just some googly eyes on games!

07/27/26: Recent gamestop purchase! Heard about the four for $40 promo. And I haven't been in my closest store lately. So I went before work yesterday. I got a varied selection across multiple consoles. I was surprised that the retro section had some vita games. I had most already except for this Call of Duty. And I also didn't expect that psp 300 game. Its another I didn't own. Same for 360 Dark Souls II, I have them on sony consoles, but hardly any on Xbox. And ps4 keeps hitting me with strange games. I didn't know there were Doctor Who games for it. So it came with me out of pure curiosity. I might go back again in a few days to scope out more deals.

07/27/26: Back into the thrift store action again! Took a week off because of vacation. But today, Monday I got to hit up the three main stores in town. All three workers greeted me cause they noticed my absence and I'm grateful. At the Salvation Army store I got eight dvds and a martial arts dvd set for $9.00. At Goodwill it looks like their books are on sale. Instead of two dollars each, it was a dollar! I got the novel to dune and an illustrated book on Hindu mythology. Lastly, Womenhaven thrift store was the winner. I got another book bonanza from them. I noticed a random book here and there, but after getting four, it was better to get their fill a bag for $5 promo. And as I was looking for more tomes, a cart of new books were being brought in. And inside it, I saw some manga and graphic novels. And a Harry potter spinoff series. Into the bag they go! I ended up with a nice collection of stuff. And when waiting to pay, I found a VHS tape for a dollar. I'm pleased with this. And let's see what comes my way next.

Self Bought Birthday presents! I'm on Vacation and I'm in Virginia near Washington DC. And I finally noticed there was a few stores near the air B&B. There was a Best Buy, but it didn't have anything for me. But I did buy myself a Gunsmith Cats Omnibus from Barns and Noble. And at a Target; Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game for switch for $20. And I bought it for a joke, but I realized I need some anyways, I was going to make a dumb pun that no Birthday is complete without some new underwear. And I just about ran out of of clean ones! Either way, I had a fun Birthday and it was a blast visiting neat places and cool monuments here.

Today is a great day in my gaming life! I'm here at one of the Smithsonian buildings. And they had a meet and greet! I struck up a conversation with a presenter and he introduced me to Ralph Baer's son! If it wasn't for this man's father, our hobby and industry would be fundamentally different. We tried out various things his father had a chance to blueprint and create. We talked about gaming back then and now. And I was asking how that prototype Oddysey was hooked up to a modern TV. My dumb butt thought the display with all those things was a replica. But they both told me that this was the real thing. Awesome! I'm awestruck to be a part of a piece of history and I was proud to shake that gentleman's hand. Game on!

I was going to bring a copy of Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter here. But I think that's been done too much already. So I got the dumb idea to bring this cult classic videogame to the Lincoln Memorial

The other day when I was at my other home in Mexico, I was cataloging and sorting some games. I came across some 3d0 stuff I had bought earlier in the year. I found myself skimming though the FZ-1 manual. I took a few pics of some pages for sharing. By now in 2026 the specs seems quite quaint on this console. But back then in 1993 this must have felt sophisticated and high tech. I was looking fondly as well on how to connect it to a sound system and VCR. I doubt few of us had that set up back in the day. Did any of you have this thing in its heyday? I think 11 years old me would have my mind blown with this. Have a great Sunday.

07/15/26: Wednesday Anime Mail call! I've had no time these past few weeks to go to the Fleamarket. And the 110°+ weather isn't helping. But the internet and some online sales are still tickling my wallet. The other day, I saw Sentai Filmworks had a summer anime sale. So I browsed their site and got these. Coming back from Mexico this evening, I checked the mailbox and got a boxed surprise! I once again tried to get my bang for my buck. And get some longer episode series for cheaper, but once I saw the Urusei Yatsura remake, I deleted other series from my cart. I've been a fan of Rumiko Takahashi's work since I was a teen. These two were a bit more pricy. And I could've bought two anime series for the price of one. But my fanboy side said F*ck it! And the other four sets were still on the cheap side. My birthday is coming up soon, so I can gift myself some nice things. I'm happy!

