Bronty

1 hour ago, DoctorEncore said:

That is crazy regarding SE. Obviously rarity and demand factor in, but I'd expect some correlation to CIB prices. I wonder how many years it will be until all this wild pricing stabilizes.

There is some correlation... the CIB prices act as the floor for sealed.

THey do not, however, have much impact on anything but the floor.

1 minute ago, jonebone said:

I was a kid growing up in the 80s and early 90s with no interest in comics. That was the point I made there.

Also my post was just speaking to what I've noticed as a parent in general. I wasnt philosophizing about what my girl likes as the next big collectible. I think we're talking past each other at this point, not the direction I intended to take the conversation. No worries.

Fine, you were more interested in saying what you believed to be true (that cards were a better analogy) than really talking about it anyways.  All good.

38 minutes ago, jonebone said:

I'm 35 (born 84) and didnt know anyone who really collected comics as a kid. It was mostly sports cards in the early 90s from my anecdotal experience.

You mentioned kids and screentime in another post, but screentime is more than games. Its youtube and watching other kids play with their toys and games. I believe this was also the first year that more than 50% of video game sales were digital vs. physical so kids born 10 years from now likely won't even comprehend how games were sold as physical products.

Last point, I see cards as a much more logical parallel than comics. My daughter, age 5, brings home a different Pokemon card from school everyday. Those kids all have em it seems. Even though I was big into N64 I missed the whole Pokemon craze. I bet that line begins with those born in 87/88 or laterms (roughly), but that is a much more clear and logical parallel.

Kids might not read but they sure do play collectible trading games with their peers.

You see it as a better parallel because you understand it better.  

Neither parallel truly works.

And for the record what five year old girls are into has zero impact on later collector markets.    Look around - how many collectors on this site are girls?     What girl focussed significant collectibles of the 80s/90s have happened?   None that sell for any kind of real money.    It seems to be 98-99% male driven past a certain dollar amount.

its about what 12 year old boys are into, not five year old girls, that later becomes collected (by 40 year old men).

I'm not surprised that being born in 84 you and your friends weren't into comics.   Sales of new comics were completely in the tank (all time lows) when you were 10-12 years old.   Your age range and up being lost readers was exactly the point of what I was getting at earlier..

And the Se at heritage will go for a very low multiple over cib.    Multiple of cib is just not a reliable way to even guess at value of sealed 

Yeah I think that’s a bit too simplified tbh.   The sellers are varied.   The buyers are varied too but are more often comic guys.    When they aren’t comic guys they are usually part of the heritage crowd for something else.    

Look, there’s no need to invent this.   I know from conversations with Deniz that it was because Deniz and his dad had some contacts in comics.    Believe it or not, not every comic collector is rich.

The way I would put it perhaps is that my generation in particular that straddled the transition in popularity from one to the other is into both.   I’ve collected both for many years myself.    I think this POV works for kids growing up in the late 70s, 80s and early 90s.   (Note all the video game ads in comic books in the 80s and 90s).  Not so sure it works great past or before those points.   Comic guys even five or ten years older than me have zero interest in games from what I’ve seen, for example.

On 11/20/2019 at 3:30 PM, Link said:

There's not one answer. But looking at what makes things collectible, I think comics tick more boxes in common with games than other things do.

You play a game, and you read a comic. Both give a time-based experience that the author designed.

Games and comics both have scenes that are continuing to thrive. If you asked me on the street, I would guess action figures and cards don't. Marvel makes a movie and people run for the related books, new and old. Does this happen with, say, Transformers and GI Joe? Correct me if I'm wrong.

Toys don't really line up neatly for compact display on a shelf like games and comics.

A lot of people in comics know that sales of new books plummeted around 93 and have really never recovered meaningfully despite old books doing well and despite marvel properties doing incredibly well in movies etc.    Very few people are running out and starting to collect brand new avengers comics because they watched the avengers movie.    The people who currently collect old comics obviously fret as a result about whether the generations coming up can possibly have the numbers, the interest and resources as a group to sustain current prices because collectors have always come from past readers historically.   So comics people worry about demographics - there’s some natural analysis around the next big thing is.    Games and mtg basically replaced new comics (old comics are a separate discussion) when new comics went in the crapper around 1993.   So the other thing linking games and comics is their relationship in that demographic narrative.    Kids don’t read.    They’re on screens.

