The One That Got Away.

[theflea]

With everyone game hunting today, everyone has that game they found and they second guessed them selves and turned it down then later could kick them selves for not buying it. Maybe because it was rare, or an expensive game going for cheap and you didn't know. Or just cool one of a kind item that you never saw again. Love to hear your stories.


My "got aways" that i can think off...

1. back in the late 90's found a complete Vectrex with several games and it even had the carrying case. all for $75 but i was broke that day and only had $20 to spend on sales so i passed. years later got one for $200 complete in box with games. still don't have that case.

2. A copy of Hagane on SNES, was $80 and turned it down because it was in faded. this was only 6 months ago. now its going for over $200 on ebay. "sigh"

3. several NES carts i could have bought for $40-50 less then 6 months ago now going for over $100 

4. A complete Colecovision Adam Computer in box and had several rare games, guy wanted $50 for it all but this was in the late 90's when i couldn't afford to spend that much.
I even tried to get him to sell just the games but he wouldn't.

5. A copy of E.V.O. on snes complete for $70 (cart alone goes for over $100)

6. back in the 90's a store in town was going out of business and had all their games 60% off. so i picked out several SNES games, unfortunately i didn't buy Ninja Gaiden Trilogy that they had because i already had all 3 on the NES. I remember looking at it thinking about buying it but passed. (kicking myself now)

I'm sure there's more that I can't recall at the moment, I'll post them if i think of them.
 

 

[jobocan]

I think the biggest thing I can say is that... well, when I started collecting, I was rather poor. I was losing all the jobs I got and didn't have tons of disposable income. That happened to be at a time when games were a LOT cheaper than they are now (for example, I could easily find Demon's Crest in the 10-20$ range, compared to the 60-80$ it goes for online now... wtf?).

As such, since I didn't have lots of money, I skipped on a lot of what were, considering prices now, amazing deals.  I don't have specific examples, of course, but damn thinking back I could have saved LOTS of money. Add to that the fact that I never went to flea markets or anything in the area, I'm sure I missed out on even more. It's rather ridiculous thinking about it.


More recently I randomly skipped on a 3$ copy of Star Fox Assault, not sure why I did that. Not particularly rare, but still

[phlegeth]

Back before I had a job and had to rely on allowance, there was Mega Man Legends 2 at a store for $30.  So I saved up my money and came back and it was gone.

[kingrat101]

That's weird that you posted this, I was just thinking of this last night, um my biggest one I passed on was Metal Slug 4 on the AES at my game force for $300. I had enough money, I was actually making more than I am now, but decided to get Samurai Spirits 2 and Baseball Stars in hopes they would still have Metal Slug when I went back a few weeks later. Of course they didnt and it's more expensive online. Im still trying to get their Metal Slug 5 AES haha.
Another local place had Mega Man X complete for $10 but I passed on it multiple times until when I wanted it and it was gone ha. I know it's not super rare or anything but I would still like to get a complete copy

[htimreimer]

i was volunteering at a thrift store and there was a mint condition copy of wolfenstein 3D :'(

[soera]

The one that sticks out in my mind atm is a local CD warehouse was going out of business and had a few PS1 games still on the shelf including Vanguard Bandits (still brand new of course) and were closing the games out for $4 each. I already had the game and didnt buy it ... never really considered/thought about buying a game new to keep it new at the time.

[scott]

Lets see... some I can think of off the top of my head would be:

Silent Bomber - I played it on a demo disc before it came out and loved it. I eventually saw it in stores and didn't pick it up, Went back later and they were sold out and I've not seen it since. I'm still trying to find the game locally, but the game shops around here are slim pickins on PS1 games.

The Misadventures of Tron Bonne - I had been tracking it for awhile and I found it on Amazon years ago for much cheaper than what it goes for now, but couldn't justify, for some reason, $60 bucks (!) for it... I've since kicked myself for not buying it when I saw it. I did find Mega Man Legends 2 at GS for $15 brand new a few days later though, so that was cool.

