If you know me personally or at least know what I look like, you probably can’t imagine me spending an hour setting up and taking these pictures. But try harder – it’ll be more ridiculous that way.

In terms of my gaming collection, it’s certainly been a good year so far! I have a love/hate thing with eBay, but I’ve gotten lucky with the falloff of amiibo prices and some auction sniping that ended at weird hours of the night, when I normally find myself awake and sniping eBay auctions. The arbitrary prices can be a turn-off to eBay, but if you’re patient and avoid the allure of Buy It Now auctions, you can make some great purchases.

Let’s keep the intros short and sweet: without further ado, here are some of my favorite pickups from the past few months, in absolutely no particular order whatsoever!

Fireball Mario Amiibo – managed to find this used Out-of-Box for $7 at a local game shop. Considering I take them out of the box anyway, there’s really no reason for me to buy them new. I also thought this guy was rare, but then realized the store had 5 more New-in-Box. Bought the used one!

Donkey and Diddy Kong Amiibos – Grabbed these two as a bundle a couple of months ago. Came Out-of-Box, $18 shipped. Good deal considering the market at the time where each separately were going for ~$12.

New Super Mario Bros. 2 (3DS) – I posted about this a few weeks ago, as I was a huge fan of the first New Super Mario Bros. on the DS. Got this used for $15 or so, as Mario games typically hold their value, I thought this was a good purchase price.

Super Mario 64 DS – Speaking of Mario games holding their value, I wanted to add this game to my collection because of the emotional rollercoaster I go through at the mere thought of this game. I haven’t played this in many, many years, and the thought of having it in portable form was enough to make me part with $20. I haven’t gotten very far in it, but I love this damn game and I will play it casually when I need a break from the grind!

Grand Theft Auto III, Onimusha Warlords 3: Demon Siege, Smuggler’s Run (PS2) – My local game shop has a buy-2-get-1-free deal on PS2 games. I found Onimusha 3, and as a long-time fan of the Onimusha series, I had to grab this one. I’ve never actually played the second installment in the series, but unfortunately they didn’t have it in stock, so I opted for 3. The other two games were buybacks from trade-ins from a couple months ago. Grand total was $15 for all three.

Metroid Prime: Hunters (DS) – With the release of Federation Force on the horizon, I just had to experience this Hunters game that people raved about, when they weren’t railing the new art style. Of course, I feared a hike as the release of Federation Force neared, but was able to snipe this auction at $11 shipped. Score!

Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons (GBC) – As a huge fan of the Oracle series, it always bugged me that I didn’t have Oracle of Seasons. After losing an auction for a loose cartridge that went higher than I was about to spend ($24), another auction popped up mere minutes later with a Buy It Now option for $25 and free shipping. But the kicker? It included this amazing looking BradyGames Pocket Guide!

Even cooler: It’s a double-sided booklet that covers both games in the series. I couldn’t even find the booklet on eBay so I definitely got super lucky with this one. I have no idea if it’s worth anything, but the going price for the Seasons carts was averaging $20, so $25 for the cart and a guidebook was a home run in my eyes.

Lot of Gameboy Games – Now THIS was a great score. Judging by the seller’s user name and the auction itself, they didn’t realize what they were selling. The auction didn’t have any mention of the list of games that were included, as the title for the auction was “Lot of Gameboy Games,” with a mere “GAMES UNTESTED” in the description field. This was a bit of a gamble, as the auction was still at $5.00 but with a strangely high shipping price of $10.

That being said, I stayed up late that night and when the auction came to a close, the price jumped up to $11. I waited for the countdown to hit 5 seconds, and threw what in retrospect seems like an arbitrary number, of $20 max, but no such luck. No one else bid on it, meaning I got the whole thing for $11.50. Even with the shipping, that was only $22.50, and it came with a game case, a charger, and the item below.

But look at those games! I could afford not to buy it at that price. Occasionally, an auction sneaks under the radar of other sellers, and this was one of those awesome times where I capitalized on it. Oh yeah, and the best part? Every game works!

Gameboy Light – Included in the lot from above is this decent condition Gameboy Light device, by Nuby. Unfortunately the battery cover is missing, but as this was an “as is” auction, I didn’t sweat it much. Truth be told, I’ve been playing these games exclusively on my Gameboy Advance SP, as the backlight simply makes everything better, so the light is simply cool to have.

Sword of Mana – Last but certainly not least, we have Sword of Mana. As a longtime fan of the game Secret of Mana, upon discovering the existence of this game, I had to have it. It cost me a whopping $7.50 with free shipping, and I’ve been loving it so far. The music and the art style just take me back, and for someone who’s not the fondest of turn-based RPGs, this nice little action RPG is just perfect to unwind with.

I hope you’ve enjoyed taking a look at my newest additions to the Wall O’ Gaming from the past couple of months! I’ve got some more things on the way and can’t wait to show em off. Guten Tag und Auf Wiedersehen!