RH | 4,984 Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 Recently I stumbled upon some information regarding the MEGA Nintendo Power giveaway of Dragon Warrior back in 1990. I had been curious about some of the details, and I found this image from a twitter post: Notice that Ms. Nancy Witty on the bottom-right is wearing a shirt that says "I survived the 100 Dragon Warrior Mailing 9 MILLION PIECES". The article also mentions that they had to move 70,000 pieces per day and considering that this wasn't a manufacturing company, I imagine practically every single employee at NOA probably had a hand (literally) in packaging and labeling copies of Dragon Warrior. Anyway, I was curious if anyone of you have managed to get one of these t-shirts. I'm also generally curious about the price. I'm not to into apparel, but this is actually a cool and unique item I might consider looking for it it's not too outrageous. Regardless, if you have one of these shirts, I'd be interested in seeing a photo or two (photo of the front, back, and the inside label(s)) just for reference. I tried to google this shirt and I couldn't find any images, other than this clipping from the Nintendo internal newsletter. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jfreakofkorn | 282 Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 Love seeing research and vintage foto(s) of back in the day . Different times for sure . As for the ad , this is a first for me and hope someone can chime in with additional knowledge base or info . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doner24 | 1,197 Moderator · Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 Nope but I would love that envelope in front of her! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RH | 4,984 Posted June 18, 2020 Author Share Posted June 18, 2020 34 minutes ago, doner24 said: Nope but I would love that envelope in front of her! Yeah, I noticed that too. Semi-related to the comment, since the mailed out 9 million copies of DW, was that the only way to get a copy of Dragon Warrior, or did it make it to stores after that push as well? I can't imagine there being more than 9.000,000 copies of any NES game out there, other than Super Mario Bros/Duck Hunt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noiseredux | 232 Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 that's a good question. Anecdotal of course, but my copy of DW came from this promotion, and so did anybody's copy that I knew at the time. So not sure. I have nothing of value to add to this thread, but this is a great find, and I'll be watching and hoping that somebody knows more about the shirts. I love stuff like this. I actually perused the 1997 NP Power Supply Catalog last night, and was wishing that some of that stuff was still available at 1997 prices. The magazine holders for example, or the cheap strategy guides. Though I am suspect that anybody in 97 really did carry their Game Boy around in a NP branded FANNY PACK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bearcat-Doug | 5,105 Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 I still remember getting mine in the mail. I don't remember them announcing it ahead of time and getting a free game in the mail back then was as good as Christmas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaC | 104 Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 1 minute ago, Bearcat-Doug said: I still remember getting mine in the mail. I don't remember them announcing it ahead of time and getting a free game in the mail back then was as good as Christmas. Me too. I already had it though, but nothing beats free at that time. Threw the game in a box and strangely I never opened it. I still have it sealed. Oddly it doesn't have a normal seal. Everyone keeps telling me its a reseal, but I got mine in the mail direct from Nintendo... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bearcat-Doug | 5,105 Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 Just now, LaC said: Me too. I already had it though, but nothing beats free at that time. Threw the game in a box and strangely I never opened it. I still have it sealed. Oddly it doesn't have a normal seal. Everyone keeps telling me its a reseal, but I got mine in the mail direct from Nintendo... I don't really care for RPGs, but I finished it like most games I had as a kid. Outside of DW and Final Fantasy, I don't think I finished any other NES RPGs, but those were two good ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RH | 4,984 Posted June 18, 2020 Author Share Posted June 18, 2020 13 minutes ago, Bearcat-Doug said: I still remember getting mine in the mail. I don't remember them announcing it ahead of time and getting a free game in the mail back then was as good as Christmas. I'll just say if NP was still around and as a 38 yo man, if they sent me DQ XI for free, it would STILL feel like Christmas, and I already own the game. That's just such a generous give away and actually makes it feel like the company cares about the customers experience. Who wouldn't want a free, "decent" game?! And you know what, even it it were something like NBA2k18, I'd still say "Well that's generous" and be quite thankful, even if I'd have no desire to play the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RH | 4,984 Posted June 18, 2020 Author Share Posted June 18, 2020 10 minutes ago, LaC said: Me too. I already had it though, but nothing beats free at that time. Threw the game in a box and strangely I never opened it. I still have it sealed. Oddly it doesn't have a normal seal. Everyone keeps telling me its a reseal, but I got mine in the mail direct from Nintendo... So, how did you get your original copy of DQ? Did you buy it in the stores? If that's the case, then they may moved 9m copies through Nintendo Power, and who knows how many through traditional retailers. Good grief, that's a lot of copies of a given game. Granted, any used game store has at least 5 of these on their shelves, but that still more than I'd assume. They may have printed and sold/shipped 10 million of these things! