jerome
02-06-2006, 04:36 PM
Its been about a year since I researched with Dan/Canada's help, the variants in snes sealing. I've modified my orginal article quite a bit. When I presented the subject about a year ago, most DP members were less than enthusiastic (being kind). Most replies were "if it has a back vertical line, its authentic, if it doesn't it isn't". Not ever caring how well received I might be by DP I persisted and this is the result of the last one year of continued research. All of you big collectors, so proud of that $500 game better make sure its not worth $30 and how many legit sealed games have you walked away from because you didn't understand the variety of legit games. Well go ahead and bash away again, I don't care, A few people out there may be interested to know the FACTS about factory sealed snes games. Defensive? You bet I am, after my last attempt at putting together some "logical approach" to a very chaotic subject, it was character assination at its finest. Well I sure the good old boys (and girls) won't let me down this time either.
WELL TO THE ARTICLE
Snes sealing GUIDELINES DEVELOPED BY DR STEVE BRINN, CINCINNATI, OHIO, USA BRINN1@AOL.COM
SNES sealing (packaging of the games) is a complex topic, but one which must be understood by the collector interested in collecting factory sealed (as opposed to resealed or open) games. Many collectors have the false impression that if a super Nintendo game does not have a vertical seam on the back of the box, it is a resealed game. On the other hand, collectors are often misled by a picture showing a back vertical seal (know as the H seal), thinking it must “be ok” when in fact it is resealed.
Backing up for a moment, a game is usually sealed ie the game box assembled and wrapped, in a factory, contracted by the game company or distributor or software maker. The true collector of factory sealed games tries to avoid games which are not sealed in a factory but sealed by a video game store or retailer. When a store seals a game, it means all contents have been opened and maybe even displayed, and so the game is not new as it came from the factory. On rare occasions, a fraudulent seller may even reseal a game, selling it as new and factory sealed, after he/she has opened it, played it, or even replaced the contents with other game parts or material which is not even game related. This practice may go undiscovered as the collector buying factory sealed games is not likely to open the seal and box and examine the inside contents.
The sealing or packaging of Super Nintendo or SNES games is particularly frustrating to collectors because of many acceptable variations in the “typical” box seal and because there are so many fraudulent resealed games looking like factory sealed ones. It is said that every SNES collector of sealed games will “get taken” at least once. This will more than likely happen with the most demanded, most expensive games, such as Final Fantasy 2 or 3 as the seller of such a game has the most profit to be made. It is much less likely to happen with cheaper less sought after games as there is no motive to imitate a factory sealed game since the less demanded game will most likely not be purchased by a collector, but a gamer who may actually open the game and find that the contents are not new.
Nintendo has complicated this problem. Unlike, Ps1, Ps2 or Microsoft xbox games, the company has never gone with an adhesive barcode seal under the clear wrapper, which makes it much harder to tamper with a factory sealed product. In the case of Nintendo, the game is simply wrapped and it falls to the collector to sort out where the game was sealed. I find it very hard to understand why a game company would not want to try and protect their product from fraudulent sellers, but Nintendo, with NES, N64, SNES, and Gamecube has no protective seal under the wrap, creating havoc for collectors and at time sellers. An honest seller may buy a game, even from a retailer, think its factory sealed, but actually its resealed by the store, ultimately leading to a very unhappy buyer/collector who can tell the difference. Worse yet, the collector is not sophisticated to know the difference, and the prize of his/her collection, a game which may have cost $400 or $500 is a resealed previously opened game worth perhaps $30.
So needless to say, its important to know which games are truly factory and which are not. When starting to collect, sealed snes games, it was quickly apparent that this frustrating problem needed some sorting out. I wanted to prove to the collectors that games could be truly factory sealed without a back seam or with a seam on the short side of the box and at the same time set up some guidelines for how to recognize a truly factory sealed product.
It only makes sense, that when you consider that a factory may have many sealing machines, and there are many factories in different countries, that machines are going to end up producing variations that some collectors will call "fake, resealed, whatever" when they are absolutely factory sealed. These machines probably are not calibrated, and one loose screw or part is going to produce a deviation from the norm.
I spent weeks on Digital Press, discussing sealing, and was I was ridiculed on a regular basis by postings insisting snes games must have back vertical seals, or that I was wasting my time exploring the subject to begin with, as many forum members didn’t understand why one would even collect a sealed game and not play it. My reply was “why collect anything? Lunchboxes, pencil erasers, whatever? However unlike some collectables, certain factory sealed video games would predictably increase in value, an added plus for keeping them sealed. I then talked with many high end SNES game collectors who had literally hundreds of games in their possession, and we “compared notes”.
