Rare finds you saw and just had to have

[verdant monkai]

I just did my first day of volunteer work in a charity shop, and I was stacking Dvd's and I just happened to move away some boxes, and what I saw made my eyes pop out of my head.

They just had final fantasy 7, 8 and 9 all three sitting there covered in dust. I had promised myself I would not buy anything from the shop I work in because I would end up with all sorts of random crap. I brushed them off and told the manager that I must possess them.
She was confused at my excitement and asked me if I had found the ark of the covenant. I told her I had found better than that. She gave me them for £2.50 I was gob smacked and made her take £5 because it is charity and I was so happy. When I got home 8 did not work but the others did so I was still ecstatic.

So guys what rare treasures have you stumbled upon?

 

[Rawne1980]

I've only recently jumped on the Dark Souls and Demon Souls wagon.

For some reason i'd put off buying them before and I still have no idea why, i'd only heard good things about them.

Anyway, a friend of mine has recently moved to Spain with his wife (she's Spanish and her mum has taken ill so she wanted to be close) and he was getting rid of his PS3.

He sold it to a second hand shop but when we were clearing out the last of his stuff the 2 Souls games were found behind his DvD case.

I was sat there looking at them with hope in my eyes and he gave them to me, I hugged him, there may have been a tear or two ... it was all very manly.

 

[Scarim Coral]

The LoZ collection edition (I swear this is the third time I've mention this lately). What baffle me is that you can't buy that game in the first place (you get it if you buy this other bundle thing) but they had it on display with the other Gamecube games.
Ok sure when I try to buy it they weren't allow to sell it which to be fair it didn't had a price tag on it (I thought it was for sale since it was on display) and I was willing to pay full game price due to how rare it is. However a few months later they slap a £15 price tag on it which I guess they were desperate to sell it which I gladly bought for.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

The rarest finds I've had would have to have been the $5 copy of Bushido Blade and the $8 copy of Shadow of the Colossus, both in the same record shop on two different visits, both in beautiful condition. I once saw a copy of Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete in a Gamestop, but I was a highschool kid who didn't have the $30 I would have needed to buy it at the time. Same thing happened with Zone of the Enders: The Second Runner around the same time. I haven't seen a copy of either in the wild since.

Edit: By the way, OP, that was a nice find. I've had FFVII since it was still a recent release, and FFIX since a friend randomly gave me his copy in high school, and I'm still jealous. Around here, I haven't seen a copy of a PS1 Final Fantasy game for less than $60 since they stopped selling Greatest Hits versions in Walmart. Bloody scalpers; those games sold well enough that by the laws of supply and demand, they should only be worth about $20 a piece. Thanks to E-bay scalpers, though, it's anything but. Hell, ZoE 2 goes for over $200 on E-bay. I can see $50 for a semi-rare game with high demand like that, but not $200. It's not Radiant Silvergun or Starfox Championship Edition, for cryin' out loud.

 

[Rylot]

Back in I think 2010 I found a copy of Silent Hill 2 in a Gamestop. It was still $20 so it took a while to convince myself to get it (I wasn't too into horror games and it was pretty old). I have no idea why I hesitated. I thought all the nostalgia surrounding it was just fluff. I was wrong.

Last July for my birthday my girlfriend called around a bunch of Gamesptops to find a copy of Okami. Best birthday ever.

 

[Estranged180]

Rarest find ever had to be Rule of Rose for the PS2. Couldn't find that game nowhere, until I looked into one of those bins in a store that seems to be drawing quite a bit of hatred lately (gamestop) and there it was.

 

[Baralak]

I once got Skies of Arcadia Legends on Gamecube for $8, and FF7 on PC, complete with manual for $6, Descent: Freespace for 2.

Also, local store was selling most of their PS2 games for $5 a pop, so I grabbed Drakengard 1 and 2, Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits, Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, Yu-Gi-Oh! Capsule Monster Colisseum, and Star Wars: Rogue Squadron III on Gamecube. Again, all $5 each.

 

[AndrewF022]

I am a bit of a PS2 collector myself (my favorite console), so I do own a few 'rare' PAL games that I could not resist buying from bargain bins/garage sales/Ebay.

