Goodwill = not so good....

At least you have these as an option, closest Ive got are pathetic in comparison (once got an nes for £5 but it was backroom stock).

Yeah man, I've heard similar from friends abroad. Apparently the second-hand market sucks. One dude said something about "the charity shops around HERE only ever have granny clothes and bowlers trophies". hehe
We've got seven Goodwills within a ten mile radius, along with several fleas sprinkled in.

Do charity shops et al, especially goodwill, ever have either a) something other than sports games and the like or b) if they somehow end up with something worthwhile (once every 2 years or so it can happen) then not hideously overpriced?

goodwill sends all it's actual valueable valuables to a distribution center to be sold online for quite a few years now.
the last thing they want is anyone getting a good deal.

truth is a lot of charity shops have people who have positioned themselves to "sort" items, these people very often hive stuff off for themselves and throw a few quid in the pot for a game/bag/collectable they know is worth substantially more, there was a recent story near me of a charity shop worker who had sold £70,000 worth of stuff on their ebay that they had bought from the shop for peanuts

charity shops used to sometimes throw up a few bargains but now either they have people on the lookout for "expensive" items to sell online (fair enough I guess, its their stock), or there is a someone along the chain hiving stuff off before it ever hits the shelves

my biggest gripe now is the shops that go batshit crazy thinking they have rare stuff and have a unboxed copy of sonic the hedgehog in the glass case for £80 lol....they tried

In my case, I'm guessing the volume of Goodwills is a factor. Sure, they are filled with mostly junk, but the deals are out there for those with a keen eye. I could write a 3" thick book detailing the finds I've had at Goodwill dating back 30 years. Some really incredible and unbelievable stuff.
As with so many pop culture-related things, though, the true 'glory days' are long behind us. (Dried up at some point in the 90s, with the advent of Antiques Roadshow, Ebay, and more recently every Millennial punkass in existence running crummy YT channels which only serve to spread ignorance and inflate the market - what was once curbside pickup for the trash man is now 'retro'.)

It seems like most of the good finds these days are based on employee ignorance. Example: got my 2DS because they had it in a bin of 'Leapsters' and kiddie handhelds, priced at $2.50. What really gives me a chuckle is this same employee ignorance when it comes to the glass display case (dramatic music plays) near the registers. My wife and I have joked about this ridiculous practice for years; 'Goodwill: The Collectible Store!' Idiots. 90% of the time what they have in there is absolute JUNK -- "Flerp! Walp, Nin-TAN-do tapes is rare n' spensive, so this here Mario/Duck game must be one a da RAREST! I'll mark it $25!!" -- and they are completely unaware of it. They'll have an ACTUAL good/sought after game sitting on a shelf with a bunch of candles and VHS tapes priced at $2, while INSIDE the glass display they'll have dozens of copies of John Madden and PS2 crappers.

Although the 'glory days' are long gone, we still find goodies on a near weekly basis. Just last month I found a large drum of 70s Popoids, a haul of 80s/90s Disney figures, a carded She-Ra doll, several DS Pokemon games, some random controllers, a vinyl Dash Rendar figure, etc.etc. Not lumps of gold, exactly, but any $10-$20 item that can be purchased for $1-$2 is always a sweet deal.
And besides, for me it's FUN to get out there. I'm a junkman, a wheeler dealer, and always have been. You sincerely wouldn't believe the stuff I've pulled from some of these thrift stores and fleas, but that's for another time.

Damn, you bastards have made me wanna get back out there....gonna go put some coffee on and wake up the sleeping wifey for a Sunday run....

If I am outside you are as likely as not to find me eyeing up a skip, scouting for said skips, wandering into a junk shop or otherwise with an eye out for things, and I have no shame about carrying massive things home with me on foot. Also you had better believe I am all about paying a pittance to the clueless, widows and orphans for cool old shit when going to car boot sales/yard sales/tabletop sales.
It is more that as you say the popularity of easier means of assessing worth have meant once useful haunts, like charity shops and goodwill, are scarcely worth it any more.

makes me remember when i went to a store at the shopping and i found some DS games, i asked the price of one of them and it was $47 (usd) lol

Got a few goodies I've been needing from retail, and wifey found an original Aladdin light switch cover & a baggie of Pokethings!

(Edited original posts, for some reason the 'add images' tab does NOT appear for me down here, only 'post reply'.)

As a nerf modder, I've seen and heard tales of rare finds in thrift stores. Titans, an entire sonic recon, AT3Ks, Magstrikes, Barricades, you name it. But generally you have to do a sweep of several stores to find everything worth getting.

More like Badwill.