We Got a Box Of Meh PlayStation & Sega Master System Games

In this episode, we unbox and evaluate our latest blind draw box from Video Games Monthly.

Sometimes happy little accents happen, and while I meant to cancel my Video Games Monthly subscription after March simply because I was going to be heading to more conventions, I forgot to do so. Hence, we have a box for April 2023! What is Video Games Monthly? It's a monthly subscription service or you can have three, four, five, or ten retro video games sent directly to your door for between $34.99 to $79.99 monthly. You can select from retro systems such as the Atari 2600, Nintendo Entertainment System, even import systems like the Super Famicom and the Famicom. For this month, I changed things up and added the Sony PlayStation to my list, along with the Sega Master System and a few other systems.

What we got:
System: Sony PlayStation
Title: 007 Racing
Value: $9

System: Sony PlayStation
Title: 007: Tomorrow Never Dies
Value: $8

System: Sony PlayStation
Title: Driver: You Are the Wheelman
Value:$11

System: Sega Master System
Title: Thunderblade
Value: $11

Total box value: $39

What do I think?
Well, for the 3rd month in a row, I have to say that this was a complete bust for me on a couple of levels. First and foremost, I was stupid and forgot to update my list and got a repeat title that I just received a few months previously. Beyond that, the PlayStation titles were, shall I say lackluster at best. The cases were pretty smashed up, and these just weren't games that I want to play.

Opening up the Thunderblade cartridge, I was pleasantly surprised at the condition of the pins. The stuff I've been getting from Video Games Monthly for the Master System has been pretty decent quality lately. This one still needed a light cleaning, but the overall condition was good. To clean retro cartridges, it's super simple. Simply grab a 1Up Cleaning Card Cartridge Cleaner, apply some isopropyl alcohol to the fluid side, scrub, flip to the dry side, scrub, and you're done. If you have a retro gaming collection I cannot recommend the 1Up Cleaning Cards, or the 1Up system cleaners for that matter, highly enough.

To clean a cartridge, you generally just need isopropyl alcohol, the higher percentage the better, and some kind of a cleaning applicator. Lint-free swabs work well, I use 1Up Cleaning Cards myself, but in a pinch you can use cotton swabs. If you're going to use cotton swabs make sure that you don't leave any lint or dander behind.

For games with extreme signs of dirt, wear, corrosion, or worse, I utilize a metal cleaner called Brite Boy. A good friend of the channel @JohnRiggs likes to say that cleaning the pins on your games with Brite Boy is like resurfacing a disc. You're removing the dirt and the scratches, you're also removing a very small layer of the metal to the pins. What I really appreciate about Brite Boy is the fact it is not an abrasive and it doesn't leave that white residue behind like a Brasso can.

What did you think of this month's box? Have you ever done a video game blind box subscription service? Let me know down in the comments.

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