All language subtitles for Rarity.Retro.Video.Game.Collecting.In.The.Modern.Era.2021.720p.WEBRip.x264.AAC-[YTS.MX]

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(electronic game music)

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- For some reason, I came
here during the week.

And It seemed like it was
like a lot longer of a drive.

I thought that it was like an
hour and 40 minutes forever,

but then I looked today
and it was like 35 minutes.

- L.A. traffic man is always,
you know how it is over here.

- [Edward] Yeah.

You've been hanging onto
these for me for awhile.

Want to go through them?

- Yeah, of course, man.

I got your Sparkster right here,

your Battletech, Dune, and your Fire Shark

all complete in box, so, you know.

- You said 470?

- 470, man.

- My name is Edward Payson.

I'm a filmmaker in Burbank, California.

Something was missing in my life, right?

I was in California, I was making movies,

I was making commercials,
I had lots of friends,

I was doing the things I
thought that I wanted to do,

but something seemed like it was missing.

And I realized that it
was retro video games.

So within one year,

I went from just wanting
anything I could get my hands on,

retro video game related,

to really focusing on Sega Genesis.

And then by two years,

I was deciding that I wanted to collect

the entire Genesis collection.

And then from the entire
Genesis collection,

I didn't just want the Genesis collection,

but I wanted prototypes.

I wanted sealed games.

And from there, you
just keep getting bigger

and bigger and bigger.

Where it ends, I don't know.

But at this point, I just
directed a horror movie

about a haunted Sega Genesis game.

And now I'm directing the documentary

that you're watching right now
about retro game collecting.

So you can say that I'm
all in at this point.

The question I asked myself is,

"What is this overwhelming
feeling of nostalgia,

and do other people get this?

Is this a unique thing?"

- When people are going
through difficult moments,

I think we tend to latch
on to those comfort foods.

And by that, I mean those
comfort video games.

(wrapper tearing)

- [Tyler's Dad] A box?

(gasps)

- [Young Tyler] Mega Man 2!

(screams in excitement)

- It's like a microwave.

You're reheating leftovers, right?

It's like, you know,
nostalgia is the leftovers

that you remember it being so good,

it was such a great meal,

but it's never going
to be as good as it was

when you first had the meal.

- [Young Tyler] I finally got Mega Man 2!

- But it was so good that
you do want to keep having it

over and over again.

The leftovers are very good.

- Nostalgia such an
interesting thing to me

because so many people place
it in different categories,

and sometimes people will
ask me what is nostalgia,

and the best way I normally
explain it to people,

I start going, "Well, hold on,

let me ask you a few questions."

And I kind of start describing
moments in their life

in their past.

And if they go, "Yeah, I remember that

and it was pretty cool."

I'm like, "Okay, I don't
think that's nostalgia yet."

And I dig deeper.

"What about Saved By the Bell?

What about Ninja Turtles?

What about Skip It?

What about this old toy?"

And once in a while when we
have those conversations,

you'll see someone like the light switches

and they're like, (gasps)

that.

And then you're not asking them questions

and all of a sudden they're
going off, they're rambling,

they have so much to say, they're
laughing, they're smiling.

I'm like, "Whop! That's nostalgia."

Nostalgia to me is those things

that were special in your past

where it's not just a memory.

Like, yeah, I remember
I did this one time.

It's like, "Hey, I did
this and oh my gosh,

let me tell you about it."

I feel like it's almost like your brain

has created your nostalgia for you.

It's not something that you
can kind of pick and choose

what you're nostalgic for.

It's something that
you're passionate about

because somewhere along
the line in your past,

you were excited about something

and it means something to you now.

And it really is something

that you've kind of really can't recreate

or even try to create.

- Nostalgia for me
definitely brings me back

to when I was younger,

when I didn't ache as much
as I do, you know, (laughs)

pre-arthritis and stuff like that,

before I had responsibilities,
before I had a full-time job.

Nostalgia brings me back to a time

when my dad literally went to go

to probably Montgomery Ward,
or something back in the day,

to pick up the Atari
2600, and it blew my mind.

I remember literally
asking my mom the question,

"So that has Pac-Man on it,

and I don't have to use quarters?"

I mean, I just, I
couldn't wrap the concept.

I love the arcades at the time.

Every time we go to an arcade,

gas station, pizza place, grocery store,

there'd be arcade games everywhere,

or the arcade arcade at the mall.

But just the idea that I
could have video games at home

that didn't look the same as the arcade,

but they were still just as fun to me

and I didn't have to use quarters on them.

That was great for me.

- I've been collecting
games for a long time.

Ever since I got my first Commodore 64,

I've been a bit of a pack rat

because I love playing all
games of all generations.

And so technically, I've been collecting

since the early '80s.

- My dad and I were hardcore
collectors back in the day.

We used to collect everything
under the sun for video games.

I mean, you name it,
Nintendo, Sega, Atari.

It was crazy in my house.

We just had so many games,

and my dad especially was such a fanatic.

He was the one on top
of every little detail,

every new system launch, everything.

And he recorded everything
that involved games.

When they came into our house,

dad was there with the
camera ready to record.

- [Tyler's Dad] Well,
it's the next morning,

and Tyler's still playing Mega Man.

- 20, 22, 23.

- [Tyler's Dad] Wow, 23 games?

- Yeah.

- [Tyler's Dad] Wow, you must be proud.

- So I specifically remember,
many times, many instances

where dad would come home
with a video game in hand.

(overlapping speech)

- He loved surprising.

He loved the art.

I call it an art because there is an art

to surprising somebody with something.

And for him, it was surprising
me with video games for sure.

- The reason I wanted to go back

and play these old games and collect them,

at the time, it wasn't
really nostalgia yet.

I just kinda was like,
"Man, I like those games."

They're just like, hey, I had
a deeper connection with them.

I had a more intimate
experiences playing with them.

I thought they were just
more well-made games,

like core gameplay.

But as time went on,

I grabbed more NES games here and there.

I started developing
nostalgia for the early days,

because as I got older,

you're going to get more
distant from those memories.

And then you start to
connect certain games

with certain people you played
them with back in the day,

like your friend on the block.

- I'm James Rolf from Cinemassacre.

I like making movies.

People know me as The
Angry Video Game Nerd.

I started collecting games
ever since my eighth birthday,

but it wasn't really, you
know, collecting per se,

I suppose.

You know, you'd get a
game for your birthday

or for Christmas.

And a lot of times I'd rent games.

I was mostly renting games
from the video store.

I can't recall exactly
what was my first system,

but it was probably Atari 2600.

I was born into it.

It was my grandpa's or
my aunt's or somebody's.

I don't remember who actually
bought it originally,

but it was there when I was born.

So I played Atari at a very young age.

And then at some point during all that,

I remember playing the
Odyssey 2 with my cousin.

The Nerd started out
as just a simple joke.

I had no idea it was going to go this far

because the whole joke was, "Oh, remember

these old video games?"

Like, hey, you know, nobody's
talking about the things

in these games that suck.

- [Young James] Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde.

It makes no fucking sense.

It's like, what were they thinking?

That's what was funny about it.

That's what I thought
it was just, you know,

who the hell would want to
talk about these old games?

Who even remembered these games?

I totally underestimated that.

(electronic game music)

I just didn't know it would
catch on as much as it did.

As soon as The Nerd kicked off,

then collecting came back into my life

because then I started
seeking out these games

so that I can make videos on them.

This is the background
that completes the picture,

so collecting has a
whole new purpose for me.

And then people made it easier

because the fans would donate games a lot.

So this is a graded Jekyll
and Hyde that's graded 90.

A fan gave this to me.

I mean, there it is.

It's in my collection.

It's just funny, you know,
you always have this reminder

that people will go out of their way

to get you something like this,

because it must've made
an impression on them.

- If you look at what's
popular in the market

or what's expensive in the market,

it's usually when the target demographic

for whatever system
turns about 30 years old.

And so that's like when you have,

in a lot of people's lives,

it's the first time that they have

really solid kind of disposable income,

maybe don't have children yet,

maybe don't have larger
responsibilities like homes,

and so they're really then able

to start funneling their
liquidity into a hobby.

And around that same time,

they get really nostalgic
for their childhoods.

- What do we care about, right?

We care about pop culture,
especially in America.

Like it's so American.

It's Americana,

like having physical products, you know,

it was capitalism.

I mean, '70s, '80s, '90s, think
of how many toys came out,

how many actual physical products,

and us now trying to
actually get that stuff back

is a representation of preserving culture,

preserving the culture that matters to us,

the culture that we grew up with.

In fact, there's a lot of young kids

who are educated about retro games,

and they're learning on YouTube

because the games they played

and the stuff they're
growing up with today,

they want to know the origin.

- So physical media is something

that I think is kind of
dying away a little bit,

because minimalism is really in right now.

And I think people want
to just be able to have

more of a clean look, you know,

you see these streamers and
people that are playing games

and they have like this whole entire area

that's just so put together

and there's barely anything on the table.

And, you know, everyone kind
of thinks of a retro game

or a collector as a messy, almost,

but for somebody who's a collector,

I want to collect the physical media.

Like I want to have the case
with the game inside of it

so I can just, you know,
hug it and hold it.

And that's just kinda how I am.

- For me, it's the difference
between listening to Spotify

or putting on an old vinyl record.

If you put on an old vinyl record,

you're going to listen to that one,

the whole thing with all the tracks,

because it takes time and
effort to actually change it

and you made an effort putting it on.

When you browse through Spotify,

you can skip in the middle of a song

or, oh, not that one, and
you just skip through.

It's more accessible that way

and sometimes you might
prefer having it that way.

But there is a charm in
actually engaging in the media.

For me, you know, putting
on a cassette tape

on the Commodore 64 where you
have to wait for 30 minutes

before the game even loads.

I'm not going to turn
that off after two minutes

because it was a boring game.

I'm going to give it my all.

- I think collecting
physical media is important

because when you are
buying a digital product,

you are not actually buying the product.

You are buying a license
to operate that product.

- When you'd only have digital content,

at some point that work
is going to disappear.

It's inevitable.

I believe it is up to the
manufacturers and developers

to at least give the modern day consumer

the right to have physical
form of those games

so that we can protect that work.

There are a lot of people
that put their hearts and soul

into those things,

the musicians, developers,
electrical engineers.

I mean, the list goes on,

and lives that have gone into that game.

So if we don't keep a
physical copy of that,

you know, it's all gone.

