U.S. Sonic with UPC sells for $981.33

[Blitzwing256]

Everyone who is calling this stupid and idiotic, clearly don't understand collecting at all,

no people aren't paying crazy for this because they want to play it, it was a very late release in the us and is a tough item to find a legit copy of. It's the same as a slight label variant or a 5 screw variant. it is a unique piece of sega history and a gem in any true collector's collection, please, if you think collecting is stupid, go back to playing call of doody, you're on the wrong fucking webpage.

[synbiosfan]

Everyone who is calling this stupid and idiotic, clearly don't understand collecting at all,

I agree.

But I've found it pointless to try to explain to someone who feels differently.

Who cares if we disagree about collecting, we're here for the gaming

[Jorpho]

no people aren't paying crazy for this because they want to play it

Actually, no one has mentioned playing it so far.

It's the same as a slight label variant or a 5 screw variant.

No; a label variant or a 5 screw variant cannot be precisely replicated by a piece of sticky paper and a B&W printer.

[Smashed Brother]

Lol.....Good God! There's no way I'd be able to explain to my gf how I just spent over $900 on a single Master System game.

[VertigoProcess]

Everyone who is calling this stupid and idiotic, clearly don't understand collecting at all,

no people aren't paying crazy for this because they want to play it, it was a very late release in the us and is a tough item to find a legit copy of. It's the same as a slight label variant or a 5 screw variant. it is a unique piece of sega history and a gem in any true collector's collection, please, if you think collecting is stupid, go back to playing call of doody, you're on the wrong fucking webpage.

Completely agree, I myself don't collect master system games but I can see wanting something for seemingly insignificant reasons...

Lol.....Good God! There's no way I'd be able to explain to my gf how I just spent over $900 on a single Master System game.

I know, right?! I guess the winner was single... haha

[davidbrit2]

Everyone who is calling this stupid and idiotic, clearly don't understand collecting at all,

no people aren't paying crazy for this because they want to play it, it was a very late release in the us and is a tough item to find a legit copy of. It's the same as a slight label variant or a 5 screw variant. it is a unique piece of sega history and a gem in any true collector's collection, please, if you think collecting is stupid, go back to playing call of doody, you're on the wrong fucking webpage.

Unless the case is full of diamonds and blow, then it's just a fucking copy of Sonic.

[RCM]

That's pretty amazing and insane. This has to be one of the most valuable titles from a franchise (some) people care about.

[Sunnyvale]

Wow, I haven't said this yet on DP, but...

This thread is chock-full of stupid!
First of all, for all you that think it's exactly the same as a faked sticker, let me ask you this: Do you think the paper would have a distinct makeup? In other words, couldn't one test it chemically against a copy of Strider with a sticker, and confirm it wan't made on my PC? Yes, it would be expensive. So is VGA grading. So is... the damn game to begin with! Once it hit this price, verification is soon to follow. If I dropped a G on it, I'd take it to a lab for confirmation.

Next, there will never be a sealed copy turn up. They pulled the shrink to add the sticker. You mayfind one with the little blue SEGA sticker on the edge, but that don't prove it's sealed. No sticker games with shrink, in my experience.

And as for the semi-popular "why pay all that money for a sticker?" this thread keeps seeing, ummm... DURP?
You guys have a SNES? Why, when you can get an emulator for almost nothing? Bragging rights? For the fancy plastic housing? How about wanting a game for 2 different consoles, like SFII? Isn't that just dumb?!? Why buy a heavy sixer for a couple bills when an atari flashback costs 20 bucks? Hell, why buy a heavy sixer, period? For a sticker that says 'Made in Sunnyvale'?
If a collector wants to complete a US-release SMS set, he needs the f*cking Sonic!

Methinks lots of sticker envy is on this thread

[InsaneDavid]

Brute Force Collecting prevails again. This era of the hobby annoys me to no end.

[Hawksmoor]

I fall into the "it's pretty stupid" camp, but I can certainly see the flip side. We can all agree to disagree. We all have different notions of worth, value, and desirability. One might say paying close to a grand for a PAL Sonic with a UPC sticker on the back is absurd, but the same individual might have no qualms spending $1500 on a sealed Chrono Trigger, or $7000 on a gray NWC.

[MarioMania]

Sega of America is just lazy by not making there own Manual and Insert, I call lazy on there part

Now that would be rear

[djshok]

I wonder if people would've bid that much on it if they realized how easy it is to reproduce barcodes. I'm not accusing the seller of it, but anyone that's willing to lay down a grand for a barcode sticker would probably benefit from the knowledge that it takes about 20 mins in photoshop and a barcode reader ap on a smart phone to make these things.

[MarioMania]

.............

