I hope you VGA readers are having a nice, relaxing Sunday morning. Today I have some interesting items on my watch list that I’ll share with you. I’m a big fan of signed stuff from creators of certain games so I have a couple of auctions like that. I also have a rare Japanese import for the n64, “Puyo Puyo N Party 4″.

First auction I will talk about is the Puyo Puyo N Party 4. The game is already at $300 with 3 days left. Why is it rare? According to the seller about 500 copies were made. But this sort of statement needs to be looked further into, especially when he said “and I herd 500 copies were made”, he spelled heard wrong lol so I need to see the validity of his statement and hearsay isn’t enough. So I did a search and couldn’t find the exact amount of copies released. Although reading from numerous gaming sites it is a rare game, production must have been low, they don’t easily show up in Japan. With that said we can trust the gaming community based on the demand and the demand says $300 with 3 days left.

Other Video Game Auctions:

- Final Fantasy X Sealed (JPN) and OST Signed: The cd is signed by Uematsu which is always nice. He signed it on the cover and one cd. The cost is $240, a little high but you do get both sealed game and OST signed.

- Metal Gear Solid 3 Subsistence Signed: Signed of course by Kojima, and the price? $350 beans. Although Kojima’s autograph is as common now as toilet paper, I still find it intriguing, the man behind Metal Gear. It doesn’t seem to get old, and I don’t know what Kojima hasn’t signed on? Maybe a women’s breast but even that I’m sure he’s done.

- Bayonetta Scarborough Fair Replica Gun: It’s on auction for $70 with 16 hrs left. Not bad as only 1200 were released and this is in great shape with box.

- Nintendo Game & Watch “Fire”: Geesh these go for a lot. I’m not into the whole G&W thing but they still hold value after all these years. A good investment for sure.

- Rare Vintage 80′s Handheld CASIO MG88O Game Calculator: An interested buyer shows off his retro calculator skills by asking a question only a calculator expert would ask:

Q: Is the calculator fully working? The display often becomes faulty on these calculators and none of your pictures show the display when it is turned on. Thanks.
A: Hi , Yes the calculator is fully working. I have included another photograph of it with the display on. Many Thanks 

 

 

 

Good morning VGA followers I’ve got an interesting set of auctions for you today so buckle up and get your watch-list ready:

This auction was submitted by Joseph(Thanks!). It’s a Playstation 2 H-Type Super Red Console. This console was NOT for sale in the U.S, rather it was given by Sony to selected VIPs. The seller claims to be a former SCEA (Sony Computer Entertainment of America) employee. Is there anything special about this console? No magic tricks, special abilities or audio enhancements, but it does have a nice glossy red color to it . There isn’t a number put on it as to how many were actually made but seeing that this console never shows up you can bet it was in fact a selected few VIPs. It’s on auction with reserve.

The next auction is for a Brand New Super Nintendo Entertainment System . This is the first time I have seen it almost hit the 1000k mark in a long time. A lot of sellers sell brand new SNES systems, and although they look legitimately new, they never sell this high. So what’s the difference? Well this SNES system looks convincingly new. SNES enthusiasts who are looking for a nes SNES console will know if it’s new just by the look. I can tell you myself it’s new so this is legit, and in excellent shape. To add more claim it’s the 9326th system produced which is nice to know. It’s out of my budget but if I won the lottery…

The third auction I’m going to talk about is the Gears of War 2 Comic-Con console, only 20 ever made. It was the grand prize during an XboxLive Play & Win Contest. Comes with the chrome “COG” tag. The art work on the side of the xbox is really cool. It comes fully equippedwitheverything, cables, controllers etc… It’s at $600 currently an climbing with 6 days left. Console collecting is definitelyhigh-end in the video game world. Wonder if this one will ever get the Red Ring Of Death.

Other cool auctions:

- Call of Duty Black Ops Zombie Maps - You could only download the old Nazi Zombie maps if you bought the hardened edition. Luckily enough you have people selling their download code but at a price. They range from $50-80 and I am so tempted to buy one as I loved the old maps. First Strike map pack comes out tomorrow, I’m getting it for the new Nazi map.

- Super StarFoxweekend cart with card – Pretty cool to have in your collection. It’s up there in terms of competitive gaming carts. The price is high, $899 or $999 buy it now.

