Crown Jewels of your Game Collection

Game rarity is only half the battle when amassing a collection of gaming splendor. Hefty price tags come attached to the true collector's items, at least when in the hands of those in the know. Every collector enjoys "the hunt," but even better than that is snatching up a lunker for well-below its goin' rate.

Me, I generally collect only what I actively want to play, but even then I can't turn down something like this..

Master Builder w/ manual for Atari 2600
Price Paid: approx. $1.50 CAD at some random pawn shop in the mid '90s
Digital Press Relative Value: $75 USD loose

That's probably my finest hour right there. I didn't know how rare/valuable it was at the time, I just knew from the odd cartridge design that it was something quirky. The game's actually pretty neat as well.. not a $75 neat, but definately a $1.50 neat.

Anyone else have any moments of collecting pride like the above?

I have a few... mostly on the Saturn.

Panzer Dragoon Saga PAL- $35 - I found this on ebay being sold out of NY area. The guy only posted in the US auctions with no international shipping. I figure thats how I got it so cheap. I sold it 2 months later for 80 quid (160 US)

Dragon Force (2 copies) US NTSC - $4 - a pawn shop down the street from my house had 2 copies complete ($50 digit press value each. I sold one for $70 on ebay... people bid stuff up so fast!)

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Then there are some not as valuable ones that I got for great prices... or free

Shadowrun (genny) boxed US - FREE - I found this game... seriousily freakin' found it in a car I was hauling. It was awesome. The game is worth 25USD on digit press.

Tales of Destiny (boxed complete) US PSX - $3 - Ok you may not see the big deal in this one as its only worth 20-25 dollars... but when I bought it it had 3 disks in the case. The game is only 1 disc. It was at a pawn shop and I got threee copies for the price of 1! So I gave one copy to a friend and another sold on ebay (caseless) for like 12 bucks. I kept the cased one.

A Mint Turbo Duo with the box and all pack ins.
aquired new for $300. They now go for about $400

along with this is a complete copy of Dracula X: Rondo of Blood
aquired for only $70 as opposed to $150


Guardian Heroes-$40 complete

Shining Force III-Free
Panzer Dragoon Saga-Free

Both complete, both recieved as gifts

For my Genesis collection I really couldn't tell you much since I really have no idea what's that rare or collectable, outside of some of the big names, but I did get Ristar (brand new), Gaiares (complete), Chakan (complete), FIFA International Soccer (complete), Shadowrun (loose), and Comix Zone (loose) from Funcoland back in the summer of 2002 for $15 total.

Back in the fall of 2003 Nintendo had a promotion where you could get a Gamecube for $99 and get 1 game free. Since Bestbuy sales clerks are idiots I got a Gamecube Super Mario Sunshine pack, which comes with a GC, controller, memory card, SMS, and was $129.99 at the time, along with Metroid Prime, which was $49.99 at the time, all for $99. :D

Back in the winter of 2002 I got a Sega CDX, 256 MB RAM for my CPU, and an extra CDX A/V cable for $35 shipped.

Back in January 2002 when the PS2 was still selling for $300 I won an ebay auction for a used PS2, Dual Shock 2, 8MB Memory Card, Grand Theft Auto 3, Metal Gear Solid 2, Devil May Cry, Silent Hill 2, and Extermination all for $375 shipped.

And back in X-mas 1997 I bought my then girl friend a PSX at $150 (new) so she could play FFVII since she was so crazy about that game; she had bought it when it first came out in the fall w/o even having a PSX to play it on! :lol:
Since she was flat broke and had nothing to buy me in return I asked for, and got her to give me, her Saturn & controller with Dragon Force (complete), Astal (complete), Tomb Raider (complete), Albert Odyssey (complete), Netlink cart, and Virtua Fighter 2 (disc) all without a fight or a fuss since she didn't care for the system anymore.
:twisted:

I got DJ Wars for import Saturn for 99 cents a while back. The DP guide lists its scarcity as a question mark, with value unknown. It's pretty damn uncommon.

I got Norse by Norsewest (us saturn) in the wild for $10 complete. I'm not sure how much it goes for lately, but it's kind of rare.

I got Shenmue II for UK DC for Christmas in '01. I'm told it goes for a pretty penny nowadays, despite the Xbox version.

I really don't have that many expensive games in my collection, and the ones I do have I paid the expensive price for, or bought new upon release.

I have a loose Chase the Chuckwagon I got for .90(atari 2600)

Nothing really extravagant, unless you count my Neo AES carts, but I paid a hefty price for those so it's not as cool as finding a rare cart for cheap.

i have a new boxed sega nomad now... very rare in germany (never released) the orginal sega cleaning system and my highlight is the amstrad mega pc... a Personal Computer from amstrad and sega that works like a pc and also plays genesis games ! i love it

Well, I have Rez and Shenmue II for the DC. That's about it.

Radiant Silvergun for $35 new, and Keio Flying Squadron for a copy of Adventures of Batman & Robin are the only real deals I've had.

Sonic Jam and Sega Ages mint and complete for $15. Sonic Jam was a gift, but it was $15 anyway, and I paid that much for Sega Ages, so yeah.

Guardian Heroes, my mom got me this as a gift, loose. Anyone got a box or manual?

Blood 2 Nightmare Levels for $15 dollars shipped on ebay. Got my copy brand new, and it goes for over $30 used.

a like-new boxed Magician Lord AES cart I got for $5 at a yard sale -- my entire japanese Sega Saturn collection (41 titles so far) -- all my Genesis shmups, and my Sega powerstrip.

Basically my entire collection since every game in it is I think worthy of being called excellent. Overall probably I'd say the Shining Force Series.

I'd like to add getting a Master System model 1 with 9 games, including R-Type, Ys, Golvellius, Thunder Blade, etc. for $25 shipped when digitalpress lists the bunch for $120 and getting a JVC X'eye with 10 games, including Arcus Odyssey, Gunstar Heroes, Warsong, Slam Masters, etc. a $200 value for $135 shipped.

i get my nomad for 10 dollar :-)
and my alien soldier for 40 dollar
panorama cotton 120 Dollar
Divine Sealing 80 Dollar

I love all my games, I try not to buy a game just for thinking how much £££ I can get on eBay for it.

Still, there is a certain sense of pride in knowing that you own a game with a worth that far exceeds its retail price at release, or a game with a short production run (often the two are connected). Even if you don't go out of your way to collect the highly valuable or rare games, when you stumble upon one of these for a remarkable deal, it's a hard thing to refuse, especially if it's a game you want for reasons beside it's value. Panorama Cotton, for instance, is an awesome game that happens to cost more than I'm willing to spend, but I'd definately buy it if I found it for a hot deal. Which is pretty much the point of this thread, items of higher value you have found for below (ideally well below) their going rate. You must have gotten a sweet deal at some point, Elusive.