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Post your Holy Grail Item!


Jason

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Just a standard retail mega man zero. It's a grail to me because finding one in this condition (or, in any acceptable condition) sealed was a task over a year in the making. I don't know that it's the rarest sealed GBA game ever but it wouldn't surprise me.

 

FGnnwUq.jpeg.7bce7ed68c1a3cf263dd2ab6f9820bdc.jpeg

Edited by inasuma
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Got a new "grail" in my collection....I feel blessed and grateful to have been put in the position to buy this and have this in my home......this is a one of a kind purchase for one of my favorite entertainers of all time, NORM MacDONALD. Last week I started talking with a guy named Steve, who has been a professional photographer for over two decades, doing all sorts of sporting and celebrity events. He also has a pretty nice autograph collection at this point, and there was one item I knew I had to have at all costs. He even cut me a deal.
On March 22nd, 1998 Steve attended a comedy show, only a handful of days after Norm had been famously fired from Saturday Night Live. On that night, Norm signed this VHS copy of 'Billy Madison'.......23 years later it belongs to me. I was also shown Steve's ticket to the show, and the photo he took with Norm while holding the movie. Norm wrote "It's October", referencing the start of the movie when Billy asks "What's today?" I never imagined Norm would be gone so soon and there will be no more specials and no more podcasts. I miss just hearing him talk about things. But now having this on my shelf, I'll always feel like I have a small piece of the great Norm MacDonald in my house forever

Of course now the mission is to meet Sandler in person with a "What's today?" inscription


EWapQt9.jpg
 
l5nNapj.jpg
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  • 1 month later...

Here is what I consider my Holy Grail items, from my complete Famicom Disk System collection it would be the (2) I am Teacher Disk, (I am teacher and I am teacher Mario Sweater), and the (2) Gold Prize Disk for gold (US and Japan courses)

582612088_DiskunFDSPrizeDiskset.jpg.f3d38d6086fe31341967f301951fedd1.jpg

1494082928_DiskunFDSPrizeDisksetopen.jpg.345931f4cd9c9842ff96a4b7da2e6661.jpg

409825231_FDSIamTeacherset.jpg.d36f648ede45f3c310346c362a40f955.jpg

 

And from my very small Game Boy collection (2) Game Boy Micros - 20th Anniversary Super Mario Bros units, they them selves are not rare, but the 1st one (Controller 1) came with the Play-Yan Micro cart which means it had to be ordered from Nintendo directly in Japan and the other one (Controller 2) was a Nintendo Club exclusive in Japan.

872626538_TwoGBMicroandPlay-YanCart.jpg.7228c7cfed4af528edc967787d1cd9e7.jpg

Hope you enjoy seeing them.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

My Holy grail will unlikely change, however. I want to give an honourable mention to this. 

I've always wanted to be in a game. Name only in credits, NPC, main character, whatever. I got to be an NPC in this game, and helped make a weapon too. No idea how many of these kickstarter editions were made. 

20191223_101541.jpg

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  • 1 month later...

I have a number of items I would consider for this but one of my favourite grails would have to be this Gameboy Castlevania 2 Belmont's Revenge cel.
 

These were made and used as apart of box art process. Was very fortunate and lucky to be able to get this. Especially since I love Castlevania.  

9B8A3848-CF2C-4F10-8739-EDDB0342BCAE.jpeg

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 8/29/2020 at 6:10 AM, Braveheart69 said:

Might just have to get Deniz and Kenneth to fly out here and grade my Matte Sticker.  Only opened once sticker still 100% intact (it was stuck to the inner flap with no damage to box or sticker), unpunched hangtab, immaculate in every way box.  Best copy I’ve ever seen of all the ones that have passed through my hands.  

image.jpg

image.jpg

How many would you say have passed through your hands?

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Added this rarity to my collection a while back to complete my RCA Studio II set and finally received my custom acrylic cases for it.

A bit of background for those unfamiliar:

The RCA Studio II was released in 1977 - the second programmable game console ever released (following the Fairchild VES by just a few months). It’s life would be short-lived as the Atari VCS was released later that same year and it’s technology blew the doors off the Studio II.