- Anybody can scroll through
their digital library,

but I love walking by my shelves

and looking at the physical media.

And also, you know, we come from a time

where you get the game and you open it

and you flip through the manual.

And I mean, that's what I do
before I would play the game.

Now games don't even come
with manuals and it's so sad.

- It's like one of the
biggest catastrophes

of the modern age, really,
(laughs)

is no manuals, 'cause
they are pretty helpful.

- Back then, I put tons
of time, tons of energy,

tons of love into getting
a box, opening it,

smelling it, feeling it, reading
these guides, these books,

the video games.

Oh, look at the characters.

Look at this manual.

It's telling me every character's name.

Everything in my mind is vivid,

even looking back at console's old boxes.

When you see Super Nintendo
boxes now, they're bright,

there's so many video games on the back.

They're showing you 20 video
games in the back of the box.

Check this out.

This game is coming, this
is coming, this is coming,

play it loud.

Everything's crazy.

- I wouldn't recommend
to the common person

to fill up an entire room in their house

of video games or movies or
anything, which is what I do.

I mean, we all have our own
personal reasons for doing it.

It's more of a niche thing.

So I mean, nobody does this
because this is the thing to do.

We just do it because we want
to in some way or another,

and we may all have our different reasons.

(electronic game music)

(playful electronic music)

- I think a lot of collectors

prefer finding a game in the wild

as opposed to buying it online

because those particular collectors

are in it for the thrill of the hunt.

There's something maybe in them

where they are adventures,
like Indiana Jones,

and they're out to find the
lost Ark of the Covenant.

- It always feels the most satisfying

when you find it in person.

And especially if you get to interact

with the person who you bought it from.

And of course it's a lot more special.

Those moments are more
rare for me nowadays.

- I love going game hunting.

I love going to garage sales,
pawn shops, thrift stores,

retro gaming expos,
looking underneath tables

and behind the counter,

and just looking for those
really obscure and cool games

that no one has seen before,

or maybe I'm finding
for a really good deal.

It's the thrill.

It's awesome.

- And that is basically how I was

when I was growing up with dad.

Every time we'd go out
to a department store,

some old department store or a pawn shop,

we would be on the search.

It was like, you know,
department stores and pawn shops

and these places, yard sales,

these were our tombs.

These were our catacombs.

And we were Indiana Jones
searching for lost relics.

And that was what was so
appealing about it to us.

And we'd find them too.

I mean, we would find really
cool stuff back in those days,

I'm talking to the '90s
and early, early 2000s.

- Swap meets and flea markets
being so prominent in my life,

I think, is a lot accredited to my dad

in the way he raised us.

We grew up at a time in our life

when we were younger with a lot of money,

and then a lot of bad things
happened in my dad's life,

and we took this big turn
for growing up with no money,

to the point where, as
embarrassing as it is to say,

I remember one Christmas
going through trash cans

with my dad behind a Kmart
to find toys for my brother.

And since then, my dad has bounced back

and life's been good.

But ever since then,

those old days of finding
things and looking for things,

my dad kind of got into
swap meets and flea markets,

and I would find myself complaining.

I don't want to walk around.

I don't want to pick up this junk.

But when I got into junior
high and high school,

I started being like, I
want to go to swap meets

and flea markets.

And it wasn't even necessarily
video games back then.

I just think that's where
I started to find my love

for collecting things and
getting items that are used

and finding the deals.

- I think anyone who
looks for rare things,

I mean, I remember my
grandfather going to swap meets,

looking for old Winchester pieces.

When you find something that
isn't being sold by someone

who knows what it is, you're hunting.

And the thrill of the hunt
is that unexpected moment

when you see something
that you shouldn't see,

that shouldn't be there, even
though you're looking for it,

you can't believe that you're
actually looking at it.

But I think there's also just a rush.

There's a rush to going
out, having no expectation

that you're necessarily
going to find anything.

And then when you do,
it's a story to tell.

But I've never heard someone say,

"Man, I have this really great story.

I bet at the last minute.

I bet a hundred dollars more than the-

Just in case.

And I got it."

I mean, that's not a
very compelling story.

So maybe it's the storytelling aspect,

that we want to have a good story.

We want to have high points in our life

and finding something in the wild

provides some of those high points.

- As far as my craziest pickup story,

I was at an event about five
hours away from my house.

A person came walking up to me

and they asked me if I
collected video games,

considering I have video
games running down my leg.

(chuckles)

And I said, "Absolutely."

And they said, "We have a
lot of that stuff for sale."

I said, "Well, you know,
I'm here with somebody

and I don't really have a car.

I guess I'll take a chance, you know,

if you want to drive me to your place,

I'll be glad to take a look at it."

So I jumped in the car
with that said person.

And I'm now about 45 minutes
away from where I was,

which is about five hours
away from where I live.

Without a car, I'm in
the middle of the woods,

and I walk into a truly bizarre situation.

I walk in to cocaine addicted swingers

who were looking to have a good time.

And when I looked down on the ground,

I saw about $3,000 of games at one corner,

$3,000 of games at another corner.

And luckily I walked
out of there unscathed

then I made a deal,

and I got probably 20
something thousand dollars

worth of games for two grand,

but it was the scariest damn
thing I have ever walked into

in my entire life.

- One of my favorite finds
ever at a swap meet in the wild

looking for video games was at
a swap meet in Orange County.

I was with my buddy, Ricky,
our cameraman, Chris,

and we were just cruising down the aisles,

not really in filming mode.

We weren't really in
the spirits of filming.

We were just walking,

and Chris and Ricky
walked past this one booth

with electronics, I would say,
like had like car batteries,

some tools, some routers, Ethernet cable,

kind of cable equipment.

And they walked by it, and
I kind of just glanced over

and I'm like, it was one of those days

where I'm just like, I don't
know, I'm going to look.

There's going to be nothing
here but I'm going to look.

And on the end of the
table was a PC Core Engine,

basically a TurboGrafx just sitting there.

And I looked around and
I'm like, there's no way

this place knows that this is what it is.

I grab it.

I hold it up.

It was early on, let me make that clear

and I'll tell you why in a sec,

I hold it up.

"How much is this?"

And they go, "What is it?"

And that's the fine line
when you're doing this

because you don't want to lie.

You don't want to undercut people.

You don't want to be a sleazeball.

I admit it was early on,
I was overly excited,

I just held it up and kind of nodded again

when they said, "What is that?"

I go, (mumbles) this.

And they go, "Ah, the router, $2."

And I was just like, "Okay."

God, forgive me, please.

Nope, don't want to go to hell, please.

And I just walked over,
gave him the two bucks,

had Ricky and Chris roll the camera.

The person, I think, thought
it was a car battery accessory.

So I am like super,
super excited about this.

I never see these ever.

- How wonderful.
- Ever out in the wild.

This thing right now is like $175

at the current time of filming this.

For two bucks, one of my favorite finds,

a funny find, a find
that was really valuable.

And I have to admit, I did feel
a little weird years later,

like I kinda got this,
you know, the wrong way.

Then I actually ended up giving it

to one of our first subscribers
in our old YouTube channel,

because I was like,
that'd be kind of cool.

One of the first people
to ever supported us,

let me put this demon
product in their hand

and they could go to hell for it.

- [Brett] So the story of Kuon

is a long and treacherous one for me.

- So much pain.

- Yeah.
- So much misery.

- There's a lot of history here.

I have always been a PS2 guy.

I've always been a horror guy.

Back in the day, Game Stop
had a buy two, get one

free PS2 game, so I essentially
got this game for free

and I played it, I loved it,

it sat in my collection for a while.

I went through some crazy purge thing

where I got rid of a bunch of games

that I was like, ah, probably
not going to play this again,

whatever it may be.

Fell out of collecting for a hot minute

Recently, I mean, past
handful of years, maybe,

- Yeah.

- the game skyrocketed in price.

A few years back, it
was maybe $200 to $300.

Went up to $400.

I was like, "Great.

Now I'm never going to get
my hands on this game."

Then at a birthday party of mine,

I had a bunch of people over my house

and we're all just kind of hanging out,

and I walk into the kitchen

and there is an artless case
on the counter and I opened it

and there's this copy of
Kuon on my kitchen counter.

Nobody there fessed up
to bringing it over.

We have no idea how it got there.

So I'm not convinced that this
isn't cursed to some degree.

I think the game's up to
$700 to $1,000 on eBay

is what I'm seeing it for.

- [Tim] For a single PS2 game?
- [Brett] A single PS2 game.

- [Tim] It's incredible.

And it is, yeah.

I mean, I've played that copy a few times

and I've had nightmares regularly after.

So I do believe it's cursed.

- It's a great game.

- [Robert] These two games.

They are not necessarily niche
rare or anything like that.

They're just retail releases.

Like every guy who has big collection

usually has Chip 'n Dale 2 and Kid Klown.

When I got back into
collecting for a second time,

I had a kind of a stroke
of beginner's luck.

And I went to the flea
market pretty early on,

like month or two into getting
back into game collecting.

And I was walking on the flea market

and I was about to go home,

and then some guy who would
just sell them like junkie tools

and stuff like that,

and like something, a guy that
I never would have imagined

to be having video games on his table

just started laying these games
out one by one on the table,

but like face down so you
couldn't read any of the labels.

And I walked up as he was doing this.

He had like a bunch from the table

and I was like, "Hey man,
what's going on with this?

How much, how much?"

And he's like, "Oh, I dunno, man."

He had a $3 price tag on each,

and he was like, "Yeah,
three bucks each, man."

I was like, "Okay, cool."

And I pick up the first one and
I was like, "Oh, Kid Klown."

I took up the second one.

I was like, "Oh, Donkey Kong Jr. Math."

And I picked up another one.

I was like, "Oh."

And like my adrenaline
shot through the roof.

And then I was like, "Hey
man, 40 bucks for all?"

And he was like, "Yeah, sure."

I break them all into a garbage
bag that he was holding.

Two garbage bags.

And I just like ran
out of the flea market.

I ran. (mumbling)

I was like, oh my God, oh my God.

Now back to the car

and just started sifting through the ones

that I couldn't actually see

because they're all facing down.

And I was like, "Oh, shit."

Like, you know, "Chip 'n Dale 2."

Oh, there's other ones in there,

like Pugsley's Scavenger
Hunt, like Wampa, (inaudible)

I guess all these good,
uncommon to rare games.

This is a copy of Action 52,

tying into my previous story
about some beginner's luck

of my round two of collecting.

