List of All North American Zelda Game Variants

[0xDEAFC0DE | 1,277]

3 minutes ago, DoctorEncore said:

@rondy @0xDEAFC0DE

Is this what you guys are talking about?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/313021591488

Almost. One like that but has "Game Pak ( NES-GP )" at the bottom right of the back of the box. Or like the one below without the tab code.

[Caliboy24 | 47]

Hey guys.  Need your help.  Is this considered to be a first edition because of the "TM" on the front cover of the manual or does one need to also look at the inside first page to find out?  Thanks!

[0xDEAFC0DE | 1,277]

On 4/6/2020 at 11:52 AM, Caliboy24 said:

Hey guys.  Need your help.  Is this considered to be a first edition because of the "TM" on the front cover of the manual or does one need to also look at the inside first page to find out?  Thanks!

No, you would need to at least see page number 2 to be sure. The TM next to the Zelda was changed much later than the TM next to the "Nintendo Entertainment System" that identifies the first edition box and first edition cart. The text at the top of page 2 should read "Thank you for selecting the Nintendo® Enterainment System™ ...".

I haven't gotten around to updating this thread in a little while (hopefully I'll stop procrastinating sometime this week), but recently @rondy discovered that there are actually two variants of the manual with NES™ on page 2 that go with the first edition box and first edition cart. These can be differentiated by looking at page 11, where the second paragraph reads "When you load the ______...". In the first variant the blank is "cassette", and in the second variant the blank is "Game Pak". It's up to you whether you care about this minor of a difference, but either of these two variants will correctly match a NES™ cart and box.

Here's some pictures of the two manuals. Picture credit goes to rondy.

Edited May 4, 2021 by 0xDEAFC0DE
Fixing images

[Caliboy24 | 47]

Thanks @0xDEAFC0DE for the description and pictures.  There is so much going on and what to look for that it makes it difficult to know for sure which edition one has.  Even if say someone knows almost everything about all NES CIB editions, it would be difficult to remember all the guidelines when it comes to buying pieces. Maybe he/she would forget to check that one part of the manual and then realize later on that it is not what they intended to purchase after looking over it again.  This is the fear of a collector where they have to be detailed oriented and double check everything well.  

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

3 hours ago, 0xDEAFC0DE said:

No, you would need to at least see page number 2 to be sure. The TM next to the Zelda was changed much later than the TM next to the "Nintendo Entertainment System" that identifies the first edition box and first edition cart. The text at the top of page 2 should read "Thank you for selecting the Nintendo® Enterainment System™ ...".

I haven't gotten around to updating this thread in a little while (hopefully I'll stop procrastinating sometime this week), but recently @rondy discovered that there are actually two variants of the manual with NES™ on page 2 that go with the first edition box and first edition cart. These can be differentiated by looking at page 11, where the second paragraph reads "When you load the ______...". In the first variant the blank is "cassette", and in the second variant the blank is "Game Pak". It's up to you whether you care about this minor of a difference, but either of these two variants will correctly match a NES™ cart and box.

Here's some pictures of the two manuals. Picture credit goes to rondy.

Thanks for sharing this. I was able to confirm I have a true first print thanks to this post. You and @rondy rule.

[0xDEAFC0DE | 1,277]

Ok, I finally got around to updating this thread. I actually didn't have a whole lot of changes though.

I've already mentioned the next manual variant rondy found above. Additionally, rondy and I decided to stop counting the carts with different saturation of the gold plastic as different variants. That difference doesn't have a consistent change over with other changes that were made.

Similarly, I'm also no longer tracking box revisions on pack-ins that are the normal console box with a Zelda sticker. According to the post linked below, the stickers were sent to put on existing boxes, so they are "not really variations produced in the factory." I was doing some more research into the Gamecube pack-ins and those were turning into even more of a mess. I even saw an ebay listing that had a US sticker on a Canadian box. I'll still keep track of them separately for fun, but I wouldn't be putting them on the master list.

The main change to the list is I've found out a bit more about Link's Awakening (original) variants. @rondy gave me some pictures of several things I was missing (including some date codes) so that's helped out a lot in addition to some more ebay pictures. First, here's a comparison of the Glossy versus Matte box courtesy of rondy.

For box variants we have the glossy and matte variants pictured above, and the Player's choice box (theoretically, there might be one more but I'll get back to that later).