On 11/20/2019 at 9:33 AM, jonebone said:

So this is something that I just can't relate to.  I collect games not comics and have never owned a single one.  I recognize that lots of collectors wind up collecting multiple things (I also do some baseball cards / autographed sports memorabilia), but what is the specific draw between comics and games these days?  Other than certified games sharing a similar scale, what else ties them together?

I know super heroes appear in games, and that is fine.  But cartoons appear in games, Star Wars is in games, Disney is in games, Sports Icons are in games, movie stars are in games, etc.  Many of those have viable collector markets too.  Yet those crossover collectors haven't really appeared, at least not in droves like the comic buyers.

No analogy is going to fit perfectly but the relation to toys seems to make the most sense.  Similar time period in popularity starting in the 80s, mean to be used instead of collected, significant crossover to TV / Movies / other marketing.  

Cards and comics span many more eras and were regarded as a collectible by the 80s I'm sure.  Board games seem relatable but they too go back a much longer generation.  Toys have also been around forever, but the toys I inherited from my dad were generic cowboys / indians things.  They didn't seem to be as multibranded as toys with TV appeal and heavy marketing towards children.  

Anyways, curious for thoughts?  

You’re thinking about or perhaps just reacting to this too deeply since, as you said, you can’t relate.   Simply put from what I’ve seen Deniz had some contacts inside comics and marketed to comics people as a result.    That led to comics people getting involved in the hobby, who naturally use the field they are most familiar with as a point of reference.    That’s it.   Or at least, most of it.

Digital press online rarity database.   You could do a query for all US game gear games and it should spit out what you’re looking for 

3 hours ago, RH said:

I’ll be honest, I was really hoping there was an IP backdoor still up so I could peruse the database, then search for a list of Game Gear games with there publishers. TL;DR, I need a master list with that info. :’(

Should be able to get that from DP no?

Yeah.  It was double FMV.     Might have been more like 06 

On 12/3/2019 at 8:53 PM, Jim Jimmer said:

I figured its time to juice up this thread with a « terrific trio » .  

 

 

I remember about 15 years ago someone had an ebay auction selling all three games at once llike this, with a similar picture.

It went for a kuh-razy 1200 at the time.

Congrats on the nice trio.

14 hours ago, austin532 said:

What would that even grade I wonder? Dented corners, light creases, dirty shrinkwrap. I'm guessing a 7.5?

Eh, the dust will come off the wrap.   I don't see any creasing, I think those are scratches in the wrap.

At vga probably an 80+ and at wata probably a 8.5-9.0 B?

Guessing, obviously.

On 12/3/2019 at 11:23 PM, Chongbone said:

So I shouldn’t pay the extra to have them remove the Original price tag from the plastic seal? 

Since you have the receipt I'd say don't bother.   Nice to be able to tie the receipt price to the price tag.

Doesn't add value really, but kinda neat and the price tag is small anyways.

The good news is its legit and has value.   The bad news is that its not the highest graded specimen given the scuffing and damaged corner, but still.  Great find.

19 hours ago, Chongbone said:

I have a sealed Super Mario Bros NES that I have owned since I was 9. My mother purchased it for me as a gift not knowing that I already had the game. We were in the middle of a move so it was placed with the original bag and receipt with my toys and never returned. I recently was going through some things at my parents house and came across it in my old elementary school lunch box. The price tag, hang tab, original receipt and original plastic bag from AAFES where it was purchased. So now the question is should I send it into WATA to be graded? Does the original price tag on the plastic seal make it worth less therefore it needs to be removed or should I skip the grading process entirely? Would the original receipt, price tag and bag make it more valuable to a potential collector should I decide to sell it in the future? Help please!!

send it in.

