Ok folks, sit back and grab your popcorn, this ride is going to be long and epic.

I’ve been on one hell of a bargain hunt lately and I have been quite successful in my findings. Before we get to the good stuff let me just say this; the majority of these items were all found and bought at either a Goodwill store, Cash Converters, this little CD shop by my house or GameStop. I will try to post where I got each item and if it was a hell of a deal I will list the price paid.

Let the show begin!

I will start the tour with my Mario Galaxy pre-order coin:



Found this at a Goodwill store here in Chicago for $5.00 bucks.
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Next we have some current-gen games:


Ghost Squad for the Wii (found for $8.00 bucks at a used CD shop) and X-Men Origins: Wolverine (bought new)
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Here are a couple of GameBoy Advance games I found:


Castlevania ($5.00 bucks)
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MegaMan 6: Cybeast Falzar ($6.00 bucks)
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Now on to my DS purchases:
Ok, some of these were bought new and the Henry Hatsworth is still wrapped, I just haven’t had time to play it yet.


Legacy of Y’s Book I & II (this was the Amazon.com gold deal last Monday)
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Puzzle Quest: Galactrix (kind of disappointing) & Chrono Trigger (great game)
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Henry Hatsworth & Professor Layton
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Mario Kart DS and Metal Slug 7 (MS7 was 14.99 at GameStop during their big blowout sale)
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Dementium: The Ward and New Super Mario Bros. DS
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Retro Game Challenge (fucking awesome, go buy it) & Sonic Chronicles (not bad)
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Guitar Hero: On Tour ($10.00 bucks)
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This was a pretty nice find. I got this fella at Wolf’s Flea Market (outside of Chicago) last weekend. Guy wanted $50.00 for it but after a few minutes of chatting he agreed to sell it to me for $35.00. I could kick myself though. The same guy also had an N64 in the box as well as an original Playstation in the box, both for $25.00 a piece. I have no idea why I didn’t grab them.

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On to the old school games!!!!

First the Genesis goodness: (all of these were bought together in a lot from Goodwill for $12.00 dollars)


NHL 94, Madden ’96 & Word Series Baseball
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X-Men
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Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (x’s 2)
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Toxic Crusaders & Cyborg Justice
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ToeJam & Earl: Panic on Funkotron
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The Lion King
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Sonic 3D Blast & Ex-Mutants
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Sonic 2
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NBA Jam
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Golden Axe II & Arch Rivals
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The Incredible Crash Dummies
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Beavis & Butthead
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Disney’s Aladdin
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Sega Genesis Six Pak
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Moving on from the Genesis we take a step even further back into gaming and arrive at the NES section.


Side Pocket & Kung Fu
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Super Mario 2 & Super Mario / Duck Hunt
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Excitebike and Zelda II: The Adventures of Link
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Baseball & Tennis
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Goddamn Friday the 13th Bitches! (yea I know it sucks but I love it)
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Commando & 10-Yard Fight
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Now this is the really cool part, when I was going through the NES games I had found I noticed something sticking out of a couple of the NES sleeves that were holding Super Mario 2 and the Super Mario / Duck Hunt games.

In the sleeves were little notes, left by who I am assuming was the original game owner. Check it;


This was with Super Mario 2. Looks like someone was keeping notes on who to play for what level.
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This one was with the Super Mario / Duck Hunt game. Also on the NES sleeve the person wrote down when they started the game and when they finally beat it:

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Finding stuff like that makes collecting games all that more worth it.

Finally we have the last submission in my epic list of gaming goodness. This is by far the greatest find that I came across all month.

Nintendo 64 PLUS 14 Games, GameBoy Adapter & Memory Card: $19.99 at Goodwill


Here is the unit itself along with three controllers (the memory card is in one of the controllers)
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The GameBoy adapter and Memory Card
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Rainbow Six & Mario Golf
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Turok 2 & Toy Story
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Star Wars: Rogue Squadron & JetForce Gemini
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Paper Mario & 1080 Snowboarding
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Battle Tanx & NFL Blitz
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Super Smash Brothers and 007: GoldenEye
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Pokemon Stadium & Army Men: Sarge’s Heroes 2

So that’s pretty much it. I had to go out and buy a new shelf for all of my new stuff and maybe next month, when I update again I will post pictures of my complete set up.

Good Hunting!!

~CB

I present to you my small but humble Gameboy collection.

First we have the system that started it all, the original Gameboy:

Soooooo many nights of no sleep and so many road trips made better by this magical little handheld.
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Next we have the Gameboy Color:

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The Gameboy Advance:

I logged more hours on this version of the Gameboy than any to date.
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The Gameboy Advance SP:

Compact and ready to go.
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The Nintendo DS:

I would play it more often but my 4-year old daughter keeps stealing it to play Build-a-Bear Workshop
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The Nintendo DSi:

Since my kid kept stealing my DS I decided to go get the DSi. Now she wants this one so she can take pictures! I just can't win with her.
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My small collection of Gameboy (original) games:

Monopoly, Centipede/Millipede, Tetris, 720, Double Dragon II & Kirby Tilt n Tumble
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My Gameboy Advance games: pt. 1

Super Mario Bros. 3, Dr. Mario/Puzzle League, Super Mario World, Sword of Mana, Yoshi's Island & Tetris Worlds.
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My Gameboy Advance games: pt. 2

Final Fantasy Tactics, M&M's Blast & Namco Museum
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My Gameboy Advance games: pt. 3

The Pinball of the Dead!
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My DS games: pt. 1

Puzzle Quest, TLOZ: Phantom Hourglass, Pokemon Diamond & Metroid Pinball
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My DS games: pt. 2

BrainAge, Elite Beat Agents & Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow
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And finally my Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass feather stylus for pre-ordering the game.