From these discussions, and my personal experience, I assembled the following list of guidelines to use in deciding if an SNES game is factory sealed or not. I would emphasize that this is an “evolving science” and the guidelines have been modified many times and future changes or additions are expected.
THE GUIDLINES
1.One typical variant is Made in Mexico, has an H
2.Another frequent acceptable variant is, Assembled in Mexico, a re issue or 2nd printing by Majesco. This truly factory sealed variant may not be the same quality of a First Print, ie. Manuals may be in black and white or games have less than perfect cartridge labels, but it is a factory sealed reissue or 2nd print, and may or may not have H seal BUT MUST have vent holes in a horizontal pattern in top or bottom in front or back of box or both.
3.Assembled in Mexico games (this is written in the right lower corner of the back of the box) often have a folded horizontal seam across the back of the game, this is a wide ¾ inch strip created by overlay of plastic wrap. BUT, on occasion, they may not have this overlay but hardly ever have the back H seal.
4.Assembled in Mexico games may have seams on BOTH short sides of the box, with or without a seam horizontally on the long edge.BUT they should have vent holes on back or front or both of the box.
5.Many games will have seams on ONE short edge which will extend up from long box edge seam. These are many 3 sided seams involving 2 short sides and a long side. These are almost always made in Japan or possibly may be made Mexico. IF THE BOX IS FACING YOU, THE SHORT SIDE SEAM SHOULD BE ON THE RIGHT SIDE, NOT THE LEFT. LOOK CLOSELY AT THE BACK OF THE FLAP WHERE YOU’D OPEN THE GAME, IT SHOULD NOT HAVE ANY “WHITE SHOWING”. I think this is an example where the sealing machine “misses” the back center and puts the vertical seam on the short side of the box. NOTE THE SEAM SHOULD NEVER BE ON BOTH SHORT SIDES IN THIS MODEL, ONLY ONE SHORT SIDE, THE OTHER SHORT SIDE SHOULD BE SEAMLESS.
6.Assembled in Mexico games will have a different vent hole pattern than Made in Japan games and even most Made in Mexico games. Instead of the typical vertical 5 or so holes running top to bottom on the front or back of the typical H sealed game, these vent holes are on the bottom or top of the box in horizontal rows and be just 2 rows or extend up to near halfway on the box.
7.Made in Japan games (which may be written on the side and OR the back) are 1st prints
8.A “ROLLER MARK” on each side of the vertical seam is a good sign that the game is factory sealed, but need not be present
9.STIPPLING of the vertical back seam is a good sign that the game is factory sealed, but that seam can also be fairly thin and even bent (as opposed to straight) and still be factory.
10.DO NOT BE THE COLLECTOR WHO THINKS THAT IF THE GAME HAS A GREAT LOOKING BACK BOX VERTICAL SEAM, ITS FACTORY SEALED. You better be looking for vent holes (usually the vertical row of about 5 holes in a straight line front of box or back or both. If you see the vertical seam and not vent holes, I guarantee you your game is resealed. Resealers are getting much more sophisticated with being able to duplicate the vertical back box seam. But I haven’t seen them be able to do the back box seam and the vent holes, Almost always the vent holes will be missing or obviously created by the resealer. Those vent holes are HARDER TO DUPLICATE than the back vertical seal. As an aside, I recently received 13 games from 2 scam artists. All had a beautiful authentic looking back vertical plastic seam/ line. They were all fake. The lack of the vent hole patterns gave it away. You could not see any white cracking where the back flap opened. I opened the cheapest of the games and after removing plastic (which was the right consistency), it was obvious black marker had been used to hide the white cracking. You could not tell with the plastic wrapping that the black marker had been used. The boxes were perfect. The only giveaway was the lack of vent holes. The game inside was a used game of a different name than the box and manual etc. were used.
11.If a game has been opened, and resealed, there should be evidence of this in the form of a White line or cracking in the back of the flap on the side it was opened from. Look at lots of opened games, its easy to see, at least with using a magnifying glass.
12.WATCH OUT FOR RESEALERS, USING BLACK MARKER TO COVER THE WHITE CRACKING on the back of the opening flap. I’ve had these from sellers and the real problem is that you can not tell its black marker looking through the plastic seal. If you make a small slit over the corner where the flap back is, you can see it easily.
