“Rare” titles that you’ve found in the wild

[attakid101 | 273]

I know that “in the wild” scores are few and far between these days, but I’m sure most of us have experienced the giddy satisfaction of finding uncommon and expensive games out in the real world. 

For me it was Pocky and Rocky on SNES. Nothing too crazy but I’d never even heard of that game when I first found it at a garage sale. At the time it was only a $40 title but it was definitely on the rare side. What’s funny is I actually found 2 in the same month.

What uncommon games have you found in the wild?
 

 

[darkchylde28 | 1,546]

Probably the biggest at this point would be Panic Restaurant and Zombie Nation loose from the $2 bins in the late 90s or early 00s, and a CIB Action 52 for either $10 or $15 (can't recall off the top of my head, but the sticker is still on the box) from the same timeframe.  I'm sure with prices as crazy as they are these days ($350 for a Princess Tomato I paid like $3-4 for, WTF?!) there are plenty more, but these are the most notorious.

[ThePhleo | 2,186]

My CIB Tecmo NBA Basketball N7 variant was found at my local game store for $15 or $20.

Also my mint Snow Brothers, Bubble Bobble 2, Pro Sport Hockey, and Jetsons were made at one purchase at another game store while I was on a business trip….spent all my profit before I even got home that day.

[Gloves | 11,843]

When I was a kid, my babysitter gave me Zombie Nation. 

[Reed Rothchild | 9,593]

Bronkie in the commons.

Clerk: "Wow, I've never seen this game before"
Me:  "Uh... yeah..."

Somewhere outside of a reseller though?  Hard to say.  I racked up some Suikoden IIs long ago for dirt cheap.

[DarkTone | 988]

Found duck tales 2 CIB at a car boot sale. 

[Tabonga | 2,346]

This has been a very long time ago but I did pick up 2 copies of Amazing Tater (at separate times) at thrift stores.  Just the games - this is one of the two or three gameboy titles  I don't have a manual for.

 Other thrift store pickups (again a very long time ago) - a couple of Shining Force CDs, Lunar Eternal Blue (Sega CD) and a Brigandine PS1.  All of these had cases, manuals and a map with Brigandine.

Another nice pick up was a bunch of ps1  RPGs with just the cases,artwork and manuals - (but no games) in one fell swoop.  Somewhere between 12 and 20.

Probably other things I am spacing.

Edited August 18, 2021 by Tabonga

[portabello | 99]

Mine would have to be picking up Sculptors Cut in a N64 lot locally. I was really surprised that the seller was none the wiser to the rarity.

[Driftwood | 209]

A few years ago i found a dreamcast mvc2 for 3$ at a yard sale

[Exodus | 10]

I was at small video game shop many years ago and found a copy of R.C. Pro AM II CIB, had no idea it even existed tried to purchase the game in Store but the lady stated it wasn't ready to be sold and gave me a bunch of attitude as to why it was on the self I had no clue. The last time I ever stepped foot in the store I was trying to purchase some game forgot exactly what it was, Had a price Sticker on it, in the glass display case. Offered to purchase the woman pulls the game out and rings up a total $5 greater than the sticker (We don't have sales tax in my state) I asked for an explanation as to why the sticker price was different and she exclaimed the values change..... I declined the sale and promptly left. I advise staying away from "Recycled Video Games" in Newport OR. 

[Code Monkey | 2,014]

About 2014 - At a flea market with a reseller that always has bins of games and supposedly knows his stuff but I was flipping through his $5 bin and pulled out Casino Kid II. I stacked another game on top and bought both for $10.

About 2014 - Same flea market, same guy. The table across from him had a complete Dragon Warrior IV and I didn't even ask how much it was because I knew it would be astronomical. The following week I decided to stop into the same flea market 30 minutes before close, like that's going to yield anything. This time the Dragon Warrior IV moved from the one table, across the aisle to the table belonged to the same guy from the Casino Kid II buy, that's weird, why did it change tables? I asked this guy how much for it and didn't get my hopes up because it had likely been on both tables for 2 entire weekends now and he said it was $50. Sold.

About 2018 - I was in a game store in Newfoundland while visiting my parents and asked about the boxed games under the glass. The employee's response was, "Uh, let me check, probably just the same price as the loose cartridge." I asked him specifically for the Power Blade game and he said, "Uh, that one's $10." Sold.

Early 2020 - I was at a local reseller's house and saw a test market NES Deluxe Set box so I pulled it down and looked inside. The paperwork showed a serial number in the 5XXX range and it still had both matte sticker games inside that were unsealed but were in such nice condition it looked like they had never been opened. I paid $750 for it.

Early 2020 - Same local reseller's house, bought a sealed Mortal Kombat 3 for SNES for $400 and it graded a 9.4 A from Wata.

And the strangest one of all, this is a bit of a longer story but it's worth it. I used to look at Kijiji for games around 2013 (I don't anymore) and I saw someone listing a bunch of SNES. I skimmed through the photos and didn't see anything I wanted, though I didn't investigate that closely. An hour later someone sends me a link to the listing asking if I saw it because they knew I collect games. I told them I did and wasn't interested and then they ask if I saw the rather valuable complete Ninja Gaiden Trilogy in the photo. I quickly loaded up the link again and to my horror I realized I had some how missed this in the photo with a price tag of $60. I quickly messaged the guy and was surprised when he said he still had it.........that's weird. So I met him after work and he wouldn't meet me at his house, only in a parking lot of A&W nearby which isn't that strange. He pulls out the game and says, "Yeah, after I talked to you, someone messaged me and told me I was selling the game too cheap so I'm going to need $120 for it now." Just on sheer principle, I would usually walk away from that nonsense but it was still super cheap so I bought it plus a Dragon Warrior III complete for $50 and went home. When I got home I was going to post my find on Nintendo Age but there was another post in the Finders Keepers thread from another local guy that posted the same game as his pickup that day..........da fack? I asked which Kijiji advertisement he got it from and he posted the same link I got mine from........da fack? So I called him out as a liar, pretending he picked up the same game I did and then he posted more photos of it. So I messaged the seller again and asked how many he had and he told me he sold me his one and only. I never did find out the story behind this but I know for sure my entire game is real and authentic.

