What's the best free haul you've ever gotten?

[dhaabi]

It would have to be that time I found a NES and about 40 games in the garbage in 1998.

This is similar to one of my best hauls. I found a Wii with about ten accessories and a dozen or so games near a garbage area about two years ago.

I also inherited a Turbografx-16, a Turbo Tap, and ten games from some extended family when I was very young around 1997. Playing it was my first experience with gaming, and I still have it all.

[ffxik]

I don't know if it would classify as free, but there was at least no money changing hands.  Just my time.

A friend of mine, who is friends with somebody who used to own a retro game store that went under.  She got tasked with sorting and cataloging for sale the inventory of the store.  She called me to come down and give her a hand since I'm the only guy in the area that knows what's what with these things.

The owner made it clear she wouldn't pay me for my time but instead left it to my friend to determine how it was to go down.  Her solution, as we're going through this if you find something you like or want, take it.

I worked under two rules, if there was only one copy in the lot I left it.  If there were multiple copies I only took one and only games I was interested in.  Most of this was early era games, NES, SNES, Genesis, and N64.   There was PS1 and PS2 as well, just not as much.

I left with boxed copies of
SNES
Street Fighter II
Street Fighter II Turbo
Mortal Kombat
Mortal Kombat II
Mortal Kombat 3
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
Demon's Crest
Super Castlevania IV
Final Fight
Sky Blazer
Cybernator
Super Ghouls n' Ghosts
Zombie's Ate My Neighbors
X-Men Mutant Apocolypse
Venom-Spider Man: Separation Anxiety
U.N. Squadron

Genesis
Lightening Force
Contra: Hard Corps
Landstalker
Sparkster
Golden Axe
Golden Axe II
El Viento
Elemental Master
Truxton
Grananda
Ranger x
Arrow Flash
Dynamite Headdy
Final Zone
Grind Stormer
Outrunners
Phantasy Star III
TMNT: Hyperstone Hiest
Gunstar Heroes

And a bunch of loose NES carts all from incredibly common to not so much so like
Contra Force
Duck Tales 2
Shatterhand
Kick Master
Dragon Warrior IV
Felix the Cat

All total it was several hundred games.  I know what you're thinking.  No, I didn't put a dent in that volume of games.  There were thousands.

[NickAwesome]

Where's that one UK guy on here- in all his pickup posts he always talks about all the stuff he gets for free.   

My brother has given me a number of games for free over the years as he has gone in and out of collecting- ps2, nintendo, etc...

I've gotten a lot of stuff over the years where I ended up selling other stuff to make the overall purchase/acquisition a net positive, but not a ton of outright free stuff.

I got some free nes boxes about a year ago.  I bought some gba stuff from this older guy, he brought out a bunch of nes box/manuals only- some decent titles, castlevania III, mega man 2, guardian legend, tmnt, kirby's adventure, a few others.   i didn't have any extra cash, but the guy said I could just have them all for free anyways.  One of the better pickups I've ever had.  Not a truly free haul, but significant parts were free.

[sworddude]

in my case it's deals for cheap, sell the stuff gain money while adding stuff to the collection for free so not truly free.

actual free stuff

I got some comics back in the day from some friends but in terms of games no free stuff here.

in terms of free additions to sets that I did not expect.

one of the better ones was when a guy added a bunch of cib sega 16 bit games to the set wich i didnt expect. phelios aero acrobat 2 and a bunch of other solid titles like shadow dancer and quite a bit more that was fun but again no free haul in that case either.

I don't mind it though I'm not to sure If I could accept free stuff from close friends or family for really good stuff anyway.


@ffxik

That's a great haul. if you could score such titles especially boxed or cib yet most of them are duplicates while barely denting their stock, damm what kind of collection did that store have good stuff.

[wartoy]

Got a free mario bros. Arcade and a Sega Dreamcast kiosk and a Big Electronic games Limited Konami machine from the same friend. But at different times once for helping him move and once when he had to close one of his stores he was going to leave it behind anyway so he offered it to me.

[ffxik]

in my case it's deals for cheap, sell the stuff gain money while adding stuff to the collection for free so not truly free.

actual free stuff

I got some comics back in the day from some friends but in terms of games no free stuff here.

in terms of free additions to sets that I did not expect.

one of the better ones was when a guy added a bunch of cib sega 16 bit games to the set wich i didnt expect. phelios aero acrobat 2 and a bunch of other solid titles like shadow dancer and quite a bit more that was fun but again no free haul in that case either.

I don't mind it though I'm not to sure If I could accept free stuff from close friends or family for really good stuff anyway.


@ffxik

That's a great haul. if you could score such titles especially boxed or cib yet most of them are duplicates while barely denting their stock, damm what kind of collection did that store have good stuff.

Not all of it, most of it was really common titles.  Those were just some of the standouts.  Most weren't cib they are missing the instruction manuals.  The ones that didn't have duplicates we're some of the rarer NES and SNES games.  We're talking Little Sampson and the like.  Those are the ones I left.

To put it bluntly the entire thing was in a garden shed at the owners house.  It took two trips in a 1/2 ton pickup and we had the bed of it rounded over with boxes both times.  The store had been moved from a bigger city to a backwater, hillbilly retirement town and since nobody buys games like that in this area.  It was pretty much doomed from the start.

I got to spend several weeks testing games I never thought I'd get to play, all the while bolstering my collection to boot.  All it cost me was time.

[telly]

Wow ffxik, that's the kind of haul I could only dream of.  I'm wicked jealous!