For cart variants, there is -0 w/ 1.0 ROM, -0 w/ 1.1 ROM, -0 w/ 1.2 ROM, -1 (Player's choice, K-A), -2 (E Rating), and -3 (Player's choice, E Rating)

For manual variants, there is the -0, -1, -2, -3, and -4 (which only came with the Ice Blue pocket bundle).

Now for the longest time, I've never been able to figure out which combinations these came in but with the help of some date codes and guessing, I think I have a good idea. Here's the date codes I have pictures of.

Box	1st Date code	Last Date code	Date range
-0 (not sure if glossy or matte)	30607	30607	6/7/93
-1 (Player's Choice)	961209	980728	12/9/96 - 7/28/98
Cart
-0, 1.0 ROM	9324	9328	6/6/93 - 7/10/93
-0, 1.1 ROM	?	?	?
-0, 1.2 ROM	?	?	?
-1, 1.2 ROM (PC, K-A)	9651	9831	12/15/96 - 8/1/98
-2, 1.2 ROM (E)	9834	9834	8/16/98 - 8/22/98
-3, 1.2 ROM (PC, E)	?	?	?
Manual
-0	No code	No code	?
-1	970730	970730	7/30/97
-2	980302	980302	3/2/98
-3	980724	980820	8/20/98
-4 (only with Ice Blue pocket)	?	?	?

From this, we know know that all the pre-Player's choice games had the -0 manual, one of the -0 carts, and the glossy or matte -0 box. I have no clue when the glossy/matte change happened but for now I'm putting it along with the 1.0 to 1.1 ROM switch.

I've seen the Player's choice box come with the -0 to -3 manuals which seems to agree with the date codes. Since we have a date code of a -1 cart for after the -3 manual, I would think that that cart came with all four manuals.

This leaves us with the curious case of the rare -2 and -3 carts. The -2 cart is especially weird because it comes after the -1 but get's rid of the Player's choice symbol. But, after some more research, I'm pretty sure this revision (along with the -4 manual) only came with the Target ice blue Game Boy Pocket bundle. I happened to find an ebay listing that showed a board picture of a -2 cart that places it mid August. I went to look when the ice blue Game Boy Pocket bundle came out but could not find a definitive date. The ice blue game boy pocket was first released in February 1998 (according to Nintendo Power), so I imagine the bundle was release some time between then and the launch of the Game Boy Color in November. This about lines up with the August date code. There are some listings that occasionally pop up for cart only, but I figure these originally came from the bundle but have since been separated. 

Now we are down to the -3 cart. I've personally not seen this ever come up on ebay (although I've not been looking for super long), but a couple of people here have them. Recently(ish), bluebomber picked one up CIB (see post linked below). It had the -3 manual and the -1 box. These seem fairly reasonable. Especially since the date code on the manual was for 8/20/98 which is around the -2 cart date code. (@bluebomber if you happen to be reading this and can check/take a picture of the date code on the right box flap and the codes on the cart's chips that would be awesome).

It's still possible that there might be a -2 box that has an E rating. I believe @RH has one for SML (which is also very hard to find). But until here's a table with what I believe is all the CIB combinations.

C	I	B
-0, 1.0 ROM	-0	-0 Glossy
-0, 1.1 ROM	-0	-0 Matte
-0, 1.2 ROM	-0	-0 Matte
-1	-0	-1
-1	-1	-1
-1	-2	-1
-1	-3	-1
-2	-4	Pocket bundle
-3	-3	-1

Edited April 20, 2020 by 0xDEAFC0DE

[0xDEAFC0DE | 1,277]

I also bought a couple Zelda 2s that lead to some interesting discoveries (but no new revisions). 

The first I bought had the first Oval TM seal box and cart. When it arrived, I opened up the manual and found that it had a circle seal. Normally, I would think this was an improperly married manual, but in this case I'm not too sure. Flipping to the back of the manual I see the date code 90221 (2/21/1989) and opening the cart I see the latest date code 8911 (3/12/1989). These are actually pretty close. Furthermore, I also have seen a Circle seal cart that also has the latest date code 8911. So, in this case I really do think that the Circle seal manual was originally packaged with a Oval seal cart and box.

More recently, I got another Zelda 2 with a 5 digit zip, Oval TM seal manual. I already had one of these, but I noticed that they had different date codes. After going through both manuals twice I did not see any other differences though. I have seen several Game Boy manuals with no change but the date code, but I had yet to see that with NES manuals. Stranger still, the date code for the new Oval seal manual is 90216 (2/16/1989) which is a couple days earlier than the circle seal manual pictured above. I have no clue how this came to be, but it improves the likelihood of Circle seal manual going with the Oval cart.

