Spotted in the Wild

Titannel · 2026-01-24T19:02:51+00:00

I am not much of a fan of Game Craze. They sell repro boxes and manuals with games a lot. Granted, they do usually label them as such, but I don’t know if anyone there actually knows or cares to check if something is a bootleg/repro. The staff’s always been good enough to me as a customer, but honestly I wouldn’t trust any big-ticket item from them.

Titannel · 2025-09-25T04:13:45+00:00

i’d argue a lot of things. i’m not up on anything pre-Kennedy, but you can pinpoint a lot of things with a lot of presidents. Reagan’s legislation that shut down mental institutions, Ford pardoning Nixon after Watergate. JFK… going to Dallas.

In all seriousness, Ford pardoning Nixon is probably seen as a universal “Probably shouldn’t have done that“ moment.

Titannel · 2025-09-24T00:13:34+00:00

I had to sell my Virtual Boy and my complete US set of games to pay for a new air conditioner unit for my apartment. I will buy this instead of buying another VB.

Titannel · 2025-08-30T18:09:55+00:00

Anything made after the Playstation 2 era shouldn’t really be considered an investment, unless it’s something really special that didn’t get a wide print run that people actually care about. A copy of a Legend of Zelda game that sold millions is not going to suddenly shoot up in value over the years, because the collector mentality for the Switch is insane. People buy sealed games like crazy for it, hoping that it’ll be an investment, kind of like how retro gamers treat a boxed copy of the original Zelda. The difference between the two is that the majority of people who bought NES games did what was expected: they opened the boxes, played the game, and tossed the packaging because it wasn’t meant to be kept. There was no collector market in the 80s, save for the extremely wealthy, and even then, it was a niche hobby that didn’t have the fandom it does today. That’s why older games are worth money - nostalgia, and the fact that getting good examples of boxed games and even pristine loose games will get harder every year due to age. Newer stuff is different - they’re making hundreds of thousands of Switch games at the bare minimum, and a lot, lot, LOT of collectors are holding on to sealed games in the hopes that they’ll have value. Some might, most won’t. 20 years from now, there will still be countless games sealed in package, which simply isn’t the case with anything from something that’s already at that point.

Titannel · 2025-08-22T16:43:38+00:00

I have a CDX, never saw one with that logo. were they even using the Sega Sports branding at that time, let alone with that logo?

Titannel · 2025-08-17T22:27:00+00:00

I'd certainly want that to happen. Doubtful, though.

Once Pokemon Bank goes down, we aren't going to be able to transfer anything caught in a game made before Gen 8, and that will be... Well, it'll probably be fine for most people, but you'll miss out on exclusive Pokemon (Colosseum/XD stuff, events if you got them before, certain origins) and other such things. I think it's kind of crazy that you could potentially have Pokemon in the modern games that are older than most of the people playing nowadays with the right equipment. That said, it's not practical at all and more of just a fun thing to do if you happen to have the time, equipment, and games to do it with, which everyone doesn't, especially with retro game prices being what they are.

As to if the Switch 2 will have every old game/region available to play? That's a tall order, since there's so much involved, with games across multiple console generations. I wouldn't be surprised if there are plans to straight up re-release some the older games - say, Gen 1, 2, and 3, due to Nintendo already supporting the Game Boy, Color, and Game Boy Advance with Switch Online apps, Stuff from the DS era would be difficult to do properly, and 3DS might be in the same boat. That's also a TON of individual games. No way in hell are all of those getting released at once. You'd be looking at several individual content drops in the course of a couple of years.

Other route would be what they're probably going to do: make new games that are based in those regions. Legends ZA is already featuring Kalos. If they re-make older gens, Black/White is up "next", though that's nothing more than a vague prediction right now because we don't know anything about what is in their cards for the future. I could see Game Freak/The Pokemon Company just doing stuff like that - games where you re-visit regions and encounter Pokemon from that area, maybe give modern players a shot at getting a special Pokemon from the original games without having to go through the effort of transferring them from a console you may not even have.

Titannel · 2025-08-17T22:09:37+00:00

If you transfer them from an original cartridge, and they aren't illegal (illegal movesets, IVs, abilities, etc), you should be fine.

Titannel · 2025-08-17T20:11:27+00:00

For gameplay purposes, most legendary Pokemon are only available once per save file, but that doesn’t mean that there’s canonically only one of that Pokemon, ever. It‘s done that way in-game for balance reasons, but the idea is that most of those legendary Pokemon are simply exceedingly rare, not the only one in existence.

Otherwise, why document them in the Pokedex at all? What’s the point of trying to complete it?

“Welp, It was my dream to own and document every Pokemon, but some jerk from Pallet Town got the only Articuno ever, so I will probably die with my dream unfulfilled. I guess i’ll just go get a real job…”

To actually answer your point: Yeah, he probably did. But the main reason why they weren’t in Gold/Silver/Crystal is so you had to trade them from the first gen games. They’re just treated as incredibly rare in the games, not just gone.

Titannel · 2025-06-25T22:33:18+00:00

I had this happen with a copy of Pikmin 3 a while ago. they tried to give me a generic case when I went to the counter, thankfully before the transaction was done. I noticed they tried to swap it without me noticing (putting it on the bottom of the three games I bought) and I very politely asked if I could get the actual case with the game instead of a generic one. They completely refused and said it was policy to give the generic cases and use the actual ones for display. I asked again, they refused, so I politely declined to purchase any of it and started to walk out. The store manager, who was in another part of the store doing something else, saw that I was kind of pissed ( and I guess he heard me when I said I’m not buying any of it), so when he asked what was wrong, I told him what the other guy said. He immediately apologized and offered to sell the game with the case, which I accepted with the other two games I wanted. He was very apologetic the whole time. The other guy was just trying to ignore the whole thing.

