NES shrinkwrapped/factory sealed question

[adaml]

Hopefully someone can shed some light on this topic for me.

I recently auctioned off a shrinkwrapped copy of Athletic World for the NES on eBay. I got this from someone on eBay in the late 90's who told me it was factory sealed, so naturally I stated the same in my auction. The item in question is here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/ebayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8102619846

Now I have a question. Are all licensed NES games that are factory sealed supposed to have the horizontal line across the back? I seem to remember a board member here a few months ago lamenting the fact that he thought this to be true and opened up one of his sealed NES games only to find out later from fellow board memebers that it actually was factory sealed and he just devalued his copy of whatever game it was tremendously by opening it.

This copy of Athletic World does not have the horizontal line across the back, so would this automatically make it a re-shrinked game?

Also notice the "Power Pad Game" sticker on the box. Does anyone know if these came from the factory? I would assume they would, but perhaps they were slapped on by the retail store they were sold at?

The game went for $9.99 in auction, but I don't want the buyer to think he got a game that was re-shrinkwrapped. I am prepared to refund his money if the popular opinion of this board is in agreement that it was reshrinked.

Unfortunately I paid more than $9.99 over 5 years ago for it, so hopefully I didn't get ripped off back then.

-AdamL

[nesman85]

as far as i know, all licensed games have the horizontal line on the back. i think the one that got opened was ms. pacman or some other tengen game that wasn't supposed to have the line. i'm no sealed games expert though.

[sniperCCJVQ]

as far as i know, all licensed games have the horizontal line on the back. i think the one that got opened was ms. pacman or some other tengen game that wasn't supposed to have the line. i'm no sealed games expert though.

I agree with that.

[NintendoMan]

What's up Adam,
Well, I am almost positive that all licensed games come with the horizontal seam.
ONLY unlicensed games didn't have the seam -(Camerica games, Namco's Pac-man, Tengen, couple more I can't think of at the moment)

I would consider myself somewhat of an expert on sealed games. I do collect and have a rather extensive NES, SNES and N64 sealed games collection.

I was ripped off, as well as like 100 hundred other people, from a seller a few years back selling re-sealed NES games. I know one guy spent like 10,000, and that was just one guy. It was was my 10th purchases on ebay and I spent $110 on a sealed copy of SMB 3. After that day I found out this guy was selling reseals, I have been very very careful when buying sealed games from now on. I think I annoy some of the sellers with all of the questions I ask. (That's too bad though, they are the seller's and if they seem impatient with my questions, they lose this buyer. There item gets deleted from "My Watching Page")
ANYWAYS, that's why I usually only buy sealed games that are high priced from sellers I know that are true collector's.

And yes, the value depletes like 10 times the amount on some games when a sealed game is opened. Some of the NES games I have that are sealed like Hogan's Alley, Excitebike, Rad Racer, Both original GOLD Zelda's are pretty much guaranteed to get like anywhere from $100-$500. Guaranteed. If you opened them and sold them as complete games, you know you get like 10-30.
But anyways, I would say the game is resealed. I used to have a copy of Athletic World but sold it. So I can't go get it to use as a reference.

[portnoyd]

Now here's an interesting point. I had a sealed AWorld I got from KMart as new old stock. It didn't have the line. As time went on, I found a sealed stash, and more copies of AWorld that did have the line.

So I opened the AWorld up, and figured it was a reseal. The contents inside, however, were untouched!

Weird, right? Can't explain it.. maybe it had something to do with the FFF pad and Stadium Events/WCTM?

dave

[Kamino]

not to hijack the thread but am i the only one who takes a sick joy in unsealing sealed vintage games?

[adaml]

Thanks for chiming in fellas.

Unfortunately, there is only one way to tell if it is original factory shrinkwrap, and that is by opening it up.

The buyer was really cool about the whole thing. Hopefully, if what portnoyd says applies to this copy of Athletic World, it could still be the original shrinkwrap.

[Cmosfm]

not to hijack the thread but am i the only one who takes a sick joy in unsealing sealed vintage games?

yes.

[Qixmaster]

I too thought there was an acception for some sealed LICENSED nes games. If i remember correctly, someone on the boards had thought they recieved a pac-man (or maybe it was ms.pac-man) namco verision reseal. So... thinking it was reseal they opened it, only to find that it was in fact an factory seal.

Honestly... i think what you have there is a factory sealed Athletic world.

I'd say to just tack this on to another odd variation in nintendo game merchindising.

Just my thoughts.