I think one of the second or
third garage sales I went to

at like 5:00 PM on a Friday or something,

I saw the clear cartridge of Action 52

and I knew immediately what it was

because of my previous knowledge

from 10 years ago or something.

And I was like, holy
shit, that's Action 52.

Got the cartridge for a dollar.

I can show you the cartridge.

I'm sure everybody's seen this game,

but for the sake of being thorough.

So I got this cartridge for a
dollar in a lot of 10 games.

I later acquired the box and manual

just from trading to some guy in Chicago

some other stuff that I
had just to complete it,

but I don't know.

That's my story of beginner's luck.

That's like a true wild find

for an actually rare game like Action 52.

I don't know how valuable
it is per se these days,

but as a loose cart, like it's
actually legitimately rare.

- All right, these are some
of my more expensive items.

This is the famous Stadium
Events game, complete in box.

It's not in beautiful shape.

It's in a label less Wata holder.

I guess that's the
benefit of working at Wata

is having some protective cases.

And I also have the spare cartridge,

which this is the cartridge that,

I found this when I really
started collecting early on,

it was a lot of about 150 games

and they were two bucks a piece.

And the guy said,

"Man, there's something
really rare in here,"

but I didn't know what it was

and I didn't find out until I got home.

And I'd read something about,
there was a PAL version

and I was like, there's no way.

And I went down and
looked at the computer,

and lo and behold, this was the one.

So I was young.

I was known on the forums then

as the kid who found Stadium Events.

- [Young Deniz] I died and went to heaven.

- [Deniz's MOM] What happened?

- [Young Deniz] I will never
forget this day in my life.

- [Deniz's MOM] (Turkish)
Let me see you, huh?

Tell me.

- [Young Deniz] I can't.

There's too much-
- [Deniz's Mom] What?

- [Young Deniz] To tell.

- [Deniz's Mom] What is that crap?

- The whole bag

- [Deniz's Mom] It's full?
- It's filled.

- [Deniz's Dad] And there's
some real neat stuff here

that is really rare, right?

- I could probably sell all
of this for like $7,000.

- [Deniz's Mom] What?
- 8,000.

- [Deniz's Mom] Get out.

- No exaggeration whatsoever.

- [Deniz's Mom] Wow.
- [Young Deniz] None at all.

- The cartridge in here is actually nicer.

And I would sell that
over this one any day

because of how much this one means to me.

- I had started to get
back into retro games,

sort of circa 2005 to 2008,

and I couldn't really go
places and just buy games.

Everything I was buying was off of eBay

or something like that.

So there wasn't any real,

like brick-and-mortar stuff around me.

When I came to Japan,

there are just so many
dedicated game shops,

thrift stores, everything like that.

Especially in Tokyo, really
densely populated area,

lots and lots of video games.

So it became way easier for me

to actually just go and take
a drive down the street,

go to Hard Off or something,

and then come home with, you
know, bags full of games.

When it comes to looking
for retro games in Japan,

especially a place like Tokyo,

it's kind of like looking
for sand at the beach.

They're just like everywhere.

But if you go to a thrift
shop, like Hard Off,

you can go into their junk bins

and just find, you know,
PlayStation games, Famicom games,

Super Famicom, all this stuff
like a hundred yen a piece,

which I think with the
exchange rate right now

is like 94 cents.

I think you'd be really hard
pressed to find a game store,

a brick-and-mortar game store in the US

where you can go and
just find 94 cent games

that aren't, you know, Madden,
whatever year that was,

or something like that.

People, like locals, just dropping off

all their old games
they don't want anymore.

And then they just throw it in the bin

and put a hundred yen sticker on it.

You can walk in with, you know, 50 bucks

and walk out with huge stacks of games.

(dramatic suspenseful music)

Maybe it's something specifically
cultural about Japan.

It's a very common comment

on some of the videos
I do with game hunting

is people remark how it's
so awesome that, you know,

all those games are still boxed

and how the boxes are
still in good condition

and how the manuals and everything

is still in good condition.

Obviously somebody really cared about this

and, you know, they really
took good care of it.

It ties into a history
of Shintoism in Japan,

where you can have an
attachment to something.

It's my understanding that in Shinto,

even something like a
doll can develop a soul

if you attach enough emotion
and attachment to it,

or maybe there's a certain
soul that's connected

to a piece of art because of the emotion

that you attach to it.

It compels people to take
better care of things,

that you could put in an artistic context.

You could argue that, okay,
this box is a piece of art.

This manual is a piece of art.

The cartridge itself, all of this,

the game inside is all art.

So I don't know, maybe there
is something cultural here

that creates that kind of attachment,

that people want to take
better care of things.

- Looking at other cultures,

video games was art and culture,
and respected and revered.

I think we're finally seeing
that in the United States.

For the longest time, we
had the boomer generation,

nothing against them,

but they typically didn't
grow up with video games.

And this generation had
a significant control

on several businesses and opinions

throughout the United States.

And I think as time has gone on,

you've seen different generations

now occupy and own
businesses and perspectives

with the aging Gen X,

and even the millennial
generation behind them,

video games is a very different thing.

- I think, with any medium that you have,

it takes a while for
people to truly accept it

as an art form.

When you look at photography,
it was a novelty.

When you look at film, it was at first,

it was just like putting random
group of pictures together.

And with video games,

I think it's a similar phenomenon

where initially it was looked at

as just a bit of entertainment for kids.

But as time has gone by, you know,

I always find it funny
that art is its own thing,

its own category that's respected,

and music is a category that's respected,

and animation is a
category that's respected.

But games have all of those things

and that it's taken so long

for people to truly accept it as art,

when in every category,

a game has a little bit
of each of those things.

So I think that it's about
time because they are art.

- This is probably the most
interactive form of art

there is.

If you're staring at a painting,

you can stare at it all
day and appreciate it.

If you're engaging with a comic book,

the most you can do is turn the pages.

If you're watching a movie,

the best you can do is sit there

and interpret what the
director is trying to tell you.

With this form of art, you're
actually literally involved.

It's the most immersive
kind of art there is.

- The thing I've seen
change over the last decade

in retro gaming is really two things.

It's many more people getting
excited and jumping in

and building up their
own game collections.

And then along with that is the
prices of games have gone up

because of that.

It's basically just supply and demand.

So we have more and more people

growing up with video games

with a positive impact on their life.

And so I definitely see
people loving video games

and what video games has brought to them.

And I'm seeing the culture kind of open up

and appreciate video games more and more

because they've had
more experience with it.

- Any form of art, any form
of art throughout history,

whether it was from the
Greek era or Picasso,

when people realize it's special,

it is inevitable that it's going to end up

in private collector's
homes, and it is inevitable

it's going to be behind three
inches of glass at a museum.

- I have noticed, being
in the collecting world

for such a long time,

that more people that I know

have gotten into grading games

and getting their video games graded

definitely more than there
was back 10 years ago or so.

A lot of these collectors
have kind of collected.

They've got their complete collection,

they've kind of hit a lot of milestones,

done a lot of the goals they've had,

let's say, in collecting.

And from personal experiences,

the people I talk to say,

"I kind of wanted to try something else.

I kind of wanted to go for
a new style, a new subset."

And for a lot of these
people, it was graded games.

- I do think the graded games market

has kind of had a negative residual effect

on your average everyday casual gamer,

because there are people out there

that just want a few cartridges,

or they just want to
revisit their old games

that they played growing up.

And if one of them happens to be rare,

they don't even realize it,

then they're like, "Oh, now I have to pay

hundreds of dollars for this game

that I just own growing up."

And that's unfortunate

because those people just
want to collect that thing

for themselves, and they
have a passion for it.

Yet these people who have
nothing to do with video games

are coming from other markets,

like coins and collectibles and whatnot.

They artificially inflated
the prices all around

for their own greedy needs.

- I think graded games have
affected the market greatly.

I think prices have gone up
somewhat for the average gamer,

but I don't think significantly.

I think the only gamer
that's significantly affected

is the sealed gamer

and the guys who want really
good, clean copies of games.

I think, with regard to
sealed game collecting,

with the prices have gone
up, the values have gone-

And I think there's
established marketplace

for people who want to
preserve games like art.

There's two major companies right now,

which are VGA and Wata, who
kind of control the market.

But I think Wata has a
better control of the market

because of their relationship
with Heritage Auctions.

To an average gamer, this
plastic, it's just plastic.

It's irrelevant.

It doesn't mean anything.

But to a grader, it's
paramount to everything.

The values are all determined
in plastic quality,

which is insane.

What are we talking about,

grading plastic or grading games?

Sealed game variations.

There's Nintendo (inaudible)

like a very common sealed,
which is the y-fold,

which is stripped right in the middle.

There's variations of packaging.

Not everyone did the
same uniform packaging

with video games.

Throughout the years, things changed

and different production
facilities existed.

Something like this, which
is not an original seal.

If you can tell, for something like this,

the value is not there because
it's not original seal.

Determining different
packaging and variations of it,

if it's a real seal
versus an authentic seal

or a repack or whatever the
terminology people like to use,

it varies.

A lot of times, it's based on touch

to verify if it's original seal or not.

Visually, it's hard to tell, always.

But some giveaways are
basically different white spots

on opening creases.

That kind of gives it away.

There's stuff like this, where
we have its original seal.

It's not the typical original y-fold,

but there are variations.

- I'm glad there are people
who are grading sealed games

because they're doing history a favor.

I mean, I'm not one of them,

but they are preserving something

that posterity will be able to see.

And I don't think really,
if you ask gamers really,

is that something that we want to lose?

- I mean, the whole point
of being a preservationist

is so that these things
last longer than you do.

We're trying to preserve
these so that when we're gone,

these things are still here.

- My name is Deniz Kahn.

I conceived and founded Wata Games,

and I'm a video game collector.

Wata is, in name, a certification
and grading company,

but we aim to be a lot
more and provide a lot more

to the video game collecting community

and collectibles as a whole.

Graded video games, certified video games

are a way to eliminate a lot of the risk

for people that are dealing
with video game collecting

and buying and selling.

It's an authentication process.

It provides confidence to buyers

so they know exactly what they're getting

and the consistency of a grade,

which can actually impact
the value tremendously.

Something that gets a 9.0
versus a 2.0 versus a 9.8

can have significantly
different values in the market,

further with, you know, counterfeits

specifically in video games,

it's a way to protect people
against spending money

on something that's fake essentially.

The vision behind Wata

was really to elevate video
game collecting as a whole,

to legitimize it, and bring
credibility and confidence

that just didn't exist previously.