13.An ACCEPTABLE VARIANT OF FACTORY SEALED should include the frequently found game, usually Made in Japan, meeting all of other criteria but has a seam running edge to edge on one or both long box edges ie the seam doesn’t stop short of long box end with typical puckering. THIS VARIANT IS EXTREMELY COMMON AND THE MAIN CAUSE OF LEGIT GAMES BEING LABELED “RESEALED”.
14.Most made in Japan games should have the vertical vent holes one row on front or back or both
15.A favorite trick of scam re sealers is to take a pencil or pen and “create” a back line seam. This is very hard to see in a picture but the box will of course show the indentation from the pen or whatever instrument was used, and when you examine the game it will not look like a typical seam, but instead look like more of a separation (which it is) in the plastic.
16.DO NOT BE FOOLED BY BACK HANGERS, THEY MEAN NOTHING, THEY CAN EASILY BE STUCK ON RESEALED GAMES BY VIDEO STORES
17.I didn't address the "quality" of the plastic wrap as its not very consistant. I have found various qualities of wrap I feel were all authentic. One thing I will say, When the seam in the plastic, along the long box edge, does not stop short and "pucker", but goes across to the edge, the resealed ones will have a "hard, stiff" feel to the plastic where it ends in a "fold". The factory game may have the seam go all the way to the edge but doesn't have the "hardness" to the plastic there. Occasionally, I've also had plastic be obviously too thin compared to typical, but many other features would have told you the game was resealed and not factory. I would find it difficult to believe that if the plastic wrap was wrong, that it would be the only question one would have as to whether the game was authentic ie. I think there would be many other factors which would tell you the game was resealed.
Other Thoughts:
I have seen one game, Received Suzuka 8 hours, snes, made in japan, perfect box, no cracks in back seam, like new, even back hanger, with both short sides with seams. I did open it and it looks perfectly new, but I’d still be suspicious of games with 2 short side seams.
On this theme, there is another game, “Captain Commando”, made in Mexico (not assembled in Mexico) which is probably factory sealed in an atypical manner (for whatever reason). I have seen 3 of these with seams along top long edge, with that seam extending to include both short box sides. There are larger than typical vent holes front and back and no back vertical seam. I have yet to see one of these games sealed a different way. The seams on these games seem a little thicker than the typical seam but the plastic is typical thin, not thick and artificial.
The subject of SNES game sealing is an interesting and complex one, which I personally find fascinating. Learning the guidelines will help the collector avoid large disappointments, many times expensive lesions, and help sellers evaluate their games as authentically factory sealed
WELL TO THE ARTICLE
Snes sealing GUIDELINES DEVELOPED BY DR STEVE BRINN, CINCINNATI, OHIO, USA BRINN1@AOL.COM
SNES sealing (packaging of the games) is a complex topic, but one which must be understood by the collector interested in collecting factory sealed (as opposed to resealed or open) games. Many collectors have the false impression that if a super Nintendo game does not have a vertical seam on the back of the box, it is a resealed game. On the other hand, collectors are often misled by a picture showing a back vertical seal (know as the H seal), thinking it must “be ok” when in fact it is resealed.
Backing up for a moment, a game is usually sealed ie the game box assembled and wrapped, in a factory, contracted by the game company or distributor or software maker. The true collector of factory sealed games tries to avoid games which are not sealed in a factory but sealed by a video game store or retailer. When a store seals a game, it means all contents have been opened and maybe even displayed, and so the game is not new as it came from the factory. On rare occasions, a fraudulent seller may even reseal a game, selling it as new and factory sealed, after he/she has opened it, played it, or even replaced the contents with other game parts or material which is not even game related. This practice may go undiscovered as the collector buying factory sealed games is not likely to open the seal and box and examine the inside contents.
The sealing or packaging of Super Nintendo or SNES games is particularly frustrating to collectors because of many acceptable variations in the “typical” box seal and because there are so many fraudulent resealed games looking like factory sealed ones. It is said that every SNES collector of sealed games will “get taken” at least once. This will more than likely happen with the most demanded, most expensive games, such as Final Fantasy 2 or 3 as the seller of such a game has the most profit to be made. It is much less likely to happen with cheaper less sought after games as there is no motive to imitate a factory sealed game since the less demanded game will most likely not be purchased by a collector, but a gamer who may actually open the game and find that the contents are not new.
