Retro Game Collecting |OT| Tips, Tricks, and Discussion on those Dusty Gems

[MrKirov]

I'm in the US out here in FL.

I didn't know about Tactics at all! Now I will be on the lookout for it. Funny that I remember playing and loving the first 2 Onimusha games back in the day but going back into them has made me appreciate them even more. The combination of action, puzzle and that resident evil type gameplay has been really fun to get back into. Just learned today of all things that the main protagonist for Warlords was based on some good looking actor/singer from Taiwan called Takeshi Kaneshiro:

And supposedly the series makes use of the historic figures that shaped Japan's history, retelling their stories with supernatural elements according to Wikipedia.

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Yep! Same for the lead of Onimusha 2 also (obviously a different actor), and of course Takeshi Kaneshiro back in 3 alongside Jean Reno. Everyone is in their respective roles again in Blade Warriors too. Which incidentally seems to have a real cool story mode with cutscenes and voice acting!

Always liked that it took real historical characters and events through Onimusha 1-4 and put a supernatural spin on them all- even if it meant odd endings like Kaedes in Oni 1 "she went on a mission and unfortunately died" hahah. Wow game, deep cuts.

I have a soft spot for Onimusha, as one of the earliest decent exclusives for PS2, even with the awful PAL port and the shortness of the game it was a hella fun time. Kinda like a middle ground between RE and DMC.

I tried Rumble Roses earlier. Id never played it but heard it was a fun time, even if it was especially lewd for the time. And it kinda is? You can pretty much tell its a game by Yukes, as it plays so similar to the early Smackdown games. But the graphics are really good, it has a 60hz mode, everything is bright and brash and colourful, and the brawling is Smackdown-ish and so naturally quite fun. Glad I picked it up on a whim with the rest as you rarely see it, and seems a blast.

 

[shadowman16]

I have a soft spot for Onimusha, as one of the earliest decent exclusives for PS2, even with the awful PAL port and the shortness of the game it was a hella fun time. Kinda like a middle ground between RE and DMC.

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PAL Oni 1 was one of those games that really could have benefitted from a 60Hz mode :( Same with DMC and SF EX3... no idea why Capcom held back considering almost all of their Dreamcast games had them...
Ah well, Ive eventually replayed them with Japanese releases where need be, likewise for Oni4, I got the Japanese version of that since the difficulty is completely out of wack on the other versions (bonus - Japanese version has English language options!)

 

[Jawmuncher]

PAL Oni 1 was one of those games that really could have benefitted from a 60Hz mode :( Same with DMC and SF EX3... no idea why Capcom held back considering almost all of their Dreamcast games had them...
Ah well, Ive eventually replayed them with Japanese releases where need be, likewise for Oni4, I got the Japanese version of that since the difficulty is completely out of wack on the other versions (bonus - Japanese version has English language options!)

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Really? Seems like I need to import that then.

Is it the Japanese version is harder or easier? I do recall there being complaints about the US version for something.

 

[shadowman16]

Really? Seems like I need to import that then.

Is it the Japanese version is harder or easier? I do recall there being complaints about the US version for something.

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Japanese version is the intended "normal" difficulty. America and PAL regions got a harder game. Or to be more specific - a game where enemy health bars are increased to such an extent that it completely ruins the balance of the game. So from what Ive been told, Japanese is the route to go for the game.

 

[MrKirov]

Japanese version is the intended "normal" difficulty. America and PAL regions got a harder game. Or to be more specific - a game where enemy health bars are increased to such an extent that it completely ruins the balance of the game. So from what Ive been told, Japanese is the route to go for the game.

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I finished PAL Oni 4 100% when it came out, I didnt really notice it being particularly spongey or difficult. The game felt more like it was an RPG than others in the series, and felt it went along with that. It was already a longer game in the first place with side missions and replaying sections as different characters etc, it just felt part of that.

I only heard about the fact it was changed long afterwards, but I wasnt bothered at the time.

Its like them changing the default difficulty/how gold orbs worked when they released DMC3 over here I guess, Capcom like make games longer/more difficult for the west.

