Wacky Races
Paid $13
4/15/11 - MicroPlay
Let’s start right away with the most recent addition to the collection, a cart-only copy of Wacky Races. Although only ranked a 6 on the NintendoAge rarity list, this is the only copy of the game I’ve come across and eBay only lists 3 available at the moment (all above $30).
I had my hands on the game a couple of months ago when I walked into a store called MicroPlay. Looking through the windows of the shop all I could see were walls of anime DVDs and VHS tapes and a few Japanese toys and trinkets. I’ve found video games in all sorts of wacky places (Pun? Get it? Because of Wacky Races…I’m sorry…) so I decided to walk in anyway. The Nintendo 64 sign hanging up on the wall was a positive signal that some retro games were hiding out somewhere.
At first I was disappointed, there were NES games under a glass case. Hmm…$30 for MegaMan 2? $20 for Yoshi? Oh brother…things were not looking good. Of their limited stock (only about 2 dozen carts) I had them all but one, Wacky Races. The $13 price tag seemed high to me, so I passed on it. After some research online later revealed the going rate to be 2 or 3 times that, and the fact that I’ve yet to come across this cart a little over 2 years of sifting through game stores, flea markets and garage sales, I decided to go ahead and bite.
So I go out of my way on after work one day to pick it up – and the shop is closed. Well, maybe she keeps odd hours – closed on Mondays or something like that. I check back a couple of days later, closed again. A check in to the nail salon next door revealed this charming nugget – “Oh her? She makes her own hours. Sometimes she won’t be open for a whole month.” Gee, that must be nice.
I give up for a couple of weeks and finally decide to try again. Huzzah! Open! Game purchased. She even threw in a ‘free’ Nintendo black dust cover. Thanks, I’ll add that one to the pile.
The game turned out to be a not so bad platformer, if a bit on the easy side. 77 out of 768 left to go.
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