[Hammerfestus | 3,891]

I once picked up an underpriced copy of X-Com on PSX at a Record Exchange.  Or was it Discworld? whatever.  For a while you’d see them underprice PlayStation long boxes a lot.  Once got a copy of Primal Rage for $8.

[Optomon | 65]

I bought Gun-Nac in 2001 for $7 at a local game store, after reading about it online as a follow up to Zanac and Guardian Legend. I looked a long time for it, they had it in some run down cardboard box collecting dust in the back of the store not on the shelves for some reason with a bunch of other seemingly ordinary games.

[docile tapeworm | 4,204]

got kid klown and scat in the same $100 lot. prob had 40 games.

ninja golf with manual came in a lot of atari 7800 titles (i think it was half the library and the top half) also had genesis console and 5 cib titles for $5. the whole lot was $5

picked up a sega cdx with lords of thunder, el viento, bloodlines hard konami case, truxton, gairies, felix the cat w manual, n64 console.... a shit ton more. $300

5 screw bayou billy $5

grey rage wars $7

my best wild finds. plenty more but those are prob top.

Edited August 19, 2021 by docile tapeworm

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,105]

I found a RC Pro Am II for $25 and a 3 screw black box Volleyball for $1, but nothing super rare.

[Renmauzo | 1,205]

In 2002, I was working at EB and a regular - who I'd later hang out with and play racing games on occasion - came in with all of his Dreamcast games, accessories and console to get set up with an XBOX. Instead of trading all of it in, he asked if there was anything I wanted first. $20 (all he asked for) got me Canon Spike, Project Justice, Tech Romancer, Gunbird 2 and the Samba de Amigo maraca controller.

In 2008, I was working a shift and an older fellow came in with some fully complete and minty SNES RPGs, but I had to break the news to him that we weren't taking SNES games on trade any longer. I told him that he might want to try ebay or bring them to a retro game store, but he told me that he was too old to bother with any of that and that I could have them otherwise, he was going to dump them. I was floored when he gave me FFIII, Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen, and Earthbound for free.

[Tanooki | 4,953]

Are we talking currently, or like in the last decade or something?

The other day while not exactly rare, it's not cheap, I paid $8 for Double Dragon Advance.  In 2019 got a sealed Pokemon red for $100 and months apart from that a Virtual Boy for $75 with all but the stand, 3 games, ac adapter, and 3 game boxes, one being that hard to find retail display box for Mario Tennis still mostly shrinkwrapped too.

But nearly a decade ago at the oceanside flea market in california, $5 got me Shantae, and $7 for Mighty Final Fight as some examples.  Around that time, a local pickup for $50 got me a dozen NES games, system, zapper, fake leather carrier, few manuals, and in that Bonk.

 

Past and present(ish) there, I could go into more.

[bowser | 600]

Sealed Pokemon diamond for $20 and sealed Pokemon Platinum for $40. Both are authentic. I know they're not rare but maybe they're uncommon in sealed form?
 

Also got Yoshi's Island SNES NFR in a cheap lot.

[RpgCollector | 912]

NES Bonks Adventure for $4.99 at Bookmans in Mesa, AZ. Ok so it was 20 years ago

[Knud | 100]

5 years ago I bought a copy of Flintstone surprise at dinosaur peak for 10$ Pal edition but still a good deal

[Code Monkey | 2,014]

I forgot one.

I found a sealed Fritz' Chess at a thrift store 3-4 years ago for $3.

[MegaMan52 | 2,462]

In 2019, a friend of mine came across a guy selling Cubivore. I don't remember the exact cost, but I believe it was either $200 or $240 (Canadian). We split the cost 50/50. However, while I'd like to add Cubivore to my collection someday, I told my friend that he could take the game since I have over 200 games for my GameCube (plus imports).

If that doesn't count (since I didn't keep the game), then these are probably the most uncommon games that I've found in the wild:

I found this at a local game store in 2010. It was $34. At the time, the store was selling the Mario Party games for the same price (though I got Mario Party 6 complete for $29 at the same store). I didn't complain, though, because it happened to be the copy that was at a video store I used to go to in the early and mid 2000's.

Both my friend and I saw the multicart in 2019 at the same store I bought Bust a Move 3000. It cost $100. He bought it, but later gave it to me for free because he found another multicart that was basically the same just with a different label. I found Death Race last year, at the same store. The price tag said $60, but I bought it for $30 because the store was closing and everything was 50% off.

Edited August 27, 2021 by MegaMan52

[RegularGuyGamer | 2,018]

I got Worms Armageddon N64 for $5. In 2015

[inasuma | 1,206]

Sealed yellow around may last year. it was a later production, solid ESRB variant. Paid I think $200 for it and flipped for $800. Probably should have waited just a pinch longer and consigned it. 

[snes_collector | 56]

Some of the hardest to find stuff I found before retro gaming and collecting became a huge thing:

Aero Fighters

Keio Flying Squadron

Clay Fighter Sculpters Cut

Chip and Dale 2