Impulse buying (best and worst)

[shawnbo42]

Anybody out there ever just pick up something "just because it's there"?. Basically what I am asking here is:
1. What's the best impulse buy you ever made? (In terms of best price, best time to buy, best friend/family member to acquire it from, etc), and :

2. What's the worst impulse buy you ever made? (Way overpriced, bought something that was DOA, beyond your financial means, etc.)

I think my best was Stadium Events for NES. Bought it via Evilbay for $500 buy-it-now several years ago. Basically had to beg borrow and steal to come up with the money (I bought it without actually HAVING the money yet. I figured, I've got seven whole days to pay for this thing, I'll figure out something. Thankfully, I did.) Of course, we all know what that's more or less worth NOW. So, in my humble opinion, it was a GOOD impulse purchase.

My worst? Well, some here may argue with me on this one, but I picked up a Neo AES 3 or 4 years ago at a game store. Spent $250 for a boxed system (1 controller), and another $80 for 2 games (no, not Metal Slug). Riding Hero, and Fatal Fury. Before everybody hits "reply" and flames me for saying a Neo is a "bad" purchase, let me try and explain. I really didn't have the money at the time to buy it, but it was the first and ONLY time I have EVER seen a Neo "in the wild". Secondly, knowing full well that games are tough to come by, as well as stupidly expensive (in the average gaming world), I STILL bought the damn thing. And third, as if I didn't have enough to collect for, now I have another (and very expensive) addition to collect games for. It is for these reasons I say it was a "bad" impulse buy. If I could go back and do it all over again....Well, I'd still buy it. I guess that's why we are collectors.

Who's next??

[zemmix]

Funny thing about the Neo Geo is that I saw one (gold, boxed system) at a local game shop maybe 8 years ago (yikes I'm getting old!) for the same price, $250. I could have bought it, but I ended up passing. I kicked myelf about it for a few years since I never saw one in the wild again. Then about two or three years ago I stopped caring about having to have everything so now I'm happy I never spent that much $. I would have only played it maybe two hours at most anyway.

Best purchase was just over two years ago. From a Japanese couple that were moving back to Japan I got, Famicom (boxed, old style with everything, 20+ games some boxed with guide books), Disk Drive (no box), Super Famicom (boxed, 20 or so games), Neo Geo CD (boxed, 3 games) all for about $60. My wife actually found it and I jumped on it.

[cyberfluxor]

Best: Diablo II. Yeah, I was 14 and bought it for $55 new at Best Buy around launch knowing full well I couldn't play it on my PC. It was a hyped game for me and never regretted having that unopened copy for the months leading up to Christmas when I would get to play it. I knew my parents would buy a new computer because I spent too much money on a game.

Worst: I have two.
1) Buying my first Sega Saturn. I spent $40 on my first system over 3 years ago instead of hunting for a cheaper one. I've found several complete systems under $20 and a few under $5 since then. I still have that system and plan on coloring it so all in all it'll stay with me.
2) Also around 2 years ago I won an Atari 2600 auction with a bunch of loose carts, several controllers and everything but a power cord. I ended up buying an "Official Atari 2600 power cord" on eBay for another $4 shipped. Ended up being some cheap ass multi-voltgage adaptor so poorly made that I had it set correctly to turn on my system however it suddenly pushed too much power onto the system and blew it after only several minutes of playing. I got a decent deal on the lot but now I have a broken system that needs a replaced capacitor still (I'm lazy). I threw the adaptor out to avoid other issues and the Atari has been hanging out in my closet while the carts have been cluttering my shelf.

[vintagegamecrazy]

I've got a worst that turned out to be a best.

Around five years ago when the Music Recyclery was still in business in Illinois, I bought tons of games from them and one day they had a Turbo Duo with one controller for $139.99, it was a great price but they were shady and I didn't do my research. I sold a ton of valuable PSX RPGs to get it, I didn't get to test it with in 7 days and then told an employee that I bought it. He told me he wanted it but it was broken and they knew it and sold it anyway and didn't care. Sure enough, the controller was shot and the CD drive was broken. I sat on it forever trying to find a place to repair it, finally OSG repaired it and region modded it and I can sell it for more then my entire cost for it. It turned out good in the end and I found Super Air Zonk for $2 at Goodwill.

Bad

I knew a big time collector quite well and he'd let me take car loads of stuff home and make payments to him. I had just started collecting and I wanted Action 52 and Maxi 15 so bad. I paid $70 each from him knowing full well how bad they were and how much I overpaid. If I waited I would have gotten them at half that price.

Good

I went to Goodwill and saw several PSX longbox games for like 2 or 3 bucks each. I bought everyone on a binge and didn't know how much they were worth. I got home and found out that the X Com UFO Defense I bought was worth $60 and Ebayed it for just that!

[7th lutz]

The worst is Dragon Warrior 7 or Shining Force 1 used.

My best is crusader of Centy. I found it used at Funco Land in 1997.

[steeniekins]

Best:
Hmmm. Most of the games I own now were bought off of impluse buying. Probably my Wii system. I went looking everywhere for it. My friend and I spent a whole day trying to find it. We finally gave up and went to see a movie, we got there about 1hr too early..so we went to wal-mart..and I immediately ran to the electronics *sigh*. And I saw it...almost glowing in it's own awesomeness (woo making-up words!)...so I bought it. I was broke for the next two weeks.

Worst:
Very recently actually...I just received my VERY WELL AWAITED Croc game for PS1 today...I get it and it's only the disc..not only that but it's not the original disc...it's the greatest hits. I only paid about 10bucks for it in total...but still. I got my hopes up, and now I have to buy another one for about 20bucks.

