Anyone ever iron back art for Sega CD games (or whatever long box equivalent)?

[8bitsupremacy | 208]

I have three games in my Sega CD collection with wavy back art.  Huge pet peeve of mine and normally I don't ever buy games that look like this but since I got these all in a trade I'm thinking of putting in the work and ironing them out flat again.  The two common ones are Silpheed and Sonic CD, so I could just acquire nicer copies and move on really, but Robo Aleste is the bigger dog and with today's prices I can't just go grab another...anyone have success ironing that back art paper out?  I see a few different tactics on youtube for general art/paper restoration but just seeing if any video game nerds in here have a tried and true method....thanks.

[drxandy | 3,236]

At least you get to test your methods on the common games before jumping to the big one.

I have done it with a manual, used a pillow case between the paper and iron then used a piece of glass on top for a few days after to keep it flat. The printed part wanted to stick to the glass a little so don't put it in too hot.. humidity maybe?

[8bitsupremacy | 208]

29 minutes ago, drxandy said:

At least you get to test your methods on the common games before jumping to the big one.

I have done it with a manual, used a pillow case between the paper and iron then used a piece of glass on top for a few days after to keep it flat. The printed part wanted to stick to the glass a little so don't put it in too hot.. humidity maybe?

Yeah Silpheed will be the first test subject for sure haha.  Thanks for the advice.

[phart010 | 1,708]

If you don’t know what your doing maybe bring it to a comic shop and ask if they’d press it for you. Better to enlist a pro

[RegularGuyGamer | 2,018]

39 minutes ago, phart010 said:

If you don’t know what your doing maybe bring it to a comic shop and ask if they’d press it for you. Better to enlist a pro

This is actually a really good idea. 

[goldenpp72 | 1,235]

I'd be curious to see the results of this, I have some like this for sure.

[8bitsupremacy | 208]

2 hours ago, goldenpp72 said:

I'd be curious to see the results of this, I have some like this for sure.

I've ironed out some smooshed NES boxes before with great success, I imagine it's just the same but since it's thin paper I'm a little more weary and am just double checking here in case someone has any extra tips before I take a crack at it.

Edited March 21, 2021 by 8bitsupremacy

[goldenpp72 | 1,235]

1 hour ago, 8bitsupremacy said:

I've ironed out some smooshed NES boxes before with great success, I imagine it's just the same but since it's thin paper I'm a little more weary and am just double checking here in case someone has any extra tips before I take a crack at it.

Do you find it much more effective then flattening with heavy books? I get some mild results out of doing that but, nothing i'd go bragging about that's for sure.

[Enternal | 15]

Might be better to press it than ironing it. I did try to iron an already beat up popful mail manual and it caused the foil emboss to flake off.

[jxmx3 | 11]

The iron and pillow case works great on cardboard boxes (nes, gameboy etc) how ever I’ve not really had any luck on the paper cover type stuff, example sega saturn rear art. Those can get wavy and while it works a bit that paper just doesn’t iron out nice and flat like the cardboard does.
 

The comic book store press is an interesting idea. I’d like to know how that turns out. 
 

 

[RegularGuyGamer | 2,018]

On 3/21/2021 at 7:45 PM, goldenpp72 said:

Do you find it much more effective then flattening with heavy books? I get some mild results out of doing that but, nothing i'd go bragging about that's for sure.

I've gotten better results and faster. I've used the iron method on a ton of different cardboard types too. Everything from thick NES boxes to little flimsy Pokemon Theme Deck boxes all have gotten the iron, mostly for my own collection.

The key is to go low and slow and treat it like a piece of thick clothing with a stubborn wrinkle.