I searched three forums here and throughout Google for this topic but never found it. Please excuse me if it was already done somewhere (I looked like crazy).
For some reason or another, most of us have a single video game system that we just don't like and it is normally a burden to an otherwise good collection (or Room of Doom). Yet no matter how many times you get rid of this system, you always end up with another one somewhere along the line. Perhaps you find it for $5 at a yard sale and it would be stupid to pass it up from a value standpoint. Maybe someone at work unloads a free box of stuff on you and that system is inside. Somebody else might get this particular system back in a huge Ebay or Craig's List lot that has a bunch of other systems with it. However you end up getting it back, the point is that you are stuck with a lame system again after you'd finally gotten it out of your life.
Just a couple of general guidelines:
1. I'm not referring to systems you already own and don't enjoy but you continue to acquire multiples of. For example, someone currently owns the Nintendo 64 and thinks it stinks but keeps on buying loose consoles for $2 or a whole system for $5 if he/she finds it at a yard sale.
2. I'm not referring to systems you got rid of and have been lucky enough to not get stuck with it again (so far). Like if you sold a 7800 because you thought the library was dull and never ended up with one in the collection again. Sometimes you just never get them back after they are gone.
I'll give you my story.
I bought a Sega CD/Genesis combo that came with a few games on Ebay last year for about $33 shipped. I'd never played it before and figured I'd try it out. Over the next few months, I ended up going through about a dozen Sega CD games before coming to a decision. I hated it. Awhile back, I packaged up the entire set-up including the remaining games and sold it online. The games I had played and the hassle of hooking it all up left a bad taste in my mouth. This was one system I assured myself I would never lay eyes on again and would never be foolish enough to invest in again. I even trashed it in a couple of threads here.
Fast forward to this week. My local game store gets a Sega CD in as part of a huge lot they bought out from a pawn shop or something. I'll cut to the chase. I had a bunch of stuff I was going to trade in, mostly common titles that I wasn't playing anymore. The store owner was apparently worried the Sega CD might sit in the store forever and nobody would buy it. It isn't a system he normally takes through a trade-in but it came with the rest of a wholesale lot so like it or not, he now had it in his inventory. As a result, the owner saw I had some games to trade in and actually offered me a very good deal on it. I won't break down the games I traded in or the final dollar amount but it was a bargain.
So here I am stuck with a Sega CD/Genesis combo again when I had absolutely no interest in ever getting another one again. I sure as heck didn't regret selling it the first time. Not a bit. Yet I wasn't interested in the games I swapped for it either and I don't like passing up a nice "deal." Looks like I gotta invest in the Sega CD library once again, maybe this time I will find something I like. Maybe I am lazy or like giving what I consider a cheesy system a second chance but I'm not going to bother trying to find a second buyer for a Sega CD, even if this thing ends up collecting dust like the last Sega CD I owned.
That's my story. Like I said, this isn't a thread where you regret getting rid of something. Not at all. In summary, what system were you so glad to get rid of because it "sucked" only to somehow end up with another one when you didn't really want it back again? Something that just fell back into your lap.
Disclaimer: Yeah.....in my case, I could have just refused that trade for the Sega CD but the system was/is in nice condition and there weren't any games on my want list in the store. Besides, the owner has been pretty good to me the past couple of years with various "deals."