Your best gaming finds in thrift stores, yard sales, and so on?

[Downhome]

Over the years I've had some good ones. My main one was the time I found four Cobalt Flux dance pads for $5 each (I made a thread about that at the old board years ago) and then thee new and sealed Mario 64 I found for a couple bucks. Today I finally scored again after a long time of not having any luck. Check it out! First picture is everything, next two are what I bought. They were $3.99 each.

What have y'all found lately?

 

[werezompire]

Found Castlevania: SotN and FF7 for about $2 each at a local thrift store a couple years ago.

 

[Deleted member 8861]

A friend found a PS3 copy of NIER in this second hand shop near his home which basically sold video games and prayer beads.

The next day I went to see him and to buy the game (it was 20 liras, so like 4 bucks), and we both wanted it.

Finally we got there, the shop's owner took the game out of the display window...

...there was another NIER below it.

I still have it.

And I don't have a PS3. Lmao

 

[Lockheartilly9799]

I got Xenogears soundtrack for $3 and Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars in the box with the instructions and Super Nintendo for free.

 

[capitalCORN]

A boxed copy or Master of Orion 2, complete with manual.

 

[Drain You]

I found a real nice vintage suede jacket for my girlfriend. That was pretty cool.

Bought Re4 for Gamecube for a dollar a couple of times.

Edit: Didn't realize it said gaming, doh, at least half my post is relevant.

 

[Mr_Blue_Sky]

Went into a goodwill and found a boxed copy of Megaman 3 in super great condition for like 5 bucks.
Also in that same goodwill found MGS1, MGS2, and MGS3 all together in excellent condition as well for like 8 bucks all together.

 

[Pyro]

Found a PS2 copy of Silent Hill 3. Still have never found one for SH2...

 

[whiteninja]

Complete NES set with 2 controllers, lightgun, mario/duckhunt and the box (kinda beat up but still) for $10
Although this was back in like 2002 or so when people didnt get nutty with ebay and such

 

[angelgrievous]

Uh, I guess the 2 GBA SP 101's I got for about $15 each.

*Edit: Also, JFC OP, that's a hell of a score.

 

[GamerJM]

CIB Xenosaga 3 from a closing rental store for 10$.

 

[Jawmuncher]

Got a Like New Jewel Case of The Lost World: Jurassic Park Chaos Island. Also back in the day this store Cash Converters near me used to have a TON of old gaming stuff for good prices. Getting a Dreamcast for $20 bucks with a VMU was great. Only other awesome deal I think worthy of posting is getting an N64 with the expansion pack and 2 controllers for $5 bucks at a garage sale. Still unsure how I managed that one.

 

[Rygar 8Bit]

My best for value would be when I found 2 complete collectors editions of OoT and got them both for $10. Or the Snow Brothers I got complete for around $30.

The one that still haunts me is passing up a complete Little Samson for $40 back in 07 or 08 because I thought that was too much at the time.

 

[Larrikin]

Back when I was poor and unemployed I found a bunch of old SNES cartridges of all the games I'd wanted to play in my youth/had played at friends houses at a garage sale. I also found a bunch of cheap GBA games like Golden Sun.

Then I woke up and it was a dream and I still had no games.

 

[leder]

Got a NIB NES for $20 in like 2002... other than that just some random PS1 games from time to time. Never had a great haul at one time.

Want to be a bro and hook me up with that extra copy of Destiny of an Emperor?

 

[snesiscool]

A near-mint copy of Simtower from my library's free books cart. Also a CIB Final Fantasy X OST except for the actual discs.

 

[Stuart Gipp]

Not a thrift store, but back when Gamestation in the UK still existed, they started doing retro stock but had no idea how to price it.

Neo Geo Pocket Color games, complete, boxed with instructions, were £2.99 each. And Buy One Get One Free.

Metal Slug 1 and 2, Sonic, Puzzle Bobble, Fatal Fury 2, Match of the Millennium, Card Fighters Clash, Gals Fighter. £12.

 

[-shadow-]

I work in a thrift store, so far no amazing finds, but a couple of great medium rare games for just a few euro.

 

[Gunpei]

A game I made myself during high school and sold on floppy disks to class mates!

 

[DanarchyReigns]

Found Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn in a used bookstore for like $25, which is pretty good considering how it shot up in value.
Same place had a complete in box copy of Banjo-Tooie for like $20. Not sure if that's as good but anything CIB from Nintendo's first three generations is a great find.

 

[Flon]

I bought a Commodore Amiga 500 with a bunch of other extras including games, RAM expansion and peripherals for £5 at a local market. It made a really nice gift since it wasn't really my thing. I also bought a few boxed NES games including Zelda 1 & 2 for £15 total. This was back around 2008—I doubt I can find deals like that nowadays.

Those are some amazing games you got, OP. Also, that Breath of Fire logo on the top cartridge label is throwing me off.

 

[MetalBoi]

My best finds aren't at yard sales, but my local wal mart. It's in the middle of nowhere and I guess most folks who shop there aren't interested in video games, so they have rare gems sitting around for years.

For instance, about two or so years ago I found the entire Rock Band instrument set for dollars each. We're talking drum sets, guitars, microphones, Rock Band games including The Beatles on PS3. I also found copies of games that are rare long after having become so, like Bayonetta 2, Pikmin 3, Metroid Prime Trilogy steelbook, Fallout New Vegas collector's edition lunchbox, rare 3DS games like OoT and Star Fox 64 3D, Fire Emblem Awakening, Pokémon DS games and so on.

