I went to my first yard sales of the year yesterday. Unfortunately it was kind of a bust. All I got was:

Streets of Rage 2, “Not for Resale” version, $0.50

I had a shocking find last week at the Goodwill in Charlottesville VA:

Uncharted Waters, Genesis, complete, $1.95
Super Famicom (!!??) $9.95

I was happy enough to find Uncharted Waters, but I said “Do you believe it??” when my boyfriend and I found the Famicom. He’s a big Nintendo geek too so I know he was jealous. But I’m the one who made him stop at Goodwill in the first place, so I got dibs.

There was an N64 ($9.95) that I passed on. It could have been Japanese too but I didn’t think to look at the time.

The SF is missing the power adapter, which is OK since I’ll probably have to track one that will work with US voltage anyway.

Definitely one of the most unexpected things I’ve ever found in the wild.

They also had a very nice Saturn set — system, 2 controllers, and around 8 complete games like Sonic 3D, Bust-a-Move 2, Baku Baku Animal. They wanted $49.95, so I passed. Though it was probably the nicest, most complete Saturn I’ve ever seen in the wild.

I hope to be putting some enviable posts in here in the coming weeks.

Can someone tell me why people are still paying $30 for Metal Gear Solid 2 Substance when Konami released a fine 3-game Metal Gear Solid Essentials package this month (Substance included) at the same price?

Has Konami done a poor job at getting the word out about the new set? I predicted Substance’s price to drop like a rock this month.

The highly-recommended blog over at VideoGamePriceCharts.com once again has another stimulating post, this time recommending readers to be liberal in their late-gen PS2 game buying.

To put it simply, late generation games on every console tend to become collector’s items. VideoGamePriceCharts name drops Dragon Warrior IV (1992), Chrono Trigger (1995), and Paper Mario (2000) as examples. I’ll add Valkyrie Profile (2000) as my own input. I wrote in the comments that Video Game Collector #9 has a big feature on the Sega Saturn, where they point out that the last 5 games released on the system in 1998 are the most coveted — namely Panzer Dragoon Saga, Shining Force III, Magic Knight Rayearth, Burning Rangers, and House of the Dead. This isn’t a coincidence, folks.

Atlus, NIS America, and SNK are pumping out a last round of high-quality niche titles including Baroque, Mana Khemia, and a surprisingly large number of budget-priced fighter compilations. These are all sure to have at least a steady demand over the next few years.

Another punter in the comments writes, “hey dummy, by telling people to save these titles you are effectively making them worth less because more people will have them….sigh.” Frankly, the small number of collectors that see any blog like this are not going to make any dent in the sales numbers, so enjoy the tip! You might thank us in a few years.

Here’s a Consumerist-style one for you.

Dick’s Pawn is one of my favorite places to visit in Myrtle Beach… just be sure to remember your elementary math. 5 DVDs for $12 or 10 for $25… hmm, I wonder how much 20 DVDs would cost. $60 maybe? Sounds like a deal to me!

I shouldn’t complain too much, because here’s what I got for my $12:

• Vampire Hunter D Special Edition
• Peter Pan (Disney)
• Castle in the Sky (Ghibli/Disney)
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Disney, out of print)
• Microsoft Office Student and Teacher Edition 2003 ($100-$200 on eBay)

Pikmin 2 prices are hitting an all-time high on eBay, with used copies hitting the $60-$70 without breaking a sweat. Sets of Pikmin 1 and 2 are easily topping the $100 mark. Over at Amazon, the lowest price is currently $69.77 and goes all the way up to $199 for a new copy.

Why now? Well, Pikmin hero Captain Olimar was included a main character in Smash Bros. Brawl. Given that said game has been selling gobloads of copies, no doubt many Wii gamers are being introduced for the first time to Miyamoto’s greenthumb niche title.

Oh, how I regret selling the sealed non-PC Pikmin 2 I had a year ago.