Goodwill, as covered here frequently & w/ painstaking detail, is also ripe hunting grounds for dead console coveting dingbats like ourselves. Fat scored his ol' Dreamcast from a Goodwill back six+ months ago. I've grabbed a copy of Drilldozer for the GBA SP (suspiciously still in box & shrinkwrapped). I got a PS1 (the adorable little 1) for 9.99 @ goodwill but the sucker's motor is burned out (sadness). Back in November I & the missus found ourselves an Intellivision II w/ 8 (eight) games at the Bins for prob 6yua or so.
Fat & me, we got this thing where I call the Goodwill down @ 6th & Harrison or thereabouts "my Goodwill" & he calls the one up in the NE quad' "his goodwill." 'Bout 2 months ago he txts me that he's at his goodwill looking at a Sega Genesis under-the -glass for 20 wing-wangs, & do I want him to get it for me.2 I sez: "sure!" It has 2 controllers & no cables & it sits on a coffee table for a month.
Sometime a week or 2 ago I head over to my Goodwill on a lark & look under the glass & BOOM there's a 'Cast w/ 2 controllers for 20. Its crowded 'round the glass case so I wander back to the shelf & again, BOOM, right there there's the console-to-TV cable for a Dreamcast in my hand. Now I'm getting somewhere. I dig some more & find the console-to-TV cable for the Genesis! There's a Genesis behind me on the shelf & I make sure it fits. Also a sticky Dreamcast which I check to see if the 'Cast cable fits in. Both are okay. Alright, alrite, I flip the Genesis there over & read the sticker on the bottom to find out what kind of AC/DC power cable adapter voltage thingy it needs. It sez "use Genesis 2130 AC Adaptor Only." Back into the cable-shelf jungle! Found it! One 2130. What 'bout the Dreamcast AC Adaptor? 120V. Gotcha. Oh, here's a 125V. Good enough.
Back to the case, where the crowd's cleared. "Lemme see that Dreamcast." Look it over in my paws. Looks good. "Lemme see that memory card, too." Okay. Lets do it. 36 wing-wangs & change later I'm heading home w/ a Dreamcast, all the cables, & all the cables for the Genesis. Next day I get on the infobahn & order me a copy of Space Channel 5 for 2yua.
On Valentines Day I hit the CDGameExchange on Hawthorne & grab Sonic, Sonic 2, & Sonic & Knuckles (lock-on technology!) for a whopping 7.50!!
I go home. I plug everything in. I open Space Channel, I hit the power button. It works. Repeat for the Genesis w/ Sonic. Jackpot. Lets commemorate the moment...
Few days later, past 2 stages of Space Channel already. Goodwill. They have a copy of Streets of Rage 2. $5? That doesn't sound right. Back to my Hawthorne merchant. Streets of Rage 2 will run you a whopping 15 there! Yikes! Drop 10 on Vectorman & Altered Beast anyway, head BACK to the Goodwill & grab that SofR2 for the fiver. What a day! I'm loving it!
What's best is that I would have never guessed that the enjoyment of playing video games is so greatly enhanced when you can jump back & forth between different systems, especially when those systems are at least 5 years apart.
-d.d.
1 Yua. The Reviewieran 'quilivent of the dollar coin. Same in value as a wing-wang, but easier to use in a vending machine.
2 Under the Glass. Every goodwill has a glass counter w/ "more valuable" electronics & jewelry in it. 'Tho I have reason to beleive that video game consoles stored in the glass may not be in any better or worse condition than ones out "on the shelf" where fuktoid consumerists throw 'em around w/o the respect they deserve, 1 has to admit that a console under-the-glass has prob been handled less, & is thus more likely to, y'know, work. These systems are usually wrapped in a piece of packing tape attaching a controller or (usually) 2 to it, maybe also some cables.
No comments:
Post a Comment