New Toy

Back when GameCube was first released, I told myself that I'd never buy one, for some reason I can't remember. I think it was because in the beginning most of the games were kid targeted and didn't really interest me. So a few weeks ago I'm browsing amazon.com to see if they have any Zoids models. Ran a search on "zoids," it returned about 2, maybe 3 pages worth of stuff, mostly action figures. Not what I was looking for. But it also returned 2 Zoids video games. One of which I already had, Zoids Legacy for Game Boy Advance, and Zoids Battle Legends for GameCube. Now granted I'd seen this game before, just kinda waved it away because I didn't want to spend the money on a new system for 1 game. So anyway, I'm sitting there looking at the game. And I know that the Japanese have at least 6 Zoids game titles. Only the 2 have ever been translated, with very slim to none chance of anymore ever coming over here. Found some screenshots of Battle Legends, and man did it look cool. But I still didn't want to buy a whole new system for 1 game. So I looked at the other titles available for GameCube and was surprised to see that several new games had come out that I actually wanted to play. So start looking at some prices, both used and new systems, bundles and stand-alones. All the game stores near me wanted $70-80 for a used system, 1 controller, no game. I did some math, and if I got a used system and a game, I'd end up spending at least $90, more depending on which game I chose and how new it was. The bundles on the other hand, were going for $99 for a brand new system, 1 controller, and a game. The game varied depending on what bundle you got, the 3 most abundant are bundles for Mario Sunshine, Smash Brothers, and the new Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness. I tried to think of all the pros and cons in buying this before I actually put my foot down on a "yes" or "no." The main con is yes, it's quite a bit of money and I'm still looking for a job. But on the other hand...my online shop is starting to do quite well, pulling in enough to cover the GameCube. I also reasoned that I'm extremely bored here in my dorm and could use some sort of entertainment. My brother would never let me bring the PS2 down here, despite it's both of ours'. My parents pretty much forbade me from playing City of Heroes during classes (I tend to sit on it for hours on end, plus it costs $15 a month), so that was out. The Gamecube is small and would fit nicely on the dresser next to the tv. A third pro was it would give my parents ideas for Christmas presents. It's not that I'm trying to be greedy, the problem is that my brother and I have grown very accustomed to buying the things we want with our own money. If there's a movie we want, we go buy it ourselves. We don't expect our parents to buy all our toys. The downside to that is come Christmas time there's really nothing we want for Christmas because we have most of the things we wanted in the first place already. MY mom will litterally walk into my room, starting poking me in the arm and repeatedly asking "Whatcha want for Christmas?." If I don't have something to tell her I want, she keeps poking. So with a GameCube I'll be able to come up with more ideas and save my arm.

Anyway, to make a long story short (oops...bit too late for that...) I went out to Best Buy with my mom, who was suprisingly supportive of the whole idea (she gave me all her rewards zone coupons o.O;), and grabbed me a Pokemon XD bundle pack. I don't care what people think about Pokemon the show (or games for that matter) but the games greatly amuse me as well as quite a few of my hardcore gamer friends. Plus it was the only way to get a silver system with a game when we went.

Been playing with my new toy for about two weeks or so, and I must say, I'm very impressed. The graphics that come off those tiny disks are amazing. I recently picked up Bloody Roar Primal Fury for $10. Other games on my wishlist include:
- Zoids Battle Legends
- Fire Emblem
- Shadow the Hedgehog
- Donkey Kong Jungle Beat (with bongos)