Lynda Monica's Pick Ups! (Thread Revival!)

[Lynda Monica | 350]

I thought I'd make my own pick up thread, since it's the whole point of the sub-forum!

As I mentioned in my introduction thread, I sold off my old game systems and games. At this point I only own a Wii U, a 2DS, and a Switch Lite; and I've really enjoyed the Wii U in particular.

What makes the Wii U so fun to collect for is the sub-collections that have spawned from it. Obviously there's the games themselves, but there's also Skylanders, amiibo, controllers, amiibo cards, and strategy guides!

While I don't have any interesting finds to start the thread off with, I'll start by showcasing the current state of my Wii U collection.

The games

Note how every game is its own series? I've really enjoyed the set being like that, but that'll probably change in the future. Of course it's not just for looks, as these are all games I was interested in playing.

I've finished a handful of them, but overall my progress has been slow. Joining this forum actually motivated me to play through a few, due to the backlog challenge.

My top five so far would be...

#5: Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival
#4: Kirby and the Rainbow Curse
#3: Super Mario 3D World
#2: Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
#1: Star Fox Zero

The amiibo figures

A game store near me often gets the Animal Crossing ones in, and they charge $10 for them no matter which character. I was able to slowly pick them all up there for $10 each, with the exception of Timmy & Tommy as they never got that one in. I had to pay $40+ for him/them on eBay to finish the set.

The Kirby ones unlock unique abilities in Kirby and the Rainbow Curse, which are actually pretty useless. The Kirby one can be useful in certain stages, but Dedede and Meta Knight don't have any real strategic use.

Yarn Yoshi unlocks an ability in Yoshi's Woolly World, the Splatoon ones unlock challenge mode in Splatoon, and Toad adds an extra collectable to every stage of Captain Toad.

The amiibo cards

These allow you to play sub-games in Animal Crossing amiibo Festival.

One of the sub-games (called Desert Island Escape) is so robust that it's basically a second main game mode. You scan three amiibo cards to be your playable characters, and the type of animal on the card determines which of the eighteen abilities your players will have.

Cats can catch fish without crafting a fishing rod, frogs can swim across water, bears are good at stealing honey from bee hives, lions are strong fighters, dogs can sniff out hazards on adjacent tiles, and so on and so forth.

Some maps are better suited to different types of characters, so you're encouraged to replay stages and experiment with abilities to get the highest scores.

It's been fun looking up the cards to see which ones I want, and I plan to finish off this collection this Wednesday. I only need three more animal types to have all eighteen abilities, and at that point my Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival shopping will be done. (Though I might get the Villager amiibo for his golden statue at some point)

The guides

I found the Star Fox Zero guide at a game store last Saturday for ten dollars, and the Skylanders Giants guide at a thrift shop for fifteen dollars. I don't really need them exactly, but they're lovely books that make me want them.

I have leads on a few more I can get locally, so I'll be picking them up tomorrow. I'd prefer to not order guides online due to shipping costs, so I think I'll keep this a more casual collection.

(Some of) The Skylanders

I didn't really want to take them ALL down, so here are the characters and magic items that were introduced in Skylanders Giants. I also have the entire set from the first game, including the four level expansions and eight magic items. (Though not including variants and sidekicks)

Skylanders Giants struck the perfect character balance between cool and lovable, and I adore every single one of these characters.

I didn't play the later games as the characters were hideous after Giants, and I had no desire to own their figures. I've been told the games were really bad after Giants too, so I made the right choice. I might update this picture at some point since it's not a very good shot of them.

And that's all!

Obviously I didn't show my 3DS and Switch stuff, but I'll still post about additions to those collections, and anything else game related I buy. I just wanted to start things off with a Wii U showcase, as that's likely what you'll see the most of. Hopefully you'll follow along with me, and I'll update again tomorrow when I pick up a few things that were set aside for me.

See ya later!

Edited July 27, 2022 by Lynda Monica

[Jfreakofkorn | 282]

Nice collection of item(s) . . . 

Keep it growing

Edited June 22, 2022 by Jfreakofkorn

[Lynda Monica | 350]

All right! I'm finally back from shopping all over the place today, and apparently the game stores in our area were a treasure trove for Wii U strategy guides!

The guides

The Legend of Zelda The Wind Waker HD Collector's Edition: $40.00
Super Mario 3D World Collector's Edition: $40.00
Xenoblade Chronicles X Collector's Edition: $30.00 (With mouse pad)
Splatoon: $15.00
Batman Arkham Origins: $10.00.

