Whats the Best Deal you passed up? and Why!

[Jeremy Popp]

Thought it would be a good topic of discussion, and I'll start.

 

At the flea market, I passed up a fairly large box of Atari 2600 games for $10. Some were missing labels and a bit dirty, but contained at least 30 carts by my estimation

 

Why?

I passed it up because I assumed all commons and didn't have the energy to clean and catalog them all. I wish I had bought them though, if at least to rescue them a put them in the hands of collectors.

[BassGuitari]

About 15 years ago, I passed up a box of Atari 5200 games for a dollar. Because I didn't have an Atari 5200 system at the time.

Ditto for the time I saw some Aquarius carts at Goodwill (also partly because I wasn't sure what they were). Maybe I'm beating myself up, but I remember (misremember, I hope!) one of them being Burgertime.

I had a $20 Vectrex deal going on Craigslist, but when I went to pick it up at the agreed upon time, no one was home. Turns out I had the wrong address, and when I tried to call the guy back he wouldn't answer. The thing was beat to shit, but it was still a Vectrex, and it was $20. Now it's water under the bridge.

[+Charlie Cat]

Hi guys,

 

Me and my family had a chance to purchase a Super Punch Out!! arcade unit for $600 at an amusement park years ago. It was in good working order and in good physical shape as well. Unfortunately, we had no room to put it in and had to pass on it. I wonder whatever happen to it!

 

Hope it still works and plays in someones game room!

 

Anthony...

Edited April 13, 2015 by fdurso224

[7800fan]

eBay: about $400 for NWC cart. I had the money and I had the chance at genuine official cart that now goes over 5 figures on eBay and I passed it. There's a big ass crack on the wall from 15 years worth of head banging every time I am reminded of a cheap one I passed. Same thing with a cheap 2600 cart, blue in color, with funny T-handle, regarded as the rarest 2600 game. eBay before year 2000 had really cheap games because very few Sumguy bidders used internet.

 

About 10 years ago I passed up an Intellivision II and bunch of CIB games for $20. I assumed it'd be junk because there was no adapter for the console and both controllers were missing number pad, which is likely completely worn out. I should have gotten it for the games. I can't remember what games though. But $20 is friggin steal these days.

 

That's all I can remember. There were lots of time that I missed the stuff because I was a few seconds too late to spot them in Goodwill or yard sales.

[+wongojack]

The thing I probably regret the most is an offer I had going to trade an XBox 360 and cash for a pinball table (Pinbot). I would have ended up getting Pinbot for $750 which would have been a pretty good deal. For every little missed opportunity like that, there is usually some other deal I did that wasn't so awesome. I figure it evens out in the end.

[Cobra Commander]

I've really narrowed my collecting to 2600 and am over 300 games so I pass on stuff all the time. I don't even look at most peoples inventory, let alone know what to look for. I could have missed tons of stuff. I've seen lots of 5200's lately. I did pass on a Jag for $50 six months ago.

[krslam]

Oh, man, too many to name from the early days of my collecting when I didn't know anything.

 

One day sticks in my mind, though, from when I had just started collecting SNES. There were two thrifts (both now defunct) a block apart that I went to. The first had a SNES system with 3 games, one of which was Dracula X, for $15. Most places were selling systems for $5 and games for 99 cents at the time so I passed on it. The second store had a bunch of 99 cent SNES games but also had Dracula X for $2.99. Sure it had the box and manual but that price was triple the going rate for SNES games so no way was I going to pay it. Besides, I'd just seen the same game twice in one day so it must be pretty common, right? Never saw it again and, after I discovered it's value, it became a bit of an obsession with me. Finally bought it on ebay (I think the going rate was ~$30 at the time) just so I could stop fretting over passing it up.

[jhd]

Many years ago, I saw a Vectrex in a thrift shop for about Cdn$20. It was untested and the single controller was obviously damaged.

 

I declined to buy it as I am not a completist collector -- I have no desire to own all (or even very many) Classic game systems -- and I knew that I would never find any other games for it.

 

I once passed by a PS 2 RPG game at a thrift shop because I thought that I alreday had it. It was actually the sequel to a game that I had...

[Atarian7]

About 14 years ago, I won the Twin Galaxies timed tournament for the 2600. (Well Todd Rogers beat me but he wasn't qualified because he was a staff member.)

 

I got my choice of several cartridges. One of them happened to be Atlantis II the competition cartridge. I had no idea what it was at the time so instead I chose Crazy Climber.

