Check it out! CGC recently graded several video games from the esteemed Ippy’s Sea Girt Collection, a cache of more than 3,000 retro video games for the Super Nintendo, the Sega Genesis and more. The Ippy’s Sea Girt Collection is — so far — the largest video game pedigree found, and more than half of the games in the collection are sealed.
 |
In the mid-1970s, Robert Ippolito opened a small hobby and toy shop called Ippy’s, where he specialized in selling toys, train and model kits, trading cards, comics and more. The shop attracted children and local enthusiasts for nearly a decade, until a large fire broke out in the 1980s and forced Robert to close. He relocated the store to the sands of the Jersey Shore, where he reopened in Sea Girt, New Jersey.
After reopening, Robert expanded his operations to include home video and video game rentals. Among his stock were hundreds of video games from dozens of popular first- and third-party developers, including Nintendo, Sega and Atari. However, competition from larger video and electronic rental stores caused Ippy’s to struggle, and by 2001, Robert decided to close his doors for good. Robert sent his remaining stock to storage, hoping to sell it in the future.
After Robert passed away in 2024, Robert’s brother and nephew rediscovered the collection among his assets. Even decades later, Robert’s massive collection of video games, home video collectibles, Pokémon cards, posters, toys and memorabilia remained untouched, with much of it sealed and in excellent condition. Instead of selling it, Joe and Dean Ippolito decided to inherit the collection and began sending the video games and other collectibles to be authenticated and graded.
CGC certified hundreds of Sega games from the collection, including notable titles such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters, Street Fighter II and Streets of Rage 2. Many of the sealed games retained their original price stickers. Each game is adorned with the distinguished CGC Pedigree Label and pedigreed to the Ippy’s Sea Girt Collection in honor of Ippy’s Video and Video Game Rental’s legacy.
 |
Since revolutionizing comic book grading in 2000, CGC has grown to include certification services for a vast variety of pop culture collectibles. These divisions include CGC Cards, CGC Video Games and CGC Home Video. CGC Cards provides expert card grading for sports cards, TCGs and non-sports cards. CGC Video Games is dedicated to video game grading for the most popular consoles, including Nintendo, Sega, Atari, PlayStation and more. CGC Home Video provides expert VHS grading in addition to other types of videocassettes, DVD, Blu-ray and more. CGC also offers seamless solutions for autograph collectors with CGC Signature Series and JSA Authentic Autograph services.
CGC is part of the Certified Collectibles Group, a global provider of expert and impartial authentication and grading services for collectibles. Since 1987, the Certified Collectibles Group companies have certified more than 110 million collectibles, including coins, banknotes, comic books, cards, autographs and stamps.
