Yard Sale Rarity Guide: SNES Edition

Hello again everyone! It’s been a bit since I’ve put up another post but I’ve been quite busy! If you recall, recently I had put together an NES Rarity guide to games in the wild. Today, I plan on going over identifying these ‘rare’ SNES games when out and about.

By Publisher:

As most know, there are a few developers that have released some quality titles over the years so it should be no surprise to see some of them on this list. Some of these developers include companies like Natsume, Enix, Square, Squaresoft, and Koei. If you were to see these titles in a game store, you would typically see these priced at least at $20 each. Some of the titles that you’ll want to watch out for are the following:

Harvest Moon
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
E.V.O. Search for Eden
Gemfire

By Genre:

I’m pretty sure you know what I’m going to say here. RPG’s are usually like gold for SNES. While I could go for some of the popular series that you already know about, let me tell you about some of the lesser known RPG titles that are still worthwhile. Also don’t forget that not every RPG is turned based, as there are also some mighty fine action RPGs out there as well. Take a look at this list:

Robotrek
Actraiser
The 7th Saga
Secret of Mana
The Twisted Tales of Spike McFang

By First Party:

What does this mean? This means almost anything by Nintendo. This is mainly because most Nintendo releases were good and no one wants to get rid of them. While there were some exceptions, these can be quite pricey. Some of the titles that you’ll see can contain:

Super Metroid
Kirby’s Dream Land 3
Legend of Zelda
Tetris & Dr. Mario
Super Mario Kart

By Series:

Once again series play a role in determining rarity for some games. There are a few games series out there that are worth picking up on the cheap if you can. Among these is the series that I think most are waiting for me to say. Well, here’s you list of game series to look for.

Donkey Kong Country
Lufia
Final Fantasy
Castlevania
Pocky & Rocky
Mega Man

The One Off:

As with every system, there are a handful of games out there that break the rules and have no reason for popularity or extreme pricy-ness other than they are truly rare. Some of these titles included games like:

Super Copa
Metal Warriors
Incantation
Hagane
Super Turrican 2

Well, there you have it! Here is a list of some rare titles to start looking for on your adventures while going to those local thrift shops and yard sales!

Yard Sale Weekend Round-Up 6-22-12 - 6-23-12 Edition

Welcome to another edition of the Yard Sale Roundup! If you recall, last week was a theme about board games. Well even though I found a board game this week, the theme was definitely back to games! So let's talk about these magnificent finds I got this week during Avin and I's adventures!

As seen, this was a PS2 theme going on here

Sale #1: After scouring the paper and local forums, I was able to find a sale to hit up that looked promising before work on Friday morning. Pulled up and found a bunch of awesome movies and games! Even though there prices were firm, I did manage to get some things. I picked up .hack Parts 1 & 2, Grandia II, Grandia Xtreme, and Suikoden III all for PS2. Also I found the Dark Crystal on Blu-Ray! All together I paid $15 for this.

Sale #2: Fast forward to saturday morning. I made sure to hit a sale because of the 'games' that were advertised. By games, they meant a couple board games. Nevertheless, I did manage to pick up a trivial pursuit card deck and 3 lego tubs for $1.50

Sale #3: After a few disappointments, I finally stumbled across this sale. had a few games and cool stuff that Avin liked but they were either too much or broken. However, I found 1 PS2 game in the mix called The Red Star. Paid $2 for it and left.

Sale #4: Went afterwards to a neighborhood sale where sales #4 and #5 took place. I was able to find first an old Toshiba Satellite laptop (working), and a board game. Now, first off, this was no ordinary board game. *cue backstory* After finishing my undergraduate in 2005, I still was going to grad school at formerly UMR, not MS&T. Look it up. It's a good school. As a senoir project for my degree, we had to assemble, take out a loan, market, sell, pay back a loan all for a product we create... IN A SEMESTER! Not getting into my project, the year after, one of the senior groups made a board game of Rolla, MO where the campus is. I tried to get one but they were sold out before I could get an order in after I had the funds. Now, 6 years later, I stumbled across an unopened copy at this garage sale. I would have paid a lot for this game but overall, I gave $1 for the pair of items.

Sale #5: In the same neighborhood, Avin and I walked to the neighboring house. After looking around I found a shoe box with some 'junk game stuff'. Upon closer inspection I had found a dreamcase wit hteh A/V cable, 2 official controllers, an official VMU, and NBA 2K1 in it. If that wasn't bonus enough, there was also a PSOne in the box as well with Power and A/V included. I paid the $2 requested and left.