So through our product,
through the technology,

everything that's instilled there,

our CEO, Ryan Sabga, who provided that,

really also helped create a product

that not just elevated
video game collecting,

but really push the boundaries

of how you can instill
confidence in certification

across collectibles in all fields.

I think with the rise of graded games

and what Wata has sort of how
it's transformed the market,

we've seen a lot of different
effects, I think, as a whole,

because with the market
just elevating so much

and growing and knocking
down those barriers

to allow more people to come in,

we've just seen so many
different types of collectors

coming into this.

So previously where you
had this really small

community of video game collectors,

it's, you know, 10
times as big now, right?

So I think a lot of people
feel like community is gone,

but I look at it a little bit differently

where it's more like, you
know, this small thing

that I understood and that
a lot of us, you know,

we were kind of weird,
these video game collectors.

Like we were a small community.

Well now we get to share what we love

with that many more people.

I think it's awesome.

Yes, I don't collect the same way

as a lot of people who are
coming in and collecting,

but who am I to tell someone

how they're supposed to collect.

Collecting is a very
personal thing, right?

So if someone wants to
spend $50,000 on a game,

that's their prerogative.

If someone wants to
collect only cartridges,

that's totally cool.

- My name is Eric Naierman,

and I'm an avid video game collector.

And this is the VVG Club collection.

I estimate that this collection

is worth somewhere around
five to $6 million today.

I'm a aesthetic general
dentist in Hollywood, Florida.

I've always been a
collector my entire life.

I'm known in the hobby as
the dentist of video games,

because I spent a million dollars

on a group of very rare
first print video games

last September.

They have that real, organic rarity,

especially the sealed ones.

When you collected sports
cards back in the day,

you had organic rarity,

whereas no one knew to
save a Mickey Mantle card.

No one knew to save a Babe Ruth card.

And the people that did

had something that was truly special

and almost became like an art piece.

What I love about sealed video games

is that the seal, the
original factory seal

gives it that organic rarity

that you know that most of these
games that were distributed

were open and you only have a
select few that stayed closed.

So that becomes a special
art piece right there,

and something truly special to collect.

What I love about Wata as well

is that their displayability
on their cases

really turns that historic
collectible into an art piece.

So these are the two gems of my collection

and the games that I
spent the most money on.

This one is a first print Mario Brothers

with a sticker seal,

which means it's from the test market run

of Nintendo in 1986.

And there's only one of these
in the world, and this is it.

And I spent $95,000 on this.

This one is a first print Castlevania.

The first time Castlevania
was released to the public,

because it has the hang tab,

which signifies the first print.

And it's in amazing condition
with almost a perfect seal.

This one, I spent $85,000 on.

Both of these were steals.

Since I bought these games,

I've gotten a few unofficial offers

of over $200,000 for each of them,

but I'll tell you right now,

if someone offered me $500,000
for each, I would not sell.

The reason I prefer Wata grading

over VGA grading for my games

is that I love that they split up the box

and the seal grade.

That's very important to me

because you know exactly
what you're getting.

So as a collector,

you could say, okay, seal
grade is really important to me

so I want games that have a
perfect seal, which is an A++,

or some people really love the box grade,

so they want a 9.6 or a 9.8.

While VGA really groups
them together as an average,

and to me that's very vague

and you could have a lot of games

with the same grade by VGA,

and they could be totally
different quality and look,

and to me, that was just
a vague scale of grading,

and Wata just speaks to me as a collector

and it's just so much more clear to me.

So these are two of the most
special games in my collection.

They're both the same game.

One's a first print, matte seal,

and one's a second print, gloss seal.

This represents the first print

and second print of this game in 1985,

and there's only one in the matte print,

and there's only one in the gloss print

that have remained sealed.

And these are both of them right here.

So this is the only
sticker sealed golf copies

in the entire world
and I have both of them

and it's amazing to have them
together in one collection.

So insider collectors will know

about the recent mold
pedigree that we call,

where someone on eBay had found

some really nice first print games,

but they were left outside and
became a little bit molded.

So you see here that there's
some remnants on the mold

on top of his face over here

and there's a little bit in the back.

My theory about it is a lot of
people didn't want to buy it

because obviously it's
not in great condition.

But my theory is that some of
the games were just so rare

that it was just too hard to let go.

And I didn't care what
condition it was in.

I was going to buy them anyway
just based on the rarity.

This was the first Super Mario
Brothers that I ever saw.

And someone told me that
just to have the circle seal

is super rare.

So I was interested in it right away.

And I had already seen some oval seals

sell for around $3,000
to $4,000 at the time.

And this was not only a circle seal,

but it was called a No-Rev

where it doesn't have a Rev-A marking,

and this is even more
rare than most prints

that you get of this game, and
this is the most iconic game.

So at the time, I got presented
to buy this for $13,000

and it was hard to do at the time,

but I was confident that
it would go up in price

and I did buy it for 13,000,

and many of these circle seal games

are now selling for $100,000
to $200,000 at the time.

I hear a lot that people tell me

that games are meant to be
played and not to be encased,

but to me, that's just ridiculous

and it's a mantra of jealousy.

The reason I feel this way

is because you could play any
game you want now digitally.

By me collecting sealed games,

it has no hindrance on
anyone playing any game.

When I think about it,
I think about, you know,

someone who really likes
Diet Coke, for example.

We all know you could get
Diet Coke at any store

if you enjoy it.

And let's say someone collects
the first sealed Diet Coke

that was ever released by
Coca-Cola as a collectible.

How does that affect your
ability to get Diet Coke?

And to me, that's just
a mantra of jealousy,

where why would anyone care

if I'm boxing up a piece of history

to enjoy and appreciate the
nostalgia that it brought me.

Wouldn't make it easily play the game

at any time that they want.

- I do know there is a world out there

of people who love graded games

and love having a status or a price number

or a rating on their video game,

and that's cool and I like that,

and I tell people because I
know there are some people

who talk down on that and
they go, hey, that stupid.

For those of you who think it's dumb

and don't want to do it that
way, then don't do it that way.

Regardless, I think that gaming
is such a cool community,

especially retro gaming.

It's such a different world.

It's such a niche world.

And I think that we can all
learn something from each other,

looking at different
ways that people collect.

- The hard truth is whether it
comes to the most expensive,

rare games or graded games
that are in pristine condition,

the truth is every gamer wants them.

Every gamer wishes they could get those.

People that are serious collectors

really do wish they could get them,

but there is no way
that the average person

is going to be getting those games.

And so I think that
there is some jealousy.

I know I have it when I
see some of those things.

I wish I could get those.

I wish I could fork over $600,000

for a pristine Super Mario
Brothers, but I can't.

So I think, you know,

I have to cope with my own jealousy

and pull it back and just realize

that that's not going to be
in the cards for me probably.

- I honestly don't have any
idea if it's going to stick,

like the graded games thing,

or if it's just going to fizzle out

as a really expensive
fad for the time being.

I think is going to be an expensive fad.

I really don't think that
stuff's going to stick

in the long run.

I might be entirely wrong and that's fine,

but I'm sure there will always be a divide

and there'll be two
communities now as a result.

- I do understand that Wata Games

has been getting a lot of negative press

from some people in the community.

And I do know that one of
the founders of Wata Games,

Deniz Kahn in particular,

has literally been getting death threats.

I don't understand.

As far as my relationship with Deniz,

I like to reiterate,

I hold no stock in what Deniz is doing.

I don't own a single graded game.

But I do know Deniz as the collector.

That's how I met him.

I met him about five, six years ago.

And quite frankly, that man is
passionate about this hobby.

I don't think you can lay
the market on his shoulders

because quite frankly, if
Deniz didn't start Wata Games

and the other three companies
that were grading games

didn't continue what they were doing,

the market would have
demand for it anyway.

It's just inevitable.

I believe that there's this
misconception going around

that Deniz is just sitting back,
collecting money from Wata,

and he was never a real collector.

I beg to differ, my friend.

He really has one of
the greatest collections

I've ever seen, and that was in place

well before Wata was even conceptualized.

(electronic game music)

- This is original art for
a game that I actually had

and that meant a lot to me as a kid,

which was Mickey Mania,

which I've got over here
the box so you can see.

So this is not a print.

This is not, you know,
reproduction or anything.

This is the piece of art done by Greg Ray

that they used for the cover.

So, as I said earlier,

I think original art is
just the best it gets

with collecting.

And I've never spent on
anything in my collection

than I did for this piece.

And I don't know if I'll
ever own another piece of art

for a game that I had as a kid.

So it's incredibly important to me.

These are some of my
favorite standees right here.

They're really hard to come by.

You got the Blankas for
the Street Fighters.

Then you could actually
swap these parts out.

And then Goro is from Mortal Kombat.

Personally, I'm a Mortal Kombat guy.

That's the game I grew up with.

But this one in particular,

I got this one early into
my collecting display,

like Goro was one of my first
significant displays I bought.

And the reason this one is special

is because of this note right here,

and I'm going to read it.

It's got a signature on it.

And it says it was sold
to someone named Richard,

who someone bought it from

and then I bought it from that person.

"Hey Richard, thanks for being a fan

and for supporting Mortal
Kombat over the years.

Like I said in my listing,

this Goro standee was given to me

by none other than the
game creator, John Tobias,

back in the day when we did the games.

You have something very
rare in your possession now.

Fight to keep it yours forever."

He didn't do real good job of that.

"No one else on this planet
has what you have now

that came from an original
Mortal Kombat actor

and was once in the
office of the MK creator.

Thanks again."

And then it's the guy, I forget his name,

who played Kano, Baraka,
Kabal, and Quan Chi in both,

he did the character stuff
and then in the movies.

So knowing that this was
in John Tobias' office,

(stammers) that's so special to me.

I could never get rid
of something like that.

And I'm in love with it.

This is my Game Boy collection,
CIB Game Boy collection.

I still have one game left

and I started collecting,
started Game Boy in 2009,

so like, (laughs) over
a decade has taken me

to get this far.

Game Boy is-

And this is with variants.

So if you see duplicates,
they're all variants.

There's a ton of really
cool variants on Game Boy,

like, you'll see Bonk's Adventure

was published by Hudson Soft,

but then there's also an
Electro Brain re-release.

And, you know, where is it,
like Alleyway or Baseball,

there's four different prints.

There's actually more than that.

So it never-

It was so fun to actually track them down

and figure out what variants exist

and checking them off one by one.

