Just found a box of NES games while taking the dog for a walk.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

I've always be skeptical of all of those "Penthouse Forum" style stories where game collectors come across rare or valuable spoils in the most unlikely of non-retail, non-auction, non-flea market, non-consignment, non-personal collection places.

Most specifically, clearly exposed to the general public and sticking out of the trash.

This morning while taking the dog for his daily walk, game collecting karma smiled upon me and made me a skosh less skeptical of those stories.

As I passed by my condo complex dumpsters I spied a sparkle of gold sticking out from under a giant black garbage bag ... while half of my brain said "ignore it, it's in the garbage" my sub conscious knew what that familiar shape was ... a Legend of Zelda NES cart.

As I walked over I discovered an old NES game display case full of carts from the no-lock-tab black label line, and a loose cardboard box full of a bunch of others.

Nothing along the lines of a Nintendo World Championship cart or anything supremely valuable, but some highly enjoyable gems in there for sure:

Zelda
Contra
Mega Man 1
Duck Tales
RC Pro Am

and others...

I had to do a bit of a one-handed dance to get my dog to sit still while I held him and fumbled for a suitable cardboard box to snag the found treasures, but I did.



This garbage shall return from whence it came.



Dog walking spoils! (I normally only return with a bag of poop.)



All of them had very good condition chip strips, no signs of corrosion.

[Enigmus]

Did the garbage tank (since they're so damn huge) go by yet? If they haven't, I'd nab the display case if I were you, especially one pre-locktab, you lucky SOB.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Did the garbage tank (since they're so damn huge) go by yet? If they haven't, I'd nab the display case if I were you, especially one pre-locktab, you lucky SOB.

Sorry if that was confusing, not an in-store or retail type display case. One of those personal ones, featured above. That was damaged and I have a ton of my own to transfer these into.

[exit]

Damn man nice find, you just saved some poor games from extinction.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Damn man nice find, you just saved some poor games from extinction.

Yeah. I was tempted to dig a bit deeper in the trash ... if a whole personal collection of NES games was in there, there was probably a front-loader console and accessories too ... but these were (thankfully) sitting on the top layer of garbage ... and there was some real stinky-type household garbage in there under the carts.

[skaar]

There's a finds thread for this - still, neat story man

I saw a bunch of VHS pull-drawer units at the side of the road the other day outside a jobsite. Nothing in them though

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

There's a finds thread for this - still, neat story man

I saw a bunch of VHS pull-drawer units at the side of the road the other day outside a jobsite. Nothing in them though

Whoops! I guess since I've never found anything like this I've never seen or sought out that thread.

A mod can merge it if they'd like.

[BetaWolf47]

This is more of a find than buying something at a game store or flea market. You literally found it, like one finds a treasure. This exemplifies the saying, "One man's trash is another man's treasure."

[swlovinist]

nice find, congrats!

[Greg2600]

Damn man nice find, you just saved some poor games from extinction.

That really is the most important thing here! Frankie, do you feel like one of those vets who nurse a rare turtle back to health? Were any of these games ones you don't have?

The other part is, we can play archaeologist a bit. What can we infer about this NES collection about the original gamer? Also, the resale is probably $200 I'd say.

[PentiumMMX]

I've never had a find of this caliber, although I felt pretty damn good when I found the Master Chief helmet from the Halo 3 Legendary Edition in the trash a few weeks ago (It's currently on display in my gaming room with the first two Halo games inside it, since I don't have the 3rd yet).

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

That really is the most important thing here! Frankie, do you feel like one of those vets who nurse a rare turtle back to health? Were any of these games ones you don't have?

The other part is, we can play archaeologist a bit. What can we infer about this NES collection about the original gamer?

Based on the similarity of condition of all of the games (all were pretty much pristine - no physical damage, no corrosion on the chip strips, and only minimal instances of minor label damage) along with the fact that the collection has a decent amount of 1st run black label no lock-tab games, including a no-lock-tab Castlevania 1 ... this was, if I had to guess, a personal collection that was purchased game by game, likely brand new at retail and then played lightly and kept in storage. Since it has so many early era games ... I doubt the original owner ever broke up or sold off any of his collection, as the earliest games probably would have gone with a trade-in or sale.

Also, I can speculate that the owner may have also been a teen or young adult ... or even an adult or senior, OR a household where these games were primarily monitored/handled by non-children ... as games that came from households where kids have full access to handle the games the games tend to be a lot more beat up, and these are all in matching excellent condition.

That's my guess if I were to play "Antiques Road Show" appraisal on this set of NES games.

[izarate]

Wow, those are in really good shape. Most things I find in the trash are battered up, although I manage to restore most of them. Usually a couple of solder spots and a nice cleaning do the job

[Greg2600]

I agree, probably was a teenager, kept the games nice, who gave up on gaming in the early 90's. Newest game is SMB 3, which was 1990? May have left the games at his/her parents' house, who finally got around to spring clean.

On a personal note, I sometimes find stuff, including game-related while riding my bicycle around town. I remember as a kid, I stayed with my grandparents during the day, while my parents were at work, during the summer. My sister and I would walk all over the place with my grandmother, who couldn't see to drive. I'd spot stuff all the time, usually she wouldn't let me touch it. Sometimes I'd tell my grandfather, and he'd fire up the old Caddy and drive past and get it.

Once there was a Colecovision with tons of games, around 1990 I think, in the garbage pile at their condo. I had no idea what the CV was, and I took it. I couldn't find the ac adapter anywhere, without digging in the actual garbage, so I couldn't work it. I was 11 probably, but I understood my 2600 or NES adapters weren't going to fit in the back of it. So my mother made me put it back, because I couldn't prove that it worked!

[Cauterize]

Wow, nice find Congrats!

Any chance of a list of those games, some of us aren't too familiar with some of those NTSC NES Cart Spines

[Bloodreign]

Thank goodness you found them before they went to the scrap heap, you saved the life of a few nice titles there. Can't believe people would throw this kind of stuff away, but that's human nature sometimes.

[Kiddo]

This reminds me of when someone gave me a PS2 BBA Network Adapter that was literally salvaged from the trash. Not quite classic retro material, but a sign of the things people are quick to just "Throw out".

[Slate]

Nice find, What are all the games in the lot? I can see wall street kid.

Thank goodness you found them before they went to the scrap heap, you saved the life of a few nice titles there. Can't believe people would throw this kind of stuff away, but that's human nature sometimes.

People can throw anything away and sometimes they do. I heard of someone finding a 70s fender stratocaster guitar in the trash, Minus the electronics and paint job. Someone was going to modify it but still, The body and neck are at least worth $200. I can't remember if the tuners or vibrato were on it or not...

Austin

[carlcarlson]

Any chance of a list of those games, some of us aren't too familiar with some of those NTSC NES Cart Spines

From what I can tell, from left to right:

legend of zelda
mike tyson's punch out
rc pro am
mario 3
mario 2
super mario bros
mario/duck hunt
gyromite
donkey kong
hogan's alley
kung fu

castlevania
casltevania 2 or 3
contra
the goonies 2
mega man 2
mega man
ducktales

bubble bobble (the best in the lot imo)
commando
tiger heli
karate champ
burgertime
paperboy
double dragon
marble madness
rampage
ice hockey
??? one of the wheel of fortune games perhaps

wall street kid
wheel of fortune
monopoly?

tmnt
tmnt 2
jaws

There really aren't many stinkers in that whole lot. Excellent find.

[retroman]

Wow...one hell of a find.