Well, it’s that time again, for yet another edition of A Compulsive Collector’s Haul! This time though, is a very special edition, as it is yet another milestone edition for me to share with you. I have surpassed the 1,500 game mark . . . fifteen hundred games . . . ONE THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED GAMES! The more I type about it and think about it, the more I realize that that is one hell of an obscene number of games! I’ll save my typical reflections I have for the end of the blog, much like I’ve done with my other milestone blogs. This time though, we have incredible stuff from the online Capcom Store, Kijiji gems, a ton of new games from EB Games and Amazon.ca, special editions out the wazoo (including a couple from the online NIS Store), and a once again arbitrarily chosen 1,500th game that REALLY lives up to being such a milestone game! As you can tell with some of the games, I’ve been playing catch-up again, but enough of that. On with the show!



We begin with some stuff from the online Capcom Store that I received towards the beginning of the year. We start off with a Resident Evil 5 Tricell Progenitor Virus Detection Kit, which was essentially a Press Kit for the game that has things like a face mask, gloves, containment bag, etc. It’s pretty much a miniature first aid kit that has a Resident Evil theme to it. I also managed to pick up Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth and the Dead Rising 2 Bobble Budd Set, all of which were on sale. The bobble budds are of Frank West and Chuck Greene, which means I now have 2 Chuck Greene’s due to the one I got at PAX 2010.



I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned how freakin’ awesome Kijiji is, but I’ll have to reiterate its awesomeness once more! It’s so satisfying to find local people willing to get rid of awesome stuff for cheap. So cheap that it rivals even the best store in the universe, Cash Converters. Through this one lady, I got Donkey Kong Country, WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgame$!, Classic NES Series: Super Mario Bros., and Earthworm Jim 2. That’s pretty effin’ awesome if you ask me! Although, it’s not nearly as awesome as what follows . . .



Do you guys realize how hard it is to find decent condition boxed GBA games nowadays? It’s pretty damn hard. I’ve been lucky enough to have found a lot of the good games in box, but it can test my patience sometimes when I see awesome games, but only in cartridge form. Luckily, I managed to stumble upon another Kijiji seller of whom I discovered we have a mutual friend in the form of Grimstar. With that said, I may now have another source to help add to my collection! Here we have Bubble Bobble: Old & New and one of the best puzzle games ever, The Lost Vikings.



Continuing on with the awesome from the last couple of pictures. I managed to also get my hands on SEALED copies of Grand Theft Auto, River City Ransom EX (to replace my somewhat beat up complete copy, plus it’s freakin’ Atlus), and Shining Soul II, which is one of the more elusive Atlus GBA games! Awesome!



Due to the fact that I want stuff in box and complete and despite having like 400 requests on Goozex, I’ve been only getting stuff very slowly. Still, the stuff I do get is usually have pretty top notch quality. Examples would include this complete copy of Dragon Warrior III (with map and poster) to replace my cartridge only copy, Picross DS (which I recommend to ANYONE who likes puzzle games), and Pokémon Dash.



Now onto some of the newer games I’ve bought in recent times. We begin off with a game from one of the series that is closest to my heart (haha, get it? =P), Kingdom Hearts Re:coded, which along with the game, I also got the pre-order Icon Decals as well. Below that we have Space Invaders Extreme 2 and the highly regarded Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective that I really need to get around to playing.



Next up is the third iteration (all physical copies) of Plants vs. Zombies I have purchased. I’m quite a big fan of the slipcover they included with the game, mimicking a zombie bite and just showing off the Walnut when it’s on the game. I also have yet another Atlus masterpiece I need to find time for, in the shape of Radiant Historia, which came with a soundtrack and my good buddy Wry Guy somewhat recently Wryview’d.



Here we have Pokémon Black Version and Pokémon White Version . . . it’s freakin’ Pokémon . . . I’m Asian . . . I gotta catch ‘em all . . . nothing more to say there, hahaha! =P



So, I have a friend who has a friend who used to go out with a Sony rep. Long story short, he managed to benefit by getting a bunch of free “Not for Resale” games and such, and he passed this extra copy of Secret Agent Clank onto me. Sweet! ^_^ Next to it is yet another game I really need to get to, especially with how much I love the series, Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep. I have 3 versions of the game now . . . >_<



Here is a game I really want to play, but know that the way I play RPGs, I’ll never get to it, since it’ll be too much of a time investment. You really can’t go wrong with Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together though. I also firmly believe that Destructoid got the wrong person to review the game, but hey, a reviewer’s opinion is the reviewer’s. Along with the game, I also got the pre-order bonus Tarot Cards where there are like about 22 of them or so, and are nice thick, high quality produced cards.



