Xbox
--
Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance II - $19, complete. This price is high compared to what you can get this game for online, but this is a game I've wanted pretty much since its release (but couldn't get back then because it wasn't on GC) but never have gotten in part because it's not common or cheap. I know I could get this for less on ebay and such, but there is a definite advantage to getting something you can have and see and I don't regret it.
PS2
--
Technic Beat - $7, complete. This is a somewhat odd pickup because it's a music game and I of course don't like the genre at all, but this sounds like a pretty unique one, as you move around a screen with a character, and don't just hit buttons in time... though you do that too, albeit with only one button apparently. I'll try it, but don't expect to get anywhere given how bad I am at music games.
Sub Rebellion - $5, complete. This third-person vehicular combat game is from Metro3D, a decent and somewhat interesting developer. This game is something of a departure from their other games, though I believe it still has some familiar (action-RPG) elements to it.
Game Gear
--
Asterix and the Great Rescue - $2, cart only. While this has the same name as the Genesis game of this name, this one's completely different in terms of gameplay and level designs. It looks average but I like Asterix, so it's a nice find.
Game Boy Advance
--
Defender - $3, cart only. Now, I love Defender; the 1980 classic is one of the best arcade games ever made. I got this because of that, and because some of Midway's GBA games are good (SpyHunter, for example), but this... well, it made a pretty bad first impression, let's just say that! There are three modes, including the original game, a graphically enhanced version of the original, and a new game which still is based on classic Defender gameplay. So, this game does not try to be like the GC/Xbox/PS2 Defender game, but instead like the original. Unfortunately that last mode is no good. It's the main mode, and it's kind of broken it's so hard to play. The zoom is too close, enemies are hard to hit before they hit you, enemies blend in with the backgrounds, and more... I can see why IGN gave this a 2/10. Oh well.
Wii
--
Valhalla Knights: Eldar Saga - $6.50, disc in generic case. This average-at-best action-RPG is something I've really wanted for some time even though I don't expect it to be very good. I don't know, I want to know...
Atari 2600
--
Carnival - $1, cart only. This is a port of a Sega shooting-gallery arcade game. This 2600 version was made by Coleco though, not Sega, and it's supposed to be not so great. But for this price I went for it.
Playstation 2
--
Dawn of Mana - $14, complete. This game is supposed to be kind of bad and I expect it will be just that (and plus, it's the only Mana game other than the original, FFA, where you can only play as warrior dude and nobody else...), but I do like this series despite its faults and this is one of the only US-released Mana games I don't have (and it's not a really common find either), so I got it.
Bode Miller Alpine Skiing - $1, complete. I'm expecting very little from this, but the Olympics just ended and that probably affected my judgment here, so I got this. Plus it was only a dollar, and skiing games can be fun...
Gamecube
--
Freedom Fighters - $6, complete. This is a somewhat ambitious third-person shooter thing. I think it's supposed to be good? Never played it, though.
Wii
--
Hot Wheels: Track Attack - $2, disc in case. This disc looked scratched so I wasn't sure if it would work, but the game runs just fine. It's unimpressive though sadly, as it feels way too similar to the DS game; it was a bit impressive on the DS, but here on the Wii it feels limited. It's mildly amusing at best.
WiiWare - Another batch, getting more stuff before the shutdown later this month...
--
LIT - $8
Contra ReBirth - $10
LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias - $10
Chronos Twins DX - $10 - Platform/puzzle game that got good reviews.
Rotozoa - $6 - This is an ArtStyle game, and looks weird but maybe interesting...
Wii VC
--
Super Hang-On - $9. This is Sega's other arcade port with motion controls added. This one uses the Wii controller wheel-style if you want, which is great and feels quite natural in this arcade classic.
X360 DD - Games with Gold
--
Crazy Taxi - This was the previous game, in the second half of last month. It doesn't have the original soundtrack so it's inferior to the DC original, but still, neat I guess?
Disney's Brave - And this is the current one. It's a licensed game so I'm not expecting much, but it looks like it could be a semi-decent topdown action/platformer so I'll give it a try.
Also the Xbox One GwG subscription titles right now are Trials of the Blood Dragon and Assassin's Creed Chronicles: India, neither of which I had.
Gamecube
--
Timesplitters 2 - complete, $12.50. Somehow I have never owned or, I believe, played this game before; oddly, I don't remember any of the people I knew in college having any of the Timesplitters games, and while I do have one of the games (the Xbox version of the third one) I'm not sure if I ever got around to trying it... I should correct that now.
Amazing Island - $7.50, complete. I think this is supposed to be pretty average, but I want to give it a try anyway.
PSP
--
Tactics Ogre - disc only, $7.50. Yes, for whatever reason I have never owned this game before...
SNES
--
Batman Returns - $7.50, cart only. This is supposed to be a decent to good beat 'em up.
WiiWare
--
Onslaught - $10 - Hudson managed to make a Wii FPS in 37MB!
Liight - $5
Bust-A-Move Plus - $6
Furry Legends - $10 - A short but decent platformer.
Muscle March - $5 - This game is supposed to be weird...
Wii VC
--
Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen - $8 (SNES) I've heard a lot about this game over the years but have never actually played it... though the N64 game is pretty good.
Shockman - $6 (TG16) This middle game in the Shubibinman series is different from the other two, it's entirely focused on shooting and not punching enemies. It's supposed to be the best of the three and seems decent, but with the prices the cart goes for I'll continue to not own it so getting this is reasonable as a way to have paid for this game without paying a crazy sum...
PS3 DD
--
InFamous Collection - $6 - This has a physical release, but the digital version is the only way to get it with the DLC included (and for far less than that DLC would cost on its own). I have a disc copy of InFamous 2, but not the first game or the DLC.