You cheap mofo  just buy it already

Those stickers usually have some stress on them or crinkling in the gap between the top and front of the box.    They aren’t automatically mint like you might think.   
 

Besides, if that’s what’s there, what else are they supposed to grade?    I understand your point but IMO they made the right call - treat as normal.    Customer has eyes.   The alternatives (no seal grade at all or an entirely new scale just due these few games ) are worse answers to the question of how to deal with sticker seals IMO.

I agree, time for a rest.    That said if pawn stars calls, you probably have to take that call no?

Was the interview by Frank Cifaldi maybe? He just about had a bird when I showed him and he found out it had gotten as far as cover art

12 minutes ago, GPX said:

I can see the vantage point in the above. Though it’s not wrong to think a bit more about the ethics involved in the buying and selling of games. Trust is a valid point of entry for any future potential consumers.

Btw Bronty, I always appreciate perspective from your end. It always makes me think a little deeper on the issue than I perhaps otherwise wouldn’t have. 

Cool, glad to hear it.    I think ethical dealing is important, but it’s all in how you define it.    We are all big boys and no one has the time to babysit anyone else.    I think as long as you are getting what you paid for, and as long as there is no deception, it’s fair game.    I do understand the questions people have had but at the same time it gets old for me personally because many of the same issues persist in other hobbies with no shady insider dealings or accusations coming to light  the past twenty years yet gamers who aren’t familiar with it think it’s brand new info and want to start an investing action or something.    The fact is, it’s widely known that HA and or parties related thereto own at least a chunk of CGC (comics graders), NGC (coins) and whatever else I’m forgetting.  
 

Ideally you’d like all those parties to be separate but they aren’t and HA is the 800 of gorilla for whom funding grading companies (as they did for the first several years of cgc) to ensure the product is essentially a commodity and therefore auction friendly is worthwhile.

this is all pure speculation on my part but I think if you’re HA you don’t give a poop about grading fees and you certainly don’t want to do anything to screw up the trust the public has in the grading co.    What you want are the auction fees (again pure speculation, but are you making more getting paid 1k to grade a 50k game or from the 20%++ cut you will get out out of the auctions results?    
 

The one exists only to feed the other or at least that’s my speculation, and you don’t bite the hand that feeds.   Nor have they for 20 years now   

3 hours ago, Sumez said:

Absolutely. I'd say you gotta be appreciative of NES jank, or a big fan of the game in the first place, but that also goes for the US/Jap version. They definitely feel like very different games.

Personally I'm a huge fan to the point where it's my favourite arcade game of all time, and I have yet to play a home port that accurately represents the game (jury is still out on the PCE port - I own it, but most of my consoles are hidden behind a construction mess at the moment). So with that in mind I find it more interesting to play something that is drastically different.

Thanks for the list up above.   I don’t think this is well known so you might find it interesting to know that Don Doko Don 2 was very nearly released by Natsume in the US as Wacky-Man.   This was going to be the cover artwork (excuse the poor photo) .  It would have been one of the nicer looking boxes IMO

5 hours ago, Code Monkey said:

How does a game without a seal get a A++ seal grade?

The sticker is the seal

On 11/27/2019 at 4:51 PM, peg said:

Grading CIB makes zero fucking sense, why not just grade the box itself and leave it at that?  The contents aren't displayed so what is the point of grading them?  Grading video games is just fucking goofy anyway you want to look at it, but putting grades on things that can't even be seen is next level stupid.

Always consider the extreme examples.    The guy buying a cib stadium events for 50k?   Damn straight he wants to know what condition the cart and manual are in.  

16 hours ago, GPX said:

I don't think anyone on this thread is saying the market isn't shifting. We all appear to understand that things have changed. Now the big question really is this:

Is the hype genuinely derived from a change in market shift? Or is the market shift due to the hype?

Further to the above, where do you draw the line between "hype" versus "market manipulation"?

Call it whatever you want to but there are more buyers with more money chasing the same supply.