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Condition & GradingWhat Separates a Shelf-Worthy Mega Drive CIB From a BeaterThe hinge gives it away every time. Open a supposedly mint Mega Drive case and a healthy clamshell swings freely and clicks shut with a firm snap; a tired one creaks, wobbles on a single pin, or simply falls into two halves in your hands. Sega shipped its 16-bit games in hard plastic cases while Nintendo was still using crushable cardboard, and that one decision is why so many complete copies survive today — and why grading them is its own little discipline. Read the case before you read the g
GlossaryWhat CIB, Loose and Sealed Really Mean on a Game ListingSet two copies of Rayman for the original PlayStation side by side. The early North American printing lives in a tall cardboard long box, roughly the proportions of a VHS tape. The PAL copy sits in a standard CD jewel case. Both sellers can honestly describe theirs as “complete” — and they'd be promising you entirely different stacks of cardboard and paper. That's the trouble with collector shorthand. CIB, loose, sealed, NIB — the words sound precise, but what they actually cover shifts with pl