fcgamer

I was waiting to grab a coffee at the local shop, when I witnessed someone order one of the sandwiches from the shop. I probably wouldn't have thought twice, but my friend actually had a sandwich from the same shop for lunch (I grabbed a pizza elsewhere, we met up at the coffee shop after we both finished other things). Anyway, I was watching the woman prepare the sandwich. Two pieces of toast, yum. Mustard, yuck. Raw tomatoes, eh I can eat them but I prefer them cooked. Pickles, yuck. Lettuce, tolerable yet I feel similarly as I do the raw tomatoes. Egg or meat (I couldn't tell what it was), There was probably an onion or something in there too, also a huge yuck for me. In the West you might say I'm a picky eater, though I've eaten so much stuff in my life that it's an unfair label to use, some of you "non-picky" eaters wouldn't touch some of the stuff I've eaten over here. Anyways, it brought me around to this topic. I envy people who can go to a coffee shop or buy a train sandwich or something and enjoy it, stock. It's silly, though it would be nice sometimes. So I'm curious about what other little / silly things people might envy. It's the silly things we take for granted, yet might be a huge deal to others.

Stay off of my Mega Drive stuff yo!! Actually I need to reorganise my collection too...

Finished! Gonna give it one more proofread, over the next few days / weeks, but the first volume is done, content wise, format wise, etc. Still thinking how I want to handle something with Chinese names, but these are just little trivial things.

Yup, like I said earlier, that's the huge issue on these, too many fakes, small supply, huge demand. By now, I think a lot of collectors don't even know reals versus fakes, only way I'd buy one is with a traceable history.

Well Taiwan used NTSC format just like Japan or USA or whatever. The games that you had and sent in, which were rejected. Do you (did you) believe that they were sealed and not resealed? I'd imagine so, if you took the time to send them in, unless you were just looking to get a high CIB grade.

Things have been so busy around here, I haven't had the time to update this thread until now. Here are some recent finds. The two Famiclone controllers at the top go to an Ending Man Famiclone, iirc it's the 500 series or something like that. The codebook is for the PlayStation, and it was done by the company that used to do conversions of FDS games back in the day. Xbox stuff. Found one Taiwanense game, the Tiger Woods game, from EA of Taiwan. No, this one wasn't sealed I also found a Microsoft employee store game, and the case and manual for a second game. Yup, found it locally here in Taiwan, at a junk shop. The three Dreamcast games weren't sealed, sadly enough, but they were local finds and cheap. Then there's the two promo Mario Party things, Taiwanense market, not for sale, yes please.

This is one of those games along with Super Mauro, which I wouldn't ever touch even with a ten foot pole. Good luck, I'd speculate many aren't too keen of posting pics of theirs

Well, if were a Chinese / Taiwanense company and a single sound effect were borrowed, it'd be considered pirated so Which would lead us to another question, if a company made a game with infringing IP, for sale in a country that doesn't recognise the copyright laws of the other country, would it be pirated? Lol. But that's a fun topic for a different thread. Anyways, I think the easiest way is to take an Atari approach to full sets, everything goes on,and no one has one.

Thanks for the information! It's definitely useful

Hi jonebone, first of all, thanks for taking the time to respond, I really do appreciate it. We got off on the wrong foot last time, and the way things were left is likely the reason this is still going. I honestly believe that no matter what the truth is, it's important to have open discussions on these topics, for transparency. It's best for every party involved, who knows, maybe some more of these sealed John Maddens will be found, and if they match mine, then at least there's more information, no matter what the outcome, to help inform potential buyers. This doesn't surprise me too much, as it says "Made in Taiwan" right on the back of the boxes; however, I honestly would be surprised if you (with all due respect) or Wata knew that the games actually were distributed over here, as very, very few have been spotted in shops, and the only other evidence would have been coming from local Taiwanese magazine adverts from the early to mid 90s. I don't think this one was aimed at me, but thanks for the clarification anyways. For me, honestly the problem was the wording, followed by the silence for a day before popping back in to add your additional thoughts. As you mentioned yourself, maybe it is a distributor seal or something else, but to just say that it is a reseal and then disappearing for awhile really hurts the legitimacy of my game, and when we are talking possibly four or five figures, I think you can honestly understand why I'd be upset too. For example: "This doesn't look like any seal I've ever seen before for this kind of game; therefore, it might be a reseal, or perhaps it's some unknown variant or distributor seal" looks much better than "It's 100% a reseal. I thought everyone knew that." Sure, and that's totally fair. Even going back to my original post, although I don't think the game was ever opened (it doesn't look like it on the seams), I'm not the expert and so I wouldn't ever hold hard feelings towards anyone else not feeling comfortable dropping large amounts of cash towards it. A totally reasonable thing to do! The game is already back in the United States, floating around the midwest somewhere with a trusted source. The day I sent it out (paid $75 to mail the thing, sent it EMS though uninsured with a value of $5 USD) was ironically the same day that I received the message from HA telling me that they would no longer work with me and the game. I actually considered binning the game then and there, but after talking with a friend, still sent it out. Well I'm honestly not sure how that is supposed to work as we need to declare an estimated value. If the game is actually a legit seal, surely I can't value it at the lowest tier, yet if it's a reseal fake, then I shouldn't be trying to value it at 10K monies either. Well one thing at a time. Tell you what, as a gesture of good will, if it does indeed get authenticated as being a legit version (company seal, variant seal, whatever) I'll give you the first right of refusal on the game before sending it to HA or taking other offers elsewhere. Well I don't feel that I am trying to play the woe is me card, though I've said my piece so I won't comment further. Well I think the consistent tagging was in part an attempt to get you back into the thread so that this one can continue to be discussed. You're a smart man, and think you're likely a good guy too, as you've got a family and kids and what not. This thread became a dumpster fire in part due to both of us, but you came back like an adult to clarify a few bits, and so I'll follow suit. I hope that as things unfold further, you will continue to chime in with your thoughts and opinions, so that we can find out what the truth actually is concerning this game. Similarly, I'm sorry for my bad attitude towards you earlier, the sort of bad energy with this game is even worse than that of the Lord of the Rings ring, hence why I sent it to the States, just to get it out of my sight. Dave P.S. Any thoughts on that clamshell Blockout? Does that seal look real to you, or does it look like a reseal / possible unknown variant? Thanks.