I wasn't planning on buying Wind Waker HD, but seeing the guide at such a good price was hard to pass up. Owning it may tempt me to buy the game at some point.

The Arkham Origins guide technically doesn't list Wii U as a platform it covers, but this is as close as it gets as I'm pretty sure this was the only guide made for the game.

I haven't even tried looking at thrift shops and used book stores yet, so there may be more in the future!

The games

I picked up some Wii U games I was interested in today too!

Lego City Undercover: $15.00
Just Dance 2015: $10.00
Scribblenauts Unlimited: $15.00
Batman Arkham Origins: $25.00
Resident Evil Revelations: $35.00

I only ever played one Resident Evil before, which was the one on Game Boy Color. I actually like Resident Evil Gaiden a lot as a Game Boy Colour game, so I was all over Revelations when I found out it takes place on a boat like Gaiden did.

The amiibo

Now I can get my golden statue in the amiibo Festival plaza!

That's it for me!

Edited June 23, 2022 by Lynda Monica

[Lynda Monica | 350]

From now on I'll be updating here when I get stuff. Time to get this thread caught up!

Here's a list of stuff I showcased earlier that I no longer own.

Games: Shantae Half Genie Hero, Skylanders Giants, Batman Arkham Origins, Just Dance 2015.
Toys to Life: Skylanders Giants figures, Summer Isabelle amiibo
Strategy Guides: Skylanders Giants, Batman Arkham Origins, Wind Waker HD Collector's Edition

Since I last posted in here, I've boosted my collection of Wii U guides significantly.

The Mighty No. 9 and New Super Mario Bros. U guide arrived for me today, and the Mighty No. 9 guide is notable as it was an exclusive Kickstarter reward. Someone on eBay accepted my offer of $40.00 for it. 

The Mighty No. 9 guide is the only strategy guide I've ever sat down and read cover to cover. It was a great book full of artwork and behind the scenes insight, though the enthusiasm of the creator commentary was charming in hindsight.

The Callie and Marie amiibo unlock basically the same things in Splatoon, so I only bought Marie. The amiibo cards wrapped up everything I needed for Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival, which was great to finally finish.

I've never played an Angry Birds game before, but I've frequently been told that Angry Birds Star Wars is the best game in the series. It just happens to be on Wii U!

I mainly bought Wii Fit U for more HD Miis in cute outfits, but I was also interested in the game itself. My BMI was 23 and my Wii Fit age was 28 even though I'm 32, so I don't wanna hear any wisecracks about me playing this game for fun.

I've been trying to keep my Wii U collection from doubling up on franchises, but I'll admit Hyrule Warriors is pushing it. It's the Wii U's Dynasty Warriors game, and I'm going to treat it as such.

I couldn't know less about Monster Hunter; but I figured I'd give it a shot!

The first Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures wasn't very good, but the second game managed to make something great out of it. If you can appreciate when something low budget turns out better than it has any right to be, I think you'll really like Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures 2.

I think Mighty No. 9 is a great little game, but I understand why people resent it so much. I ignored all of the Kickstarter drama back in the day, so I can only judge the game on what it is. While it's not very polished, I think it's genuinely fun and enjoyably written. I found myself cracking up way more than I expected, and I enjoy Dr. Sanda and AVI in particular.

Now you're all caught up! See you next time!

Edited July 28, 2022 by Lynda Monica
Trimmed many sentences of boring rambling.

[Lynda Monica | 350]

I had been struggling to figure out what to do about the New Super Mario Bros. U and Mario Kart 8 guides I bought, seeing as how I wasn't planning to double dip on franchises. Then I discovered Mario and Sonic at the 2016 Olympic Games, where you can dress your Miis in adorable outfits and have them do gymnastics dances.

I wasn't going to make my life worse by NOT having Mii dancing in it, so I went straight to eBay and bought a copy of the game. I had no interest in waiting for a good deal, as some things are simply more important than money.

This broke my mental barrier towards duplicate franchises, so I picked up New Super Mario Bros. U and Mario Kart 8 to go with my strategy guides. I also swapped Mario Kart 8's red case with a blue one, so deal with it.

Edited August 1, 2022 by Lynda Monica

[Reed Rothchild | 9,536]

On 7/31/2022 at 7:36 PM, Lynda Monica said:

This broke my mental barrier towards duplicate franchises

Stomp that barrier into oblivion!

[drxandy | 3,225]

I agree with reed!! I see breath of the wild, warriors and the guide for windwaker in your collection but ya gotta get windwaker and twilight princess they are really great!! @Lynda Monica

Edited August 5, 2022 by drxandy