Sunday Roundup: 8/12/12

The first of a handful of rare PS1 games is Bust A Groove. I have little experience with this game: my only time ever playing it was at my middle school girlfriends house one day. Yeah, that’s right, I had a middle school girlfriend who played video games. Don’t be jealous… it wasn’t too great. But what was cool was playing this game at least. *sigh*

You’d think that finding both Bust A Groove’s for under $70 would be the best find this week, but it’s actually not! Regardless, this game came out just five months after the first, and featured largely the same style of gameplay, with added characters, music, stages, and some tweaks to the mechanics. This one, though, I’ve never had the chance of playing. My old GF wasn’t that cool. Strangely, my current girlfriend HAS played this one and the first one. She’s light years ahead of anyone else.

There are a few reasons I bought this one: It was only $5, it’s an Atlus game, I had never heard of it before, and it’s a racing/RPG hybrid (“Car-PG”, if you will). And damn, was it hard to find anything out about this series! I did some research and found that the ChoroQ series is a large one in Japan, but not so much in North America. This is the seventh game in the series released in America, but the first one to actually don the correct moniker: All other versions are called something else. Most notable to me is Penny Racers for the N64, which I remember renting way back in the day. Still though, I’m happy to have snagged this one up.

Another example of a game I played first at a friends house, although this time not my old girlfriends. The first Croc reminded me a lot of Crash Bandicoot because they’re both 3D platformers. And both those games aren’t too bad. I ate up the chance to own Croc 2, namely because I like owning an entire game series, and also because the little Gobbos you save are so damn fluffy and cute!

And another thing. Why is it the second game (See above) has the numeral “2” in the title, but this one uses Roman Number “III”? Why did Rare think this was alright? What, were they like, “Kids won’t care, let’s just not be consistent!! Hahaha!” But I digress. It’s cool to have these two games because they are indirect ports of the original Super Nintendo versions, meaning they follow the same storyline but offer different levels and mechanics to take advantage of the limited power of the Game Boy.

The sole new game this week is Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance for the 3DS. I’ll be reviewing the game shortly. Actually, I’ve already reviewed it, and am just waiting on editing and approval before it’ll be live. Check back on the blog this week and the full review should be up. Here’s a teaser from the review: “Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance isn’t Kingdom Hearts 3, but it’s a very bright sign of what is to come.”

Holy crap, Twilight Princess for ten bucks! You know, this is the second time I’ve bought this game, the first time being around 2008 for the GameCube when it was on clearance of all things for $15. Considering that version is still in the package, I think I’ll just play this one when I get around to it.

I about pooped my pants when I saw this game behind the jewel case. Mega Man Legends, albeit the Greatest Hits version, for just fifteen dollars! And in great condition. It was an easy buy. Mega Man is easily my favorite video game character, and while I’ve already played and beaten this game on the Nintendo 64 (aptly named Mega Man 64), I still jump at the chance to own the rare PS1 version. Now, to find the crazy expensive Legends 2 and Misadventures of Tron Bonne.

Pac-Man Fever is a Mario Party clone featuring a handful of Namco characters. That’s really it. But still, I wanted it because it was only two dollars. And becasue you can play as Tiger Jackson from Tekken 3.

Classic! Road Rash was such a fun game, I couldn’t pass up the chance to own the big box PS1 version. I have fond memories growing up playing the third game on the Genesis as well. Those live action videos whenever you win, lose, or get busted are just great, even today. Oh, and the rock/metal soundtrack can get stuck in your head for days. And let’s not forget flying hundreds of feet of your motorcycle, landing in the street, getting run over by a car, getting back on your bike, and STILL winning the race.

Hahaha, ohh Burger King. They released this game and two others (PocketBike Racer and Big Bumpin’) in 2006 as a promotional event and they’ve been regarded as some of the lamest games around. Still though, any game featuring a big name fast food company has got to be worth something down the line. Right now though it’s only worth a dollar.

I’m gonna be completely honest with you: I will never play this game. The reason I bought it was that it was in perfect condition. And I kid you not, it is in PERFECT condition. There’s not a wear on the box, nothing is dented, and not a piece of paperwork is missing. The chances of finding ANY Game Boy game in this nice of condition nowadays is almost impossible. So for a dollar I’ll gladly add this to my collection.

Interesting piece of trivia I found out about this one: There were actually two versions of the game released. The original version featured a final battle with Electro atop the World Trade Center towers. After the events of 9/11, which took place shortly after the game’s scheduled release, this location was removed. Or rather, any references to it being the WTC towers were removed. From what I can tell, there is no way to determine which version of the game you have unless you play to the end and see if the reference is there. There’s also some claiming the original version with the WTC was never released at retail, but others claim it was. Either way, I’m just excited to have this one, because I enjoyed the first game so much on the N64. Even with the blocky graphics.

This might be a better find than Bust A Groove and Mega Man Legends. Super Mario Galaxy 2 for a mere ten dollar! Holy crap, that’s an amazing deal. To prove to you how awesome this is, after I bought the game from Half Price Books, I went to Disc Replay and saw the game there for $35! I thought about just selling it right back and making a profit. But then I thought about how well regarded this game is, and decided I needed to keep it. It’s not every day a game, even an Mario game, can garner mountains of perfect scores.

Remember what I was saying about Snoopy Tennis and how you just never find a Game Boy game in a case that nice? Here’s an example of what I’m talking about. A game released over a year later, in a banged up box. Still though, I’ve said it many times before in my Sunday Roundups, finding a game complete in box that is so old is rare in and of itself.