Does anyone remember if Zelda Four Swords Adventures was originally released without the big box cable bundle?

[rondy | 16]

I'm wondering if anyone here remembers, for sure, if you could buy Zelda Four Swords Adventures for the GameCube without the big box (cable bundle) back when it was originally released (non-players choice). Thanks!

 

[joshdose | 56]

Good question. I believe the cable bundle was a somewhat limited release, where the standalone game could still be purchased without the bundle. I’m not 100% certain, but I’m fairly sure.

[Tanooki | 5,189]

Pretty positive when it first came out it was big box with cable only.  It was their way of handing the thing out, much like the expansion memory with DK64 on N64, or the Starfox 64 rumble pak box that was the first release.  Dk though always needed it so it stayed in the box, but like starfox 64 it wasn't required to rumble as it isn't required to link up on zelda.

[AlternatorDelux | 68]

Agreed that it was big box only unless it's Player's Choice.  If you find a version of the small box that doesn't say Not for Resale on the back, I would change my answer.

[bowser | 600]

53 minutes ago, AlternatorDelux said:

Agreed that it was big box only unless it's Player's Choice.  If you find a version of the small box that doesn't say Not for Resale on the back, I would change my answer.

I see a bunch of black box games on eBay that don't have NFR on the back. My black box copy doesn't have it either.

[joshdose | 56]

There was never a “Not For Resale” case for this game. You won’t find one.

[twiztor | 930]

i definitely bought it week 1(? maybe? first month for sure) and don't recall a non-big box version offered. 

that is by no means definitive, but i don't remember seeing the non-box versions popping up until later.

[AlternatorDelux | 68]

22 hours ago, joshdose said:

There was never a “Not For Resale” case for this game. You won’t find one.

On second look, that's true.  I mixed this game up with DDR: Mario Mix, which has a similar situation.  I wonder why one game got that label and the other didn't?

[AlternatorDelux | 68]

Here's some more details in case they're useful.

From firsthand experience buying the game near launch, I'm certain at that time there was only a big box version, and it was priced at $50.  All GameCube Player's Choice releases were priced at either $20 or $30.  It seems pretty unlikely to me there would be an intermediate small box release in between those dates and prices, but I can't rule it out.

While the big and small boxes have different SKUs, I can directly confirm that the SKU of the small box does not match that of the big box it was inside of, so that doesn't indicate there was a seperate release either.

[rondy | 16]

On 11/16/2020 at 6:02 AM, Tanooki said:

Pretty positive when it first came out it was big box with cable only.  It was their way of handing the thing out, much like the expansion memory with DK64 on N64, or the Starfox 64 rumble pak box that was the first release.  Dk though always needed it so it stayed in the box, but like starfox 64 it wasn't required to rumble as it isn't required to link up on zelda.

 

14 hours ago, twiztor said:

i definitely bought it week 1(? maybe? first month for sure) and don't recall a non-big box version offered. 

that is by no means definitive, but i don't remember seeing the non-box versions popping up until later.

 

2 hours ago, AlternatorDelux said:

Here's some more details in case they're useful.

From firsthand experience buying the game near launch, I'm certain at that time there was only a big box version, and it was priced at $50.  All GameCube Player's Choice releases were priced at either $20 or $30.  It seems pretty unlikely to me there would be an intermediate small box release in between those dates and prices, but I can't rule it out.

While the big and small boxes have different SKUs, I can directly confirm that the SKU of the small box does not match that of the big box it was inside of, so that doesn't indicate there was a seperate release either.

 

Thanks for the replies! Good to know that this was offered bundled-only when it first came out. Although what I'm really wondering is, if later this was available without the big box AND before the player's choice release.

[AlternatorDelux | 68]

I just did a more thorough search through archived sites during the time frame when a no-cable release before Player's Choice could have existed.  I came up completely empty, with no sign of any retailers offering it or any news/forum posts mentioning it, nor could I find mention of there being a price drop that might hint at this option being introduced.  (This is one of the methods I used to help build my NOA list; it's the type of item I would need to add if I discovered it.)  Short of a print retailer advertisement popping up, I'm ready to conclude now that this is not a release that happened.

[rondy | 16]

53 minutes ago, AlternatorDelux said:

I just did a more thorough search through archived sites during the time frame when a no-cable release before Player's Choice could have existed.  I came up completely empty, with no sign of any retailers offering it or any news/forum posts mentioning it, nor could I find mention of there being a price drop that might hint at this option being introduced.  (This is one of the methods I used to help build my NOA list; it's the type of item I would need to add if I discovered it.)  Short of a print retailer advertisement popping up, I'm ready to conclude now that this is not a release that happened.

Thank you! And that's an awesome list btw, thanks for sharing!