Redmond

Played through Nightmare Creatures on Easy Mode ( the only choice is Easy/Hard mode ) with the Adrenaline Meter ( basically a timer that will fill back up or stop if you're fighting enemies ) turned off. So not the most honorable completion, but it's beaten. If you like horror / survival horror ( it's more of a beat em up ), I think it's worth checking out. The gameplay is very janky and repetitive, but it makes up for it with the creepy atmosphere and music ( the main theme is similar to Carpenter's The Thing's ending theme, so pretty cool ). EDIT: Started playing on hard mode to see what the differences were, ended up beating the entire game again. There's very little difference between Easy/Hard actually ( granted, my skills probably improved over the first playthrough and I definitely had a better idea of item management ). Some enemies have more HP and there might be an extra enemy or two here and there, but otherwise no major changes as far as I could tell.

Did you send them the actual paper or the code via message? I actually stumbled upon one of these ( the Hard Drive one ) and didn't realize how valuable it was. Attempting to sell anything DLC related (especially thru eBay) makes me a bit nervous though so I've just held on to it the past year.

I dabbled in collecting comics and saw the boom that happened with those and realized the same would eventually happen with games given how many parallels there are. People who grew up with video games are going to only continue to gain more and more disposable income, and subsequent generations are going to revere the 1980s-2000 as sort of the golden era (this will be compounded if we ever get to full digital). You also have franchises from that period that are still popular and will likely be into the foreseeable future, and so people will tend to hold the origin of something in the highest regard from a collecting standpoint. Where we're at currently though is less predictable than a few years ago and so you do have a point about traditional investing, but there was definitely a clear window at one point where it was obvious certain games were under valued.

I bought up a couple copies of Pokemon Red/Blue sort of in anticipation that prices would eventually get to $5k-10k+ levels, only problem is I didn't really anticipate they would go up so quickly. I would look at anything that's fairly rare/sought after or "key" to be something that will either maintain value or keep increasing. By their nature, there aren't going to be a huge number of key/staple games, so the investor types looking to fill out a video game portfolio ( or whatever you want to call it ) are competing over a fairly small pool of titles.

Added DC Arcade Stick.

Bump. Added FF7 Polygon Figures.

Sonic 4: Episode 1. I now have a much greater appreciation for Sonic Mania ( not that I didn't like it before, but at least doubly so after Sonic 4 ).

I usually bubble wrap whatever I'm shipping first in a few layers, then I'll put a layer of bubble wrap or packing paper or something down, then sit the item in the center of the box, then pack bubble wrap around the corners and on top so it's basically in a bubble wrap nest or something. A problem I've had with Gamestop and other places is that they'll place items flush with the corners of the box, so if the box gets crushed in a corner, so too does your item. So that's why I would say center the item in the box and then place bubble wrap at the corners and all around it ( kinda like how TVs are boxed ). If it's already in a box that it fits in perfectly, I would probably double box it.

Heads up if you're playing this on Xbone, apparently it's an earlier version missing some important stuff ( I saw a review mention chaining combos is more difficult since the counter doesn't slow down between sections and you can't hit certain objects to add to the counter, also missing some audio/music transitions, among other things ). EDIT: Has been patched/updated now, all versions should be close to the same.

Apparently SoR4 has sold over 100k on Steam in the first week. That seems pretty good to me ( granted idk much about production costs ) and I'd have to imagine it's done well on PS4/Switch as well, someone mentioned it was #2 on the eShop. Not sure how Game Pass pays out, but it's on there. Don't want to jinx it, but DLC is looking like a done deal. As for other forgotten (by) Sega franchises, Shinobi 4 would be cool to see and it wouldn't be that tough to tweak 3's gameplay a bit and get something really great. IIRC though the devs of SoR4 mentioned Golden Axe as another potential series they would like to try to tackle.

My little dog Pockets. Those guys are pretty annoying. I want to say the charge up move or grabbing them is the best way to deal with em, not really sure. The charge move works well on the knife Galsias and takes priority over them ( at least for Cherry ).

The first round of the SOR4 Limited Editions went pretty quick, within 5 minutes, and the PS4 version went quicker than the Switch ( granted they're making 1500 for the Switch versus 1000 for PS4, but demand's usually greater for Switch stuff ). I haven't been buying LRG stuff too long, but that's one of the faster sales I've seen, the other being Metal Slug ( I think it was 3 ).

Beware the taser cops. I'm liking what I've played so far. Cherry's fun to play as, reminds me of Randy from Guardian Heroes with her aerial head stomp move and her blitz attack is kind of like his "uppercut" move with the twirling staff. I wasn't a fan of the graphic style initially but it's grown on me. Seems like a worthy entry into the series.

I don't usually opt for these massive new collector's editions sets that take up a lot of space. I'm also not really a big fan of statues, and so it seems very samey for all of these sets to include them. I'd prefer it be more of a replica or something iconic relating to the game instead ( the Pip-Boy for one of the Fallout collector's editions, for example, is more in my wheelhouse ). As for SOR4, I'll probably pick up a couple of barebones copies even if it's a dud, just in hopes that SEGA realizes there's still a lot of support for the franchise in general. Speculating on value to me is more about doing a gut check of what is truly desirable/valuable and what I perceive that will be able to stand the test of time. Like the '90s thing, a lot of people were speculating on the #1 issue of some hero nobody's ever heard of, and there were so many foil/lenticular/holographic covers that the notion of a "special" edition lost its luster. Meanwhile, the key comics were probably going up at that time and maybe seemed to have exorbitant prices in comparison to where they had previously been, but a person would've undoubtedly been shelling out hundreds of dollars for a single comic like X-Men #1 or anything Silver/Bronze/etc age versus buying up hundreds of the new $1 ones.

