You have anything in your collection that's dead mint/near-perfect... except for that one "thing"?!

[RH | 5,538]

For many of you that have been collecting for a while and have cared about condition, it's probably an experience you've had, like I have, a few times.  You find something for sale... you look at it in photos from the front and it looks amazing... practically perfect!  Then you turn it over, or check the contents and then you see it.  What is it?  It could be anything.  A simple small corner-crease on a the manual.  Maybe it's a CIB NES game with a perfect box, manual, all inserts and a game that looks like it was never played... but on the back are some kids initials in Sharpie?!  I can hear you're internal screams, just as I have!

So I ask you guys, do any of you own something that's in dead-mint shape, or in exceptional condition for the nature of the game or item, but it has that one small flaw that eats at your soul!

For me, I've only have/had a couple.

• SMB3 (Left). CIB - Technically, this is two. I picked this up from here and this one has an amazing, box.  The manual has one minor bend in corner, which is bad enough, but the game which looks unplayed but has sharpie initials on the back.  Ugh?!  I intend to find another SMB3 left-cart in great shape and swap the cart, or the back but that takes work.  Surprisingly, I've yet to find a manual in better shape.  But I want to replace that one too.  Regardless, these small flaws would eat me if I saw the contents constantly but, fortunately, they are in the box so I don't mind.
• Final Fantasy Adventure (Squaresoft) Sealed - I eventually had to let this one go and I slightly regret it.  I sold this one years ago.  It was a graded 85 from VGS and from the front, the thing looked super fantastic.  Looked at from all sides and it was the same story--nearly a perfect specimen.  However, from the back... off, there was a small indention in the box, that almost broke the shrink wrap, that was about a quarter inch in size.  I enjoyed having it on my shelf for years but since I also own a CIB copy of the game that's in near perfect shape, I let the sealed one go.
• Azure Dreams (PS1) CIB - Yeah, this would have been a keeper if it weren't for one thing.  One of my first good finds in-the-wild at a thrift shop was Azure Dreams for the PS1!  The case, disc and manual were all in exceptional shape and it legit looked like it simply had the cellophane taken off but was never, ever touched or played. So what screwed it up... Sigh... Some bonehead apparently left it setting on a desk with a book or sheet of paper over it for a loooong time.  Half the cover was sun faded. I bought it because even then it was a $40 game and it was $2 at the store, but man, that sun fade on such an otherwise perfect item made my eye twitch.

So what about you guys?  What's in your collection that would be perfect if it weren't for that one "thing"?

Edited July 23, 2024 by RH

[Tabonga | 2,718]

I have a copy of Super Conflict on the SNES I bought new - so I still have the box and manual.

It has a weird combined password/battery save.

When I made the ill fated decision to buy a NAMCO gamesaver for the SNES I tried it out on that game and it bollixed up the save.  

Not a particularly valuable game - but I bought a used cart only to replace it anyway.  

So I have an essentially new cart that doesn't work.

 

 

[guitarzombie | 974]

The only thing that really comes to mind is some of the yellowing plastic on GB carts.  In a flash photo it looks fine, then when you get it and compare it, its yellowed.  Enough to be annoying, but not enough to really go through the trouble of replacing it.

[RH | 5,538]

1 hour ago, guitarzombie said:

The only thing that really comes to mind is some of the yellowing plastic on GB carts.  In a flash photo it looks fine, then when you get it and compare it, its yellowed.  Enough to be annoying, but not enough to really go through the trouble of replacing it.

This happened to me a lot.  Especially, if you look at a game, even in good light in your hand, but in isolation of itself, it seems fine.  Put it in the stack of games and then it's quite obvious its a half-shade different.  Well... at least it's uniform.

[AirVillain | 544]

I came here for pictures.

Because I get the pain.

I don't really have anything "mint" though that I actually care about the condition.... wait....

I've got a sealed "Punch-Out!"  that's got some crunched corners that I wish were in better shape, and some plastic wrap damage, but it was far from "mint" in the first place...

But if I recall, the damage was furthered by shipping.

So yeah... that angers me... now I'm upset about it all over again.

 

[Friendsfa35 | 39]

 

the only thing i get annoyed by, is when CIB games are so hard to find in good condition, that you have to buy multiple ones just to make your own CIB in your wanted condition.

for example, over her in Europe, just try finding a good condition CIB Lolo 2 on the NES, the SCN and or FRG code version is a bit more common CIB, but just like the FRA coded one, the box is almost always damaged, or sunfaded, or contains a store sticker on the front.

even worse, it's almost impossible to find the FRA coded manual, let alone in great condition, all ebay has is either loose carts, or like 3 CIB's, with damaged manuals.

[fcgamer | 5,358]

On 7/24/2024 at 1:31 AM, RH said:

I intend to find another SMB3 left-cart in great shape and swap the cart, or the back but that takes work.

For me, this would be the cardinal sin, much worse than any small damage

[fcgamer | 5,358]

I found a ton of games over the years, new old stock - perfect everything, except sometimes sun faded boxes, or warped boxes due to the shrinkwrap. Used to hate it, eventually learned to accept it. 

[PII | 2,198]

I picked up this box for Snake Rattle N Roll many moons ago to complete my copy.  It was on ebay in near mint for dirt cheap and the person who sent it to me simply tossed it into nothing more than a bubble mailer and so it arrived with this crease that runs down from the top of the front face into the "K."  Definitely still worth it for the price, but still it was really irritating to get it like that. 

 

Edited September 7, 2024 by PII

[RH | 5,538]

8 hours ago, fcgamer said:

For me, this would be the cardinal sin, much worse than any small damage

I can only partly agree to this.  For instance if there was a rare item or game and, say, only 3-4 copies were known to exist, and if I happened own two of those copies, I would keep the sets as they are because history in that way is important.

But with something like SMB3, for any given variant, there are likely several hundreds, if not thousands of copies out there in various degrees of condition and completeness. I have no problem swapping parts, but I will pay very close attention to detail like internal stamps on the shells, the back label, etc.  I want a correct, exact copy as close as I can get.

Edited July 29, 2024 by RH

[Friendsfa35 | 39]

On 7/29/2024 at 11:24 AM, PII said:

I picked up this box for Snake Rattle N Roll many moons ago to complete my copy.  It was on ebay in near mint for dirt cheap and the person who sent it to me simply tossed it into nothing more than a bubble mailer and so it arrived with this crease that runs down from the top of the front face into the "K."  Definitely still worth it for the price, but still it was really irritating to get it like that. 

 

THIS is why you ALWAYS ask the seller to properly pack and ship stuff in a shipping box, if you hit "buy it now" or whatever, and wait till it arrives, it could be sent any way the seller wants, i remember from NintendoAge someone getting the NES Miracle Piano shipped in such a way that the seller taped the box shut on each side, and put the address label on the Piano's box itself etc..... with a few lairs of clear tape around the box as well.

[PII | 2,198]

5 hours ago, Friendsfa35 said:

THIS is why you ALWAYS ask the seller to properly pack and ship stuff in a shipping box, if you hit "buy it now" or whatever, and wait till it arrives, it could be sent any way the seller wants, i remember from NintendoAge someone getting the NES Miracle Piano shipped in such a way that the seller taped the box shut on each side, and put the address label on the Piano's box itself etc..... with a few lairs of clear tape around the box as well.

Yeah, it's like 99 times out of a 100 you have nothing to worry about.  The seller knows what they're doing and will pack everything properly.  It's just that 1 time that some dipstick misses the obvious need to protect the item or even worse, decides to apply damage to the item themself, as in your case...