What Are Your THREE Greatest Finds in the Wild?

[Rev. Link]

1. Mermaids of Atlantis (NES) - $1 at a yard sale. Slight label damage, still in good shape.

2. Snow Bros. (NES) - $15 at a local game store. Boy did they price that one wrong, it's mint!

3. Duck Tales 2 (NES) - free from a friend. It's complete. The box still has the plastic wrap on it.

I also found a complete Suikoden II at a pawn for $12, but passed it up. I was only collecting for Nintendo and Sega systems at the time. Stupid!

[hellfire]

1 finstones suprise at dinosaur peak 20$
2 earthbound free, I traded my freind a crap game for it
3 gran turismo 2 cool boarders 4 and legend of dragoon 5$ each sealed at wallmart (green label though )

4 tony hawk 3 n64 sealed at wallmart 15$, really good condition!

[Phyeir]

1) Ikaruga (GCN) for $20 at a Wal-Mart. It was just sitting in a bargain bin back in 2005/2006 in mint condition. For such a game to be in that box and in that shape was amazing.

2) Crazy Taxi 2 (DC) new at the same Wal-Mart a year and a half ago for about $5 dollars. Guess they cleaned out the back room.

3) NES with 30 games that I traded with a friend just a couple of GCN games that weren't anything special.

[hellfire]

i never seem to have any luck in the wild. i've only got one noteworthy find that comes to mind, but its for a bunch of games. i found out that a friend of mine was the son of a famous video game journalist, of course i asked about prototypes because i was really into collecting them at the time. after a couple of months he dug out some boxes of games and told me that he had 2 nes protos. i finally talked him into selling them to me after many months. i go over to his house to pick up the protos and he tells me "they're somewhere in that box" and it's a huge box of production nes games but i wasn't at all interested in them because i was so excited about the protos. i start digging through it and about 10 minutes later i've got 16 nes prototypes in a pile next to me. i can't remember the last time i was this excited as i kept pulling them out of the box. then he goes and gets some more boxes of snes, genesis, and gameboy games. i dug through those boxes and found a few protos for each of those systems. i left with every proto that i found there. it costed me a lot, but i got to meet this video game journalist and i thought that was almost as cool as the find itself.

what protos did you find?

[Draven]

Super Star Fox Weekend: $4
Top Load NES with 2 controllers: $10
Princess Tomato in the Fruit Salad Kingdom: $4
Platoon (NES) CIB with ALL papers, MINT: $1
Oh, and a Virtual Boy Console (kinda rough): $1

All at Flea Markets/Thrift Stores.

[Ryaan1234]

Let's see:

1. A ton of PS1 RPGs including FFIX, Grandia, Lunar 2 complete, Castlevania: SoTN, Disgaea (PS2), Marvel vs. Capcom 2 (DC), Breath of Fire III and few other games for $30. Got it at an estate sale 2 summers ago. Something like $200 worth of games.

2. Earthbound and the guide for $10. My first big find-- 3 years ago.

3. Glib for 2600 (R7 in DP guide, R8 in Atariage guide) for $1. Got it at a flea market. Found 2 summers ago also, probably the best garage sale/flea market summer I've had.


honorable mentions:

A mint and boxed Bombsweeper Game & Watch for $1, found last summer at a garage sale. It's beautiful!

FFVII (mint) for $0.50. Found at a garage sale a few years back.

FFIII (SNES) for $10 at a flea market.

Mint and boxed Final Fantasy for NES. $5 at an estate sale.

Megaman 4, 5, 3, and Bubble Bobble for $12 total at Trader's village. ($10 for 4, 5, and Bubble Bobble and I went to the booth next door and proceeded to get Megaman 3 for $2).

[Game Freak]

well, you didnt say video games so yeah

50 games (ps1 and genesis) and a genesis - $2

a MINT copy of Michael Jackson's Thriller on vinyl - $1

yeah...thats unfortunately it. I only just started last year, and havent come up on a lot of stuff.

