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the blue marlin nintendo nes psa pop report

The Blue Marlin Nintendo NES: PSA Pop Report + Loose / CIB / Sealed Prices

Published 2026-05-29 · Updated 2026-05-31 · by Jason Trogdon
Retro Video Games 8 min read

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PSA has graded 8 The Blue Marlin Nintendo NES copies on record — 2 CIB, 6 sealed. Sealed copies trade in the $252 range. This page is the per-game pop + price + grading reference for The Blue Marlin on Nintendo NES — updated weekly from PSA’s official population data and PriceCharting’s market catalog.

Loose
POP 0
Market: $25
CIB
POP 2
Market: $70
Sealed
POP 6
Market: $252

Quick Facts

PSA Pop by Condition

PSA tracks The Blue Marlin populations independently for loose carts, complete-in-box (CIB), and factory-sealed copies — collectors price each condition separately because rarity and demand diverge sharply. Tables below show the grade-tier breakdown per condition, aggregated across 1 variant PSA recognizes for this title.

Loose Cartridge

PSA hasn’t graded any loose copies of The Blue Marlin for Nintendo NES yet.

Complete in Box (CIB)

Total graded: 2

Variant Pop Grade Breakdown
Made in Japan 2 9.4: 1 · 7.0: 1

Factory Sealed

Total graded: 6

Sealed summary by variant:

Variant Total Pop Top Numeric Grade Best Seal Grade
Made in Japan 6 9.8 A+

Factory Sealed Grade × Seal Matrix

Rows show PSA numeric grades. Columns show seal grades. Cell values are PSA population counts. Aggregated across all variants. Top observed grade: 9.8 (PSA scale extends to 10).

Grade A+ A Total
9.8 1 1
9.6 1 1
9.4 1 1 2
9.2 1 1
8.0 1 1
Total 3 3 6

Current Market Prices

All prices below are pulled directly from PriceCharting’s public catalog and refreshed each time this article regenerates (typically weekly). PriceCharting computes their values from active and recently-sold listings on eBay + their dealer network — independent of any data on this page. The Sealed column reflects PriceCharting’s “manual-only” / new tier — factory-sealed retail at average condition; specific graded-sealed prices vary sharply by numeric grade + seal letter (use the Sealed eBay browse link below for grade-specific comps).

Heritage Graded Sales

Heritage Auctions sold results below are real auction transactions for The Blue Marlin on Nintendo NES. They complement the PriceCharting loose / CIB / sealed benchmarks above; they are not estimates and they are not blended into PriceCharting’s ungraded market prices.

Summary rows are title-level Heritage sale signals, sorted by format, recency, and realized-price signal. PSA production variants can price differently, so the sale records keep Heritage’s own variant notes visible instead of pretending every auction lot maps cleanly to a PSA variant row.

High-grade games can trade years apart, so older auction records stay visible; treat the latest-sale date as part of the comp, not just the dollar amount.

Format Grade Sale signal Latest sale Comps
Factory sealed (Oval Soq R) WATA 9.4 A Last sale $375 Sep 23, 2025 1
Factory sealed (Oval Soq R) WATA 9.6 A Last sale $408 Aug 23, 2022 1
Factory sealed (Oval Soq R) WATA 9.2 A Last sale $264 Apr 4, 2023 1
Factory sealed (Rev A Oval Soq R) WATA 8.0 A+ Last sale $180 Jan 3, 2023 1
Factory sealed (Oval Soq R) WATA 9.4 Last sale $139 Sep 27, 2022 1
Factory sealed (Oval Soq R) CGC 7.5 A+ Last sale $114 May 16, 2023 1

Sale records:

View all 6 Heritage sale records
Date Sold For Grader / Grade Format Variant Notes Source
Sep 23, 2025 $375 WATA 9.4 A Factory sealed Oval Soq R Lot 312538-69003
May 16, 2023 $114 CGC 7.5 A+ Factory sealed Oval Soq R Lot 312320-68020
Apr 4, 2023 $264 WATA 9.2 A Factory sealed Oval Soq R Lot 312314-66015
Jan 3, 2023 $180 WATA 8.0 A+ Factory sealed Rev A Oval Soq R Lot 312301-66014
Sep 27, 2022 $139 WATA 9.4 Factory sealed Oval Soq R Lot 312239-69019
Aug 23, 2022 $408 WATA 9.6 A Factory sealed Oval Soq R Lot 312234-69021

Listings

Each link below opens an eBay search filtered to that condition, scoped to The Blue Marlin on Nintendo NES. “Sold” pulls completed/sold listings (use this for price research). “Listings” pulls current active listings (use this to find a copy to buy).

Why The Blue Marlin Matters for Grading

PSA has graded only 8 copies of The Blue Marlin for Nintendo NES across all conditions — a tiny population that puts collectors who own a graded copy in a roster of fewer than 13 known holders. The sealed condition dominates submissions (6 of 8, ~75%) — a strong signal that’s where most collector value sits for this title. The sealed-to-loose price ratio is roughly 10× — sealed copies trade at $252 while loose carts move around $25. That spread means a fresh sealed find is the move; raw cart flips have thinner margins after grading fees.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is The Blue Marlin Nintendo NES worth grading?

Strong yes for clean copies. With only 8 graded copies on record, The Blue Marlin is squarely in the rare-population tier for Nintendo NES — and PSA grading adds meaningful provenance on titles with this little supply. Grade-and-hold is the play; flipping mid-grade copies thins margins fast.

How rare is a graded sealed copy of The Blue Marlin?

PSA tracks 6 graded sealed copies of The Blue Marlin for Nintendo NES. The grade-tier breakdown above shows how those split across PSA’s numeric grades — top-grade copies (9.4+) are the scarcest and typically command the strongest premiums.

Should I buy a graded or raw copy of The Blue Marlin?

Depends on your goal. Graded copies cost more upfront but come with PSA’s authenticity + condition guarantee — the right move for buy-and-hold collectors. Raw copies are cheaper but require condition assessment yourself, and the grading lottery means a $50 raw cart can come back as a $25 PSA 7 OR a $200 PSA 9.4. Use the per-condition pop and price data above to calculate expected value before you commit.

Why does PSA track multiple variants of The Blue Marlin?

PSA’s database currently shows one tracked variant for The Blue Marlin on Nintendo NES. That doesn’t mean only one variant exists — production codes that haven’t been submitted yet won’t appear on the census. Check the back of your cartridge for production-location markings (“Made in Japan”, “Made in Mexico”) and the box for ESRB-rating placement to identify your specific variant.

Sources

Pop counts pulled weekly from PSA Video Games population data. Prices from PriceCharting. PSA acquired WATA in July 2021 and completed the rebrand to PSA Video Games on October 20, 2025. PSA Video Games population data is the continuation of WATA’s population history. Heritage graded-sale comps come from Heritage Auctions sold archive lot pages linked in the sale-record table.

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About Jason

Jason has been collecting cards since 1999 and retro video games since 2008. Based in the Southeast US. What The Slab cites real eBay sold comps, PriceCharting data, and PSA pop reports — no guesswork. Read more →