[RH | 4,903]

6 hours ago, 0xDEAFC0DE said:

It's still possible that there might be a -2 box that has an E rating. I believe @RH has one for SML (which is also very hard to find). But until here's a table with what I believe is all the CIB combinations.

It's actually SML2.  I'm positive there is an SML Rated-E box, and probably a Dr. Mario Rated E box, even though we've found that the Doctor Mario title was also packed in with a Game Boy Pocket.

It's my gut-assumption that as a final "farewell" to the OG Game Boy, Nintendo briefly re-released some of their A+ titles.  This meant SML, SML2, maybe Dr. Mario, possibly that Rated E Link's Awakening, and maybe another title or two were re-released with update solid-black Rated-E logos on all print material, and possibly updated legal text that could have changed in 10 years.  Some of those titles would have sold better than others and I guess SML probably sold the least because it wasn't as good as SML2. It was also easier to find used, so that would have accounted for fewer sales as well for the SML2. For Zelda, this could mean that of those games, I could have seen it being the best seller in the re-release list, but people would have actually wanted to have bought and played them. 

I keep my eye on eBay for CIB Link's Awakenings and new one's don't show up as often as you'd think.  They sort of trickle in.  Finding a boxed Rated-E might be very hard.  Spot checking numbers, I've found that the Rev-2 that was also packed in with the GBP from Target shows up in about 1 in every 100 eBay listings, but this isn't THAT hard to find because Link's Awakening is often listed 200-300 times on any given day.  However that random Rated E, Player's Choice is much less common and is still quite the mystery.  That's why I assume it was part of a farewell limited run put out by Nintendo, possibly around 1997-98. 

If my theory is correct, it also made me wonder if there is an even rarer Rated E Tetris out there, which I think would be practically non-existent today.  If Nintendo did make a short run of OG Game Boy games, I think Tetris would have sold even fewer titles than any other since it was so prolific.  By 1998, every used game shop would have had at least 10 copies for sale for $1, so why buy a new copy for $20 unless you just wanted to collect the thing?

But, I digress.  I've thrown this out there before, but I've not had anyone bite.  If anyone has a bunch of old video game magazines (whether NP or other cross-platform mags) Skim through them from 1996-1998 and see if you can find a blurb or article announcing a limited re-release.  I don't have any old magazines from that era, and I don't know how to search them, but if Nintendo did have a limited release, I could see it being advertised the month before release, probably just once, and then that was it.  People got what they got from one production run and that was it.

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

6 hours ago, 0xDEAFC0DE said:

I also bought a couple Zelda 2s that lead to some interesting discoveries (but no new revisions). 

The first I bought had the first Oval TM seal box and cart. When it arrived, I opened up the manual and found that it had a circle seal. Normally, I would think this was an improperly married manual, but in this case I'm not too sure. Flipping to the back of the manual I see the date code 90221 (2/21/1989) and opening the cart I see the latest date code 8911 (3/12/1989). These are actually pretty close. Furthermore, I also have seen a Circle seal cart that also has the latest date code 8911. So, in this case I really do think that the Circle seal manual was originally packaged with a Oval seal cart and box.

 

More recently, I got another Zelda 2 with a 5 digit zip, Oval TM seal manual. I already had one of these, but I noticed that they had different date codes. After going through both manuals twice I did not see any other differences though. I have seen several Game Boy manuals with no change but the date code, but I had yet to see that with NES manuals. Stranger still, the date code for the new Oval seal manual is 90216 (2/16/1989) which is a couple days earlier than the circle seal manual pictured above. I have no clue how this came to be, but it improves the likelihood of Circle seal manual going with the Oval cart.

Regarding mismatched oval seal and circle seal parts, I've seen this on many other NES games as well. It seems like getting rid of available stock took priority over having matched parts.

Interestingly, I've also seen a situation where a circle seal box was reprinted well after the oval seal was in place. All parts in the box had the oval seal. I'll update when I remember which game it was.

UPDATE: Scratch that. I was thinking of Milon's Secret Castle. The box is from Jan 89, so it just barely falls in the circle seal window (assuming the switch was completed in Mar 89). The contents, however were all oval seal suggesting there was a gradual switch to the new seal.

