inasuma

Yeah they were let go when collectors bought out wata and the office officially moved. No idea why honestly, but the folks running that show now are great. Dan of modern database leads auth and Andrew (pre acquisition grader) leads grading. From what I can tell the grading is more consistent and having an authentication / research department means fewer mistakes. I’m trying to see the glass half full I suppose - I like the changes they’re making, including the new case design (assuming it addresses common criticisms of the current case), and if they can keep the momentum going I think they can regain some trust.

This is really important. I'm in the "minority" of grading hobbyists who genuinely try to collect and while I like Wata in some areas, there's no reason to ignore the bad parts. How else do these companies improve if they aren't hearing our feedback? That's different vs speculators obviously who likely prefer silencing the negativity to boost profits. For instance, the last year or so of events has really shown me that there still isn't a "great" grading house for games yet. Wata has made strides to improve, and it's obvious, but there are still some sore spots. VGA still has dogpoop turnarounds, and CGC is too new and has had allegations of authenticating and doubling + tripling down on reseals. Idk, I just want them to be better, and instances like the OPs ebay listing are proof of where Wata came from, and knowing who is there now (e.g. Andrew + Dan leading the auth/grading charge), I feel better, but not fully satisfied.

That horizon bundle is i n s a n e

I have only one other sub out for them and it’s my last. Agree it’s a little awkward

Unopened and solidly near mint. GBA is pretty tough these days

that said, the number of broken consoles from dkoldies is alarming. i wouldn't be surprised if they're hit with a class action. if they're actually misleading customers then yeah i think they're a sore spot on the community and should be pursued legally.

buy from retailers you trust, not because they're funny on tik tok.

looks like a dumpsterfire. yikes. i'm not alone in thinking this but the current blisters aren't ideal. they're a little too tight and can damage some games. they're aware of it though, even though they'd never admit damage occurs, so hopefully the new blisters are much better (they've confirmed as much in @GetTheGreg's discord server).

Yeah I gave them the feedback. I don't care enough to recase them, but figure they should know that 2/2 games with issues is not a good look. haha

i love a good "bought games in a crack den" war story

Couple cgc returns. I’m actually surprised I scored so high on these. edit: scuffing on the HLD is on the outer case, not the game. I think the blister rubs against it. Super awkward lol

yeah, i mean, we're probably giving a scammer too much credit - i doubt they are intelligent enough to scrutinize their own work LOL

hey if the game is sealed no one will ever know. ????? profit

FYI that graded repro happened (allegedly) over 1.5 years ago, before wata was acquired. Not at all recent. But it was very strange that they only waited until now to say something. Probably didn’t want to disturb their HA pump. Lol

Want to add some addition info I’ve learned about VGA cases, and will update the OP as well. as it turns out, the small notches on the bottom and top of vga cases (while looking at the front) are a slight security/tamper evidence measure. Basically trying to slice the bottom off in some way is almost guaranteed to eat through part of that notch, and if the bottom is placed back on, even perfectly, it’ll still look “off.” there are other security features as well but I wouldn’t be able to show it. But basically the acrylic was produced a certain way that if you replaced any part of the case or lost some of the material while attempting to open a holder, it would be obvious at least to vga that tampering occurred. it seems as though I was wrong about the holders!

there was unfortunately an error while my two 3DS games were being graded. despite opening the outer box that contained the sealed games, cgc rejected them for being non-standard size. luckily i think i caught it before they shipped (in a week, must be slow there lol) and i think they'll be graded now. at the very least, my two other games were graded: Mega Man Battle Network 5: DS - 9.8 A++ Hyper Light Drifter (PS4) - 9.8 A++ Very excited to see how the 3ds games do. they've been protected in the outer cardboard sleeve so I have hopes for similar turnout.

+1 the gettin has been good

i enjoy everyone's answers. they all basically follow the same themes. to me, a "first print" should quite literally be games produced on the earliest known manufacturing runs. chip boards and discs have date codes on them, typically, which is the most direct way to validate the info.

just traded for this beauty. going to resub it to wata with its extra generic inserts because it's currently just box/cart/manual.

probably no updates because they revealed them way too soon because they're trying to compete with cgc / satiate graded collectors who've been frustrated by wata's case for years (switch games in wata cases are comically oversized). it probably isn't clear by my message but i was using hyperbole. anyway it's well known at this point that as speculators left, prices and activity would drop, and i'm here for it so i can snatch up <$150 high grade late retro/modern titles.

update: turbo takes 3 weeks the market is dead

Off to CGC I'm grading the games inside the SE box for Metroid: Samus Returns. I already have an 85+ of that, figure this is a good learning opportunity for how well "case fresh" 3DS can grade.

