jonebone

Ah correct. I assumed Super Mario, gloss is first on Mario Arcade. If very nice it would definitely be a 4 digit item but pics are everything on these. One person's definition of nice may not grade as high as you would think on the Wata scale.

Glossy is actually the second version, matte is the first. Pics would help of course. Value on these have been way up and then way down lately so you'll probably get a wide range of estimates or offers.

Side flap. Maybe edge one side up and then work on the other side too until it pops up.

Butter knife very carefully.

Welcome over, you used to post some cool stuff for sale

Just announced, indefinitely. At least this season and playoffs. I'd go with 1 for Rudolph and maybe 1 or 2 for Pouncey too. I'm fine if Pouncey doesn't get any though. Teammate protecting his player.

DA Origins is my favorite modern RPG too. Fallout 4 is pretty close behind but DAO was amazing. DA2 was such a let down though. On the oddball pick, this game almost made my list too: I know I had 2 or 3 but this one got the most use in my driveway amongst us friends. Everyone wanted a turn with the Baseball Tiger game.

Forgot about Driver, played that a lot on PC too. It was quite a fun game back in the day. Also played a lot of Rainbow Six (the original) on PC. Some Diablo II of course but it didn't quite consume my life as it did some people.

Hey that was my comment, Doner just quoted me, lol. RA2 was epic... I didn't play much RA1 but I did play C&C, Tiberium Sun and Generals extensively.

Gotta ask, a "Sealed" game with No Seal appeals to you as a sealed collector? It is not something I would ever own personally, I can't consider it a sealed game without a seal. I get that they are trying to market it as a "New" game (that has never been opened, yet it was clearly a reseal), but the "Sealed" nomenclature is misleading. I guess it just splits reseals into two categories, reseal that was opened and resealed and reseal that was never opened and resealed. I just can't get behind it myself. I'm a MM2-MM6 graded guy too and understand the struggle of not owning MM1, but I'd rather play the waiting game.

I assume this post is just in regards to recreating a database or the photo documentation. Which no on here is planning to do as far as I'm aware, because that is a monumental task. We're here for the community.

Finally had a chance to get to this. I'll go by release date, not necessarily when I actually played the game (born 1984). Forced myself to stick to 10 games with some honorable mentions. 1) King's Quest DOS - July 1983 - Didn't know what I was doing at an early age but loved walking around and typing random words. Later got a guide from a PC store and actually figured out how to beat it. No way could anyone have beaten this by themselves with no hints! Many of the Sierra PC games were great (Space Quest, KQ, Leisure Suit Larry, etc.), but this started it all for me. 2) Contra NES - Feb 1987 - Fave NES game of all time, I remember beating it co-op with the Konami code as a 2nd grader. Just so easy to sit down and play, catchy tunes, simple gameplay. Perfect NES game to me. 3) Sonic Genesis - June 1991 - I was NES -> Genesis kid and Sonic made me forget about Mario at the time. Fast gameplay, nice boss battles, killer soundtrack, perfect mascot for Sega. 4) Mario 64 N64 - June 1996 - Got it Xmas 96 with an N64 and was utterly amazed at the evolution of gaming to 3D. It was WOW inspiring. Played it thoroughly, got all 120 stars and enjoyed every moment. Tons of powerups, all sorts of things to do and the Bowser battle was epic. All time great. 5) Twisted Metal 2 PS1 - Oct 1996 The first one was good, and this one was an absolute masterpiece. More characters, more moves, better graphics, better levels, just tons of fun. Vehicular Combat was a relatively unproven genre until Twisted Metal put it on the map. Tons of 2 player battles until 4 AM with friends sleepovers and you wanted to beat the game with every character to get their story ending. Mr. Grimm is still my fave! 6) Goldeneye 007 N64 - Aug 1997 - Surprised everyone, movie video games sucked up to this point. Not a lot of hype at release but quickly gained a huge following when people realized it was an amazing FPS, really cemented the FPS genre on the console. Tons of replayability chasing all of the cheats and I'm proud to have unlocked them all on my own in a time before Youtube videos. Tons of hours spent playing multiplayer too. My single favorite game all time. 7) Zelda Ocarina of Time N64 - Nov 1998 Had to put a Zelda on here and this is it. After Mario brought platforming to 3D the hype was enormous for what Zelda could be. And boy did it not disappoint. Tons of time playing this game and for the first time the amount of extras in a game felt just as encompassing as the story. The songs, the fishing, the skulltulas and so much else. A game you never wanted to end simply because it was such a masterpiece. Red Alert 2 PC - Oct 2000 I've always liked RTS games and this was the pinnacle of them. EA killed Westwood and C&C was never the same after Generals but RA2 was perfection. Tons of expansions, tons of hacks, people still play it to this day. I went through a phase of life where I played this online for several hours every night, sometimes even all day. Or you try to get in "just one match" which turns to 2, then 3... you know how it goes. NOD all the way! 9) Halo 2 Xbox Nov 2004 - This game defined my college days. All kinds of 4 player local matches, sometimes even 4 v 4 with 2 Xboxes in 2 separate rooms. Plenty of time spent playing online as well, but local multiplayer was where it was at. Everyone played Halo it seemed. Even casuals who didn't play would call "next" and the 3rd or 4th player would pass up the controller for the next round. Great maps, great balance, tons of improvement from H1. The pinnacle of the series to me. 10) Grand Theft Auto 5 Nov 2014 - If I had to boil it down to one game defining the modern era, this would be it. Each successive GTA has added so much stuff and really broadened the game. GTA IV was amazing, didn't know how GTA V could top it. Then they completely blow it out of the water and GTA IV looks like an after thought. Heists, larger worlds, infinitely possible sidequests and one of the best damn story modes in a game. This game did it all and very worthy of all of the accolades it received. Honorable mentions that would get my list up to 15 games: 1) Final Fantasy NES - Tons of memories spent using the NP player's guide and game genie for infinite gold. One of the first games I remember actually "beating" even though I had to consult help all along the way. 2) Super Mario Bros 3 NES - Amazing that SMB1 and SMB3 run on the same hardware, SMB3 really was as beautiful as NES games get. So much to do, the giant world was awe-inspiring and the castles were great. The bosses, the minigames (card matching, toad house, hammer bros), the overworld map, just a great game. 3) Mortal Kombat 2 / Street Fighter II (SNES / Gen) - Okay, so cheating a bit here and picking two games, but I simply cannot choose one. I love them both equally and everyone has spent some time playing something in the fighting genre. These games were a blast for two player and the first time I really had to practice controller moves to learn them. First time I felt like I really had to practice a game. 4) Mario Kart 64 N64 - The N64 multiplayer favorite next to Goldeneye for me, and I spent tons of time racing the ghosts on each level. I still think Diddy Kong Racing was superior from a 1 player perspective but in terms of nostalgic significance / influence, I give the nod to Mario Kart. 5) Last of US PS3 / PS4 - Another one of the modern games that is a true masterpiece. The story is riveting, the controls are perfect and the balance is just right. If you have any interest in modern games you owe it to yourself to experience this one.

