Destination: Super Tomato

So after seeing and playing some of the exciting new games that Nintendo has in store for gamers in the near future, Tachiko and I were feeling the need to indulge in some Retro Retail Therapy and where better to go than to Wales?

Admittedly we probably should have done this the day after Eurogamer as the 4 hours of driving to Cardiff and back to Oxford nearly killed me but it was totally worth it!!We knew we wanted to hit Super Tomato in Cardiff and Next Level Games in Pontypridd with the possibility of checking out Toy Army in Newport on the way home if there was time (there wasn't) but we'd also heard about another game shop 'Retrobution' in Llanelli, sadly Sat Nav stated that this was another hour and 30 minute drive after Cardiff so maybe we'll go there the next time we stay in Wales.

Anyway, we stopped at Super Tomato first.

After getting our heads around the stores changed layout since we last visited earlier this year we started looking at all the lovely stock on offer. Shockingly I didn't actually spend half as much as I thought I would and nowhere near as much as I did the first time we visited but I did come home with a lovely reconditioned NES in the mint-est box I have ever seen and a boxed copy of Kirby's dream course (total sucker for a Kirby game, I love that pink marshmallow!)

Tachiko came away with a SNES for his collection (unboxed but in stunning condition, not even the slightest hint of yellowing) and a couple of unboxed games for it -warpspeed and FIFA '96 (freebie from the bargain bin!) 

We were also given Columns for the Sega Game Gear as another freebie (again I found it in the bargain bin) and Tachiko 'won' a GBA game from the vending machine for £3 :)

All in all we spend a good couple of hours in the store browsing and chatting with one of the owners (sorry I've forgotten his name) about some of our latest pickups, eurogamer and reminiscing about our last visit to the store but pretty soon our parking time was running out (parked right outside the shop!)and it was time for us to move onto Next Level Games in Pontypridd.

More on that next time but Super Tomato hasn't seen the last of us yet! To find out more about Super Tomato and updates on the latest things they have instore, check out their facebook page via the link below and give them a like :)

Super Tomato Facebook Page

September 16th Pickups

GmrGrl here with another exciting batch of pickups!

This time our pickups came from Cowley Road on the outskirts of Oxford and all bar one came from Charity Shops!

First up Tachiko picked up this super sweet deal in Age Concern. A boxed Crystal GBA & 3 boxed games!

 

Tony Hawk's Underground has seen some better days in terms of the packaging but Mario Kart is almost mint :)

 

This little lot was orginally marked up at £20 which was a bargain in itself but the lady behind the counter said we could have it for £10 as it had been in store for a while. It was orginally all bundled up in brown tape but luckily we managed to get it all off without causing any damage to the boxes!

Next we found an original Playstation, a Gamecube and a Mario Dancemat in another Charity Shop 'Barnardos'.

 

 

The gamecube was a nice pickup, the box is in a nicer condition than the one I already have and when we opened the console we found a copy of Star Wars Rebel Strike. I already had this game but it made a nice addition to Tachiko's collection (photocopied the cover of mine to give it a temp cover)

 

Originally I thought the dancemat was a little overpriced at £18 but when I opened it up I found a complete copy of Dancing Stage Mario Mix hidden away at the bottom, the mat itself is in an amazing condition, no cracks or peeling plastic anywhere!

 

Also picked up Micro Maniacs for the Playstation for 99p and when we looked inside the console itself we found a copy of GTA2 :)

Tachiko also picked up a copy of Wipeout2097 on the Saturn from the local game exchange store for £5 but when we got home and looked at it closely the game inside was a demo version. We took it back the next day and the guys in the shop were happy for us to swap it for something else. Tachiko couldn't find anything that took his fancy so I picked up a complete copy of Micro Machines 2 Turbo Tournament for the Megadrive.

 

as you can see it included invitations to give your friends for a tornament  & certificates for the winners! The J Cart is pretty cool as well as it included the ports for players 3 & 4. 

Thats all for this post, next time: more boot sale pickups!

 

The Master System I forgot to mention...

Hi guys it's GmrGrl again, we have lots of interesting stuff to show and tell you guys about including Eurogamer and our recent trip to Wales but first here is a quick post to tell you guys about the Master System I picked up at the same time as picking up Tachiko's Sega Saturn... Yes I know it was a while ago and yes it probably isn't really worth blogging about now but damnit I've already taken the pictures!

So just to paint a more detailed picture, I generally work Sunday's and so don't really get a chance to look around my local boot sale very often. A couple of weeks back I had a rare Sunday off work so decided to jump at the opportunity to go 'Game Hunting' and man am I glad I did!

I only wish that I'd had a lot more money on me as I found pretty much any mainstream console you care to mention. First stall I went to was selling a GBA & 30 games (unboxed) for £30, then I found a handfull of DS & Wii games for a couple of quid each! (picked up a few games but the GBA was too rich for my blood at the time)

 

Also picked up this 3rd party GBA carry case for £1! Had a bunch of bratz stickers on the inside but they came off with a little picking :)

Fits pretty much all my loose GBA cartridges, my GBA & my GB mini :)

Also saw the typical Xbox & PS2's for sale but nothing was that appealing until I came to the last row of cars, mid way down the row I saw a guy selling off his ENTIRE retro collection...why? Because his girlfriend was making him 'there's not enough room in our new house for all his junk' she said when I asked why he was selling!

Still his loss was our gain as I bought Tachiko's Sega Saturn for £20 and this Master System 2 (I think it has Alex Kidd built in as I vaugely remember the seller saying something along those lines) and 17 games (not 30 like I said in the video *doh!*) for £30 :)

 

please excuse the blurry picture, I took it in a bit of a hurry! Games are 

top row: Chuck Rock 2 son of chuck, Sonic, Sonic 2, Altered Beast, Cool Spot, Paperboy

middle row: world class leader board, kick off, soccer, parlour games, bank panic, teddy boy

bottom row: super monacco GP, global defence, master games 1, Olympic Games, Golden Axe Warrior

Next time: More Pickups!!