[SEGA_Queen]

My first two "greatest finds" happened at the same game shop (but at different times, of course!):

1) I went into the shop, hoping to find Lunar: SSS and Lunar 2: EB for the PS1. I browsed through the entire store, and didn't find anything good. Then I decided to take one more look 'round the shop, to make sure I didn't miss anything. It's a good thing I did, because tucked in the back of one of the display cases were: Lunar: The Silver Star Story and Lunar 2: Eternal Blue for the Sega CD!

2) A couple of months later, I went back to the shop with a wish list of rare/uncommon games in hand: Tales of Destiny I and/or II, the GBA Klonoa games, and any one of the Dance Dance Revolution games for the PS1. I went in there not expecting to find any of them. However, fate must have been smiling on me because I came out with:

Tales of Destiny II (Ex-rental and pretty beat up)

Klonoa 2: Dream Champ Tournament (Cart only)

and a sealed GH copy of Dance Dance Revolution: Konamix

Now the prices for them weren't super cheap, but they were still better than Ebay. Besides, I didn't really care about the prices, I was just shocked that I actually found the stuff I had been wanting all at the same time!

But wait, it gets better! As I was waiting at the register to pay, this guy standing at the counter notices my stack of games w/ the two PS1 games on top. So, he asked me if I owned a PS2. I told him, no, I just had a PS1. Then the guy told me he's got a PS2 he no longer uses, and asked if I wanted for FREE! Of course, I told him "yes" immediately! I got it from him a couple of days later. It was pretty dusty on the outside, but I worked great when I fired it up. This PS2 actually came in handy right of the bat, because Disc 1 of Tales of Destiny II wouldn't load in my PS1. But it worked like a charm in my free PS2!

3) About a week after the find mentioned above, I decided to check out Pawn Shop that I had never been into. It was bit dodgy looking, so I was kind of hesitant to go into it until that day. Anyway, I walked into the shop and start browsing through their limited selection of PS1 games. I found the following gems tucked in-between some crappy sports games:

Tales of Destiny $7.50

Wild Arms 2 $15.00

What's funny is that because ToD has a multi-disc jewel case, the employees was thought it was missing a disc.

[MarioMania]

My 3

NES top loader in 2001 - $10
Marvel vs Capcam 2 Xbox in 2008 - $10
Final Fight 3 Goodwill 2008 - $2.99

[makaar]

1. Final Fantasy VII (Misprint Black Label) - Free from brother who decided not to charge me.
2. Marvel vs. Capcom 2 (ps2) - $20.00
3. Nintendogs Teal DS - $80 on clearance at K-Mart...last one!

[Tupin]

1. Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel on the SNES loose, with a cover for the cart for $6.

2. An Atari 7800 and Jaguar for $100 with around 120 games between the two systems.

3. Donkey Kong Country CIB for $3.

[sebastiankirchoff]

1. Top Loader NES with hookups and 1 controller for 5 bucks. It works perfectly, but it has a crack on the top part. .

2. Super Mario RPG for 50 cents. Got it at a garage sale, and I nearly shit myself when I found out it was only 50 cents.

3. Sega Saturn and about 10 games and tons of promos for free. My neighbor gave me her game stuff, and it came with the Saturn and a shitload of extra stuff for it.

Runner Ups:

Dreamcast with 1 controller and generic memory card: 2 bucks at yard sale
Intellivision II, Intellivoice and 20 games with instruction manuals and cover sheet things you put on controllers: 20 bucks at Goodwill.
Game Gear: 1 dollar at thrift store.
Bag of random imported Saturn and Dreamcast stuff: 1 dollar. Included Saturn multitap, Sega Screams, PlayStation Virtual Memory thing, Famicom to NES converter, converter so you can use PS controllers on Dreamcast.

[ToddofDoom]

1. I found Crazy Climber for the Atari 2600 at a local used gaming store for $1.99 (I still have the reciept). This was about three years ago.

2. I bought Team Buddies for the PSX new when it came out for $11.99 at a Bi-Lo Supermarket.

3. I went to a garage sell with my Grandmother and found a SNES and lot of about 30 games for ten bucks. A complete Aero Fighters (box, instructions, game, poster) was the highlight of the lot.