- Xbox 360 Grand Theft Auto IV edition - Only 500 ever made, comes complete and it’s #164.

-NES Caltron 6 in 1 Sealed - You probably wont see a sealed one again unless the seller has a bunch but I can bet he’s the only one who’s got them sealed so don’t miss out on one.

- Playstation RPG Lot - A Nice assortment of titles in this lot. I’ve seen better selections though at way cheaper price. I can understand why the seller starts it at $500, but might as well put a reserve as it’s cheaper listing.

- Nintendo Wooden Box – What the heck it’s at $250 and there’s a bidder? It’s the common version too? I’m puzzled as these sell sometimes as low as $40.

- Mega Man X, X2, X3 Boxed - Decent price for these 3 titles. They don’t have booklets but individual booklets pop up on eBay from time to time.

- Terranigma- A SNES Rpg title similar to Earthbound (what the seller says but not quite). It’s suppose to be a sequel to Illusion of Gaia which it’s obvious by the game play. It’s at $140, I’d rather have a boxed with booklet at that price.

- Duck Tales 2 NES Boxed – At $119 and complete.

- Atari 2600 Bugs Bunny Proto Autoraphed - It’s autographed by programmer Bob Polaro.

- Call Of Duty Black Ops Helmet Signed by Dev Team - Pretty cool helmet signed by the dev team.

- Final Fantasy Zippo Lot 1- Tiffa, Caith Sith, Yuffie. Price is good for the lot.

- Final Fantasy Zippo Lot 2 – Barret, Vincent, Red 13. Price is good for the lot.

This is a VGA exclusive Top 10 Final Fantasy Collectibles list. This list is unbiased as well it takes items featured on eBay and Yahoo Japan into account for it’s rarity and price. Opinions may vary but this is arguably the most accurate, up to date list on the net. This list comprises of all Final Fantasy games and officially licensed products only. Scarcity and demand are used as tools to gauge the ranking of the item itself. I have extensive knowledge in this field which is the reason I am writing this.

This isn’t about the history of Final Fantasy as a series or “quirks” and “facts”. It’s collectibles only. Some items are hard to gauge, even though they’ve hardly seen the light of eBay or other auction sites. I do however admit I won’t be touching on items made by Square-Enix but rather before in the Sqauresoft days. This list will be updated, altered, changed as time goes on but as we have it collectibles by Squaresoft capture Final Fantasy at it’s best. Why at it’s best? Because of the people working on those games. They’re not the same as now. The stories, the characters, everything has changed, even style. As well the reviews on Final Fantasy games after “X” have not been too friendly. This goes without saying that they’re good games in itself, they do not however compare to the Final Fantasy games in the days of Squaresoft. If you disagree post your thoughts in the comment section.

So without further a due I present the Top 10 Final Fantasy Collectibles:

10: Final Fantasy Sealed Games

Approximated Price: $500-$2000

There are collector’s who will agree and disagree about having a “sealed” game considered rare. There are several reason’s for this as there isn’t a specific number put on production. No one knows for sure how many sealed games remain for a specific Final Fantasy game. However this doesn’t take away the fact that it’s rare to have one sealed. Having a game graded by VGA(Video Game Authority) above 80 is considered a good grade on the condition. The rarest of the sealed Final Fantasy games are in the earlier series like Final Fantasy Mystic Quest, Final Fantasy II, Final Fantasy III, and Final Fantasy VII. Final Fantasy X is also considered rare. The prices vary amongst these titles.  Final Fantasy II has been the rarest of these titles and certainly doesn’t appear on eBay often. Final Fantasy III follows and Final Fantasy VII is third. For Final Fantasy VII original “Black” label there are a few versions which determine it’s rarity. There’s a regular factory seal without y-fold which is considered less rare of the two. The rarer version is the Y-fold with a misprint on the back of the game. In the game’s description there is a letter “i” which is raised in “masterpiece”. For Final Fantasy X the rare version is the black label by Squaresoft. The red bordered version is the greatest hits and is considered common even if sealed.

