Does being sealed increase the rarity factor?

This is true. I sold a few sealed NTSC-J FF SNES games a few years back and they went for a lot higher than I'd anticipated. Chrono Trigger as well. All sold to UK/US folk, as I recall.

 

I don't see what the thin plastic foil will protect? Usually they are not airtide. Not a specialist by any means. But I would guess as a collector "Yes".

 

People don't collect sealed games for "protection".

I've sat here for a few minutes now trying to put into words why people do collect sealed games, but I really can't relate to it that well, so I may not do a very good job of it. As far as I can tell, it's typically for one of two reasons; the first camp like to buy sealed games and open them as kind of a nostalgia thing. I can kind of understand this, it's nice to have a brand new copy of something. The second camp collect sealed games just for the enjoyment of collecting, i.e. they keep them sealed and they're purely decorative. I don't really understand the appeal there, but to each their own.

To answer the original question, "[does] a sealed copy of a common game increases its rarity factor?", the answer is almost always "yes" - most games are unwrapped immediately after being purchased, so a sealed copy will typically be more valuable than a second-hand one.

 

I'll submit a proper response at a later date when I have more time to analyse what has been said. Some very good points for and against here though

I agree with Alchy above that some people do enjoy collecting them for the actual thrill of the chase rather than the capture. Some people believe that it's more of a greater collecting challenge to seek out sealed copies that have stood the test of time in this condition rather than obtaining games which are complete in box.

Take NEN collector's for example. Some NES collector's are happy with a set of carts whilst others prefer all their games to have boxes and manuals. Some believe that gaining a complete set of carts is a challenge in itself, whilst others set themselves higher goals to perhaps obtain a complete boxed set of games. Then there are others who may believe that this is too easy and aim higher...

For instance, how many people here and on DP do you know who have a complete (Or near as damn complete) NES or Master System set? Quite a few I can think of off the top of my head. Some may feel that this is too easy, and provided you had the time and cash it wouldn't be very hard at all to obtain a similar sized collection of carts in a very short space of time. Now consider how many of those collector's have CIB collections. I would imagine that these collection's took a lot more time to amass.


I also believe that sealed collector's like the idea that some titles don't appear in this condition very often so it's a greater sense of achievement to finally obtain a certain game in this condition.

 

the only reason I buy sealed games is to make sure its not scratched up to fuck, other than that Id just buy an old copy.

 

Of course a game becomes more rare if it is sealed - at least with age. New games can be found new and sealed. The longer they have been out of the shops as new, the less likely it is you'll find them sealed. So yes, it makes it rarer. And yes, as a result, you should expect to pay more for a genuine sealed game.

HOWEVER.....

With a lot of (older) games, it is easy (as has been said) to reseal. Nintendo put in their strip to stop this, and reproducing that would be more difficult and probably too much effort for most counterfeiters.

As for the plastic becoming brittle, decomposing or whatever, I don't think that's something we'll have to worry about for some time yet. Shrink wrap is generally made from PVC or a polyolefin such as polypropylene (polyethylene can be used but isn't so good for shrink wrap - they are sometimes used together, though) Yes, PVC is heat sensitive (and cold sensitive) and requires special storage. This is the type of shrink wrap that will become brittle. Polyolefin is probably better for long-term storage. There are others, but for our purposes they don't bear mentioning.

So, which product was used in the 80s and 90s, I hear you say? The answer, sadly, is PVC. It has long been the shrink wrap material of choice and continues to dominate the market - but only just. Polyolefin is popular due to its suitability for use with foodstuffs, but PVC remains the more common choice for DVDs and the like.

That said, I have sealed items from the 80s that are still fine. Store them in the right conditions and you should (hopefully!) be OK.

 

I like that quote
There is a certain satisfaction unsealing a game. When I bought a PAL Samba De Amigo set a few years ago it was a great experience unsealing it, and the stick I got from members of another forum for doing so made me laugh, I was called all sorts lol.

I voted no but probably should have voted maybe!

 

Some years ago I bought some sealed [pal] nes games. Kung fu, pinball, tennis and the first zelda. Two zeldas actually so I sold one and kept the other. The one I sold fetched something around 300usd and the buyer opened it soon after. Personally I´m not sure I would do that but if you get some joy out of it, why not...

 

I guess whatever floats your boat. I was never fond of the artwork on many U.S. NES gamepaks compared to the Famicom carts. I mean seriously, i'd rather own pristine copies of all the Capcom Rockman games than spending a couple hundred bucks on a sealed American Mega Man 2 - know what I mean?

 

These games are meant to be played. Also it's hard to prove if it's an original seal job or just a re-seal

 

Many sealed game collecctor's consider their hobby to be more of one of preservation, much like how zoo's try to 'Rescue' the last of endangered species in order to preserve them from being hunted to extinction. The same can be said for collector's, which in most cases the older the game the more likely it is that they are on the endangered list, and the more they feel the need to preserve these items in their original form for future generations. They can be considered as the 'Archiologists' of the gaming world, seeking to preserve our gaming past in its most perfect form.

 

Of course sealed games are rarer; simply because when people buy a game they tend to open it and play it (as they should be IMO)

 

Uhh... so you opened a game that in itself is fairly rare, making one less sealed copy out there. That made the sealed copies that still exist rarer (OK so it might be marginal, but it did). And yet you voted no?? lol.

It doesn't matter if your opinion is that it should be played or it should be kept sealed. The fact is, there are usually more unsealed copies of old games than sealed copies. That makes the sealed copies rarer!

 

How do sealed game buyers deal with new product that was opened by the store to insert security devices? I'm thinking specifically of the old Media Play stores, and even FYE does it. Since they removed the original wrap and rewrapped it, is it still considered new?

On topic, yes, a sealed game would raise it's rarity factor.

 

People have been making the same argument about action figures for years, "they are meant to be played with, not kept in a box". The thing with games is that the real value of a game is the game itself, not what it came in.

This is unique to video game collecting that the physical item itself isn't what is important but instead it's the game on the physical item that counts. Nobody cares about a sealed copy of Wheel of Fortune on NES but if that sealed game is Zelda or Bubble Bobble, then everything changes. That covers common games. So pretty much a R1 game sealed is like a R1+ or a R2.

Rare games on the other hand, probably have a better chance of being still sealed because less copies where made and thus less hands they passed through. So a R8 or R9 sealed is a R8+ or R9+. Just my silly way of looking at things and adding my experience with collecting sealed action figures to the mix.

 

A game that has been resealed by a store is not considered to be sealed by sealed game collectors. Sealed game collectors generally only collect factory sealed games.

 

Not at all true. If people only cared about the game, people would be collecting ROMS or burning copies of rare games and just collecting those. Many collectors enjoy the whole package because it brings back memories and reminds them of another time and place. It's the whole nostalgia thing. I know from my perspective, I collect sealed games because it reminds me of going into a store in the 80s and seeing everything I couldn't afford sitting on the shelf. Now, I have everything that was on those shelves sitting in my home.

 

Most kinds of collecting focus on object rather than function.