Yeah I'd have to go with a rest of season suspension for that. No place for it really. Obviously it was spur of the moment but you gotta be smarter than that.

I'm talking purely about the collectible value of the franchise, and Zelda and Mario will always rival each other. It's the 1A and 1B arguement. Yes Mario is the mascot, I'm not arguing that. Yes Mario sold more, it's easier to pick up and play. A 3 year old can play it and maybe beat level 1, you have to be a lot older to get anywhere in a Zelda. Got that too. But what was Zelda? It was a Gold cart with a special see thru box. Nintendo didnt do that to others (except Zelda 2). That was a WOW! thing as a kid, it was marketed as a collectible from day one. Fast forward to N64, OOT was the first Nintendo 1st party game with a collectors edition if I recall. Another objective fact. Marketed to collectors. Im not even sure when Mario got his first collectors edition. Wii Mario 25th anniversary maybe? Yet Zelda has had direct collector marketing for over 30 years. And who's paying 4 or 5 digits for games? A gamer or a collector? Not the gamer. At those levels they are being bought for collectibility and it's a much tighter race than you think. End of day Mario is the Nintendo icon yes, but Zelda games a a huge deal and there will always be people lining up to buy them as collectibles in mint condition. They are 1A and 1B.

Welcome! Sad what happened but great community here.

I'd sell all of my Mario games before selling Zelda and it's not even close for me either. Everyone can have their opinion and that's the beauty of it. The point being what's the number 2 for Sega? I can't even think of a #2. Xbox? Gears of War? Don't know. Mario and Zelda are about as close as a 1 / 2 punch for any console. Sales can be misleading due to packins and each system sold counts as a sale for that game. Lately it's been much more neck and neck. Wind Waker may have beat Sunshine and same could be said with Breath of Wild over Odyssey.

Not directed solely at you but let's lay out the perfect storm that created sticker mania. The hype will never be as much as it was, ever. You had massive amounts of uneducated new money piling in, an article hyping them through the moon, and populations that did not exist. Buyers will only get more educated as time goes on. They will be more selective with their money. That's already happening. Article hype, you will never get the hype rivaled from a brand new article that documents the variants. People get all giddy about the new undocumented territory, you cannot repeat that. Populations... no where to go but up. I mean that in a literal sense. If you got 10 confirmed copies today, one more increases it to 11. You are never going to decrease the population. Sure some will try to hoard but that's a different topic entirely. Also, as population increases, the lower grade copies will lose value. Glad Wata finally raised prices so hopefully some of the 1.0 box junk will stop getting graded. Not to mention the natural churn we'll have as people collect the set and get bored and move on. May not apply to Mario directly but stickers as a whole. Everyone knows the thrill is in the hunt and owning the item gets boring. That's why people cash out of hobbies (comics) into others, to experience the fun of collecting. You'll see some cash out of stickers as people move on to other things. If there's only 10 confirmed but there's always 1 for sale, it's not really that rare on the market. And last but not least, why is everyone putting Mario at the top of the hill? It's Zelda for me. This isn't Sega where it's Sonic and no one else or Xbox where it is Halo and no others, Nintendo Mario and Zelda are your 1A and 1B. The gap between Mario and Zelda will close. If Zelda had a sticker on it, would it also command absurd money? Kinda of demonstrates the point here...

