Any sealed SMS game experts out there? [Archive]

rarebucky

10-18-2007, 06:20 PM

I have a bunch of games and I'm trying to figure out if they are factory sealed or not. If you have good knowledge on this topic shoot me a PM.

Barbarianoutkast85

10-18-2007, 07:38 PM

I think its hard to tell the difference between a factory sealed game, and a reseal job. (But I'm not 100% sure) I would think that a good indicator would be where you bought them, if you bought them from a seller on Ebay, it could be a toss up. Since I read some where (I think on the Ebay forum on DP) that some Ebay user's were resealing games and selling them as factory sealed. If you got the games at a yard sale, or game store I would think that they would be authentic.
Again i'm not an expert on the subject, but felt I had some alright advice/information.

Scrimble

10-18-2007, 07:45 PM

I'm not an expert on the subject but from seeing a few sealed ones on different occasions, they only have seams on the top and bottom. None on the spine or back of the box.

zektor

10-18-2007, 08:37 PM

The plastic used to seal was thicker too...not like regular shrink wrap. It was more of a thicker plastic wrapping. Kind of hard to mimic, but I guess anything is possible nowadays.

grolt

10-19-2007, 12:23 AM

And it wasn't just seemed on the top and bottom, they were loosely opened (so the hanging tab on the top could stick out). Unlike the Saturn, it's pretty tough to fake an SMS seal.

Videogamerdaryll

10-19-2007, 12:31 AM

The plastic used to seal was thicker too...not like regular shrink wrap. It was more of a thicker plastic wrapping. Kind of hard to mimic, but I guess anything is possible nowadays.

Yup,I have a few sealed SMS games like,very thick kinda hardish seal......much different then thin shrinkwrap..

rarebucky

10-19-2007, 05:15 PM

Well, here's the issue...I have tons of SMS games and on all of them the wrap feels identical...it's that very stiff, brittle wrap (when you poke it makes a rubber-band type noise - I'm sure you know what I mean). But virtually none of the seals are identical. Some have seams that go down the spine and over the top (including over the hangtab). I know "most" should technically only have the seam on the bottom and open on top but I would say about 50% of mine are like that. I can say from my own experience that I know Genesis games were sealed in different manners...I have some Genesis games I bought direct from the store back in the day and some of those have seals going over the top and hangtab. Any thoughts? I'll post pics later.

digitalpress

10-19-2007, 06:14 PM

My approach on SMS and Genesis games are: if I'm not positive they're factory sealed, then they're not factory sealed. And the only way I'm positive is if I bought them originally or a trusted person I'm purchasing them from bought them originally.

There are way too many variations in packaging those systems and I've seen too many sealed games that were later discovered "used" to feel comfortable any other way. If there's an expert out there who can look at one and tell for sure I'd like to shake his or her hand.

rarebucky

10-19-2007, 09:41 PM

Some pics:

rarebucky

10-19-2007, 09:43 PM

Some more:

zektor

10-19-2007, 09:56 PM

That is definitely a re-seal. Here are some pics I just took of one of my sealed Genesis games. See the difference?

kentuckyfried

10-19-2007, 11:08 PM

That is definitely a re-seal. Here are some pics I just took of one of my sealed Genesis games. See the difference?

Is it definitely a reseal? I believe that the SMS sealing method varied a bit from my experience with sealed SMS games.

If you got them all from the same source, I'd say open a common title if you have one and take a peek inside. Nothing like opening an old/new game 20 years after it was released!

GameCollector

10-20-2007, 06:26 AM

check www.sealedgameheaven.com for more informations about official seals and reseals!

grolt

10-20-2007, 01:42 PM

If that wrapping didn't look so brittle I'd say it was a reseal without question. That makes me wonder, but I still think it's resealed.

Attached are pics from one of my sealed SMS games.

rarebucky

10-20-2007, 03:22 PM

I have ones that look like that too and those are definitely factory sealed. Thing is, the Spellcaster I posted above has the exact same kind of shrinkwrap. That'd be pretty hard to replicate, no? Plus, with SMS why would anyone bother?

Scrimble

10-20-2007, 04:04 PM

Yeah the SpellCaster looks to be re-sealed. I never noticed before it was mentioned here but the harder wrap makes a rough edge on the seam.

http://s163.photobucket.com/albums/t295/Scrimble/?action=view&current=seal.jpg

y-bot

10-20-2007, 04:09 PM

I've opened a Genesis or Master System game that had the hang tab sealed down and it was new inside. I guess it's possible it was re-sealed by a store or something but I think it is likely there are several versions of seals.

y-bot

zektor

10-20-2007, 06:54 PM

Look closer at your seal. If the rigid seam doesn't give it away (I have never purchased a new SMS or Genesis game that had a seal like THAT), then the burn holes in the plastic should (look at the pic of the side of the case...where it opens). Those holes are from overheating the wrap. This actually looks like the re-seals that my old boss at Software Etc used to do in the early nineties. The guy used to open new games, bring them home to play them with his buddies on the weekends, then bring them back and reseal them with a professional machine they had in the back room. The guy was a jerk, I didn't respect what he was doing, and I quit :)

megasdkirby

11-24-2008, 09:05 PM

grolt

11-25-2008, 12:21 AM

Bumping this topic to avoid making a new one, but I bet this one is a reseal, right?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Sega-Master-System-SMS-Cool-Spot-Brand-New-Sealad-Box_W0QQitemZ400011834023QQihZ027QQcategoryZ139973 QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

A UK game factory sealed? Weren't those games "sealed" with an oval SEGA sticker on the side of the box?

Also, why is the flap sealed down as well?

My bet is that this is a reseal.
Yeah, looks like a reseal to me. I know most Euro games had the sticker seals, but there were so many different companies releasing for the system there, it's tough to know if they all followed that standard. I know there are several sealed in those blister packs there as well, so I guess this one isn't totally unfathomable.

zektor

11-25-2008, 01:11 AM

That is a reseal. A telltale sign is that the edges are "rough" and even more that the hangtab is sealed over. The seal that Grolt posted earlier in this thread of "Great Basketball" is a true seal. This is the way ALL of the sealed SMS games I have ever purchased had been.

PingvinBlueJeans

11-25-2008, 06:18 PM

My bet is that this is a reseal.
It doesn't matter either way. Even if it's legit, it's not worth $99.

Cauterize

11-25-2008, 06:29 PM

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v366/cauterize4/smsseal.jpg

megasdkirby

11-25-2008, 07:42 PM

What is that?

Looks cool...is that some sort of special packaging? From what country?

Cauterize

11-26-2008, 05:24 PM

That would be a blister pack SMS game from europe. For some reason Sega did this in mainland europe for some of their games (including Megadrive games).
Somehow, it ended up in my local game shop still sealed for just �1.99 despite having a belgian price on the front!