PS3/PSP DD
--
Breath of Fire III (PS1 Classics) - $6. I wish the discount was bigger so maybe I should wait, but I do want to have this and it's a decent sale so I got it.
Right, Queen did We Are the Champions, didn't they. I know that song, it's often being played in sports... and We Will Rock You too, looking it up? I'd forgotten that that was also theirs. When I think of We Are the Champions though my first thought is of the second Mighty Ducks movie (D2: The Mighty Ducks), because it plays at the end when they're sitting around the campfire after winning. That was probably the first time I heard that song, and I really liked the movie so I remembered it.
Anyway, I didn't get a game, but last week I ordered the rest of my current upgrade for my (newer) PC. First I got that used GeForce 960 4GB, then now I added two new parts -- a new power supply, a Corsair CS650, and a new 10TB hard drive from HGST. Yeah, I went large with the hard drive and more than doubled the amount of hard drive space the computer has, that should last a good while! I installed both new parts today and they're working great, which is a relief. They weren't cheap, but I got a good deal because last Friday ebay had a sale where you'd get 20% off of one purchase on the site, and I got those two (from Newegg) as my purchase. So, instead of totaling $400, it was only $320 for both which is quite reasonable.
I then put my old power supply back into the Vista computer, so it'll finally actually be able to run again. I'm going to copy everything from the two 300GB (Hitachi) hard drives that used to be in it and now are in my current machine onto the new drive then remove them and put them back in that machine. It'll only have those two full drives plus a 250GB drive I got cheap at Goodwill for hard drives, but given how rarely I['ll be using it -- only for stuff that doesn't run well either in WinME or Windows 10, pretty much -- that should be fine. I can only really have two computers hooked up here at a time though, and if I have to choose I'd probably rather keep the ME machine hooked up since there are quite a few games that work better on that one, so the Vista one will have to be working but not connected. Ah well. I really like having everything connected all the time, but sometimes there's nothing you can do.
When I upgraded from my 2TB drive to my 4TB drive, I had to take the time to learn what the new GPT boot sector was all about. That was a lot of research, but the end result is that I could actually use a single storage partition on the drive correctly after doing a full data transfer using GParted. It's pretty complicated when you're trying to keep the original installation working correctly.
It might be because I've always used them, but I still use partitions. With this drive I broke it up into six partitions, each ~1.5TB. I like partitions, it helps you organize stuff more...
... Every time I get more of the Wii download store stuff it feels like I'm getting some interesting things, but at far too high a price... but then I get more, because there's only like a week left until the shutdown. Bah...
Also I got the $4 of DLC for Bust-A-Move Plus and the remaining $10 of DLC for Space Invaders Get Even. Now, DLC, like save files, must be kept on the system's internal memory in order for a game to know it exists. Most other DLCs I have are small, but Space Invaders Get Even's is very definitely not small -- if you buy all three DLC addons, it's a 367 block DLC file. You need both that and the 307 block game both in system memory for the game to work, which really is way more than is reasonable on a system with as badly designed a save system as the Wii has... everything must be on internal when it's that small, really? The game is fun and makes good use of the pointer, but come on.
Wii VC
--
Neutopia II - $6 (TG16)
Air Zonk - $6 (TG16)
Pulseman - $9 (Gen)
DoReMi Fantasy - $9 (SNES)
MUSHA - $8 (Gen)
Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa - $6 (NES)
I'm not sure if I'll get any more VC games, but that might be it. I mostly got VC games that are not available digitally elsewhere, though I did end up getting a couple of TG16 titles that also have Wii U VC releases. That's fine though, they're good games and the prices are the same, and it's not like there are ever sales on Wii U VC games... other stuff yes, but VC? Not so much. These NES, SNES, and Genesis games don't have digital releases anywhere else though.
Yeah, it's a shame they didn't design the system to be storage location agnostic. The PS3 also doesn't let me use external storage in the memory card slots to store games. It's annoying.
Hacking the Wii does resolve the issue though, allowing games to run off of external devices.
PC DD
--
They Are Billions - $25. Yes, I actually bought a full-price PC game, and it's an early-access zombie survival game? Well, a zombie survival RTS, to be precise. I only got the game a day or two ago and have already played it for six hours, so I think it was a good purchase for sure! This is a very hard and frustrating game, but it's pretty good. I'll definitely be playing more!
DS
--
Deep Labyrinth - $5, card only. This is a dungeon crawler. Looks alright. It has full movement, not the space-based movement of Etrian Oddysey or such, but nowhere near that quality.
Gravity - $5, card only. A physics puzzle game.
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days - $5, card only. I've had slight interest in the DS KH games, but never wanted to pay the amounts they always cost. $5 is more like it, so I have this now.
SNES
--
Yoshi's Safari - $8, cart only. This was a pretty nice find, it's the other first-party SNES Super Scope game! This is the first time I've seen a copy since I got the Super Scope, and I'm happy to have it. Nintendo only made four or five first-party light gun games on the SNES, so it's not hard to get all of them, but because of the Mario light gun shooter concept and the Mode 7 graphics it's interesting.
Also for $11 I got a NES Game Genie. I've never owned one because they are often expensive, but this is a bit more reasonable than they usually seem to be so I got it.
So, the Wii's online shop money-adding function shuts down midday tomorrow. I got this last batch of stuff recently.
WiiWare
--
Snowboard Riot - $10. A simple snowboard racing game with some definite Snowboard Kids / Mario Kart influence.
ColorZ - $7
Maboshi's Arcade - $8
And Yet it Moves - $10
Dive: The Medes Island Secret - $10
Adventure Island: The Beginning - $8
Wii VC
--
Sonic the Hedgehog (Master System) - $5
Psychosis - $6 (TG16)
Dead Moon - $6 (TG16)
Also I added $50 more that I haven't spent yet, for a few final purchases...
