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The Official "Thrift finds" Thread


Happy_Dude

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Oh, you're gonna love this. I got a Nintendo Wii and The Last Story for ten dollars at a yard sale, but the system looks like it was resting at the bottom of a landfill for the past three years. The GameCube panel was ripped off, and the ports inside were filthier than a Larry Flynt magazine. However, a little cleaning (a LOT of cleaning) got the system back on its feet. If only I could say the same for the Wiimotes, which seem pretty much shot. The Wiimote Plus has burned out LEDs and can't communicate with accessores, and the standard Wiimote works only for fifteen minutes at a time before blinking out. Blast!

 

That looks like it came from 50 shades of grey!

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Oh, you're gonna love this. I got a Nintendo Wii and The Last Story for ten dollars at a yard sale, but the system looks like it was resting at the bottom of a landfill for the past three years. The GameCube panel was ripped off, and the ports inside were filthier than a Larry Flynt magazine. However, a little cleaning (a LOT of cleaning) got the system back on its feet. If only I could say the same for the Wiimotes, which seem pretty much shot. The Wiimote Plus has burned out LEDs and can't communicate with accessores, and the standard Wiimote works only for fifteen minutes at a time before blinking out. Blast!

 

Awesome job on the cleanup, you should be able to get the missing slot covers cleaply from the replacement parts page on Nintendo's website.

 

If you haven't already, make sure you clean out the inside of the DVD drive. I grabbed a kinda dirty Wii at a yard sale last year and only gave the exterior a cleaning. There was grime on the parts that pull the game discs in/out and I wound up putting scratches on a few of my Wii/Gamecube discs until I noticed and cleaned it out. :(

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Oh geez, I hadn't considered that. No wonder the drive is so hesitant to accept discs. Can I just put a cleaning disc in there or will disassembly be necessary? (I really, really hope not...)

 

I wrapped a microfiber cloth around a credit card, damped it in alcohol, and inserted it into the Wii drive while it was unplugged. The cloth pulled out the grains of sand and dirt causing the problem. I tested by putting halfway in a mint condition old DVD I didn't care about, pulling it out, and checked for scratches. Repeated cleanings until the disc came out scratch free.

 

I did take apart the Wii later and it isn't too tough to get the DVD drive open to clean. It's mainly a pain dealing with the numerous mix of phillips and tri-wing screws Nintendo used to secure the console shell together.

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Shiny gold Zelda cart, just 3 visible scratch on it. The one I've had since 88 or so has lots of scratch and 2 black lines on the bottom from rubbing on the ridges inside NES deck. This one almost looks new. So new I may need to put it in a acrylic box just for display. (not VGA shit, just myself)

 

PS controller, pre-Dual Shock and a PS2 controller. Plus a Linksys router AC1900 class, with 3 antenna, works.

 

Paid for all with a $10 bill and still got change. The router is worth average $50-$80 on eBay and it's a hell of an upgrade to the ancient 'G' router I am still using.

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Scored at a locker sale last weekend:

 

Complete N64 console system

Complete NES console system

Compete NES top loader system

Complete PS3 console system

Complete SNES console system

Complete Gamecube indigo console system

NES Advantage controller

14 SNES games (highlights of the lot are Super Metroid & Mystical Ninja)

5 NES Games (Super Mario Bros. 1, 2, 3 (2each), and Bubble Bobble)

4 Nintendo DS games (all of them various Pokemon versions)

1 N64 game Mystical Ninja

 

Total paid $300...I'm probably forgetting a few other small stuff like extra RF adapters, N64 controllers, and AV cords.

 

Yesterday I scored on a few more retro systems and games.

Edited by thadsilverfox
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Was at a meeting yesterday. On a whim, I decided to skip one of the less interesting talks and stroll over to a flea market 3 minutes away. I have been to that particular market often, and never had much luck. But man, this time! It seems it was "Give away SEGA" day.

 

Left on the photo, the Master System 1 cost me € 7. Power supply was broken, unfortunately, but who cares. That was the first time ever I saw a model 1 in the wild at all, and the two controllers alone are worth that much.

 

The whole lot on the right I got from another seller for € 10 total. This time no power supply at all, not even a broken one, and the whole lot is very VERY dirty. The photo was taken after the initial rough cleaning, so that my dear lady would let me bring them into the house in the first place :). But I didn't have 5 of those 7 games yet, so yeah... score!

 

I'm extremely happy. Even if it turns out that none of the consoles work, this shows me that there is still stuff out there to find. And at reasonable prices as well.

