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You down with VGC (Yeah you know me)
Who's down with VGC (All the homies)

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Not one but TWO sealed copies of Golf??? Stop, my dick can only get so hard.


Anyone want to buy a cib dk jr with the sticker still on it, it's worn to hell but it's an Uber rare holy Grail first edition or whatever the hell.

Of course there's a whiff of envy. Who wouldn't want a million dollars to spend on?

The main consensus from reading this thread, is that there seems to be a heavy bias/exaggeration from the article on the value of the purchased sealed games. It also implies that there is a trend of people throwing hundreds of thousands of dollars on games, when this is simply not true. They're intentionally picking the biggest spenders to do the articles rather than a few of the experienced collectors to throw in more of an even analysis of the current situation.

Instead of questioning whether there is genuine worth, it is just merely assuming as fact old games are costing bazillions.

 

No Guinness book of world records?

What always gets me with these articles is they always have a phrase or two that starts with "experts tell us...". But who are the experts these news sites are speaking too? Their knowledge is always weaker than mine and I'm not much of a top-shelf collector. I just keep myself informed.

You are so right about this.  

I found this particular paragraph in the article a bit...interesting:
---
“The hobby has transformed from being this relic of nostalgia,” Kahn said. "It’s not so much about that anymore. It’s moved to a real appreciation of the art and historic value of these games. People aren’t just buying them to look at it and remember playing that game. They’re buying them to commemorate the history and the impact they had on pop culture.
---

IS that why they are buying them? Hmmm..   There may be some element of truth to that, but the same article also talks about collectors now adding games to their "investment portfolios" and it makes me wonder...is it about commemorating the history and impact, or is everything about money?

When WATA was taking off, I remember seeing all of these comments in here of excitement about how the video game hobby was becoming more 'legitimized' and more like comics, etc etc.  And while I suppose that is a great thing financially for people who had all of these early titles, it was a bit hard to even express why I wasn't particularly excited about this trend.

And for me, it's not about envy - I'm not too jealous of someone having $1m to blow on video games.  I'm not even jealous about not having 5 and 6 figure games already in my collection.  I never wanted a Stadium Events or NWC and I still don't and I'm fine with never having them.

Maybe the part that bothers me here to a degree is that we have so many people here who have invested hundreds, maybe thousands of hours into a hobby they care so passionately about - putting forth so much effort into documenting history, learning about things, sharing tips and information with fellow friends and collectors about unique items, etc.  And the cumulative knowledge and expertise that was built, was essentially purchased and exploited so that people with gobs of money can reap the benefits and obtain whatever they want.

At the end of the day, these ARE just video games, and life will go on - there are certainly more important things in life.  And, from a practical perspective, none of this should be particularly surprising.  But as Jone has mentioned several times - the shifts and trends that have been occurring over the last year (and more), are not all just natural progressions.  There is a lot of orchestration here, and while from a purely market perspective they have every 'right' to do so, it's just a bit disheartening to see.

I'm still going to go about doing what I do, collecting what I like, and fortunately, most of the things I'm after aren't too sought after.  I'm going to make the best of it and just continue doing what I enjoy.





 

That article reads like pure marketing copy for the sealed/graded collecting gravy train, almost as though it rolled straight off the desk of Jeff himself! The featured subjects and named parties so desperately WANT this little niche of the hobby to become the be all and end all of video game collecting, it's practically obscene the amount of pumping and hyping they're doing.

I've said it ever since the 100k Mario, there seems to be a smallish cadre of heavily invested and interested parties pushing for this scene to blow up so hard, and sure enough these people have stumped up significant sums to pump it up and then other mugs have bought in willingly in a big way too...



However, if I were investing this sort of money into buying the types of games these people are buying, there are a couple clear signs that would cause me HUGE pause for thought right now.

One big one is right in front of our faces here on NA. Ever since WATA, HA, the 100k Mario and especially the sale of the site, the participation of longstanding members of this community has been spiralling the drain. There has also simultaneously been a huge backlash AGAINST the idea of sealed/graded collecting in the manner that WATA, HE, NA et al. are pushing. These are the very people who SHOULD theoretically be the customers first in line to buy all the rare and exquisite sealed games!!!!!

