Okay, so if you read the other two blogs I posted, you'd know that I've been on a bit of a quest to reclaim all of the games I sold a few years back. I didn't really go into a lot of detail about it, so here's a basic rundown:

When the DS Lite was released in June of 2006, I decided to breakdown and buy one. I borrowed my brother's DS a few times to play Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow and really wanted a copy of my own. And with a bunch of games on the horizon that appealed to my interests (like the New Super Mario Brothers and Portrait of Ruin), the purchase was pretty much a no-brainer.


This was my siren. I'd do anything to obtain it...well, short of prostitution and selling my first-born.

However, the missus didn't want me dropping almost $200 for a game system, since she was pregnant with our second kid and said that money could go towards something we really need. So I gathered up some games, old comics, and CDs, and threw them up on eBay. Some of the games were rare or hard-to-find ones; Valkyrie Profile (sold for around $120), Suikoden (I think I got $80-$90 for it), Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis (I was surprised; I believe I sold it for $70). At the time, I justified their sale with the thought that I don't play them, nor did I plan to play them anytime soon.

A year later, I realized my mistake. No, I highly enjoyed my DS Lite; it's served me well all these years and is my go-to game system when I get bored with console games. My mistake was selling off the games I did. What the hell was I thinking?


How you would usually find me after I realized what I had done.

Since then, I've been slowly but surely reclaiming what I have lost. Thankfully, a good chunk of my games were sold to my little brother; the two Lunar games for the PS1, the first Shadow Hearts, Dragon Quest VII, among others. He sold them back to me for around the same amount I sold them to him. Some were located in game stores; most at Gamestop, a few at Game Crazy and Play N' Trade. And others have been tracked down online, with most found on Amazon's marketplace.

Which leads me to this:



The game I didn't think I'd ever own again: Suikoden. I found this one for $50 on Amazon. The case is in excellent condition. The instruction manual has a small tear on the front cover, but is otherwise in great shape. And the disc has very light scratches, nothing too serious or that would affect gameplay. This and Valkyrie Profile were the two games I really regretted selling, and now both have returned to my collection. I was extremely happy to place it on my shelf.

Also, why the hell did we get the crappy covers back in the day (and still do occasionally)? What is going on with this cover? It's like something for a bad 80's fantasy movie or hair metal band. Compare that to what Japan got:



Europe's cover was the same, just with a white background. This and the cover for the first Mega Man stand out in my mind as being the most "WTF" game cover art.

And one of the games that was on my short-list of games I wanted to buy was also purchased:



I almost had this one a year or so ago. Found a complete copy at Gamestop and immediately bought it. When I got out to my car, I realized I didn't see if the clerk put both discs into the case. He did, but upon closer inspection, I found one of the discs had a deep gouge in it. Dammit. Seeing as though I couldn't find another copy in a brick-and-mortar store, I had to turn to the online variety.

So...the quest is coming to an end. There are only a couple more games to locate; looking for a copy of Skygunner, Suffering: Ties That Bind (you'd think this would be an easy one), and Clock Tower for the PS1.

I did pick up three other games this week; Batman Arkham Asylum, Metroid Trilogy, and Mana Khemia 2. But, figured I didn't need to post pics of them here.

Oh, forgot about this:



That would be my copy of Fatal Frame 2 for the Xbox, with cover art and instruction manual (not pictured). I mentioned buying the game the other week from Gamestop, sans cover and manual. I also mentioned I located a site that sells cover art inserts and instruction manuals, BRE Software's VideoGameInstructionBooklets.com (whew). I ordered the missing items for my Fatal Frame 2, as well as 4 extra Xbox cases. Everything arrived this past Saturday, 4 days after I placed my order. The cases are used, but in good condition, and they put the insert and instruction manual in them. A minor detail, but still cool.

So if you're looking for manuals, cases, or cover art for your games, check them out. They don't have items for every game (been keeping an eye out on the site for an Ico manual), but they've got a lot. Only downside is that shipping is a bit high; maybe it was the additional cases, but my order total was about $9, and $12 to ship it.

There you go. One game returned to my collection, one game to cross off my list, and one game made whole, with a plug for the site that helped me make it whole.