Friday, October 30, 2015

This Old Wii, or The Revolution Renovation

There's one thing you should know about me, if you haven't already figured it out from the last three years of blog posts. I like collecting video game stuff, but I also like to do it cheaply, even if the stuff in question isn't in great condition. This year alone I picked up a PSP Go with a heavily scratched screen, and a Game Boy Advance that looked like it had been fed to a disgruntled badger and fell out the other end. It took a lot of work to get these systems back in decent shape, but hey, anything to save a few bucks!

And so it goes with the Nintendo Wii I picked up at a yard sale a couple of days ago. Sure, I already have one of these things, but for ten dollars, who could resist a spare?


Well, when it looks like this, it's pretty easy for the average yard sailer to resist. But wait, it gets better! And by "better," I mean "dirtier."


The previous owner had broken off the cover and left the legacy ports inside to languish under mounds of dirt. One of my followers on Twitter asked if I recovered it from King Tut's tomb. Another lamented its condition, wondering aloud how any self-respecting gamer could let something like this happen. I couldn't say for sure, but as a sucker for hard luck cases (and low, low prices), I was determined to reverse the damage done by years of neglect.

So I broke out my trusty toothbrush, some auto buffing cloths, and a generous amount of rubbing alcohol, and got right to work. It took me about an hour, but I'm happy to report that the system is in presentable condition. I wouldn't call it brand spankin' new, but it no longer looks like it was raided from the Cryptkeeper's closet. Observe!


Yes, that's a copy of Last Story right next to the Wii. It seems like a pretty decent role-playing game, at least from what little I was able to play of it. See, although the Wii is in working condition, I can't say the same for the remotes, which were badly corroded and don't function worth a func. You can't have it all, but for a sawbuck, I got quite a bit!

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