Sale #6: This was a sale I wish I had more money at. There was a giant tub of games that they had forgotten to pull out. There were nice games in it for sure. However, They were asking $5 per game which I found out after I had picked out about 6 titles. I said that all I had was a $10 on me, which was true. I set them on the table and picked up Avin and told them I was sorry but I didn't have enough for all of them. Before I could take 2 steps away, They said that they would take $10 for the lot. Here's the list:

Fatal Labyrinth (Genesis)
Kirby's Avalanche (SNES, COMPLETE)
Legend of Zelda (SNES)
Super Mario All Stars (SNES)
Super Mario 64 (N64)
Mario Kart 64 (N64)

Sale #7: I almost lissed this one and turned down the street as I knew it occasionally had good sales. Upon looking around I found an Xbox 360 power brick for a newer 360 Slim and paid $0.50 for it.

Sale #8: OK, so it wasn't really a sale but definitly noteworthy. Went to Goodwill and found a stack of NES games. Out of them, I picked up Battletoads & Double Dragon and Frankenstein: The Monster Returns for $3 each. Nice finds indeed!

Well that does it for this week but I hope that you share the finds you came across in the comments! I look forward to your stories!

Pizza Burgers Recipe

Interesting fact about myself. Before I started getting into an IT career, I was very serious about becoming a professional chef. I made up a bunch of recipes and tried them out on a lot of my friends. I was even designated the cook at one of the houses I was often at during my community college days.

I finally have had more time to be creative in my meals so I decided to share one I created with everyone. I call them Pizza Burgers.

The ingredients

Ingredient List:

1 lb of ground turkey
4 kaiser rolls
4 slices of colby jack cheese
4 slices of provolone cheese
8-12 slices of pepperoni
1 jar of pizza sauce
*spice to taste ( I used seasoned salt, black pepper, and garlic powder)

Step 1: In a 10 - 12 inch skillet melt enough butter to coat the bottom of the pan.

Step 2: While the butter is melting, form the turkey into 4 1/4 patties.

Patty forming!

NOTE: I used turkey in this for 2 reasons. 1) when turkey cooks, it does not release grease into the pan that needs to be drained. This saves an extra dish from being the grease vessel, and 2) turkey patties do not shrink nearly as much due to their lean nature. This will come into play later on.

Step 3: After the butter has melted, place each patty into the skillet and leave them on medium high heat for 5 -6 minutes. Then flip and repeat. Also you can apply salt and pepper at this time.

Let's get cooking

Step 4: While the patties are browning, use this opportunity to cut your kaiser rolls in half. When I cut mine, I left too much top and not enough bottom which led to slight problems while biting into the burger.

Step 5: After cutting the kaiser rolls, butter the bottom and top of each roll and put a slice of each cheese on the top bun. Also make sure to preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Step 6: At this point the burgers are good and brown, Pour the jar of pizza sauce into the skillet, flip the patties. Turn the heat up to high and once the pizza sauce start to bubble, cover and simmer for 5 minutes.

Sauce it up

Step 7: After the burgers have simmered, take them out of the skillet and place them on the bottom bun. Put 2-3 slices of pepperoni on each patty and put pizza sauce over the burger. Put the top bun on and slide into the over for 5 minutes.

Burger's Assemble!

After this you can take the leftover pizza sauce and it has now been flavored with turkey. I used this to dip my burger into.

Overall, everything turned out well. There are only a couple things I would do different. 1) I cut the buns too low and 2) make the turkey patties thinner.

Enjoy your pizza burgers

Make sure that you try this recipe and try your own twist on it!

Yard Sale Weekend Roundup 5-15-12 - 5-17-12

Once again Monday has come around to bare its teeth at us once again. I know that this week is going to be a definite busy one. But at least I can reflect of the decent hauls I had this weekend while looking around at yard sales. The picture below is an aggregate picture and you can read the story behind each sale.



As you can see, this was a board games themed weekend

 SALE #1) My first sale I found was more of a thrift shop setting than a sale but nevertheless, I scored some nice games. I picked up the France 1944, Ambush! which is an add-on to 'France', and Attack Sub by Avalon Hill. Ironically the 2 'France' games were made by a company called Victory Games. Think about that for a moment. I also got some coloring packs for Avin that he has already claimed but only spent $12 at this one.

