The one(s)that got away for all of you sealed collectors or the one(s) that you wish you would have bought

[Dumars2001 | 164]

The title says it all for sealed collectors out there.

Now, with the way the sealed market has exploded, I am sure that many of you are kicking yourself for selling something or not buying something when you had the chance.

I have quite a few regrets but my number one regret now, is selling my raw sealed copy of a minty Sega Genesis Sonic the Hedgehog (original launch copy). I remember selling it for $450 and being ecstatic over that sale.

Some honorable mentions: (I sold all of these way back before the boom)

A VGA 85+ Nes Mighty Final Fight

A VGA 85 black seal Nes Ghostbusters

A Vga 85 Ubi Soft Nes Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Very nice raw copies of Nes Wolverine, Turtles 2, Turtles 3, Skate or Die, Double Dragon 2

VGA 90's of Nes Batman, Bad Dudes, Total Recall, Yo Noid

Anyways, I don't fret too much about this, but I sure wish that I had these ones back and a few more, but nobody new what was going to happen.

The games that I wish I would have bought:  I remember having many chances to buy a VGA 85 or a nice raw copy of Nes Contra, Zelda 2 and Metroid for around a $1,000 for a long time, but for some reason, I always put it off.

Edited July 15, 2021 by Dumars2001

[OptOut | 8,883]

There are only two systems that I actively collect sealed games for, namely Japanese Dreamcast and 64DD.

So far it seems like Sealed Japanese Dreamcast games remain super cheap, so I don't THINK anything has gotten away from me there yet!

However, 64DD is another story I guess! There are ten games on the system and I have 5 sealed, 3 opened, and I am missing two entirely! I should be able to upgrade the 3 opened games to sealed pretty easily, although I haven't seen a sealed Doshin the Giant yet... However, even FINDING the last two I need AT ALL (let alone sealed) is virtually impossible, so I may never even finish that set unfortunately.

[jonebone | 1,307]

No regrets, be thankful for what you do have at this point.  The game that always haunted me the most was selling a stupid Mint CIB Sqoon back in 2010 / 2011 for $300.  I got a "Very Good" one back years later but I know the condition on that game is irreplacable.

From dollar perspective I've sold a Super Mario World 85+ and Mario 64 95 (traded for 90+ plus cash / trade), but no one could have seen prices of today this fast.  I don't really regret those because I'm sure I spent the money on building the collection and probably got something sealed decent back.  

But yes, be thankful for what you have.  Sealed is pretty much priced out of popular titles (Mario / Zelda / etc.) for normal collectors and it's all the wealthy or businesses right now hopping in.  Most people will have to settle for Mint CIB on those.  Thankfully you can still "collect" plenty of great titles if you enjoy collecting, but the premium franchises are all but out of reach.

[GetTheGreg | 105]

I don't often think about many, but one has always stuck out for me.

In like 2015 or something I was the underbidder on a VGA 90 Sonic Adventure LE for Dreamcast.  It sold for like $660.  Just an impossible game to find sealed.

[Dumars2001 | 164]

10 minutes ago, jonebone said:

No regrets, be thankful for what you do have at this point.  The game that always haunted me the most was selling a stupid Mint CIB Sqoon back in 2010 / 2011 for $300.  I got a "Very Good" one back years later but I know the condition on that game is irreplacable.

From dollar perspective I've sold a Super Mario World 85+ and Mario 64 95 (traded for 90+ plus cash / trade), but no one could have seen prices of today this fast.  I don't really regret those because I'm sure I spent the money on building the collection and probably got something sealed decent back.  

But yes, be thankful for what you have.  Sealed is pretty much priced out of popular titles (Mario / Zelda / etc.) for normal collectors and it's all the wealthy or businesses right now hopping in.  Most people will have to settle for Mint CIB on those.  Thankfully you can still "collect" plenty of great titles if you enjoy collecting, but the premium franchises are all but out of reach.

Very well said! I am still very grateful of the games that I held on to, but I do know that I sold the games I listed above to buy vintage Starwars & Gijoe, so I didn't inject the money back into video games.