Get anything? I haven't spent that last $50 yet, but I think I'm leaning towards spending some of it on the rest of the MLAAD DLC (the items), because I probably should, and also on Let's Tap. I'm not sure what to do with the rest yet though.
DS
--
Megaman Star Force Pegasus - $5, card only. This is one of the last of the Mega Man RPG series that started with the GBA Mega Man Battle Network series, which I still own zero of. I do own the MMX RPG for Gamecube, but that's a different thing. Anyway, I think this is supposed to be good and the price was right so I got it.
Playstation 1
--
007 Racing - $2, complete. This is a James Bond car combat game from EA. I've never been interested enough to actually buy it, but this is cheaper than I usually see it for so I got it. Hopefully it's alright, though the graphics are ... very PS1.
Xbox 360 DD
--
Freefall Racers - $2.50, on sale. This is a Kinect flying-racing game. It's a somewhat obscure (and digital-only) release, probably because it released in 2013 and Kinect was fading by that point I believe, but could be amusing...
I picked up everything I cared to (mainly those Konami Rebirth remakes), and am now zeroed out. Yep, got all the DLC for those My Life As games some time ago.
3DS DD
--
SteamWorld Heist - $7.50, on sale. The 3DS (/ Wii U) SteamWorld games are on sale now digitally. I have the 3DS version of the first one and like it, so I've been interested in the sequels... on 3DS particularly, because I like the stereoscopic 3d visuals and would prefer to play the games with them if I can. This game is a strategy game, unlike the platformer Dig series, but I think it's supposed to be good and I've been wanting to try it.
SteamWorld Dig 2 - $15, on sale. And yes, I got the second game as well! Steamworld Dig released for the PC, Switch, etc. last year, but this 3DS port only released a month or two ago, in 2018. Because of how nice the 3d is in the first one I was hoping for a 3DS version of the sequel, so when I saw that they actually made one, I knew that that's the version of this game I would get. It's nice that it went on sale so soon after its release, and it's great that they made a 3DS version of the game. And yes, it does support 3D. It is too bad that none of the 3DS Steamworld games have physical-card releases, they're digital only, but they exist and are pretty good.
So, today I decided to spend that last $50 in Wii shop money.
WiiWare
--
Niki: Rock 'n Ball - $5
Jam City Rollergirls - $10
Let's Catch - $10
Pop 'em Drop 'em Samegame - $5
Also I spent $20 for the rest of the MLAAD DLC. The stuff I didn't have was mostly the $14 worth of items which directly make the game easier, so perhaps I should have kept not having them, but the game gets so hard that it's probably balanced to make you need this stuff to have a good chance of winning, and I have the rest of the DLC now, so I got it. Not sure if I should have, but I did.
After some thought I decided to spend all of the rest of it on WiiWare games because you can play VC stuff elsewhere, but not these.
Xbox One
--
Micro Machines World Series - $12, complete. I've heard this is limited and not great, but as a fan of the classic Micro Machines games I had to get this one too, so I did.
Wii U
--
Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge - $2, complete. There is no reason for me to get this, given that I have it for 360 and don't exactly love the game, but I've kept thinking about getting the Wii U version too and now I have. At least I didn't spend much. (And it does have off-TV play...)
Wii
--
Thor: God of Thunder - $2, complete
Let's Tap - $2, complete - The minigame collection that connects to Let's Catch.
Medal of Honor Heroes 2 - $2, complete
N64
--
Elmo's Letter Adventure - $5, cart only - And now my 'own all the non-sports N64 games' collection goal is one step closer to completion.
Genesis
--
Streets of Rage 3 - $20, cart only - The third Streets of Rage game is no match for the first two, but it's still good. It's usually pretty pricey, though, so I've never gotten it... but I couldn't refuse this price today. Sure it's disappointing compared to the all-time-great second game, but this is still a decent beat 'em up.
PC
--
Die Hard: Nakatomi Plaza - $1, complete in box. I don't know this game offhand but for a dollar it seemed worth the chance.
Turok - $1, complete in case. I have this for 360 but not PC, and obviously a FPS is going to be better here!
Unreal Anthology - $1, disc in case (no manual) - Unreal 1 and its expansion, UT, Unreal 2, and UT2004. I have these digitally but don't have physical copies of most (only UT), so I got this.
3D Frog Frenzy - $1, complete jewelcase copy. A super low budget Frogger knockoff from Cosmi.
3DS DD
--
Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright - $20. So, I bought a physical copy of FE Fates: Conquest quite some time ago (last year...), but never actually played it, in part because I wasn't sure if I wanted to play another FE game yet, and in part because I wanted to play Birthright's campaign first, not Conquest. (I got Conquest's physical version because I like that boxart better.) So, I finally decided to buy Birthright and start the game, so I did. I haven't gotten to the choice yet, but I'll have to play through all three of Fates' campaigns eventually, so I have these two for now and will get the last one later. So far the game seems good, though I'm definitely not sold on getting rid of weapon durability...
I got some more stuff from Gamestop's '4 under-$5 games for $10 (actually $8 with Elite Pro)' deal that's still going on, and a few other things as well. Some more I'll mention soon.
DS
--
Frogger: Helmet Chaos - $2, card only
Wii U
--
Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games - $16, complete
Xbox 360 - all of these games were $2 each (and are complete with their cases), and all require Kinect. Yes, I got six Kinect games. This probably almost doubles the size of my Kinect library... and even if most aren't good, for this price it's worth it.
--
Fighters Uncaged
Minute to Win It
Kinectimals
Rise of Nightmares
Wipeout: In the Zone
Winter Stars
So, the other thing I got recently was, a couple of days ago, a Playstation Vita. I saw one in a local place for a pretty good price, and just could not resist it...