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Was at a meeting yesterday. On a whim, I decided to skip one of the less interesting talks and stroll over to a flea market 3 minutes away. I have been to that particular market often, and never had much luck. But man, this time! It seems it was "Give away SEGA" day.

 

Left on the photo, the Master System 1 cost me € 7. Power supply was broken, unfortunately, but who cares. That was the first time ever I saw a model 1 in the wild at all, and the two controllers alone are worth that much.

 

The whole lot on the right I got from another seller for € 10 total. This time no power supply at all, not even a broken one, and the whole lot is very VERY dirty. The photo was taken after the initial rough cleaning, so that my dear lady would let me bring them into the house in the first place :). But I didn't have 5 of those 7 games yet, so yeah... score!

 

I'm extremely happy. Even if it turns out that none of the consoles work, this shows me that there is still stuff out there to find. And at reasonable prices as well.

Awesome score there, I've only found 1 sega master system in the wild, and I paid $20 for it + 1 controller and the hang on game. I would like to get a model 2 just for fun, and maybe a power base convertere for the Genesis/Mega Drive.

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Haters going be hating

 

Found a box for Jaguar CD that had stuff inside. I didn't check closely as I was too excited and ran out after forking $10.

 

Upon getting home I checked, it didn't have CD system as the box indicated but has Jaguar base system, 2 power supplies, RF switch box, and Cybermorph.

 

I am however getting Jaguar logo and red screen on power on. I tried cleaning cart slot and the cart and I tried jiggling the cart at slightly different position, always RSoD. Hope I don't have a bad cart slot or a bad system.

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Awesome score there, I've only found 1 sega master system in the wild, and I paid $20 for it + 1 controller and the hang on game. I would like to get a model 2 just for fun, and maybe a power base convertere for the Genesis/Mega Drive.

 

I guess you can't do much with a PAL MS2, right? Otherwise, if this one turns out to be functional, you can have it for a Fiver plus shipping. I have a spare.

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I guess you can't do much with a PAL MS2, right? Otherwise, if this one turns out to be functional, you can have it for a Fiver plus shipping. I have a spare.

 

Thanks for the offer, PAL might work, but shipping costs would be more trouble than it's worth. I appreciate the offer though.... Eventually i'll find one, but until then I have a model one.

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So I kinda stopped posting my finds as I don't have the time anymore but I'll post this one. Today I went out searching for snes/nes donors. Figured I'd grab a lot and hit up all those game stores out of my "general area". So I made a day trip out of it.

 

Along the way about an hour and a half away from me I stopped at a place that use to sell games and such kind of like a pawn shop. Nobody was there but it had a printed paper on the broken window lol. Yeah it said something like "fine treasures" and had a number. So I called and asked if he had any nes/snes games. He said he had like 150 give him 20 minutes and he would be right there.

 

I figured what the hell I'm already out here this far from home why not wait. He finally got there and he had a handful of snes games in a case like 18 of them and not a single nes game. He had no idea what I was even talking about. I had to go to my car and grab a nes game so he knew what I was looking for.

 

He said he had to go dig in the basement. He came back with boxes full of nes/snes games. Set them on the table and asked me what I would give him for them. I asked if he wanted me to pick out the ones I wanted or did he want to sell them all. He said he wanted them all gone. I told him let me count them. I started counting and he had like 100. He then brought out some n64 games mostly sports. I grabbed a few highlights though.

 

I was thinking of what to offer him and was thinking this was going to cost me at least $250 so I started to add the games up. I added River city Ransom, Zelda OOT, and Mario Party and was like man I'm already damn near $100 in 3 games. That's when he said $1 each take them all. I said $100 for everything. He said yeah I want them gone, they just take up space I need the room for ps4 stuff and such, I had no idea what I was going to do with these things, I'm glad you came along.

 

I asked does it need to be cash? He said yes. So I asked where the nearest ATM was, luckily across the street LOL. I gladly paid the $3.50 fee. I went back in and he had some boxed games as well he said $5 each on. I figured why not grabbed 3 of them and gave him $120. It "technically" would have been $115 but damn it was such a sweet deal already.

 

I barely seen what titles where there as he stopped me before I even started to look them over good. All I did was a quick cart count and once he said $1 each I figured whats the point in seeing whats there. He bagged them and I took them all for $120. Those cases were also included. I asked if he wanted them he said nope take them.

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...

Edited by icemanxp300
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Truly Simple? I think that was most peoples' issue with the system... it was a little too truly simple. "A computer of the 1970s... today!" was the joke the Blue Sky Rangers were making back in the 1980s.

 

But that is nevertheless a lot of stuff. Good catch if you're into the Aquarius.

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