RIP Scott Hall

I've been saying that for years, all the NA cronies would jump on me saying I couldn't say that, surely the reason for the exclusions wasn't about ease and cost. Let's grant everyone a full set award, cut out pics and post them on a loaded flash cart lol

Tetris infringed on IP, therefore it's a pirate

*Licensed in the region you're collecting. Videomation is both licensed and unlicensed, same with the unreleased Time Diver, etc etc

To initially decide against purchasing something in the grounds of be uncertain as to whether it is legit or not, especially when it comes at a high price - that's totally understandable, and he had provided me that reasoning during our first round of DMs. No harm, no foul, totally, totally understandable. That's not the issue at all. The first time he pops into the thread is only AFTER the half million dollar sale, and what is his first post? To paraphrase it a bit, "It's a fake reseal, everybody and their uncle knows it". That's it. End of discussion. That sort of attitude is going to lead to anyone biting back, which led to his final post on the subject. That being said, he likely had no clue the EA games were sold in Taiwan, nor did he have any clue that EA did their manufacturing here locally, as well as all of the other circumstantial evidence surrounding this game and I origins. He had a right to not purchase the game, and he similarly had a right to say he questioned the legitimacy of it, but to pop in and call it a fake, no questions asked, saying everyone knows it, then pops back out again, especially without even knowing half the story? Well that's heartless and terrible, especially when potentially life-altering money is at stake.

Yeah, exactly. There's always something more to add. Was working on this some tonight.

Yeah, all the information that is know (aside from the emails from HA to me, and the DMs inquiring to buy the game) is public on the John Madden thread I started in this forum. In hindsight, I'll admit that my attitude wasn't the best in that thread, but I think anyone would feel the same way if someone just popped into the thread with unsubstantiated claims, then left again, making a potentially $$$$$+ item virtually valueless. No creases / color change on flaps + old shrink-wrap + all the other games in the shop not being sealed + EA doing the manufacturing for their games here + adverts showing that they were also selling Madden and other games here = it's fake reseal, period end of sentence? Sorry, I just don't believe that. Whether it's half mil monies, well I'm not saying that either, but the expert definitely made a bad call, without even looking at the thing, whether intentional or not. But as seen here with this game, definitely feels like the same type of underhanded shady shit being tossed around.

I enjoy writing, actually, that's why I wrote some books.

I've thought about it, but that wouldn't be as fun For the pages with extra white space though, I'm thinking of things I can add to reduce that. Rest assured, other pages are packed beyond the gills.

Was there a significant reason why they were playing the music at that time? I remember once telling the staff at the NY Nintendo store that their sign was wrong, as Famicom had also been officially released in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and it went over like a lead balloon.

5/10. Never played it growing up, first played it as a teen on a Supervision 350 in 1 multicart. I think it has potential, but there's definitely many other games that I'd rather play, even games that have an equal standing of me not having played as a child. Overrated AF.

People are even telling him it's a fake, just to try to score a good deal themselves, or to ruin his item's legitimacy. That's just shitty, and is something that is all too common in the grading communities.

Added half-assed appendices.

I'm not sure I could personally do this, but I do think it's an approach that would suit me better than any of the current options (aside from SE being on the regular list).

@Toyhunter1 : Let me tell you a short story. I'm from the States, but I've been living and working in Taiwan for over a decade. A few years ago I found a John Madden Sega Genesis game at a local shop here, sealed, and purchased it. Yeah, it sounds ridiculous almost unbelievable that I found an American version game sealed in a shop in Asia, I understand that. Despite receiving multiple (lowball) offers from people here, in the grading scene, I decided to hold onto the game. A few months back a sealed graded copy of the game sold for just under half a million dollars USD. While the copy I own isn't in as nice of condition as the one that had sold, I decided that I'd send to Heritage Auctions on consignment, and be happy with whatever I got. Just as I'm working out the details as to the best way of getting the game safely from Taiwan to the United States, a Video Game Sage forum member (who happened to collect John Madden games, and had also offered to buy it from me previously) came onto the forum with something along the following: "It's a reseal and valueless, I thought everyone knew that." Little to back up his claims, but suddenly with this one statement, and him also being a so-called "expert", Heritage Auctions refused to accept the game, despite the company that manufactured the game even having a manufacturing plant over here, how this game was shrinkwrapped and none of the other local games at the shop were (and Japanese games are not shrinkwrapped, etc). tldr; Evidence shows that the item is legit, but a forum member and so-called "expert" with a vested interest in the game being fake made a public statement that it was fake, despite mounting evidence to the contrary, and now the game is stuck in limbo. That said my friend, the graded market for high-end games is an ocean full of sharks. Everyone is just out to protect their own investments and interests, rather than the truth of the matter, and they don't want folks like us entering into the market and upsetting things. It's really stressful, I'm in a similar boat with my John Madden game, stick by @Tanooki , @OptOut and people like that if you want advice and suggestions, without having someone screw you over for tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands. No matter what the reality is with this game, I really do wish you the best.