I’ve never been the first one to adopt any new video game system. The initial launching prices and general lack of titles available for the system (whatever it may be) is always enough to make me sit back and wait for six months or a year.  I like to buy a system knowing it will have plenty of good games waiting for me and the console won’t fail on me thanks to design flaws. It took me two years to find a Wii, and it just arrived yesterday!

The top of any rare game list, regardless of system, goes to the rarest and hardest to find cartridges. Generally, these are games that were special editions, limited pressings of cartridges never meant for the general public, carts imported from Japan, and publicity cartridges made by video stores for competitions. That’s why I was surprised at this list of the rarest and most valuable Super Nintendo games. Not only have can you seen these cartridges for sale at flea markets and pawn shops, there’s a good chance you might have one or several of them!

The best part about this particular list is that it breaks the carts down by category into stuff you have if you spend $500+ on eBay, stuff that was only available in Japan, and the most interesting part, standard US-released games that any lucky consumer could’ve bought. I was actually surprised at the number of games on the standard US list of valuable games and “additional games of value” list I own (stuff like Chrono Trigger, Super Mario RPG, and Harvest Moon). Normally you can look at valuable anything lists all day and never see something you recognize.

Speaking of valuable games, anybody want to sell me a copy of Secret of Mana? It’s my favorite game of all time and one I almost bought used from a video store in 2001, but someone stole it before I could complete the transaction.

Rachel Christie is quite an accomplished young woman.  Or she was, anyway.  At age 21, not only is she in training for the 2012 London Olympics as a heptathlete, she also found some time on her days off to become the first black winner of the Miss England competition.  However, while she might still represent […]

The 2009 inductees for the National Toy Hall of Fame have been announced, and this year’s class of honorees is the direct opposite of last year’s class.  Where the 2008 version required a lot of imagination to wring the most fun out of them, 2009’s hall of fame class requires a lot less thinking and […]

After 13 years on the police force, Terry Ashe has seen and experienced a lot of crazy things.  However, he hasn’t lost his sense of humor, or his ability to tell an appropriately lurid tale.  When his police cruiser was bitten by an angry alligator (apparently this is a common problem in Florida), he could’ve […]

Any time a baby goes missing, a big manhunt breaks out.  Fortunately for 7-month-old Shannon Lea Dedrick, her story has a happy ending.  Unfortunately for Shannon’s mother, Chrystina Lynn Mercer, and babysitter, Susan Elizabeth Brown, the baby’s happy ending will probably get them both jail time.  Shannon was reported missing on Saturday, and was discovered […]

It was a scene worthy of the great Mark Twain; indeed, it was a crucial moment in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer!  A case of mistaken identity allowed a Brazilian man named Ademir Jorge Goncalves to make an appearance at a very unlikely event:  his own funeral.  It’s like something out of a Coffin Joe […]

The champagne is drying in the locker room, and the Bronx is celebrating this morning as the New York Yankees have claimed their 27th World Series championship as the best team in Major League Baseball.  To the victors go the spoils, like rings, a trophy, and a ticker-tape parade through New York’s Canyon Of Heroes.  […]

There’s one thing that’s fun about slot machines.  You put money into them, lights flash and bells ring, and if you’re lucky, you’re a winner and money clinks noisily into the winnings slot.  Most of the time, you don’t get anything but the lights and noise, but Bill Seebeck hit the jackpot.  Literally and figuratively.  […]