Whats that?
Shopping at the Goodwill Outlet store I have to contend with a lot of resellers, who ignorantly hope to strike it rich with the vintage games I go there to find. Yesterday I happened to find something that made me realize one of the most vital tactics a hunter can use is their ability to know what you’re looking for, no matter how hard that may be sometimes. Not everything is branded, for one reason or another, and you sometimes take visual cues as to what the item is for, but yesterday I had very little to go on and I had to make a call that turned out quite good in my favor.
To some the item shown above may look like nothing at all, while others may get it right away. Perhaps most of you are like myself and are currently scratching your heads telling yourself how this looks familiar, but you just can’t place the shape, or what it has to do with vintage gaming at all. Well I will remedy any and all curiosity, below.
What only says SGRL is actually a Nintendo Game Boy Color rechargeable battery pack. Even on the power supply for the charging base there is nothing at all written about what this item does or what it is for. I did however use the voltage to spur on my hopes that it was what it turned out to be.
If you saw this item sitting alone in a thrift store would you have picked it up on a whim? This item was just one of many things I’ve picked up, hoping it was what my brain thought it was. However, this item was the most cryptic item I’ve ever had to decipher!
Sam’s Scores: Gameboy Edition!
Today’s Sam’s Scores is yet another special edition. I had enough to do a special Gameboy Sam’s Scores, enjoy!
8) – Turn and Burn
Turn and Burn is much like Top Gun for the NES, to a point. It isn’t bad, but its far from great. I picked it up at a Goodwill just because it was cheap and it was a video game.
7) – Rechargeable Gameboy Battery
Sifting through bric-a-brac sometimes yields interesting results, and this is one such case. The Gameboy logo is worn off, but its pretty clear what this is. I’ve actually had this for a long time, avoiding adding it to a scores article because I don’t even know if it works. Even so, its a pretty cool little piece.
6) – Gameboy/GBC AC Adapter
Another thing that I find myself doing quite a bit in thrift stores is sifting through the cables and power adapters. Sometimes I come out a winner, like this time, but mostly I find myself trying to untangle a rat’s nest of stuff to come up empty handed. This thing works with both GBC and Gameboy, with a switch on the unit to get the right power to which device you need to power. Although the case is broken, it still works and with a little super glue it will be good as used.
5) – Castlevania: The Adventure
I found this one at Half Price Books, during a strange mark it at a single price and sell it period. This game, to be honest, sucks! I like Castlevania, but Konami really screwed up a good thing with this one.
4) – Pokemon Red
Way back when this game originally came out, I bought it. I loved playing this game because of it’s RPG style gameplay. I ended up loaning this game, and sadly the box and manual, to someone and never saw it again. I had always kept my eyes open for a loose copy of it and never found one less than $7, until Half Price Books got one in.
3) – Pokemon Silver
Yet another tag it and sell it score, brought to you by Half Price Books! The Pokemon Red above was exactly a week before I bought this one, so prices went down. Sadly the battery inside this one doesn’t work, but I did swap the battery in the Pokemon Gold I had, which will become a tutorial at some point.
2) – Zelda 1 and 2 for the GBA
I personally don’t think the Gameboy Advance is a vintage system, but these games certainly are. Even though they’re remakes for the system, they’re still vintage gaming classics. I must note that I bought these with another Gameboy Game (Dr. Mario, not pictured) at a Goodwill and had to wait 15 minutes for someone to go unlock the case!
1) – Green Gameboy Color
In a previous Sam’s Scores I showed you a Green GBC that I picked up off Craigslist for $10, so when I saw how cheap this one was I didn’t care whether it worked or not. I figured at the very least it would give me a matching green battery cover for my other one. When I took it home it didn’t want to work, but after shaking it, it sprang to life! The screen was scratched and it only works on batteries, later I decided to buy a new case and swap it out, so its no longer green.
