i've been kinda busy lately, so i haven't had a lot of time to do much spending, but here's a few finds from the past two weeks (sorry the pictures are screwy; my good camera has been rendered useless):
PS2 RPG Maker II, complete,
$5
Sega Dreamcast, system only,
$3
Genesis games:
Truxton, complete
Thunder Force II, complete
Final Zone, complete, all 3 for
$5
Mega Bomberman, 2 bare carts, both for
$2
total: $15
BONUS (
): anyone here who knows their electronic/synth gear, will appreciate the following two acquistions:
Yamaha DX21,
$20
Roland Synthplus 10,
$40
total: $60
RPG Maker II looks kinda fun, and i always wanted to pick one of these up. to be honest, i probably won't get around to trying it for a while, but when i get a rainy day and some free time, it'll be waiting for me.
the seller with the Dreamcast initially wanted 5 bucks, but i weasled it down to 3, reasoning that i didn't want to pay any more than that to find out if it works. it does. now i can retire my sports DC and use this one as my "beater". i already have tons of spare controllers and a few cables, so i was able to get it up and running just fine, without having to "borrow" from my other DCs.
the games were from two different weekends. i received one of the Mega Bomberman carts from last week for a buck. later, i nabbed the 3 boxed Genesis titles for $5. oddly enough, i ran into another Mega Bomberman for $1 again! this is tied for my favorite BM game along with Saturn Bomberman, so finding it in the first place was cool. i used to have the UK version of the game which was cool because it came with awesome box art and was also shipped in a hard plastic shell (like older US titles). unfortunately, we got stuck with the cardboard cheapy box. hence, the bare carts. Thunder Force II is a great shooter and my old copy was either bare cart or missing the manual (i forget), so i was pleased to find it complete. the boxed games are in almost new condition!
if you don't care about synthesizer or music equip scores, you can skip the following paragraphs:
the DX21 came from a lady who wanted 30 bucks for it. i was skeptical as to whether or not the thing worked, and i told her so. i offered 20, which she declined. she countered with $25, which i briefly considered before telling myself to stick to my guns, and walk away. i have a few other FM synths (the newer DX200 tabletop model being one of them), but i really had to have this oldy-but-goody! i asked her one last time if she wouldn't take 20. she went and found her son who came over and said that 20 bucks would be just fine. he assured me that the keyboard worked.
i brought it home, plugged it in...
nothing. luckily, i wasn't about to give up so easily. 16 screws, some solder, and 30 minutes later, i had found the problem and got her working again good as new! (one of the solder points on the power supply had come free). it's fully programmable, sounds excellent, and is a great addition to my studio. every bit as cool as the DX7, but the fact that you don't see it as often bumps it up a little higher in my book. it's worth anywhere from $100-$150 so 20 bones was a steal! as a side note, i just noticed that one closed recently on Ebay for 70 shipped -- that was already a great price.
last, the Roland Synthplus 10. if any of you are familiar with the Alpha Juno 1 (or 2), this is
the exact same thing. i mean it -- it's identical to a Juno 1 in every way, save for the cosmetics of the thing. i used to own a Juno, but sold it back when my wife and i lived in an apartment (running out of room!). if you've heard any techno/trance/hardcore/industrial/ebm/etc., you've heard this synth. 40 bucks. i absolutely could not believe it (they run about the same as the Yamaha, around $100-200). it's never leaving my clutches again, and i'm already back to programming some basses on it as if it never left.
you don't want to know how many synthesizers i have now -- it rivals my video game collection (at least in physical volume). in any event, i don't know when i'll run across such great deals again, so i just had to post these two in addition to my usual video game stuff. thanks for reading, and congrats to everyone else who found some goodies this week!