Love the topic idea, I'd like to partake when I can dedicate the time. Also props to you for mentioning Xbox Ninja Gaiden. Ninja Gaiden Black was even better (increased difficulty / made it less easier to spam enemies) and definitely one of my favorite games all time.

If a sealed title goes high it causes a speculative temporary bubble on CIB. I would expect Sealed and CIB to mostly remain their own markets. Exceptions would be early games in 9.0 or higher or any CIB in 9.4 and higher. I think those could get a bit nutty depending on who is looking. Also, assume we're only really talking NES and maybe SNES here. Disc based CIB is a bit silly and should be unaffected entirely. Too modern and available.

I think I first heard the Halo NFR talk about 2 or 3 years ago on SGH IIRC. I didn't care then and I don't care now, because NFRs are typically niche. You want Black Label without all of the markups, not the NFR one even if perceived as rarer. You want non-NFR copies of stuff like Sonic, Streets of Rage or even later era like Super Mario Sunshine. NFR is the volatile piece here, not Halo. And yes I sold my black label Halo earlier this year because I don't like it's staying power, and don't like it's value compared to some other things in the hobby. I was a big Halo fan but the series lost me at H4 and I still haven't played H5 to this day. PS has dominated Xbox as of late and Bungie leaving Halo really hurts the franchise. It will always have it's historical significance but I don't think Halo collectors will be anywhere near as numerous as staple Nintendo or Playstation franchises. I still did keep my Halo 2 CE VGA 90+ though. That's the ultimate win-win game in the series IMO. It's pretty easy to find sealed and still affordable, was marketed as a CE, and is the best game in the franchise that improved significantly upon the first. And I can have it for peanuts compared to the price of the first? Heck yeah, I'm happy to go H2 CE sealed any day of the week. H2 CE is the Super Mario 3 of the Halo series. And way more affordable.

I didn't buy into the lunacy of the Halo 1 prices, but to be fair you are comparing apples and oranges here. You are citing completed CIB sales and comparing them to Sealed prices. The 3 HA sales you referenced ($8.7k, $9k, $5.8k) were all sealed. This title has always had a ridiculous used to new multiplier due to the significant rarity differences between them.

Marrying parts has been around forever and video game pressing has been publicly advertised on social media for at least 6-9 months now. Not to say those tricks have been applying to all CIBs graded, but it's already been happening significantly. Sealed, people still clean them and remove stickers. I don't want any sealed graded with a sticker and always remove them. Wata seems to not dock for stickers unless its a huge security sticker that would cause damage (think R-Zone). VGA docked for stickers (as they should IMO). You can't clean scuffs off but you can definitely remove dust / debris / sticker goo / etc. So yeah, sealed games can be modified a bit to appear nicer too.

Panic could be cracked open and flipped on eBay at a profit I'm sure, but it was beat. I'm almost scared to see what that looks like inside. I also thought SNES Aero Fighters went pretty low for having poster. I was the underbidder and just thought it could be cracked and sold at $1500+. On Marios the formula is 50% box grade, 30% cart, 20% manual. $22k Mario was 5.5 Box / 7.0 Cart / 6.5 Manual = 6.15 which rounds down to 6.0. $3900 Mario was 3.5 Box / 8.0 Cart / 8.5 Manual = 5.85 which rounds up to 6.0. For some rough math, I do stand by my estimate that the box should be about 90% of the value here. And 5.5 box / 3.5 box = 1.57 ratio. So I would say that whatever price you think is fair for the sticker CIB Mario, the 6.0 with nicer box should be about 1.57 more expensive than the 6.0 with a beat box. Insides would be much easier to upgrade here.

I don't really like to laugh at anyone losing significant money. But yes, all of the stickers to the moon crowd should get a nice reality check after this round of results. To be fair it was not the same copy and the box was beat on that. The other 6.0 had a nicer box and box is essentially 95% of the value here. This 6.0 had a poor box with nicer insides to boost score. It displays the inherent problem with CIB grading on outliers like this where really all you care about is box. With a sealed game a 6.0 is a 6.0, perhaps wear in various spots but similar amounts of wear. On a CIB game two 6.0 games could be entirely different, as the case here. IMHO, I was shocked the first sticker sale ever cleared $10k and then the $22k result was just stupidly absurd. I still thought the poor Mario would clear $5k based on the prior hype but $3900 is where it is. I personally would peg that one closer to $2.5-$3.5k at the moment, $3.9 seems like slight overpay but steep discount to prior sale as noted.

I've had some high sales this year too that I would never expect to repeat. Put another way, do you want to be buying a mid 9 Bubble Bobble at above 4k? At fair prices you should have no preference one way or other. At high prices you'd rather be seller, at low prices you'd rather be buyer. At above 3k I'd rather be the seller 100 times out of 100 on a mid 9 Bubble Bobble. It wont last.