You sure have stayed consistent about your sqoon regret. I know that has been your biggest regret for years. I really admire your thinking and not changing your views about collecting, even though, we all know that you have an unreal sealed collection. That tells me about what a high character guy you are. Kudos to you for that! I really love reading your posts and analysis of just about every topic on here and back on NA.

[spacepup | 2,404]

It wasn’t graded, but I sold a sealed Ocarina of Time on ebay several years ago for 139.99 ha!

Is what it is.  I’ve never really had much interest in grading or speculating on sealed “investments” so even if I didn’t sell it then, I probably wouldn’t have it now anyway.

[Dumars2001 | 164]

31 minutes ago, Maertens29 said:

I don't often think about many, but one has always stuck out for me.

In like 2015 or something I was the underbidder on a VGA 90 Sonic Adventure LE for Dreamcast.  It sold for like $660.  Just an impossible game to find sealed.

Is this the man, the myth, the legend, GetTheGregGames?! I love your videos bro! I watched when you did the Heritage Auction Signature Live Stream! You had me in stitches with your play by play of the auction, thoughts (words of wisdom) and of course Barry!

I even made a new topic about you in the Everything Else section of the forum! Keep them great videos coming out and thanks so much for doing the live streams.

Edited July 15, 2021 by Dumars2001

[kell | 102]

From a financial perspective... all those Pokémon GBA games: multiple emeralds and sapphires. Had found a case of Emeralds on clearance at Target for $17.48 each. 

Was never into Pokémon and only collect games I’ve played, or want to play.
 

Also, selling my mint Ninja Five-O and Rule of Rose.
 

 

[spacepup | 2,404]

2 hours ago, jonebone said:

No regrets, be thankful for what you do have at this point.  The game that always haunted me the most was selling a stupid Mint CIB Sqoon back in 2010 / 2011 for $300.  I got a "Very Good" one back years later but I know the condition on that game is irreplacable.

From dollar perspective I've sold a Super Mario World 85+ and Mario 64 95 (traded for 90+ plus cash / trade), but no one could have seen prices of today this fast.  I don't really regret those because I'm sure I spent the money on building the collection and probably got something sealed decent back.  

But yes, be thankful for what you have.  Sealed is pretty much priced out of popular titles (Mario / Zelda / etc.) for normal collectors and it's all the wealthy or businesses right now hopping in.  Most people will have to settle for Mint CIB on those.  Thankfully you can still "collect" plenty of great titles if you enjoy collecting, but the premium franchises are all but out of reach.

There are so many great points in here, honestly! 

Perhaps it is somewhat natural, but we often look at current events, and feel regret, or jealousy, or whatever the case may be, about what we could have, what things could be like.  But, I think it's so important also to be happy and thankful for what we've all accomplished!  Anyone who has been doing this for a long time, surely has made some great deals, whether it was getting something for super cheap, making an excellent trade, selling something for more than expected, making great friends, having fun experiences, etc.

There will always be items I still want, but I can't complain given all the cool things I have that I obtained for reasonable prices.  And for the popular stuff like Mario, Zelda, etc., anyone who has been collecting for those systems and doing this for a long time, has had PLENTY of opportunities to get those games (maybe not all sealed 9.8, but you get my point).  I do feel a bit bad for enthusiastic young people getting in the hobby now, who would have interest in older stuff, but at this point, they can still collect and play cart-only, CIB, for most games.  It's not like the barrier to good games is at $10K, at least for now.

I think it's great for all of us to take a deep breath every now and then and 'count our blessings,' so to speak.  

 

[Gulag Joe | 582]

I don't have any sales that haunt me currently, but in 2012 I did have a chance to buy a minty sealed white bullet Tyson for $1200 and I couldn't rationalize not paying rent for a month to get it. Oh, how I should have!

[retro.magnus | 136]

I have a hugeeee lot that I let get away a couple years ago. A friend of a friend of a friend bought a storage unit absolutely packed full of GB, GBC, GBA, & DS games/consoles. Loose, CIB, Sealed. This was one pic of the heavy hitters. All sealed lol. https://imgur.com/a/0HbVsEv

[kell | 102]

7 minutes ago, epiczail said:

I have a hugeeee lot that I let get away a couple years ago. A friend of a friend of a friend bought a storage unit absolutely packed full of GB, GBC, GBA, & DS games/consoles. Loose, CIB, Sealed. This was one pic of the heavy hitters. All sealed lol. https://imgur.com/a/0HbVsEv

So your saying we should be buying storage units... lol

 

[retro.magnus | 136]

5 minutes ago, kell said:

So your saying we should be buying storage units... lol

 

Finds are for sure out there. But he has been buying units for years, and this one was a once in a lifetime find. It looked like someone had a store that closed and the whole Gameboy inventory was put into a unit that someone stopped paying for. 

