Random Gaming Thoughts

[TSTR]

today i think we all learned a lot about Parodius

[pierrot]

The short answer is that they're all Parodius Da! The more generous answer is that the SNES, NES and Game Boy games are each Parodius Da!, and the Saturn/PS1 version is a compilation of Parodius Da! and Gokujo Parodius.

Huh? Well...no.
[...].

Okay--so--no. (You're not wrong, just confused.) There were five Parodius games released in PAL territories as simply Parodius. None of which are based on the original MSX game. The PAL versions of Parodius on the NES, GB and SNES are all based on Parodius Da! The SAT and PS1 PAL releases of Parodius are actually Gokujo Parodius Da! Deluxe Pack. This doesn't need to be made more complicated than it is.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Yo playa, how's that Mega Drive version of Legend of Heroes?

[Soldier Blue]

Omgg screw jjgames. I lose every single ebay auction to them. They bid snip every auction within the last 5 seconds. Just rediculous. Omgg just impossible to win anything at a decent price. Even for untested stuff.

What type of stuff your going for, he probably won't bid more than half of what is worth. It can be frustrating but probably wasn't meant be if you look at it that way. But every single auction that's odd, hate to say it but you'll just have to go higher (within reason) he's definitely going by a reseller margin or backs off.

Sucks but that's just how it is man.

He usually bids more than half. Half is what I usually bid and he will bid a few dollars higher than me and beat me every single time with his bid snipping software. He waits until the last 5 sec and I don't have time to react. Last example was a lot of 76 untested PS1 games. My max bid was $185 and the value of the lot was $300. The auction was at $75 until the last 5 sec and he bid 187.50 and stole it. WTF?

I've been buying a lot of auctions because I bought a resurfacer and I know how to fix broken games and it's always him beating me. I'm trying to keep a decent amount of inventory in my ebay store. Definitely tough to compete with this guy.

[TEKTORO]

Omgg screw jjgames. I lose every single ebay auction to them. They bid snip every auction within the last 5 seconds. Just rediculous. Omgg just impossible to win anything at a decent price. Even for untested stuff.

What type of stuff your going for, he probably won't bid more than half of what is worth. It can be frustrating but probably wasn't meant be if you look at it that way. But every single auction that's odd, hate to say it but you'll just have to go higher (within reason) he's definitely going by a reseller margin or backs off.

Sucks but that's just how it is man.

He usually bids more than half. Half is what I usually bid and he will bid a few dollars higher than me and beat me every single time with his bid snipping software. He waits until the last 5 sec and I don't have time to react. Last example was a lot of 76 untested PS1 games. My max bid was $185 and the value of the lot was $300. The auction was at $75 until the last 5 sec and he bid 187.50 and stole it. WTF?

I've been buying a lot of auctions because I bought a resurfacer and I know how to fix broken games and it's always him beating me. I'm trying to keep a decent amount of inventory in my ebay store. Definitely tough to compete with this guy.

Ahh, I see the big lots yes. I was thinking for the one off games. He has bought off me a few times as well as lukie , so you have him to go against too. Yea I think due to being able to fix games they go after lots most of the time with the exception of rare games.

It's got to be a pain, I'm not familiar with snipping tools I just have a list of games I want and be patient buying which ever is the best deal at any given moment as well as spotting trends to compare what I'm willing to pay. If it goes up too much for my comfort I lay off and just wait, your in a different boat trying to keep inventory, where I just build my collection saving as much as I can, so the pressure is different.

When I started to "collect" in 2008 I spent a couple thou his store, I just wasn't hip to the buying tactics yet. I did have some great games I was sitting on already hence my old days in the BST here. Your reply was interesting that's why I responded but I'm not sure what's the best for you, I can say however iPads are quick enough to get a snipe in under a second just have to know the highest your willing to spend and cross your fingers.

[Fragems]

Buying lots is definitely a pain in the ass online your better off fishing locally at pawns and fleas if you have any around. Heck if you have any pawns that offer a day or two guarantee on stuff you can sometimes talk them into selling you their defective stuff since very few bother to resurface things themselves.

Rant about resurfacing to follow .

That being said reselling resurfaced games is not something I would advise anyone to get into there is no way to 100% test the games easily so you gamble on a return every time. Plus there is little to no cash in it to begin with unless you are getting the stuff at 10% or less of it's loose market value and it's items that are actually in demand.

Let's say you did win that lot of 75 PS1 games for $185 and the total value if the games were restored to good shape was $300. If you are running a smaller setup like mine resurfacing runs $0.20-$0.25 a cycle. So that's $18.75+ and probably at least 3.75 hours of work right there(thats not factoring in breaks to prevent heat build up) or more if they are really dinged up and need multiple runs. Then you have testing which if you are just launching the game without skipping all the intros is around another 1.5-2 hours. So you would have around $203.75 and at minimum 5.25 hours in it at that point if everything went smoothly. Then you have to factor in eBay and paypal fees which would range from 11-13% plus $0.30 per transaction(without factoring in insertion fees since there are plenty of promos to avoid those) so that's $55.50-$61.50 in fees if each game sells individually. Altogether you would have between $259.25-265.25 and at least 5.25 hours into it. So you would profit a total of $40.75 at best which would divide down to $7.77 per hour of work, but that is before adding the hour or so spent listing the items on eBay, the time spent packaging after they sell, the chance that some games would undoubtedly be beyond saving, and the chance that probably around 5-10% of them could possibly be returned due to read errors past the point that you tested resulting in you having to eat no less then $4-5 in shipping fees per return.

Resurfacing can be a real money pit unless you have good connections or can review the product before getting it. Online you have to worry about not only your competition but also people who resurface games dumping lots of stuff that is beyond saving.

[Soldier Blue]

I still think it's a good idea to make money. I think you can get to the point where you pretty much know the disc will play perfectly just buy studying it after you resurface it, and obv before (hold the disc up to the light).

That lot might be a bad example. Maybe try lots of smaller lots so jj can't bid you up like a maniac. It might also be better to just look at buy it knows and buy them quickly. A bit of a gamble, but jj won't bid you up.

Another good idea would be to find a reputable online seller who doesn't resurface their stuff and you could trust them.

And What unit are you running? I have the JFJ Single Arm. I don't see it taking as long as you suggested. I know when I should use sand paper and when I shouldn't. And when a disc is beyond saving so I don't waste my time.

Edit: As an aside I'll add that ps1 discs are super resilient and you can't go wrong buying them. For Ps2 I've seen really crappy manufacturing quality in a lot of the discs. Gamecube Discs seem to be good and I haven't seen too many bad manufacturing quality discs.

[TEKTORO]

Even if you rub a PS1 disc across a brick wall it would probably still work. Lol

I think you can use img burn to verify all disc, it has a disc data reader option or something like that but I have not tried?

[mjmjr25]

Are we sure about Fantastic Journey for PAL SNES? If it exists it must be super duper rare, because I can't find any evidence of it's existence at all

Yes. Parodius 3; Gokujo Parodius! Kako no Eiko o Motomete (JP); Fantastic Parodius! Pursue the Glory of the Past (eng. translation); was released in Europe as Parodius Fantastic Journey (it is not Parodius Da).

http://gradius.wikia.com/wiki/Gokuj%C5%8D_Parodius! (link is wonky...not sure why, go to main page, lower left click on Parodius series...3rd game in series, Gokujo Parodius).

[Damm64]

Something that really stick with me after playing MGS3 was that amazing intro song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CbFAZ2ztlE

I could bet is not only the best one on the whole franchise but one of the best intro songs of all time.