Here we have more PSP games, starting off with the second time this game has been remade, Phantom Brave: The Hermuda Triangle. It’s done by NIS though, so they’ll always be taking my money. Next to it is a game by another company that has an eternal hold on my wallet, which is the Aksys made Jikandia: The Timeless Land. Once again, living in Canada has screwed me over from getting the super cool wrist strap and screen wipe . . . *tears* . . . T_T



Now to start to make the transition to some games I got from the Canadian Amazon site. I’ll start off with NHL 09 and NHL 10 first though, since I got them for free from a guy who was looking to trade them in at my local EB Games, and upon discovering he’d get about $1.50 for both, he just asked if I wanted them, which was pretty sweet, hahaha. I finally picked up No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle for the Wii, and I really must find some time to play the original before I play this guy . . .



Hey! It was cheap and I already had the one for Wii, which is my justification for grabbing Onechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad. Next to it is a game that I’ve been waiting for forever to go down in price through any of the ways I buy games, and now that I have it, I don’t have time to play it. Wolfenstein does look hella sweet and all the previous games have been pretty solid shooters, so hopefully I’ll be able to get to it sooner rather than later.



Some more stuff from Amazon Canada’s website. I’ve given up on getting the Collector’s Edition of Batman: Arkham Asylum for a price that I find reasonable, so I just got the regular edition of it finally. Another game that took forever to go down in price was Katamari Forever, which upon typing this, I just realized I’m still missing Beautiful Katamari from my collection of Katamari games. To finish this picture off, I came to the realization that there are also 2 different covers for Darksiders, as I’ve totally seen a reflective foil cover in addition to this “dull” colored one I have here.



Heading back towards some more purchases from EB Games and a few other retailers like Best Buy, we begin with 101-in-1 Sports Party Megamix. If you look at the bottom right corner of that game, you see the words “Atlus.” I don’t think I have to explain anything else. In the middle we have a Call of Duty: Black Ops T-Shirt “version” of 12 months of Xbox Live. Due to a sale, I got that baby for $40! Huzzah! Last but not least, we have Metroid: Other M, which was obtained for a cool $10, due to my EB Games participating in the “Deal of the Day” promotion they had going for a couple months.




Once again taking advantage of the “Deal of the Day,” I picked up this DJ Hero Wireless Turntable Controller for $10, as well as DJ Hero 2 for another $10. So, $20 for a controller and game is a pretty slick deal if you ask me! Also, here is the pre-order bonus for Okamiden, which was a Stylus and Screen Cleaner that I forgot to include in a later picture.



After paying $150 for the Halo 3 Legendary Edition, only to see it go down to $60 about 3 or 6 months afterwards, I figured I’d take my chances and gamble on the Halo: Reach Legendary Edition to go down in price eventually. By taking advantage of some minor sales and price matching policies, I managed to get this guy for $60 from Best Buy, which I found to be quite the deal. I’m assuming by now people know what’s in this special edition.




In case you haven’t noticed, we’re entering the “special edition” section of this haul. It’s somewhat lengthy, so you’ve been somewhat warned . . . but not really. I also don’t know why I decided to take a front and back of box picture for this Killzone 3 Helghast Edition, but you guys get two pictures for this guy, hahaha. I’m also pretty choked that I paid full price for this guy when it’s been selling for $80 nowadays . . . -_-‘ I’m not listing what’s in this special edition either, since I’m pretty sure most of you can either read the back of the box picture or saw Jim Sterling’s unboxing video.



Here we have the final remake of the Ys series that forms a nice image on the spines of the other Premium Editions of the games that have been released. Apparently this remake of Ys I & II Chronicles is supposed to be the best version, but if you want a real opinion on it, I’d suggest asking my homeboy and Ys mega fan, Zoel. This special edition comes with a soundtrack with select tunes from the two games.



I’ve been “yelled” at by a few friends and I’ll probably be “yelled” at by someone who sees this post, but I’ve yet to play either of the Dead Space games. Everyone I’ve talked to says they’re really fun and atmospheric and that I’d enjoy them. One day I may get to them, but I’d probably bet against that from happening if you’d want to make some money, hahaha. Regardless, we have Dead Space 2 Collector’s Edition for PS3, along with the Rivet Gun DLC. I’m getting lazy/forgetful, but I’m pretty sure ChillyBilly went over and showed off the items in this special edition.