In its 2 years on the market, RCA only officially released 10 games for it, and all 10 are relatively easy to find and pretty cheap to boot (mainly because there are about 4 of us who collect for it lol).

The exception to that “cheap and easy” bit is TV Bingo… the 11th game in the Studio II library. To my knowledge, there are only 2 copies still known to exist.

TV Bingo was developed in 1979… just as the Studio II was being discontinued by RCA. As a result, the game was either 1) not released or 2) released in an extremely limited localized region here in the Northeast. (My personal belief is that the former is the most likely case, because of this next paragraph.)

Both known copies of TV Bingo were discovered in estate cleanouts within 45 minutes of Deptford, New Jersey - which is where RCA's manufacturing facility for the Studio II line was located. The first copy discovered came out of a West Berlin, NJ basement and the second copy (this one) was found in a Tabernacle, NJ attic — both homes were owned by former RCA employees. In fact, both copies were actually discovered by the same estate cleanout business.  Luckily the owner of the business knew a local game collector (Jason aka NJRetro) who clued him in to what this was.

From what I’ve learned thus far, I believe that only 50 copies of TV Bingo were produced before RCA pulled the plug on the Studio II line. Given the tiny production run and the fact that the only two copies I know to still exist were both found in homes of former RCA employees, I have to believe it’s likely that TV Bingo never made it to official “released” status, despite the game being completed and produced in full retail packaging.

It included a set of branded Bingo cards & a pouch of red Bingo markers. This particular copy had 3 extra sets of cards & and extra manual.

TV Bingo (RCA Studio II) - 001.jpg

TV Bingo (RCA Studio II) - 002.jpg

TV Bingo (RCA Studio II) - 004.jpg

TV Bingo (RCA Studio II) - 005.jpg

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52 minutes ago, VGCollectaholic said:

Added this rarity to my collection a while back to complete my RCA Studio II set and finally received my custom acrylic cases for it.

A bit of background for those unfamiliar:

The RCA Studio II was released in 1977 - the second programmable game console ever released (following the Fairchild VES by just a few months). It’s life would be short-lived as the Atari VCS was released later that same year and it’s technology blew the doors off the Studio II.

In its 2 years on the market, RCA only officially released 10 games for it, and all 10 are relatively easy to find and pretty cheap to boot (mainly because there are about 4 of us who collect for it lol).

The exception to that “cheap and easy” bit is TV Bingo… the 11th game in the Studio II library. To my knowledge, there are only 2 copies still known to exist.

TV Bingo was developed in 1979… just as the Studio II was being discontinued by RCA. As a result, the game was either 1) not released or 2) released in an extremely limited localized region here in the Northeast. (My personal belief is that the former is the most likely case, because of this next paragraph.)

Both known copies of TV Bingo were discovered in estate cleanouts within 45 minutes of Deptford, New Jersey - which is where RCA's manufacturing facility for the Studio II line was located. The first copy discovered came out of a West Berlin, NJ basement and the second copy (this one) was found in a Tabernacle, NJ attic — both homes were owned by former RCA employees. In fact, both copies were actually discovered by the same estate cleanout business.  Luckily the owner of the business knew a local game collector (Jason aka NJRetro) who clued him in to what this was.

From what I’ve learned thus far, I believe that only 50 copies of TV Bingo were produced before RCA pulled the plug on the Studio II line. Given the tiny production run and the fact that the only two copies I know to still exist were both found in homes of former RCA employees, I have to believe it’s likely that TV Bingo never made it to official “released” status, despite the game being completed and produced in full retail packaging.

It included a set of branded Bingo cards & a pouch of red Bingo markers. This particular copy had 3 extra sets of cards & and extra manual.

TV Bingo (RCA Studio II) - 001.jpg

TV Bingo (RCA Studio II) - 002.jpg

TV Bingo (RCA Studio II) - 004.jpg

TV Bingo (RCA Studio II) - 005.jpg

We get it, you won collecting.

Nerd.

