ExplodedHamster

I'm answering my own question, yes it was him. Just went back and checked his YouTube channel.

That's the dude whose shop was robbed, right? Some guy broke in and had his entire vault out within a few minutes. Then they found the guy a few months later.

Yeah, especially with Genesis stuff I love. Better to pay up now for Genesis stuff before pop reports come out. With Genesis, it's not going to help prices from a buyer perspective.

It's still a lot of money for a game that used to be $75 sealed lol. I know it's happened across the field, obviously, but I'm still of the old school mentality as a buyer for my personal collection.

I won the Lost Vikings for Genesis. Paid up for it, but those have basically disappeared and it’s a great game, so gotta bite the bullet I suppose.

P1 lol. They have no shot. CGC will be the third major entrant.

This is a holy grail for me. I have been looking for a sealed one for a decade or so. Seal has some tears, but box is great and I’ll take what I can, trust me.

Who’d have thought a mere 1.5 million dollar sale would have brought out some of the highest graded items!? This reminds me of when people said there were thousands of matte Mario CIBs because a handful came out after the 25k or whatever sale (which was crazy insane at the time). Then they basically disappeared. Without a massive warehouse find, which is I suppose possible, it’ll be nowhere near 60-70 in 9.8/95. VGA got a handful in 15ish years, and I think 4 of the 5 were from the same single casepack they got in that time? It’s very tough to get 9.8 or 95 N64 that are not from casepacks. Possible, but real hard. And most casepack games have that notorious N64 side corner indent anyway, which would prevent a 9.8 from WATA. But where video games and collectibles in general are in 5 years is anyone’s guess. The past two years have been beyond insane across collectibles. There’s no way it can just keep going.

No, what I’m saying is WATA is more harsh on N64 than VGA is (because VGA is lenient in box damage and weighs seal heavily), though I agree it’s generally the other way around. I think VGA in general was too harsh for a long time and scared people away because of it.

My guess is the buyer is probably doing ok for himself or herself one way or another, so none of us should lose sleep lol. I figured mine would hit 500k or so, so I’d still be quite happy as a seller at the 780k. The big question on these are how will they shake out long term? I think there are three 9.8/A++ now, let’s say within 5 years you get up to 6-7. What’s that worth? Who knows.

Under their old system, there were rare cases where grades changed after being initially put into the system. I forget why. It’s why they changed their entire system so grades don’t show until the game has shipped. It forces them to put in the final grade. I’m guessing this was one that was changed before shipping under the older system.

Good luck @Jared_Goldinauctions! Some really nice results already and we all know the insanity that is extended bidding on Goldin. Definitely should be fun to watch!

I have crossed dozens of N64 games, and I can assure you that crossover article does not translate. VGA is quite lenient on box damage for N64 and weighs heavily the seal. I have had a number of 85+ hit from 8.0 to 9.0 with A++ seals. You likely are not getting a WATA 9.8 below a 90+, and quite often 90+ and above (including 95s) do not translate to a 9.8.

Well, I certainly think part of this is fair, particularly in terms of the optics. I don’t think there was really any particular need to showcase certain people the way they did or to use titles that left any room for the imagination. In terms of making money, they are first and foremost a business. With collectibles going bananas and video games riding the wave, business models were going to shift more towards catering to where the money is. It’s funny, you’ve seen new grading companies in cards start up now advertising to the “affordable for true collectors” crowd, and then once they get more business they jack prices too lol.

My stance on these issues has been consistent for years, prior to any money I made on these games. As has been stated, none of this is new info and it has been discussed ad nauseam here and on NA. I think you have a harder time defending people who get up in arms about the most basic business transactions (like HA and WATA partnering), which makes it clear for many people it’s really been about the lame and played out “true collectors” and “games are for playing” garbage that has infested the community for long before WATA became a thing. The problem is it’s basically impossible to get past the noise and focus on the real issues, because people say something like “oh he’s made money, he’s a WATA shill” and I have to waste energy on that. Tbh it’s reaching the point where it’s probably a waste of time, it’s like arguing politics lol. I also have no problem whatsoever saying I believe in video games as collectible assets, and it was something destined to occur at some point with the younger generation shifting gears on investments. I believe in capitalism (isn’t the so-called American Dream based on it?), and I’m not going to shy away from any of that. I am also an avid gamer and collector, and have been for far longer than I started buying graded WATA or VGA games. There is, and always has been, room for both.