[RH | 4,898]

I got a Shantae for something like $100-150 and that was a fair price.  Sold it for about double that and I thought I made out well... had no clue it'd climb to such heights (and seems to show now chance of stopping.)  I also found a Wendy Every Whichway in a lot, and I got it comparatively cheap for the time.  I flipped it to pay off the the lot I bought it in and I got $40 for it.  I won't say I regret these sales, but they are definitely games that I owned that shot up in price after I sold them.  But, that's part of the game.

I've also mentioned this before, but I swear on NA I started asking around for a first-run SMB3 and THAT is when that game left the station and started picking up steam.  I wanted a gem mint, CIB copy and no one game my way.  At the time, I was willing to pay generously, but I couldn't find one in the condition I wanted and now that game is just priced waaaaay out of what I'd be willing to pay.  I'd say that's a regret, but I think it was just bad timing.  I never found the game I wanted in the condition I wanted so I guess it just wasn't meant to be.

[Mijael | 347]

- I knew nothing about video games and i sold a sealed Spy Hunter for $400 

- din't purchased a Ghost Busters Gameboy VGA 8.5 for $275 when o got the chance

- didn't purchased a ghost n'goblins Gameboy color sealed for $150 when i got the chance 

[Dumars2001 | 164]

1 hour ago, epiczail said:

I have a hugeeee lot that I let get away a couple years ago. A friend of a friend of a friend bought a storage unit absolutely packed full of GB, GBC, GBA, & DS games/consoles. Loose, CIB, Sealed. This was one pic of the heavy hitters. All sealed lol. https://imgur.com/a/0HbVsEv

Wow! That game lot is literally thousands of dollars these days! Hindsight is always 20/20.

[retro.magnus | 136]

10 minutes ago, Dumars2001 said:

Wow! That game lot is literally thousands of dollars these days! Hindsight is always 20/20.

A shit ton more than that the ways things have been looking recently haha. Those are only a select few. He had all the original Mega Mans CIB, CIB copies of all Pokemon CIB, Ninja Five O CIB, Car Battler Joe CIB, etc, etc. We didn't even talk in any detail about the DS stuff. But if you imagine everything else that was there, I assume a lot of DS heavy hitters were in boxes somewhere. 

[RH | 4,898]

I won't say this is "one that got away" because my laziness-in-the-midst-of-business kept me from doing this. But back in the 90s, I had a buddy of mine who's house I spent a lot a time at playing video games.  We loved fighting games and we played everything that was a fighter on the PS1 on or N64.

We read/heard about Sculptor's Cut and I was always in love with the idea of claymation games.  Even back them, I told him, some day Sculptor's Cut will be worth money since it's a Blockbuster exclusive and no one is thinking to collect it.  He rolled his eyes because he knew I was more the collector and he just liked to get games to enjoy them and sell them back to EB for more games.

Anyway, I had full intentions of watching the bargain bins of Blockbuster and picking up a couple copies of the game just to hold onto for years.  I never did.  Even though I was suspect that it could be the most desirable game for the N64 in the future (well, until last week with that SM64 sell), I never got around to buying a copy.  What really gets me is even though I would have been happy with a couple of carts, with the Best Buy stickers on them, I know there's a good chance they would have had the display boxes, which I would have certainly kept.

Here I am, 20 years later and I'd still like to have a copy, but at this point I don't see that happening unless I seriously restructure my collection to subsidize the purchase of the N64 heavy-hitters to go for a complete set. 

[retro.magnus | 136]

33 minutes ago, RH said:

I won't say this is "one that got away" because my laziness-in-the-midst-of-business kept me from doing this. But back in the 90s, I had a buddy of mine who's house I spent a lot a time at playing video games.  We loved fighting games and we played everything that was a fighter on the PS1 on or N64.

