Frustrating Gameboy manual variants

[dogbowl | 150]

Just sorting some things tonight and I came across this. Both manuals have the same code (DMG-TN-USA-1) however one has a TM SoQ while the other is a (R) SoQ

[dogbowl | 150]

And then, I found it again with Tetris manuals.  

Anyone have any idea?

[Tulpa | 3,534]

TM is an unregistered trademark indicator, while circle R means it was officially registered with the US Patent and Trademark Office.

My guess is they began distribution with the TM ones, and somewhere during the run the registration went through and they switched.

[the_wizard_666 | 1,325]

Just now, Tulpa said:

TM is an unregistered trademark indicator, while circle R means it was officially registered with the US Patent and Trademark Office.

My guess is they began distribution with the TM ones, and somewhere during the run the registration went through and they switched.

This, with the addition that since it's such a minor change that they didn't bother changing the item number.  That's usually reserved for a fixed typo or some other major change.  Another major change that didn't get a -1 (or beyond) identifier was on the NES when they put the epilepsy warning in the manuals instead of on a slip of paper included in the package, though this was denoted on the manual with an asterisk after the item code.  But yeah, unless there was a major change to the manual, they simply wouldn't make note of it.

[dogbowl | 150]

I did find one other difference - there was a typo fixed in these manuals on the final page  (and extra carriage return on the final page near the end of the Warranty and disclaimers section.

Could the TM manuals be Gameboy 'launch' versions?

Never knew about the asterisk meaning on the NES manuals.  Good to know.

Edited April 27, 2022 by dogbowl

[Alder | 243]

Looks like you might be able to pin down the exact date, 12/12/1989:

https://trademarks.justia.com/737/95/official-nintendo-73795456.html