Longest you've seen a decent/uncommon game sit?

[bangtango]

This isn't the best title in the world so I'll try to explain it below.

There is a Goodwill near one of my jobs which has a glass case full of NES games. They are priced at $4 each, which is a little high for some people. As a result, the majority of the games have been sitting there for around 6 weeks now. Pretty much all of the games are either extremely common or they are bad games, some of them would be both.

One of the games that has been there for 6 weeks, though, is the first Metal Gear. Both the online rarity guide and recent Ebay auctions have a price similar to what my local Goodwill marked it. Still, I find it hard to believe that somebody hasn't bothered grabbing that copy of Metal Gear for $4 and it has been sitting there for 6 weeks. Between the novice Ebay sellers and "old school" NES fans out there, it doesn't make much sense that nobody has bothered to buy it after all this time. It seems like the perfect game for an Ebay seller with about 20 feedback who doesn't know a thing about NES collecting to grab, hoping to make a profit online.

To me, $4 seems like a "fair" price and I may actually grab the game tomorrow afternoon, if it is still there and it is a pretty good bet it will be. I've actually seen a half dozen people looking at the pile of NES games in that case, including Metal Gear.

So I'd like your answers. I'll try to phrase this question the best that I can. There is a little catch, which I'll put after the question.

What is the longest that you've seen a decent/uncommon game sitting around in a thrift store or at a flea market? What was the game?

Optional: Is it STILL there today? Why didn't you grab it?

Here is the catch, rather TWO fairly important catches.

1. The game has to be "around market value" or less. There have been a lot of threads about $15 NES games sitting at the same flea market for 5 years. That isn't a major surprise. You have to name a game which is (or was) being sold somewhere for a "fair" price or even an outright steal.

2. It has to be a game that there is a little demand for, though anyone who responds may have a different definition of what games would measure up. To me, Metal Gear is a game you should always be able to find a buyer for, assuming the price is good (and I think $4 isn't too much to ask). In short, something like Sega Genesis sports games or Mario/Duck Hunt wouldn't really count. I've seen them priced at 25-50 cents and sit on a rack for weeks, even though it is "technically" a reasonable price for those games.

Extras: It doesn't matter what system, either. Some people may want to go back a few months/years, in case they and lots of other "shoppers" continually passed up a game that was later proven to have high value or rarity.

[Steve W]

Behind the counter of my fave thrift store, is a pile of assorted cartridges for all sorts of consoles, boxed and bare. They had a lot of SMS cartridges sitting around, but it took me something like six months to ask them to let me look through them. And what did I find in there? A copy of Phantasy Star for $4.

[diskoboy]

More of a console than a game... I saw brand new, boxed PSones until about September or October of 2006. Going for $50.

I finally caved and bought one. I guess everyone had one by then.
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[cosmicpsycho]

i love the psone game skullmonkeys and saw it at a flea market a few months back. went back the other week and got it for 10$ complete. ive seen it on ebay for like 40$, so i was surprised it was still there. woo hoo.

[thetoxicone]

there has been a copy of master of monsters for genesis sitting at a local store about an hour from here for quite some time (about a month). I'll probably pick it up this coming weekend if it is still there. It's $10 (not a bad price considering how much of pain it is to find this game) but I fear having to buy it again just to pick up the box and instructions down the road.

[Steven]

Great idea for a topic!

On my end, hmmm, I really can't think of one.

edit: re-read the rules and changed my post accordingly, lol

[Sailorneorune]

Not really a thrift store... but god only knows how long a copy of Shining Force CD had been sitting around Book & Music Exchange before I bought it a couple of months ago. I think it was for a variety of reasons -- 1) the lack of Sega CD/Saturn/Dreamcast owners in my area and 2) people probably thought the price ($5) was BS. I took the plunge and found it to be a very enjoyable game (don't have a Sega CD, so I used it with *gasp!* Kega Fusion) before I traded it to the guy who runs Dream on Dreamcast.

Probably doesn't qualify for this thread... but the lack of Sega love in Kentuckiana makes me want to cry... and then buy some games.

[DigitalSpace]

In 2005, I spotted a loose copy of the SNES version of Shadowrun at a CD/Game Exchange at the far end of town for $8. I went to look at some other stuff and forgot about it, and didn't realize I had passed it up until I was on the bus heading home.

I went back there about a month and a half later, and to my surprise, it was still there. Needless to say, I didn't pass it up that time.

[cyberfluxor]

At one of the Cash Converters they have a few racks of nothing but complete Genesis sports titles and lots of Atari games all for $1 each. They've been there for over 2 years now and I picked a bunch up back then. They aren't bad Atari games just I already own most of them and they're pretty common. They are games such as Mario Bros, Adventure and Grand Prix, about 20+ in total. As for Genesis they're mainly Madden, NHL, NBA Jam and what not, so not highly demanded but complete games nontheless.

[Daria]

I don't know about the longest I've seen a game sit. Nothing comes to mind, however when I bought my copy of Rhapsody back when the game was fetching $60 on ebay I discovered that ATLUS was selling them directly from their website new for $20. At the time I hadn't gotten paid and they required a check sent in by mail so I had to wait two weeks before I could pay for it. Did all that, recieved my game ad checked back at the site for a friend who was interested in the same deal and the game was sold out.

I litterally bought the last copy and can't help but wonder how long my game had been sitting around waiting to be bought. Or was I simply lucky enough to sneak in my payment before they all sold out?