For $85, I got an original-model PS Vita, with a Vita charger (part of which also doubles as a USB cable to connect to a PC), 4GB Vita memory card and a PDP carrying case for the Vita as well. It's the 3G version of the Vita, not that I ever plan on using the 3G element of the system. I've heard that the OLED screens on the first-model Vitas age more quickly than other screens, but this one seems to still be in pretty good shape. There are some noticeable line things on the lower part of the screen, but I only notice it in the menu and not in games, so it's fine. The OLED lives up to its reputation and looks really nice, with real blacks in a way LCDs never have.
On the other hand, of course, sort of like the last major system I got (the Xbox One), the Vita has a small game library that is VERY heavy on multi-platform releases that are also available on the PC, where they almost always have better graphics and controls. It gets harder every year to justify any consoles other than Nintendo's, for anyone with a decent PC... hopefully this one has enough stuff to be worth it.
Also, of course, there's the other elephant in the room with the Vita, the storage situation. That is, that Vita memory cards are really expensive, unacceptably so. I was kind of hoping that I'd be able to install homebrew on this system, to be able to use a micro SD adapter instead of Sony's stupid-expensive things, but no, that needs an older version of the Vita's firmware than this one came with. Blah. The 4GB card I have is enough for a moderate-sized library of physical-card games, but that's it because even if their default install is small (and thankfully they often are), lots of games need space on the card for patches, DLC, updates, and such. I'd really like to have a 64GB card (or several maybe, eventually...) but those things cost at least $90 new, which is insane. Sure I can save a little bit if I get a good deal for one on ebay, but would that actually be trustworthy? I'm not sure. Regardess, they should cost half that much at most, for that size! And larger sizes than that should be available too, and of course they are not. The storage situation has always been one of the Vita's biggest faults and I think Sony's insistence on trying to nickel-and-dime their customers this way really hurt the platform... as it should have, really.
Otherwise, the Vita is a reasonably comfortable system. The buttons and sticks are really small though, which is an issue; this thing isn't as comfortable as a regular console controller because of how small everything is. And even just looking at handhelds, the analog sticks are better than the 3DS's awful tiny right analog nub, but they're a lot worse than the 3DS's left analog slider, which is more important. It works, and of course cramming all of these sticks and buttons into a portable thing is difficult, but this is an issue here just like it is in almost any handheld with more than two face buttons (and even some with only two).
As for games, this is what I got so far. I went to the three Gamestops near here and got some things at each of them. These aren't the Vita game I want the most -- the one I want the most is Wipeout 2048, but I haven't seen a copy of it yet -- but hopefully most of them are fun. Vita selections are limited these days unless I'm wiling to pay full price for new games, which right now I'm not...
Vita (note: I assume Vita games don't have paper manuals, so "complete" means the cart and case.)
--
Operation Abyss: New Tokyo Legacy - $16, complete
Exist Archive - $16, complete. This is a sidescrolling RPG (with traditional RPG battles) from Tri-Ace, with gameplay reminiscent of Valkyrie Profile. I just played it for a few hours and low difficulty aside I'm really liking it. It's got good graphics and gameplay with a fun battle system.
ModNation Racers On Tour - $4, complete
Drive Girls - $14.40, complete (One of the less good games I got here. I wish it was more of a racing game and not a fighting thing, but ah well.)
Freedom Wars - $8, complete (One of the many Monster Hunter-inspired games, this one seems decently interesting.)
Soul Sacrifice - $8, complete (The setting here goes overboard on the edge, but the gameplay seems alright.)
Little Deviants - $2.70, cart in generic case
Lumines Electronic Symphony - $2, cart in generic case
Ridge Racer - $14, complete (probably shouldn't have gotten this one, but ah well. What's here is good, for the series. It just needs an actual single player mode... and more content on the cart and not in the DLC packs, but that only adds tracks, cars, and music, not modes.)
Vita DD - These are not games I bought now, I have not bought any digital Vita-only games; I'll need a memory card first, for sure. I went through my purchase history in the Vita store and found a bunch of games I got for the PS3 but also came with crossbuy Vita versions. These are listed below. I haven't downloaded most of them for space reasons. (Plus, I have all of these installed on PS3, where most are probably better...)
--
Hohokum
Entwined
PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale with its DLC pack
Resogun
Soldner-X 2: Final Prototype
StarDrone Extreme (this is the one I did install. It's small and quite different on Vita because you play exclusively on the touchscreen, which works well for this game.)
The Unfinished Swan
... I ended up getting a whole lot of stuff today...
Vita
--
Ragnarok Odyssey - $2, cart in generic case. I've tried the demo of this game on PS3 and it seemed okay but not worth the money it costs on that system, but for this price I won't refuse!
Lego Heroes of Chima: Laval's Journey - $2, complete
Blazblue: Chronophantasma - $20, complete. This is one of many Vita games that I have on PC already. I decided to get this one because I do want a fighting game for the system and while I do have this for PC, I haven't played a huge amount of it (unlike the other fighting game I've seen, DoA5+).
DS
--
Rondo of Swords - $8, cart only
Looney Tunes: Duck Amuck - $2, cart only
Nervous Brickdown - $5, cart only
PSP
--
Metal Gear Acid - $4, card only
Game Boy
--
Baseball - $4, cart with plastic case and manual
Game Gear
--
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers - $4, cart only
NES
--
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - $6, cart in sleeve. This infamous "classic" is one I've owned for PC forever, which is why I never got the NES version, but... why not. It probably is worth having. It's a weird and not very good game, but the NES version is mostly better than the PC one (better graphics, for example) and I should have it...
Disney's The Little Mermaid - $7, cart in sleeve. I got this for GB sometime not too long ago, but never have owned the NES version, which is the same thing but better (color and all).
Playstation
--
Looney Tunes: Sheep Raider - $14, complete. This is actually a good price for this interesting stealth game.
