Tanooki

I don't want to be that gatekeeper guy, but I think any new people coming in, I just wish they'd use a bit of common sense and curb the age(dozen year old now) FOMO boner as it hurts everyone beyond their walls.

- Research your game/system prices and trends on price.
- Don't just click the first nice looking price/BIN on ebay (etc) overpaying as it sets scalper precedent
- Be respectful of others in your local area, don't just scoop everything then 180 it up back online/local peddlers spaces for fat profit using shady stories or your own children to get better deals(we have a dick using a 5 year old son here in the area to do this.)
- WIthin a common circle, be better on prices between friends of a facebook etc group, you're not eating paypal or ebay fees (or worse, mercari now which is higher.)
- If you're running a local business, find a happy middle ground, you're not getting a million online(ebay) viewers an hour to your shop, nor does your midwest/southern shop have the same median income as the coast -- if I can go online to buy it for less shipped -- you failed.

It's not so much new people stepping into it, general across the board.  If you're scum, you don't deserve business.  And if it's personal, keep your head out of your ass and not making it worse for others buying/trading smartly.

It's sad and strange.  They were doing well, then with the debacle with the not working correctly pocket dock, and now all the problems with both period stuff (CD issues like yours, there's a few) and then oversized HuCards like a couple of the fat ones, accessories, and the modern everdrives not fitting in either it's like they wanted to screw this up as badly as possible at both ends and succeeded.

Also as of now, 3 days later, they still can't sell through that restock of the pocket either, at least in black.  They used to fly quickly...I think trust is broken.

Not a bad list, can't blame that spread.  Star Luster is a little surprising, I own this one and it's a lot of fun despite its age it is fairly unique and plays well.  It's interesting to see Nintendo's own fighter Joy Mech Fight got in high on the list that's a solid little fighting game that plays surprisingly well, almost feels like it has some early Custom Robo dna to it given how that one works out between the fights.  Rampart is a good good call, that game Konami made really shames the US release in comparison, it's not the same title, check it out.  I've been meaning to scoop that one up, just have not yet as I had it years ago.

The easy one came up for me, NES emulator TVs within the old GC(n64 JP?) Animal Crossing/Doubutsu no Mori.

Though I think one worth mentioning are the mini games hiding in the TV with Konami's Legend of the Mystical Ninja, it had a small piece of Gradius on that thing.

Maybe I'm a bit more harsh with my 7.  It's a good game, a little stiff in mechanics, but you can feel how it had a very Duck Tales kind of mechanic to how you take down things with the landings on top or use of throwable goods.  I think it didn't flow as smoothly as it could, gets a few odd spaces where it feels just a bit off but mostly it's a good ride whether it's on Genesis, Game Gear or Master System.  I currently just have it on GG, but if I see it about in town on Genesis since i have World of Illusion (I have Land on GG too) I'd grab it.  The one as a side not I thought didn't feel as nice is playing the decade old remake side by side, that one truly does feel off in not a good way and I stopped playing it.

On 4/4/2024 at 3:31 AM, Sumez said:

This is something you'd only say if you have never played the original game.

It looks like them, sure, it's a really nice homage. But it has nothing of what drives the original arcade game, it's barely the same genre.

It's too easy to mock you, so I won't.  I have DK Classics and have for decades, have had DK 94 since 1994.  Up until recent last couple of years, I had an iCade 60in1 cocktail with DK and DKjr on there as well.  So, yeah...I'm familiar.  And I made it clear I compared the opening stages of DK94, not the entire project which seems to be conveniently ignored here.  In respect to how it opens up, the GB game is more arcade right than the NES.  How High Can You Go? screen is there, sounds and the rest are nice, visually it's there, and it has all FOUR stages which the NES until 2011(Wii) lacked.

Wow you have a number of those.  I've got 5 currently when I've had luck getting them local for like $10 or less at flea markets.   I've mostly offloaded my things, but I do have random stuff still, gaming or gaming related (toys, accessories) still including a few import things (largely FC.)

I've got the older hogan(rules shirt), slaughter, big boss(with stick), jake (with damian), and dibiase in black.  Been hoping to come across a select few others like piper, brutus, undertaker, hacksaw...nothing crazy.  Surprised to see a Sting figure, have a WCW version of that with a little belt on my desk.

