Not too many stories from this weekend’s yard sale outing. The most interesting find for me was the “Legend of Dragoon Collector’s Video” VHS tape that I found early in the day at a church sale. It has a gatefold cover that folds out with more artwork and screenshots of the game. I don’t know if this was a promo or perhaps a reservation freebie? I can’t find any info about it except that there’s a copy for sale on Half.com for $15. If you know more about it, please leave a comment.

Final Fantasy VII and Guitar Hero III came from a pawn shop on the way home from my ’saling. Needless to say, a $5 copy of FFVII turned a mediocre yard saling day into a great one!

• Legend of Dragoon Collector’s Video VHS — $0.50
• Final Fantasy VII — $5 (pawn shop)
• Resident Evil 2 N64, complete — $3
• Super Mario 64, complete — $3
• UFC Sudden Impact PS2 — $3
• Guitar Hero III PS2 — $12.50 (pawn shop)
• Mega Man X4 PS1, disc only — $1
• Fat DS Mad Catz case — $0.50 (will go well with the $5 fat DS I got a couple of weeks ago)

This past weekend was perfect for yard saling here in Maryland. There were tons of sales (partially because of rain the previous Saturday) and I saw next to no other shoppers. It was hot and I think the heat kept people inside. Tomorrow is the annual city festival here and historically the apex of the ’saling season. Good luck to all if you’re headed out bright and early tomorrow.

5.31.08:

The weekend before last was nearly a total washout. I hit just a couple of sales by 8:30, when it started to pour rain. It didn’t stop, and everyone pretty much pulled in the sales for the day and that was that. So the above is only from about the first 30 minutes.

• NES system, complete with Zapper, 5 games, arcade stick, VERY clean — $10
• Road Rash (original) PS1, disc only — $1
• Wooden CD/DVD rack — $3

6.7.08:

As I wrote above, it was definitely a buyers’ market this past Saturday, with tons of sales around town and practically no shoppers out for some strange reason.

• GBA Instruction manualsfor Zelda, Fire Emblem, Castlevania, and Street Fighter Alpha 3 — $0.25 ea
• Final Fantasy X guide — $1
• Plush N64 Mario and Toad — $1 ea
• The Royal Tenenbaums Criterion DVD — $1
• 3 Final Fantasy/RPG issues of Nintendo Power — $0.25 for all
• God of War PS2 — $2
• Batman NES — $0.10
• Steven Spielberg’s “Taken” miniseries screener VHS — $0.25
• Not pictured: junky Movado knock off watch — $1 (threw it away because I couldn’t get the battery cover off); HP ink cartridge NIB — $0.25

A book/video store about an hour from home is set to go out of business soon. It’s a chain of stores across the state, and they rotate merchandise from time to time. I hadn’t been to this store since January, but when I went this weekend, they had a goldmine of stuff that was definitely not there before, and all priced to sell.

The first thing I found when I walked in was a rack filled to overflowing with mostly junk Genesis and SNES sports titles. Funnily enough, they also had a ton of new-in-box PS1 “game enhancers” — ie, import enablers that plugged into the PS1’s parallel port (marked at $0.95 ea). Too bad they’ve sort of outlived their usefulness, ‘cos they were a fascinating device back in the day. (I even wrote a couple of FAQs about them for GameFAQs nearly a decade ago!)

On the back of the rack, I found an unexpected gem: Metal Gear Solid for PS1. It was the start of good things.

Next, walking down a main aisle, I spotted a box I’m well familiar with — DDR Mario Mix! No game, unfortunately, but $5 for the pad is still a good find. I’m betting someone traded in the game into Gamestop and they refused the pad “for sanitary reasons.” Apparently in Gamestop-speak, “sanitary reasons” translated to “We’d rather force people to buy our own branded pad and make profit from the ludicrous markup.” I digress.

Next, at the end of the computer and gaming aisle, there were 2 boxes full of lovely vintage 90s gaming magazines. I would have loved to have taken the 2 big boxes that they had home, but I know full well that I have no room for them, so I cherry picked the Final Fantasy covers.

And lastly, I discovered the crown jewel… on the bottom shelf of the computer aisle, stuck in sideways, I spied a red border that I have drooled over on eBay many times. Could it be? Yes! The Final Fantasy (1) Nintendo Power Strategy Guide, in excellent shape. I felt my heart flutter a bit. It’s not a particularly valuable item, but I have indeed coveted it for awhile, and this is the first one I’ve seen in person. Oh, the price? 50 cents.

• Dance Dance Revolution Mario Mix (pad only) — $5.00
• Metal Gear Solid (PS1 Greatest Hits) — $5.90 — this was mixed in with a bunch of crap sports Genny and SNES games, all priced $5.90. Have no idea where this gem came from!
• Tons of mid-90s gaming magazines — $0.50 ea

  And the crown jewel…

• Final Fantasy 1 Nintendo Power strategy guide — $0.50