[MarioMania]

Then are would be a spike in on ebay with the PAL Copies with the Barcodes

[Hawksmoor]

I wonder if people would've bid that much on it if they realized how easy it is to reproduce barcodes. I'm not accusing the seller of it, but anyone that's willing to lay down a grand for a barcode sticker would probably benefit from the knowledge that it takes about 20 mins in photoshop and a barcode reader ap on a smart phone to make these things.

I'm not so sure it's that easy. How thick is the paper used for the UPC sticker vs. the thickness of typical printer paper? Would the potential forgers consider that? What about the exact UPC # and the precise spacing between the bars of the code itself? I suppose it would depend on having a verified, legit UPC sticker for reference. A forgery is certainly do-able, but maybe not as easy as one might think.

[Sunnyvale]

I wonder if people would've bid that much on it if they realized how easy it is to reproduce barcodes. I'm not accusing the seller of it, but anyone that's willing to lay down a grand for a barcode sticker would probably benefit from the knowledge that it takes about 20 mins in photoshop and a barcode reader ap on a smart phone to make these things.

2 days ago, I agreed with you. However, you don't see lots of fake Spider Man #1's for the same reason this just got hard to fake. The guy willing to spend a grand on a game will spend a few hundred more to get it verified. Under a microscope, that modern-made sticker will not look the same. And to get the old ink, paper, and equipment to 100% convincingly fake them...

Not financially feasible. It's like Magic cards. You can fake $50 cards all day long and no one will ever notice. But if they drop a grand on a Black Lotus, good chance they will answer any questions they have about it's authenticity. And let's face it, all of the US Sonics are suspect, so good chance this buyer will test it. I certainly would.

[Jorpho]

Has any such testing been done on such packaging for a video game before?

We have had some people who bid on this game posting in this thread. Perhaps they would like to comment on whether they'd get it tested.

[Sunnyvale]

Has any such testing been done on such packaging for a video game before?

Not that I'm aware of, but the same techniques used to verify comics or cards would be used here. Not a new science. And like I mentioned earlier, you have games like Strider and Spider Man to use as a control.

And I bet VGA has a little of that going on already, but that's just speculation.

We have had some people who bid on this game posting in this thread. Perhaps they would like to comment on whether they'd get it tested.

That would be interesting to see. But only people who bid near the winning bid will fall under the 'wealthy-enough to get it tested' category.

[skaar]

Wow, I haven't said this yet on DP, but...

This thread is chock-full of stupid!
First of all, for all you that think it's exactly the same as a faked sticker, let me ask you this: Do you think the paper would have a distinct makeup? In other words, couldn't one test it chemically against a copy of Strider with a sticker, and confirm it wan't made on my PC? Yes, it would be expensive. So is VGA grading. So is... the damn game to begin with! Once it hit this price, verification is soon to follow. If I dropped a G on it, I'd take it to a lab for confirmation.

Next, there will never be a sealed copy turn up. They pulled the shrink to add the sticker. You mayfind one with the little blue SEGA sticker on the edge, but that don't prove it's sealed. No sticker games with shrink, in my experience.

And as for the semi-popular "why pay all that money for a sticker?" this thread keeps seeing, ummm... DURP?
You guys have a SNES? Why, when you can get an emulator for almost nothing? Bragging rights? For the fancy plastic housing? How about wanting a game for 2 different consoles, like SFII? Isn't that just dumb?!? Why buy a heavy sixer for a couple bills when an atari flashback costs 20 bucks? Hell, why buy a heavy sixer, period? For a sticker that says 'Made in Sunnyvale'?
If a collector wants to complete a US-release SMS set, he needs the f*cking Sonic!

Methinks lots of sticker envy is on this thread

Biggest derp so far.

This isn't CSI.

[Aussie2B]

This kind of subject is doomed to controversy, but that aside, I think it brings up an interesting issue of what truly constitutes a US (or any particular region) release. In my own personal opinion, I wouldn't consider this a genuine US release. It's just a PAL release chosen to be distributed elsewhere. If I was going for a full US Master System set, I'd probably pick up a PAL Sonic, and say "PAL Sonic was distributed in the US". I wouldn't care if that particular copy was shipped off to America or not because it's still the same product in the end.

But it seems like this game, when it has the UPC sticker, is unique in that it is counted as a US release by most collectors, when other games and game-related items in a similar scenario aren't.

Take, for example, Jump Superstars for DS, along with a handful of other early Japanese DS and PSP games. These were available for sale in American chain retail stores. I think Best Buy? Or was it Circuit City? No one considers these games as having a US release. I'm guessing these games had UPC stickers added to their packaging too.

Or, for another example, there are companies like Square Enix that make Japanese goods available to Americans online. You can buy, say, Japanese OSTs to Square Enix's games, yet no one lists them as having a US release on sites that thoroughly document that kind of stuff (vgmdb.net for OSTs). It's just thought of as "Hey, the company is giving me an opportunity to buy what they released in other countries, cool."