9: Final Fantasy VII Zippos

Approximate price: $70-$150 each

There are 10 Final Fantasy VII zippos in this set. Each originally sold for 10,000 YEN or $110. They usually don’t pop up on eBay as auctions rather as ”Buy it now” to target the special collector. I have seen the complete set on eBay a few times and it was selling for a very high price ($2000+). Regardless of which Final Fantasy game you prefer it is a nice looking set of all the important characters in the game which are:

• Cloud
• Tifa
• Aerith
• Sephiroth
• Cait Sith
• Barret
• Cid
• Yuffie
• Vincent
• Red XIII

It comes as 9th on the list because it is rare but not in demand by Final Fantasy collectors. Those who favor Final Fantasy VII only will tend to want to collect these. Having a whole set is nice depending if you’re into zippos. These were originally obtainable through a magazine order like the Final Fantasy VII V-Jump that feature these zippos in the merchandise section. These were also sold in specialty stores in Japan.

8: Final Fantasy Cold Cast collection scenes

Approximate price: $300-500 each

These Final Fantasy cold casts were released in 1999 by Squaresoft, and limited to 3000 pieces each. Originally sold for $50 now have increased in price tremendously. The statue captures a scene from the Final Fantasy game. As an example the Final Fantasy VI statue depicts the Opera Scene. All statues come with a serial card numbered out of 3000 along with a card holder. All are officially licensed by Squaresoft. There are 5 statues in total:

• Final Fantasy IV “Mt.Ordeals”
• Final Fantasy V “Butz and Boko”
• Final Fantasy VI “Opera House”
• Final Fantasy VII “Forgotten City”
• Final Fantasy VIII “Dance Scene”

7: Final Fantasy Chrome Figures

Approximate price: $50-150 each

These tiny chrome figures were released at the same time as the cold cast statues. There are a total of 28 characters in the collection all from Final Fantasy IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, and IX. The set looks extremely nice and includes an official Final Fantasy wooden box for display. The reason this is listed ahead of the cold cast statues is because they are harder to make as a full set then the Cold Casts. Statues are limited to 3000 and all come with box and inserts. The statues are:

• Final Fantasy IV Ceceil
• Final Fantasy IV Rosa
• Final Fantasy V Butz
• Final Fantasy V Lenna
• Final Fantasy V Boko
• Final Fantasy V Tonberry
• Final Fantasy VI Lock
• Final Fantasy VI Tina
• Final Fantasy VI Mog
• Final Fantasy VI Kappa
• Final Fantasy VI Orthros
• Final Fantasy VI Sabotender
• Final Fantasy VI Magic Pot
• Final Fantasy VII Cloud
• Final Fantasy VII Sephiroth
• Final Fantasy VII Aerith
• Final Fantasy VII Tifa
• Final Fantasy VII Toad
• Final Fantasy VIII Squall
• Final Fantasy VIII Rinoa
• Final Fantasy VIII Koyokoyo
• Final Fantasy IX Zidane
• Final Fantasy IX Garnet

6: Final Fantasy VI and VII Keychain Prototype

Approximate Price: $200-$400

These also go by the name of Premium Bronze figure because it gives off a Bronze look up close. These are prototypes of the keychains made by Bandai in 1994 for Final Fantasy VI and in 1997 for Final Fantasy VII. The keychains were available in dispensers in Japan. The way to get the prototype was to mail in your insert that came with the keychain. If you were one of 500 lucky winners you received a prototype keychain in the mail with the box. For Final Fantasy VI there were two sets. One with Shadow, Locke, and Terra. The other with Edgar, Sabin and Cyan. The figures are of a rubber material on a plastic base. For the Final Fantasy VII keychain prototype it is rubber material as well, obtained in the same way and only came in one set which has Aerith, Cloud and Chocobo. A recent one on eBay without a box sold for $200.

5: Final Fantasy VII Cloud vs Sephiroth Cold Cast by Kotobukiya

Approximate price: $1000-$2500

This cold cast statue is the most desirable of the cold casts as it was limited to 1000 pieces world wide (more desirable then the original 1997 Highwind). As well it’s extremely hard to find and when you do find one it sells for above the $1000 mark. The statue depicts the final battle scene between Cloud and Sephiroth. The statue is extremely delicate. The hairs on Sephiroth can break with just a blow. Hard core Final Fantasy collector’s are sure to own one of these. Comes with box and pieces are assembled.