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On 11/26/2021 at 5:19 PM, DarkTone said:

My Holy grail will unlikely change, however. I want to give an honourable mention to this. 

I've always wanted to be in a game. Name only in credits, NPC, main character, whatever. I got to be an NPC in this game, and helped make a weapon too. No idea how many of these kickstarter editions were made. 

20191223_101541.jpg

That's awesome. I've got my name in some digital games but never anything physical. But I did manage to get my son's name in Battle Axe as an NPC. 

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18 hours ago, VGCollectaholic said:

Added this rarity to my collection a while back to complete my RCA Studio II set and finally received my custom acrylic cases for it.

A bit of background for those unfamiliar:

The RCA Studio II was released in 1977 - the second programmable game console ever released (following the Fairchild VES by just a few months). It’s life would be short-lived as the Atari VCS was released later that same year and it’s technology blew the doors off the Studio II.

......

Very cool!  I think this is the first time I've seen pictures of this long-rumored game.

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  • 3 months later...

My irreplaceable one of a kind grail.

For a few years I had my dream gig working with Nintendo of North America to launch a bunch of projects and as a result my team sent me a signed controller to commemorate our time together. One of those projects was directly related to the release of the SNES controller in NA!

snes_controller.jpeg

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51 minutes ago, drxandy said:

@Boodeadawe that's super cool! I bet one of these would be perfect: https://www.retroprotection.com/Switch-SNES-Online-Controller-Protector-1-Protector-1007.htm

Nice bubble bath babes too haha

Oh that's an excellent idea! I didn't know they made cases for the controllers, definitely going to pick one up!

Good eye! I didn't think anyone would notice. 😄

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 5/26/2022 at 5:15 PM, Boodead said:

My irreplaceable one of a kind grail.

For a few years I had my dream gig working with Nintendo of North America to launch a bunch of projects and as a result my team sent me a signed controller to commemorate our time together. One of those projects was directly related to the release of the SNES controller in NA!

snes_controller.jpeg

Thank you for your service

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This just dropped and I've not seen one in years. I'll never be able to afford one but it's legit the only collector clothing I want to wear. If I did have the expendable cash for it, I wouldn't even negotiate.  I'd give the $2k for it right now.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/255582991028?mkevt=1&mkpid=0&emsid=e11021.m43.l3160&mkcid=7&ch=osgood&euid=6e979251a5b342d2a65590ff488787b6&bu=43195817395&ut=RU&osub=-1~1&crd=20220615090715&segname=11021

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10 hours ago, RH said:

This just dropped and I've not seen one in years. I'll never be able to afford one but it's legit the only collector clothing I want to wear. If I did have the expendable cash for it, I wouldn't even negotiate.  I'd give the $2k for it right now.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/255582991028?mkevt=1&mkpid=0&emsid=e11021.m43.l3160&mkcid=7&ch=osgood&euid=6e979251a5b342d2a65590ff488787b6&bu=43195817395&ut=RU&osub=-1~1&crd=20220615090715&segname=11021

Wow, that went quick 

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 11/26/2021 at 5:19 PM, DarkTone said:

My Holy grail will unlikely change, however. I want to give an honourable mention to this. 

I've always wanted to be in a game. Name only in credits, NPC, main character, whatever. I got to be an NPC in this game, and helped make a weapon too. No idea how many of these kickstarter editions were made. 

20191223_101541.jpg

I have several Grails but one of mine is very similar to yours! That is, if you count the CD-i version of the Washington area phone book as a game. Bell Atlantic Info-Active for the Philips CD-i was a regional exclusive to the area that was available to the general public for purchase and as such is one of the most difficult US releases to obtain nowadays. I remember seeing it back in the day, and also in a kiosk. Beyond it being a true rarity, the Grail part for me is that not only am I mentioned in it but so is my house and a lot of my family. Pretty much everyone in the Capitol area at the time are in a CD-i! 

1 Cover (back is all white) smol.jpg

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On 2/3/2022 at 3:00 PM, VGCollectaholic said:

Added this rarity to my collection a while back to complete my RCA Studio II set and finally received my custom acrylic cases for it.

