RH | 5,013 Posted June 17, 2021 Share Posted June 17, 2021 I'm sure they were trashed but just in case, I'm curious if anyone on here knows what happened to all of the art for the NES black box titles? Though they were pixelated, they were hand painted. I wonder what happened to those and what they originally looked like as matte paintings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DefaultGen | 5,506 Posted June 17, 2021 Share Posted June 17, 2021 Weren't those just photos of post-its essentially (or rather bits of construction paper?). Were they even permanent art pieces? I'd be shocked if they existed. If one did and was remotely obtainable I'd have seen it as one of the art peoples' forum avatars sometime in the past 20 years! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RH | 5,013 Posted June 17, 2021 Author Share Posted June 17, 2021 11 minutes ago, DefaultGen said: Weren't those just photos of post-its essentially (or rather bits of construction paper?). Were they even permanent art pieces? I'd be shocked if they existed. If one did and was remotely obtainable I'd have seen it as one of the art peoples' forum avatars sometime in the past 20 years! I don't think they are post-its. The streaks would have definitely been airbrushed and the pixels aren't perfectly the same size. 99% sure they are painted squares, probably on a board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Link | 2,768 Posted June 17, 2021 Share Posted June 17, 2021 1 hour ago, DefaultGen said: Weren't those just photos of post-its essentially (or rather bits of construction paper?) Yes. Have you read Game Over? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RH | 5,013 Posted June 17, 2021 Author Share Posted June 17, 2021 Just now, Link said: Yes. Have you read Game Over? No. If those are Post-Its they sure don't look like it on close inspection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Link | 2,768 Posted June 17, 2021 Share Posted June 17, 2021 4 minutes ago, RH said: No. If those are Post-Its they sure don't look like it on close inspection. Not 3M™ Post-it® Notes, no. Paper squares that they cut out and stuck on a board, yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tulpa | 3,569 Posted June 18, 2021 Share Posted June 18, 2021 I think Bronty said that any art Nintendo made was pretty closely guarded in their archives and very few, if any, made it into the wild. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RH | 5,013 Posted June 18, 2021 Author Share Posted June 18, 2021 11 minutes ago, Tulpa said: I think Bronty said that any art Nintendo made was pretty closely guarded in their archives and very few, if any, made it into the wild. That completely makes sense, but considering NOA was rather fledgling at the time (compared to what it even was a few years after the NES went crazy) I figured there was a chance that some of that art might have been tossed. This was even in the days when Mario's art style was far from nailed down and tons of stuff in those early NES days made Mario and the cast look quite wonky. I'm sure they kept stuff under lock and key pretty quickly when business took off, but I could see there being a chance that when they were building the box art in early 1985, it got lost in the shuffle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tulpa | 3,569 Posted June 18, 2021 Share Posted June 18, 2021 (edited) Possibly. It also depends on where the art was made. Black Box stuff was maybe done at NOA*, but if any game shared artwork with the Famicom versions, it's probably over in Japan. *assuming they had an inhouse art department, but like you said, NOA was pretty small in 1985, little more than a warehouse. Edited June 18, 2021 by Tulpa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RH | 5,013 Posted June 18, 2021 Author Share Posted June 18, 2021 I wonder if Howard has any clue. It's a shame that it doesn't seem like he made the transition over here from NA. :'( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tulpa | 3,569 Posted June 18, 2021 Share Posted June 18, 2021 He's occasionally active on social media. Not totally inaccessible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RH | 5,013 Posted June 18, 2021 Author Share Posted June 18, 2021 Well... I am never active on social media, so I can't ask. Haha. I could reach out through eBay but, ew. I don't want to be THAT guy. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhyNotZoidberg | 586 Posted June 21, 2021 Share Posted June 21, 2021 On 6/18/2021 at 10:17 AM, RH said: Well... I am never active on social media, so I can't ask. Haha. I could reach out through eBay but, ew. I don't want to be THAT guy. Send him an etransfer with a note attached lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phart010 | 1,710 Posted June 21, 2021 Share Posted June 21, 2021 Maybe they’re in the treehouse? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Code Monkey | 2,023 Posted June 21, 2021 Share Posted June 21, 2021 They were literally different colours of construction paper cut out with scissors and laid on top of one another. After the photo they went into the trash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phart010 | 1,710 Posted June 21, 2021 Share Posted June 21, 2021 2 minutes ago, Code Monkey said: They were literally different colours of construction paper cut out with scissors and laid on top of one another. After the photo they went into the trash. Did you see it in the trash? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Code Monkey | 2,023 Posted June 21, 2021 Share Posted June 21, 2021 1 hour ago, phart010 said: Did you see it in the trash? Well, a startup company has no reason to keep anything like that. If much of the actual art was thrown away, they're pretty likely to throw away an arts and crafts project. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RH | 5,013 Posted June 21, 2021 Author Share Posted June 21, 2021 2 minutes ago, Code Monkey said: Well, a startup company has no reason to keep anything like that. If much of the actual art was thrown away, they're pretty likely to throw away an arts and crafts project. They weren't a start up. NOA already existed but it was mostly just a holding company to sell arcade games. Still, it's my understanding they had a warehouse and office. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Code Monkey | 2,023 Posted June 21, 2021 Share Posted June 21, 2021 Just now, RH said: They weren't a start up. NOA already existed but it was mostly just a holding company to sell arcade games. Still, it's my understanding they had a warehouse and office. They were well established as a toy and card company way before arcades but their gaming division was still in the startup phase. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RH | 5,013 Posted June 21, 2021 Author Share Posted June 21, 2021 14 minutes ago, Code Monkey said: They were well established as a toy and card company way before arcades but their gaming division was still in the startup phase. I was talking about NOA. I know Nintendo is as old as dirt. I don't know when they opened an office in the US, but I do know it pre-dated the NES and even the Famicom. My point is, they didn't have a lot in the way of operations here in the states, but they weren't a "start up". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austin532 | 467 Posted June 21, 2021 Share Posted June 21, 2021 I highly doubt any still exist. It would be awesome if someone carefully recreated them though and put them out for display at conventions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Code Monkey | 2,023 Posted June 22, 2021 Share Posted June 22, 2021 4 hours ago, RH said: I was talking about NOA. I know Nintendo is as old as dirt. I don't know when they opened an office in the US, but I do know it pre-dated the NES and even the Famicom. My point is, they didn't have a lot in the way of operations here in the states, but they weren't a "start up". Companies are generally startups for about their first 10 years. Did Nintendo have a games division for 10 years in 1985? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fcgamer | 4,792 Posted June 22, 2021 Share Posted June 22, 2021 It exists. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlternatorDelux | 61 Posted June 22, 2021 Share Posted June 22, 2021 NOA was founded in 1980 as an arcade game distributor. I've seen conflicting sources about when they started selling products in stores, but it was probably 1983. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tulpa | 3,569 Posted June 22, 2021 Share Posted June 22, 2021 Nintendo of Japan released the Color TV Game 6 in 1977, and it was in development for a few years prior. R&D2 was established sometime in the mid-70s as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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