Capcom were weird with 60hz modes at first, as you say- mainly DMC1, Oni 1 and SFEX3 were effected, and 99% of other Capcom games from then all had 60hz modes almost as standard. I think the earliest example of a 60hz mode on PS2 was...DOA2 not long after launch? We definately missed out for a number of the first year titles :(

 

[WBacon]

Lost an RE1 save because of this lol

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Similar experience I went through a few years ago. I forgot to move my Dragon Force save to the backup ram cart, so the files were completely gone when the CR2032 battery died.

Since that incident, I replaced the onboard save chip with a non-volatile FRAM chip. It's a must mod IMO since most games default to the onboard save, and if you're like me, it's easy to forget moving the save file to the backup ram cart once you're done with the play session.

 

[Vincent Alexander]

I went to 3 pawn shops today to look for a PS2. I haven't stepped foot in one for eons, but shwoo, they've kinda gone downhill in this area. All power tools, speakers, and old laptops. Hardly anything for video games---one had a small shoebox with 4-5 loose cartridges in it. Then went to a dedicated game store in area....You know how most places now-a-days you can tell their looking at high Ebay prices to set their own? Well, this store was like someone did that, then doubledit. They had a massive collection of games for all systems that had to be the most impressive thing I've set my eyes on, but now I know why---you'd have to be out of your mind to buy anything there, so their inventory just stacks up. Breath of Fire 3 disc-only without original case or manual? $120. New Dreamcast with no controllers or games? $175. Nope nope nope nope.

So I feel like I accomplished something today, I took apart my PS1 controller and dipped it in ultrasonic cleaner. Eager to see how pretty she looks when all is said and done.

 

[Chitown B]

Similar experience I went through a few years ago. I forgot to move my Dragon Force save to the backup ram cart, so the files were completely gone when the CR2032 battery died.

Since that incident, I replaced the onboard save chip with a non-volatile FRAM chip. It's a must mod IMO since most games default to the onboard save, and if you're like me, it's easy to forget moving the save file to the backup ram cart once you're done with the play session.

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I thought about doing the FRAM mod, but being such an old console and the possibility of screwing it up I didn't want to worry about it.

 

[Jawmuncher]

I went to 3 pawn shops today to look for a PS2. I haven't stepped foot in one for eons, but shwoo, they've kinda gone downhill in this area. All power tools, speakers, and old laptops. Hardly anything for video games---one had a small shoebox with 4-5 loose cartridges in it. Then went to a dedicated game store in area....You know how most places now-a-days you can tell their looking at high Ebay prices to set their own? Well, this store was like someone did that, then doubledit. They had a massive collection of games for all systems that had to be the most impressive thing I've set my eyes on, but now I know why---you'd have to be out of your mind to buy anything there, so their inventory just stacks up. Breath of Fire 3 disc-only without original case or manual? $120. New Dreamcast with no controllers or games? $175. Nope nope nope nope.

So I feel like I accomplished something today, I took apart my PS1 controller and dipped it in ultrasonic cleaner. Eager to see how pretty she looks when all is said and done.

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I went to some pawn shops the other day and the pickings were pretty slim for anything that wasn't hardware itself and said hardware was just PS4s or XB1s
Speaking of local stores, that reminds me of when I went to one near me and the guy looked up the price after I said I wanted it (Despite it having a sticker).

That's a big no-no for me and was enough to make sure I never went again. Especially since I bought a copy of Shaq-fu for the Genesis which is worth next to nothing lol

 

[HandsomeCharles]

I thought about doing the FRAM mod, but being such an old console and the possibility of screwing it up I didn't want to worry about it.

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I did the FRAM mod. On some boards the RAM chip is glued to the board for some inane reason. My board was one of those. Complete PITA to get it off and can rip the traces underneath if youre not super careful.

Glad I did it in the end though, one less thing to worry about.

 

[Fuzzy]

I went to some pawn shops the other day and the pickings were pretty slim for anything that wasn't hardware itself and said hardware was just PS4s or XB1s
Speaking of local stores, that reminds me of when I went to one near me and the guy looked up the price after I said I wanted it (Despite it having a sticker).

