Friday, March 11, 2011

Mega Bargain of the Day: 3 Consoles and a game for 10 bucks

Envy Warning: If you are a retro game collector prone to fits of extreme jealousy, this blog post may provoke such an attack. Reader discretion is advised.

This post contains two sections. The first is a review of today's mega bargain shopping spree at Omocha Souko and the second is a teaser of what I expect will be my next "Mega Bargain" post.

And with that: on with the post.

I have to say that when it rains bargains at Omocha Souko, it pours. I haven't really bought much there in over a month because they haven't been putting new stuff out. Then suddenly yesterday they drop a ton of great games for only 100 yen each and today I go back just to make sure I didn't miss anything and BLAMMO! I discover they've tossed a ton of new stuff into their junk section and look poised to be putting even more out in the next couple days.

So, lets look at what I got, shall we? For 1,000 yen (about 10 US dollars) I got all of this, 3 consoles for 300 yen each and one game for 100 yen:
First, the game. It is the Blues Brothers for the Super Famicom:
I love the Blues Brothers movie and until today I didn't even realize they had ever made a video game of it (stupid me, all movies get made into video games now). I haven't played it yet but I do like the artwork - Dan Akroyd and John Belushi look so happy-go-lucky. Actually, that is nothing like how they act in the film, so its a bit of a strange choice but whatever.

Anyway, the real bargains were the consoles. First, a Game Boy Advance complete in its box:
I've never been particularly interested in the GB Advance, but for 300 yen for a CIB one how could I resist? I tossed some batteries into it and a copy of "F-1 Race" and was pleased to discover that it works perfectly:
The only problem is the plastic on the screen is coming loose a bit on the edges as you can see in the above photo, but it doesn't really affect it at all so I don't mind.

The next console was an even better deal than that. A boxed AV Famicom!!!
And it is complete! In fact, it is more than complete - for some reason Nintendo didn't include AV cables or an adapter for the AV Famicom. You had to buy them seperately. This one had a set of AV cables thrown in!
And it is clean and works perfectly! Again - 300 yen! These things usually go for about 6000-7000 boxed.

Finally I picked up my first Famiclone, the "Next II":
This one was literally brand new. The seal on the inside hadn't been broken yet:
I opened it up and plugged it in to try it out. I have to say that the physical unit isn't particularly well-made. The cart slot cover in particular is pretty flimsy and doesn't fit very well.

That said though, the controller work reasonably well for a Famiclone. Also the thing has 9 games hardwired into it. When you turn it on without any Famicom carts in it you get a menu to choose from:
I tried the first one, "Conte Enegy" for a bit. It is a Lode Runner clone. It plays pretty well, if you like Lode Runner. These games seem to all be rip-offs of Famicom titles. Its the first time I've ever played pirated games. Can't say that I was overly impressed, but at the same time the game played more or less like the original so I can't complain.

Anyway, that was what I bought. Now lets return this post to Omocha Souko and some of the insane stuff I saw today. There was a ton of other cool stuff that I refrained from buying even though it was insanely cheap. Examples include a CIB Sega Game Gear for 300 yen:
A box full of Game Cube, Playstation 2 and other controllers for 100 yen each:
A bunch of CIB Super Scopes for the Super Famicom for 100 yen each:
A bunch of Super Famicoms for 300 yen each (console-only):
The most insane thing of all though was this box:
Those are PS2 slims for only 300 yen each. They usually go for about 10,000 yen or so. I didn't buy one as I've already got a PS2, but wow. What a bargain. They won't be around for long. I should note that almost every console I've ever puchased out of these bins works, so there is a good chance that these do too.

More enticing to me was the piles of stuff that they haven't put prices on yet but which they had lying around waiting to be priced in a location where I could peruse them. These included a basket full of FDS games:
And this baby: the very first Sega Mark III (Sega Master System) game I've ever seen. This looks awesome. I love games with 80s-looking spaceships on them:
Simon over at Red Parsley has convinced me that the Master System is worth looking into so I am going to buy this when they put a price on it. I'll have to get an adapter for my Mega Drive to play it though.

They also have a ton of new boxed games for various systems (Famicom, Super Famicom, Mega Drive, etc) awaiting pricing:
Oh how I long to browse through these.
So anyway, stay tuned to this spot. When prices get put on this stuff its a safe bet that I'll be buying some of it. Oh I can't wait....