[Astrosmash]

A few system finds offhand...

1. Atari 2600 4-switch with original box in excellent condition, with original hookups and manuals (though no controllers, oddly enough) and four complete-in-box games (Space Invaders, Combat, Pac-Man and Raiders of the Lost Ark) - $10.

2. Atari 5200 in very good condition, with original hookups and manuals, two controllers (broken, of course, but fixable), four loose games Super Breakout, Pac-Man, Pengo and Blueprint), along with a complete-in-box Atari Flashback 2 - $20

3. Nintendo 64 with original hookups and one controller - $10

Not a purchase per say, but in fourth grade my friend left his copy of Ninja Gaiden at my house and I still have it. (I've been out of college now for three and a half years.) I asked several times over the years if he wanted it back, but he never did, so we can call it a free addition to my collection.

[Johnny Pow!]

First off, my TurboGrafx-16. Complete in box right down to the styro. Priced at $10, but the thrift was having a "half off anything with an electrical cord" sale, so that part of the deal cost me $5. Then I find a box with 7 Turbo games AND 11 NES games, all CIB, PLUS a gray Zapper and a Power Pad. $50 for the entire box.

A few weeks later, same thrift. A Philips CD-i 220 with full-motion cartridge, Roller Controller, joypad, and about 20 discs including Voyeur and Link: Faces Of Evil. Half-off day again! Just under $20.

And at a flea market last year, one of those Sharp TVs with the NES built in, which I carried home for $25, sans controllers.

[Sonicwolf]

1 - Famicom with Disk System and cords for 30 bucks. Did have a box of the floppy disks but they threw them out before releasing them onto the value village display for some copying excuse crap I didnt have any money for this purchase sadly...

2 - Philips CDi with controller and Zelda games, 20 bucks. Unfortunately I had no money at the time...

3 - Commodore SX 64, complete. I really kick myself for not having money this time either.

Those three finds are the best I have ever had and have been a great lesson to carry money at all times. Let everyone here that reads that remember to never be caught without money at any place which sells old crap. It always stays with me that I lost the chance own these things...

[SamuraiSmurfette]

I *think* these are my best ones...I may edit later when I remember others.

1) Xbox debug kit - $40. Guy was going to trade it in as a 'broken console' at EBGames because it wouldn't play his store-bought Big mother Truckers game. I offered him the cash equivalent. He was thrilled.

2) Boxed Japanese Sega Saturn Virtua Fighter system Bundle, Boxed Virtua Cop with gun bundle, boxed Racing wheel, and a stack of import games (nothing fancy) - $50 at a local thrift

3) Sega NOMAD with a bunch of genny games for $7 at a yard sale. Excellent condition. I've wanted one of these since they came out. Now that I have one...they're not as great as I expected

Honorable mentions:
Snatcher SCD - $3
Boxed Official Samba Maraccas - $10
N64 pokemon stadium console kit. With all extras and unopened trading card - $10
Hardball Genny proto - $3 at....EB Games? WTF? Who trades that in? Who accepts that in as trade?
Box of 60 or so pristine boxed NES games. Nothing too "rare", just the best condition I've EVER seen. $40 from a yard sale. I sold them on ebay for $100's. Kinda regret that now

[Draven]

Update: I already posted, but I just found Bubble Bath Babes last weekend at the flea market for 5 bucks.

[Smashed Brother]

NES Top Loader (minus controllers) - Free. An old coworker liked the NES front-loader so much that he traded his Top Loader to me for it!

Fox Hunt (PS1) - $5.99 at Gamestop, complete and in mint condition

Sega Master System, with 3 controllers and 2 light guns and about 40 CIB games (including Phantasy Star) for $30 at a local game store

[BetaWolf47]

-Game Action Replay (NES accessory) for $3

-Sega CD model 2 for $7.99

-Albert Odyssey, Saturn Bomberman, and Dragon Force for Saturn for about $4 each. All were complete mint.