Nintendo has complicated this problem. Unlike, Ps1, Ps2 or Microsoft xbox games, the company has never gone with an adhesive barcode seal under the clear wrapper, which makes it much harder to tamper with a factory sealed product. In the case of Nintendo, the game is simply wrapped and it falls to the collector to sort out where the game was sealed. I find it very hard to understand why a game company would not want to try and protect their product from fraudulent sellers, but Nintendo, with NES, N64, SNES, and Gamecube has no protective seal under the wrap, creating havoc for collectors and at time sellers. An honest seller may buy a game, even from a retailer, think its factory sealed, but actually its resealed by the store, ultimately leading to a very unhappy buyer/collector who can tell the difference. Worse yet, the collector is not sophisticated to know the difference, and the prize of his/her collection, a game which may have cost $400 or $500 is a resealed previously opened game worth perhaps $30.
So needless to say, its important to know which games are truly factory and which are not. When starting to collect, sealed snes games, it was quickly apparent that this frustrating problem needed some sorting out. I wanted to prove to the collectors that games could be truly factory sealed without a back seam or with a seam on the short side of the box and at the same time set up some guidelines for how to recognize a truly factory sealed product.
It only makes sense, that when you consider that a factory may have many sealing machines, and there are many factories in different countries, that machines are going to end up producing variations that some collectors will call "fake, resealed, whatever" when they are absolutely factory sealed. These machines probably are not calibrated, and one loose screw or part is going to produce a deviation from the norm.
I spent weeks on Digital Press, discussing sealing, and was I was ridiculed on a regular basis by postings insisting snes games must have back vertical seals, or that I was wasting my time exploring the subject to begin with, as many forum members didn’t understand why one would even collect a sealed game and not play it. My reply was “why collect anything? Lunchboxes, pencil erasers, whatever? However unlike some collectables, certain factory sealed video games would predictably increase in value, an added plus for keeping them sealed. I then talked with many high end SNES game collectors who had literally hundreds of games in their possession, and we “compared notes”.
From these discussions, and my personal experience, I assembled the following list of guidelines to use in deciding if an SNES game is factory sealed or not. I would emphasize that this is an “evolving science” and the guidelines have been modified many times and future changes or additions are expected.
THE GUIDLINES
1.One typical variant is Made in Mexico, has an H
2.Another frequent acceptable variant is, Assembled in Mexico, a re issue or 2nd printing by Majesco. This truly factory sealed variant may not be the same quality of a First Print, ie. Manuals may be in black and white or games have less than perfect cartridge labels, but it is a factory sealed reissue or 2nd print, and may or may not have H seal BUT MUST have vent holes in a horizontal pattern in top or bottom in front or back of box or both.
3.Assembled in Mexico games (this is written in the right lower corner of the back of the box) often have a folded horizontal seam across the back of the game, this is a wide ¾ inch strip created by overlay of plastic wrap. BUT, on occasion, they may not have this overlay but hardly ever have the back H seal.
4.Assembled in Mexico games may have seams on BOTH short sides of the box, with or without a seam horizontally on the long edge.BUT they should have vent holes on back or front or both of the box.
5.Many games will have seams on ONE short edge which will extend up from long box edge seam. These are many 3 sided seams involving 2 short sides and a long side. These are almost always made in Japan or possibly may be made Mexico. IF THE BOX IS FACING YOU, THE SHORT SIDE SEAM SHOULD BE ON THE RIGHT SIDE, NOT THE LEFT. LOOK CLOSELY AT THE BACK OF THE FLAP WHERE YOU’D OPEN THE GAME, IT SHOULD NOT HAVE ANY “WHITE SHOWING”. I think this is an example where the sealing machine “misses” the back center and puts the vertical seam on the short side of the box. NOTE THE SEAM SHOULD NEVER BE ON BOTH SHORT SIDES IN THIS MODEL, ONLY ONE SHORT SIDE, THE OTHER SHORT SIDE SHOULD BE SEAMLESS.
6.Assembled in Mexico games will have a different vent hole pattern than Made in Japan games and even most Made in Mexico games. Instead of the typical vertical 5 or so holes running top to bottom on the front or back of the typical H sealed game, these vent holes are on the bottom or top of the box in horizontal rows and be just 2 rows or extend up to near halfway on the box.