That's a big no-no for me and was enough to make sure I never went again. Especially since I bought a copy of Shaq-fu for the Genesis which is worth next to nothing lol

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Yeah, if a store is gonna be run by a piece of shit they should at least be smart enough to not put prices on their stuff and just look them up at checkout. lol

 

[LiS Matt]

So I have my retrotink set up now. Since I wasn't expecting to get one for some time, many of my consoles have hdmi out cables, which maybe not ideal and I might eventually replace mean they're good enough for now (like the Rad2x option for Sega Saturn)

However 2 consoles that are the next on my list to get proper cables for are the Dreamcast and my Famicom Twin. What are the best kind of cables to get for these? I know the retrotink 4k means I can do VGA with the dreamcast, but I can't seem to find a definitive answer on the best solution to get it hooked up to my TV. Would it be scart, component or VGA I should look into?

 

[Garrison]

I think I absolutely would like to record some of my PS2 playthroughs just for fun. I would like to use my little mac mini to record it in so now I guess I have to get a capture card, get at least one of those ps2 HDMI cables and use OBS I guess. I've never tried recording any gameplay from my older consoles at all.

 

[Jawmuncher]

I think I absolutely would like to record some of my PS2 playthroughs just for fun. I would like to use my little mac mini to record it in so now I guess I have to get a capture card, get at least one of those ps2 HDMI cables and use OBS I guess. I've never tried recording any gameplay from my older consoles at all.

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I have an El Gato and it's pretty easy. Was basically just plug in and record.

 

[demi]

I think I absolutely would like to record some of my PS2 playthroughs just for fun. I would like to use my little mac mini to record it in so now I guess I have to get a capture card, get at least one of those ps2 HDMI cables and use OBS I guess. I've never tried recording any gameplay from my older consoles at all.

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Its very easy, I use:

- Elgato HD60S
- HDMI Splitter (one specifically that strips HDCP so I can use PS3/VitaTV)
- Tink5X

Here's some streams from various consoles directly:

- PS1 - Parasite Eve
- Gamecube - Viewtiful Joe
- PS3 - Puppeteer
- Xbox Series X - Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow

 

[Vincent Alexander]

I went to some pawn shops the other day and the pickings were pretty slim for anything that wasn't hardware itself and said hardware was just PS4s or XB1s
Speaking of local stores, that reminds me of when I went to one near me and the guy looked up the price after I said I wanted it (Despite it having a sticker).

That's a big no-no for me and was enough to make sure I never went again. Especially since I bought a copy of Shaq-fu for the Genesis which is worth next to nothing lol

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Wait wait. Was he blatant about looking it up, or did he pretend he was checking his email or something? That's bananas.

 

[Jawmuncher]

Wait wait. Was he blatant about looking it up, or did he pretend he was checking his email or something? That's bananas.

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Blatant, I was taken aback by it lol

 

[Sword Familiar]

Blatant, I was taken aback by it lol

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Yeah, that would be a no for me, too. You just don't change the price of something at the register like that.

 

[Zippedpinhead]

I went to some pawn shops the other day and the pickings were pretty slim for anything that wasn't hardware itself and said hardware was just PS4s or XB1s
Speaking of local stores, that reminds me of when I went to one near me and the guy looked up the price after I said I wanted it (Despite it having a sticker).

That's a big no-no for me and was enough to make sure I never went again. Especially since I bought a copy of Shaq-fu for the Genesis which is worth next to nothing lol

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Same thing happened to me yesterday, Gameboy Megaman 3. Got quoted $25 when I asked what the price was, and then when he took it to the register said "oh it's actually $40".

I know the $40 is the current pricecharting price. I also know you haven't sold this game in two months while having it at that price…

 

[Jawmuncher]

Same thing happened to me yesterday, Gameboy Megaman 3. Got quoted $25 when I asked what the price was, and then when he took it to the register said "oh it's actually $40".

I know the $40 is the current pricecharting price. I also know you haven't sold this game in two months while having it at that price…

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There was a video I watched about someone who owns a game store (and does well). One of the biggest things he stated was that if you own a store, you need sell stuff under the market value (As well as give more In-store credit than say Gamestop). Vastly paraphrasing it here but it made sense to me. As that's gonna foster more repeat customers and word or mouth at the end of the day.

Obviously it's still a business at the end of the day but non one wants to deal with that experience. No one would want to shop anywhere else if they did pricing like that, so it doesn't make sense for games to do it.

 

[Zippedpinhead]

There was a video I watched about someone who owns a game store (and does well). One of the biggest things he stated was that if you own a store, you need sell stuff under the market value (As well as give more In-store credit than say Gamestop). Vastly paraphrasing it here but it made sense to me. As that's gonna foster more repeat customers and word or mouth at the end of the day.

