DS Daily: Bargain bin hunter

by David Hinkle { Aug 6th 2008 at 9:00AM }

For any gamer, seeing a bargain bin often ends in a multi-minute thumbing through its collection of treasures. Odd games that held a past interest yet were priced too high initially are usually what we encounter, now lowered to a cost that we are more than fine with paying. It's pretty much how we catch up on games we missed.

So what was the last great find you had from a bargain bin? Something that was a featured sale, perhaps seen here? Was it something you found at your local shop? What was it?

Tags: bargain-bin, cheap-games, sales

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Feba @ Aug 6th 2008 9:05AM

TRU's clearance bin has had some good stuff; like EBA for $10~. Never anything to personally interest me, unfortunately.

Nigeria @ Aug 6th 2008 9:11AM

I found Sonic Rush Adventure and Guilty Gear going for �5 each at my local games store. That was around January, but nothing since then.

elend @ Aug 6th 2008 9:37AM

In Germany they prices don't sink too fast. There is the occasional bargain bin, but it only contains PC crap or the really, really lame DS titles. And even in the bargain bin the prices are ridiculous. You won't find DS games under 20 EUR (30 USD) over here.

rikki @ Aug 6th 2008 9:52AM

Probably EBA -- I think it was $15. Didn't suit me much though, so I sold it. I'm still waiting for the lone copy of Ontamarama at my local GS to hit the $10 mark.

Most of my decent "DS" bargain bin finds were actually GBA games -- Astro Boy for $10, MMZ 1, 3 & 4 plus Castlevania HoD in a buy 3 get 1 free, Digidrive for $8.

Zealot @ Aug 6th 2008 10:00AM

My best deal of all time was Advance Wars: Days of Ruin for $7 at K-Mart. I actually bought both they had just to have a sealed copy, considering that the game is upper-tier in rarity as far as DS games go. I also got DQH: Rocket Slime for $18 when it was still $35 everywhere at a department store phasing out its electronics department, and didn't regret it. It's probably my second or third-favorite DS game. Now that it's $10-$15 most places, you, the reader, have no excuse not to get this gem.

I would love to take advantage of more such deals, but I just don't see really, really good bargains all that often. I'm definitely a person who waits for price drops before purchasing games I'm skeptical about (I already have "wait until $20" and "wait until $15" lists for upcoming releases), so this can mean me having to wait over a year after a game's release for this to happen, and potentially never in the case of first-party titles (in which case I've usually already found it for bargain price used on ebay. Keyword usually--STILL waiting for a $20 copy of Super Princess Peach.) In other instances, the game will remain at release price for the duration of its shelf-life, disappear before being discounted, and then increase in price online and elsewhere--consider the cases of Electroplankton, Hotel Dusk, and some Atlus games. It can be fairly risky to wait for someone such as myself who tends to do this on obscure, niche titles, but it's paid off about as much as it hasn't in the past.

Dartholomeo @ Aug 6th 2008 10:22AM

Last week I got 'Magical Starsign' for $7.98 at Toys R Us for my wife. She didn't like it that much so I'll be giving it a try later.

A month ago or so I got 'Pokemon Diamond' (for me) and 'The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass' (for my wife) for $22.99 each at Amazon's Gold Box deals.

I have my eyes open looking for 'Advance Wars: Days of Ruin' at a discount price.

Matt G. @ Aug 6th 2008 10:39AM

I'm waiting on Soul Bubbles and N+ to be in there, sometime down the road.

Kyle @ Aug 10th 2008 9:50PM

with N+ coming in at only $20, it seems its already in the bargin bin.

Lekethuia @ Aug 6th 2008 11:50AM

I found and bought Master of Illusion at Target on there mark down shelf for about $7.95 its an ok game I'll more than likely give it to my husband to bring out the David Copperfield in him.

MrTyzik @ Aug 6th 2008 12:44PM

I got Feel the Magic for like $7 at Sears. It's actually a fun game.

