Post a Comment On: The Dreamcast Junkyard

[Image] Over the years I've picked Dreamcast games up from a variety of sources. The most prolific supplier of new titles these days is undoubtedly eBay, as finding games in shops and at car boot sales (at least, for a realistic price) is something of a rare occurrence in this climate. In the past though - and certainly when I first started the Junkyard back in 2005 - it was quite easy to find Dreamcast software for peanuts in most branches of now defunct UK games retailer Gamestation. Sadly, as well as being covered in 'BOGOF' stickers (that's 'buy one, get one free'), a lot of these games usually came with the caveat of either having a broken box, missing manuals, missing inserts...or a combination of the three. Does this type of thing look familiar?

[Image] A broken hinge and no cover inlay. A sad sight indeed. Broken boxes are just a fact of life when you're a PAL Dreamcast collector, as the hinges on the cases are notoriously fragile (I'd estimate that around 50% of my games have broken hinges); but missing manuals isn't really something I've had much of an issue with as pretty much every game I've ever bought has come with the booklet safely tucked into the rear section of the box. Missing case inserts is a common problem though, and my collection suffered from the indignity of containing a few games with either the front or rear covers missing. Quite how or why this happens, is something of a mystery to me though. Who takes inserts out of a game case? For what purpose? And why wouldn't you just put it back if taking it out to remove a sticker or something? Hmm.

Whilst browsing eBay last week though, I happened upon a listing offering replacements for these lost inserts and so I contacted the seller and ordered sets for the four games in my collection that were sans covers - Dynamite Cop was missing the front; Tony Hawk and Looney Tunes Space Race the back;  and Gauntlet Legends - for whatever bizarre reason - had neither. A few days later, the covers turned up in a rigid envelope and I was pleasantly surprised to find that they were all individually wrapped in plastic wallets. The paper on which they are printed is pretty much identical in texture and thickness to the genuine ones (and has a glossy finish) and they are pre-cut to the same dimensions to fit straight into the PAL cases.
[Image] I'm sure there are ways that you can go about finding replacement images online that you can print out yourself at home, but if you don't have a high quality printer and/or the glossy card on which to print them, paying £2 for replacement front and back covers to be sent to you already cut is a good way to make sure your collection isn't harbouring any empty cases. I must stress that the image quality of the copies isn't exactly perfect - you can certainly tell which is the authentic cover when compared side by side (the colour and resolution of the copies isn't 100% accurate), but they're as near as dammit and help fill in any gaps you may have on your shelf.
[Image] The colour reproduction isn't prefect, but perfectly acceptable (copy on right) [Image] Close up to show detail (copy on left) [Image] Before [Image] After Check out the listing here for further info. As far as I'm aware, the seller only caters for PAL Dreamcast games so please ask before ordering.