I had the most wonderful dream last night. Hey, where are you going? I swear it has nothing to do with me, a bottle of scotch, a swimming pool full of maple syrup and one Mr. Ron Workman. Well, not this dream, anyway.
No, this dream was a magical one: somehow, I had stumbled from the halcyon realm of naked women and booze into some sort of flea market, and before me sat the most incredible stockpile of classic games I had ever seen. Old SNES, NES, and PSX games, all in amazing shape and in their original boxes and cases, priced to move at three bucks a pop. Ravenous, I snatched the games by the armload, shooting steely glances at anybody who would interrupt my gathering of this massive valentine from the mid-90s.
Setting the load on a nearby countertop, I loudly proclaimed that if the woman selling the games would wait but a moment, I'd go withdraw every last dollar from my bank account so I could buy them all. It was paradise. Alas, just as quickly as I had stumbled upon such treasure, the vision was ripped away from me by that confounded alarm clock. Dammit.
But I woke with a sudden curiosity: many of us are collectors, and can recall fondly the wasted hours in pawn shops, thrift stores, and garage sales looking for that perfect score -- the find to end all finds. So, Dtoiders, what are your best finds in gaming? Tell us in the comments about the sweetest deals, the best bargains, or the otherwise unusual scores you've come across over the years, and be sure to hit that jump so you can read ours.
Aaron Linde
Best of all, I'd wager, is checking out a Circuit City in San Diego, CA while on vacation, back when many electronics retailers were clearing out their unsold PSX games. While I poked around, a glint caught my eye, a glint that read "$4.99", and indeed, there they were: two sealed copies of Suikoden II. While this was well before the game could reel in the batshit insane prices it now commands on eBay, I managed to finance a used Xbox by selling just one of those sumbitches.
Also, I ripped off some kid I knew on IRC years back with a trade that I'm sure he regrets to this day. He wanted Pokemon Yellow and a Gameboy to play it on, and I wanted Chrono Trigger. The trade went down like this: I sent him Yellow and a red Gameboy Pocket that I had neglected for years since picking up a Color, and he sent me his copy of Chrono Trigger, in beautiful shape with box, instructions, and those awesome maps. As an added bonus, he sent me his Final Fantasy III box and instructions to compliment my naked cartridge, as he didn't fancy himself much of a collector.
I probably ought to feel guilty, but -- come on, man! Chrono Trigger!
Niero
I recently bought near-mint copies of the original NES versions of Metroid, Contra, Cobra Triangle, and Ninja Gaiden in the cardboard box, with instruction booklet, sleeve, and even that little styrofoam square for $2 each at a thrift shop. The boxes are still shiny and one of them still had the shrink wrap half-on like a broken condom, it was like they fell out of the sky from a 1988 time portal. Best find ever!
Hushgush
We have these storage facilities where I work that people abandon sometimes, for whatever reason. If the company is unable to contact the previous owner after 90 days or so, we have to go in and remove all their junk and toss it in the dumpster. I had to do this about a year ago, and when I opened the door, buried under all the other crap was an NES, still in the box, that was purchased in 1989. I know because the receipt was still in the shopping bag with it. I took it out to get a good look at it and noticed that the box was still factory sealed with the little round stickers. It was a complete, perfectly mint condition NES Action Set [Ed note: An NES, two controllers, a Zapper, and the SMB/Duck Hunt combo cart] that had never even been opened.
Hamza "CTZ" Aziz
I have hundreds upon hundreds of stories to tell. My favorite has to be about the former SEGA employee who came in one day with 3 boxes filled with all kinds of goodies. This is what he had: Sega Saturn in box brand new, 10 brand new Saturn games, PICO in box with 20 PICO games (New and used), 32X, 20 32X games, 10 Sega CD games all brand new, Game Gear brand new, Nomad brand new, a dozen or so Genesis games, Genesis system in box, TV Tuner for the Game Gear and tons of other accessories for it, 10 brand new extension cords for the Genesis, and 3 brand new Saturn controllers. My store payed him $60 for all of it and he used the money to buy a brand new PS2 system. Story doesn't end there though. I then turned around and sold it all on eBay. The best sale was from the Saturn and the Game Gear. Both does auctions went to one guy for just over $600.
Chad Concelmo
Back in the day, a kid on my bus traded me Kid Icarus, Milon's Secret Castle, Space Quest II and Startropics (with secret password letter included) for 5 of my "rare" Garbage Pail Kids.
Nick "Nick Brutal" Chester
I've got that beat. A box of raisins for a Rush 'n Attack NES cart.