 

[weaK_willO]

Bought starfox command for $10 and got a sealed Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon and Shin Megami Tensei Strange Journey sealed with CD for free.

 

[reminiscingLemon]

a couple years ago i found a boxed Ducktales 2 for £7 in a market. thats probably my best find tbh

 

[LazyLain]

Not exactly a thrift store or yard sale, but I found a Nintendo DS, GBA SP, Pokemon Diamond & Pokemon Ruby while helping stepdad clean out a trailer that his packrat sister had utterly trashed.

They were pretty nasty, but they functioned... and after cleaning them and wiping them down them with a spray of lysol every day for about a week, they didn't smell that bad anymore.

 

[hipsterbodega]

Guardian Heroes for $7, Xenogears and Metal Gear Solid for $4, and Contra and Gradius for $5. All complete.

 

[Imthefunmachine]

I found a bunch of CDI games at a goodwill for a quarter each including one of the Zelda games.

 

[HighFive]

Few years ago got Gauntlet Dark Legacy on gamecube for 5$, sold it for 60$ eh. Also got Super Mario All Stars for Wii before it went to Select titles for next to nothing and made a crazy profit.

 

[eXistor]

A couple of thrift store scores would be:

Tomba! on PS1 for €3,- (no booklet unfortunately)
Bucky o'Hare NES cart for €5,-
Power Blade 2 + booklet on NES (mint condition too) for €7,50 (probably my best find)
Gargoyle's Quest 2 NES cart for €7,50

I think those are the best ones, but I've gotten other great deals as well, just not in thrift stores. Like Trouble Shooter on Genesis for €30,- or Fire Emblem GC for a few bucks.

 

[caff!!!]

Got an IBM Model M keyboard for $2.50? in 2012 from a resell store

 

[nomemorial]

Got a black label copy of FFVII at Goodwill when it was at its price peak a good few years back. Paid $5.

Used to get a ton of rare SNES games from local rental shops when I was a kid. My dad was apparently really good at talking them into selling them, haha. Chrono Trigger, SMRPG, Mega Man 7, Mega Man X2 and X3, Lufia 2, all no more than $10 each. Didn't realize at the time the rarity attached to them, but glad to have them now (despite most of the carts being in kinda crummy shape due to all the rental stickers and such).

More recently, well, within the past 7 or 8 years, got a copy of Suikoden V for like $4 at a random video rental store when the PS2 stuff was getting pulled from their shelves.

One time I bought a copy of Digital Devil Saga with the collector box and such from a kid at a gas station for $10.

I used to spend a ton of time lurking thrift stores/pawn shops/etc. trying to find games.

Yard sales were fun, too. Got a CIB NES and a box of like 20+ Atari games (some sealed, oddly) for $10 each at one.

Man, I miss having the time/space/expendable cash for this type of thing.

 

[Deadpool_X]

You guys are insanely lucky. I've never had a Goodwill trip amount to anything, other than maybe seeing an overpriced GBA Mary Kate and Ashley game or Bratz or something.

The best I've got is back when Babbages was getting rid of used SNES games, I snagged Yoshi's Island for $2.99. I still have the sticker on the cart to show how crazy it was.

 

[Fularu]

Probably a complete X'eye with a second japanese megadrive, about 40 games, the backup cart (cib), 5 controllers and some other random crap for 20$ shipped

 

[RadioHeadAche]

Not a thrift store find, but I found Metal Gear Ghost Babel at a GameStop back in '08/09 for $5. Cart only, but I still can't believe I found it at that store of all places, and for that cheap.

 

[lazyguy deluxe]

Most recently I found a limited edition of God of war 2 for five bucks.
I opened the manual and a copy of need for speed pro street fell out.
So that's a good haul

 

[Nickerous]

Stack of SNES games. Lot included Castlevania Dracula X, Final Fight Guy, Super Metroid and probably 10-12 more. Also a couple NES games. I asked the lady how much and she said, "I don't know....how about $1 each?". I said I'd take them all.

 

[Mister X]

Boxed SNES and boxed Yoshi's Island for SNES

 

[ThatsMyTrunks]

I found:
- A copy of Zelda Wand of Gamelon in mint condition for $2, once.
- Nights for the Saturn, Sealed for $7
- A playstation 2 with a copy of Spider-Man 2 in it for $2, when the PS3 had just come out.

 

[HanSoloCup]

For $3 at a thrift store I got:

• Dreamcast
• 2 controllers
• VMU unit
• Crazy Taxi
• Virtua Tennis
• NFL 2K2

That was 11 years ago, and I finally have a place for it in the house. My wife thought I was an idiot for buying it at the time. She probably still thinks that actually...

 

[eddiemunstr]

Ive never found anything gaming related at a thrift store and I have been going to them for decades now. The only thing I have ever seen is either empty game cases for shovelware games because someone stole the game, or its in there but scratched up beyond working condition.

 

[cjkeats]

The thrift stores around here are always picked clean, I've never gotten lucky there and if I find something good they're savvy on the value and it's priced up.
Once I went to a yard sale and the guy had a mountain of Saturn stuff, EN and JP games, controllers, hookups, the works. Only thing missing was the Saturn. Asked him about it and he said he had two, a NA one and a modded JP one but he was keeping them. WHY WERE YOU SELLING ALL THE STUFF THEN.
I'm still salty because if the hardware would've been there I would've impulse bought him out of all of it.