And Game Boy, no one had a
reason to keep the boxes.

So it's so hard to find them in the box,

that's why it took so long.

Some of these titles, they
don't even sell for that much,

but they show up on eBay
once a year, if even,

so it was really, really fun to do that

and it was easily my favorite
system to collect for.

I almost don't want to get
that last game because if I do,

it's over. (laughs)

Yeah, I mean, the games
are meant to be played.

It's the age old argument.

Comics are meant to be read.

You know, how far back can we go?

Again, I'm not one to tell
someone how to collect,

but thank God for technology.

You see how many games I have.

I haven't put any of
these games in a system

because I have an EverDrive.

I have, like, technology has enabled us

to have the exact same experience,

like with a comic it's
actually, even it's different.

Reading a reprint or
reading a digital comic

is not the same experience as
holding the comic in your hand

from like, you know, if you
have like an Amazing Fantasy 15,

right, the first appearance of Spider-Man,

it's a different experience.

It smells different.

With a video game,

the EverDrives work on
original hardware, right?

It's not even emulation.

So your experience is more related

to the TV that you're using
than the actual game itself.

So I think that because of technology,

because of the resources we have,

that argument becomes totally moot.

And what it does actually
is it enables us to look

at the actual physical
games in a different light

and enables us to appreciate it

for more than just the gameplay.

It enables us to look at it

and say, this has beautiful artwork.

Who was the artist who did this, right?

Packaging,

I mean, I collect displays.

That's all about-

These were just marketable
materials that got thrown out.

And the last thing I have to say

is if games were meant to be played,

then they wouldn't be collected.

Because if they were
meant to be collected,

they wouldn't be a collectible.

Beanie Babies were meant to be collected.

That's why they crashed.

It's the stuff that you were
meant to use, to toss out,

the boxes, the original packaging,

that that becomes collectible over time.

And thank God we did that

because now there's a
whole market around it

and there's all this
excitement and a community

built around preserving
these old pieces of history.

It's culture.

It's pop culture, and it's
important to all of our lives.

(bright stringed music)

- My name is Donny Fillerup.

I'm a collector from the Netherlands,

and I'm the owner of Consolevariations.com

Consolevariations is a hyper database

with all the hardware you can think of,

all the controllers, all the consoles,

all the accessories and even prototype.

So this is my Nintendo
GameCube collection.

It's a hundred percent
complete collection,

including the controllers and accessories.

We start from the left, top,

which are the Super Smash
Brothers controllers.

(upbeat electronic music)

Followed up by the Emerald
Green and the WaveBirds.

The WaveBirds are wireless controllers.

The most rare one is the Gundam one.

There are only 2000 made.

It's also the most expensive one.

This is from Club Nintendo.

And then we have the wired
versions of Club Nintendo.

The Mario version was
also released in Europe,

but the rest are all Japanese exclusive.

Here we have Dev kits and prototypes.

These are two prototype controllers.

This is the first version,

and this is the second version.

This is an Orange GameCube that
was only released in Japan.

We have the Starlight
GameCube, which is gold,

and it was only available in Toys "R" Us.

Then we have the Resident Evil 4.

We have a very rare Heineken GameCube.

There was a contest in the Vibe magazine.

Only 50 are made.

And then we have the Panasonic Q,

which was basically the rival of PS2

because it supported DVD.

It also have a brand new Game Boy player.

Below is a Hanshin Tigers.

Back in 2003, Nintendo
sponsored Hanshin Tigers,

so this was like a celebration console.

This was Tales of Symphonia,

it was an online game.

This is the Gundam One.

It came with the figure
and the Game Boy player.

This is a very rare Final Fantasy

Crystal Chronicles version.

There are only 150 made,

and it was a giveaway in a magazine.

And this is the ATI console.

It was only given away to GPU employees.

And here are all the accessories.

I have them all, including
the very rare SD card reader

that was only meant for Animal Crossing.

N-Zone is a magazine company
that was licensed by Nintendo,

hosted in Germany.

N-Zone magazine is basically
the Nintendo power of Europe.

When their 200th magazine was released,

they had a few contests.

So this is a contest page.

You have to fill in the
form, send it to N-Zone,

and you had a chance to
win one of these prices.

One of them is a Nintendo
DS with Mario 64 on it.

The Nintendo DS was canceled

because there were just too less entries.

Apparently one of the
insiders who worked there

just took it with him.

He stole it (chuckles)

and he probably sold it
to me a few years later.

This is only one made.

It was bundled with Super Mario 64,

and it was issued 200th
issue of the N-Zone magazine.

In 2009, THQ figured out
that the queen of England

loved to play Wii bowling
for the Nintendo Wii.

THQ was also developing a video game

called Big Family Games,

and to promote that system,

they made a 24-karat golden Wii

to give it to the queen of
England and their family

to play on.

So this was disposed of all the press

and there were stories and everything

that they still have it,

but the truth is they never received it.

They canceled it without
the press knowing.

When THQ got bankrupt,

there was a high level collector

who purchased every development
console and prototypes

in the entire office basically.

And that system was included.

So on the forum called
Assembler Games, I met him,

we talked, we discussed, and
eventually we came to a deal

where I purchased that console from him.

So this is my holy grail cabinet.

All my rarest items are in here.

So we start with the golden Wii.

This internal Wii is
actually exactly the same

as any other Wii, only it's 24-karat gold.

It's the first version, which
still has the GameCube ports.

I'm wearing gloves (chuckles)

because it's too expensive
to hold with my bare heads.

The Wii was actually displayed
vertically on a pillow

when it was presented to the press.

Funny enough, it was actually glued on

because there's still
some residue on the back.

So you could still see some red
stuff on it from the pillow.

This is an unreleased
color of the Nintendo 64.

It was actually set up on auction in 2011.

It was sold for $1,200 and
never to be seen again.

Apparently, this buyer never paid

and the seller still had it.

I contacted the seller nine years later,

and this is the system.

This is an X-Box one of Rare Replay.

There are only five made in the world.

You can win one for your Comic-Con.

There was one given away for your Twitter,

and one for your Facebook.

And there was also one
able to win at Gamescom.

At Gamescom, you have to
participate in a special tournament

when they made a custom
level of Battletoads

and the highest scorer was
able to win this console.

This one came from Facebook.

When I let Rare, that's
I own this console,

they invited me over.

And then when I did, everyone went down

and signed this console.

The reason why I collect consoles

is that they are challenging
to collect than games,

in my opinion,

and everything has a story behind them.

Every limited edition, every giveaway,

there's always a story behind
it that makes it special.

And that's the reason
why I collect consoles.

And when you have a complete collection,

you have an entire story to tell others

about the whole history about that system.

(ominous music)

- So I remember growing up in a rural area

in Northern California,

and, you know, going to a
rental store to get a video game

was typically a weekly or
every other week experience.

You know, we would get
a take and bake pizza,

we would get a movie
in, and if we were good,

we would get a video game to rent

for our Nintendo
Entertainment System typically

back in the day.

And so I remember going into one of two

main video rental stores
in my hometown at the time,

and looking at the box art.

And you know, at the time,

I wasn't looking at video game magazines.

There wasn't the internet.

And so you had to go
either by word of mouth

of other kids you went to school with,

or you would look at that box art,

you turn it on the backside
and you'd make a judgment call.

Sometimes I would make that
decision with my brother.

Sometimes we'd flip a coin.

Sometimes, you know,
we'd just take a gamble.

Most of the time, we were pretty
good at picking good games.

And you definitely found
out pretty fast, you know,

if a game was terrible.

You would tell people about it

and you know, you'd find
out what are the good games,

what are the bad games from,
you know, kids at school.

- I remember going to
the video store broke

just to see what game,
just to see the selection,

just to see what they had.

It was like, oh, I saw
that in Nintendo Power.

There's a Nintendo game
that just came out.

I've never even heard of that one.

And you just have to grab the game

and look at the back of the
box and look at the pictures.

That's all you had.

You didn't have the internet.

You couldn't look up gameplay footage.

You couldn't look up somebody
streaming it on Twitch.

You certainly couldn't look up any reviews

or anything like that.

You actually either had
to see it in a magazine

or literally just take-

You know, like, here's what
the cover art looks like.

Cool.

Flip it around.

You see two or three screenshots,

a little synopsis about the game.

That's all you had to judge on.

- There was a time, not too long ago,

where if I saw a game that I wanted

but it had an old rental sticker on it,

I'd be like, "Oh, I'm not
going to get that one."

But now, the whole concept of going out

and renting something is so antiquated

that that just adds to it.

So it's, you know,
especially if it is a place

that we grew up going to.

- I love finding games with
rental stickers on them

because that's a piece of history.

That's a part of its journey
or where it came from.

Sometimes I'll find games
here in the Northwest

that have rental sticker
stores in Virginia

or something like that.

And I love it when people
write on their cartridges.

I know a lot of people
don't, but I love it.

Like, you know, turning
on the back of the card,

and it's like, you know, Thompson,

and it has like their
phone number or something.

I'm having to call the phone number

to see if the family still lives there

and say, "Hey, I've found
your copy of Silent Scope.

Where can I send it
back to you," you know.

- For me, that personally adds

to the likeability of the product.

You know, if I find somebody's high score

written in the back of
an instruction booklet,

I can be like, oh my gosh,
this kid, some of this guy,

he played this game
when he was a little kid

and he got this high score,
and I bet he loved this game,

I bet he cherished it.

- The sticker make it sicker.

- [Aaron] I absolutely love
it when I find stickers

that are retro.

The original stickers,

it makes it so much cooler in my opinion.

You know what, it's
just like a staple part

of physical media that isn't
as popularized or polarized

as I think it should be.

(electronic game music)

- Video stores actually
led to a lot of innovation.

Way back in 1994, Blockbuster
actually teamed with New Leaf,

a company that basically
wanted to make it easier

to get the games and get the movies

and get the music that
you wanted on demand.

Blockbuster Game Factory green,

and Blockbuster Game Factory blue,

and basically what these
were were flash carts

that were at kiosks in 10
Columbia, South Carolina stores,

where you could go in, you
could type what game you wanted

and it would write the game to the cart.

You'd take it home, you'd
play it, you'd bring it back,

it would erase it and be
ready for the next person.

- We have any video game you like.

- What if I don't know what I want?

- You can preview them all right here.

- Then what do I do?

- Pick one and we'll
produce it on the spot.

- And eventually they wanted
to bring that into movies

and music as well.