If video game collecting was naturally evolving into first print, black box, graded, sealed whatever, the user base of the most dedicated Nintendo collecting forum should be on the front line of that trend! No ifs, no buts, WE should be the footsoldiers in that cultural and market shift. But what has happened?! We're are REPULSED by it! We should be the customers those guys are hoping to convert! The future of video game collecting CANNOT just be baseball card and comic collecting rejects, it makes absolutely no sense!

It's almost as though we can appreciate the "artistic and cultural impact" of video games by... I don't know... Fucking PLAYING them?! Or even if not to play, having a nice boxed Mario on our shelf from the 82nd printing that cost 5 bucks ten years ago imparts all the "artistic merit" we need to feel satisfied, and to feel connected to these games that bring us so much joy.



I will go as far as to say 90% of the preexisting NA users who actually support this direction for game collecting (and are not directly involved in the pump and dump scam) were people with large collections of these cherry titles who have made a lot of money out of the new blood. Good for them, and God bless them.

But, for those hoping to profit from huge new investments in games, like the mug in the article, well, answer me this: If their biggest supporters within the (formerly) most hardcore and prestigious Nintendo collecting community are all SELLERS of these games, who in the FUCK are the BUYERS supposed to be???

We are laughing at you. We are laughing at you, and we are patting on the backs the friends of ours who are getting rich selling these "investments" to you. And we sure as fuck are not envious of what you have done with your money. We are RELIVED that we have the actual knowledge, grounding and common sense NEVER to make the foolish decisions with our money that you have.

For mugs like the fellow in the article, and all those tempted to follow him, for your own sakes, please pass on your hot potatoes now, either before they burn a hole in your pocket, or they cool down. Will a video game be worth a million dollars 20 years from now? Probably. Will it be black box GOLF? For the love of Christ, fucking kill me.

If a comic can be a million dollars, why can't a golf?

Y’all didn’t know golf and Gumshoe are multi billion dollar movie and tv franchises like Spider-Man!??

 

Guys like you....sure pal.    That one SE you finally managed to own really threw a Curtis Curve into the retro market.
 

I think you forget how close I was to a full CIB set. The “top” titles I were missing at one point we’re down to just a handful and I was even working on N64 at one point.

I remember back in NA chat I was called “insane” for paying $200 for a loose Samson, and I think it was $2400 for a CIB Samson+BB2+F2 from wrldstrman.

But regardless, I’m talking about the previous “wave” of new collectors like me. Not me specifically. Even Omar wasn’t that great and mighty on his own.

Omar is the only valid comparison to what's going on right now.   

Even then, I don't think he was trying to manipulate the market as much as he just wanted shit right now and had the financial means to do so.

Yup.

That was my reference earlier in the thread. It’s a valid comparison, but one caveat, he was most definitely trying to manipulate the market.

My biggest gripe, if I have one, has been mentioned in this thread several times. As much as I like Val, and HA, they are not experts and should not be cited as such or used in the capacity they have been with these articles. They need to be deferring those questions to the ACTUAL experts. At least for the time being. If they need to hire subject matter experts that are paid to give commentary they should. It’s a small price for adding legitimacy to some of the marketing we’ve been seeing. There’s literally prob 20 members or more right here they could hire.

I specifically talked to HA and Wata about this. It needs to be done ASAP or the backlash will only get worse. VGC is no expert. HA are no experts. Wata is, but they don’t have the bandwidth yet to build out that piece. Its not that hard either. Write up a bio, put them on your website and compensate them for real legitimate commentary. Not hyperbole, not hype. I was approached several months ago and asked if I’d do such a thing. I won’t say who I was approached by, but I can say I was 100% onboard and there was zero follow-up. None. 


 

Usually if you're trying to manipulate a market, you need a group of rubes with more money than sense.   That's why I figured Omar was just impatient- he was coming so far over the top on prices and he was the only one at the time doing it, and all the sellers were swimming Scrooge McDuck style in their new found piles of cash.

