Sales Yard Finds - I
-David, webmaster DVGI

Around the city where I currently reside it seems to be somewhat of a tradition to head out to the Tuesday flea market, more commonly called the Sales Yard.  For the reasonably small town it occupies it attracts sellers from all over the state and quite a few from the bay area.  I myself used the Sales Yard as my primary form of employment and financial gain during my first year after high school.  I've found a lot of very rare and interesting video game items there over the years as well as many common ones for good prices.  (not to mention quite a few other interesting non video game items)  The Sales Yard is where I got my boxed and complete (even with the AV cables) Sega Master System for $20 on my first day as a seller, the people next to us pulled it out of the back of their truck and I was right there in a second.  It's where I originally picked up my Atari Jaguar which I have since parted with, it's also where I got my boxed Atari 5200, boxed Atari 1027 Letter Quality Printer, mint condition Atari 800XL computer, one of the many TurboGrafx-16 systems I've had over the years and tons more items that are or were once part of my archive.  Not to mention quite a few NES games, I'd say roughly 1/4 of my NES archive came from the Sales Yard.

Since it's not something I've been keeping track of but would like to, I'm going to write a series of editorials called "Sales Yard Finds" basically documenting what I came across and anything I picked up.  I'll probably also note non video game items here as well but the majority will be to document what was acquired each time.  I only make it out to the Sales Yard about every few weeks, so don't expect a weekly editorial on this series.  With that, I'll begin.

This Tuesday was the first after a few weeks of extremely hot temperatures, well for September anyway, averaging in the upper nineties.  However today was windy and cool so it was expected that the Sales Yard would be quite busy with both buyers and sellers and such was the case.  I didn't really notice anything of high rarity or interest but it seems that many still think Nintendo 64 cartridges carry a high value.  I attempted to pick up a copy of Pilotwings 64 (no, I don't have an N64, I picked up the display one from a previous employer and gave it to one of my younger siblings) cartridge only, and the guy wanted $16 for it, I finally got him down to $10 but that's still a bit much for the Sales Yard.  Additionally I came across more N64 cartridges, this time a copy of Waverace 64 but of course the seller wanted $12 and wouldn't move.

What I'm really still laughing in my head about is this lady that had both a Super Nintendo and a Dreamcast, no cables or accessories for either, just the core consoles.  The Dreamcast looked and felt like it had been dunked in a bucket of oil, but inspecting the spindle it appeared to spin clean and level.  The shell was scratched up a little but could be sanded down so I figured at the very least there was a few dollars worth of Dreamcast parts there.  So I ask her the price and she asks this guy that's with her and in his heavy Mexican accent he spits out "fifteen dollar."  Hmmm.. you can get them pristine with full accessories for $5 more than that at almost any game store or online auction.  So I asked her, $10 since it's missing all the cables and whatnot, but of course the dude from before starts blabbing and she tells me "the other one is $10."  That was the end of that, if she was the person selling it then I could have swung $10 easily, but I really don't feel like trying to argue with some fat old guy that doesn't speak English.  In other words, they can keep their greasy Dreamcast and haul it around all they want.  Maybe if it had the cables I could see $15 but screw that.  I also came across a copy of Kirby Super Star for the SNES, cartridge only in mint condition.  The seller knew what she had and seemed to be a semi-professional operation so the $15 asking price was reasonable but I would have purchased the cartridge to resell it and at $15 I wouldn't make a big enough profit.

The part of the Sales Yard in the upper corner opposite to where the office is what I lovingly call Mini Hong Kong, basically it's full of old Chinese men selling miscellaneous junk and electronics junk.  (not to be confused with Little Mexico which is the back row that has wares like any small border town)  In one box of AC adapters and cell phone parts I came across an NES Max controller, I've been missing one since I had to gut mine for some NES parts.  The guy wanted $4.. now, I know "that's only four dollars, what's the freaking problem?" the problem is that's 50% more than what he SHOULD be selling it for.  Four bucks is four bucks but when it's double what it's worth it's a huge ripoff.  So I shook my head, threw it back in his box, and left.  Continuing down along the same row I came across a few NES cartridges and the seller there said two dollars for anything in the box.  There was a SNES basketball title, some CD's and Ultima: Exodus, Golf, and 10-Yard Fight for the NES.  Knowing Ultima is about a $10 game and already having (and not needing duplicate copies of such common titles) the other two NES games, I grabbed Ultima: Exodus and left.

That really seemed to be about it until I was on my way out, pretty much the last normal spot seller on the very edge by the entrance before I was to walk back to the opening in the fence on the other side.  I came across a boxed copy of Nights Into Dreams for the Sega Saturn, which I've seen a lot, but there's usually nothing inside.  I opened the box to find the game mint in its mint case, the 3D Control Pad clean and complete, the booklet in good condition, and the usage leaflet for the 3D Control Pad pretty much untouched as well.  The box itself was pretty worn and beat up but all the tabs were there and the internal cardboard tray was complete, yet again pretty beat up.  It really looked like it had just been a victim of sitting out at the Sales Yard a few times.  I asked the woman how much and she asked the guy with her who then asked another guy with them and he said ten bucks, no need to haggle, $10 for a boxed copy of Nights isn't bad at all.  Especially since both the 3D controller and the game pull in about that separately on their own.  That was it for the Sales Yard on this outing, nothing spectacular but the boxed copy of Nights was nice to find.

However this poses a problem, I don't have a Sega Saturn.  Now I don't own a SegaCD either but I play lots of SegaCD titles via the Gens emulator.  Sega Saturn emulation isn't so mainstream.  Let's be honest here, the current generation of Saturn emulators well.. sucks.  Not to say that there haven't been some real hard fought attempts at creating a perfect Saturn emulator, but I haven't found one that I really feel comfortable with saying "yeah, this is stable, and the support is good, and performance is smooth, and setup is easy" and so forth.  Also I want to use the 3D Control Pad, even though I use a PS2 controller and a converter box on my PC.  During my short time working at a video game store there was a complete Saturn for a few bucks but I didn't buy it and by the time I had quit and come back a week or so later to pick up my paychecks, it had already sold.  A call placed today to the same game store turned up nothing, so I'll probably have to look online.  I've been considering buying another Saturn for a long time but I seem to have bad luck with them.  There are only two games I REALLY want for it and those would be VirtualOn and Virtua Racing.  The arcade versions of both are currently supported by the Nebula Sega Model 2 emulator if I remember correctly but I don't have a computer powerful enough to run them properly.  A Saturn console isn't all that much so I'll probably just buy a used (yeah, there are still some sealed new ones out there) base system and slowly build my archive from there, I'm not looking for some huge software lot along with it.  (although a modded system with an ST-Key cartridge would be nice so I could play CD-R backups)  All in all a decent morning at the Sales Yard, always good when I can leave without spending more than twenty bucks.

Acquired...
NES - Ultima: Exodus (cartridge only)
Saturn - Nights Into Dreams... (boxed complete with control pad)

Sold...
None
 

Written on 09-14-04 by David, insanedavid@classicplastic.net

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