Games that you waited many years to play and/or buy?

During my youth, before I had a regular income, there were some games that I considered my personal 'holy grail'. We didn't have internet yet, and finding these games and/or having the money just never seemed to happen. Thanks to eBay, I finally got my hands on these games. I'm curious, what were your 'holy grail' games that you waited years and years to get your hands on? Here are mine :

It was personally very special for me when I got my hands on these games. I spent years trying to find copies, but never seemed to find copies in the wild. And the couple times I actually saw them, I was just a poor kid and couldn't buy them.

DNF being the obvious one: Wait = 12 years.

Continental Circus i always wanted for the CPC but never got it. First time i played it was on 'Taito Legends' on the PS2, then afterwards through an emulation of the Amstrad version:  Wait = 22 years

NHL 97 (16-years) - I am not a fan of sports games really, however I remember wanting this game so badly when I was about 10 and my dad made me decide between this and a guitar. I struggled a lot between the two, but I ended up choosing the guitar. Fast foward to last fall, I was at a video game store and they had a complete copy of NHL 97 for 99-cents. I felt like I needed closure on this so I ended up buying it. It's a decent game still I might add.

Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis (10-years) - I remember when this game came out I wanted it so badly, however none of the local game stores I went to growing up had it and my money always seemed to go to other games before I could track down a copy. The game sort of faded from memory for several years until I started collecting games, however by then the price of this game had become crazy. I tried for years to get an affordable copy on Ebay or in the wild, and just last weekend I hit the jackpot by finding a copy for only $5 complete and everything.

NHL 97 (16-years) - I am not a fan of sports games really, however I remember wanting this game so badly when I was about 10 and my dad made me decide between this and a guitar. I struggled a lot between the two, but I ended up choosing the guitar. Fast foward to last fall, I was at a video game store and they had a complete copy of NHL 97 for 99-cents. I felt like I needed closure on this so I ended up buying it. It's a decent game still I might add.

Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis (10-years) - I remember when this game came out I wanted it so badly, however none of the local game stores I went to growing up had it and my money always seemed to go to other games before I could track down a copy. The game sort of faded from memory for several years until I started collecting games, however by then the price of this game had become crazy. I tried for years to get an affordable copy on Ebay or in the wild, and just last weekend I hit the jackpot by finding a copy for only $5 complete and everything.

Shenmue_Jehuty

NHL '96 and '97 are two of the best sports games that have ever been made.

I just played Mega Man 5 for the first time having the owned the game myself. That was pretty cool and I don't remember that game at all from when I borrowed it all those years ago.

My current record is 1993 - present day. Waiting to play Parasol stars. Finding a copy of this game and a TG-16. 20 years and counting. Could have done it twice, But didn't pull the trigger. Parasol Stars the story of Bubble Bobble 3 is not considered "Cannon" to the original games. Since it never received a Arcade coin op release. Bubble Bobble, Rainbow Islands "the story of Bubble Bobble 2" did. Bubble Bobble Memories "The Story of Bobble Bobble 3" did receive a coin op release. And is apart of the official cannon.

So I have not pulled the trigger on buying the game Which is $90.00 and a TG-Machine. Since I am holding out for a TG-DUO. If I'm going play this game. Since it is non-cannon I can wait.

20 years and counting.......

A lot of the GBA games I've bought recently. When I was younger they were either too expensive or didn't interest me, but now that I have a better income more than an allowance,, and I like to "branch out" more, I've bioguht some GBA games my younger self never would have played, like Metroid Zero Mission, Advance Wars, Final Fantasy V/ VI Advance, the Dept. Heaven games (Riviera: The Promised Land and Yggdra Union) and the Super Robot Taisen: OG Saga games. There are more I want, like many, many PS2 games, so if I ever get a PS2 you can add FFX, FFXII, Dragon Quest VIII and many others to the list.

Sonic CD, Sonic & Knuckles, and Virtual On Cyber Troopers.

I never had a SEGA CD when I was a kid, so I had to make do with the PC version of Sonic CD. The problem was I could only get it to run some of the time, so I never played it as much as I wanted to. I have a SEGA CD now, so I have that version of Sonic CD, plus I also have two copies of the HD remake on XBL and Steam.

As much as I love Sonic, I never had this cartridge when it came out. Honestly, I thought all it did was let you play as Knuckles, so I didn't see what the big deal was. I was also getting way more into PC gaming at the time, so I didn't really dwell on it too much. When I did get an urge to buy it though, I could never find it, and it wasn't until I played it on the Mega Collection in 2004 did I discover just what I had missed out on. When people tell me it's because of nostalgia as to why I love Sonic 3 & Knuckles so much, it's because of this story I tell them they couldn't be more wrong. Luckily, one of my best friends from college knew I was a big Sonic fan and gave me his old Genesis copy as a gift, so I have the real thing now. 

I always used to play the crap out of Virtual On in the arcade and on the Saturn demo disc that SEGA mailed to me (yeah, remember when companies did stuff like that?), but I never had the full game. I finally bought it off of ebay probably a little more than half a year ago, and it's still an awesome game to play.

Still waiting for mother 3.. voljin1987

That's a good answer, I've waited far too long to play that game in a non-emulated way.

It has taken me forever to get to the Final Fantasy series.  I now have the first seven (have beaten up to FFIV) and love them.

It also took me forever to get to Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Ys I and II and Ys: The Oath in Felghana, to name just a few of the games that I love but never got around to.

alot of games.

when I was a child , I was very much limited in what games I could buy, it was limited by money (or lack of it) , what games were in the shop (buying online wasn't really an option) , etc.

Many.

Mega man legends 2 and shantae.

I remember seeing shantae in a nintendo power, but could never find the game in stores. It's a probably one of the best games on the color, graphics wise, it really short though. On the other hand, i was pretty disapointed when i actually did get to play legends 2. It just wasn't as good.

Panzer Dragoon Saga.

Shenmue 3. Oh wait...Spinnerweb

Ouch. That actually hurt. :P

During my youth, before I had a regular income, there were some games that I considered my personal 'holy grail'. We didn't have internet yet, and finding these games and/or having the money just never seemed to happen. Thanks to eBay, I finally got my hands on these games. I'm curious, what were your 'holy grail' games that you waited years and years to get your hands on? Here are mine :

          

It was personally very special for me when I got my hands on these games. I spent years trying to find copies, but never seemed to find copies in the wild. And the couple times I actually saw them, I was just a poor kid and couldn't buy them.

JannettyTRocker

It has taken me forever to get to the Final Fantasy series.  I now have the first seven (have beaten up to FFIV) and love them.

It also took me forever to get to Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Ys I and II and Ys: The Oath in Felghana, to name just a few of the games that I love but never got around to.

NeonNinja

Oh lawdy, I was so hesitant on picking these up  but I'm so glad I did.  Fantastic, absolutely fantastic games.  

On topic, it took me forever to get my hands on some original Megaman games and some Sonic games.

So many that I stopped caring.

It's hard to find decent UK prices of old games I really wanted as a kid, so I mostly resort to Virtual Console or something. Not what I really prefer but whatever.

Fire Emblem Path of Radiance is probably the only game I longed for so long.