[oldgamerz]

I not sure if I would be correct, but I saw the game called "Bully" (in the photo to the left bottom) for the PlayStation 2, I think? it's worth quite a bit, I could have sworn I saw that game for a higher asking price? but right now it's only $20 USD's on Ebay now please if anyone reading this knows that Bully is not a sought after video game please say so. I can't remember but I saw this game going for about $50 USD earlier? I don't quite remember but I think it is a hard game to find or not.

anyway I would definitely not recommend get rid of Bully anytime soon, I have a feeling it may rise in value in the future, or not too sure. any please correct me someone

[wolff242]

I not sure if I would be correct, but I saw the game called "Bully" (in the photo to the left bottom) for the PlayStation 2, I think? it's worth quite a bit, I could have sworn I saw that game for a higher asking price? but right now it's only $20 USD's on Ebay now please if anyone reading this knows that Bully is not a sought after video game please say so. I can't remember but I saw this game going for about $50 USD earlier? I don't quite remember but I think it is a hard game to find or not.

anyway I would definitely not recommend get rid of Bully anytime soon, I have a feeling it may rise in value in the future, or not too sure. any please correct me someone

IDK about PS2, but the Xbox 360 version was pricey for awhile, but it's been reprinted a lot since it became backwards compatible on the XB1...so the price has dropped a bit. It very well could have been worth more on PS2, but it was re-released digitally on PS4 so that may have had an impact (Less likely than the reprinting Xbox did)

[turf]

At Retropalooza 3, the guy in the booth next to me gave me a box for Mighty Final Fight.

Other than that, I can’t think of anytime I got free stuff.

[oldgamerz]

I not sure if I would be correct, but I saw the game called "Bully" (in the photo to the left bottom) for the PlayStation 2, I think? it's worth quite a bit, I could have sworn I saw that game for a higher asking price? but right now it's only $20 USD's on Ebay now please if anyone reading this knows that Bully is not a sought after video game please say so. I can't remember but I saw this game going for about $50 USD earlier? I don't quite remember but I think it is a hard game to find or not.

anyway I would definitely not recommend get rid of Bully anytime soon, I have a feeling it may rise in value in the future, or not too sure. any please correct me someone

IDK about PS2, but the Xbox 360 version was pricey for awhile, but it's been reprinted a lot since it became backwards compatible on the XB1...so the price has dropped a bit. It very well could have been worth more on PS2, but it was re-released digitally on PS4 so that may have had an impact (Less likely than the reprinting Xbox did)

Anyway I forgot to mention that the Game Bully might have been released on a Blue Disc and most PS2s don't even read the blue ones anymore

[sworddude]

I not sure if I would be correct, but I saw the game called "Bully" (in the photo to the left bottom) for the PlayStation 2, I think? it's worth quite a bit, I could have sworn I saw that game for a higher asking price? but right now it's only $20 USD's on Ebay now please if anyone reading this knows that Bully is not a sought after video game please say so. I can't remember but I saw this game going for about $50 USD earlier? I don't quite remember but I think it is a hard game to find or not.

anyway I would definitely not recommend get rid of Bully anytime soon, I have a feeling it may rise in value in the future, or not too sure. any please correct me someone

IDK about PS2, but the Xbox 360 version was pricey for awhile, but it's been reprinted a lot since it became backwards compatible on the XB1...so the price has dropped a bit. It very well could have been worth more on PS2, but it was re-released digitally on PS4 so that may have had an impact (Less likely than the reprinting Xbox did)

Anyway I forgot to mention that the Game Bully might have been released on a Blue Disc and most PS2s don't even read the blue ones anymore

Pretty much every ps2 consoles should be able to read them blue discs, thing is allot of them just make a hell lot of sound while playing them only few not, or you have to open some up and make some alterations to make it more quiet. but it's not to strange them blue discs spin allot faster than them dvd discs hence why the ps2 makes more sound for most models.

if your ps2 console can't play blue discs, it probably is near the end of it's life spam usually the laser. it's the same thing as not being able to play ps1 games. Consoles that have been used allot might stop playing those discs all together and could only play regular ps2 discs than.

[dakooldood]

I not sure if I would be correct, but I saw the game called "Bully" (in the photo to the left bottom) for the PlayStation 2, I think? it's worth quite a bit, I could have sworn I saw that game for a higher asking price? but right now it's only $20 USD's on Ebay now please if anyone reading this knows that Bully is not a sought after video game please say so. I can't remember but I saw this game going for about $50 USD earlier? I don't quite remember but I think it is a hard game to find or not.

anyway I would definitely not recommend get rid of Bully anytime soon, I have a feeling it may rise in value in the future, or not too sure. any please correct me someone

Yep, that's Bully. I don't think it's worth a whole lot, but I'm not planning on getting rid of it because the same uncle that gave me all this was the one that introduced me to Bully a long time ago. I loved it and ended up getting it for PS4.

[hoshichiri]

I dunno man, in a situation like that I'd have offered them back after everything cooled down. I would def feel like I took advantage of a friends bad situation.....

I actually did- she told me she had a second SNES are her dad's so it was fine. She then got pissed at me later becuase she decided she wanted Zelda back for said other system, & I offered to buy her a new copy becuase me & my siblings already had save files going... apparently it was a my game but she somehow expected I wouldn't play it?

You also wouldn't feel as bad if you knew how many of my discs (CDs & games) she borrowed & lost/scratched to the point of death... I'm lucky we could get my copy of Lunar: Silver Star Story fixed.

[dakooldood]

You also wouldn't feel as bad if you knew how many of my discs (CDs & games) she borrowed & lost/scratched to the point of death... I'm lucky we could get my copy of Lunar: Silver Star Story fixed.

Man, I'd think at some point you'd stop letting her borrow stuff lol. I get it though, I have trouble saying no when my friends ask to borrow stuff.