- Zone of the Enders (with MGS2 demo)
- Zone of the Enders 2 special edition (original run)
- Silent Hill 2 Special Edition (cardboard case)
- ICO limited edition (cardboard case) (average condition, its been loved a few times it seems)
- Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence (not the red case limited edition version though)
- a few others of of mild rarity, such as the Persona games, the Digital Devil Saga games, Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex, Amplitude, Castlevania and God Hand.

They're all excellent games too, so I was very glad I picked these ones up when I did.

 

[renegade7]

Once while reading on the internet I read about a game called Final Fantasy Adventure, a Game Boy title that was the spiritual predecessor to the Mana series. Intrigued, I looked it up on eBay and found precious few copies, all for at least $100.

A few days later, while shopping at Gamestop for something unrelated, I saw a used copy for 99 cents. And it's an amazing game.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Last time I transited through Changi Airport in Singapore, I managed to stumble across a copy of Devil Survivor 2 - for $36 (in my local currency). Didn't know if I'd ever see a game that rare again, so I decided to get some poverty insurance and bought it. And now, I don't know if I would sell it even if I was impoverished.

 

[Link Kadeshi]

I have E.T. for the Atari 2600. Found two in a bargain bin last week. I have an old 2600 I've been interested in turning into a PC, and I felt I must have an iconic game with it. Probably more useful this way, anyways. (I only use dead systems and games as best I can)

 

[Aris Khandr]

I stumbled upon a book in a little bookshop while suffering from insomnia between 15 hour shifts as a security guard. I bought it, and devoured it that night. Absolutely loved it. I went back as soon as my shift was over to get the sequel. I was aware that there was a third book, but no one carried it (this was before Amazon and the like). For two years, I searched for that book, finally finding it in another no-name book shop in a strip mall. I didn't even finish looking around, I had to have it immediately. Only after it was safely purchased and mine did I return to browsing for other books.

 

[Esotera]

I got the original Mass Effect for £6, pretty sweet. And also got Harvest Moon Back To Nature for £10, and that provided me with endless hours of entertainment. Also....


Minecraft alpha master race, assemble!

 

[Tallim]

I got (extra) copies of Suikoden and Suikoden 2 from a car boot sale a few years back......
Felt slightly guilty afterwards for taking them for £5 given how much they go for now but I would have been stupid not to.

 

[Starik20X6]

The LoZ collection edition.

I got that from my local Toys R Us as part of a promo they were running: buy Wind Waker (already half price) and get the Collectors Edition disk for free.

 

[teqrevisited]

I found a copy of FF5 for the Super Famicom with the box & manual at a car boot sale. Talked them down from £10 to £5. Walked away with a maniacal grin on my face. It's in near perfect condition and the game works too.

If only the others weren't so obscenely expensive now. I only started with the PS1 versions because I wanted to play all of them. Now it's turned into "I must have every version of I-X that exists".

 

[Lt._nefarious]

Well the other day I was at a exhibition featuring James Bond's 50th anniversary in film. They had a rack of posters for sale and a couple of them were limited edition 50th anniversary editions so I bought a "celebrating 50 years of James Bond" that had a woman painted in gold with the titles over every James Bond film projected onto her and having watched Goldfinger the night before I just needed it...

 

[cerealnmuffin]

Rarest find ever had to be Rule of Rose for the PS2. Couldn't find that game nowhere, until I looked into one of those bins in a store that seems to be drawing quite a bit of hatred lately (gamestop) and there it was.

I love love love Rule of Rose. It had me bawling at the very end. Sure, some of the game play can be fixed up but it is definitely a one of a kind experience. What did you think of it?

on topic: Games like xenogears, final fantasy tactics (not the rerelease version), valkyrie profile, ico, and a plethora of hard to find survival horror games such as Haunting Ground. Now I really want to play xenogears but all of my games are boxed up halfway across the world.

 

[Padwolf]

The Legend of Zelda Collection. Saw it for £25 at the time, back when it was more expensive. I just had to have it. I went without lunch for that day, but I have not regretted it. I love that collection.

Also Silent Hill 3, I know, it doesn't sound that rare. But at the time I wanted it, it was rare. Couldn't find it in any shops anywhere, and the prices were a bit high on the internet. It took me months to find. Spent a whole day travelling from CEX shop to CEX in the name of finding it. One day I found it and grabbed it before the other person looking at it could get it.