a few games | essay: The Review Is In: Does Wata's New Graded Holder Live Up To Expectations?

As soon as April 24th hit, I submitted six games to Wata in a reholder order. At the time, I felt quite starry eyed, as the new holder seems to address many of the form factor & design concerns that plagued the legacy holder.

For context, I had published a short explainer on the new holders and what to expect.

Here are the games I submitted in a range of sizes:

Six games reholdered from Wata games

Of note, I didn't submit the larger Turbografx or smaller PlayStation Vita size as I didn't have any to submit.

Sized to fit

From my view, the best part about the new design is the wider array of prefabricated sizes. It's most noticeable when looking at the games from the side:

Six reholdered games from the side, showing slimmer profile for storage

*From left: N64, DS, Game Boy (Advance), PS1, Switch, DVD (GameCube)*

Up close side view for N64, Game Boy, and PS1 holders

Up-close side view for Switch, DVD-size, and DS holders

Overall, I find the more concise use of space refreshing, with the exception of Vita, Switch, and DS (we'll get to that later).

In particular the more streamlined Jewel case & 3DS holder is much appreciated. They begin to rival VGA in their sleekness.

Up close side view showing the same holder size used for PS1 and 3DS, and separately, a shared size for DS and Game Boy.

*From left: PlayStation 1, 3DS, Nintendo DS, Game Boy (Advance)*

As mentioned, the two outliers in the current equation (that I can physically show) are DS and Switch. Both appear to reuse a holder similar or identical in size, that better fit other games.

For instance, the DS holder appears to use the same size holder that fits Game Boy games:

Another up close look at DS and Game Boy side view.

See that extra space? It's a bit unfortunate. You would think there would be one holder size to fit DS, 3DS, and Jewel case together since DS is only slightly deeper than 3DS.

And for Switch, it appears to use a holder that is slightly shorter, but somehow as deep as the DVD holder (it's hard to notice, but it's very slightly deeper). Switch in particular feels like it needs a size of its own.

Switch is even shallower than 3DS, to put it in perspective. Overall, Switch feels like an after-thought.

Another up close look at Switch and DVD-size side view, which seemingly use a similar sized holder.

From the top, it's nothing special. There's nothing there.

Top-down view of all six games.

New, sleeker label

The label is massively overhauled.

New label design, Front

The front shows a simpler label and a refined grade area on the right. The certification number is conveniently located right below the game metadata. This is definitely among the highlights for me, especially if a game lookup becomes available a la VGA.

New label design, back

On the back, not much has changed, although the old scan block has been replaced with a newer UPC-style scan bar off to the right.

Debossed Wata logo on the side of the holder.

Unfortunately, the label doesn't extend to the sides anymore, and a simple debossed logo sits in its place. Not the end of the world. Additionally, the certification date is no longer displayed on the back, which could be seen as a "con" for folks who are concerned with who was grading at the time (pre- or post-Collectors acquisition, for instance). This is somewhat compounded by the fact that reholdered games retain their old certification number, skewing the provenance of the games.

Inside the holder

You might not be surprised to learn that the blister from the legacy holder is retained. I've already stated in previous writings that I dislike this feature, particularly the corners. Similarly, I mentioned there are new issues plaguing recent orders to Wata involving damaged games. Most of those issues are the result of these blisters seemingly getting warped inside the holder.

Here's one from Video Game Sage that illustrates what I mean:

External example of a new holder with collapsed inner blister, from bottom

Notice the lack of space on the bottom; the game should "float" inside (compare to the DS game photos previously in this essay).

Upon further investigation, I found the eBay listing from the same forum member, with a picture of the back. It looks like something caused the bottom to collapse. Could have been from shipping, but I can't be sure.

Close up of the collapsed blister

Final thoughts

The biggest wins in my mind are the form factor and new label. If you compare the legacy label to the new one, the legacy label has a slight beige tint to it. Kinda weird! I'm glad the new one is completely gray and easy to read. The added black spots for logos and grade bring it all together and keep a nice balance to the overall graphic design.

While the new design is much nicer looking, time will tell if additional changes are needed to improve the inner blister's resilience to damage. I'm grateful my games are in good shape and no additional help is needed, but I think the fact this was a concern at all is worrying from a customer perspective.

What do you think of it? I'd love to hear how folks are experiencing this new holder and if it scratches that itch for a nicer design and less shelf space taken up by the legacy holder!