It seemed this was actually a Collector’s Edition that lived up to its name. It was actually difficult to get a hold of this guy, since they apparently short shipped this special edition to all the Canadian stores. Regardless, I did manage to get my hands on this version of Gran Turismo 5, which included a miniature model, keychain, art book, and some DLC. I also got a DLC code for a Custom 2010 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Stealth Model and the Gamestop NASCAR Car.



Here is the LittleBigPlanet 2 Collector’s Edition. Included in it are a Sackboy Plush, some book/game ends, and a whole crapload of DLC. Basically all the DLC is equivalent to the all the different DLC codes you were given by like 5 different retailers if you bought the regular edition of the game from them.



Let’s end off the special edition section with a trio of titles . . . even though one of them isn’t a special edition, hahaha. We start off with the BioWare Signature Edition of Dragon Age II which I believe had some DLC and a lame non-physical copy of the soundtrack or some other. The Premium Edition of The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky came with a soundtrack and pin, plus it’s a multi-part game where your save will carry over to the second part when it’s released. To end off this picture, we have a copy of Dissidia 012: Duodecim Final Fantasy . . . a totally NOT obnoxious name/title for a game if I’ve ever seen one! >_<



Time for stuff from the NIS Online Store. If you want a game series to test your patience or abilities as a gamer, look no further than the Prinny series. There were points when I was playing the first game, where I questioned if even 1,000 lives were enough! Here we have Prinny 2: Dawn of Operation Panties, Dood!, which if you pre-ordered from the site early on, you get a much smaller than expected Asagi Pin, of whom is a character in the game and is in Prinny form too!



Hahaha! So, here we have the console wars put into the form of a video game in RPG form, hahaha. This big box Premium Edition of Hyperdimension Neptunia. You basically have Japanime girls dressed in typically scantily clad clothing fighting for their respective “consoles” and all that good stuff. It has an art book in that big box and once again if you pre-ordered early through their website, you got a set of Playing Cards as well!



Finally we have the end of the Ar tonelico trilogy with Ar tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel. Once again it came in a Premium Box version that contained an art book and soundtrack this time around. I somehow either wasn’t shipped or just missed out on the Purge Party Calendar, which makes me a sad panda, so if you’re reading this and have one that you’re not overly attached to . . . contact me! Hahaha!



Some of you already know I’m a VERY big fan of the Marvel vs. Capcom series and the games associated with it. Well, it was a long 10 year wait, but when the third installment dropped in February, it was easy to say I was VERY excited and happy. Considering I had been lead on by a few traces of the game for years, much like seeing a build that was slightly upgrade Marvel vs. Capcom 2 graphics with Thor already in it, it has been a long time coming. Needless to say, when I heard a Special Edition of the game was coming out, well, it was like being a kid in a candy store, hahaha. I’m not usually THIS much of a tard when it comes to my collecting, but here we have an opened copy of Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds for PS3, along with a sealed copy for Xbox 360. I also got a couple of those Pre-Order Character Cards to go with each game. I freakin’ love the fan art that’s on the steelbook and the comic they included with some background information about how everything came to be is also top notch. So glad to see this series come back, because . . . IT’S MAHVEL BAYBEE!



So, here we have more stuff from Capcom’s Online Store. We’ll start off with Okamiden, which I REALLY need to get to since I loved the first one. If you ordered through Capcom, you got a Chibiterasu Plush Keychain to go with your order, which is the same one that was previously only available in the Japanese Collector’s Edition. Pretty sweet deal if you ask me. To make the order and shipping worth it, I also threw in a copy of Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop.



So, here’s where my stupid collector’s tendency came into its own being. Here is a THIRD copy of Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds Special Edition that I bought, this time through the Capcom Store so I could have a sealed copy for PS3 to go with my opened one that I play. Yes, I already know, I’m a tard . . . -_-‘ Hahaha! Another reason/incentive for me to order yet another copy was that the exclusive bonus through Capcom was this “Waste of Flesh” T-Shirt they were giving away with every pre-order that has the great Shuma-Gorath and a bunch of Servbots on it, so I couldn’t pass that up!



We’re coming to the end of this milestone haul and I’m going to end it with some gems I found on Kijiji. Through keeping an eye out for any gems that showed up and actually being serious about my inquiries, I managed to get away with a heck of a deal. As you can see, you have some very popular and pretty coveted Sega Saturn games above. We have Panzer Dragoon (which replaces the disc only copy I had) and Panzer Dragoon II Zwei. They were in pretty much perfect condition (even the cases!) and had been well taken care of. Pretty sweet find if you ask me! If you know your valuable/rare/highly coveted/extremely good games well . . . you may know what’s going to be chosen for my arbitrarily picked 1,500th game . . .