Obviously it's still a business at the end of the day but non one wants to deal with that experience. No one would want to shop anywhere else if they did pricing like that, so it doesn't make sense for games to do it.

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Completely agree, and usually I can get them to knock bucks off and make deals (hence why I thought they were finally going to sell it to me at $25). But it all depends on who is working behind the counter.

Better than another store near me, they seem to always price above PC. But they offer repairs and other things that I just can't do myself… so I end up there and debate "will I find this game somewhere else cheaper…"

 

[Mzo]

If I go to your store in person, I would expect at least a tiny deal compared to sitting on my couch browsing eBay, getting dinged by eBay and PP fees. That goes triple if I'm standing in shit at a flea market and you're trying to sell a sun-bleached game for eBay prices. Outta here with that.

 

[lampeater]

I think I've only had the PriceCharting lookup happen once, but to be fair I was buying loose manuals I dug up from their box-of-random-loose-manuals I specifically asked to look at, stuff they didn't even know they had. Even then it was well under whatever Ebay would charge before shipping. I'm not even sure it was PriceCharting now that I think about it, the price was so low. I'd probably stop by more often to dig around if all the game shops here weren't such a nuisance to get to.

 

[Firemind]

If I go to your store in person, I would expect at least a tiny deal compared to sitting on my couch browsing eBay, getting dinged by eBay and PP fees. That goes triple if I'm standing in shit at a flea market and you're trying to sell a sun-bleached game for eBay prices. Outta here with that.

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I mean, stores have way more overhead to deal with. The advantages of stores are that you can get decent trade in credit relative to convenience by saving time, as opposed to selling and shipping them individually on eBay. And you can actually check if something is authentic and in what condition it is. Still, it's much harder to get decent deals these days. Even in Japan, game prices have skyrocketed.

 

[Reddaye]

Quite a few years back I ran into the issue of going into a shop that ended up pricing based on eBay when you took things up to the register. I'd never run into that before (this was probably 12 years ago) and ended up telling the dude if I wanted to pay eBay prices, I'd buy on eBay and left.

I wouldn't be surprised if it's more common now. Local shops in my area seem to follow price charting, but they honor their sticker prices, which is the least someone can do lol.

 

[Imaginary_Number]

There's a store near me that seems in line with online prices, but sometimes stuff sticks out. With all the talk about Lunar in the thread, I went there a month ago to see if they had a copy.

$200. I had to laugh, because I could have bought the same copy from them a decade ago at $75. At some point, pricecharting doesn't matter if no one buys it.

On the opposite end, there's a different store that's closer, and they seem to price every PC game at $1. Not that there's a big market for jewel case games, but it always gets me to buy something.

 

[Dr. Zoidberg]

Local shops in my area seem to follow price charting, but they honor their sticker prices, which is the least someone can do lol.

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This is my experience as well. If the business is game-focused, and not just a pawn shop or thrift store, they will be priced in-line with Price Charting. They sticker the items and the only time you get a deal is if the price has jumped recently and they haven't updated the sticker yet, but they will at least honor that sticker price. It's still often better than eBay (IMO) because I can examine the item, and I don't have to pay shipping, as free shipping has become more and more rare on eBay.

The main places I run into sellers looking up the prices when asked is at shows/expos where a lot of the booths just don't have prices on the items, and they look it up when you ask. The other place is with FB Marketplace sellers who don't list the prices, just say to call. I just assume the prices are based on Price Charting. This is a big reason why I stopped going to shows. Well that and the fact that they have gotten so crowded (and smelly).

 

[Skies]

if you don't honor the sticker then I'm not buying it. That is some wild shit.

I'm usually cool with buying stuff around the pricecharting price since I am in person, can see the product, and there is usually a return policy if it does not work. I like to support local stores as well.

Sometimes I find stuff under pricecharting and it is what it is. Other times I have paid above. I don't try to haggle and definitely don't want the store to haggle with me. It's a pleasant experience.

So if someone tried to change the price at the counter I legit would not buy it out of principal alone. I also would never return to that store. I would much rather buy off eBay if that is the case.

 

[MrKirov]

Quite a few years back I ran into the issue of going into a shop that ended up pricing based on eBay when you took things up to the register. I'd never run into that before (this was probably 12 years ago) and ended up telling the dude if I wanted to pay eBay prices, I'd buy on eBay and left.