07/12/26: Sunday Goodwill finds! Played some Pokémon Go this mid morning at a local mall. Its too hot playing a summer game event outdoors. So I met up with local gamers for a bit. But I digress. After catching them all, I was nearby the thrift store. So I stopped by. I didnt see any games or dvds today. But I did find a classic VHS of The Guyver 2. I saw other tapes too. But a worker there priced them at $4.00 each. I wasn't too keen on that. There was no sticker price on this one. So I tried my luck at the register. Hopefully not $4.00. But still browsing around, I found a bag of plushies for $6.00. It has some Kuromi and other plushies in it. So I think I'll take it. I can make my money back on these when I start selling again in Mexico in a few months. As I took my stuff to the register, I was hoping to pay a dollar or two for the tape. But alas, that didn't happen. The worker lady charged it like a $3 dvd. Boo. I guess three bucks is fair enough for this zany 90s sci-fi flick. Lets hope I get more lucky throughout the week. Happy Sunday!

Sorting my games and I realized I got both titles now of Gal Guardians series on ps5. These are 2d action games are very much in the metroidvania style. And the anime girls is the icing on this spooky cake. I wonder if I should get them on switch too?

07/06/26: Recent thrift store finds! Been getting a few things here and there, but nothing photo-worthy until they're all together. From Goodwill it was that Demonslayer manga and Bakugan toy. From Salvation Army store its a vhs tape and an Action dvd. And lastly from Womenhaven thrift store its another manga, a VHS of Blink-182 a complete series of Flight of the Conchords and two PBS documentary dvds. Don't know how true it is, but on social media collecting groups, somebody said that these PBS dvds can get a bit rare. So I'll grab them. Have a great start of the week!

07/02/26: Gamestop gets! I heard that they had a 4th of July week b2g1 free deal. And I finally got time after work to see what's up. Sadly, a few games that I saw last month that I was interested in were gone. Somebody with my similar tastes got to them first. That's okay. I didn't need to make a massive crazy purchase like last time. These will do fine. I chose three twenty dollar games and a few thirty dollar ones. I was trying to find one more at that price point. But nothing was catching my eye until I saw that Slay the Princess game. It was a bit more expensive, but I had my $5.00 off deal. So I added it. More physical copies is always good!

06/29/26: Oh man! What a hectic day! But its all good in the end. I was going to start my usual thrift store run. But I only made it two blocks before my car said Nope. A tire caught a nail and I wobbled to the side of the road. I thought I could take off the tire myself. But the bolts were too tight and my spare tire was also flat. So I called a friend and he helped me air up the flat spare and take me to a tire shop. My old tires needed replacing and there goes $180 bucks. But the job was done. And since habits die hard and we both had a day off. We both went thrifting. He found a few things and so did I. For me, some books from Salvation Army and a Maglite Flashlight from Goodwill. But my friend told me of an Antiques/consignment shop in town that had gaming things in it. I've passed by it before, but never in. And the place had some decent stuff. I saw some unpriced games though and I was hoping they didn't notice that they were rare games. But being a vintage store, they probably knew. But I had to risk it. I grabbed a Dusk till Dawn tv series, A wrestling dvd. Blitz II for ps3 and three psp games. That Bubble Bobble was complete. But there were two loose games in the mini case. SIilent Hill Origins and Alien vs Predatõr Requiem. He looked over the items, scrolled and looked at his phone, scribbled something in a notepad. And told me. "That Blitz game is expensive," (I knew that) "I just checked it online. But if you take that game and everything else you grabbed, you can have it all for $50 bucks." I almost felt like hesitating. But I gotta thank the stars that he didn't check the pricecharting value of Silent Hill! So I accepted his offer. This likely is the most expensive sports game I've purchased in forever. But the tag-along items made it worth it. And dare I say, he might have gained a customer. I'll keep an eye on this place in the future. I might get lucky again.

06/26/26: Recent gets! No fleamarket this week since I had to help clean up my mom's yard before the summer heat got to me. But that's okay, because I had an online order coming. Last week Target had a b2g1 free deal on books on their website/app. So I searched their selection. I got some old school and more recent manga. I looked around hoping to get more series I've ordered in the past. But they didn't have anything in order and the volumes were too far apart. So I got more series to try and collect now. And many of these are fancier hardcovers. So I saved a bit too. But now I got new series to collect for. And lastly, after work, I hit up gamestop. To see if anything new or interesting catches my eye. The store's retro section was getting more full! I saw lots of used games at a variety of prices. A few I'm going to have to think about getting. But I did take a 3DS game with me. It was a new yet old and a mix of Japanesey and retro. I must have missed it a few years ago. But I wasn't going to leave it behind now. River City Tokyo Rumble is what its called. I'm so happy to have it in my collection. I hope you have a great weekend!

"WTF did I just see!"

"I'm not fine, I got the bends. Take me to the hospital."

"Oh crap! I thought we were in a FIFA game!"

The other, more forgotten portal game