On 3/27/2024 at 10:35 AM, LeatherRebel5150 said:

Mercari getting rid of selling fees?

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/Ebay/s/GQfbYsyaOV

It's far more insidious.  They're passing the selling fee of 10% onto the buyer.  Furthermore Mercari will no longer cover the credit card charging/bank fees and slap a percentage on top of that as well.  Roughly speaking, anything you buy on Mercari now will cost 15% more than what is posted before state taxes.  Sellers though also had a change, if you sell, you must accept any reason for a return no matter what, no optional returns or arguing around it.  There's a firestorm of anger from both sides online on various social media spaces, private forums like this, discord, review sites, and the reviews you can do on Apple and Google/Amazon stores with the app.  People are pissed and they're getting hammered.

I erased the app and closed my account as a lot of people have.  I've never sold there, but I did buy.  I won't be eating the sellers 10% fees for selling goods and the 2.9%+50 cents to cover their financial processing fees is one added reason.  They've also for sellers now put a $2 processing fee to cash out your balance from selling goods as well.

If you're curious, here's a copy of the text from the email they put out when this started on the 27th.

0% Selling Fees: The selling fee for new listings will be 0%. That’s right – what used to be a 10% selling fee is now 0% – zero selling fees! Listings created before 8:30 AM ET March 27, 2024 will be subject to a selling fee of 10% of the item price when a sale is completed, unless the listing has been updated on or after March 27, 2024.
	Buy with Confidence: Buyers will now be able to return items for any reason.
	Service Fee: When you make a purchase, a service fee will be charged. The amount of the fee will be displayed as part of the final price of your item(s) on the checkout page.
	Payment Processing and Withdrawal Fee: For listings created after 8:30 AM ET on March 27, 2024, Mercari will charge buyers a payment processing fee at the time of purchase. That includes a payment processing fee of $.50, plus 2.9% of the transaction price (includes item price, shipping, service fee, and sales tax). For listings created before March 27, 2024, a payment processing fee of 2.9% plus $.50 per sale is charged to the seller based on the completed sale, plus shipping price of the item – unless the listing is updated after March 27, 2024. Zero payment processing fees for buyers when using your balance.
	Direct Deposit: As always, you can request to cash out your balance to your checking account with direct deposit. Starting on this date, there is a $2 flat fee per cash-out.

23 minutes ago, Tulpa said:

What do you mean "his account"? The Internet Archive doesn't have accounts, it's all in one database.

It's under Rovin, Jeff which you can search by whether he did it for making accounts or someone else.  The search i said isn't under his name at all, but it is under the title of the books and they're not locked.

Entirely and a few factors were at play.

I'm now working 60hrs a week or a little more, plus prep/drive time call it 70 maybe?  What time I have is more limited than it was last summer and before, so when I play I want something I can get into easily and get out in a few minutes to an hour, or if not, easily accessible at whatever time (say like iOS for FF Pixel Remasters as TV...forget it.)

Last year I got fed up and stopped buying games on ebay unless they're imports since they're super rare if ever around here.  Forums almost entirely, pretty selective on that end too.  I'm about local only, usually pay cash, and it has to be something I'd actually want to play, want to use, and is *NOT* online priced or I don't need it.  It must be at least 20% below online as well.

At this rate I look for games for the systems I've retained (NES, SNES, N64, VB, GB, GBC, GBA, Genesis and GG.) along with now Anime again because media is so toxic and politicial and socially whiny you need a break from the garbage.  I have a store I check 5x a week as it's on the route to my kids school or 2nd job so it's no cost to get nothing but 1-2x a month, and on weekends there are a few others I peek at and weather permitting the flea market.  It's not what it was but I enjoy seeing random, it's a micro mental vacation and some exercise too so it's a win either way.

My habits of buying changed, but the last one I can totally relate to was eventually caving after over a year and buying an Evercade.  I didn't keep it a year.

On paper, in video, in conversation it is amazing.

The problem is when I had it, a good number of problems started to brew up some personal based, some reality, and I ended up dumping the thing at a local store at the time that was paying 60% of VGPC which means I got out of it even thankfully.