- [Man On Video Commercial] Hi, excuse me.

Do you have the new album-

- We sure do.

CD or cassette?

- How do you know you have it?

I haven't even told you the title yet.

- We have everything.

- Well, you might be sold out.

- We're never sold out.

- Unfortunately, they did a test on this

in Columbia, South Carolina,

from August 10th through
August 15th of 1994,

and some things they did not anticipate,

a lot of companies just
wanted nothing to do with it

because it was such a new technology.

They thought that they were
going to be losing money

because they couldn't actually keep track

of what was being rented.

Sega Genesis said yes, but
then individual companies,

most of them said no.

So there are only a few games available.

The other thing that was the problem

was a bunch of the games
took way too long to write.

So you had to wait in real time

as these games were written
to these cartridges.

So New Leaf and Sega
Genesis spent so much money

in advertising, trying
to get as many companies

as they could.

They even hired Dennis
Miller as a spokesperson.

And they were only able
to put these in stores

for five measly days.

However, it made this one, the green,

and this one, the blue, very, very rare.

And it's actually one
of the most rare things

in the Genesis set.

The green will run you
between like $250 to $450

while we're filming this documentary.

The blue, you almost never see available

and could go upwards
of a thousand dollars.

- This is actually not that rare.

This is a copy of a
Baby Boomer on the NES.

It's unlicensed Color Dreams game.

And it's kind of printed
black and white manual

because it came from a rental store.

I actually got this from my
own childhood rental store

that I used to rent games from growing up,

in addition to a few other Nintendo games.

The name of the store is
actually a really weird name.

It was called Take Home Our Movies.

It was awkward, and that
was the name of the store.

It was in a strip mall.

It just said Take Home Our Movies.

I'm like, and that was it.

And I was like, okay,
it makes sense to me.

I was driving through my
hometown with my girlfriend

and we were driving past that strip mall,

and I was nostalgically being like, "Man,

there was my video store I used to go to."

'Cause I do that every
time when we drive by it,

because I'm just like
a sentimental bastard.

And then I had this idea.

I was like, well, what if
I pull into the parking lot

and go into the liquor store

that was a few storefronts over.

And that's been there since the '80s

and still is there today,

and why don't I just talk
to whoever's in there

and see if they remember the
video store and who ran it.

So I went in there and I bought a drink

and I just struck up a conversation

with the owner of the liquor store

who happened to be there that day.

And I just casually was like, "Hey,

remember that video store over there?"

And he'd just like, "Oh yeah."

And so and so.

And so and so.

And, "I know the family
and this and that,"

he knew all their names.

And I said that I wanted
to reach out to them

to try to acquire some old games.

And he, you know, he
was like into the idea.

That was cool and I remembered it

because no one ever talked
about that place anymore

because it just kind
of disappeared in time.

And so I took that
information and I went home

and did some internet sleuthing,

and I tracked down the son of
the owners of the video store.

And it was like, "Hey man,
this sounds really weird.

And I'm sorry if it's like off putting,

but do you have any of the old video games

or whatever that your mom and
dad's store used to carry?"

Like, "I have a lot of nostalgia

for renting games from their store

and I'm a big video game collector

and I'm just wondering if
there's anything left over."

And he was like, "Actually
there is a bunch of leftover

at my mom and dad's house up in Wisconsin.

And you know, I'll mediate it for you.

I'll go check on it and
I'll get them all for you.

And then we can meet up at some
point and you can buy them."

And I was like, "No way."

Like I was like so thrilled
that I could finally have

a piece of that actual era.

Few weeks went by,

I was like, we're messaging back and forth

at a glacial pace.

I gave him my address.

He put two and two together

and he's like, "Oh, I'll
be a block away from you

on Thursday.

We'll just meet."

So like weird twist of fate,

those games magically
traveled down to Chicago

and I just walked out
of my apartment door.

And he was like, "Here you go, man."

He was like, "Five bucks each."

And I was like, "Cool."

And then he also had some posters

and random VHS tapes and
stuff that I also bought

just 'cause I was like, "Hey,

give me everything you've got."

- When collecting now,
there's a lot of games

that are unlicensed, and
there's a reason for that.

I mean, Nintendo had very strict standards

on what they wanted and
what they would accept.

But there were a lot of people
who saw this as a cash cow.

They wanted to get some money.

And so how could they do that?

So they figured out ways

to circumvent Nintendo's
chip and everything,

and they also wanted
to try to reach markets

that Nintendo wasn't really reaching.

They wanted to reach the adult market.

They wanted to reach the Christian market.

Those games, it's just
they weren't printed

in the same kind of quantities.

It was so niche.

They weren't gonna be
found at Toys "R" Us.

They weren't gonna be found,
you know, in regular stores.

So they were so niche

that now there just
aren't that many of them.

- This is the most common
example of a Wisdom Tree game.

This is the Bible Adventures.

These are, as you could tell,

this is almost self-explanatory.

These are Christian-based video games.

- I distinctly remember when I was a kid,

we would go into this one Bible bookstore,

a Christian store.

And they had this one little
counter, under the glass,

with Nintendo games, but they
were all Bible Nintendo games.

I remember seeing Bible
Adventures there for sure.

And I remember just, you
know, because it was Nintendo,

I wanted to get it, but
my parents always said no.

So seeing a game like Bible
Adventures under that glass

at a Christian bookstore,

there weren't many ways
you could get that game.

I mean, you could get it at that store.

You could maybe mail off

from a Christian catalog or something.

- From what I understand,
I never saw them.

There were commercials
supposedly with, you know,

where you can call and order these direct.

(electronic game music)

- [Woman On Video] So are
you guys getting hungry?

- [Boys On Video] Yeah.

- [Woman On Video] Okay, good.

(electronic game music continues)

Do you ever worry that they're
playing too much Nintendo?

- Oh, not anymore.

See, Matt has Bible Adventures.

They're actually learning Bible stories

while they're playing Nintendo.

- Quick, get that Bible quote
before you run out of power.

- [Voiceover On Video] Bible
Adventures features three games

in one cartridge:

Noah's Ark, Save Baby Moses,
and David and Goliath,

a must for every family with Nintendo.

Call 1-800-77-BIBLE.

That's 1-800-77-bible.

- There really weren't
many ways to get it.

So how is the average
kid going to find it?

And that's why it's rare to this day.

- Later in the life of these games,

as a good friend of mine pointed out,

a lot of these ended up in a
lot of use video game stores,

you know, (chuckles)

because this would be the first thing

that a kid would trade in

once they realize there were
a lot better stuff out there.

The Nintendo versions of these games,

the NES version of these
games, are uncommon,

but they're not extremely rare.

The ones that really got to be rare

are, you know, from
the Super Nintendo era.

Those games seem to be
the more valuable ones.

("Hallelujah")

- This is a cool little set.

It's very esoteric.

And I love odd ball, stuff like this.

This is the full, and some behind there,

the full HES set, which was
Home Entertainment Suppliers.

They were basically the distributor

for unlicensed NES games in Australia.

They actually have like,
I pulled one aside here,

because they either had
these funky shaped cartridges

or they came with
something called a dongle

to basically bypass the
lockout chip on the NES.

So they come in these really
funky VHS-style clamshells.

So another interesting one is Chiller,

which is also an unlicensed
game for the NES.

- Sometimes you'd be at the video store,

you'd see this weird game,
it looked a little different,

different color, different shape,

you'd bring it home and you'd play it.

And you were, "What the heck is this?

This is not Mario Brothers.

What is going on?"

And then you start wondering like,

maybe you don't want your mom to come in

and see what you're actually playing.

- I know with my friends growing up

and going to rent movies,
kind of, the big thing to do

would be to go rent Faces of Death

and then tell your friends about it.

And I'm talking about when
I was like 12 years old,

and the video game
equivalent of Faces of Death

has to be Chiller.

- [Deniz] Chiller was
actually an arcade machine.

It was very controversial
when it was released.

It's a point and click game

and you have to just
click a bunch of times

and it rips a girl's arm off and stuff.

Really messed up.

The arcade machine got banned
because it was so gruesome.

They dumbed down,

like the NES version is a
little bit more appropriate,

(laughs) even though it's
still really messed up.

- [John H.] So Chiller was, to me,

like the anti-Nintendo game
'cause it was so violent.

It definitely was going
for that shock value.

That was kind of a theme
with several video games.

You know, even going
back to the Atari 2600,

you had the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre was not allowed

to be sold in several stores.

There's only a few places that offered it.

And the same thing with unlicensed games,

Nintendo just pretty much
put the kibosh on that

and just said, "If you carry
these games in your store,

then you cannot carry licensed games."

And so that really limited the places

where certain unlicensed games were sold.

- With their marketing,

they tried to make this game,
which was all about torture,

you know, seem like it
was the worst damn thing.

It was almost as if Satan made it himself.

So there was a real cult following,

trying to find this game and play it.

You know, there was no internet back then.

So, you know, if you
wanted to find something,

you really had to go out
there and look for it.

And I think Chiller is
a good example of that.

- So actually by chance, I have the AGCI,

which is the unlicensed version on the NES

that you usually see as a
pretty little fun game there.

- [John H.] Typically,
and this is where I found

my copy of Chiller, was
actually a rental store,

and the rental store had a copy,

and when they went out of
business, they sold it.

And that's how I got my copy.

So rental stores became kind of a place,

especially Ma and Pa Rental Stores,

for these unlicensed games
back in the yesteryear.

'Cause, you know, big corporations

aren't going to go hunt down
an individual rental store

in a small rural community.

And so that typically was where you found

some of these games.

- For the moment everyone's
been waiting for,

my pornographic Panesian games.

I only have two of them.

There are three of them in the set

and it kind of bothers me
I don't have the third one,

but I'm working on that and
maybe I'll someday get it.

These two games, Peek-A-Boo
Poker and Hot Slots,

but in my own sense, I
like to call mine Hot Lots

because I have label
tare that tore off the S,

so I got the rare variant right here.

But these two games, they're
pornographic Nintendo games.

They were unlicensed.

They weren't licensed
by Nintendo officially.

Some company made three
pornographic Nintendo games

and made them available to
Mom and Pop Video Stores

to rent out,

and I think that's the only way

you could actually experience
them back in the day.

So nowadays, they're extremely rare.

Like the level of rarity
is through the roof

because you can actually
couldn't buy them in the store.

So the only way they
leaked out into the market

is from clearance bins

of when video stores are
shutting down or whatnot.

- [Man On Video] Spudic's Movie Empire.