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I hope you have enjoyed this small stroll through my Gameboy collection as much as I have enjoyed collecting it. Here's to another 20 fun filled portable years!

~CB

Well it was inevitable I guess. I had gone a month without a haircut and was starting to feel like a bum. I decided to walk up to my local Great Clips with my kid today since it was goddamn beautiful out...FINALLY..

A few sliced and diced hairs later I was on my way home. My head felt lighter and the kid was happy with her lollipop. I thought to myself, what could make this little trip any better, could ANYTHING really?

Yes. Yes it could.

I stopped in to one of my local used CD/DVD/Game stores to see what new goodies they had gotten in.

Here is what I bought:


Final Fantasy III for the DS and PINBALL OF THE DEAD!!! I didn't even know this game existed! Needless to say I was not disappointed when I got home and popped it in.

And then there was this:


Classic. And 2 bucks a pop. Can't beat that.

So all in all it was a good trip to the barbers. The kid had fun and is hopped up on sugar and dad is content with his classic gaming. Oh and his pinball as well.

Happy Earth Day!

~CB

So I decided to hit up some of the local Goodwill stores in my general vicinity today and boy am I glad I did!


Here we have Kirby Tilt N Tumble. Very fun game, I played it tonight for a bit. It's like Marble Madness but with Kirby.
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Fatality! Do I need to say more?
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$9.99 talk about a steal of a deal!
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Some N64 goodness. Yoshi's Story, WaveRace 64 and Diddy Kong Racing
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Now, no trip to Goodwill would be complete without some old school NES action. Bo Jackson Baseball, RoadBlasters, Bases Loaded 1 & 2, Karate Champ, Jack Nicklaus Golf & NES Football
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And finally Donky Konga Beat 2...best deal of the day by far. The whole set up including game and bongo's in the box was a whopping $9.99.

I still have like 4 more Goodwill stores that I need to hit up but i'll save those for another day. Til then!

~CB

Well it appears as though I've been a busy little bee over the past 2 1/2 months. I didn't realize that I had amassed so much stuff!! I've been cruising around town hitting up different Goodwill locations and various thrift stores to find some sweet gaming goodness. Below is what I have bought or haggled for since February 1st, 2009.

On to the show!


First we have the obligatory "boxed" sets or collectors editions of Resident Evil 5 and RockBand's AC/DC Track pack (two reasons why I bought the AC/DC game, 1. I like AC/DC and 2. Wal-Mart had it marked down to 24.99)
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Next we have some Xbox 360 games: In order from left to right, top to bottom: SW:TFU, Star Ocean, Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection, Street Fighter IV and Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise.
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Here we have some more Xbox 360 games, same order as above: Tetris Evolutions, Tales of Vesperia, F.E.A.R 2, Guitar Hero Aerosmith (9.99 at Target), Mercenaries 2 and Sega Superstars Tennis.
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Found this at Target marked down to 29.98, X Blades for the Xbox 360 (Haven't opened yet so not sure if I will like it or not)
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Now the Nintendo stuff! Dewey's Adventure, Luigi's Mansion, MadWorld and Mario Power Tennis Wii
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My Chun-Li Street Fighter IV controller because honestly I need all the help I can get at this game.
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Miscellaneous swag: Rise of the Argonauts pre-order art book, F.E.A.R 2 pre-order book and my Club Nintendo DS game rack.
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My old school NES game finds: Mario/Duck Hunt, SuperSpike V-Ball / World Cup, Baseball, Track and Field, Golf and Bionic Commando.
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My Game Boy finds: Centipede / Millipede, 720, Monopoly and Double Dragon II.
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Game Boy Color with box (although I'm a bit disappointed that the box is ripped)
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Game Boy with box, Tetris for Game Boy and back-up Game Boy just in case

Not pictured is my Game Boy Advance (with original box and packaging AND M&M's Game Boy Advance game in its original box as well) that is currently in the mail on its way to me, I will take a pic when it arrives.

I'm sure the next 2 1/2 months will be just as exciting for me and my collection and when I feel I have enough stuff I'll make another post.

Happy Gaming!
~CB

Ok so the last time I did this is when I first moved to Chicago. Now that a few months have passed and my collection has grown I figured it was a good time to update, once again.

Here we have the TV. Still not HD and still not a flat screen. You will notice the Wii, 360 and PS2. Also bonus points for watching The Office.


This is the new shelf of goodness. This is obviously the bottom two shelves which hold my game collection (post PS1)


Shelf numbers 2, 3 and 4-ish. SNES, NES and Gamecube. Also the Wii Wheel for Mario Kart goodness, Wii Zapper (which is covered in dust) and my boxed copy of NBA 95.


Shelf 3, 4 and 5. Original Gameboy (box is on the top shelf) Gameboy Advance and DS. To the right you will see the N64 as well as mushroom filled with candies and Mario racing his Kart.


Shelf 5 and 6. These two shelves contain my Sega Genesis and PS One. Along with the systems a few games just incase I get saucy and want to fire those bad boys up. Above all of that nonsense you will see the Fallout 3 lunchbox and bobble head, Dead Space art book, Fallout 3 art book, Black Panther mini statue and Gameboy box.


My PC and setup. This hasn't really changed much. Notice the D-toid wallpaper. Sweet.


Various guitars for various guitar themed video games.


And last but not least a damn near empty shelf with the re-releases of Friday the 13th 1-3, Hulk vs. Wolverine, Venom kids toy, headphones and battery charger for my 360 controller.


So that’s it basically. I hope you have enjoyed this small stroll through my gaming setup/collection.