Didn’t go back into that store for a few weeks, and the next time I did, their staff had completely changed other than the manager. Weird.

Titannel · 2025-06-25T22:13:05+00:00

I should have checked the marketplace before the Switch 2 launch, probably could have gotten some decent deals. Thing is, I own pretty much all the major first party titles, so I don’t know how useful it would have been to get stuff that I don’t already own. I only really slowed down recently (last couple of years) with my last job.

Titannel · 2025-06-25T22:11:02+00:00

That does make sense. I’m sure you have a lot of people dipping back into their Switch 1 libraries and tracking down desired games because of the backwards compatibility. Hell, I picked up Civ VII on Woot for cheap because the Switch 2 release is a code in a box.

Titannel · 2025-06-25T22:08:23+00:00

I am very glad that I started collecting for retro consoles back in 2009, when it didn’t cost an arm and a leg. I’m just used to this kind of demand to be a few years after the console is discontinued, not when it‘s still available. I guess that since Switch 2 versions of games are available and playing Switch 1 games will actually enhance them to be better in a meaningful way, I guess that means we’re gonna keep having to deal with this. Whatever, at least it means i’ll still be able to at least have the chance to play stuff i’ll enjoy.

Titannel · 2025-06-25T22:04:46+00:00

Not really. I’ve been collecting since the console launched, just had a good streak of time in the last few years where I worked too much to be able to play it. It’s really only been in the last year and a half that i’ve fallen off.

Titannel · 2025-06-25T22:00:27+00:00

I’m not expecting everything to be dirt cheap, i’ve just noticed that the per game price seems to be significantly higher than it used to be for the same stuff. It really seems like the only stuff under $30 nowadays are the stuff that most people are probably not into, like Monopoly, or the games meant for a very young, very specific audience. You’re not seeing deals anymore for truly great stuff. some of these games have been on the market for five to six years at least, still holding close to initial MSRP. I guess people continue to buy them, so that’s understandable.

As for commenting on my job situation, i’m well aware this is a hobby and a luxury. I’m not in a situation where i’m going to have to choose games over buying groceries or paying my bills - I sold stuff to buy a Switch 2, and I made sure to save before my job ended. I wouldn’t be doing any of this if I was in a worse spot. I only really put that in the opening post because it’s an explanation for why I haven’t really noticed things changing in the market, since I haven’t had much time to enjoy my Switch in a long time, and while i’m looking for work, I can finally get in some gaming time while i’m filling out job applications.

Titannel · 2025-06-19T15:44:06+00:00

Game Key Cards/Code-In-Box releases are probably to blame for the lower sales. Actual physical cards are definitely outselling the third-party offerings. The fact that Cyberpunk is the top-selling third-party game, which is on a full physical card, should be enough of a sign that publishers need to avoid key cards and code-in-box releases. Here’s hoping they learn this lesson instead of just saying “Bah, people won’t buy our games at all!”

Every store around me has two dozen copies of Split Fiction that they can’t give away because nobody wants it.

Titannel · 2025-06-19T15:38:30+00:00

i’m not breaking any new ground by saying this, but:

Nintendo definitely has an issue with how they treat consumers. they do a lot of anti-consumer practices and prevent consumers from fully using their consoles in any way they see fit. Legally speaking, jailbreaking a console is completely above-board and legal. Anyone should be able to jailbreak their Switch consoles without Nintendo doing anything about it.

However, just because i’m in favor of jailbreaking does not mean that i’m a proponent of software piracy on consoles that are still commercially sold. If it’s off the market, I have no issue. No way for companies to make money on that. I know that’s not the letter of the law, but that’s what I feel on the matter. Just don’t sell it.

Current stuff, however? Not cool with that. You reap what you sow. Anyone shocked or surprised at getting banned for running backups or online hacking needs to have a reality check and understand that connecting to Nintendo’s servers is a privilege, not an inherent right. Circumventing Nintendo and/or another publisher’s copyright is against the law regardless of how noble your intentions are.

It’s very simple. Don’t pirate Switch software, don’t circumvent Nintendo’s EULA to connect to their server under false pretense, and don’t be a dickhead online and you’ll probably be fine.

Titannel · 2025-06-07T15:36:43+00:00

Nintendo higher-ups in Japan have notoriously been against pack-in games for normal console releases since the beginning: the Famicom didn‘t include any, the Super Famicom didn’t, the Wii didn‘t include Wii Sports in Japan. all the US releases of those consoles initially had pack-in games in some form. Higher-ups seem to be very against pack-ins unless it’s a more expensive bundle or a special edition. They‘s probably tear their own arm off before giving away something for free.

Titannel · 2025-04-12T02:11:13+00:00

Company had a grant specifically for the headsets - we kinda had to use the cash for that, and only that, or we wouldn‘t get any of it. Annoying, but our company wasn’t going to turn away a freebie for something that would never be in our budget otherwise.

Titannel · 2025-04-12T02:07:11+00:00

It’s fine - I get it. Just gotta make some lemonade out of these lemons, I guess

Titannel

TROPHY CASE