4: Final Fantasy VII Cardass Gold Cards

Approximate price: $200-400 each

The cardass gold cards are limited to 500 world wide an there is a total of 4 cards. Don’t make the mistake to think these are the common and numbered foil cards. The gold cards are not serial numbered and clearly state on the back of the card that they are a “prize”. They were a campaign prize in 1997 and was only obtainable through a draw which if you were lucky you were mailed a card with a letter. A complete set is extremely hard to find and goes for about $1000.

3: Final Fantasy Nintendo Power Orb

Approximate price: $500-????

The Final Fantasy Orb was limited to 50 pieces world wide. It is made of solid lead crystal with an etch of a Final Fantasy shield with a crossed axe and sword above it. The orb is signed by the artist “Kusak”. This was a prize out of Nintendo Power 1990 Sep/Oct issue 16. The orb comes with a box and certificate. Nintendo Power had a real Final Fantasy treasure Quest/Contest in it’s Maniac Mansion cover issue and the grand prize was a Final Fantasy orb. The most recent Orb on eBay is being sold at $150,000 which was dropped from $250,000. It’s definitely hard to put a price tag on this but it can start as low as $500 and can possibly go in the price range of the Nintendo World Championship gold cart depending on the collector.

2: Final Fantasy Yoshitaka Amano Litho/Serigraph Art

Approximate price: $3000-10000

Yoshitaka Amano is the artist for the Final Fantasy games. His Final Fantasy Art work has been Lithograph/Serigraph printed by Art Vivant, a professional art printing company in Japan who specializes in Lithographs and Serigraphs for artists. Most of the Final Fantasy art work done by him has been put into Lithograph and Serigraph production. I have seen his reproduced art as early as the first Final Fantasy game up until final fantasy XI. Some are harder to find then others. The more popular ones tend to sell for a higher price. Indeed any serious Final Fantasy fan definitely has one of his Lithographs or Serigraphs in his/her house on display. I’ve only seen a handful on eBay and when I do see them they are priced really high. The art work is always signed by Amano.

1: Final Fantasy VII Aeris’s Music Box

Approximate price: $2000-$3500

It is no surprise that the Aeris’s Music Box is at number one. It is desired by all Final Fantasy fans. It’s extremely rare and almost never pops up on eBay. When it does it’s guaranteed to pass the $2000 mark. Research alone on this music box can give you a headache as I’ve read several articles, forum posts, and videos about the quantity of these boxes. All arrows point to only 100 in the world. The music box plays the Aeris theme from Final Fantasy VII (Aeris is Aerith in North America). It’s a 50 note mechanical movement. You can speak to any Final Fantasy fan and know how rare and desired it is. For the Final Fantasy fans that don’t know about it soon become obsessed with it once they find out what it is and how beautiful it sounds. The price climbing and it’s only getting rarer.

This ends the top 10 Final Fantasy collectibles list. I am sure there are some of you who might disagree and that’s perfectly fine, but according to the market these are the hottest and most expensive collectibles in demand. I wanted to add an honorable mentions list but there are too many collectibles, enough to make a top 30 list.

Credit:

*All pictures have been borrowed from Google image search, eBay.com and ffmerchandise.

**If you want to give your opinion, feel there is missing information or incorrect information please email me (Kenji) by going to the contact page and I will gladly read all messages.

***Information has been borrowed from reputable sites.

Thank you for reading the Top 10 Final Fantasy Collectibles list by VGA

Good morning VGA readers. Today’s post will feature some auctions submitted by Joseph, and a few of my recent finds. So let’s begin:

This auction is for a Metal Gear Solid 2 standee used to hold the games. It’s in excellent shape and from 2001. It has Snake on the front of the design and on the sides scenes from the game. This comes with the original box and instruction manual. For the price I think it’s a good deal.

The next auction is a Mirror’s Edge runner bag. This bag was available exclusively at Gamestop during the launch of the game. Along with it’s main compartment, It has 6 small pockets in the back. It also displays the Mirror’s edge logo on the front. A great buy for any fan of the Mirror’s edge game. 21hrs left with 16 bids @ $76.

