obnoxious

The section wasn't even created yet and it's already alive

Here's another type of collection that I studied and kind of started but that's too much for my pockets: movie memorabilia.

This is an original page from one of the Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back storyboard, signed by Denis Muren, ILM's visual arts supervisor.

I chose this one because it's one of the most iconic scenes in the movie, when Yoda lifts the X-Wing from the Dagobah swamp, right after the " do or do not" speech.

57 minutes ago, Tetris said:

Very neat tool, though the data is incomplete; it lists the top result for Pokemon Red as $84,000, which is missing the record result of $132k from July 2021: https://comics.ha.com/itm/video-games/pokemon-red-version-wata-94-a-sealed-sandshrew-first-production-gb-nintendo-1998-usa/a/7261-28115.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515 

 

This result for $72k also appears to be missing: https://comics.ha.com/itm/video-games/pokemon-red-version-wata-94-a-sealed-sandshrew-first-production-gb-nintendo-1998-usa/a/7242-93055.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515 

 

All-in-all I think it's really cool, but probably not accurate enough at this time to really be used for serious price research.

I'll take a look at this specific case and send a pull request if I find the time. The scraping code is actually pretty simple.

5 hours ago, inasuma said:

There’s also some Saturn games, with significant tears along edges and big chunks missing from corners, that are A+. 

Someone got some the night before, I suspect.

Watta hell, Wata??

A++ for a seal with a hole?

Edit: maybe the A++ was given because it was taken out of a sealed six pack.

https://comics.ha.com/itm/video-games/atari/river-raid-wata-94-a-sealed-1982-burgundy-box-2600-activision-1982-usa/a/312129-68019.s

37 minutes ago, tidaldreams said:

Wow good catch! I kinda wanted to see the 2.5 Pokemon Red though 

If Wata rated one of my games 2.5 I'd send the slab to be rated and get a 9.2 because of that horrid information top tab.

The "population report" has inverted values for the X axis. In your screen capture it counts 1x 2.5 but it should be 1x9.8

Take this capture as an example. It clearly says there were sold 8x9.8 but it's being shown on the graph as 8x2.5

Awesome tool, btw

The last new generation game that gave me that old challenge feeling was Cuphead. It's art is beautiful, the game is hard enough and has nice controls. I can see it as an SNES game. But, as it has recently been, no replay value.

Other one I like a lot is Fallout 5, I can spend hours organizing and categorizing items just for the sake of doing it. I can almost feel my subconscious working on my problems.

29 minutes ago, Code Monkey said:

The most recent sales on Heritage Auctions for a sealed shipping pack of 6 River Raid were $264 and $192.

I saw them while researching. These two boxes were in questionable condition, they look like being exposed to moisture.

There were others in very good shape, one of those was sold for $720 the day before the $192 one. Even a $900 sold in Nov/20.

I regret so much not keeping my Duke Nukem 3D box. It was the first game I bought with my own money. Still have the CD case and disk, tho.

1 minute ago, GPX said:

That’s entirely up to you. This is what grading is really all about though - making tough decisions. My advice is to do what you would like to do, and be sensible with the amount of money you spend and the time and effort you have to go through. It’s a constant balancing act.

Thanks for the insights, I'll keep them in mind. Put that the money I'm investing in this is exclusively for collecting, it won't affect me if I just lose it all, which won't happen. The worst is ending up with less than I invested and a relatively good graded copy for me to keep. I'm ok with that for being the first time in the grading games game.

 

3 minutes ago, captmorgandrinker said:

Yes, I snagged a 6 pack of Ikari Warriors.  Customs opened the outer box it looks like (had the DHL reseal tape on it) but left the game boxes alone.

One looks to have gotten squished in shipping and the other 5 looks relatively okay, just your typical Atari random bowing.

Sorry about the question but are you in the USA?
I'm in Brazil so I'd have to send it to the US and take my chances on having it opened by the customs anyway. Luck is part of the game

Did he put the factory box inside another box, with protective padding?
 

6 minutes ago, GPX said:

@OP, I’d suggest to try sending one off for grading to see if the effort and resell price is worth your time. You will have gained some insight on the challenges of getting a game graded, and also have an itch scratched.

Thanks for the tip but sending one and then sending others would be more expensive than just sending them all at once, due to customs charges, shipping costs and my money being worth roughly 0,20:1 dollar.