Related Posts:
- Mega Bargain of the Day: Kousenjuu Electro Safari
- Mega Bargain of the Day: Exorcising My Twin Famicom Demons
- Mega Bargain of the Day: Another Square Button Famicom
- Mega Bargain of the Day: Famicom Basic, Family Trainer and Climber Stick

11 comments:

  1. Hello! I just started reading your blog awhile ago, and as a self-proclaimed Famimaniac, I must say I enjoy seeing a new update when I visit your site. What I wanted to ask, though, is are you OK? I heard about that M8.9 earthquake and tsunami this morning, so I was wondering if you and your wife are alright.

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  2. Hey man. I just wanted to make sure that you were alright after the quake! I hope all is well and you are okay!

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  3. Hope you're OK, Sean. You, your family and your Famicom carts!

    And on a lighter note, yes I am jealous. I can't think of a better way to while away a weekday afternoon than browsing all those goodies.

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  4. Yes. As the two before me have said, I hope that you are okay, Sean.

    Man, I would totally buy the boxed Game Gear as well as a couple of the Super Scopes. I'd ask if we could make an arrangement, but I know shipping from Japan is insane. Maybe I'll make my way down to Chinatown in NYC. Maybe they have stuff like this down there. That would've been easier 8 years ago, when I lived in the Bronx. I now live 3.5 hours away. Some people have all the luck! :)

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  5. Skyrunner14, videogamesarerad, Wil and Jason - thank you all so much for the kind thoughts.

    Thankfully, I am OK. The quake hit, by the way, only minutes after I finished writing this post.

    Fukuoka is, fortunately, in the south-west part of Japan while the quake was in the north-east. So we didn't get any quake damage here. Surprisingly, the tsunami actually did hit us, but by the time it got here it was only 20 cm tall and no longer a threat to anyone. If you look at a map of Japan, you'll realize how insane it is that the wave hit us at all. Not only did it have to travel more than 1,000 km, it also had to go entirely around the country to get to us.

    Anyway, this looks like it was an insanely bad one. My thoughts are with everyone up north right now. I'm sure there are a lot of Famicom fans up there as well who have lost everything, though of course my sympathies go to everyone.

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  6. Great post! It did indeed make me jealous and made me want to live in Japan even more! :( I used to like Blue Brothers on the Amiga, I didn't realise there was a SFC version though...

    Glad to see you found a Mark III game. Even better, it's one of the ones I recommended for you to try (Power Strike / Aleste) - fantastic game! :)

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  7. Thanks! I haven't tried Blues Brothers yet but I'm glad to hear that you like it!

    I'm also excited about the Mark III game, which I haven't been able to buy yet. But when I'm looking forward to it!

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  8. As long as the topic here is on Sega, have you considered getting a Sega Saturn? I'm not sure how expensive or cheap you can find them over there, but its got enough great games on it to warrant a purchase (in my own opinion, anyways). NiGHTS, Enemy Zero, Grandia, and countless others... it's a good selection!

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  9. LOL, the Saturn is a big conundrum for me! I could go and get one for about 10$ complete any time, but I refrain from doing so despite the amazing bargain it is (which is really difficult for me).

    I made a decision a little while ago to focus on systems that are cartridge based rather than disc based. Its kind of arbitrary, but I had to draw a line somewhere as I am suffering from "Console overload" and running out of storage space for all my systems and games. Unfortunately that puts some good consoles like the Saturn and Dreamcast out of my "crosshairs" for now since they both use discs.

    This rule meant that about 6 months ago when my local store had a massive sale with tons of consoles for dirt cheap, I picked up a Mega Drive but passed on the Saturn and Dreamcast, even though I could have gotten them just as cheaply.

    I have a PS2, which I got before I instituted this cart-only rule, but other than that I don't have any disc based systems (except the FDS of course).

    If and when I do move into a bigger place though I'll probably repeal this rule and the Saturn will be one of the first consoles I get.

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  10. That makes sense. I totally understand lack of space being an issue, so just go ahead and get one when you're ready for it. Until then though, you're missing out... ;-P

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  11. LOL, yes I am (missing out). It does give me something to look forward to though! I have to pace myself with these video game acquisitions! :)

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