I warned ya. Would like to see some reviews on SOR4 first tho before dropping that kinda coin tho.

Just a heads up, looks like there's also going to be a third "deluxe" version of SoR 4 through LRG as well.

Harmony of Dissonance - I can't remember if I've already beaten this before. I think I've gotten pretty far at least a couple of times and then lost interest. Got all 4 endings this time though and collected all of the furniture for Juste's room. I actually like how OP you can become towards the end, especially with the Cross + Wind spellbook. Movement is pretty fluid and you can bust through the castle fairly quickly. Most of the criticism about it seems pretty fair though ( uninspired bosses, clunky castle layout, copy/paste of SOTN's story, low quality music, etc ). It's basically just SOTN-lite for the GBA and lacks a real sense of identity that the other handheld 'Vanias have. Doom 64 - Playing/played the new re-release on the Xbox 1. They did a good job with the amped up creepiness and "survival horror" sort of take on the original Doom formula. It's pretty easy, but the last boss is fairly challenging. I actually pulled a Rocky II double KO the first time I beat it. I'm going to go back through and play the newly-added Lost Levels and also get the rest of the achievements like getting the 3 upgrades for the Unmaker weapon.

If you really want to take one for the team you'll beat Earthworm Jim 3D. I agree with most of what you said about CV64, it's unfortunate that people sort of just jumped on the AVGN bandwagon of dumping on it as some sort of bane of the N64's existence. There was another YouTuber though ( RetroSnow or something like that ) who did a good rebuttal vid on the largely negative opinion surrounding it. Like you say in the post though, it does lots of stuff really well, it's just bogged down by a lot of the technical annoyances. I've always been a fan of it though, great atmosphere ( thinking of spots like the cerberus fight, the 1st vampire encounter, the villa and maze garden , etc ), lots of replayability ( 2-4 characters, multiple endings, hidden boss(es), etc ), an interesting albeit half-baked Day/Night mechanic. There's just a lot to like even if the gameplay can be a bit janky, and boss fights devolve into kinda just needing to have enough health items stocked.

One of the last posts I made on NA was comparing video game values to comic books (oops, I guess).

Bump, all stuff shipped. Added RE 2, Doom, Switch Games. I'll try to clean up the pictures soon and put any more beyond the 1 pic in a separate link to try to keep the clutter down. Will be adding some complete Famicom Rockman games soon ( 4, 5, 6 ).

Steelbook looks pretty cool, but nearly double the price just so I can own a SoR4 nesting doll?

The timeframe I've read is 2-3 days it can live on surfaces. Most deliveries take at least that long anyway, so I wouldn't think it'd be a huge concern as far as the actual item inside goes and you could even leave the box kinda quarantined somewhere for 3 days if you wanted to be extra cautious. That said, the outer boxes are handled up until the time they're delivered to your door. That said, I handled my AC Switch outer shipping box with gloves and threw it outside. From a health.com article: "That's not to say, however, that the coronavirus can't be found on packages ever: One March 11 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that the coronavirus can live up to 24 hours on cardboard, and up to two to three days on plastic and stainless steel. But, according to Joseph Vinetz, MD, a Yale Medicine infectious disease specialist, that doesn't mean it will infect you. "Detection does not mean transmissible," he says. "

Tough to say. I think the more rare / key stuff out there will be okay (Panzer Dragoon Saga, Earthbound, sealed Zelda/Pokemon/Mario, etc ), as there's more than enough of a demand to sustain it and the people in that stratosphere of collecting probably won't be hit as hard. I think people will be more likely to hold those through this rather than sell at a loss and maybe even store for the longer term ( 5-10+ years ). That said, it could potentially mean they kind of taper off in terms of rising in value. It's probably more likely to impact modern collector's editions of games in general, people are gonna be second-guessing that $200 preorder they've got now.

LEGO Taj Mahal ( #10256 ) - $300 shipped ( new and sealed ) Pokemon Master Trainer Board Game - $75 Shipped - ( Does have what looks like dust or something inside, corners have wear, back has some pushing in, but seal is still intact ) Power Rangers Pyramidas ( with Box ) - $75 shipped Transformers Soundwave ( Walmart Reissue, still sealed/unopened ) - $40 Shipped. More to come, I'll try to get pics as well.

CIB Clayfighter Sculptor's Cut before the boom on retro games. Another would be an original Splatterhouse PCB. Thankfully though I never really went through a "chuck it all out" sort of phase, so it's just been a few here and there, I actually still have the very first ( or at least one of ) games that I had as a kid, the "Not for Resale" cart of Streets of Rage 2 ( not a bad way to start gaming ). And not seller's remorse, but I bought a sealed Final Fantasy VII Y-Fold way back in the day ( want to say around 2005, maybe even earlier ) with the intentions of keeping it sealed and the seller never sent it ( I believe I was still paying for stuff with money orders at that point ). And another sad story but not a seller's remorse, back in the day with N64 collecting as a kid I was still very apt to collect things, so I had built up a collection of complete N64 games and had the empty boxes stacked up next to the TV in my room ( had to have been about 20+ ). One day I get home from school and they're gone, my mom had chucked 'em in the bin and the trash had already been taken out so that was the end of that. Off the top of my head there would've been some pretty good boxes in there, Goemon's Great Adventure, Snowboard Kids 2, Bomberman: Second Attack.