- Too many games at one time, hard to focus or commit so it's unrewarding.
- Many collections have a game or a few worthy in the larger so you waste money on a lot of mediocrity to crap
- Some are just a game or two, kind of a waste given vs price against the others
- Sketchy release dates and times, dates falling behind months or more, a LRG like experience w/out pre-pay blues
- Some stuff just not shipped to one store or country at all or in accceptable numbers causing online grifters to scoop

I could list most, but between those I had this failed christmas bundle someone had I got for a steal and I enjoyed it for a bit but that first and second became an issue and time wasn't there to enjoy it or attention either.  THen when I started trying to get stuff, the other crap came up, everyone with their own prices or countries with stuff that should have been in the US according to the company, then some key stuff slipped 6-12mo and I packed it in as I got fed up with the antics.  I wish I never owned it but happy it didn't cause me a loss at least.

Different?  Kid Icarus II on the GB is basically like the original, just not as cruel and sadistic in the worst bits people dread like the Eggplant curse as it can wear off vs having to do some hellish damage soaking backtracking to the nurse.  DK is the original game, for the first four stages, so I'd think for that it counts and is an improvement too.

Golf vs GB golf is step up on the handheld, the sports games in general are in parity or with subtle fixes in the 89 lineup that make them just a bit better with a half decade of time to reflect on that since they were largely 1983-84 titles.  On that note they did a small(very) improvement on Family Golf FC vs GB from Namco, plus it has a new set of courses too so I didn't really include it as it's like a new game except in name.

But no, MegaMan wasn't better outside of 5, that I would give anyone.  The Castlevania games not at all, at least definitely not the first on GB as it's stiff with some heavy gravity on those jumps.

Just put in 'how to win at' in the search, they're all up there NOT on his account fully viewable.  Seems like a dumb move on his part unless he's hoping to catch those too lazy or dim to see the magnifying glass in the corner with the word search in the box.

I've picked up a few of these locally in recent years, but the Gameboy and SNES ones are the most fun since they're less obviously found than the small stack of NES books.  All are fairly useless as help but make an amusing read.

I don't post often, but felt maybe update worthy.  I had a run of odd repetitive luck in the last 6mo about here with Sega Genesis stuff, and I've had a few odd finds with Famicom too, so been largely only doing that with a few pokes at something Switch between.  It has been awhile but I got to a store at the right time yesterday and got a nice stack of 5 NES games, one of them, complete... StarTropics right there even had the letter too.  I've never played that game otuside of a few minutes in chapter1 and it's a little stiff but all in all not bad, I can see the appeal but at the time it was close to SNES and kids save.  Also snapped up Batman Returns, Kickle Cubicle, Monster Party and Laser Invasion.  Never had either of those 2 konami games before and they're quite good too.

Also been fiddling a little with gameboy too, found namco classic (dmg-jp) locally along with prince of persia and another SP (onyx) worth paying for so I snapped those up too and they're in use.  I don't really do images much anymore or report stuff, rather just mess with the stuff when I'm in the mood you know?  Oddly most my time has been with the Genesis, all sorts of stuff found strangely locally, bangers too, not common fluff notably under ePay rates which is a win in my book since I just buy to play at this rate.

I can think of the 8bit GB/GBC stuff that would be subjectively (or objectively) better on there over the console side.  Advance would be a bit easy though.

Donkey Kong vs DK94 - the GB game had all of the stages, then 90% more game that played largely the same with the enhancements.

Parodius and Pop'n Twinbee - The NES parodius is a less nice a/v side comparatively, and the GB version of the SFC shooter is just stunning, carries its weight so well you're good off on either.

Metroid and Kid Icarus -- GB games took lessons from both and made them far more approachable and just fun.  Metroid didn't have a map, but more detail and gear to get around better.  KI just had more balance, less stiff difficulty, and the eggplants wore off not an infuriating dungeon spiral to get to the nurse.

Bubble Bobble NES 1/2 vs GB Part1&2 - I can't really after so long detail it well, but the handheld games trumped the quality, game play and mechanics of the console side.