Nintendo games for $2.50.

We have Sega Genesis games for $2.50.

We got some Super Nintendo games, $2.50.

You can't find these at Walmart.

Spudic's Movie Empire.

- These last couple of years,

I've been buying a bunch of erotic games

because I have basically everything else.

That's interesting for me.

I found Bubble Bath Babes for the Famicom.

I didn't know what it was until I got it,

but just the cover alone
made me want to get it.

And from the backside, it
looks like a puzzle game

and I love puzzle games, so I got it.

And it's actually a really,
really good puzzle game.

I've never seen a puzzle game
that has these mechanics.

Exactly like this one.

It's very enjoyable, especially
in two player mode as well.

I've played it a lot with friends,

not because of the nudity,

because it's actually a good game as well.

So this is apparently
a very rare game today.

I bought it many years ago

and it's quite minty
with everything intact.

It's for the Famicom and I
gave a hundred dollars for it

many years ago.

- I don't actually know
where they were actually in,

like where they were
located in the video stores.

I think you had to ask about them.

I think it's a lot of lore at this point.

Nobody really knows the
actual story behind it.

I think some of the old timers might know,

but I feel like, well, those guys

don't even really post on
forums anymore or anything.

So I think they just probably
had them readily available

'cause I definitely read online

that some people remember
seeing them at the video store,

like somewhere on the
bottom shelf, I think,

like in the video game section.

So I don't think they
had it in a porno section

or maybe it was up to the discretion

of whoever ran the store.

Maybe they wanted to put
them in the porno section

or maybe they put them in
the video game section.

I don't know.

No, I never looked at these
games with blacklight,

and I'm afraid to.

Probably these are box protectors.

So if in case anything new
happens, there'll be protected.

- [Heidi] Soft porn
Adventure by Online Systems.

And this is the prequel to,

or the game that is the whole
Leisure Suit Larry Series

is based on, the first
Leisure Suit Larry game.

And the woman here, Roberta Williams,

is the woman who wrote the whole game

and she's done like knight
quests and a bunch of other games

after that as well.

And it's a brilliant game.

It's so funny.

It's not as-

It's soft, it's soft porn,
and it is a floppy disc,

like a real floppy disc.

And I've played this
game with so many friends

and everybody has been laughing
and having so much fun.

And I bought it.

And a few months later, a friend of mine

who knows that I bought it
told me that it was just sold,

a copy on eBay, in not
as good condition as mine

and everything like that,
and it was 15,000 kroners,

which is approximately, I don't
know, $2,000 or something.

- You know, a lot of
these unlicensed games

were controversial.

They had adult content.

So you might find some
of these unlicensed games

in like an adult section
at a video rental store.

You might find them behind the counter.

Even some games were
sold with a lock and key,

and you know, going back
to the Atari 2600 days.

And so, you know, because
they were so recluse

and the distribution
of them was so limited,

that as time went along,

not many copies of these games survived.

And so most of these copies of these games

are now in collector's hands.

There's not many out in the wild.

You know, you can't go
to many thrift stores

and just find them.

And so finding these
controversial games now

is rare and would typically
fetch quite a lot.

(gentle serene music)

- As much as game collecting is awesome,

there's downfalls if you get too into it,

kind of really with anything in the world.

Too much of something can
be a bad thing, per se,

not specifically speaking
about game collecting.

I know personally in my life before,

there's been times where I've maybe spent

a little more money than
I would've liked to,

or tried to keep up with other YouTubers,

and that's something that I
think also needs to be looked at

is a lot of times, pick
up videos or collectors

were kind of known by some
people on the outside,

like you guys are just trying to show off.

You're just trying to one up each other.

And as much as I like to
back myself away from that,

I have to realize that there is some times

where I have to step back and go,

"The only really reason
that I picked that up

is because I wanted to show people.

I don't really have a connection to it.

I don't really feel any nostalgia for it.

And heck I don't even
really like the game."

So personally for me,

I feel like I've had
to pull back the reins

quite a few times.

If I'm collecting for
just some sort of status,

of saying I own this, or I have this,

for me, that's personally unhealthy.

Also with my family as well,

there's been multiple times

where I'm, "Hey, I'm going
to go to the swap meet

instead of going out with the family,"

like I know I said I would.

So I stepped back from that
and I also tell our people now,

like going forward, be careful

how much you dive deep into this.

You know, make sure you put

the important things in your life

a step above of your hobbies.

- I get this question a lot,

what is the difference between
collecting and hoarding?

Honestly, I don't know if there is.

(laughs)

I want there to be.

As a collector, I really do.

- So I think as long as
you keep things organized

and you can walk on the
floor, it's not hoarding.

It's collecting.

- Yeah, I've been called a hoarder a lot.

I don't think it's the
same as the real hoarding.

I mean, it depends what it is, you know,

whatever it is you're
filling your house up.

If it's something that makes
you happy, I'm all for it.

Yeah, I mean, that's all I say.

Like if it's something you like,

if you want to have it, then it's good.

- The funny thing about collecting

is I know people who have
basically the library of Congress

when it comes to books
in their living room,

like next to their TV
console and stuff like that,

and people will go up to them and say,

"Oh, that's a nice collection of books,"

but they see my pile of video games,

and it's like, "Oh,
you're just a hoarder."

It's like where's the divide

that says my collection of
video games isn't hoarding,

but somebody who has a bunch of books,

how's it any different?

- I've seen collecting destroy people

where it's gone too far.

Some of the unhealthy choices that comes

with video game collecting: debt,

I've seen a lot of gamers
out there collect too much

where it's impacted their
relationships with their partners,

where they've gone into debt,

where they couldn't pay their bills.

Space, where it takes up too much space

and then that becomes a problem.

It impacts their day-to-day living,

which then, you know,
impacts your mental health.

- The most important
aspect of being a person

is the relationships we have with people.

And unfortunately, collecting,

there's a dark side where it
can interrupt relationships,

whether friendships.

I've known of people who fought

over games that they couldn't get,

or sweeping in and taking something

that someone else wanted,
and then it causes a rift,

or I've known of marriages
that have fallen apart

because people are spending too much

or hiding the purchases, hiding
how much they're spending

from their husband or wife.

- So I have family overseas
that, you know, again,

it's a very cultural
thing like I said earlier.

It's very American to collect stuff

in the way that we collect it,

and they just don't get it, right?

It's very different, but again,

it's because it's not
part of their culture.

So I totally understand
where people are coming from

where they don't get it.

But for us, it's just a representation

of what we grew up with
and capturing that.

- Having a game collection,

I don't want to say necessarily

that it's like a taboo in Japan.

It kind of goes along with
that sort of Otaku culture,

I guess, which is like obsessive fandom.

So some people are really
obsessed with manga, for example,

so they'll have huge
collections of manga or figures

or something like that.

It's not necessarily frowned upon,

but I think most people do tend

to keep things like that personal,

unless you're sharing it
with a group of friends

and you're all into the same thing.

It's not necessarily something
that you're like, you know,

making this big public thing about you.

So I think, for example,

like there are less
Japanese gaming YouTubers

that the focus of their channel
is they're game collecting.

Like if you go and watch a lot
of Japanese YouTube gaming,

it focuses a lot more on gameplay,

showing expertise in gameplay
and things like that.

Whereas it's way more commonplace

for North American channels,

collecting is a big part of that.

So doing pickups videos
and doing room tours

and then showing off your
collection and things like that,

that is far less common on
Japanese Gaming YouTube.

Not so much that there's
a stigma attached to it,

but I think generally people
are just more personal

about that kind of thing here.

- Are there positive
things about collecting?

Absolutely.

You know, with my mental
health background,

collecting can give you an outlet.

I've seen a lot of people use collecting

as a healthy outlet for stress.

You know, they might have a day
job that's really stressful.

I know my previous journey with jobs,

I've had stressful jobs before,

and I used collecting as a healthy outlet

to kind of relieve that stress.

Playing games or collecting games

or even just having
conversations about collecting

with others has been really healthy.

You definitely have to
remember balance in your life

and knowing what's best for you,

knowing what's best for your family,

and ultimately in the end of the day,

are you having fun doing it,

are you still enjoying the hobby,

are you still have finding
that passion about collecting

or talking about something?

You know, that's really
the determining factor

of continuing with it.

- My husband and I actually met in 2014,

right after I got my first N64.

I bought an N64.

And then about two weeks later, I met him,

and I noticed on his
Instagram he had pictures

of game collection and
it was like half of this.

I'm just going to say that, okay.

We've collected a lot since
we've been married together.

But we really, when I first saw that,

I was like, okay, this guy
like collects retro games too.

This is really cool.

He likes to play games.

He's a video gamer.

But then diving into it more,

I really found out that he was a collector

and there was a whole world
that I didn't even know about

of retro gaming that I
never knew would be a thing

because of the fact that, you know,

he was already involved in it

and already in the retro community

and already getting those games.

So he really introduced
me to the retro world

after we got married, you know.

We walked down the aisle
to a Legend of Zelda song,

and our whole entire reception
and everything we had,

video game music.

Like we just love it.

It's been a bit huge
part of our relationship.

We had an N64 at our wedding.

So it's always been a
really cool thing for us

to kind of do and play.

These are my husband's (laughs)

from when he was a child.

They're not from right now.

They are Super Mario.

I think Super Mario 3 little
undies, and I love them.

We found them when we were cleaning,

the last time we were
cleaning up the game room,

and I was like, "Okay, we're
putting these on the wall."

So these hang on our wall.

So we're really not too
sure where these came from.

They were his, but they
just all of a sudden

appeared in a box.

So we think that he just put them

in his box of collectibles
when he was 10 or 11 years old.

'Cause these, you know,
obviously would probably fit

a seven to 10 year old on figuring.

And so we figured that he
just put them in the box

with all his little collectibles

'cause he did have a lot
of collectible figurines

and all of these video games.

And so they've just lasted until then.

And they're actually in really good shape

and everyone's always
like, oh, that's gross.

But you know, you wash underwear

and you wear it all the time, so why not?

And obviously, they're starting
to wear out a little bit,

but other than that,
they're pretty, pretty cute

and something that's
really rare in a collection

that a lot of people don't have.

They don't have underwear
on their wall (laughs)

for video game collecting.

If my husband one day walked away

from the retro video game world,

I would be so excited

because I would get all these video games.

I'd be like, "Listen, I don't know

how we're going to do this anymore."

It would depend on how
much he walked away from.

