Deal.

Yeah, I missed two days. I was on vacation for the first time since Christmas. I'm back.

Games are expensive. Sometimes, good games are even more expensive. Also, certain genres have a tendency to maintain their value better. Sports games halve in price after a few months. After a few years, Madden is $3 and WWF Smackdown Vs. Raw is $5. Conversely, Pokemon is worth as much today used as it was when first released brand new. Many RPG's are super rare and valuable to people with lots of expendable income... Any Final Fantasy, Shining Force, or Panzer Dragoon game is worth way more today than it probably should be, although many of these games are timeless. The only way a serious game collector will accrue all of his most wanted games is with a lot of money, or a lot of luck. Pawn shops are great places for finding deals, because many of them will have a rack of games with a sign like "SNES games $3." All SNES games are not worth $3. But I sure wish I could get by paying just $3 for every one of 'em...

I thought it would be fun to compile a list of the best deals I've found on games in my years of garage saling and pawn shopping:

Shining Force for Genesis - $2 (This morning! Awesome!)
Final Fantasy II for SNES - $4 at a comic shop, $15 at a garage sale
Super Mario RPG for SNES - $15 at the same garage sale
Illusion of Gaia on SNES - $3 at a used CD store
Final Fantasy 3 for SNES - $40 with SimCity and a Super Nintendo
Final Fantasy Tactics - $15 at a garage sale (original not greatest hits)
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - $15 brand new at Blockbuster! Too bad I opened it to, you know, play and enjoy it. I could have retired if I sold that when I hit 60.
Dragon Quest VIII on PS2 - $20 new at Best Buy. Best bang for your buck of any new game ever in the history of the world. If only I could find Dragon Warrior 2, 3, or 4 on NES for less than $50...