One of my favorite aspects of game collecting is finding ridiculously old titles still new at retail. (Gamecube launch titles at Wal-Mart, anyone?) I remember seeing a copy of Soul Blade at an outside-of-town Dollar General about a year ago. It was $10 at the time, a bit too steep for any PS1 game still kicking around on  shelves. I happened to be driving by the same store yesterday, and thought I would stop just to see if they still had it and if it had been marked down any.

To my luck, not only had Dollar General marked it down to $8 at some point, it was in the middle of 2 big “50% off” clearance aisles. That made it $4 out the door. For reference, they had several other less-than-stellar titles like Wild 9 (PS1, $4), Ultimate Board Games (PS2, $7.50), Dragonball GT (GBA, $7.50), and Veggie Tales (PS2, $7.50).

It’s rare to see any new PS1 games still at retail these days, let alone one that’s part of a well-respected franchise (Soul Calibur). Did I mention the cheapest sealed copy on eBay is $20?

The game rang up as “Xmas 05 Assort,” so it’s been there for at least 3 years. As a funny side note, the store didn’t even have the tool to unlock the plastic bracket that held the game. It came out with a quick snip from a pair of wire cutters.

This amuses me. As much as I like to make fun of K Mart and fye for having ancient stock (”The Bouncer” for $52.99, anyone? Anyone?), this really takes the cake. Fairyland on Cheapassgamer reports that some KB Toys locations are still kicking around Atari Jaguar stuff… and at a price about as cheap as it gets.

I personally did not find this, but my friend found and bought Zool 2 at his KB in New Jersey, somewhere near Rahway, for only a quarter! He said it was next to the PS2 games that they was liquidating. When he went to check out, the employee thought it was some PC game. It appears this was the same store where my friend just got some 10 year old Sailor Moon dolls as well. It appears that some KB Toys are extremely stuck back in time. Simply amazing.

Amazing indeed. It reminds me of when I picked up a box of new overstock Sega Game Gear games earlier this year at a flea market for $0.25 ea. (Nothing amazing, just Disney’s Aladdin, a tank sim, and some poker games.)

I’ve also heard reports this year of Wal-Mart still carrying late gen PS1 Square titles (Black label “Vagrant Story” for $19.99?? Are you kidding me?) and K Mart carrying N64 Diddy Kart strategy guides.

Have you spotted ancient gaming merchandise at a retail store? Send it in and we’ll post it! Pics are a plus!