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A bow to GohanX’s NES thread, it’s been a great summer free of one hour tutorials and being reacquainted with the most fucking indestructible game controller on the planet.

In recent years game hunting has become stagnant. Anymore when I wander into a shop it’s with a definite purchase in mind or exploring the wonderful DS/PSP catalog. Retro collecting has been compromised more and more as private game stores, pawns, and thrift shops veer to the online auction/Amazon model. About 10 years ago I parted ways with the NES, confident it was obsolete tech to be only to be enjoyed through emulation. It’s been a blast to revisit the system and check what was missed by continual rentings of Double Dragon II and Batman back in the day. The NES is a comparatively easy system to hunt for, games are dirt common more so than SNES/Genny and durable enough to weather a nuclear strike (thinks of garage sale Psone/Cube games in ten years *shudder*). A good chunk of the domestic and import library can be bought on a dime, provided you don‘t mind a little searching and can live with bare carts. For instance, last week I took the family on vacation to Wisconsin Dells and stepped out for a few hours to check the area.

First stop is Baraboo, five miles from the Dells and home to the Ringling Brothers museum and tranquil Devil’s Lake state park. Found a used game/record store in the sleepy downtown. Small rack of NES games at $3 apiece, picked up TMNT and Ice Hockey. The guy behind the counter was great, gabbed with him about the Dreamcast and Saturn for awhile. Headed back to the NES section, he pipes up “see anything there I’ll take $2”. Sold. Picked up a few random titles I’ve never played,with a added bonus, Hogan’s Alley appears to have a converter inside.


Wisconsin Dells itself is another picturesque hamlet provided you walk one block away from downtown and it’s repetitive display of vintage photo ops, fudge shops (make your own joke), and souvenir t-shirts. On one side street I found a antique mall, the window display had 90’s action figures, figured it wasn’t dealing exclusively in priceless keepsakes. Compared to what the storefront let on the place was massive and felt like a scavenger hunt. One case ten feet inside the door must have been the owner’s “rarities” Mickey Mousepedes $8, Dracula’s Curse $18, and so on. Moving on there was a case with sports games, one with way too many copies of Golgo 13 and Top Gun (was tempted to pick up a copy of Captain Skyhawk from this), and a few other scattered cart throughout. In one room found a stack of Super Mario/Duck Hunts next to some old candy dishes and Field and Streams. Amongst these was a copy of Bump N Jump for $2 and a pitiful Pro Wrestling I’d happily nurse back to health for a $1. On the way out, a wicker basket full of Star Trek figures lured me. Q for $3. Why not?



Another block’s walk was the town library and park. There was a Saturday market in full swing and one table of gaming items from a dude out of Steven’s Point. Stuff on the table was circa Psone to current however in a fruit box off to the side…pay dirt.






Super C was $5, everything else was $3-4 except for RC Pro-Am 2. I cringed a little at the tag on it, $30 for a bare NES game. Still I had found plenty of cheap stuff and could justify paying a little extra, especially since it’s a sequel to one of my favorites. Hell, I’ve seen stores in my area attempt to wring this kind of cash out of Mario 3 or Contra it almost felt like a privilege not to be staring at BIN pricing. Overall, nice side trip to a great vacation.