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bearcat-Doug | 5,105 Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 1 minute ago, RH said: I'll just say if NP was still around and as a 38 yo man, if they sent me DQ XI for free, it would STILL feel like Christmas, and I already own the game. That's just such a generous give away and actually makes it feel like the company cares about the customers experience. Who wouldn't want a free, "decent" game?! And you know what, even it it were something like NBA2k18, I'd still say "Well that's generous" and be quite thankful, even if I'd have no desire to play the game. I only got games for major holidays as a kid so getting a free one out of nowhere was a big deal. Despite my general dislike for RPGs, I somehow received the other three Dragon Warrior games as Christmas/Birthday gifts after that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RH | 4,984 Posted June 18, 2020 Author Share Posted June 18, 2020 1 minute ago, Bearcat-Doug said: I only got games for major holidays as a kid so getting a free one out of nowhere was a big deal. Despite my general dislike for RPGs, I somehow received the other three Dragon Warrior games as Christmas/Birthday gifts after that. I'm not discrediting what you're saying and, yes, it's true that as a kid it would be even MORE exciting. I was in the same boat. I only got new games at birthdays or Christmas. Sometimes, I'd have to save up the cash from those times, for a year or two, to make big personal purchase (like my Game Gear that I eventually got.) But, my point was that that type of generosity is very atypical. I'm sure that across the history of giveaways and promotional items, something this generous has been done before, but to actually ship out that many packaged, fully functional NES games in box was amazing. As a kid, I would have just loved to have received a free game. As an adult, I'd just be thrilled and shocked at the level of cost for considerate, customer service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bearcat-Doug | 5,105 Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 1 minute ago, RH said: I'm not discrediting what you're saying and, yes, it's true that as a kid it would be even MORE exciting. I was in the same boat. I only got new games at birthdays or Christmas. Sometimes, I'd have to save up the cash from those times, for a year or two, to make big personal purchase (like my Game Gear that I eventually got.) But, my point was that that type of generosity is very atypical. I'm sure that across the history of giveaways and promotional items, something this generous has been done before, but to actually ship out that many packaged, fully functional NES games in box was amazing. As a kid, I would have just loved to have received a free game. As an adult, I'd just be thrilled and shocked at the level of cost for considerate, customer service. Yeah, that's why I said it was a big deal on the level of Christmas. As an adult pushing 40, I don't even consider the possibility of getting something like that in the mail out of nowhere. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaC | 104 Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 23 minutes ago, RH said: So, how did you get your original copy of DQ? Did you buy it in the stores? Ha I couldn't afford games! I got it from a friend or cousin I think along with a bunch of other games. They were definitely in stores. I assume the giveaway was because they produced too many (due to popularity in Japan). But I don't know if that's true or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noiseredux | 232 Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 I feel like I had heard something along those lines - that they produced too many. But not sure of the source. According to Wiki, DQ sold like 1-2M copies in Japan, so producing 9M (or more?) would have REALLY be overestimating demand, though. I'd be really interested in a factual deep-dive on DW's arrival in the US and what led to this promotion. Heck, the promotion itself is probably the foundation for why many of us are fans of JRPG's all these years later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RH | 4,984 Posted June 18, 2020 Author Share Posted June 18, 2020 1 minute ago, noiseredux said: I feel like I had heard something along those lines - that they produced too many. But not sure of the source. According to Wiki, DQ sold like 1-2M copies in Japan, so producing 9M (or more?) would have REALLY be overestimating demand, though. I'd be really interested in a factual deep-dive on