Then I'll get the least well graded and just crack it open, for my own amusement

28 minutes ago, captmorgandrinker said:

Is that from the Venezuela guy?   They might not all be that nice looking when they get to you (nor sealed if customs opens them)

Yes, he agreed to send me pictures of the boxes being sent to me. I'll try talking to VGA about him sending it directly to them for grading. That would reduce the chance of them being open, instead of being sent to me and then to VGA.

Have you got anything from him or knows someone who did?

By the way: have you seen the Odyssey he's selling? Amazing stuff.

Is the VGA's site offline for you also? Been 3 days I can't open it.

2 minutes ago, RH said:

Probably a good investment to flip. There's often at least a little money in buying big or high dollar lots and busting them up.

If you get them graded, I 100% recommend going with VGA. I won't dig up all the recent issues/PR problems they've had this past month, but all things considered, their turn around times have been abysmal. For the sake of speed, I recommend going with VGA if you hope to get them back in the next 365 days.

Just to be clear: I'm not one of those who think he'll get 5 figures from a game box. I know their graded value will range from $180 to $300 tops. It seemed like a good opportunity to have a sealed graded box, another one that I can unbox it myself and give a nice sniff out of that "80's smell" and sell the others to fund the hobby. I know that some cartridges get some mold and stains even in a perfectly sealed box. I think I made my homework research on this matter.

So, I'm considering VGA because:

1) I think VGA's grading is much more logical
I've been researching Wata and VGA grading systems and I agree with this Reserved Investments video about how Wata's grading 9.8 may mean anything between VGA's 80 to 95. I don't think I'll get a Wata 10 A++ (well, who does?, it feels like a gamble) out of these boxes.

2) Wata scandals
Wata *may* totally lose credibility due to the last couple of years scandals related to HA. Although VGA cases aren't as elaborated as theirs, this may harm future value.

I don't really care about turn around time, my priority is to spend as little money as possible.

I've been looking for Atari 2600 cartridges, the ones I most played in my childhood and ran into this offer. The seller has an old game store stock with lots of original 2600 game boxes and offered me a 6pack never-before-openend River Raid box for $260.

I'm not into sealed/graded market but I think this is a good opportunity. It's $43 for each game, which is sold for about $200 each in the same condition. I mean, the plastic seal seems to be in perfect condition and the boxes have no creases or dents at all. He also has a Magnavox Odyssey in the box, in absolutely mint condition and told me a guy offered to buy all his 10 6pack sealed boxes of Space Invaders.

From the pictures I get it's a 90+ VGA or 9.8 A++ Wata. This would be a nice way to raise my available funds for other playable cartridges (maybe I'll keep a sealed one for myself, who knows?)

What you think, is it a good opportunity to take?
 

I was born in the 80s so I believe I'm the typical Atari -> NES generation. Started with an Atari 2600 clone (CCE VG3000*) playing River Raid, Kangaroo, Enduro, Space Invaders and others. Then in the end 80s/90s a cousin got a NES that came with SMB/Duck Hunt (my nickname and avatar says it all), we used to rent games and play together. In the 2010's I found her NES and kept it, believing it was an original NES. Only recently I took it out of the box to clean and try playing it, then I figured it was just a cheap clone that doesn't even work.

By the mid 90s an aunt went to United States (oh yeah, I'm from Brazil by the way) and brought an *original* Mega Drive (Genesis). I had a MK2 with the box and everything that I traded for a Road Rash 2, label coming off and all. I was just so sick and tired of MK2 but now I feel sorry for this stupid trade. Whatever... My mom kept this console also but without it's controllers. When I found it I got so hyped and bought Sonic 2 and Altered Beast for the "collection". I still don't even know if the console works.

More recently (early 2020) I've been watching the AVGN and I just love when he shows his shelves, full of Atari, NES and Mega Drive cartridges, looks like a personal rent store. I always feel a hard nostalgia over the cartridges: their shape, their feel on the hands, the sounds they make when you put it in the system or take it out and put it on the ground.

I'm not after a huge, comprehensive collection. I have a small beer glass collection, a small computer storage collection and these items I just mentioned, which barely qualifies a collection.

* You know 'rage quitting' right? This model created the 'rage biters'. When we kids were frustrated by the game, for some reason we used to bite the controller's stick I don't know why it just was there, asking for it. It's very hard to find one in good shape nowadays. pic related.