SALE #2) I was on the way to work and stumbled across an unadvertised sale and stopped in. They had a load of Sega Genesis and SNES games with a couple consoles each but we couldn't agree on a price ($30 was my highest offer) so I settled for an old version of Risk! for $1.

SALE #3) Still on my way to work and found another sale. Picked up a GBA SP with Charger for $3. No real story here.

SALE #4) The first Saturday morning sale was great. As usual, Saturday means that my son travels with me as he enjoys sales too. Immediately he spotted the lunchbox by PaperChase and carried it around. While there I asked about any game items and the gave me an old Stratego game and had Avalon Hill's Battle of the Bulge available. After a little talking I ended up paying $5 for all the items together.

SALE #5) Finally found some video games at a sale! However, they were being sold with the system which was WAY out of my price range and not a very good deal to begin with. I said that I already had the system and was mostly looking for games. After talking, she let me pick games out and buy them individually. So I grabbed Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Dark Alliance II for Xbox for $5.

SALE #6) Once again a quick sale was made. I pulled up and there was a Dell 19inch LCD monitor on a table marked $2. I offered $1 took it and headed back out.

SALE #7) My final sale of the day. It was a church rummage sale and after looking the only thing I was able to come up with was a model rocket that was an X-Wing from Star Wars. Very cool that it came with the engines, plugs, and fuses to fire. Now I'll just have to dig out my launch pad...

Well that was all I came up with this weekend but I'm always interested to hear what you found! Put your stories in the comment section below and share your bragging rights with everyone! Happy Hunting!

How about a Skylander figure giveaway?

Hello again everyone!

It seems that my last giveaway didn't garner a whole lot of interest so I'm hoping that this one will. I have now on the giveaway table, a new in the package Skylanders figure of Boomer!

Bringer of BOOM!

What do you have to do to earn this guy? Well it's easy actually. First post this tweet:

Win a #Skylanders figure from @Mirpkered here: http://mirpkered.blogspot.com/2012/06/how-about-skylander-figure-giveaway.html?m=1 Also RT and follow! Ends 7 PM CST 6-22-12

Once you do that, put in the link to your tweet and your done! So that's it right? Right!

You can enter this once a day for the duration of the contest as well!

Good Luck!

The Game 'Rarity' Guide - NES Edition

As most have noticed, I enjoy treasure hunting. This includes things like video games, board games, and cool toys for my son. However, I’ve been asked by multiple people how I know what is worthwhile and what is not at a glance. I’ve been learning this for about 10 years from personal experience and have decided to compile a guide on how to identify what are considered rare games.


First let’s clear up a misconception, Not all games that are pricey are ‘rare’ they are typically common titles that are just good and no one wants to get rid of them. An example of this point is the Playstation game Final Fantasy VII. It’s a fantastic game but people don’t want to get rid of it therefore lowering the supply of the already high demand. So make sure to keep that in mind while reading.

Who is this guide for? Well, if you love classic NES games, are a collector, or even if you're looking to turn around some games for a profit, keep reading! I’ll teach you everything I’ve learned over the past decade in my quest to collect every NES game.


The Unliscensed Games

There are some NES games out there that are hard to track down. Typically these are the unlicensed games by such companies like Tengen, AVE, Camerica, and Color Dreams (which was also known as Bunch Games and Wisdom Tree). They are usually identified very easily by the shape of their cartridge. The only thing that these games share are the the cartridge dimensions typically. On average, I would suspect that most of these titles will start around $10 on a regular market scale but can go upwards to $200 depending on condition.Titles to look for following this rule that are on the high end of value are following:


Tetris (Tengen)
Bible Buffet (Wisdom Tree)
Sunday Funday (Wisdom Tree)
Secret Scout (Color Dreams)
Operation Secret Storm (Color Dreams)


By Series


By series, I mean sequels. There are a few series that have become more valuable with their later game releases. Of course this is going to include Mega Man but there are also some other series that have valuable sequels. These can include series such as the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons game, Lolo, and Adventure Island series.While prices are a bit erratic, for the following games expect on average to dole out about $30 minimum each.


