MrMark0673

The rolling mechanic instantly reminded me of Shock Troopers. Looks fun, love any Smash TV type game, so I may give it a shot on Switch.

Stop me if this sounds familiar, but the founder of ComicLink is Josh Nathanson... His profile is displayed on WATA's website as a member of the advisory board.

Matt and I were asked about considering involvement in the advisory board as well as exploring other involvement (financial involvement) on December 4th 2017. It never went further than a few PM's and a few text messages. I am a teacher, a dad, own a small business, and manage a bunch of real estate. I didn't have the time to commit to it, but the initial idea (and people involved) I liked.

I would say that plenty of people from WATA have already spoken about it, but opinions on that will vary. Nothing I posted with the SEC form D link is open to interpretation. I made definite, factual observations based on the legal documents. Either Dain, Jeff, or both had a formal financial interest in WATA Inc when the "Carolina Collection" was being graded. That set of games was later (and is currently) being sold, for profit, by a formal member of WATA Inc and that person has a specific financial stake in that company. If people don't see that as a conflict of interest, I can wager to guess why. If anyone would like to prove that anything I posted in the underlined above is definitively untrue, I'll edit my post with a correction. Agreed.

The former name is mentioned in both of the SEC forms, so no secret there. It has no bearing on any of the information I posted though, in any capacity. Edit to add: I see no "obvious" falling out, I see a transaction of financial stake. Can happen for numerous reasons and I don't look to speculate on that. Just wanted to point out the hard facts of the connections between all of the parties mentioned previously as well as their associated companies.

https://sec.report/Document/0001711064-17-000001/ So Dain was an executive too? Man, that's so weird. Weren't we told in no uncertain terms that WATA, Jeff, Gocollect, and Dain were unrelated entities? Edit to be absolutely crystal clear: When the "Carolina Collection" was being graded, either Dain, Jeff, or both, had a financial interest in WATA Inc. When NA was sold, it was between two current or former members of WATA Inc. Is this a post of emotion, speculation, or objective truth? Previously I had stated that WATA isn't simply Deniz and Kenneth, and I was met with some pretty serious pushback. Not conspiracy theory, not blind jealously, not creating connections or conclusions that don't exist, just pointing out the blatantly obvious.

Umm, what?

Yeah, it's a trade show (likely CES) display box. As Hybrid pointed out, many have that tear in the back based on some sort of double sided tape to mount it. I have had a few for the NES pass through my hands and think I still have a Double Dragon 3. Limbo sold a Wolverine NES box in real nice shape for $300, though I personally have no idea what the "market" is for something like this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Wolverine-Nintendo-NES-Prototype-Sample-Box-LJN-NFR-CES-E3-Demo-Display-Rare-/143396435560?hash=item216317f668%3Ag%3A6lkAAOSw4W5djobV&nma=true&si=Ht9P2Y8bKT2ulTbP5Ze8f9%2BV3gc%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557 I'm nearly positive I saw a WATA graded empty display box, so factor that in for potential pricing spikes if true.

I was the first person to ever beat Happy Camper for the NES when NGD released it. Not easy, and I personally believe it's the best Color Dreams game ever, released or otherwise. I lent my copy to Roth and never got it back lol. Edit: I ruined Ghosts n Goblins as well. Many have, but it's a staple of "hard games", so worth a nod.

I always did a variation of Arthur from G n G. Way back when I was a mod on NA, we used to do an annual April Fool's joke. One year it involved me "banning" Dain from his own site, openly accosting KHan, and ultimately getting banned. I added the "unbannable" upon my return and it stuck ever since.

What I'm pointing out, objectively, is the website and company I'm referring to, WATA, has your image, accolades, and profile, prominently displayed under "Who We Are." I'm also indicating that others (namely Jonas) had been previously listed, but no longer appear, so it's not as though the members listed there has been static since the doors opened. When people think of WATA, they don't necessarily think of Deniz and Kenneth. I certainly don't. They think of the many, many other individuals and companies that have chosen to associate themselves with the business and their operation. How you can take issue with me pointing out what I did strikes me as genuinely bizarre. Hand to God, I don't "get" why I would be off base in my comments. I mean, it's a link on the website.

I'm genuinely confused... Your profile is literally displayed under "Who We Are", but you aren't them? Jone was previously listed and no longer is. I assumed advisors listed under "Who We Are" would be who "they" are, but you're telling me I'm wrong.

WATA isn't Deniz and Kenneth though, it's also the advisory board like you, Bronty, Jim Halperin, and Dain. It's HA and their ads that they ship back in WATA packages. It's GoCollect and the "Carolina Collection". It's the people hyping games that are both not uncommon nor previously desirable in even remotely the same capacity (like Spot games from the Omar days or TMNT now). I don't think anyone sees WATA as those two individuals, nor should they in my opinion. I think it would be incredibly unfair to use them as the names to point at when negativity is being projected at WATA while others get rich in increasingly suspect fashion, and those people are also officially associated with the company. I think there is a reason their names haven't been used frequently, but instead the company mentioned, as WATA flatly isn't Deniz and Kenneth.

Though Battletoads is a “platformer” at heart, the game play is so varied it’s absurd. Side scrolling beat em up, vertical and horizontal auto scrolling, foot race, vehicle obstacle course, it’s all over the place. Actraiser was the first game that came to mind though. Moonlighter is essentially two totally different games played in tandem.

