Latest Haul: Cheap Master System Fun

Well, it’s been a while since I did a Latest Haul post.  Heck, it’s been a while since I posted, period!  I figured I’d let everyone know I’m still alive and share my latest pickups.  In fact, this is the first retro gaming purchase I’ve made since the Midwest Gaming Classic over six months ago!  When you take a month off and travel Europe, gaming just takes a back seat for a while…

Anyhow, I’m back home and don’t start my new job until next week, so why not blog a bit?  I dropped by my neighborhood used games/movies/music store and saw a few interesting items on the Sega rack:

This shop occasionally gets a few Master System games, but almost always loose carts, and mostly sports games from the “Great” series (which, as any Master System fan knows is really not-so-Great).  This time, though, they had boxed copies of Shinobi, Cloud Master, and Gangster Town!  (But no, they’re not factory sealed — that’s just the store’s shrink-wrap.)  None of them were on my immediate “to-buy” list, but at $1.99, who can resist?  And pleasantly, I discovered that Cloud Master and Gangster Town are in complete, mint condition.  Aside from a bit of dust, they look like they’ve never been played, the manuals have never been read, and the pack-in posters have never been unfolded.  Nice!

Oh, and speaking of the Master System, I’ve been playing through Zillion.  I’m about 80% of the way through, so I may actually have a review to post this week.  Crazy, huh?