7.Made in Japan games (which may be written on the side and OR the back) are 1st prints
8.A “ROLLER MARK” on each side of the vertical seam is a good sign that the game is factory sealed, but need not be present
9.STIPPLING of the vertical back seam is a good sign that the game is factory sealed, but that seam can also be fairly thin and even bent (as opposed to straight) and still be factory.
10.DO NOT BE THE COLLECTOR WHO THINKS THAT IF THE GAME HAS A GREAT LOOKING BACK BOX VERTICAL SEAM, ITS FACTORY SEALED. You better be looking for vent holes (usually the vertical row of about 5 holes in a straight line front of box or back or both. If you see the vertical seam and not vent holes, I guarantee you your game is resealed. Resealers are getting much more sophisticated with being able to duplicate the vertical back box seam. But I haven’t seen them be able to do the back box seam and the vent holes, Almost always the vent holes will be missing or obviously created by the resealer. Those vent holes are HARDER TO DUPLICATE than the back vertical seal. As an aside, I recently received 13 games from 2 scam artists. All had a beautiful authentic looking back vertical plastic seam/ line. They were all fake. The lack of the vent hole patterns gave it away. You could not see any white cracking where the back flap opened. I opened the cheapest of the games and after removing plastic (which was the right consistency), it was obvious black marker had been used to hide the white cracking. You could not tell with the plastic wrapping that the black marker had been used. The boxes were perfect. The only giveaway was the lack of vent holes. The game inside was a used game of a different name than the box and manual etc. were used.
11.If a game has been opened, and resealed, there should be evidence of this in the form of a White line or cracking in the back of the flap on the side it was opened from. Look at lots of opened games, its easy to see, at least with using a magnifying glass.
12.WATCH OUT FOR RESEALERS, USING BLACK MARKER TO COVER THE WHITE CRACKING on the back of the opening flap. I’ve had these from sellers and the real problem is that you can not tell its black marker looking through the plastic seal. If you make a small slit over the corner where the flap back is, you can see it easily.
13.An ACCEPTABLE VARIANT OF FACTORY SEALED should include the frequently found game, usually Made in Japan, meeting all of other criteria but has a seam running edge to edge on one or both long box edges ie the seam doesn’t stop short of long box end with typical puckering. THIS VARIANT IS EXTREMELY COMMON AND THE MAIN CAUSE OF LEGIT GAMES BEING LABELED “RESEALED”.
14.Most made in Japan games should have the vertical vent holes one row on front or back or both
15.A favorite trick of scam re sealers is to take a pencil or pen and “create” a back line seam. This is very hard to see in a picture but the box will of course show the indentation from the pen or whatever instrument was used, and when you examine the game it will not look like a typical seam, but instead look like more of a separation (which it is) in the plastic.
16.DO NOT BE FOOLED BY BACK HANGERS, THEY MEAN NOTHING, THEY CAN EASILY BE STUCK ON RESEALED GAMES BY VIDEO STORES
17.I didn't address the "quality" of the plastic wrap as its not very consistant. I have found various qualities of wrap I feel were all authentic. One thing I will say, When the seam in the plastic, along the long box edge, does not stop short and "pucker", but goes across to the edge, the resealed ones will have a "hard, stiff" feel to the plastic where it ends in a "fold". The factory game may have the seam go all the way to the edge but doesn't have the "hardness" to the plastic there. Occasionally, I've also had plastic be obviously too thin compared to typical, but many other features would have told you the game was resealed and not factory. I would find it difficult to believe that if the plastic wrap was wrong, that it would be the only question one would have as to whether the game was authentic ie. I think there would be many other factors which would tell you the game was resealed.
Other Thoughts:
I have seen one game, Received Suzuka 8 hours, snes, made in japan, perfect box, no cracks in back seam, like new, even back hanger, with both short sides with seams. I did open it and it looks perfectly new, but I’d still be suspicious of games with 2 short side seams.
On this theme, there is another game, “Captain Commando”, made in Mexico (not assembled in Mexico) which is probably factory sealed in an atypical manner (for whatever reason). I have seen 3 of these with seams along top long edge, with that seam extending to include both short box sides. There are larger than typical vent holes front and back and no back vertical seam. I have yet to see one of these games sealed a different way. The seams on these games seem a little thicker than the typical seam but the plastic is typical thin, not thick and artificial.
The subject of SNES game sealing is an interesting and complex one, which I personally find fascinating. Learning the guidelines will help the collector avoid large disappointments, many times expensive lesions, and help sellers evaluate their games as authentically factory sealed