Bargain Bin Discoveries.

[ThePixelatedGenocide]

Toy stores, yard sales, flea markets - anything goes, so long as there was a game being sold that you never would have considered buying at full price.

[VideoGameCritic]

About 20 years back Toys R Us had a bargain bin of Saturn stuff. Picked up a Saturn arcade joystick for about $4. The thing is, there was also a flight stick in that bin, but the box was a little beat up. While at the cashier's line I noticed the guy behind me got the flight stick. Of course I was kicking myself but not just getting both.

[comchia]

Back in 2004, at the PX of Tinker Air Force Base, they once had a bargain bin of PC twin-pack games for around two bucks a piece. This is how I first discovered favourites like MiG Alley, Enemy Engaged, and Descent III. I'm kicking myself for not getting the Fallout ones, which my grandad was like "are you crazy?!?!"

I've also managed to get some super cheap CIB MS-DOS titles at Goodwill a while back. That's where I got CIB copies of Falcon MC and F-117 Nighthawk, both of which are highlights of my vintage PC game collection, and for both which I paid only three bucks a piece.

[ASalvaro]

in 1984 during the video game crash every monday Kay-Bee toys would get new Colecovision games at a cheap price!...i picked up the Colecovision Super Action controllers with Baseball and Football,Burger Time and many others

[Gleebergloben123]

in 1984 during the video game crash every monday Kay-Bee toys would get new Colecovision games at a cheap price!...i picked up the Colecovision Super Action controllers with Baseball and Football,Burger Time and many others

I remember those days, kinda sad time for the industry. Games were going for $5-$10 bucks each, and I’m sure there were some cool games in the bins. I bought an INTV keyboard in one of those bins in 1984 for $20. Overpaid by $20.

[ASalvaro]

in 1984 during the video game crash every monday Kay-Bee toys would get new Colecovision games at a cheap price!...i picked up the Colecovision Super Action controllers with Baseball and Football,Burger Time and many others

I remember those days, kinda sad time for the industry. Games were going for $5-$10 bucks each, and I’m sure there were some cool games in the bins. I bought an INTV keyboard in one of those bins in 1984 for $20. Overpaid by $20.

man your lucky you only paid $20 i bought the Intellivision Keyboard just when it came out for Christmas and it was $139 new and i bought Scooby Doo and Mind Strike with it..the main reason i even bought the keyboard was because World Series Baseball looked so awesome in the commercial but i never ended up getting it..which is ok because it turned out to be pretty bad lol

[DocHix]

Speaking of the ones that got away. Bakersfield, CA, 1987...Toys R' Us...an entire flat of boxed Vectrex consoles, stacked about 30 units high, all marked down to $49.00 each...I couldn't come up with the money at the time...it still stings.

[Ozzybear]

While prob nothing major.
While I was in Sturgis this past year
I picked up King Kong for the 2600
For only a couple bucks. At a pawn shop.
I didn’t have this game in my
Collection so def couldn’t beat the price!

[laserdiscfan]

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night Greatest Hits Label in the budget game section of Costco in 1999.

Thousand Arms PS1 for $3 at Salvation Army (sold for $83 on eBay just a few days ago.)

Persona 4 for $3 at a yard sale (sold for $25 on eBay) back in 2018 or so

Super Mario RPG for $.50 at a yard sale in 2008

I honestly have too many to list, and those are just video games. My best film haul was a demo VHS release of "One More Time" by Daft Punk that I got in 2016 for $1 at Goodwill. After they broke up, I sold it on eBay for $81. I've also found many, many VHS and LaserDisc only releases of films that I am either keeping or donating to Movie Madness (non-profit in Portland, Oregon that preserves physical film releases.)

[lynchie137]

I remember buying a copy of the Genesis port of Hardball '95 from my local video store back in the summer of 1998. They were selling off all their old Genesis games that they used to rent out to make room for the then next generation of consoles coming out. So I managed to pick up a boxed copy of it for the low low price of 5 bucks. A good deal, I must say..

I also remember a few years later buying complete copies of Weaponlord, Fifa '95 and LaRussa '95 for Genesis from a second hand video game store here in town named Entertainment Centre, which specializes in selling and trading old games. Again, I bought them for dirt cheap. Now, LaRussa was a bit of a dog gameplay wise, and Weaponlord was an okay fighter at best. But Fifa was a rock solid play. And since all three were just 5 bucks apiece, I really can't complain all that much. Especially since the prices of vintage games and consoles has gone through the roof the last few years. I mean, good luck finding complete copies of any of these and several other titles for that low a price these days...

Interestingly enough, that copy of Weaponlord I bought came in a cardboard box instead of the plastic clamshell one that most Genesis games were packaged in. Which I found really strange at the time. Which in turn leads me to ask why this game was packaged this way instead of put in a clamshell box.....