I wouldn't be surprised if it's more common now. Local shops in my area seem to follow price charting, but they honor their sticker prices, which is the least someone can do lol.

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Sadly, this is how my local has gone in the UK.

Used to price everything, usually a bit overpriced/top end of the scale- but once the sticker was on, theyd never really change it. So you'd see something in there at say £20 and think "nah" then 2 years later youd go back, and it was still there, but now it was worth £40, but youd get it for £20 still. Sound great but the opposite is also true, seeing some truly eyewatering Mega Drive game prices in there.

Nowadays, they dont price anything- their "sticker machine broke" apparently- but its an absolutely awful experience for the customer.

Now I have to take items to the front, and continue looking while he looks up sold listings on ebay. Honestly, I hate it. Because I always know it'll be top end, and the thrill of looking for a bargain, or deciding what you want is gone. And I hate the inevitable "nah I wont take it/them" I have to go through. Or on the spot deciding "oh ill take that, but not that" in front of him. Its just an awful experience- even if there was just a higher price on it upfront on a sticker, I could make my decision in peace and not on the spot.

Terrible practice, and becoming more commonplace according to some retro game stores ive read about around the UK.

 

[megashock5]

I went to some pawn shops the other day and the pickings were pretty slim for anything that wasn't hardware itself and said hardware was just PS4s or XB1s
Speaking of local stores, that reminds me of when I went to one near me and the guy looked up the price after I said I wanted it (Despite it having a sticker).

That's a big no-no for me and was enough to make sure I never went again. Especially since I bought a copy of Shaq-fu for the Genesis which is worth next to nothing lol

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The biggest retro game store near me actually took price stickers off of everything. You have to take it to the counter to ask how much it is, then they'll look up the going price.
I haven't been back since. Not fun browsing when you don't know how much anything is.

 

[Jawmuncher]

The biggest retro game store near me actually took price stickers off of everything. You have to take it to the counter to ask how much it is, then they'll look up the going price.
I haven't been back since. Not fun browsing when you don't know how much anything is.

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Yep, at that point you might as well just shop off eBay.

 

[shadowman16]

Honestly I just go the eBay BIN route now... Well, actually its Yahoo Japan Auctions first THEN eBay since the stuff I look for is usually twice the price on eBay compared to YJA... But sadly the days of me going into Gamestation and nabbing a MIB Mega Man 1 for £10 are long gone. Heck even the price I paid for PD Saga was a bargain compared to its price these days.

 

[Chitown B]

I did the FRAM mod. On some boards the RAM chip is glued to the board for some inane reason. My board was one of those. Complete PITA to get it off and can rip the traces underneath if youre not super careful.

Glad I did it in the end though, one less thing to worry about.

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Yeah that was the concern for me. I'll just save with my cart or Fenrir

 

[TrojanAg]

Why even bother putting a sticker price on the item if you're going to pull a bait and switch at the counter? I would not return to a store that does that.

 

[DigitalDevil]

Feel like cursed mountain might be valuable in a few years. Still never picked one up tho

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The limited edition version will, anyway.

 

[Garrison]

I have an El Gato and it's pretty easy. Was basically just plug in and record.

Click to shrink...

Its very easy, I use:

- Elgato HD60S
- HDMI Splitter (one specifically that strips HDCP so I can use PS3/VitaTV)
- Tink5X

Here's some streams from various consoles directly:

- PS1 - Parasite Eve
- Gamecube - Viewtiful Joe
- PS3 - Puppeteer
- Xbox Series X - Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow

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Thanks a lot for the tips guys, looks like you have a nice set up there demi.

 

[demi]

Alright guidefellas, I am back.