This last auction is for a Bioshock 2 Lithograph. The seller has two of them up and they’re really nice looking. Both have a small crease on the top right boarder but for the price they are selling at by other sellers a starting auction of $.99 is not bad at all. I might consider sneeking in a bid. There are two kinds, one with little sister peeking around a corner, and the other one with Big Daddy kicking some butt.  

Honorable Mentions:

- Complete US Sega 32x collection

- Sealed SNES Hagane VGA 85

Good boxing day morning, I hope all you VGA readers had a great Christmas full of fun and joy with your loved ones. The day after Christmas is however a day full of havoc, chaos and of course good deals. Are there deals on eBay? No not really, especially in the video game world unless you find an auction that ends cheaper then buying a game in a store. Especially collectibles, there’s never deals unless you’re lucky enough to find something rare where another collector doesn’t search for at that time, and that my friend is called luck.

So with Christmas done and the brink of the New Year we have some cool auctions that might tickle your fancy. This post will be brief and to the point with some commentary on the auctions so let’s begin.

This Zelda Outlands auction is considered rare or is it? It’s Zelda re-done with a new map, levels and so on. You can read more about it here. Now is it rare? I don’t think so. It’s actually made at http://www.nesreproductions.com/ and you can buy it for $25 including air mail shipping. In fact check the site out for other amazing titles never released for the NES!! Does it make the seller a crook for buying from NESreproductions and selling it on eBay as “rare”? No because he has a right to sell it and not say where he got it from. If anything it’s the buyers fault for not doing the neccessary research in the first place. Like the old saying goes, ”You get what you pay for”, and the reserve is a nice touch to give perceived value and rarity. Don’t be fooled and spend $100+ for something you can get for $25 with shipping.

The next Zelda related auction is a collection of the Zelda games. It’s complete and in excellent condition, but for $890 it’s pricey. The only person in the world who’d buy it is someone who doesn’t have one single Zelda game and decided one morning that he’ll start collecting Zelda games. Best bet for the seller is list it on regular auction and hope for the best. This is a resellers dream if it went to auction, they’d be all over it like a vulture on a dead body.

Other cool auctions:

- Nintendo Test Station – $999 expensive? You be the judge.

- Nintendo Cereal box empty – Yeah I’d buy it too, but not for $49.99.

- Nintendo Power Pad – It’s a $3000 Nintendo Power Pad… remember people, look on eBay first before listing something.

- Nintendo NES, SNES and N64 Lot Huge – Decent lot, decent price.

- BRAND NEW Sealed PAL Super Nintendo Console Bundle

- M.A.C.S Light Gun Rifle with SNES – Cool gun.

- Nintendo Gameboy Sealed/New – The price is right.

- Caltron 6 in 1 Complete – Very rare and it’s on auction COMPELTE!!

- Little Samson Complete and Mint – Went way over the average price. Glad I own one of these complete and mint

Good morning VGA readers on this Christmas eve. I hope you’re all relaxing and enoying the holiday season and for those who are still working it’s cool because I’m working too! So now that we share something in common I want to share these cool auctions I found. Some are Playstation related and the others are video game banners.

I’m starting off with a regular Sony Playstation 3 60GB. So why show it off you ask? Well the picture on eBay had a girl on a bed “showcasing” the Ps3. I see these from time to time, yes I’m guilty and got suckered into clicking the auction because of some female influence(who wouldn’t?!?) but this isn’t worthy of talking about on VGA, what striked me about the auction was the question asked. Normally with these type of auctions having a girl half dressed showing off a console you always, and I mean ALWAYS have some guy make a comment like, “by the way does she come with the console?” or, “Hey your girlfriends hot”. In this auction though an interested buyer doesn’t seemed phased by the presence of the female, his question is only technical which I find pretty funny. We’re all geeks here, but this guy is a geek extrodinaire.

This auction is for 709 Playstation games, an 237 of them are sealed. The crazy thing is this only represents 52% of Playstation games released in North America. What a collection indeed and it took the guy 10 years to collect!! Why give it up? It would be so painful for me to let something like this go. I have quite the collection as well, no where near 709 games, mostly RPGs(my favourite), I can say about 85% of ps1 rpg games released. But besides the point this is a great auction. Unfortunately not too many people have $7000 to spend. I am sure there is a lottery winner out there somewhere who loves video games? Why doesn’t he or she buy it? If I won the lottery my shopping spree would start on eBay and this would definately help out the game community on eBay.