That’s it, I’m cracking it open tonight. I have tomorrow off for stupid property appraisal stuff and I have some genuine free time coming up.

Nope.

Even though I had zero intentions of ever using NA in any capacity again, I would have much preferred it be successful than turn out the way it did. It would have been a nice place for the WATA folks to do their thing (there are two threads in "Announcements", one of which is "Show off your WATA Games"), and I just don't want to see it spill over here. It's the biggest contributing factor to me posting less on the last site, but to each their own I guess. Supremely grateful for the incredible team of individuals who started this place. We all saw the writing on the wall, you all acted on it before the community was snapped out of existence. Congrats on the successful launch and here's to a long and productive future as a community.

Haha! I only play once my wife and daughter are in bed, but when my life settles down I can usually squeeze in like an hour a night. I have a TON of stuff on my plate that will be over soon and then I plan to binge it hard.

Gotta hand it to you Jone, I thought I had done my homework. Googling Jim Halperin Heritage Auctions lawsuit was eye opening. Wow. If they have any sort of monetary deal involved with HA (be it the sale of ads in return packages or other dealings) you have to factor that into to both their gross cash coming in as well as the terrible optics associated with so many of the same people appearing in the buyer/seller/grader/auction house category. If WATA makes any money directly from HA in any capacity, it's an abysmal look if nothing else based on all of the things I've mentioned before. Anyway, I agree with like 99% of what Jone and Tom have said, and I won't gum up the thread any longer repeating things I've already stated.

I like Deniz (seriously, I've always liked Deniz), and no one called anyone a thief. Pointing out the obvious isn't libel Dan, have a snickers. Indicate anything I said as being objectively untrue and I have no problem changing what I wrote. Is Jim not a WATA advisor? Is he not also a founder of Heritage? Was he also not a member of the buying party of the $100k Mario? Would that sale not boost the stock of WATA, Heritage, and early sealed games in general? What is it exactly that you're taking issue with?

Their methodology, not their motivations. You missed the entire point of my post. Literally. The only point I made.

A good deal... They're worth tens of thousands of dollars. Trust me, an article is coming out soon

Maybe, but I wasn't some pillar of morality. I just was transparent when I jumped on some (what I perceived at least) inexcusable hype. When I sold my NWC for $17,500 (at the time a record) I told people that I was jumping on the hype train, striking while the iron was hot, and putting the cash into real estate. Same thing when I VGA'd protos to sell. I have no idea who was authenticating protos at VGA, I knew what I had was real. For some reason though, buyers saw the VGA seal of approval and started paying over the top prices. I literally said at one point "VGA putting their reputation on the line for this and any other game they grade gives buyers peace of mind and nets sellers thousands of extra dollars. When it comes to this hobby, the only thing I like more than historical preservation is making Gorillions. VGA helps me do that." I wasn't making up anything, or trying to do shit behind the scenes to turn the market. I put games up with authentic descriptions on Ebay for $.99 (Edit: at times high BIN with best offer) and people grossly overpaid for them because it was in a VGA case. Trust me, I LOVED making money on games, no shame in my game. I wasn't about to do shady underhanded stuff to get there though. My record is as clear as my conscience and I sleep like a baby as a result.

Very few people have taken issue with the new collectors spending more money on things. The complaints are the obvious conflicts of interest and deceitful tactics the company has used in tandem with all of the parties I have named. No one cares about someone spending money on a game. Over inflated sales where buyer/seller/grader/auction house are literally all one in the same is a load of dog shit and people don't have to walk on eggshells pointing out the obvious over here. Again, when Jim Halperin can be a WATA advisor, a founder of Heritage Auctions, and part buyer of the $100k sale, people take notice. That's fucked up and on the surface absolutely reads like a marketing ploy that boosts the stock of: - Heritage Auctions - WATA - Owners of early BB games How do you take it a step further? Add puff pieces that make it sound like this isn't only normal, but this is just the beginning! "It's probably the wrong move, to sell, long term" is the perfect quote to stir up ignorant money from deep pocketed comic collectors. Sure, it's waaaaaay more than historical data has ever shown this game or group of games to sell for, but it's the wrong move long term! Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuy!!! Just flip things with a conscience. These games are clearly valuable, the deceit is obvious and deplorable. This isn't the only facet of the hobby that's done something similar, it's just the most obvious. I had an absolutely incredible collection of prototypes. Imagine if I traded one for a high ticket item to a friend, then used the value of that item to now claim that this proto (and along with it, all my others) are worth mid five-figures? Imagine if I made sure a bunch of media outlets picked up the story, and talked about my "$XX,XXX prototype changes hands!". What if I went a step further and made a documentary on protos and how crazy valuable they were and pumped it through the community? With such a niche like protos, I bet I could have easily convinced the masses that my $2-500 protos were worth tens of thousands. But... I just sold them instead.

Middle School Science teacher, 14 years. Own and operate a boxing club, member managed LLC I created. Been a USA Boxing coach for 16 years, typically work with amateurs though been doing more pro fights recently. Invest in multi-family properties in the Greater Boston area and Boston proper and manage them as well. I genuinely enjoy each one.