Wata NS means a lot of things

[DefaultGen | 5,401]

I saw an "NS" Light Crusader on Heritage today, a cardboard slide box, which I thought was funny because you wouldn't be able to tell unless you removed the wrap yourself (which I'm sure they did). After joking about it with someone and they didn't really get what NS means, it had me thinking about all the things it could really mean:

1. No distinguishable difference from CIB but Wata themselves removed the wrap
2. Unsealed but Wata can tell the box is unopened
3. Unsealed but a security seal remains
4. Glue sealed, possibly was originally wrapped and removed
5. Glue sealed, verified by Wata that it originally came like that (e.g. an Atari glue seal Wata notes was taken directly from a case)
6. Glue sealed, the only way it ever came
7. Never sealed, Wata can tell the box is unopened
8. Incomplete (e.g. graded component of a set or big box)

Not really complaining, just bored musing on a Monday night. New games that came without shrink wrap do get kind of screwed by the NS mark of shame though. NS is basically a mark of "Trust us... it's sort of kind of new if you think about it and just... believe" on Light Crusader, but it's a badge of everything being 100% A-OK on Colecovision Zaxxon. I think the only perfect solution is for everyone to stop caring about Atari, which removes like half of these cases, so we can all hurry up and continue on doing that.

 

[GPX | 1,369]

I did a similar discussion on VGA “Qualified” games from NA. There are different types, with varying degrees of origins to their labelling. 

Basically, if you don’t care for WATA/VGA, then NS or Qualified shouldn’t bother you. If you care at all, then one needs to learn on the specifics of what they’re after. Each will come with their own level of worth and rarity.

TLDR - do some research before spending stupid money.

[DefaultGen | 5,401]

Nitpick Tyler here to nitpick things no one cares about because everyone is making money. Why isn't Super Mario Maker graded as NS? It has an outer box that was never sealed. The inner box is what's sealed. Does the 9.6 apply to the outer box or the inner box (for example it looks like there is wear at the top in the Wii U logo)?

If opening flaps matters in terms of "newness" for things like Japanese games or games missing seals, these shouldn't be opened. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

Edited November 15, 2020 by DefaultGen

[ThePhleo | 2,184]

Sir...this is a Wendy’s.

Wait, no this is actually the proper outlet.

...

I think I’ll say it’s a catch-all that deserves a better name. 

[DefaultGen | 5,401]

44 minutes ago, ThePhleo said:

Sir...this is a Wendy’s.

Wait, no this is actually the proper outlet.

...

I think I’ll say it’s a catch-all that deserves a better name. 

I can’t stop looking for variants, even if they’re Wata case variants.

[Speedy_NES | 102]

On 10/27/2020 at 5:13 AM, DefaultGen said:

I saw an "NS" Light Crusader on Heritage today, a cardboard slide box, which I thought was funny because you wouldn't be able to tell unless you removed the wrap yourself (which I'm sure they did). After joking about it with someone and they didn't really get what NS means, it had me thinking about all the things it could really mean:

1. No distinguishable difference from CIB but Wata themselves removed the wrap
2. Unsealed but Wata can tell the box is unopened
3. Unsealed but a security seal remains
4. Glue sealed, possibly was originally wrapped and removed
5. Glue sealed, verified by Wata that it originally came like that (e.g. an Atari glue seal Wata notes was taken directly from a case)
6. Glue sealed, the only way it ever came
7. Never sealed, Wata can tell the box is unopened
8. Incomplete (e.g. graded component of a set or big box)

Not really complaining, just bored musing on a Monday night. New games that came without shrink wrap do get kind of screwed by the NS mark of shame though. NS is basically a mark of "Trust us... it's sort of kind of new if you think about it and just... believe" on Light Crusader, but it's a badge of everything being 100% A-OK on Colecovision Zaxxon. I think the only perfect solution is for everyone to stop caring about Atari, which removes like half of these cases, so we can all hurry up and continue on doing that.

 

Add 9:  used game with folded new-old-stock box. All you'd need is to match the exact weight of the contents, and there's really no way for them to know for sure that the contents are new or not, unless they open said NS games.

[ThePhleo | 2,184]

9 hours ago, Speedy_NES said:

Add 9:  used game with folded new-old-stock box. All you'd need is to match the exact weight of the contents, and there's really no way for them to know for sure that the contents are new or not, unless they open said NS games.

You talking about something like a Wisdom Tree thing or something?

[Speedy_NES | 102]

1 hour ago, ThePhleo said:

You talking about something like a Wisdom Tree thing or something?

Yes, for example, but also from other publishers. From what I've been told, various publishers handed out these unused flattened boxes at CES shows as promo material, and some excess stock have been sold on eBay over the years. I've folded some of these as box upgrades, and they look no different from a new sealed copy with shrinkwrap removed. Not looking to be a negative Nancy, but this should be a real concern for NS graded 'new' games.

[Jayleonis | 16]

So what does ns mean exactly? I have an snes game with plastic on but it’s ripped at one end for the length of the box. The box looks like it has never been opened as there are no crease marks at the flap bend. Would this be ns?

[YOURTURN | 1,256]

On 12/12/2020 at 11:56 AM, Jayleonis said:

So what does ns mean exactly? I have an snes game with plastic on but it’s ripped at one end for the length of the box. The box looks like it has never been opened as there are no crease marks at the flap bend. Would this be ns?

NS = Not Sealed/No Seal.

The best examples are Famicom and Super Famicom releases. Namely that era where the box was the wrap, and the need for a wrap or seal (like ones found on later Japanese releases) were not mandatory.