Whereas now....well, you have eyes and can clearly see what's going on.  As Optout said, I'm happy for those that are selling to these marks/rubes/what-have-you.   If they really missed this stuff, they can buy it back in a couple years for half (or even less) of what they sold it for, but I doubt anybody will be nostalgic for that sticker sealed Golf.
 

From the article sounds like this Fred Savage looking guy wanted to become the 'king' of a collecting community and couldn't keep up with baseball cards. WATA and HA have been very successful at pushing this demand and buzz about print variations, and it looks like these people with too much money are a perfect target. As stated above, i believe Mario may be one of the few exceptions for being worthy of maintaining an insane amount of cash, but there is no way in my opinion some of these other titles are going to maintain this absurd money they're selling for currently.

Tape market is booming fellas sell sell sell

Can anyone explain to me what is the appeal of the black box games? I mean this in general.

I was born in 86 and got my nes in 91 so towards the end of it lifespan so i wasnt there at the launch. I get that they're the first games in the lineup, i get that some variations are very rare, but i dont get why everyone and their mother is rushing to buy them today. They seemed to be rather niche before and « mainstream » today.

For the most part these games are bad and dont have any significant franchise value. I dont think they're memorable either.

The exception id make are super mario bros for obvious reasons, excitebike and perhaps duck hint and the donkey kong games. Beyond that i think im missing something. It seems like because WATA wrote an article on them every body piled up to acquire them. What if they make an article on the color dream set next? Would these explose in interest?

I understand all the hype and pumping shenanigans hap'ening now, but i just want to understand why so suddenly ALL black box games are considered holy grails to comlectors from other hobbies.

Id appreciate a respectful answer as this is a rather newbie question, yet one that puzzles me.

Think more of a "first print" perspective.

These are mainly comic collectors whaling their way in, so they're naturally going to gravitate towards pumping the black box stuff up since those were the first official Nintendo games.

Then with the sticker seals being the first of the first, that just calls for a blank check apparently.

Yeah but first print of what? Smb is a franchise so yeah thats the first print of the franchise...

but lets take golf or wild gunman or most others. They're first prints yes but nothing else came after so who care!?  There are probably some first print comics with first appearances that nobody gives a sh!t about today no?

Unless you mean "first print of NES" in general, which would put these games on equal footing. This doesnt make much more sense.

Again i dont want to sound negative, i am not. I am just a bit puzzled. Im also glad that i care about other games than those so im now going to have to dump 4-5 figures into a mediocre looking CIB. 
 

Yes, first print of NES in general.   But SMB being SMB likely made it the six figure first print sealed title that it is.

Nobody has a clue why somebody gives that much of a fuck about Golf.   There's several sealed black box titles with a much lower overall population.
 

Also, they are easy to identify. Same with white bullet MTPO and Dr. Wright mega man.

Yeah, easy to identify first prints. Not just first on NES, but rather the first print run of those given games. Being among the first published NES games means stuff was still being worked out. Stickers are way more obvious than different type of shrink wrap.

And, black box games are attractive to collectionist collectors by dint of their uniform appearance. If that template (diagonal image, pixel style, starfield, impact-type font) was used by only one game, nobody would care about it just for that. 18 games makes it look like something more when they are together. Add that to it being the early stuff (post-crash-wise) and you have catnip for comic collectors.

The entire world is manipulated because of the almighty dollar. So shocking. 😀

Right, only because of the uniformity they got grouped with. As for comic book first appearances, it is similar. That character means nothing at the time, so unless there is follow-up, it won’t matter. But when there is, when the character gets popular, watch out. Deadpool had his fans as a sardonic son of a bitch, but when he showed up in the movies and then got his own starring movies, his first comic book appearance shot up like Little Samson after a hidden gem video. And when a certain comic book issue does gets attention and desirabilitylike that, yes the first print is indeed always more sought, most likely more rare. And therefore worth more