I have no idea where this sudden urge to blog multiple times has come from, honest!
Being in employment, I finally have some money I can use to "complete" my video game collection. When I say complete, I mean of all the games I've ever wanted to own as opposed to absolutely everything (nigh on impossible!). In the last eight months or so I've been able to acquire such games as Gitaroo Man and Amplitude (both the sequel to a game I was lucky enough to get early, FreQuency, and the precursor to Harmonix's more famous games Guitar Hero 1 & 2 and the Rock Band series), two games that next to never appear in game stores and cost a good £20 pre-owned on sites like eBay - rather expensive for an old PlayStation 2 game. Kula World, sealed copies of which can sell for £200, and Bishi Bashi Special, another firm favourite game of mine (which I stupidly bought new but sold), were lucky hits as they both appeared as downloadable games on the PlayStation Store.
But there's always been one I've never managed to own, and arguably the one I've wanted most. Tombi, known in America (AFAIK) as either Tomba or Tonba, has never appeared in any other application or on any other console. It's not on the PS Store, the franchise has been gone since Tombi 2 around ten years ago, also on PS1, and copies of it are about as common as days Paris Hilton isn't blowing some random bloke off.
I've scouted eBay for months now, always looking for a cheap copy of Tombi. It's never happened. Copies usually sell for £60-70 for a working, used copy, new copies cost upwards of £300. It's scarce as all hell. But goddamn, it's a beautiful game. I'd happily recommend it if it was more readily available; alas, it's not, and I doubt I'd persuade many people with "It's a great 2D platformer, well worth the $120", so all I'll say is "if you're a lucky enough bastard to find a cheap copy, get it".
But today I caved in. A copy selling on eBay for £72 (£1.99 P&P, £69.99 game) sat in my eyeline, longing for my money. So I put an offer in at £53.01, which would with P&P total £55. I got counteroffered - £64.99 for the game. Counter-offering with £58.01, bringing the total game cost to £60, I got it one more time with a final offer of £62.99. I accepted.
I figure there's some sense to it all. If I truly love the game (which I suspect I will), I can keep it and it'll be a little personal treasure. If I complete it and have no desire to do so again, or if I don't even like it as much as the demo I used to replay continuously made me think I will, I can put it back on eBay and essentially get my money back!
Whatever happens, all I'll know is the moment it pops through my letterbox, before I give it a PS3 to run it, I'll give it a hug. It cost me enough to warrant one!