Saturday, June 20, 2020

Thrift Me Up

It might be time to break out the hyperventilating Fry GIF again.


So I went thrift shopping in Sierra Vista a few days ago... that probably wasn't the smartest thing to do considering the hot new virus that's been sweeping the nation. However, I took a face mask with me, because I'm not a total jerk. Besides, they won't let you into Goodwill without one.

The take at that Goodwill, and several of the other places I visited, was fairly modest. I got a bunch of DVDs, including most of the early episodes of Spongebob Squarepants (back when the show was actually good), the Garfield's Nine Lives special, and Kentucky Fried Movie, an early effort by the team who later gave us the Naked Gun trilogy. But my luck improved in a big way after I went to the bookstore that was a stone's throw from Goodwill. Behold!


When I found a copy of Mario Kart: Double Dash for two dollars, I gasped. When I found five other GameCube games next to it for the same price, I nearly had to bite my lip to keep from screaming. I couldn't fit Resident Evil 4 into the frame, but you can see Fire Emblem, Baten Kaitos Origins, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, and Twilight Princess in this picture. As games, they're all pretty good... Baten Kaitos Origins is said to play like Steamworld Quest, which I adored on the Switch, and Path of Radiance is supposed to be one of the better games in the Fire Emblem series, with 3D battles replacing the tiny sprites in the Game Boy Advance title that preceded it. Twilight Princess I already had on the Wii, but this version puts the sword back in Link's left hand where it belongs and takes away the frantic Wiimote waggling players have come to despise.

As collector's items, yowza. Fire Emblem sells for well over a hundred dollars on eBay, with Baten Kaitos Origins trailing closely behind in value. I'd like to hold onto the latter game, but the fact that I never got very far in Awakenings for the 3DS suggests that the former may end up on the discard pile if (more like when) I get desperate for cash. As for Mario Kart Double Dash, that's a game I'll be clutching as tightly as a steering wheel around a hairpin turn... I don't care how valuable that one gets!

I also grabbed a copy of Crash Nitro Kart for the Xbox from the same bookstore, but... that had no disc inside. You can't win 'em all, but I'd say I was 98% victorious in this case.

1 comment:

  1. That is one sweet find! I'm amazed at how much a lot of these games sell for now. I'm glad I bought them when I did as I'm priced out on most things these days.

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