Awww yeah! Panzer Dragoon Saga! Widely regarded as one of the most coveted and valuable games around, not to mention a phenomenal game as well! A great case, sensationally good conditioned instructions, all 4 discs unscratched and pretty much mint, and the three disc sleeves for the other discs included too! I couldn’t really ask for a better game to put me at the 1,500 game mark! It’s the only 4 disc game for the Saturn, was a unique rail shooter RPG hybrid, and was truly a game of its own. There were only 30,000 copies of the game ever released, with an initial batch of 6,000 for the original release, followed up by two separate batches of 12,000 each. The copy I have here is from the 2nd or 3rd batch, since it has the white disc sleeves. The original print had black ones. Still, this was one hell of a find on Kijiji and to find it from a private seller who didn’t list on eBay or anything was quite a shock to me. Getting this is a day to remember for my gaming collection.



So, I forgot to take a screenshot of when I was at 1,499 games and when I hit 1,500 like when what I did for when I hit 1,000 games. So, here’s a screenshot of me at 1,502 games . . . hahaha!



Wow . . . 1,500 games . . . that is an insane number . . . -_-‘ I created this account after lurking for a good year or so in July 2008. I didn’t seriously start collecting games until around the same time but in 2005. That first blog featured my 600th game. A couple months shy of my 3 year anniversary of “officially” being on the site, I’ve hit 1,500! That’s like 300 some odd games A YEAR. That is freakin’ ridiculous! I don’t know how much I’ve spent to get all of these gems (that’s actually being slowly developed to add to my spreadsheet), but all I know is that it’s still something I see as an investment and I’ve only had a few cases of buyer’s remorse. All I know is that things will probably be slowing down due to the fact I have a lot of games on the older systems I already want, and I’m looking into buying a house.

Still, there are some people I need to thank. First and foremost would be pretty much my best mate and fellow collector, possumwrangler. He’s been with me looking for gems all over for who knows how many years, and he’s also been my voice of reason for when I may be crossing the line trying to get some things. Many thanks dude! Next up would have be my other close homie, Zoel. Without him, I wouldn’t know a fair majority of the obscure titles I get, nor would I have been able to import ANY of the cool import things I occasionally show and pretty much EVERYTHING in my next haul. My “second family” at Cash Converters also get a very much deserved shout out, due to the fact that pretty much any game I don’t get new is from there. The sheer amount of awesome that I’ve managed to get from that store would make most gamers drool with the amount of incredible gameplay they’d be afforded. Chrono Trigger, both Lunars on PlayStation, god knows how many copies of Marvel vs. Capcom 2 on all 3 consoles, boxed NES, SNES, and Nintendo 64 gems, an in box copyright infringement Tetris, and far too many other games. One man in particular deserves extra praise and that man would be the nicest and most chillin’ dude around, Diamond Dave. I don’t really know what else to say than it’s been very heartwarming and an honor to deal and talk with you whenever I’m in the store, and I’m very proud to have you as a friend mate. Who else? In more recent times, we have another homeboy in Grimstar who is always looking for rare gems that I don’t have that he can hook me up with, with one of his own sources. Much love goes out to you for looking out for me dude. I can’t leave out the other community, collecting nut, ChillyBilly! Your kindness, volunteering to get me non-French covered games from the States, picking up crazy DOMO stuff or me, and all the other stuff you get and box for me, its unparalleled mate. Your generosity and incredibleness are just awesome dude . . . minus your “racist” daughter . . . =P I also can’t forget to include Wry Guy . . . that’s it . . . no follow-up . . . =) Last but not least, thanks to all of YOU, for continuing to read and take interest in this series. Thank you for sharing your stories about some of the games I’ve gotten, like how you remember playing them when you were younger, or your own tales about getting rare gems. Thank you Destructoid and especially Niero for creating this site and allowing me a platform on which I was able to do this! ^_^

That’s it. I’m done. I probably won’t do a milestone post for 1,750 (if I hit that mark) even thought I did one for 1,250. Who knows what the future has in store for me and my collection. In the meantime, many thanks for sticking through to the end if you actually read this; otherwise I hope you enjoyed all the pictures, hahaha! For those of you who have an interest in unique imports from Europe and Japan, stay tuned for my next haul. I know BulletMagnet is already pacing around with anticipation! Hahaha! Until next time, latez mates!