I went hunting a bit over the last couple weeks and wanted to get a better picture of the prints for these games. Turns out there's a lot. lol Hope this is helpful for someone. The way these variants work is largely based on Nintendo's part code. I posted another thread explaining how those and other data on most modern Nintendies work here. There's really just a handful of things to keep in mind: Part codes aren't chronological from lowest to highest. All multi-game bundles are at the end. There's nine total. Games in this guide: Pokemon X Pokemon Y Pokemon OmegaRuby Pokemon AlphaSapphire Pokemon Sun Pokemon Moon Pokemon UltraSun Pokemon UltraMoon Pokemon X Part Code Satellite Code Manufactured MPN Notes 80773A 00000 Japan CTR P EKJE USA Black ESRB 80773B 00001 Japan CTR P EKJE USA White ESRB 82195A 00000 Japan CTR P WKJ1 USA Black ESRB, Garchomp download 101525A 00000 Japan CTR P EKJE USA White ESRB 80774A 00000 Japan CTR P EKJE CAN Canadian 80774B 00001 Japan CTR P EKJE CAN Canadian Black ESRB indicates early prints, where 80773A is first, and 82195A is second. Pokemon Y Part Code Satellite Code Manufactured MPN Notes 80781A 00000 Japan CTR P EK2E USA Black ESRB 80781B 00001 Japan CTR P EK2E USA White ESRB 82198A 00000 Japan CTR P WK21 USA Black ESRB, Scizor download 101527A 00000 Japan CTR P EK2E USA White ESRB 80782A 00000 Japan CTR P EK2E CAN Canadian 80782B 00001 Japan CTR P EK2E CAN Canadian Like X, black ESRB indicates earlier prints. 80781A is first, 82198A is second. Pokemon OmegaRuby Part Code Satellite Code Manufactured MPN Notes 83666A 00000 Japan CTR P ECRE USA 100013A 00000 Japan CTR P ECRE USA 100013B 00001 Japan CTR P ECRE USA (unconfirmed) 100014A 00000 Japan CTR P ECRE CAN Canadian 101523A 00000 Japan CTR P ECRE CAN Canadian 83666A is the earliest print. Pokemon AlphaSapphire Part Code Satellite Code Manufactured MPN Notes 83667A 00000 Japan CTR P ECLE USA 100022A 00000 Japan CTR P ECLE USA 100022B 00001 Japan CTR P ECLE USA 100023A 00000 Japan CTR P ECLE CAN Canadian 101524B 00001 Japan CTR P ECLE CAN Canadian 83667A is the earliest print. Pokemon Sun Part Code Satellite Code Manufactured MPN Notes 103849A 00000 Japan CTR P BNDE USA 104788A 00000 Japan CTR P TND1 USA 00000 Japan NFR, pack-in (104133A, 104302A, CTR R TJV1 USZ) 104299A Japan CTR R WJV1 USZ Solgaleo Figurine (box), Wal-Mart exclusive 103850A 00000 Japan CTR P BNDE CAN Canadian All of the above, except for 104788A, are the earliest prints as they were released simultaneously. The NFR version is the same in each bundle (see also bundles at the end of this post). Pokemon Moon Part Code Satellite Code Manufactured MPN Notes 103855A 00000 Japan CTR P BNEE USA 104790A 00000 Japan CTR P TNE1 USA 00000 Japan NFR, pack-in (104133A, 104299A, CTR R TJV1 USZ) 104302A Japan CTR R WJV2 USZ Lunala Figurine (box), Wal-Mart exclusive 103856A 00000 Japan CTR P BNEE CAN Canadian All of the above, except for 104790A, are the earliest prints as they were released simultaneously. The NFR version is the same in each bundle (see also bundles at the end of this post). Pokemon UltraSun Part Code Satellite Code Manufactured MPN Notes 106567A 00000 Japan CTR P A2AE USA 106567B 00001 Japan CTR P A2AE USA 00000 Japan NFR, pack-in (016864A, 106607A, 106860A) 106860A Japan CTR R A2A1 USZ Dusk Mane Necrozma keychain (box) 106568A 00000 Japan CTR P A2AE CAN Canadian All of the above, except for 106567B, are the earliest prints as they were released simultaneously. The NFR version is the same in each bundle (see also bundles at the end of this post). Pokemon UltraMoon Part Code Satellite Code Manufactured MPN Notes 106570A 00000 Japan CTR P A28E USA 106570B 00001 Japan CTR P A28E USA 00000 Japan NFR, pack-in (016864A, 106607A, 106862A) 106862A Japan CTR R A2B1 USZ Dawn Wings Necrozma keychain (box) 106571A 00000 Japan CTR P A28E CAN Canadian All of the above, except for 106570B, are the earliest prints as they were released simultaneously. The NFR version is the same in each bundle (see also bundles at the end of this post). Bundles Part Code Satellite Code Manufactured MPN Notes 100789A Japan CTR P POA1 USA ORAS 2-Pack 104133A Japan CTR R AJV1 USZ Sun & Moon 2-pack, includes steelbook Japan CTR R TJV1 USZ Sun & Moon 2-Pack, Includes Starter Figurines 016864A Japan CTR R GA21 USZ USUM 2-pack, includes art cards and codes 106607A Japan CTR R SA21 USZ USUM 2-pack, includes steelbook All boxed 2-packs are launch editions.

hilariously, HA does a lot of things that even high-end sellers complain about. For e.g. including multiple high grade games back-to-back in the same auction. I've seen folks complain about that because "waaaah why isn't HA manipulating the market for me" etc. lol

Only collect. No game.