Did VGA Damage My Sealed Video Game!?

I was surprised by the grade my sealed Metroid Prime got in my latest VGA submission. Then I noticed something on the game... Now, we open it up to see exactly what is going on with this VGA 85.

Either I was blind on evaluating this game or it got damaged at some point during the grading process. Unfortunate, but there is always a risk.

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Video game collecting and investing YouTube with emphasis on vintage video games. Grading VGA and WATA retro collector. Gaming with consideration on rarest games ever or most expensive games. Talking about N64, NES, Super Nintendo, DS, 3DS, Sega Mario and More!

[SamuraiStyleTV]

I'm late to the party! Sent in a sealed PC game to VGA.. I was expecting at least an 85. Got it back as an 80, gave it a once over to see why it could have gotten the lower grade and found a nice crease on the bottom of the box that wasn't there when it was carefully packaged up and shipped out. Tried emailing VGA customer service about it, but haven't received any type of response. Total bummer.

[undamned]

With that bit of sticker stuck to it and new defects, I wonder if it was accidentally swapped? We should look into some sort of UV markings to "tag" our games and see if they get swapped.

[ParallelUniversity]

It makes you wonder how gently they are handling these games prior to grading them. Maybe someone in the office sneezed and some of it fell on your cover and bonded to it, and it got factored into the grade.

[MayorMori]

I would love to see a video of your latest recommendations for submitting between WATA VGA and CGC.

[KitsunePixel]

Nice video as always. Scary seeing you pop that case open lol.

[Zuje]

Hey Greg,

How can I see the difference between the First Print US Version Last of US Ps3 and the re-release Version?

Thanks for Help 🙂👍🏼

[anthonyjawad]

When you pulled out the butterknife I lost it hahaha. Great video.

[jayz]

The butter knife bit got me man lol. But sorry that this happened and good luck with the wata submission.

[ItsMeLele]

really good to have the regular videos back! super glad you had a great vacation though

[delta_shift]

Ah man, I feel your pain, I really do 😂 Best of luck with the resubmission, it’ll be interesting to see how WATA grade it.

[lilvenusaur]

When I submitted my Pokémon Box RS Disc version a while back I was expecting a 90 or higher, minimum 85+ though. When I got it back it got an 85 and it had a bunch of marks on the back that it didn’t have before and it also had damage to the case. I wrote to VGA and they told me to send it back and they could try and clean and recase it but the grade likely won’t change. Long story short they sent it back to me and it regraded an 85+ after they removed all the marks that weren’t there originally on the back. They didn’t even let me know, it just arrived with another batch of games I had sent in and had the new grade.

[super_junk]

Really informative video! Made me so nervous opening that case, never knew you could open em like that.

Between this and the Wata cases damaging cardboard games, doesn't make me feel great about how they're handling our items.

[Cosmolax]

Great video as per usual! Hoping for 9.4 A or above for ya

[Jordangooddeed]

I'm going to give my honest opinion, grading the plastic this way seems a bit much. The game is new and sealed and never played hahaha, what else do you want? The plastic isn't even part of the game case or game. It doesn't make sense.

[stanceswitch]

Greg, for WATA PS2 games what typically differentiates A+ from A? I thought it usually dealt with the seal and when I finally got my game back, after a year, they said it was an A and not A+. My game didn't have any tears or damage to the seal

[MkMaster]

I was thinking about opening my VGA cases and then sending those games to WATA instead. I'm just scared the knife will snap in half and fly into my face haha. That and I don't want to inadvertently damage my games in the process 😭

[martinrbookermb]

Great video Greg, do you think it's possible that the scratches were caused by taking it out of the case? I'm a bit worried because I put some of my sealed games in the softer plastic protection boxes you can buy for the gameboy. Do you think I should take them out (carefully) before I submit them? I could do with some advice on that as I haven't submitted any of my sealed games yet? Keep up the good work!

[brianrichards]

@getthegreggames have you ever thought of polishing the plastic wrapper with a form of car wax and then buffing it off with a micro fiber cloth? Maybe something as simple as armor all spray and a wipe could remove fine scratches ? Just a thought

[zandgemporium]

It’s not made in Japan so might as well throw it in the trash

[clrodrick]

You got the right attitude Dylan. Always sucks to have something like this happen, but VGA / Wata are run by humans and to err is human. When one submits a high volume of games to be graded, it is inevitable you get the occassional screw job like with your Metroid. Wata will give it 9..4 - 9.6 along with A+ seal. I would say A++ seal, but Wata doesn't seem to be giving out anymore A++ since moving to California hahaha.