Faith
My friend Josh has given me both World of Warcraft, which I can't play
yet till I upgrade my computer, and Final Fantasy III for the SNES for free. Nice guy, huh?
No real bargin finds, except on place called Nex in St. Catherines has
the best prices, trade-in values and is always willing to deal on
multiple prices. I found Donkey Kong Country there one day for five bucks.
Dick McVengeance
Typing of the Dead keyboard for $1, when it was priced at $14. Still need to find the game, though.
Fronz One day when I was at my Godmother's house I went into her garage and saw an Apple IIe she hadn't used in decades. I asked her if I could have it and she yes. Mostly a piece of shit, yes, but just think -- one day Godmothers will be giving away PS3 too. If my goddaughter grows up to be a gamer she's going to have a very happy future. She can't have my PS3 though. At least not until she stops watching Dora the Explorer.
How 'bout it, gang? What awesome finds have you stumbled across over the years?
Contest:
7:13 PM on 02.16.2007
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Oh, I also got an NES from my uncle for free, but the only good game it came with was Kid Icarus, but I've collected a few good games since then. Neat thing is that the system operates more or less like new, since it was never really used, but my dirtier carts don't always start up without some cartridge-jiggling. He ended up with it because his friend died or something, and his friend had the NES, so he got the system somehow, and now I have it.
Lastly, I bought a PS1 (the little white one) at a garage sale for $1, and it worked fine. This was before when my friend gave me a bunch of his stuff, so when he did I ended up having 2 PS1's, and I've bought a PS1 screen to use with one of them sometimes.
1. Kid at school sold me Chrono Trigger w/ instructions and Secret of Mana w/ box for 20 bucks
2. Flea Market = Dragon Force for the Sega Saturn, complete = 7 dollars
3. Guardian Heroes for the Sega Saturn, locally owned use game shop = 30 dollars
30 dollars is a lot, but that game is impossible to find, let alone for that price.
I bought N20 for the Playstation for like $2 at a an EB. It was brand new, and I love the shit outta that game.
Fstopdigital@gmail.com
I almost shit myself when I saw them all
Found zone of enders for 12 but I think im the only one that liked it.
I got final fantasy 12 for free (sort of scammed local video store, buy 2 get 1 free, bought 2 10 dollar ones and got ff12 for free).
I paid 20 bucks for my n64 and entire game collection (8 games including both zeldas).
I have a ton of games, but not sure what I call real bargins. If its a classic, and I find it and buy it, I don't care about the price unless I know its cheaper somewhere else.
Then at an EB games my friend bought chrono trigger for 12 bucks.. reason is this is when they stopped taking old nes and snes games...but they took it anyways and marked it as chrono cross
I still have a factory sealed copy of Mortal Kombat 2 for SNES. Any takers?
I do now. I love that movie too, I should've known that.
Got some boxed NES games for like 1.50 each, boxed contra, boxed megaman 3, boxed megaman 2, a loose megaman 6, and of course many other good finds as well.
1) When I was working at my video store we had this elderly man who would come in all the time and I would talk to him. He was one of the nicest guys I ever met, and funny as all holy hell. One day I told him that I was looking to start a gaming collection of old systems, and so far all I had was a SNES and a Genesis, and that I was looking desperately for a NES. He bought his movies and left, then came back 25 minutes later with a NES system, two controllers, a GREY zapper gun, and about 40 games. Granted, some of the games were shit (Top Gun 1 AND 2), but the asking price was worth it, he gave them to me for free.
2) Last week a guy traded Marvel vs. Capcom 2 for PS2 into my store for store credit. Our used price: 14.99. Bought that in a heartbeat.
Also, Big Lots (closeout store) had tons of Atari 7800 games in the early 90s. They ranged from $0.50 to $3.00 all in sealed boxes. I ended up getting about 20-30 games that way. My parents siezed the opportunity. Like a fool (or a kid I guess, who can blame me) I tore them all out of the boxes to play. I still have them and have the instruction manuals but no boxes. :(
A friend of mine managed to find Final Fantasy Tactics for the SNES at the same store about two years earlier. I think he paid $5 USD.
@Faith. NEX . . . you mean that grungy-ass store on Lakeshore across from the A&P?! Shit, I should go in there more often. Last time I was in I was rather unimpressed . . .
FFT was on SNES?
A year later I had to pay upwards of $60 on Ebay for a used copy.
Now that the game's been reprinted, you can find it for about $30 new on Ebay.
I knew it was something rare . . .
Ah, those past days of youthful indiscretion...
I thought it was cool, but didn't think much of it until I read the "Holy Grails of Game Collecting" article on Racketboy. Oh yeah, it's on there. For a Sonic the Hedgehog, which I already had 2 copies of.
