A wonderfully written article, indeed. I'm a big fan of "the bin", my personal two favourite purchases thus far have been Beautiful Katamari for £5 and Bioshock for £7. Both excellent buys.
301: The Mysteries of the Bin
- Thread starter Brendan Main
- Start date
Hunh - we don't have bargain bins really around here. Well we kind of do but they really are nothing but the DS franchise games no one wants. Around here, the best place to go treasure hunting is second hand stores.
I've gotten more epic games from Half Price Books for the few bucks in my pocket than I can count. I still think my happiest finds were the Thief games, 2 dollars for the Metal Age and 4 dollars for Deadly Shadows. The first game I got for my first computer was from there. It was a copy of Baldur's Gate 2 with all the maps and manuals and such. It was like seven dollars and was packed in a big zip lock bag with a price tag taped to it.
Ah good memories.
I've gotten more epic games from Half Price Books for the few bucks in my pocket than I can count. I still think my happiest finds were the Thief games, 2 dollars for the Metal Age and 4 dollars for Deadly Shadows. The first game I got for my first computer was from there. It was a copy of Baldur's Gate 2 with all the maps and manuals and such. It was like seven dollars and was packed in a big zip lock bag with a price tag taped to it.
Ah good memories.
I remember a year ago I was looking through the bargain bin and found a $5 psp game with the generic Gamestop replacement case. The title of the game was "Gitaroo Man Lives!". Puzzled at the strange name, I asked a Gamestop employee about it. He said that he had never heard of it before in his life. So, I decided to buy it and when I got home I popped it into my psp and got a face full of this: I was shocked and expected to return the game within the week. So, I started playing. And playing. And playing until the game was over, after which I restarted the game on the hardest difficulty.
It is now my favorite rhythm game and only cost me $5.
It is now my favorite rhythm game and only cost me $5.
I am incapable of walking past a clearance table or bin - it's usually the first place I'll check in a store if I know where it is. I'm pretty sure I get this from my dad, who I have many, many memories of going to music stores during sidewalk sales so we could pick through the bargain bins and looking for obscure prog rock artists we liked. Heck, for the prices on those tables we could (and often did) grab anything with a cover we liked or that looked interesting.
I also love thrift stores, goodwill and the like. I picked up Soul Calibur IV and The Last Remnant for 360 for $9 each when they were still retailing for $40 and loved them both. I sincerely doubt I would have tried out The Last Remnant otherwise, and it's a game I've put many hours into. I also still have my copy of the Monty Python game on 5.25 floppies I picked up at an EB well after the format was dead and gone. It couldn't have been more than $3, but it's an awesome title I'd been seeking for ages.
Long live the bin, indeed!
I also love thrift stores, goodwill and the like. I picked up Soul Calibur IV and The Last Remnant for 360 for $9 each when they were still retailing for $40 and loved them both. I sincerely doubt I would have tried out The Last Remnant otherwise, and it's a game I've put many hours into. I also still have my copy of the Monty Python game on 5.25 floppies I picked up at an EB well after the format was dead and gone. It couldn't have been more than $3, but it's an awesome title I'd been seeking for ages.
Long live the bin, indeed!
The video game stores around here don't have the greatest bargain bins, but I love my local Cash Converters. The whole game section is just one big bargain bin (metaphorically, I mean - it does have shelves!), and I can almost always find something I want at a ridiculously low price. My favourite discoveries: an only-slightly-battered copy of Shadow of the Colossus for $5 and The Curse of Monkey Island for $3.
Games I've found in the bargain bin and would not trade back for the world:
- Robot Alchemic Drive (HOW DOES THIS GAME NOT HAVE A SEQUEL?!)
- Ico
- Hitman: Blood Money
- Invasion from Beyond
- Beyond Good & Evil (there is no justice)
Honestly the bargain bin is just great because, as someone above me said, it's one of the few places a gamer can actually just let loose and buy something because it looks interesting, without vetting it through reviews, friends, word of mouth, etc.
If you're an aspiring designer, particularly, the bargain bin is really a pretty amazing tool. "Here's an assortment of mechanics, some of them pretty novel. You know that these games failed commercially. Now tell me why."
- Robot Alchemic Drive (HOW DOES THIS GAME NOT HAVE A SEQUEL?!)
- Ico
- Hitman: Blood Money
- Invasion from Beyond
- Beyond Good & Evil (there is no justice)
Honestly the bargain bin is just great because, as someone above me said, it's one of the few places a gamer can actually just let loose and buy something because it looks interesting, without vetting it through reviews, friends, word of mouth, etc.
If you're an aspiring designer, particularly, the bargain bin is really a pretty amazing tool. "Here's an assortment of mechanics, some of them pretty novel. You know that these games failed commercially. Now tell me why."
First off I just want to say that i'm incredibly jealous of people who raided Best Buy back in the day when they tossed all their copies of Earthbound in there for 5$ each, now fetching a price of 1400+.
As for me, I always rummage through piles of games whenever I see them, especially if I'm headed to a flea market and such.
Recently I had picked up these games at Futureshop in a bin new:
Dark Void - 8$
Darkstalkers - 15$
Sonic Unleashed - 16$ (Ebgames sells used 360 copies for 35.99$)
Beetles Rock Band - 15$
As for me, I always rummage through piles of games whenever I see them, especially if I'm headed to a flea market and such.