DW's arrival in the US and what led to this promotion. Heck, the promotion itself is probably the foundation for why many of us are fans of JRPG's all these years later. Yeah, this would be a great story for The Gaming Historian. How and why it happened, legit numbers, etc. Even just a simple "The History of Dragon Quest" would cover all of those basis. If I had to guess, in the US they probably produced maybe 1-2m copies but when they made the promo for a free game, they were flooded with new NP subscriptions because the cost of a one year subscription was probably cheaper that the cost of the game at retail. In fact, it was probably as much as 50% cheaper AND you got the magazine which I'm sure those same parent's children had been begging them for, for ages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noiseredux | 232 Posted June 18, 2020 Share Posted June 18, 2020 Yep, that's exactly how I started subscribing as a kid. Showed my mom the promo and logic was that the game would cost way more than the subscription. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blitus | 24 Posted June 19, 2020 Share Posted June 19, 2020 I remember being pissed off because I had just renewed my subscription before this promotion and missed out. And then I had to listen to my friend go on and on about how great of a deal it was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanooki | 4,953 Posted June 19, 2020 Share Posted June 19, 2020 1 hour ago, Blitus said: I remember being pissed off because I had just renewed my subscription before this promotion and missed out. And then I had to listen to my friend go on and on about how great of a deal it was. Same here I was pissed and they won't correct it, missed it by a wee or two tops. I only got the game in the 90s off a friend by taking a bet and winning it, shortly after called Nintendo and back then they sold replacement docs dirt cheap like a dollar or two for a manual/map set and flat shipping on paper was like $2-3 too so I did a whole stack of replacement manuals. I ended up getting the DW1 manual but also the bonus package which had the other cardboard cards with info on them, maps etc in a little packet. I wish I had that stuff still as I'm sure if I wanted it, it's there with someone wanting a heap for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hammerfestus | 3,892 Posted June 19, 2020 Share Posted June 19, 2020 I never had the Nintendo power. My parents bought my copy. I did have a subscription to a sweet dinosaurs magazine though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RH | 4,984 Posted June 19, 2020 Author Share Posted June 19, 2020 10 hours ago, Hammerfestus said: I never had the Nintendo power. My parents bought my copy. I did have a subscription to a sweet dinosaurs magazine though. Yeah, the only kid subscription magazine I ever got was a year of Alf magazine which, coincidentally, my 6 year old son was asking about my old comic books box a couple days ago and we ended up reading through all of those old Alf magazines together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DefaultGen | 5,439 Posted June 19, 2020 Share Posted June 19, 2020 @Archon 1981 if you don't already have this shirt why are you not working on this harder? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RH | 4,984 Posted June 19, 2020 Author Share Posted June 19, 2020 30 minutes ago, DefaultGen said: @Archon 1981 if you don't already have this shirt why are you not working on this harder? I know Archon has a killer NOA/Nintendo Power collection (I saw the video) but I didn't even think to ask him. He's in Seattle/Redmond, correct? Hopefully he has one, or has some contacts and is willing to get some updated photos and the pictures of the tags so we can verify these if one ever happens to show up for sale, or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DefaultGen | 5,439 Posted June 19, 2020 Share Posted June 19, 2020 (edited) 3 hours ago, RH said: I know Archon has a killer NOA/Nintendo Power collection (I saw the video) but I didn't even think to ask him. He's in Seattle/Redmond, correct? Hopefully he has one, or has some contacts and is willing to get some updated photos and the pictures of the tags so we can verify these if one ever happens to show up for sale, or something. He's in Simi Valley, CA (as evidenced by numerous articles calling him simply "Simi Valley Man"). I know he has the I Survived Dragon Warrior pins that were given to gameplay counselors and loves them, and he loves vintage game clothes and internal stuff, so he'd kill for one of these. Edited June 19, 2020 by DefaultGen 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art of Nintendo Power | 353 Posted June 23, 2020 Share Posted June 23, 2020 On 6/19/2020 at 7:35 AM, RH said: I know Archon has a killer NOA/Nintendo Power collection (I saw the video) but I didn't even think to ask him. He's in Seattle/Redmond, correct? Hopefully he has one, or has some contacts and is willing to get some updated photos and the pictures of the tags so we can verify these if one ever happens to show up for sale, or something. Working on a shirt. Dont have one in hand yet. I do, as Tyler mentioned, have the button and the original art for the button. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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