Streak Hoverboard Racing - $3, complete. This game is pretty much a followup to the JetMoto franchise.
Gamecube
--
TMNT: Mutant Melee - $14, complete
Wii
--
Spore Hero - $2, complete
N64
--
Namco Museum 64 - $7, cart only
Xbox One
--
Pharaonic: Deluxe Edition - $8, complete
Wii U
--
Lego Dimensions (Starter Pack) - $27, new. I probably should have gotten the Xbox One version of this game, but I got this one because I like the Wii U and this was a little cheaper. If I like it I might get a cheap (disc+portal only would be fine) copy of the X1 version, though, since that does have better graphics.
I got Lego Dimensions because it's had a price cut because of its discontinuation, and I am interested enough to get it, and preferably before it becomes much harder to find, which will be soon. With Skylanders or Disney Infinity you can just buy stuff online (and I'll probably do that for Disney Infinity at some point, to get the other two Star Wars campaign addons for example), but with Lego that's tougher and more expensive (unless you get sealed stuff) because of all the little parts...
I also got a few addon sets for Lego Dimensions, based on the few that I saw at the places I went today: Midway Arcade Level Pack ($24), The Powerpuff Girls Blossom Fun Pack ($6.50), and The Lego Batman Movie Story Pack ($21). Looking it up, the game has a whole lot of character (Fun or Team Packs) packs, but there are ten Level Packs, each of which adds one stage to the game as well as coming with a character and vehicle, and only three Story Packs, which add a whole new campaign. I'm kind of surprised that there are only three Story Packs; Disney Infinity games also ran on this physical-DLC-addons model and each of the three Disney Infinity titles has more addons than that. It's nice to have one of them though, and for way less than the original sticker price.
Nintendo DS
--
Kingdom Hearts: Re-Coded - $5, cart only. The other DS KH game.
Animal Crossing: Wild World - $5, cart only
Garfield FunFest - $2, complete
Game Boy
--
Ghostbusters II - $18, cart only. This game actually sells for more than this on Ebay, and was made by HAL (despite the game being published by Activision). It looks average, but because of that I had to get it...
PSP
--
Metal Gear Acid 2 - $2.50, disc only. I just got the first one, but why not complete the series since I actually saw this?
Vita
--
Grand Kingdom - $12, card in generic case. I've heard this is good, and it's Vita exclusive too, so I've been wanting to get it.
Also I got an 8GB Vita memory card for $17.60. A larger one (16 or 32GB) would be nice, but they actually had this and it's more than the 4GB card I have, so I got it. Apparently Vita memory cards have some reliability issues, maybe particularly 64GB cards, but hopefully this 8GB one is fine.
Additionally I got a Wii U Gamecube adapter, one of the official Nintendo ones, for $14. It's a nice find, the official Nintendo one is apparently the best one of these and even if it's mostly just for Smash it's worth it...
That was all I was going to get... but then I saw that at Gamestop there's a weekend buy-2-get-1-free sale going on right now for Wii U and 3DS games only, so I got a bunch more. These are all games I've been thinking of getting for quite some time.
Wii U
--
Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE - free in B2G1, would have been $25. Complete.
Bayonetta 2 with Bayonetta 1 - $24, complete
3DS
--
7th Dragon III: Code VFD - $24, complete (no outer box or soundtrack disc). This fourth 7th Dragon game is the first one with a US release. Unfortunately it plays in the 7th Dragon 2020 style, and not the better original game's style, but still it's decent anime-ish-dungeon-crawler stuff.
Senran Kagura 2: Deep Crimson - $16, complete (no outer box or soundtrack disc). The first one's good, so I've been wanting to play the sequel. Like the first this is a side-view beat 'em up. For both this game and 7th Dragon above, though I wasn't sure if I wanted to just get a copy like this, or pay more for a complete copy with the mini-soundtrack and such. I went for this because of the sale. Those Atlus 3DS game soundtrack discs never have more than five or six tracks anyway, so oh well.
LBX: Little Battlers eX - free in B2G1, would have been $8. Complete.
Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward - $12, complete. The second game in the series. I have the first, though I haven't played it yet.
Atari 2600
--
Deadly Duck - cart only, $2. This obscure shooter-ish game is apparently mediocre, but it's still a neat find.
Ms. Pac-Man - $2, cart only. The 2600 version of this game is highly acclaimed, but for some reason I haven't bought it before...
Shark Attack - $2, cart only. Apollo's 2600 games are mostly not too good but I got this one anyway.
Xbox One
--
NBA 2K15 - $3, complete. I've heard good things about this series, so I got this.
Vita DD
--
TxK - $10. After getting a Vita I'd momentarily forgotten about this Vita-exclusive Jeff Minter game, somehow, but then I remembered and now I bought it. I really like Minter's work, Tempest 2000 particularly, so this Tempest-styled game is a definite must-have for the system! I'm happy to pay full price for it, $10 is very reasonable.
PC DD
--
Inherit the Earth - $1.50, on sale. Inherit the Earth is a somewhat weird adventure game from the mid '90s set in a world where humanity is gone and replaced with humanoid animals. It's supposed to be good and I remember knowing people who liked it back then, but never have played it myself... but when I saw it on sale this time I finally got it.
Atari 2600 - All card only games.
--
Beany Bopper - $6 - This is a very simple and okay (not good, just okay) game. You shoot things to freeze them then touch them to pick them up, pretty much. Some things can always be collected by touching them, but enemies must be shot first.
Blue Print - $2 - A somewhat ambitious game for the time, you need to read the manual for this one. It could be good though.
M.A.D. - $3 - A mediocre Missile Command clone with iffy controls. You aim a turret instead of a cursor, but I don't like the way shooting feels...
Flag Capture - $5 - This game had promise but is too simple.
