boxes labeled STAR FOX that caught my eye. I tipped the first one out and saw a copy of the standard Fox McCloud cart label. Tipped out the second and did a double take…the label read StarFox Super Weekend, and the price read $11.99 (marked down from $12.99…how many times had I passed this by before?).
I thought “this must be a mistake”, but took the case to the front anyway and said, “I’ll take this one.” Unfortunately, the kid behind the counter hauled out a standard StarFox cart. Hiding a mixture of disappointment and hope, I feigned ignorance, pointed to the case, and said, “No, this one is Super StarFox.”
“Super StarFox?…I never heard of that!” said the kid as he went to check another drawer. And I must have been nice to someone in a former life, cause that kid turned back around and put a genuine StarFox Super Weekend Competition Cartridge on the counter.
It was in minty-fresh condition, and I put it in the plastic case as he wrote up the ticket. I think he sensed something was up as he handed me the change and said, “Just what is that?” I tried not to smile too much as I responded, “I hear it’s a good game” and walked out the door.
So I started February with a Donkey Kong Country Competition Cartridge, and ended it with a StarFox Super Weekend Cart…both for less than twelve dollars and both in the wild. There are still great finds to be had out there, you just need a little bit of luck and a lot of persistence...never stop hunting!
Rich "Goodwill Hunter" Bubik
February comes in like a Donkey and goes out like a Fox
Started February 2004 hunting for longbox Playstation titles. To that end, I went to a few Gamestops outside my usual territory. Found a complete Jupiter Strike at one, and as I was bringing it up, I saw the employee toss what looked like a Chrono Trigger box under the counter.
I of course asked, "Hey was that Chrono Trigger?" He said yes, and I asked to see it. He pulled a box full of SNES carts out from under the counter and handed me the game in question. Unfortunately, the box was trashed and there was no book, so for $30 I passed. But I asked about the other games in the box, and he explained that those carts are the ones worth 10 bucks or more, kept behind the counter to prevent theft.
I asked to see the rest, and he put the box up on the counter. There was a boxed Super Metroid in there with 2 layers of loose carts underneath. Saw several Final Fantasy and MegaMan carts in the top layer, but nothing I needed. I broke into the bottom layer, and right away a text-heavy end label grabbed my attention:
"Resale/Rental of the Game Pak is Prohibited!"
I recognized the familiar front label as I pulled it out, and thought I had a Donkey Kong Country demo cart...until I saw what was waiting for me in the upper right corner of the label:
COMPETITON CARTRIDGE!
I calmly flipped it over, handed it to the employee price tag side up, and said, "I'll take that too." It was $11.99 before the discount…pretty good for a cart that had only 2500 made.
When I got home, I of course did what any good gamer would do…I bragged about it on Digital Press! Of the many replies I got, the one that stuck in my head was the one that found the title of my post, “Found my first Competition Cart tonight!” a bit too optimistic. The respondent’s phrase “…as if he's expecting to find more!” got me thinking. And so began my quest with a simple question, “Well, why couldn’t I find another one!?”
For the rest of that month, in addition to my usual search for games, I obsessively combed through every stack of SNES games I could find….Gamestops, used game stores, thrifts, etc. The only fruit this labor produced was one Donkey Kong Country demo cart...until February was almost gone.
It was February 27th, and I walked into a used game store that provides a find from time to time, but the more rare stuff has prices that lean in the ebay direction. I scanned the loose SNES games in the front case, but didn’t see anything different from the other times I’d been in there that month.
As I walked past the SNES boxes (most are overpriced and don’t have manuals), for some reason I checked out the plastic boxes on the bottom shelf. When this store gets a loose SNES game that deserves more promotion than getting tossed in the front case, they make a color copy of the label, insert the copy in a plastic game case, write the name of the game on the spine, and put it out with the regular SNES boxes.
There were 2 plastic boxes labeled STAR FOX that caught my eye. I tipped the first one out and saw a copy of the standard Fox McCloud cart label. Tipped out the second and did a double take…the label read StarFox Super Weekend, and the price read $11.99 (marked down from $12.99…how many times had I passed this by before?).
I thought “this must be a mistake”, but took the case to the front anyway and said, “I’ll take this one.” Unfortunately, the kid behind the counter hauled out a standard StarFox cart. Hiding a mixture of disappointment and hope, I feigned ignorance, pointed to the case, and said, “No, this one is Super StarFox.”
“Super StarFox?…I never heard of that!” said the kid as he went to check another drawer. And I must have been nice to someone in a former life, cause that kid turned back around and put a genuine StarFox Super Weekend Competition Cartridge on the counter.
It was in minty-fresh condition, and I put it in the plastic case as he wrote up the ticket. I think he sensed something was up as he handed me the change and said, “Just what is that?” I tried not to smile too much as I responded, “I hear it’s a good game” and walked out the door.
So I started February with a Donkey Kong Country Competition Cartridge, and ended it with a StarFox Super Weekend Cart…both for less than twelve dollars and both in the wild. There are still great finds to be had out there, you just need a little bit of luck and a lot of persistence...never stop hunting!
Rich "Goodwill Hunter" Bubik