[jwm2]

My worst was a nintendo wii about 6 months back. I still don't have any games for it worth playing :/

[kaedesdisciple]

Best: Picked up an original Final Fantasy Tactics for $34.99 at retail. This was before I knew anything about the game, I just thought it looked cool.

Worst: Resident Evil: Survivor. I need not speak about this game again.

[Family Computer]

-Famicom Disk System Super Mario Bros. 2 (Japanese Lost Levels), working & complete for $1

-Famicom Goonies (Boxed Complete), $4

-Splatterhouse Wanpaku Graffiti (Boxed, Decal Set, NO MANUAL), $4


I don't really have too much rare stuff but I'd say those are the best deals I have had.

[YoshiM]

Best: Diner for Intellivision. Saw it on the shelf when I was at Goodwill. It didn't ring any bells but I bought it anyway. When I got home I read the DP Guide and saw that it was pretty hard to come by. Then I actually played it and loved it. Probably the best $2 I spent at Goodwill in a long while.

Worst: it's a toss up between my old Atari Jaguar and a loose 32X. I saw a Jag at a game/toy store in Green Bay for $50. I have never seen on "in the wild" and I was really curious about it. I think it came with Kasumi Ninja. I picked up other titles for it and I just loathed that system. Tempest 2000 was the only real GOOD game out of what I had.

I picked up a loose 32X from Goodwill. Not knowing too much about it, I figured cables would be easy to come by. Wrong. I couldn't find one to work with my system so I shelved it. Granted it was only $10 but still. Then when I got a working setup (complete, bought from Kamino), I really didn't like the system.

Worst to Best (or at least Better): I told my wife that during my lunch I was going to go to Blockbuster Video to see if they had a used Yoshi's Story for N64. I saw it there but didn't buy it. Well, BB had bought out some smaller video chain and was selling their goods in a tent. I walked through and saw Sega Saturn systems for $30 with all the hookups. And they had Yoshi's Story. I had limited funds then so I couldn't get both. My collecting side took over and I bought the Saturn, making up some lame story that they didn't have Yoshi's Story. Well, later in the week we stop there to rent something and my wife saw the game in the bin and gave me an evil look. I didn't have the cash for the game but I picked up Bust a Move 2 Arcade complete for $5 to try and appease her. She fell in love with it and that got me out of the fire.

I was so young and stupid.

[HYB]

I've had so many good deals in the past I'll just say on of the newer ones. Journey to Silius, pal B CiB and in if not mint, very good condition with minor shelfwear. All for 25 euros.

My worst have got to be pirated games and some loose carts (Lylatwars and LoZ). Pirated games just generally and loose carts because they look ugly on the shelf. Maybe buying CV Symphony saturn version without th spine card.

[shawnbo42]

Great responses, got some good laughs out of some of the experiences, keep it coming!!

[zektor]

Well, I recently purchased Musha (Genesis) complete and near mint condition. I asked around in these forums to see if anyone had one to sell, and searched ebay for quite some time with no hits except for pricey loose carts. I finally hit on this one on ebay as it was just listed, and paid $70 BIN. So, best purchase I have made in awhile since I *love* this game, but one of the worst recent purchases because I jumped at it even at the high price. I can just feel it coming...now I'll find one for $5 or $10. It always works out that way, doesn't it? So, that is my combined recent best/worst purchase all wrapped into one

[Cornelius]

Well, I recently purchased Musha (Genesis) complete and near mint condition. I asked around in these forums to see if anyone had one to sell, and searched ebay for quite some time with no hits except for pricey loose carts. I finally hit on this one on ebay as it was just listed, and paid $70 BIN. So, best purchase I have made in awhile since I *love* this game, but one of the worst recent purchases because I jumped at it even at the high price. I can just feel it coming...now I'll find one for $5 or $10. It always works out that way, doesn't it? So, that is my combined recent best/worst purchase all wrapped into one

Not trying to be an ass... just sayin': Isn't this the definition of what ISN'T and impulse buy?

I don't have any memorable ones, so I'll just go with the best and worst of today: Worst: At a thrift I came across PS2 Future Tactics still in plastic w/ the sticker on top, but slit open probably to make sure the game was in there (idiots... clearly not a re-seal). Anyway, I'd not heard of it, it looks interesting from the description, so I grabbed it. Get home and then find all the shitty reviews. Oh well, only 6.80 before the 25% off day discount.
Best: Namco Guncon at Goodwill for 3 bucks. I don't have any PS gun games at all, so know nothing about the guns, but it was in great condition and looks cool, so I snagged it. Now I just have to get a game to use it with.

[Sailorneorune]

Best: Pulseman on ebay, new for $50; Shining Force CD, complete for $5

Worst: Slayers Royal, complete for $8. No English walkthroughs.

[zektor]

Not trying to be an ass... just sayin': Isn't this the definition of what ISN'T and impulse buy?

Yes and no. Yes, I have been looking for the game which can be taken as this NOT being an impulse buy. BUT, paying that much and hitting that BIN button on the mere sight of it was impulse for sure. It was a sudden desire...which is actually the definition of "impulse"

[mnbren05]

Worst: Boxed Jaguar system with 2 games (cybermorph and iron soldier) for $75 shipped.

Best: 3 Conker's Bad Fur Day carts for $9.99

[Ed Oscuro]

Worst: too many to list, I'm afraid.

[Fuzzball24]

Worst: Super NES Super Scope 6. I thought it might be worth something. Nope. Then I go home and try to play it. Apparently it ONLY works the Super Scope. The killer? I only have LCD TV's.

Best: Super Mario 64 for 3 bucks.


I just started game collecting, so yeah.

[boatofcar]

Worst: Final Fantasy X. Not only did it suck, but two months later it went GH and was only $20.

That was the last time I ever bought an RPG on impulse.