PC
--
Starship Tycoon - free with other purchases
Xbox 360 DD - free from Games with Gold
--
Streets of Rage - This classic collection includes all three games in the series, which is nice for people who don't have them all or any of the other collections which include them. I do, but got this anyway since it's free...
PC
--
Papyrus NASCAR Racing - $3, complete in box (big box). This game is from 1996. I do not care much for NASCAR, but Papyrus' NASCAR games were well known for being some of the best simulation racing games of the '90s, and it's published by Sierra and was cheap, so I got it. Sierra was such a great publisher...
Xbox 360
--
Assassin's Creed Rogue - $5, complete - This game now has a PS4/X1 port, but this version should be fine too... (I have seen this for even less for PS3, but I'd really rather not have games for that unless they're only on PS3.)
I also got some random GC licensed games mostly because they were cheap.
Gamecube
--
Spawn Armageddon - $3, complete
Harry Potter: Quiddich World Cup - $5, complete
Disney's Hide & Sneak - $3, complete
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers - $4, complete - This is a pretty good game, but I do have it for Xbox. I got this anyway.
Monsters, Inc.: Scream Arena -$3, complete
I got some pretty interesting 2600 games today, and a few other less interesting things as well.
Atari 2600
--
Cookie Monster Munch - $3, cart only. This is one of the Sesame Street games that requires the Kids Controller, which was only used for those games. Unfortunately unlike the other two games in this line that I have this one didn't come with its overlay, but I'm sure I can look up an image of it online to know which buttons it uses.
Congo Bongo - $9, cart only. This is one of Sega's 2600 games, so it's got one of those great Sega 2600 cases with the embossed SEGA on the back. This cart's in near-perfect condition too; it looks spotless! The game's alright, an isometric take on Donkey Kong for the most part. It's not one of my favorite early Sega games but it's okay.
Starmaster - $2, cart and manual. Starmaster is a first-person space shooting game from Activision. Most games like this on early consoles are not great, but this is supposed to be one of the better ones. I'll see if I agree, I guess.
Spy Hunter - $20, cart only. The 2600 version of SpyHunter looks surprisingly solid in terms of gameplay, and it's kind of uncommon as well; this is a good price for it. I like Spy Hunter and the port is good, so I had to get this eventually.
Frogger II: Threeedeep - $15, cart only. This Frogger II is a three-screen game which plays like classic Frogger, but, well, with several different screens to work through. It's a good game and is uncommon; I don't think I've seen a copy before since I got a 2600. Great find here, and the price is pretty good as well.
Nintendo 64 - Getting some more stuff for the N64 collection...
--
Army Men Sarge's Heroes 2 - $12, cart only
NHL 99 - $3, cart only
Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue - $6, cart only
Also I got another Performance N64 controller pak for $7.
SNES
--
Williams' Greatest Arcade Hits - $4, cart only. This nice collection includes Defender, Defender II, Sinistar, Joust, and Robotron.
I would love to get the element world series of atari games. Fire world, Water world, those ones. The thing is, if I am going to get them, I have to get all the packed in materials for the intended experience. It's a shame Air World was never made, except for multiple fan projects.
Oh yeah, Swordquest. I don't have those either, and for the same reason -- while I have seen loose-cart copies of Fireworld plenty often, and may even have seen Waterworld sometime (not sure...), I didn't buy them because those are DEFINITELY games you want the manual for. Now, between sites like Atari-Age and such most Atari manuals, posters, and the like have scans available online, and sometimes I need to check that resource for some games I get because you don't always know what the game modes are or what the difficulty switches do in lots of Atari games unless you look up those charts in the manuals, so I could play Swordquest that way... but I don't know, I'd really rather have the real manual, comic, and such...
Of course the difference is I'm not aiming to "complete" any collections. I have a set of games I want to play some day, and that's all I'm after. Beyond that, eh, I'm fine not getting the rest. But yes, Sword Quest, that's what they were called.
Sure, that mostly makes sense. And yeah, I definitely buy plenty of stuff that's far from essential to say the least... but sometimes it leads me to discovering really interesting games that I'd probably never have heard of otherwise. When someone says ' these are the only games I want for some system, forget the rest', sometimes that is said with full knowledge of that system's library, but more often it is not. So I've never really liked that 'my collection is now complete' thing, because those people are probably missing out on games that they'd like but don't know about...
I don't think it's worthwhile to invest so much time and money into playing every single game every made "just in case". I have, on occasion, run into a game that grabbed my interest like The Magic of Scheherazade about a year ago, which I bought knowing nothing about it other than I liked the box art. It turned out to be every single game genre at once, from turn based RPG to overworld Zelda style combat, all existing separate and simultaneously. I don't regret it.
However, by and large, the thought that just MAYBE there is a game I "would have liked" doesn't keep it me up at night. I can let the internet inform me of hidden gems, and that has been reliable enough. If something falls through the cracks, so be it. I only have this one life.
Yeah, that's a weird game. I have a complete copy I got some years ago, but never did play a lot of it... but it's definitely strange, and multi-genre.
Quote: If something falls through the cracks, so be it. I only have this one life.
That's reasonable. As for me though... I can't help it, I want to know. And then buy some of the things I see. :p
Vita
--
Gravity Rush - $16, complete. I went to a few places today, but a bunch of them are from a Gamestop a bit farther away that I hadn't been to before, but went to in part because they had this game. I really want to play it. Fortunately I also found a bunch of other interesting things there.
Tearaway - $8, complete
Toukiden Kiwami - $16, cart in generic case - Yes, it's yet another third person action game with Monster Hunter inspirations, on a Sony handheld! What a surprise! ... I tried the demo of Toukiden 2 on Vita though and liked it, so I'd been thinking of getting this enhanced version of the first game, and now did.
