Cheetamen 2 (5 Game Lot)
I, like many other collectors who came into the scene just a little too late, wish that I could have obtained a sealed copy of Cheetahmen II for as cheap as they were sold for when originally found. Since, in today's collecting community, Cheetahmen II is so well known among collectors and is hyped as one of the hardest NES games to obtain, it is very unlikely to find the game for anything cheaper than the current ebay prices. It is almost an impossibility to find this game in the wild. Yet through this haze of hopelessness I was able to obtain a copy of this cartridge for what is nowadays an almost unbeatable price!
My find began innocently enough...I had been searching around lazilly on ebay hoping, as usual, to stumble upon some obscure Nintendo item for a great price. I went ahead and did my usual searches without much luck, so I began to look for some items I never search for. I normally do not look for actual video games on ebay; the prices I see are almost always too much for me to handle (I'm excessively cheap when it comes to collecting). But once in a while, my curiousity is peaked and I tend to search about to see how much other people are willing to spend. This being said, I began to search for some of the more expensive games: Stadium Events, Peek-a-Boo Poker, Bubble Bath Babes, Caltron; if I remember correctly, there wasn't much to be seen. So I did a search for Cheetahmen...no listings came up. So, just for the sake of not giving up so easily, I decided to search for Cheetamen since I remembered offhand that the gold label that adorns the back of the cartridge is spelled incorrectly. Interestingly enough, my search returned 1 result! My curiousity peaked by the auction simply named "Nintendo Game Lot (5)," I quickly clicked the link and was quite enthralled to see a picture of five games, the middle game being a clear cartridge with an Action 52 label on it. I eagerly read the description.
The auction had only been up for about an hour and the starting bid was a mere $5.00 with no current bids. I quickly messaged the seller, saying that I was interested in his auction and was wondering if he had a BIN in mind that he would be willing to sell the games for. There were about 13 or so other people that had viewed the auction before I had, so I was relatively certain that someone had to have already attempted to contact him. After this, I decided to do some image searching to try and find a reasonable image of the Cheetahmen II cartridge. This was much easier said than done as every scan I seemed to find was a picture of the Box. I am a very skeptical person, especially in regards to collecting, so I was just trying to find something to prove to myself that this was indeed a Cheetahmen II cartridge. I happened to refresh my ebay window and was quite suprised to find a such a quickly made response! I wish I had the seller's exact message, but it basically said 'I have placed a BIN on this lot of games that I find reasonable.' I don't think I have ever had so much trouble finding an auction I had saved. It seemed like it took me five minutes just to find it again because I was trying to rush, but I was quite excited when the browser opened up to a BIN price of $35.00! I quickly rushed to purchase it, fumbling over my keyboard the entire time, and somehow managed to confirm my bid and end the auction. I went to pay for the auction immediately, and was faced with two choices for a shipping charge. One was USPS Parcel Post and was listed at $9.94; the other was USPS Media Mail and was $3.51. Me being the excessively cheap person that I am decided to take the less expensive route and chose the Media Mail option, bringing my total to $38.51. However, this excessive amount of cheapness almost cost me quite a bit...
The auction was created and ended on March 08, 2006 (the time of purchase was 4:37 PM EST). From this point forward, all my free time was spent trying to find as much information as I could that was written on the internet regarding Cheetahmen II. I managed to find a nice picture of a Cheetamen circuit board and compared it to an image of an Action 52 board to try and discern the differences. It was still very hard to tell from the auction picture if it truly was a Cheetahmen II cartridge, but I thought that I could almost make out the differences. I tried to reason with myself that it actually was the real thing. The seller seemed to be new to selling video games and listed it as 'Cheetamen II.' How else would he know about the spelling mistake unless he just copied it off the label? Also, I took a look at the games he had listed it with. It just didn't make sense that it could be anything else but what it said that it was. I decided to just try and relax my efforts until the game was actually in my hands. Only then would I be able to know for sure.
The package arrived 9 days later. I was called while I was at work and informed that a package had come in the mail for me and that whatever was inside may have been damaged. The contents were enclosed in a yellow envelope, and there was a rather large slit in the side of the package. When it was time for me to leave I rushed home, the entire time both excited to open the package and angry that it looked as if it was either damaged or might be partly missing. I arrived home to find the package sitting on the table and as stated, there was a large gash in the side, big enough for any of the games inside to have fallen out. It was in a cheap yellow envelope, the kind that is covered on the inside with a very thin layer of bubble wrap. "Great," I thought to myself, "my cheapness has finally gotten to the best of me and I either lost or damaged a very hard to find game!" I decided to add to the suspense and dismay in my mind and felt the outside of the package, trying to see if I could feel how many cartridges were inside. I grabbed a pair of scissors and cut open the top of the envelope, taking games out one at a time. I stopped when I pulled out a clear plastic cartridge with a gold label that stated "Cheetamen II." I was elated! The game was fine and wasn't damaged in transit! I immediately found an empty plastic game case, cleaned it out, and placed the game inside...and there it sits, a testament to the realization that there are still great finds to be found out there, even via such a dastardly outlet as ebay.
Items Won: Where in Time is Carmen San Diego?, Gyromite, John Elway's Quarterback, Double Dragon II, Cheetamen II
Date: March 08, 2006
Page Views: 44
Ending Price: $35.00
| cheetamen_2_lot.pdf |