Here is my keep pile

https://i.ibb.co/MpNVD21/IMG-4747.jpg yes that is 3 different dino crisis guides

Here is what is available if anyone is interested in trade/buying

https://i.ibb.co/nw7y211/IMG-4749.jpg

Text list

Spoiler

007 Agent Under Fire - Prima
Alone in the Dark (sealed) - Prima
Armed and Dangerous - Prima
2x Armorines - Acclaim
The Bard's Tale - Prima
BioFreaks - BradyGames
Black - Prima
Bloodwake - Prima
Body Harvest - Prima
Brute Force (w/ Poster) - Prima
Carrier - Prima
Castlevania 64 (w/ Poster) - Millenium Books
Chromehounds - Prima
2x Chronicles of Riddick - Prima
2x Commandos 2 - Prima
2x Conflict Desert Storm - BradyGames
2x Conflict Desert Storm 2 - Prima
Counterstrike - Prima
Counterstrike - Versus Books
Crimson Skies - Prima
2x Daikatana (w/ Poster & Comic) - Prima
2x Dead to Rights - Prima
Deus Ex: Invisible War - Prima
2x Devil May Cry - BradyGames
Dino Crisis (w/ Poster) - Versus Books
Dino Crisis 2 - Prima
Driver 2 - Prima
Fallout 3 Collector's Edition - Prima
Fallout New Vegas - Prima
Fear Effect - Prima
Fear Effect 2 - Prima
Full Spectrum Warrior - Prima
Gears of War Limited Edition - BradyGames
Gears of War 2 Last Stand Edition - BradyGames
2x The Getaway (w/ Poster) - Prima
2x Ghost Recon - Prima
Ghost Recon 2 - Prima
2x Ghost Recon Island Thunder - Prima
2x Gran Turismo - Prima
2x Gran Turismo 2 - Prima
2x Gran Turismo 3 (w/ Poster) - Versus Books
2x Grand Theft Auto 3 - BradyGames
GTA San Andreas (w/ Poster) - BradyGames
GTA Vice City (w/ Poster) - BradyGames

 

[HandsomeCharles]

Yeah that was the concern for me. I'll just save with my cart or Fenrir

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Yea, I wouldn't reccommend it if you've already got a "system" that works for you. I did it because I had never owned a Saturn before and was sure I would forget

 

[Kyle Cross]

Alright guidefellas, I am back.

Here is my keep pile

https://i.ibb.co/MpNVD21/IMG-4747.jpg yes that is 3 different dino crisis guides

Here is what is available if anyone is interested in trade/buying

https://i.ibb.co/nw7y211/IMG-4749.jpg

Text list

Spoiler

007 Agent Under Fire - Prima
Alone in the Dark (sealed) - Prima
Armed and Dangerous - Prima
2x Armorines - Acclaim
The Bard's Tale - Prima
BioFreaks - BradyGames
Black - Prima
Bloodwake - Prima
Body Harvest - Prima
Brute Force (w/ Poster) - Prima
Carrier - Prima
Castlevania 64 (w/ Poster) - Millenium Books
Chromehounds - Prima
2x Chronicles of Riddick - Prima
2x Commandos 2 - Prima
2x Conflict Desert Storm - BradyGames
2x Conflict Desert Storm 2 - Prima
Counterstrike - Prima
Counterstrike - Versus Books
Crimson Skies - Prima
2x Daikatana (w/ Poster & Comic) - Prima
2x Dead to Rights - Prima
Deus Ex: Invisible War - Prima
2x Devil May Cry - BradyGames
Dino Crisis (w/ Poster) - Versus Books
Dino Crisis 2 - Prima
Driver 2 - Prima
Fallout 3 Collector's Edition - Prima
Fallout New Vegas - Prima
Fear Effect - Prima
Fear Effect 2 - Prima
Full Spectrum Warrior - Prima
Gears of War Limited Edition - BradyGames
Gears of War 2 Last Stand Edition - BradyGames
2x The Getaway (w/ Poster) - Prima
2x Ghost Recon - Prima
Ghost Recon 2 - Prima
2x Ghost Recon Island Thunder - Prima
2x Gran Turismo - Prima
2x Gran Turismo 2 - Prima
2x Gran Turismo 3 (w/ Poster) - Versus Books
2x Grand Theft Auto 3 - BradyGames
GTA San Andreas (w/ Poster) - BradyGames
GTA Vice City (w/ Poster) - BradyGames

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Can't lie, some of those are mad tempting (all the survival horrors as well as the Gears) but I really should restrain myself and just get the guides of my favorite games of all time. Still to this day looking for a good condition Dragon Quest VIII for a decent price lol.