The next two playstation auctions includes a rare Syphon Filter 3 911 alternate cover which is extremely rare. When I say 911 it’s the Sept 11 terror attacks, this is the version of Syphon Filter 3 that got recalled and destroyed before making it onto store shelves due to the September 11th terrorist attacks. Very rare so make an offer on it. The other auction is a Brand New Playstation 2 console sealed. Nice conditioned box. I remember these blue boxes…

Next bunch of auctions are video game banners worthy of taking a look…

Banners:

With all the  “Collector’s Edition” games coming out nowadays I decided to do a little track back to when they actually started. For the purpose of this post I will not include Japanese origins simply because back tracking will be tedious as well as impossible. I will stick to the North American versions which we are all familiar with.

Let’s define what “Collector’s Edition” is and what it isn’t. Collector’s edition is not an add on, or an accessory. It usually is the game with a piece of merchandise that comes in a box hence the term box set. Originally they were given out as “press kits” which are still given out depending on the game to journalists, media and so on. Today they are sold as an alternative to collector’s who prefer a little extra. For now I will refer to the “Collector’s Edition” as “Press Kits” to make a point.

I could not find any official pictures of Atari press kits. Although they were given out on a smaller scale(pictures, stickers) to the press. Early press kits were found on the SNES and Sega which were games like Maximum Carnage and Spawn. The one for Maximum Carnage included a sealed Maximum carnage, a red leather comic book with Spider Man issues that first introduced Carnage, as well as 3 metal pins. I know there was a collector’s box set for Ecco the Dolphin. Another title for Sega was Mario Lemieux Hockey which came with a collectible puck and that was sold to the public, not given to journalists.

This created a trend that would soon be “Collector’s Edition”. One of my current favorite collector’s edition is Epic Mickey for the wii and it comes with a charger and a brush. The charger is really cool looking. Other current collector’s editions are James Bond 007 Golden Eye for the Wii which comes with a Golden controller(Golden Gun), God of War 3 is another popular one as well as Call of Duty Black Ops which comes with a badge.

Is it worth it to buy the collector’s edition? I say it depends. When Halo 3 came out I bought the legendary edition because of the cool mastercheif helmet. Same with Golden eye, I wanted the Golden controller. So it depends on if you enjoy collecting and want an extra bonus with the game.

Todays post will feature items submitted by Joseph(Thanks Joseph!). They will include a Fallout 3 Pip boy keychain, a Charity for Red Dead redemption rare faceplates and some cool Metal Gear Kojima autographs.

I’m going to start off with the cool Fallout 3 Pip boy keychain. They were given out initially to journalists by Bethesda, and was also a pre-order bonus in Australia. They were give out as well at E3 in 2008 to promote Fallout 3. There were apprently 3000 made so don’t wait. This Pip boy keychain just ended at $29.00 when they usually go for around the $50 mark. That’s what happens when you you do a one day auction.

The next auction is for a Red Dead Redemption faceplate set of 4. They are made by Ed Webb who’s been featured in Xbox Magaine, and around the world in various contests and websites. All 4 faceplates are signed by the development team… yes all four, and it’s going to an amazing cause “Child’s Play Charity”. Remeber this is the only set, there is no second set! You also get the game signed by the dev team and some cool memorabillia in the auction which includes a dice set with leather holder, Redemption playing cards and a Redemption soap bar all new.  Don’t miss out, this is a rare auction going to a great cause!!

The last set of auctions are dealing with Metal Gear Solid 4. The first auction is for a signed MGS4 by all the voice actors. Yes truely unique to have all of them sign that copy BUT it’s missing Hideo which loses some of it’s charm. There’s also a ton of extras in there like a Peacewalker poster, PW bandana, two MGS psp games, and a stylish Fox hound hat! Great stuff… oh wait.?!? $799? Hmm…. a little pricey at a really terrible bad time. I should message the seller my post about bad timing auctions. Most I see it going for is $100-150 on regular auction. Value is around $200-300. The next Metal Gear Solid auction is amazing! It’s a Metal Gear Solid 4 artbook signed by the man himself Kojima and the artist with a personal sketch! Just amazing and the price is extremely worth it. I would definately buy this myself but it’s just bad timing.