But you know, if he walked
away from it and said,

"I don't want to see a retro video game

for the rest of my life,"

we would probably have a
bigger issue than, you know,

than just our collection

because there's no way I'd
think I could be with somebody

who could not be into video
games or support somebody

who likes something, you know.

It's a big thing to be
supportive of each other

and have those connections with something,

whether it's just one thing or 10 things.

And that is one of the things
that we have is retro gaming.

And we love it together and that in itself

makes us stronger.

- My wife had cancer.

And so it was like this crossroads

of really needing something
to distract myself

from that part of my life

and wanting to get into something new.

So I basically started
liquidating my toys and comics

and started funneling it in mass

into a video game collection.

My wife passed away of
stage four breast cancer,

and I was her primary caretaker
for that entire journey,

and that was about four years.

But when she was diagnosed terminal,

which means like no chance
of ultimate survival,

she wouldn't be able to
be cured at that point,

then her life insurance
policy unexpectedly paid out.

So we did lots of responsible adult things

with most of that money,

but then afterwards she had some leftover

and she came to me and
she said, "Hey, you know,

you stuck through me with this

and you take care of me and I love you.

I'd love to do something for you.

What do you want?"

This was the copy of Stadium
Events that my wife bought me

when we discovered that she was sick.

It's one of my favorite pieces,

and not because of the
monetary value necessarily

as much as the intrinsic
sentimental value.

It means a lot to me.

So I started collecting
about five years ago,

five or six years ago.

And it did transform over time,

and I think any hobby does that.

And I do think it's very
important to set goals,

especially when you starting out

because you don't get a
collection like this immediately,

right?

So you start, you know,

start with very achievable goals

and then you kind of get
bigger and bigger and bigger.

And so I started out collecting games

and I just had decided
that when I started,

I had maybe a shoe box
collection of, you know,

10 or 15 Super Nintendo games.

And I had decided that,
okay, well I want to get

every Super Nintendo game ever
made or every North American

or every English Super
Nintendo game ever made.

So I ended up getting the
whole Super Nintendo set

in two and a half months, (chuckles)

which is bonkers.

And then I was, kind of, set to set

and I've done 11 or 12
sets now, full sets.

Part of collecting that I
really love is the chase.

Not just the, oh yeah,
I have this artifact

from my childhood or whatever.

Some of these things, definitely
not from my childhood,

but the chase is really important to me.

And so I had gotten to the point

where I started to get
bored with games, right,

because retail games are
expensive, but not difficult.

Really your only gate is monetary, right?

Like with the advent of eBay
and different Facebook groups

and all that kind of stuff,

you can essentially buy as
fast as you can afford to

for most things.

I really started to feel a
need to try to hunt things

that were more and more difficult.

So one of the things that I collect

is internal Nintendo awards.

So awards that were given to
employees for various reasons.

This one is absolutely my favorite.

This is a 20 year Nintendo Service Award.

So an employee would
have to be with Nintendo

for 20 years before receiving them.

Now they don't even give them these.

They give them these block,
like crystal block numbers.

So even if you were
there for 20 years now,

you don't get one of these statues.

This guy is solid bronze and marble.

And so he is very, very heavy,

and he's actually made by the same company

that makes the Oscars.

So he's very, very high quality

and extremely challenging to find

because, generally, if
someone is with Nintendo

for 20 years, they have
very fond memories of that.

So finding someone who is
willing to even part with one,

or even willing to talk to you
about it is very challenging.

So I'm super happy to have this,

but yeah, he's my favorite.

I like to say that if
something is for sale,

I'm not interested.

Like that's the level of rarity

that I generally look for at this point.

So the things that I'm hunting for,

a lot of times I don't know
that I'm even looking for them,

you know, because I am doing things

where I am discovering that things exist

as I'm finding them.

That happens a lot with,

especially with the original art pieces,

like people ask me what my holy grail is

and I just say, well, it's the next thing,

it's the next piece.

And I don't even know what that is yet.

This jacket actually started my obsession

with Nintendo Game Play Counselors.

- You're going to come
across this big sea serpent.

(electronic game music)

- You'll get to a place

where there's this big skullhead guy.

It looks kind of like
something from Star Wars.

- [Stephan] If you look
at the very first page

of the first issue of Nintendo Power,

there is an ad for the
Nintendo Power Line,

the tip line that you would call

to talk to a Game Play Counselor.

And there were three actors, I'm assuming,

wearing these gray jackets.

And so I was curious as to whether or not

those jackets actually existed.

And I was eventually able to find them.

It turns out that these gray Samus jackets

were only given to the first 40 or so

Nintendo Game Play Counselors.

And then afterwards, they were,
you know, subsequent hires

were then able to sort
of pick their own jacket,

pick their own design.

So this whole case is full
of original clay MCATs

from Nintendo Power
Magazine in the early run

of Nintendo Power, like say
the first 12 issues or so.

A lot of them weren't drawn covers.

They were sculpted covers.

So they would have someone
sculpt these maquettes

and then photograph them for the covers.

So you can see in here,
they all sort of correspond-

They have the corresponding
cover paired with them.

So there's the shoes from
the Track & Field II cover.

Here's the Mario Paint
Mario, the Mario 3 Mario,

Wily and Mega Man from
the Mega man 2 cover

and the kind of mechanical
robot from Super C.

And these are all partially polymer clay,

but then also kitbashes.

If you look at the underside of Wily,

you'll see a lot of Gundam
parts and stuff like that,

that they just sort of cobbled together.

The shoes for Track& Field II

are just in a pair of Converse
that they glued things to.

And one thing that I love about these

is that they were modeled
very intentionally.

They were sculpted with just the angle

that the photographer was
going to shoot them at in mind.

So if you turn around
this Mario Paint Mario,

he is this like horror show
(inaudible) monstrosity

made of Popsicle sticks.

And I just think it's funny to me

that they were so cognizant

of like just what the
photographer was going to shoot,

that they saved time and money

by not sculpting the front of him.

So this is definitely one of my favorite

and also one of my rarest
signs in the collection.

This is a fiber-optic
Nintendo Power Glove sign.

This is from CES 1990, we think.

It was made for a single trade show.

They've made two of them in this size.

We did also find the third one

in like a smaller desktop size.

But if you want these
big three by three signs,

there's only two of them.

And these were found in a
storage locker in Arizona,

and they were actually
on Craigslist forever

and no one knew what they were

and nobody thought that
they were legitimate.

They thought someone had made them,

like a custom thing.

It wasn't until someone
actually drove out there

and pick them up and
then did some research

to find out that they
were from the Mattel booth

at CES in 1990.

So as far as we know
from photos and accounts

from actually the people
who made these signs,

there are two of them.

This is one example.

And the other one actually
is owned by Deniz Kahn.

- The guy who actually had these,

I think he worked at Mattel.

He had both, and he was only selling one.

And he said, I got to him and I said,

"Well, you know, whatever,
it'll take, I'll figure it out."

And we were trying to work it out.

But then he said, "I'm
only interested in trading

for other fiber signs."

And I said, "Well, I don't
have any fiber signs to trade."

So Stephan did.

And so he got the one
and I was so pissed off

and I said, I harassed the guy,

I said that, "If you ever sell
the other one, let me know."

Well, he let Stephan know
and Stephan got the other one

and then he was gracious
enough to let me know

when that happened.

So now we both have the
two that are out there,

which is a pretty special.

It's a really neat sign

and it's a cool piece of history

promoting something that was just so bad.

- So I've talked a little
bit about how difficult it is

to find any art from
Nintendo Power at all,

but there are sort of
sublevels of difficulty there

as well.

One of the most notoriously
difficult things to find

is reader submitted art,

and generally they would do that

by sending in art on
the front of envelopes,

and because they were children

and Nintendo wants to
protect privacy and all that,

generally these were either destroyed

or kept at Nintendo essentially forever.

I was fortunate enough to
not only find envelope art,

but an entire set of envelope art.

So this is every piece of envelope art

that was published in this
issue of Nintendo Power.

And I mean, just the
likelihood of finding a piece

of envelope art is crazy,

and then finding a whole set
of it was just otherworldly.

Rarity is, first of all, it's
a really subjective thing

to talk about,

especially when you're
talking about value of things,

because at the very rare end

where you're talking about one of a kind

or just a couple of
something in existence,

it's very difficult to talk about value

because sometimes when you're
asking me about an item,

well, the first time that it was ever sold

was when I bought it.

So I can't really put a
price tag on something,

or sometimes I won't exactly
know how to evaluate something

until someone comes to
me and asks to buy it.

So I have, certainly, I have
standing offers on a few things

that previously I wouldn't
have known how to evaluate them

because I was the first one to buy them.

But something like my Super
Metroid strategy guide cover,

I have the original painting for that.

I have a standing offer
for $75,000 on that piece.

Very much, things are only worth

what someone will pay for it.

So oftentimes, again,

especially when you're
talking about things

that sell so infrequently
that I can't evaluate them.

That's the only way that I would ever know

how much something is
worth is when someone asks

to buy it from me,

which almost is always the
answer is almost always no.

(upbeat electronic music)

- The infamous Cardi B game
that never existed (chuckles)

probably for a good reason.

I was going to hack
this as dance aerobics,

and I was going to put
her in dance aerobics,

which is a power pad game,
just for fun, just to be silly.

But I was like, I gave
up about halfway through

or part way through anyway.

It's again, it's a long process
to hack these video games.

I figured if Cardi B was going
to be in a Nintendo game,

it'd be an LJN game.

(laughs)

It's pretty silly all the same.

(upbeat electronic music continues)

- So Outback Joey was part of-

it's tactically doesn't
work on a Sega Genesis.

You actually need the
Heartbeat System controllers.

You can plug it into a Sega Genesis,

but you have to have these specific,

exclusive to this Heartbeat System

to make it actually work and play.

And so it's really bizarre,
very, very rare game.

And the other thing is the manual.

So I do have the manual to it,

which is incredibly
difficult to get as well.

(upbeat electronic music continues)

- So this is your famous McDonald's DSi.

Nintendo made these for
McDonald's employees

to teach them how to make their burger.

All of them are used,
probably smell like burgers,

and there are probably
around a thousand made.

(upbeat electronic music continues)

- Slightly before The Nerd started,

I began selling off a lot
of my games, you know.

A lot of it was, I just needed the money.

So I sold Contra for like $7

just so I could buy a sandwich, you know,

so I'll never remember
what that sandwich was,

but I'll always remember Contra.