Recently I had picked up these games at Futureshop in a bin new:
Dark Void - 8$
Darkstalkers - 15$
Sonic Unleashed - 16$ (Ebgames sells used 360 copies for 35.99$)
Beetles Rock Band - 15$
My first find was Silent Bomber for the PSone.
I don't remenber how expensive it was but it was from square soft so i took it home.
I had a lot of fun with that game, never finished it, the game is lost somewhere, but hopefully some day i'll find it again in some bargain bin somewhere.
I don't remenber how expensive it was but it was from square soft so i took it home.
I had a lot of fun with that game, never finished it, the game is lost somewhere, but hopefully some day i'll find it again in some bargain bin somewhere.
I've found a lot of stuff a few years back, because it was old. A lot of horrid stuff, but inbetween, some real gems. (I didn't buy it, because I had a copy already, but a shop had a boxed copy, in good condition, of Perfect Dark... In a bin labelled £1. Yeah.)
Since the 'good' stuff in bargain bins in my experience is always quite old, It's come to my attention that the age of such bargains follows a distinct pattern:
3-4 years ago, any N64 & PS1 stuff was bargain bin material. Just a year earlier, it had dedicated shelf space, but it was definitely cheap.
Meanwhile, at the same time, SNES titles were in display cabinets being sold for a small fortune. (I spotted a boxed copy of Secret of Mana selling for more than any new game.)
So... There's a definite cycle of 'new'->'bargain'->'vintage'.
Where stuff starts out expensive, gets really cheap, then becomes expensive again.
(Well, some things defy this trend, but it seems to hold quite well physical copies of games.)
Since the 'good' stuff in bargain bins in my experience is always quite old, It's come to my attention that the age of such bargains follows a distinct pattern:
3-4 years ago, any N64 & PS1 stuff was bargain bin material. Just a year earlier, it had dedicated shelf space, but it was definitely cheap.
Meanwhile, at the same time, SNES titles were in display cabinets being sold for a small fortune. (I spotted a boxed copy of Secret of Mana selling for more than any new game.)
So... There's a definite cycle of 'new'->'bargain'->'vintage'.
Where stuff starts out expensive, gets really cheap, then becomes expensive again.
(Well, some things defy this trend, but it seems to hold quite well physical copies of games.)
Off the top of my head: Half-Life 2: GOTY $1, Fallout 3 (PC) $6, Oblivion (PC) $4, Fallout: New Vegas (PC) $13, Final Fantasy XIII (360) $20, Soulcalibur IV: Collector's Edition (360) $20, The World Ends With You $10, Retro Game Challenge $10, Pokemon Ranger $10, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky $10, Scribblenauts $15 (A week after it came out), Muramasa: The Demon Blade $15, Every PSP game besides Persona $15 or less.
And that's just this gen and off the top of my head.
And that's just this gen and off the top of my head.
I found an original xbox copy of Serious Sam in a bin. Awesome fun ensued for months. I got it for $2. Even more awesome. And it contained the First and Second Encounter. Wow! And some awesome splitscreen multiplayer! HOLY SAFJIEASDFASDFA. Yeah, that good.
I always check the pre-owned and bargain bin every time I go to GAME. Sometimes I laugh at the sheer idiocy of the titles there, and other times, I find brilliant and ridiciously cheap games and buy them on the spot.
Best deal I've ever found: Managed to find a copy of Viewtiful Joe on the DS for £, and another game for £15 I forget for my brother for christmas, and found, while in the queue, a near brand new copy of Trauma Center Second Opinion for £2.99. Bought it on the spot with my brother's games, cashed in my reward points and only has to spend 99p total on all three games.
I went home a very happy bunny that day
Best deal I've ever found: Managed to find a copy of Viewtiful Joe on the DS for £, and another game for £15 I forget for my brother for christmas, and found, while in the queue, a near brand new copy of Trauma Center Second Opinion for £2.99. Bought it on the spot with my brother's games, cashed in my reward points and only has to spend 99p total on all three games.
I went home a very happy bunny that day
They'll probably be going back to the bins for the $5 movies. They did research and showed that sales have dropped a lot by not having the movies thrown into bins for people to root through. It's a psychological thing, people tend to think that when they have them in a bin it's a special deal, whereas on shelves they just see it as regular price-even though it's the same thing for both. (Source: My cousin by marriage who is an executive at Wal-Mart.)sylekage said:
I remember about 15 years ago wasting time on saturday waiting for a date (he never showed up, the bastard!) I ventured into a unknown game shop and picking up about 25-30 games for my Commodore 64 for £3! £3! I was beside myself with joy, and when the date didin't show I was still happy cause it ment I got to go home and play my new treasures!
Ever since I've always checked the bargain bin
Ever since I've always checked the bargain bin
I guess the stores I buy games in go for that "tuck bargain bin in corner, out of sight, out of mind" thing that the writer was talking about. Unlike Best Buy, for example, that has a big sign over their bin that says "Movies For Five Bucks Here!" (a bin in which I found Memento:: GREAT movie). But, I've definitely been turned on to the idea of bin-thrift: I'll just carry a few sanitary wipes with me (lol).