Crazylink @ Aug 6th 2008 12:55PM

Oh wow, I've bought so many used games for so much cheaper than they should be this year.

Megaman and Bass
Golden Sun: The lost Age
Drill Dozer
Riviera
Yoshi's Island Super Mario Advance
Nanostray
Polarium (I should have gotten the GBA version...)
Lost Kingdoms
Eternal Darkness
Donkey Konga
SSX Tricky
Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes (apparently, $35 is really low)
Skies of Arcadia: Legends
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance

Microx @ Aug 6th 2008 2:14PM

I got the SiN and SiN Episodes: Emergence package for $3 at my local grocery store. It's actually a really fun and solid FPS.

SPT Layzner @ Aug 6th 2008 2:38PM

Zelda DS at Radio Shack for $22. Har!

Adam Dolph @ Aug 6th 2008 2:51PM

Dementium: The Ward for $13.99, and Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin for $17.99 at Gamestop and Gunpey DS for $9.99 at Toys R Us.

Char6296 @ Aug 6th 2008 3:15PM

Only thing I remember being cheap in the past year was Sonic Adventure DX for �5. Maplin under priced it, actually, considering its value. Still... my parents weren't complaining. :D

aj @ Aug 6th 2008 6:46PM

I got Magical Starsign for 9$ when it was still 30$ everywhere at EB.

But mostly there aren't many bargains 'round these parts. My local Future Shop has a bargain bin for games, but the funny thing is that they don't actually mark the prices down AT ALL, they just put a red sticker next to the normal (ridiculously high) price. It sucks.

StephenM @ Aug 6th 2008 9:15PM

I just picked up Bleach: The Blade of Fate for seven dollars at Target. When I saw it on clearance, I knew I had to snatch it before someone else did.

chibi_wings @ Aug 6th 2008 11:43PM

I've found a few, but usually the bargin bin have titles like "Catz" that I will never buy.
I've found:
Sonic Rush ($20.00 CAN)
Master of Illusion ($9.99 CAN)
Heroes of Mana ($24.99 CAN)
Age of Empires ($ 19.99 CAN)

and quite some time ago: Sword of Mana GBA ($19.99 CAN)
And all of these titles (except Sonic Rush) were bought before the drop of the US dollar.

chibi_wings @ Aug 7th 2008 4:45PM

oh I also forgot to mention one other title that I got for my brother:
Chibi Robo: Park Patrol ($9.99 CAN)
He liked the GCN Chibi Robo, so I thought he would probably enjoy this one too. That and also it was 20 dollars less then what it is normally priced. This was definitely one of the better deals I've found =)

donald @ Aug 7th 2008 11:53AM

My best was getting Dungeon Explorer:Warriors of Ancient Arts for $9.99 at Fry's 3 weeks ago.

JK @ Aug 7th 2008 2:43PM

I got a brand new copy of Daigasso! Band Brothers DX off eBay for $40 (and free shipping). That may not seem like a great deal, but it is an import, and compared to the prices at YesAsia and PlayAsia (both of which have it for around $50 PLUS shipping), I'd say I got a very good deal (oh, and the seller I purchased it from lives in the US, so I didn't have to wait to get my game from Asia).

yost @ Aug 8th 2008 6:58AM

the local block buster has been having a buy one get one free sale on their used game stock so I bought 10 xbox360 games for 60 dollars (cod3, prey, kameo, perfect dark zero, the darkness, conan, battle for middle earth 2,spiderman 3, pirates of the caribean 3, and star trek legacy)...I got a brand new pokemon diamond for 20 dollars at radio shack a few months ago (I already had a copy but I needed more storage space)...I fornd the bleach game for ds for 9.98 at toys r us a few months ago..I also got guilty gear ds for 4.98 at toys r us...and need for speed carbon (360) for 9.90 at toys r us all on the same day...I'm always a budget gamer honestly the last game I bought at launch price was halo 3 ... the only ds game I've ever paid over 30 dollars for was my first copy of diamond ...