Prince of Persia NES vs GB/GBC - I just acquired this one again days ago (GBC) and it's just the GB game with colorization (lazy but effective)

Kirby's Dream Land 2 vs Adventure -- Similar enough than not, adore the NES game but the GB one I still think did it a bit better.

Race Drivin' GB game laughably better (not much) frame rate than the console release so it's actually oddly playable.

Ninja Gaiden Shadow may be a bit easier, but it's as fun if not more (since it's not frustrating due to rental shenanigans) than the NES ones.

Tetris Gameboy -- enough said

The Getaway High Speed 2 vs HIGH SPEED (1 on NES) -- THe NES game and GB both have no customization, but the NES one has lame monsters added in and doesn't behave as well.  The GB game while the sequel the tables were largely the same and the ball works better, the mechanics are ALL intact, and no dumb monsters -- even the DMD games are there.

Genjin Collection (bonk) Adventure 1 & 2 are on GB, 1 on NES...the GB one feels more right, looks colorlessly more right, it's just a better version

1942 on NES beep beep bleh-- GBC one is more an arcade port and awesome.  Ghosts n Goblins though is a NES port but plays a little better yet and had an arrange mode with also an overly picky(to the life) password

Dragon Warriors 1-3 -- GBC wins, they're refined because they're the SFC games and spank the originals

Mario Golf vs NES Open Tournament -- GBC had more modes, better a/v, and the RPG mechanic which is amazing

Shadowgate on NES is solid but the GBC one is a little nicer, interface and visuals are a little better detailed, not a stand out but lightly nicer.

More a subjective nod but Castlevania, Contra, Gradius, Quarth on the GB (or gbc konami collection 1-4) largely were superior to their by date counterparts on NES.  Castlevania II GB beats the NES ones on quality, either Gradius to G1 NES does as well, contra/operation C about the same they're not lessers at least.

I have my reasons but don't log in much these days reading or otherwise.  I'd defer to fcgamer because I agree.  The prices are clown level, and if you want real it's clown price unless he comes across some local vendor as they tend not to be scummy there unlike in the US with such things.  I've mostly picked up boots from his looks, but on rare occasion a legit game and it was last a MD title price wise at 10% of the ebay price.  Personally I'd just take the bootleg modern or vintage it'll work the same.

I bit, click bait 100% misleading title, but the content is on point.  The game really is fantastic, the real DOOM 3 before we had ehh Doom 3.  Was happy when this thing got re-released just in the last few years.  I do wish they hadn't set the contrast so low it's a real pain to see much in the game without realy cranking things up.

FF1, FF2, DQ3, FF4, FF5, FF6, DQ7, DQ8, FF9, FF10(by default, other is a MMO), and DQ11

I'm sure I was against the grain on some of those, but dragon quest time to get great and FF for the time started out nicer even the wonky way FF2 went as it was.  DQ3 was magic as is 4 but sorry not as epic as FF4 by any means, as can be said for the SFC era of DQ, but then it really took its stride in the 7 and since era.

FF went into the weeds of largely garbage fires and DQ stayed true.

Go back about 3-4 years ago I had a big shelf loaded with DOS/Win (up to about 2000 era) big box games.  They either are hot or cold, and if they are hot they get stupid, very stupid to levels of magnitude if the franchise is big, if it has crazy stuff in the box, or if it just never got another release ever over licensing bs or whatever.  I kept a few things of what was there, at times felt maybe I sliced one or two too many like the old Trek click games(kept the amazing novella guides though.)  One that was a biggie to me was SImpsons Arcade it's costly, not 1000s but still sucks.  Another huge one I kept all along since purchase is my talkie CD release of Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis and it's in great shape too, kind of wondering if it'll go nuts given the source.  Wing Commander Deluxe is another gem of an option has all the big huge blueprints of all the ships in there, the Claw Marks full on magazine/game guide thing, and more.  I'm sure someone will snark, got a complete boxed up Knights of Xentar, best JRPG of the dos era we got, even if it's eechi even without the 17+ patch, and a sealed up Power Dolls (Same company, no eechi.)  There's a few others, some didn't have boxes.