Dragon Warrior VII - My cousin had it and I always wanted to pick it up but never did. Eventually I started looking for it and saw some of the prices on it and resigned myself to hold off on it. Granted the prices aren't as bad as some of the Castlevania games I have, but at the time I was focusing game money on new games, Saturn and Castlevania games. Eventually Soera found a sweet deal on it and picked it up for me, solving that one.

Shining Force III - When I had my original Saturn, I was only working part time and never had a lot of money. I went to my regular grocery store, that also had a pretty decent game section and I saw they had Shining Force III. I didn't have money for it so I had to pass on it. I went back after I had money and it was gone and after that I never saw it again in the wild. I guess it's a good thing too, cause I ended up selling my Saturn to an acquaintance for super cheap. If Shining Force III had been in there, it would prolly be one of my biggest collection regrets ever. When I started rebuilding my Saturn collection, I ended up finally picking it up after I completed buying back all my old games.

Jump Ultimate Stars - I bought Jump Super Stars when I imported my original Red DS and loved it. When Ultimate Stars released, I wasn't sure if I wanted to drop the money on it to import it and passed on it. Then when my buddy who had imported it sold off his DS collection and asked me if I was interested in it, I passed on it again. Now it's a lot more expensive than when I could have picked it up and I kick myself for it. Eventually, I'll find a good deal on it and pick it up though.... maybe.

[topspot123]

I know this thread is more for second hand/thift store finds and I'll try to remember more, but the first ones that come to mind is the Sega Saturn.  I distinctly remember seeing the original House of the Dead and Panzer Dragoon Saga at retail, Target specifically, but I was going to wait until a sale or a clearance price.  I checked back for many weeks and never bought either.  D'oh!

[darko]

Nothing too crazy, although I did pass up a copy of Hagane (SNES) last year that was priced at $14.99. I was looking for boxed games at the time and didn't even realize what I had missed until after I had left the store. I went back an hour later and it was long gone.

[foxhack]

A development Sega Saturn system.

[lordmeatpie]

i lost a copy of Silk Worm for NES for $4 and now its going for $32 Also a copy of Snow Bros and Mega Man 1 for NES, was going to trade for a TMNT shrt, TMNT II Arcade for NES, and the 3 TMNT live action movies. time schedules didnt work out and I missed it at the fiorst of October while I was in NS for a wedding.

[jcalder8]

I haven't missed out on too many games but the one thing that still stands out in my mind was a full size gas pump modeled after one from the 20s or 30s. I saw it but wasn't able to buy it at night so I went back in the morning about two hours after the store opened and it was already gone. Honestly it wouldn't have fit in with what I collect at all but it would still have been pretty awesome to have lol.

[blipcs76]

Recently I passed on a CIB Magnavox Odyssey 1 system, which I probably could have gotten for under $50 and it's worth at least twice that...possibly even several hundred dollars.

A few years ago I passed on a nice Apple ][ computer, with a bunch of software and accessories for $10.  I changed my mind and went back later, but it was gone.


However, my worst "one that got away" was a whole bunch of stuff.  I worked in a video store from 1998-99 and at the time, they were purging all of their old rental games, including NES, SNES, Sega Saturn, etc.  In those days, I was in college and hadn't yet become a collector, so I passed up nearly everything.  As an employee, I got anything in the sale for just $1.  It really, really stings to know what I might have passed up.  For example, one of the games I did buy was Guardian Legend, which I later sold.  I didn't know it was highly sought after until I became a collector years later.  I probably passed up copies of Snow Bros., Chrono Trigger and Dragon Force.

[godnightshade]

That's how I got my copy of Chrono Trigger. The guy who was working at the video store took all the games to Funcoland and dumped them off. I picked up a cheap Chrono Trigger and when I got it home, it had my save on it from all the times I rented the game!

I just wish I could have talked my mom into giving me like $50 to drop when the video store was trying to sell all the games. CIBs galore for NES, SNES, and Genesis. So sad...