We read/heard about Sculptor's Cut and I was always in love with the idea of claymation games.  Even back them, I told him, some day Sculptor's Cut will be worth money since it's a Blockbuster exclusive and no one is thinking to collect it.  He rolled his eyes because he knew I was more the collector and he just liked to get games to enjoy them and sell them back to EB for more games.

Anyway, I had full intentions of watching the bargain bins of Blockbuster and picking up a couple copies of the game just to hold onto for years.  I never did.  Even though I was suspect that it could be the most desirable game for the N64 in the future (well, until last week with that SM64 sell), I never got around to buying a copy.  What really gets me is even though I would have been happy with a couple of carts, with the Best Buy stickers on them, I know there's a good chance they would have had the display boxes, which I would have certainly kept.

Here I am, 20 years later and I'd still like to have a copy, but at this point I don't see that happening unless I seriously restructure my collection to subsidize the purchase of the N64 heavy-hitters to go for a complete set. 

Did you ever actually see it in store for sale? I remember my local Hollywood Video so vividly & all the stuff they had for sale.

 

EDIT: Holy shit I actually found a picture of the store before they demolished the interior. The huge black shelving on the left used to be a bunch of CRTs. All the registers were downstairs & 95% of the rental inventory was upstairs. 

Edited July 15, 2021 by epiczail

[WalterWhiteJr. | 1,162]

Too many to name lol.

[RH | 4,898]

20 minutes ago, epiczail said:

Did you ever actually see it in store for sale? I remember my local Hollywood Video so vividly & all the stuff they had for sale.

No, I didn't but I also knew it wasn't exactly a popular game.  I often browsed the used games bin.  I had a good handle on when games would likely hit the bin, especially as the slowly weeded out the games to make more room shelf space for newer, likely-to-be-rented titles.  Checking out the release date, it came out in October.  Well, the original did and I'm not sure if Sculptor's Cut came out at the same time of if there was a lag in the release.  Regardless, this probably started to show up in the bargain bins around December to February and yeah, in the winter I tended to not get out much.

[GetTheGreg | 105]

6 hours ago, Dumars2001 said:

Is this the man, the myth, the legend, GetTheGregGames?! I love your videos bro! I watched when you did the Heritage Auction Signature Live Stream! You had me in stitches with your play by play of the auction, thoughts (words of wisdom) and of course Barry!

I even made a new topic about you in the Everything Else section of the forum! Keep them great videos coming out and thanks so much for doing the live streams.

haha I greatly appreciate it, man!  If/when I ever consign with Heritage, I am genuinely going to request that I have Barry auction my item.  I know he only deals with the finest, so I'll have to bring out the big guns when that time comes

[3rdStrongestMole | 430]

Sold DKC 1 and 2 graded for like, 600 bucks about 7 years ago because they didn't grade high enough for my liking. It was idiotic because the DKC trilogy are all in my top 10 favorite games. I remember I traded a mint CIB Chrono Trigger for both of them, originally.   I kept the pics of DKC 2 and feel heavy regret when I look at them

Edited July 15, 2021 by 3rdStrongestMole

[inasuma | 1,203]

gen 1-3 pokemon games in early-mid 2020. they were <$1000. I could have bought my favorites, but "the price is just too high," etc. now they're 100% unattainable.

Edited July 15, 2021 by inasuma

[ExplodedHamster | 404]

The sale I regret the most would probably be my high grade Madden cardboard for Genesis, which was a 9.6/A WATA. I think the seal grade was actually harsh, the things was absolutely beautiful. I figured I might find another, but nope. I got an incredible offer for the time, but deep down I was skeptical of my own decision.
 

Probably the purchase I regret passing on the most was a minty TMNT Turtles in Time Made in Japan for like $1200 OBO in late 2019 that had been sitting on Ebay for like 3 months with 60 or so watchers. I think I made like 4 offers between $1100 and $1150 and turned down his counters for $1175 LOL. The moral of this story is anything with more than like 15 watchers is something worth watching, provided it's not one of those one million dollar or best offer kinda deals.

Edited July 15, 2021 by ExplodedHamster