7 hours ago, MiamiSlice said:

I wish you'd post a pic of these toys! Those are great finds, especially the Capcom toys. 

I just don't want to upload images here after some underhanded drama some months ago, its why I removed the stuff and went to text, but here I put it on my hosting some quickie images I showed a local friend at the time.

http://tanooki.byethost8.com/trade/toys1.jpg

http://tanooki.byethost8.com/trade/toys2.jpg

http://tanooki.byethost8.com/trade/toys3.jpg

If you're curious what the gashapon toys are in #3, it's a complete set.  Forgot to mention dropped $10 on these, haven't assembled them yet.  Seems they have notably more value than what I got into them at least, and there's a nice chibi naruto button pin as well.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/394341238037

Beautiful, even if the game is trash that Game Boy Indy I'd put into a frame because of that scene.

From my understanding seeing many complaints online (non-video) the easiest application would be the shared goomba biting your ass to death story I had and others in this thread with the TV vs the Wii release of the game (all-stars in my case special pack.)  You'll probably end up gunned down a second before you actually SEE the bullet hit you thinking you dodged it.  I remember all the commentary how bad it was so I never got it, have the other 2 Cotton's though which is a shame as I like the franchise, even have my little nenroid on the desk of the witch here from the huge Cotton Fantasy set.

My half price books up the street had some adult drop their 90s gaming/cartoon toy collection there and it all wen out for $4 a piece.  I walked away with some fine stuff if any of your memories are jogged by it.  Capcom and Marvel did some co-packs of stuff, grabbed a Chun Li, Mega Man w/War Machine from that, one of those SMB3 happy meal Racoon Mario springs, the Ocarina of time 6" or so Link w/sword(shield lost) and Ganon, and one of those bd&a plushie beanie wing cap marios with the tag on it.  Then went back today when I realized the mistake and grabbed that war machine and also from the megaman/bandai line the Rush dog with jetpack.  The biggest wins are the plush, 2 zelda pieces, and rush which surprised me.  They're all on display, again, NFS territory.

If were flipping again there were a ton of those old fox era cartoon xmen toys and vehicles in that same pile with other quality stuff including a few vintage tmnt things, whenever one of the usual local scalpers find it they'll grab the tray if they know what's good for them, if not both of the trays and some contents from the usual wall hangers too.

I only ever saw the things sitting (the box at least) on the floor at like Software Etc and other game dedicated stores.  They rarely moved, got dusty, then they made room for affordable stuff that actually moved.  A small space was kept as a select few games came in but even they knew wasting a lot of space on a AES cart was madness vs a SNES game given the good size difference in boxes and largely so the price.

NeoGeo I have had a care about since 1990 when it appeared as it happened to show up at the pizza place we always ate at, and another local burger joint too.  That's largely why I care more for the non-fighting stuff.  Between them you had Baseball Stars, NAM, Magician Lord, Bust a Move, Samurai Shodown, Fatal Fury, League Bowling, Cyber Lip, Art of Fighting, World Heroes, Eightman, and so on.  Always loved throwing a few dollars at the thing, also did at the one at my college rec room which had Bam, Samurai Shodown 3 and various other titles along with Metal Slug.  Even since the 90s I wished I could afford the home unit, then the arcade one on the front and well into the back end of that thing vanishing.  It's why when I had an opportunity in the mid 2010s I bought one.   And it came with metal slug 1 and 2.

All these big posts and big images, and well I'm going to keep it simple.

I've found some stuff recently (like a couple of GB games for $4 ea with Wave Race and F1-Race both non-PC in cases, GameGear adapter for my MegaSg, etc), even got some stuff even in the mail from fcgamer a split order with half about so far.  But all that said, the most important find for me even over that, as it was local, and was a great many years hoping to see it (and never owning it in the past times I've had the hardware either) made it amazing to get and it's just one game alone.

Sega Genesis - Michael Jackson's Moonwalker   I always wanted that one, never got it, then wrote it off when he died as well, the vultures come out of the woodwork.  It was found at a local shop here, they wanted $60 but accepted a $50 offer and it's in amazing shape with everything clean, no wear or funk to the sticker.  Such a unique and screwy game, but quite a lot of fun.