Wii U
--
Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival - $4, new. This is the complete game, with two Amiibos, 3 Amiibo cards, and its outer box. You need an Animal Crossing Amiibo for every player in order to play this apparently-boring board game, which is pretty annoying, but for this cheap I went ahead and got it.
Monster High: 13 Wishes - $8, complete. This licensed kids' game is a 3d platformer, so for some really weird reason I've wanted to play it. I don't know. The licensed console game was dying fast by the time this came out, which makes them more interesting than they were on, say, the Gamecube or such...
Wii
--
Skate City Heroes - $2.40, complete. This super low budget game looks bad, but I hope it's the amusing kind of bad.
Deepak Chopra's Leela - $2.40, complete. And this one looks weird and unique.
Obscure: The Aftermath - $4, complete
Xbox 360
--
Midway Arcade Origins - $12, complete. This collection includes 30 Midway games, which may seem pointless given that I have all of them for other formats, but this does have nice stuff like online leaderboards and such that I don't have for these games, so I finally got this.
The Darkness - $2.40, complete (I have the second game but not this first one...)
Limbo / 'Splosion Man / Trials HD Triple Pack - $4, complete. I actually don't have the latter two games in this pack, surprisingly enough, and only have Limbo on PC. I got a bunch of the 360 collections like this years ago, but not this one... happy to have it now.
Playstation 3
--
Enchanted Arms - $5.60, complete. This game was first released on X360, so I'd always meant to get that version of it, but I never did and the PS3 version has some added content, so after getting a PS3 I decided to get this version of it sometime. Finally found one and actually got it.
Xbox One
--
Has-Been Heroes - $7, new. This indie game from last year looks good and was cheap. It's apparently hard.
Nintendo DS
--
Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 - $8, cart only. This middle entry in the Trauma Center series is the only DS-exclusive one, and while I have the Wii games I didn't have this one. It's not something I see too often so this time I got it.
The other thing I did recently was I went to the Toys R Us near here, to see if they had anything interesting. I never have regularly gone to Toys R Us, since there wasn't one in our town growing up and after that it didn't have much to interest me over other stores, but I was just wondering if there'd be anything... and there wasn't much, apart from some cheap Skylanders and Amiibo stuff. I ended up getting like five Skylanders Superchargers vehicles for a dollar each, three Skylanders characters for $0.50 to $1.50, a Lego Dimensions Laval set for about $4 (Lego stuff costs more, smaller discount), and a Palutena Amiibo for under $3. They had a whole lot of the Palutena Amiibos, and only a handful of other ones, none marked down anywhere near that much. So I got this one because it's a nice figure. I don't have many Amiibos, but I have been meaning to get a few more... though I guess I did double my number of them now, given the above purchase of Animal Crossing Wii U which comes with two.
As for other Toys to Life stuff, at one of the Gamestops I got an E.T. Lego Dimensions figure set for $6, and a Skylanders Superchargers Kaos Trophy for $0.50. Most of Gamestop's Lego Dimensions stuff is also not marked down much, but this one was to an extent.
Oh, when at Toys R Us I was wondering if they still had any consoles, and as of today they didn't. I went there once about two weeks ago, and at that point consoles were 5% off, and they still had some including Switches. I thought about it a bit but didn't get one. Now consoles are 30% off, and they are understandably sold out. I wonder if there were stages in between those two very different numbers, or if it went to 30% off and some people got very good deals... who knows. (Lego stuff is only 15% off even now. It's understandable it's got a lower discount than other things...)
... So I saw a thing Sunday night, and couldn't help but buy it despite the cost.
Yes, I got a Nintendo Switch. They had one used at a local place, complete in box, for $200! That's a very good price for a Switch, they're $280 used at Gamestop I'm pretty sure. It's the grey-joycons version, unfortunately I guess (I want the bright green ones...), but that's fine.
I haven't bought any accessories for it yet, but I'm sure I'll need some -- I definitely need some kind of screen cover and a pro controller, and the charging joycon handle thing would also be great. I might also get some kind of carrying case for it. Oh, and of course I'll need a big micro SD card for it at some point, once I fill up the internal memory.
As for games, I got a few. Switch games are quite expensive so I won't be buying a lot of Switch games soon...
Switch
--
Super Mario Odyssey - $40, complete - The must-have.
Puyo Puyo Tetris - $28, complete - This is also on PC, but I've really wanted to play it and don't own it there, and a portable version of a puzzel game is always better so I got this. Seems great so far.
Touhou Kobuto V: Burst Battle - $20, complete - I wanted another thing and this was not as expensive as other games so I got it. It doesn't look great but oh well...
Switch eShop (DD)
--
Midnight Deluxe - $4, on sale
So far my thoughts on the Switch are about what I expected, really. It's cool that it's both portable and handheld. Being able to just pick it up out of the dock and keep playing is a great idea. Mario Odyssey is pretty good and a lot of fun to run around in. The really fast load to get into the eShop is great too, it's way faster than the 3DS or Wii U shops. As for the Joycons, they're alright though a bit small even with the two rail things added on.
On the negative side, most of the library are either indie PC ports or Nintendo Wii U ports, so even over a year in the exclusive game library is still pretty small. Right now, I can only think of only a few games I really want for it -- Mario, which I got, Splatoon 2, Kirby Star Allies, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, and probably Mario & Rabbids and the Labo Variety Kit... and that might be about it for now. I've got all those Wii U games for Wii U, so the question there would be how much content they add and if I really want a portable version of the same game. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe probably adds enough to be worth it. Bayonetta and Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze probably do not. Zelda I'm not sure, it's the exact same thing but a portable version of that might be nice, so I'd probably only get it again for cheap (which it probably won't be anytime soon).