Edited April 20, 2020 by DoctorEncore

[0xDEAFC0DE | 1,277]

23 minutes ago, RH said:

But, I digress.  I've thrown this out there before, but I've not had anyone bite.  If anyone has a bunch of old video game magazines (whether NP or other cross-platform mags) Skim through them from 1996-1998 and see if you can find a blurb or article announcing a limited re-release.  I don't have any old magazines from that era, and I don't know how to search them, but if Nintendo did have a limited release, I could see it being advertised the month before release, probably just once, and then that was it.  People got what they got from one production run and that was it.

I already actually went through scans of NP from 1998 looking for game boy pocket info. I didn't notice anything about re-releases but I also wasn't looking for it. I'll check again tonight. 

Another thing is Link's Awakening and Tetris both had Dx releases soon after the GBC came out. Maybe this is why there are no rated E boxes for either of the two games while at least SML2 did. 

[0xDEAFC0DE | 1,277]

So, it didn't take long, but a "-3" Link's Awakening cart popped up on ebay. Unfortunately it was cart only, but at least we'll get a date code out of it. So, here's a picture of the front and board.

Latest date code is 9834 which is the same as one of the "-2" boards I've found pictures of (the other was a 9833).

[ALLKAPS | 27]

Not really a retail release, but here's a Gamecube "Coming Soon/Preorder" case you see in game stores prior to games being released. It's unusual, as it must have been made right after the  game was announced but before they had landed on the final name of the game. 

[0xDEAFC0DE | 1,277]

Ooo, that's very cool. It doesn't count for the list of course since it doesn't contain a game, but very cool nonetheless. Thanks for sharing. 

[ZeldaFreak | 3,600]

I didn't know this thread existed until now, but I'm very glad I discovered it just now.

[DeuceGamer | 35]

For disc based games, were all first prints from Japan w/ the 00000 code, or was the USA prints w/ 00100 also released alongside the Japan releases? Is there anyway to know or do we assume that all Made In USA’s were second prints?

[ngh81 | 1]

Amazing thread and info!

I never realized there were so many LoZ NES variants... wow.

[0xDEAFC0DE | 1,277]

On 8/12/2020 at 6:06 PM, DeuceGamer said:

For disc based games, were all first prints from Japan w/ the 00000 code, or was the USA prints w/ 00100 also released alongside the Japan releases? Is there anyway to know or do we assume that all Made In USA’s were second prints?

I'm not entirely sure since I don't really care that much about which is the first print. But if you look at the box codes (e.g. 50516 for USA print of wind waker) you'll notice that they are generally in chronological order. So, I imagine the lower number denotes the first print. For example, WW HD has 81115 for the USA print and 101975 for the Japanese print.

However, I wouldn't but all my trust in those numbers. Looking at the original wind waker, the USA print is 50516 and the Japanese print is 50517. I would guess these two prints were printed at the same time in time for launch. But I'm not sure. 

[DeuceGamer | 35]

19 hours ago, 0xDEAFC0DE said:

I'm not entirely sure since I don't really care that much about which is the first print. But if you look at the box codes (e.g. 50516 for USA print of wind waker) you'll notice that they are generally in chronological order. So, I imagine the lower number denotes the first print. For example, WW HD has 81115 for the USA print and 101975 for the Japanese print.

However, I wouldn't but all my trust in those numbers. Looking at the original wind waker, the USA print is 50516 and the Japanese print is 50517. I would guess these two prints were printed at the same time in time for launch. But I'm not sure. 

Hmmmm.... interesting. I also noticed some games I checked don’t seem to have both Japan and US releases.

[0xDEAFC0DE | 1,277]

48 minutes ago, DeuceGamer said:

Hmmmm.... interesting. I also noticed some games I checked don’t seem to have both Japan and US releases.

Yes, that is fairly common

[rondy | 14]

I've been collecting all the original Link's Awakening releases for about 10 years now and always wondered where the player's choice 'E' rated cart came from and I finally got closure! 

@0xDEAFC0DE @RH I bought one CIB recently and the seller said he was the original owner. Just like @bluebomber's copy, mine also came with a -1 box and -3 manual. For a long time I thought this might have been bundled with the Ice Blue game boy pocket, but never saw them together. I also happened to pick up another one with a -3 manual, but -1 cart about a year ago.

After this find, it is obvious that the -2 manual came with a -1 box, we just need to figure out the date on the box. I do have the -2 manual with date 980302, unfortunately I didn't get it CIB, but will keep looking!

