ExplodedHamster

Haha, I definitely will be chipping something in soon. I have so much to do, I moved last week so shit be crazy at all times and I need to sit down at some point and hammer some stuff out.

Ftr, it’s been my favorite game ever for a long time. I think it’s an incredible game and always have. It’ll be less than a million, for sure. I am a video game dealer, technically, so this counts as income not 28% capital gains. It’ll end up somewhere in the 750k range or so, I believe (keep in mind the hammer was 1.3).

PAID

Doesn't matter with collectibles, which are a cool 28%, whether short or long term Beyond that, I am considered a dealer at this point, there's no way around it. Given that, it's taxed as income. So, between federal and state, it's in the low forties . But that's how it goes. I am generally in favor of the idea of taxing (though certainly I do not agree with all the ways in which it is spent), so can't be a hypocrite now.

Sorry, late to respond to this, had a hectic week. Yep same thing stands. I will say that if there are any issues. I have been told the same thing all along, which is that Heritage is highly confident in the buyer. With the certainty of tone that's been used, I am not at all worried. Once there is confirmation, I'll post it.

I think VGA was historically overly tough. As stated above, few people want to participate in a market where beautiful stuff is getting an 85 or 85+. VGA’s biggest problem is, and always has been, its scale itself and its overly harsh grades. I do think WATA’s seal grades have been too lenient, but recent orders make me think they’ve gotten significantly tougher, especially on newer generation stuff. Probably for the best. VGA, conversely, has loosened up a bit.

The fruit fly is less a grading thing and more a QC, as the fruit fly was in the blister not the game lol. That was a VGA 85+ crossover. The scuffing you see is also on the WATA case, not the game. Scuffing on their cases has definitely been an issue. It got an 85+ because there was a tiny perforation in the cello. Otherwise, it was minty.

No, it’s Collector’s Universe. Blackstone bought CGC. So much happening lol.

There is no chance it’s anywhere near 90%, given all the new systems submitted and all the raw stuff gobbled off Ebay in 2019 and 2020, but the point remains that if WATA has not tracked crossovers, there will never be a fully accurate pop report. It will be artificially high, actually, with many games counted twice.

Tough to say which, but certainly many new people will not be aware these came from the CoD sets, which you can get from Deal Tavern for like $45. It’s same as all the GTA Trilogies.

Honestly, even as a collector, first print Tecmo Bowl in high grade is up there. I would wager that is a top 3-4 graded copy between WATA and VGA, and the known pop is like 10. Raid and Winter are also sick.

The account also recently posted some Xbox One Fortnites that look off, unless there’s some weird ass lighting going on. It’s Slimer-colored.

Re-sealaroo:

DealTavern has a bunch on Amazon, as do a number of the known re-sealers on Amazon. Pretty sure Deal Tavern’s are the legit GH versions.

Never seen one. The GH version had a security label, so doesn’t make much sense why they’d remake the original cover after without one. That’s what I always thought, but when IGS drops knowledge bombs, it’s hard not to take notice and make me question myself.

People have said that forever, and sealed games over that span have very rarely had much of an impact on other prices. It could be happening over the next decade or so at this rate, but at least there will always be ways to play the games whenever we want. Loose carts should at least still be available at reasonable prices. CIBs of certain popular items probably will rise over time, though they have done that before WATA existed as well. Most of the minty CIBs have been snatched up by collectors over the past decade or so. I'm not sure if decent condition popular games like Mario 3 will ever be super desirable; I'd guess not, but we'll see.

The sale I regret the most would probably be my high grade Madden cardboard for Genesis, which was a 9.6/A WATA. I think the seal grade was actually harsh, the things was absolutely beautiful. I figured I might find another, but nope. I got an incredible offer for the time, but deep down I was skeptical of my own decision. Probably the purchase I regret passing on the most was a minty TMNT Turtles in Time Made in Japan for like $1200 OBO in late 2019 that had been sitting on Ebay for like 3 months with 60 or so watchers. I think I made like 4 offers between $1100 and $1150 and turned down his counters for $1175 LOL. The moral of this story is anything with more than like 15 watchers is something worth watching, provided it's not one of those one million dollar or best offer kinda deals.

Oval seal, yeah, but the round seal first prints are legitimately rare. Overall, you are right there are likely fewer Super Tecmo Bowl than the original, if you include the 2nd and 3rd print Tecmo Bowls. New people coming in won't care about Hagane, so I guess it's a matter of "Collector Perspective" versus "Investor Perspective." If we are going Collector, I think Keio was the best deal.

Sure, but I think a lot comes from people who never would buy or want to buy a sealed game ever for any reason. Before I started collecting sealed and way before WATA and these crazy prices, I saw these threads all the time with people fighting about it and it turned me off a ton. So I basically stopped reading the main forum and started posting more in Gamer’s Gauntlet and the off topic forum. I suppose it makes more sense now, but it’s been like this forever lol. Just seems like playing the games would be a more positive use of time. Tbh, outside of time with family, the thing I’m most excited about is adding some arcade stuff to my basement and building a game room with pins and stuff set up so I can get to games I never thought I’d be able to. I feel a bit caught in the middle with the attention now, but what I really want to do more than anything is just go to a convention later this year and go into the hall with all the games and Mario Kart 64 competitions. Or watch speed runners for SMB/Mario 64. Maybe I’ll dress up as Mario and wear a mask or something LOL.

This is what I never understood. People seem to spend way more time complaining about things they don’t like than doing things they enjoy. Especially in the past decade or so with social media. We got one life, just seems like a giant waste of time lol.

Me too, I grew up playing Tecmo Baseball lol. My first football game I loved was Madden 92.

I think you could EASILY make the argument that the 9.4/A+ Round Seal Tecmo Bowl that sold for 46k was the best purchase of the auction, for where this is going. That is like a population 10ish game from what I have seen (in round seal) and it's one of the nicer copies out there. The game I think will be just massive is the first Madden for Genesis and SNES. Jonebone has one of the nicest ones I've ever seen for Genesis. These are cardboard games, hard to find, and extremely condition sensitive. That Dream Team game will also be really big, I'd wager. It's very hard to find and that cover is going to be so coveted.

The fact that Pat has however many more followers than Tyler does (and gets way more groupies at conventions) is a grave injustice.

So I think something being declared a fake ends up like a $15 cost from WATA. If you're in no hurry and don't mind losing out on the $15, a game of this caliber is worth making sure imo. I am pretty confident it is not legitimate, but I have definitely been wrong before!

To be clear, it’s Collector’s Universe that purchased WATA. CU purchased PSA I think in like January, and also purchased Goldin earlier this month. Or at least that’s when the announcements happened. Blackstone purchased CGC, which was announced I think last week. It was same day as Goldin announcement. Anyone got a wall chart? Lol