GameCube BBA's still rare/worth something?

[pixelsnpolygons]

Well I've been eying them at work for about 3 months, a stack appeared out of nowhere for $35. I had never seen one at work before, and had, I think, only once ever seen one at any store. I recall for a while they were quite rare and people were paying upwards of $50 for them on ebay (maybe a few fools paid double that). Anyway, $35 was too much so I waited until they went on clearance. Last month they did, 25% off - still not a bargain, so I waited.

Finally! Today they went 75% off - so they were only about $8.60. I picked up just one of them - the only actual BBA (the other's were just the GCN modems) which I plan on keeping in it's packet so when I start collecting the GameCube in a couple years time I don't have to kill myself to find a sealed BBA for my collection.

Question, though - are these things worth anything? I checked ebay - there's not a lot of for auction, but there also doesn't seem to be a huge bidding war. I am thinking of buying up the remaining one's though.

PS if anyone else is interested, check your local Target as I'm sure I'm not the only store clearencing them out.

[njiska]

well really they're useless. in fact they're so useless i can sum it usefulness up in this nice, bullited list:

- Phantasy Star Online 1,2 &3
- Piracy (requires PSO EP 1&2) although it's easier to get a mode chip then to go throught the trouble of the PSO hack
- Mario Kart: Double dash tunneling for online play. Oh and system link.

That's about it. It's one of the most usless add-ons ever released. It's a real shame too because it had so much potential.

[pixelsnpolygons]

Yeah, that's about it - LOL - and pretty much the main reason why I even purchased it is for the sake of collecting it, I can't come up with any actual use. I know they're worthless as far as their practical uses (to all but a small percentage of GCN owners) but I am just looking ahead to 5 or so years when I imagine these things (while being even less useful) will be even harder to find, especially sealed.

[ubersaurus]

I don't know, my friends and I network Kart with it on a regular basis...

The real issue is finding enough people with it AND mario kart.

[Blackjax]

I dunno, personally, I don't keep anything in my collection sealed intentionally, but if you didn't intend on using it for anything, I'd keep it sealed, just as a small measure of protection for it.

Probably a good idea to pick it up now though - just look at the Dreamcast broadband adaptor. As far as I know, you could only import it or order it from Sega.com for a short time. Not only is it insanely hard to find now, its just about as useful as the Gamecube one to the average person, although coders can use it to upload data into the Dreamcast...

Another question... the GC BBA is rather useless, but what uses the modem? I'm just curious as I don't have a Gamecube, and the Nintendo's apparent ignoring of online...

[EndlessChris]

Hey pick up the other ones and sell em on here. I'd give you $10 and shipping for one, always wanted to try tunneling Mario Kart or something.

Are they still worth a lot? I figured the PSO hype had died by now.

[InsaneDavid]

PS if anyone else is interested, check your local Target as I'm sure I'm not the only store clearencing them out.

Hmmm... if a box of them appeared out of nowhere they were likely in your stockroom without being scanned into location properly. This would make the weekly research scans off, giving your store a forced zero for the item (example: there are four out of location and out of the home - however 4 in the system, yet since none are there the electronics lead would force a zero count during research) so when they were discontinued Nintendo had no reason to send your store any more since X amount were marked as not being there but were never sold. Then someone finds them much later, and price check either marks them down or they are FLEXed in the video game run at full price until they begin to get clearanced out. Happens all the time with how piss poor the flow teams are at most Target Stores.

...damn that brought back a lot of memories from my time with Target Corporation. (Electronics 1 - 3, Entertainment 2, executive internship) Really it popped into my mind since I was still with them with the BBA's and modems went discontinued - in the store I was in (and interned for Target Corp in as well) only ONE shipment of each ever arrived and we were a AA inventory store. LOL

[importaku]

Actually the BBA isn't useless, it can be used on a few games the modem is more useless as it can only be used with 2 games both of them PSO.

It's not actually nintendos fault that threes hardly no online games. They never intended to do online games for gamecube but they released the BBA & modem so 3rd partys could make online games if they wanted. But hardly any of them did just sega & chun soft.

Im using mine right now with the game homeland. I can connect & play on other peoples gamecubes or i can set my gamecube up as a server & let people play in my world. Best thing is its totally free theres no pay to play.

:D

[pixelsnpolygons]

InsaneDavid

That's exactly what I think too. There was a point at which people weren't scanning items in to our stockroom properly and the whole room was full of "ghost locations" (product that was meant to be there and wasn't) and product that we didn't know about. It happens a lot and I am sure you're right in this situation, too.

I'll pick up any that are remaining and post them here on DP. Not sure if there'll be any left by the time I get to work, hopefully there's a couple.

Thanks for the replies people

[josekortez]

If I'm not mistaken, can't you link up Kirby's Air Ride and 1080 Avalanche as well?

[PapaStu]

They arnt rare. They were just rare when they were needed for PSO. I can walk into a fair number of places and get one now with out a problem.

[bigdaddychester]

If you do happen to have a few more, I would also purchase one for $10 + shipping.

[dan2357]

Ha I went in to my target about a week or 2 ago and they had about 5 of them sitting on an end cap with red tags on them. They to just appeared out of thin air also. I think I will go back and see if they been marked down again, just toput it with my modem I picked up at TRU when they were green tagged last time around.

[jonjandran]

They are averaging around $30 on Ebay right now, but you can get them for about $20-25 if you look on Ebay a few times a day.

[Dimitri]

There's one other thing that makes them useful.

http://www.geocities.com/fuzziqer_software/index.htm

Lets you play any multiplayer GCN game online -- currently in public beta. I hear it's hell to set up, though... (I don't have a BBA or a way of loading it, otherwise I'd be ON this!)

[junglehunter]

There's one other thing that makes them useful.

http://www.geocities.com/fuzziqer_software/index.htm

Lets you play any multiplayer GCN game online -- currently in public beta. I hear it's hell to set up, though... (I don't have a BBA or a way of loading it, otherwise I'd be ON this!)
X-Link also allows for the use of the GameCube online. But I'm not sure about the process of doing so. :)

[Bluteg]

I paid $4 for mine at Toys'R'us 90% clearence. It's somewhat obscure so it might be worth something in the future.