 

Doh!

 

[ubersaurus]

$80 for Magical Chase on Turbografx about a decade ago. Friend of mine got a copy and offered it for that deal of a price, but I didn't have the money to spare (or didn't think I did, anyway). Had I know it was going to jump up tenfold I would have sucked it up and got it then.

[Rick Dangerous]

Didn't have the funds for the Full Circle Rocketeer cart (Jaguar) when it was released last year at $60. It recently sold for like $500, which is crazy. More so than the money thing I just wish I had a cart copy because my burned CD version isn't the "Plus" edition..

[hwj_chim]

This was 3 months ago. Jaguar with cd that worked. It came with 15 games, 6 of them cd games. They wanted 160 bucks. I should have grabbed it

Edited April 18, 2015 by hwj_chim

[Scotterpop]

I found a Gamecube component video cable in a thrift store a few years back but didn't buy it. The price was 5 bucks. Had absolutely NO IDEA it was so freaking rare and valuable. Man, does that one still burn me...

[heberts811]

I was at a tag sale and saw an Odyssey2 with 15 or 20 games including Quest for the Ring and Conquest of the World for FIVE DOLLARS!!!

I still regret not getting it because I thought it would take up too much room.

 

Gary

Edited April 26, 2015 by heberts811

[Algus]

Used game place near my house had a working ROB a couple years ago. I went with an SMS and a stack of games instead because I didn't want a gimmick.

 

Yeah SMS is a great console, but I could have had a Robotic Operating Buddy instead of no friends

[ARCZero]

Let's see..

• Warhammer 30K long box for the PS1 at the swap meet for $10. I previously bought the jewel case version and found it wasn't worth much, Later I found out that the long box version was never commercially released and probably originated from an electronics show display in Las Vegas
  
• I have been collecting retro since the late 90s and just focused on a few systems (NES, 5200)... I probably missed a ton of great SNES and other games because my focus was so narrow. As others have posted I could have bought crazy rare expensive games back in the day for not so crazy money, which I thought was too much at the time
  
• When I was 12 or 13 I decided to stop collecting Star Wars figures and spend my money on video games instead. I remember seeing displays of the last and most rare Star Wars POTF figures for $2 each on clearance, and passing them up. The one figure I bought I opened up

With all these negatives there are many positives, such as the rare NES Flintstones game for $5, Cheetahmen II new for $100, and Game and Watch Egg for $1

[AAA177]

Some of these tales are depressing. Sorry to hear them, but of course I have mine.

 

I can't say if this actually counts, because who knows whether or not if I had actually placed an order it would have been filled, but I distinctly remember seeing ads in video game magazines (what was the title of the major one, I want to say the one that featured a column called something like Coin-op Classroom and was written by a guy named, was it Kunkel?) for Halloween and Texas Chainsaw Massacre for the 2600 years ago. I'm not 100% certain, but my friend and I, who were at the height of our Fangoria-loving days, must have discussed ordering these titles. We never did.

 

My other general regret is not buying all the cheap games during the crash when I had the chance. I can still see them in my mind, in the bins. There should be a comedy movie about someone time traveling back to those days to get all those cheap games, and then when they come back, there can be the usual negative alteration of the future, or whatever.

[roland p]

I just missed out on a nice snes for €25.

[mipaol]

Back in the 90s when the local Blockbuster Video was liquidating their NES rentals I had a chance to buy one of their copies of Flintstones Surprise at Dinosaur Peak but didn't because I thought it was a kid's game.

[+nanochess]

I saw several Dreamcast consoles for $15 and controllers for $5 in flea's market several years ago, I passed on them, and of course disappeared over time.

 

Until I reminded that I wanted to play Resident Evil: Code Veronica, and I ended up buying $200 of things.

 

Also I passed on a Neo Geo and TurboGraphx at ridiculous prices because I didn't know these were game consoles, hehe, now I'm regretting not getting them.

[1982VideoGames]

A few years ago someone was selling a mint in box 6-switch Atari 2600 system for $50 and I said 'well, I already have a 6-switch' and passed it up.

Pissed myself off not long after that. When you see something like that you just buy it.

[Clint Thompson]

I remember in the late 90s I for reasons unknown to me still, passed up a huge A8 lot of hardware and games, manuals, magazines... and it could've all been had for only $65. I knew I already had an 800 though I think this was for the 800XL at the time, I already had space issues so maybe that was part of it. Can't tell you how many times I felt some sort of regret in not picking it up, it was such a massive lot.