Many of you might recognize him from his early days on eBay as JohnnyAngel44, his North American gamer tag 86NESKid, or more recently, under the name TheGraded80s_Kid—a familiar handle across eBay and social media over the past half-decade. No matter how you know him, there’s no denying that he was one of the early visionaries in the sealed and collectible video game market.
Known online as “JBoy,” his love for video games began in childhood. Growing up in the ’80s and ’90s, he eagerly played nearly every major title upon release—or added them to the top of his Christmas wish list. He received his first NES in 1986, and by the following year, he was already charging classmates 25 cents for tips on The Legend of Zelda and Super Mario Bros.. A future Nintendo Power Hotline counselor in spirit—especially fitting since his older cousin actually worked on the real hotline in the early ’90s.
His collecting journey officially began in 2003 when he purchased his first sealed game with the intention of keeping it that way.
“Growing up in an athletic family, most days were spent playing or watching sports. So, collecting sports memorabilia didn’t interest me. Like a lot of ’80s kids, when we weren’t on the field, we were riding BMX bikes, skateboarding, driving RC cars, or playing video games. That’s where my nostalgia is. If I was going to collect something, it had to be tied to my strongest memories.
“The idea came from when my dad and I found his childhood baseball cards in a closet. They were valuable because they weren’t made to be collected—they were meant to be played with. In the early 2000s, I realized video games were a lot like that. When I started, there were only a handful of collectors, and even the rarest games sold for a few hundred bucks. I can’t believe the things I passed on because I thought the prices were too high!”
Scouring local stores and early eBay listings when sealed games were still fairly common, JBoy built an impressive collection. At one point, he even tried convincing his dad to invest in what later became known as the legendary “Hawaii Collection.”
“I remember the listing had only a few photos but showed stacks of games. I think the price was around $30,000 to $40,000. Unfortunately, my dad wouldn’t go for it.”
The hunt continued. In 2009, he graded his first games through VGA—the only video game grading service available at the time. From 2009 to 2012, he continued grading, but life intervened. After moving twice across the country, he sold off nearly 75% of his collection.
“It’s not that I lost faith in sealed games becoming collectible—it was just life. Prices had gone up three or four times, so I figured it was better to sell than to pack everything up again. I still wince at some of those sales—two copies of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night for around $100 each. And I sold my beloved Contra for $500, which was ten times what I paid in 2004. That was the only graded game I let go, though. The rest I held onto, because deep down I knew this was going to be something big.”
For the next seven years, the games sat untouched on a shelf in his living room. During that time, he lost track of the rapid changes in the collecting world—especially with WATA’s entrance and the influx of new money and collectors.
“I wish I’d stayed in the loop. I would’ve been buying everything back—everything I sold, everything I passed on. But it’s okay. At the heart of it, I’ve always done this for the love of games and the nostalgia of seeing them just like they looked on the shelf at Kay-Bee or Toys ‘R’ Us.”
Then in late 2019, he stumbled upon a Contra sale on eBay for over $20,000.
“I almost passed out. I couldn’t believe it. I was like, I had that! And I knew this was going to happen!”
Bittersweet though it was, that moment reignited his passion. Thankfully, he had held onto key titles like Super Mario and Zelda. Over the next five years, the hunt resumed in full force. He scoured the Internet, traveled the country—planes, trains, and automobiles (yes, a nod to the ’80s)—to track down rare finds and make wild memories of adventure, securing the titles which now make up The “TheGraded80s_Kid” Collection.