A bit of background for those unfamiliar:

The RCA Studio II was released in 1977 - the second programmable game console ever released (following the Fairchild VES by just a few months). It’s life would be short-lived as the Atari VCS was released later that same year and it’s technology blew the doors off the Studio II.

In its 2 years on the market, RCA only officially released 10 games for it, and all 10 are relatively easy to find and pretty cheap to boot (mainly because there are about 4 of us who collect for it lol).

The exception to that “cheap and easy” bit is TV Bingo… the 11th game in the Studio II library. To my knowledge, there are only 2 copies still known to exist.

TV Bingo was developed in 1979… just as the Studio II was being discontinued by RCA. As a result, the game was either 1) not released or 2) released in an extremely limited localized region here in the Northeast. (My personal belief is that the former is the most likely case, because of this next paragraph.)

Both known copies of TV Bingo were discovered in estate cleanouts within 45 minutes of Deptford, New Jersey - which is where RCA's manufacturing facility for the Studio II line was located. The first copy discovered came out of a West Berlin, NJ basement and the second copy (this one) was found in a Tabernacle, NJ attic — both homes were owned by former RCA employees. In fact, both copies were actually discovered by the same estate cleanout business.  Luckily the owner of the business knew a local game collector (Jason aka NJRetro) who clued him in to what this was.

From what I’ve learned thus far, I believe that only 50 copies of TV Bingo were produced before RCA pulled the plug on the Studio II line. Given the tiny production run and the fact that the only two copies I know to still exist were both found in homes of former RCA employees, I have to believe it’s likely that TV Bingo never made it to official “released” status, despite the game being completed and produced in full retail packaging.

It included a set of branded Bingo cards & a pouch of red Bingo markers. This particular copy had 3 extra sets of cards & and extra manual.

TV Bingo (RCA Studio II) - 001.jpg

TV Bingo (RCA Studio II) - 002.jpg

TV Bingo (RCA Studio II) - 004.jpg

TV Bingo (RCA Studio II) - 005.jpg

4 Known copies exist:

1) PC2K1/Philly Classic/Dan McIntyre copy: discovered by an owner of the Studio 2 Demonstration Cartridge at the Circle 40 flea-market on the way back home from the previous Philly Classic. This was the infamous copy exhibited at PC2K1 that everyone got excited about and which became a minor videogame urban legend. It re-surfaced in 2018 and I now own it. Does not have a manual but does have two very old photocopied manuals from RCA, and a red inner tray instead of a blue one. The original owner is unknown.

2) the 2016 Joseph Santone copy: Joseph Santone worked in Finance for RCA and this copy was discovered by NJ house cleanout company A W Cleanout and put up on eBay, initially in a lot. Multiple collectors flooded the seller with offers and it was relisted separately and eventually sold to a very established and reputable collector who still has it. This was the copy from which the ROM dump was made by Ed Keefe. This copy is complete.

3) The Harry Callahan copy: recently listed complete copy on eBay and is apparently from the estate of the late RCA employee Harry Callahan. Still available and has been relisted multiple times: 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/294976981033?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=RzdQMI4wT8W&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=cssq4zlBQMK&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

4) the videogamesage/VGCollectaholic copy:

https://www.videogamesage.com/forums/topic/2688-post-your-holy-grail-item/?do=findComment&comment=265374

...not only complete but with extra sets of cards and an extra manual! 

Bingo technically does count as a retail release as at least one former RCA employee familiar with the title mentioned it being sold at the Deptford store, that is, that location of the RCA Family Stores. More than 50 copies were made, probably around a hundred. At least a few hundred, and probably a few thousand, copies were made of the various overseas releases of Bingo on all the "clone" systems. The ROM itself is identical.

Your extra manual and card sets suggest that at least a few other copies existed. It wouldn't be a huge surprise if some older collectors from back in the day have copies. I remember exchanging messages with A W Cleanout back in 2016 when the Santone copy came up. Everyone went gaga over it as the Philly Classic copy had vanished and wouldn't re-emerge for another two years. It was a really exciting time! 

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