My -3 manual that came with the -1 cart has a date of 980724 and the -1 box has a date of 980728. Unfortunately, I didn't open the cart and I don't have it with me, I can probably check this sometime in May haha.

My -3 manual that came with the -3 cart has a date of 980820 and the -1 box has a date of 980819. Cart says 9818B, is that the 18th week of 1998 or what? EDIT: Looks like battery has a date "98 06".

I'm pretty sure the -2 cart only came bundled with the Ice Blue GBP and I don't really think an 'E' rated "-2" box exist, but let me know if you see it pop up.

Pics of the 'E' rated -3 cart CIB:

 

Pics of the -1 cart with -3 manual CIB:

Box dated 980728

Edited December 29, 2020 by rondy

[rondy | 14]

And to my amusement, this rare variant also popped up during the same week. You were right after all haha @0xDEAFC0DE I have updated my list and I think I finally got them all! So it takes 15 CIBs to have all the Zelda NES variants and 7 CIBs to have all Zelda II NES variants. Could we be missing any? I'll post a pic of all variants together in a few months. I'm actually missing the cart for this baby, but I do have a matching manual. I'm also missing one baggie, I got 19 circle cut baggies , but need 20.

[rondy | 14]

While I'm in the mood, here are some photos of the Link's Awakening DX CIB that came with the -1 manual. Date on manual and box match exactly 991028. Battery in cart says 99 09.

 

Btw, now that NES is done, I'll probably work on my lists for SNES, N64, GB, GBC, GBA. This year I decided I'm no longer collecting disc based variants as I got overwhelmed and cardboard is more exciting to me anyway . @0xDEAFC0DE, you got them all on your list, except this one I think you're missing for OOT. It came with v1.1 (cart 'A' stamped back), it is different from the "gray cart version" box. It has an 'F' on one of the tabs, who knows what it means.

[0xDEAFC0DE | 1,277]

5 minutes ago, rondy said:

And to my amusement, this rare variant also popped up during the same week. You were right after all haha @0xDEAFC0DE I have updated my list and I think I finally got them all! So it takes 15 CIBs to have all the Zelda NES variants and 7 CIBs to have all Zelda II NES variants. Could we be missing any? I'll post a pic of all variants together in a few months. I'm actually missing the cart for this baby, but I do have a matching manual. I'm also missing one baggie, I got 19 circle cut baggies , but need 20.

OMG! I lost faith that that box was real. I was convinced that I just wasn't getting a clear view of the tabs on the couple I thought I had seen previously. 

Looking over your list, I do have a couple small differences. For the Zelda 1 number 6 (with the No code, MiJ, Rev-A black text back cart), I had the manual listed as having the precaution bullets. I think this was a total guess on my part though since I'm pretty sure the only CIB I have with that cart was frankensteined before I bought it. I also have an extra variant for the oval SOQ R CIB but with an oval TM manual. I had this in my notes that you had seen a couple of these. Is that true or do you think those might have been frankensteined? Finally, for Zelda II you have the Oval SOQ R manual (no star) as coming with the Oval SOQ TM box. I don't own that manual, so is that the box you've seen it come in?

[Tyree_Cooper | 755]

SNES	Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past [-0 Manual, USA-1 cart back label]
SNES	Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past [-0 Manual, USA/CAN cart back label]
SNES	Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past [-1 Manual]
SNES	Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past [-2 Manual]

So there's no box variant, only manual and cart ? What cart goes with manual -1 and -2 ?

 

 

[0xDEAFC0DE | 1,277]

11 minutes ago, rondy said:

While I'm in the mood, here are some photos of the Link's Awakening DX CIB that came with the -1 manual. Date on manual and box match exactly 991028. Battery in cart says 99 09.

 

Btw, now that NES is done, I'll probably work on my lists for SNES, N64, GB, GBC, GBA. This year I decided I'm no longer collecting disc based variants as I got overwhelmed and cardboard is more exciting to me anyway . @0xDEAFC0DE, you got them all on your list, except this one I think you're missing for OOT. It came with v1.1 (cart 'A' stamped back), it is different from the "gray cart version" box. It has an 'F' on one of the tabs, who knows what it means.

My LA DX CIB with the -1 manual also has the date codes of 991028 on both the box and manual. 

I haven't gotten super into double checking the N64 variants so it's not too surprising that I missed at least one.