I was browsing the games when a kid came in with an armload of xbox shit. I faked looking at games while the employee dutifully plugged in everything and tested it; controllers, games, DVD attachment, all of it. I edged closer to see what they offered him for it.
Wait for it..........$34!!!!
Having just seen them test it all, I jumped in and offered the kid $50 for the entire load. He said, "sure". So I politely apologized to the dumbfounded employee for borking his ensuing ass-rape and handed the kid 50 bones. The gamestop employee grudgingly unhooked everything and handed me a giant black pile of classic xbox goodness. I got it home and got out the air canister and some windex and in 5 minutes I was staring at a complete system in really great shape with all accessories and a few games for $40.
I never ended up buying anything from gamestop that night. I almost felt guilty. After I got it cleaned up, I threw in my copy of riddick and smiled.
Panzer Dragoon Saga, complete and in great nic minus the outer box for $10 US (PAL version)
Fighting Street for the PC Engine for $2 US... doesn't sound like much, but this was the only home version of the original Street Fighter released and is damn hard to find
A taito Exerion cocktail arcade cabinet for $50 US, found in the classifieds
A mint sealed 32x ith mint sealed Metal Head with a mint sealed Mega CD 2 with Road Avenger for $20 U
+many many more
Not any collector's stories persay, but I picked up a gameboy color with 10 games (including original mario and kirby in great condition) for 5$ and a virtual boy in box and instruction manual for 1$
I also found a Dreamcast at a pawn shop in Kentucky a little over a year ago for $15.
He died later that year in a plane crash
Weird shit
I also got Rez for 10€ off ebay, and turns out it was a promo version. I don't know if it works like in the music circles where promos are zOMG collectors insta-erection. But the game's a steal at that price anyways.
...Oh.
2- Custom made Six Button arcade joystick for SNES 5$
3- Went to a mega-fundraiser garage sale, something was kicking about at my feet, I flipped it over, it was a TurboGrafx16, found 15 Boxed games, picked all of it up for 5$
4- NeXT Workstation server - COMPLETE - at a thrift shop 100$
5- Colecovision ADAM, complete and boxed, 10$ ebay. It was local, and nobody wanted to pay 120$ shipping.
6- Ms. Pac-man Mini-Arcade...... on the floor next to a thrift store deposit bin. 0$..
These are all in CDN dollars, even then, it's beyond a steal.
when i got it turns out it was a super nintendo with 15-16 games, most were old crappy ones, couple of ok ones, but the last one, at the bottom of the bag, was Final Fantasy 3, just the cart though, best deal ever
I was flipping through the NES games they had above the counter, when I noticed a box behind it, next to the consoles. I asked to see the box, and I immediately got a half chub.
Right on the top was the first Megaman game, factory sealed. I recognized it instantly, since MM looks like an old fart on the cover. It gets better.
When I looked below that one, there were 5 more games, mint and sealed as well. The other 5 Megaman games. This was when I ejaculated all over the homeless guy.
I immediately grabbed them like they were the most valuable things in the entire world. I only paid $15 for all of them.
Sure, they just sit in a box in my closet, and only get busted out when I've been drinking and want to show off. But I have the first 6 megaman games boxed and sealed, and YOU don't. Suckah.
I went to a decent looking garage sale. Nothing but old computers until I stumbled across a Debug Playstation for 20 freaking dollars. I also met the guy who owned it. His name is....well lets just call him Joe M. He was a developer for Acclaim back in the early to mid 90's. He took it from their offices when he got fired around 1997. That's how about 99% of them got out to the public. He asked me if I knew what it was of course and I told him a dev PS1. He then sold it to me over the wigger little kid who wanted it because he thought it was spray painted. He was telling me that he was going crazy over development of Bart's Nightmare. He said "the mentality of the CEOs was if they could sell a block of wood in a box they would". Quantity over quality. It's good to hear that it wasn't always the developer's fault when a game was shit. Best garage sale ever!!!!
The second epic find was only about 2 miles away. I was at an old guy's garage sale just looking around and I asked if the guy had any videogames. He told me no he had nothing for the Xbox. I told him I collect much older games and he said "hold on a second". He comes back 10 minutes later with a complete in box Coleco Gemini. I ask him how much. He says "what do you think is fair?" I promptly got all the money out of my pocket and gave him $25.
Here are some pics.
Debug PS1 - http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?app=core&module=attach§ion=attach&attach_rel_module=post&attach_id=136324
Coleco Gemini - http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3323/3664368907_67f105d1dd_b.jpg