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| This is a scan of the Donkey Kong Country 3 game I bought today. |
| This is a scan of the back of the Donkey Kong Country 3 game I bought today, in-box, with everything, never opened, sealed in shrinkwrap..... |
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| IN 2002! |
| I might as well tell the whole story. Ever since I bought a Gamecube and Nintendo skunked me shortly afterward by putting out nothing for it, I had purchased a Super NES. Why? Because I never had one as a kid, and everybody keeps telling me, "It's the greatest system ever released! Great start, great ending, great everything!" WELL, I MISSED MY CHANCE AND I'M SICK OF HEARING ABOUT IT. The facts are, my parents wouldn't spend over $30 on me for ANYthing, so I couldn't start getting video games until I was earning enough cash to start getting them myself, which was in 1998. Until then, I had the Apple II. Well, by this time I had a complete Playstation library, and a complete Nintendo 64 library, and everything else was either $300 or they didn't put out anything for it(note: this was before the price-lowerings of May) so I guess it was now or never to go backwards. I found a good SNES and started looking for titles. So far, luck has been pretty much on my side. VERY much on my side. I'm catching up at rapid speed here. The week I got the SNES, some fool sold his Super Game Boy at the game store. So now I could start off with all the games I currently had for that thing. Dang. Eventually this turned out to be my smartest purchase of the year; with all the games being dirt cheap and all ruling over what was currently coming out as "recent" around this time. But this discovery--no, this caught me completely off-guard. So, how did I buy a Super NES game that was never touched? You have to understand the circumstances first. I was looking around, and in a small mall nobody goes to anymore I found a game store. The reason nobody goes to it is because the place has been partially under construction for several years, with both ends now ripped out and new buildings being built on the ends. But for some reason the middle of the mall is still there. I don't know why. I don't think anybody even knows a mall is there anymore--there's no sign to indicate one is tucked away, now between a huge Home Depot and a huge new Target. (The Target, however, is still being built and isn't open yet.) So I have no idea how any of the businesses in there stay alive. Well, as you might guess, that game store had an abundance of rare games, because nobody ever bought anything. That might change, however, when the Target is finished--it'll have an opening leading to the inside of that "mall." People are going to discover it by the end of the year. Anyway, here's the receipt so you know it's no bluff. This is too cool....other people I knew got to buy SNES titles from the box and I never got to find out what it was like. Now I can.......... |
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| Anyway, now it's time to open the box and see what I get! For lack of a Webcam or digital camera, I will use the scanner to display the glory. |
| Wwwwwwwooooooooowwwwwwww. It's an actual Super NES cart in-bag with no spaghetti stains or anything on it. No scrubbing required--I can leap right in. I also have a guarantee that the battery won't run out in 2 years. Another reason this is an unbelievable stroke of luck is because, for some reason, nobody bought anything for the Super NES in the years of 1995 and 1996. I have not seen DKC2 or DKC3 used, or Earthbound, or any Square golden-age stuff, or Super Mario RPG, or Kirby Superstar, or..... |
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| Other than the game itself, what else can I find...well, here's the obligatory seizure warning pamphlet. I find it interesting that Sony or Microsoft never makes these kind of warnings for their games at all. Probably because they have the money to PAY someone if they sue over their child going wonky.... Oh yes, and I expected the same "Nintendo Power" ad sheet that I got with the Game Boy games I bought way back when; the one that said, "You must subscribe for the details on Virtual Boy and the Ultra 64!!" But no....it was their 1997 one, and a cheap version of it too--it was a photocopy of the sheet, not the real thing. They seemed to resent having to make SNES carts at about this time. No effort here. They didn't include the plastic cover for the bottom of the cart either. |
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| Oh boy; and I get a manual too! I'm one of the few people in the United States that saves every game manual I get. Nobody saved anything for this system. That's because the market was still aimed at kids and the kids never did anything right. Years later, they become adults, sell their games and I buy them, and hold them with two fingers and hope that yellow stain isn't what I think it is. "Mommy, I went to bed with my stuffed bunny and my copy of Chrono Trigger and I had a widdle accident." "That's okay, we'll just sell it to that guy scavenging for SNES titles who'll buy anything." "As for the rabbit, we'll bury it." |
| So, anyway, that's the whole thing..oh, right, now I gotta play it. It's pretty good so far; the best touch was Wrinkly Kong playing a Nintendo 64. It's pretty far out to mention the next system, on the one before it. And I'll tell you something even more disturbing: when I pointed to the DKC3 below the glass at the counter and said, "I'll take that," the Chinese guy working there didn't reach under and get it. He went to a locked door and brought out another one. Apparently he had three more. Well, that proves it--nobody goes there. Update: And it was proven further in 2004, when I went back and found the store finally closed. Before it had left for good, it had given me this, AND a mint Chrono Trigger, box and all(see another article). I was going to buy FFIII from them next. It was sad to see them finally go... |