Adventures of Lolo 3
Adventure Island 3
Mega Man 6
R.C. Pro-Am 2
Baseball Stars 2


By Quantity

These games are truly rare in the fact that not many of them were made. This is going to include the elusive Stadium Events but also there are a couple others that you can look out for. Below are the list of the tops games I’ve encountered because of actual rarity.


Action 52
Bubble Bobble Part 2 (NOT Rainbow Islands)
Stadium Events
The Flintstones: Surprise at dinosaur peak


By Genre

When it comes to older games the genre also can play a major role the price of a game and as you can imagine there are 2 types that are typically pricey on the NES. These genres include the obvious RPG genre but also the War RTS style as well. This is a sample of the games that fit this mold.


North and South
Final Fantasy
Advanced Dungeons and Dragons
Nobunaga’s Ambition 1 and 2
Genghis Khan
Dragon Warrior 1 thru 4


The One-Offs

Finally, there are teh one offs. These are games that don’t necessarily fit into one of the previous categories you would find. These are typically pricey because they were good, and the supply is down, however, that isn’t always the case. Here are some of the games that fall under the one-offs:


Wacky Races
Kid Klown in Night Mayor World
Little Samson
Snow Brothers
Wayne's World


I hope that this gets you started in learning about game rarity and how to identify NES games while you’re out and about.

Review: Rage of Bahamut (iOS,Android)

Well, this is my first review I've written in about a year and a half so lets get to it!

Game: Rage of Bahamut
System: iOS, Android
Price: FREE
Release: Spring 2012

Main 'Home' screen for players

Well This is a first for me. I've never reviewed an iOS game.but let me tell you that it is definitely not a bad one. The game up today is called Rage of Bahamut and it is available on the iOS and Android operating systems. However, as you would expect from a mobile title, there is not a lot of depth to it. That doesn't necessarily mean it isn't fun though.

Gameplay:

 This game plays like a lot of the Free-to-Play games I've encountered during my time. While the app is free, you can purchase in game items with micro-transactions which is where the real money comes into play. I have not utilized this feature and have gotten quite a bit of enjoyment out of it so far. The player goes through these modes using cards that are similar to some of the more popular card games out right now such as Magic or WoW. Each card has an ATK or DEF along with a rarity and evolution. But first, let's talk about the 2 main play modes called 'Quest' and 'Battle'.

Quest:

Quest Mode

In the Quest mode, the player completes a series of screen taps to complete an objective by utilizing stamina. Once the player runs out of stamina, it is slowly recovered at a rate of one stamina point per minute. Once the appropriate amount of stamina points are regained for the player to completed the quest, they are able to move on to the next are and tap the screen some more. If that is all there is to it, then what's the draw? Loot! after completing a set number of taps in a row, the player is rewarded with a check that contains either rupees, a character card, or treasure. After finishing 5 missions in an area, there is a boss battle where the actual card stats come into play. If the card is strong enough it will defeat the boss. If not,the player will have to power it up more to take another attempt at it. Also as players progress they will gain experience point to put towards the amount of stamina, attack power, or defense power they have.But enough about quest mode.

Battle:

The second play mode is Battle mode. This is where the actual strategy comes in. Players can battle other players to either earn points during events, steal rupees, or gain treasure to complete a set. There are 2 types of decks as well that the player has to create. There are ATK decks with are used for attacking and DEF decks that are used when the player is attacked. Each of these can be tailored to the attack style that is preferred by the player.

2nd form of High Shaman card

Enhancing and Evolving:

For me, this is where the main hook is. I want to try and collect all the cards available and max them out. Cards gain experience or maturity by using other cards to enhance them to increase their levels. Also, if 2 of the same card is held, they are typically able to be evolved into a higher level card 3 times going from Goblin to Goblin+ to Goblin ++ then finally to a named Goblin which in this case is shown as [Imp] Goblin.

My Thoughts

What I like about the game is that it is a time waster and free. Also, the Pokemon collector in me goes NUTS when I try to get all the cards available. Which that being said though, I don't have any audio that comes through the game so I;m not sure if it is a glitch or how it is designed. There are a few other features that I can talk about but the tutorial does a much better job explaining it that I could.

If you want to try the game, download it from the iTunes store or android marketplace. Once finished use the referral code ndp65409 for some additional rupees and a rare card to get you started.

I would give this game a 3 out of 5 to most but if you loved Pokemon, chances are that you'll love this game.

