Some of you may have seen this at the PRGE this year. BIGDADDYRAMIREZ sent me a picture of this when I was getting ready to check out of my hotel on that Sunday. Well, I hurried my ass up and went back. Big thanks to him!

It's definitely a reseal, there's no doubt about that. The seller said this was a refurb and resealed by Nintendo in-house and then sold in one of their stores. Don't know how this would be possible since NFR stuff isn't normally sold by retail stores. I'm wondering two things; Does this have a chance of getting graded as "Qualifed" and does the cart itself have the NFR back sticker? Didn't want to open it in case this had a chance of getting a Q grade. So, what do you guys think?

Note: 1. Looks like whoever folded this did not know how, but box still looks amazing. 2. Sticker is under seal on box.

Sure it would be good for a qualified grade, but you don't have to worry about opening it because VGA will have to open it to inspect the contents.

If I was considering sending this to VGA I would probably open the box to see if what's inside is actually brand new. Of course, if you are sure the box has never been opened then you can just try your luck and send it as it is. VGA can remove the sticker for you if it is a concern.

As far as I know, I don't think there is a NFR cart inside. It's probably just an original release with a "not for resale" sticker slapped on the box.

Thanks for the input.

I was taking a closer look at the flap and comparing to my opened copy and I would have to say, with the little experience I have, it's never been opened. Would you see the white line along the fold the first time you open/close it?

Wait.. what?  VGA opens sealed games?

Don't open it.

Don't open it and don't send it to VGA, keep it just as it is.

ya seriously why do they do that for, doesnt that defeat the purpose

Your telling me, people here actually PAY others to open up there games?

As far as I know VGA only opens games that are not officially factory sealed. If it's factory sealed then you have no problem.

If this game is not then they will be forced to open the game. Simply to check the contents inside for a fair grading. If you believe it has never been open then DO NOT send it to VGA. They will know it has been resealed and there is no way they can grade it without checking the contents inside. In other words they will open it causing the obvious white line.


Well one of the reasons I'm not sending in my Zelda games is because some of them are rare and I've read one to many cases of games "dissapearing" during shipping at some point, I'm not willing to take that chance. Also I believe VGA only opens games that have obviously been resealed. So well yeah you can sort of say tjat people pay for VGA to open their games. Even if they are brand new. For instance some Japanese games aren't factory sealed, but has never been open [brand new]. VGA takes it upon themselves to break the box open and check the contents.

Send it in as is!

So do you guys think this was an employee purchase (ripped original seal off, sticker, reseal), store demo, or does that refurb deal sound legit? Just really curious as to what this actually was and would be a bonus to find out this is still new.

A refurb probably wouldn't come in a retail box. Every refurbished unit I have seen from Nintendo came in a plain box.

Employee purchase is much more likely.

Was the game in complete packaging ever part of a console bundle? I got my GB Zelda when I bought my Ice Blue Gameboy Pocket, but I don't believe it included the box, just the cart and manual. But maybe another pack-in offer did, and they would stick that sticker on it to discourage any retailers from opening and removing the game to sell it separately.

This is BS.
Half is true but not the way you say it.
VGA don't just go and rip open a resealed game and grade it.
If they cannot varify the seal is legit, they will tell you, not just yank it open.
Also, your claim about them making crease lines is BS.

"For instance some Japanese games aren't factory sealed, but has never been open [brand new]. VGA takes it upon themselves to break the box open and check the contents".

This is utter bullshit!
If a game never came with a factory seal and the box has never been opened, it still gets the 'Standard' grade and not the 'Qualified' grade.
They don't just go openning flaps up and inspecting the contents. The leave it closed and grade the outside like any other sealed game.
I have tons of games that never came sealed and the side flaps have never been opened.
All these games are 'NON' Qualified.
Example...



No factory seal (no sticker, no shrink, no tear strip), no opened flaps (no crease line), no Qualified grade!
Games never came to Australia with factory seals, and only few came to UK sealed.
The one's that never came sealed CAN get the standard grade if the box has never been opened.

Hernan, your Zelda is very unique and very strange.
It's hard to say how VGA will go about this.
They will know the seal is not official so they may not be able to grade it whilst leaving that seal on, but the box having the 'not for resale' sticker means that Nintendo must have placed that sticker on. This must mean that the original seal was removed by Nintendo so you may be able to get a standard grade with the seal missing not affecting the grade.
First things first though... Don't listen to people telling you to open it.
DO NOT OPEN IT!
I would be sending VGA a message and stating the facts.
Tell them exactly what it is but not in an 'unsure' way as if you don't know.
Maybe tell them how the seal was removed by Nintendo for the NFR sticker to be placed to be used in stores as demo purposes.
Ask them how they would go about grading it.

Oh, and if this is ever for sale ungraded, I'm a potential buyer

Honestly i think they would not accept this as a standard grade game. They might accept it as qualified without the shrink wrap. But its not an authentic seal. Even if it was infact sealed by nintendo, thefe is no way of knowing for sure. They wont just take your word for it or else they would have a million submissions claiming that. I'd say if you absolutely want it graded, send it in for grading as qualified. Send it just the way it is, if you send it in for qualified that gives them permission to remove the wrap.

Of course they would accept this as a standard grade.
It's just whether or not the lack of the seal would affect the grade or not.
You can grade a sealed game that has had the seal removed and still get the standard grading.
The problem with that though, is that not having the sealed is considered a major flaw... And I mean 'MAJOR' major flaw.
It would get marked down to the point where it's not worth grading.
The lack of the original seal in this instance may not be considered a flaw as Nintendo may have been the ones to remove it.
That's if it even came with an original seal. Who even knows if this copy did come with an original seal.
The NFR sticker looks 100% legit and Nintendo may have released a batch like this for stores/display purposes.
Another thing is the vent hole on the back. Who reseals with vent holes??
I don't know enough about NTSC to give an accurate answer.
What I do know is that I would definitely be looking into this to find an answer.
I would also not send this in for any qualified grading.

I saw this at prge far. It is 100% re-sealed(as were all of the vendors games with this sticker)

These were sold at the Nintendo employee store. While it is likely new, these games were most likely opened and stickers applied, so people who bought them at the store couldn't take them back to your average target or wal-,mart.

Best you would get is a qualified.

I kinda figured this would at best get graded as qualified. However, I didn't buy it with the intention of grading so I'm cool with that. I just gradually thought about it more as I saw it sitting on my shelf and figured I'd ask for some opinions. At worst, I have a really nice CIB at a fair price. I paid $40 for it.

I don't think I really got an answer on the white line. Will the white line appear on the hinge the first time you open the box? Thanks for all the input so far!

Goodness what the hell is wrong with some people on this site. Calm down. First of I spoke with a VGA repesentative a few days ago because I wanted to know more about the process. SO CALM THE HELL DOWN! I'm only repeating what the nice VGA CSR lady told me on the phone damn. Call VGA BULLSHIT not me. She told that games that are not sealed WILL be opened to have the contents check for a fair grade. If the game is already open there's a Qualitfied grading scale or something like that. That's what she told so call VGA and curse them out. I even asked her what IF my game was brand new, but a game that doesn't come sealed, but is brand l. She told me that the game at hand will be opened and checked for a fair grade.   She also added...... unless you tell them [VGA] not to open the game on the fill out [sheet] that's packed with the game at hand. Otherwise the contents will be checked.

Look I don't really give a damn about VGA at the moment. I no intentions of getting my game graded at this time. Maybe one, but not now. I simply called to learn more about the process for sealed, opened, new games etc.So contiunue your little rant. There's better ways to talk to users\people. Goodness.