We all have em I'm sure but I'm curious to know what you guys define as your most epic find ever. I'll tell ya mine...

Back when the Playstation 1 just started to boom my local Wal-Mart was liquidating its Super Nintendo stock. They threw all the games into a giant bin and put various price tags on them. Most of them were total trash, we're talking tons of copies of Shaq-Fu, Failed movie games, it had all been heavily picked through obviously. I believe I was about 14 years old at the time and I was a huge RPG fan. I frantically dug through the pile trying to find gold that in my heart knew didn't exist.

I had 20 dollars in my pocket so even if I did find that heart stopping gem, I most likely wouldn't be able to afford it anyway. So, I sorted through each title and thats when I found it. Brand new, total mint condition box and perfectly sealed copy of Chrono Trigger. I freaked out, went numb for a few seconds and looked all around the packaging for a price title. Used cartridge only was going for $49.99 at Funcoland and they normally didn't have one for sale. I took it to the counter of the electronics department and asked the clerk how much it was. She scanned it and it didn't give a price.

She had no idea, asked me where I found it, I told her in the bin. Games in there ranged from $9.99 to $39.99 so I figured at that point I was screwed, it would be the game of my dreams that got away. She called the store manager down and it felt like hours seeped by as I waited for this guy to show up. He looked at it, went to the video game area, checked to see if he had a left over behind glass price tag...nothing. He shrugged his shoulders and told her to enter in some numbers to ring it up as that. So she punched in the code he gave her from a book...I was convinced I was shit out of luck.

The moment of truth happened, as she hit the enter key the register's display lite up. $5.00, she asked me, "Do you still want it?". It took everything in my teenage nerd body to not scream out 'HELL YES I WANT IT!!' I calmly forced out, 'I'll take it'. I had to stop myself from running out of the wal-mart cause I felt as if I had just robbed them with out a weapon. I promptly went home and I'm pretty sure I played it for 13 hours straight.

Do I wish I kept it sealed now? Of course I do, lol. But I was 14 and it was the game of all games that I never got due to being sold out or priced too much. I've still got it, CIB with all its inserts and posters. I'll never get rid of it, its the only game I own that I consider - "The one that didn't get away."

My best pickup in the wild has to be my Master System. Found it at a retro store, but the guy working the counter wasn't too knowledgeable in anything that wasn't Nintendo related. I noticed the Master System sitting on the floor behind the counter, asked him how much they were asking for it, and immediately wanted to walk away. It was $75, and the condition of the box made me think it was in rough shape. I asked to see inside, which he agreed to, and it's brand new. I don't think it's ever been touched, not once. The plastic is still on the controllers, the "phaser" is still pristine, the system is still in the plastic wrapping, the cables are tied up, and the documentation and game are perfect. It was awesome, and while yeah I paid $75 for it (plus $2 a piece for Shinobi and Double Dragon CIB), it's by far the best pickup I've made to date (perhaps not monetarily, but in terms of the "thrill of the chase" sort of feeling).

Even took pictures when I brought it home:

More: http://www.gadgetverse.net/archive/images/chris/games/master

my best find is hard to choose, but i would say it is probably this one. i got everything for $95 total. the video is from my old channel, im now under 64bitmatthew.

My best find is also one that I'm still kicking myself over for not being smart enough to pick everything up. It was after about a week of getting back into retro gaming. I decided to check out a local thrift store and someone just dropped their NES collection off. Not thinking of rarity, I was only looking for games I wanted. I picked up all the Mario's, Final Fantasy, Yoshi, Metal Gear, Base Wars, Blades of Steel, and Ice Hockey. They wanted $5 for the Mario games and $2 for the rest. I didn't want spend all of my money in one place and also didn't want to pick up anything too hard right away. I thought I'd ease myself back into the hobby. Besides, I'll find this stuff again, I thought. Now, every time I see a common Mario game at a thrift store I kick myself leaving Mega Man 1 - 4, all three Castlevania games, and Kid Icarus (didn't like him on Captain N) at that store. And they only wanted $2ea for them. Damn.

I used to work at a used electronics recycler. We sold a lot of stuff that was still in good working condition. Someone at some point had recycled a PS2 slim. It tested as good and was put on the shelf. Some guy comes in a couple days later and winds up buying it. Well the next day I'm working at the counter and he brings it back and says he doesn't want it. I say what's wrong with it? He says it's the Japanese version and won't play his games. The back of the unit does in fact confirm it's a Japanese unit.

Long story short, I trade him for another PS2 that was sitting in the back and bought the Japanese PS2 slim for myself! Sure beats importing a system from Japan which I have done on a couple occasions.