Yard Sale Ettitquette 101

For anyone who knows me, it's pretty obvious that I LOVE yard sales. Also anyone who reads a bit knows that I do fairly well at yard sales. How do I do it? I follow what I've called 'Yard Sale Ettiquette'. This is just a collection of what most would deem common sense. Also included at my yard sale rules if you want to ride with me, and tips for making a good score.

School is now in session.

Yard Sale Etiquette:

1) Never walk on someone's lawn unless there is merchandise in the yard that can be browsed.

2) Always greet the proprietor of the sale and when leaving, regardless if you purchased anything, tell them goodbye and thank them for their time. A little kindness can go a long way when you start haggling with folks.

3) Never have the stereo thumping and bumping when pulling up to a sale. More than likely, they are not going to care that you know the words to every <insert popular artist that the kids are into these days> song and you have a loud stereo.

4) Don't smoke at someone else's yard sale. Even if they are smoking and you are a smoker, save it for your personal vehicle and not their yard.

5) Lastly... BRUSH YOUR TEETH!!! This is a big one! If I had a sale, I would not want someone with morning breath trying to talk to me. I would probably ignore them and hope they leave. Don't let this be you.

These are really common sense items. I've always noticed that people are a lot more willing to deal if you respect them. All these etiquette rule establish that respect for the seller.

So what kind of rules would you have to follow to go with me to yard sales? I'm strict. Feel free to follow my rules though for your own adventuring!

Derek's Road Rules:

Rule 1) Never spend more than 2 minutes at a sale unless you are buying or waiting for the seller to find something for you.

Rule 2) Wear shoes, not flip flops. At some point, you will have to walk on grass i guarantee. When you do, the dew from the grass will make your flip flops slick and you will have trouble walking. I avoid flip flops during yard sales as much as possible.

Rule 3) Don't pick something up unless you intend to buy it. This doesn't mean you can't look at the condition of an item or specs of a router if it is in the box, but don't gawk. I don't have time for that and neither should you.

Finally here are some tips that you can use for making those deals.

Derek's Tips:

Tip 1) Never go through an entire box if what you want is visible in it. Usually if a bunch of items are in a box, the seller will sell them all together such as games/books/action figures/etc. Case in point, you find a box of games and all are marked $2 each. On/near the top is a game you want and others that are worthwhile. Don't cherry pick the box. Offer a ballpark for the whole thing. If the seller refuses then cherry pick games to meet or exceed the original offer.

Tip 2) Use the Cash in Face (CIF) method. If you have $7 worth of items in your hands, pull out a five before seeing the seller and offer it up without asking for a total. BE CAREFUL THOUGH! Be tactful in asking. Usually the seller is just as eager to get rid of their junk as you are to buy it. If they see you have the cash ready, they are more likely to accept.

Tip 3) Wear cargo shorts/pants. Put a different denomination of bill in each pocket. This way you can pull out an exact amount and not show your full hand. This goes hand in hand with tip 2. It's the Boy Scout motto: Be Prepared.

So those are my tips that I can offer to those who have been yard saling for a while or those that are just getting in the game.

Do you have any tips to share? If so leave them in the comment section below! Maybe I'll use them on my next outing!

How'd you fancy winning a nice @Sega Genesis?

Hey everyone! It's been a while wince I've done this but I guess now is as good a time as any to kick off almost-summer with a giveaway! I have a very sexy looking Sega Genesis that one of my lucky readers is going to win. It is sleek black and has dangerous curves and even comes with a few games.

You may be asking yourself, "But how can I obtain such a device? Will my TV explode for the sheer awesome of having an RF adapter plugged into it?" While I can't answer the latter question, I'm pleased to say that winning is easy! First, tweet the following:

Fancy winning a @SEGA Genesis & games? follow @Mirpkered & RT. Then go here: http://mirpkered.blogspot.com/2012/06/howd-you-fancy-winning-nice-sega.html  #thanksmirp Ends 7PM CST 6/11/12

Please control yourself

Then post in the comments below the link to your tweet. Pretty easy stuff eh?

"How often can I tweet?" Well I'm glad you asked Abigail May! You can tweet this once a day and post below with your status link.

This contest is going to last until Monday at 7PM CST as which time I'll use random.org to find a winner.

Well I think that is about it so good luck and happy posting!

UPDATE: The winner of this contest was @ilRadd! Congrats and your prize is on its way!