Other negatives: there are many fewer shop categories than the 3DS or Wii U eShops, meaning it's probably harder to find games. This is a complaint I've heard a lot about the Switch and it looks likely accurate. Also I miss the dual-screen nature of the Wii U, it'd be great to have touchscreen support while playing... ah well. And when you do touch the screen, it's capacitive so you have to use your fingers which is terrible for games. Good gaming touchscreens require restive touch and a hard plastic stylus, fingers are way too inaccurate for use in serious gaming! I know I'm in a minority here, sadly, but I believe this. Also, again, while you get used to it those joycons are small and feel more handheld controller-sized than console. And Pro Controllers are way too expensive...
Additionally I got:
Game Boy
--
Qix - $3, cart only - I didn't own this version of Qix before...
Odyssey really is one of the two must-haves I would recommend. You should also pick up Breath of the Wild, it might surprise you.
Personally I love all the indies out on the thing. Sonic Mania isn't really an indie title, but it feels like one and is amazing anyway. If you don't already have it, pick it up. The Plus version is coming along soon, and while I wish retro Amy Rose was among the character roster, there's always a chance they will "& Knuckles" the game with a full-on expansion.
I have Breath of the Wild for Wii U, got it sometime last year. I think I said this then, but I started the game, got a bit in, wandered around, went up a few towers, and such. After a little while I decided to try to go to one of the dungeons (such as they are), and got to the Zora town, but haven't gone back to the game since getting there so I still haven't played a dungeon in that game. It seemed good, but the open-ended design has never been a favorite of mine of course and I like the more focused design of a more traditional Zelda game better. It is a game I should go back to and play more of at some point, though. I'm just not sure if it's worth buying again just to play it portably...
As for Sonic Mania, despite my strong interest since its release I actually still don't have that game. The Switch would be as good a place to get the game as any, so sure, I might get it, particularly once that Plus version releases...
Switch
--
Mario & Rabbids: Kingdom Battle - $40, complete - This is one of the Switch games I more want to play, so since it's available for less than full price I got it. I've heard good things.
GBA
--
Pac-Man Collection - $3, cart only - Yes it's another handheld version of Pac-Man. Pac-Man, Pac-Man Arrangement, Pac-Mania, and Pac-Attack, specifically.
Atari 2600
--
Q*Bert - $3.50, cart only - QBert isn't my favorite thing, but it's a good classic and the 2600 version, while graphically quite different, plays decently well.
Fire Fighter - $3.50, cart only - An Imagic game. I've heard it's not one of their better ones but I do want to try it, and this cart actually has a picture label instead of the text-only label I usually see for this game so I got it.
I got this stuff on sale, before a bunch of those sales ended yesterday or so.
Switch eshop DD
--
Tactical Mind - $1.50, on sale. A hard boardgame.
Nine Parchments - $12, on sale. This fun topdown action game is from the developers of Trine, which is a pretty good series. I don't have it on PC and this is a reasonable price so I got it.
Mecho Tales - $1.00, on sale. An okay 2d platformer.
ACA NeoGeo: Blazing Star - $8 (not on sale). I really love Blazing Star, it's my favorite Neo-Geo shmup, and I was frustrated for years that it never got a Wii VC release. Well, it got a Switch release, so I finally own the game! And yes it's still awesome.
3DS eshop DD
--
Excave II - $7, on sale
Excave III - $5, on sale
Psycho Pigs - $5, on sale
So, I'll basically need four Switch accessories for sure, at some point (not necessarily immediately) -- a large micro SD card (once the internal memory fills up; a lot of these games are small, but I'm sure it will eventually even if I mostly avoid buying games that have a physical release digitally); a screen cover plastic film thing; a carrying case; and a Pro Controller. I might also get more Joycons, not sure. The bright green ones are pretty tempting, apart from their price...
So that copy of Gravity Rush I got last week doesn't work, so I went to a different Gamestop not too far from here to get a working copy. While I was there I found some other interesting stuff (mostly from there, but not all)...
PS1
--
Fade to Black - $5, complete
Vita
--
Utuwarerumono: Mask of Deception (LE) - $20, new. This is the first of two games in this series on Vita, and it's apparently one part visual novel and one part strategy game. The Vita has a lot of stuff kind of like this and this one looks maybe interesting enough to try. The art book it comes with is nice too.
(Also of course working Gravity Rush)
Nintendo DS
--
Fossil Fighters - $4, cart only
Red Bull BC One - $0.80, cart only - I'd never heard of this but for that price I decided to try it. It's weird and not that great, but at least it's weird...
Super Monkey Ball Touch n Roll - $5.60, cart only - I'd always been interested in this, but never got it... touch should be great for Monkey Ball.
Nintendo 3DS
--
Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask - $20, cart only. The 3DS Layton games are kind of hard to find, so since I actually saw this I had to get it. It's a very good series...
Wii U
--
Rayman Legends - $12, complete. I know I have this in X1 GwG, but that only kind of counts, and anyway the Wii U version is the original version of the game, with some Wii U Gamepad integration you don't get on other platforms.
Switch
--
Super Bomberman R - $30, complete. This game got a mixed reception, but it's always been one of the Switch games I most wanted to play, so since I found this used copy I got it.
Additionally I got the Switch Joy-Con battery pack adapter things new, on sale. I don't know, the added size they add to the joycons seems like it could be nice, to give a bit more size to the small things. Additionally these will be important in the future as those controller batteries start holding less of a charge... Oh, and it's one of the two ways of charging joycons without putting them in the system -- you need either this or a charging grip, and having to take those stupid rail things off each time is a pain and joycons are just too small without them, so hopefully this helps with that.
And lastly I got a Hori Switch Pro Controller, used, for $15. It doesn't have rumble, an Amiibo sensor, or, sadly, motion controls, but it is a wired controller with good build quality and a turbo button, so it'll probably be useful. Plus it has a d-pad, unlike joycons.