 

[Dr. Zoidberg]

Sounds like it's dying to me. That's similar to what happened with my GameCube

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Its probably capacitors

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Might be worth cleaning the Power Supply pins:

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Thank you all for the replies. I have an update on my Dreamcast:

After some testing over the past several days I can say that if I leave the DC off for a while it will read discs fine after I turn it on. Play for a while and the problem will eventually return. Then let it cool off, or discharge maybe, and then it starts working again. So I'm leaning more toward failing caps or possibly the power supply pins than the laser needing adjustment. I haven't cracked it open yet, and I don't have the tools or experience to replace the caps, but I'll check those power supply pins when I get time to work on it. My DC is loud as hell so I may look into replacing that fan while I'm in there. Thanks again.

 

[demi]

After some testing over the past several days I can say that if I leave the DC off for a while it will read discs fine after I turn it on. Play for a while and the problem will eventually return. Then let it cool off, or discharge maybe, and then it starts working again. So I'm leaning more toward failing caps or possibly the power supply pins than the laser needing adjustment. I haven't cracked it open yet, and I don't have the tools or experience to replace the caps, but I'll check those power supply pins when I get time to work on it. My DC is loud as hell so I may look into replacing that fan while I'm in there. Thanks again.

Click to shrink...

This is literally the same issue my Gamecube had, its probably caps. I'm not 100% with Dreamcast lore, but in my searches in Gamecube this constantly came up besides USE A LASER POTENTIOMETER DUDE which made no sense because the game would run for like 15-20 minutes perfectly before the issue came up

 

[Chitown B]

almost sounds like a heat issue. Those power supplies get hot. It's possible the fan has died, too. Retrosix makes a Dreamcast PSU that has an external power supply, which could help too.

 

[Nairume]

Well, I finally found my SNES collecting great white buffalo: an affordable copy of Ogre Battle

It seems to require a reset to get it to boot up every now or then, but it otherwise plays fine and the save battery is functional, which is more than I can say about the deceptively cheap copy of Brainlord that I got. That one ended up being so corroded inside that putting a new save battery into it didn't do the trick, so that's going to have to become a speedrun game.

 

[Chitown B]

hard to believe you couldn't re-trace that for the battery even if the pads are corroded

 

[demi]

In adventures of eBay... we learn that people can't read or see

The listing:

https://i.ibb.co/8j7qKwv/IMG-4753.jpg

The reality:

https://i.ibb.co/rf3WhQB/IMG-4754.jpg

Cmon maaaaaaaaan

 

[Zippedpinhead]

In adventures of eBay... we learn that people can't read or see

The listing:

https://i.ibb.co/8j7qKwv/IMG-4753.jpg

The reality:

https://i.ibb.co/rf3WhQB/IMG-4754.jpg

Cmon maaaaaaaaan

Click to shrink...

how are the box and manual? I find that more and more people are just considering those for "like new" status vs the state of the disc (which definitely looks like "normal wear" to me).

 

[Scar]

I have a lot of GB games that I need to buy the boxes for. I had used ebay and hoped I could get a few on the cheap side, but man are some of these prices more than I expected!

 

[demi]

how are the box and manual? I find that more and more people are just considering those for "like new" status vs the state of the disc (which definitely looks like "normal wear" to me).

Click to shrink...

There was no "back of disc" photo so I guess its my fault, idk. That's what I get for being horny on ebay. Everything else looked good but that's probably why they left that photo out... I guess I need to test the game myself. I personally don't think this is "normal wear" it looks like someone dragged it on some sidewalk

 

[Kyle Cross]

There was no "back of disc" photo so I guess its my fault, idk. That's what I get for being horny on ebay. Everything else looked good but that's probably why they left that photo out... I guess I need to test the game myself. I personally don't think this is "normal wear" it looks like someone dragged it on some sidewalk

Click to shrink...

That's how most DVD-based games I've gotten used have looked. People just don't take care of their shit. I recently bought a used PS3 game that was scratched up like that and I didn't even know that was possible.

 

[Firemind]

In adventures of eBay... we learn that people can't read or see

The listing:

https://i.ibb.co/8j7qKwv/IMG-4753.jpg

The reality:

https://i.ibb.co/rf3WhQB/IMG-4754.jpg

Cmon maaaaaaaaan

Click to shrink...

I see that all the time. Listings that are descibed as good as new when the cartridges/boxes/manuals have scratches, surface damage, creases and folds. I'm guessing people think it looks immaculate after collecting dust in an attic/basement for 25 years.